A Day at the Beach
The Ramp drops, and with it, your stomach. April 06, after fighting off the Kriegsmarine’s desperate sortie, British, Commonwealth, and US forces landed on several beaches across Normandy’s coast. From the Mouth of the Seine to Caen’s Canal a la Mer, Allied boots and treads felt French soil for the first time in years. But they were not unopposed.
German static battalions were reinforced in the nick of time by a trickle of Grenadier reserves. Battle raged on the beaches all morning, but before long, the overwhelming might and determination of the Allies forced the German forces back, and a toehold was secured. There was no time to rest, as the next several days saw clashes up and down the coastline as Allied forces pushed ever deeper into France.
Fighting in and around the airfields around Rouen were especially fierce, and by weeks end, no clear winner had emerged.
A Night at Sea
However, at sea, the Fortunes of the allies were waning. Pursuing the defeated Kriegsmarine saw the allied fleet run pell-mell into a trap. Sharp surface actions saw several battleships brought low by intensive, short range brawls, while the channel grew full, gorging on sunken destroyers, cruisers, and naval aircraft. When the smoke cleared, the Allied fleet was not only beaten, but destroyed, it’s crippled remnants limping back to the safety of Dover’s white cliffs.
Hushed whispers and panicked rumours, spread through the allied ground forces in Normandy. They had been cut off. If their boys back home couldn’t secure the channel once again, they’d surely run out of supplies and be driven into the sea.
Always in the Air
The skies above France were also tumultuous. The allies, secure in their vast numerical superiority, were still unable to secure superiority when the Luftwaffe sought to contest it. Allied bombers were free to strike at their leisure, and a toll was taken on German ground forces attempting to move to toss the allies back into the sea, but it was the Luftwaffe’s decision to concentrate on the Allied 1st Division, who had landed with such ease at Calais and now threatened Paris’ suburbs.
The aged, but still capable Messerschmitt BF-109s cleared the air of American P-51s before beginning a series of intensive strafing runs and bombings of the unprotected infantry units. Despite organic AAA, there was nothing that could be done to sate the Luftwaffe’s thirst. 1st Division first slowed, then stopped, then melted into the countryside, afraid to concentrate or move with any purpose. They had been defeated.
A Fell Wind
One would think that there could only be so much that the heavens and the seas could throw at the Allies, but, then it rained. and rained. and did not stop raining.
The Kriegsmarine cut heavily across black waters, seeking to bottle up the Allies in at port. Wet, exhausted, and now worried soldiers post pickets and send probes into the endless bocage, and in airfields in France and England alike, planes lay motionless.
The storm is here.
News from the Tabletop 