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Here you will find links to Conventions and shows we have attended. Also you will find discriptions and pictures of battles we have put on at shows.
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Here you will find links to Conventions and shows we have attended. Also you will find discriptions and pictures of battles we have put on at shows.
The British in the Bocage(Operation Bluecoat July - August 1944)
History By the end of July 1944 the situation in the Normandy bridgehead was at last changing in favour of the allies. The US 3rd Army under General Patton had broken out at the Western end of the bridgehead and was beginning to exploit both West into Brittany and South East into Central France.
The Germans who's cordon around the allies had final been broken, were desperately attempting to mount a counter attack to cut off 3rd Army's supply routes, this would become the ill fated Mortain counter attack.
Meanwhile the British who had failed to breach German defences in the East of the bridgehead during operations Epsom and Goodwood were again attempting to break out southward from their positions to the West of Caen. Operation Bluecoat as this attack was to be know would ultimately be successful, but would suffer at the hands of heavy German resistance as firstly they fought to keep open the supply routes for the Mortain counter attack and secondly to keep open routes to the East as the Germans fell back into the now famous Falaise Pocket.
Bluecoat Operation Bluecoat was carried out by two British corps VIII and XXX. Their objective was to protect the American left flank as they exploited southward and to capture the important communication centres of Vire and Mont Pincon, which would be vital to the Germans in their eventual retreat.
11th Armoured Division The early stages of Bluecoat saw the two British Corps advancing at a similar rate as the Americans on their right. However on July 31st the 11th Armoured Division, part of VIII corps, on the extreme right of Bluecoat captured intact a bridge over the river Souleuvre. The commander of 11th Armoured the talented General Pip Roberts immediately exploited this opportunity and rushed his forces southward over the bridge. This resulted in 11th Armoured moving into areas where the Germans had limited defences and the British gained a large amount of ground in short order.
The drawback of this situation was that 11th Armoured outstripped both the Americans on their right and Guards Armoured on their left and found themselves in an exposed salient which was soon to become the target of heavy German attacks. The area into which the British had advanced was the dreaded bocage country made up of small fields surrounded by high banks and hedges and divided by deep narrow lanes, ideal for defence and a nightmare for the British attempting to advance through it.
German forces by this time were becoming rather disorganised and troops were drawn from all areas of the armed forces. It was not uncommon to see SS, Weirmarcht and Luftwaffe troops fighting side by side.
Today's Battle The battle we are recreating today is set on 2nd August 1944 with 11th Armoured racing southward in an attempt to cut vital German lines of communication. The battle begins with the British recon approaching a defended junction on the important supply route between Vire and Estry. The British will attempt to capture the junction and the small hamlet of Grands-Bonfaits to the Northeast. They will then attempt to defend this area against German counter attacks as the Germans attempt to move their forces westward via Vire towards Mortain.
Figures and Vehicles The majority of the figures used here today are by SHQ. The vehicles are a mixture of SHQ, Britannia, Airfix and Skytrex.
Scenery The scenery on use here today is by The Last Valley.
Roger Sidwell
Rayleigh Wargames
