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.