The Sound of Drums - A British Hearts of Iron II AAR

dieppe wa designed to test the feasability of attacking and holding a moderately defended port for a period of time before withdrawing.

It failed miserably with catastrophic losses but the lessons learnt were incorparated into D-Day
 
The Sound of Drums: To the Last Man - A Company of Heroes AAR
Part Two​


8th May - 5th June 1940
The Battle of Dunkirk

The VII Corps and the 1st CFC Division had spent over four months in their positions at Lille, spending the time preparing for Operation: Hangman. When the Wehrmacht finally began their attack into Belgium, most of the men of the 1st CFC were surprised when they were ordered back west to Dunkirk. Rumours had a way of spreading in the army, and the fact of a second German Army Group heading down the coast was known well before General Davo confirmed it.

On the 15th May the men returned to a Dunkirk that was far from prepared to deal with a German attack. At Lille they had used four months to construct extensive fortifications and prepare defence plans, drilling at every opportunity in preparation for the expected German attack there. By contrast, Dunkirk had only been used as a transit point for new troops arriving from Britain and was never expected to be a major defensive region in the coming battle. As such there were few defensive structures beyond a number of Anti-Aircraft guns and bunkers, so the VII Corps were forced to construct a new defence line with the knowledge that a German attack could come as soon as a week.

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Bock's Second Army Group enters Ghent

Field Marshal von Bock was kind enough to allow them a fortnight. With two failed attempts at encircling the British positions at Dunkirk - including one attempt by sea - he was now forced to launch an unsophisticated direct attack. His army group was under-strength, but being initially comprised of seven infantry and two armoured divisions it was more than a match for the British army south of him. At 1100 hours on the 5th June, after ordering a brief intensification of his artillery, he began his attack on Dunkirk.

The 1st CFC Division was not taken off-guard. The French were in a state of retreat at Valenciennes and Compiegne, and Bock was expected to follow up with an attack of his own. The first warning of a German offensive came with the end of the artillery fire - the VII Corps had been under constant fire for several days now, but the hilly terrain had given them some protection. Confirmation of the attack came as forward trench positions reported massive amounts of German infantry and armour approaching. Those manning these trenches stayed long enough to report the German numbers, then fled back to stronger fortifications.

Sitting further east, the 1st Infantry Division had control over VII Corps entire artillery reserve. As soon as word came that the Germans had begun their attack and the 1ST CFC’s forward positions had been abandoned, they fired.

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German forces under fire.

Immediately following the bombardment came an offensive by the British armoured divisions, who hoped to destroy enough of Bock’s attacking force that the rest would either fail to break past the main British defence lines, or that the German commander would withdraw his forces completely. Initial reports seemed hopeful - the German armoured cars and mechanised units were useless against even the British Stuart tanks, despite their large numbers. It was only when the Panzers arrived that Wehrmacht superiority in ground battles became so apparent.

Colonel D’Artagnan, commanding the 5th Armoured Regiment, was not surprised by the strength of the German tanks and was quick to develop a strategy against them. “One [Stuart] tank to take the Krauts attention, two to run past and hit it from behind,” he remembered. “It was just a pity for the poor bastard who had to take the hits.”

While Stuart losses were high, the new Crusader tanks managed to achieve some parity with the Panzer III’s. Though rarely able to defeat a Panzer III in a one-on-one encounter, two Crusaders could quite easily outmanoeuvre and defeat a single German tank, which was slightly better than D’Artagnan’s requirement of three Stuarts. However, as with the Stuarts the armour on the Crusader tank was thin in order to allow for better speed and manoeuvre, and their losses were still steep. With such heavy armoured casualties, the British attack was faltering simply through attrition.

010ik6.png

British tanks come a poor second to the superior German panzers

There was worse to come. The unexpected strength of the British counter-attack held back the Germans for two hours, even forcing the withdrawal of two of their infantry divisions, but Bock was absolutely determined to break the British lines at Dunkirk. At Mons he had an additional armoured and two infantry divisions, all of which began their own assault towards Dunkirk at 1300 hours.

Field Marshall Equuleus of the BEF was now forced to send in his reserves at Lille to prevent this new force from outflanking the British forces at Dunkirk. Regardless of whether or not he achieved victory at Dunkirk, it meant that German forces further east were now free to launch a fresh offensive at French positions without fear of the BEF hitting their rear lines. Von Bock’s attack, though still far from decided, had now achieved its main strategic aim…
 
could we pleas see the strategic map of northern france.

at least we held the blighters, but then again, thats all the germans needed to do...

dark days are ahead gentlemen, dark days.
 
I say we get out of there.

That, and apoint some cigar-smoking never-surredner gent as Deputy PM.
 
I like this idea a lot!
 
*looks up from his game of croquet*

How bad could it bloody be over there? get off your arses and point the correct end of the gun at those jerries.

They're a bunch of unorganised Barbarians, just shoot the horses out from under them
 
Raisin Bran said:
I like this idea a lot!
Click to expand...

Well technically the restructuring of the Cabinet of Doom hasn't happened yet, as I'm going to write about it in Part Thirty-Two. If you want to switch position, there's still a chance.

Captain2 said:
*looks up from his game of croquet*

How bad could it bloody be over there? get off your arses and point the correct end of the gun at those jerries.

They're a bunch of unorganised Barbarians, just shoot the horses out from under them
Click to expand...

Simple as that, eh? So you won't mind if we switch any troops destined for India to Egypt and France instead? :p
 
Kan' Sharuminar said:
Simple as that, eh? So you won't mind if we switch any troops destined for India to Egypt and France instead? :p
Click to expand...

certainly... perhaps a few of our chaps en route from India could teach them how its done


If the Japanese attack we'll be able to force them back with three men armed only with drums and a flute, anyone up for a round of British Grenadiers?
 
anychance of an update old boy?
 
That 'Real Life' thing has sort of exploded on me in an epic way recently, hence the lack of updates. I'll try and get something done for the weekend though :)
 
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