Big Picture - The Hochwald Gap

I haven't done a Big Picture feature in a while so here's one from the 2010 SELWG show at Crystal Palace in South London. This is a scene from a display game called The Hochwald Gap run by the Shepway Wargames Club.

Operation Veritable which was designed to bring the 21st Army Group to the west bank of the Rhine River. The operation was delayed by the German Ardennes Offensive but eventually began in February 1945. The plan's second phase called for the 2nd and 3rd Divisions to take the Hochwald Forest. The 4th Canadian Armoured would then sweep through the Hochwald Gap towards Wesel, followed by 2nd Division towards Xanten. Operation Blockbuster as it was known was scheduled for 27 February, but stubborn German resistance prolonged the battle for six days. It was not until 3rd March that the forest was finally cleared.

Shepway Wargames - The Hochwald Gap

This display game - done in 20mm - evocatively captured the bleak February landscape of the area. It stood out as one of the best tables at the show and was full of little details such as this military ambulance struggling through the mud.

RIP Joe Ekins

On Monday the Mail and other newspapers reported the sad death of Joe Ekins. On the 8th November* August 1944 Joe was the gunner in a Sherman Firefly advancing towards St Aignan de Cramesnil. His troop of tanks were parked in an orchard when a platoon of Tiger Tanks passed about 800yards in front of them, the spearhead of a German counter-attack. In a little over 12 minutes Joe had knocked out three of the four Tigers, including one commanded by the German tank ace, SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer (Captain) Michael Wittmann.

You can hear Joe in a Veteran Podcast describing his encounter with Wittmann on the Tank Museum website.

I never had the pleasure to meet Joe but in all the TV interviews he gave he always seems to be an especially self effacing and humble man. Another hero has gone and we are left just a little bit poorer for his passing.

*[Apologies folks, a typo got through the net! Wittmann was killed on 8 August 1944 while taking part in a counterattack ordered by Kurt Meyer of the 12th SS Panzer Division, to retake the tactically important high ground near the town of Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil.]

The Battle of Mackenzie Ridge

On Saturday I had the pleasure to get together with the other Rejects for a 15mm Crimean War game. It's 1854 and the British around Sevastopol learn that the Russians have occupied and are beginning to fortify Mackenzie Ridge on the road into the city. The British send out a small exploratory force and thereby set the scene for the Battle to come. Once again I tried to make more detailed notes as the game progressed but at the end realised that they made little sense. I've tried to recreate the action in this series of pictures but I'm sure I've missed many more smaller details.

Our first view of the Battlefield. Both sides would have a chance to redeploy their troops. The British won their initiative role and took the opportunity to redeploy into two wings. This proved crucial as the game progressed as it gave them an extra turn of forward movement and a chance to use their artillery at an early  opportunity. 

Mackenzie Ridge with the Russian redoubts still under construction.

Russian Cossack cavalry prepare to charge (those lances are sharp!)

British 1st Division advance towards the Russian left flank

The Russians man their redoubts and open fire with their Heavy Guns. However these guns were effectively targeted and had to withdraw halfway through the game thereby removing the only real threat the Russians possessed. 

With the Russian guns gone the British 2nd Division advances towards the Ridge

Russian reinforcements arrive

...as do British reinforcements.

The Cossack cavalry outflank the British 1st Division and move into the over of woodland to act as a threat to the British advance.

Meanwhile the Russians continue to build their redoubts and redeploy their infantry to face the British 2nd Division which continues to advance.

More Russian cavalry arrive on their left flank and immediately charge the British cavalry  who didn't stand a chance against the massive Russian formations.

The British halt their advance just beyond Russian musketry range and use their superior weapons to wear down the men behind the redoubts.

The Russian infantry stand firm in their redoubts but continue to be ground down in a battle of attrition they cannot win

Meanwhile the Cossack's charge out of the woods into the British flank. They defeat the unit of Coldstream Guards and overrun an artillery battery.

The Cossack's continue their charge but run dead into British Square. This is too much for them and the surviving Cossack's flee the field.

British Heavy Cavalry now reach the battlefield and the remaining Russian Cavalry decide that discretion is the better part of valor and leave the field. 

By this stage of the Battle the Russians were still winning on points, but only just. However with the arrival of the British heavy Cavalry and the loss of both Russian Cavalry Divisions there was little that the Russians could now do to hold back the British. There was some debate about whether to play on but in the end two of the three Russian players decided to concede defeat. With their cavalry destroyed (or about to be) the British superiority in weapons and quality would increasingly swing the battle their way. In fact there was little need for them to actually assault Mackenzie ridge when all they needed to do was sit back and use their longer ranged rifled muskets to whittle away the Russian Infantry until they were destroyed or broke.

Keep an eye out for more pictures UPDATE: Fran and Ray have now posted their Battle Reports for this game at the Angry Lurker's Blog and at Don't Throw a One.

Churchill's War Lab

Before Christmas I revealed that one of the Dagenham Delvers, and fellow Blogger, Derek bought me a couple of books. I've just finished one of these and it was a darn good read. Churchill's War Lab by Taylor Downing looks at the circle of experts and scientists that Churchill brought into the inner circles of government during the war.

The book starts as most of these do with a broad biography of Churchill's early years and those formative events that would shape the war leader of the future. Most of this is standard stuff but it is written in a fast and energetic way that I think will appeal to even the well read Churchill fan. Most importantly it sets the scene for this most unlikely of leaders whose career went through many ups and downs before he claimed the Premiership.

Downing then goes on to looks at the various groups of adviser's that Churchill gathered together and relied upon during the six long years of WWII. These included - unusually for the time - key scientists and engineers who found in the Prime minister and willing and eager audience for their ideas. Churchill is portrayed very much as someone for whom new technology and new discoveries were endlessly fascinating.

Two facts in particular caught my attention. The first was the fact that the younger Churchill was bad at maths. He struggled with this discipline and indeed all academic subjects other than History and the Classics which means that he was far from being a scientific person himself. However he was able to see the application and value of scientific discoveries that some of his contemporaries were not able to do. The second interesting fact that leaped off the page to me was that Churchill liked to get his hands on new weapons (hence the cover picture shown above) and was almost childlike in his enjoyment of new technology. Having said that the author doesn't gloss over Winston's very conservative (with a small 'c') attitudes to Britain's place in the world.

This section of the book, looking at the power-play that developed between Britain and America as the war progressed was for me the most interesting. Churchill and Roosevelt appear to have developed a genuinely close friendship in which the British Prime Minister initially had the most influence. But as America joined the war and its commitment to defeating Hitler increased, so England's negotiating advantage as the brave-underdog was slowly and irrevocably eroded.

Its now a generally agreed fact that it was largely America that benefited from the fruits of British scientific and engineering developments in that period - development's so carefully fostered during Churchill's premiership. The Jet Engine and early work on splitting the atom are the most notable examples but there are many more. Similarly control of many colonial investments passed to the US in one form or another by the end of the war. Britain was on the verge of bankruptcy and it was only through deals like the Lend Lease programme that Britain was able to continue in the fight to the very end.

Reading this book it is clear that although Churchill tried to mitigate the decline of the British Empire he also understood that if this was the price that had to be paid for victory, then it was a price he was willing to pay. When he first became Prime Minister has was asked in the house of Commons what his policy towards Germany would be. His answer not only roused the fighting spirit of a nation but it also foreshadowed the sacrifices to come.

"You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival." (Winston Churchill -13 May 1940)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though it wasn't quite the book I thought it would be when I started reading it. It looks in great detail at all the great and influential people that Churchill surrounded himself with - Scientists, Mathematicians, Engineers and Military men. He pushed them all hard, sometimes too hard, but he also relied upon their advice and ideas probably more than any Prime Minister before him. Above all this book is about Leadership and the ability of one man to galvanise a whole nation to extraordinary effort.