TARE RED

Walcheren Island, The Netherlands, 1 November 1944: The German forces on the Scheldt Estuary blocked the approaches to the strategic port of Antwerp. With their supply lines critically extended, the Allies needed the port to relieve their situation. In a series of hard fought battles, the Breskins pocket and the southern shore of the Scheldt were cleared of German forces. The last bastion of resistance was the 70th Division stationed on Walcheren Island. The artillery and observation posts on the island wreaked havoc on Allied shipping attempting to use Antwerp.

The task of assaulting Walcheren went to the 4th Special Services Brigade, an elite British Commando force. Prior to the assault, the RAF had blasted several holes in the dikes surrounding the island thus flooding all of the low lands. On D-Day, the landing forces were roughly handled. The British opened the assault with rocket barrages, and supporting LC(G). The running gun duel between the 27 support landing craft and the heavy batteries, W13 and W15, resulted in the loss 9 landing craft with 7 others completely out of action. The Germans had not, however, targeted the troop landing ships. After firing over 200 rounds, W13 had run out of ammunition! While the LCIs successfully disembarked their Buffalos and Weasels, virtually all of the tanks from the LCTs bogged on the beaches. The overcast sky prevented the planned air support and one of the rocket barrages narrowly missed disembarking troops.

AFTERMATH: The Germans fired from well prepared positions, blasting landing craft, tanks, and infantry alike. Commando 41 made it ashore, but suffered severe casualties from the batteries, mines, wire, and machineguns. Only two Shermans managed to enter the town of Westkappelle, but they assisted in the capture of the fortified observation post. The task remained to neutralize and capture the heavy batteries, W13 and W15. W15 resisted until 1600 hours when the RAF bombed the complex. By the end of the day it and battery W17 fell to Commando 41. Later W13 fell to Commando 48 after a well-coordinated attack with air and naval fire support. By November 8, the shipping lanes to Antwerp were open.

    N
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|---------------|  Place overlays
|              8|  M3 in 22W8 and 22X7
|               |  M4 in 22DD8 and 22DD7
|---------------|  M5 in 22O8 and 22P7
|             22|
|               |
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VICTORY CONDITIONS
The British player must destroy or control all of the German pillboxes to win.

TURN RECORD CHART
German sets up first.
British moves first.
The game is 8 turns.

WARNING: INCOMPLETE OBs!
SERIOUS CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY BELOW!

4-4-7, 9-1, 8-1, 8-0, 7-0, HMG, MMG, LMG, Field phone, MTR Trenches, Wire, AP Mines, Pillboxes, Tetrahedrons

Elements of Battery W15 set up as per SSR 4.

2-2-8, 150 ART, 75 ART, 20 AA, pillboxes

Crab, M4Dozer, M4, AVRE, Flails, 4xLCTs

Elements of 41 Commando enter in LCIs on any western board edge. [ELR 5] {SAN 2}

6-3-8, 4-5-8, 10-2, 9-2, 9-1, 8-1, 8-0, HMG, MMG, LMG, DC, FT, Radio, PIAT, SCFP, 3xLCIs

Elements of 41 Commando from White Beach LZ enter turn 2 riding LVTs and Weasels loaded in LCIs between hexes 8.. and 8..

6-3-8, 4-5-8, 9-2, 9-1, 8-1, 8-0, HMG, MMG, LMG, DC, FT, PIAT, Buffalo MkII(a), Buffalo MkIV(a), Weasels, 2xLCIs

1. EC are wet, and misty (E3.32), with a mild breeze from the east. Land hexes on the northern half of board 8 are ocean hexes.
2. The stream is deep. Stream hex 22W10 is contiguous with 8W1, and can be entered from ocean hexes. All AFVs are waterproofed (G13.4221).
3. Any ocean hex within two hexes of land is considered a shallow water hex (G13.4). There are no beach hexes but any wall/hedge hexside adjacent to an ocean hex is considered a high seawall (G13.61).
4. At least 3 guns from Battery W15 must set up with LOS to an ocean (estuary) hex. All of the guns of the battery must set up within 8 hexes of each other.
5. Building hex 22XXX is the only 2nd level building.
6. After German set up, boards 8 and 22 are subject to a bombardment. German receives one module 150 OBA with scarce ammo. British receive one module 200 NOBA and one module 105 NOBA.
7. The British SAN is 5 for the first 3 game turns. All British troops are commandos (H1.24).
8. The Jeep GPA represents the British Weasel. The Weasel was equipped with a heavy radio for OBA and NOBA communications. Any two Weasels may, therefore, be designated as command craft (OP, H1.46) for NOBA.

Ladd, J.D. 1978. Commandos and Rangers of World War II. St. Martins Press, Inc., NY, NY. (pp. 198-205)

Scenario Design: Jeff Shields
[NB: I did the original "Assault on Walcheren" which appeared in an edited version in the Playtester's Journal from On All Fronts. The original design was in SL and was reformatted into ASL by OAF. The present design is essentially a new scenario.]