This game represented the fighting around the Tunisian town of Medjez-el-Bab on 19-20 November 1942, and would continue our game from the first session (see our previous AAR for the background, description of the terrain, objectives, and results of that game). In the historical battle, once night fell, there was a lull in the fighting for several hours while both sides reorganized, redeployed, and brought up reinforcements. Heavy fighting resumed at 0100 hours on 20 November, which would be the starting point of this game.
In addition to the background and links given in our previous report, this page provides links to more sources and maps, and was helpful to our design of this scenario:
Bob Mackenzie’s web Page – Wargames & Scenarios
At the conclusion of the first game, the remaining Allied forces were:
–Three platoons of French fusiliers with two HMGs.
–One squadron of French spahis, with few casualties.
–One British para platoon at half strength.
–Five remaining British armored cars.
–One American artillery battery with three guns.
The remaining Axis forces were:
–One platoon of Fallschirmjager (FJ) pioneers.
–Two platoons of FJ infantry.
–German support weapons — HMGs, recoilless guns, mortars, 50mm antitank guns, two 88’s, and off table artillery.
–One Italian combat engineer company with few casualties.
The two sides reorganized, received reinforcements, and deployed as follows (both sides had to mark their deployments on a map, without knowing where the enemy was deployed):
The Allies consolidated all the remaining French fusiliers into one company, which was dug in west of the river in and around the western portion of the town and in some farm buildings and fields a short distance to the south. The French spahis were dug in along the west side of the river north of the town, backed up by the British armored cars. Two more British para platoons and their company HQS arrived to join the surviving paras and dug in between the two French forces, among the fields and orchards across the river from the town. The US artillery battery was withdrawn to a safer position off the table, where it was joined by two more batteries. A French tank company with ten Char D1 tanks was arriving on the road from the west as the fighting resumed. Finally, a battery of French antitank guns was due to arrive at daybreak.
The Axis consolidated all of the surviving FJ into one company, and dug them in west of the river around the southern farmhouse objective that was captured in the first game. The Italian combat engineers occupied the portion of the town that was east of the river. A fresh FJ pioneer company arrived and was deployed between the FJ in the south and the Italians in the town. The various support weapons were deployed among all three Axis companies. The Axis plan was to use all three companies to attack the French positions to the south and west of the town, which would give the Axis control of the vital bridge.
When the game began, the FJ pioneers crossed the river and moved into contact, supported by an Italian engineer platoon crossing the bridge. Using their flamethrowers to pin the French defenders, the pioneers assaulted and swiftly drove away the fusiliers, capturing the farm buildings and the western portion of the town. Three Char D1s attempted to counterattack, but were knocked out by German antitank fire and close assault.
The German attack from the south made some initial progress, pushing back the French fusiliers holding the fields, but the FJ were then halted by the arrival of the remaining Char D1s. Not wanting to be gunned down in the open by the French tanks, the FJ fell back to the cover of two 10.5cm recoilless guns, then went to ground and started to dig in. Not wanting to move within range of the German recoilless guns, the French tanks did not press the issue and were content to form a line and contain the Germans in this area.
in the north, the French spahis mounted up and crossed the river in force. Their intent was to attack the town from the north, but they were counting on support from the American artillery battalion. However, given the abundance of concealing terrain and the darkness, the green US forward observer was having a great deal of difficulty identifying targets and ranging in the guns, thus the artillery was not a factor until after the sun rose, late in the game. With the Italian engineers holding the town being undamaged and unsuppressed, the spahis halted and awaited the sunrise.
When the day dawned, the effectiveness of direct and indirect fire was improved. The German 88’s started to pick off the Char D1’s at long range. The sunrise also heralded the return of the German Stukas, which started bombing the spahis. However, the American artillery observer benefitted the most from the daylight, and ranged all three batteries onto the Italians holding the town. The French spahis were pinned down by the Stukas and were too far away to take advantage of this, but the British paras rose up from their foxholes and assaulted across the river. The ensuing close combats resulted in losses to both sides, but when the dust cleared, the British had gained toeholds near both ends of the bridge, which was sufficient to contest the objectives there as our gaming session drew to a close.
Thus our second game ended as the first had — in a draw! This result was better than the historical result for the Allies, who were forced to yield the field to the Axis in the actual battle. So perhaps our Allied commanders can claim a moral victory….
- TJ