Closing the Gap Written by Matthew Bona 2015
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CROSSROADS Closing the Gap A World War 2 Mini- Campaign detailing the Battle of Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives CROSSROADS Closing the Gap Campaign Module By Matthew Bona Crossroads, Closing the Gap Written by Matthew Bona 2015 http://playingtheodds.com.au This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution‐ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by‐sa/4.0/. Cover Photograph by Serge Bougie (2015). Internal Photographs of Miniatures by Serge Bougie and John Vint (2015). Campaign Idea by Matthew Bona and John Vint. Proofreading by Kylie Bertram, Luke Pullar and John Vint. Extra Font: Kingthings Typewriter, http://www.kingthingsfonts.co.uk/ This document is intentionally laid out in a manner similar to the TooFatLardies (toofatlardies.co.ok) Pint Sized Campaign books in an effort to maintain a measure of consistency. There is no challenge made or intended to any of their (or anyone else’s) works or copyrights. INTRODUCTION Panzergruppe West funnel into one, of only two, bridges capable of supporting tanks and heavy Welcome to Crossroads, Closing the Gap: a vehicles. campaign module for Chain of Command, a World War 2 wargame from TooFatLardies. This campaign is designed to use the Chain of Command campaign supplement ‘At the Sharp th This campaign focusses on the actions of the 4 End’, whose rules will be used to progress the Canadian Armoured Division at the end of the campaign. Normandy Campaign. While this campaign is designed to use Chain of After the Commonwealth forces’ eventual capture Command, it should be relatively easy to modify of their D‐Day objective, the city of Caen, the U.S. the scenarios and missions within to reflect the forces launched Operation Cobra. The aim was to rules for any system. Suggestions are offered at the break out of the beachhead and try and capture back of the campaign. the rest of the peninsula. It is expected this campaign will last no more than At the same time the Canadian and British forces nine games, after which there should be a launched their own Operations in an attempt to tie conclusive result. up German reserves and buy the U.S. forces time to complete their objectives. Hopefully you will enjoy this campaign and its look into one of the formative actions that helped end With Operation Cobra succeeding so quickly, the the Normandy Campaign. German army found itself surrounded and on the back foot, soon after this became a tour and only one escape route remained: Falaise and its surrounding area. The 4th Canadian Armoured Division landed at Normandy in July 1944, establishing camp in southern Caen. From there they became integral in Operations ‘Totalize’ and ‘Tractable’, the push south to capture Falaise and secure the northern end of the ‘Falaise pocket’, and from there seal the gap at Chambois. Facing a staunch and determined enemy, the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend commanded by Kurt Meyer, the way to Falaise was slow and hard fought. Finally, on the 16th of August, Falaise was captured and provided the launching point to seal off ‘the gap’ at Trun and Chambois. The race to Chambois and to close the Falaise Gap was on! Specifically this module will look at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the 29th Armoured Reconnaissance (South Alberta) Regiment, of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division in their attempt to capture and hold the town of Saint‐Lambert‐sur‐ Dives, blocking the escape routes of the fleeing German armies. The Canadian mixed group will need to capture and then defend Saint‐Lambert‐sur‐Dives as the remains of the fleeing German 7.Armee and 1 BACKGROUND 2 THE ROAD SOUTH in position, they would use Cormelles as a jump off point to launch an attack on Verrières Ridge. During the Normandy campaign the Canadians met Ultimately, the assault was a failure, but the stern opposition from some of the most well Canadian forces remained in control of the trained and provisioned troops, the elite German captured towns. Panzer Divisions: 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, 21st Panzer Division, 1st SS Panzer Shortly after, Operation Spring was organised in Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and Panzer another attempt to take Verrières Ridge and the Lehr Division. towns on the southern slope. Primarily, this was designed as a holding attack: providing assistance Following the D‐Day landings on Juno Beach, the to Operation Cobra and creating yet more pressure Canadians found they had penetrated deeper into on German forces. France than forces at any of the other landing sites. They also encountered stronger resistance than Operation Cobra was executed so rapidly however, th any other beachhead, except Omaha Beach. that by the 4 of August seven Divisions of Patton’s Third Army had swept into Brittany. By 8th of After linking up with British forces, they began the August, after the defeat of von Kluge’s forces in the slow process of capturing their original D‐Day German counterattack Operation Lüttich, Allied objective of Caen and the surrounding areas. commanders realised the German position in Following fierce fighting against a determined and Normandy was collapsing. This began a race east near fanatical enemy, and after suffering horrific creating a huge envelopment of German forces in numbers of casualties, slow progress could an attempt to cut off the enemy, who were now eventually be seen. Almost one month after the often in full flight, from escaping. initial planned date, the joint Canadian and British forces captured the city of Caen in early July. The 4th Canadian Armoured Division landed at After the D‐Day beachheads were established and Normandy in July 1944, as a reinforcement for the the drive inland was beginning, Operation Cobra Allied effort, in time to participate in Operation th was devised. The plan was for U.S. forces to push Tractable and Operation Totalize. The 14 of through the enemy around St Lô, and break free August saw the launch of these Operations, after from bocage country, outflanking the German German Forces started moving from the British and army and capturing the peninsula. This was Canadian front westward to combat the principal supported by the British and Canadians through effort of Operation Cobra. Operations Goodwood, Atlantic, Spring and The Operations were conducted by Canadian and Bluecoat. Polish forces with the support of one brigade of In mid‐July Canadian forces launched Operation British tanks. They were ordered to head south Atlantic, as part of Operation Goodwood, and along the D13 highway to Falaise, in conjunction cleared southern Caen before pushing east of the with American movements northward to Orne River. The British and Canadian Forces were Chambois. The intention was to trap and destroy to draw the German strength to themselves, the entirety of the German Seventh and Fifth helping reduce resistance for the US Forces Panzer Armies, and finally bring an end to the conducting Operation Cobra. Normandy campaign. The plan for Operation Atlantic was a two pronged The major phase of what was to later be called the approach: the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Battle of Falaise Pocket, to complete the Divisions would strike out and capture Vaucelles, envelopment of the German forces, lasted from th nd Colombelles and the opposite bank of the Orne the 16 to the 22 of August 1944. During that River. Leading the attack South‐East from Caen, time American forces began to swing northward 2nd Division would cross the Orne River and move toward Argentan while Canadian, Polish and British to capture Vaucelles. Then, 3rd Division would forces began to manoeuvre south in a pincer proceed to cross the Orne River near Colombelles movement to close the trap. and capture the town, moving South from there to also capture Cormelles. Once both Divisions were 3 OPERATION TOTALIZE occupation of the town of Cintheaux. This action allowed them to hold up the advance of the Operation Totalize was an Allied offensive Canadian and Polish Armoured formations. launched by the First Canadian Army, from the evening of 7th of August to 13th of August. The aim In one unfortunate event, a column from the 4th of the Operation was to break through German Canadian Armoured Division, known as defences south of Caen and push through to Worthington Force, was ordered to take Hill 195 capture the high ground north of Falaise, 24 just to the west of the road midway between kilometres out from the city. The goal was to bring Cintheaux and Falaise. This movement was on the collapse of the entire German front, and cut designed to threaten and cause disarray in the off the retreat of German forces fighting American German lines. and British armies further west. After becoming disorientated, Worthington Force Under the cover of a heavy bombardment from ended up about 7 kilometres east of Hill 195, at Hill RAF Bomber Command, the Allies began their 140 (halfway between Estrées‐la‐Campagne and advance. Initial going was slow as the dust from the Mazières), and was subject to repeated German bombardments caused confusion, and the bomb counter attacks. Worthington Force held their craters caused vehicles to become bogged. By ground but suffered heavy losses and by 1700 on th dawn though the offensive had rapidly overrun the the 9 of August the remains of the Force had defenders in the villages of Cramesnil and Saint‐ either been captured or forced to withdraw. th Aignan de Cramesnil, and by noon on 8 of August, The Canadians were initially unable to be rescued the entire Verrières Ridge had been captured. due to being so far off course, but eventually the Shortly after midday the German 12th SS Panzer 4th Canadian Armoured Division recaptured Hill th Division counter attacked, resulting in the 195 in a night attack on 10 of August.