After Action Report - Session #2
(MIKE HAGGETT ORIGINALLY POSTED THIS. DC HAS JUST REARRANGED THE TOPICS)
July 8, 2004
Game Time Covered: 26 November thru 8 December, 1940
This session began with the start of the awaited British offensive (historically, Operation Compass). I expected the British to wait a little longer, as the 4th Indian and 6th Australian were not yet released, but they had stripped the Nile Delta of its Fortress Brigades and sent them forth. While useless offensively, they provided the 7th AD a secure position from which to launch their attack. It opened slowly, with O'Connor probing the southern flank of my fortified line and the bulk of the the 7th hitting my 4 divisions south of the escarpment. The probe on my line was repulsed with some Italian loss, but the attack on my divisions succeeded in opening a gap. With the advent of the 29 November turn, the British secured the initiative, forestalling my counter-attack and encircling one of the divisions. A desperate Italian reaction with two Light Tank battalions succeeded in overruning the Free French marine battalion (possibly the only Allied unit possessing worse training and morale than themselves!), punching a brief hole to the division, but it was to prove short-lived. The British retook the lost ground, destroying one of the battalions and closing the circle again. They also attempted an attack on the Italian Corps HQ in that area, destroying it, and managed to force back the Italian defenders on the southern part of the fortified line. The Italians withdrew their forces south of the escarpment north toward the coast; in retrospect I probably should have fought to the death where they were, as this freed the British to maneuver behind me.
1 December opened with the coastal road repaired to its pristine state, allowing an Italian advance to continue to Mersa Matruh. This, unfortunately, was not to be. The British began their advance toward Libya this turn, cutting off my forward forces by occupying the coastal road near Sollum. Without supply, they would begin to surrender in droves. This started to happen immediately, as the British easily handled the feeble Italian attempts to break out of the pocket. The only bright spot was the capture of the British general Jock Campbell, one of three British leaders.
5 and 8 December saw the pocketed Italian troops begin to surrender, although some still hold out as of this writing. The fighting for Sollum was fierce, with the Italians fighting well under General Maletti. O'Connor took a poke at the Bardia defenses but was surprised and took heavy casualties as he was repulsed by a single battalion.
The Axis rear areas saw the continued supplying of the Tobruk fortress. Sadly, the anti-tank ditch and fortifications are in a very sorry state and won't be ready at top form until 1 April 1941; we expect the British to own Tobruk by that time. Some reinforcements began to arrive in Tripoli by sea and battalions of various sorts were being found to help garrison the Benghazi area. Unfortunately, shipping capacity is currently low and being rendered lower by the depredations of the Malta garrison. British air attacks have reduced Tobruk's port capacity and may make a prolonged defense of the port problematic.
The war in the air has been bloody; both British fighter units have suffered a loss, although their bombers remain unscathed. The Italians have suffered a loss of a Cr.42 step, but the biggest losses have been to the bomber forces; all of my starting bombers have been reduced a step, except for the SM.82. More Italian air reinforcements arrived at the start of December, including my first monoplane![/i]
Re: After Action Report - Session #2
Mike Haggett's reply on casualty figures.
Italian losses are likely in the neighborhood of 300,000 men so far, once the Sidi Barrani people finish surrendering. My dead box is getting a bit crowded; with replacements not starting for the Italians until February, I don't expect this to improve any in the near future.
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)Re: After Action Report - Session #2
Eric Belser's views on Sessions #1 & #2
Session 1+2:
Well, surveying the commonwealth position at the start it wasn't that great. We had the bulk of the elite 7th armored scattered all over western Egypt and the vast majority of the infantry tied down in totally useless garrisons for a very long time. However, there was a spark of hope : the fortress brigades of Cairo, Alexandria and Mersa Matruh itself were under no political restrictions. Sadly, even using the Delta rail net to speed their advance they would be slow in arriving at the front.
It was simply too tempting to try and hold up the Italian advance at the border. This would give me both a slim shot at the automatic win if the Italians failed to drive me back and help buy time for the deployment of the fortress brigades. My goals at this point were purely tactical, I wanted to assemble a strong blocking force in front of the Italian advance without weakening my mobile punch, while at the same time inflicting enough losses and disrupting the Italians enough that they could not deploy in "ideal" defensive posistions around Sidi Barrani.
Events rapidly showed that there was no possible way to halt the Italians and achieve the instant win. In fact, the 7th armored found itself having to scramble most ingloriously out of Sidi Barrani in the face of overwhelming Italian pressure. It also became apparent at this point that it was futile to try and hold any positions without aircover. (This would influence later positioning greatly)
As the Italians attempted to "set up shop" in Sidi Barrani, I raided extremely aggressively with the bulk of the 7th Armored - exploiting the higher british morale and training as well as using leaders shamelessly.
This achieved great success and I believe decisively weakened the later Italian defences. However, once the Italians were dug in, efforts shifted to stockpiling supplies and building a forward airbase a ways inland to cover the counter-attack.
Fortune smiled on me with nothing but quiet in other theaters, allowing me to complete my build up and mostly get positioned as I wished.
I was rather nervous about the impending offensive, as it would be risking the whole of the army really. The basic plan was to hold the coast road with the fortress brigades and some odds and ends, drive the entire 7th Armored and all the mobile independent brigades/battalions through the Italian right flank - taking Halfaya pass, Sollum and encircling Bardia. The 4th Indian would be brought up behind to fill in the encirclement of Bardia and complete its taking. The Australians, when released would move forward with the 7th armored to take Tobruk.
So far, it has worked astoundingly well. There was fierce fighting in the area of Halfaya pass, where a british recon battalion was lost along with the capture of Jock Campbell - but it was decisive and cut the coast road behind the bulk of the Italian army in Egypt. O'Connors failed attack at Bardia was largely bad luck..and impatience...but even so it is hardly a hiccup in the offensive.
Total Commonwealth losses to date:
damage to 2 fighter groups: one Hurricane; one Gladiator
damage to 2 independent infantry brigades
destroyed 2 Recon battalions
destroyed 2 Infantry battalions (one the Coldstream Guards, the other those damnable French marines..<bets they deserted>)
No idea how many Italians we've stacked up..other than lots.
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