British Fronts Map Pack, Wave 3

by MonolithicBacon 28th August 2015, 09:41 AM

"It was Hell and I am still astonished that I ever survived it. I was unconscious for a while after a bomb had exploded just in front of my tank, almost burying me alive."

- Freiherr von Rosen, reciting the events of Operation Goodwood

Welcome to Wave 3 of the rapidly developing British Fronts Map Pack on the Steam Workshop! Adding to the five maps released so far, this third wave will throw another three into the breach, in eager anticipation of the upcoming UKF release.

(2) Catania Region (Codename Ische)

Although greatly overshadowed by the beach landings of D-Day of 1944, the Sicilian landings of 1943 were at the time, the largest in history. With the African campaign behind them and the open deserts of Tunisia a smouldering ruin of German and Italian armour, British, Commonwealth and American forces moved North into Italian territory to put further pressure on their stranglehold over Southern Europe. The aim, above all, was to direct attention away from France - where raids and plans for D-Day were unfolding – and Russia - who had now broken from Stalingrad and were beginning their purge across Eastern Europe. The sweltering Summer of 1943 saw the British Army advance through the rugged plains of Catania, where abandoned farms and homesteads reflected what it meant to invade a homeland, rather than defend it.

Minimap

(6 - 8) 's-Hertogenbosch

's-Hertogenbosch represented a key location along the Oost railway, which British forces had been using to drive a wedge into villages and towns throughout the Netherlands. This city's various waterways, canals and bridges urged British command to avoid their successful tactics of air supremacy and artillery, in the hope that key locations could be secured before German Command could order the bridges destroyed. Under the cover of darkness, the Welsh 53rd crossed the rail-bridge into the city, taking what ground they could in order to create a staging ground for the day's assault.

Minimap

(6 - 8) Operation Goodwood

While the battle of Villers-Bocage saw British and American armour very much on their back feet, facing a much stronger, prepared Wehrmacht force, Operation Goodwood saw their return to the offensive. With the Bourguébus Ridge standing as the main line of defence before Caen itself, detailed plans were laid down to take the entire sector by force, starting with an excess of 4,000 tonnes of explosives dropped by the Royal Air Force at dawn. With Wehrmacht armoured columns crippled, overturned, ruined or exposed, British forces began a rolling barrage to cover the advance of the largest tank engagement in their history. Operation Goodwood saw infantry and vehicle alike clash in forests and fields on a massive scale, vastly relying on combined arms to control such vital battlefield.

Minimap