New Blog on Arab-Israeli Wars

[Techno]

Very nice indeed, Jack ! 

Cheers - Phil.

[bigjackmac]

Thanks Lemmey and Phil!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Here is the second part of fight number two in the Israeli War for Independence, where the men of 2nd Platoon are fighting off soldiers of the Jordanian Army on the northern edge of their home, the village of Mar Gush.


Fighting at The Orchard is ferocious!  Abel stands alone, charged by three Jordanians.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://swordofgideonwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/06/war-for-independence-fight-2-part-2.html

So, a heck of a fight, lots of fun, despite being more of a stalemate than a real victory.  I'm treating this as both sides falling back; the next fight will be 3rd Platoon fighting in the south, and then either 1st Platoon or 2nd Platoon will have to counterattack to re-take the northern edge of the village, which the Arabs have reoccupied during the night.  More fights on the way.

V/R,
Jack

[fsn]

Awwwww!  This is like watching a Flash Gordon Serial!

Will 2nd Platoon recover from its mauling? Will 1st Platoon have to take over the attach on the village? Can Dale escape the clutches of the Plant-Men of Chondor? Find out next time ...



I greatly admire your screnery - the little touches like the fruit stand - and I do tend to get a bit invested in the characters.  I was a bit concerned for Gabriel, but he seems to be OK.

If I might comment on the activities of the Israelis: they do seem to lack any sort of co-ordination. Seems people just go running around without any thought of fire & movement or anything silly like that.

Great stuff. Bring on the next episode!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice report Jack old chap!

[bigjackmac]

Lemmey - Thanks man!

FSN - Flash Gordon, eh?  I hope that's a good thing.  I've certainly been having a good time.  Thanks for the compliments on the scenery, and glad to hear the characters are interesting; I fear I may have gone too far. That is, too much info on too many people.  I'm starting to feel like I should have had less detail or less personalities.  We'll see how it goes.

Regarding coordination, at least some of that is by design.  While they have a few combat and/or military veterans thrown in, quite a few of the platoon members are simply village members with no training or experience (former high school or university students, the butcher, pharmacist, dentist, etc...), ditto for the significant number (~1/3) of the platoon members that are recently arrived European refugees.  On top of that, the Europeans and the American don't speak Hebrew!  So, as time goes on they will get better, and certainly in future wars they will be more professional.

In any case, thanks for reading and sharing some comments, I really appreciate it!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, the third fight in the Battle of Mar Gush

It is 0505 on 30 March 1948, and while the 2nd Platoon is battling soldiers of the Jordanian Army on the northern edge of the Jewish village of Mar Gush, pickets have alerted Dor Peleg, former Sergeant in the Jewish Brigade, Palmach member returned home, and commander of the 3rd Platoon, of enemy soldiers approaching from the south, where the Nelani River, passing east of the village, cuts back to the west.  The Company commander, Captain Avi Peleg, is in the north with 2nd Platoon, and 1st Platoon is manning the roadblock east of the village on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road, so the 38-year old platoon commander does what he must: he immediately deploys his unit to the southeastern corner of the village, where they occupy prepared positions and steady themselves for the coming onslaught.


Overview, north is up, the village of Mar Gush at top left, a small citrus orchard at top center, a Jewish trench line at top right, Cedar Hill at bottom left, and the Nelani River at bottom center/bottom right.  3rd Platoon is deployed in the trench at top center/top right (north/northeast), and the Jordanians are deployed at bottom center/bottom right (south/southeast).  But things are about to get a little tricky on ya!  Old Dor's a cagey veteran, got a few tricks up his sleeve; let's see how it shakes out.


The fighting is fierce as the Jordanian infantry pushes hard to take the Jewish trench-line.  To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
http://swordofgideonwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/06/war-for-independence-fight-3.html

Well, that wraps this one up.  Next up is 2nd Platoon moving east to eject the Jordanians from their foothold in the village, stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Cracking report again, Jack.

I think you should have given them reinforcements.  Have a new rule so that you have to keep feeding them in. 

Cheers - Phil.

PS....Is the river frozen ?....Everybody seems to be able to walk on it. 

[bigjackmac]

Phil,

Thanks buddy, but...

"...should have given them reinforcements..." and "...have to keep feeding them in."

Why is everyone always plotting against me???

And if you're able to sculpt us a scale river with some actual depth to it, please do, you can sign me up for two! 

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Oh...No, no, no.

You should be cutting the figures off at the waist, so it looks like they're wading through the water. Fix tiny little plastic bases, painted the same as the excellent river...Job done. 

Cheers - Phil 

[Ithoriel]

Oh...No, no, no.

You should be cutting the figures off at the waist, so it looks like they're wading through the water. Fix tiny little plastic bases, painted the same as the excellent river...Job done. 

Cheers - Phil 

Like these:-

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good report. Pretty sure the British Jews would have used a more anglicised version of their names, also, how are this polyglot from race communicating? Most English could not speak a second language until the later C20th?

[d_Guy]

Like these:-

Nice - and the bottom half can be used to portage canoes, etc. two figures for the price of one.

[bigjackmac]

That's a cool idea for the river crossers, but I can't afford to have two sets of troops, one for rivers, one for not 

Lemmey - "Pretty sure the British Jews would have used a more anglicised version of their names..."
I suppose they de-Anglicized them when they came/returned to Palestine.

"...how are this polyglot from race communicating?"
Hand signals, pidgin Hebrew, pidgin English, Yiddish, French.  Just like they did in real life.  They had a helluva Hebrew immersion program going on

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

AKA, the fourth and final fight in the Battle of Mar Gush

It is 0630 on 31 March 1948, and Danny Tzur's 2nd Platoon is preparing to finish its fight on the northern edge of the village.  Two days ago, 1st Platoon fought the company's first fight in the War for Independence; Jordanian Army troops advanced on Mar Gush and the Jews were able to deflect it.  Rebuffed, the Arabs returned the next morning, and Danny's platoon fought them to a standstill, with both sides falling back.  While that was happening, 1st Platoon was manning the roadblock on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road, east of the village.  They had not received any direct contact from Jordanian infantry, but as of 0630 on 31 March they'd been under intermittent shell fire for about 24 straight hours.  Additionally, yesterday morning, while Danny's men were fighting on the north side of the village, 3rd Platoon was involved in a desperate fight on the southern side of Mar Gush, barely turning back the Jordanian advance.  

Overnight, Jordanian infantry infiltrated back into the northern end of Mar Gush, and now that morning has arrived, Danny is leading the counterattack to eject the Arabs from the village.


Overview, north is up.  At center left is Cemetery Hill, and at center right is The Orchard, both the scenes of much bloodletting during the fight yesterday morning.  Strewn across the bottom of the map are various homes and shops on the north side of Mar Gush.  Of particular prominence are: Dor's house at bottom center left (Dor is the platoon commander fro 3rd Platoon), Giora's house (far right, just above the road), the Mayor's office (bottom right), and the Post Office (bottom center right, just right of the fruit stand).

The Jewish platoon (squad, really) is split into two sections (left, coming up Cemetery Hill, and bottom center left, coming up on Dor's House).  The Jordanians are spread across the right (east) side of the map: a Bren team on the north bank of the Nelani River (top right), a Bren team on the 2nd floor of the Mayor's Office (bottom right), two soldiers on the roof of Giora's House (far right), and three pickets.  One is on the road at top center, one is in The Orchard at center right, and one is on the 2nd floor of the Post Office (bottom center right, right of the fruit stand).


Danny, Eli, and Davi assault the Post Office.  To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
http://swordofgideonwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/06/war-for-independence-fight-4.html

Thus concludes the Battle of Mar Gush.  Total casualties:
Jews:
3 men killed in action
3 men discharged due to permanent injury
7 men wounded but able to return to duty within 30 days
2 men wounded but able to return to duty immediately

Jordanians:
55 men killed in action
10 men captured

A tremendous amount of arms and munitions were also captured, and it was all passed along to other Palmach/Haganah units, not even a single Bren was kept in the company (that's for you, Kyote).  Avi was quite proud of his lieutenants and his men, they had proven themselves in the crucible of combat.  And while this entire ordeal had begun only as a means to defend their homes, to a man they now understood the task that lay before them, the mission to establish a state of Israel.  So as Avi, Baruch, Danny, and Dor began reorganizing and preparing the company for action to open the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road, no one complained, all moved with a sense of pride and purpose.  The operation apparently already had a name: "Operation Nachshon," scheduled to begin on 5 April 1948, only days away.

V/R,
Jack