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We have redirected the attentions of this page to report on
wargaming events which we have attended recently.
Below you will find a photo report of the battle the Society
presented at Salute 2009. The game was put on by Alan Butler, who provided
the troops terrain and everything else (thank you Alan), Chris Blackman,
Hugh Munro, and your Secretary Andrew Finch. Alan and Hugh played the US,
while Andrew and Chris were the Germans.
We presented a game of the battles round Minden in 1945 when
elements of the US army were repulsed over a period of 2-3 days by a scratch
force put together from the remnants of several German units.
The battle was fought using the Flames of War rules. An
important element of these rules is that each side must place an objective
in a specific area, and the capture of either objective by the attacker wins
the game, if he can hold it uncontested for a turn. The other important
element is that if troops morale fails, it can cause a cascade effect and an
attack can wither away. In the case of this battle, the American tank
company struggled to hang in there for two turns after it had reached the
point of collapse. Finally its morale collapsed, and that meant a victory
for the Germans.
Scroll the thumbnails to get to further images. There are 22
images in this gallery
US Forces: An infantry company with two platoons US Forces: Light tank and 75mm SPG platoons US Forces: A tank company of 3 platoons US Forces: A tank destroyer platoon German reinforcements arrive The US armoured thrust is blunted The german infantry defence
Minden is at the bottom of the picture Minden is at the bottom right of the picture. The German defenders deploy in the area behind a line between the nearer bend in the road and the area in front of the far hill. The US forces enter on the left of the picture The german defenders had an HQ platoon*, one platoon each of Panthers*, Mk IVs, Jagdpanthers, Panzer Grenadiers*, 88mm Flak* and SP Flak. Only half could be deployed at the start (marked *), the remainders arriving as reinforcements The infantry platoon deployed in front of the hill on the German right. The Panthers were nearby. The HQ platoon was near the town, as was the 88 battery. At the start of the game the Tank platoon made a rush down the central road... ..., while the infantry advanced on the US left flank. The defemnders were lucky to receive reinforcements near the start of the game and the Jagdpathers were deployed. The 88s and Japdpanthers inflicted some serious losses on the advancing armour and discouraged them a bit. The US infantry advanced towards the german defenders, who were dug in. As the tank thrust had petered out, the Germans decided to mount a counter attack to mop up the Shermans who were lurking round about. They had received Mk IV and SP flak reinforcements by this time. A view of the armoured thrust to repel these interlopers on German soil ! This view shows the allied right side of the battlefield. The same area viewed from the German side of the table. The allied forces are rather depleted This general view shows the battlefield from the German end at the end of the game.
Minden is at the bottom of the picture
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