Blitzkrieg in the West 1940

Knightly Combat

Jolimetz, France, 18 May 1940

Armoured forces joust in close terrain

The German panzer divisions in Hoth's XV Motorised Korps formed part of the Fourth Army. This Army's task was to provide northern flank protection to Army Group A as it curled around the rear of the Allied forces that had advanced into Belgium.

The German advance had gone rather well; Rommel's 7th Panzer Division had crossed the Sambre River near Landrecies and was poised to thrust to Cambrai. Hartleib's 5th Panzer Division had the more difficult task of penetrating the Foret de Mormal on an axis just to the north of Rommel's.

This game is one of two that features an action near Jolimetz that occurred when the German 5th Panzer Division collided with remnants of the French 1st DLM as the Germans emerged from the forest. The pair of games feature the same terrain and so allow two quick games.

The terrain is a 4km x 4km sector, The contemporary topographical is at the left with my board interpretation next to it. The D932 road separates the forest from the agricultural land beyond.

A shot of the board looking due east showing the dramatic change in terrain from the agricultural farmland to the Mormal Forest. In this first game the French will set up on the Northwest side of the road in the agricultural terrain.

A view looking NW. the Germans will need to advance out of the forest and take the village of Jolimetz.

The village of Jolimetz will be at the centre of fierce fighting.

The forest has a number of tracks running through it, in addition to the main road, that give the Germans some options. The biggest challenge will be time: the Germans have to close with the village and capture it quickly.

The German force is a quality combined-arms team consisting of a light tank company, a medium company and a motorised infantry company. They are commanded by a battalion command element and have one off-board 105mm battery in support.

The French force has three S35s, a motorcycle infantry company, an Algerian company and an anti-tank company. As the French will set up first, their force is duplicated. This helps with the fog of war and is also a brilliant and patently transparent excuse to buy more models...

The French set up with an S35 and motorcycle infantry company to the south watching one of the tracks exiting the forest.

They site a pair of S35s to the north with a similar task. Of course, these forward-deployed elements could be dummies.

The bulk of the infantry is deployed in the urban terrain of Jolimetz with a pair of S35s in reserve behind them. Anti-tank guns are in Jolimetz and on the flanks.

Jolimetz is defended by the Algerians and an S35. To the German player it looks like the French are inviting an attack straight up the road to Jolimetz as they have left that approach open. While it may be doing exactly what the French planned for, it was what the German player appreciated was his only option to get to Jolimetz in time. So, it looks like a straight up the middle attack.

The Battalion Recon PzII stand is deployed ready to poke around to the north of Jolimetz.

The Medium Company, Battalion HQ and the motorised company will head straight up the road towards Jolimetz.

The Light Company will feint left and either proceed south or follow the main effort up the main road if the medium company is successful.

The game begins. The French win the initiative and the bold fellows advance towards the Germans to make exiting the forest even more difficult. This is the team to the south...

...and the team in the north moving forward.

The depth S35s move south of Jolimetx to protect the vital vineyards.

The German Light Company uses the forest tracks to move forward, giving itself the option of either following the mediums on the main road or swinging south. The motorised infantry move forward, planning to move as close as possible to Jolimetz before dismounting.

The Medium Company breaths a sigh of relief as it has made it through the forest and to the crossroads. So far so good.

Turn 2, and the panzers debouch from the forest. The Medium Company heads straight to Jolimetz to provide support for the following infantry while the Medium Company swings south to approach Jolimetz from the south. It is also prepared to orientate onto the S35s.

Speak of the devil. The S35s in the centre move forward to confront the German mediums.

The S35s and the Germans exchange fire through the orchards but neither has any effect. It does now confirm for the Germans that the S35s on the flanks are dummies, and the real French force is concentrated at Jolimetz.

Turn 3 and the Germans aren't holding back. They move their Medium Company up to destroy the S35 in Jolimetz and support the infantry advance, while their Light Company confronts the reserve S35s. The French for their part hold firm and fire back.

The German infantry dismount, not overly impressed by the long approach to Jolimetz. The suppressive fire had better work!

Both sides blaze away at each other for a final effect of: no effect. Some absolutely rubbish rolls on both sides fills the man-cave with curses in German and French.

Meanwhile, to the north, the Recon PzII moves cautiously forward towards what look like giant dice amidst the orchards, completely oblivious of the 25mm AT gun in the farm.

The 25mm AT gun doesn't miss.

At the end of Turn 3 the Germans have their Medium Company in position to support the infantry, the infantry are dismounted but are a long way back, and the Light Company is still squaring off against the S35s.

The pair of S35s did have to fall back behind the vineyard but the French survived a volley of fire from the Germans relatively unscathed. Importantly, all of their infantry is unobserved and unharmed in Jolimetz.

Turn 4 and the German Light Company splits to flank the S35s while the Medium Company starts suppressing Jolimetz for the infantry.

The French wisely hold their fire and wait for the German infantry to close.

The German infantry approach Jolimetz. They find an Algerian MMG the hard way. Although it was Suppressed it destroys one German infantry platoon.

The German Light Company's flanking move doesn't go to plan. Not only does a PzII find another 25mm AT gun but the PzIII succeeds to brilliantly miss the flank of the S35. The S35s don't do much better in their fire at the Germans. Both sides' optics seem to be badly affected by the atmospherics.

The German infantry manage to break-in to one side of Jolimetz but the task ahead of them is beyond their capability.

With only one company, they needed a lot of things to go their way. They didn't.

The game ends with the French well and truly in control of Jolimetz and without the loss of a single tank. They correctly appreciated that the Germans had to attack straight up the middle and that the Germans had to come to them. A very solid French victory. Having said that, it was still an immensely enjoyable game for both sides. Both sides pushed around some quality tanks in interesting terrain. The Germans certainly have an uphill battle in this one, but a few decent rolls might have made a difference. The next game will see the fortunes dramatically reverse. Stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed this write-up. I would value any comments or suggestions. Please feel free to use the comments section.