| Tactics in 1940: The Fall of France
Scenario Thirteen: Lords of Steel, 14 May 1940
Part Three: 0900-0945 Hours
By Doug McNair
February 2010
The Lords of Steel make their stand against the German invaders in the final episode of my 1940: The Fall of France scenario replay. At the end of Part Two, the Germans had opened the road to the French left flank by destroying a platoon of tanks and sending more tanks and infantry through the gap. But the latter had been slowed by French artillery and small arms fire, while the attack on the French right flank had been all but repelled.
The French center is withdrawing in hopes of forming a shorter and stronger line to the south, but that will be complicated by the continued presence of a Grossdeutschland HMG in the central village and the deadly Bufla self-propelled artillery waiting to the northwest for more French tanks to show themselves.
The battle continues.
Turn Twelve: 0900 Hours
The destruction of the French tanks last turn drops French initiative to 2, but they still beat the Germans by one activation. The French Commandant activates and tries to rally the French right while sending a Lieutenant and an INF unit to plug the gap at the river on the left. One INF recovers to good order while a demoralized INF fails but does not have to flee since it’s already in a safe hex. A Lieutenant then heads west with an INF to plug the gap, and they reach their destination hex before German opportunity fire disrupts both of them. Another French INF on the road fails to recover and flees.
The reduced PzIVA unit then jumps into the assault against the French units in the northern village. The two German ENG units in the town are disrupted and thus half-strength, but the assault gets a net positive column modifier of +2 (-2 for assaulting in the town, +4 for higher morale, a leader, ENG units and tanks combined with infantry). That puts it on the 24 column, but French luck holds out and the Germans only roll a 2. The M2 result disrupts the French Lieutenant in the town and demoralizes the INF, but that’s far better than the obliteration they would have suffered on a roll of 5 or 6.
Fire from the French AT gun and HMGs in the southern village is ineffective and then German offboard artillery hits their hex, disrupting their Lieutenant and demoralizing the AT gun. French tanks then move off the road and through the woods, trying to run over the German Lieutenant there and get into firing position on the PzII on the road. The Lieutenant escapes and then jumps into the assault by the Grossdeutschland HMG against the remaining French INF in the central town, but neither side scores any damage and the French continue to hold out there.
Remaining demoralized in a town hex with a combined-arms German force is suicide, so the French rearguard in the northern town tries to recover from demoralization and fails, fleeing the hex. That gives the Germans a free shot at them, and with no negative modifiers for the town they fire on the 30 column. They roll a 5 for two step losses, wiping out the retreating INF for 2 German VPs but failing to kill the retreating Lieutenant. The Germans also score 2 VPs for taking the town back from the French, dropping the French VP score by 2 in the process.
Fire from the PzII unit on the road and French offboard artillery are both ineffective. Then the PzIIIF unit cuts around the French right flank and goes up on the hill to a point-blank position on the French Commandant and a demoralized INF, while the Lieutenant on the German left activates one ENG (which recovers to good order on its own) and moves back north to retrieve his fleeing, demoralized ENG.
The turn then ends on recoveries, with a French tank unit on the road behind the Commandant recovering to good order, the German Sergeant on the road near the French left recovering but the Grossdeutschland INF failing to recover and fleeing north into the woods.
The score is now France 13, Germany 12.
Turn Thirteen: 0915 Hours
The loss of the INF unit last turn drops French initiative again, and the Germans beat them 8 to 4 for two activations. The PzIII on the eastern hilltop charges down to run over the French Commandant, who escapes southward. The tank rolls onward, moving westward on the road to outflank the disrupted French INF unit holding the line by the river. German ENG units then advance to close the vise on the French line, and opportunity fire from the French HMGs in the southern village is ineffective but opportunity fire from the INF on the road disrupts an ENG unit.
French offboard artillery is ineffective, and then German offboard artillery demoralizes a the French INF on the left. With little hope of hurting the well-armored PzIIIF unit unless they can manage to get a crossfire bonus, the French try to rally the demoralized AT gun in the southern town but the attempt fails and the AT gun crew abandons the weapon for another 1 German VP. The PzII then fires point-blank on the French INF holding the road in front of it and scores an M result that demoralizes the INF! With the French left now officially buckling, two French tank units come off the hill to a point adjacent to the PzIII unit and backing up the French line but just outside of the LOS of the Buflas.
PzIVA tanks then charge off the hill, forcing a French Lieutenant off the road and rolling up to the trailing French tanks on the road. Meanwhile, all the disrupted Germans in the hilltop village recover morale. The French then begin a rapid withdrawal on the right, hoping to keep the encroaching German tanks from bypassing their line and taking the large town to the south. A demoralized French INF fails to recover and flees east.
The Buflas then move out of the northwestern village and into a firing position on the French tanks on the road, the trailing French tanks fire and miss the PzIVA unit that rolled up adjacent to them, and the lone good-order German ENG on the French right begins closing in along with its leader while the demoralized ENG still fails to recover. The Commandant rallies his demoralized INF just ahead of the oncoming ENG, and the Grossdeutschland HMGs in the central village still fail to budge the French INF holding out against them. Then the French left flank starts trying to recover, and after the first unit fails and flees to the river the turn ends on a Fog of War roll.
The score is now tied at 13 all.
Turn Fourteen: 0930 Hours
The Germans beat the French by one activation, and the Bufla opens fire on the French tanks trying to bolster the failing French left. It rolls an 11 + 4 = 15, wiping out the tank unit carrying the only French tank leader and scoring 4 German VPs. The French Commandant activates a chain of units through a Lieutenant, and French units assault the PzIIIF unit outside the southern village in an attempt to keep it from cutting behind the village and taking the southern town. An INF, an HMG and a Lieutenant go in after the tank while the Commandant just barely fails to rally his disrupted INF and the remaining French HMG in the town recovers to good order. But the German tank rolls a 6 defending against the assault, scoring an M2 result on the French and only taking an M result in return. The Germans pass the morale check easily, but both attacking French units become demoralized. The German tank immediately counter-assaults, scoring an M2 result that disrupts the French leader and inflicts a step loss on the French INF through compound demoralization for 1 German VP.
A French tank pulls back into the woods to get outside of the Bufla’s spotting range and to block the German ENG units coming in on the road from the east. Then a German ENG, PzII and a Lieutenant assault the demoralized French INF holding the road on the left while the disrupted units the Lieutenant leaves behind try to recover. The Sergeant fails to recover but the disrupted ENG does, and then the assault gets a +4 column shift due to higher morale, a leader, a demoralized enemy and combined tank and infantry. It hits the French on the 30 column and wipes them out for 2 German VPs.
The remaining French tank trades ineffective fire with the adjacent PzIVA, a French Lieutenant jumps into the assault hex with the INF unit holding out against the Grossdeutschland HMG, and German ENG units move down from the hilltop village to an assault position on a French tank. Then the Grossdeutschland HMG finally strikes home against the French INF in the central village, rolling a 6 for a 1 result that kills a French INF step for 1 German VP and disrupts the French LT that just joined the assault. But the other French INF step holds morale. The turn then ends on redeployments and recoveries, plus German offboard artillery demoralizing the INF unit with the French commandant.
The score is now France 13, Germany 21.
Turn Fifteen: 0945 Hours
French initiative is down to zero, but the Germans only beat them by one activation. They therefore try to cut the fleeing, demoralized French INF units off from the southern town by sending their PzII tank down there. One French tank unit fires at it because it’s shielded from the Bufla by a town, but the other doesn’t dare fire or it will be obliterated. The French tank misses and the German tank reaches the town, taking a hex to give the Germans +2 VPs and the French -2 VPs.
The demoralized French in the hex with the German tank try to recover and roll very well, with the full-strength HMG recovering and providing a rearguard for the reduced INF unit (which flees into the town to the south). German offboard artillery then hits the town where the INF just fled and scores an M result that demoralizes the HMG in the hex and wipes out the INF that just fled there due to compound demoralization for 1 German VP. The French Commandant tries to rally his demoralized INF and succeeds, but he’s immediately assaulted by a German ENG. Both sides roll well and score M2 results, and the Commandant becomes disrupted while the attacking ENG becomes demoralized. The remaining French tanks pull back toward the southern town and the Buflas bounce shells off them but just barely fail to score a step loss before they get behind a town hex. Germans stream southward on the western road, and the demoralized French HMG fails to recover and flees along with its disrupted leader.
Then the Germans on the northern road make a combined-arms assault against the other remaining French tank, attacking on the 24 column but only rolling a 1 while the French roll a 5. Both sides score an M1 result, and the French tanks become demoralized while all the Germans pass the morale check. French units fail to recover and flee, and the Grossdeutschland HMG finally wipes out the French INF in the central village along with the Lieutenant leading it for 1 German VP. But the HMG gets demoralized by French defensive fire, and the turn ends on recoveries and redeployments.
The score is now France 11, Germany 25. That’s double the 7 VP lead the Germans need for a Major Victory, and all French units except for one tank are now demoralized and/or pinned down in assaults. The tank unit is leaderless and won’t be able to do anything but back away from the Bufla and most of the Panzers, so there is no way the French can stop the Germans from taking most or all the remaining town hexes in the remaining five turns of the game. So, what few French units are able to retire and the Germans win a Major Victory.
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