The Battle of Dorking 1871 (Reminiscences of a Volunteer)

[Luddite]

This Christmas my wife gave me a little gem of a gift from Dodo Press, 'The Battle of Dorking; Reminiscences of a Volunteer' written by George Chesney in 1871.  

Full text here: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602091h.html

This marvellous little short story charts an alternate history following the Franco-Prussian War, when Britain hastily declared war on Prussia...

I finished the book on boxing day and immediately set about turning this into a wargame.  I deceided on Baccus' Polemos FPW rules, and tapped Leon up for a British and Prussian army.  This week we began what will likely be a 2-3 week battle at the club (ahead of our long-planned 'Operation Sealion campaign).

And so, here's part 1 of the Battle Report for...


The Battle of Dorking 1871 (Reminiscences of a Volunteer)

Objectives

Panic was spreading out of Whitehall as the initial counterattack at Brighton was crushed.  A hasty defence line was formed across the North Downs, and the British threw everything they had into the fray.  Most brigades were filled with militia and untrained volunteers who only a week or two before were farmers and clerks.  The Dorking Gap was a weak point in the defensive line, representing a vital road and rail junction through to London, however with most of the better formations committed to defending Guildford and Reigate, the line at Dorking was held by raw troops, bolstered by a single regular brigade of Scots Guards and a squadron of cavalry.  Their only real strength was the artillery batteries from Winchester.  With this rag-tag force they had a simple order; ‘hold Dorking and the ridge between Guildford and Reigate at all costs and for as long as possible’.

The Prussians were advancing north following their unopposed landings on the south coast.  Initial British counter attacks at Brighton had been repelled easily and the fresh divisions were now heading towards London with all haste.  Two main attacks were focussed on Guildford and Reigate, but between them the Prussian command had identified the town of Dorking as a key objective.  It was a road and rail hub and the Dorking Gap represented the only easy route north across the North Downs ridge.  Three divisions were dedicated to taking this town and given expressed orders to do with quickly and with minimum losses.  Leatherhead and Epsom lay beyond and it was anticipated that these towns would also be defended.  So the battleground was set…

Deployment

The previous night had been chaotic for the British.  The troops in Dorking had forcibly evacuated most of the civilians north by train and road.  At the same time, troops had flooded in from all directions.  Tired and thirsty, looting and violence had broken out in and around Dorking as discipline among the raw soldiers broke down.  By 10am order had been restored and the three divisions had been deployed along the North Downs Ridge, with a sizable garrison in Dorking itself.  At dawn a brigade of Scots Guards arrived from Guildford and hastily deployed into Dorking.  More troops and reinforcements were expected to arrive shortly to bolster the thin red line defending the way through to London.

To the west of the town, the inexperienced troops followed the orders of their brigade commanders and deployed their artillery throughout the line.  In Dorking itself and to the east, the artillery formed into powerful batteries.

The British commanders chose not to position troops in the forward position south on Leith Hill, ceding the ground to the Prussian skirmishers who were left to scout unhindered.

The British 'thin red line' to the east of Dorking on Box Hill


The strong point in Dorking


The line to the west between Dorking and Guildford



Meanwhile, the Prussians advanced steadily through the night, careful to conserve their strength.  Forward skirmishers made it onto Leith Hill and were able to survey the chaos in the town overnight.  They also marked the dispositions of the deploying British allowing their commanders to form their plan of attack.  Unfortunately there was some confusion over the severity of the southern ridge terrain meaning some of the Prussian artillery was poorly deployed.  A single division was dedicated to engage Dorking directly from the south, while two full divisions were focussed on an identified weak point in the British line for about a mile west of the town.

The main Prussian advance to the west of Leith Hill


The overall starting deployments...



The battle (morning)

At 10am the battle began proper with the Prussians scaling the Leith Hill ridgeline en masse.  





A single division was tasked with harassing Dorking from the south east, mainly to prevent the British redeploying, and to exploit any opportunities.  



They advanced in good order, deployed their heavy artillery in range and proceeded to shell the British artillery in the south of the town, throwing them into disorder and bringing them to the point of breaking.  Only desperate efforts from the local battery commanders prevented the British gunners from abandoning their positions and fleeing north..







Meanwhile two Prussian divisions fell over themselves in the desperate, chaotic struggle up the ridgeline.  Once over and through the light woods on the gentle northern slope they found themselves walking into sporadic British artillery bombardments.  





Command confusion reigned and the Prussians struggled to deploy their artillery to support the infantry who were now advancing across the road to attack on column up the main North Downs ridge.  Only six of the available fourteen batteries set up in time to support the first attacks.  

The Prussian infantry struggled up the main ridge into the teeth of the British brigades and batteries arrayed across the crest.  







Vicious close fighting took its toll on the Prussians and at the point of the focussed attack many battalions fell back in disarray, but remarkably only a single battalion broke.  Despite these losses, the raw British troops wavered and fell back from the crest opening a gap for the Prussians to exploit.









By 1pm, two further British brigades had arrived, one north of Dorking, the other over on the western flank, but in the middle things were looking troublesome for the British.  The stifling heat of the morning, that had slowed the Prussian advance, had broken into a cooling light rain, an the Prussians were beginning to press their advantage.

Word had reached both the British and Prussian commanders in the area that the Prussians had broken through to the west at Guildford…


Can the British rally their line and plug that gap to stop the Prussians breaking through?

Or can the Prussians exploit their breach and roll up the British lines?

The fate of Dorking, London and Great Britain rests in the balance!

To be concluded next week...

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Very nice. 

IanS

[republic of tolworth]

Wow love the look of this game
And love the whole idea as well
And I live within artillery range of the battlefield

Well done guys

[Steve J]

Great idea for a 'what if' game, campaign etc. Nice looking table etc .

[nikharwood]

Excellent looking game there Luddite - very nice indeed 

How do you find the FPW Polemos rules?

[hamsterking]

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%22imaginary%20wars%22%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts

The Internet archive has a number of books covering similar territory. See link above to "Imaginary Wars" which includes the "Battle of Dorking" as well as gems such as "Hindenburg's March on London" and "The coming conquest of England"

Dave Turner

[Nosher]

It does look a good game - but slightly spoiled by the "spilllage of smarties"

I haven't tried Polemos FPW and I am led to beleive that with every adaption of the rules they get better, but my own experience of them left me feeling slightly cold.

They are certainly not pick up and play, neither are they solo friendly. I have made up FPW lists for BP although they have not been playtested. I would imagine that set would play better than Polemos, but again thats purely from my own experience

[Luddite]

How do you find the FPW Polemos rules?

This was the first time we'd used them so we were a bit worried they'd bomb.

However, they are very good.

Quick, easy to use and understand, yet with a serious depth of play that relies on the players making critical decisions each turn;

How much do you invest in gaining the initiative?
How much do you invest in attacking the enemy?
How much do you invest in rallying your own forces?

They also model the battle friction of FWP era battles well.  It seems that to break the opposition you have to combine artillery bombardments with infantry closing to finish off the opposition, and coordinating your troops to achieve that is very much a skill to be mastered...

They were also very simple to tweak for Prussian vs. British rather than vs. French...

As Nosher points out the only downside is the need to use counters to mark status.

We very much liked them and are even considering getting the Ancients set due out shortly to start an Ancients campaign.

[fred.]

Cool looking game, really looks like a big battle not a skirmish.

An interesting alt history. Did you collect figures to game this conflict or is it another way to use existing figures?  Are the French going to take on the Zulus?

[Luddite]

I had some British for my other VSF gaming but i expanded these and purchased the full Prussian force (cheers Pendraken!)

As to future use...the Zulu Wars are one possible onward use.  I'm also considering getting the French for a proper FPW campaign, and maybe some Afghans for a bit of Northwest Frontier gaming.

There is of course, also the VSF battles on Mars to be considered, as well as a few other possibilities...

[Luddite]

So we moved into week two of the battle - the afternoon. 

By mid-afternoon, the battle developed into three distinct actions.

in the centre, the Prussians continued there remorseless march up the Northdowns ridge to the west of Dorking.  The remaining British troops there, consisting raw conscripts, steadily broke and fled from the disciplined Prussian close action.  Soon a gap about a mile wide on hilltop was open and the Prussians were pushing their reinforcement through.







The British desperately tried to redeploy their batteries to enfilade the Prussians, but the dastardly Hun's quick marching got through the danger zone before much damage could be inflicted. 





The Prussians had broken through the final line of defence!  London now lay before them...but not quite yet.  The British division perched on Box Hill, and who had not moved all morning, now upped stumps and marched through Dorking to meet this threat.







The massed Prussian batteries were finally able to take a rest, watching with satisfaction as the infantry flooded through the holes the guns had made.



The British reserves from the west also began to march over to cover the gap.



The Prussians however had a couple of batallions already at the railway line north of Dorking (actually these troops had conducted and uncontrolled pursuit and found themselves fortuitously out of position!) and so were ready to meet the main body of British troops marching over from Box Hill.



The second action took place at about 3.30pm.  News had reach both forces a couple of hours earlier that Guildford to the west had failed to stop the Prussians breaking through.  Freed from that battle an entire Prussian division hastily marched through the rain to attack Dorking.  their arrival was a surprise to the Prussians as much as the British!





The British line turned about to meet these exhausted Prussians before they could get themselves organised...



...however, the Prussian discipline told and they were able to form a decent defensive line in time to meet the raw British troops.



The British had, however, stopped the Prussians advancing on Dorking, for now at least.

By mid afternoon, the third and perhaps most crucial action began in earnest.  All morning the Prussian and British artillery had exchanged fire to the south of Dorking itself.  Finally the superior Prussian fire began to tell and the British positions faltered.







The Prussian infantry went into the city around 3.00pm driving off the remaining batteries.



However the south of the town was held by the elite Scots Guards and so the Prussians didn't quite make the headway they were expecting, and with the British raw troops swinging out from the northern suburbs, bitter close ranged fighting broke out across the south of the town and the surrounding farmland.







So, as the evening approaches and the battle moves into its final phase the Prussians definately seem to have the upper hand having broken the British line and with their forces now in Dorking itself.  But things still hang in the balance.  The British still have enough force in the field to hold the line, if only they can get their inexperienced troops into the right positions. 

However, the more experienced commanders of the Prussian army sit confident on their horses...they see the line is broke and are sure that Dorking will fall, and the road to London and victory will be open by sunset...

To be concluded next week...

[republic of tolworth]

Dorking CAN NOT fall!

Bring troops up through Leatherhead and rapid deployment using the 465 bus (runs every 1/2 hour) with troops from the east surrey stationed in Kingston.

Get some artillery up on whiney hill in Chessington and fight back damit man!

I can't risk Tolworth falling to the Prussians! How will I be able to fight the British Civil war if you go and lose to the Hun!

[Luddite]

There are no more troops.

The colonial forces from Indian and the other territories are still weeks away.  Those brave men dying at Dorking, Guildford, and Reigate only days before were clerks, factory workers, and farmhands...

Which...was Chesney's point i feel...

That said, the British are doing everything they can to plug the gap and stem the tide of Bosh beastliness...

[nikharwood]

Top-notch stuff Luddite - this is really inspiring  -definitley making me want to reach for the dice... 

[Pruneau]

Very nice batrep indeed!  Reads like a comic book!  Inspiring stuff.