A Nice Idea

You may have seen this pop up on other Blogs (I followed the link from Wargaming Girl). But thought I would add it here to show support.

Bloggers for Charity

The plan is to put on a French and Indian War game at Triples in 2014, to raise money for 'Help the Heroes' and 'Men Matter' (prostate cancer).  Any way go to the Blog to read all about the plan/game etc.. Here is the link again....bloggers for charity.

Building the Brecourt Gun Battery (Part 3a(?))

I've steadily been working on the four boards which will make up the area for the 'Brecourt Manor Assault'. Building the sides of the trenches has been the main priority.

Command bunker between Gun 2 & 3

Communication trench between guns 3 & 4

The communication trench does not feature in any accounts I have read but decided to add it, purely for aesthetic value. Though it will also be an entry point for any German reinforcements.

Looking down the communication trench

I'm using a mix of balsa and coffee-stirrers for the revetments. The idea being that when painted it will give variation in shade between the different pieces of wood.

Entrance to ammo bunker

The ammo bunker was originally going to be completely modelled onto the board, but I then decided to indicate the entrance to it only. Realistically I very much doubt, it would figure in play as a real bunker i.e. a place of safety. The piece of corrugated iron sheet to the right of the entrance is made from molded plastic. I've discovered that the Evostik wood glue used to attach the two uprights to the corrugated sheet does not dry clear over the MIG Pigment Fixer applied over the weathering powders on the plastic sheet. The wood glue has left 'tide marks', which should be repairable but something to bear in mind in future. Remember and make sure to wipe away any excess glue if mixing these two products. Otherwise as per usual the Evostik wood glue did a wonderful job.

Command Bunker

The walls for the command bunker are made entirely from balsa wood.

MG nest

One of the MG nests which are on the rear of the boards. The damage to the styrofoam in front of the position was caused by airbrush cleaner accidentally spraying onto the foam. So a second learning curve; when using this product, be careful what gets onto it otherwise hard work could be undone! I'm sure the foam melted because the cleaner was sprayed from an aerosol can, but caution is advisable.

I have started to add in the 'duckboard' flooring for the trenches. Once that is done then I intend to paint all the wood and then move onto adding some more detailing before painting the boards proper.  

Building The Brecourt Gun Battery.....Part 3

The work slowly creeps forward!!!

I've added ready mixed filler to hide seams, cracks and holes. Then gone over the 'earth' ramparts with modelling clay to give more shape to the structures.

I've also added in the wooden gun platforms. For the gun pits these have been made from sheet balsa, scored to represent the individual planks of wood and then distressed and painted. I painted these before gluing to the board. Balsa takes the paint well, soaking up the initial grey wash and then a black wash and then dry brushing with suitable lighter colours to highlight detail. For the trench sides I'm using a mix of coffee stirrers and balsa. The coffee stirrers/lollipops, do not soak up the paint like balsa.

The floor of this MG nest, is made from individual coffee stirrers. I found it was easier to apply a black wash to these, then a grey wash and then drybrush. Slightly more time consuming cutting individual lengths of wood and then distressing them, than working on a 'block' of balsa sheet. The wattle fencing is home made.

The wattle fencing was very time consuming, but does the job. After first pieces were glued in position, I realised the blue of the foam board could be seen. So I then went over all the trench/gun positions with black paint. Applied with an airbrush! Then glued in further pieces. The fencing has then been sprayed with various shades of brown, again using an airbrush. More work to do on these yet.

I need to finish off the trench sides and flooring, and then will nearly be ready to paint the surface of the boards.  
    

Brecourt Manor Gun Position (Part2)

The following show progress so far on the boards. At present they look more like a moon scape than a field in Normandy.

The model gun and paratrooper figure are there purely to give an idea of scale. I've carved out two MG nests at the rear of the board, and now the boundaries are marked out, the distance from the battery position will ensure that the MG positions will be a nuisance without hopefully unbalancing the game. The edging around the trenches needs to be sanded and then filler applied to smooth off/round off the banks.

 I decided to have two entrances into the area. One can be clearly seen in the third photo. Just to the left of what will become the first gun position. Current photos clearly seen to indicate a gateway to an adjacent field. Not sure if it was there in 1944, but decided to add it anyway. It should probably be slightly more central, but that would have put in directly in front of the first gun position. So a slight re-positioning was in order. The other is through the rear hedge line and is there for foot traffic. Should I decided to have German reserves in a game, it will a useful point for easier entry.

The hedgerow in front of Gun position 1, has had to move forward slightly due to a last minute decision to re-position the MG nest between Gun 1 and Gun 2.

It goes without saying still a lot to do.    

Building the Gun Battery at Brecourt

The following show the first steps in my first ever major project in building a wargames table from scratch. I have since the beginning of the year been purchasing the materials (and models) required to replicate this now famous action which took place on 6th June 1944.

To begin with I have made four wooden frames and then cut down some 600x600x25mm styrofoam boards to fit inside the frame. The following photos are not great but show the boards with the gun positions marked out (Hopefully the pen/pencil marks can be made out).

The off cuts of styrofoam are there to illustrate where the hedgerow/tree line will be. On the first photo I have not marked out the rear hedgerow which would contain the MG nests).

On this photo the rear hedgerow is represented by offcuts. At the moment I'm veering towards building in the  rear hedgerow with two MG nests in front of it to protect the gun battery. Using my ground scale of 1 inch= 2metres, the furthest MG nest would be about 80metres/yards away. So perhaps slightly closer than in reality, but it will mean I can contain the whole scene on a 4ftx4ft board. Though I will not be able to place on 'Lipton's tree'.

Next will be to cut out the trenches, and start to add in the details.

The Gun Battery at Brecourt

So how was the German battery at Brecourt Manor laid out? Well I have seen several variations on a theme, but the general consensus is that the four guns were placed so three were facing towards the East (approximate), to fire on Utah Beach, with the fourth facing North. The best illustration is the following;

This is based on a sketch plan drawn by Lt. Winters, and interestingly marks out five German MG positions protecting the rear of the gun position. The scale on the plan is approximately 1/2 inch=100yards. This would mean the gun battery is spread out roughly over a 200yard frontage; the distance to the MG nests from the gun battery at the widest point is 150yards. But even more remarkable is the point marked 'Lipton's Tree', which is some 300yards from the nearest gun! Which if taking into account 'Band of Brothers' TV series, Lipton is armed with a M1A1 Carbine. The effective combat range of that weapon is 300yards!

M1A1

This sketch plan can be found in the excellent 'D-Day with the Screaming Eagles' by George E. Koskimaki. Now I'm not faulting the sketch plan (it is after all a sketch plan!), but since I intend to make a model of the gun position to play out the assault by Easy Company, I obviously need to have an idea of the layout of the German position and approximate scale.

The ruleset of choice for WW2 skirmish action is the TooFatLardies 'Troops, Weapons & Tactics' (though perhaps to be superseded by the imminent release of 'Chain of Command'). The ground scale given in TW&T is 1inch=2yards. This means that that the gun battery would have to be placed on a frontage of some 100 inches, with Lipton's 'tree' being some 150 inches away! So that would be a board approximately 250 inches in length (just over 24ft), with a width of say 75 inches (just over 6ft). Not really practical for a skirmish game. Now another plan I found, shows the layout thus;

So here 1inch=50m, but I'll take a few liberties and convert that so 1metre=1yard (I'll stick with Imperial measurements for consistency). The battery now has  a frontage of about 150yards (I'm refering to the three guns firing on Utah Beach). The MG nests in the hedgerow behind are about 100yards away. Liptons 'tree' is about 50yards away. Again using the 1inch=2yards rule, the length of the board would be 100inches (or about 8ft), with a width of 50inches (so just over 4ft); better but still a large gaming table. N.B. This second sketch plan is very similar (or vice versa) to the plan which appears in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy No60 and the article on the attack and its gaming possibilities.

Ambrose, in 'Band of Brothers' describes the field containing the gun battery as irregular in shape with seven acute angles. This would appear to be this field;

The additions are my own, though a search on the web will reveal that this field has been identified as the site of the gun battery. Brecourt Manor is marked by the A. Le Grand Chemin is under the E.Co. bubble. The D913 leads SW to St. Marie du Mont. Despite visiting Normandy in 2011, I did not go to Brecourt Manor, but did visit St Marie du Mont and the museum at 'Deads Man Corner' (both well worth visiting), so I'm going to have to go on others opinion/knowledge that is the correct field.

Now realistically I have no intention of making the whole field in 28mm to game the assault on the gun battery. But what to include, what to leave out? What I have decided is to build a 4ft by 4ft board, and to place on that the four gun positions with hedgerows to the front. At the moment I intend to leave off Lipton's 'tree' and I'm undecided about the MG nests to the rear of the battery. I mentioned above the Lardies forth coming WW2 skirmish rules 'Chain of Command'. Now during one of the promo videos, a ground scale of 1inch=3yards is mentioned, so if I used that ground scale the area I propose to use for the model would equal approximately 150yards by 150yards.

The main area of contention is the MG positions protecting the rear of the battery. If I place them on the boards will they appear to be to close? I am considering making a couple of other boards which can be added if required, so the hedgerows with the machine guns would be placed on them. My main area of focus is the gun battery and the close assault by Easy Company. I've pretty much decided I do not want to have large areas of open (dead) ground which will probably play little or no part in the game. I am after all planning a game using 28mm figures/terrain to represent this small unit action. So for the sake of playability, liberties will have to be taken.          




                        

191st Artillery Regiment, Brecourt Manor

As the Paratroopers of the 506th PIR moved into Le Grand Chemin to their fore in the grounds of Brecourt Manor, was a Battery from the 191st Artillery Regiment, 91st Airlanding Division.

Now I cannot claim to have identified this particular unit from the sources I have personally or at least I cannot verify it was a battery from that Regiment which was positioned there from the secondary sources I own and have used as reference material. But the Skirmish Campaigns-Normandy '44-First Hours in one of the enclosed scenarios identifies it has being from the Second Battalion. Olivier Perrony (Perrys Heroes) in his recent article in Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy No 60 goes as far as to identify it as Battery No.6 of 2nd Battalion, 191st Artillery Regiment.

I would also draw your attention to this excellent site WWII Armed Forces OOB by Dr Leo Niehorster. In particular the following link to the organisation of the 91st Airlanding Division. This Order of Battle states that the 1st & 2nd Battalions of the 191st Gebirgs-Artillerie-Regiment (Mountain Artillery) were equipped with 10.5cm GebH howitzer.

This howitzer could be broken down for transport, on mules if necessary, since it was designed for use by the Mountain (Gebirsjager) Divisions.

Now The Lions of Carentan, FJR6, 1943-1945;  GRIESSER,Volker; states that on 6th June 1944, Major Von de Heydte (commander of 6FJR), commandeered the 4th and 8th Batteries of the 191st Artillery Regiment, plus a Battalion from the 1058th Infantry Regiment when he encountered them near to St Come du Mont. Plus GRIESSER states that St Marie du Mont was occupied by a company from the 1058th Inf. Regt. on D-day. All of these units were of course from 91st Airlanding Div..

From this information one can conclude that the units in and around St. Marie du Mont on the morning of 6th June 1944 were most likely to be from regular army formations. Now this is of some importance since there is debate/controversy/opinion, that elements of the 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment were in command/protecting the guns at Brecourt Manor. Yet the 1st Battalion, 6FJR at least does not seem to have begun its move towards St. Marie du Mont from St. Come du Mont until the afternoon of D-day. 2nd Battalion was to move from the same area towards St Mere Eglise and 3rd Battalion remain in the vicinity of Carentan/St. Come du Mont.

Its Stephen Ambrose in his Band of Brothers who makes reference to the guns being manned by Fallschirmjager of the 1/6FJR. Since the assault on the battery took place on the morning of 6th June 1944, this would contradict both Griesser and Steven J. Zaloga (with Ken Ford & Stephen Badsey) (Overlord, The D-Day Landings; Osprey (Compilation from Campaign series)) both of whom state 1/6FJR moved out afternoon/early evening. Is this confusion because Batteries from 191st Art. Regt. where attached to 6FJR and the 91st Div. was designated Airlanding (Luftlande)? Or because German units were dispersed throughout the Contentin Peninsula; were there in fact Fallschirmjager near to or at Brecourt Manor? At present I personally do not believe Ambrose is correct and I'm going to say no to Fallschirmjager at Brecourt.