Tobruk '41 After Action Report
Enter Rommel [Supply] (31 March 1941)
by Philip Jarrett
Click on the Picture to learn more about the author
The Starting Situation
Mersa el Brega, 31 March 1941: After their glorious victory over the Italians in December 1940, the British were beset with demands for their meager resources. As troops were dispatched to other theaters, mostly to West Africa and Greece, the Western Desert was held by the green British 2nd Armoured and the under trained, and some would say misfit, 9th Australian Division. The breathing space given to the Axis was unfortunate, as Rommel would arrive in Africa on 12 February, along with the lead elements of German troops sent to support their Italian allies. By the end of March he had accumulated enough force to test the British defenses and el Agheila, the gateway to Cyrenaica, fell on 24 March without a single casualty. However, 25km to the east lay the small anchorage of Mersa el Brega and the last natural defensive position between el Agheila and el Alamein, 1000 kilometers to the east. It was here, amongst the salt marshes, that the British 2nd Armoured Division decided to make its stand, and to give the German 5th Light Division their first set piece battle of the Africa Campaign. The main action was fought in the area of the coast road, where the Support Group repulsed repeated German attacks, giving them their first taste of concentrated 25-pounder fire. In the late afternoon, German infantry infiltrated among the coastal sand dunes and, finally, turned the British infantry out of their positions. Ordered not to squander the paltry strength of the British armor, made up of various derelict cruiser and captured Italian tanks, General Gambier-Perry refused to counter-attack with the 3rd Armoured Brigade, and the Division abandoned the position during the night. Rommel then began his famous cross-desert move and the running of the "Benghazi Handicap", the race to evacuate the 9th Australian Division from the Benghazi area before the Germans could cut-off their retreat, had started. NOTE: This scenario is for use with the optional Explicit Supply rules. [Size: small, Length: 6 turns]
Human Axis vs. Allied computer.
Default Optional Rules PLUS Explicit Supply.
The Plan
As the German player I start out with 20 points. The total value of all objectives is 150 points so I will obviously have to eliminate a significant number of Allied soldiers if I wish to get a major victory. There are just 6 turns to achieve victory so I settled upon a very simple plan: The 5th Leichte Division would make a two-pronged attack: one prong along the coast and the other along the road. The 200th Regiment would support this attack with the exception of a small contingent of armoured cars and infantry that would screen the southern flank. I hoped that with a strong attack up the road I would draw off the Allied units I suspected were in the south, allowing me to take the 10-point objective in the south-east corner of the map. Since the default rules call for non-locking ZOC’s, I knew I had a chance to advance past some of the Allied giving me a chance of reaching the 50-point objective at Gasr el Brega in time.
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The Battle Commences
Turn 1
I sent 10 armoured cars and 194 men to guard the southern flank as planned. They encountered some Allied armoured cars which I expected to dispatch in the following turn. Armoured cars were sent racing along the coast and along the road to fix the Allied positions. The lack of locking ZOC’s really comes into play here, allowing me to probe deep behind enemy lines. I started the process of surrounding the objectives (10- and 25-points). Although time is short, I will surround and disrupt, to give me the best possible odds when assaulting the entrenched Allied infantry.
Turn 2
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The Allies counterattacked and I suffered a few disruptions, but nothing terribly serious or worrying (I was down to 15 points though). Image 2 shows the situation at the start of the turn. The Italian and German infantry units to the left of Cemetery Hill (the 10-point objective) were going to move along the coast to attack the other 10-point objective. The units strung out along the road would attack and eliminate the three Allied pockets north of the road. The armoured cars at the bottom edge of the map would move south and east in an attempt to poach the rather isolated 10-point objective. The rest of my screening force would try to wipe out the surrounded armoured cars. I need those points.
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Turn 3
I started the turn with 20 points. I sent one of my armoured car units to scout out the 10-point objective at Bir el Suera and, finding it undefended, occupied it. The fact that the scenario was only six turns long was always a factor in my considerations. I did not want to act precipitously, however I could not afford to dawdle either. I decided to try an assault against the defenders of the 10-point objective at Sebcha el Mneizla. With the Fog of War rules in effect, all I could say was that there were at least 100 infantry and up to 9 guns.
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I needed the almost 1,000 men in the motorised MG battalion and the Italian Bersaglieri to be successful because they were the units I planned to use in the final attack on Gasr el Brega. I was not confident that I could get a significant number of my troops by the Allied units defending along the road. Gritting my teeth I hit the Resolve Assault button and was rewarded with a victory. 49 allied soldiers and 2 guns at the cost of just 2 men to me. After this battle, the rest of the turn was somewhat anti-climactic; I just kept attacking around Cemetery Hill, continuing to attrit the surrounded Allied defenders.
This turn proved to be very successful for me and I had 68 points at the end of it.
Turn 4
This turn I just tried to keep up the pressure. I kept attacking Cemetery Hill and the 25-point objective. An assault on the 25-point site netted 16 kills and 41 captured but the Allies held. I didn’t make much progress this turn, although I was able to further weaken the defenders. I was hopeful that this would allow a breakthrough next turn. By the end of the turn I was up to 82 points achieving a draw.
Turn 5
Cemetery Hill fell to a determined assault from ~550 men supported by 9 Pz IIIg’s. A mixed force of 7 Pz IIIg’s and Pz IVD’s were able to push back the Allied guns blocking the road. This allowed me to move my MG battalion and the Italian Bersaglieri unit adjacent to Gasr el Brega as shown above. You can see the aforementioned units have a combined strength of 934 men, hopefully enough to take the hex next turn. After Cemetery Hill fell, I shifted units eastward so that I could get as bring firepower as possible to bear on the 25-point objective next turn. My score at the end of turn 5 was now 107. This was 18 below a minor victory.
Click on the image at the left to view a larger scale map in a new browser window. Also note this image depicts the new 3D Board Game style counter view of the map.
Turn 6
This turn there were only two battles of any import: Gasr el Brega and the 25-point objective. In both cases my assaults were successful and the objectives were taken. The 75 points I netted from these two victories combined with kill points pushed my point total to 191 giving me the major victory.
Conclusion
I was pleased with my results. For once, one of my plans worked as expected. I knew from examining the objectives and their values, that I needed to take most of them while at the same time inflicting heavy casualties. Reading the scenario description and spending some time before moving a single unit are essential ingredients for success. In this case, I fear that most of the 200th would have been lost in the desert if I had just sent them east and north in an attempt at flanking the defenders. I achieved the major victory (191 points, 16 more than required for a major), however, if either of my assaults on the last turn had failed, it would have been only a minor victory.
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Axis: 145 men, 3 guns, and 7 vehicles.
Allies: 594 men, 12 guns, 17 vehicles.
Although the battle was short, it was sharp and bloody.
I found that the non-locking ZOC’s took some getting used to as most of my play has been with Smolensk ’41 and Kharkov ’42 where locking ZOC’s are used. I found that I was keeping larger reserves than I normally did because I always had to be prepared to have enemy units racing into my rear areas. With explicit supply rules I found that this effect was magnified because one must also guard supply dumps and supply trucks.
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