Combat Mission : My Honor is Loyalty

Published 2024-06-27
Fourth video in the series looking at the Commonwealth forces involved in Operation Overlord.
D+23, Day three of Operation EPSOM (Day four of Operation MARTLET)

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:10 Operation MARLET and mission background
01:01 Friendly forces and ground
02:35 Plan
03:28 Mission
04:26 Ground reference names
04:52 Mission continued
14:08 Outcome
15:31 Actual events
16:06 Outro

History has not been kind to the British soldier in Normandy. The accomplishments of the Commonwealth fighting man has been overshadowed in the post war years either due to their quiet humility, or humble nature. Most simply wanted to return to civilian life and maybe with their undeniable victory they felt no need to boast or explain their actions.

Coming up to the 80th anniversary I wanted to take a look at the challenges they faced using the commonwealth module for combat mission Normandy.

I bought this expansion a few years back and completed the campaign, but despite the beautiful and detailed effort put into their creation couldn't shake the intimidating scale of the standalone scenarios.

Indeed the historically accurate maps show the size of the Overlord undertaking, with 21st Army group being the largest and most complex organisation the British have ever placed into the field in living memory.

Am I particularly good at the game - No

Am I historian - No, I've seen a few films, read a few books and could name the codenames for the beaches but my actual knowledge of the campaign is minimal

But I hope to use that and see how I can learn and mature over the course of the battle, because its worth reminding ourselves that the victory in Normandy was by no means a foregone conclusion

and I hope my contribution, even in a small way, can go some way to correcting the unfair understanding of the quiet competence of these courageous men

All Comments (4)
  • @TheSid42
    Just found your channel from the look at war series, great work! It’s hard to find quality combat mission creators who don’t just use voiceless footage, keep the great content coming!
  • @renes9966
    A great watch - thank you for sharing. I think a lot of your success here came about from your bold use of massing infantry on a single point, with supporting armour and artillery - the lower firepower of the British rifle companies requires careful application. I'm always too cautious about casualties, meaning I often push forward slowly which usually results in my men being thinned out by mortars and makes it hard to gain the initiative - which you rarely lost in this battle!
  • @conner4547
    Another banger, I'm sure. You pump these out pretty quickly.