Holding the Canal Line, or Trying To - France 1940

After hundreds of hours and hundreds of pounds I finally got some of my Fall of France collection in action. The game was not based on any real action, but more my fervid imagination. We used Rapid Fire Reloaded for the first time ever and as nobody else had played them this century it was going to be 'interersting'. Before going on to the battle, here are some photos of the sleepy town of Montcuq not far from the Dunkirk perimeter.

A young lady caught sunbathing in her backyard.

The town and British HQ. 

The town square.

Another vew of the square and the BEF command and HQ.

The table from the south (garden end). The Germans start where the swastika is.
Reinforcements in the form of a panzer battalion will arrive behind the red line on the table. The red line marks the first line of the BEF deployment( held by 4NF and 12 Lancers; the yellow line the second line, of the DLI and supporting artillery. 

Conrad and Jon were the BEF, commanding a squadron of the 12th Lancers, the 4th Motorcycle battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers, 6th battalion the Durham Light Infantry, a troop of 2pdr AT guns, a battery of 18/25pdrs and one of 6” howitzers. As reinforcements they would have the 3rd battalion Royal Tank Regiment. There was a remote chance they might get some air support.

The Germans had a motorcycle battalion, a recce battalion, a motorised infantry battalion, plus supporting on and off table artillery. They also had access to two Stukas.

The only and somewhat battered bridge across the Oreille Canal. It is a choke point currently clogged up with refugees. 

Shaun pushed his wheeled transport straight through the refugees in order to get over the bridge.

Neil commanded a motorcycle battalion and some recce troops.

Hidden behind the station, a battery of 6” howitzers.

BEF 25pdr battery in hiding behind the woods in the centre of the table.

Shaun’s motorised infantry had dismounted and scrambled across the canal using lock gates and the odd sunken or not sunken barge. They headed towards the chateau where they came under fire from its occupants, a company of the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers Motorcycle battalion and an HMG, and another 4NF company in the wood behind the chateau. Heavy supporting fire from across the canal soon destroyed the chateau and its garrison. The Northumberland Fusiliers in the woods were also driven off after failing a morale check.

The Germans decided to deploy their 75mm infantry gun on the bridge. It was taken out by a lucky shot from a British 2pdr lurking in the woods.

The aforementioned 2pdr. 

Richard arrived marking the appearance of the German flanking force, a panzer battalion
mostly equipped with what I had available in the form of Czech 35T, Czech 38Ts, PzIs, PzIIs and a heavy company of PzIII and PzIV.

To balance things up I allowed the British reinforcements to arrive early. 3 Royal Tank Regiment with their mixture of light and cruiser tanks came belting down the road.

Part of the panzer battalion bypassed the train wreck bit were ambushed by a 2pdr and an AT rifle from the DLI carrier platoon. They damaged one tank but were soon knocked out.

Jon had to relieve the pressure on the dwindling number of defenders around the chateau so sent his CS9 armoured cars of the 12th Lancers forward. They had some success in forcing the Germans to ground or to seek refuge in the now empty chateau.

3RTR motoring towards the enemy.

I allowed the British to try for air support. I don’t own a Hurricane and my Fairy Battle isn’t finished so I roped in a random French fighter. It arrived, located a target, missed and flew off again.

The panzers were now behind the railway station where they spotted the BEF howitzers. A Stuka was called up but it failed to locate the guns.

Conrad managed to knock out a Pz 35T with one of his A13 cruiser tanks.

A second Stuka strike was more successful, obliterating the 6” howitzer battery.

The 12th Lancers turned their attention to Richard’s armour. In a brief exchange of shots two were destroyed and one damaged, with no loss for the Germans.

Another view of the end of the 12th Lancers. They never really had a chance.

Most of the refugees had been dispersed, never made it over the bridge or were hiding in woods and ditches, the exception being these.

At this point we had to stop. The Germans were declared the winners but whether the British armour would have had any effect is unknown.

I was happy with the rules (given we were all new to them) and the models and terrain looked terrific imho.

Most of the miniatures are from Early War Miniatures, as were some of the vehicles. The majority of the AFVs are 3d prints, most of which I did myself.