Gazala - The Cauldron 30th May to 5th June 1942

 Next up in my Gazala series is the infamous Cauldron - a series of engagements which took place in late May and early June 1942 as the Axis forces found themselves trapped behind the British minefields and frantically tried to clear their lines of communications while 8th Army made rather disjointed series of attacks from the east. This scenario attempts to cover the attacks made by 1st Armoured Division on 30th May AND 'Operation Aberdeen', a much more formal assault which took place on 4th/5th June.

Battlefield from the south. The main British minefields and (the well defended 150 Brigade box) are to the west (left). There is a minefield switch line just creeping around the broken ground to the south. The Axis exploited the British mine switch lines to secure their southern and northern flanks. Sidi Muftah is just visible in the north, as is a section of the Trigh Capuzzo, leading back to Fort Capuzzo in the east. Gazala is to the northwest and Tobruk is to the northeast. 

Otherwise the ground is fairly featureless with various low rises and odd patches of bad going and wadis. I've just realised I forgot to put the wadi on the table, it will appear in later photos.

The Axis defenders, in this case elements of Ariete and 15th Panzer Division. 21st Panzer Division is off to the north with its flank resting on another minefield. The Axis set up a pakfront facing east, while all the units they could spare (mainly 90th Light and Trieste supported by elements of Ariete and the two panzer divisions) tried to reduce 150 Brigade to the rear. I'll do the last stand of the 150th  as a separate game.

In the north is 115th Rifle Regiment, now reduced to two battalions after heavy fighting in the vicinity of Knightsbridge, supported by a battalion from 8th Panzer Regiment. II/115 dug in on the ridge has the divisional AT battalion attached, while I/115 is dug into a strong point (Stukzpunkt 1)  reinforced with more AT guns, heavy weapons and 88s. This strongpoint (SP) is one of the objectives. John A commands 15th Panzer and is overall CO.

In the south is 8th Bersaglieri Regiment and a battalion of M13/40s from 132 Armoured Regiment. I've rated all the Itailans as regular as Ariete was a pretty good division by 1942. Like their German pals, one of the Bersaglieri (5/8) has AT guns while the other is in a strongpoint (SP2) reinforced with Heavy AA/AT guns - self propelled 90mm and guns and German supplied 88s. Ariete had to two batteries of 88s along with its 90mm guns. SP2 is the other objective. Tim commanded the Italians as he has a magnificent Italian desert cap.

In support are the Luftwaffe and Reggia Aeronautica. The SM79s are for interdiction and the Ju 88s for close ground support in their dive bomber configuration. There are also a couple of artillery battalions, the rest are shelling the British to the west.

The Axis have two supply columns, but at first they only have one available - 150 Brigade covered the minefield gaps with artillery so the Axis could only bring up supplies at night. Later in the battle, the availability rises to two as the British pocket is reduced.

To win the axis need to control at least one of the strongpoints at the end of the game.

And over in the east we have to British horde! These will come on in two waves, the first being 2nd and 22nd Armoured Brigades, the second being 10th Indian Brigade and 4th Armoured Brigade. Between the attacks on 30th May and Operation Aberdeen, the Germans laid minefields and pulled their defences in tighter. Aberdeen was preceded by mineclearing operations and a heavy preliminary bombardment, which missed the Axis positions as they fell back beforehand (those handy signal intercepts!). So for game purposes we will ignore the German mines and the Allied heavy artillery.

Fans of One Hour Wargames will of course realise that the scenario framework is the 'Fortified Defence' scenario, based on the Battle of Fontenoy! I previously used it for Grossdeutschland at Kursk a few years ago. It works well for massed assault type games and is pretty brutal loss wise.

2nd Armoured Brigade. By now the British armoured units were understrength and units were already being intermingled to maintain fighting power. As far as possible every Regiment had at least one squadron of Grants, who ended up doing much of the fighting, while the lighter tanks did what they could. I've given them two armoured regiments (100-120 tanks in the Queens Bays and 9th Lancers), a mix of Grants and Crusaders, plus their integral motor battalion, in this case 1 Rifle Brigade finally equipped with 6pdrs. They are are supported by 11 RHA with 25 pdrs. Jerry commanded these, with Terry taking the Motor Battalion.

22nd Armoured Brigade is similar to 2nd, two Regiments with a mix of Grants and Crusaders (2 RGH and 3/4 CLY) and their Motor Battalion. Unusually this is 50 Bn, Recce Corps configured as a motor infantry battalion and supprted by the brigade AT company with 6pdr. Their artillery support is from 107 RHA with 25 pdrs. Russell commanded these, with John B and Ian taking over on Wednesday. Terry took this Motor Battalion too. I separated the tank and infantry commands because the new Armoured Brigade Groups were really rubbish at armour-infantry cooperation to start with,

In the original battle, 4th Armoured Brigade was supposed to take part but got lost in a sandstorm on the way!

At any point the British CO can withdraw the 1st wave and replace it with the 2nd wave, which then enters from the east edge. In the interim the German supply capacity rises to two LOG.

The second wave consists of a hastily reorganised 22nd Armoured Brigade with two Regiments of Grant/Crusader (2 RGH and 3/4 CLY) and one of Grant/Stuart (3/4 RTR) supported by 107 RHA. I'll swap the models in from the first wave.

It also has 10th Indian Brigade Group with three infantry battalions, 2nd Highland Light Infantry, 4/10 Baluchi and 2/4 Ghurka supported by 28 Field Regt with 25pdrs. 2HI are supported by the brigade MMG company, 4/10B have the brigade AT company with 2pdrs while the Ghurkas are Ghurkas. I gave them a bonus in close comabt. 

In support we have P40 Warhawks from ground attack, and some B26 Marauders for interdiction. The latter wont have anyone to bomb until the Germans open up their daylight supply routes. For LOG there is the inevitable Austin ambulance and a huge captured Italian lorry. Terry was the overall CO for both evenings as well as running some of the ground units.

OK, that is the setup, off to battle!

Unsurprisingly 2nd AD mounted an assault on the northern SP, essentially an armoured charge straight forward. There isn't enough room to deploy everything side by side so the motor infantry stayed back. The Marauders turned up but had no-one to attack.

The M13s on the hill called in the Italian artillery, while the German artillery and bombers attacked to support the SP. Once again the Axis used their indirect fire assets on the least vulnerable targets - artillery not being very good against armour. The AT guns opened up ad knocked out some British tanks however.

In a bold move, the Panzer battalion moved up to support the hull down M13s. That put 50 Pz IIIs and IVs out in the open within range of 150+ Grants and Crusaders.

The British split their fire between the SP and the Panzers supported by artillery, while 50 Bn engaged the M13s with their 6pdrs. The 6pdrs missed the hull down Italian tankers, but the SP took a couple of hits while the panzers were mullered, taking four hits and becoming disorganised.

In return the Axis concentrated much of their fire and the Ju 88s on 3/4 CLY which disintegrated under the weight of fire and the SP managed to disorganise 9th Lancers. The panzers chose to to continue to engage rather than reorganise. The SM79s ineffectively bombed the Allied rear echelons.

With the destruction of 3/4 CLY, 50 Bn now had a clear LOS to the panzers and combined with P40 ground attacks artillery and 2 RGH to finish the Germans off. In the north Jerry focused on the SP and inflicted another hit.

The German infantry and 88s supported by the M13s now focussed on the 9th lancers, and another British armoured regiment went up in flames.

However the way was now clear for the British infantry. The tanks and artillery disorganised the defenders and both Motor Battalions closed in to conduct an assault next turn.

The Axis wisely reorganised the units in the strongpoint and called own artillery fire on the British infantry, inflicting some hits. 50 Motor Bn was suppressed by the artillery. 

The British tanks, air and artillery pounded the strongpoint, which was then assaulted by 1 Rifle Brigade. The assault failed and 1 RB fell back, but the Germans were left disordered and unable to reorganise (having been assaulted).

The Axis concentrated everything in range on 50 Motor Bn, but the fire from the disorganised SP was fairly ineffective. Even so, the weight of fire took 50 Motor Bn to five hits, disorganised and one step away from disintegration.

The British were not to be stopped however, the remaining armour and 1 RB poured devastating fire into the strongpoint, which was enough to finish off the defenders, enabling the few troops from 50 Bn still on their feet to occupy the position, overunning the 88s. The strongpoint had fallen! 

The Axcis response was fairly muted as by now their units were mostly out of range. The M13s had fallen back to the northern rise with the last German anti tank guns, and could just see 50 Bn clearing the strongpoint. Fire from the ridge sent them packing, reducing 2nd Armoured Division to three effective units.

They clearly didn't have the strength to push on, so the Allied CO called 'Operation Aberdeen'. 2nd AD withdrew and a few days later, 10th Indian Brigade and 22nd Armoured Brigade entered the fray.

Given the significant change in the situation, the Allies were a bit hesitant about what to do. They ended up with the infantry and armour interspersed on a broad front. The general scheme was for 2 HLI and 3/4 RTR to secure the northern SP and stop the Axis retaking it, while everyone else would attack the southern SP.

The Allies pushed on for another turn. This brought 2 HLI in range of the ridge where it was duly shelled and bombed and took some minor losses. In the south, 4/10 Baluchi wandered into range of the Ariete 88/90mm guns and took some losses too.

The Allies had six turns left to take the southern SP, and as we had new players joining the following day, we left it there for the evening, giving the players a chance to ponder their moves for tomorrow.

Pleasingly the situation replicated that in real life, where the Axis had pulled their line back before the Allies could make contact - dodging the heavy preliminary bombardment. An attack with leg infantry supported by armour is a very different business to two armoured brigades attacking side by side.

Having had a bit of a think, the Allies shuffled their forces around. The Indian infantry battalions headed for the rough ground in the south as a covered approach, while the armour concentrated more centrally. The HLI remained in occupation of the northern SP. The Axis shelled the units which were in range and the Ariete tank battalion shifted position to a new location further south.

As the Indians moved slowly through the rocky ground to the south, ambulances helped reorganise thr HLI who were taking heavy losses from German shell fire. The Bays took the southern strongpoint under fire from its elevated position and called in 25pdr fire.

The Indians prepared themselves to attack, receiving more supplies before doing so while the Allies contiued shelling the strongpoint. This was a much more deliberate operation than the first phase.

The Ghurkas, Baluchis and Bays moved into attack positions. 3/4 CLY made a very aggressive move indeed, right into the heart of the Axis fire sack, to maximise the fire lanes onto the strongppoint.

Having had several turns to prepare and resupply, the Axis put out a storm of fire from every unit in range. The Baluchis were hammered by artillery and airstrikes, but the bulk of the Axis fire hit the CLY, which took five hits and become disorganised, one hit away from outright destruction. They had however protected the main assault units.

The CLY pulled back to safety while the Baluchis reorganised. The other allied armoured units, air and artillery pounded the strongpoint, inflicting enough damage to disorganise it. The Ghurkas tried to dislodge the Bersaglieri among the rocks, but unsupported, the task was beyond them.

The Axis resupplied the strongpoint while the Axis guns and bombers turned on the Ghurkas. The extra supplies coming through the minefield gaps to Rommel were proving very useful, and the Luftwaffe was successfully holding off the Desert Airforce. The Ghurkas took enough damage to become disorganised. 

Time was running out very rapidly and unfortuately the Allies didn't have any units in position to assault now. Their only hope was to shoot the Italians out of the position, and have one regimental mobile to occupy it. Sadly the battered CLY were too far away to do it, which meant the 9th Lancers would have to charge.

In the event, it was too little too late - the Allied tanks and artillery reduced the Italians to 2 hits. The Gurkas had two shots left, but a disorganised unit firing at a hard target needs sixes to hit, and the rolled.....6,3. So the Italians survived, and with the Axis holding the last strongpoint at the end of the game, Operation Aberdeen had failed.

That was of course the historical result, but once again it went down to one last hit, so close to the wire (although that final fire attack only had a 1:36 chance of working). Even if the Allies had taken it, they would have advanced into a ring of fire, and I'm not sure they would have held it.

In the end that wasn't as hard to manage as I expected, partly because there were a few turns of non contact movement. I was pleased to have replicated broadly the historical flow of events. The most pleasing thing was the very different feel between the mass armoured assault in the first wave and the much more deliberate infantry/armour assault in the second. When I used the same core scenario for Kursk, there wasn't that level of difference, presumably each of the German waves had a similar composition of tanks and mechanised infantry.

More Leaders pt3 - French

 As I noted in my post on substitute figures, I don't actually have any dedicated WW2 French figures although I have boxfuls of WW1 French. I tend to use Adrian helmeted SCW figures instead as they look much the same and many of them were originally French figures anyway. Well, after the now numerous appearances of my General de Gaulle figure, I realised I 'needed' some French officer figures in Kepis for an upcoming game as they are so distinctive.

Another bunch of Skytrex figures, this time from the French command pack, which contained no less than 11 figures, which I think must have been an error. Slightly disappointingly, only three of them were in kepis, although it did have the inevitable pigeon team, like the Airfix WW1 set. Most of them were NCOS in greatcoats with helmets and rifles. Never mind, a cunning plan presented itself.

I just based up six of the figures as an extra pair of infantry stands. Five of these are Skytrex NCOs and the tall guy in the middle of the second base is Essex I think. He came out of my bag of spare gunners in Adrian helmets.

These will be useful supplements for my other SCW figures in Adrians, although they are very obviously wearing French style greatcoats too. My regular group seem to enjoy 1940 games, so it will be nice to have a few more proper French troops.

The three actual figures in kepis are these. Two of them with pistols and one with binoculars, they are all wearing greatcoats. I did the guy with binos in a kepi with a khaki cover (the most common configuration), a second in an uncovered kepi, so dark blue with a red top and finally one in an FFL kepi blanc. Yes I know only ORs were supposed to wear white kepi covers, but it is such an iconic piece of headgear.

Like the British and Russians, these were basecoated in Vallejo English Uniform, and then various details and highlights picked out with a pinwash around the equipment, inkwash on the flesh and a light drybrush.

Painting these finally finished my pot of Vallejo English Uniform! I've had this for years and it has painted hundreds of figures and provided mud on scores of vehicles. It was one of the first Vallejo paints I bought once my last pot of Humbrol Khaki ran out. I still absolutely hate dropper bottles as I prefer to dip my brush in the paint and not waste it on a palette, but this was great paint with lovely coverage and consistent colour right to the end. I could probably unscrew the top with a pair of pliers to get the last out, but I already had a replacement in stock as it is such a useful colour.

As a postscript, I've subsequently discovered that if I store the bottle upside down, there is still tons of usable paint in it. So a few more months life in it. Maybe you are supposed to store them upside down? Search me. 

 
  

Sedan 1940

 Another interesting looking Dominion of the Blitzkrieg scenario. This one covers Guderians Panzer Korps assaulting Sedan after its famous march through the 'impassable' Ardennes which rather took the French by surprise. This scenario includes armoured units and attack aircraft, so is more likely to generate the type of 'breakthrough' battles typical of the early war period.

The general setup, this is roughly 18" x 18". The Meuse is in the middle, with Sedan in the large river bend. There are heights to the south overlooking the various river crossings, and to the north is the edge of the hilly and heavily wooded Ardennes.

The French. I must say for 'surprised' troops there are an awful lot of them! Up front we have three Regiments of the reserve 55th Division in bunkers and entrenchments along the Meuse. In support are the divisional artillery. All the 55th Div units are rated as 'unreliable', and that also restricts the artillery to a single fire mission. The infantry units are all dug in though, so if they stand, they will be hard to defeat.

We also have a Regiment from 71st Division in reserve (historically they conducted a counterattack at Le Haut du Wastia, which I've previously gamed using One Hour WW2). Finally we have the Char Bs of 2nd DCR, which historically were committed at Stonne, and which I've gamed already using NBC WW2.

Armoured units in these rules generally aren't that great individually - they fight as well as infantry (basic 5+ to hit) but do get to fight first, get a bonus for outflanking, and also have a chance to disrupt the movement of enemy reserves, increased by the presence of air support.  The French tanks are heavily armoured though so get a defensive (D) bonus. Both they and the 71st will have to weather the storm of Luftwaffe bombs to get there though.

The mighty panzers, representing 1st, 2nd and 10th Panzer divisions, although the Germans have four actual panzer units in the scenario (one is in reserve). Assume they are the three divisions and some sort of Corps reserve.

I've given each of these units three stands as they are divisions, not regiments, and 1st Panzer in the centre has a Pz IV and Sdkfz 251 as it is rated Elite. At the time it was one of the few units to have armoured halftracks, and it had a higher proportion of medium tanks than the other divisions which were mainly equipped with Panzer IIs.

Finally we have that huge He 111, representing the the 850 Stukas and medium Bombers of Luftflotte 2. An elite bomber unit, which is genuinely scary, a base to hit of 3+ AND it interdicts enemy reserve movement. Ouch.

Famously this engagement had been extensively wargamed by the Germans beforehand, and the operations orders issued were just the ones from the wargame with the dates changed. They are reproduced in Guderians 'Panzer Leader'.

A bit more of a worms eye view. I should probably have the 71st up on the heights and the Char Bs in the valley, but hey ho. These are all from my early war collection which have featured numerous times. The German tanks are all Peter Pig while the Char Bs are QRF. The French artillery piece is actually a 1/76th scale model of a 47mm gun which I've converted into a 1/100th scale 105mm.

The action opens with a bombing raid on Sedan - in the first turn the attacker can choose whether to bomb or attack with a ground unit. I assumed (erroneously) that you also got to attack in the sector bombed. In any case, it was ineffective and 1st Panzer was repulsed.

 

At some point the French have fired their artillery (the puff of smoke), but it obviously hasn't done any good. The Germans attack with air support on the left and the French run away. 10th Panzer have their bridgehead. The Char Bs try to fill the gap, but need a 4+ to move under air attack and fail.

This flank is now open, if the Germans make an outflanking attack from it, the French can roll to plug the gap again. The Germans can even attack French reserve units if there are none in the front line. That is very clever, and a nice way to represent an armoured breakthrough,

The French response is  muted, the Sedan garrison attacks but the fighting is indecisive (they had to pick the most advantageous sector, and that is it).

The Germans attempt a crossing with 2nd Panzer, but it is repulsed by the defenders despite the air support. I got this wrong as the attack should have ended with the (unsuccessful) bomber attack. It does actually say that in the rules, but you need to read them carefully,

The German reserves move up to plug the gap. The French don't have any bombers, and none of their tanks are opposing them, so this is automatic.

The reserves promptly vanish in anothe failed river assault.

And now the Germans are forced to commit their bombers to holding the line - imagine a series of interdiction raids. This precludes the bombers from conducting any more concentrated attacks, and is similar to gunners suddenly finding themselves holding the line. 

10th Panzer exploits its bridgehead to outflank and destroy the Sedan garrison. That gives the French a chance to move up reinforcements.

I got this wrong too. I assumed the only reserve penalty was because the French were facing German armour in each sector now the bombers were 'holding the line' so to speak, so success on a 2+. In fact if a side starts with reserve bombers, the penalty applies for the whole game, so it should have been 4+.

Anyway, 2nd DCR moved up to block 10th Panzer, while the 71st moved into Sedan opposite 1st Panzer.

1st Panzer promptly crossed the Meuse and routed the 71st! The French gunners now found themselves in the front line as they made their reserve roll.

Sadly for the French, they rolled 'activate centre' - the unreliable gunners ran away and 1st Panzer occupied the heights.

The Germans then got to choose a sector and 1st Panzer outflanked the last Regiment of the 55th on the Meuse, routing them. 2nd DCR counterattacked 10th Panzer but the action was indecisive. Reduced to one unit , a French defeat. Which of course was the historical result, but a hard fought battle nonetheless.

I was conscious that I had made some mistakes so re-read the rules carefully a few times. There is also a vey helpful example of play which funnily enough covers the Sedan scenario.

Having improved my understanding, time to go again.

The Germans open with a bombing raid on Sedan, which routs the defenders (they failed their reliability roll). Combat then ends, but effectively 1st Panzer now has a bridgehead over the Meuse. I've pushed an infantry stand over the river.

The French reinforcements fail to move up (needing a 4+ in the face of tanks supported by bombers).

There is an indecisive action in the right as the 55th engage 2nd Panzer, but at least the French stand.

1st Panzer then exploits the breakthrough with a flank attack on the left which routs the defenders along the river bank. You can either make a bomber attack OR a conventional attack. This attack allows the French to roll for reserves again, and the 71st move up to seal the breach. 2nd DCR fails to block 10th Panzer though, who also now have a bridgehead.

More indecisive fighting on the right between the 55th and 2nd Panzer.

Now the Germans ineffectively bomb 2nd DCR, while 10th Panzer makes an outflanking attack on the 71st. The French commit their artillery support, but the fighting is indecisive.

2nd DCR does however make its reinforcement roll and braves the German bombers to block 10th Panzer.

2nd Panzer is routed on the right, and reserves move up to take their place.

1st Panzer breaks out of Sedan supported by bombers, and the 71st flee. The brave French gunners of the 55th Division however managed to manouvre into place to block the panzers.

The French then manged to rout 2nd Panzer on the right (again).

Which leaves the Luftwaffe to hold the line. The Char Bs of 2nd DCR rumble into action and finish off 10th Panzer. 1st Panzer suddenly looks rather isolated as there are no more German reserves.

1st Panzer tries to outflank 2nd DCR but the move fails.

In turn, 2nd DCR flanks 1st Panzer and wipes it out. Guderian is flung back across the Meuse!

Well that was a turn up. What an interesting scenario, certainly excellent as a learning framework for the rules, probably more so than the Narvik one I originally picked. That was a great game, and what a clever and subtle development of the rules, although obviously  a bit too subtle for my ageing brain cells! There are a couple more France 1940 scenarios I'd like to try out, which both feature more tank battles, so watch this space.