The Battle of Mortain

- By Sean Smith

Introduction

In celebration of American Armed Forces Day Warlords decided to have a theme day on 17 May 2003. The theme that was chosen was ‘Mighty Empires’. I organised a multiplayer battle based on the Battle of Mortain for FOW players.

Historical Background

In a last gasp attempt to prevent the American Army breaking out of Normandy Hitler ordered the German Army to counter attack at Mortain, in order to capture Avrunches and cut off the supply route to Patton’s army.

Bradley was at his finest in the Battle of Mortain. He coolly calculated the bare of minimum forces he need to hold off the German counter attack, the remaindered being assigned to the breakout. He rightly judged that if he could hold off the German counter attack for a couple of days the German Army would shot its bolt.

What if Bradley had been wrong?

Campaign Map

Scenario Rules

Objective

The Germans would win if they capture Mortain and break through the American force, or if the American force was so weak at the end of the battle it was unable to prevent German force breaking through it. Any other result was an American victory

Forces

The German force was 9,000 points was unable to purchase air support missions.

The American force was 6,000 points and purchased 3 priority air support missions as part of the 6,000 points.

Deployment

The battle was fought on two tables length ways.

The German force deployed first (access to Ultra and air reconnaissance gave the Americans advanced warning of the German attack and its direction).

All German units were deploy 60cms away from the centerline.

All American units were deployed behind the centerline

None of the American platoons were in ambush mode.

All of the American platoons had the option of beginning the battle deployed in prepared positions.

Morale Tests Special Rule

No morale tests were made for company morale. Instead, both sides only had to make a test morale when over half the platoons in their force as a whole were broken.

Defeated German Commanders!

Victorious American Commanders!

Deployment

    German Deployment   American Deployment

Report

Dear General Bradley

Here is my preliminary report on the Battle of Mortain, as you requested.

As you know intelligence and air reconnaissance had alerted us to the German intention to attack Mortain. It also informed us that German force would refuse the American Left flank in favour of concentrating its attack on our Centre and the Right flank.

Forearmed with this knowledge I placed my most experienced commander, "Rapier" John Fletcher, on the Right flank and gave him command of the armoured company. His orders were to delay and weaken the attack on his flank, to avoid head on tank battles and to slowly withdraw to Mortain. John lived up to nickname the troops have given him.

I placed Steady Eddie in command of the infantry company, which was deployed in Mortain and on the Left flank. Two infantry platoons, the HMG platoon, the Mortar platoon and a platoon of M10s were deployed in Mortain. The towed artillery was deployed on the Left flank. It was protected by a Weapon platoon and a towed Tank Destroyer (TD) platoon.

Beginning

The Beginning

Ambushing Panthers

The battle began well. On the Left flank the towed TDs successfully ambushed and routed a platoon of 3 Panthers in cover and at long range (they need to roll 6s to hit)! However, this appeared to be only a minor set back for Germans, as the Panthers were followed by numerous SP guns and Grenadiers. These were in turn  supported by mortars and 3 tanks that were acting as artillery. However, the implications of the loss of armoured support on the Left flank only became apparent later in the battle.

In the middle the Tigers, followed by Grenadiers, rumbled forward.

On the Right flank Rapier disobeyed the letter of my orders and instead concentrated on fulfilling the spirit of them. He launched a series of brilliant counter attackers, in true cavalry fashion. These succeed beyond my expectations and seriously disrupted the German advance.

The USAAF launched series of air strikes. However, the AA cover provided by the 88s proved more than a match for the Thunderbolts.

In spite of our initial success it looked like were in for a very tough battle.

Middle

Middle

On the left flank a German Grenadier platoon advanced towards the Weapon platoon. Steady Eddie coolly ordered the platoon to wait until the Grenadier platoon was at close range before opening up, to avoid being spotted by enemy observers and pinned down by indirect fire. When it did opened up it killed several teams of Grenadiers and pinned the remaining grenadiers. However, Von Shane's grenadiers in an amazing display of courage quickly rallied, fired back and pinned the Weapon platoon. The Grenadiers immediately followed up with an assault on the Weapon platoon, in a textbook example of controlled aggression, forcing it to retreat out of its entrenchments.

While this was happening the towed TDs and M10s had turned their attention to the SP Guns and destroying several of them, for no loss. However, this success was threatened by Grenadiers, who routed the Weapon platoon and now threatened to assault the towed TDs.

In the centre the advance of German heavy tanks came to halt, because of the threat posed by the M10s and bazooka teams in Mortain (the German did not check how many bazooka teams there were in Mortain, there were only four). The massed armoured did pin the MG platoon though. However, contrary to standard military doctrine German commanders failed follow up on this opportunity, by launching an immediate coordinated infantry assault on the position. Only one Panzer Grenadier platoon, commanded by Von Michael, attempted to immediately follow up. However, the pinned down MG platoon managed to breakup the assault by pinning Panzer Grenadiers. This wouldn't have occurred if just one more Grenadier platoon had been present.

The Germans paid the price for their caution. Steady Eddie rushed over and personally rallied the MG Platoon. Von Micheal's Panzer Grenadiers were wiped out by a hail fire from the HMGs and bazooka fire at their half tracks. When the Grenadiers emerged from the forest they were met by fire from the HMGs, the infantry platoon and were bombarded by the towed artillery battery.

On the left flank Rapier continued to cut a swath through the two German companies on the Right flank. The only disappointment was the destruction of Rapier's M10s, before they could bring their powerful guns into play. Two M10s from Steady Eddie's company attempted to assist. However, they were quickly knocked out by accurate shooting by Panzers.

The USAAF was of more assistance to Germans than ourselves. Several times it mistook our units for German ones. The only artillery piece lost by the towed battery during the battle was destroyed by a USAAF air strike! The same battery was out action for three turns, because it had to wave off attempted air strikes on its position by the USAAF. I won't repeat what the battery commander's opinion of the USAAF is.

Finale

Finale

The battle now reached its climax. On the left flank the towed TD platoon managed destroy and rout the remaining SPs, before two of its guns were overrun by the Grenadiers. The jeeps attached to the towed TD platoon were unable to come to their assistance (HMGs were mounted on the jeeps), because they had to wave off another air strike by the USAAF! However, the implications of the loss of armour on the Left flank now became apparent. The Grenadiers were unable to follow up by attacking the remaining two guns in the towed TD platoon or by attacking the towed artillery battery, because they would have had to cross open ground to do so. If they attempt to do this they would have been cut down by the HMGs mounted on the jeeps. The mortar battery destroyed two 88s, which were attempting to redeploy so they could fire at Mortain. It then turned its attention to the Grenadiers in the Centre.

The Grenadiers in Centre finally broke under the combine fire of the infantry platoon, HMGs, artillery battery and mortar platoon. However, the German heavy tanks finally move forwarded.

On the Right flank the Stuarts zipped forwarded, fired into flanks of two Mark IVs and destroyed them. They were in turn destroyed by an infantry assault. I ordered Rapier to withdraw the remaindered of his force into Mortain, as his brilliant delaying action had clearly run its course. All our forces would now be needed for the final defense of Mortain.

Suddenly it was all over. The German attack was broken off. The threat posed by Patton's breakout to the Germans flank had finally become too great to ignore.

Lessons Learned

Scenario

• The scenario turned out to be very well balanced. I recommend the basic premise to anyone who is interested in fighting a battle with unequal forces.

• I want to thank all of the players. They were excellent participants and really got into the spirit of the battle. Everybody seemed to have a good time. However, Paul certainly looked a little stressed, after attempting to be the German Commander in Chief and a company commander simultaneously. Luckily, he doesn't have that much hair to pull out!

The Germans

Lessons learned:

• In hindsight the defeat of the German force was caused by a combination of three factors: failure to identify the key point of the battle, lack of aggression and poor coordination.

• Key Point of the Battle - The key point of the battle was obviously directly in front of Mortain. If the Germans followup with an immediate assault on the pinned MG platoon the Americans would have had a much tougher battle. In my opinion, the German force should have assigned a few tanks and anti-tank guns to guarded either flank and dispatched the main force directly down centre of the battlefield. They should have attempted to disguise their true intentions in their deployment and initial movement.

• Lack of aggression - The German commanders tended not think of their role within the wider plan. As a result, they did not balance the casualties their companies received against the needs of German force as a whole, resulting in a lack of aggression.  In order to win the battle the German commanders had to be prepared accept that some companies would accept significantly more casualties than others, in order to create the breach that other companies could exploit. I am from Patton's school when it comes to battles - you need to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.

• Lack of Coordination - Paul's decision to act as both as Commander in Chief and a company commander did not workout. A strong recommendation for organisers of multi-player battles is that they insist that the players who are the Commanders in Chief must not also command a company.

The Americans

Good Points:

• I had two excellent commanders. I was able to leave the experienced John Fletcher to his own devices on the Right flank and concentrate on helping Edward, who was a total novice. However, Edward pickup the rules very quickly and started to display sound tactical ability e.g. holding forces in reserve, positioning units in cover etc. Edward has the potential to become a good player in the future.

• My plan was sound and worked well.

Lessons Learned:

• The M10s in Mortain should have remained hidden and been kept in reserve until the Germans attempted to attacked Mortain. We would have been in trouble if the Germans had been better organised. 

• I shouldn't have suggested to John that his Stuarts attack German tanks in the flanks. The threat posed by the existence Stuarts was far more important than killing a couple of German tanks. I diverted from our plan and was lucky not to have to pay the price for this error, because the battle finished shortly afterward.

• We forgot that the Weapon platoon could have been supported by the Mortar platoon. The mortar platoon could also have been used against the German SP guns.

• Steady Eddie's company command stand should have been deployed where it could have given the MG platoon re-rolls for morale tests from the beginning of the battle.

• John could have used his mortars better. In particular, he could have used the fire and smoke tactic.