"New Scenario: The Grimbosq Bridgehead, Normandy 7 Aug 44" Topic

Hi All,

Paddy Green has posted up a new scenario for the Battle of the Grimbosq Bridgehead on fireandfury.com which can be found here: PDF link

The scenario concerns the events of 7th August 1944, when the British 176 Brigade, of 59th (Staffordshire) Division established a bridgehead east of the River Orne. This position outflanked the German defence line between Caen and Falaise and it simply had to be eliminated. Kampfgruppe Wuensche of the 12th SS was therefore tasked with mounting a counter-attack.

This is a very large scenario and is the game we're going to present at Battlegroup South in Bovington Tank Museum this weekend.

The scenario is designed for Battlefront: WWII rules, though it is a big 'un and it needs a lot of experienced players! It's thus ideally suited for conversion to larger-scale games such as Command Decision, Spearhead or Blitzkrieg Commander. In Battlefront: WWII, each infantry stand represents a Section/Squad, while each vehicle/gun model represents 2-3 actuals.

If anyone's interested, I took a tour of the Grimbosq Bridgehead last year to aid Paddy's research and my photos are here (warning – 10Mb download): PDF link

Looks great RMD :)

Have a great time this weekend. At least the weather forecast is good ;)

Post some foties of the game when you can.

Cheers,

B

Will do. After last year's experience, the Memsahib has booked us into a very nice pub in Dorchester… Believe it or not, I'm kinda disappointed, but I owe her. At least I've got guarantees from her that we're not going to miss the evening festivities and that she's driving! :)

I'd like to have seen that Mark, but alas the timing's all wrong for a visit this year.

Otherwise very informative field trip, thanks for posting.

Excellent stuff, I did a scenario for this some years ago albeit aimed at Spearhead.

This was also the battle in the which Lt John Foley, author of 'Mailed Fist', lost his Churchill to a Tiger and later saw off an SS MG team with his Webley. 5 troop, A squadron, 107th RAC.

Interestingly he said that the German attack jumped off at the same time as their own efforts to expand the bridgehead.

Yes, I think Foley was referring to the following day (8th August), when the Germans re-doubled their efforts just as 107th RAC were trying to get Major Davies' (no relation) 'B' Squadron across the river, plus another infantry battalion from 59th Division.

IIRC it was then that Jamieson clinched his VC by standing on a Churchill and directing its fire (although his VC citation does say that it was awarded for accumulated actions from the 7th to 8th August).

It's well worth visiting if you ever get the chance. Being well off the tourist trail, it's as unspoiled a battlefield as you could possibly wish to see. It also didn't get flattened by artillery or heavy bombing, which is amazing considering that the Foret de Grimbosq was plastered by RAF and USAAF medium bombers on at least three occasions prior to this battle. It didn't therefore get demolished and completely rebuilt in a modern style, like so many other Norman villages – most of the buildings were simply repaired and the whole area retains the pre-WW2 look.

I've compared 1944 aerial recce photos to what I saw on the ground and there is very little that's changed – a few less orchards and about a dozen new houses on the eastern side of Grimbosq (where an orchard used to be), but that's about it.

Here's a selection of my photos. Full report later:

There's an AAR thread up here: TMP link