Gembloux Gap - Palm-Off at Perbais

With losses of tanks at Hannut heavy, 3 Panzer Division is keen to avoid further losses by attacking with the infantry of 3 Schützen Regiment whilst keeping its armour in reserve until the French position at Perbais has been overcome and the panzers may be unleashed to exploit the gap.

The French player deploys four Patrol Markers within 18” of his own table edge (ie, Columns A-C) and within 12” of at least one other friendly Patrol Marker. The Germans enters on a broad front anywhere on their table edge, Column M, with four Patrol Markers. 

The Germans rolled 1D6 before the Patrol Phase began to see how many "free" moves of patrol markers they get. Unsurprisingly they rolled high and got the maximum four moves. However, the French managed to get the upper hand in the patrol phase with the Germans being held at a distance.

However, the Germans managed a double phase and deployed on the railway line hoping to stop the French deploying from the northern deployment point.

The Germans rushed forward only to see a French section open fire from behind the hedge. Men went down and the advance ground to a halt with everyone trying to hide behind each other.

With this advance grinding to a halt the Germans instead deployed in the south and laid down an acurate mortar barrage onto the French section.

To counter this advance through the cornfield the French tried to deploy a section behind the nearby hedge but the Germans had a nasty surpise and a German officer in disguise sent the troops the wrong way. This was looking dicey for the French now as the Germans continued their advance through the cornfield.

The luck, for a change, was with the French as they managed to deploy a section and poured fire into the hapless Germans. Another attack was grinding to a halt.

The French slowly ground down the troops by the railway line and the troops in the cornfield. The Germans were going to have to pull something out of the bag with the section that was deployed on the road...

Steadily they advanced and got ready to charge the French...

"Der Angriff" was commanded, with many men shouting "Nein", but they went in anyway. The Germans threw hand grenades which were unsurprisingly effective and so the fight was on. The Germans rolled a few dice for two hits, whilst the French cheered as a bucket load of dice was rolled. What was left of the Germans retreated back through the cornfield, carrying their wounded officer with them. Moral of the story, don't charge French sections with two light machine guns when they are behind a hedge.

The Germans brought on their last section in the south and lined the hedge looking forlornly at their comrades stuck in the middle of the cornfield. The French managed to end the turn but the Germans kept their mortar barrage going. However, things weren't getting any better for the Germans as two of their leaders and what was left of their teams routed from the table. It was now a race to the bottom with the German morale on 2 and the French on 3.

The French finally broke the troops in the cornfield and to make matters worse they deployed their last section into the cornfield to the north of the railway line. A nasty surprise for the Germans as the two light machine guns opened up on them. This was the last straw as the German morale dropped to zero. Game over.