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Operation Dauntless – A Photographic Battlefield Tour

Text and photos by Vincent Lefavrais

Commentary and formatting by Mark Mokszycki.

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In late November, 2010, Vincent Lefavrais took a self-guided tour of the Operation Dauntless

(aka Operation Martlet) battlefield, where the British 49th “Polar Bears” Division faced off against elements of the

German Panzer Lehr and 12th SS “Hitlerjugend” Panzer Divisions in June of 1944. During his tour, Vincent took

numerous photographs and made extensive notes, which he then kindly posted at the Operation Dauntless forum

at consimworld (link below).

For those who don’t already know, the area in question is Normandy countryside just west of Caen. The kick-off

date for the operation was June 25th. The British goal was to seize the village of Fontenay, then push onward to

take the hilltop woods near Tessel, and ultimately the high ground near Rauray. This last objective, the “Rauray

spur”, was vital because it overlooked the lower, flatter region to the east, where the larger Operation Epsom was

to be launched the following morning. Epsom was an ambitious attempt to outflank Caen from the west. While it

ultimately failed, it succeeded in tying down large numbers of powerful panzer divisions. This undoubtedly

helped the Allies to break out from the other beach heads.

Below: Inspecting a knocked out Mark IV panzer.

As I collected data, I realized that I needed help in researching the rivers and streams of the region. These

waterways presented one of the last big unknowns for the game Operation Dauntless. I’d thus far been unable to

locate reliable data on the width and depth of the waterways, and therefore their effects on the movement of

infantry and vehicles was still a best guess. Many historical accounts mention steep slopes that made crossing

difficult or impossible for the British tanks, even while the waterways were not particularly wide or deep. But

other than this, details were sparse.

Enter Vincent! He gathered up his notes, a camera, and a copy of a playtest game map, and set out for the

battlefield to do research the old fashioned way — with a pair of boots, a map, and a walking stick!

The following material has been pieced together from the excellent posts by Vincent Lefavrais at the Operation

Dauntless forum at consimworld. Those wishing to view the original posts and links to original, larger, photos

should go here: http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@581.bCkgbM8lPJb.44@.1dd4856a/186

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Finally, I’d like to thank Vincent for all his efforts. This kind of information is incredibly valuable to a game

designer. Clearly, no book or website can provide the kind of detail seen here. So thank you, Vincent, for all

your hard work!

-Mark Mokszycki (Designer, Operation Dauntless)

Below: Early playtest map of the battlefield by Michael Evans. This is not the final game map. Mark Mahaffey is

working on a new playtest map based on actual aerial recon photography from just prior to Operation Dauntless.

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Below: Vincent’s markup of the map, showing his locations for the various photos that follow.

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Vincent Lefavrais - Dec 1, 2010 (originally posted on Consimworld, Operation Dauntless forum)

The Seulles River

Honor to whom honor is due, let's start with the Seulles, the only watercourse on the

Operation Dauntless map that deserves to be called a "river".

Seulles River

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The Seulles River at la Ferme du Pont Roch (Spot A)

Just off the north map edge, the Seulles is about 10-meter wide at this point.

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The Seulles River at the *other* Ferme du Pont Roch (Spot B)

The tree line in the middle of the pic is running along the Seulles. This is typical of the watercourses in

this area of Normandy; trees, brushes, shrubs, thorns, etc. are growing on the banks of the streams and

rivers.

In the background, an imposing farm with several big, sturdy buildings. Others like this one can be

found throughout the region, and were put to good use by the defending Germans during Operation

Dauntless, as shown at the St-Nicolas farm south-east of Fontenay-le-Pesnel, for instance.

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The Ruisseau du Pont Saint-Esprit near Bucéels (Spot C)

This stream, a Seulles affluent, is about 2-meter wide, with a strong current, doubtless strengthened by

the recent rainfall. Note the somewhat steep banks (about a half-meter drop) and the ever-present

vegetation. It must be something like a half-meter deep.

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The Seulles in the northern part of Tilly-sur-Seulles (Spot D)

Three pics from the very eastern bank of the Seulles. At this point it is something like 6- or 7-meter

wide, with a strong current. The banks drop 1 meter to the water.

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The Seulles at the bridge of Tilly-sur-Seulles (Spot E)

The first pic shows gentler banks to the south, and steeper ones to the north (second pic). The third pic

shows the typical treeline along the river (to the south).

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The Seulles between Tilly and Juvigny (Spot F)

Pic 1: A badly cobbled-together panorama of the Seulles winding snaking the country.

Pics 2-3: An unexpected encounter! I was kneeling down, jotting down notes on my notepad, when I

heard a muffled sound; raising up my head, here's what I saw trotting up toward me... At this moment I

must have been almost hidden behind the low stone wall running along the trail I was on, itself

overgrown with vegetation, but he still saw (or felt?) me!

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The Seulles between Tilly and Juvigny (Spot F) (bis)

Better views of the Seulles as I walk down the trail toward the river.

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The Seulles between Tilly and Juvigny (Spot G)

As I continue walking South toward Juvigny, the trail comes upon the Seulles. At this point, the river is

7- or 8-meter wide, with a strong current but somewhat gentle banks.

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The Seulles meets the Bordel "River" (Spot H)

At this point, the Seulles is a bit narrower (about 5- or 6-meter wide) and a bit more sluggish. A little log

bridge crosses the Bordel "river", a 2-meter wide, half-meter deep stream with a very strong current.

(We'll follow the Bordel once I'm done with the Seulles.)

Third pic, taken from afar, shows as best as possible the soggy nature of the terrain at the bottom of the

Seulles valley; the nearest body of water on the photograph is not the river, but water stagnating above

the soaked ground which is unable to absorb it. Bocage is a wet terrain type by nature; when heavy rains

fall, low grounds can quickly turn into a kind of "marshland".

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The Seulles at Juvigny-sur-Seulles (Spot I)

The Seulles at the Juvigny bridges. It's about 7- or 8-meter wide at this point.

The third pic (to the South) shows the water-soaked fields bordering the river and its winding, tree-lined

course.

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The Seulles at Pont Blanc (Spot J)

Pic 2 shows another, better example of the soggy fields bordering the river. Note the ever-present

vegetation on the banks. The Seulles is only 5- or 6-meter wide at this point.

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And that's all for the Seulles...

Regarding its effects on the game, I'd confidently say that vehicles shouldn't be allowed to cross it

except at a bridge. Concerning infantry; now, I obviously didn't try to wade across, but given the

Seulles’ size, I'd say that along the section I surveyed it would be at a really bare minimum 1-meter

deep, and often deeper. Coupled with its strong currents, I'd say that this should be quite an obstacle to

infantry. Maybe enough to prevent infantry units from crossing it except at bridges, like vehicles?

Also, the rain of June 1944 might well have made the terrain worse than what is shown here...

Comments by Mark Mokszycki:

While crossing may seem difficult for a lone man, my guess is that the royal engineers can probably make most of

these streams easily fordable for a company sized unit, given about thirty minutes to do their job. It's also quite

possible to make crude bridges from logs and cables etc. Given the width of the rivers, which are not very wide,

90 minute game turns, and the ingenuity of the British, I don't think infantry should be limited to crossing at

"official" bridge hexsides only. I do think there should be some MP penalty, though.

At the low extreme, this could be a simple +1 or +2 MPs of their 5 available MPs. Another option might be to

require an engineer unit present (but I don't like this option for reasons I won't get into now). A more extreme

method would be to have them start their move adjacent to the stream to cross, but I was never 100% keen on this

crossing method in other wargames I've played because if you stagger your moves just so, you can move right up

to a waterway using your full movement, then cross it the following turn with no slow down. Finally, the most

extreme penalty would be to have the infantry unit expend its entire movement to cross. I'm leaning towards the

simple +1 or +2 MPs for the reasons outlined above. More playtesting should bear out the best method.

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I agree that the steep banks and soggy ground would seem to make crossing impossible, apart from at bridges.

And yet we know that the Brits did ford the waterways using their duplex drive tanks, with mixed results.

Currently, this option appears in the play book as an optional rule- 21.10 Mechanized River Crossings. I'll have

to spend some time with playtesting it to determine whether it earns its inclusion in the game. In the meantime, I

think the standard rule should be that waterways remain unfordable to vehicles except at bridges.

Above: Sherman duplex drive amphibious tank.

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The Streams of the Battlefield

Next, let's have a look at the other watercourses present on the Operation Dauntless map.

You'll see that the Seulles is in a class of its own, and that the others should really be

called "streams."

Streams

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The Rhône at Pont du Rhône (Spot K)

As you can (barely) see, this stream is about 2-meter wide, tops, and a half-meter deep, at most. What

make it something of an obstacle are its steep banks overrun with brambles.

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The Rhône West of Vendes (Spot L)

Here, the stream is at most 1.5-meter wide and only a few centimer deep. But (and the pics do not show

it very well) the bank on which I am standing is about 1.5-meter above the stream and very steep, almost

vertical. And the brambles and trees are quite inextricable here.

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The Rhône at Vendes (Spot M)

Pic 1 isn't very good, as I couldn't get a better angle (darn %*#@!§? trees!) on the stream just before it

disappeared under the road... from which it doesn’t come out on the other side! The pic doesn't show it

well, but as it reaches its end, the Rhône is only 1-meter wide and a few centimeters deep.

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Pic 2 shows the Rhône (its course betrayed by the brush and brambles) crossing a field about 20-meter

from the road. At this point, I guess an infantryman could simply jump over it while a tank wouldn't

even notice it...

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Unnamed Stream (Spots K & N)

Pic 1 shows this unnamed stream at Spot K, where it meets the Rhône. Like it, this stream is about 2-

meter wide and very shallow.

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Pics 2 (to the North) and 3 (to the South) shows this stream at Spot N, where it runs under the road. It

sure looks like not much of an obstacle to infantry, but a vehicle trying to cross it at the south of the road

might get in trouble, given the soggy ground...

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The Salbey North of Grainville-sur-Odon (Spot O)

Pics 1-3 shows the Salbey to the East...

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... and Pic 4 shows it to the West.

At this point (and indeed, farther East as well) it is only 1-meter wide, with the tell-tale trees and

brambles lining it to the East. To the West it's almost a ditch with a trickle of water at the bottom...

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Well, it's time for me to hit the sack as it's getting pretty late here and I need the sleep... Beside, I guess

that's enough pictures of pitiful rivers for now.

I'll post the last batch tomorrow, showing the Bordel, the stream running in the middle of the Operation

Dauntless battleground.

Below: British troops advance through Normandy bocage country.

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I also took a few pics of NON-river things. So, as an interlude of sort, before I go back to the Bordel

"river", here are a few other pics which might be of interest.

The West Riding Memorial

On the road between Fontenay-le-Pesnel and Rauray stands the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division

Memorial. You can see the polar bear divisional insignia on the front of the monument. (I should have

taken the time to take a closer pic at the time, but as the daylight was fast decreasing and I had other

locations to visit, I was in a kind of a hurry...)

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The Fontenay-le-Pesnel Commonwealth War Cemetery

Facing the memorial, a few hundred meters on the other side of the road, is the Fontenay-le-Pesnel war

cemetery. 520 Commonwealth soldiers rest in peace in this place.

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The Streams of the Battlefield (Part II)

Well, I kept the "big" stream for the end: the Bordel. Officially named the "Bordel River", you'll see that

it's mostly on par with the other streams I showed you yesterday; it is slightly more imposing in some

places but comes nowhere near the Seulles as far as width and depth are concerned.

I checked it in many places because of its special spot in Operation Dauntless, as it is running smack in

the middle of the battlefield.

Bordel River

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The Bordel meets the Seulles (Spot H)

Remember the confluence between the Seulles and the Bordel (the log bridge)? Here's how the Bordel

looks at this place. About 2-meter wide, 0.5-meter deep, with a very strong current.

It is flowing fast down from Spot P (see below), along a small, wooded, shallow "valley".

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The Bordel West of Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Part I (Spot P)

Here the Bordel runs West under a small stone bridge into the small wooded valley for its final run to

the Seulles (Pic 1). To the east (Pic 2), it flows through relatively "open" country (at least, as far as

bocage is concerned).

It is about 2-meter wide and 0.5-meter deep at this point.

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The Bordel West of Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Part II (Spot Q)

This cobbled-together panoramic shot shows the Bordel (the "ditch" in the middle of the field) as it runs

its course to the East in "open" terrain. Note that the telltale shrubs and brambles are much less present

along its course, probably because the field's owner saw to the upkeep of the banks with more care than

those of the land plots I posted yesterday.

The Bordel at Les Monts (Spot R)

The Bordel's width varies greatly as we near Fontenay; at this spot, it is about 2-meter wide, but shrinks

to about 1-meter in some places.

It is very shallow, 0.5-meter at most, and will stay this way up to the last place where I checked (Spot

X). So it's the last time I'll mention its depth.

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The Bordel at St-Martin, Part I (Spot S)

Another stone bridge here (a minor road, not shown on the playtest map) allows a good view of the

stream. The Bordel is wider here, about 3 meters, with somewhat steep banks.

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The Bordel at St-Martin, Part II (Spot T)

Still 3-meter wide, here the stream has gentler, but thickly wooded banks. Pictures 2-4 are to the North,

Pictures 1 and 5 to the South.

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The Bordel at Fontenay-le-Pesnel (Spot U)

The Bordel is a bit narrower here, only about 2-meter wide. On Pic 1, the treeline in the background

follows the river bed. Pic 3 shows the steep banks at this point; about a half-meter drop to the water.

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The Bordel at Tessel (Spot V)

Pics 2-3 show the stream and its tree-lined bed to the North, Pics 1 and 4 the same, but to the South.

Except for the small pond just under the bridge (Pic 1), the Bordel is about 2-meter wide in this area.

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The Bordel at La Londe (Spot W)

To the North of this small stone bridge (Pic 1), the Bordel's width is slightly larger than on the rest of its

course, varying between roughly 2 and 5 meters.

To the south (Pic 2), it doesn't exceed 1.5 meter, and is frequently less. Its banks are thickly wooded and

steep (Pic 3).

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The Bordel at Le Bordel (Spot X)

Finally, the Bordel runs through its eponymous hamlet. Here it is again 1.5- to 2-meter wide, with

wooded banks.

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So, this concludes our riparian tour of the battlefield.

Now, I think it stands to reason, as Mark wondered last week, to consider at least two river categories

for the game, with distinct effects: the Seulles on one hand, and the various streams on the other hands.

If I may, I'd suggest for the Seulles to be uncrossable to vehicles and infantry except at bridges.

As to the streams, well, I think they should be fordable by infantry for some extra MPs (and muddied

boots and battledress ). Setting a rule for vehicles seems a tougher proposition; on the face of it, it

looks like these water obstacles could be easily crossed by tracked vehicles (forget wheeled ones,

though), but the rainfalls on the first days of the operation turned the surrounding terrain into marshy

ground in places, potentially slowing or even preventing armored vehicles to go there. Georges

BERNAGE, in La bataille de l'Odon (Heimdal Publishing, 2008) writes about the Salbey: "usually a

starved rivulet but the profuse rains had caused it to swell and the whole surrounding sector had become

swampy"; I don't have such quotations about all the streams in the battlefield area, but we could

reasonably surmise that this applied to other streams. Food for thought.

Well, now let's go back to our regular program!

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Comments by Mark Mokszycki:

Waterways. Regarding types of waterways — I agree that we need at least two types, possibly even three. I

think it will be pretty simple to graphically indicate which are rivers (Seulles) vs. streams vs. even smaller soggy

gullies (for lack of a better term at this time). Effects on movement would differ for the different types.

Vincent has kindly agreed to help me organize a crude map markup which has differing symbols for the different

general types of waterways, based on his notes and photos. After we categorize all the waterways on the map, we

will pass our markup on to Mark Mahaffey. Mark is creating a new playtest map using actual aerial recon

photography of the battlefield. You can see individual houses and even individual trees in orchards at the

resolution of the recon photos. Mark’s map promises to be one of the loveliest and most accurate Normandy

maps in any game to date!

A final thought on the waterways. No one has really mentioned the fact that waterways can change over time,

sometimes quite dramatically. We're not talking about the grand canyon here, but the soft fertile countryside

would allow for a lot of shifting and (especially) gradual deepening of streams over 65 years. My guess is that

many of these streams with steep, deep banks weren't quite as steep during Op Dauntless. Vincent's tour seems to

confirm that the general course of the waterways is basically unchanged, or at least enough so that he could

indicate his position using Mike's playtest map. Granted there may be a few new minor drainage streams. But the

waterways seem to be generally unchanged, so that's good. No major meanders, etc. The undulating terrain

probably doesn't allow for much variation in course over time. Vincent pointed out the extreme weather in June

of '44. While the banks may not have been quite as steep in '44, the water was almost certainly deeper due to

swelling, and the surrounding low countryside was very soggy. Historical texts seem to confirm this. It's also

hard to know the impact of the intentional flooding by the Germans. Despite these unknowns, Vincent's photos

give us an excellent starting point. Along with a small handful of historical narratives that mention the banks and

depths at various points, I think we can start putting together an educated guess of the nature of the waterways in

June '44.

Elevation. We received some questions regarding elevation, and whether it will be modeled in the game. The

earliest playtest map by Michael Evans does not show elevation. Elevation will be modeled in the final map

version. The hills in this region are not very dramatic, or at least they are not really hills in the way Americans

typically understand the word. "Gently rolling" might be a more apt description of the terrain. There are certainly

a few notable spots, the Rauray spur and the hilltop wood near Tessel among them, that command a nice view of

the surrounding countryside. A good example for those who have the Saunders book (Operation Epsom) can be

seen in the photo on page 30-31. This photo shows the view from Rauray. You can see that it's not so much

about pure elevation, but line of sight. All the undulations make LOS very limited in many parts of the

battlefield. Add in all the orchards, tree lined roads and streams, and hedgerows and LOS gets really sticky! The

key objectives are on relatively higher ground and they provide nice clear views of the surroundings. And yes,

this will be modeled in the game.

In game terms, true elevation will be graphically represented, as Mark Mahaffey's map includes a really nice

underlayer which causes the terrain art to perfectly mesh with the underlying elevation, giving it a nice 3D effect

(I'm sure he can explain this better than I can). This is mostly for graphical flair and added realism, as elevation is

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only relevant to game play where slope hexsides are indicated on the map. fyi, elevation was not shown in the

sample armor duel because the Mike Evans playtest map was a work in progress. I had handed him a crude

markup which included slope hexsides, but he never got around to implementing them. Slope hexsides won't exist

for all elevation changes- only for the more severe ones which impact combat or LOS. Obviously the historical

hilltop objectives will qualify for slope hexsides. There will also be Victory Point costs associated with taking

and holding these hilltop objectives. VP rewards aside, the open nature of the nearby terrain, such as the open

fields to the east of Rauray, will make it pretty obvious to the players why they would want to hold these

objectives. These hilltops offer nice reaction fire opportunities!

Below: Typical Normandy bocage country.

Join us at the Operation Dauntless consimworld forum:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?50@741.PQqwa4zqVmP.758@.1dd4856a