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.

Turkish raid on the Suez January 1915

For quite some time now I have been fascinated by the the Turkish attempt  to cut the Suez Canal in January/February 1915. The attempt ended (spoiler alert) in failure and retreat. As a wargames scenario it is, on the one hand, ideally suited to a small to medium sized Great War Spearhead game. On the other hand, as an historical refight it is not likely to leave the player commanding the Turkish forces with much satisfaction.

So, as is my want, I decided to take some key elements from the historical battle and try to craft them into an interesting fictional scenario. As a first attempt it didn't quite work. This is an account of that first attempt, along with some post game reflections at the end of the post as a result of our post game dissection. We'll play it again in the near future in a modified form to see how much we can improve on this first attempt. This game was fought using my 6mm armies, the figures all from the Irregular Miniatures range,

The first six turns of the game take place at night. Using suggestions that have been made on the Great War Spearhead iOGroup by various members, we created the following bespoke rules variations to try and replicate a night attack, while trying not to make things too complex.

Night fighting variations:

1. Spotting - treat all units as if they are inside woods etc - max visibility/spotting is 4", even when firing.

2. Command and control - all movement is random, so infantry move D6+2" at night. Roll one D6 per battalion each time it moves.

3. Individual stands may be deployed out of command, but may not pivot or move unless responding to spotted enemy. They may not participate in any order change initiated by the command stand unless/until they return into CZ radius.

The battlefield looking north. The Turkish forces approach from the east (right) side of the photo. The allied forces are on the left of the canal seen running down the centre of the table

The Turkish commander's attack plan. The bridging equipment was all attached to the centre 29th Regiment

British gunboats on the Suez

The allied defences were anchored between two villages that had been converted into redoubts held by a British battalion, this one on the allied right

The Turkish advance from the right, two regiments of the Imperial Camel Corps (ICC) are positioned in the centre. The Turkish attack arrows were drawn before any allied troops were deployed. The only knowledge the Turkish commander had of the defences was the existence of the two redoubts on the right and left flanks.

ICC squadrons await the Turkish advance

The British defence focussed on an infantry brigade (less one battalion deployed in the redoubts) which was deployed in the centre on the west side of the canal

Night movement was subject to random roles for move distance. The effect is seen here where the Turkish left flank regiment is already being split up by the variations in move distance. 

First contact when stands come within 4"

The Turkish right flank regiment

Early casualties amongst the irregular Arab cavalry and camelry

... and the centre Turkish regiment. The bridging teams can be seen on the right of the photo, rather too exposed for comfort

The allied commander decided to issue an order change and withdraw the ICC back to the canal

The ICC withdrawal in progress

One squadron of the ICC was caught withdrawing and eliminated (using disappearing fire)

The Turkish left flank advances on the redoubt on this flank and takes fire, but no casualties

The remainder of the left flank advances towards the canal

The centre in pursuit of the ICC

The Turkish right flank contacts the allied redoubt on the allied left

Arab mounted irregulars catch the ICC as they withdraw

One squadron of irregulars is eliminated by support fire but the other hits the ICC squadron and eliminates it

Another ICC squadron caught while withdrawing is luckier and fights off the Arab attack

Firefight on the Turkish right, while two companies of Turkish infantry work around the flank of the redoubt (at the top of the photo)

An assault is launched against the allied defenders facing the Turkish left

The defending company is suppressed by support fire, and then eliminated

Another ICC squadron is caught by the irregular cavalry...

and eliminated

Meanwhile the Turkish right assaults the redoubt facing them

and the first defending company is eliminated

This mounted stoush in the centre of proving very costly for both sides

The redoubt on the Turkish left is cleared

Daylight at last and the main allied defending brigade is able to begin a firefight with the Turkish infantry across the canal with both rifle companies and batteries of 18pdrs in support.

The allied left flank redoubt is also finally cleared

Both the ICC units, and the Arab irregulars were forced to check morale in the same turn, and both failed, rolling a 1 or 2. This meant that they were removed from play, the troops presumably dissipating across the battlefield.

With the attack now fully visible and the bridging units still at least a move away from launching the 'pontoons' that they have carried across the Sinai, the victory conditions as set, are no longer feasible.

Source: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C118338?image=2

A video overview of the state of the battlefield when we stopped play.

Our reflections on the scenario:

1. The Turkish attack needs at least nine turns of darkness in which to undertake the crossing
2. Even with these extra night moves, on the table as set up (with the east bank of the canal 35" from the Turkish table edge) the distance that the Turkish troops had to move was too long given the variable move rule. So the Turkish troops should set up 24" from the canal.
3. The allied defences were too strong on the east side of the canal. The impact of the  allied mounted troops on the east side of the canal was historically more of a picket and early warning function than a fighting force. These troops therefore pushed the scenario too far in the favour of the allies, and we would remove them from the allied OOB
4. The Turkish bridging units should not be deployed on table during darkness (they must of course be allocated to a regiment in the planning phase of the game. This creates uncertainty for the allied player as to exactly where the crossing will be attempted, and highlights the importance of the Canterbury Battalion reserve, the armoured train, and the gunboats, as response assets.
5. Positioning defended redoubts on both flanks, admittedly at opposite ends of the table (which measured 6'x5') constricted the attack too much. Leaving only one redoubt at one end of the table would make for a more interesting game with more possibilities.

We'll replay this scenario as modified at some stage soon.  The gunboats and the armoured train actually were a part of the defences of the canal, and the gunboats at least did see action helping to beat back the attack. Let's hope that they see some action  on our tabletop soon.