Armatos Fundit: A CM Battle of Normandy AAR
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Hobart's Funnies - After Action Report
"Armatos Fundit" is the motto of the 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment. Roughly translated, it means 'bearing armed men' - although I suspect it would wound students of classics to translate directly. The 1st CACR was not extant in late summer 1944 but traces its short but phenomenal lineage to the ad-hoc Squadron formed in August 1944.
By August 1944 the Commonwealth had seemingly found the winning recipe for a problem they had been struggling with since their victory at El Alamein. How to have infantry cross open ground, in ideal conditions, without getting eviscerated by a prepared enemy defence? The initial answer was night actions, in which the desert divisions rapidly became adept, but this left them dug in on seized terrain bereft of armour and artillery support. They would then often be subject to crushing counterattacks while their own armour struggled to close in daylight, under withering fire from an alerted defence, all whilst navigating through minefields. It became rapidly clear in June that in Europe, the tanks and infantry would have to move together and the "one-two" punch effort that worked well enough in Africa would not cut it in Europe. This, naturally, meant the infantry must keep pace with the tanks and provide them with the support they required in the more complex terrain. By August, the "Kangaroo" seemed to pose an acceptable answer: the first armoured personnel carrier.
It's really hard to overstate the effect of the Kangaroo, and how rapidly they proliferated. The challenges posed in Normandy often gave rise to many ingenious solutions, many which have received justified, if hyperbolic, praise in the post-war histories. The Culin hedge cutter is one such device. It was not, as some have argued, a battle winner. Undoubtedly clever, in the grand scheme of things, it was a novelty. Growing American operational skill and German exhaustion should rightly take the credit for COBRA. Conversely, several operations would not have been possible but for the invention of the Kangaroo. TOTALIZE, TRACTABLE, ASTONIA and WELLHIT all rapidly established the reputation of the Kangaroo's ability to preserve infantry lives for the decisive moment, debussing far forward, often beyond objectives. Brian Reid in No Holding Back and Grodzinski in Kangaroos at War provide some compelling, albeit far from irrefutable, numbers from Phase I of TOTALIZE of their efficacy:
MOUNTED:
Royal Regiment of Canada, 3 killed, 25 wounded
Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, 1 killed, 14 wounded
Essex Scottish Regiment, 3 killed, 7 wounded
MARCHING:
Cameron Highlanders of Canada, 30 killed, 96 wounded
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, 8 killed, 17 wounded
South Saskatchewan Regiment, 16 killed, 42 wounded
Calgary Highlanders, 14 killed, 37 wounded
Hobart's Funnies, a battle pack scenario for Normandy, is the first 'out-of-the-box' demonstration of the Kangaroo's effectiveness. It ships with Swansong, a near identical scenario. The key difference is that the central regiment (2 ESSEX) is not mounted in Kangaroos. There's an excellent opportunity here for a compare-and-contrast, but sadly I do not have the time to do it in a single post.
Situation and Mission
It is 28 September 1944, or D+114. The dynamic war of manoeuvre that began in late July is now coming to an end. MARKET-GARDEN has ended, short of its final objective. From Baltic to the Alps, a coherent line is once again beginning to form. SHAEF is now well ahead of where it thought its army groups would be. The supply situation is, as ever, grim, but the overall strategic situation is catastrophic for the Germans. Both sides now seek to dress their lines and secure their lines of communication. British I Corps is clearing the River Maas as part of this general effort, and the 49th Division (West Riding) is part of this effort.
"2 ESSEX (-) Supported by B Sqn (-) 9RTR will secure LEONHOUT no later than 1000hrs in order to create a breach in enemy defences south of the Rhine."
It is 0810 hours, and we have crossed our start line. Visibility is 550m, and rising. It is a typical pre-dawn twilight. Our enemy are from II./744th Grenadier Regiment of the 711.ID. Dependable in the defence, but otherwise not a unit of particular note. They suffered a bit yesterday as the regiments lead companies closed up to the intended line of departure, and B Coy, which has infiltrated close to the town during the night, has reported the sounds of heavy tracks and trucks in the village, as well as the sounds of the enemy digging in.
The overall objective has been split into several intermediate ones. Most important to me are destroying the enemy force, occupying the central crossroads of the town, and seizing the main road. Failing being able to completely overrun the defenders, I am willing to 'go firm' on these two objectives alone.
Taskings
The 2 ESSEX battlegroup consists of:
- 2 ESSEX (-)
- A Coy
- B Coy
- Support Coy
- 9 Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) (-)
- A Squadron (- two troops)
- Reinforced by a troop of Crocodile tanks.
- 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Canadian Squadron (- two troops)
It is a robust, well-balanced mechanized battlegroup. There are enough Kangaroos to mount one of the two rifle companies, plus attachments. Coupled with the 6 Churchills, it can create two company teams, one mounted, one dismounted. This organisation will naturally dictate the scheme and taskings. Supporting the main combat power are the Kangaroos, naturally, as well as a HMG platoon in their carriers. Rounding out the assets are the 2 ESSEX's carrier sections, always a welcome, versatile asset.
Fires are heavy, fully proportionate to the task of hand. In addition to 4.5" medium guns, two batteries of 25 pdr field guns will provide fire support. The Battalion 3 inch mortars and 4.2" heavy mortars round out the fires card. Several points were pre-registered for fires when B Coy infiltrated close to the final objective the previous evening.
Scheme of Manoeuvre
This is a set piece attack against a fortified town. Little is known about the precise nature of the defence. Since the attack is occurring at dawn, and the terrain I must cross is agonizingly-flat and open, a "push" style attack is what I opted for. A double pincer is what I planned on, with A Company slated for the main effort.
TASKINGS:
- RIGHT FLANKING: A Coy HQ, with two rifle platoons, a carrier section, a Vickers section and the Crocodile troop. This is the heavier of the two punches, rightly so as they are heading towards the most complex terrain.
- LEFT FLANKING: A Coy 2IC, with one rifle platoon, one carrier section, a Vickers section and the Churchill troop. A platoon of 6 pdr anti-tank guns will provide fire support but will not be directly subordinate to this unit.
- RESERVE: B Coy, with an engineer platoon in support. The Vickers supporting the right flanking thrust equally supported this team.
The blue circles are my intermediate objectives. In other words, it's where I want the initial dismounts, which should remove the threat to crossing the open ground for dismounted follow-ons. I planned only nebulously from that point, and envisioned B Coy coming up to link arms with the two flanking thrusts, hopefully unmolested due to the secured positions, to sweep north. A section from a engineer squad is distributed to the two thrusts.
0800 - 0827: The Initial Assault
The initial barrage rubbles the town for five minutes. The medium guns hit the crossroads and church, cratering the main road intensely. The 4.2 inch mortars put down convincing concentrations on the north side of the main road and the villa complex. The latter objective is particularly ruined, with all the peripheral buildings collapsing. I have opted to not use the 4.2 inchers (often called "chemical" mortars) for the smoke barrage due to wind conditions. While they have a breath-taking allotment of instantly-blooming white phosphorus ("WP") rounds, I was worried that even a lengthy barrage would be thready and ineffective versus the 25 pdr's longer-lasting smoke shells. The smoke begins to land at 0805.
As the smoke builds, the supporting tanks begin a quick shoot on the village, partially hull-down near the line of departure. They brass up likely positions. No return fire is taken, and when the smoke has built up to a satisfactory degree, they step off the attack, the assigned carrier sections in the lead and slightly to the flanks.
I cannot understate my affection for the carrier sections. They are a force multiplier beyond all reason, and they rapidly prove their usefulness in the screening operations. The left-flanking carrier section identifies and reports fortifications (barbed wire and, I suspected, mines), and gets in under the barrage to the small hamlet of Huffel. There they catch German infantry moving towards effective firing positions, engaging them with good effect. An early "bag" is a Panzerschreck team, and a particularly vital service is rendered to the main effort. The carrier section dismounts two teams to begin investigating the rest of Huffel, with a reserve section mounted in overwatch.
Behind these screens, the assault columns move forward, putting down a brisk marching fire. While a few Kangaroo gunners are wounded or killed, the weight of fire rapidly swings in my direction. Several MG nests are silenced in this initial surge forward.
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| The Vickers sections fight mounted, allowing them to effectively see in the relatively flat terrain, whilst still remaining somewhat concealed by the tall brush and hedges they engage from. |
The right flank is somewhat congested, the agricultural terrain hemmed in by a river and broken up by a series of fences. My concern at this point was getting the unit right to the edge of the village, where they could debus without great threat of well observed indirect fires. Compact as they were, it would have spelled disaster.
The left flanking force fares less well. It too puts down a brisk marching fire but has fewer eyes and barrels, and many more potential targets. While Huffel is effectively neutralised as a firing position through the combined effect of the smoke and the carrier section, they nevertheless take heavy flanking fire from the outskirts, to their right.
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| Huffel is systemically and effectively cleared by the carrier section, who suffer only a single casualty whilst doing so. |
The Platoon, as it debusses, is forced into the concealment of a wheat field by this withering fire, and suffers casualties. One section, its dismount delayed by a Kangaroo crew that elects to fall back, draws particularly heavy attention and finds over half of its bayonet strength cut down immediately. A painfully wounded Lance Corporal gets the men to the cover of a hedge and joins the firefight.
Once the Platoon leader is able to effectively deploy his Bren guns, the situation begins to restore itself. There is little direct tank-infantry co-operation. The friendly infantry are hidden in a wheat field and the heavy enemy fire forces the supporting tank crews to button up. Nevertheless, they do begin to independently identify and engage enemy positions over time.
I view it as a miracle that the platoon does not get mortared whilst sorting itself out. They crawl to the edge of the wheat field and begin to restore communications with the armour and kangaroos. The left-flanking force spends most of the rest of the battle securing its initial objective. With hindsight, i t is clear to me that it was too little force for the task at hand, and I view it as my biggest mis-step of the battle. Either more direct MG support, or a cross-attached platoon from B Coy following dismounted, might have avoided this ugliness from the start.
By contrast, the debussing point on the right is secured without incident, the carrier sections' dismounts entering several of the houses. A few Germans are found in one, and movement is quietly reported next door in another. The following riflemen therefore remain mounted in their Kangaroos while the supporting Crocodiles begin to work over all the suspect positions with jets of jellied fuel. As a result, when the dismount does eventually occur, no one gets chopped up.
By 0823 hours the smokescreen is starting to lift and more enemy positions become unmasked. In the church courtyard, a Pak gun and its crew are taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of two Crocodiles through the thinning smoke. They promptly destroy it without incident before returning to their task of flaming suspected ambush positions.
Finally, and I am never quite sure how this happens, but the left flank begins to report the audio of an unknown enemy armoured vehicle tucked away in a keyhole position near the crossroads. Somehow, despite the raging firefight and the constant need to duck back into the turrets, the Churchills become aware of this contact as well.
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| The troop leader's situational awareness, remarkably high all things considered, as of 0827 hours. |
My best assumption is that A Coy's 2IC, who has fought mounted and gallantly forward in his Bren carrier, was somehow able to relay the information. By 0827 the information has travelled horizontally and most of the battlegroup is well aware of the enemy vehicle and remaining pockets of resistance.
0827 - 0834: The Grapple
On the right flank, where the main focus now rests, the infantry dismount and shake out into their platoons. They press forward and at the edge of the main road objective begin to engage with isolated German squads in the vicinity of a landmark known as "Sascha's House." Enemy resistance is stout and the fire thick, but their defence is now far from contiguous and fire superiority is slowly but surely established.
Under this fusillade the attached pioneers bound forward, storming into adjacent houses, often mouse holing through the shared walls of the households. Other times they simply blow away an adjacent wall and then, taking advantage of the concussion, come in via the front door. Whichever the mode of entry, the results are often decisive. In a few minutes an enemy platoon is eliminated.
B Coy has begun to move up, bounding by platoons. They take MG fire from the storefronts along the central crossroads of Leonhout, suffering the odd casualty, but are well supported by their organic 2 inch mortars and the trailing platoon. The former obscures, whilst the latter suppresses.
Artillery fire shifts, impacting the opposite side of the main road, frustrating east-west communications for the remaining defenders and discouraging infantry anti-tank teams.
The situation on the left remains unsatisfactory, despite the increasing German casualties. The infantry platoon has crawled through the wheat field but attempts to advance the last several dozen yards to the first buildings result, consistently, in additional casualties. The Churchills are still engaging their own targets and are not advancing any closer for fear of handheld anti-tank weapons. The trailing 6-pdrs therefore do their best to neutralize stubborn houses, sending their limited HE allotment sailing over the heads of the pinned infantry. They do so under steady, albeit not particularly heavy, HMG fire.
Sheer weight of fire eventually settles the matter on the left flank, and a fourth, final attempt by the much-depleted rifle platoon on the left takes the first houses by storm. They briefly engage with Germans across the road in a violent firefight. More losses are suffered but the enemy position is neutralised.
The left flank is now completely out of the fight, exhausted in every sense of the word. The Rifle platoon is nearing combat ineffectiveness and only has the lightly wounded platoon leader, a Corporal and Lance Corporal in terms of leadership remaining. The 2IC reports the intermediary objective secured. To hold this precarious foothold, the 6-pdrs deploy to Huffel, cutting the main road, whilst Vickers deploy among the houses, reinforcing the carrier section there.
Likewise, the final reserve (a pioneer section and the pioneer platoon leader) is sent forward from the battlegroup to reinforce B Coy in anticipation of them clearing the church and its immediate environs.
0834 - 0838: Mopping Up
Somewhat in step with my original intentions, B Coy and the right flank now advance in a broad line, with the frontage of 4 platoons. The Crocodiles, more by nature of the terrain than deliberate design, now find themselves aiding B Coy in its search-and-clear efforts of the Church objective.
With the reserve pioneer squad now providing additional breaching support, and any movement proceeded by a thorough hose down of fire, a bloodless mop up occurs. Around a dozen isolated Germans are destroyed. B Coy rapidly enters the church, reporting it devoid of any living enemy. There is a sporadic exchange of fire with the crossroads, but the Germans either retreat or cease fire shortly thereafter.
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| With many of the buildings in Leonhout being isolated by high walls with courtyards swept by fire, the ability to mousehole invariably saved British lives. |
With 2-inchers putting down smoke to either flank, the bulk of A Coy cross the main road without incident. They press forward, pioneers following closely behind. Contact is regained beyond the objective at the northern extremities of the town, and is dealt with rapidly and without loss.
Somewhat understandably, the Jagdpanther roars out of the immediate danger zone, but bogs down in one of the many shell craters that mar the main road. This gives ample time for the Crocodiles to be guided onto the tank by the infantry from B Coy. A pair move forward from either side of the church, swiftly knocking the vehicle out just as it reverses out of the crater.
The surviving enemy, clustered in the buildings north of the crossroads, are quickly compelled to surrender by this event. 45 Germans give themselves up. It is 0838 hours.
Leonhout is declared secure by the OC of 2 ESSEX not long after.
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