Naval Scenario #11 - Mers el Kebir

3rd July 1940.  

The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir (3 July 1940) also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was part of Operation Catapult. The operation was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the base at Mers El Kébir on the coast of French Algeria. The bombardment killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed.


The combined air-and-sea attack was conducted by the Royal Navy after the Second Armistice at Compiègne between Germany and France on 22 June. The only continental ally of Britain had been replaced by a government administered from Vichy, which inherited the French navy (Marine Nationale). Of particular significance to the British were the seven battleships of the Bretagne, Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, the second largest force of capital ships in Europe after the Royal Navy. The British War Cabinet feared that France would hand the ships to the Kriegsmarine, giving the Axis an advantage in the Battle of the Atlantic. Admiral François Darlan, commander of the French Navy, promised the British that the fleet would remain under French control but Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet judged that the fleet was too powerful to risk an Axis take-over.

Ships : 

Royal Navy

• HMS Hood – battlecruiser – Flagship
• HMS Resolution – battleship
• HMS Valiant – battleship
• HMS Ark Royal – aircraft carrier
• HMS Arethusa – light cruiser
• HMS Enterprise – light cruiser
• HMS Faulknor – destroyer
• HMS Foxhound – destroyer
• HMS Fearless – destroyer
• HMS Forester – destroyer
• HMS Foresight – destroyer
• HMS Escort – destroyer
• HMS Keppel – destroyer
• HMS Active – destroyer
• HMS Wrestler – destroyer
• HMS Vidette – destroyer
• HMS Vortigern – destroyer

French Navy (Marine Nationale)

• Dunkerque – battleship – Flagship
• Strasbourg – battleship
• Bretagne – battleship
• Provence – battleship
• Commandant Teste – seaplane tender
• Mogador – destroyer
• Volta – destroyer
• Terrible – destroyer
• Kersaint – destroyer
• Lynx – destroyer
• Tigre – destroyer

Set-up 

Assume an 8x6 table with long edges denoting North and South.  Set up the French fleet about 2' up from the South end of the table.  

Force H comes from the North side of the table.

Coastal guns are in effect from Fort Santon and Fort Mers-el-Kebir. 

Aircraft are Swordfish and Skuas for the British, Curtiss H-75 fighters for the French.  

Swordfish can drop magnetic mines and/or torpedoes but not in the same attack.  

All French ships are stationary at the start of the battle.  Surprise by the British will mean that the French ships can only respond after d3+2 turns (3-5 turns).  Roll individually for each capital ship.

Coastal guns can return fire after 3 turns.  Assume equivalent of 13.5" guns - 2 per fort.  British ships can engage the forts coastal guns (check GQ rules).

Response means both returning fire and moving.  Note the tight confines of the harbour and the necessity of not fouling on the defensive boom means that French ships will move at a maximum 1/4 of their maximum speed until clear of the boom.

Ships can exit the boom in single file (capital ships) or side by side (destroyers).  If the British have mined the boom exit, roll for mine attacks for ships exiting the boom.

Once out of the boom French ships can aim to escape from any table edge.


Objectives / victory conditions

British
Sink / cripple 3 or more French capital ships

French 
Have 3 capital ships escape off table.


Referees Notes

The French player(s) will be up against it from the start so make it clear that they are not expected to win by engaging the British fleet directly but to escape to fight another day (although they will need to fight in the escape if only to reduce the amount of incoming fire!).  It is recommended to have more stoic players play the French.

Alternative Scenarios
a) The French have advance warning of British intentions and get underway from the end of Turn 1 

b) French warships dispatched from Toulon and Algiers in a reprise attack engage Force H as it returns to Gibraltar.  The French fleet consists of the remaining three battleships of the main classes of the French fleet with commensurate cruiser and destroyer escorts.  British ships are any remaining (and carrying over the damage) from the scenario above.

French ships at Mers el Kebir

Mogador runs aground after being hit by a 15 inch shell

Strasbourg under fire

A Brief Introduction to the Armies in North Africa; 8th Army

As my continuing build up to our operational game on 25th June I thought it would be useful to give an outline on the three principle armies that fought the desert campaign.  Their difference in doctrine, equipment and generalship is the main element effecting the battles and is very apparent in the Spearhead rules.  First up is 8th Army.

The British

It must be said that there wasn't actually a British Army or airforce fighting in the desert but an alliance of Commonwealth, Dominion, Imperial and British units.  8th Army included Australian, Indian, New Zealand, South African, Polish, Czech, French and Greek formations.  The British dominated the tank forces because of the industrial capacity of the British economy, but Australia, New Zealand and South Africa supplied their own divisions and as allies, these divisional commanders had the political power to veto the British commander in chief.  Churchill was forced to accept the replacement of the Australian division defending Tobruk during the middle of the siege because of public opinion in Australia and several offensives had to be altered because South African and New Zealand commanders did not approve of the plan.  Therefore, the command of 8th Army was often loose and reliant on political expedients rather than purely military factors and the commander in chief had to be diplomatic with many of his key subordinates.

The equipment for 8th Army, especially logistical equipment steadily improved throughout the campaign until it had reached overwhelming proportions under Montgomery in the final year.  The tanks have often been criticised for poor design and reliability.  In truth, they were ok and the British were always able to maintain a superiority in numbers for most battles.  The 2 pounder anti tank gun was an effective weapon in 1941 to 1942 but what let it down was its lack of HE - in Spearhead, this is why it has no anti infantry stats - and so British tactics relied on charging enemy infantry and anti tank guns and over running their opponents.  The 25 pounder could and was used in support but as a divisional commander do you penny packet your artillery or concentrate it?  Again the British struggled to coordinate their infantry and artillery in support of the tanks and relied on numbers and better logistics to beat the Axis.  The arrival of the Grant and Sherman gave 8th Army a better all round tank with HE and the arrival of the 6 pounder anti tank gun with HE evened the odds during 1942.

The Royal Artillery units were excellently trained but were often spread thinly to give more support to individual units.  It was not until 1942 that British commanders were able to concentrate this arm into a decisive weapon that punched holes into Axis defences or stopped armoured units in their tracks.

The infantry was always trained and of good morale.  It must be remembered that there were few regular units in the 8th Army and the bulk of officers were territorials or recalled veterans from the Great War.  However, the Indian troops were all volunteers and very professional, and 4th Indian Division was a crack unit that served at the forefront of most actions in north Africa.  The Australian and New Zealand divisions were especially feared by the Axis and were effective in offence and defence.  Rommel claimed that if he had an army of New Zealanders he could conquer the world!

The desert campaign was the grave yard of many a British generals career.  British tactics and command were often ponderous due to a lack of training in an army that had no experience of fighting on this scale.  Individual units were often excellent but the experience needed to lead divisional, corp and army sized battles was lacking in an army that was continually expanding and training whilst in the field.  In many ways, Montgomery was fortunate to take command when he did, when the army was fully trained and equipped, and its previous defeats had forced Churchill to limit his interference in his plans.

Finally, I must emphasise the importance of the Desert Airforce.  Throughout this campaign they challenged Axis dominance and developed tactics in support of 8th Army that brought them a massive superiority by late 1942.  The overwhelming dominance of Allied airpower in Normandy was forged and won in the desert.

Hamilcar Glider & Locust Light Tanks

Some photos of British Airborne progress.



Hamilcar Glider.....

Locust Light Tanks.....

Malaya Campaign

Got to say how much fun this is proving.  Last week (being more than half asleep) was a bit of a blur but the strategic planning (moving ships, subs and planes) around the map hunting for Force Z while tactically fighting out the invasion to take the airstrip is a great balance.

It is no surprise now that we blasted the pill boxes covering our landing spot (but clearly failed to think that the British would have sown mines on the beach).  A combination of mines and MG's would have probably wiped out our first wave before it got over the wire and would probably severely hampered the second one as well.  However, getting the engineers in on the first wave would have made a big difference (blame it on sleep-deprivation).

Approaching the battle last night, we were taken aback by the damage done by the mines and also the sheer numbers of troops the British had available.  I thought our first wave would get swept away but Japanese in the jungle (even if there is only a handful of them) are more than capable of holding their own.  A handful of stands managed to hold on, then take the upper hand and eventually rout their opposition (amazing considering how few actually got off the beach).

With a route now cleared for subsequent waves, the pressure now is to get as many troops on to the beach before any more nasty surprises turn up.  We had a chat at end of play to work out our tactical and strategic moves which we will put into play next week.

The Japanese Air Force had a mixed day - turning up with wave after wave of torpedo bombers didn't help - yet the Betty's and Zero's managed to knock out nearly all the fighters available to the British.  The AA cover over the cruisers also kept the Hudsons at bay.  It will be Sod's Law that when Force Z appears we'll roll for fighters or nothing rather than the torpedo bombers we'll then need.

The airfield will be a tough nut to crack - however night and the Banzai Bollocks will make it seem less daunting!

So thumbs up so far for an excellent campaign - with more twists and turns to follow I'm sure.