Agincourt 1940: Spenser UK vs Mistergreen FR

[Spenser]

H2H C&C UK-FR 2400 pts battle june -40
( No historical rationale attempted...)

The British commander swore at the neverending thunderstorm, the French had already reached some key positions along the north-south road he was ordered to capture. No time to wait and let them dig in, he would have to attack right away despite the mud. Wondering how many of those heavy armoured tanks they would have to face he gave the orders.
As the british mortars began smoking the northern hill, french howitzers began laying smoke at the forest edge in front of the same hill! Very interesting indeed...
Troops slowly advancing capturing the central hill but no enemy sighted inside the 700 meters the rain allowed.
Ok froggie, it’s your move...


Spenser

[mistergreen]

Some enemy movement has been detected north, south and center. Two heavy tanks classification Matilda II has been spoted and two 2-pounder ATG guns has been unloaded. Time to call in the artillery.

[Spenser]

Due to technical difficulties British and French commanders decided to fight it out another day (with better weather...)

Now, the British Commander mused, his troops would be able to
use their superior mobility.
French howitzers laying smoke at the foot of the southern hill while British mortars smokescreened a high nortern hill behind the french lines.
In high spirits the Brits charged ahead up the central hills to be able to spot... nothing...

Now Frenchie where are you? Come out and plaaaaaay!!

[mistergreen]

The sun is shinging and the brits are storming over the hill. Time for some figthing. Light armored cars carrying AT teams seems to be leading the advance with heavy Matildas II following in the north and center while only light vehicle has been detected in the wooded area to the south. The French tanks advance and the gunners demonstate their skillz while trying to hit those fast moving screening forces. Only one hit that bounces off. If the French cannons cant destory light armored cars one can wonder how they will perform against heavy Matillda tanks.

In the central village a British AT-team scares of some French scouts but suddenly a armored cars speeds around the corner with a driver set upon runnig over some Brits only to discover that his car lacks that ability. But the machine gun gets the job done.

Nearby some scouts manage what the tanks failed to do. They stumble upon a armored car and rapidly assualt and destroy it.

[Spenser]

So the froggies have a lot of armor...
we have counted 10 char2d and 5 s-35 and at least 6 panhards...
Well, we know their weakness it's just a question of exploiting it. Long distance shots traded, blew up two trucks and killed some scouts and one panhard got a turret damaged.
On the other hand two brit ACs found out the hard way that the wise french commander have put some ATGs covering the flanks, and good shooters they are too:mad:
No, got to keep a stiff upper lip and a cool brain, thats how to beat this enemy

spenser

[mistergreen]

The tank count stand at seven MatilldaII and a pair of Crusier MarkII. A 3in AA gun and two 2 pdr AT gun stands in the way of my tank advance too. Meanwhile the brit has captured two clusters of victory hexas that grant vp over time. Not much action from the French side but some heavy artillery called in over one such cluster.

[Spenser]

Heavy art shelling in the south, will they charge now?

One panhard gone as well as the crew of a second...
And the crew of a third has had its air condition improved by at least 4 matilda shots :p
A cruiser shot hit a hmg so bad they dispersed at once, but the best news was the scout car and atr inf that stumbled upon three 60 mm mtrs and exterminated them all as well as the truck before the scout car was hit by a atg. Now the adjacent ammo carrier had better start running

Spenser

[mistergreen]

Another panhard gone. A truck "charging" in the south gets fired upon by a Crusier Mk2cs and comes to a halt. The carried infantry dives for cover and pops smoke.

[Spenser]

... but the french ammo carrier wasn't fast enough so a at-rifle shot from the rear put it out of its misery...
An all fronts news are encouraging: in the north a char gets immobilized by a portee and another is being assaulted by scouts and inf.

In the center a brave brit squad charges into the village and kills an atg and routs a hmg and scouts. The previously perforated panhard couldn't stand another hit.

Southwards a portee gunner is promoted after taking out two panhards and a truck in 4 shots, Hooray! That paved the way for a scout car to drive off a mech squad. A cruiser blasted the truck that was previously halted and sent that mech squad running. A panhard and another truck getting to close to the objective area was forcibly dealt with as well.

To sum it up: Satisfactory

Spenser

[mistergreen]

Time to panic. Part of the front line a starting to look very unstable. A char managed to scare the crew of a cruiser and they bailed out. But a little further south a Sumea S-35 is lost when trading shots with Matilldas.

[Spenser]

Yep, the french northern front is reduced to shambles with only 3 chars left, each with its own characteristic: one immobilized, one running and one at least not firing back

In the middle though the french armor pose a threat so a Matilda platoon is now diverted from the north. Our brave infantry has killed an atg, hmg and a panhard in the village and routed a few more units so the village is clearly under brit control but those hated 60 mortars are a nuisance.

In the south the atg we had learned to fear was finally taken out by scouts when it no longer had inf cover. Also advanced a bit retreating some mech & eng squads in the forest according to the principle "better do unto them before they do unto you"

Some bad news too, commited two special forces squads against a panhard behind the french lines but got carried away and ended up killing some of my own while the enemy is unhurt, can only hope we scared the **** out of the crew...
Also the artillery situation is not as hoped but that is also the case
for the enemy :rolleyes:

All in all: most satisfactory!

Spenser

[mistergreen]

After 60mm mortar soften then up a few French scouts advance upon the British infantry in the village and forces several squads to retreat. The english commandos bad day continues as another panhard joins the fray. But more British commandos has been spotted behind the French line. Along the rest of the front line shots are traded but without much result.

The French heavy artillery have finally come back from their break and 105mm rounds are starting to rain down on a hill in the middle. With some luck it will scare of the Matillas that are hanging around on it.

[Spenser]

The Matildas remains but the barrage at the end of my turn might have shook them up a bit... Too bad my own artillery fails me...

Otherwise things look fine, mopping up in the north killing another char and giving a panhard that just arrived a really warm cruiser welcome!
In the south the probe has turned into an advance where a s-35, a panhard, a truck and two squads were dealt with.
In the village a fresh squad retreated the french scouts, Matildas and cruisers took some shots at the 5 chars at the northern side of the village but no real effects could be seen.
South of the village a s-35 at least had its suspension damaged.
And the hero portee who killed one of the panhards that were harrassing my spec forces , might cause the other s-35s some concern
Now, if we could only find those ever-firing 60 mtrs, and the ammo carrier i suppose are near...

Spenser

[mistergreen]

Both the north and south look bad, brit infantry are swarming in the village in the middle and commandos and a portree are causing trouble in the rear.

In the north a panhart making a run for it are blasted to pieces and in the south another unit that try to make a run for it gets a bad result. An ammo carrier hiding in a patch of trees next to a roaming Chevrolet WA while not spoted makes the bad decision to move away from it only to run in to another one. As the ammo carrier is detected a truck follows suit and retreats. Wonder what units are trying to make their escape?
Hint: For some reason the 60mm mortars are silent.

[Spenser]

Yeah, now they are really silent

One more s-35 killed and two damaged so i guess we have seen the last of them. In the north only two routed immobilized chars remain. A char close to the village killed by a cruiser

Got a portee damaged and found two atg covering the french rear, spec forces killed one and two chevrolets z-suppressed the other.

Tank score: 5 s-35 and 4 chars killed or damaged with 2 more chars immobilized versus 1 cruiser damaged.
But the french keep fighting with audacity!

Only setback being my mortars, three out of four malfunctioned during the first four turns

Spenser

[mistergreen]

Not much to say. A fine display of my great tactical skill. Have a hard time finding a unit that is not destroyed, routed or retreating. Time to stop the slugther and surrender.