Turks Fight for the Draw!

Airstrike!
photo courtesy of Grid based wargaming

Peter and I returned to his WWI Palestine campaign this week to see if the EEF could break through the Turk lines and get back on the march to Damascus.  Peter's account of the action is at A Remote WWI Palestine Campaign Game Report.  We switch from playing on a non-gridded to table to a gridded table in this contest.  Please visit Peter's report to understand the background to both campaign and this battle.  I love Peter's comic style battle sketches as seen in the header graphic!

I would be commanding the Turks once again.  Since Peter said that "a draw is as good as win in this battle", I may have to play for a draw.  Once I saw the scenario and studied the force allocation, I figured the Turks might be lucky to pull out a draw.  To make the challenge even more difficult, the EEF added a unit of mounted camel infantry at the last minute.  The Turks, in this engagement will face armor, artillery, and even airstrikes.  The Turks will have their hands full.

Let's take a look at the battle from the Turkish perspective.

The Turks begin the game with only one unit on table.  I selected the heavy artillery to setup on the road adjacent to the bridge.  All of the EEF forces would arrive on Turn 1.  No Turk reinforcements until Turn 3.  It might be a long three turns. 

EEF advances

By Turn 3, EEF mounted infantry arrive near the bridge and come under fire from the Turkish gun.  The mounted infantry remains mounted and begins taking casualties.  Heavy casualties.  EEF forces are bearing down upon the vital bridge as Turkish reinforcements begin to arrive.

First shots of the battle.  Incoming!

Fighting escalates as the EEF continues to close.  Both Turk guns are now sending shells into the enemy and the machine gun infantry take up position along the wadi.  They prepare for a vigorous defense.  With the enemy pinned at the bridge, the Turks mount a flanking attack using the ford that only they know.  The enemy brings forward its tank screened by the mounted infantry and supported by artillery.  The mounted infantry is being cut to pieces!

Fighting intensifies at the bridge
 as the Turks attempt a flank attack.

Casualties rise in the hot fight at the bridge.

Having suffered heavily from artillery fire, the Egyptian mounted infantry peels off to the left to open a direct line of sight for the armor moving up the road.  The Turks continue exploiting the ford to bring one unit over to the opposite side.

Turks cross the wadi
as the enemy tank makes its way to the bridge.

The Turks keep up a steady barrage supported by machine gun fire at the bridge.  The tank suffers minor damage but presses on.  The EEF, to the front of the machine-gunning Turks, evaporates.  Now, two Turkish infantry units make it across the ford with a third signaling that it may be planning the same. 

As the Turkish flanking force presses on,
the enemy's attack at the bridge stalls.
  Casualties are high.

Seemingly out of nowhere, an enemy airplane is seen overhead.  The plane drops its bombs on the Turks protecting the bridge.  Casualties are frightful.  The air attack silences the machine guns.  They are unable to respond.   

Air attack!

Attacked from the air!
photo courtesy of Grid based wargaming

Still, the fight for the bridge continues with the tank and artillery trading shots.  Realizing the threat to its flank, the EEF begins to redeploy to address this new threat.  The flanking Turks swing about to prepare for action.

Turk flanking force swings into action.

Having its sights set on overrunning the Turkish gun, the tank lurches into action and then suddenly stops.  Boom!  There is an explosion inside the tank and it stops, dead. 

The tank is consumed in a ball of flame and smoke!

Artist's rendering of the moment.
photo courtesy of Grid based wargaming

With the tank dead on the road, the attack against the bridge stalls until units can be shifted over to renew the attack.  While fighting dies down at the bridge, the flanking force engages the enemy.  One Turk pins the enemy to its front as two units move up.  Are these Turks planning to launch a counterattack on the bridge from the enemy's side of the wadi?  EEF artillery shifts from targeting defenders at the bridge to the Turkish flanking force.

Activity switches to the flank attack.

Seeing the Turk mountain gun fall silent to small arms fire, the EEF mounted infantry turns about.  Looks like it is heading back to the village to prevent its capture.  Flanking firefight intensifies as a second Turk joins into the combat.  The enemy has had enough and retires back toward the road.  With the enemy infantry approaching the bridge, the badly mauled Turk infantry falls back. 

Heavy fighting on the flank.

Enemy is forced to retire from the firefight.

With the enemy pressing on toward the bridge, a second aircraft is seen overhead.  Again, the target is the unlucky Turk MG unit near the bridge.  Again, the Turks take a pounding.  This time, however, the defiant Turks crumble.

The enemy moves up another unit of infantry in preparation for storming across the bridge.  After taking so many casualties, the defending artillery fails to fire.  The flanking Turks continue suffering from artillery shelling.  Reaching the village looks impossible.

Turks in the flanking force continue to take fire.

Still, hope remains, and the Turks press on.  An EEF infantry unit is shattered as the Turk MG unit swings around to help interdict attacks across the bridge.  That move pays off and the enemy is cut down from behind.  Only one more enemy unit is within striking distance of the bridge.  That enemy unit moves into position but the clock has expired.

One EEF unit destroyed!

And another!

The Turks press on.

When the smoke clears from the heavy fighting, the EEF still holds the village and the bridge is contested.  A draw for the Turks!  There will be celebrations in Damascus but not by the EEF.  For them, their campaigning appears over.

The Turks hold out and turn back the invaders!

Victory Draw for the Turks!

Another fine game and scenario by Peter.  Good fun with a fight to the last turn and the last die roll.  Many thanks for hosting!  For the Palestinian campaign, this defeat may signal the end to the EEF's offensive.  They will never see Damascus.

What is next?