Battle for the Royal Military Canal : Operation Sealion

With the Germans having taken Dymchurch they are now determined to capture a suitable bridge across the Royal Military Canal. Pre invasion intelligence has indicated that not all bridges will be strong enough to carry the Panzers. Some the Somerset Light Infantry has fallen back across the canal but the bulk of the defence is now in the hands of the 1st Battalion of the Home Guard, reinforcements are being brought to the area via the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway. (We played the Hedgehog scenario from the Sealion supplement)

The only British gun in the area has been brought up to protect the bridge, two platoons of the Home guard have dug in but nobody is sure what to expect, the noise from the beach is terrible 

Some german infantry have already made it across the canal by footbridges and are ready to attack the main bridge from the rear

Jack boots can be heard running down the road from Dymchurch

Infantry are supported by Gebirgsjager to help assault the bridge

The infantry over the canal are given the signal to advance !

Reinforcements start to arrive down the railway infantry and some improvised artillery

An overview of the canal.....

A random event causes one of the Home Guard platoons to flee .........an ominous sign at this early stage for the British the defenders also come under sniper fire

A unit of Kent’s finest boys in blue are despatched to flush out the sniper team 

The Germans use this moment to press their advantage and charge down the road towards the bridge the defenders are heavily outnumbered...

...and then the first German armour is brought up from the town

They have also managed to pull up a PAK 36 to deal with any British armour

British infantry arriving down the railway start to fire at the advancing Germans to slow them down

But what is this the first unit of German infantry have chosen to run (blunder !)

The commanding german Officer crosses his arms in disgust, but the Gebirgsjager are still charging down the road covered by the 222

Finally some hope for the British with the arrival of a Vickers Tank and more Home Guard Infantry who have been ordered to hold the bridge at all costs

The PAK 36 starts to fire at the bridge defenders whilst a single Kradschutzen pins down the remaining police constables

From bad to worse the Vickers takes a direct hit and explodes and the bus takes a stray bullet and also explodes killing one of the Home guard

The infantry are continuing to advance although they are coming under flanking fire from the railway

The Panzer 1 finally pushes through to the canal to support the attack

With limited targets the 36 now targets the bridge defenders

Things are looking bad for the British now Germans are closing on the bridge, one of the remaining infantry units attempts to cut them off

The final order is given to the Gebirgsjager to capture the bridge..........the Home guard prepare to flee

The Pz1 tests the strength of the small footbridge 

....and the Kradschutzen now charges over the bridge, the Home guard have just enough left in them to knock it out 

.......But then the unthinkable elite Gebirgsjager having been ordered to charge the bridge blunder

and flee .........😀😀😀

But it may be too late for the Home guard at the bridge 

Two units of Germans have now chosen to run

But at the bridge the Germans have finished off the Home guard and the remaining Somerset’s choose to pull back

The Germans have now cut the road behind the canal and the unfortunate British lieutenant is forced to surrender, for him the war is over ......

Another close battle, technically it was a draw but the Germans had the advantage at the end and having cut the road we gave them the win.