Pictures
The game was played at John's house on 30/12/07. John provided most of the British kit except the M5's. Nearly all the Germans are mine with the exception of the Dragon Tigers
A Squadron 4th CLY in convoy driving to point 217. followed by A Company 1st Rifle Brigade. Shermans and Cromwells by HAT
Wittman attacks the convoy
Wittman first engaged the Regimental commander, blowing the Cromwell to smithereens. As the regimental HQ is the only British stand on the table able to easily rally squadrons of the 4th CLY and 1st RB this caused all sorts of problems for the British in the game. The Brits then needed to take command of broken units before rallying. Dragon Tiger, Airfix Carriers and Hobby Master Cromwell
B Squadron 4th CLY enters Villers Bocage
Aerial view of the battlefield
Wittman on the Rampage. The appearance of Wittman startled the British. He destroyed the British RHQ and A Coy 1st RB panicked and went shaken. On the second turn Wittman brewed up a Cromwell from A Squadron 4th CLY and the tanks went shaken too. On the final turn Wittman brewed-up the Firefly. This was too much for A squadron who abandoned their tanks and fled. The Germans had killed 5 tanks and made their first victory condition. Once Wittman had departed B squadron had to advance and take command of A Company 1st RB and rally them. Whilst they were doing so Wittman returned with 1st Kp 501 SS Pz Abt
The British flung their Stuart troop at the Tigers of 501SS in a vain effort to slow down the behemoth before it got in amongst the remains of A Company. The Stuart hit the Tiger, but merely dented the paint work. Luckily the Tiger missed the Stuart. The Tiger ignored the Stuart and charged for A Company and the other British tanks. What allowed A Company to get away was a a charge by B Squadron, which ultimately killed the Tiger and left a Cromwell burning. Stuart model by SHQ
The rest of B Squadron retreats towards Villers Bocage accompanied by the rallied A Company.
2Kp 501SS advances down the main road. Unfortunately the other German reinforcements arrived later than the Tigers. In the background can be seen the remains of the battle between 1Kp and C Squadron
The Queens arrive in Villers Bocage and push north to meet the Kampfgruppe 130 Aufklärungs Abt. This move was short lived due the encroaching Tigers on their right flank
Kampfgruppe Lex. Not that he lasted very long. His advance up the road to Villers Bocage coincided with B Squadron retreating into the town. The British shot better on this occasion and the PzKfw-IV burned. Fujimi model
The British commander left A Company 1st RB as a blocking force to the north east of Villers Bocage. This slowed the Germans as they jockeyed in to position to make a concentrated assault. Once they were in position though the result was not in doubt. Most of A Company was destroyed in a couple of turns, the remains fleeing to Villers Bocage
The first elements of 2 Panzer Division arrive south of Villers Bocage. Their swift movement was a surprise to the British. Unfortunately they did little to capitalise on this. As they were bunched together direct fire from the mortar (seen in the background) killed two stands and forced back another. Luckily for the Germans the commander survived long enough to call the battalion 12cm mortar and blew up the British mortar in revenge
1 Kompanie was reinforced by the Engineers, but by that time the British were alert to the threat and the attack was thrown back
Firefly of B Squadron defends main road in to Villers Bocage. It shot up one of the German PzKfw-IV. At this point B Squadron's morale went badly wrong and they fell back shaken due to the proximity of the German armour.
501SS attempts to exploit the British morale failure and stalks the Squadron commander. Surprisingly the Tiger failed to kill the Cromwell but the British tanks had had enough and fled the field demoralised
19:00 - Daylight is fading fast and the Germans mass for one desperate last ditch lunge in to Villers Bocage. They have one victory condition, if they can get a tank in to the village, they will have two victory conditions and win a marginal victory. However there are a whole heap of British infantry with PIAT's in the village
Last of the infantry from 2 Panzer Division sprints for the town. Unfortunately the Stuart is waiting and sees them off.
End of the the last turn. As darkness falls the Queens' repulse the final attack by the tanks of Panzer Lehr and the Tigers. A PzKfw-IV can be seen fleeing the Village; his comrade was left behind burning in the streets
The end result was a draw. The game initially went well for the Germans, but they couldn't concentrate enough combat power to even start ousting the British infantry from the village. The major German success was the destruction of the British armour: the entirety A squadron plus the RHQ was destroyed and B Squadron fled the field. Only the Stuart remained, a very lucky tank to survive contact with the Tigers, it proceeded to shoot up masses of German infantry, definitely the British "hero tank"