The APL title here encompasses the actions of 2nd Lt. DickAnnaid, VC, who served the BEF 1st Infantry Division at the Dyle Canal. On the day of May 15, the German 31st Infantry Division launched an attack en masse across the Dyle at La Tombe, Belgium in order to let German engineers erect a pontoon bridge .Annaid, commander of an infantry platoon, had other ideas. He personally attacked the bridge, drove the Germans off, and saved many wounded soldiers . He was the first British soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War II. At least this is what happened in real life.

The re-enactment here turnedh out much different. Annaid commanded a position at the southern end of the 1st Infantry position. The Germans launched their major attack through this area, taking advantage of the footbridge. (The scenario says nothing about the footbridge being destroyed, so I took the advantage. Was it an oversight? I don’t have an answer as of this writing.) Annaid’s platoon was assaulted first but the dug-in infantry let loose accurate fire as the German troops, which consisted of two infantry and a HMG, was caught in opportunity fire and moving adjacent to the British. (+3 shift) The stack lost 2 steps and suffered 2 demoralized infantry. But a couple turns later, Annaid rolled a 12 in the reinforced assault. He deserted and was never seen again.

One good move that the British performed was to send an assault team onto the bridge. The battle for the bridge seesawed until turn 13 when the Germans captured the bridge for good and the engineer unit repaired.This was the beginning of the end for the British. For the next six turns, the Germans slowly moved most of their force across the canal as the 1st Division position crumbled. Final score: Germans 24, British 12. A major victory for the Germans!

Despite the fixation on the main bridge being blown, footbridges exist on both the northern and southern edge of the N/S river in the middle of the map. I spent the first five turns getting the Germans into position, ready to attack the thinly screened Brits, who are forced to concentrate in a few areas. While these strong points managed to hold out for several turns of assaults, destroying 3 German steps by turn 9, they were overwhelmed by the sheer weight of German assaults. German artillery was able to devastate the British infantry in the middle with repeat bombardments from both on and off map resources. With the Brits pinned, the German engineers were able to repair the main bridge by around turn 14, right as the British reinforcements were coming up to center and German infantry had routed the British troops on the flanks. Through envelopment, the British infantry moving up were crushed in detail, leaving the British with major casualties, around 9 steps lost and lots of demoralized men running away. Germans lost 4 steps in total.