Wn 33, near LA RIVIERA, NORMANDY, 6 June
1944: The British D_Day plan was
that DD Shermans would crawl out of the water at H -5 minutes
and suppress any AT guns, then at H hour, 7.30 on Gold beach,
LCAs would disgorge their loads of infantry, and LCTs would land
the Breaching squadrons of AVRE and Sherman crabs who would breach
the beach defences and allow the supporting infantry to progress
inland. D and B companies of the 5th Yorkshire were to land on
King Red, at the extreme left of Gold Beach, and then swing left
to overwhelm WN-33 and allow the following waves to penetrate
inland. It was too rough to launch the DD Shermans so they were
beach landed alongside the initial wave of infantry and the Breaching
squadrons. The Naval bombardment had successfully suppressed WN
34 and WN 35b inland but had little effect on WN 33 itself. The
88LL At gun to the left of the beach knocked out at least two
AVRE and two Crabs before a third Crab commanded by Cpt Roger
Bell put three shells into it at point Blank range and destroyed
it. Meanwhile the infantry had been pinned down under the seawall
by machine gun and mortar fire, until several supporting Gun armed
Landing Craft opened fire on La Riviera and suppressed the defenders.
Once over the sea wall the Yorshires, ably assisted by several
AVRE and Sherman's, rapidly captured WN-33, Hitler's Atlantic
wall had been breached in less than an hour.
Bénouville Bridge, NORMANDY, 6
June 1944: At 22:56 on 5 June, 1944,
the six gliders towed by Halifax bombers took off from RAF Tarrant
Rushton. Horsa number one, the first of the three headed for the
Caen Canal, carried Howard with Lieutenant Den Brotheridge's platoon,
number two bore Lieutenant David Wood's platoon, and number three
carried Lieutenant Smith's platoon. Priday with Lieutenant Hooper's
platoon made for the river bridge aboard number four. Horsa number
five carrying Lieutenant Fox's platoon was followed by number
six bearing Tod Sweeney's platoon. Each glider also carried five
Royal Engineers. Flying over the English Channel at 7,000 feet
(2,100 m), the bombers crossed the Normandy coast at 00:07 on
6 June, 1944 and released their towed gliders. With Wallwork at
the controls, the number one glider crashed into the barbed wire
surrounding the canal bridge defences at 00:16. The other two
gliders followed at one-minute intervals. The number two glider
broke in half and came to halt at the edge of a large pond. One
of the men fell into the water and drowned, becoming the first
casualty of the operation.Brotheridge and Smith's platoons headed
for the bridge, while Wood's platoon moved towards the trenches
on its north east side.
Operation Deadstick was the codename for
an operation by airborne forces of the British Army that took
place on 6 June 1944 as part of the Normandy landings of World
War II.[4] The objective was to capture intact two road bridges
in Normandy across the River Orne and the Caen Canal providing
the only exit eastwards, for British forces from their landing
on Sword Beach. Intelligence reports said both bridges were heavily
defended by the Germans and wired for demolition. Once captured,
the bridges had to be held against any counter-attack until the
assault force was relieved by commandos and infantry advancing
from the British landing zone.
With years under our belts (and a couple
of trips to Normandy, collectively) creating the first D-Day landing
beaches for tactical-level gamers that carry an ATS Rulebook 2014
under their arms, it is high time that more than Omaha Beach come
to your gaming table. What's more, the new KING RED AND OPERATION
DEADSTICK is the result of the best thing there is: enthusiast
created, inspired by the previous module(s) You can roll out Hobart's
Funnies on an historical assault ... on D-Day and take part in
the classic British Airborne action.
As we did with the Omaha modules, another
Widerstandsnest is created, specifically Wn 33. Then we (you)
hit the beach with your British DD tanks, AVRE Fascine, AVRE Bobbins,
LCT's are on hand .... it is D-Day after all. What's more, in
addition to a map of the beach area in front of Wn 33, you get
a second map and scenarios depicting Operation Deadstick. Just
bring your ATS Rulebook 2014 and system markers -- A SEAT OF
COMBAT COUNTERS ARE PROVIDED and perhaps a pair of waders,
as you are going to have to HIT THE BEACH!
NOTE: THIS IS A VERY LIMITED PRINT RUN
AND YOUR COPY IS BEING CREATED AS A SPECIAL ORDER JUST FOR YOU. To that end please allow 4-8 weeks for delivery
or when the module is completed > your payment locks in your
copy. You have the assurance of 22 years of publishing and our
thanks for supporting the creativity of your fellow hobbyists!
OWNERSHIP OF THE ATS RULEBOOK 2014 plus standard
small and large system markers is required to play.
