Hell on Wheels, the Saga of My Dogfaces Trudging Across Europe and the Med

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Cool report Jack

[bigjackmac]

Thanks!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

 All,

0830 Local Time
25 November 1942
Near Chouigoui, French Tunisia

Following victory in Morocco, Task Force Reisman was split up and sent to the winds, with some flung out to secure distant objectives (against no opposition), some held back to secure the coast and lines of communication, and others detailed to guard, process, and repatriate POWs, or even to assist in the cleanup of harbors and assist in offloading incoming gear.

Not soon after, high command decided to take a stab at seizing Tunis and Bizerte, in faraway French Tunisia, looking to catch the Germans, who had plenty going on facing off against the British 8th Army in the east, off guard.  TF Reisman was hastily assembled and attached to the US 1st Armored Regiment, though this actually amounted to only a single tank battalion of M-3 Stuarts as the other battalions were busy turning in their M-3 Grants for the new M-4 Shermans and being trained on them.  In any case, TF Reisman was attached to 1st Armored Regiment, which was placed under the command of British Colonel Richard Hull, who now commanded what was called "Blade Force," consisting of the British 17th/21st Lancers (tank regiment) and infantry, artillery, and support elements from the 11th Brigade Group, in addition to the Americans.  These were the right-hand pincer darting into Tunisa, aimed at Tunis, as the British 36th Infantry Brigade was the left-hand pincer, aimed at Bizerte.

The left-hand pincer made better progress, entering Tunisia first and then running into heavy enemy resistance at Djebel Abid, along the road to Bizerte, on 17 Nov 1942.  Heavy fighting resulted in a stalemate, with a renewed attack scheduled for 24 Nov 1942.  This was when Blade Force finally entered the fray, further south, on the road to Tunis, though the left-hand pincer's attack was called off due to torrential seasonal rains.  Nevertheless, Blade Force pushed east, towards Chouigoui Pass, on its way to the city of Djedeida.

Along the way across Algeria, TF Reisman became quite strung out and eventually split into an advanced element consisting of its light tanks and reconnaissance elements, and a main body, consisting of its medium tanks and infantry, as the scout cars, Stuart tanks, and halftracks found the approximately 900-mile road march a bit easier than the heavier Grant tanks and trucks of the infantry companies.  With that, Captain Thigpen, the Executive Officer (XO) of TF Reisman, found himself in command of the advanced element, leading the way into Tunisia and Chouigoui Pass.


Overview, north is up.  The objective is to capture (or hold) the crossroads and walled farm in the southeast (bottom right).  The area is well framed by rocky ridges and outcroppings, with scrub and broken ground throughout, interrupted only by the two hardball roads and an olive grove in the center of the table.  The Americans of TF Reisman will enter from the left, while the Axis forces are defending east (right) of the north/south running road at right.  At top right are two rocky appendages rising up out of the desert, which the GIs of TF Reisman quickly dubbed "Two Sisters."

On the far right you can see the enemy's entire baseline filled to the gills with troops and tanks, while on the left you can see the US mechanized force streaming into the valley at three separate locations (top left, far left, and bottom left).


The opposing force, with Americans on the left and the joint German-Italian defenders on the right.  The TF Reisman XO has an Armored Infantry Platoon supported by a tank platoon and elements of a self-propelled gun, armored car, and anti-tank gun platoon.  The combined German/Italian force has platoons of Fallschirmjaeger engineers and machine guns supported by an Italian tank platoon and two Italian anti-tank guns.


The American tank platoon advances (bottom right), spotting Italian armor (top left) and opening fire!


And first blood goes to the Yanks!


The M7 Priests move up and are engaged and quickly demonstrate why they are not meant for direct support operations...


And then the Stukas arrive!


As the Armored Infantry advances on the village!


They take heavy casualties...


It's hot work, but the GIs press home their attack on the village, which devolves into bitter close combat.  To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2023/02/hell-on-wheels-blade-force-fight-8.html

And with that, we press on to join Captain Henry in his assault to secure a bridge over the Medjerda.

V/R,
Jack

[Steve J]

Superb AAR and game as always Jack with your customary excellent narrative .

[bigjackmac]

Thanks, Steve, I appreciate it!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

1630 Local Time
25 November 1942
Near Chouigoui, French Tunisia

Following Blade Force's successful advance to, and capture of, Chouigoui Pass, they were quite keen on pressing their advance to the east.  The combined German and Italian forces in Tunisia were spread out and, because most forces in North Africa were in the east, countering the British 8th Army's advance across Libya, had its hands full simply holding open the lines of communication, largely due to the ambiguity of the situation with the Vichy-French forces in the area following the combined British-American amphibious landings in French Morocco and Algeria.  With Axis forces in Tunisia thus weakened, the opportunity for the Allies in the west to seize Bizerte and Tunis was quite real, and so they continued pushing east. 

British infantry of the 5th Northamptonshires quickly seized the town of Tebourba, as armored elements continued pushing east to the Medjerda River and the town of Djedeida beyond.


Overview, north is up.  The River Medjerda runs north-south down the middle of the table, with various settlements spread across the area, a small oasis just west (left) of the river, with rocky outcroppings and hills dotting the landscape.  Most importantly, there are two road bridges spanning the river, one in the north and one in the south.

You can see the lead elements of the American force entering the table at far left and bottom left, while the Germans are in three separate elements.  Two motorcycle squads and an armored car are at/near the north bridge, two motorcycle squads are at the south bridge, with their supporting armored car further back (bottom right), and the German outpost is dug into trenches between the two bridges (center right). 

The outpost position isn't bad in and of itself, but they don't have any organic anti-armor capability to reach out and halt the Allied advance.  Having said that, they don't have any real AT capability to speak of, which is quite representative (at least as far as I was able to find, mostly descriptions of the US force 'surprising light reconnaissance elements at the bridge') of what happened in real life, except in real life the Yanks didn't have any infantry with them (in the last fight, either).


The opposing forces, with Yanks on the left and Germans on the right.  The Yanks have an Armored Infantry Platoon supported by reduced platoons of Scout Cars and Light Tanks, with an attached 37mm ATG, while the Germans have a rifle platoon (+/-) and a reconnaissance platoon.

Conceptually, the Germans have a small outpost in the area, babysitting the bridges, and they're being visited by some light reconnaissance elements passing through from further east, on their way west to identify exactly where the new front line in Tunisia is, while Blade Force is pushing east, hoping to secure a bridge to support its thrust towards Djedeida on their way to Tunis.


The Americans advance (bottom center/right and far left) on the bridges.


US light armor has knocked out several German recon units and, shrugging off small arms and machine gun fire, rushes the southern bridge.  But just when everything appears to be going the Yanks' way...


The dreaded Stukas pounce!


To deadly effect!


Nonplussed, the determined GIs fling themselves across the southern bridge.


While a lone Stuart, a survivor of BOTH German air attacks (yep, there was another one!), rockets across the north bridge (top right, from far left), intent on rolling up the German defenses...


But there's no way the veteran Germans don't have a rearguard posted, and Cpl Buchanon nearly wets himself when his tank finally advances far enough to see around the bend...


The hardened Afrika Korps veterans don't hesitate, setting upon Cpl Buchanon's lone tank with handheld anti-tank mines and grenades.  The fight on the northern flank all comes down to this... 

To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2023/03/hell-on-wheels-blade-force-fight-9.html

Urgent matters are to hand, in the form of Panzer IVs, with long 75mm guns, crashing in from the north...

Coming right up!

V/R,
Jack

[pierre the shy]

Looks like its a steep learning curve for Major Reisman's boys against the Africa Korps Jack.....

Loving reading the battle reports, even if I don't comment every time. Looks like you put a lot of effort into your research about the historical background to tie in with Reisman's command (e.g. Blade Forces actions).

I thought Cpl Buchanon must have run into a concealed Tiger for a moment from his reaction  ....but he ended up with a third stripe for his good work.....well done that man!

Keep up the good work.....I hope Reismen is going to request some M16's SPAA tracks to deal with those pesky Stukas...if the Luftwaffe does not arrive their 4 x 50 cals are very useful against other targets.   

[paulr]

      

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys!  I know how busy everyone is, so I greatly appreciate you stopping in and leaving a comment, it really helps keep up morale to continue playing and posting.

And yes, a tough one for TF Reisman.  Kind of looked like a walkover for the Yanks, then those wiley Germans snaked it out.

Yeah, it's been a pleasure reading up on Tunisia, a theater I had very little knowledge of previously, though it's a bit tough as it's not as well documented as many other, more familiar campaigns. 

And good call on the quad-.50s

V/R,
Jack

[Ithoriel]

Though I don't reply as often as I intend to, I really enjoy these AARs, Jack. Keep 'em coming!

As to the half-track mounted 50 cals, my Russians with their M17s can testify to them putting out serious firepower .... but also crumpling like a biscuit tin if they take a well placed satchel charge or panzerfaust round! Still they are Stalin's supposed dictum that "quantity has a quality all it's own" in weapon form

[bigjackmac]

Thanks a bunch, Ithoriel!  Yeah, I don't have any halftrack-mounted meat choppers, just the towed ones.  May have to rectify that

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

1030 Local Time
26 November 1942
Near Chouigoui, French Tunisia

At dawn the tanks of 10th Panzer Division crashed into Blade Force's rear, back at Chouigoui Pass.  Colonel Watters' 1st Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, bore the brunt of the assault.  Equipped solely with M3 Stuarts, the American tankers did not fare well, as one might expect (according to 29-year old 2nd Lieutenant Freeland A. Daubin, a platoon leader in A Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, he "...discovered why his unit's 37mm weapons had performed so poorly even at point-blank range.  In the chaos if its first operation, his battalion had been issued training ammunition instead of the newer armor-piercing rounds, which were still sitting int he supply depots of Algiers.").  Nevertheless, TF Reisman was tasked to send any available tanks and tank destroyers back to Chouigoui Pass in order to stem the flow of panzers from the north. 

Captain Avery, the Tank Company commander, immediately grabbed up the tanks he had to hand and began pushing back to the west, towards Chouigoui Pass.  The column briefly became disoriented, so that it actually passed the German column and ended up approaching it from the southeast;* the Germans saw the fledgling American armored force coming and dispatched a small detachment to handle it.

This is a fictional engagement, but it still should have happened with Americans in the east and Germans in the west, but I forgot about that when I set the table up and so I had to make up that part about Captain Avery becoming disoriented and having to turn around, thus attacking from the southeast, sorry


Overview, north is up.  There is a walled farm at bottom left (St Joseph's Farm, other elements of Blade Force had fought a battle here yesterday); other than that, the battlefield is framed by rocky escarpments and, broken only by sand dunes (which are impassable to vehicles) and rocky ground.  The US force is broken into three separate elements: three Stuarts at far left, three M3 GMCs at the Walled Farm (bottom left), and the Grant and two Stuarts at bottom center left (just right of the Walled Farm), while the Germans have broken into two different elements, both at top right, but with their right-hand column looking to shoot straight west (left) and their left-hand element looking to shoot straight south (down), looking to conduct a double envelopment of the US force.

This is a straight up tank fight, no infantry or support weapons (well, some US halftracks used as tank destroyers), and no real finesse, just gonna duke it out at point-blank range.  Every now and again I like to do this, but two issues: 1) I really need to do it on a bigger table, 4' x 4' does not cut it (for me) in 15mm, and 2) this is the one area where I feel 5Core Company Command doesn't shine, it just doesn't feel right to me for fast-paced armored actions.  But I think I have a solution, courtesy of my good buddy Shaun.  He and I were discussing the rules and even though we were discussing different facets, he brought up a different mechanism and it hit me that it would (probably) be perfect for tank-on-tank fights: rather than using the regular "Five Men in Normandy"-style activation, I should try the "Five Men at Kursk"-style activation.

Alas, Shaun and I's conversation occurred after I'd already played this, but I've resolved to play out at least one more tank-on-tank fight in North Africa (Kasserine, maybe El Guettar?  Maybe both?  Yeah, probably both!) on at least a 5' x 4' table, maybe even full 6' x 4', and to use 5MAK-style activation.


The opposing forces, with Americans on the left and Germans on the right.


The opposing forces collide.


Captain Avery's tank (bottom left) is hit and disabled, but he and his crew stick it out and return fire...


Knocking out two of the advancing panzers!


But the Nazi buzzards make yet another appearance over the battlefield...


With deadly effect!


But then our man 'Cutthroat,' mounted in his trusty tank-destroying halftrack, goes to work! 

To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2023/03/hell-on-wheels-blade-force-fight-10.html

Overall the campaign is not going well for the Allies, but despite Blade Force suffering heavy casualties and being virtually surrounded by a seasoned opponent, high command was still intent on continuing the race for Tunis.  The Germans seemed content to sit tight and let the situation develop, carrying out only light, probing attacks, as Blade Force licked its wounds and reorganized, preparing for the big push, eastwards to Djedeida, which also allowed the British to push more armor further west, back to Chouigoui, in the form of the 17/21st Hussar Regiment.  Two days later and it was time to answer the bell, as the 5th Northamptonshires were stepping off in the attack, with elements of TF Reisman conducting a supporting attack on their left...

Coming right up!

V/R,
Jack

[hammurabi70]

the regular "Five Men in Normandy"-style activation, I should try the "Five Men at Kursk"-style activation
The AARs are always interesting reads but what are the differences between the activation systems?

[bigjackmac]

Hello Hammurabi,

See there, I'm a genius!      I knew you were going to ask me that question!!!     

From the very next paragraph in the batrep on my blog:

"**Briefly, for those wondering:
-5MIN: when it's your turn, roll 1D6.  If it's a 1, everyone gets to move, without drawing reaction fire, but they're not allowed to shoot.  If it's a 2-5, count your total number of stands, divide it by three, and activate that many stands (with some provisions for 'group moves).  If it's a 6, everyone that's able to fire (good order or pinned and has an enemy unit in line of sight) gets to shoot, but after it's all over, every enemy unit that's able to fire gets to take a shot.

-5MAK: when it's your turn, count up your total number of stands and roll that many D6.  Assign each D6 to a stand and carry it out, in order of your preference.  1s mean that stand gets to move without drawing reaction fire, 2-5 means that stand gets to move and fire, but is subject to react fire, and a 6 means that stand gets to fire (with a bonus, if I recall correctly, and without being subject to return fire, also if I remember correctly, but I'm not sure, it may allow for return fire)."

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

5MAK sounds like it needs a lot of activation dice