The terrain feature of Normandy that had the greatest impact on military operations was the dense area of hedgerows that dominated the American sector and the western part of the British Sector, an area known as the Bocage. The hedgerows of the Bocage were lines of closely spaced rocks, shrubs, and trees that were planted and maintained over the centuries to delineate property lines and to serve as windbreaks to protect crops, orchards, and livestock. One 1944 aerial photo of the Normandy countryside shows about 3,900 hedgerow-lined fields in an area of less than 8 square miles. What the photo does not reveal is that this maze is set upon rolling, indeed hilly, terrain and contains countless streams. In the Bocage, hedgerows were typically 50 to 100 yards apart, but often much less than that and the enclosed area could be of any shape. The Norman hedgerows date to the Middle Ages when low lines of rock and plants provided boundaries between tracts of land continuously divided as the results of inheritance. Over time, these earthen embankments became wider and covered by vegetation and trees and the trails between them became sunken and often overarched by trees. By 1944 these earthen embankments were often ten feet or larger in height and width.
The Bocage Battlefield From a military perspective, the Bocage provided a defender an in-depth natural fortification system. In June 1944 it was so extensive and formidable and easily defended that it enabled the Germans to prevent an Allied breakout from its confinement until late July, nearly eight weeks after D-Day. Troops dug into or behind a hedgerow gained the benefit of cover and concealment. Openings in the hedgerows were narrow and limited in number, the result of dependence upon animal-based rather than mechanized agriculture, and easily blocked or covered by fire. Troops moving through the Bocage had two options: crossing the open ground of an enclosed killing ground subject to ambush from three sides or moving along constrictive and winding trails easily blocked and covered by direct and indirect fire. Opportunities for massing strength for attacks in depth were nearly impossible and each hedgerow taken had the effect of creating a vulnerable salient for the attacker unless adjoining hedgerow fields were also taken.
Command and control in the bocage was exceptionally difficult, and not only because commanders had difficulty knowing where friend and foe were precisely located. Consider that transmissions from field radios of 1944 could be blocked by the dense vegetation that characterized the Bocage. Observing and controlling artillery and airstrikes was very difficult and friendly fire could be as deadly as enemy fire — and shells were often detonated by their passage through tree cover. Scouting and the gathering of intelligence was essential for success, but tactically challenging.
The state of the French hard-surfaced road network in 1944 was advanced by world standards and even those passing through the Bocage were able to handle large, heavy military traffic making administrative moves. However, they were easily blocked and covered by fire and offered numerous chokepoints such as bridges and waterways. There were few places where off-road movement was possible and armor was largely confined to the hard-surfaced roads. Armored attacks ended up being frontal attacks with virtually no opportunity to exploit tactical mobility.
Unfortunately for the Allies, the Bocage was also well-suited to the German defensive doctrine of 1944. A lightly-manned outpost line provided early warning of enemy movement and attack and allowed for accurate mortar and artillery fire with reduced danger of striking friendly troops. Often this line in itself was sufficiently strong to halt Allied probes and even large-scale attacks by scattered and confused troops. In most cases, the Germans were more familiar with the lay of the land, making their doctrinal response of prompt counterattack very effective in halting attacks or regaining critical lost ground.
Wargaming in the Bocage The 1944 combat inside the Bocage presents endless historical and hypothetical tactical scenarios from skirmishes between platoon-sized opponents through company-on-company engagements up to several battalions per side. Large gaming tables aren’t necessary as there is no blitzkrieg in the Bocage. Scenarios at the skirmish and engagement levels work fine in the compartmented terrain that is the hedgerow countryside. It’s relatively easy to find an historical engagement from the many books on the Normandy Campaign.
A wide range of applicable rulesets are available. Going way back in time, “Flames of War,” for example, issued supplement publications covering rules, scenarios, and modeling hedgerows, including D-Day: The Campaign for Normandy, June-August; Villers-Bocage; and Cobra — The Normandy Breakout. Various editions of “Command Decision,” “Panzer Korps,” and “Kampfgruppe Commander” provide scenarios set in the Bocage. GHQ’s “Normandy Terrain Maker How To Booklet” not only provides detailed guides for replicating the Bocage in miniature, it also includes eight historical scenarios that together cover much of the experience of the 29th Infantry Division’s advance toward Saint-Lô, which can be combined into a sequential campaign game at the grand-tactical level.
However, in the case of battles and campaigns (that is, the operational level of war), I believe that treating hedgerows as linear obstacles is a serious shortcoming common to all these rulesets. When gaming at the 6mm and a distance scale of one inch equaling 100 yards, an operational level battlefield must be miles long and wide. (Mine is about 8.5 by 4.1 miles.) To remain true to this distance scale while still treating individual hedgerows as linear obstacles is impractical: one would have to create thousands of hedgerow enclosed fields which would make gaming impossible.
My approach to wargaming at the operational level in the Bocage is to address hedgerows from an area perspective rather than a linear perspective. Most of the battlefield would consists of large Hedgerow Areas inside of which special rules apply. These may be modified standard rules or specially tailored ones. The standard rules apply outside the hedgerow areas, which includes all towns and villages (most European farmers lived inside villages to maximize agricultural use of their property), all hard-surface roads, all railway lines, and significant waterways.
The perimeter of the Hedgerow Areas is delineated by contiguous Hedgerow Segments, which may be of any shape and length. Unpaved trails inside Hedgerow Areas may connect with hard-surfaced roads at the perimeter hedgerow segments. The resulting appearance on the gaming table is a miniature battlefield largely filled with large Hedgerow Areas, with scattered towns and villages, roads and railway lines, and major waterways in-between the areas.
Additional Hedgerow Segments may be placed inside the the Hedgerow Areas, dividing each area into any number and shape of smaller Hedgerow Sectors. Every Hedgerow Sector has an assigned Hedgerow Density: Light, Medium, of Heavy. The less dense Hedgerow Sectors contain relatively fewer internal Hedgerow Segments; and the more dense ones, a relatively greater number of internal Hedgerow Segments.
The number and shapes of the Hedgerow Sectors and their assigned density need not be historically precise, but are left up to the battlefield designer, ideally with access to maps of 1944 or even modern ones that may provide some reasonable guidelines. Some type of marker should provide the density of each Hedgerow Sector. A single Hedgerow Area may contain Hedgerow Sectors of the same or different densities.
Internal Hedgerow segments serve two purposes. First, they may identify a boundary between different density Hedge Sectors within a Hedgerow Area. Second, they provide a simple means for a better looking Bocage battlefield. However, Internal Hedgerow Segments do represent a Linear Obstacle. A model stand touching an Internal Hedgerow Summit gains no additional defensive or line of sight/fire advantage to that stand. All stands anywhere inside a Hedgerow Sector experience the same advantages and disadvantages offered by the density of the Hedgerow Sector that they occupy.
There are two situations that require further explanation:
* Perimeter Hedgerow Segments — Hedgerow Segments that form the perimeter of Hedgerow Area are a Linear Obstacle to stands inside and stands outside the Hedgerow Area that abut the perimeter Hedgerow Segment.
* Close Combat across internal Hedgerow Segments of differing densities — Use the values of the higher density Hedgerow Sector for both sides.
Thus, only the perimeter Hedgerow Segments are treated a Linear Obstacles.
For some gamers, the placement of stands (particularly vehicles and guns) inside Hedgerow Areas may be aesthetically upsetting as opposing stands may be appear to be confronting one another at point blank range with no Hedgerow Segment between them. However, friend and foe usually were in close and continuous proximity in the Bocage. Besides, players in skirmish games similarly have opposing models facing one another at very close distances and think nothing of it.
I’ve gamed in such a way for years and the above approach works well. It’s also quite similar in concept to how I address towns and villages, as well as fortified areas.
Hedgerow Area Rules Changes If you choose to take an area approach to dealing with the Bocage, you will need to modify rules in your baseline ruleset or create new ones. My preferred baseline ruleset is “Kampfgruppe Commander III” and I’ve modified some rules to achieve more realism in combat inside the Bocage.
* Command Distance — Because lines of sight and the range of radio transmissions are significantly reduced inside hedgerow areas, the distance over which a commander may exert control should be considerably reduced from the baseline distance in open terrain. These distances should be gradually reduced as the density increases. Alternatively, the commanders’ Activation Cost could be increased.
* Engagement Range — The concept of being within a theoretical range of enemy forces strikes me as sound and is a key factor in my rules set. Therefore, I reduce the distance at which a friendly unit is considered to be “in contact” with the enemy. This reduced distance should also be adjusted based upon the Hedgerow Sector density.
* Sighting Distances — I developed a matrix with the sector density matched with the type of stand (personnel, gun, or vehicle) and whether it is moving or stationary. A real challenge was whether and how to address fortifications or battlefield obstacles inside the Hedgerow Sector and under conditions of darkness or smoke. Non-spotted stands that remain stationary for one turn are automatically considered as camouflaged given the dense vegetation of the Bocage.
* Movement — Modifying the movement rules inside Hedgerow Areas is still a work in progress for me. I use the standard rule’s baseline movement costs and apply an additional cost based on a 1D10 roll. I also have cumulative modifiers for stands on trails, small dirt paths which are the closest thing to a road inside Hedgerow Areas. Other cumulative movement modifiers include darkness, Heavy Density Hedgerow Sectors, slopes, and the advantages provided by US hedgerow cutters/bulldozers and engineers.
* Scouting and Reconnaissance — These are a major part of my rules set. They are based on the core rule that: “No commander may react to any enemy movement or activity that was not based on the scenario-provided initial intelligence assessment, obtained by spotting or engaging the enemy, or reported by scouts or reconnaissance units (who may be fallible in their reporting based on a 1D10 roll).”
* Weapons Ranges, Direct Fire, and Close Combat — All Direct Fire Attacks are resolved using the Close Combat rules, except that attacking stands must move within one inch of enemy stand before triggering opportunity fire. I also modified Defense Values and Combined Arms Ratings.
* Artillery Fire — As artillery impacts are far less observable inside the bocage, the minimal barrage aim point distances to friendly forces (“Danger Close”) have been extended. Also, all indirect fire is subject to drift with mortar fire being the less affected. Lastly, indirect fire may be made only from light density hedgerow sectors.
Air Support — Airstrikes, airborne assaults, and aerial observation may only be made inside light Density Hedgerow Sectors, and each of these forms of air support have been modified to be more difficult than similar activity in open terrain.
I hope this gives you plenty of food for thought. I’d like very much to receive your thoughts on this approach and your gaming experience with similar ideas.