Juniville

This game was played in my conservatory 4/10/09. I was playing the French, Dave N and John were playing the Germans. Most of the kit on the table was mine with Dave supplementing the French tanks

Groupement Aussenac on the road north to Juniville. The Germans would initially attack from the west (column's left). The road off to the left is objective DY on the map

10e Bataillon Chars de Combat at the road junction. Leading is a Milicast R40 followed by a trio of Ostmodels R35's. The final R35 is from SHS and was painted by Dave

4/14e Dragons Portes at the rear of their column in their US trucks. Slightly titivated old Airfix Poly trucks, not all that accurate but they were very cheap.

The Positions of the 73e Regiment d'Infanterie to the west of Juniville. We didn't have enough 25mm AT guns so we used 47mm instead, still using the 25mm stats. SHQ gun by Dave

German recce observes the French column. Airfix Hs-126

Behind their recce plane the German II/1 Panzer Abt pushes forward after demolishing the very weak French screening forces of the 4/4e RAM

AMR-33 of 4/4e RAM burns before the German Armour while a solitary H35 of  1/8e Regiment de Dragons looks on. The AMR-33 is by Retrokit

The remainder of II/1 Panzer Abt on overwatch. PzKfw-IVA is an Airfix conversion. The Majority of PzKfw-III's are from SHS though there are a few others, this one is a Skytrex hull with an SHS turret. PzKfw-II are mostly Matchbox, though there are some MMS ones on the table and the PzKfw-I's are a mix of Fujimi and Esci, this one is Fujimi

Another shot of  the lead kompanie of II/1 Panzer Abt

To the north west of Juniville the lead elements of II/1 Schützen Btl push forward along the track from Pommery Farm. The track isn't marked on the scenario map and doesn't count as a road for movement purposes. Italeri motorcycle combination

1 Kradschützen Btl moves towards Juniville from the North. The French defenders in their trenches hold their fire waiting for the Germans to get closer.

A StuG from 659 StuG Batterie support the dismounted Kradschützen. SHQ model with S&S track units

The main body of II/1 Schützen Btl attacks from the west. Matchbox SdKfz-251

SdKfz-10/4 covers the advance of the Schützen - not that the French airforce was anywhere to be seen

Groupement Salanié entered the battle turn 3 and hurled itself forward in an effort to intercept the Kradschützen before they disappeared in to Juniville. Matchbox Char B1bis and Milicast H35's

Unfortunately The Char B1bis and H35 are both rather slow, before they arrived on the ridge the Germans had mostly scuttled to safety. The French were then plagued by awful moral rules and pretty much all the armour fell back shaken

The 5e Escadron de Mitrailleuses et Engins d'Accompagnement was sent to reinforce the defenders of Juniville. Cromwell Laffly Car, Ready to Roll Renault truck, Airfix poly truck and Toms Tins Laffly S20 towing an SHQ 47mm (pretending to be a 25mm)

On the other side of town the Stab 1 Pz Brigade supported by pioneer approach south of the river.

SHQ SdKfz-251/5 & Airfix Opel

In the south 10e Bataillon Chars de Combat hid in the woods adjacent to road DY. The French commander figured the short engagement ranges in the woods would somewhat ameliorate the poor performance of the puny short 37mm. The Germans were not scared and snuck forward with a single PzKfw-III. Much to their dismay the R35 destroyed the attacker

In the centre II/1 Schützen Btl starts it assault on Juniville.

To the south of the river the pioneer assault Juniville's suburbs.

Back in the south the II/1 Pz Abt finally finishes off the French 25mm AT Gun (SHQ) that's held up the mittler kompanie for the best part of two hours

II/2 Pz Abt arrives on table and promptly manoeuvres to finish off the tanks of Groupement Salanié. Although they were in a poor morale state John wanted the Char B1bis destroyed so there was no chance of rallying them

II/1 Schützen close on the centre of Juniville

To the north of the town a lone H35 tries to fend off an entire panzer battalion to give his comrades time to rally. Unfortunately for the French he barely slowed the Germans down

Things are going badly for the French in the south too 10e Bataillon Chars de Combat surrounded in the woods.

The presence of the tanks was too much for 4/14e Dragons Portes who fled shaken, pursued by a PzKfw-II. Luckily for the French the panzer did not press its attack and moved back north allowing the Dragons to rally.

In Juniville the remnants of 4/4e RAM try to fend off the pioneer. Their firing was lamentable and their resistance didn't last long

Stab II/2 Panzer Abteilung co-ordinates he attack from a nice safe location in the rear. Esci klPzBefWg

French resistance in the west part of Juniville crumbles, and although the town has not been cleared yet the II/1 Schützen push south to help clear road DY. It getting close to the end of the battle, the Germans are slaughtering the French, but they have little time left to clear all the objectives they need to win the battle.

The rear and of the column

StuG advances to finish off the last of the H35's north of Juniville

The Germans close in on the 10e BCC, however this rather piecemeal assault was not successful and the Germans retreated; but there were enough panzers about to stop the 10e BCC reaching the road

Elements of the 4 Aufklärungs Abt hustle through Juniville pushing to the west and point B. Roden SdKz-231, SHQ SdKfz-223 and SdKfz-222

4 Aufklärungs Abt drive up the road to the east of Juniville

The last defender of point B was a mortar stand, no match for the StuG

4/14e Dragons Portes rallied and made it back to road DY, to be greeted by the entire II/1 Schützen Abt. Needless to say the Dragon's defence of the road was not successful.

The last defenders of Juniville, go down in a blaze of glory. The rather useless mortar stand taking a German stand before succumbing to superior fire power

The French lost nearly every stand they started with and the Germans lost very little. However the Germans didn't quite move fast enough. Although most of the victory locations were in German hands the road DY was still disputed by a couple of brave Frenchmen from 1/31e Dragons Portes which forced a draw. If the Germans had moved a little faster then victory would have surely been theirs. If the morale of Groupement Salanié had been better then the French may have been in with a chance of winning. Despite having my force crushed by the superior Germans I had a great time trying to make their job as hard as possible

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