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#4505796 - 02/01/20 03:49 PM Steel Fury STA mod - Op Bluecoat  
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
33lima Offline
Senior Member
33lima  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
Belfast, NI
11th Armoured Division, VIII Corps, British 2nd Army, Normandy, 31 July 1944. Tactical HQ of 'A' Squadron, 23rd Hussars, south of Hill 226, near Caumont

[Linked Image]

All right chaps, settle down and listen in! ORDERS!

INFORMATION
Enemy Forces: You all know that Jerry gave the Scots Guards a bit of a hammering on Hill 226 yesterday. However, the enemy is now pulling back
south towards Vire, to more defensible positions. In our area, the crossroads at St-Martin-des-Besaces is reported to be defended by a small
rearguard with a few towed and SP anti-tank guns, precise dispositions unknown. The good news is that the really big SP guns the Jocks met yesterday
are believed to have withdrawn!

Friendly Forces: It's Day 2 of Operation Bluecoat and VIII Corps is continuing to attack south, towards the high ground around Mont Pincon, to
prevent Jerry from concentrating against the big American break-out near St Lo. Our Brigade Group is on the right flank of the Corps effort, next
to the Americans.

Attachments & detachments: For this morning's show, we in 'A' Squadron have with us a motor rifle platoon from 3 Monmouths, in half-tracks.
We will also have a section of Honey light tanks from the armoured recce boys, covering our open right flank.

INTENTION
'A' Squadron will seize and clear the village of St-Martin-des-Besaces.

METHOD
The attack will be in two phases: Phase 1, secure the Town Square; Phase 2, secure the Hotel de Ville. Check these locations on your maps, now.

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For Phase 1, the Squadron will attack 'two up'. 1 Troop will lead on the left, 2 Troop on the right, with 3 Troop [player] behind, with the motor rifle platoon.
Squadron HQ will be in the middle. Axis of advance will be the road to St Martin, to our right as we move off. About 300 yards short of St Martin, the leading
Troops will halt and take up covering positions, to the left and right. 3 Troop [player] and the motor rifle boys will pass on through, assault St Martin and
'go firm' at the Town Square.

Once the Monmouths and 3 Troop [player] have reached the Square, the rest of the Squadron will move forward to rejoin. On my order, 3 Troop [player] will then exploit to the west,
and clear the Phase 2 objective - the Hotel de Ville. 1 and 2 Troops will support from the flanks.

3 Troop [player], it's vital that for Phase 1, you keep close to the infantry - the motor rifle boys will need the close-in firepower of your guns, especially
after they de-bus to make the final assault on foot. Be ready to move on to Phase 2, once the Square is secure.

The artillery chaps will hit the open ground and hedgerows in front of St Martin with short barrages, timed to fall just ahead of us, which should provide a
certain amount of excitement. Do be careful not to drive into it! St Martin itself will not be shelled if we can help it, as we don't want to make too much of
a mess or more importantly, cause avoidable casualties amongst the civilian population we've come here to liberate.

'H' Hour is in 10 minutes.

ADMIN
No change.

INTERCOMMUNICATIONS
Callsigns for today:
- Squadron HQ is WILLIAM
- our three tank Troops will be WILLIAM 1, WILLIAM 2 and WILLIAM 3
- the motor rifle boys are IGLOO 1
- ...and the recce section is RUPERT 1

Any questions? Right, chaps, that's all, then. Brief your crews quickly and get ready for the 'off'! Good luck and good hunting!

********

The OC's O Group breaks up and the three Troop Leaders quickly make their own plans. I've soon briefed my tank commanders in 3 Troop and I survey the scene ahead from the open hatch of my Sherman. In front are a couple of the Monmouth's half-tracks, with the two Shermans of Squadron HQ just in front. 1 Troop's tanks are in position out on the left, with some of 2 Troop visible on the right. The Honey light tanks of the recce troop are out of sight somewhere further out on that side. Up ahead somewhere, as yet unseen beyond the Norman hedgerows, is St Martin de Besaces, our objective. This is it!

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..to be continued!

Attached Files shot_2020_02_01_14_54_27_0000.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_54_31_0001.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_55_03_0003.jpg
Last edited by 33lima; 02/01/20 07:52 PM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

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#4505809 - 02/01/20 05:20 PM Re: SF '42 - Op Bluecoat [Re: 33lima]  
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
33lima Offline
Senior Member
33lima  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
Belfast, NI
The promised barrage starts noisily. Gouts of grey smoke erupt around the hedgerow several hundred yards to our front. Tanks and half-tracks begin to rumble forward.

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'Driver, advance!' My Sherman lurches into movement. Out to my right, I can see the reassuring sight of my troop's Firefly with its long 17 Pounder gun.

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The motor rifle boys are racing ahead in their half-tracks. As they near the hedgerow, and just in time, the barrage eases off as the gunners adjust their aim. 'Driver, speed up!'

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We reach the hedgerow and I call a halt, having drifted a bit further left than I had intended. The tanks of the other two troops have already crunched through the dense shrubbery and are now somewhere up ahead, to left and right of my own troop's four tanks.

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To the right, the Monmouths are debussing. Khaki-clad figures mill about clutching Lee Enfields, Brens, PIATs and tommy guns.

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The gunner has a good view of them through his sight. An HE round is already up the spout and the co-ax is also ready for action, but there's nothing for him to shoot at yet.

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The infantry shake out and resume their advance on foot, followed by the half-tracks. Just ahead of me, the nearest tank from 1 Troop has nudged thought the hedge and halted to give cover, while I pass through and stay with the Monmouths to provide intimate support.

[Linked Image]

After a bit of pushing and shoving, my troop's tanks break through the hedgerow and race after the infantry, bouncing past or over the fresh shell craters. Artillery fire is still dropping up ahead somewhere, but there's now also the vicious rattle of rifle and machinegun fire. Time to get stuck in!

[Linked Image]

...to be continued!

Attached Files shot_2020_02_01_14_55_42_0005.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_56_33_0007.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_56_54_0008.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_57_44_0009.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_58_28_0010.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_58_38_0011.jpgshot_2020_02_01_14_59_09_0012.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_00_28_0013.jpg
Last edited by 33lima; 02/01/20 05:36 PM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4505826 - 02/01/20 06:48 PM Re: SF '42 - Op Bluecoat [Re: 33lima]  
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
33lima Offline
Senior Member
33lima  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
Belfast, NI
We're now grinding our way into the outskirts of St Martin. There's a lot of shooting going on. To my right, the infantry's half-tracks are pressing ahead down the main road into town, with another further away passing something that is burning furiously.

[Linked Image]

Keen to get over there, I swing right and after scrunching through some bushes which are tougher than they look, I reach the verge of the road. There I halt, while the gunner scans for targets.

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There's still nothing to be seen - I'm not even sure where the rest of my own troop is, in the close country. On the other side of the road, the Monmouths are doubling across some open ground towards the built up area. They seem to be getting on well, and the town square is not far ahead.

[Linked Image]

Suddenly, a low-slung SP gun appears to the left of the road. My first round is the HE one already loaded and to make matters worse, my gunner's aim is too high. A tracer lashes out from the enemy and there's a clang as we're hit somewhere. Not good!

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The gunner's next round is an AP and this time he gets a hit. I order him to fire again.

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The SP shuts up and I roll forward again, halting to put another round into the SP, just in case. Two other Shermans leap frog past me; they are obviously more convinced than I am, that the SP is out of action.

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By now we've reached our Phase 1 objective, the town square. Up ahead, something is burning. The Monmouth's half tracks pull off the road and go firm on either side.

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Off to the right, some dismounted troops are crossing the square using fire and movement. I get a glimpse of my troop's Firefly. I could have used his help with that SP!

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Phase 1 complete! The other two tank troops roll up to secure the objective. The OC comes up on the blower and orders my 3 Troop to press on to the Phase 2 objective, the town hall. So far so good, but we're not done here, yet!

...to be continued!

Attached Files shot_2020_02_01_15_01_21_0014.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_01_39_0015.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_01_56_0016.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_02_24_0017.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_03_20_0019.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_05_34_0021.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_07_27_0022.jpgshot_2020_02_01_15_08_10_0023.jpg
Last edited by 33lima; 02/01/20 07:18 PM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4505832 - 02/01/20 08:13 PM Re: Steel Fury STA mod - Op Bluecoat [Re: 33lima]  
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
33lima Offline
Senior Member
33lima  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,712
Belfast, NI
On we go! I should perhaps have ordered 3 Troop into single file but we've done ok so far so leave them in line. I keep to the left-hand verge of the road, which affords a little cover. Up ahead, the burning vehicles look to be Jerry MT which has tried to make a break for it. Right ahead is the silent SP - one of those assault guns, a dangerous foe for any Allied tank.

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Driving straight down the muzzle of one of those things makes me very nervous. So for want of any other targets, I order the gunner to put another couple of AP rounds into him. They have quite thick frontal armour apparently but at this range we should be able to do him some harm. Even if he's already dead.

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Taking no chances, I have dropped my head inside the turret. You can see the bare metal from a glancing blow on the upper hull to the left of the bow gunner's hatch. We were lucky to get away with that one!

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I halt cautiously at the crossroads next to the town hall, from which the Nazi flag is still flying. Not for much longer! Resistance seems to be over.

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The boss thinks so, too. On the radio, he gives us a little verbal pat on the backs and orders us to go firm and watch out for counterattacks. Which we do, with 3 Troop's Shermans now moving up either side of my own tank.

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Well, that wasn't too bad, but if every battle was against worse odds, then none of us would last very long. One of my Troop corporals seems to agree, settling cosily into a position to my right.

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Back at the town square, Hussars and Monmouths are in full control.

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The victory hasn't been bloodless, though.

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The enemy has paid a higher price, though.

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As well as the towed and SP A/T guns, there was a second assault gun knocked out, too.

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All in all, not a bad day's work!

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Last edited by 33lima; 02/01/20 08:29 PM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4509410 - 03/04/20 01:34 AM Re: Steel Fury STA mod - Op Bluecoat [Re: 33lima]  
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 6,659
carrick58 Offline
Hotshot
carrick58  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 6,659
As always Good Reading 33 Lima.


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