Gazala - The Last Stand of the 150th Brigade

 Last in the current Gazala trilogy, this time one of those heroic but hopeless actions so de rigeur in the British Army - the destruction of 150th Infantry Brigade in May 1942. The Brigade was assigned to defend a box right in the middle of the fortified Gazala Line, and once the Afrika Korps and XX Motorised Corps had bypassed Bir Hacheim, it found itself completely surrounded and right across Rommels intended supply route. 8th launched a few ineffective relief attempts while the 150th held off the entire might of Panzerarmee Afrika, but by the time Operation Aberdeen was organised in June 1942 (covered in the last game), the 150th had been overwhelmed and completely destroyed. It is an engagement which caught my imagination when I first read Field Marshal Lord Carvers 'Tobruk' back in the 1970s so I'm pleased I've finally had a chance to do it justice. 

Battlefield from the south, imagine minefield belts a mile deep to the north, west and south. The minefields visible on the table were somewhat more hastily laid and thinner. The track leads north to Gazala and south to Bir Hacheim (it ran the entire length of the Gazala position). Otherwise it is pretty featureless with some wadis, rough ground and a rise to the west. The rise is the game objective, whoever has sole possession at the end of the game wins. Fans of Neil Thomas will of course recognise this as the 'fighting withdrawal' scenario, somewhat hacked around.

And here is 150 Brigade (of 50 Division) in its box. All the Regiments of this Brigade are from Yorkshire, so it has various local associations. The Germans are coming from the east, hence the defences facing east. John played Brigadier Haydon, CO 150th Bde.

Up front we have 4th and 5th Battalions of the Green Howards. 4th Battalion has the Brigade MMG company in support, while 5/GH has the Brigade engineer field squadron attached. Simon and Ian commanded these. Both are dug into battalion boxes, so have no flanks. Typically these were 1000 yards per side, so fit neatly into my 800m hexes.

To the rear we have 3rd East Yorkshire Regt with the Brigade anti-tank company (2pdrs) and a composite regiment from 42/44 RTR, 1st Army Tank Brigade with a mixture of Valentines and Matildas. The tanks have heavy armour but only light anti-tank guns. Brigadier Haydon is standing on the hill behind them. Jerry commanded 42/44 RTR and John 3/EY.

The British are cut off so only have one supply column (the ambulance) and their Field Regiment only has 3 fire missions. The Desert Airforce has P40s for ground attack, Hurricanes flying CAP and Blenheims for interdiction. As the Germans are also cut off, their main target will be enemy gun positions.

The mighty Axis horde. Most of the Axis units were busy fending off 8th Army to the east and destroying much of the British armour in doing so. The attacks on the British pocket largely landed on the motorised infantry units, in this case 90th Light Division and Trieste. This is the entire 90th Light Division (!) as two of its regiments had been detached before the battle to mount pinning attacks from the west. Trieste had got lost in the initial Axis attack and opened up gaps in the minefield from the west, which proved essential for resupply.

155 Rifle Regiment, 90th Light. One battalion has SP infantry guns attached and the other SP anti-tank guns from the divisional AT battalion, a mix of Panzerjaeger 1s and Marders with Russian 76.2mm guns and rated as heavy AT. Micheal and Mark commanded these.

The Italians had 65th Motorised Infantry Regiment from Trieste Motorised Division. 1st battalion was supported by the Semovente battalionm from Ariete, while 2nd battalion had divisional engineers attached. In support was a battalion of 105mm artillery. Tim and John B commanded these.

The balance of 90th Light was ZvB 288 Afrika and a battalion of tanks from 8th Panzer Regiment. Russell commanded by the panzers while Terry had ZvB 288. At this stage ZvB 288 was a large battalion sized formation but grew into a complete motorised infantry Regiment and one of its members was Hans Schmidt of "With Rommel in the Desert" fame. It had an SP Flak company, so I've included that for close support. Its Stug battery hadn't arrived by May 1942. The Germans also have a battalion of 105mm guns in support, the entire remaining divisional artillery of 90th Light as the rest was with the detached brigade.

Finally in support we have Stukas, Ju 88s and CAP provided by the Italian Airforce. Like the Blenheims, the Junkers job is counter battery as the British don't have any supply columns to attack either. The Germans only have one supply column as they are largely cut off by day and also lurking is Mammut with Rommel. He may turn up and demand to lead an infantry platoon, as he did in the battle. If he gets killed, the Germans immediately lose. Rommel realised how important it was to destroy the British and threw in everything he had, including himself, into it. A contrast to the dilatory response by Cunningham.

Right, to battle!

 

The Germans opened by sending ZvB 288 through the southern minefield gap while RR 155 shook out to provide fire support and the Panzers parked up on a nearby ridge. The Italians adopted a similar approach, the Semoventes parked up and the engineers dashed through the gaps in the minefield.

ZvB 288 ran into a storm of fire including strafing P40s and took sufficient losses to become disorganised.

In the north Blenheims vainly searched for the (currently unlocated) Italian gun positions while 4/GH chipped a few hits off the Italians and 42/44 RTR moved onto the rise to the northwest.

RR 155 and the German artillery laid down a withering barrage on 5/GH, enough to disorganise them. ZvB 288 pulled back to reorganise, having successfully absorbed the British fire, and the panzers dashed forward into the gap. 

The Axis launched an all-out assault in the north. Stukas and artillery attacked 4/GH and the Semoventes shelled them, followed up by a glorious close assault by the Italian engineers. The British were left disorganised and unable to reform (due to the assault) but the Italians were also left disorganised by their losses.

The Luftwaffe found the now revealed 25pdr positions but missed.

The British contented themselves with holding the line. In the south 5/GH reorganised while in the north 4/GH, 42/44 RTR and the British artillery got lucky and finished off the disorganised Italian engineers.

In the south the Germans made another mass fire attack on 5/GH which disorganised them (again) but were reluctant to assault for some reason, so the British hung on. In the north the Italians had their revenge and a combination of artillery fire and SP gun fire rendered 4/GH combat ineffective. ZvB 288 reorganised in the rear.

Now the Blenheims found the German gun lines and actually managed to hit them. That would reduce the effectiveness of their fire next turn.

Inevitably the British reorganised 5/GH again. In the absence of a ground assault, they could keep doing this all night. In the north 42/44 RTR aggressively drove into the minefield gap! I'm not quite sure what they were hoping to achieve, but it gave the remaining Italians and Rommel a bit of a shock.

The Italians fell back to the ridge to get some cover from the marauding British armour and Rommel drove over to encourage them.

ZvB 288 reorganised again while RR 155 kept shelling 5/GH. The panzers however aggressively pushed forwards  and ended up behind and southwest of 5/GH. The battalion boxes provide all round defence, but no-one likes being surrounded.

The combination of the strong Italian position and the panzer threat was enough to make the British decide to pull their armour back after being gently reminded of their victory conditions. The British chose to resupply their artillery rather than reorganising 5/GH this turn.

In the north the Italians cautiously followed up as the British tanks withdrew, while in the south the Germans closed in on 5/GH once more. The panzers drew up on the low rise behind the box, while II/155 braved the minefield gap this time covered by I/155. ZvB 288 moved up into line having sorted itself out now. 

The British were content to hold their positions in the centre and north, and the south chose to engage II/155 with their infantry and artillery while rearming the P40s. I'm not convinced that was a sensible decision given the state of 5/GH.

The massed fire of three German battalions, supported by artillery and followed up by a close assault from II/155 overran 5th Green Howards. Oh dear! The Axis had secured the southern minefield gap.

To add insult to injury the Ju 88s located and hit the 25pdrs.

Rommel mysteriously appeared amongst the assaulting troops. He'd actually gone to congratulate the captured Green Howards Colonel on such a staunch defence, but it was immediately reported in both Signal and the British Official History that he'd personally led a rifle platoon in the attack...  

We called it a night at that point as we'd hit a natural break in the battle. All forces were now out of contact again, most of the Axis units were two moves or more from Hill 109, so the next couple of turns would see some manouvering. We've also got a change of people tomorrow, so that seemed like a good place to stop. The British in particular need to decide how best to defend the hill while they have a short breathing space.

On Wednesday Ian and Mark joined us and the Germans mainly moved through the minefield gap and formed up in the southeast. The Italians declined to advance against the hull down Matildas, but the Panzers very boldly advanced to the edge of Point 109, which rather unhinged any defensive manouvres the British might have planned.

The British spent some time pondering their best move. The options were essentially to fight it out where they were or, move the infantry to the reverse slope of Point 109 and dig in there. Personally I'd have gone with the latter but after due consideration the British decided to fight it our in situ and moved 44 RTR back the ridge to block the Panzers from simply overunning the entire hill unopposed! 

By now both sides had largely resupplied their artillery and air forces due to the lack of contact.

Things now hotted up a bit. The Italians occupied the position on the ridge vacated by 44 RTR, II/155 RR shelled the East Yorks from their their ridge and called in artillery and Stukas, while I/155 advanced into range. ZbV 288 reorganised as much as it could, while 8th Panzer dodged into the dead ground due south of Point 109.

In the absence of anything else to shoot at, every British unit in range plus the 25pdrs fired at I/155 who took so many losses they became disorganised. Putting I/155 out front probably wasn't a very good move.

While I/155 reorganised, the rest of the Axis forces charged into close range behind an ineffective barrage from the Stukas and Italian artillery. 

The British called in a storm of fire onto II/155 who also took heavy losses and became disorganised. 44 RTR discovered to their horror that their 2pdrs weren't terribly good against the uparmoured Pz IIIH and Pz IVE of I/8th Panzer.

II/155 fell back to reorganise while I/155 entered the fray again. At this point Rommel decided to take a hand in the proceedings as time was running short (he rolled a 6 on his aggression roll) and he accompanied the motorised infantry forward against the British position.

The other Axis units all frantically shot up the East Yorks who became disorganised. I/8th Panzer engaged 44 RTR and also discovered to their dismay that the Valentines and Mitildas were rather more heavily armoured than the Stuarts and Crusaders they were used to shooting at. The tank battle proceeded in slow motion as each side chipped away at each other.

Not to be outdone, Brigadier Haydon personally led the ambulance column forward to rally the East Yorks who duly became un-disorganised. I was making a risk roll for the Brigadier every turn now as the box collapsed. 44 RTR shot up I/155 inflicting some hits but Rommel ran through the fire unscathed.

The Axis continued to shoot up the East Yorks and Rommel personally led a close assault by I/155 which was repulsed but prevented 3/EY from reorganising next turn.

The British kept up a steady fire on I/155 as it retreated and the battalion fell apart, although Rommel survived unscathed. After that he decided to watch any further proceedings from the rear.

Unable to reorganise, 3 East Yorks went down to the next Axis assault and was overrun by ZbV 288. The British decided to reorganise 44 RTR in place (they could have retired to the reverse slope as there were only a couple of turns left now). The Royal Artillery shelled ZbV 288 and with two turns to go, were left with two more fire missions. Nice logistic planning there, although by now Luftwaffe bombing had inflicted so many hits on the gun positions that they were permanently disorganised.

The Axis closed in for the kill, all their remaining units moved into close range. The Royal Artillery kept firing, but Brigadier Haydon once more led the ambulances forward and rallied the battered tankers.

The Desert Airforce at least kept the Ju 88s at bay this turn.

Last turn of the game and every Axis unit bar one opened fire on 42/44 RTR, followed up by a close assault by Trieste and their supporting Semoventes from Ariete. This overwhelming firepower was enough to defeat even the tough Infantry Tanks and the position was overrun by the jubilant Italians.

At that point it was game over, on the very last turn of the game. 150 Brigade had literally fought to the last man and last round right to the end, as in real life. Unlike real life however, Brigadier Haydon survived and went off into captivity, after receiving Rommels hearty congratulations on his stout defence. 

And so ends the first of the Gazala trilogies. I was really pleased with how that went, particularly going down to the wire again. The two phase nature of the battle was also very interesting as first the Axis had to force the minefields an then clear the rest of the position. I greatly enjoyed the psychological impact of both sides "armour rampage" too. 

The players seemed to enjoy themselves and gave a lot of positive feedback, and once again my heartfelt thanks to Neil Thomas for designing such amazing scenarios which give really good games.

I fancy a bit of a break from the desert for a while, but we will be back at Gazala for another trilogy in due course.