The following scenarios are intended to have at least one for everyone. The editor apologizes for the first one, but it's one that been he's wanted to see done for a long time.
The editor/author would like to start out by stating that this is not a made up scenario--it really happened.
So you want to try out Over the Top, but you don't have any World War I figures around. Well read on, as I have a deal for you. The following scenario is a bit different than usual, but it can be very interesting. Since the requirements for it call for a good deal of cavalry, as well as an assortment of ragged infantry, may I suggest that rather than paint up any new units (yet), that you instead get out, or borrow those hordes of Civil War soldiers that are usually found somewhere in wargaming circles. The blue ones can be assembled into the needed American units, while the Confederates will do quite nicely as the Mexicans (both sides). The size of stand matters not, as long as both sides use the same. Thisbattlewill be afterall,oneof infantry,and lots ofcavalry,widi but an assist from artillery and machine guns.
In 1919, as the Mexican Revolution died down, Pancho Villa made one last campaign into northern Mexican in an attempt to keep his forces in the field. The city of Juarez was the main base for the government forces of Carranza, who had been extended official recognition by President Wilson as the official government of Mexico. To Villa and his men, it was a prize worth taking, not only for the control that it would give him over the Mexican state of Chihuahua, but also for the loot that his soldiers believed was to be found in that city.
Though the Punitive Expedition under General Pershing had entered Mexico back in 1916 and had driven Villa away from the border, his forces remained in the field. The outbreak of WWI for the United States had turned the interest of the American public to Europe, but nevertheless a strong military force remained on the border from 1917 on. For those troops who were condemned to remain on the border and combat flies and sand, it was a bitter pill indeed as the war waged on overseas.
Early on the morning of June 15th, Villa led his men into Juarez, capturing a large part of the city in the process. The local Carranzista force counterattacked, and on the 15th and 16th the battle raged through the streets of Juarez. By the evening of the 16th, casualties were being inflicted upon soldiers and civilians alike in El Paso from shots fired across the Rio Grande. The local American commander, Brigadier General Erwin, decided that while most of the firing into El Paso was accidental, the belligerents needed to be pushed back away from El Paso. Accordingly, he ordered forces of his command into Mexico at dawn on the 17th, with orders to drive Villa's men away from El Paso and Juarez. The Carranzista forces, which after all represented the legitimate government, of Mexico, would be allowed to remain in Juarez. Thus the stage was set for the morning of June 17th.
More El Paso July 17, 1919
Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #5
To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1991 by Greg Novak.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com