Your friendly Shoutcaster is starved for games to cast (keep posting guys!) so I kept my mind busy otherwise
On my trip to France last week, I couldn’t help but think about Coh when I noticed I was driving past the city of Montargis. This made me think about what I knew about the maps we play on with such devotion, but concluded that I knew nothing about what went on there now more than 60 years ago. Those days are gone now though, because now Dr. Cadmus presents to you part one of his series (that is if i get good response):
HIS 101: Semois
picture: Bohan-sur-Semois today
When we talk about Semois in Coh, it is easy to assume that the village of Semois must exist somewhere in France, right?
Think again, It does not (at least, I have not been able to locate it).
The Semois is actually a river flowing from Belgium into France. However, the French spell it as follows: Semoy. The ingame-spelling matches the Belgian spelling. This made me conclude that the coh map Semois must be situated in southern Belgium. Several villages in the area are called ….-sur-semois, but when you’ll see the pictures you will know why I have chosen the town of Bohan-sur-Semois as the inspiration for our beloved Coh-map.
Enough with all the semantics now, let’s get straight into the action. Belgium was overrun within a month by the German Blitzkrieg offensive on their way to France, despite valiant resistance of the tiny Belgian army backed up by a small contingent of B.E.F. troops. (Who subsequently escaped complete annihilation through the ‘miracle‘ of Dunkirk). This means that from April 1940, the whole of Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany, and France quickly followed this grievous fate.
Picture: Semois shortly after WWII:
Many Belgians, hypnotized by the mighty German army, joined the ranks of Hitler’s Waffen SS in the newly created divisions of ‘Langemark’ for the Flemings and ‘Wallonia’ for the Walloons, followers of Hitler wannabe, Leon Degrelle.
Many others chose to continue the fight and would go underground, setting up resistance networks and attempting to damage the German war effort by any means available to them.
Bohan-sur-Semois was such a town, at a remote location in the rugged countryside, where these resistance fighters staged their actions. Many of such villages have suffered axis retribution after their secret activities had been uncovered, luckily, Bohan-sur-Semois escaped that terrible fate. Bohan is located in southern Belgium, almost right on the French border, some 50 miles off Bastogne, and only 10 miles further you will find Montherme, another Coh map.
The church of Semois currently has three bells. The largest one was stolen by the German occupier in 1943. After the war, it has been replaced by a new bell with the following engraving: ‘I replace my sister, built in 1860 and stolen during the war in 1943.’ The location of the original bell is unknown, although one can imagine it was used to fuel the German war effort in some way or the other. The 2nd bell dates from 1909 and has remained untouched. A third one was added in 1947, as a gift of the people of Bohan for God’s protection during the war.
Picture: The Semois Bridge
Evidently, because Bohan is located in Belgium, the real battles on the Semois took place at the end of the war, when the German army was already rooted from Normandy and when Paris had already been liberated. Therefore, the battles we are fighting on Semois most likely take place at the time of the desperate German Ardennes offensive in the winter of 1944 (battle of the bulge). If I am not mistaken, Gen. Patton’s army must have passed through Bohan, in their lightning speed drive from the south to deliver the encircled Airborne divisions.
Picture: Tactical Map Battle of the Bulge
You can't see the river Semois on the tactical map but it is just to the south out of the frame, and Bohan would be located somewhere south of Libramont, which means that the German breakthrough was halted right there on the frontline. The axis armor we find on Semois in Coh are probably from the Panzer Lehr, an elite armoured division, backed up by the 15th Panzergrenadiers.
I hope you enjoyed this little Coh ‘moment in history’…If you guys like it I might do some of the other maps. I already found some nice stuff on Angoville…
This post has been edited by Cadmus: Aug 21 2007, 14:24 PM
Very interesting Cadmus, good work! I already did a bit of research myself about Semois, but didn't find too much besides it being a river. Great work, keep 'em coming (but don't neglect your awesome shoutcasts while doing it )
)
Your friendly Shoutcaster is starved for games to cast (keep posting guys!) so I kept my mind busy otherwise
On my trip to France last week, I couldn’t help but think about Coh when I noticed I was driving past the city of Montargis. This made me think about what I knew about the maps we play on with such devotion, but concluded that I knew nothing about what went on there now more than 60 years ago. Those days are gone now though, because now Dr. Cadmus presents to you part one of his series (that is if i get good response):
HIS 101: Semois
picture: Bohan-sur-Semois today
When we talk about Semois in Coh, it is easy to assume that the village of Semois must exist somewhere in France, right?
Think again, It does not (at least, I have not been able to locate it).
The Semois is actually a river flowing from Belgium into France. However, the French spell it as follows: Semoy. The ingame-spelling matches the Belgian spelling. This made me conclude that the coh map Semois must be situated in southern Belgium. Several villages in the area are called ….-sur-semois, but when you’ll see the pictures you will know why I have chosen the town of Bohan-sur-Semois as the inspiration for our beloved Coh-map.
Enough with all the semantics now, let’s get straight into the action.
Belgium was overrun within a month by the German Blitzkrieg offensive on their way to France, despite valiant resistance of the tiny Belgian army backed up by a small contingent of B.E.F. troops. (Who subsequently escaped complete annihilation through the ‘miracle‘ of Dunkirk).
This means that from April 1940, the whole of Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany, and France quickly followed this grievous fate.
Picture: Semois shortly after WWII:
Many Belgians, hypnotized by the mighty German army, joined the ranks of Hitler’s Waffen SS in the newly created divisions of ‘Langemark’ for the Flemings and ‘Wallonia’ for the Walloons, followers of Hitler wannabe, Leon Degrelle.
Many others chose to continue the fight and would go underground, setting up resistance networks and attempting to damage the German war effort by any means available to them.
Bohan-sur-Semois was such a town, at a remote location in the rugged countryside, where these resistance fighters staged their actions. Many of such villages have suffered axis retribution after their secret activities had been uncovered, luckily, Bohan-sur-Semois escaped that terrible fate. Bohan is located in southern Belgium, almost right on the French border, some 50 miles off Bastogne, and only 10 miles further you will find Montherme, another Coh map.
The church of Semois currently has three bells. The largest one was stolen by the German occupier in 1943. After the war, it has been replaced by a new bell with the following engraving: ‘I replace my sister, built in 1860 and stolen during the war in 1943.’ The location of the original bell is unknown, although one can imagine it was used to fuel the German war effort in some way or the other. The 2nd bell dates from 1909 and has remained untouched. A third one was added in 1947, as a gift of the people of Bohan for God’s protection during the war.
Picture: The Semois Bridge
Evidently, because Bohan is located in Belgium, the real battles on the Semois took place at the end of the war, when the German army was already rooted from Normandy and when Paris had already been liberated. Therefore, the battles we are fighting on Semois most likely take place at the time of the desperate German Ardennes offensive in the winter of 1944 (battle of the bulge). If I am not mistaken, Gen. Patton’s army must have passed through Bohan, in their lightning speed drive from the south to deliver the encircled Airborne divisions.
Picture: Tactical Map Battle of the Bulge
You can't see the river Semois on the tactical map but it is just to the south out of the frame, and Bohan would be located somewhere south of Libramont, which means that the German breakthrough was halted right there on the frontline. The axis armor we find on Semois in Coh are probably from the Panzer Lehr, an elite armoured division, backed up by the 15th Panzergrenadiers.
I hope you enjoyed this little Coh ‘moment in history’…If you guys like it I might do some of the other maps. I already found some nice stuff on Angoville…
This post has been edited by Cadmus: Aug 21 2007, 14:24 PM
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