Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: Leftblank on June 11, 2018, 11:02:27 AM
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Tired of Normandy, Arnhem, Berlin? Try Scheldt, Rotterdam, Overloon!
Blog summary:
History is full of clichés and so is wargaming. WW2-history of the Low Countries is often summarized as surprise attack in 1940, then 1944 Market Garden (not a gamble, but a blunder, btw) followed by the liberation. Being a Dutch wargamer, I focus on battles in Holland or with a Dutch component. So I researched the subject and discovered many battles that are more or less similar to well-known battles. But - gaming-wise - they have a different 'twist'.
Rotterdam is Arnhem, but with German paratroopers. Overloon is very Caen/Berlin.
I will give a wargamer's summary with links to sources.
https://napoleoninelba.blogspot.com/2018/07/unknown-ww2-battles-in-low-countries.html (https://napoleoninelba.blogspot.com/2018/07/unknown-ww2-battles-in-low-countries.html)
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Very interesting take on these (often) forgotten battles. Obviously, I'm taking note here because it's relevant to my interests (Fall Gelb in the Netherlands), but I'm sure there's plenty for others to give a shot too.
I myself was thinking of the run up from the Peel to the Moerdijk bridges; German and French armour, Fallschirmjäger, Dutch regular and mounted troops, French mechanised troops, SS; you name it; if it was fighting in the Netherlands, it was involved.
There's not one specific battle to be named (apart from the taking of the bridges), but there is a huge scope for skirmishes throughout the entire theatre, as the Dutch border and line troops from the Peel-Raam front were (chaotically) retreating, with a French column advancing towards the North, trying to close the front with the Dutch, as German forces are pouring in from the East, and Allied and German air forces are strafing everything that moves on the ground.
Still; I'm certainly going to give the Early War scenario's you've given a good looking at, as they do sound interesting :)
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Tnx!
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Some fascinating stories there - thanks for collecting them together.
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I visited the Scheldt a few years ago. Went to a great museum, so many fascinating elements to that battle- veteran Canadians and Poles on the allies side fighting determined elite German troops in a landscape that had been flooded.
Worth a visit to that area, a few Bailey bridges still over the canals, and most of the villages seemed to have Universal Carriers or M10s etc on plinths!
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Sad to see 20mm ignored! Greatest availability of Dutch kits in any scale.