Planning Juno Beach

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of D-Day so Andy and I thought we would play the 'Juno Beach' scenario from Rommel.

I thought it might be interesting to plan how I was going to play the re-fight and afterwards see how my plan compared to what happens.

This is my initial plan:

I intend to deploy the slightly larger 8th Brigade on the right with the 7th Brigade on the left.

The 8th Brigade will push forwards as fast as possible with it's initial objective being the town at D8. 7th Brigade will also push forward with the dual task of taking the town at H7 and the objective at E7. To win the scenario the Canadians need to control 5 towns and 2 objectives by nightfall. The 9th Brigade will arrive as a second wave late morning with some SP guns.

The Germans have the 716th infantry available defending the beach with the 352nd Infantry further back in reserve. They also have the 21st Panzer Division which will arrive late in the morning. I think Andy has two choices with the 716th Infantry, either to spread them very thinly across the table to try to delay me or to concentrate them in the two town and the two marsh squares perhaps with more on my left in the open to delay me. This is how I would deploy them. However, Andy has had success in the past with a sacrificial line of infantry so I wouldn't be too surprised if he goes for that.

Tactical phase one and the Canadians rush forward with the tanks in advance:

Tactical phase two the advance continues. As far as possible we will ignore the 716th Infantry and leave them for the 2nd wave to deal with:

Tactical phase three and the two towns have been secured as has the objective, though due to the slow movement of the infantry (they have no half-tracks) tanks are having to hold the town initially:

So by the end of Turn One the Canadian plan is to be well forward with enough towns and the first objective secured. Having tanks holding the built up areas is not ideal but infantry can replace them later and  I don't think the German's are strong enough to counter-attack before the infantry can take over them.

The plan then is perhaps to mop up the 716th Infantry who will hopefully be isolated and push on towards the second Canadian objective in B2. It looks a tough task to take it, the 352nd Infantry is a strong unit and will have the 21st Panzer in support. My 2nd wave infantry, although numerous, will find it hard to get that far forward before darkness unless I can clear a route for road movement for them. That's probably one advantage for me if Andy does use the 716th as a screen, they will be wiped out quicker (hopefully) allowing me to use road movement later on. The other thing the 2nd wave brings is extensive artillery support which will help attacking.

So some tough choices for both sides.