Elements of the scattered 506th PIR make an attempt to seize a road junction near Saint-Côme-du-Mont, defended by troops from the 1058th Grenadier Regiment…
Tonights Battlegroup Overlord game was loosely based on the attacks on Saint-Côme-du-Mont, and it turned out to be a little better for the US airborne. They performed a two pronged assault on the small village at the road junction, with troops arriving in decent time to make a concerted push for the road junction before the German defence could fully reinforce its initial units in the area.
The initial attacks focussed on the church, the attack going in under cover of fire from two supporting mortar batteries, one of which landed a bomb right on top of a German MG42 team hiding out covering the rear of the church. Although some German mortar fire managed to slow the advance, it didnt stop it and soon the paratroopers had managed to get a foothold in the church.
While this was going on, the 506th also pushed on their left flank, anchoring the initial push with a 57mm AT gun and an MG team. The gun crew didnt have long to wait, and as a German 222 armoured car came round the bend, firing at them, it was soon reduced to a burning wreck. The 506th now pushed forwards into the orchard to secure the other side of the churchyard, and here a firefight broke out with German grenadiers in the houses. This lasted sometime and caused a number of US casualties, but finally one of the German units pulled out, and in a show of true bravado, an airborne bazooka team close assaulted a German MG Team who were pinned down by fire from other airborne units. A few grenades into the room did the trick, and the two man bazooka team took position in the building, stepping over the corpses of the grenadiers they had just despatched and finally securing the orchard from enemy fire, though a widely scattered stonk of German mortar fire did cause more losses as men moved through the orchard.
But as attention was focussed on the orchard battle, the German defenders had missed the paratroopers who had beed threading their way slowly through the woods on the other flank. Now these troops engaged German troops deeper in the village occupying a house they had fortified. Sadly it seemed they hadnt done it very well and casualties were inflicted on the Germans, pinning down more units.
In response to this, the German supporting armour moved up, the little R35 tanks not packing much punch but a threat to the 506th without such support. However, as one tank drove up to engage, the single 57mm AT gun had also moved up, and having weathered several German attempts to bring it under fire, now loosed off a range down the length of the road at the tank clattering away from it. This long range shot slammed into the rear of the tank and it was soon burning happily. A second round from the 57mm AT gun then despatched a second German tank that had moved up to engage it, and that too was soon on fire.
Things began to look desperate for the Germans, so first an attempt was made to recapture the house covering the orchard. The American MG team that had moved up with the 57mm, was down to only a single man, the others already being casualties. Thus lone soldier caught the German squad rushing over the road to assault the house and in a blaze of accurate fire, despite being at a reduced rate for just one man using the gun, he cut down the entire German squad as it came across the road! To add insult to injury, the bazooka team in the house the Germans were trying to recapture now popped out into the alleyway and took out the last German tank with a round in its side armour.
With German defence crumbling, and reinforcements unable to move up quick enough, the Germans made one last attempt to wrest control of the houses near the orchard, but it again met with disaster, and as more fire from the other flank took out another German unit, the defenders morale collapsed and they retreated, leaving the road junction firmly in the possession of the 506th.
's first experience with 1:4800 scale naval models.
