Assault at Lodge House : Operation Sealion

After a long and difficult S-day the Wehrmacht having established a strong bridgehead are seeking to break out into the Kentish Countryside, blitzkrieg style. British forces have been busy over night and having advanced Northwest along the A20 the Germans have been halted. In this sector the German commander has swung the attack to the north to out flank the defended roadblock. His pioneer units have hastily constructed pontoon bridges across the streams which feed into the River Stour. In front of them the British have a thin defended line close to Lodge House. The Germans must break through to avoid further delays.

The main A20 road has been blocked at Smeeth the Germans have turned North to outflank the position

The battlefield, the objective for the Germans is to break through the defended line shown, vehicles can only cross the main river at the pontoon bridges. Lodge House to the bottom right, the British defenders (half their units) are at the blue locations. The red arrow shows the British unit who decided to turn tail and run due to the initial bombardment ! 

As we were playing the scenario straight from the rule book the Germans get the opportunity for an initial bombardment, this was duly rolled for and caused a number of minor pins on units already deployed. The British commander thought nothing of it until because of a single pin a morale check was required and Fubar the unit fled the field this left a massive hole in the defence line right from the start and was very concerning !

A view from the East side of the battlefield towards Lodge House itself

Not surprisingly the British have dug in here, the ambulance presumably indicating the House has been used as an aid station over night.

Having bridged the river the Germans begin their advance, supported by an Sd.kfz251 pioneer wagon armed with a light antitank gun. (Those with a very keen eye may spot the vehicle actually sports a panzerbusche 41 but…..)

They also have a new PzIII medium tank which is leading on their left supported by a pioneer unit.

The rest of the German infantry rush across the stream

The British antitank gun has no targets and the defence line in the distance is currently unmanned ! Hopefully the second wave will arrive soon

The Germans move slowly forward

British reinforcements all manage to arrive, a Vickers tank with 2pounder, infantry, home guard and a Bren Gun carrier

The German infantry’s supporting artillery opens up but has limited effect

The Germans focus on their left and the Bren gun carrier take repeated hits without blowing up

The British defence is looking a bit more organised, the Bren Carrier is taking a hull down supporting position in the small stream, but there is nothing on this side that will be able to spot the German armour if it charges forward

If it hadn’t been for the British having lost a unit in the first turn I might have felt sorry for the Germans at this point 😀

Random events caused liberal annoyance throughout the battle, here the Vickers has hit a land mine and is stalled for a turn

Things are hotting up and a decisive moment, against the odds the Vickers gets a shot off against the PzIII lucky or fate the shell hits home just below the turret and the tank is up in flames

This causes some dismay in the German ranks ! And you can see the German commanding officer rethinking his plans behind the SdKfz

British home guard from the Smeeth area have taken up a defensive position

But the rest of the defensive line is getting very thin and one good push and they may break through

The British defenders on their right have now been wiped out and the line is held only by the Vickers and the carrier, but the Germans are pinned down by the Hanomag

The British sailors stationed by the main house choose this opportunity (Random event ) to enter the house searching for alcohol. You will see the ambulance is now on fire again and earlier random event when a random bullet hit it causing it to explode killing a sialor in the process !

However, time has run out in this engagement for the Germans and with their infantry pinned down they can’t make headway

The British have little left and will have to fall back if the Germans regroup

The Vickers and the Bren carrier can pull back, leaving the PzIII in flames.

A slightly unexpected draw, the British have taken more casualties but the Germans haven’t broken through enough to claim a victory. I would like to say it was all due to the masterful organisation and strategy of the British but Phil managed to roll an unbelievable number of 1’s when rolling to hit with the PzIII and SdKfz. in fact with everything ! The Bren carrier by all rights should have been blown to pieces but somehow survived to the end battered but still able to withdraw hoorah !

Great fun to get back into the Sealion campaign more to come 👍