The Battlefield as will be described in sectors:

A B C

D E F

Fort Douaumont lies near the top of sector B. A dominating mountaintop that slopes down takes up Sector B and most of sector E. The slope of the mountain is a gradual slope and includes E and a little of C. German troops’ front line is at the bottom edge of B and curves around on both edges to the top of both sides of B. The French assault starts 6" from the bottom of E and curves to the top right corner of E to the middle of C on a diagonal line.

Turn 1- Artillery did 5% German casualties along the line. Two French units on the right and one on the left (as looking from the French position) did not jump off but stayed in their trenches. All other French moved at 3" (this was the movement rate the French decided upon).

Turn 2 - Those few French battalions that were slow to the assault had now joined the advance. In all, 13 battalions were making this assault. In the first German trench line (Area D) on the far left (facing the French right) the battalion headquarters were decimated by artillery fire. The reserve battalion held their morale and kept to the trenches. In Area C (to Area D’s right) the artillery was effective in destroying some of the wire entanglements although no troops were effected. Throughout this turn the long range fire on the French assault allowed for 4 hits. This was mainly accomplished by the machinegun in Area D.

Turn 3 - French lost a stand to machinegun fire on their far right. They passed their morale and continued moving. Wire is being wiped out along the front by artillery fire.

Turn 4 - The French continue the advance and are about 11" away (or in effective range) from the trenches. Germans are firing all along the line and French casualties are mounting but in a dispersed manner throughout the assault troops. The machinegun strongpoint in sector D was damaged enough to render it of no additional defensive value, although the machinegun itself was not destroyed.

Turn 5 - The French in the center of the attack move up and over the ridge in the face of stiff fire. French artillery in sector D eliminate all remaining wire obstacles although with few losses to the German soldiers. The German artillery starts firing in the center of the assault (the most critical portion). Anything from 0 casualties to 40% could have been rolled. The Germans rolled 0 casualties and the French breath a big sigh of relief.

Turn 6 – The French far left unit took 6 hits of fire and along with the 3 it had already had routed. The friendly units that could see the rout were caught up in the advance and hardly noticed as they pushed onward. The second French unit on the right took massive MG fire and retreated disordered. In the subsequent turn Major Lefebvre-Dibon would attempt to rally the remnants of the battalion and fail. The unit would rout to the rear.

Turn 7 – At this point the French decided to shoot their Rolling Artillery Barrage. They had misunderstood that the barrage moved along in front of their men and was placed at the beginning of the assault. They thought they could just land it on the Germans as their regular artillery was doing. I discussed this with the German players who were very gracious. I reasoned that since the German defense was pretty intact and the French had moved at a slowed pace (in their eyes because of the rolling barrage) we allowed it to come first on the barbed wire and then to the first trenchline. The barbed wire was obliterated as there was not that much left in there C and D areas. In the front line they could have had up to 40% of the remaining soldiers eliminated but instead got 0. Yes, that’s right 0. We discussed this and had them roll again and got another 0. Yes, again 0. Two 1s in a row. Well that’s war on the wargame table. A third roll was not in the cards and so we played on. The African Colonial Battalion moved to within 4" of the Reservists manning the front line. On the left of them were the 12^th French Bde who also managed to move up the ridge and were on line with them. Facing them were an extended 1^st Reserve Battalion defending the trenchline. The French had survived up to now and taken their lumps. Next turn they would charge. On the German left the machinegun of the 14^th Infantry Regiment started to retreat. They had been very effective to this point and as the French were closing they decided to continue with the longer range firing from another vantage point. The rest of the battalion was there to fight on having taken almost no damage.

Turn 8 – The center of the French forces charged the 1^st Reserve Battalion which was holding the trench in Extended Order. There were 2 attacks; one for the African Colonial Battalion and the other for the 1^st Bn. 274^th Regiment.

The outcome of the attacks were that the African Colonial Battalion, though expecting to be victorious, locked with a the defenders. Each had taken casualties but the defenders were still hanging on. On the center left, the defenders were pushed back disordered. This left an opening in the center of the defense as the 1^st Reserve Battalion was crippled with a gapping hole in its defense. It would very shortly fail its morale.

At this point the Game was called as we had played for about 3 and a half hours and it was nearing closing time.

Observations:

The Germans played a very good game in that they did not shift their forces too fast. They never were pressed and so never had to use the battalion that they had as a reserve that was inside the fort.

The French played a good game also except in one area. One of their players decided that everyone should go 3 inches per turn. This changed the concept of the game. The first trench should have been assaulted by turn 4. Instead it was turn 8 in which that occurred. In short, their forces were under the guns twice as long. With their edge units in retreat or wiped out the only units left were the center French forces. They did the assault on the first line in fine fashion and took the center. They would also have been successful on the right (where the MG retreated) although it would have been a tough fight. They would not have had a chance on the left as there was an untouched battalion with no enemy to its front. Finally, their second trenchline was being strengthened and it would have been impossible, given the losses, to assault that. After that was the Fort Douaumont itself.

I would like to thank the participants in the game for the friendly manner in which they played and their comments during and after the game. They were for the French: Ransom Trimble, Richard Wallace, Robert Blakey and Jonathan Reid. The two German players were Ellery and Benjamin Keene.

Verdun Warfare Mud, Trenches & Machineguns

Part One [Saga 94]
Part Two [Saga 95]
Part Three [Saga 95]