Delle
Lorraine, 24th November 1944
As the allied forces
cleared France of the German occupiers, the troops of Operation Anvil, the
landings in Southern France, joined the right flank of Overlord, the troops
from Normandy. Prominent among these new arrivals was the French 1st Army under
General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. Back home with a score to settle.
An aggressive attack through the Vosges into Lorraine brought them to the banks
of the Rhine - the first Allied soldiers to reach the river. But in so doing,
the French 1st Armoured Division had raced ahead of it`s infantry and left a
large gap behind them.
Though German general
Balck wanted to withdraw across the Rhine, but Hitler saw an opportunity and
ordered a counter-attack into this gap to the Swiss frontier to encircle and
possible destroy 1st Armoured.
Balck protested in
vain, but there was nothing to be done but order his one decent formation - the
sorely battered 198th Infantry into battle!
This introduction borrowed directly from the scenario
"Pas de Charge" from Hans Johannsen`s "White Star Rising"
scenario pack for Spearhead rules.
Now I don`t play large battles with divisional sized units,
but there are elements of this action which are interesting and highly
adaptable to the scale I enjoy - company/battalion level. Supporting the 198th
ID was elements of the much depleted 30th Waffen SS Division (2nd
Russian) and what was left of 106th Panzer Brigade. These faced elements of the
French 9th Colonial Division.
The 30th
Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Belarusian)
Was a short-lived German
Waffen SS infantry division formed largely from Byelorussian, Russian and
Ukrainian personnel of the Schutzmannschaft- Brigade Siegling in August
1944. The division was transferred to South-eastern France by mid-August
1944 to combat the French Forces of the Interior (FFI). The division's
performance in combat was poor, and two battalions mutinied, murdered their
German leaders, and some actually defected to the FFI. Other troops of the
division simply abandoned their posts and crossed the Swiss border and were
interned. Afterwards, some of the division's personnel were eventually transferred
to the Russian Liberation Army while others were retained to form the SS
"White Ruthenian" infantry brigade from January 1945.
Whilst considered unreliable
with the French breaking through to the Rhine, the Germans were forced to
commit whatever they had available. Accounts of the actions are sparse but most
agree the elements of 30th SS which participated gave a fair account of
themselves.
French 9th Colonial Division
Was established on 15 July 1943, in North Africa, with colonial
units from either French West Africa or units that were stationed in Morocco and Algeria. Many escapees
from France who reached North Africa via Spain came to swell these
units. At the time, the 9th DIC was mainly made up of Africans from all the territories of
the AOF.
The division took part in the invasion of Corsica in June 1944,
then were shipped to Southern France the first elements landing on August 20th.
Took part in the Capture of Toulon, then through September took part in the
general advance towards the German/Swiss border region.
Late in September, The 6th, 21st and 23rd RIC (regiments
colonial infantry) respectively replace the 4th, 6th and 13th regiments
Tirailleurs Senegal. During October 9200 white volunteers from the FFI replace
black tirailleurs; this is the "blanchiment"! It is possible the Free
French felt non-whites may antagonise the Germans (as happened after WW1) also
Black and Moorish units were accused to rape and pillage after WW1 (and in
Italy before the French were withdrawn for Anvil/Dragoon) and maybe the Free
French wanted to avoid this? But another explanation has been forwarded that it
was deliberately done by De Gaulle to get the communists and other
troublemakers under military control.
This of course meant that infantry units within the division
were mostly made up of troops with little or no formal military training under
a cadre of experienced officers and NCOs. The volunteers were highly motivated,
but lacked the field craft, of which instruction has to be given live in
contact with the enemy, depending on the circumstances and life in the sector.
This "Blanchiment" infuriated a number of American
commanders as it significantly degraded the combat effectiveness of the French
divisions.
The game
So we have an interesting mostly all infantry action between
a below par SS battalion supported by odds`n sods against a highly motivated
but basically trained Free French infantry unit - for me perfect! Now I did a
brief bit of digging and it appears 30th SS had virtually no
artillery or support weapons, but I`ve given the battalion MMGS and 80mm
mortars to toughen them up a bit.
French forces
Elements of 23nd
RIC
II Battalion 23st RIC (Regiment Infantry Colonial)
Battalion HQ
3 rifle companies
Regimental AT company
Elements of Regimental Recce battalion
Off table support
Cannon Company 23rd RIC with 2 x 105mm short (off
table)
Can by directed by any infantry company or the battalion HQ
Reinforcements (turn 10 + 1D6 from the east)
Armoured groupe from 1st Armoured Division
French orders
With lightning speed the Free French 1st Armoured
Division has thrust though a gap in the German lines around Delle and reached
the Rhine, the first Allied troops to do so. Your Division has been ordered to
link up with the armoured units; and hold open a corridor to keep them
supplied. Now your regimental recce. Has reported German troops moving down
towards the highway, you`re regiment is spread thin. Your orders are to hold
open the road which runs west to east and prevent the Germans cutting off 1st
Armoured from the rest of the 1st Army. Delle is a key road junction
and highly valuable as a supply base for future operations towards the Rhine
and Germany itself and must be held at all costs.
German Forces
Composite battalion 30th Waffen SS Division
Battalion HQ
3 rifle companies
Composite support company
2 x MMG + wagon
2 x 81mm mortars + wagon
Pak35 plus crew (2 x stielgranate 41 grenades) + Kettenkrad
tow
Pioneer platoon in truck w/trailer (with enough mines for a high
density 6x2” mixed field) road)
Elements 106th Panzer Brigade
1 x Pz IVH
1 x Stug IIIG
1 x Sdkfz 11 mitt 20mm
German orders
Your battlegroup is supporting the main attack by the 198th
Infantry Division against the French at Delle. Your orders are to break through
French screening forces and cut the road leading from Delle to the Rhine thus
isolating French units who have already reached the Rhine east of Delle, so
they can be destroyed piece meal by counter-attacking German forces.
Notes
Weather is wet and cold with low cloud so neither side has
access to air support.
The French elected to hold one company in reserve off
table.
The table
French deployment
The SS arrive plus their support
The first few turns saw the SS advance under mortar and off
table 105mm harassing fire which caused casualties.
The Stug on the track exchanged fire with the French 57mm AT
guns, it managed to smash one on turn 3 but was knocked out by the other on
turn 4!
The French MMGs caused heavy casualties among the advancing
SS, the Sdkfz 11 mitt 20mm moved forward and silenced one gun, but was knocked
out in return by the second 57mm (its second kill)
Two SS platoons on the left were shot to pieces by the
.50cals of the French recce, these broke and ran, a desperate attempt to rally
the survivors by the 3rd company`s commander failed on turn 8.
Lucky for the SS the pioneer platoon arrived that turn also
and added their weight to that weakened flank
With their mortars and the Panzer IV eliminating French
positions on the right, it looked like the SS might well break through, but the
off table 105mm bracketed the Panzer on turn 10!
A few more rounds of general fire fight saw the French lose
most of their positions above the road, but their reserve company was about to
enter the table and 1st Armoured also arrived on their far right
(the SS left). At this point the SS had no chance of cutting the road, so the
game ended.
Final SS positions
French reserves
French 1st Armoured
A tough ask for the SS, maybe a few rounds of off-table
mortar fire may have softened up the French? Certainly without any artillery
support the dug-in French with ample .30 and some .50cal weapons backed by both
battalion and company mortars and the off table Cannon Company drained the
infantry companies before they could really get into the fight.
