France 40

[Plain Ian]

Last map on this scenario. I won’t have time to to cover the western sector of this scenario where we have the 2nd and 8th Panzer. I would assume that the German player will try to exit some of these units off the western map edge and push towards Abbeville (100 VP) whilst the British/French player slows this down or delays him.

The situation in the south looks a bit more promising than the north. Units outlined in red are Fixed.

There are no VP’s at Peronne and only 50 VP’s at Amiens which has the only bridges west of Peronne. (one rail bridge and one engineering) It would appear that these are not areas worth fighting for.

However the French Division tied down south of Amiens is the 4th Colonial Division which is a B rated unit and its Battalions are at 80% or about 450 men. They are faced by 2 Motorised Battalions of 1st Panzer plus elements from 1st Battalion Panzer Rgt 1. The rest of the Panzer Division is north of the river ready to move west possibly. 

The 4th Division is spread out holding ‘open’ territory and it would be nice to get the defensive benefit of city/town terrain and of course delay or tie down the 1st Panzer?

At Peronne most of the 7th Division North African is tied down holding the south bank and watching the eastern flank. The German 29th Motorised will appear from this direction in 8 hours/4 turns time. The mobile Group Beauchesnes also fixed. It’s an interesting unit made up of tanks, cavalry and motor cycle infantry. (50/690/690). It releases at noon 12:00. I suspect it will be useful for the French if the Germans opt to use the 29th Motorised south of the river although the Germans will have an unbridged major river facing them.

The main attack force are the two mobile Divisions, the 4th DCR and 1st DLM. Both are poised to strike north with the obvious objective being Albert worth 250 VP. Like most ‘tank’ units at this stage of the war they are tank heavy in relation to the ratio of infantry in the unit. Not quite as bad as the German units, the 10th Panzer has 261 vehicles and 2391 men. The 1st DLM has 224 vehicles and 2913 men and the 4th DLM has 129 vehicles and 2070 men. (see map 1)

The French have more tanks in the Peronne area but tank for tank there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two forces. The 6th Panzer is lurking just to the north west of Albert and could be pulled back and of course there is also the SS Totenkopf available if the British threat from the north can be contained quickly.
             
The 1st DLM is rated C morale which I assume is due to training whilst the 4th DCR is a D. German armour is A rated and their supporting infantry B.  

There are 3 bridges in the area. An engineering bridge (1) and a heavy road bridge (3) held by 7th Infantry Division. This Division should be able to provide much needed infantry support for the mobile Divisions. 
The second bridge will require a perilous crossing to set up a bridgehead as the I/Schutze Rgt 69 is guarding it. 
A third unoccupied road bridge (3) is also available in between these bridges, and should they need it the 1st DLM has a rare French bridging unit in its column (4).

Its 6:00 am and the French could be Albert in one move by 08:00. The Germans will have to respond quickly.