Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:42 No. 20813 ID: 4183c9
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Five SdKfz.223s and two 251/1s, part of the first enemy response to landing, were captured, most 223s being stripped of their MG-34s which many BAR-gunners swapped to when the constant counterattacks at the beach necessitated a temporary defensive posture and the increase in firepower.
A captured 223 was destroyed by a Panzershreck when it was being used to provide cover for a small detachment attacking a machinegun nest at the lighthouse. A second 223 was brought up, this time care was taken in approaching from a dead angle and suppressing the AT infantry, and finally the MG42 was neutralized and captured.
When three squads of Rangers in M3A1 halftracks landed, they put the Panzerfaust 100s found in the 251/1s to use along with further MG34s capture from destroyed enemy vehicles, as well as a Panzershreck and some Stg44s found in an enemy cache where a German captain and major were killed during the first push off the beach.

A number of Panzer IIs were captured, but not used against the enemy.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:44 No. 20814 ID: 4183c9
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Three Panzer III Ausf. F and two Panzer IV Ausf. H were used against the enemy, with a third PzIV joining the fight too late for a significant contribution. The PzIIIs destroyed several SdKfz.222s and stopped the enemy infantry's counterattacks on the left flank. The PzIVs participated in the right flank's armored fighting, scoring several effective hits on enemy PzIVs. One captured PzIV was destroyed by an enemy Panther.

The landing force's two M4A3E8(76)Ws and one M36 landed late, with only one Easy Eight exchanging shots with an enemy Panther. A more notable contribution was from two M18s, which disabled or destroyed several PzIVs and scored the killshot on at least one Jagdpanther. One M18 was later lost to a Tiger and the other disabled by a close flanking barrage by a 222 when the M18 was far forward of the friendly main force, flanking a detracked Tiger from point-blank range, which it managed to disable before the Hellcat's crew were killed in the 20mm barrage. The Hellcat was recovered after the battle.
Two M10 Wolverines landed after the Hellcats, but had no dramatic role in the battle.

Two PzIVs and a Tiger were captured intact after the enemy routed and their crews abandoned them.

While two captured Pak38s contributed to the fight, with a third one captured after the battle, the majority of the kills fell to the M5 gunnery of the tank destroyer battalion. The fire was so effective that only one M5 was hit, with no damage to the gun, the crew only briefly dazed before resuming fire.
One 88mm Flak 18 AA-gun was captured but could not be brought to engage the enemy.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:47 No. 20815 ID: 4183c9
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Ten men from the 101st Airborne Division participated in the fight. Nine airborne soldiers landed behind the enemy and while regrouping, engaged several enemy squads rushing towards the beach. One man was wounded and separated from his comrades during this fighting and was forced to hide in the forest until the main force had beaten the enemy.
The eight remaining men destroyed a Nebelwerfer, an 88mm gun, and killed ten enemy soldiers who were defending the Nebelwerfer. Low on ammunition and grenades, five men were looting the enemy dead, but three were wounded and captured when the five were surprised by an enemy element rushing towards the beach, consisting of two squads of paratroopers and a PzIV. The enemy's positions were too heavily manned and the danger of forces on their way to the beach forced the survivors into hiding, but they were spotted during the second last counterattack when the enemy used all available ground as the usual routes were full of troops and armor. Three men were killed during the brief fight. The wounded and captured men were finally rescued when the landing force broke the last German defensive line.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:49 No. 20816 ID: 4183c9
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Private Carl Allen with a German rifle and paratroop helmet. Having lost weapons and equipment, the Screaming Eagles found useful trophies on their dead German counterparts after the battle, eventually bringing home German weapons, including one FG42, and several German paratrooper helmets.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:51 No. 20817 ID: 4183c9
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Corporal Alan Lee landed on the friendly frontline on the right flank, capturing a scoped rifle almost immediately. He engaged several German paratroopers and fought at the front on the main force throughout rest of the battle.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:53 No. 20818 ID: 4183c9
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The initial force consisted of one M8 howitzer, an M5A1 Stuart light tank, an M3 light antitank gun, an M1 mortar and an infantry element roughly the size of a platoon, including a flamethrower and a sniper. With generous use of HE fire from the M8 and Stuart, the beachhead was secured. Immediate enemy counterattacks in the form of infantry and light vehicles were soundly beaten, with captured machineguns and an antitank rifle put to immediate use.

The Stuart was exceptionally effective in clearing the beach town. While the M8 and Lance Corporal Matther Rogers's flamethrower emptied buildings of infantry, the Stuart destroyed or disabled several light vehicles and eventually rushed into the town, killing infantry and the crews of a mortar and an MG-42 preventing infantry incursion into the town. After the town was captured, the Stuart destroyed or disabled several PzIIs and three PzIIIs, before being destroyed by a PzIII. M5 AT guns had landed by this time, so while regrettable, the loss of the Stuart did not compromise the expanded beachhead. Two other Stuarts landed and engaged several PzIIIs effectively, one on each flank.
The M3 AT gun destroyed several light vehicles and from an excellent position engaged several PzIIIs effectively after the town had been secured. By the time the right flank began its push beyond the town, though, the M5 heavy AT guns had moved too far forward for the M3's field of fire to be effective and it did not have the range and firepower to engage the PzIVs that the enemy was now sending in numbers.

Pictured: LCpl Matthew Rogers and LCpl Allen Hill after the battle. While room-to-room fighting in the beach town was not necessary because of the effectiveness of the flamethrower, the rest of the battle did not see any opportunities for Rogers and Hill.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:55 No. 20819 ID: 4183c9
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1st Sergeant Nathan Miller eliminated and suppressed individual fighters in the windows facing the beach. He then covered the road on the left flank until the town was secured, after which he killed a machinegunner and two riflemen in the inn just beyond the town on the right flank. He then killed two light machineguns and several soldiers behind a stone fence, and killed several German paratroopers and scared away others on the right flank, from the rampart of the elevation the church stands on.
During the push he eliminated a heavy machinegun team, and killed or suppressed other infantry in a trench. While he advanced with the frontline, the capture of the trench effectively ended his contribution as the nature of the battle changed decisively in favor of US tank destroyers and artillery.

Bob 2012/03/28(Wed)07:59 No. 20820 ID: 4183c9
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Ordered by his commanding officer to bring the luxury car seen outside the inn to the staging area after the battle, Private Allen Allen discovered an unused, loaded German sniper rifle, in pristine condition, just lying on the backseat of the car.
He did not report this finding to his commanding officer and intended to keep the it, but a Ranger found out about the rifle after the battle and offered Allen cigarettes, a Walther P38 and a German officer's cap for the rifle.

wuts dis?

>>20821

Men of War: Assault Squad