The French ATR team that bagged an armoured car last turn spend this sixty spooning rocks and hugging dirt. Despite the best efforts of the Gallic mortar team which uses all but one of its white-painted M302 rounds this turn, Bignon and his loader are pummelled mercilessly by the Panzer III on Mosque Mount.
Miraculously, although the relentless hail of 5 cm shells eventually causes the anti-tankists to break, the duo end the turn uninjured.
The assaulters south-east of the village are less fortunate. Led by Sergeant Vidalies, the seven-man squad on the left in the above pic, lose a man the moment they crest the rise. If the advancing halftrack and the static foes in H20 hadn’t turned their attention to another knot of feisty Frenchmen at T+40, Vidalies’ losses would probably have been higher. Instead it’s the ‘B-is-for-Bold’ portion of 2 Squad that get it in the neck.
By the time the clock stops, Corporal Gaubert’s five-man half squad has suffered three casualties, is displaying a red ‘PANIC’ label on its unit card, and appears to have lost all appetite for advancing. Under fire from the HT’s MG 42, its chances of survival look slim.
Other notable developments in the French arena, this turn? During the assault on H20, the enemy ATR team was spotted moving southeastward. If it maintains its current pace and direction, it could well be in a position to molest the shocked-but-orderable Carrier by the halfway point of turn ten.
* * *
Spectators that nip to the toilet or bar during turn 9 of the British contest don’t miss much. Before breaking LoF, the reversing Crusader proves too tricky a target for the German ATR team.
At T+16, Corporal Darling (2 Squad, B) gets into a brief firefight with infantry pushing south close to the village VL. The exchange cows the Jerries involved, but also leaves the Brits in E25 ‘taking cover’.
On the other side of the north-south road, a couple of Tommy units move up.
And, at T+57, a shout of “Enemy armour! Enemy armour!” alerts Team GB to the fact that the German halftrack has just trundled into view on the eastern flank of Mosque Mount.
If the HT keeps coming, its possible the Crusader, which from its current position also has LoS to the last known position of the PSW, might get a shot at it next turn.
(Next order deadline: Tuesday night)
Oh dear. I do wish we had our mortar close at hand. It’s the perfect time for our HQ to target the halftrack for them and drop some 2in delights their way. Maybe we can run them up and do so next turn.
As it stands, I want us to hug the ground and avoid the attention of the armored perambulator. Yet I want us to continue to suppress H19 until our team approaching K20 can drive them back.
Perhaps our AT rifle can get to H25 to supplement the fire of our tank in driving back the halftrack and covering the PSW.
Ah, the MG42. With all respect to the early Gatling and Maxim precursors, there are three great machine guns. The Vickers, for when you just need to keep firing, the Browning M2 (in .50 calibre) for hitting hard and the MG42, for the elegant, reliable and deadly precision fire from light vehicles and heavy squads.
Sorry French team, but you should’ve known better.