Neuve Chapelle was the first significant
British assault on the Western front in 1915, planned to assist the
French in their major offensive in the Lens/Vimy/Arras area. The plan
was to threaten the German supply lines from the north with a break
through at Aubers Ridge, which required the capture of the salient of
Neuve Chapelle.
The game was played in Christchurch,
New Zealand in July 2005. The players
were Robert Dunlop and Adrian Powell (commanding the British forces) and
Keith McNelly and Robin Sutton (commanding the German forces). The
figures come from the 20mm collections of Andy Gorman and Robin
Sutton. Figure availability meant that Turkish figures had to be
used to represent the Indian Division that took part in the attack,
while ANZACs appeared in lieu of one of the British Divisions.
Three of the protagonists
enjoy the game. Left to right:
Robin, Adrian and Robert.
Keith and Robert
discuss a tactical point during the game.
The table set up with
the initial dispositions for the game. The view is from the
south, with the British and Indian forces to the left of the
photograph (Indian troops nearest the camera), and the Germans to the right. The extent to which
the German troops defending the front line are thinly stretched
can be clearly seen. Neuve Chapelle is represented in Spearhead
terms by a village outskirts, and is seen here on the table as
the white building in the upper right of the photograph. A
German MMG detachment is deployed in Neuve Chapelle, along with
the Corps command stand, a choice that was made to improve
suppression recovery, but which was to have fatal effects later
in the game. Crescent Redoubt can be seen in the lower centre of
the picture.
23 Brigade reaches the
wire: no one had told them that the wire in front of them was
uncut, and they began to take casualties from the Jager manning
the trenches in front of them. The 23 Brigade figures are the
HaT ANZACs, but we were short of 1915 British, so these guys
found themselves pressed into service on the Western Front. The
Jager conversion is described below. The scenario required the
British forces to follow compulsory attack arrows until they
reached Layes Brook, when the players could roll for order
changes to develop the attack further. Therefore there was no
choice for Robert in these early stages: he had to cross the
wire.
The initial attack of
the 23 Brigade (8 Division) British can be seen coming across the uncut wire
that was to the front of the German Jager defending the line
opposite Neuve Chapelle itself (seen here at the very bottom of
the photograph). This was the one area of the attack frontage in
which the wire had not been cut sufficiently by the British
hurricane bombardment to allow easy passage for the attacking
troops. The hurricane bombardment had been the British answer to
a severe shell shortage, but British command later took the
wrong lesson from it: they assumed that longer preparatory
bombardments would be even better. It took a year and a half for
the British command to relearn the lesson.
Neuve Chapelle was occupied
initially by a German MMG detachment, and the Corps
headquarters. The area came under a heavy British pre-planned
bombardment (those 60 pounders really hurt!!), and the MMG
detachment can be seen here to the right with a suppression marker. The
German dispositions, initially thought to be a great idea (as a
means of helping to remove suppressions and keep stands
fighting) proved to be not so wise: the Corps HQ was knocked out
by the bombardment!!!!!
Here the Indian 41st
Dogras attack the German line (the crescent Redoubt is just to
the left of this photo. The first of the attacks were stopped at
the trench line and repelled several times, but the Indian Division
commander (Adrian Powell) was a little more persistent than
that, and managed to eventually make the breakthrough required
of his forces.
23 Brigade makes
progress against the Jager, swamping their line. Here the
remaining Jager stand and its supporting MMG stand can be seen
suppressed as 23 Brigade breaks through the trench line. The
Jager were a simple conversion of the HaT Germans: the top of
the Pickelhaube was cut off, to create a flat top, and the
figures were painted a slightly greener field gray, with lighter
green piping.
The German 16th
Regiment has broken after four turns of valiant resistance....
Robin blamed the dice, others knew better!!! The entire German
left flank has opened up, but the Indians seem to be distracted
by the Distillery down the road (bottom right of the photo).
Adrian spent several turns trying to roll for an order change in
order to get the advancing brigades to shift their axis back
towards the Bois de Biez. They took the distillery at which point Adrian successfully
rolled for that order change. They were quick to change their axis
and advance towards their correct objective: the Bois de
Biez. This picture gives a good view of my second 'iteration' of
trench scenery: nope, still not right.
Here 23 Brigade attacks
the 'Nameless Cottages'. This position was supported by the
first German reinforcements: the two remaining companies of the
11th Jager who took up positions in the redoubts previously established
at Maquisart and the Layes Brook bridge. The Germans here held off the attackers
briefly: Keith's command had lasted a little bit longer
than Robin's..... but it too eventually gave way.
The first of the
significant German counter-attacking forces arrive in the Bois de Biez, but
the Indian advance has made it almost impossible for the two
reinforcing battalions to take and hold the position. An intense
fire fight develops as troops from both sides jostle for
position amongst the trees, but the Indian forces are already
established in the wood in too great a numbers.
23 Brigade makes its way to Layes
Brook where its advance stops. Leading units have come under
fire from the German Reinforcements from 56th and 57th Infantry
regiments, and one British stand has already been suppressed.
However it is not enough and the day ends with a resounding
British victory: British forces are secure on the western end of
Aubers Ridge in the Bois de Biez, and are digging in behind
Layes Brook, with Neuve Chapelle safely in British hands.
