Canada's Crucible
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BATTLE GROUP • RULEBOOK CANADA’S CRUCIBLE A LOCATION-TO-LOCATION CAMPAIGN THE BATTLE FOR NORREY-EN-BESSIN NORMANDY, JUNE 8th-11th, 1944 87 BATTLE GROUP • RULEBOOK Above: A Regina Rifle’s Bren section take cover in the rubble, this is a staged Germans they are: 26th SS Panzer Day 2. June 8th. propoganda photograph. Grenadier Regiment and elements of Surrounded at La Ferme de 12th SS Panzer Regiment and 12th SS Cardonville Pioneer Battalion. Panther tanks stumble upon D Company, the Regina Rifes, holding THE BATTLE FOR The aim of the campaign is to win La Ferme de Cardonville in a chaotic battles and capture locations on the night fght south of Bretteville. NORREY-EN-BESSIN map, those that are worth campaign This is a simple ‘location-to-location’ victory points. The side with the Play this battle at the end of campaign system that allows highest campaign points at the end of campaign turn 3, the end of June 8th, players to re-fght a small part of the the fourth day, June 11th, will win the before beginning Campaign Turn 4. Normandy campaign, during four campaign. days of ferce combat between 3rd Day 3. June 9th. Canadian Infantry Division and 12th Additional bonus campaign victory Lüdemann’s Hunting Panthers SS Panzer Division. points can also be won by playing Panthers launch a bold strike towards the four historical re-fght scenarios Norrey from the east, only to run The campaign deals with the included, one for each day. These into a determined Canadian defence Canadian 3rd Infantry Division’s are optional, but add a degree of and the Firefy Shermans of the 1st battle to hold their frontline positions historical accuracy to the campaign. Hussars. around Norrey-en-Bessin, after it was capture on June 7th, and subsequent Of course, these scenarios can also Play this battle at the end of operations by the 12th SS Panzer be played as stand-alone games too. campaign turn 5, midway through Division to dislodge the dangerous These scenarios are: June 9th, before beginning Campaign salient into their frontlines, a Turn 6. necessary pre-cursor to a planned Day 1. June 8th. combined three panzer division First Assault on Norrey Day 4. June 11th. offensive against the British beaches. 26th SS Panzer Grenadier’s launch a Black Sabbath, 1st Hussar’s Attack night infantry attack against Norrey- 1st Canadian Hussar launch their The principal forces involved are, for en-Bessin. attack, south-west from Norrey to the Canadians; the Regina Rifes, an expand the salient but meet tough, infantry battalion with the support Play this battle frst, at the start of dug-in troops of 12th SS Pioneers of the 1st Hussar’s tanks. For the June 8th, before beginning Campaign with anti-tank guns and tank Turn 1. support. 88 BATTLE GROUP • RULEBOOK Play this battle at the end of the Allied naval taskforce waiting off rivalry, in which the Canadians then campaign turn 10, midway through the coast of Normandy. They could sort to take revenge. These atrocities June 11th, before beginning also look to good close air support also hardened their enemy against Campaign Turn 11. from the RAF’s Typhoons and the SS soldiers. Men believing they Spitfres. may be executed rarely surrender. 7th CANADIAN INFANTRY BRIGADE, 3rd CANADIAN The Canadians did have some The battles became pitiless and the INFANTRY DIVISION restrictions though, the division’s young SS soldiers gained a degree After successful fghting their away logistical tail was still unloading of infamy. That infamy was paid for ashore over Juno Beach on D-Day, across Juno Beach and no replace in blood, the 12th SS Division would the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division men or vehicles had yet reached them suffer horrifc losses in Normandy. initially pushed inland against after their D-Day losses. collapsing German resistance. On During the early stages of the D-Day+1 they had reached the 12th SS PANZER DIVISION Normandy campaign (as dealt with small village of Norrey-en-Bessin, ‘HITLER JUGEND’ here) the 12th SS Panzer Division 16km inland from the beaches. Here Raced from the Paris area to was led by Brigadeführer Fritz they frst encountered the rapidly Normandy to meet the invasion, 12th Witt. Around Norrey the principal deploying elite 12th SS Panzer SS Panzer Division frst arrived in divisional sub-units were the 26th Division, ‘Hitlerjugend’. They would the Caen area on D-Day+1 and was SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, become locked in bitter combat with immediate thrown in the fghting. commanded by Standartenführer the young SS soldiers for the next Wilhelm Mohnke, with elements of fve weeks, but in the frst days their The division arrived piecemeal, both 1st and 2nd Battalions, 12th SS battle centred around Norrey-en- struggling to get its units in place Panzer Regiment, plus supporting Bessin and Bretteville. against the Allie’s air interdiction artillery, pioneer, anti-tank, of the invasion area, so it could not reconnaissance and logistics assets As it pushed inland the Canadian muster its full fghting power in the from other divisional units. division had deployed two of its frst few days of combat. As more of three infantry brigades forward, the the division’s units arrived at Caen Beyond the division there was very 9th and 7th, whilst its third brigade, the ‘Hilter Jugend’ extend their lines little extra aid. Notably, the Luftwaffe the 8th, was in reserve, still holding westward from the town, but it took seemed all but non-existent. the beaches and mopping up the last some days to get their full supporting German resistance that had been artillery, logistics and engineering PLAYING THE CAMPAIGN bypassed in the previous two days units in place. By then, the division This is a location-to-location advance. On the left of the advance had already been in heavy combat campaign. It takes the form of a was the 9th Infantry Brigade and they and was starting to suffer attrition of small, map-based board game in faced a very strong counter-attack its men and equipment. In the frst which players use the map provided by 12th SS Panzer from Caen, with few weeks of the battle replacements to move their forces from one heavy fghting around Authie and would be almost zero, every man and location to another, and occupy those Buron. Here, their advance stalled, tank lost would see the division’s locations to win campaign victory short of the objective of Carpiquet fghting strength deteriorate. points. Tabletop battles are fought airfeld. On the right of the advance for ownership of these locations. A was 7th Infantry Brigade and they The manpower of the division location isn’t a specifc place, think of reached Norrey and Putot-en-Bessin, was drawn from Hitler Youth it more as ‘in the area of’ than as an led by the Regina Rifes and the recruits, mostly teenage boys, led by exact point on the map. Each player Winnipeg Rifes battalions. hardened veterans of combat on the moves his forces (represented by Eastern Front. They were fanatical, counters) on the map and when both This campaign deals with the heavy indoctrinated Nazi’s, raised on sides have forces on the same location defensive fghting on 7th Infantry hate-flled Nazi propaganda and then there might be a battle, which Brigade’s front, especially the Regina believing they were undefeatable. is then played out on the tabletop Rifes at Norrey-en-Bessin. The The Canadians (by contrast, all with miniatures. ‘Might’ is used here Reginas were not fghting alone, they civilian volunteers) would soon because there is chance for a force had their division to support them, disprove this arrogant belief and fght that is outnumbered to withdraw including Sherman tanks of the 2nd a well-equipped, full strength panzer from a location and thus concede it to Canadian Armoured Brigade - in this division, vaunted as amongst the the enemy without a battle (and thus sector mainly the responsibility of the best Germany could feld, to a bitter preserve his forces in the process). 1st Hussars. They could also look to stalemate. artillery, anti-tank, reconnaissance THE CAMPAIGN AREA and engineering support from During the campaign, these young, The campaign takes place in the divisional assets as they fought to fanatical recruit’s discipline failed, as vicinity of Norrey-en-Bessin and hold their front lines. they were responsible for multiple Bretteville, in the streets of the town atrocities and war crimes during the and villages, the felds and fat Being only 16km inland, the battles for Norrey and around Caen. farming country to the south. The Canadian frontlines were still in Canadian prisoners of war were area is split in two by the Caen to range of some of the potent guns of executed and this led to a very bitter Bayeux railway line, which runs east 89 BATTLE GROUP • RULEBOOK to west, level with the countryside division offensive against the the force has the support of engineer or in a shallow cutting. Norrey-en- British-held beaches. The German units at that location and this will Bessin is a small village of about 20 player has four days with which allow the player to spend up to 250 buildings, dominated by its large to complete the mission, otherwise points on Engineer support units on church, which has a very tall spire. British reinforcements arriving across the tabletop. At least half (125pts) The other villages at Le Villeneuve, the beaches into the lodgement area must be spent on Engineer Support Le Mesnil Patry and the southern will have become too strong and units.