Thursday, July 28, 2022

Operation Parsnip : attack the supply compound

continued from the previous post...

A small group of resistance move along the edge of the woods near the railway station at Sainte Marie le Polet....

Meanwhile a few more resistance and a couple of British commandos cross the river on the outskirts of Ronancourt and move into a vineyard ....
The resistance approach the railway line, as a German patrol passes by the supply compound..
The German patrol spots the resistance ..
the firing starts and men go down ....
The commandos with more resistance move closer to the supply compound ...
The German patrol by the railway line is still engaged in a fire-fight with the resistance; sentries in the compound move up to provide supporting fire ...
Another German patrol hurries up the road to the compound in response the to the gun-fire ....
The resistance fighters and the commando with the bren gun open fire, downing most of the patrol
On the side of the compound by the railway line the German patrol are all down, a couple of sentries have fallen back from fence line to seek some cover; the resistance have started falling back but keeping up sporadic fire as they go ...
Commandos and resistance fighters pour fire into the area by the main gate forcing back the remaining sentries ...
A lone commando has circled round the compound and cut through the fence, he lays a charge in one of the supply caches.
The moves on to do the same in the next one ...
Having laid the charges he makes a move towards the building, but is spotted by the sentry ...
After a brief exchange of fire the commando goes down; the attackers near the gate start to fall back ...
As they fall back the charges go off ... kerboom ! The explosion damages the building as well, which then catches fire....

A successful operation.. the remaining commandos and resistance slink away....

Monday, July 25, 2022

On the road to Sainte Marie le Polet.....

To the north of Sainte Marie le Polet, halfway to Ronancourt, a german equipment dump (ammo and fuel) had been setup. It is used by the local garrison and also contains a building holding special equipment - possibly spare parts and specialist lubricants for the big rail gun near Nouvion.

---oXo---

An officer has completed an inspection ...

and heads off down the road towards Sainte Marie le Polet...
Michelle LeBlanc wheels her bicycle past the supply dump, on her way past she counts the number of sentries...
The local train has arrived at the station...
Two of the people who got off chat with the local policeman and Michelle ...
A while later a Storch flew in low over the area and circled around, before moving off.  It was checking cross country movements after parachutists had been reported a few miles away...
Late in the afternoon, the local garrison commander decided to put a couple of foot patrols down in the area just in case of trouble...

to be continued