Today's Toast

The baddest One-Chick Hit-Squad that ever hit town!  That's Coffy!



A BAD DAY FOR THE KAISER'S BOYS




Scenario
Lake Wittelsbach, Africa 1914. On the eastern shore is the colony of German Central Africa, while to the west is the Belgian Congo. The Germans control the lake, due to the presence of the armed steamers, Konigin Luise and Princessin Charlotte. German Intelligence has received unconfirmed reports that the Belgians are bringing their own steamer over land to the lake to wrest control of the waters from the Germans.

Positive action must be taken to maintain the initiative. The Belgians must be kept on the back foot. It is time for action. The Colony's forces will co-operate with the Navy and hit the Belgians hard in a pre-dawn raid.

German Objectives:
1) Verify the existence of a Belgian armed steam vessel, or plans to construct or transport one to the lake.
To that end secure either:
i) A European officer as prisoner,
or
ii) Documents or plans concerning the above matter.


2) Confound and dismay the enemy. Achieve any two of the following:
i) Destroy or burn at least 3 buildings
ii) Rout or wipe out 1 enemy squad.
iii) Disable any enemy artillery.
iv) Destroy all enemy stores.

German Forces

Imperial Navy (Captain Lother Slutter)
The Konigin Luise, armed with a 6pdr gun to provide support fire,
Landing party of sailors led by Leutnant zur See Haas.

Colonial Forces (Hauptmann Pete Koch)
1 squad, Politzei Askaris,
1 band of native "Ruga Ruga" irregulars.



Belgian Forces
Defending the tiny outpost of Port Albert are a small detachment of Force Publique:

Captain Clijsters, Sergeant Henin-Hardenne.
2 squads of Askaris,
1 obsolete rifled muzzle-loading field-gun,
1 standard bearer, 1 bugler.

There is no Belgian steamer. Plans to construct one have been lost in the general confusion of the German invasion of Belgium itself. Likewise, Captain Clijsters' requests for a modern artillery piece and machine gun have come to nothing. He has not been idle though, and has made a start in fortifying the outpost. The defences are not complete, but there is barbed wire and entrenchments facing the lake.

Unbeknownst to the Germans, their attempts to quietly drift into position to launch their attack have been compromised. Some native fishermen have reported the presence of the konigin Luise to the Belgians. Having been stung by false alarms before, he does not rouse all his men. But he has taken the precaution of stationing one squad at the native village, and placing the bugler on the dockside as a look-out.

The game

Opening Moves
The Germans opted to land in two places, a diversionary landing on the Belgian right flank by the irregluars, while the rest of the troops landed on the left amidst the cover of the dense jungle that grew in that area. The Belgians, still unsure as to where any landings might take place, kept their single active squad in the village to await developments. The German plan was for their troops to row to shore silently, under cover of darkness, and launch a surprise strike just before dawn.




The irregulars had been given a free hand to do as they pleased, as long as it caused the maximum mayhem and confusion to the enemy. To a man they decided that the women of the native village were the most important military target. The thought of lying on the soft bellies of Congolese beauties was too much for the poor lads, and they began excitedly chattering about the fun they were about to have, and this quickly degenerated into an argument over who was going to have first dibs on the prettiest one.



Disasterously, all this reached the ears of the bugler keeping watch on the dockside, and so he let rip on his bugle. The game was up already!

The Belgians snapped into action. Sgt. Henin-Hardenne made a quick decision and took 1st Squad to the entrenchments on the right flank, ready to receive the Ruga Ruga. Meanwhile Captain Clijsters struggled to wake the rest of his force. It would be a race against time. Could they get to their entrenchments before the Boche overran them?

Suddenly there was a flash of light and loud crash. Captain Slutter had decided that as he had lost the element of surprise he might as well announce himself. The order was given to begin bombarding the shore. Amazingly, the very first shell hit the dock, and the bugler was torn in two, so his alarm call rather abruptly ended.

The Landings
The irregulars reached the shore first but got a nasty shock. Not only was there barbed wire between them and the lovelies of the village, there was by now also a squad of entrenched Askaris. A vicious hail of fire commenced, killing most of the Ruga Ruga while they were still in their boat. The survivors piled out, crouching in the water and trying to find what cover they could. Their part in the fight was effectively over already. While some continued to linger on for a while, they were all eventually picked off, and play no more part in this tale. That'll teach 'em to keep their minds on the job.



Not long after the main force made their landing, happily out of sight of their enemies. But soon they realised things would be difficult for them, too. They had under-estimated just how difficult it would be to keep control of the men and co-ordinate their movements in dense jungle in the dark.



Subsequent turns

• Captain Clijsters led the gun crew to their emplacement, and decided to stick around to direct their fire.
  
  
• Second Squad reached the entrenchments on the left flank and took up position. There was no sign of the raiders. They were still lost in the bush and struggling to find their way.
  
  
• The Konigin Luise kept up a continuous fire on the shore. Shelling the infantry in their entrenchments and the gun emplacement. Unfortunately, no harm was done.
  
  
• It began to get light, and Captain Clijsters realised he was out-ranged by the 6 pdr. He ordered the gunners to man-handle their piece down the back of the hill, out of sight of the enemy. His plan was to drag it around the base of the hill and position it somewhere where it could hit the enemy steamer.

Still the remaining raiders made no appearance. As it grew light Sergeant Henin-Hardenne realised there was no longer any threat to the right flank, and so sent 1st Squad to join 2nd Squad on the left. He would remain to observe the situation on the right just in case.

posted by Guido 22/01/06 6:47 PM

Now the German attackers would be facing the full might of the enemy infantry, and they were in cover, too. This would have been a sensible time to call off the raid, as it seemed that nothing could be achieved but a tragic slaughter. Unfortunately, Hauptmann Koch and Leutnant zur See Haas weren't the type of fellows to let something like that stop them.

Meanwhile, seeing that his shelling of the shore was having little effect, Captain Slutter decided to take the Luise in a bit closer. Realising that this would now put the old muzzle-loader in range of her, Captain Clijsters reversed his earlier decision and ordered the gun back up the hill.

The two groups of attacking Germans had by now become separated as well as lost, and so their approach to the enemy was un-coordinated, and the attack went in a piecemeal fashion.

First the sailors appeared at the edge of the bush, and engaged the Belgians with rifle fire. But outnumbered, and facing a determined foe, they did not do well. Some Force Publique fellows fell, but many more sailors. Their morale plummeted and the attack stalled. They were pinned down.

The field gun was hauled back into its emplacement, and so the long-awaited duel between it and the 6 pdr commenced. Both guns spat fire at one another across the water. A deck hand was cut to pieces by flying splinters on board the steamer. But the 6 pdr scored a direct hit on the field gun. Two of the crew fell dead, and to the dismay of the nearby askaris, a large chunk of shell took the Captain's head clean off.

This shook the confidence of the Belgians considerably, but they stuck to their task, and managed to finish off the last of the sailors, and also gunned down the Leutnant as he stood there yelling out vague and random orders.

The last act of this tragedy was now playing itself out. When the exhausted German Askaris finally emerged from their trek through the bush, they too faced the vengeful ferocity of the Force Publique. An ill-considered bayonet charge was orderd by Hauptmann Koch, and all too soon it was over. To their everlasting glory, the Askaris never faltered. None refused to charge and not one fled. To a man they fell. Braver fellows the Kaiser never had in his army. None of them seemed to notice that their officer hadn't accompanied them on the charge, either. Now, feeling very alone, Hauptmann Koch realised he was nowhere near as heroic as his men, and decided to try and get back to the steamer. 

The Belgians didn't notice him sneaking off, but they cheered when they saw the Konigin Luise turn and steam away at full speed. But their celebrations were tempered with sorrow, for their beloved Captain was gone...

So while the German's still controlled the lake, they had learned a ghastly lesson about the turn modern warfare had taken. Neither side would be making any easy gains in this new, terrible war.

Final Butcher's Bill
German Casualties: 22 (including Leutnant Haas)
Belgian Casualties:   7 (including Captain Clijsters)



The game was a lot of fun, but horribly one-sided. I suppose the success of the naval gunners against the captain compensated for that a little. The Rules used were In the Heart of Africa, with a bit of Contemptible Little Armies and Space 1889 bolted on to it for good measure. While it was quite nasty, I felt the problems encountered by the Germans conveyed quite a good feel for the era. It seemed almost British in it's complete lack of success, though much of this was down to ill luck. The refusal to accept defeat was unfortunate, but reasonably Teutonic.

Figures were from Foundry, Brigade and Old Glory. The "Louisa" was a Richard Houston original, sold to me via TVAG.  

posted by Guido 22/01/06 6:47 PM