En este escenario se enfrentan dos fuerzas blindadas de tamaño considerable. Los alemanes disponen una masa de tanques ligeros (PzI y PzII) y un grupo significativo de tanques medios (PzIIIF y PzIVD). Los franceses presentan una gran masa de tanques medios (o "de caballería", según la denominación francesa). Los tanques franceses "Somua S35" son con diferencia los mejores de todos ellos.

Los franceses disponen de muy escasa infantería y algunas baterías de cañones AT, entre ellos los poderosos 47 APX. Los alemanes disponen de una muy superior fuerza de infantería y una artillería fuera del tablero considerable.

Los franceses defienden el terreno, amparándose en las poblaciones repartidas por el campo de batalla. Los alemanes entran por el este. Ambos bandos consiguen puntos de victoria (VP) por destruir unidades enemigas y tomar hexes de ciudad.

Los alemanes entran con la infantería por delante, ya que el envío de sus unidades blindadas primero habría sido un suicidio. En efecto, la potencia AT de los cañones 47 APX y de los "Somua S35" habría convertido rápidamente en chatarra a las avanzadillas blindadas germanas.

Metódicamente la infantería alemana va atacando los hexes de ciudad defendidos por los tanques franceses, que lentamente van siendo desalojados o destruidos. No obstante, los franceses resisten bien en el centro y bastante bien en su ala derecha, donce ceden terreno a costa de elevadas pérdidas del enemigo. Sin embargo, el ala izquierda francesa es desbordada y las avanzadillas alemanas consiguen llegar hasta las últimas poblaciones francesas del oeste. Al final del turno 24 el comandante francés se retira y otorga la victoria al rival. No obstante, la batalla ha sido muy reñida y el bando francés podría resistir bien en el centro y ala derecha, aunque la práctica desaparición de sus ala izquierda le supondría a la larga la pérdida de la batalla.

Magnífico escenario donde se aprecia que a pesar de las grandes masas de tanques es al final la infantería quien decide el resultado.

LECCIONES TÁCTICAS

a) Los tanques franceses deben situarse fuera de las ciudades, cortando el paso de los atacantes. Si se despliegan en el interior de las ciudades están es desventaja por la carencia de infantería propia.

b) Los tanques franceses deben desplegarse al este de las ciudades, en terreno despejado y esperarán la aproximación de la infantería enemiga para desgastarla con fuego de oportunidad.

c) Los franceses deberán controlar los principales nudos de carreteras para poder trasladar rápidamente refuerzos a los puntos en peligro.

d) La artillería francesa bombardeará prioritariamente aquellos hexes donde sus tanques hayan sido asaltados.

e) La infantería francesa se desplegará prioritariamente en aquellos hexes de ciudad que sean al mismo tiempo nudos de comunicaciones, al igual que las baterías de cañones AT.

f) Los alemanes mantendrán los tanques PZI y PzII a retaguardia y a cubierto, dada su fragilidad ante el fuego AT enemigo. Sólo los hará avanzar cuando éste haya sido neutralizado. El resto de tanques alemanes avanzará por grupos intentado flanquear a los tanques enemigos para beneficiarse del "fuego cruzado".

g) La artillería alemana bombardeará prioritariamente las posiciones localizadas de baterías AT enemigas.

Author	Schoenwulf
Method	Solo
Victor	Draw
Play Date	2021-09-05
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF009

Battle: On the afternoon of May 13, 1940, units from General von Radlmeier’s 4th Panzer Division were moving west about 4 miles past Hannut when they encountered elements of the French 3rd Division Légère Méchanique. At 1330 hours, a French Somua destroyed a German Opel Blitz pulling a 75mm IG on the north flank. However, the primary German schwerpunkt was the small village on the French south flank, which endured a strong artillery barrage before the German combined arms force hit. By 1530, the Germans had a strong foothold on the village, and a major armor battle had begun spreading southwest from there. The German 88mm, which had set up on the east central ridge, fired with deadly accuracy and eliminated a Somua group from the north village, but French OBA dispatched it shortly thereafter. The long-awaited German reinforcements that had been promised by General Hoepner finally arrived at 1730 hours but still needed to make their way to the front lines. As twilight approached, two German Panzer II groups and a motorcycle platoon had broken through the French front line. They disrupted the French troops, but the French still hung on to some of the east villages. The Germans finally took the targeted schwerpunkt, but well behind schedule at 1945 hours. As darkness fell, both sides were exhausted from a hard day of battle with neither side achieving its goals.

Analysis: This scenario is a 4-map, 30-turn scenario with VP’s based on enemy unit elimination and town hex control. The Germans have a large number of units and can either advance across a broad front or develop one or two schwerpunkts. So, the French need to cover the front initially and are best set up in towns or dug in (stay out of the woods) because the Germans have brutal OBA for the first four turns. The Germans need to identify French positions early so that they can use their OBA to weaken areas of French strength. Hence, the French are best set up a bit back from the German point of entry on the east edge; that way, they can avoid artillery barrages as they can’t be sighted for a while in limiting terrain. Both sides have pretty good mobility with plenty of armor units. With the OOB in this scenario, it can’t help but turn into a major armor furball, and it did about 10 turns in. Then it becomes a question of maneuvering to get enfilade shots on the enemy. In this way, the scenario provides a good representation of the actual battle as described by historians. By the halfway point in the game, the French were in a strong position due to the strength and FP of their armor and AT units. The Germans need to get flanking shots to add to their armor FP, but they were unable to successfully penetrate the French defense, which was separated just enough to catch the German tanks. A remarkable shot by French OBA that took out the German 88 was also key, as the other German AT units must be very fortunate to get a hit on the French armor with its strength of 3 or 4. In the last 7-8 turns, the Germans pushed to break through to the west and gain control of some unoccupied town hexes that were worth 2 VP’s each. The final result of the battle was a draw; the Germans had 97 VP’s (55 French steps lost and 21 town hexes controlled) while the French had 96 VP’s (54 Germans steps lost and 21 town hexes controlled). The French ended up losing 11 tanks to the German 9; however, the remaining German tanks had taken 8 more step losses than the French ones. The scenario was well balanced and interesting from the standpoint of defending against a very large force with a group of well armored defenders.

Dubbed the first tank battle both Vince and I were loking forward to his one. Large German forces advancing from the east come across a thin French infantry line backed up by excellent French armour. Initially the Germans made little headway, losing some infantry to artillery and a couple of PzIIIs, the German commander was looking a little glum after our first session however I felt that the next turn would be crucial as French lines were now being stretched and already some Panzers had out flanked the line and were making towards the rear and the French artillery park, and so it proved as between 1500-1530 more German infantry poured onto the board and French tank losses mounted. The efficient use by the German commander of infantry to assault the slower French attacks while the Panzers unleashed shots into the flanks was a model of combined arms attack to which the French had now answer. A local counter attack did cause some casualties to PzIV's and at least lifted the morale of the troops but the writing was on the wall and the French commander condceded the battle. This is a good scenario and I have rated it a 4, although the secnario as a contest was finished about half way through the 30 turns this may have been down to the choice of a forward defense line by the French commander and even though Herr Hughes gave me a sound thrashing I would consider playing this one again. (Just not for a while)

For the French I decided on a line defense roughly running north-south across the middle of the battlefield including the southern village on bd 28 and the hamlets north of it. I found it difficult to decide where to place the roadblock but finally put it on the northern rim of that same village blocking a possible approach from the north. I decided to keep the tanks in the back as flexible reserves who could be employed any time when necessary. The German attack was two- pronged with the main weight on the south intending to occupy the eastern villages as soon as possible. Initially it was my intention to make it a combined attack but decided on grouping the PzI's and II's together as freely roaming packs to occupy the hinterland. The PzIII and IV would support the infantry. Soon however the French counter attack with the tanks decimating the weak panzers while the terrific French 47mm's wiped out the support tanks. Up until.. the frightening 88mm was deployed on the northern hills. My first play with an 88, it was a blast.. :-) After deployment it picked off one H39 after another with a few steps of S35 to boot. The French tried to neutralise the threat but it did not work because In the meantime the German infantry was working on the French infantry defense and were successful in doing so. At 17.15 the French called it a day only occupying the nortwestern village with its remaining S35's. There were no French infantry leaders left. All H39's were destroyed while 13 S35 steps remained. The Germans won a major (124 VP against 82) but the cost was high: only 3 steps of PzII and 3 steps of PzIII remained. The battleground had turned into one giant scrap yard.

Nice medium sized scenario with a plethora of choices you can make on attack and defense. Lots of armor to move and shoot with and don't forget the 88mm. A deserved 4!

The victory conditions are clear. Each side has to take/hold towns and eliminate enemy steps. Each side has plenty of armor but what a strange group of tanks. Some are under-gunned and over-armored. Some have adequate guns but very light armor. Some have light armor and no guns! The French deploy a deep defense with the intent of requiring the Germans to assault as many towns as possible. They locate their AT and armor wide to set up cross-fires.

The Germans advanced cautiously to move into cross-fire positions of the first line of French. As they approached French armor broke ranks and charged the German armor. This counter-intuitive move blasted many more German steps than French steps. Score one for the brave (suicidal) French tankers. The Germans continued the assault through the first village. Steady progress with steady casualties. Be sure to bring and protect that ENG unit!

The German 88mm was the only gun that could confidently take out the heavily armored French tanks. So it is another of those "how do a get a gun in place and unlimbered without the loaded trucks getting blasted by AT or bombed" problems. This 88mm managed to blast two tank steps before unceremoniously dispatched by the French arty on the next hill.

The remaining German armor (mostly reduced units) spread wide to encircle the remaining French armor. There was a complicated array of cross-firing from both sides. I even had to use markers to remember which tank got attacked from which hexside!

Although it was fun combined arms scenario it wasn't fun for the French player. The Germans scored a major victory. Maybe a point defense would have been better.

Germans Eventually Breakthrough At Hannut

This was Wayne and I's first FoF scenario and the boards and the scenario conditions looked interesting. Bags of town hexes on the boards and for both sides, points per casualties inflicted and towns taken were the crux. But what made this a real poser was could the very tough and well armoured French tanks, when stretched out along a line, beat off the quite flimsy but numerous tanks of the German attacker?

‘The Witch’s Cauldron ’

Scenario played 25th October 2010

Attacking from the east, the Germans needed to pile through the numerous town and village areas that bordered the main road, The first main built up area of around 2km long was only some 1.5km ahead of the German attack forces. The French had defended this with most of their infantry, but had also had to defend further north where another and more rural road ran from east-west. The heavy French Somua 35’s and the not exactly weak Hotchkiss 39’s had to spread across the front. Some seventeen platoons in all, around 70 tanks would face the mostly weak German PzI’s and II’s, (about 50 of them) supported by 20 Pz III’s and 8 Pz IVD’s. The Germans though would concentrate their forces in one area, and for this they chose the route through the heavy town area where their infantrymen could support them well AND be aggressive against any enemy armour there.

The Germans launched their attack at 1300 hours, with a battalion of infantry in support of the tanks and a lot of OBA assigned to the sector. Despite this, in the first half hour, it was the Germans that lost the most troops as around 50 casualties (2 steps) were sustained going forward. But after this initial set-back a troubled German commander was finally able to get some co-ordination into the assault and this resulted in three enemy AT batteries and a couple of Hotchkiss tanks (1 step) being knocked out over the following hour. Not that the French were inactive either. They too eliminated two Panzer III tanks (1 step)and some more infantrymen. The battle was certainly tight with both commanders experiencing difficulties in their battle-plans. For the French Commander, he was simply stretched across a front and despite his obvious superiority in tank models, was finding it difficult to block all avenues to the Germans. The German was given the headache of trying to make his tank force effective. The French tanks, given the chance would blow holes through his Panzers and he therefore had to advance cautiously and avoid the French tankers getting a jump on his own machines. So for the first two hours, progress was very slow and frustrating for the attackers as they experienced a 6 to 2 tank loss and even a 100 casualties amongst the men.

But it was the infantry that were to provide the key to opening the French defence for the Germans. As they entered the area where the villages began, they were able to slowly, but usefully press along the built up streets and get in close to the French tanks located there. The French were short on infantry and were now being forced to try and stem this steady advance with just armour in some areas. As they did this, elements of the PzI’s and PzII’s meandered through some of the undefended parts of the towns and were able to breakthrough to ‘The Green Fields Beyond’ and begin speeding headlong to claim the undefended French towns and villages that were far to the rear. It resembled the very slow bending and then cracking of a dam as first just droplets of the enemy filtered through, followed by a steady trickle with an impending gush looming.The effect meant that the French were now experiencing not only being stretched to their front, but seeing complete chaos to the rear leaving German Panzers and some motorcycle platoons to roam free and set up controlling these roads in the rear areas.

Now the worse began to happen for the French defenders. The German infantry began engaging the French tanks close up, and often in the tight streets of the villages and towns. Not only did this cause horrible French casualties and a loss of cohesion, but it also meant the German tanks could navigate around their foe and fire flanking and rear shots into them. The carnage proved absolute! From 1500 hours to 1645 hours, no less than 38 French AFV’s were taken out as well as around 100 infantry casualties. Also, the aforementioned motorcycle recon units had manage to start directing OBA at the French 75mm batteries positioned well to the rear.

The game was now up for the Frenchmen ! Nothing else could be done to hold this sector despite the best and frustrating efforts early on. At 1700 hours, the French commander conceded the field to the enemy and was forced to pull back en masse. End casualties were German step-losses of 4 INF, 1 MTC, 1 88mm, 8 AFV steps. The French losses came to 5 INF, 4 AT batteries a staggering 20 tank steps. Manyfold town hexes of the 45 on board had been lost !

I rated this a 3. Good game, but given a 30 turn length, we only made 16 hard fought turns before the French through in the towel, albeit after some really tough fighting. I like a rating of 4 to go closer to the end than that. All that said, it is a 'good' 3, because it really did give me a paracetamol needing head-ache in the first session where I found it just so tough to get at the Frenchie tanks and was forced to think of ways to do so and avoid the puny Pz I's and II's being turned into scrap!. The points totals were hard to finally compute. In losses it was a 49pt to 22pt German advantage. Most of the towns had fallen and there are 90 pts of them on board. So perhaps with 30 town hexes taken, the score would have been around 109pts German to 52pts French ? Wayne even stated that had the battle continued for the remaining 14 turns, unless he exited the board, he would have expected total annihalation!

To sum up. It appears the key to any forward defence, as this one was set-up to be by the defenders is all about how that line holds. How the German disposes of his tanks upon entry and the crucial tank battles between the opposing forces. As this is the first play of this one, it will be interesting to see how others follow?

These France 1940 scenarios are very interesting to me. The French always appear to be outmatched by the Germans, but they somehow manage to wear the attackers down and get more draws and victories than I would expect. Their infantry have pitifully low firepower, but terrain often works to their advantage, as does their almost entirely defensive stance (in the scenarios I've played thus far). In this scenario they do have a genuine firepower advantage though, in the form of their tanks.

The French forces held a number of small defensive positions all along the line, with a few infantry and ATGs interspersed among tank companies. The German plan was to demonstrate against the southern and central portions of the French line, while trying to break through in the North. Unfortunately, their big northern tank push of PzIII and PzIV tanks was smashed by the French tanks and ATGs lurking behind hedges. German infantry clawed their way forward, picking up ground slowly, battling mobile tank companies here, there and everywhere.

In the south, a scratch force of German infantry and infantry guns found some seams in the French line and infiltrated deep into French territory. As the final turns played out, the exhausted French pulled back and the equally exhausted Germans consolidated their control of half the town hexes on the board.

The French had inflicted grievous losses on German tanks and a fair number of infantry, but their inability to cover the large towns meant they just lost a minor victory and had to settle for a draw.

The French have a lot to protect and not really enough to do so, especially when it comes to infantry. What they do have are their armor and the APX At guns. The German pushed his panzers forward looking for some crossfire opportunity. This resulted in the armor getting ahead of the infantry. The French armor and AT guns took advantage of this and reduced a number the German tanks. The Germans got their 88 set up on the ridge and started raining down some thunder on the French armor. The French were able to bring their artillery to bear on the 88, but could only cause some disruption. This also meant they were not hitting the infantry with it as they closed on the first towns. The French armor had to make a choice, go for kills or withdraw from the threats. The chose the kills and continued to have some success. For the first several hours the French were winning with more kills while protecting their town. The German reinforcements were over an hour late, but they turned the tide. The Germans eventually punched some holes and were able to start isolating parts of the French defense. With no escape they fought hard but were simply worn down and eventually overwhelmed. The Germans learned that their armor was not as strong as they had felt and paid the price by leaving a lot of burning steel on the battlefield.

Author	treadasaurusrex (Germany)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	plloyd1010 (AAR)
Play Date	2022-01-22
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF009

This was a fun-filled, 6-session, online match that featured my gracious and hard-fighting mentor, leading the French side. I took the Germans in an extended holiday season play-through that was marred only by repeated deletions, and/or unexpected additions, to the counter mix once they began moving on the 4-board map. We had to replace a number of units that simply disappeared, and delete those that appeared in new positions on multiple occasions. For once, I think that this phenomena is due to more than my sloppy gameplay moves. In play, I noticed a frequent flicker on the map and sometimes on the turn track which prompted more saves than are typical for us. This seemed to happen more frequently after our 2nd session, at least on my screen at home, which is an Apple iMac. This may be an emulation problem in my uninformed opinion.

This play through was all about seizing & holding assorted Belgian town hexes and inflicting step losses. The final score was 102 for the Germans and 65 for the French, resulting in a major German victory in spite of my inept play. The 4th Panzer Division simply had more infantry (16 platoons) to bring to bear against an armor-heavy (only 5 infantry platoons) task force from the 3rd French Light Mechanized Division. The good news for the French was that their tanks (S-35s and H-39s) were markedly superior to their German counterparts and they had significant on board artillery assets (3 platoons of French 75s). The bad news was that it is very hard to hold ground in the absence of decent infantry support. Grinding German close assaults eventually told against the slowly weakening French ground troops and AT units. The French Commander was crucially constrained by having to hold ground with his armored units, resulting in most of his tanks becoming immobile pill boxes in town hexes. These were progressively pinned in-place by German close assaults.

Among the most memorable events that occurred in this play-through were: 1) two German Force Commanders were eliminated in combat by bombardments, not once, BUT TWICE, resulting in decapitation rolls and temporary command chaos, and 2) the French artillery proved itself deadly against the German 88mm platoon.

I give this scenario a 3, only because it was fun to play -- for the Germans -- though it is clearly unbalanced and too long at 30 game turns. We played this one without the FOW rule, but with consolidation, smoke, extended assault and strategic movement. My distinguished & venerable opponent conceded the game at the and of turn 11. This scenario would be significantly improved in terms of balance by reducing the number of game turns from 30 to 15, and adding at least 2 more leaders and 1 or 2 more infantry platoons to the French counter mix.

Author	plloyd1010 (France)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Germany
Participants	treadasaurusrex (AAR)
Play Date	2022-01-22
Language	English
Scenario	FaoF009

When it comes to holding ground, the best holders are infantry, what the French get here is tanks. There are also a lot of open town hexes scattered around the map. There is the crux of the problem. The French have an inadequately supported attack force on a defensive mission.

The fundamental French plan was to hold a couple of larger town sections and shoot a lot of approaching Germans, then get out of the way. That sort of worked, but not enough. The Germans advanced down both east-west roads. The moved along the center ridge to take up a fire support position.

The northern force drove quick to the mid point of the road. The northeast villages fell without a fight. Some lucky hits with artillery disrupted some motorcycle and motorized infantry, but since that wasn’t the main part of the action, I let it go. When the Germans ran for the northwest town I had an opportunity. I had setup a defense of the middle town with clear, though weak fire zones to the north. When some German armor ran down the road, I let it go (low odds of a hit), but then some motorized infantry ran the gauntlet. I took the shots at the loaded trucks. An AT gun and a motorcycle platoon made it through to join the earlier armor. Of course that town was taken too.

The main action took place in front of the large, southeastern town. I had abandoned the northern arm of the town, as it was too exposed. An infantry block was placed at the end of the bottleneck and armor, and an AT gun covered the approach across and around the fields. I fully expected to loose the town eventually, but hoped to make its fall a Pyrrhic victory. The plan worked reasonably well. The porous nature of the town/woods approaching the bottleneck allowed my opponent to divert enough force to engage, but not flank the area behind the town.

German reinforcements had arrived via the northern road and joined the battle through a gap in the hills. This threatened the northern flank of my withdraw. The southern part of the large town fell to other German infantry as the tanks fought in front of the town. In the meantime, I also sent 2 tank companies to cause mayhem in the northwest town.

As the large southeast town fell, and attrition was telling on the French forces we called it as a German major victory. While I could have regained much of the northwest town, at least temporarily. With 16 turns more to go, the situation was irrecoverable for the French Army.

Had this been an open ground fight, I expect the French could have done better. As it is, the French are unbalanced on the armor side and have little staying power, especially for the required 30 turns. I would like to know how the shared play that resulted in a draw came about.