Battle for Caen scenario - Goodwood - Atlantic

[Bob Hanna]

Just a quick note on the LW 16 Feld Div.

It was in bad shape before Goodwood. It appears that the division was also hit hard in the previous Operation Charnwood actions in which to British and Canadians captured all of Caen on the other side of the Orne. One source indicated that they had lost 50% of their strength in that operation.

If you add the fact that they had just been subject to a major bombing by allied heavy bombers and the overall low quality of their officers and NCO's its not a surprise that they folded up so quickly.

 

[Bie]

If you add the fact that they had just been subject to a major bombing by allied heavy bombers and the overall low quality of their officers and NCO's its not a surprise that they folded up so quickly.

Correct. For the moment I've modeled them in a way that they should fold quite easily. They were indeed heavily depleted by the previous battles and were totally dazed by the overpowering air bomberdement of the Allies.

 

[Bie]

Haven't been able to work as much on the scenario as I would have the past few days. I've been mostly polishing the OOB and letting the AI do some test runs, which are turning out better than I hoped.


Here is a sneak peak at an Allied breakout. Such a mass of troops!

 

[panzerpit]

It really looks awesome!

 

[col.sanders]

Looks Great Bie,my other comp has a failing hard drive just got this new comp with a little more muscle looks like i might need it.Can't wait to check this one out.Still trying to get my saved info off of old hard drive.

 

[Bie]

A thing that has been lurking in the back of my head is the fact that 6th Airborne Division still held a position east of the bridgehead at Pegasus Bridge. They were not used in the Goodwood and purely had a defensive role. Historically they didn't fight during the operation and only had some light artillery fire directed at them. For this reason I'm not putting them in and I'll have to make a somewhat ahistorical frontline using the 3rd Infantry Division.

I've also read that Churchill Crocodiles were used in Goodwood. After a bit of research I've identified them as the 26th and 79th assault engineers companies (not completely sure about the naming though). Anyway the Crocodiles are in and attached to the 11th Armoured.

 

[jimcarravallah]

A thing that has been luuring in the back of my head is the fact that 6th Airborne Division still held a position east of the bridgehead at Pegasus Bridge. They were not used in the Goodwood and purely had a defensive role. Historically they didn't fight during the operation and only had some light artillery fire directed at them. For this reason I'm not putting them in and I'll have to make a somewhat ahistorical frontline using the 3rd Infantry Division.

. . .

Rather than an excursion with the 3rd ID, have you considered using the 6th Airborne defenders in a static defense situation to replicate the historical front line?

It would keep the 6th Airborne assets from moving to join the attack and leave the 3rd ID to be used as it was during the timeframe.

 

[Bie]

Rather than an excursion with the 3rd ID, have you considered using the 6th Airborne defenders in a static defense situation to replicate the historical front line?

It would keep the 6th Airborne assets from moving to join the attack and leave the 3rd ID to be used as it was during the timeframe.

I have indeed thought of doing that. But when I look at other scenarios the static units are most of the time garrisons or AA-sites, not whole formations. While I know it can be done, I don't have any experience in actually implementing such a mass of static units.

I'll give it a shot though and see how it will turn out. Of the top of my head I'm going to leave out the Tetrarch recon unit (which would have been shot up quite badly anyway) and the brigade/division bases. The rest (includig the hq's) I'll just make a copy of the units in the estab and make them static.

Luckily I've got the full oob of the 6th Airborne from my Sword to Caen scenario. So I can just export it from there and decide where to plop down the units on the map. All in all it shouldn't take that much time.

 

[jimcarravallah]

I have indeed thought of doing that. But when I look at other scenarios the static units are most of the time garrisons or AA-sites, not whole formations. While I know it can be done, I don't have any experience in actually implementing such a mass of static units.

I'll give it a shot though and see how it will turn out. Of the top of my head I'm going to leave out the Tetrarch recon unit (which would have been shot up quite badly anyway) and the brigade/division bases. The rest (includig the hq's) I'll just make a copy of the units in the estab and make them static.

Luckily I've got the full oob of the 6th Airborne from my Sword to Caen scenario. So I can just export it from there and decide where to plop down the units on the map. All in all it shouldn't take that much time.

I don't think the unit type matters for static units. I believe it's an order to hold a position while other forces move.

In terms of the scenario, it would replicate a blocking force ordered to hold the shoulder and protect the flank while the remaining forces advance -- pretty much the focus of the 6th Airborne on the extreme left flank of the Normandy beachhead.

 

[Bie]

The 6th Airborne is in place. The rest of the Allies should now also have their correct starting position. By now the total units amount to more than a thousand. This scenario is MASSIVE.

 

[Bie]

The Goodwood - Atlantic scenario has been released. Just check the Battle for Caen scenario pack in the resources section.

 

[john connor]

Fantastic, Bie. Can't wait to play it. But I will wait for the new build, for obvious reasons...

 

[Sean Oliver]

From my own research into Normandy, it seems by summer '44 the 1.SS-Pz.Div. was a mere shadow of its former self, and probably could not qualify as an elite unit anymore. It was never as effective as the best Wehrmacht Pz.Divs anyway, or even Reich or Totenkopf.
Leibstandarte had an especially tough time during the previous winter in Russia, burned out after retreating a thousand kilometers through the cold Ukrainian mud, overwhelmed by Germany's no-win strategic situation caused by the division's namesake. Most of the 'old' 1.SS division were gone. They were replaced by non-voluntary transfers of superfluous Luftwaffe ground crew, and 'Germanic' conscripts from Romania, Poland etc. They were not the well-trained enthusiastic soldiers of 40-42, and it showed. In Normandy the Leibstandarte's performance was mediocre compared to the other Panzer divisions. Hell, even some of the German Inf. Divs in Normandy seemed to perform better than 1.SS...