Groupe de Tabors Marrocains

Groupe de Tabors Marrocains

First off I am not claiming to be an expert and what I post below shouldn`t be considered gospel, this is the results of a fair bit of reading both online and various publications. My purpose here is to give some ideas and explain how I built a Goumier Tabor in 20mm for my tabletop.

If we start with the basics, bear in mind orbats and actual numbers of soldiers vary depending on who you read! 

Each  Goumier Tabor (battalion) had between 800 and 1,000 men (with about 80% of these being Moroccan) consisted of:

3-4 Goums (companys) with about 200 men, each with:

Three infantry sections (platoons) with between 40 and 60 men

A command element

Support weapons platoons

A mounted Recce section

A mule supply train 

Three Tabors were grouped together into a Groupe de Tabors Marocains (GTM) consisted of roughly 3,000 men. This GTM had a command/support element - Goum de Commandement et d`engin (GCE) of roughly 300 men with:

HQ and comms team

A protection and pioneer unit

A mounted recce platoon

An anti-tank (I would assume Bazookas) and mortar platoons

Supply train with horses and mules (some trucks and Jeeps in Italy and NWE too).

Four GTMs were grouped together as an equivalent light infantry brigade Commandement des Goums Marocains (CGM)  

Historically things of course seemed to have varied, as an example 4th Tabor under Captain Verlet left Tunisia for Sicily on 5 July 1943 with:

58 French officers, 678 Berbers, 117 horses and 126 mules

For general reading particularly for those using 15mm I highly recommend visiting: 

https://balagan.info/stevens-goumiers-for-crossfire-a-moroccan-tabor-in-italy

A great general overview and some orbat info can be found here:

http://pdbgg240.free.fr/index.php?page=goums

A great thread and discussion on the subject of Goumier orbats can be found on TMP here:

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=405219

Figures and availability in 20mm

First thing we have to consider is figures and availability, now I`m quite lucky to have been collecting for long time. But today there are only a few manufacturers producing Goumiers in our chosen scale -

Strelets (pack M151)

Raventhorpe do an 8-figure pack of Goumier in "Kelly" helmet (Pack SPEC25)

Irregular Miniatures do a couple of SCW Regulares in djellabah 

EWM do some dismounted French Spahis 

Which with a suitable head-swap (these heads are Raventhorpe) will blend in as Goumier. 

Thinking more outside the box, 

Strelets do another set - Foot Rif  Rebels (set 185), some of which could be used to bulk up your units. Obviously only those armed with modern rifles (no Jazzails 😏) are suitable, and the bedouin head-dress is totally unsuitable for Berbers, but this set could add another 6-8 poses, I would trim away swords myself also.

EWM also do some WW1 British Indian Cavalry in greatcoats

 with a little work with a sharp blade and a paint job, at 4ft across a tabletop these could also supplement your force, these include a horse packed LMG team.

These are painted up as Moroccan 7th Division for Tunisia but you get the general idea

It occurs to me also EWM French colonial infantry in greatcoat with Rexa (truban) heads and a little work with a sharp blade could also be painted up as Goumier!

Now because I`ve been collecting for a long while I have Goumier from ranges no longer available or at least more difficult to obtain - Blitz (Battlefield Miniatures), Friend or Foe (Shellhole Scenics), Force20 and Retrokit

Friend or Foe Goumier list

FRE 1. MOUNTED FRENCH OFFICER IN KEPI

FRE 2. 2 FRENCH OFFICERS IN KEPI, NATIVE N.C.O & RADIO OPERATOR

FRE 3. 4 GOUMIERS ARMED WITH LEE/ENFIELD RIFLES

FRE 4. 4 GOUMIERS ARMED WITH STEN GUNS

FRE 5. 2 GOUMIERS WITH DRAWN KNIVES, 1 CLUBBING WITH RIFLE & 1 THROWING GRENADE

FRE 6. BREN GUN TEAMS. 1 TWO MAN TEAM ADVANCING, 1 TWO MAN TEAM FIRING

FRE 7. 2 INCH MORTAR TEAMS, 1 TWO MAN TEAM ADVANCING, 1 TWO MAN TEAM FIRING

FRE 8. VICKERS M.M.G & 3 CREW

FRE 9. GOUMIER LEADING 2 MULES WITH PACKED VICKERS

FRE 10. GOUMIER LEADING 2 MULES WITH PACKED TARGENERAL STORES

FRE 11. 3 INCH MORTAR WITH 3 CREW

FRE 12. GOUMIER LEADING 2 MULES WITH PACKED 3 INCH MORTAR

Figures two and three have been modified by me

Grenade thrower modified

Blitz list French 1st Army Moroccan Goumier 1944/45

To my shame I only ever bought rifle armed figures without helmets - Stuart was very kind and just supplied me with these so I could use them as Rif War era Berbers; though I also buy the Hotchkiss MMG team (the loader got a head-swap). Later on I bought the radio/command set to add much needed comms to my Moroccan 7th Division troops.

BG1
Officer pointing with Sten
NCO kneeling with Sten and grenade
Rifleman running
BG2
Rifleman standing firing
Rifleman advancing
Rifleman walking
BG3
FM gunner firing
Rifleman advancing
Rifleman skirmishing
BG4
Rifleman kneeling firing
Rifleman walking
Rifleman skirmishing
BG5
NCO with Thompson advancing
NCO with Sten gun firing
NCO with Sten gun firing
BG6
Radio man kneeling with Sten
Officer kneeling with binoculars
Rifleman/messenger advancing
BG7
81mm mortar and 3 crew
BG8
Hotchkiss heavy machine gun and 2 crew
BG9
Mule handler and 2 mules carrying assorted baggage
BG10
Mule handler and 3 mules carrying assorted baggage

Blitz pack BG6 

Note I pruned away the RTOs Sten and replaced it with a rifle

Retrokit from France

Produce a couple of odd packs of Goumier in resin - not the crispest or nicest castings, but one can`t always be choosey

The officer is from Shellhole Scenics

Force20 

Produced a couple of packs of Melhala (Spanish irregulars) The figures were nice (if a little small for 20mm), the weapons are very crudely sculpted.

Here I swapped out the Hotchkiss for a nicer more detailed gun.

Building a Goumier Tabor in 20mm

If we first look at Rapid Fire! (be it RF1, RF2, or RFR) , a Goumier Tabor is basically a light infantry battalion so each Tabor would have:

HQ element

 3 off 8-10 figure companies

And support company with:

1 x MMG, 1 x 81mm mortar and a supply/transport unit with mules

My Tabor

Now as most readers will know I don`t play RF as written, I tend to lean more towards its grandfather - Charles Grant`s "Battle" rules from the 1960s. 

With these rules in mind my Tabor orbat looks a bit more like this:

Tabor HQ

3 x Goums (companys)

Eeach with: HQ + 3 x 10-figure sections (platoons in French parlance)

Each Goum is led by a French Sous-lieutenant, accompanied by a Moquaddern (Moroccan sergeant) Each of the three sections is then led by either a Moquadern or a Maoun (Moroccan corporal). I`ve given each section an automatic weapon, either an FM24/29 or BAR

1st Goum

2nd Goum

3rd Goum

Support weapons & supply

2 x MMGs (1 Browning, 1 Hotchkiss), 81mm mortar and a Bazooka team

Attachments

As light infantry the Goumier carried whatever they needed into combat, but could of course call upon support - be it American or Free French armour and artillery. In Italy the Goums had 1st Battalion of 69RAA (Regiment Artillerie d`Afrique) attached to them with 75mm pack howitzers carried on mules, see my post from last year: 

https://baberonwargames.blogspot.com/2024/10/goumier-support.html

Other sources

Mountain Warriors by Edward L. Bimberg ISBN 978-0-8117-3461-5

Les djich dan la campagne de Tunisie by G. Jean-Louis Soulie 

Pamphlet written by a retired former French officer of Goumier who served with them in Tunisia published in 1955 (my copy comes from the MOD library, The Old War Office, Whitehall, SW1)  

La Guerre de Tunisie by Commandant Louis Audouin-Dubreuil

Book published in Carthage, Tunisia in 1944

La Campagne de Tunisie by Marcel Spivak & Col. Armand Leoni published by Chateau de Vincennes 1985

Certainly the best book on the fighting in Tunisia i`ve ever found, superb maps

The film Indigenes

Whilst confusing as the film mixes Goumier with Tirailleur Marrocains in the same unit?? Still well worth checking out IMHO