SWoM Flank Attack 29 February 1938 - A Very British Civil War, Chain of Command

Again, always write your battle reports while the events of the day are fresh in your mind. Otherwise you'll forget all the good details and have to write these extremely brief, shorthand accounts.

The Mersey Corridor Offensive, Day 1

Battle 3 of my Very British Civil War Chain of Command campaign took place on the morning of the first day of the offensive by the United Communes against the Royalist/Legitimist Front-held Mersey Corridor. The Sheffield Workers Militia (SWoM) attempted to outflank the Legitimist Front positions in Botany Bay Wood held by 13 Platoon of the Blackshorts Northern Legion (led by myself).

As it was the first day of the actual offensive, both sides would have heavier support options including mortars, plenty of automatic weapons and tanks. SWoM forces brought along an FT-17 with a 37mm gun, a Rolls Royce armoured car and a truck for one of their sections, while the defending Blackshorts were able to call upon the Vickers 6-ton tank 'Ceolwulf' from the BUF's C Heavy Column.

Deployment

The game was a good one, and allowed us to try out tank vs tank actions and a different sort of scenario. My Blackshorts held the village and woods near the intersection in the Patrol Phase while the SWoM advanced from the north with a rifle section in an old WWI-era Thornycroft J truck followed up by an equally-old FT-17, while from the west came another rifle section supported by a Rolls Royce armoured car.

This time the table wasn't laid out strictly per the period map, but rather resembled the general area in a vague sort of way.

A Blackshorts section guards the western side of the intersection with a Bren gun team in ambush in a warehouse.

Early misfortune for the Sheffield Workers Militia

The Blackshorts scored an early success when Bren and rifle fire from their 1 Section caused the driver of the SWoM truck to panic, duck and floor it, crashing the truck into the woods where the second Blackshorts section, emerging from cover, riddled the vehicle with bullets, killing most of the SWoM riflemen and driving off a handful of survivors.

A second BUF section deployed to the woods on the eastern side of the intersection and was able to ambush a SWoM truck, eliminating the rifle team being transported.

Flanking attack from the west

The SWoM western advance was able to avoid most of the Blackshorts' defensive fire, and they were into the village with few losses, a Rolls Royce armoured car providing them with cover as they advanced down the street.

The SWoM armoured car leads the advance into the village from the west, the Blackshorts having been outflanked to the north and west. (Armoured car from QRF miniatures).

Blackshorts pull back

A further SWoM rifle section advanced across the open fields to the north and was able to get into the village, while a fourth section provided some fire support. By this stage too the Commune's FT-17 had advanced down the road and began firing into the position held by Blackshorts 1 Section. This section was now in real danger of being surrounded and cut off, so under the cover of some very effective smoke dropped by 13 Platoon's mortar team, and wise use of a Chain of Command die to interrupt enemy fire, they ran across the street and into a safer building to hold out in.

SWoM militia in civilian clothes and armbands advance across a field to the north of the village. (Peter Pig miniatures Spanish Civil War range).

The Blackshorts' 2" mortar team was able to put down some very useful smoke to cover their rifle sections as they retreated through the village. (Peter Pig 8th Army figures).

At the height of the action, as the SWoM close in and the Blackshorts attempt to avoid being cut off and surrounded. Armoured support for both sides has arrived at this point. (The buildings are paper terrain sourced through Wargames Vault from makers including Dave Graffam/Wargame Print and Microtactix).

Final phases

The Blackshorts had taken some casualties by this point, and were facing superior numbers, but were in a fairly solid defensive position and were generally able to dominate the firefight, despite the enemy armoured vehicles' machine guns and cannon. The BUF's Vickers 6-ton tank finally emerged and engaged the SWoM FT-17 in a tank duel (that was unexpectedly a bit too evenly matched for my liking, as it turned out, although I didn't introduce the complexity of the FT-17 one-man-turret rule as I hadn't included it in the Arsenal list and couldn't just spring that on my opponent!). The Vickers 6-ton managed to hit the FT-17 several times but was unable to cause significant damage, whereas good shooting from the FT-17 managed to penetrate the Vickers 6-ton several times, causing damage, shock and killing the vehicle's driver.

Continuing effective fire from the Blackshorts infantry inflicted enough casualties on the advancing Sheffield riflemen that their Force Morale dropped to zero and they had to retreat. The Blackshorts were able to hold Botany Bay Wood on the first day of the Socialists' attack, although the BUF Heavy Column received a bloody nose in the process.

The Blackshorts' final positions.

The BUF Vickers 6-ton 'Ceolwulf' duels with the SWoM FT-17, which is off-screen. (The tank is a QRF miniature, the infantry are Peter Pig).

What's next?

What's next? Day 2 of the VBCW campaign of course.

Well, first we have a game of A World Aflame set in a 1930s alt-history civil war Australia (the 'A Right Bloody Mess' setting, more info found here: https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/en-au/blogs/wss-news/a-right-bloody-mess). This will be using other guys' miniatures, terrain and rulesets.

After that, Day 2 of the VBCW campaign. I can hopefully obtain some Soviet-made tanks to give the Sheffield Workers Militia suitable equipment for their armoured assault, other than the WW1 relics.

The Rail Bridges - Battle of France 1940 Chain of Command

You should complete the writeup soon after, preferably the day of, the game. Unfortunately weeks have passed and a lot has happened since we played this penultimate battle of our Chain of Command Montmedy campaign, so I've forgotten exactly what happened. However, I do remember it was a great game, a great challenge and a learning experience.

The Mission

In the immediate aftermath of A Company's retreat from Verneuil-Grand in the face of 90. Aufklarungs' rapid advance, 11 Platoon, B Company of the 12th Derwents was tasked with holding the railway overpass and the bridge over the River Chiers while engineers from 5 Platoon could arrange their demolition. The railway line enters Montmedy, and the Derwents have been ordered to defend the town. However, considering the speed of the German advance, the higher-ups expect the town to fall, so demolishing the rail line at these points is considered important to slow any German rail movements into Montmedy.

We played the 'Going Out With A Bang' scenario from the Blitzkrieg 1940 handbook, with slight modifications to fit the map positions of the 'culverts' to be blown.

The mission map (Google Maps plus edits in MS Paint).

11 Platoon, I decided, would be a bit more representative of a hastily-raised and -trained Territorial Army formation, which the 12th Derwents (kind of) are. Therefore 11 Platoon, under the leadership of Sergeant-Major Silvester Victor, are a green-level LOC Platoon, but hey, at least they have a (single) Bren gun. In support I brought two Engineer Demolition Teams (required to blow the rail bridges), a Vickers MMG and an extra couple of guys with an AT Rifle.

The Battle

The Germans had the first turn, so coming down the road were a section of a motorcycle recon platoon and a full platoon of armoured cars.

First turn. The bypassed Maginot casemate is on-table but was not part of the battle.

The first Brits on the table were an Engineer Demolition team at the river bridge, who got to work immediately under the direction of Sgt-Maj Victor (no photos unfortunately), and a section to the north of the road to warn the Germans off too rapid an advance.

British rifle sections, with 2 Section in foreground, deploy to hold the rail overpass. (Peter Pig miniatures).

3 Section, in kilts, took a real battering but held the bend in the road (until they were whittled down and broken near the end of the game).

The Vickers MMG deployed to the hill and initially laid down some effective fire on advancing German motorcycle infantry. However, the Germans rapidly concentrated on, and broke them with fire from the motorcycle infantry and armoured cars.

A German armoured car leads the advance.

The British concentrated fire on an understrength motorcycle recon section on the road and wiped it out before it had a chance to deploy, inflicting some damage to the Germans' Force Morale. 2 Section contributed the most to this success, as Corporal Jerrold 'Napoleon' Hunnicut (no idea why, but the random name generator gave him that nickname) effectively used 'Five Rounds Rapid' to boost the section's firepower.

An understrength motorcycle recon section is destroyed on the road, as the German commander drives onward.

Ready ... NOW!

Meanwhile, the priority was always demolishing the rail bridges/overpasses. The engineers had rigged the rail bridge over the Chiers to blow and pulled back to the other side, just as a dismounted German motorcycle recon section arrived. I needed a full Chain of Command die to push the plunger, which I luckily already had - it was all in place - time to blow the bridge (and hopefully take out some Germans with it...)

... click

Nothing happened. There was no explosion.

I rolled to detonate the charges on the bridge and rolled a malfunction, meaning the charges had to be rigged again. Since the Germans were already on the bridge in strength and had started to remove the explosives, and with no second Chain of Command die in sight, I realised I had no choice but to concentrate on trying to get the second objective - the overpass - rigged to blow.

With two Engineer teams on the job it did not take long to get the explosives (almost) ready. However, getting a second Chain of Command die was just not happening (the downside of taking a Green LOC Platoon with only four Command Dice).

The explosives are 95% complete on the second demolition objective, but where is the plunger!?

The Second Objective

Also, German firepower was starting to tell, and 11 Platoon's Force Morale began to plummet as 1 and 3 Section (newly arrived on the hill) were driven off, and 2 Section was hit hard, even CPL Napoleon (I mean, CPL Hunnicut), was wounded. I was down to just two Command Dice at this point and barely a 5 was seen. With no way to blow the rail overpass, 11 Platoon had to retreat, leaving a few men behind as POWs and quite a few more dead.

11 Platoon is beaten. Check out all the shock!

After taking about 65-75% casualties, 11 Platoon is pretty well lost, though a few characters might be brought back for the next battle. Several of the 5 Platoon engineers were killed or wounded too, and of course the objectives were not met.

The next battle, Battle 6 of the campaign, is coming up in the near future. It is expected to be a big one, as the Germans assault the town of Montmedy directly, and the 12th Derwents will throw whatever they can into the fight!