Frank:- "Here's a map of all the territory we captured after the big push last Sunday"
Mark:- "excellent, and what scale is this"
Phil:-"one to one"
Mark:- "Excellent, excellent, that will teach the Huns not to mess with the British empire"
Frank:- "Mark we lost at least half of a division for only two Italian battalions"
Mark:- "Two battalions, that's twice as much as was expected, Mussolini must be quaking in his jackboots now"
The Plan
Frank on table AB was the push, forcing a hole thru the minefield and taking out the airfield as we saw this as our biggest threat.
Frank sent infantry support to Phil to take the fort
Whilst Phil sent Frank tanks to help his predominantly infantry force
Massed artillery was used to support the infantry attack.
Phil had tables CD his job was to demonstrate on tables CD whist taking the fort from 3 directions and keeping the Germans guessing as to the direction of the attack.
Phil had a Tank Brigade in reserve (30+ tanks) to punch down tables C towards the end of the operation.
Phil's recon battalion was tasked with finding the forces in front of Phil.
The British air power was tasked with destroying the German air force
with the bomber elements to aid in supporting ground attacks.
Now over to Captain hindsight for a revue of the battle.
Frank and Phil did well within the constraints of their orders.
Frank would have taken the airfield eventually.
The tank reserve for Phil's late push was frittered away to blunt German thrusts.
A more aggressive plan was called for, forcing the Germans to react to British attacks and not the other way round.
There were opportunities to claim uncontested and weakly defended tables that were missed, which would have put pressure on the Germans
Too many British units sat immobile after having completed their initial manoeuvres,
these units should have been used to probe the German defences looking for a weak point to exploit.
The British had no plan to contest the second row of tables except at 2A, which allowed the Germans free reign to manoeuvre to any threat.
The fighter wing wasted most of the day hunting their opposition and would have been better used in a ground attach role.
To summarise
A more aggressive use of on table units was called for, the British had the numbers to take the attack to the Germans
2 comments:
Captain hindsight part 2
You should of avoided 1A at all costs - bad mistake it allowed us to hold Frank up until after lunch thereby releasing more tactical options for Jon and Ozy.
You had more aircraft than us but it seemed we had a big advantage and made it count where it mattered with our own air assets.
The British attack was not dynamic enough to be effective.
I don't think Frank would of reached table 3A and the airfield at all. We held 50% of the tables on 2A / B/ C /D at 5pm and there was not enough punch left to get the job done.
Would I of done it differently?
I doubt it!
But I must put my money where my mouth is and try C in C myself next time
Then I can be judged by the Witchfinder General!
Excellent write up and good use of the maps to illustrate your plan. I think your overview is honest and correct. Table 1A is vulnerable to an outflank from 1B which is what secured it in the end. Drive and push was missing from the British and a lack of an operational plan for the aircraft. However it was an excellent game and well done Mark for stepping forward and taking command (and taking the flak!)
Post a Comment