And gentlemen in England now abed will think themselves accurs'd they were not here. --William Shakespear from Henry V, and also attributed to a paratrooper of the 6th Airborne as he dropped into France -- Chester Wilmott, The Struggle for Europe

SWORD, the easternmost of the three British beaches, lies west of the Orne-Odon Canal that separates 17A: 1009 and 17A:09 10 on the SF maps. We have located SWORD in hex 17A:1009, east of the canal. A strict adherence to the geography of the SF maps pushes too many REs into a one hex invasion to make good sense. Furthermore, the British 6th Abn XX landed east of the Orne, in hex 1009 by Map 17A's geography, but were relieved late on D-Day by part of the British 3rd XX and were soon reinforced, still east of the Orne, by the newly landed 51st Highland Division. The British seem to control hex 17A: 1009in Europa terms during the latter stages of the Battle of Normandy, Operation GOODWOOD being launched from 1009 in July, so locating SWORD there seems the best all around solution.

British 6th Airborne also lands in the hex. We show three component brigades as suffering from disruption. (The 6th Airlanding X came in on the afternoon of D-Day and could be shown by an exploitation phase drop.]

The amphibious tanks land successfully on a roll of '5'.

In terms of Europa, thanks in large part to the no-show performance by 21st Panzer and the considerable support offered by battleships Warspite and Ramillies, the SWORD landings enjoy rather easy success, linking up with the airborne troops by the evening of 6 June and establishing the eastern anchor of the Normandy bridgehead. "SWORD" Combat Summary Allies (hex 17A:10 Axis (hex 17A:1

Exploitation Phase.

The remainder of the 3rd XX (9th X) lands, plus the 51 st XX, 6th Abn XX HQ and supporting units. 6th Abn XX and 3rd Inf XX assemble. At end of Jun I, the units in hex 17A: 1009 are:

1x 9-8 Inf XX 3
1x 9-8 Inf XX 51 High
1x 9-6 Abn XX (disrupted) 6
1x 8-7-8 Art [XX] 4
1x 3-8 Marine Cmdo X 1
1x 5-3-6 Eng Tank X 1 RE
1x 64-10 Amph Arm X 27
In overstack in 17A: 1009:
1x 2-10 mot lt AA X AA=4 I
1x 2-3-8 Eng X 10
1x 3-8 Marine Cmdo X 4 (RN)

Battle for Normandy Europa as History

The Players
The Plans
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Set Up
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Combat: Douve and Carentan
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Combat: Merderet Valley
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Combat: Utah Beach
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Combat: Omaha Beach
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Combat: Gold and Juno Beach
The Game (Allied June I 1944 Turn) Combat: Sword Beach
The Game (Axis June II 1944 Turn)
The Game (Allied and Axis Jul I 1944 Turn)
The Game Poised for a Breakout