Our Operation TORCH campaign reached Tunisia with the battle of Medjez-el-Bab, which was fought on 19-20 November 1942. This game represented the opening phases of the battle; a second game would cover the continuation of the action.
“Whoever has Medjez-el-Bab has the key to the door, and is the master of all Tunisia.” (quote attributed to Hannibal). The town of Medjez-el-Bab lies astride the Medjerda River in Tunisia. The river valley cuts through the Eastern Dorsal mountain range, providing a route to Tunis, which is 30 miles away. The Allied and the Axis armies both understood the importance of Medjez-el-Bab and moved forces to control it; however, the town was in the hands of the Vichy French forces, and nobody knew which side they were on!
General Barre, the commander of the French forces in Tunisia, had withdrawn all of his units into the Medjerda valley and the hills around it while he considered whether to collaborate with the Allies or capitulate to the Germans. The Germans moved an elite Fallschirmjager (FJ) battalion to the outskirts of Medjez-el-Bab and sent in a diplomat with an ultimatum, demanding the town’s immediate surrender. The French colonel in command of the town huffily replied that his honor and the honor of France had been insulted, and rejected the ultimatum — the war was on!
General Barre requested Allied support, but the only Allied units in the immediate vicinity were two troops of British armored cars, a platoon of British paratroopers, and an American artillery battery. The Germans were supported by a company of Italian combat engineers. So our game would be a battle of five armies!
This link to Rick Atkinson’s “An Army at Dawn” provides a very good historical background of the battle, and the second link is to a tactical map of the area, which, along with satellite images from Google Earth, informed our table set up.
Medjez-el-Bab – An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
Terrain: The Medjerda river valley is very fertile, which enabled us to set a table that was very pleasing to the eye. Our 15′ X 5′ table covered an area of 9 X 3 kilometers and was laid with the long axis running roughly north-south. The river snakes through the table along the long axis. The river is fordable, but has 20-foot high banks that are covered with reeds, trees, and other vegetation, making the banks impassible to vehicles and towed guns. The only bridge is at the town. The town lies on both sides of the river in the center of the table, with the larger portion of the town on the eastern side. Some low foothills border the table on the west, along the Allied baseline. In the NW corner is a barracks area for a French squadron of mounted spahis, along with a railway station. A very high hill is located in the SE corner, which the Germans would use to their advantage. Several tree-lined roads converge on the town from all directions. The ground is liberally covered with orchards and crop fields, which are bordered by walls and/or fenced by cacti and other bushes. Although the table was full of concealing terrain, we ruled that only the buildings of the town and the scattered farmhouses were solid enough to block lines of sight — all of the vegetation was either too low or too sparse to block LOS, although it would provide concealment.
Allied Forces and Deployment: The French began with a mounted spahi squadron in the NW barracks area, a fusilier company holding the town, and a second fusilier company was dug in along both sides of the river to the south, with the British para platoon positioned to their rear. The French, who were short of heavy weapons and ammunition, only had a few machine guns attached to their companies for close support. Two troops of British armored cars were on the road between the barracks and the town. An American artillery battery was entering the table from the west.
Axis Forces and Deployment: The Germans began with a standard FJ infantry company and a FJ pioneer company, with attached heavy machine guns and recoilless guns. The German commanders were allowed to “Kampgruppe” their forces, and decided to attach one FJ pioneer platoon to the FJ infantry company, and one FJ infantry platoon to the FJ pioneer company. The FJ pioneer company began the game dug in to the east of the town, with their attached FJ infantry platoon extending their lines to the south. The FJ infantry company was dug in on the southern end of the table, facing the river. In general support were two 88mm AA guns, three AT guns, a medium mortar battery, and an off-board artillery battery. The 88s and the forward observers began the game atop the steep hill in the SW corner with excellent lines of sight to the whole table. The three AT guns were with the FJ in the south, and the mortars were centrally located with the FJ pioneers near the town. Medjez-el-Bab was beyond the reach of Allied airpower, while the German airbases were only 30 miles away in Tunis, thus the Germans enjoyed plentiful air support in the form of Stukas. Later in the game, a reserve company of Italian combat engineers would enter the table from the east.
(As a side note, the FJ pioneer company, painted in desert uniforms, had just been purchased the week before the game at the flea market at Historicon — which was perfect timing!)
Objectives: The game had eight objectives. The two road intersections at each end of the bridge were two objectives. The Axis side of the river had three roads entering the table from the north, east, and south — each of those road exits was an objective. On the Allied side of the river, the exit of the road entering the table from the west, the road next to the barracks area in the north, and a farmhouse beside the road entering from the south were objectives. The Allies began the game holding the two objectives near the bridge and the other three objectives on their side of the river, thus the Axis had the burden of attacking. The side that controlled the majority of the objectives at the end of the game would be the winners.
Moves: The complexity of the game and the passage of time between playing the game and writing this report prevents us from reporting all of the details, but in general here is what happened….
The Germans focused their forces on taking the objectives at the bridge and at the farmhouse in the south, and immediately moved their pioneers forward to assault the French in the town and along the river, after pinning them with flamethrowers and small arms fire. These attacks quickly ran into trouble, with several pioneer teams being lost to defensive fire and close combat, including some of the precious flamethrower teams. The pioneers were forced to fall back and regroup.
While the French fusiliers in the town and along the river were repelling the first attacks, the spahi squadron mounted up and moved out of the barracks. One troop of spahis crossed the river in the north and captured the undefended objective there, while the other two troops moved to reinforce the town. The British armored cars rolled south along the road, with one troop moving to support the French near the southern objective, and the other troop crossing the bridge and moving into the town. The American artillery battery entered from the west and drove toward the town at top speed. Per scenario rule, the battery had to move into direct fire range of the town before unlimbering, which reflected the actions of this battery in the historical battle. All of these maneuvers took several turns to accomplish.
The Germans used their Stukas to try to interdict the movements of the Spahis and the US artillery. Other Stukas struck the town, while the German artillery, mortars, and other heavy weapons began to soften up the French positions in the south and on the eastern edge of the town. The Stukas caused a few casualties, and pinned the US battery, which kept it out of action for most of the game. The German artillery and other fires were more effective, thinning out the front line defenders which made a second round of assaults possible.
Assisted by the Italian engineer company, which had just arrived from the east, the FJ pioneer company gained a foothold in the town, forcing the defenders deeper into the town. In the south, the FJ company was able to cross the river in force and swept away the weakened and pinned French defenders, whose remnants fell back to a second line of defense near the southern farmhouse objective, supported to their rear by the British paras. The action paused as the Germans consolidated their gains while the Stukas, artillery, and other heavy weapons pounded the defenders in their new positions. One armored car in the town was knocked out by a Stuka attack.
The third and final Axis effort came as the sun was setting. In the fading light, and as the French ran low on ammunition, the FJ company in the south was able to seize control of the farmhouse objective. In the town, the Italian combat engineers pressed the remaining fusiliers back toward the river and kept the advancing spahis at bay, which enabled the few surviving FJ pioneers to slip around the defenders and contest the two objectives at the bridges.
Thus, at close of play, the two sides each controlled three objectives, with two objectives contested, resulting in a draw!
This game was a blast to play, and a joy to look at, and all parties looked forward to playing in the continuation game at our next session. Stay tuned for the second chapter in the saga!
- TJ