AAR: Knock Them Down! (StW4)

SITREP

The entire area was dominated by the smokestacks of the giant steel factory at Colombelles. These smokestacks were the ideal observation posts over the battlefield for the Germans. General Montgomery decided on an operation to take these smokestacks out, aptly called Operation STACK, and the 51^st (Highland) Division was tasked to carry it out. The 1^st Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders (1^st Gordons) on the right would clear the village of Colombelles and then advance into the Steelworks from the northwest. On the left, the 5^th Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)(5^th Black Watch) would capture the crossroads east of Colombelles and the advance into the Steelworks from the northeast.

The Players

Neal – Germans – Defenders:
Jägerregiment 32, 16 Luftwaffenfelddivision

Scott – British – Attackers:
153^rd Infantry Brigade

After Action Report

Location:
South of Colombelles, France

Date:
11 July 1944

No real Balance history to speak of…one of the records being this playing.

ROAR Balance	Archive Balance
British 1	British 0
Germans 1	Germans 1

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Download the VASL .vsav setup file.
Download the VASL .vlog replay file.

Neal (Defending)

Advantages

• 81mm, rooftop mortars!
• Extensive fortifications, wire, mines, bunkers.
• Tigers!
• Terrain that’s advantageous to defend.

Disadvantages

• Luftwaffe ground troops have terrible ELR.
• Random reinforcement timing.
• Offboard OBA observer with sketchy LOS.
• Poor leader density.

This is going to be a long AAR, because this one’s Meaty with a capital “M” … so buckleup buttercup!

I could tell this wasn’t going to be a standard urban fight. This was Colombelles, and the battered, rubble-strewn steelworks of the Société Métallurgique de Normandie (Metallurgic Company of Normandy) on the eastern bank of the Orne River outside Caen. On July 11th, days after Operation Charnwood, the British probed for a breakout and the Germans scrambled to hold the Caen perimeter with increasingly desperate forces. Historically, this battle represents one of two known attempts to knock out the German artillery observers using the smokestacks of the steel mill. The stacks themselves (in hexes M25 and O20) towered over the entire battlefield, offering the Germans a deadly high seat to direct fire. Historically, that was a problem, and in this scenario, they were the focal point of the entire map…and I was going to make Scott pay for every hex between the stacks and his line of departure.

My force, representing Jägerregiment 32 of the 16. Luftwaffen-Felddivision, wasn’t elite, not even close. These were second-rate Luftwaffe ground units, cobbled together to fill holes in the line, often undertrained and underled. In ASL terms, that meant ELR 2 (yikes), morale 7 at best, and a tendency to collapse under sustained pressure. But they were defending a fortress…and I had toys…many, many toys.

I began with an embarrassment of fortifications: mines, wire, bunkers (including retreat tunnels through the ruins), and the most beautiful mortar positions I’ve ever had the pleasure of placing. Three 81mm mortars. I placed all three on factory rooftops in hexes N14, P15, and Q18 (B23.85 for the win!), despite knowing I’d lose TEM I still received HA (B23.81). That allowed me to hit nearly any hex I wanted in the British approach corridor. It was risky…rooftops are exposed…but it paid off in spades. With ROF 3, I went on several rate-of-fire tears. One fire phase I took seven shots in a row, broke two stacks, wounded a leader, and landed a CH on a Sherman exposed crew (CE). That phase alone delayed the British advance by two full turns or so. Heavy mortars in ASL, when hot, can define a game. Mine certainly did.

My initial setup relied heavily on deception and shaping enemy movement. I laid visible minefields (not hidden, as I could have) to create pressure and try to channel Scott’s forces. Typically, players hide their mines and go for the shock factor. I chose battlefield control instead. The visible mines blocked ideal approach lanes, forcing British armor to veer wide or creep forward in poor terrain. Combined with wire and rubble, this shaped Scott’s entire attack into predictable routes…routes I already had in the sights of my mortars and my Pak 40 ATG. Scott would have to drag his units through mines and/or wire or through my funnels. In either case, it’s a win for me.

One of my Pak 40 (75L) was set up on my right flank in hex X14, right on the main road, with LOS to several approach lanes. Scott came fast and aggressive with his Shermans out front, clearly hoping to swarm and overwhelm any AT asset before it could respond. The first Sherman took a shell to the front hull and brewed up. The second came into LOS…toast. The third fired smoke and reversed, but too slowly…another kill. This happened over two turns. By the time I was done, five Shermans lay in ruin, some blocking the very road they tried to charge down. That one gun was worth its weight in gold. It held the left flank alone for half the game.

The other anti-tank gun (same model) was placed across the canal to cover a possible British flanking move down the west bank. Scott never went that way. That gun and its crew spent the entire game trudging through the road trying to reposition, pushing the gun like a rusted grocery cart. Never fired a shot. But it served a purpose: it deterred. That’s its own kind of victory, I guess. But I still feel like it was completely wasted. Don’t set up anything on the other side of the river. It’s part of the map that will never be used.

As for the bunkers, I placed one in S15 to cover the central approach, one in I14 watching the western flank, and one in O21 right by the rear smokestack. Only the first two were revealed in play. The third was never discovered. Scott never reached it. Even if he had, with fortified locations and a full squad in the hex, it would have been a bloodbath.

Then came my favorite moment of the scenario. Turn four, my reinforcement roll. I hit the jackpot: three Tigers entered the board. The arrival of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503, as it were, was perfectly timed. Historically accurate too. The British had begun to make some progress on the left and center, pushing past the burned Shermans and silencing two of my mortars. My line was bending. The Tigers fixed that.

Each Tiger came on, one with a 9-1 armor leader, forming mobile strongpoints. Their 88mm guns forced Scott to hide his remaining tanks—he had only one or two functional Shermans by then, one with a malfunctioned gun. The pressure of facing those beasts, combined with the physical impossibility of flanking them in that terrain, slowed his offensive momentum. He tried everything: infantry charges, PIAT teams, even demo charges placed with heroes. None succeeded. One hero died after failing his placement roll and getting shot point-blank. Another squad charged, forgot to make its PAATC, and got annihilated.

Scott did make some clever plays. Around turn 5, he broke through my first factory line. His sniper was active, and I lost two leaders in quick succession. That could’ve turned the tide. Without leaders, rallying my squads…already low-ELR and skittish…became almost impossible. But the terrain came to my aid. The complex, debris-filled map offered dozens of delay positions, and I began a phased withdrawal to the second factory line. Not a rout, but a fighting retreat. Squad by squad, I pulled back, firing as I went, and always leaving residual fire when possible.

Meanwhile, my own sniper was pulling his weight (SAN 5). He knocked out Scott’s OBA leader early, stranding his radio for two turns. By the time Scott recovered it, he didn’t have LOS to anything. Between orchard strips, factory walls, and rubble, the map was an LOS nightmare. He never got more than a single OBA fire mission off, and it was ineffective.

The turning point was probably turn 7. That’s when I fully stabilized my second defensive line, reinforced it with Panzer IVs that rolled on board, and got my last mortar back into action. From that point on, I knew Scott couldn’t win on VCs. To blow both smokestacks, he’d need to push deep, clear at least three fortified hexes, and survive close combat against concealed Germans supported by armor. He just didn’t have the units left.

He made a final push on turn 8, with demo charges and infantry, but it was clear he didn’t know the extent of my fortifications. He had no idea the hexes near the smokestacks were fortified. I would’ve loved to see his face when he realized that. Even if he got there, he couldn’t enter the hexes if I had any Good Order units in them (B23.922). By then, most of his infantry was broken, dead, or leaderless. He conceded.

For the Germans, this game was all about positional defense. It wasn’t about winning firefights. It was about shaping the battlefield before the first shot was fired. Minefields, wire, bunkers—they weren’t there to kill. They were there to funnel, stall, and punish. The mortars were devastating, but even if they’d been less effective, the terrain might have carried me. LOS trickery, layered defense, and selective withdrawal let me preserve my force and bleed his dry.

Historically, it tracks. The real attack on Colombelles failed for many of the same reasons: stiff German resistance, armor superiority (courtesy of Tigers), and the British inability to coordinate infantry-armor advances in dense urban terrain. The smokestacks stood, spotting for German artillery until a later assault finally succeeded.

Would I play this defense again? In a heartbeat. My ELR was garbage, my troops broke if you looked at them wrong, but I had the tools. ASL loves the underdog with a fortified line and some hidden teeth.

Scott (Attacking)

Advantages

• Numerical superiority.
• Decent morale and ELR.
• Shermans, OBA, demo charges, etc. Lots of equipment.
• Wide line of departure gives me options.

Disadvantages

• Brutal terrain to traverse.
• Hellish LOS.
• Have to crack Fortified bulding locations at some point. Ugh.

I was commanding a classic 1944 British force—a combined-arms battalion task force from the 153rd Infantry Brigade, loaded with firepower, decent leadership, and a decent plan (?!). My job? Advance across a map full of wheat fields, plowed farmland, factory rubble, piles of rock, debris, and hell itself to destroy two smokestacks being used by German forward observers. It sounded straightforward on paper. Historically, these smokestacks had become a thorn in the side of British operations near Caen, providing the Germans with elevated LOS to direct artillery onto any movement east of the Orne. Knocking them out was both a tactical necessity and a symbolic gesture. That said, I had 12 turns. That’s a long time in ASL.

Turns out, I needed more.

My force was large, platoon after platoon of solid British infantry, several Shermans including a Firefly, and two massive SSR demo charges designated for the stacks. I even had skirt-wearing pipers to boost morale and impress the spectators. The map offered a wide line of departure, so I figured I’d try a two-pronged approach. Push down both flanks, force Neal to stretch, then pivot hard to one side once I found a weak point. Sound theory, solid logic. And then I hit the terrain.

The first shock was LOS. What looked open in the scenario card and on first glance was, in reality, a maze of concealed debris, shell holes, walls, hedges, and rubble. Every ground level “open shot” was +2 or +3 in hindrances. Every approach lane had choke points. Every hex cost too much to enter. My Shermans crawled. My infantry stumbled forward. Even with smoke cover from vehicles (when the dice cooperated), I couldn’t gain ground quickly, even if I tried.

And the German mortars…good grief, the mortars. Neal put three 81mm mortars on factory rooftops. No TEM for him, sure, but near-unrestricted views of my entire front, looking over all those walls, grain, and piles of rubble. Those mortars, all with ROF 3, immediately began what I can only describe as a reenactment of Passchendaele. In one fire phase, he took seven consecutive rate-of-fire shots, breaking three stacks and killing a leader. That wasn’t an anomaly. It was a pattern. These things would hammer a hex, roll ROF, fire again, and again, and again. I tried to avoid stacking, but the terrain sort of forced me into it. Plowed fields and wire had me bottlenecked and slow. The mortars punished every poor decision.

I figured, fine…let the tanks take over. I moved forward with a squadron of Shermans to begin clearing the forward buildings. That’s when his Pak 40 revealed itself. He had it covering the main road (X14) and it was a textbook ambush. The first Sherman took a shell to the turret and brewed up. The second tried to fire smoke, missed. The third reversed, boom. In the space of two turns, five Shermans were destroyed. Not immobilized. Not shocked. Destroyed (and sometimes burning). It was brutal.

At this point, I knew I had to get infantry into position and knock that damn AT gun out. But everything conspired against me: terrain, mortar fire, and minefields. Neal placed them revealed, which I found odd at first, but I realized it was a ploy. I couldn’t just push through them with impunity, and the combination of mines and barbed wire forced me into predictable paths…paths he already had in LOS.

I tried to shift to the left. My infantry there made progress, pushing through debris and low walls. I brought up a squad with a PIAT and another carrying one of the demo charges. I even created a hero to lead the charge. But timing was off. My squads were too far behind the tanks. The gun kept firing. And then, just when I finally knocked out the Pak 40—losing multiple squads in the process—Neal rolled a 1 on his reinforcement roll.

That was the first nail in the coffin. His Tigers arrived the earliest they theoretically could! I wasn’t ready (Is one ever ready for Tigers?)

Historically, the Tigers of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 were the hammer that broke this British assault. They showed up around this time in reality, just as the British began to gain a foothold. And in this scenario, Neal’s Tigers appeared just as I silenced his main AT gun. These beasts rolled in with infantry support and parked themselves between me and the smokestacks. I had one Sherman left with a working gun and one with a malfunctioned main armament. I tried to repair it…rolled a 6. Of course. 🙄 I drove it around the flank to try and bait him into a rear shot opportunity. He smoked it with an 88mm round. Toast.

I got desperate. I sent a squad with a PIAT into close range of a Tiger. Took the shot—missed. Sent in my hero with a demo charge—forgot the PAATC, failed the placement roll, died. Every close-combat attempt failed. Just dust and dashed hopes.

Meanwhile, my infantry was starting to crumble. Not because they were poorly trained (my morale and ELR were solid) but because I was losing leaders. Neal’s sniper (SAN 5) was working overtime. He took out my OBA radio leader early in the scenario, stranding my radio. It took two turns to recover it. Then, thanks to terrain, I couldn’t get LOS to any target hexes. Orchards, walls, hedges—every line was blocked. I fired one ineffective OBA mission late in the game, but by then it didn’t matter. The radio might as well have been a brick picked up from the rubble.

Around turn 6, I made my biggest push. I finally managed to breach Neal’s first factory line. I silenced two of the mortars, broke a few defenders, and got a foothold in the central complex. I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could still do this with a little luck. I had some functioning squads, a couple of leaders, and one working tank. Neal was falling back methodically, clearly preparing a second defense line. If I moved fast, I could try to overrun the smokestacks before he dug in fully.

Then came the turning point. In the center, I had a 3:1 advantage in close combat. Three squads versus one. I attacked. He survived. I attacked again. Still alive. That one squad tied up an entire platoon for two turns, buying Neal all the time he needed to fall back, rally, and reinforce.

By turn 8, my attack had no steam left. Most of my remaining squads were broken. The last few were unsupported and faced with fortified hexes defended by concealed Germans. I didn’t even know they were fortified until later. That was the final gut punch. Even if I got to the smokestacks, I would’ve had to clear fortified hexes. With Tigers nearby. And no working tanks.

I made one final, desperate push. Sent infantry forward. Rushed buildings. Tried to rally. Placed smoke. But nothing stuck. Too many casualties. Too few leaders. Too many broken dreams lying in the wheat. I conceded on turn 9.

Looking back, I made several key errors. I underestimated the line of sight penalties. I should’ve spent more time calculating LOS and using smoke earlier. I should have respected the mortar threat more and focused on smoking them out. My armor moved too far ahead of my infantry…a classic mistake. And I should’ve prioritized the AT gun much earlier, perhaps with OBA or a coordinated smoke/infantry advance.

But I’ll also say: Neal had a great setup. He used fortifications not to kill, but to shape my attack. His fallback plan was well-timed. His reinforcement timing was lucky, yes, but he positioned them to defend, not to attack. The Tigers weren’t just tanks—they were anchors. And his use of the terrain, especially the factory buildings and rooftop mortars, was textbook defense-in-depth.

Historically, the British attack on Colombelles failed for similar reasons. They couldn’t neutralize the German fire observers. They were stalled by terrain and precise fire. And when the Tigers arrived, they had no answer. The smokestacks stood tall through July, directing fire and frustrating Allied plans until later offensives finally pushed through. I had the tools, but not the time. Colombelles swallowed another British attack—and it did so with steel jaws and mortar fire. A brutal lesson in timing and coordination.

Would I play it again? Absolutely. But next time, I’ll bring more smoke. And maybe an exorcist for those mortar dice.

Debriefing

Knock Them Down is a scenario that captures the brutal reality of the 11 July 1944 assault on Colombelles accurately. Historically, British forces aimed to demolish German artillery spotting positions atop the massive steelworks smokestacks, but were repulsed by determined defenders and the sudden arrival of Tiger tanks. In this game, the scenario followed history almost to the letter.

Neal’s German defense was methodical and deadly…minefields and wire shaped the battlefield, while rooftop mortars and well-placed AT guns stymied the British advance before it could gain traction. His fallback tactics and fortified positions ensured depth, and the early arrival of three Tigers sealed the deal.

Scott’s British attack was classic Commonwealth doctrine: broad-front advance, armor-supported, with artillery and engineering assets in reserve. But the terrain turned every gain into a slog, LOS challenges neutered his OBA, and the loss of leaders and armor blunted his spearheads. Even demo charges and PIATs couldn’t break the final German redoubts.

By turn 9, with no functioning tanks, shattered platoons, and fortified buildings ahead, Scott conceded. Just as in 1944, the Germans held, and the smokestacks stood for just a little while longer.

Academy Out!

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

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