Up the river to Nasariyeh - July 1915
Background
Following the defeat of the Turkish forces at Shaiba in April 1915, the British commander, Sir John Nixon, decided to advance up the Euphrates and take the town of Nasariyeh. He aimed to deny the town to the Turks and to suppress the fearesome Budhoos (Marsh Arabs) in the area. The 12th Indian Division, with artillery and river gunboat support, was assigned to travel up the Euphrates and carry out the task.
This scenario was researched and written by Eric Spicer, and play tested by Andy Gorman, Jon Harding, Stan Walker and Robin Sutton.
Designer’s notes
Historically the drive to, and capture of, Nasiriyeh took about one month to complete. This hypothetical scenario combines events and actions that occured, and some of the key terrain features that existed, during the drive up the Euphrates. The summer had been wetter than usual, and the Anglo-Indian forces faced a great deal of boggy marsh land along their route of advance on either side of the river.
Objectives
The Anglo-Indian forces must break through the Turkish defences and capture Nasariyeh. Any other result is a Turkish victory.
Entry points
The Turkish forces set up to the left of the vertical line drawn on the map. The Anglo-Indian forces enter the table from the right hand side of the map.
Terrain
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The river Euphrates runs down the cente of the table.
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The small streams running off the main river count as movement obstacles only, and require half a move to cross. They are crossable by all stands.
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The hills are one contour only.
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The town of Nasariyeh is represented as outskirts.
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Reed beds and trees provide spotting cover but do not count as providing a cover bonus.
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Reed beds count as rough ground for movement.
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Artillery cannot move into or deploy in the reed beds due to the water-logged nature of the ground.
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A stand takes two complete turns to cross from one bank of the river Euphrates to the other. When crossing, stands suffer a -1 modifier to their defence factor and may not fire. Artillery stands may not cross the river.
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The ravine along the river is so steep that gunboats on the river cannot fire on any targets on top of the ravine, nor any targets beyond the ravine. Stands on top of the ravine can fire down onto gunboats on the river.
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The table measures 6'x4'
OOB
The Anglo-Indian OOB can be downloaded here.
The Turkish OOB can be downloaded here.
Here is a link to the data card for river gunboats taken from the official Great War Spearhead web site.
For further information on, and photos of, the work of the gunboats in Mesopotamia, take a look at this site. Here too, in a history of the 5th Bn The Queen’s Royal Regiment, is some interesting information on the campaign up the Euphrates.