Messenger Boys

By the fourth day of the British offensive Operation Bluecoat, the German front line had been penetrated and the armoured units sought to exploit the gains. To obtain a clear line of advance, the British Guards Armoured division changed its orientation and sought to push eastwards from the village …

1944-08-02

J152

By the fourth day of the British offensive Operation Bluecoat, the German front line had been penetrated and the armoured units sought to exploit the gains. To obtain a clear line of advance, the British Guards Armoured division changed its orientation and sought to push eastwards from the village of Catheolles. This redirection led the Guards into the path of SS-Panzer-Division “Hofenstaufen”, redeployed to this sector to meet the British threat. The Germans faced a more tactically adept opponent, with the Guards manoeuvring in combined tank and infantry battlegroups. One battlegroup, consisting of the 2nd Armoured and 1st Motor Grenadier Guards battalions, pushed from Catheolles into the hamlet of Drouet towards their objective on Montchauvet. Challenging this battlegroup were SS troopers from 9.SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment “Hofenstaufen”, supporting panzers and a surprise.

Drouet, France

Operation Bluecoat was a British offensive in the Battle of Normandy, from 30 July until 7 August 1944, during the Second World War. The geographical objectives of the attack, undertaken by VIII Corps and XXX Corps of the British Second Army (Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey), were to secure the road junction of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pinçon. The attack was made at short notice to exploit the success of Operation Cobra by the First US Army after it broke out on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead and to exploit the withdrawal of the 2nd Panzer Division from the Caumont area, to take part in Unternehmen Lüttich (Operation Liège) a German counter-offensive against the Americans.

British

German

Scenario Type = Standard