This started out as a game based on a friendly fire incident in World War II, but the dice had other ideas. After describing the battle, I do a selective survey of friendly fire through the ages. It seems that in almost any period, even before firearms, there were cases of armed forces mistaking friends for enemies. It’s something to consider as you write your solo rules.
When the Royal Navy was hunting down the Bismarck there was a friendly fire incident. A squadron of Swordfish torpedo bombers attacked the HMS Sheffield by mistake. Fortunately, some pilots spotted the error before launching torpedoes; some torpedoes detonated prematurely and the rest missed. As a result no harm was done. The next time out the Swordfish found the Bismarck and hit her on the rudder, crippling her and setting up the eventual kill by gunfire.
Those two air strikes looked to me like a chance to set up a game involving friendly fire. I did not want to just start with HMS Sheffield and make an attack. Much too simple. How about starting with a Bismarck model, positioning the Swordfish, then rolling to see if the target was Bismarck or Sheffield? I rolled a D-12 to determine the position of five groups of three Swordfish. A roll of two was 2:00 on the clock system. A roll of 6 was 6:00 etc. I also rolled a D-6 for each group: 1–2 was one move away, 3–4 was two moves away and 5–6 was three moves away. Moves for torpedoes were 5 inches. The ship moved 3 inches. Once all the planes were in position I rolled the dice to find out who my target was. The D-6 came up a 2. An even number meant this was the Bismarck, so the attack went on under fire. The Bismarck opened up a furious anti-aircraft fire and all groups launched torpedoes. I had planes at 1:00, 2:00, 5:00, 7:00 and 8:00. All aimed at the ship’s position. I rolled a D-6 to determine the ship’s maneuver: 1–2 = turn port, a 2–3 = run straight, 3–4 = turn starboard. Actually I’m a landlubber, so it was “left,” “straight,” “right”, to me.
The Bismarck turned starboard and its fire downed a Swordfish. In the next turn the ship continued to turn starboard and hit another Swordfish. It also took a torpedo near its rudder. I ruled the rudder was damaged as it had been in the historic action. The battle was over. I was a little disappointed that the game was not a friendly fire incident, but the dice insisted. It was spooky that the torpedo hit the Bismarck in a place so near to where the historic attack hit it. Maybe my dice have special powers?
If the dice had let me attack the Sheffield, I would have run the game using the same programming techniques, but I would have added a few touches. Before each group released their torpedoes, I would have rolled a D-6. If a 6 came up, the pilot had recognized they were attacking a friendly ship and would not launch their torpedoes. After the torpedoes were launched, I would have rolled a D-6. If a 2–4 came up, the torpedoes for that group detonated when launched. Note that the torpedoes used against the Bismarck had a different firing mechanism and did not malfunction. Of course the Sheffield would not fire on the Swordfish. Feel free to make that decision by die roll if you like, but in my game there would have been no anti-aircraft fire.
Friendly fire incidents were common in World War II. The Allied invasion of Sicily included an airborne attack. As the C-47 transports carrying paratroopers flew over the fleet, the ships opened fire, and many planes were shot down. It happened both ways. After the Normandy invasion a German army was retreating. The Allies called in a massive air strike on them. Unfortunately Allied infantry advanced into the target area just before the strike. Losses were severe. The record of World War II also shows that Allied ground troops often fired on any aircraft that came over them. They took the attitude that there was no such thing as a friendly airplane. In Burma the RAF flew Curtiss P-36 fighters. It was an obsolete plane, but the area was a backwater. Japanese planes had air-cooled engines with flat fronts. Most RAF planes had pointed noses, but the P-36 had an air-cooled engine with a flat front. P-36s were often pounced by friendly planes. To reduce confusion, the RAF in Asia deleted the red center on their insignia. It resembled the Japanese red sun too much. The RAF also painted a wide stripe of light blue around the fuselage of their P-36s. The Americans started the war with a red dot in the center of a white star as their insignia, but quickly eliminated the red.
World War I ground troops lived in a simpler world, aircraft were rare at first. Much of the war was fought in the trenches, fixed positions. What could possibly go wrong? Artillery shelling was a major part of World War I. The guns were miles behind the lines. An error of a hundred yards does not seem like much, but when the trenches were close to each other a short round could land on friendly troops. The chances of artillery hitting their own infantry increased in an attack that intermingled friendly and enemy troops.
The American Civil War was a fertile source of friendly fire incidents. Some Union units wore gray uniforms as did the Rebels. Rifle fire opened at long range. Officers and men were, at first, relatively untrained. It all added up to a likelihood of mistaken identity. One of the most dramatic losses to friendly fire came about when a Rebel sentry fired on a group of horsemen approaching from enemy lines. In the darkness the sentry fired on Stonewall Jackson and his staff returning from a scout. Jackson was hit and died later of his wound.
Even in hand-to-hand fighting in ancient times, friend sometimes attacked friend. In 424 B.C. near Delium an Athenian army fought a force made up of Thebans and Boeotians. The Athenians on the right managed to put pincers around the Boeotians and encircle them. When the two ends of the Athenian pincer met, they mistook and killed each other. The confusion did not save the Boeotians who were wiped out, but the Thebans were winning their battle against the Athenians on the left and at the end of the day Athens had lost.
As you design your rules for solo play, you should consider some version of a “friendly fire” rule. It happened in nearly all periods, on land, sea and in the air. It’s another way to generate surprise in a solo game. Above you have my attempt to set up a game involving friendly fire. You probably have a lot of better ideas and your dice are probably a lot more cooperative.
Bibliography
Beauchamp, Gerry. Mohawks over Burma (1985).
Cochrane, John and Stuart Elliott. Military Aircraft Insignia of the World (1998).
Forester, C.S. Sink the Bismarck! (1959).
Hanson, Victor Davis. The Wars of the Ancient Greeks (1999).
Kennedy, Ludovic. Pursuit: the Chase and Sinking of the Battleship Bismarck, (1974).
Weuell, Kenneth P. Archie, Flock, AAA and SAM: a short operational history of ground based air defenses. (1988).
This article continues a series of games described in my article “Battles with the Bismarck” in Lone Warrior.
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