This is Mark's overview of the British plan for the desert battle we fought...but also helps illustrate how a one-day operational games work. Each of the tables pictured below is a 4' x 3' table. There are 10 of them and they represent individual parts of the same battlefield (essentially the same as playing on a 40' x 30' table - just easier to move stuff!)
Troops move from one table to another (as shown in Mark's plans below)
As they are desert tables, some are pretty bleak obviously.
Mark's words in italics below.
Frank:- "Here's a map of all the territory we captured after the big push last Sunday"
Mark:- "excellent, and what scale is this"
Phil:-"one to one"
Mark:- "Excellent, excellent, that will teach the Huns not to mess with the British empire"
Frank:- "Mark we lost at least half of a division for only two Italian battalions"
Mark:- "Two battalions, that's twice as much as was expected, Mussolini must be quaking in his jackboots now"
The Plan
The British start from the top 4 tables. In the picture below half the overall battlefield is shown. From top left to the bottom are 1A 1B 2A 2B and 3A.
On 1A a strong British push through the passes and onto the hill on 2A. If successful they would then push onto the airfield on 3A. From 1B the attacking forces would actually swing sideways onto 3A - thereby leaving 2B untouched to support the attack on the fort in 3A (see below)
Frank on table A1 was the push, forcing a hole thru the minefield and taking out the airfield as we saw this as our biggest threat.
Frank sent infantry support to Phil to take the fort
Whilst Phil sent Frank tanks to help his predominantly infantry force
Massed artillery was used to support the infantry attack.
Now we see the other side of the battlefield - 1C and 1D leading to 2C and 2D and below them 3B
The road running down 1C and 1D and into 3B can be seen, as can the fort in 1C. This was a key objective and as can be seen overwhelming force was committed to take it. Forces came from 1B and 1D as well as a direct frontal attack. Another force would hold the well at 1D as a launch pad for a flank attack.
Phil had tables CD his job was to demonstrate on tables CD whist taking the fort from 3 directions and keeping the Germans guessing as to the direction of the attack.
Phil had a Tank Brigade in reserve (30+ tanks) to punch down tables C towards the end of the operation.
Phil's recon battalion was tasked with finding the forces in front of Phil.
The British air power was tasked with destroying the German air force
with the bomber elements to aid in supporting ground attacks.
Now over to Captain Hindsight for a revue of the battle.
Frank and Phil did well within the constraints of their orders.
Frank would have taken the airfield eventually.
The tank reserve for Phil's late push was frittered away to blunt German counterattack thrusts.
A more aggressive plan was called for, forcing the Germans to react to British attacks and not the other way round.
There were opportunities to claim uncontested and weakly defended tables that were missed, which would have put pressure on the Germans
Too many British units sat immobile after having completed their initial manoeuvres,
these units should have been used to probe the German defences looking for a weak point to exploit.
The British had no plan to contest the second row of tables except at 2A, which allowed the Germans free reign to manoeuvre to any threat.
The fighter wing wasted most of the day hunting their opposition and would have been better used in a ground attach role.
To summarise
A more aggressive use of on table units was called for, the British had the numbers to take the attack to the Germans
Hopefully you get the idea as to how to organise a one-day campaign. We're bringing out a pdf on how to do it. Note that any period / scale can be accommodated but it allows you to fight much larger battles and use the additional space for for strategic plans.
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