D Day scenario. Morning on King Green Beach

The men of the 4th Infantry Brigades assault group;  5 Platoon (2lt, 2 sections, light mortar) and 6 Platoon (3 sections, light mortar, flame thrower) of F Company, 1st Bn the Glen Darroch Highlanders (led by a captain)supported by two Sherman Vs from the Isle of Sheppey Border Horse (Lord Lucan's Own). All forces were Regulars

F Company commanders. left to right. 5 Platoon Commander 2Lt Richard "Dick" Bender. F Company acting  commander, the ever popular  Captain Warwick Hunt and 6 Platoon commander, 2 Lt Hugh Pratt

0720hts...Gently vomiting onto the sopping deck of the packed Landing Craft Infantry, Captain Warwick Hunt wished for nothing more than the chance to lie under a tree, hearing that that was the ideal cure for seasickness. The nearest trees were by now only a few hundred yards away on the coast of France and to get to those trees, Hunt knew that he, his men and the rest of the Allied invasion force would have to fight their way through the barrier that was Hitler's Atlantic Wall. "Oh well" he thought "one more reason for giving the Hun what for" 

Behind him, and over the mind numbing noise of shell fire and racing engines, he could hear the landing craft's guns firing towards the unseen coast and he heard the coxswain shout "two minutes to land!!" Taking a quick glance over the landing crafts ramp he could see quite clearly the Dubonnet advertisement on the side of the house on the beach "Just like in the planning photos; at least we're on target" "One minute to land; stand by!" called the coxswain. "Right men, this is it!" shouted Hunt. Around him, the spume soaked bodies men tensed, ready for the ramp to drop. As the landing craft beached and the ramp started to drop, bullets struck the steel hull, ricocheting off, sparks flying...

King Green Beach. Petit Paps-Sur-Mer

As 6 Platoon storm ashore from the landing craft supported by DD Shermans of the Isle of Sheppey Border Horse (IoSBH). 5 Platoon, their landing craft damaged and their numbers thinned by German fire,  wade ashore.

2Lt Benders 5 platoon struggle through the surf. Fortunately the German defenders are still dazed from the supporting bombardment

The German anti tank gun crew, having been stunned by the bombardment, are unable to respond to the massed enemy before them. Moments later their wiped out by a well placed 2" mortar shell from 6 platoon. 

For Leutnant Heins Beenz of I/III Regiment, 747 Division, the wait was finally over. Now all the training he had put his men through; Germans, Russians, Cossacks; men from half the Occupied Territories, almost 57 varieties of nationality, someone had joked the week before, was about to be put to the test. 

Forcing himself not to gape in awe and wonder at the sight of the Allied ships out to sea, half hidden by the flame and smoke of their guns, he dashed forward towards his platoon's main position; a gunpit with a 75mm anti tank gun positioned in it. He stopped half way along the street. Before him the gun pit was shrouded in smoke, and between him and the gun pit were Gefriter Merkel, blood covering half his face, and one of his gunners, his clothes tattered and torn by the explosion, staggering along, propping each other up. The gun was a ruin, it's ammo exploding.

Beenz jumped into a nearby garden to avoid being struck by flying debris from another explosion. Picking himself up he headed for the ruined house that contained a squad of Ukrainian Volunteers. These, led by the grumpy Unterfeldwebel Fuchsaek, a man with a passionate hatred for the British. Something to do with his having lived there before the war and linked to his name. Beenz had never figured it out. 

The Ostruppen squad were firing continuously at the Tommies on the beach. As Beenz reached the building he heard a panzerfaust whoosh towards the enemy but the lack of a resulting explosion told him it had missed. He clambered into the ground floor of the ruin and shouted up to Fuchsaek for an sitrep. "Lots of Tommies and big ships" came the laconic reply. "Fuchsaek, I know that, I meant with you, you idiot!" How could Germany hope to win with NCOs like this, Beenz thought to himself  

Leutnant Heinz Been rushes forward to take control of his Ostruppen

2Lt Hugh Pratt cringed in the sand. Around him the beach was being pummeled by explosions. The concussion dazing him as shrapnel whizzed through the air. 

As the shelling eased he looked up, lying in front of him was the prone figure of Captain Hunt. Pratt was about to crawl toward him when he remembered the CO's words "leave the wounded; get inland; kill the Hun!"

 Up ahead, in the timber framed house he could see an MG firing at his men further along the beach. Looking around he saw the Royal Engineer flame thrower team who had been attached to the company. "You..yes, you, Sapper fellow. Over here. With me.Now!!" The unhappy looking Sapper moved up to Pratt's side. "Right, old chap" said Pratt addressing the Sapper "We're going to toast some Boche for breakfast; follow me!" and with that, the lieutenant got to his feet, accompanied by his platoon runner, and dashed towards the building, firing from the hip as they ran. The Sapper got up too, but tripped over on some of the barbed wire that littered beach. By he time he got up on his feet again, the mad lieutenant was nowhere to be seen. Beside him, on his right, a corporal and some of the infantry dashed forward to the building, lobbing grenades over the wall as the did. 

Encouraged by this sight, the Sapper ran forward and let burst a jet of flame from his flame thrower. The machine gun in the building stopped and he could here screams from within the building. "Toast's ready" he thought grimly.

 F Company and their supporting tanks, stuck by three separate artillery barrages, including a "friendly" one, begin to falter. However, 6 platoon, on the extreme left have made some inroads in the German defenses.

Firing in short, aimed bursts, Beenz and his orderly Shutze Bach took a toll on the advancing Tommies. By now, Beenz had forgotten his duty and was getting carried away. Seeing the stunned, disorganized enemy squad in front of them, both he and Bach dashed forward, striking down the Tommies. As they did so, one of the Tommies lashed out and stuck his bayonet into Bach.
As Bach fell to the ground, Beenz, his blood lust sated, looke dout to the sea. Already more landing craft of all sizes and shapes were nearing the shore. Realing he and his men would shortly be over ran, he turned and cried out to his men, "Fuchsaek, run!! Pull back to the second line!!..

Crouching behind the Sherman tank, 2Lt Dick Bender fired short, inaccurate bursts from his Sten at the Germans by the bunker. Around him lay his platoon, dead, wounded and just plain scared. Just like me, he thought, but then again, not like me, cause I'm still on my feet and fighting. Turning towards his cowering men he could see beyond them and just offshore, more landing craft coming in to the beach.A heartening sight "Come on, you bastards! Do you want to live forever!!" he squeaked in a high pitched, nasal voice that couldn't be heard above the cacophony of battle...

The Glen Darrochs assault platoons had gained a tenuous foothold...