Battle for Etchinghill : Operation Sealion

We are now in the closing hours of S-day the majority of their initial objectives captured the Germans are pushing further inland. Pockets of resistance remain so we may see further small battles and skirmishes in and around Folkestone or Dover but as the light fades and fresh troops are landed they are sent north to probe any remaining British defence. The small village of Etchinghill whilst insignificant in the larger scale of the invasion is an important objective sitting on one of the key roads to Canterbury via the Elham Valley. It also lies close to the railway between Folkestone and Canterbury which would allow British reinforcements to be brought up overnight.

The battlefield before the advance of both forces, railway cutting in the foreground. Germans will be advancing from Folkestone as a simple scenario we have three objectives, the railway bridge, the cross roads and a telephone box providing the ability to communicate back to HQ, these are marked above as yellow dots.

The British advance from the north a Vickers armoured with a light autocannon, it may struggle if the Germans have managed to get any heavy armour up this far

Wouldn’t you just believe it the local Homeguard have a beaverette Armoured Car but it is immediately targeted by a german Panzer and blown to pieces !

To the west the British have managed to get a Matilda II up in support this will be a more formidable foe for any Panzer

Advancing from the south the Wehrmacht a 38t Panzer with infantry and Pak36 antitank gun head for the village

Further west a second Panzer this time a 35t heads for the phone box

Using the cutting as cover a unit of British Regulars are trying to get to the bridge 

The Matilda moves slowly towards the phone box objective scarring the german Panzer away

A unit of Fallschirmjager dash through the back gardens and with no targets available the gun crew begin to wheel their gun forward

A shot west along the road, a small Panzer I has advanced through the woods to try and capture the railway bridge, in the distance an armadillo truck which had advanced to the cross roads is in flames, with no real armour it was a second easy target for the 38t Panzer

A unit of RAF reserves who have arrived from Hawkinge have managed to catch a German unit our in the open (an incredibly lucky roll saw me wipe out an entire german unit in one turn) as they followed the Panzer to capture the bridge

Things are going better to the west of the village where a unit of Germans are pinned down behind the black shed reluctant to advance towards the British heavy tank.

“Vhere are zey”  shouts the german tank commander, this is no way to capture the objective but the British unit is at least safe for a while under the bridge

The Vickers light tank has been duelling with the Panzer I in the woods

....and eventually gets the better of the combat...but is then immobilised by the Panzer on the bridge !

Exchanging fire across the road..

The Matilda is now pushing through the hedges by the road, but can’t find a suitable target

Running past the burning Vickers another British unit attempting to capture the bridge is pinned down

Germans have now captured the cross roads, but are hit by mortar fire and then caught in the open by the last active infantry unit and wiped out

Close now to the end of the battle and the Panzer resolutely holds the bridge ( what you can’t see and I didn’t photograph is a british unit running no sneaking onto the bridge from behind to contest the bridge)

They take fire from the Fallschirmjager but just enough survive, the British commander urges the RAF lads forward but all they can do is take pot shots at the Germans from behind the hedge.

...as the sun sinks the phone box is safely in British hands the machine gun crew able to phone back to HQ on the position of the Germans advance

At the cross roads an unlikely finish the remaining two British infantry have run out of time to assault the german commander who seems oblivious to the danger, so this objective is also contested at the close.

So in the finally telling after the allotted six turns technically two objectives are contested with only the phonebox being held outright by the British so. A minor British victory ? .......well to be honest I think closer to a draw as the railway bridge is rightfully in the hands of the German Panzer.

A fun game, hard fought........and a welcome return to my Sealion Campaign🙂