"Gaming Pegasus Bridge?" Topic

Anyone have any real experience gaming Pegasus Bridge? Obviously the operation was quick and successful and if following a totally historical scenario it would be short order.

But with the really nice terrain feature of the bridge, I'm wondering if anyone has made more of a game out of it.

Also, and thoughts on how big a table you'd need to play both bridges and the village fight in the middle at true scale to the 28mm bridge?

ASL offered a campaign system for Pegasus Bridge. Sure, the initial strike happened rather quickly, but then the British Paras were ordered to "hold until relieved". And the Germans came back, this time with old re-purposed French tanks, to try to pry them away from the bridge.

There's quite a bit of historical battle opportunities to recreate, here!

I've run Pegasus Bridge twice as umpire and both games worked well. We played on a 10ft x 6ft table in 20mm at 1:1 scale but didn't include the river bridge. Firstly you can extend the scenario to include German counterattacks and the fighting in Le Port and its church. Best way of doing this seemed to be to declare the initial action (seizing the bridge) over (Act 1) and then allow a reorganisation and repositioning before the counterattack starts (Act 2). You can randomise these anyway so the British player is not sure which direction the attack will come from.

You could also opt to make the defence of the bridge more resolute than it was historically to give more of a fight, or have German reinforcements turn up earlier.

I had fun in the last game by giving the Germans a column of 4 unidentified armoured vehicles. When they got within spotting range, the lead marker was replaced by a Tiger I for visual effect and shock value. In reality it was either a Somua or a Marder (I forget which) and fought as what it really was. As the action took place at night and many of the German tanks subsequently encountered in Normandy were mistakenly reported as Tigers, this seemed the right way to go.

To give the Germans (who knew they didn't really have Tigers) something to think about, the British used a 6pdr model in place of Wagger Thornton's PIAT. Again it fought as a PIAT but the Germans weren't told this. I remember reading that after the lead vehicle was destroyed (from memory an engineer half track but definite information on this is unclear), the Germans reported that the British had emplaced AT guns around the bridge. All's fair in love and war.

So far I haven't managed to persuade my gaming pals to try my best idea. Game the action around midnight on 5 June with the lights turned off. Each player would wear a miner's style helmet with a light (although having a single player torch for them to share would probably work as well). No takers for that one yet.

Ive ran a 15mm FoW 1500pt version "based" on Pegasus Bridge 9 times. Three of them have been at HMGS cons. Brits have won 5 of the 9 games. A friend of mine scrathed built the bridge.

Feel free to PM me and Ill share the scenario…

SFC Retired

Is there a good map which covers just the area of the bridge and counterattack?

The Germans had a 75mm ATG emplaced at the bridge, which the Brits took over and turned on the Germans. While trying to figure out how to fire it, one of the paras almost broke his wrist when it fired and he didn't expect the recoil. He used it to methodically shell a building that he thought a sniper was hiding in – turned out it was actually a hospital in use, and he was rather chagrined when the French complained to the paras of the Germans shelling the hospital.

As has been mentioned, the initial seizure of the bridge was only the start of a long and protracted battle that sucked in 7 Para, elements of 716. Infanterie-Division, 21. Panzer-Division and a couple of Vorpostenboote, followed by 1st Special Service Brigade. Do you have an orbat of what was involved? Do you want one?

Just to add to the above: The gun emplaced at Pegasus Bridge was a 5cm tank gun (Kampfwagenkanone), equipped with only AP ammunition and no HE. The thing was also unable to cover the western approach to the bridge, hence the need for the PIAT. The 'French tanks' (also described as 'PzIVs' by Ambrose) were in fact a company of Marder Is, converted from Lorraine carrier chassis (1st Company of Panzerjaeger-Abteilung 716). These were later reinforced by the 8th Company of Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 192, equipped with armoured halftracks (converted from French Unic and Somua types) mounting PaK 40, 2cm Flak and 16x8cm 'Reihenwerfer' (16-barrelled mortar).

I had that thought after I posted, RMD, but I was too lazy to go back and change it. :o)

I know how you feel… ;)

I posted this another time in a similar thread. This is a scenario covering both bridges and the battles that followed their initial capture.

A Tale Of Two Bridges – link:

PDF link

To save repetition, there's a previous thread here: TMP link

I hope it's of use.

[edited to add]

And another one here: TMP link

I'd love to see an OOB for what was involved.

Also the geographical area that should most likely be covered in a game board, ie how far into Le Port, etc should be game board run out? Etc?

Never played it but my friend is running a Pegasus Bridge game at HAVOC in 20mm using Battleground WW2. His terrain looked ace.

You are right Mark.
The only real french tanks in active german service were in the Cotentin, just on the opposite flank of the invasion.
Concerning the Pak 50, it should had been able to cover also the road along the river coming from the south, or was it limlited in its arc of fire??

Here is an illustration of one destroyed Lorraine "Reheinwerfer" probably used by the 8th Cy of PGR 192:

Cheers to all.

It was a "souvenir d'enfance", but I was pretty certain that this Kwk50 was able to target the west bank …

As it was :
link

On this immediate post war picture it looks like the gun was also able to cover the crossroad on the west bank.

There was some issue with it. According to the veterans' testimony, it was badly sighted or couldn't be sufficiently depressed (or a combination of the two) and could not therefore be trained on the approaching armour, hence Wagger Thornton's action with the PIAT.

Note that the gun was moved slightly from its original position, when the bridge was replaced, so the present position is no guide (though it's not far off its original position, as can been seen in your photos).

Of course, nobody seems to be able to identify the exact position of the Marder and it doesn't appear in any photos, which is odd. Tradition has it that it had turned the corner by the Mairie and was advancing down that road to the bridge. But is this necessarily true? Was it perhaps lurking amongst buildings/hedgerows and invisible to the gun position?

Hello Mark.

Thanks for those details about the gun's capacity.

However, you are wrong when you state that the gun has been moved. The emplcement remains the very same, but the canal has been enlarged 20 years ago or so, and this led to the replacement of the old bridge, which was too short, by the new one in service today.
So, today the Kwk is much closer to the bank than it was originaly, as the canal is now, more or less 12m larger.

About the french tanks on the east flank of the invasion, I was wrong yesterday.

There were some SOMUA still present with the second battalion of Pz Rgt 22, which counterattacked on june 6th on the west bank of the Orne.
The regiment, which has been reformed in France, was originaly issued with french Hotchkiss H39 and Somuas, mainly for training purpose I guess.
According to Georges Bernage excellent book "Les panzers dans la bataille de Normandie"; Heimdal Ed, the first Bat had been issued with its new Pz IV in march, and the second Bat, partialy equiped in april (with Pz IV also, no Panther!).

There are some evidences of Somuas still fielded by the 2nd bat in Normandy. How many remained in service, to which role could they had been assignated, and how long did they survive the campaign would be interesting to know …
I guess that fistfull of Somuas might had been used for HQ protection or scouting. Has one of them scored a hit on an allied armour? The book does not answer …

Second mistake, the strange "Reheinwerfer" were built on Unic HT and not on Lorraine chassis, of course …

Coming back to G. Bernage's book, I do not know if it has ever been translated in English but it is an unvaluable source of informations for the operations of the various german armoured units between june 6th and july 22nd, down to company level (!), with AAR, including dozens of photos and many tactical maps. I would recommend it without reserve!
A great source of inspiration for building scenari.

Cheers to all.

Hi TC,

Sorry for the delay in replying – I've been on holiday.

I knew that the canal was widened and the bridge replaced, but several guidebooks and an interpretation board at the site (now removed) stated that the 5cm KwK tobruk had been removed and then put back in a slightly different position when the work was carried out. They may well be entirely wrong, I agree.

I agree that Bernage's book is excellent – it was translated into English very early on (I think it was Heimdal's first English book?) and it was a great improvement on Lefebvre's similar book on Panzers in Normandy. Bloody shame he didn't do a second volume to finish off the campaign though.

However, the 21. PD's panzer listings are something of a red herring. The French tanks are recorded as being held 'administratively' by 21. PD on 1st June 1944, but the crews for the French panzers had already been sent back to Mailly-le-Camp to receive a reinforcement draft of PzIVs. Tanks listed as being administratively under command are not necessarily present with the unit – there are many examples of unit strengthsd including vehicles that were still in Germany.

Remember that 21. PD was one of very few divisions to actively receive replacement tanks during the campaign and this was undoubtedly due to the fact that the crews were already at Mailly when the campaign started.

History doesn't record where those French tanks were, though there are suggestions that Panzer-Abteilungen 205 & 206 in Le Havre and Cherbourg received complete companies of Pz35S(f) at this time, which would suggest that 21. PD had re-distributed its redundant French tanks.

I respectfully disagree that there is any evidence for Pz35S(f)s still being present in II./Panzer-Regiment 22 at this time. There are no photographs from either side, no captured examples, no reports of their use and no mentions in the published histories of 21. PD (such as Perrigault's excellent history, also published by Heimdal). Conversely, Oppeln's strength report for 6th June exactly matches the number of PzIVs available to his regiment, not including the ex-French panzers, which does tend to suggest that they'd been discarded. II./Panzer-Regiment 22 was therefore essentially a strong company at this time, with 5, 6 & 7 Companies having only a platoon of PzIV G/H apiece and 8 Company being a strange unit with 6-8x PzIV B/C.

A fact that makes me bloody annoyed, as I've got nine lovingly-painted Pz35S(f)s in my collection… :(

Re 8cm Reihenwerfere: They were based on Somua halftrack chassis, as were the 7.5cm PaK 40 carriers and 7.62cm R-Vielfachwerfere. Unic chassis were used for 3.7cm PaK 36 and 2cm FlaK carriers.

Hello Mark,

Amazing and instructive!
where did you get all that knowledge!
All this makes sense.

For your lovely Somua, It would be interesting to find some photographic evidence of their presence in the Cotentin…

Beside of the campaign of may 40 in France and their active service during Barbarossa in german hands, some Somuas also saw efficient service with the French in Tunisia.
Do yours show any "german" alteration that would disqualify them for that job?

Thanks again for all those precisions.

Ah now, the battalion at Cherbourg (205 or 206, I forget) DEFINITELY had some Somuas in the Cotentin – mainly used as command tanks – and may even have received a full company before the invasion (presumably from redundant 21. PD tanks). That battalion also had some Pz B2(f), Flammpanzer B2(f) and a pile of H35/39s and R35s. 11 of the H35/39s even had 4x 28/32cm Wurfrahmen fitted! :)

Panzer-Ersatz-und-Ausbildungs-Abteilung 100 might also have had the odd Somua in the Cotentin.

I filed down the cupolas on my (lovely Skytrex 15mm) Somuas and then stuck German commanders and slplit-hatches on them, so they do look very German (oh, and crosses and turret numbers). Never mind, they do get the odd outing in games based on the Channel Ports battles and Market-Garden.

Very german indeed!

Amitiés,

François;

Before I knew better, I did once use them all in a big 21. PD counter-attack game and it was enormous fun! It feels so dirty, but so good… ;)

Should have been …
Brigade sized game?
Did they reach the sea, and did they crush any allied armour with their 47mm on the way?

Some very useful info here – thanks guys!

I'm currently designing a somewhat… compressed version of Pegasus bridge and environs in 15mm for a folding portable gaming board. This thread answers most of the questions I was about to ask.

TC,

Yes, it was based on the 'Bold Dash to Caen' by elements of 3rd Division and 27th Armoured Brigade and the subsequent counter-attack by Kampfgruppe Oppeln. I didn't have enough PzIVs at the time, so I included the S35s and a couple of H39s. Great fun, though 'Le Panzers' got hammered by the British armour and supporting M10s (who in turn got hammered by a handful of 88s belonging to 716. ID & 21. PD).

Great fun! :)

Oh and I'm pleased to say that 8. Kompanie, with its ancient PzIV B/Cs, made the deepest penetration of the day! :)