Jump to content

Photorealistic Caen area map: Juvingy to Fontenay


Recommended Posts

This map was made for an operational-tactical campaign I'm conducting now. The map is already finished; I just need to strip out the OOB and HTH scenario-related stuff in the file before posting a "clean" version as a map-only file on the Repository. If the HTH scenario at the end seems good enough for others to enjoy, I'll polish that post it too along with an AAR.

Among the June battles for Caen, the British operations Goodwood, Epsom, Bluecoat and others get most of the attention and historians' ink. Less well known is Operation Dauntless -- partly because it was a preliminary action to set the stage for Epsom, and partly because it goes by a second name that came to be the official one for this series of battles: Operation Martlet.

Look at a topo map of Epsom and you'll know why Dauntless had to come first: At ring countour 110 is the Rauray spur -- not even a hill by ordinary standards, but enough of an elevation in this otherwise flat country to give the Germans a perfect enfilading view of the British right flank once they would advance past Cheux...

Caen-SouthWestmapfromReynoldsbook_zps4a819240.jpg

So Dauntless had the Rauray spur as its ultimate objective. Several intermediate objectives followed from that: The Bordel river would have to be crossed. The town of Fontenay-Le-Pesnel, astride the D9 highway to Cheux and Caen, would have to be wrested from the 12th SS Panzer Division. And finally the British would have to secure Tessel Wood, which sat on a plateau that dominated the landscape in every direction. The job fell to the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division "Bears" and assets from 8th Armoured Brigade.

This CMBN map covers a 2,400m x 2,700m area on the western side of Operation Dauntless. It features the battlefield where arrows #2 and #6 advanced -- from open fields north of the Bordel river, past the D9 highway (OBJ BARRACUDA) and on to the northern edge of Tessel Wood (OBJ WALRUS):

Saunders_Map_zpsf3eb55ac.jpg

On this Google Earth map, how my map (blue boundary) fits into the larger area of Operation Dauntless (white boundary). You can also see the "Breaking The Panzers" CMBN map area further south in Tessel-Bretteville (that happened a few days later, after Dauntless fizzled out and the Germans launched armored counterattacks)...

GELocatorshowingallbattleboundaries_zps17d0ae3b.jpg

My map area on the 1947 French Geoportail aerial photo:

juvigny_french_geoportail_aerial_1947_zps5f8df5f8.jpg

Here's the full overhead editor view of my Juvigny-Fontenay map...

OpDauntlessJuvignyCMBNmapoverheadeditorview_numbered_locations_zps6535c2cf.jpg

1. An 18th C. chateau and its grounds on a N-S. ridge.

2. Tessel Wood.

3. Le Vieux Presbytere - a church south of Juvigny, also on the N-S ridge.

4. D6 route to Juvigny along the E bank of the Seulles river.

5. Juvigny bridge over the Seulles.

6. The "Y" junction of the N-S Seulles river and E-W Bordel river.

7. Bordel river. Crossable by infantry, but vehicles must use one of 3 bridges.

8. One of many sunken roads.

9. D9 highway between Juvigny and the W. outskirts of Fontenay.

10. The western outskirts of Fontenay-le-Pesnel. Caen is to the east.

11. Open fields where the British advanced from their 25 June start line.

12. This section of the map was left unfinished on purpose - The NW part of the map that's N. of Juvigny and the Juvigny bridge was out of bounds for both sides in my scenario. For the British the Seulles river was the division boundary with the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Div.

13. The W. side of the Seulles, below Juvigny and including the Juvigny bridge, was controlled by Panzer Lehr. So the map is completed here and (in my campaign scenario) the German side was able to use the D6 and adjacent roads as a covered axis of approach to threaten the right flank of Operation Dauntless.

14. This E-W road and the N edge of Tessel Wood were the British OBJ WALRUS on 25 June.

Next: A closer look at the battlefield, real and virtual...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Elevated view from the British (N) end, looking SW:

tour_gameshot_looking_SW_numbered_locations_zpsfaf98266.jpg

1. La Grande Ferme. One of several walled farm complexes that can anchor defenses on this map.

2. The chateau, with its forest preserve and and a tree-lined "allee" that runs N along the crest of the E. bank of the Seulles valley.

3. Juvigny bridge, a medieval stone bridge on the D9 route that's suitable for vehicles. It's the only vehicle-capable crossing over the Seulles on this map, so it plays a vital role. Note another, unnamed walled complex at the E. end of the bridge.

4. The Seulles river. Both the Seulles and Bordel are lines with thick trees and bushes, so they often block LOS. But they were only a meter or two deep, and infantry could get across.

5. D6 route, which runs north along the river through Juvigny to Tilly-sur-Seulles (offmap).

Pivoting to look from the British (N) end toward the SE:

tour_look_SE_numbered_locations_zpse978dcfd.jpg

1. The infamous Tessel Wood. It sits on a hill that extends to Point 110 (just offmap to the west). In front of Tessel wood is an elevated shelf that offers the Germans ideal reverse-slope and hull-down positions.

2. The D9 highway. Fontenay is out of sight to the left. Past that (offmap) are Cheux and Caen. To the right out of sight are Juvigny bridge and Juvigny

It pains me to think of the Tommies having to advance over these open wheatfields -- even after the 3-hour rolling barrage, and with smoke cover and air superiority. LOS on the plain is very limited due to the standing wheat -- ideal for German snipers and ambushes.

3. The Bordel river -- again, note the tree and brush line that give some LOS concealment. The fact that there are only 3 vehicle-capable bridges really channels movement. A fourth bridge (not visible) on the far E end of the Bordel is foot-only.

Flipping over to the German (S) side:

An elevated view from above Tessel Wood (foreground) looking NW.

tour_look_NW_from_Tessel_numbered_locations_zps66a5465f.jpg

1. The "Y" confluence of the Bordel and the Seulles. Both rivers are tree- and brush-lined, but at this LOD the trees way out there are not visible.

2. Ihe unfinished area that was off-limits in my scenario. Anyone who wants to complete the map could finish that area pretty quickly. Or, cut off the western side of the Seulles and play only on the eastern side.

3. The open fields where the British advanced before crossing the Bordel. Note how it's a forward slope as well -- making it that much easier for the Germans here to spot almost anything approaching, even in the tall wheat.

Pivoting right to a NE view from the German side:

tour_look_n_from_Tessel_numberedlocations_zps17aa2684.jpg

1. The Bordel and the D-9 highway, which runs parallel to and just in front of the river.

2. Le Bas de Fontenay -- a settled area among orchards and bocage in the western outskirts of Fontnay-Le-Pesnel. Fontenay gets a lot dense and built up just offmap to the right.

3. The open fields, nearly devoid of cover except for some sunken roads, on the British end of the map.

Next: Some ground-level views...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm always very impressed to see people make such detailed and superb maps. Looking forward to it.

Thanks Aragorn!

sburke and I are only a few turns into our scenario, but I can already tell you this is an armor map par excellence. Fireflies and Mark IVs are dueling across the Bordel valley at 1,500+ meters.

What's nice is that because of the forests and towns, there's also a lot of interesting infantry and combined-arms terrain for those who prefer that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used Google Street View in the focal area of the map to try and get some of the details just right.

Looking east on the D9 highway from Juvingy, across the Juvigny bridge over the Seulles.

tour_Juvigny_bridge_look_E_zps3ce0b8e4.jpg

tour_gameshot_Juvigny_Bridge_look_E_zps6b7349a6.jpg

Farther E on the D9, a view to the SE across the open plain toward Tessel Wood on the horizon...

tour_GSV_look_SE_from_D9_at_Hogues_zps85cf9527.jpg

tour_gameshot_look_SE_from_D9_at_Hogues_zps3b992cb2.jpg

Next... using this map for an operational-tactical campaign.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool but try to paste the area where damaged buildings are positioned with artillery shells. Looks more plausible that way. It's a common "mistake" map creators omit.

If you look at the overhead editor view earlier on, you'll see zillions of small dirt patches along the lines of where the 3 hour rolling bombardment would have landed. Originally the map had craters in every one of those. But we discovered it had a significant drag on framerate on a map this size. So craters were removed but the dirt spots stayed.

Also there are no flavor objects on this map except for some road signs, gas pumps, and damaged telephone poles. Again it was for framerate/playability reasons. But once we started playing on it the absence of these objects didn't seem to matter at all -- most of the map is agricultural, and it's so war-ravaged by this time that the little details of human habitation wouldn't be so prevalent anymore. Those who cut down this map to make smaller battles can always detail it with the craters and objects as they wish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...
  • 1 year later...
1 hour ago, Pilotagm said:

Hi , is the Fontenay map available to download ? As above I would like to use it …

appreciate any assistance here.

 

thanks

Adrian

Indeed the map is downloadable. I have it on my hard drive. It's excellent for infantry actions. The terrain is mostly flat, but hilly. and many of the roads are sunken which make for an entertaining game. I will post the download link from an official source or upload mine if I can't find it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 1/13/2023 at 4:28 AM, Artkin said:

It is here, feel free to browse through the website because there are a few maps on this website that cant be easily found elsewhere. This is IanL's (A member on these forums) website

https://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/BattleForNormandy/Maps/index.html

 

 unfortunately, none of the links to download work.  all the scenario depot pages cannot be found.  it has ceased to be, it has gone to meet its maker.  if it weren't nailed to its perch it would be pushing up daisies.  this..is an ex-resource!

 

cheers,

rob 

Edited by quakerparrot67
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/6/2023 at 12:01 AM, quakerparrot67 said:

 unfortunately, none of the links to download work.  all the scenario depot pages cannot be found.  it has ceased to be, it has gone to meet its maker.  if it weren't nailed to its perch it would be pushing up daisies.  this..is an ex-resource!

 

cheers,

rob 

Works perfectly fine:

CMBN REPOSITORY MAP COLLECTION #2 (thefewgoodmen.com)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, DesertFox said:

https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/download/CMBN-MAP-COLLECTION-2.zip

thank you for the working link, but this is what i get using the original link  -'page' not found'.  but agian, thank you for the link that does work.

 

cheers,

rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...