"I Love Shermans But....." Topic

Guys

Most of my platoon based games feature Sherman's and the odd Firefly in the scenario or at. Nothing wrong with that but I would really like some historical scenarios using Churchill's and or Cromwell tanks for the Brits instead – any ideas on sources?

Cheers

Lots of infantry memoirs 1943-5 will have some but it might be easier/quicker to identify a Churchill unit and track down their battle diary for inspiration.

Are you looking for an account of a historical action, or a developed scenario for a particular set of rules?

For the first, take a look at Bill Bellamy, TROOP LEADER: A TANK COMMANDER'S STORY. Bellamy ran a troop of Cromwells in France and Germany in 1944-45. See also Lindsay, Martin and Johnston, M.E. HISTORY OF THE 7TH ARMOURED DIVISION JUNE 1943 – JULY 1945 first published by BAOR in 1945, reprinted in 2001 by DP & G for the Tank Museum. That's just your period, and they were Cromwell-equipped.

FOW "Monty's Meatgrinder" has several scenarios like what you are looking for.

I often feel the same way – here are two scenario books with skirmish-platoon level action I have some experience with that might work for you:

Skirmish Campaign's Monty's Epsom features Churchills of the 31st Tank Bde.

Lots of Cromwells from the 22nd Amd Bde. at Villers-Bocage, scenarios can be found in the Fireball Forward scenario book.

Churchill Infantry Tanks were the exclusive purview of The Royal Tank Regiment.
link
Disbanded Regiments leads to 9 RTR. Technical & Tactics leads to their War Diary (w/maps). Tank Tracks is a collection of personal reminisces. I will leave it to you to rattle around in the rest of their website.

Nice site.

Walking, not ncessarily.Not just RTR battalions.

There were a number of remustered infantry battalions that were known as ### RAC Regiments.

In addition a few Yeomanry units were in Churchills too.
Fife and Forfar, North Irish Horse et cetera.

Not sure what you mean by platoon based – but if it means 1 tank = 1 platoon, the Rapid Fire North West Europe book has some great Churchill base games.

TomT

First of all, Fife & Forfar were in Shermans I think you'll find.
6th Guards Tank Brigade were in Churchills (worked closely with 15th Scottish Division from Operation BLUECOAT onwards)
An interesting scenario on a 1:1 basis is Hill 226 near Les Loges where S Squadron 3rd Bn Scots Guards met up with 3 JagdPanthers… then further Churchill & Infantry battles against SS at Estry, Chendollee…

2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry were indeed a Sherman regiment, with 29th Armd Bde in 11th Armd Division.

1st F&FY served in Churchills, but since they were a flamethrowing Crocodile unit in 79th Armd Div, I doubt they'll supply the kind of scenario the OP is after.

For info on the North Irish Horse -- including some useful historical stories of their actions in Churchills from Tunisia through the end of the war, check out the NIH website:

northirishhorse.com

I believe this is the website first set up and run by Gerry Chester. He was a vet of the WW2 campaigns of the NIH, known (and very well regarded) on several WW2 history fora, including Axis History Forum and Tank-Net. Others here have mentioned his name in past threads.

He was a very interesting fellow to chat with. But alas he was quite advanced in age (as all remaining WW2 vets are), and he stopped showing up in the fora a few years ago. He mentioned on Tank-Net that he was getting too old to keep the website up and was passing that task along. The email link on the website above is directed to someone else now. I don't know anything since then of Gerry's condition.

Gerry recounted on Tank-Net several stories of Churchill actions in Tunisia and Italy, with detailed first-hand accounts of 6pdr gun performance (including engagements with Tigers), platoon-level coordination of tank actions, Churchill cross-country capabilities, taking hits from various PAKs, etc. I have not gone through all of the materials on the website (above), but I expect you can find at least some of those first-hand accounts there.

Hope that helps.

(And if anyone has more recent contact with or about Gerry, please do share.)

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

An interesting scenario on a 1:1 basis is Hill 226 near Les Loges where S Squadron 3rd Bn Scots Guards met up with 3 JagdPanthers… then further Churchill & Infantry battles against SS at Estry, Chendollee…

Oooh, that could be fun…

Buy one or more of the paperbacks from this series:

link

Epsom had Churchills in the supporting armored brigades, and 7th Armored Division had Cromwells plus Fireflies at Villers Bocage.

What about the British drive up the Italian boot.

That's the reason I chose the Desert Rats for Europe. I just don't like Shermans . The Firefly however does make the Sherman look acceptable to my eye. The problem I do have is that the Fireflies cant keep up with my Cromwells. Later in the European campaign , I do use my Challengers instead.

I hope you have as much fun with your Cromwells as I do if you choose them.

As regards scenarios just read the books that feature the Desert Rats in Europe , they will give you some ideas.

As mentioned above, the Skirmish Campaigns Epsom book has lots of Churchills and the Fireball Forward 'Viliers Bocage' has lots of Cromwells.

For Churchill memoirs, also recommend Peter Beales 'Tank Tracks' (9th RTR) and John Foleys 'Mailed Fist' (107th RAC). Foley also wrote 'Death of a Regiment' which was a fictionalised account of another converted infantry battalion in Churchills.

Mailed Fist is one my favourite wartime memoirs, and there are several eminantly gameable scenarios in it.

The North Irish Horse site is also interesting. I've done Steamroller Farm a couple of times. Those 88 gunnners must have been the worst shots in the world.