Spring and Summertime Audible Reading: WWII (Early War from 1939 to 1941)

Thanks to Audible (via listening in the car and while I am doing the washing up) I am able to keep up with my "electronic book time" (and in all honesty, I usually buy a paper copy of the books I like and have listened to too).  It is nourishing when you can mine a consistent meme or theme, even as a background task. I have recently gone back to one of my first loves of history, the early war period of WWII (clanky tanks, Stukas and all that stuff), with some nice new author "finds" and their revisionist reviews of oft forgotten episodes of the early war.

Reading List (Done):

Starting at the beginning - Case White: The Invasion of Poland 1939 (see below, Robert Forczyk is a great new author find for me and the Poland 1939 Campaign is covered in greater detail that I have managed to find before):

Of interest were the "learning mistakes" of the German Army, as not everything went right for them and how an alliance which looks good on paper is, when tested (France and Great Britain supporting the Poles - allegedly), falls apart through lack of any tangible help Britain and France could give Poland in 1939! The Allies in short wanted everything to go much slower, but were simply not given this luxury.  

The open fighting war in Poland now over, we move onto Narvik .. the campaign before the Low Countries started and the site of the Allies first "land" victory in WWII. This was after a bizarre naval start to to proceedings, where we almost saw an  "Allied invasion of Norway" first and arguably "an Allied act or war on Norway" (courtesy of the RN) ! A beguiling episode of unfathomable "what ifs" that could have spelled out a very different outcome. Overall an excellent book (see below, where bizarrely the displaced Polish troops helped the French and British inflict the first Blitzkrieg era defeat on Germany by the recapture of Narvik in what was the final moments of this ill-prepared campaign [on both sides]):

Then back to more familiar territory of France 1940 proper, but with a twist, not the familiar and beloved Alister Horne's recount, (France 1940: To Lose a battle) and looking predominately at Case Yellow, but instead just a review of that and then greater focus on Case Red. This is looking at the battle of France post Dunkirk, and what was termed the Second BEF's brief campaign. This includes the 2nd Armoured Divisions "trials and tribulations "in what was a travesty of combat, or "How not to attack with a British cruiser armed tank division in 1940, thinking it was the same as a French tank division and had supporting infantry". Fascinating early war "cringe" details, again a story of what could have been (see below, subtext - how allies can hurt each other as much as the enemy):

Then a real focus on Dunkirk from the German view, illuminating when considering the operation from a German perspective (see below, a huge take away was that the German effort to take Dunkirk was uncoordinated and from a C3 perspective was horrifically fragmented and certainly not combined arms, a fascinating read):

After the fall of France how long could Britain stand? Many thought, including Joseph Kennedy, JFK's father and American ambassador to Great Britain, thought not long. Britain was doomed as it could not stand alone. "We March Against England". This gives a peculiar twist to viewing and understanding  this period. Absolutely fascinating stuff (see below, again its from my latest author find, Mr Robert Forczyk):

This information was especially interesting when reviewing it against Paddy Griffith's epic1974 Operation Sea Lion game and the capabilities (see below, Paddy's book is full of of detailed notes and is available from the History of Wargaming Project):

Yet one more thing leading to another, the Western Desert comes into focus and another book from Robert Forczyk fills this gap nicely (see below, those early Italian and DAK battles covered in fascinating details [still as yet only available in hardback - so note to self, it is a book still for me to get]):  

Again a great book and brings a new perspective on the early war Western Desert campaign(s) and specifically Rommel's character and leadership in particular (a tank commander is being very hard on a felloe tan commander). Logistics, logistics and logistics! It is no good getting something after a hard fought battle if you cannot supply yourself sufficiently to keep it.

The above might explain my lack of posting over the last few months (first half of 2024), coupled with increased WhatsApp-Facebook-X  usage (a trio of digital distractions) and heck, a busy work-family life balance.

Reading List (To Do): 

Where next? Historically, all eyes turn East (as did Hitler) and the war swings in a very dramatic fashion as an 'irresistible force' hits an 'unmovable object' (Germany invades Russia) and believe it or not there is a book for that (see below, in truth there are many books, but this one concentrates on tanks which is a leading draw to me, thank you Mr Forczyk): 

Although I think, instead of a picture of a sexy Tiger Tank on the front cover (which is "just" in period, but will sell books for sure), I would have preferred a picture of a weather-worn, workhorse PzIII, which would have been much more appropriate IMHO. 

Note: Any more book recommendations appreciated and welcome, as I seem to have come to the bottom of my list (ready-use locker). 

Benghazi Handicap - Command Decision - WWII North Africa Campaign Source Book [Including Command Decision Scenarios]

Sigh. I finally caught this one. Whenever I had looked for it before, it had eluded me - so when I saw a copy of it at Cavalier Books, I jumped at the chance (see below, Frank Chadwick's masterpiece on the early part the Western Desert War): 

This is my designated playground for 10mm play ground for Pendrakon miniatures, although I do have my old Airfix, Matchbox, PSC, Italeri/Esci collections of 20mm toys that can be used too. I am a sucker for the clanky tank era and this theatre of operation was full of them (usually in a state of burning).

Yes, Command Decision is back onside for me! In truth I never felt it had really left ;) 

Operation Compass: Tamar West - Operational Planning Map

As the attack on Tamar West unfolded through the Zoom sessions, as a British player, I tried to keep track of the assault as it progressed up the board. From the turret top of the Matilda I tried to keep a careful annotation, but as you can see the continuous movement made my hand very shaky (see below, hard black ink for the first session, red for the second phase of the attack  ): 

The intensity of the artillery fire is in proportion to the density of the ink. Respect is due to teh Italian gunners who stayed with their guns until the last.

But is it air.

Operation Compass: Attacking Tamar West

In preparation for my Beda Fomm game Martin from the Sheffield "Zoom" wargame kindly group laid on an Operation Compass battle for Tamar West, a little known quadrant of death that was an Italian fortified strong point in 1940 that Wavell's Western Desert Force had to take down. Appearing out of cover of a convenient desert sandstorm [for the British] were two columns of lorry borne British infantry and the sound of clanky tanks of Matildas [still off table in the photograph below] approaching from the the brown track, bottom left in the photograph. One British column of infantry drove straight up to the base of the Italian camp, dismounted and close assaulted the Italian across the barbed wire - heroic stuff (see below, a fortified patch of three hexes in the centre of the set-up and the road leading off to the right were the British objectives - a tight task to do in only nine turns):  

The Matilda's make good use of the road but the battle always seemed to be in the next hex away. Meanwhile both British columns of infantry are getting stuck into the Italians, although the latter column got shot up on the way in while riding on the trucks. Time was expedient so the risk was well taken IMHO (see below, British trucks are seen wisely getting out of the way of this "fighting stuff"): 

The Matildas make it to gates of the camp to find it already in British hands (again the battle is always one hex away) as the British infantry relentlessly punch over the hills trading blow-for-blow with the Italian infantry and Italian Gunners, who die by their guns (see below, only turn three and the British are half way over the first objective - it is a fast pace but it has to be for the British to win in nine-ten game turns): 

Consternation as the Matildas have to go off road (they are very slow) but the inside of the camp is being pummelled by Italian Artillery (coming in danger close) and already over-stacked with assaulting British Infantry (see below, a target rich environment with little cover): 

The final fort hex is assaulted and the fort of Tamar West is now in British hands with Italian infantry trying to regroup in a wadi outside, despite being ineffectually machine gunned from the light Besa MG's of the British Matildas - at least they are close enough to shoot (see below, the Italian infantry has to be eradicated before the British move on to secure the exit - but what is this, Italian reinforcements appear on the very table edge hex the British are after): 

The regrouping Italian infantry are caught by a storm of steel as the British Infantry charge out of the newly captures fort and destroy them entirely before they can fully regroup. The British pay a hard butchers bill, now down to two companies from an original force of two battalions (see below, the Matildas advance into the fort with intention of driving on the the exit "through" the Italian L3 MG carrier armour): 

The bravery of the British infantry literally  know no bounds as they pin the Italian L3 MG carriers in place, dropping 25 pounders in amongst the antiquated armour causing mayhem (see below, the game will rest on the sequence of randomised activation and and whether the Matildas can travel three hexes in two turns): 

The L3 MG's take away another British Rifle Company away but the combined effects of the British artillery (including I am told some antiquated museum piece WWI era sixty pounders appearing in the British Order of Battle) and Matildas have quiet ruined them as a fighting force (see below, the Matlidas are two hexes away with the very last turn to come): 

Turn 9 and the "victory exit hex" falls into British hands, for a narrow win - with the British artillery induced (and Italian failed) morale check, along with the menacing sight of the untouched advancing British Matildas just being too much for the last Italian infantry unit. You can understand it, bereft of AT guns [and therefore subject to "tank fright" in the rules], under nasty artillery fire and to crown it all out in the open - but they have made the British have paid a very heavy price in infantry for Tamar West (see below, the only surviving Italian unit being the battered L3's lurking two hexes away from the road and trying to rally): 

A very historical outcome, though close run thing, with the Matildas next tasked to trundle on to guess what? Yes, the next Italian strong point, presumably picking up some fresh infantry on the way. 

Beda Fomm - Board Game Play - Play Testing

You read the set of rules, they seem straightforward (but even ten pages can contain a lot - now don't get me talking on DBA's six pages of simple rules needing seventy two pages of fan based explanation spanning several years of collaborative argumentation - over the meaning of rules after well-meaning and competition gamers get their mucky little hands on them) but until .. you get the playing pieces out on the board and start moving them around .. you don't realise the limitations of the brain's short term memory in understanding stuff. All good fun when play testing with friends though (see below, Beda Fomm set-up after what we thought was an accurate turn one - but looking at the board, flicking back to the rules and then reading the small print we realised "how wrong we were"): 

In the above you see an overuse of the "Move - No AT Fire" marker - which looked messy and we thought that cannot be right. Reading the rules again we find this isn't needed for all troops as not all troop types have AT fire capability (makes kind of sense). So particularly with respect to infantry, AT and Artillery if they do have inherent AT capability and they move they get a marker (tick). Art, AT and Regular firings are split out into different phases so this is an  fiddly but important "aide memoire" for the game (and as I sit typing I could not tell you for sure if that also applies to armour - I don't think so as it represents set-up time for guns etc but I will have to check). 

Secondly stacking limits really make this a "puzzle game" (as per the comment in the video I watched), but the Italian has some crazy "battalion sized truck units" (that represent feeing Italian non-fighting admin units) that have "minimal combat value" (aka the mighty "1") and serve mainly to get in the way of Italian unit movement and be VPs for the British and Commonwealth player. As it is a battalion size it will block another battalion from moving through them on the road - but the Italian has the option of "parking by the road" (stacking value zero but an auto kill if in combat). On the game test we even read simple movement values wrong, as we saw one Italian unit had a movement value of eight which translated into thirty two road hexes (wow) .. but only as we were packing away did we discover other units had a value of six (twenty four road hexes) so the convoy would really have travelled at the speed of the slowest unit until "first contact" with the enemy. This meant that the above board is wrong and a turn one encounter is impossible which also explains why our first move looked so unhistorical (as historically British and Commonwealth infantry blocked the road while the armoured cars prowled the flank shooting up "parked" lorries - but as we were playing it, the infantry would not have time to get there). 

As a design comment I can so see Frank Chadwick's interest in morale (which came through hard and fast in the later Command Decision set[s] of rules), as each formation (not counter) has its own morale tracker. Some of the Italian (mostly infantry) start really low at 6 (and as morale checks are equal to or under this value on 2d6, they are already behind the curve). Lots of combat results ask for "morale checks", lose one and you can die or retreat - and losing a morale also check means your formation "morale tracker" goes down by one and as continual combats keep asking you to pass a "morale check" - life becomes very hard vey quickly, which makes a nice vicious circle. With all these vital statistics captured on the board with small counters on tracks, it is a game that you don't want to play around cats or small inquisitive children! Nevertheless I am looking forward to the next game test when we move onto a bit of combat. I am interested to see how the game plays for the first five turns as the game quickly board fills up with Italians facing Combeforce (the RTR start arriving for the British and Commonwealth forces at the start of turn six). 

Note: The goals here are to (a) play the game in full 'correctly' and (b) spot battalion+ sized vignettes on the table top in Command Decision.

 

WWII Desert War Information - Beds Fomm and more

http://www.desertrats.org.uk/battles1941.htm#Beda