The
Battle of Cambrai
1. Introduction
Many, many years
ago, in an issue of Airfix magazine (or possibly the Airfix annual) I saw a photo of a World War One game where
the author had assembled a number of Airfix Mark 1
tanks who were busily advancing on a reproduction of the German trench system
around Hamel modelled out of plasticene of all
things. The tanks were supported by British infantry in caps and the Germans
all had pointy helmets, (all that was available then) but it was an image which
has stayed in mind ever since and I thought that one day, I too would put on a
game with masses of rhomboid tanks poised to crash through the mud and the
blood to the green fields beyond. That day finally came last year when I
realised just how many WW1 tanks the redoubtable members of Sheffield Wargames Club had between them. Time for a game…..
2. Design Concepts
After reading
around the subject, I decided there were a number of elements of the battle I
wanted to capture:
a) the sheer mass of armoured vehicles employed (almost 500 in
all)
b) the key tactical role the tanks played in the destruction of
German wire obstacles in lieu of a long preliminary bombardment
c) the limited endurance of WW1 heavy battle tanks and the
limits that posed on their operational significance
Having decided to
put a modicum of complexity into modelling the armoured side of things, then
clearly the infantry, artillery etc were going to have to be heavily abstracted
to make a playable game, but these elements needed to be present and have the
capability to play a significant role as WW1 armoured operations were most
definitely a combined arms event. One element I made very abstracted was the
creeping barrage, in the end allowing British field guns to fire fairly freely
(although only able to hit the first two rows) as it wasn’t worth the extra
complexity of specifying barrage or rates of advance etc.
The basic game
elements were drawn from my various grid based games (most of which were in
turn inspired by Peter Pigs ‘Square Bashing’ and Ian Drurys
‘Storm of Steel’ and ‘Sands of New Stanhall’. I
kicked around some designs for a two or three day battle which would include
some of the German counter attacks but in the end decided to concentrate purely
on the first day. This in turn meant that all players would play the British,
as running the Germans on the wrong end of the initial attack would be a dismal
job at best! The game then fell into place fairly rapidly, the mechanisms used
in Operation Uranus being obvious candidates. The main things to note being:
i) Dice
rolls being required to enter particular terrain types,
this made wire especially a formidable obstacle to infantry and cavalry.
ii) Rolling dice
for movement meant vehicle reliability could be simply modelled by making low
scores a bad result for tanks (losing vehicles to breakdowns etc)
iii) Whilst
infantry, guns and cavalry were modelled as one base = 1 battalion (or cavalry
brigade) and they fought as a single element, the tanks were represented as
strength points assigned to each vehicle model so the attritional
effects of movement and combat could be modelled without requiring truly
immense numbers of toys. The available tank SPs were
just distributed over the available tank models and recorded with little dice.
The game was designed with twelve tanks in mind, but in the event we managed to
assemble no less than eighteen!
iv)
Artillery barrages attack everything in the square, this makes
the defending artillery pre-registered on nomansland
extremely powerful indeed if the attackers try and march through with massed
infantry. This in turn means that reaching the enemy gun line is a high
priority for the tanks and that infantry attacks against uncut wire are
essentially doomed to fail (as there is very little chance of crossing the wire
and the defensive artillery will destroy units stuck in nomansland
fairly quickly).
v) Similar
command and control limits as in Operation Uranus apply i.e. units can
generally only move straight forward once committed to combat.
3. Playsheet
A very simple set
of rules, British move and then Germans move. Squares are attacked by
‘assaulting’ them ie trying to move into them. Those
units which make a successful move roll are shot at by the defenders, the
survivors then engage in three rounds of close combat. Stationary units are hit
by fire on a 6 but moving targets on a 5 or more, which makes assaults
extremely bloody. Only some units have a ranged fire capability, the rest fight
by assaulting. Move distances and ranges are in terms of squares, orthogonal
only.
Cambrai, 20th November 1917
Sequence
British
move, declare assaults.
German
move, declare assaults.
Artillery fire
Ranged fire
Assaults
Rally (4+)
Unit Move Assault* Fire Range
Infantry 1 1D6 - -
Machine Guns 1 1/2D6 1D6 1
Mortars 1 1D6 1D6 1
Tanks 1 1D6 - -
Cavalry 2 1D6 - -
Guns 1 1D6/2D6** 1D6 3 (direct fire)
Pillbox*** - -/3D6 1D6 -
*Dice per SP or
base, Number after / is defensive fire only
** 3D6 if AT gun vs tanks
*** Pillboxes can
only be destroyed by hits from artillery or by assault, all other ‘kills’ just
disorganise them
Move rolls (to enter/cross terrain). Use worst type in
square.
Terrain Inf/Cav Wpns/Guns Tanks*
Open 1 3 2
Woods/Town 3 4 4
Bridge 2 4 3
Canal 4 5 6
Wire 5 6 2 (destroy wire on 3+)
AT Trench - - 3
(lose SP on 1-2)
* lose 1 SP on a
'1'
Stacking
maximum 6 units per square.
Ranged,
Artillery and Defensive fire
1D6 per unit/SP
To hit target:
Stationary 6, Moving 5, Moving Cavalry 4
Score =
killed/1SP loss for tanks
Heavy Artillery
and barrage fire hits all units in a square.
Field artillery
barrage disorganises if roll one less e.g. 5 disorganised hits on 6 vs stationary. This is supposed to represent suppression
from the creeping barrage.
Distribute hits
randomly. Disorganised units may not move, conduct ranged fire and in assault
shoot once and defend with 1 dice with no fortification benefits. Tanks are
never disorganised. Units may rally on 4+.
Assault
Units which make
a successful move roll enter the square. Defender fires twice using assault
rating (unless disorganised). Then fight three rounds using assault rating, 6
to kill. Defender gets one extra dice for wire and one for trenches/cover (not
pillboxes). Attacker pushes out defender by rolling 6+, adding surplus troop
bases, tanks and defenders in fortifications count double. Guns & pillboxes
are captured if the defender is pushed out, assaulting infantry are
disorganised if they win.
4. Game Notes
6 x 4 squares
battle area, along with a further row of squares for nomansland
and another row further back for reserves etc. Nomansland
is at the top of the battlefield (not shown) with a further line of squares
behind that. The Germans have continuous lines of trenches across the first,
second and fourth rows, the first two lines being covered by wire as well.
The gun line is the third row. Each square represents approximately 2000m, Cambrai itself is off the
table at the bottom of the map.
Game lasts 8
turns (hours).
Defensive
artillery may be surprised on first turn if the British choose not to fire a
preparatory bombardment. They open fire and are spotted but their fire has no
effect on a 3+, roll for each target square.
British have 4
turns of field
gun barrage (2 shots each) per divison and 25 rounds
of heavy gun ammo (max six shots per turn). One round of preparatory
bombardment may be allowed (does not disorganise targets). If the guns move
they lose all their dumped ammo and are only allowed 1 conventional ranged shot
per turn. Field guns only support their own division.
British will need
to allocate Corps & divisional frontages, which may not overlap for
infantry divisions, although a reserve division can overlap one front line
division. No movement outside Divisonal areas. The
cavalry boundaries an be allocated when they are
committed. Once committed to NML units move straight forward, although tanks
may deviate within the Corps zone to avoid obstacles.
2 x Infantry
Divisions with 9 x Infantry, 1 x MG, 1 x Mortar, 3 x field gun each
Hindenburg line
has 6 x pillboxes, 3 further pillboxes in outpost & reserve lines. One gun
is AT gun (positioned in Bourlon Wood).
For each division
the commitment of forces to each line is:
Outpost line 2 x inf, 1 x pillbox
Main Battle Line
(HKL) 5 x inf, 3 x pillbox, 1 x MG, 1 x
mortar
Gun line 3 x gun
Reserves 2 x inf
Only deploy
defending units when British try to enter square or are adjacent on high ground
(Welsh Ridge, Bourlon Ridge).
III Corps
62nd Infantry
Division (9 x infantry, 1 x MG, 1 x mortar)
51st (Highland)
Infantry Division
20th Division
12th Division
IV Corps
36th Division
56th Division
Cavalry Corps
5th Cavalry
Division (3 x cavalry)
2nd Cavalry
Division (3 x cavalry)
1st Cavalry Div
(3 x cavalry)
Tank Corps with
380 Mark IV tanks and 96 support tanks. Approximately 1SP per
6 tanks so around 70 SP distributed over the available models, maybe more if
feeling generous.
5. Player
Briefings
Battle of Cambrai, 20th
November 1917
British Briefing
General Scheme
General Sir
Julian Byngs plan for an offensive by his Army has
been accepted by GHQ. We will make a surprise attack in the region of Cambrai using massed tanks supported by predicted artillery
fire and no major preliminary bombardment. When a breakthrough has been
achieved the Cavalry Corps can exploit the situation and advance on Douai and Valenciennes. Given the limited resources available following
our great victory at the Third Battle of Ypres, the progress of the operation
will be reviewed after 24 hours.
Objectives
Break through the
Hindenburg Line defences on a frontage of at least 10,000 yards.
Take the
dominating Bourlon Wood/Noyelles
position.
Pass the Cavalry
Corps through to capture Cambrai and exploit.
Enemy Forces
The enemy is
believed to have some six divisions in the area, but only two manning the
immediate defences. It is likely that large enemy reinforcements will arrive
after 48 hours, however most enemy units are exhausted after the Battle of
Ypres.
The Hindenburg
Line consists of the three main defensive belts; an outpost line some 2000m
deep; the main battle zone also some 2000m deep and fronted by a 14' wide
anti-tank ditch and a further reserve line 6-8000m into the enemy position.
Each defensive zone is fronted by major wire entanglements, contains numerous
dug in positions and bunkers and is reinforced with concreted machinegun posts
(the so-called 'pill boxes'). The bulk of the enemy troops and fortifications
are likely to be concentrated in the main battle zone, with counter attack
forces in the third line.
The enemy field
artillery is mostly located behind the main battlezone
and will lay down a curtain of defensive fire once our attack has commenced.
The enemy gun line is out of barrage range of our field artillery, but the
heavy artillery is within easy counter battery range.
Friendly
Forces
III Corps
62nd Infantry
Division
51st (Highland)
Infantry Division
20th Division
12th Division
IV Corps
36th Division
56th Division
Cavalry Corps
5th Cavalry
Division
2nd Cavalry
Division
1st Cavalry Divison
Each division has
100 field guns with sufficient ammunition for 4 hours barrage fire each. If
they move this ammunition will be left behind and they will be reduced to their
ready supply.
300
Heavy guns (6 brigades) with sufficient ammunition for a total 25
concentrations between them. These guns are immobile.
Tank
Corps, three tank brigades with 380 Mark IV heavy battle tanks and a further 96
support tanks of various marks.
Special Order
to Tank Commanders
1.
Tomorrow the Tank Corps will
have the chance for which it has been waiting for many months - to operate on
good going in the van of the battle.
2.
All that hard work and
ingenuity can achieve has been done in the way of preparation.
3.
It remains for unit
commanders and tank crews to complete the work by judgement and pluck in the
battle itself.
4.
In the light of past experience
I leave the good name of the Corps with great confidence in their hands.
5.
I propose leading the attack
in the centre division.
Hugh Elles B.G
Commanding Tank
Corps
6. The Game
Tim Gow, Sharon (??) and John Armatys
turned up for this one, which worked out at a rather handy two divisions each
for them to command. The addition of Tims extra tanks
(the paint seeming suspiciously wet) meant we could field no less than eighteen
Mark IV type tanks in a surprising variety of colour schemes and markings, all
very realistic no doubt. This meant each division could be assigned three tank
models to produce a nice even distribution across the front, all very
historical, and a necessity given the victory conditions of 10,000m wide break
through. The 20mm troops were deployed in the south, and the 15mm troops in the
north as being further away they naturally looked smaller.
The progress of
the game was recorded for posterity by the miracle of digital camera
technology, and we managed to record the situation at the start of the game and
at the end of each turn. As might be expected, the massed armour rolled over
the Germans, although the game was not without its distinctly sticky moments.
The photographic evidence reveals rather poignantly the ever diminishing number
of operational tanks in the front line and the increasingly ragged progress
once the main Hindenburg defences were reached, a couple of pillboxes in the
centre proving extremely tough nuts to crack.
Highlights of the
game:
i) the sheer
spectacle of the table groaning under masses and masses of tanks, supported by
an impressive number of infantry (some 54 bases of infantry alone, excluding
artillery and support weapons).
ii) the glee with which the assembled tank commanders rolled
over the German outpost line
iii) the consternation when they hit the Hindenburg Line proper!
iv) a lone German
artillery battalion holding Bourlon Wood for hour
after hour, fronted by blazing Mark IVs, all very historical.
v) the death ride of the 51st Highland Division as
they launched wave after wave of infantry assaults across the St Quentin Canal,
only to be mowed down a brigade at a time by the defending artillery (who
eventually succumbed to massed mortar & vIckers
gun fire).
vi) the triumphant march of the Cavalry Corps who trotted
through the middle of the raging battle and off to glory without a scratch.
I was very
pleased with the way the game went, and the players were all delighted to have
given the Hun a good kicking, although it was by no means a walkover – some
divisions had lost all their infantry and few tank units had more than one or
two SP left. The only thing which really concerned me was that the combination
of benefits they got which made the defenders extremely tough indeed and even
during the game I dropped the additional dice they were supposed to have in
close combat. If running it again I’ll probably revise that area somewha