Battle for Sabac, Serbia, 17 August 1914

In the second of our 'less well known theatres of operations' games marking the 25th birthday of the Great War Spearhead wargames rules Murray and I refought the Battle for Sabac (in Serbia) 17 August 1914.  The scenario, taken from the 'Summer Harvest' scenario book, features an Elite Serbian division (the 1st Sumadija) attempting to capture the town of Sabac from a defending Austro- Hungarian division (the 29th Infantry Division). The game was fought using my 20mm armies.

The battlefield before play commenced, the Austro-Hungarian division deploys on the left, and the Serbians attack from the right

The Serbian e plan. The command arrows reveal a flaw in the plan.

The Austrian deployment, with a regiment of 75mm guns brigaded in support at the bottom of the photo

The first three of the four Serbian regiments begin their attack. The fourth regiment is not available until turn 6, with only 12 turns available to achieve the capture of Sabac

Defending Austro-Hungarian infantry

The regiment of Austrian guns deployed brigaded. They eventually played no part in the battle at all.

The Austrian right flank regiment had divisional and Corps cavalry assets available

The Serbians swarm through Pocerski on theor right

Austrian defenders sight Serbian cavalry advancing in a small screen

The Serbian cavalry is eliminated ... ouch, that didn't take long

The Serbian right flank regiment, advancing directly against Sabac, comes under fire from the Austrian Corp 150mm guns (the only Austrian artillery to take part, as it happened). Early casualties offer a foreboding start for the Serbians

The Austrian left/Serbian right as the action develops. The Austrian defenders also start to come under artillery fire

Contact is made in the centre

The Austrian right, supported by two batteries of divisional 80mm guns

First blood to the 80mm guns

The Serbians attack the Austrian centre with a stiff bayonet charge

The first Serbian rush against the centre is repulsed with fire

Fighting alsp now develops on the Austrian right (that's the village of Jevremovac top right in the photo)

The Serbians make a second rush at the Austrian centre

And a bayonet charge against the Austrian right (Murray was counting on the 'elite' status that the scenario grants to the Serbians to carry the day)

The Serbian right is suffering significant casualties .. their thinning numbers are apparent from their very reduced presence at the top of the photo

The fighting becomes furious in the Austrian centre, as a third Serbian charge goes in

Casualties are heavy on both sides on the Austrian right too.. the gaps on the table tell the story

The Austrian centre begins to collapse under the weight of the Serbian atack

And gaps are also opening up on the right

Meanwhile the Serbian right flank disintegrates under the weight of casualties (fails its morale) and is forced to withdraw.

Carnage in the Austrian centre as the Serbian charges cut swathes through the Austrians

Similarly the Austrian right is suffering significant casualties, but is still holding.. only just

Things are getting ugly on the Austrian right ....

The Austrian centre disintegrates (fails morale)... the stands can be seen fleeing to the nearest crossing over the canal to their rear

The Austrian cavalry (which under scenario rules must remain mounted unless given a specific order change to dismount) charges in from its reserve position in an attempt to stabilise the position under the weight of the Serbian attack

The charge seen from behind the Serbian attack

Now the right is looking very weak

The Austrian cavalry is suppressed and fails to make contact

The remnants of theAustrian centre seen (nearest the canal) desperately trying to get across the bridge

The Austrian left flank regiments begin to redeploy to meet the threat from what appears to be their disintegrating right flank

The Austrian right flank regiment falls apart too, as the Serbian reserve regiment (at the extreme right top of the photo) makes contact adding its weight to the Serbian attack.

This was turn 9 of a 12 turn game. With its right shattered, and a crossing over the canal wide open, things look precarious for the Austrian hold on Sabac. From the game play perspective, while Murray had learned a lot from his previous game about being more aggressive in the attack (enabled enormously by the elite status of this Serbian division), his plan was not sufficiently aggressive to expect success and hence take the main objective of Sabac. However the Murray's plan had only taken the attacking regiments as far as the canal, reflecting the flaw in his plan, as to cross the canal and attack Sabac itself would require an order change, something not easily achieved for Serbians (or Austrians for that matter).

Using the scenario's victory points suggestions, the Austrians gained 5 VPs to the Serbians' 4.. close enough to be called a draw.

That said, in my 25 years playing Great War Spearhead this rates as one of the best games I have played in. The outcome of Murray's attacks reflected disciplined use of troops combining fire, movement, and cold steel, to dislodge the defenders.

Here is a video panorama of the battlefield at the end of the action.