"How would you handle the Bocage?" Topic

…in a wargame?

I'm planning on doing a Normandy Bocage scenario game using Spearhead rules and I'm not sure how to handle them in terms of tank movement. Spearhead simply states that no movement through them is possible for tanks without a Cullin Hedgerow Cutter(Rhino). Those so equipped then leave a one stand wide gap when they pass through.

That's easily enough understood, but was the Bocage absolutely proof against tanks without the Rhino? Some initial research seems to suggest that tanks could get over the hedgerows, at least some of the time, but it wasn't a favored activity for the tank crews because it exposed the paper-thin belly armor of the tank. It also suggested that when the tanks could get over the hedgerows it sometimes took them repeated attempts before they succeeded.

I know that moving armor in the Bocage was, and should be, a dangerous, frustrating and time-consuming activity but I would like there to be some kind of middle ground for purposes of playability.

Therefore I was thinking of several potential courses of action:

1. No tank movement through hedgerows without a Rhino.

2. Tanks may cross hedgerows if they successfully pass a die roll test and while attempting to do so are extra vulnerable due to exposing the belly armor.

3. No tank crossing movement at all. This would be before the Rhino became available and will necessitate adding more roads to the table to give the armor some kind of chance of participating in the battle. BTW, when did the Rhino become available in numbers?

So that's my situation. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject and what you do or have done in your games. Thanks in advance!

My tank experience is limited to about 4 months training.
But I would be loathe to try something like that.
I doubt that was tried unless they were absolutely certain what was on the other side.

I think they were more substantial than many people realize. My dad was at Timmes' Orchard. He crawled through one only to find a German crew setting up an MG. In other words, they were on opposite sides of the thing and neither knew the other was there.

Choice 2 fits well in your situation. As you noted Shermans did go over areas of the bocage with extreme slowness and exposing the belly. Doing so did not really open a gap in the bocage. Whereas with the Cullen, the tank plowed at speed into the bocage ripping thru the enbankment leaving a gap.

Korvessa, I do forsee plenty of confusion and surprise and probably a fair number of ambush situations.

BB, I definitely don't want to combine 1 and 2 because I think that would give armor too much unrealistic mobility.

I thought places where a tank could cross at all were rare.
The lanes were narrow and lower than the fields.
The "hedges" weren't just hedges.
Jerry didn't have a pak40 in every field.
If it was just a matter of exposing the tank's belly i don't see it stopping em long.

Some other factors to consider:
Churchills seem to have had rather less issues with bocage than other tanks, owing to their tremendous obstacle-tackling ability.
Failure to negotiate a section of bocage is not the worst-case scenario; a tank could shed a track on a particularly horrid section or slide into a drainage ditch which often accompany the hedges.
Engineers often used explosives to clear sections of bocage and create openings; some field modifications to tanks created perfect explosives-hole creators, using steel pipe or similar welded to the glacis and thrust into the bank. Heavy artillery might also breach the hedgerow but is much less predictable.
Movement obscured from view is pretty much impossible to achieve in a tabletop game but is a key factor of bocage fighting. Taller sections of hedge and orchards would block line of sight and diffuse sound.

My own preference is for loaded die rolls – a Cuillin-equipped tank or a Churchill might have a definite bonus, as might units with engineers or even simple infantry helping to guide them and find the best routes. Keep things unpredictable for both sides.

typhoon, I had forgotten about the engineers using explosives to create gaps. Another option. Thanks.

"Almost impossible" to get Sherman's through boccage according to this DoD combat study: PDF link

But "Almost" doesn't mean always, and its always fun to let players try things they shouldn't. So in a game, I'd do something like this.

1) Tank player attempts to bust through boccage, rolls with high probability of failure. No other actions allowed.

2) Next turn, if there's a failure result on first turn, the tank must check to see if tank is bogged down (stuck) before taking any action. Odds of getting stuck would be fairly high. If stuck, tank player may attempt to unbog, or move to the rear, again with very high probability of failure. No other actions allowed.

3) On third turn, an unsuccessful roll to unbog is followed by a bail out roll that get progressively lower each subsequent turn that the tank is stuck. After all, what tank commander will want to sit there as a sitting duck, unable to maneuver or defend himself.

For tanks with rhino gear, I'd use the same process, but with a significantly better chance of initial success.

And if a tank gets unstuck, nothing would prohibit the tank driver from trying again, perhaps picking a less imposing section of boccage to attempt to transit.

If you wanted to carry the scenario to an extreme, you could even use variable probabilities pre-determined for different section of boccage…some being wider, taller and/or made of more difficult materials to transit through.

CB, more food for thought. Thanks. Now to take a look at the PDF…

Another variable that is almost never mentioned is that hedges are not a 'standard' item.

Some will be bigger than others. Some will have spikeyer plants in them. Some will be on top of a big earth bank. Some will be lower.

So while the bocage terrain was very difficult terrain, some bits were harder than others.

Finding out which bits were which though? Well, you could always try driving your tank through it…

The point was not that you could not get through but going by the gate could be bad news. To say it is impenetrable is just daft. They were farmers fields so they all had entrances so the farmer could get in! Now the Rino was one way but apparently while the most famous it was not the only way its use was not by any means universal. Can't at the moment recall where I read this sorry.

The bocage was created over decades, no, centuries. It was a huge earthen bank and the hedge was there to bind together the soil with its roots. The hedge was not the barrier to keep in the farmers' critters the soil bank was.

As said above, another problem was that centuries of use left the lanes lower than the surface of the adjacent field. The Cullin device is often shown as a bunch of girders creating a series of spikes. Cannot help but feel that risks just getting impaled and stuck. The plough shaped ones seem more effectively designed. Seem anyway.

As in the type shown below, top left and used by 2eme DB up to Paris August 44. Well my M10 got one anyway (handmade though).

I seem to remember some discussion somewhere about treating contiguous hedgerow-bordered fields like town blocks. I think it was for Spearhead, but I admit I'm not 100% sure.

Dave

Option 1 and 2 are best, AND should be combined, despite your not wanting to.

2 should be really limited though, like perhaps a 10% chance of finding a good spot, then need to move on and try again.

The banks weren't just piled up dirt either. Large rocks, and those of various sizes would be placed there, after having been removed from the fields they surrounded.

Let the tanks climb over, with considerable difficult in some spots, but there should be bog checks, chances to throw tracks, etc., etc., as mentioned previously. Also, panzerfaust, panzerschreck, and A/T guns get a belly shot while doing so if and when present.

Blowing gaps in the bocage works, but also gives away where you are attacking from, giving the defenders warning. They'll have the drop on those trying to move through the dust, so should get the first shot(s) off.

If you wait for that to settle – probably a good idea, they'll still most likely be watching the new entryway into the field or orchard.

Some Germans even dug emplacements into the bocage so they could fire out of it on the other side, and to have overhead cover protection from mortar, artillery, and air attacks.

On the plus side the the allies, jagdpanzers were very limited by the bocage too, and would be very lucky to find an ambush spot, since it was so high, and they were so low. They could rarely angle themselves properly to fire where desired, due to the high berms and tight roads.

Tanks performed much better in this terrain than the German TDs with their fixed guns.

Thresher, nice observation about the effectiveness of TD's vs tanks. Hadn't thought of that but will give that some thought as the defending Germans will be from an infantry and not a panzer division.

There were different degrees of bocage.

The main obstacle is the steep earthen bank with a core of stones, all strengthened by the roots of hedges/trees. They were very difficult to break down and AFVs usually went over them – a precarious maneuver that would expose the underside and sometimes leave the AFV perched precarious on the top.

Shermans were far from ideal as they were already high and short compared to many other AFVs.

The Culin device worked because it stopped the tank going over the bank and made it bulldoze its way through.

Bear in mind that in SH the manouvre units are battalions, not individual tanks trying to cross an earth bank. In SH the typical bocage field would be 1" x 1".

Bocage is bad going with poor visibility, so as suggested above, I would treat it as series of contiguous BUAs. Good luck pushing unsupported armour through that! Alternatively just treat it as a dense wood, with movement and visibility restrictions to match, but the BUA approach gives more of a field to field feel.

Yes, similar to MOUT. Along with Cullin Cutters, a lot of FA and CE support. Plus prep with airstrikes packing Napalm. And of course by pass as much as possible.

Jerry didn't have a pak40 in every field.

No, but a pak 38 would do against bottom armor; or a panzerschrek or a panzerfaust.

This might help: YouTube link

Wolfhag

Dunno how many remember this book, but take a look at Kenneth Macksey's "Anatomy of a Battle", which pretty much covers an only slightly fictitious battle in the bocage from starting from the preliminary upper-echelon planning for the attack down to the lip of the foxhole.

And an easy migration to an interesting tabletop scenario.

B

Spearhead tanks are platoons, are they not? I'd say no entry without explosives, a gate or hedge-cutters, and save all the stuck and vulnerable stuff for people gaming individual tanks.

Actually engineers using explosives was not the solution. When emplacing 2 24 pound charges at the base of the bocage Steven Zaloga states in "Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II, on page 156 "First tried on June 24, 1944, with Shermans of the 747th Tank Battalion providing covering fire the explosives barely created a gap. The engineers concluded that at least twice the explosive strength would be needed, and the battalion commander calculated that a tank company penetrating one and a half miles through bocage country would encounter thirty-four separate hedgerows, requiring seventeen tons of explosive per company or about sixty tons per battalion. This was clearly impractical."

Next the engineers tried the so call "salad fork" method where by a Sherman with two attached pointed wooden beams would ram the base of the hedgerow. The tank would back off and the engineers now had two perfect holes to place 15 pound charges in. While initially promising, from page 159 of the same source: "…it became obvious that the salad fork was not an ideal solution since the timbers were often bent or wrenched off the tanks during the violent collision with the hedge. Interestingly enough, the impact of the salad fork alone could breach a hedge in some cases." This observation was key in developing the various hedgerow cutters.

Yes, as I noted CEs alone are not the solution.

I wonder if there is film or a photo series, of a tank attacking a Bocage hedge somewhere? There may have been Demo film made.
(Cynicism: if such exists…could have been for 'successful' breaching? Lol. Look as the pics of tanks 'flying' over a 'jump'…how many just went 'urgh' on landing!).

I VERY much doubt that a Cutter would allow a tank to 'Burst Through' as a 'Surprise' move. More likely to 'worry at it'…tearing tree roots and breaking up stone deposits? Tanks were NOT designed for this and considering the possibly fatal consequences of becoming 'stuck', 'ditched', losing a track or a possible 'underbelly' shot…I would rather think…'Caution'…with as much support as could be found!
Would, of course, depend on the particular piece of hedge…as commented, they would not be uniform in constituency…and tankies, would, surely, try to select the best place available…combining tactical necessity with expediency. They were 'Crews', not 'game pieces'!

The 'surprise' would be that AT set up to cover… say a gate…would need to relocate…plus an 'panic' factor. Maybe, ATGs, AFVs in ambush, may become 'disadvantaged'…wheras, infantry with a Panzerfaust could just 'bug out' to the next hedge…(there were plenty of them!)…or…well, on a small scale tactical level…SO many options!

I am not familiar with the various 'Rules'…just my thoughts…and could be wrong.

Some sections of bocage have trees, and some do not – just grass, and/or bushes, so I suspect the trick is to pick a spot with no trees, or at least no really big ones.

As mentioned, bocage could vary in height and thickness, so again, you want to try to pick your spot(s) for breaching actions.

I've seen some video of tanks going through the bocage, and they do just burst through. I don't know how much, if any preplanning, or work was done prior to that though.

Many of the fields and edges of the bocage would be premeasured to permit the enemy to bring down mortar fire without deviation where desired.

Mortar rounds killed and caused casualties in about 75% – 80% or so of the allied troops during this stage of the fighting in Normandy.

I think the point is that the defences wiuld be set up to cover the gate to the field. Digguing defences for all possible entrances by forec would be impractical. Certainly if the attackers laid morter fire on the firld and its boundaries while breaching the enemy could not locate to an alternarte position fast enough to respone as eccectively. The defencders would have little recoures but to fight from a poor position or risk enemy mortar fire and bug out.

link has an excellent link on the issue. It describes the issues and the solutions. It also notes the 1.5 miles and 34 hedgerows. Thats 77 yds between Hedherows. Tanks at 1/144 and 1mm to 1m is going to struggle with that representation.

For very large groundscales there will be issues. Even for a massive force to pass through safely will only need about a 500m cleared channel, enemy observers would struggle beyond that to even call down fire at the right time on any road through it. In addition it may give issues when representing large formations as they will be very strung out as they pass through the narrow roads. This could make re-supply an issue ina large game where timescales are much extended.

How would a PaK 36 do against belly armour?

What the cullen cutters looked like
YouTube link
with video of it crashing thru bocage

In the following video note that it's a Stuart with the device.
YouTube link

An M5 busting thru lower embankments. Note how it slams to a sudden stop on the one. Bet it rang a few bells on that crew.

"How would a PaK 36 do against belly armour?"

The Pak 36 could penetrate 20mm of armour at 1500m and over 30mm at 500m, so belly armour would present no problem.

Yes, that is what I thought. And generally belly armor on most AFVs was not that thick and easy to penetrate.

Some tanks could get through bocage hedges better than others, the Churchill in particular had a very good reputation for going anywhere. John Foley in 'Mailed Fist' writes of Churchills demolishing big trees in the Reichswald and deliberately driving into anti-tank ditches as they could easily get out the other side.
The Churchill's advantage was its weight (45 tons) and the fact that the tracks went up and OVER the upper hull edge, in this way it borrowed from the WW1 British tanks.
In other books I have found references to Churchills crossing quagmire fields in Holland 'like motor boats' as they had sunk to their belly pan but the track still gave them grip. Think of them as LVT Buffaloes but in liquid mud.
The steel tracks of the Churchill also supplied superb grip.

You also have to consider speed and the angle you hit the hedge. A direct hit from 90 degrees would have a better chance of going through than, say, 45 deg or 30 deg.
No tank (probably not even a Churchill) would stand much chance of climbing out of a sunken road it is in with bocage and banks on either side. The vehicle could not just pivot 90 deg and lunge enough. The tank will either have to reverse or drive forward to find a gate or a junction to get out of any bocage 'trap' it finds itself in.

Remember that when bocage hedges line both sides of a road, it is – in effect – a double obstacle. The road between the hedges will probably be sunken and may even have a drainage ditch either side of the road as well. So the tank is going to be driving into a natural anti-tank ditch if crossing the whole road and going out the other side.

I would suggest a simple D6 die roll per tank, per single hedge crossed.

456 to get through, 3 to be stuck in the hedge but visible from the enemy side, 1,2 to be halted by the hedge and not visible on the enemy side.

+1 Cullen hedgerow cutter
+1 Churchill or Panther. (not Tigers – heavy but underpowered)
-1 Stuart or Hetzer or similar
+1 striking at 90 degrees
-1 striking at less than 75 degrees
+1 second attempt to cross by failed vehicle at same point (i.e. next move)
-1 second or later attempt by any vehicle still stuck in the hedge and visible

Bocage remains impassible to Universal and Loyd carriers and all wheeled or part-wheeled vehicles like half-tracks.

As Warspite says.
But, Bocage hedges would vary. Some, still in existence, would be impossible for a tank to 'break through'…cutters or no. However there may be thinner sections…attemptable, with varying degrees of difficulty.

The Germans, being in possession of the field may have assessed this…or may/may not know about 'hedge cutters'…

I suppose it rather depends on what sort of game/scale/rules, etc… and how you do your scenics.

Skarper. Now that idea…that the plough was a plough… FORCING the tank to push THROUGH and not RIDE OVER the obstacle, hadn't occurred to me. Looking at the angle of attachment for SOME prongs… yep… would definitely dig in. SOME other pics…and most models…less so. They were improvisations…maybe some worked and others didn't… (Yes, there were instructions…but how often have you found that a bit 'could' fit there…or there…LOL!).

There is a section on the video link kindly provided by BuckeyeBob which appears to show prongs set VERY low… so low that bumpy country lanes/hump-back bridges would BECOME obstacles! I do not have audio, so maybe it was a damaged prong or a 'how not to' fit it! Thanks anyway.

@Headless Horseman:
Agreed. The Cullen device was essentially a ploughshare. If you look at film of vehicles using it you will see that they rarely rise up in the air (as if climbing) as the tank is effectively ploughing THROUGH the hedge.

It is also worth noting that once a Cullen has been used, the gap would probably be useable to smaller tracked vehicles like Universal and Loyd carriers but wheeled vehicles and half tracks might still have to roll for using the created gap.

In my games I rate all hedgerows as big or small. The big ones are modelled with a wooden base and a slope of small rocks, sand and brush with the hedge material on top. Many of the Normandy hedges contained field flints thrown there by farmers during many years of ploughing. We have the same here in Norfolk, UK. The small ones are modelled lower and have no bank.

My house rule for Bolt Action is that large hedges can conceal tanks, soft vehicles and 88mm Flak guns.
Small hedges can only conceal infantry and infantry-crewed weapons plus towed anti-tank guns, jeeps, Universal carriers and Loyd Carriers.

Barry

The Culin device worked because it stopped the tank going over the bank and made it bulldoze its way through.

Yes, that's the way I always understood it. Without the device, the tracks would just try to climb the bocage. (The tracks would hit before the hull.) So the trick was to extend the hull so that it hit first, and with a point, so that it would stick and not slide off. The mass x velocity would then push on through instead of climbing over.

To get a better visual of what you are up against link

M5 w/Cullen Device:
YouTube link
YouTube link

It appears that under the right conditions a tall Sherman could poke its gun through and shoot but Stug's and AT guns could not.

Wolfhag

Nice photos and vids!