Last night's game was very interesting. As the re-write of my old Battleground 300, are designed to cover the period 1898 to 1953, I decided we should widen the tests and run a WW1 assault. According to all the best books on military tactics, you need a superiority of 5:1 to assault a strong enemy position. So with 2 US infantry battalions holding a strong trench position, protected by unbroken wire, we called on 3 German regiments. 9 battalions of attackers. The US Battalion was supported by 3 models of 75's, in a situation where they were able to fire 'direct' at some sections of the tabletop, and indirect at the rest. The US Unit also had trench mortars in support. Two MMG's in the trench line. The Germans were backed by 3 x 21cm Minenwerfer and a machinegun company....in addition to their own regimental supports. With these additions we considered the strength to be approximately 5:1 in favour of the attackers. The first wave of attackers, 3 Battalions or infantry, jumped off from their start line, after the preparation fire had fallen on the US positions. The first wave got within 200yds before they melted away under a withering fire. Even some of the second wave had fallen by the time the first wave had disappeared. The second wave (Also 3 Battalions) pushed on, but we held the third wave back, to see if the US position was weakened by the initial assault. However by the time the second wave reached the wire, it was pretty obvious that they were not going to succeed. They achieved a single breach of the wire and some found their way through a gap. However the gap was well covered by fire and that proved not such a good idea. The Minewerfers had not achieved a lot in the initial moves of fire, but suddenly got lucky and knocked out one of the US Machinegun posts. This relieved some pressure on the left side of the German assault and enabled some survivors of the second wave to get in close. US Casualties at this stage were pretty light and the ratio was somewhere in the region of 7:1, perhaps 8:1 in their favour. However the German machinegun company had been able to get into a better position and the minenwerfers were starting to score. The MG's managed to keep the US mortar unit pinned down for several moves which reduced some of the fire on the attackers trying to get through the wire. The 75's were banging away but mostly firing on German troops to the rear for 'danger safe' reasons as well as being able to see the targets better. In fact they did very well for most of the battle and made moving re-enforcements through no mans land, pretty difficult. By now a couple of hours real time had passed...Rick had forgotten to slip out for a cigarette even....and the situation at the wire was desperate. Obviously the time of decision was nigh. So the third, reserve regiment, was launched into the assault. These three battalions had it easier crossing no mans land as only the 75's could oppose them. The remaining US Machinegun post was giving an excellent impression of re-fighting the 'Little Big Horn' but these "Injuns", were getting a bit thin on the ground, despite now having found several ways through the wire. The US Infantry were more than holding their own against the attackers and German casualties were mounting. However, that close fighting was in itself a problem. With the first two assaults, they US troops had inflicted severe casualties before the Germans had even got across no-mans-land. However they were so busy fighting off the survivors of the first two assaults, that they could not turn their fire onto the new threat. As a result the new comers reached the wire with fairly light casualties. By now the defenders were down to about 50%, but although some hand to hand fighting had taken place, were still in complete control of all their original trench area. That was not to last long. With the gaps now well established, the third wave stormed through the wire and assaulted the various sectors. The first to go was the US right flank, but the ejected troops immediately counter attacked and re-took the trench. The next to go was the extreme left of the US position and there were insufficient troops to re-take that. This brought more pressure on the remaining machinegun post, but amazingly it held on, and on, and on! A new wave of attackers hit the re-taken trench and again ejected the US defenders. This time they had insufficient strength to counter attack, but did hold a wall to the rear of the trench, to prevent any exploitation of the zone. The centre of the US position was not so much being assaulted, as whittled away by casualties from fire. The fire was slackening so much, that eventually one of the German battalions at the wire, attacked through a gap and took the position. These were the first US prisoners of the game. With the centre gone, the extreme left finished, and the right mostly gone, only the second line was now intact, plus of course that PESKY machinegun post. How the Germans would have loved a flamenwerfer for that one, but had none available. Eventually the only two bases of US troops in the front line were the machinegunners, and the Regimental HQ which had moved up at one stage to help with morale recovery. Time to go! The machinegun base withdrew along with RHQ, both of them headed for the single second line trench. By now the only cover was being provided by the 75's firing over open sights, with German infantry firing on them in return. The Machinegun team made it back to the second line and started to cover the 75's. RHQ did not make it, having lost an argument with a German MG08/15 team. The US position was desperate. The Mortar unit broke and headed for the rear, as did an infantry base. Only the 75's, the re-located machinegun base and a single infantry company held the second line. However the Germans were well forward of where the Minenwerfer could reach and the position was too unclear for artillery support. They launched a strong attack on the abandoned mortar position and took it, along with some more prisoners who were trying to get out of it at the time. To move beyond that, was however getting increasingly difficult. The US regiment had a third battalion in position to the rear of that and as of this time, had not even been in action. They also had a machinegun company and another battery of 75's newly rushed up. So at that point we decided the German assault was over. They had taken the front line. Taken part of the second line and suffered a hell of a lot of casualties. However their strength in the old US line was more than could be dislodged with the troops available to the defender. Their Minenwerfers were rushing forward to provide support and it was obvious the Germans could consolidate the US first line at least. They voluntarily abandoned the partly held US second position to make the other one stronger. So that was declared the end of the game. CASUALTIES Always the test of how accurate your fire power has been, as compared to real life. US LOSSES 533 Killed, 1,066 Wounded, 250 taken prisoner. GERMAN LOSSES 1,600 Killed, 3,200 wounded, None taken prisoner. Pretty much losses to the attacker, of 3:1. The game took 3 hours to play. Considering their were so many troops involved, I was quite delighted with that. If we'd had time, it would have been interesting to see if a "Fresh" US Regiment could have retaken the position. I felt that with the troops still on the tabletop, they could probably have done so if it was launched quickly, as the German defenders had suffered quite a few casualties. However if too delayed, I felt the prospects were much slimmer. An excellent and nail bitingly exciting game. Back to Frontline Vol. 2 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Rolfe Hedges 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