Submarine Pen - Internal (trial setup)

I've used some of my harbour sections and made some wall sections to represent a small submarine pen - could be used as part of a game, surrounded by scenic elements (with the roof omitted).

Action this Day.

  Later that evening the message was sent and received "Somewhere in England" (Check blog)

 But meanwhile whilst the RAF prepared to bomb the gun position.

   Alain Cardin, member of Charlie Group, was checking on his sheep a few miles North East of Nouvion.

    The Road Block was new, but his papers were good and he and Margarete  were allowed to pass.           As he walked down the road he checked his surroundings. The sentries on the bridge were in their normal positions, and would as usual move out of the way when the bell rang warning of a train approaching the narrow bridge.

As he checked on his small flock, a patrol passed by, apart from a quick look, they ignored him, recognising him from previous visits.

So Random patrols were still taking place , but there seemed no signs of heightened alert.

The best approach still seemed to be along the river bank.

Returning home to the other members of the group, they made their final plans for the attack.

To be continued.....

Whats on the line ?

Jacque Poulet (undercover SOE Agent) working on the railway, heard the word that the main line would be cleared that evening for a special German armaments train.  Later on he met up with Monique and as darkness fell they headed up to the edge of town..

They waited in cover by a platelayer's hut; about 15 minutes later they could hear the train approaching. Two tank engines came into view pulling a Nouvion bound train, they couldn't see much else in the gloom...

then as a couple of goods wagons passed them out of the gloom loomed a large German railway gun...

Jacque and Monique headed back to town, a radio message had to be sent - the Germans looked like they were setting up a battery of railway guns near Nouvion.  They already knew of one possibly working out of a tunnel on a disused branch line, the one they'd seen that evening would make two in the area .....  

German Motorbikes and Infantry ...

Some more additions to the 28mm German collection...

Motorbikes ...

Additional german infantry section and machine gun (Foundry)..

That tops up the germans, ready now for most anticipated small game scenarios...

Trucks and armoured cars...

Added some extra transport and small armoured cars for the 'small' 28mm collection

A couple of trucks..

Two small armoured cars and a Steyr staff car

I plan to add some motorbikes and another section of infantry. That should be enough for 28mm resistance and small scale games, anything involving larger forces will be done in 20mm.

Radio Detector Truck..

I've made up a german radio detection truck, using an old Lledo diecast WW2 vehicle and some thin wire to make the aerial. 

I based the model on this picture found on the internet...

The conversion ...

On duty ...

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....

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

German supply dump....

 Near the German HQ ammo and fuel dumps have been setup in a wood....

[ New items: Camouflage netting pieces from AnyScale Models 1/56 range]

The Guns of Nouvion Part 2.

The next morning Robert Odd-Fellowes found something else on his desk.

The previous day, a photo recce had been sent across the channel.

Objective; a site South East of Nouvion.

What was found confirmed the information sent by the British agent in the area. The gun that had been harassing shipping along the coast between the harbours that were his responsibility had been located.

Again he wondered on the fate of the agent .

Along with the photos was confirmation that an attack was to be launched by the RAF to silence the guns, details no doubt would follow.

Blow that line ....

 While Monique had gone to meet the SOE agent,  a group of resistance fighters had gone out to sabotage the branch line the German's were using to move ammunition up to their big railway guns.

---0X0---

They reached the road near the railway line ....

no German's in sight ...so they crossed the road...

waiting in cover for the German patrol to move down the line ...

The German patrol passed by down the line; another moved down the road behind them without incident..

Patrols having passed by, they started to lay the charge on the track ... 

The moved back and set off the charge - there was a harumph and a flash of the explosion ...

As the dust settled they moved away - a hole in track would stop shipments for a while ...

The explosion brought the German patrols in their direction; as they ran across the heathland the Germans closed in ...

The Germans caught a glimpse of movement as the resistance ran to safety...

One of the Germans ran forward, blundering into one of the resistance - the german fired and wounded the other (not badly), the resistance fighter fired killing the german....

The resistance fighter moved quickly to catch up with his comrades, as the Germans fired at them (not hitting them ..)

The resistance make for the safety of the woods...