Mezzeh
Syria
June 19th 1941
History
The
Indians of 5th
Brigade arrived in Mezzeh on June 18th and after heavy fighting took
the town, Lt. Col. Calvert-Jones decided to hold there and set about
defending the place against possible Vichy counter-attacks from
Damascus with the remains of his exhausted two battalions by building
barricades across roads and semi-fortifying buildings. Unfortunately
for the Indians – 3/1st Punjab Regiment and 4/6th Rajputana Rifles, during the advance towards Mezzeh their support and transport elements had somehow got ahead of the
advance and run into a Vichy roadblock position which destroyed most of the trucks and valuable
equipment they carried including food, water and ammunition and vitally their 37mm Bofors anti-tank guns!
Meanwhile
Vichy Col. Le Couteulx who after his success at Kuneitra was now following his orders and withdrawing northeast towards Damascus.
For those who have forgotten my version of the Kuneitra battle is here:
https://baberonwargames.blogspot.com/2018/01/french-counter-attack-at-kuneitra.html
The colonel found
his force behind the Indians, he was immediately ordered to mount a counter-attack and clear the road. Also and most unfortunately for the now trapped Indian battalions, an attack planned by the Free French on Vichy positions on the Qadim heights was delayed, leaving the Indians unsupported! This allowed the Vichy to close in behind the Indians and prevent following units (in this case from 2/3rd Australian Infantry) from linking up and relieving them.
On
the morning of June 19th Le Couteulx`s troops a mix of cavalry,
motorized infantry and lt. tanks supported by artillery smashed into
the Indians. Amazingly they held out for nearly 36 hours, but by the midday on June 20th, except for some isolated positions across the town and the
Brigade`s headquarters which still held out, almost the entire force had been destroyed. With casualties mounting and medical supplies and ammunition exhausted, even though they could here the sounds of fighting south of the town where the Australians were battling to breakthrough; Col. Calvert-Jones surrendered the HQ. Only a small number of officers and men escaped capture and made thier way back to the advancing Australians. The Australians finally fought their way into Mezzah arounf 19.00, only to find the town empty and abandoned except for the dead.
This battle along with the earlier one at Kuneitra effectively removed the entire Indian 5th Brigade from the
Allied order of battle!
The
Game
Obviously
this would be quite a large game, so I decided to fight just a small
piece of it.
One
Punjabi company defending its part of the town centred upon a mosque
and the old police station building Vs a mixed Vichy force of
Senegalese and Circassians supported by a couple of R-35s, a couple
of armoured cars and a truck mounted `75.
Punjabi
HQ
4
infantry platoons with:
10
men each inc Bren team
Support
platoon
Officer,
NCO, 3 ammo bearers, 2 x AT rifle teams, 2” mortar team, Vickers
team
Reinforcements
(turn 8)
Stragglers
- 5 Indian riflemen arrive having slipped through Vichy lines from
another part of town.
Air
support (turn 12)
A
single Hurricane fighter-bomber arrives over the table and can
deliver one bombing run and then a strafing run on any targets of
opportunity before returning to base.
Special
game rule
Molotov
Cocktails – each infantry platoon grenadier has 2 petrol bombs,
Vichy
Company from 17th Regiment Senegalese Infanterie + 80mm mortar team, MMG team (in trucks)
2
Circassian platoons plus MMG team (horse mounted)
2 platoons cavalry du Levant (horse
mounted)
2
x R-35 tanks, 2 x Dodge-Laffly armoured cars. 1 x 75mm mle 1897
montee
Reinforcements
(turn 12) down the road from Damascus
2
platoons of 24th
Mixte Regiment (in
trucks)
1
x R-35, 1 x Renault UE “Coloniale”
My
table
Pétain Parque
Initial
dispositions
To
be fare I allowed the Indians to face the oncoming French threat. The
French decided to use both roads, splitting their Senegalese down
each, with R-35s down the left and the armoured cars down the other.
The cavalry moved down the right, the Levant Specials moving in
towards the road whilst the Circassians moved through Pétain Parque
in a wide flanking manoeuvre.
Indian
positions within the town, they held a fare few infantry in reserve
and tried to cover all approaches with their support weapons and
Brens.
The
first couple of turns saw a general French advance, the Senegalese
searched outlying buildings. The Circassians split either side of the
cemetery.
Turn
3 the leading Senegalese in the centre are hit by fire from the
Indian Vickers! The Senegalese mortar team moving into a covering
position, lose two men to rifle fire and the remaining gunner flees
back behind the nearest wall abandoning the tube, the levant cavalry
also lose a man to a Bren gunner!
Turns
4-5 The Levant cavalry split, half dismounting in the cover of the
parque wall, the rest riding across the road to get into cover (they
take a few more casualties). The French `75 montee targets the Bren
team killing a couple of men, forcing the gunner off his rooftop
perch!
In
the centre the Senegalese Support platoon NCO rushes with a couple of
ammo bearers to recover the 81mm mortar! One of the Dodge-Laffly A/Cs
had an AML50 turret with 37mm gun, this tried to engage the Vickers
(little effect).
One
the left the Senegalese come under fire and take casualties, the lead
R-35 tries to suppress the Indian defenders with its 37mm to little
effect.
In this photo you can see both R-35 and Dodge-Laffly shells failing to dislodge the defenders
At
the end of turn 5 the lead Circassian platoon dismounts and advances
on foot
Turn
6 General firing continues, the French `75 destroys the house where
the Bren team were, but the gunner escapes with his weapon just in
time!
You can just see the Bren gunner running around the corner in this shot
The
Vickers team decides to move off its exposed roof (just in time) and
the Senegalese NCO recovers the mortar.
Turn
7 on the left the Senegalese have managed to flank the Indian
blocking position and wipe it out through combined LMG, rifle, VB
grenades and 37mm fire!
In
the centre with the threat of the Vickers and Bren removed, the
Senegalese and Levant cavalry move forward only to be hit be rifle
and 2” mortar fire!
Turn
8 The Indians get reinforcements in the form of half a platoon of
stragglers, the company CO quickly orders them to the far left, where
it looks as if the Circassians will break through!
In
the centre one group of Senegalese is pinned by accurate rifle fire,
but the `75 montee quickly eliminates the threat!
On
the French left the R-35s now lead the advance, one is hit by a Boys
AT rifle which fails to penetrate! Return French fire is ineffective.
But an Indian grenade thrower makes a heroic action roll and lobs a
petrol bomb onto the nearest R-35 and whilst NOT knocking the tank
out, I rule a morale check for the crew – which they fail
abandoning their singed but other wise intact tank!
On
the French right the Circassians are advancing out of the parque they
roll some impressive dice and clear every Indian in their path!
The
Senegalese and Levant cavalry are only able to shelter in cover as
any attempt to move results in casualties from well positioned
Indians!
Turn
9 The Boys AT rifle once again hits an R-35 and once again fails to
penetrate! This time however the gunner is killed by concentrated
return fire. The Indian grenade thrower again makes his heroic action
roll and attempts to lob another petrol bomb, unfortunately he roll a
double 1 and I rule he drops the bottle and immolates himself – a
sad end to a brave soldier!
Everywhere
else the fighting continues, the French armoured cars are now
beginning to add their fire in support of the stalled
infantry/cavalry. In an attempt to counter this the Indian Subaltern
gathers the company reserves and moves out.
Turn
10 the stragglers arrive on the Indian far far left just in time to
catch a Circassian platoon in the flank! The Indians roll some superb
dice and cut the Circassians to pieces, effectively stopping their
advance.
On
the Indian right the Senegalese move past the R-35s to protect them
from further close assaults, but are immediately caught in a
crossfire from a Bren and the re-positioned Vickers!
The
French centre is still stalled, though the armoured cars are
beginning to weaken the Indian defences.
Turn
11 On the Indian right the remaining R-35 wipes out the Bren team,
but the Vickers still prevents any infantry advancing further.
In
the centre the French mortar finally wipes out an Indian position!
But they are still stalled by others.
Turn
12 the RAF arrive over table, but also arriving from Damascus is a
fresh French column
The
Hurricane targets an R-35 in the open and destroys it!
French
VB grenades wipe out the Vickers team, the Senegalese now have a free
run into the market square…
Turn
13 the Hurricane circles around and attacks the newly arriving French
column, it shoots up a truck, but now out of fuel returns to base.
Fighting
continues in the centre, but the Senegalese on the Indian right bring
flanking fire on some positions causing heavy casualties!
With
the arrival to more armour and fresh infantry on the Indian left and
the right flank collapsing; I felt this was a good point to call it a
day.
After
thoughts
Did
the Indian troops have any chance of victory? I`m not sure some of
the dice rolling for the Vichy with amazing - shooting Indian troops
off rooves or inside buildings! In the same vein the Boys gunner
rolled to hit twice (11 & 12 respectively), but his puny weapon
needed a equally high dice roll to penetrate – which did not
happen.
The
Indians high morale and good leadership meant they never failed a
morale check, whilst the various Vichy units struggled at times to
move whilst under fire.
All
in all once again an interesting, different game.
