Fox & The Rat: Day 3 - Breakthrough

Now that Lt. Gruber had weakened the enemy defences Capt. Rohrstock knew he had to strike to penetrate the enemy lines and force a breakthrough. Beyond the extensive minefield lay three enemy strong points that needed to be overcome.

Rohrstock had considered an attack with overwhelming force but given the need to penetrate the minefield through narrow channels and not wanting to give the enemy a chance to marshal their defences he went with a bold attack by a small force.

So it was just before dawn he gathered his men behind the cover of some sand dunes and waited for the engine noise of his supporting Stuka's to reach his ears.

Even as the Stuka's approached overhead and started their bombing of the enemy lines his men leapt away from the start line. Knowing the enemy would be well dug in and needing considerable firepower to shift them a Panzer III had be co-opted into the attack. The bombers did little in the way of actual damage but did keep the enemy in the bottom of their trenches as the attack started.

The tank lead the attack with one section rushing forwards on foot behind and another aboard a Steyr ready to rush forwards onto the first target. The attack worked perfectly with the tank taking the defenders of the first strongpoint off guard and whilst it kept their heads down the mobile section in the Steyr managed to storm the bunker unopposed and take control without losing a man.

As the Sikh's around the first target fell back they received support in the shape of a 2 pdr A/T gun which bravely tried to engage the Panzer III, however the tank's armour was more that equal to the shots fired by the A/T team.

The same was not true when the tank returned fire and on it's second shot it penetrated the shield on the gun and wiped it and it's crew out. At this point the second team of the 1st section was sent out to scout the 2nd target to see what defences the enemy could put up. They came under heavy fire which forced them to hit the dirt but miraculously took no casualties.

This however lead to a murderous fire being poured into the second strongpoint with Capt. Rohrstock ordering his men to keep up a sustained and withering fire. The tank in particular wreaked havoc in the defenders with it's HE shells and machinegun fire greatly damaging their will to continue.

As the fire continued the defenders could no longer muster a defence and despite some limited support from a mortar first one and then all the defenders decided they could no longer stay under the concentrated fire of all the German forces and thus quit the field.

And so for the loss of only 2 men Capt. Rohrstock claimed a great victory and having penetrated the first and most dangerous line of defence set his eyes firmly on the prize of Benghazi. Of course the Rats would have something to say about that but he was confident his Foxes would be triumphant.

Fox & The Rat: Day 2 Battle 2 - Guns of Navarone (Sort Of!)

 0200 hours 11/10/1942

Location - Western Desert; Undisclosed location west of Benghazi, Libya

Roster: Lieutenant Tonkin

Sergeant Wilson

Troopers Crabtree; Flashman; Carstairs; Godfrey; Cooper

Moonless night.  Anti-tank gun emplacement.  Unknown number and quality of DAK sentries.

Sub-unit of L Detachment led by Lt. Tonkin charged with destroying an anti-tank gun emplacement in preparation for a breakthrough by the main column.

The intelligence was a heavily defended anti-tank gun emplacement was positioned roughly in the front centre of the attack zone.  This was defended by an unknown number of DAK Gendarmerie and sentries as well as a series of mined areas.

Lt. Tonkin led the majority of the force from the north-east/east - only Sgt. Wilson approached from a northerly aspect.  Lt. Tonkin & Pte. Cooper approached the defended zone along a dried up wadi while Pte.’s Carstairs and Godfrey approached from the east making the most of the undulating sand dunes with Crabtree and Flashman to their right parallel to the the line of the wadi.  The broad [lan boeing Lt. Tonkin and Sgt. Wilson, who were carrying the charges, would breach the perimeter, while the remainder would take up covering positions in the north-east/east zone to provide protective fire to facilitate a speedy exit for Lt. Tonkin and Sgt, Wilson.

The Jerry guards proved frustratingly unwilling to patrol away from the north-east corner of the perimeter but were seemingly unaware of the creeping Tommies blocking the route favoured to breach the perimeter.  Lt. Tonkin took the initiative by outflanking the barbed wire and minefield directly from the east to approach the gun emplacement unseen.  He despatched an unsuspecting guard at close quarters and hid the body before the alarm could be raised.  Fortunately, although Jerry patrolled in front of the gun emplacement they must have been distracted by something in the rear lines and were looking behind them.  This allowed Sgt. Wilson to scurry across the front of the perimeter - initially unsighted - heading for a gap in the barbed wire and a clear route to the gun emplacement.

Lt. Tonkin managed to get right up to where the intel chaps had specified the gun emplacement was only to find……it was further back on a south-west trajectory!  Bloody Intel Boys!  By this time Jerry’s carrots had kicked in and Lt. Tonkin had been spotted.  He managed to get cover behind some sand bags affording some protection from the DAK officer approaching directly from the south and miraculously shrugged off a burst of automatic fire.  This reprieve was short lived as a single sentry approaching the Lt. from the north shot multiple times and eventually took Lt. Tonkin down.  In the best traditions of the British Army leading from the front and not asking his men to do something he was not willing to do himself.

In the meantime Cooper, Carstairs and Godfrey had managed to take out some DAK sentries who had wandered outside their perimeter hunting the SAS.  Crabtree and Flashman accounted for the DAK officer while Sgt. Wilson avenged Lt. Tonkin and despatched his craven assassin!  The way was clear to the gun emplacement……

Sgt. Wilson crawled his way to the anti-tank gun and successfully placed and detonated his charges……Boom!  Everything was ringing and blurred - if hadn’t been 0200 hours it would have been pitch black too.  The fuse was too short, Sgt, Wilson had been floored - he was battered, alive but in the bag!

The remaining troopers used the confusion to make an orderly withdrawal and Lt. Tonkin, who ultimately suffered nothing more serious than an MP40 sting, also managed to crawl away and avoid endless sauerkraut with Sgt. Wilson.

This was a qualified success but L Detachment were lamenting the loss of Sgt. Wilson and were fired with desire to get him and Pte. Fraser out of whatever forsaken stalag they were locked up in.

  

  

Sengoku Japanese: Yumi Samurai

I've painted up some Ashigaru archers and now it's the turn of Yumi Samurai to join the Mori forces.

As before these are from Fireforge miniatures from the missile troops box.

As with my other Samurai units I've done a mix of armour colours and lace blobs to give an individual look to all the fighters. The sashimono on the leader is really the only way to differentiate the units apart for the archers as the missile armed troops don't have them.

The next ten will be added to the Shimazu force and then I think it will be the final models for the Mori from their leader box.

Sengoku Japanese: Mori Commanders

I've been working on the remaining Mori foot command from the leaders box this past week. It comes with a variety of Samurai and Ashigaru in various poses with different equipment. 

The Ashigaru leader is carrying what I believe is a range measuring stick to be used along with yumi (bow) armed troops. It could also be purely ceremonial like the Samurai's fan of command.

I'm not entirely sure what the portable chest is meant to contain, it could be ammo for the teppo (musket), as their is also an arrow case you can build, or perhaps a traveling tea set.

Here we have all the Mori I've painted up so far, I have Samurai archers on the painting table at present with mounted leaders after those.

I've also received word that the plastic Monks from Fireforge should be shipping very soon so I hope to have those in the mix before Christmas.