This post reports the third game of our Gallabat-Metemma mini-campaign. Our first game recreated the historical attack by the British and Indian troops of the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade to recapture the fort at Gallabat. Our second game simulated the historical counterattack by Italian and Eritrean forces coming from Metemma. Both of those actions took place on the morning of 6 November 1940. The objectives and starting forces for both of those games were drawn from the historical record of the campaign, although in our games, both sides could choose to commit additional forces, and both sides could maneuver their forces however they pleased. (See our reports of those games in the preceding posts.)
In the historical campaign, the heavy fighting ended at this point. Although the British and Indians had taken the fort at Gallabat, and had beaten back the counterattack from Metemma, they were down to only three operational tanks, and the Essex battalion had broken and run under the stress of Italian air attacks. Thus the 10th Brigade was in no position to make a direct attack on Metemma, and spent the remainder of that day and the next under attack by the Italian air force. Brigadier William Slim devised a plan to maneuver his remaining forces during the night of 7/8 November to occupy a position in the rear of the Italian fort at Metemma, but his subordinates talked him out of doing it, arguing that the plan was too risky. Slim then ordered his brigade to withdraw into the thickly wooded hills that overlooked Gallabat, and, except for patrol actions, the historical campaign came to an end.
However, after playing the first two games, our fictitious campaign still hung in the balance. With no historical record to guide us, our games going forward would be much more free-form, with pregame input from both sides’ commanders about their objectives, committed forces, deployments and intended maneuvers. This input factored into our design of the scenarios for each game.
The map at this link shows the operational area of our campaign:
http://www.kaiserscross.com/96801/571722.html
Prior to the game, the British commander was informed of the situation shortly after the close of play of Game 2. On the table, he had three British infantry companies (some were reduced in strength), plus one platoon of Indian infantry (representing all of the combat effective troops that remained of the Royal Garhwal battalion). One company was in the fortifications at Gallabat, and the other two companies, plus the Garhwalis, were in the thick bush to the north. Behind them was a battery of 18/25 pounder guns, set up on a clearing known as the Old Landing Ground. Linking these two forces were two light tanks and one cruiser tank, parked on the cleared ground outside the fort. All of these troops were oriented to the east, facing the Boundary Khor which was teeming with four companies of Eritrean troops that had just counterattacked from Metemma. A fifth company of Eritreans could be seen further to the east, just out of machine gun range from Fort Gallabat.
Off the table to the rear, the British had two more batteries of artillery, plus four tanks that had returned to base to replenish their ammunition. Off the table on the flanks was a fresh battalion of Baluchi infantry, with two companies deployed on each flank (this was their historical deployment). The nearest element of these companies was 1000 meters away, and would require at least five turns of movement to reach the table if/when they were summoned to appear (we assumed that brigade headquarters was in contact with these flanking companies via field telephone).
Given all this information, the British commander decided to wait and see what the Italians would do. He ordered all of his forces to hold their current positions.
The Italian brigade commander was also informed about the situation just after the close of Game 2. He had four Eritrean infantry companies on the table, which had complete control of the Boundary Khor. These companies had four heavy machine guns and one antitank rifle in close support. A fifth infantry company was off the table facing Fort Gallabat. Inside the fortifications at Metemma were eight more heavy machine guns and two batteries of light artillery (65mm and 75mm), The Italian air force was expected to make three more waves of air attacks during the remainder of the day.
The Italian commander knew that his troops were in contact with three companies of British infantry. Also, an Italian pilot dropped a note on the fort at Metemma advising that he had spotted enemy troops 1000m away on the flank (the note didn’t specify which flank!). Also, a coded wireless message from higher headquarters had advised that a column of Italian/Eritrean reinforcements was expected to arrive at Metemma on 8 November. (The British, who had cracked the Italian code, were also aware of this — historically this intelligence had prompted them to move the date of their attack forward to 6 November.)
Given this information, the Italian commander ordered three companies to conduct an immediate attack on the British left flank, seeking to turn and roll up the British line from the NE. The fourth company on the table would pin the British center, while the fifth company would remain off the table facing Fort Gallabat, and would come forward if/when the main attack reached the fort. The battery of 65mm mountain guns was ordered forward to provide some antitank capability. When informed that it would take five turns for these guns to arrive by truck on the road linking Gallabat and Metemma, or eight turns to arrive by mule anywhere on the baseline, the Italian commander opted to transport the guns by mule. He was also advised that the next wave of air attacks was expected to arrive circa Turn 10.
One last bit of pre-game business for the Italian brigade commander was to decide the fate of the battalion commander who had fled Fort Gallabat at the onset of Game 1. His options were: (a) shoot him to encourage the others, or (b) demote him in rank to platoon leader, and place him in command of the other runaways from Gallabat. The brigade commander chose option (b), and also assigned a machine gun team to watch over them to ensure that they fought well! (This proved to be a good decision– it added one more platoon to the Italian order of battle, and force morale remained Confident).
With both sides’ plans and intentions communicated to the umpire, we could design the scenario. To encompass the expected area of fighting, we shifted the area covered by our 9X5′ table about two feet to the north and two feet to the west (compared to Game 2), and tilted it so the long axis ran SW to NE. This put the Boundary Khor along the SE edge of the table, and the outer defenses of Fort Gallabat on the SW edge. The NE and NW sides of the table now included the Khor el Ghir, part of the Old Landing Ground, and part of the hill called Jebel Um Zareba (see attached map). (As a modeling note, we forgot to bring our terrain mat to the game, so we had to borrow some mats from FLGS).
Both sides then deployed their forces. The British held the outer defenses of Gallabat with a weak infantry company. Three tanks linked the fort to the next company, which was deployed on a low hill that had been cleared of vegetation. The third company was adjacent to this position in the thick bush to the NE. Some of its front line ran along a stretch of the Khor el Ghir, and one platoon was refused on the left flank. An artillery battery was set up on the Old Landing Ground. The British artillery observers were on top of Jebel Um Zareba, and this high point gave them a good view over the open areas of the table (neither side could see far into the thick bush).
The Italians massed three Eritrean infantry companies on their right, facing the British left. Two companies were densely packed into the Boundary Khor. The third company was just behind them off-table, and would enter as soon as the leading companies moved forward. The fourth company, with the sole ATR, was spread out along the Boundary Khor, facing the British center. The fifth company was off-table facing Gallabat.
When the game began, the Eritrean askaris on the right climbed out of the khor and moved forward into the thick bush (due to a lack of suitable figures, many of the Eritreans are portrayed by Italians in the game). The askaris in the center opened fire with their machine guns on the British troops on the central hill, along with the 75mm battery at Metemma. The ground was too hard for digging in, and the British troops holding the hill suffered a constant stream of light casualties from this long range fire.
Seeing a major attack developing on their left flank, the British commanders immediately ordered the two Baluchi companies beyond their left flank to move to the table and counterattack the right flank of the advancing Italians. The shift of the table by two feet in their direction had placed the Baluchis closer to the action, so the leading platoon could possibly arrive as soon as Turn 3 (using the standard rules for delayed reserves in Flames of War). The British commanders were asked if they wanted to commit these reserve platoons as soon as they arrived, or hold them off table until a full company was united, and they opted for the latter course of action.
The next few turns saw the build up of the Italian attack. The leading company on their far right moved as fast as it could along the NE edge of the table in order to turn the British left, with the other companies echeloned behind it and to the left, advancing more directly toward the British line. Neither side could yet see the other through the dense bush.
Both sides took pot shots with their artillery, causing a few casualties to units in the open that could be observed. One significant loss was the sole Italian antitank rifle. The Eritrean platoon in the khor that was most exposed to the British fire opted to retreat off the table and preserve itself for future games.
By Turn 5, the leading askaris could sense that something was wrong in the bush to their right (the birds and insects had gone silent). They tried to communicate this to their Italian commander, but they were ignored. Thus, the Eritreans barely had time to turn around when a company of Baluchis came bursting out of the bush, shouting their fierce war cries.
The Baluchis (represented by Australian figures in the game) immediately launched assaults. The Eritrean askaris who were at the point of attack were only armed with bolt-action rifles, and thus had little chance of stopping the assaults, but one assault was halted by defensive fire. The other assaults went in, and the Italian flank buckled.
Had the British troops taken the opportunity to assault the Eritreans from the other side, it could have been a massacre, but apparently the British soldiers were just as surprised as the enemy askaris by the sudden appearance of the Baluchis, and they didn’t make a move for two turns!
As it was, the Baluchis hardly needed any help. They continued to assault the Eritreans, who counter-assaulted whenever they could. Soon the combatants were fairly well intermingled as they advanced and retreated in the dense bush. Once the British troops joined in, the fighting became even more intense.
Elsewhere, the three British tanks moved forward to support their center, moving up to the Boundary Khor near the edge of the bush. Two light tanks discovered that they were a bit too close to the bush when a squad of Eritreans ambushed them with a close assault! The tanks were lucky to beat back the assault and suffer no damage. Those tanks then observed a small herd of heavily-laden pack mules approaching them, and were bemused when those mules were unloaded and a battery of mountain guns appeared and started shooting at them! The tanks were also lucky to escape any damage from the guns. However, their luck ran out when the askaris rallied and assaulted again, and one light tank was knocked out. The two surviving tanks pulled back to a more prudent distance (out of the direct fire range of the pack guns), where they were joined by a column of four more tanks arriving from off-table, freshly reloaded with ammunition.
The Italian pack guns quickly drew the attention of the British artillery observers, and one gun was taken out. Seeing nothing else that they could contribute to this battle, the gunners packed up the three surviving guns and retreated, to fight another day. With no guns to threaten them, the British tanks then advanced to capture the bridge over the Boundary Khor.
All of this action in the center was a sideshow compared to the carnage that was taking place on the Italian right flank. On Turn 9, the second company of Baluchis arrived on the table and drove a massive wedge into the base of the Eritrean attack column. With his leading companies reduced to fragments and virtually surrounded in the dense bush, the Italian brigade commander threw in the towel and conceded the game.
When a campaign game is conceded, the umpire has to assess the final results using kriegspielprinciples. The umpire assessed that the surviving askaris of two cut-off companies would surrender, which, combined with other losses up to that point, would remove three complete infantry companies from the Italian order of battle. Four infantry platoons (including the penal platoon) would survive the battle to join the off-table company that was never committed, giving the Italians seven infantry platoons for the next game.
Since we had three beautiful aircraft models to use in the game, we conducted the ten air strikes that were due to arrive on Turn 10. The Italians focused all of the air attacks on the British tanks and artillery, which resulted in the loss of one tank and one gun — a somewhat disappointing result.
And with that we wrapped up Game 3. The Italians had suffered a grievous defeat, but the British still had to take the fort at Metemma to win the campaign. Would the British be able to do it, or would the Italians pull a victory from the jaws of defeat? Stay tuned for Part 4!
- TJ