Purple Heart Cottage – Carentan 1944 Demo Game

Carentan… June 1944 and our first demo in Ireland down with the guys at Waterford Community Gamers.

Elements of E Company, 506th PIR push into Carentan up the main road. A scratch force of defenders from Grenadier Regiment 1058 hold positions along the town edge and the old Tollkeepers cottage.

The initial US attack was disjointed by German mortar fire and a timed barrage from nearby 105mm guns, resulting in many of the paratrooper units become pinned down on the low ridge outside the town. But the US kept up the momentum, and pushed forward on the opposite flank, with two Rifle squads making a dash to take the Tollkeepers cottage.

Only a single squad of Germans held the cottage but in the short and brutal fight, 16 US paratroopers became casualties, the rest pinned down, seeking cover along the hedges and fences near the house. But all was not lost as the paratrooper .50 cal AA gun was brought up, and chewed up the house and the five mam rifle team, while 60mm and 80mm Mortar fire left just a single German Grenadier manning the MG42…

As German reinforcements arrived, a single FT17 rumbled and clanked forward, as a kubelwagen with a three man recce team sped to the Tollkeepers house to reinforce the lone Grenadier. However, a waiting .30 cal MG team tore the car, and its three man crew, to pieces and it slewed to a halt outside the house, all its occupants dead or dying.

The US attack now pushed off the low ridge and towards the town from the other flank. This ran into MG fire from various houses as German troops filtered forward. The sMG42 in the fortified ‘Cafe de Normandie’, began to mount up casualties on the US advance, though the supporting 20mm flak was unable to provide much support. The FT17 rumbled forwards, then two shells from the 57mm AT gun slammed into amd reduce it to scrap.

The firefight now crept closer to the town, and a bazooka team using their rifles captured the Tollkeepers house from the last German Grenadier. Casualties mounted and as US troops reached the road, both sides became pinned down, trading fire.

A long range burst of fire from the ever useful .50 cal finally chewed through the fortified and killed the German MG team, and in response and mass of German units returned a blistering array of ambush fire on various US units. Somehow the US suffered little and after the German firing died down, the US dashed forward.

A US MG team let loose a burst of fire on an opposing German MG42 team in the factory and cut down all three crew… and with this, the German Grenadiers, despite losing half the men of the US attackers in casualties, pulled back and left Carentan to the paratroopers…

German BR broke after sitting on their Battle Rating for a turn and firing everything they could at any US unit they could with units on Ambus Fire. It wasn’t to be, and despite a huge tally of losses, over 50% casualties, the US Airborne had won the day.

400 points aside, using a slightly modified ‘Defence Line’ scenario, and played out in a very exciting two hours, with a few photo breaks!