Wargames Weekend: Operation Cauldron - Part 1

At our last gaming weekend we had discussed the fact that we didn't often play "big" or linked games very much and our attempts at putting together anything approaching a campaign had been a bit of a failure. So to remedy this I decided to put together two linked WW2 games based around the August 1942 Dieppe operation. In this case I went for the attack on Hess Battery to the flank of the main assault - mainly because I wanted to use my Foundry Commandos and a few other bits I have picked up over the year. Obviously we couldn't model the entire Commando raid at 28mm on my 6x4 table so I scaled things down a little.

Objective
Assault the Hess Battery, prevent it from engaging the main landings at Dieppe and successfully withdraw with minimal casualties.

The Plan
Orange Beach is to the right flank of the main assault on Dieppe and comprises two separate landings by 4 Commando. C Troop with a section of A Troop under the Command of Major Mills-Roberts are to land on Orange Beach I near Vasterival and proceed to secure the headland and advance to provide covering fire for the main assault on the battery. B and F Troops with a section of A Troop under the Command of Lt. Col. Lord Lovat are to land at Orange Beach II, between St. Marguerite and Quiberville, disrupt enemy communications and advance up the Saane valley and assault the battery from the flank/rear.

Once the order is received all units are to withdraw to their embarkation points.

Forces
F Troop HQ
Two sections of F Troop

The initial landing was a bit of a mixed affair. The German sentries and MG teams didn't spot the landing craft until they were almost at the beach but once they did the LCAs came under some heavy fire. The land craft crews tried to keep the German's heads down with their lewis guns but this only silenced the rifle fire and the MG34s kept blazing away. The Commandos added their brens to the firefight and things went onto a slightly more even footing.

With the ramps down the Commandos started to rush ashore. This was when the encountered their first casualty. Leading one of the files of men onto thr beach the TSM was caught by a burst of German MG fire and was killed instantly. This slowed the disembarkation from one LCA but the other went a little more smoothly.


With the combined Bren and SMG fire from the Commandos keeping the German MGs quiet the assault on the wire began. Whilst a few of the Men got hung up on the wire enough got through to begin the climb to the heights to attack the MG position there. A quick rush with a grenade put paid to one of the German MG34s.


On the other side of the beach things had stalled with the death of the TSM but eventually got going again and with the wire crossed the last German resistance at the beach was dealt with.


With the prisoners secured the advance continued but the remainder of the German section was advancing on the beach from their billet so the Commandos took up covering positions and quickly dealt with them. They then advanced towards the buildings but as they approached they could hear vehicles approaching down the road.

The Commando teams split up to secure the buildings and to deal with the approaching threat. The team on the high ground spotted a German truck and motorcycle team coming down the road. A hail of automatic fire saw the the motorcycle combination crash into a wall and the truck almost do the same. The toss of a grenade from the other team put paid to the German reinforcements whilst the others secured the buildings.


With the beachhead secured the Commandos could move on to their main objective - the battery.