Between bouts of prepping for today's snow storm, we broke out MP for a small scenario. The setting was Nouvion during the third week of May 1940, the British desperately trying to hold escape routes to the Channel ports open. A British ad hoc force comprised of two infantry platoons and three troops of armor (A9, A13, and a few new Valentines) are sent to seize and hold a crossroads near a small abandoned, heavily-damaged farming commune southeast of Nouvion. A German Kampfgruppe (under the command of the familiar Oberst Von Stupp) comprised of three platoons of infantry and two platoons of armor (Pzkpfw IIIE) are similarly sent to seize the crossroads. Skies were overcast, so no available air-support, and no off-board arty in range.
Objectives were primarily the crossroads, with the village and a hill northeast of the village both secondary. The British infantry quickly seized the crossroads and advanced into the village, intending to block access to the road junction. The Germans likewise seized the unoccupied high ground while advancing west along the road to the village. Initially without tank support, Von Stupp sent one infantry platoon toward the village where they immediately came under fire. A close assault successfully ejected a British rifle squad from a concrete-block building (garage) the British had hastily occupied. From there, the fight developed into an infantry slog as the Germans tried to clear the remaining buildings while the Brits vigorously defended. The Germans, under heavy rifle and mortar fire, made no further progress. Efforts to encircle the commune with the the other two platoons were similarly blocked, with one pinned along a hedgerow and unable/unwilling to move forward.
Von Stupp subsequently brought up one platoon of tanks in an effort to support the infantry. The 37mm gun of the Pz-IIIE proved ineffective against infantry in buildings, but machinegun fire drew better results, especially against some British infantry occupying a barn and farmyard on the northern edge of the village.
The other German tank platoon was sent north of the village to guard against a possible counterattack by British armor. A dust-up with a troop of A9 cruisers was blunted by some medium range AP fire, two of three cruisers knocked out at the cost of one Pz-IIIE.
In the closing stages, the platoon of A13s slipped around the southern edge of the town to engage the Pz-IIIE platoon trying to support the ongoing fight in the village. Two Pz-IIIE were knocked out at the cost of a single A13.
With little progress clearing the village, little chance of reaching the crossroads, and having lost half his tanks (with additional British tanks observed coming down the road from the northwest), Von Stupp made the decision to withdraw. Victory was awarded to the British for having held the vital crossroads.
A few pics: