Battle of the Beachhead - New Romney
27/9/40
The Germans, having wrested the skies from the RAF, and packed very last available U-boat around the RN's bases, launched their long anticipated invasion of Britain on the 26th of September 1940. Transport Fleet B landed the 25 Infanterie Division before Littlestone-on-Sea and Dymchurch. Although the Germans gained a firm footing on British soil progress was less than desired. On the left flank the 111 Infanterie Regiment was chewed up by the 7th Somerset Light Infantry on the beaches and failed to make progress. However the the 109 IR supported by Panzer Abt D had better luck overwhelming the inadequate defences at St Mary in the Marsh and pushing a mile or so inland.
Unbeknownst to the Germans the British had gotten wind of the invasion a couple of day previously and had started moving their reserves towards the threatened beaches. On the night of the 26/27th elements of the 20th Armoured Brigade arrived at the beach head. Supposedly close behind are the Cruisers of the Queen's Bays
The 27th dawns overcast and foggy. The weak armour of the 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry stands before the panzers, hoping to delay them until the arrival of the Bays. At the same time the Germans are keen to remove the threat to their flank and take the "fortress" of New Romney
Map and Order of Battle
The red arrows and numbers indicate the location of modern pics of the battlefield. For the pics follow the link.
British Deployment
All British infantry and artillery may be dug in in entrenchments (-3) with the exception of C Coy 7th SLI, X Defence Regt and the 9.2" railway gun
HQ, Support Coy 7th SLI, and the 160th Railway Construction Coy must be deployed within 6" of any BUA making up New Romney.
A Coy 7th SLI must deploy within 6" of any BUA making up Greatstone
B & D Coy 7th SLI and 6 Commando must deploy within 6" of any BUA making up Littlestone, but not on the beach and not on the golf course
C Coy 7th SLI and X Defence Regt are deployed in the area delineated by the pink dashed line around Ivychurch. They are NOT dug in
373rd Field Battery is deployed within the area indicated by the pink dashed lines
The 9.2" of E Battery must be deployed on the railway south of point Y. Its command must be within 6" of the gun
The 6" Coastal Battery is fixed at the point indicated. It is in a concrete revetment (-3) cover. The crew are not with the weapon and must be in a BUA of Littlestone or Greatstone
The FO for B Btty 56th Heavy Regiment may be placed in any BUA
2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry are deployed in the area delineated by the pink dashed lines
The Queen's Bays are a reinforcement arriving turn 4 at the earliest. They may arrive down road A and/or B. The tanks arrive on turn 4 on a roll of 5-6, turn 5 on a roll of 3-6 and automatically on turn 6 if not already arrived. Roll in the orders phase of the turn before the potential arrival. The tanks arrive in road column, so each vehicle after the first gets 3" less move on table on the first turn than its predecessor
British Fortifications
There are two brick built pill boxes (-5 cover) within 6" of any BUA. Each box can contain a single stand. Each pillbox has 12" of wire and mixed mines around it on three sides
German Deployment
Most German units are deployed in the deployment zone indicated by the pink hashed lines
The Divisions Stabs Kompanie is a reinforcement turn 3, it arrives down road C
Reinforcements
No reinforcement can arrive within12" and LOS of an un-demoralised enemy stand. If entry is impossible, the reinforcements can enter a turn later up to 12" from their indicated entry location. If entry is still impossible move 12" further away every turn until entry is possible.
Terrain
The map is an 10ft x 5ft area if playing 1"=50m, North is towards the top of the map
The open ground is fields. The open ground is studded small stands of trees. Individually these don't make much difference to LOS but over a distance they tend to obscure vision. Max vision in the open is 24", 48" from a steeple or tower.
The green dotted lines are tree lines and hedges. These break LOS and give -1 cover to all stands. Any stand on a road with an adjacent hedge is assumed to be adjacent to the hedge
The thick blue line is the New Sewer, basically a big drainage ditch. Personnel and tracked vehicles take a BMA to cross. Manhandled guns and wheeled vehicles cost a 2xBMA. personal stands (but not towed guns) in the ditch get -2 cover from shooting from outside.
The thin blue lines are ditches. Personnel and tracked vehicles are not impeded in crossing. Manhandled guns and wheeled vehicles cost a BMA. personal stands (but not towed guns) in the ditch get -2 cover from shooting from outside. Where there is a tree line along the ditch the ditch and tree line are assumed to be one obstacle, so a stand adjacent to one is considered adjacent to both.
Red lines are roads.
The green area is Littlestone golf course. It is an undulating area of land studded with trees. Accordingly LOS within is restricted to 6". The terrain is not hard edged so stands outside can see 6" into the terrain
The yellow area is beach - it is counted as open ground with unrestricted LOS along it
The large grey squares are 4x4 stone BUA's, The small grey squares are small BUA's that can hold a single personnel stand. The simple town fighting rules are in effect.
Air Support
The RAF were to make a maximum effort on the 27th. The idea was to have aircraft waiting for dawn to get the bombers over the beaches before the superior Luftwaffe could get their fighters across the Channel. The Luftwaffe's support was less then it might have been as most of the Luftwaffe was required to try and keep the RN at bay
The turn after the fog lifts (see below) the RAF get four planes over the battlefield: 1 Bomber/Attack, 1 Light Attack and a pair of Fighters
The turn after that they get 1 Bomber/Attack and a fighter
Subsequent turns roll 1d10, on a 10 roll on the following table: 1-2: Light Attack, 3 Attack/Bomber, 4-5 Fighter & 6 Attack/Bomber plus Fighter
The turn the fog lifts the Luftwaffe get nothing. The turn after that roll 1d6 on 6 they roll on the following table: 1: Attack, 2 Fighter, 3 two Fighters, 4-5 Fighter and Attack
For the RAF the light attack is a Lysander. Attack/Bomber is a Blenheim or Battle. The Fighter can be any of: Gladiator, Hurricane, Defiant or Spitfire. Randomise which.
For the Luftwaffe the Fighter is a Bf-109E or Bf-110C, the attack plane is a Bf-110C or Ju-87B. Randomise which.
Naval Support
The Kriegsmarine have two auxiliary gunboats off table. They are represented by counters that move along the east table edge. They may move BMA of 12" during the movement phase.
The Gunboats may not op fire
They make a class 4 HE attack measured from their counter up to 18" inland
Fire at the gunboats is conducted as if they are soft targets and a single hit is enough to put the weapon out of action.
As the boats are constantly moving they get a save vs IDF. If they roll 6-10 in a d10 any IDF attack is ineffectual
Air attacks may be made at the boats. Each boat has a pair of 37mm and a pair of AAMG's. They may only fire AA at planes directly attacking the boat. Any re-directed air attacks are assumed to miss the target they will not redirect on to land
Special Rules - Towers and Steeples
Churches and the water tower (point X). As the terrain is very flat the church steeples and the water tower in Littlestone are dominant features
One personnel stand in the BUA containing the tower or steeple gets improved LOS for spotting purposes only. It does not improve their shooting range but does improve the range they can call IDF. Assuming its not foggy the max LOS from a tower is 48". There is a "blind spot" of 3 inches behind any terrain that breaks LOS
Any tower may be targeted by enemy guns. To destroy the tower roll for an HE hit at -5. Destroying the tower does not effect the stand within but does remove the improved LOS bonus
Special Rules - Other
The game lasts 12 turns
The game starts foggy, with a max visibility of 4". On turn 2 the mist lifts on a 6. On turn 3 4-6, On turn 4 anything but a 6. The fog, if not already gone will disappear turn 5. Make the roll at the start of the movement phase
Victory Conditions
The Germans get VP's for: moving off point A or B; destruction of the 6" battery and destruction of the 9.2" battery. They lose VP's if their are enemy stands in proximity of point C
If the Brandenburger stands leave the table via point A or B on turn 6 or before, score 1VP per stand
If a PzKfw-III or IV leave the table via point A or B by the end of the game AND the Germans have more (or equal numbers) tanks in good morale on the table than the British they score 1VP each.
No tank that has left the table this way may re-enter
Touching the unmanned 6" or 9.2" gun allows it to be spiked, this gains 2 VP. If an engineer stand remains adjacent and halted next to it for an entire turn it may demolish the gun (the demolition occurs after the morale phase) this scores an extra 2 VP for a total of 4VP
For each British "tank" in good morale within 12" of point C the Germans lose 1VP. For each personnel stand stand in good morale they lose 1 VP. For each tank/personnel stand pair they lose a further 1 VP. For example if 3 tanks and 2 inf stands get within point C at the end of the game the Germans lose 3 VP for the tanks and 2 VP for the infantry. However as there are two tank/personnel pairs they get an extra 2 VP penalty for a net loss of 7 VP
For the purposes of VP's a "tank" is any armoured AFV. Good morale is not shaken and not demoralised
For a decisive victory the Germans require 9VP
For a standard victory they require 5VP - however the 6" gun must be at least spiked
Its a standard British victory if the Germans fail their victory conditions
Its a decisive British victory if the Germans fail their conditions and the British get 6VP's worth of troops in good morale within 12" of point C
References
4" Gun Trucks - WW2 Talk Forum - http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general/27049-4-inch-mobile-guns.html
British Armies in WW2 an Organisational History Vols 1, 4 & Supplement 1. David Hughes et al.
Defence of Britain Database - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/specColl/dob/ai_r.cfm?group=Kent%20coast%20defences
Geograph (source of the battlefield pics) - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/445218
Invasion of England 1940 - Peter Schenk
Ordnance Survey maps from the 40's - http://www.npemap.org.uk/tiles/map.html#603,125,1
Quarterly Location List Eastern Command 30/9/40
War Diary 45th Infantry Division (PRO ref WO/166/536)
War Diary 135th Infantry Brigade HQ (PRO ref WO/166/900)
Many thanks to Michael Lofthouse for supplying notes on the War Diaries and the Quarterly Location List