Cherbourg Perimeter, 1940 (Battlegroup)

Simon kindly laid-on a Battlegroup game, set in 1940, portraying a British delaying action against the Germans on the Cherbourg perimeter. By way of trying to avoid the usual linear slugging match, Simon had arranged for the Germans to come on across one corner of the table, while the British held a line across the opposite corner. The objective was for the Germans to exit units from the British held baseline.

The Germans opening by pushing a group of Panzer IIs around the left flank, while the infantry sought to push the right flank and a group of Panzer 38(T)s pinned the centre. Sadly for the Germans, the British had a pre-arranged 18lb barrage that landed on the Panzer 38(T)s, leaving two of them burning.

The Panzer IIs fared better, supported by a Panzer IV. They started to envelop the British right flank, the Panzer IV knocking out an A13 that was threatening the right flank of the Panzer II force. However, two further A13s had swept around the British right, one quickly neutralising the right most Panzer II, while the other managed to knock-out the Panzer IV. The German fortunes were not going so well.

The German infantry had managed to secure a house at the extreme let of the British line, driving the British infantry from the field behind the house. Emboldened, the Germans pushed another infantry halftrack forward to assault the pinned British infantry, only to have it knocked out by a Boyes anti-tank rifle, hiding on the right flank of the British infantry section.

In the midst of all of this, to add insult to injury, a British Morris armoured car had pushed out from the British centre, weaving between the Panzer 38(T)s in the German centre, to take up a position to assail the rear of the German tanks with another anti-tank rifle! This was all too much for the Germans who then chose to pull back to re-group.