BACKGROUND

OPERATION RED: JUNE 1940

It is June 1940 and the evacuation at Dunkirk has just finished. The German High Command turned it's attention to the rest of France. The French, anticipating a fresh German onslaught dug in to prepare for it. One of the prepared defence lines was along the Somme river.

The Somme is a formidable obstacle and it was not until the Germans established a number of bridgeheads that the French withdrew.

This scenario is based on German attempts to establish one of these bridgeheads.

The table was covered with polystyrene tiles, each 4 feet by 2 feet (Ed - the commercially available 2 x 2 tiles can be used instead). These are numbered 1-6 & A-B and the layout is shown on the map. Once the table had been laid out the French player was invited to inspect the terrain (with the pontoon at B6 missing from the table), ask all the questions he liked and to draw a map for his own use. He was then given his briefing and after a period of study and planning he submitted his plan and deployment (to the umpire). The French player was not aware of German intentions, only that they were expected from the north.

The British player was not allowed to inspect the table top but was instead briefed by the French commander and deployed his forces on the map drawn by the French player. The umpire informed the British player (only) about the pontoon bridge at B6.

The German Player was NOT afforded this facility. He remained in ignorance up to the last moment.

The weather is very foggy and is expected to remain so for the best part of the day. The German commander has advanced beyond his map but he does know that he is facing south and that he is to advance to the north.

The game started with a totally blank table. The Germans entered from the north and so Tile A1 was placed on the table. No further tiles were placed on the table until the umpire was satisfied that the Germans had established a sufficient presence on that tile for the commander to have enough information to determine what was there.

If Recon units raced off up the road to try and see the next tile they were simply moved onto the blank table and their fate was unknown until either they returned (without being able to report what they saw) or that tile was subsequently placed on the table and the recon units became visible.

Sometimes these recon units were found dead or never found at all. This forced some degree of caution on the Germans. All this time the French could see and report on the Germans.

As the game progressed and the Germans advanced the tiles were placed on the table improving the German view and level of information. The fog was slowly lifting and a time was reached when all of the tiles were placed and both sides had a number of shocks!

Obviously the combinations and permutations of the above system are limitless but it does require a lot of work by the umpire. It can be done without the use of prefabricated terrain tiles but the advantage of these is that they are prepared in advance and once produced leave little room for argument (and also save time).

INTRODUCTION

I was very impressed by the new Battlefields magazine and particularly some of the ideas put forward for scenarios. The mechanism used in Route 66 (issue 1) was of particular interest and having organised games along similar lines I was prompted to set down what in my opinion constitutes a good scenario.

FIRSTLY

Players should not be aware of all the details and should not know what is coming next so they can't plan ahead based on a knowledge of the scenario and how it is going to develop. This of course is for the umpire to organise well in advance.

SECONDLY

Each side should be issued with a separate briefing so that neither knows exactly the enemy's strength, organisation or order of march. This of course does depend to a degree on the period being played and the rules used.

THIRDLY

Each side should be given a comprehensive brief containing all the information they need to start the game but not necessarily more than that. This briefing ideally should be given in advance so as to allow each player to ask questions and fully understand what is expected. Events change rapidly in many games and the umpire should maintain the option to alter certain factors such as reinforcement arrival times etc. Subsequent briefings can be given later. Generally all briefings should be in writing.

Based on the above principles the following game was played with four players and an umpire. The table was 12 feet by 8 feet and was set up permanently with the game being played over a number of nights.

THE GAME

The French are deployed in tiles A2, A3, A4, A5 & A6. A small mobile force is somewhere to their rear and it's arrival time will be determined by the umpire. Reinforcements are expected (or rather hoped for given the chaotic situation) from the south. The French line of communications runs south through the village at A6. On tile A2 there is a Char B1 bis (tank) but it is abandoned and disarmed. This is not obvious to the Germans and it still looks rather menacing.

The BEF are dug in on tiles B2,B3,B4,B5 & B6. They are on the east side of the Somme tributary (but have access to their allies & retreat route at A6 via the pontoon bridge). Engineers are on stand by to demolish the pontoon bridge.

Unknown to the French commander the British are hedging their bets and constructing an alternative escape route by pontoon bridge at B6. This pontoon is hidden from the French by the fog and the hill.

The French commander's mission is to hold the bridges until engineers can arrive to demolish them.

The river banks were declared to be marshy and there was a chance of vehicles becoming stuck if they ventured too close. Hills and woods were also declared impassable to all vehicles. The French were aware of this prior to the start of the game, the Germans were not.

Just prior to the start of the game the French commander was informed that the engineers had not yet arrived and that he should prepare to fight a longer delaying action than originally planned.

The game started with Tile A1 containing some French trucks being pursued by German motorbikes towards the French as the French raced off A1. Much to the French commander's relief these trucks contained the missing engineers. The speed of the German advance had momentarily cut them off. They immediately started to prepare the bridge at A2 for destruction. The leader of the engineers reported seeing enemy forces heading their way and insisted on a safe location near the bridge for his HQ and to store his equipment (explosives, detonators etc.). It was eventually decided that the engineer HQ be established in the bunker (which already contained a French 75mm).

The Germans Arrive

The German lead forces arrived on tile A1 and pushed onto A2 (which was set up). Light German forces tried to rush the bridge but were shot up and dug in along the north bank and waited for support. When the German CinC arrived he directed some troops probe towards his left (assuming the river to his front ran right across the table).

Tiles B1 & B2 were placed on the table. The placement of these surprised the Germans on two counts - firstly they expected a continuous river line in front of them and secondly as the tiles were placed the German forces came under fire from British troops (whose presence in the area had not been reported). At this the game paused as the Germans waited for reinforcements and the French waited for the bridge to blow.

However the surprises in this game were not all one sided. What the French did not know (but the Germans did) was that the 'engineers' preparing the bridge for demolition were in fact men from the elite Brandenburg Division and they were busy planting dummy charges. Their commander (the engineer leader) was safely in the bunker and he radioed the German CinC (in code) that he was in position and that he would radio again when it would be safe to storm the bridge. The umpire gave this message in clear to the German commander and informed the French commander that HQ had intercepted a coded message and the same message was given to him in a simple but not too obvious code.

When the German reinforcements arrived they headed directly for the bridge. The French commander was assured by the 'engineer' officer that the bridge was ready for demolition and asked him to withdraw all friendly forces back 12" (from the bridge) to avoid casualties from the demolition. The 'engineer' officer then sent another message to the German commander telling him it was safe to storm the bridge.

Again, a copy of this in code was intercepted and handed to the French commander. The 'engineer' officer told the French commander that he planned to detonate his charges when the German lead tanks were on the bridge and again asked him to withdraw. The French commander was suspicious however and hesitated to comply with this.

Cracked Code

The French commander finally cracked the first coded message and sent troops immediately to the bunker to arrest the 'engineers'. It was too late, the bunker was empty apart from the French 75mm which had been put out of action (and it's crew killed). It was discovered that the 'engineers' had been fixing dummy charges to the bridge but before the French could react the lead German armour was across.

The game continued with the French and British falling back in the face of the German advance. More tiles were placed and eventually the fog lifted, revealing the entire table to everyone. The French commander was disconcerted to see the alternative British escape route - but not to the extent of the German commander who discovered that he had merely crossed a tributary of the Somme and the main river still lay ahead.

French reinforcements arrived, supported by some armour and launched a sacrificial counter attack allowing the remainder of the French force to retreat across the Somme and dig in. The Germans had suffered too many losses to launch an immediate assault against this position and it was decided that both sides would rest, replenish and regroup in order to continue the action on the following day but that is another game.

I should point out that late in the game the real French engineers arrived at A6 and were immediately put under arrest by the French commander!

SUMMARY

The game worked out quite well and underlined the three principles discussed at the beginning of this article. Firstly the players were not aware of all the scenario details and could not plan too far ahead. The French were only informed at the start of the game that the engineers had not yet arrived - and of course when they did turn up they turned out to be bogus.

The Germans were under the impression that they had reached the Somme and did not realise there was a second river behind the first. This is why the Brandenbergers did not move onto the second bridge and 'prepare' that one for demolition as well. When the French engineers did finally arrive they were not allowed to play any part in the action. The French plan also relied to an extent on the British retiring by way of the pontoon at B5 (so reinforcing the French position in the process) so the alternative British retreat route was something of a shock. There were also a variety of minor surprises such as the abandoned Char B and the marshy river banks.

Secondly neither side knew much about the enemy. The Germans didn't expect to find British troops, the French had no inkling of the Brandenbergers and the rules were home grown so neither side knew much about the enemy's abilities or organisation.

Thirdly both sides were briefed sufficiently to start the game and subsequent information was given as required. No one was much surprised by the arrival of Stukas but there was amazement all round when some French aircraft intervened.

The 1940 campaign is a very interesting one and can provide many excellent scenarios. The fighting was not as one sided as many people think and the light tanks and equipment give in my opinion better games than the later and heavier Tigers and Panthers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

There are many excellent books dealing with the 1940 carnpaign, but most seem to regard Dunkirk as the 'final act'. Such was not the case. Alistair Horne's superb To Lose a Battle' is still in the bookshops and essential reading. Assignment Catastrophe by Edward Spears is out of print as far as I know but should be available in the second hand book shops. This too is a very good account although more from the political than the military viewpoint.

French, British, and German Briefings and Map

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