Mesopotamian action 1916

This week Murray and I returned to Great War Spearhead, with a scenario set early 1916 in Mesopotamia. It is not an historical scenario, but rather one inspired by the sort of positional conflict you see in such battles as Sannaiyat, Ramadi, Daur and Tikrit. 

A Turkish division is manning defences in advance of a town, flanked on one side by a river (the Tigris perhaps?) and a dried watercourse or wadi on the other. A British division is attacking with the aim of breaking the defensive line and taking the town. It is supported by a naval flotilla of two gunboats. Their task is complicated by a significant supply problem: a shortage of artillery and shells. One of the many features of these battles was the impact of the mirage, the visual distortions caused by the heat. Accounts talk of this creating a severe limitation on target location generally, and on artillery especially. To simulate this, while the game is 12 turns in length, all location between moves 4 and 10 is limited to 12" regardless of any other circumstances (e.g. hill contours, target firing etc).

The game was fought using my 6mm armies, all of the figures from the Irregular range. The gunboats were scratchbuilt.

Turkish OOB and scenario rules

British OOB and scenario rules

British attack plan, which includes a deep flank march by units of the ANZAC Imperial Camel Corps (yes I know, wrong part of the Middle East for them, but it's still a fictional scenario)

View from behind the British attack. Two Turkish regiments hold the front defences, and one is in reserve in the rear defensive line. Their left flank (right of the photo) is held by a unit of Arab cavalry. The centre British brigade is held in reserve. The wadi is clearly seen on the upper right

The gunboats steam ahead

The  Arab cavalry

The British left flank brigade (the 19th) advances with the gunboat flotilla in support

The British reserve

The British right flank brigade (the 17th) advancing

The ICC deep flank march pushes in behind the Arab cavalry unaware of them at this stage

Turn 3, and the British ICC unit arrives on the Turkish flank after a successful deep flank march

The Turkish commander deploys his divisional cavalry from their reserve position to counter the threat to their flank

The gunboats take fire from a battery of Turkish 76mm guns, and a company of Turkish MMGs

One of the gunboats is suppressed

The early firefight sees significant gaps appear in the British 19th left flank brigade

On the British right similarly the attackers (7th Brigade) are caught in quite a firestorm of fire

The second gunboat remains suppressed while the first, having eliminated a battery of Turkish 76mm artillery, inflicts a suppression on one company of Turkish defenders

However that left flank Brigade (the 19th) is taking severe punishment

The 7th Brigade on the British right coming up against the Turkish defences

British casualties start to appear amongst the 7th too too

The ICC start to win the firefight with the Turkish cavalry even though the Turkish troops have the benefit of occupying the wadi

The ferocity of the firefight with the British left flank 19th Brigade, and the extent of the casualties, are clear to see here.

The British right flank brigade has secured some cover within a central palm grove

The Arab cavalry advance into the wadi.. what is their plan?

The ICC are still held up by the remnants of the Turkish divisional cavalry, which passes it's first morale check

The 19th Brigade is finally beginning to inflict casualties on their opponents in the light entrenchments, especially with the divisional artillery finally getting in to action firing direct from the raised ground tio their rear, but note the huge gaps in their formation. This has cost them dearly.

This is the Turkish right flank facing 19th Brigade

The British reserve brigade has been committed (seen on the right of this photo) and is joining the attack against the Turkish centre, but there too the Turkish defenders are proving resolute, and their fire is proving effective

The British right still heavily engaged

The Arab cavalry have emerged from the wadi, their intent now clear, to threaten the British right flank

The ICC are pushing forward, but it may be too late. The Turkish cavalry have done their job.

At this stage we ran out of time (we really must learn to spend less time yarning over a beer at the start of the evening). The British attack has clearly failed. The Turkish reserve remains uncommitted, and both of the forward Turkish regiments are still a way of first morale tests, while the British attackers have suffered severely. The British gunboat flotilla proved to be less decisive than we thought. As the British commander I might also have been. more thoughtful in the minor tactics of how I brought the  initial attacking brigades into the attack.

However all in all another damned fine outing for the GWSH armies.

On the banks of the Tigris

Wargaming actions in the Middle East in World War 1 offers games with more manoeuvre than you might expect on the western front (as do games set on the eastern front, incidentally). Jon, Andy and Murray joined me for this Great War Spearhead game fought using my 6mm armies. The Figures are all from Irregular Miniatures, while the river gunboats are scratch built.

While I have the current scenario books for Great War Spearhead that cover the earlier years in Mesopotamia ('Heart Breaking Affair'), and also the Gallipoli theatre ('Our sons as well'), I opted for a fictional scenario that I designed to capture some of the more interesting aspects of the Mesopotamia campaign, with Arab irregular allies (infantry and camels) to the Turkish troops, and gunboats for the British.

We used some of the interesting rules variations from the Mesopotamia and Gallipoli scenario books. In particular we used rules for river gunboat flotillas, and the less well developed 'forts' that the Turkish army had developed, from the Mesopotamia book. We also used the beach landing rules Robert and Shawn devised for the Gallipoli campaign. My solo gaming experiments with these rules showed that they created a good simulation of the disorganisation, and the constraints, that those landing troops appeared to have experienced.

We also decided to make the following rules changes to accommodate the scenario:

1. The British brigade making the amphibious assault down the river was not required to remain within the divisional command radius
2. The Arab irregular units were not required to stay within a specific command radius of the Turkish regulars, and would not count towards unit strengths for morale checks
3. The British commander would choose a specific landing point for the amphibious assault, but there would be a random element that might shift the site of the actual landing. The British commander would not draw the command arrow for the amphibious assault until the brigade landing site was established.

The scenario has the British 6th Division advancing alongside the Tigris, with a brigade allocated to advance up the river and land behind the Turkish lines, supported by a gunboat flotilla. The Turkish 7th Division is defending, with one regiment in defence, supported by some Irregular Arab infantry and camelry. They have been able to establish some rudimentary defences which include a simple fort on the banks of the river. In reserve the Turkish commander has a second regiment of the division. This regiment will not be able to enter the table before turn 7 of the game.

The battle field from behind the axis of the main British advance, the Tigris on the left. 

The British plan saw two brigades advance parallel to the Tigris, with an amphibious landing near the fort established by the Turkish forces on the banks of the river

Turkish troops occupying the main town, with light entrenchments and wire defending the front

A small village occupied by Turkish regulars on high ground on their centre right towards the river, supported by a battery of 75mm field guns

The advance continues

The view across from the Turkish left flank

Turkish and Arab companies from their extreme left advance to cross the river and threaten the British right

The main British forces advance towards the Turkish lines, and a fire fight commences. A regiment of 18pdrs are deploying along the tree line on the left to support their infantry

Both sides are taking casualties, but of course the British can absorb these, the Turkish forces cannot

The Turkish threat to the British right develops as companies push across the river, the right flank of the British can be seen top right in the distance

Pushing across the river

Two stands of Arab irregulars have turned to attempt to delay the British advance along the river

The battle overview, the fire fight gaining intensity in the middle. The Turkish counterattack on their left can be seen at the bottom of the photo. They are taking fire and are held up.

Only the artillery battery is left holding the Turkish centre, the larger blast markers denoting artillery fire on the defenders

The British centre now advances en masse supported by the field artillery regiment. Gaps reflecting casualties from the Turkish fire are evident

One of the two defending Arab stands is left on the Turkish right, the other destroyed by fire

Trouble on the Turkish left as the counter attack struggles forward under fire

 

The Turkish right on the banks of the river under British assault

The British amphibious assault from the Tigris arrives on turn 7. It has displaced 12" further down the river than planned. It was planned to land immediately opposite the fort on the left

Turn 7 coincides with the arrival of the Turkish reserves, a second regiment. The Turkish commander decides to commit the reserve against the main thrust of the British attack, the two brigades assaulting parallel to the river.

The reserves arriving

The landing forces take 'ambush fire' from the Arab defenders that had been deployed in cover along the river

The last of the Turkish defenders in their centre (the battery of 75s) is eliminated. The centre is open

British fire is taking its toll on what remains of the Turkish left

The British troops on their extreme left on the banks of the river assault the lone defending Arab unit

 ... and eliminate the defenders. Nothing is left to hold up the advance on the Turkish fort further up the river

More fighting on the banks of the Tigris, the defenders now taking casualties, with the gunboat flotilla adding some much needed firepower to their attack. The gunboats can be seen top centre of the photo.

.. and the Turkish counter attack still struggles, caught trying to advance across the open ground across the river

 

The defenders of the village towards the river on the Turkish right now come under fire

At this stage the Turkish position is lost. Their centre is wide open. Their reserves are too are away to stop the advance, and the initial defending regiment has now lost 50% of its strength and fails its morale check. The British advance up the Tigris continues.

We'd forgotten much in the time since we last played (over a year, having been used to a diet of Volley and Bayonet, HotT, and DBA), and the scenario design had some faults, which I'll correct before next time.

Reference:

'Battles on the Tigris', Ron Wilcox, Pen and Sword Military, 2006