D + 3, Neville, Normandy 1944. Pt.1. Pic Hvy.

[Trooper]

Action at Neville, Normandy D + 3 1944. Part One.

“That was a recon element, 17th SS, We've been expecting a probe, that must have been it..” Captain Danson explained to his sergeant. His well placed bazooka team had eliminated the threat from their position on the balcony of the Cafe Moderne, and the other troopers had taken out the unfortunate occupants as they bailed out from the smoking half track. Danson had placed his handful of men well, covering the approaches to the village. He looked around and had difficulty spotting his troopers, concealed as they were in the surrounding buildings. Satisfied that his deployments were ok, he and his sergeant headed for their temporary CP. Danson commanded a small mixed unit with men from his own 82nd Airborne and stragglers and misdrops from the 101st. He had responsibility for the northern approach to the village, whilst his boss Major Hill had secured the small road bridge over the Merderet River on the southern edge of town. Both men knew that this German battlegroup needed to secure the bridge if they were to push further coastwards and disrupt the Allied move inland. Most of the surrounding bridges had been taken out by Allied air attacks, making the small Neville bridge extremely valuable.













In hedgerows north of the town Sturmscharfuhrer (Company Sergeant Major) Hartmann briefed his small group of junior officers and NCOs, the Germans had gone to ground when the halftrack was ambushed. The Scharf was a veteran and quickly assessed that Neville was held in some force by the “Amis”, and that something more subtle was required. He had cautioned Rottenfuhrer Schmidt against barrelling into town, but the fool was arrogant, and now it appeared he had paid the price for that. Junior officers, and NCOs  gathered round the Scharf as he outlined his plan, most of them had learnt that it paid to listen to the old NCO, who had perfected his craft on the frozen steppes of Mother Russia, and you ignored his advice at your peril. Hartmann's options were limited by the lack of decent approaches into Neville, there being only one narrow country lane leading into an open square on the town's northern edge. He decided to push their 250 forward, it's MG42 would help to suppress the yanks, with Meyer's squad following using the cover the vehicle gave to screen their movement, he would support them with an MG42 moving on their flank to provide covering fire.Meanwhile the rest of his force would work their way through the close hedgerows that bounded the town and push in on the Ami's flank and manoeuvre around their positions. “Don't forget these Amis are paratroopers, well trained and cocky, just like some of you boys eh? But we have the experience.”   









As he finished speaking a kubel pulled up and Sturmbahnfuhrer (Major) Gericke leapt out. Gericke commanded the 2nd Kompanie, he and Hartmann had served together for many years, and the Scharf had saved his hide in more scrapes than he cared to remember from Poland to the the vast cold plains of Russia. Both men were veterans of the old Liebstandarte, drafted to the 17th in '43 as cadre to lick the new formation into shape, Gericke had first met Hartmann when as a young and inexperienced Untersturmfuhrer he had arrived fresh from Officer school to take over Hartmann's platoon in the days leading up to the Polish campaign. The older Rottenfuhrer (Corporal) had taken a shine to the young officer and taken him under his wing, they had been together ever since. At Rostov, when Gericke had taken a sniper's bullet in the throat, Hartmann had gone out into No Man's Land and stalked the Ivan for two days before returning to the company CP with the sniper's rifle and ID tags. Gericke had survived, but the wound had left him with a soft and gravelly voice, and although he never raised his voice in anger, that rasping tone left many a hapless recruit in tatters. As the junior ranks threw salutes at their CO, Gericke and Hartmann exchanged waves, “Scharf I found this on the road, jerking his thumb back at a 251 with 75mm gun mounted, thought it might come in handy” Hartmann nodded approvingly, “All right you know what do, get your squads in position” and with that he dismissed the junior leaders. One of them, a newly posted Obersturmfuhrer (Lieutenant) stopped in front of Gericke and saluted, Gericke looked up at him “Yes?” “Sir are we to be ordered about by an NCO, I thought you would be giving the orders here”. Gericke slowly drew a cigar from his greatcoat pocket and lit it carefully, blowing a cloud of smoke into the man's face, he said in that slow quiet way of his, “Brandt is it? There is a rule in this company, in fact it's a strict rule, in my absence the Scharf is my second in command. You would learn a great deal more about combat and how to survive it if you took the time to listen to what he has to say, now you have your orders do you not?, the young officer nodded, then I suggest you go and do what the Scharf has told you to.” 

Gericke then conferred with Hartmann to get an understanding of what the NCO had planned, as always Hartmann's thoughts were sound, “You obviously don't need me here Franz, I'll go back and grab some sleep in the CP shall I?” Hartmann came to attention, “Permission to speak sir?” Gericke suddenly taken aback by this display of military formality from the old soldier merely nodded assent, “ If of course the Sturmbahnfuhrer does not wish to join his company in their first action against our new enemies, these Americans, I shall be forced to take him and put him over my knee and spank his arse, just as I had to when he was a young and foolish Untersturmfuhrer.” Gericke laughed as hard as his damaged throat would allow, slapped his old comrade on the shoulder, “Ja, well then let's go to work.” As he walked back to his kubel Gericke rubbed his Knight's Cross for luck as had done since winning it in '42, though in truth half of it should have gone to Hartmann, but sadly the grizzled NCO was not Propaganda Ministry material. Collecting his MP40 from the back seat of the vehicle, Gericke raised his right arm and signalled his company to begin their attack.







At the edge of the village the throaty roar of the 250's engine was heard from down the hedge lined country lane, Sergeant Myron Jennings of the 101st nudged PFC Hancock in the ribs, “Get a grenade in that thing, we've got visitors.”  Hancock carefully loaded a grenade into his Garand and steadied the stock against his right boot. Downstairs Private Jackson called a warning to Danson, who made a dash with his sergeant to their first combat location. Elsewhere the other guys heard the warning and each man settled himself into position, checked their weapons and prepared for the new arrivals, these Krauts would be ready this time, they had one moment of surprise and then it would get nasty.











Part two to follow when it has been played out. Thanks for your interest chaps.

[styx]

Wow, stunning miniatures and scenery!

[Goosegog]

Very nice figures and scenery. Are these 54mm?

[Trooper]

Yes, they are 54mm, well actually nearer 60mm from King and Country but repainted by me. The burning 251 is a repainted Forces of Valour model and the other two vehicles by K and C. Buildings are all scratchbuilt by me and the foliage from Last Valley.

Loving your Brecourt thread by the way Goosegog, top notch bit of work there, looking forward to seeing the completed thing.

[majorsmith]

cracking stuff!

[Vanvlak]

Brilliant show - I thought it was a diorama, then realised it's a game in progress when I started reading. I particularly like the balcony with the iron railings in the first pic - and the rest of everything, but this one item in particular is really nice.

Did anyone spot the French sniper targeting the unsuspecting German troops in the hedgerows? 

[Mason]

 
That is some seriously impressive eye-candy there, Trooper.
Stunning!
 

[Goosegog]

The buildings are superb. I particularly like the colour of the M1942 uniform, mine are more of a sand yellow. I think personally think you've got a good match to the real thing.

[Trooper]

Goosegog, try Vallejo 70874 USA Tan Earth, which is the basis of my take on the Para uniforms for this period, I also use it for M1943 Field Jackets. What I do is apply it straight from the bottle as a base coat, then when dry apply a darkish brown wash, very thinned out, then when that is dry start working up the highlights, by nothing more complicated than adding white to the Tan Earth, until I'm satisfied that it looks ok, it might look a little bright at first but it settles down. Its not an easy colour to capture but that Vallejo paint is the nuts.   

[Goosegog]

I''l give that a go. I currently use a base of USA Field Drab, Green Ochre for main colour then highlight with Dark Sand. With the general description of the M1942 as a tan colour advice seems to be to use sand colour paints. But I've never been to happy with the colour of said paints. I initially used GW's Desert Yellow, mixed with Graveyard Earth and then Bleached Bone for highlights. This I felt gave a good balance, and the Vallejo Green Ochre is quite a good match for the the old Desert Yellow since I now use Vallejo more. I've been considering using a lighter base colour for the uniform to give a slight variation and breaks the monotony of painting the same colour, something I find very tedious, and why WW2 Germans can be more interesting to paint.

Regards   

[Trooper]

Sadly that is very true, the Germans are much more fun to paint and more of a challenge. Especially in matching the camo patterns.

[Paleskin]

Lovely looking table and some great PJ's on the minis!