Beach Landing at Juno (West)
26th April 2004
A group of us got together on Monday to play our first
beach landing from Colin Rumford's D-Day scenario book. We set up on a 8' X 6' table using GEO-HEX and various
landing craft, AVREs and coastal defences that I had collected.
The scenario is the Juno one set around the harbour town of
Courseulles. The Canadians not only
had to silence the three guns but also to seize the crossroads in the town in 20
turns.
Initial landings east of the breakwater were disastrous
with most DD tanks either sunk or destroyed by mines. Infantry casualties were correspondingly high.
Follow up forces failed to make any big advances but eventually they
swept through the beach fortifications and headed for the crossroads.
West of the breakwater the Canadians enjoyed more success.
The bulk of the specialist vehicles were here and the benefit was
obvious. The flail and the bulldozer cleared the beaches of mines
while infantry engaged the fortifications.
Once clear of the beaches the armour deployed the bridge across the water
behind WN29 allowing the outlanking of the nuisance.
By now the German reinforcements had deployed around the
crossroads to foil the Canadian advance. Unfortunately
they had not counted on the wily bulldozer driver who bravely advanced through
the town merrily spotting infantry targets.
A great game given that it was the first we had played using Colin's rules. Here are some photos of the game from Colin Rumford's D-Day book played at my place on Monday 26th April 2004
Canadian Infantry and AVREs swarm around WN 31
The menacing 88mm in WN 29 overlooks the breakwater and beaches
Stripped of their protective armour Canadian infantry struggle to clear WN 29 from the East
Closeup of WN 31 and the river to it's rear
Scratchbuilt LCTs, LCAs and LCMs
Aerial shot from the German side
Posed photo of a landing
Germans and Canadians fight for the crossroads in Courseulles
Another posed shot of the beaches