Klementi Voroshilov

The HMS Sparrowhawk enjoyed the distinction of being the first aircraft carrier to launch an air attack that sank an enemy ship.  But she wasn't an aircraft carrier.  She wasn't even a ship.

I read Stephen King's The Stand  probably forty years ago.  I just remember it involved some kind of plague and ended with a bomb going off.  The Belgians probably would consider this a mercy from the way the Final Stand came out. If you remember, in RM3, the Germans were taking Bodange by cheating and bringing in their armored cars early.  We pick up where we left off, with the Germans holding Bodange and moving west along the paved road out of town.  What remains of the Belgians must hold them.

One of the more interesting actions near Narvik was the amphibious invasion of Bjerkvik, a small town north of Narvik.  With complete naval supremacy, the Allies could attack virtually anywhere at any time.  The fjords offered a much easier way to get around.  At times, this created real problems as the bridgeheads were not mutually supporting and required naval support to remain viable.  On May 12th, 1940, the Allies struck at Bjerkvik, with an eye to link up with Poles already landed at Navik to the south. Ne Next morning at Bjerkvik, the attack was constituted by a ferocious naval bombardment, which was very destructive to the town and caused many civilian casualties.  This was followed by an attack of a company from one of my all time favorite units, the 13th Demi-Brigade of the French Foreign Legion along with some H39 tanks.

The DKM Z2 Georg Thiele isn't a household name, unless your household is in Northern Norway and your hobby is freaking freezing ass SCUBA diving. What I love about this ship is what it says about German naval capabilities and the willingness of a madman to throw away such a wonderful ship and crew for such little gain.

I continue with my solo play of Race for the Meuse.  Today, we move a bit north into Bodange--I thought we were supposed to ESCAPE from Bodange!  :)) As the Belgians think of it, " A Town Called Panic !"  This is the first scenario in the pack with AFV's--a couple of German armored cars.  The Germans have a pretty mighty balance of forces, 7 squads to 4.  The Germans get a leichtinfantreegeschutz (which is worth a lot of points--in Scrabble.)  The scenario figures around the DD8 bridge, which is kind of cool.

Komarichev and Dhzoparidze (the loader) kept scanning ahead, from where the noise of engines was heard. Within a few minutes, armored vehicles appeared from behind the hill, moving from the valley, bypassing the hill, and exposing their sides to the front of our tanks. Apparently, the Germans did not expect an ambush here. - Five, six, seven..., twelve, - counted Komarichev. - Tengiz! Twenty! Do you understand, twenty!!! And behind them there is infantry! - Don't worry Zhora, we're guardsmen! - Pass the anti-tank rounds!

OK, so, this scenario looks like "Prelude to Bondage" which is what the wife and I call my birthday week.  HA! As I continue to work through the Race for the Meuse pack from Lone Canuck , I start RM2, Prelude to Bodange.  Here, the Belgians conduct a fighting withdrawal from Wisembach, (RM1) with the rather obstinate help of the first of the machine gun pillbox (covered in special rule 27.) Again, I look at this scenario and say, "How can the Germans possibly win?"  The victory conditions are fairly straightforward--the Belgian must simply cover the road from Wisembach to Bodange with at least 4FP.  It appears to be a very easy task, as you simply need to cover the road with the MG pillbox and you are done.  The Germans have to crawl through wire and mines to get at the pillbox and then take it out without the benefit of any engineering equipment?  Keep in mind that this is a concrete pillbox.