5/23/40 British assault at Arras

[robot]

Arras France
5/23/1940
0900 Hours

I Have been given command of 2 companys of the finest British troops and one company of canadian rough necks from the yukon territories of canada. We also have 2 companys of tanks for support. We are to assault the german lines at Arras. We have managed to round up more then a company of engineers to clear the mine fields for us. each company will be proceeded by at least 3 platoons of engineers. We have gotten 4 sec of mine clearing tanks to help as well. We started our advance with a heavy bombardment all along our front as close to the mine field hopefully on the mine field at precisly 0900. This will continue until our engineers get too close to the field then it will be moved back in rolling barrage to maybe do some damage to the troops behind the field.

Earlier this month our troops fought the X SS panzer group to a standstill. Our hope is to severly cripple the enemy to give our boys time to make it out of Dunkirk. I understand it is a mess there trying to get enough boats so as to get our boys out of France.

Dont have any idea of the strength of the enemy are the armor support he will have today. We have been given 3 Batterys of 8 inchers and one of 4.5 so our artty should be able to help us. Hope they are able to blow a hole in the mine field hate to be held up too long out in the open.

The canadians are to advance along our north flank to take an objective that is maybe 500 yards behind the mine field on top of a small hill. they will have to cross some swampy areas to get there. I understand this will slow there approach somewhat. I believe they will take the longest to get thru the mine field so I dont expect any help from them with the middle.

A and B Co will advance up the middle along a road. A to the north of the road and B to the south of road. The road runs east to west between there two objective in the middle of the map. The two companys of tanks will advance along this road so as to get across several bridges across at least 3 streams. This is so we dont lose any tanks in the streams as I figure we will need all the tanks we have. Once across the last bridge they will then fan out so as to have two platoons behnd each company as we advance on the hills that the objectives sit on. Once across all the swamp and streams the ground becomes very good for moving tanks on.

Hq: VII Royal Dragoons
Col: Nigel Kingsly

[robot]

Arras France
5/23/1940
0920 Hours

Our engineers have moved up to the mine field and have begun to remove some of the mines. That is some of the lead units have reahed the fields. Did not expect the germans to send over any planes. Caught us by surprise not much in the way of fireing at them as they made there passes. Did not even hit one of them. But they sure did a lot of damage. 2nd platoon of D company lost a Matilda also lost a mine clearing tank from A company. Not to mention the loss of two 50mm mortar. and at least 15 men from A company plus 2 bren LMG and one Heavy Vickers. Having a tough time getting A company moving again as they have all went to ground. had to pull my lugar and theatin a couple of engineer units with death before they would get off there assses and move forward again.

We have managed to start moving our towed guns up to the line. Supply was able to round up maybe 3 trucks for each company so we are running a sort of a ferry back and forth as we try and catch them up with the forward lines. Should be in position within the next half hour. Some heavy stuff has been comin in for the last 10 minutes with some loss of life. Took out an ATR squad few minutes ago. dam round landed right on them they had no chance.

Has been some sparodic fire from there side of the wire nothin of any volume and has been very ineffective so far. managed to eliminate 2 of there squads with fire from 1st platoon D company. All five tanks laid in a heavy fire on there positions and wiped them out this has been the extenct of the combat so far. Will be glad when we can get thru the mines and spread out and start kicking there butts back to germany. Have laid some fire in on suspected 81 mm Mortar sights. seems to have cut back the fire from there dont really know how well we did as yet. North flank having some trouble getting to the mines due to a heavy swampy area they had to travel thru. South flank has gotten almost all there engineers to the field and are well into clearing it. I look to have troops thru the wire in the next 30 minutes still dont know how deep the mine field isyet.

Hq: VII Royal Dragoons
Col: Nigel Kingsly

[robot]

Arras France
5/23/1940
1000 Hours

An hour into the battle and just now southern flank has gotan 50 yd wide path through the mine field
Some troops have begun to file through the gap. They are running into heavy resistance tho. Having a hard time trying to get the troops moving seems to be one heck of a congestion trying to get everyone thru the small hole. The constant bombardment with 105s and 4.5 has added to the mess as well. Nobody wants to move from ther fox holes. for fear of being killed by an incoming shell. Platoons are split up and spread all over the place as some brave soldiers have no fear and move forward while ther comrads hide and refuse to move.

I believe the cannadians in the north will never make it thru the mines. The field up there is 2 and three rows deep. Plus they have several tanks sitting on a hill overlooking the field and are pouring a rain of death down on the engineers as they work. have brought up the 2 pounder AT guns and they have begun to fire on the tanks. Have taken out 3 of them so far but we also lost two tanks to the enemy fire from the hill.

A company has ben decimated from several runs by there stuka dive bombers. Squads have been cut down to 4 and 5 men. They wont have muvh of a force if they ever do get thru the mine field. It is 2 rows deep here as well. The engineers are really earning there pay today.

We are pushing them back whenever we find them. they are masters at camoflauge and very difficult to see and find. south flank has maybe 450 yards to there objectives but it will be a very bloody ground to take. This is going to be a very tough battle and i am unable to say right now we will be very successful. it is a confused battle field right now and i am working hard trying to get them all organized into a group again. Some units are at least 300 yards away from there leaders due to the constant bombardment. Our guns have been unable to locate there artty dump maybe if we could drop a few rounds in on them we would get some relief from this hail of death.

Hq: VII Royal Dragoons
Col: Nigel Kingsly

[IBTyrone]

[X(]

We need more smoke, Colonel Kingsly!

Nice AAR, Robot! Keep up the good work.

[robot]

We are getting our asses whipped. The engineers have breached the mine field but it is death to move thru. We can not see anybody on the other side. The constant bombardment from there side has about broke the moral of our men. They can not shoot at all. It seems to me that at 150 yards they ought to get lucky some time. Once one of the squads opens up on one of there squads they return fire with devastating results. We have lost at least 5 whole squads to this withuring fire. There stukas took out all 3 mortar squads of A company. Also both HMG and at least 2 LMG squads. Plus I dont know as yet how many squads of each platoon. There is so much confusion from suppression I am having a tough time getting them to move forward even 50 yards at a time. I am getting to where I dont know what the heck I am going to do to even get thru the minefield. Was recieving so much fire from the surrounding hills I have been laying in smoke for the last 25 minutes. WE can not see them and then all of a sudden they rise up from the ground and take out half a squad. I have just about used up all the ammo for the big guns.

The Engineers have done a tremendous job cutting a hole thru the lines under the worst of conditions. There guns have been firing almost constantly from the opening shots of this battle. They are taking a heavy and terrible toll on us. Where our guns dont seem to make a dent in there forces. This is the first battle I have seen so much carnage. More then half our tank force has been either destroyed or put out of action. Just for instance the kind of trouble we are having with them. Our tanks spotted a lone stug sitting on top of a hill. They opened fire on it getting at least 7 dead on hits and didnt even dent it. It returned fire and took out 2 tanks and crippling one other with 3 shots. This is the way this battle has gone all day.

Hq: VII Royal Dragoons
Col: Nigel Kingsly

[robot]

Arras France
5/23/1940
1020 Hours

High command has called and sent orders we are to pull out and save what we can. WE have lost well over half of co A and B and C are down at least a quarter of strength. We have suffered a major defeat here today. At least 3/4 of our tank force has been destroyed. There is no way we can recoop from this fight. We will abandon the field with our tails between our legs. We wil take some time to rebuild and to train some more before we attempt to hit the germans again. This is a dark day for the british Empire. The mine field was just too dense and we never got a cohesive advance going. Mass confusion was in charge today which I was personally responsible for. We must face the fact we were not ready to meet the enemy today. I just hope I havent cost the lifes of all our comrads at Dunkirk with my actions here today. I do vow to make this one of the best fighting forces in the british arsenal tho. if they allow me to command these men after today i vow we will avenge our friends we lost here today.

Hq: VII Royal Dragoons
Col: Nigel Kingsly

[PimpYourAFV]

Nice story. Thanks for this. This is a good change from the usual easy wins most stories are about. robot, you should upgrade your mortars to something useful cause they unfortunately will never ever cause casualties. And wow, you got a lot of engineers and eng tanks! Dude, you should consider putting your British campaign stories all on one thread so newcomers can enjoy your nice stories in one set. IBTyrone referred me here and I would have missed this without his link. I'm gonna check out some more of your goods. Keep writing dude. [:)]