disaster at sidi rezegh

Transcription

DISASTER AT SIDI REZEGH
SIDI REZEGH, LIBYA, 23rd NOVEMBER, 1941: South Africa’s participation in the Western Desert campaign got off
to an inauspicious start during the Operation Crusader battles, leading to recriminations and continuing distrust between the South African and British high command. The South Africans blamed the destruction of 5th SA Infantry
Brigade at Sidi Rezegh on a failure to come their aid by the supporting British armour – a recurring theme in the
Western Desert where the 8th Army were unable to meld their largely Commonwealth infantry formations and British
armoured units into the effective all-arms battlegroups deployed by the Germans.
1st SA Infantry Division deployed only two brigades (1st and 5th) due to lack of transport, and was earmarked as the
left flank guard of XXX Corps in their advance north to relieve Tobruk. The first task for the 1st SA Div was to screen
the Ariete Armoured Division in the vicinity of Bir El Gubi, before they proceeded north to Sidi Rezegh with 5th Brigade in the lead. Heavy fighting had been taking place in the area of the Sidi Rezegh airfield when the 5th Brigade
arrived from the south. The 5th Brigade comprised the 1st Battalion South African Irish, 2nd Battallion Regiment Botha
and 3rd Battalion Transvaal Scottish. The Transvaal Scottish were ordered to attack Point 178 on the escarpment to
the north of the brigade position on the 22nd, but the attack was driven off with heavy losses by well-entrenched German machine-guns, with the South African riflemen pinned down in the flat desert.
Despite some gallant resistance the Support Group of the 7th Armoured Division had finally been driven away from
the airfield, and 22nd Armoured Brigade was no longer an effective force due to the heavy tank losses that they had
sustained over the past days. 4th Armoured Brigade was the only intact British armoured formation that remained in
the Sidi Rezegh area, but partly due to their HQ having been overrun and destroyed on the previous day, the South
African infantrymen received little support from British tanks on “Totensondag”.
The 23rd November saw the 5th Brigade deployed in hasty defensive positions in the open desert, with the Transvaal
Scottish to the north, SA Irish to the west, Regiment Botha to the east and the B-Echelon trucks to the south, with the
Brigade artillery inside the “box”, attached to the three battalions. Pinned down by a heavy artillery barrage from midday, the South African riflemen hunkered down in their shallow slit trenches as a mass of German tanks from both
15th and 21st Panzer Division gathered for a final assault.
The Panzers braved a storm of artillery and anti-tank fire to close with the South Africans. Ariete Division was supposed to be part of the assault, but was tardy coming up on the flank of 8 Panzer Regiment, perhaps due to pressure
from the remnants of 22nd Armoured Brigade . It looked a little sticky for the Panzers for a while; communications
between 5PR and 8PR broke down and the Panzers were in the midst of the 5th Brigade being shot at from all sides.
The German infantry in their vulnerable trucks took heavy casualties but eventually arrived in support of the Panzers.
The 22nd Armoured Brigade bravely swanned across the width of the German advance but seemed to make little
impact. In spite of many acts of gallantry, in particular by the Brigade artillery, the 5th Brigade was slowly wiped out.
Against the German tanks, the infantry had no real means of defence, least of all when the panzers had broken into
their rear, and once the guns had been subdued resistance could not last long. All three battalions of the Brigade
dissolved into disordered groups and which those that retained the most initiative secured a vehicle—any vehicle—
and escaped to the south or east. The Germans didn't have it all their own way, though. The wrecks of many Panzers littered the desert at the end of that fateful Sunday.
8th Army command lambasted the stubbornness of 1st SA Infantry Brigade commander, General Dan Pienaar, in the
remaining Crusader battles. But given what had happened to 5th Brigade, Pienaar’s subsequent caution is perhaps
understandable. In either case Pienaar was well liked by his troops and he prevented a similar disaster later on during the campaign at Taieb el Essem, when an armoured assault was driven off by a well-handled South African artillery barrage.
YOUR ORDERS
SOUTH AFRICAN: Try and hold off the German Panzers which have broken into the Brigade area. Failing that, try
and save some of your troops by allowing them to break out to avoid capture.
GERMAN: Subdue the South African resistance with the least amount of loss to your force.
PREPARING FOR BATTLE
1. The South African player deploys first.
2. All SA infantry teams are considered to have sticky bombs.
3. South African infantry and man-packed gun teams start the battle in prepared positions. The hardground made it too difficult to dig in the field guns, which will have to rely on their gun shields. The 2pdr
anti-tank platoon must be deployed mounted, as they fought from their portees during this battle.
4. All the South African transport must also be deployed at start, as the presence of hundreds of trucks,
many of them burning, was a feature of the 5th Brigade area during the battle. Before the battle starts
roll a saving throw for each transport truck on table. On a roll of 1 or 2 they are destroyed by the
preceeding German artillery barrage and are considered wrecks for visibility purposes.
5. All German units enter the table at a random location revealed by rolling a d6 to represent the delays
caused by the other fighting off-table and the confused nature of the fighting in the 5th Brigade area.
The starting forces arrive in this manner on turn one, and the German player will dice to bring his reserves on, starting on turn two.
6. The German player has the first turn.
7. SA teams may not leave their prepared positions until turn six. From turn six onwards the South African
player may elect to move platoons off-table. Teams may mount up in any transports at hand, and may
make their way off the southern or eastern table edges.
ENDING THE GAME
There are no objectives in this battle. Instead the battle ends when one of the forces fails a Company Motivation
Check, most likely the South African Rifle company.
DECIDING WHO WON
The South African player wins if they score six or more victory points by the time their morale breaks, or if they have
forced the Germans to leave the field of battle.
The German player wins if the South Africans have scored less than six VPs by the time they have forced the South
Africans to leave the field of battle.
The South African player gets a VP for each German platoon that is destroyed, and for each South African platoon
that successfully makes it off-table from turn six onwards.
SCENARIO MAP
1. The table size is 6 x 4 foot. The German entry areas are numbered.
2. As seen in the above picture (from The Saga of the Transvaal Scottish, C Birkby, 1950), the Sidi Rezegh
battle was fought on a flat featureless plain. The only visibility breaks are those created by wrecked vehicles.
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6
N
5
SA RIFLE PLATOONS, MG AND MORTAR PLATOON DEPLOY HERE
SA CARRIER, ARTY, AT, AA PLATOONS
DEPLOY HERE

2
3
4
SCENARIO FORCES
ELEMENTS OF 5th SOUTH AFRICAN INFANTRY BRIGADE (CONFIDENT TRAINED)
Rifle Company HQ:
CinC Rifle team
2iC Rifle team
1 x Truck
1st Platoon:
Command Rifle/MG team
1 x Light Mortar team
1 x AT Rifle team
6 x Rifle/MG teams
3 x 3-ton Trucks
2nd Platoon:
1 x AT Rifle team
6 x Rifle/MG teams
3 x 3-ton Trucks
3rd Platoon:
1 x AT Rifle team
6 x Rifle/MG teams
3 x 3-ton Trucks
Carrier Platoon:
1 x Command Universal Carrier with Boys AT Rifle
2 x Universal Carrier
Mortar Platoon:
1 x Command Rifle team
4 x 3” Mortar
5 x 15cwt Truck
MG Platoon:
4 x Vickers HMG teams
5 x 15cwt Trucks
Anti-Tank Platoon:
1 x 15cwt Truck
4 x 2pdr portee
Field Battery, South African Artillery:
1 x Staff team
8 x 25 pdr
2 x 15cwt Truck
8 x Quad Tractor
1 x Observer Marmon Herrington Armoured Car
Light Anti-Aircraft Platoon:
3 x Bofors 40mm
4 x Truck
ELEMENTS OF 15th PANZER DIVISION (CONFIDENT VETERAN)
0STARTING FORCES
Panzerkompanie HQ:
1 x CinC Panzer III G
1 x 2iC Panzer III G
1st Panzer Platoon:
4 x Panzer III G
2nd Panzer Platoon:
4 x Panzer IV D
Leichte Panzer Platoon:
4 x Panzer II C (late)
Panzershutzen Platoon:
1 x Command MG team
1x Light Mortar team
6 x MG teams
4 x Sdkfz 251/1 HT
Light Artillery Battery (off-table):
3 x 10.5cm leFH18
1 x Staff team
1 x Observer Rifle team with Motorcycle and sidecar on table
RESERVES
3rd Panzer Platoon:
4 x Panzer III G
1st Shutzen Platoon:
1 x Command MG team
1 x Kfz 15 Field Car
6 x MG teams
3 x Kfz 70 Truck
2nd Shutzen Platoon:
1 x Command MG team
1 x Kfz 15 Field Car
6 x MG teams
3 x Kfz 70 Truck
Light Panzerspah Platoon:
2 x Sdkfz 221
1 x Sdkfz 222
Pionier Platoon:
1 x Command Pioneer Rifle team
1 x Motorcycle and sidecar
9 x Pioneer Rifle teams
3 x Kfz 70 Trucks