I've been working on my project to create Turkish and British armies to fight battles set in the Middle east in World War 1. While the armies are not complete, Jon and I met to fight a smaller division level action on a reduced size playing area using the armies so far. The figures, guns, and vehicles, are all form Irregular Miniatures 6mm range.
This first action was very straightforward. A Turkish regiment had seized a town (two Spearhead town sectors) and been able to dig in some of its troops in light entrenchments. This regiment was set up on table at the start of the game. The remainder of the division (two regiments) entered the table on turn one form the Turkish player's base line.
The division was very short of artillery, but there were two squadrons of Erhardt armoured cars, and a flight of aircraft available in support.
The British were attacking in division strength, but short on MMGs. They did have some cavalry in support, and one brigade had a squadron of Rolls Royce armoured cars attached in support. The divisional artillery had been able to keep up with the advance, so there were two regiments of 18pdrs available, which the commander allocated to the two leading brigades. The regiment of 4.5" howitzers was kept in general support, available to all three brigade commanders. The third brigade of the division advanced in a reserve position in the centre along the axis of advance.
The British commander decided to attack the Turkish defenders late in the day leaving only 8 turns of daylight.
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| The battlefield from behind the British line of advance (for perspective, the table top is 4' wide, 5 ' deep) |
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| The two town sectors at the centre of the battle |
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| Hasty entrenchments dug by the Turkish regiment setting up for the defence |
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| Hasty entrenchments on the other side of the built up areas, occupied by the defending Turkish regiment |
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| The left flank British advance, supported by one regiment of 18pdrs 'on table' |
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| The Rolls Royce armoured car attached to the right flank British brigade, in a reconnaissance role |
Jon was successful in calling in the available airstrike early, catching the British advancing, with no MMG stands set up and able to offer any kind of AA support. He struck at the advancing artillery attached to the British left flank brigade ... a good decision, and a 'profitable' use of the available air support..
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| A German pilot, sent to the middle east to support the Turkish allies, strikes early as the, catching the British advancing, and without any MMGs set up in defence |
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| The right flank British brigade starts to take fire from the central Turkish defenders |
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| The Rolls Royce armoured car takes fire and is suppressed. Lurking in the background in the photo are two stands of Erkhardt armoured cars.. is the the German Asia Corps? |
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| The British right continues its advance |
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| The Turkish reinforcements, the other two regiments of the division, arrive and begin to deploy |
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| Defence in the centre |
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| The British armoured car squadron is destroyed by intense Turkish fire |
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| and the right flanking brigade is taking casualties |
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| The firefight intensifies and the Turkish defenders begin to take casualties too |
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| The left flank British brigade tries to work its way around the open flank of the Turkish defence |
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| On the right the British continue in their attempts to push past the defenders, but are faced with one of the two reinforcing Turkish regiments |
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| On the right, the firefight develops too, and casualties are taken by both sides |
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| Casualties mount, and the Turkish defenders in the centre come under fire from a regiment of British 4.5" guns, allocated in general support, called in by the left flanking British brigade |
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| The British extreme left, trying to push past, but taking fire and casualties |
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| The central Turkish regiment under intense artillery and small arms fire |
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| A general view again from behind the British line of advance |
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| Casualties on the British left are mounting, but they have successfully cleared the left flank entrenchments, seen upper right in the photo. The third reinforcing Turkish regiment can be seen in the top left of the photo |
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| ... and it's getting bloody on the right as the right flank British brigade takes heavy fire from both the central defending regiment, and the Turkish left flank reinforcing regiment. |
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| Casualties are now also mounting for the Turkish left, facing the British right as they come under high volumes of fire |
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| The Turkish defences on their left of the towns are beginning to be thinned out with casualties too |
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| The Turkish defence on their right is looking very thin |
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| View across the batlefield from behind the British left flank brigade as darkness fell |
The time constraint under which we played (not intentional) left the game hanging at this point, possibly still finely balanced. Both sides had taken significant casualties. Another couple of play turns leading to the inevitable morale checks would most likely have led to a 'decision' one way of the other on the battle.
