A motorcycle and infantry of the 2nd Glasgow Highlanders, 46th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division, advance along a lane near Caumont, (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The author was a platoon commander in Normandy (going ashore on D+8) and then a Company 2ic from the breakout until the end of the war (although with six Company Commanders in six months he spent almost as much time in command as any of the ‘permanent’ OCs). He served with a battalion of the KOSB in 15th Scottish Division in 1944 & 1945.
Like all first hand accounts it has a certain pathos to it. Detailed descriptions of people and his interaction with them, like the young sniper he shared a slit trench with under fire in Holland for six hours until the other older more experienced member of the sniper team comes to meet him. Later only the older man returns from the patrol, although the enemy sniper was dealt with too.
If you want to know what infantry life was like then this is worth reading. There is a high level of personal detail, especially of a the author’s first battle experiences in Normandy and of his last where he talks about fighting in an urban area against German paratroopers on the Dutch/German border. There are no feelings spared, the horror and sights and smells of modern war are described. Some of the battle passages are not for the faint of heart.
This is the second part of my offside report on the Megagame Makers megagame ‘Funeral Games II’ which I played in on Saturday. It covered the period following Alexander the Great’s death and the struggle by his successors to attain power. In the first half of the game I played Antipater, until he died of old age in his bed, then I played his heir, Cassander.
Cassander
This afforded me a moment to breathe. I was reincarnated as Cassander, my heir. As it turns out Perdiccas got killed and he became my younger brother Alexarchus. Another player also got reassigned then too and played the middle brother Pleistarchus. We had a short breather and plotted how to establish ourselves as powerful, the downfall of Queen Olympias and the rebuilding of Thebes.
Cassander”s Objectives
Gain control of Macedonia
Expand your power base in Europe as widely as possible
Eliminate Olympias and Alexander the Great”s surviving family when the time is right
Sideline Eurydike and the half wit King Philip III (both dead already)
Rebuild Thebes as a snub to Alexander”s memory
What Cassander Did
Stage one was get some money and some troops. None of the European Macedonians wanted to reward or use Antipater’s heirs. So I took an opportunity to go to Egypt to see Ptolemy who was an enemy of Olympias and had managed to be declared a rebel twice over. He had enough loyal Macedonians with him to be able to hold his own rival Assembly and overturn those decrees.
I discussed my plans with Ptolemy and he agreed to legitimise it if I was successful, but not in advance. That was good enough for me.
Ptolemy made me governor of the province of Judea. This gave me some regular income and somewhere to raise troops. My brothers also managed to gain a fleet (Pleistarchus) and some mercenaries (Alexarchus). I also negotiated with the Greek city states on our project to restore Thebes, and unknown to me Alexarchus was doing the same with Seleucus. I returned to Boeotia having secured funding from the Oligarchs and also permission to raise troops from Demosthenes. At the same time the European armies were preparing to go to Egypt to fight Ptolemy. So I spent some time encouraging this, especially from those that I thought were loyal to Queen Olympias. I spoke to my brothers in law Autodicus and Sippas to try and persuade them to stay in Pella.
In the Spring I rebuilt Thebes with funding from Seleucus that Alexarchus had brokered. I had also got funding from the Greek oligarchs and permission from the Democrats to raise troops in Greece. This gave me a force in Europe and also enough funding to be able to bribe any troops left behind either to join me or to stay out of the fight. All I needed to do was be patient and wait for the fleet to take the army away in the Summer.
As soon as the army sailed for Egypt I was left with the largest force in Europe supported by my two brothers and with three thousand talents to bribe the troops remaining with my brother in law Sippas. As it happened Sippas agreed to join us and we had an uncontested Palace Coup. I immediately had Queen Olympias killed but Cleopatra narrowly escaped before I could do the same to her. I took control of the young King Alexander IV in the hope of gaining legitimacy as his guardian and also showing that I was acting in the best interests of the royal line (if not of some of its members specifically).
We had a brief conversation, but didn’t have enough Macedonian troops to form an assembly. Although we had control of Macedonia we couldn’t call out the levies to ratify our actions. Pro-tem I made myself Regent of Europe, Pleistarchus Governor of Macedonia and Alexarchus Governor of Thrace. I also made Sippas Strategos of Europe. All of this would only stick if others agreed. I was a little surprised when the fleet returned the Army at the end of the Autumn, as soon as they’d heard the news they’d abandoned fighting Ptolemy and returned to Macedon.
First on the scene was Autodicus, another of my brothers in law. As there was time for a storming of Pellas I rapidly negotiated with him and handed over the reigns of office as Regent of Europe to him. In return I was to be the guardian of Alexander IV. However while I negotiated Alexander’s step father sneaked into the Palace and stole the boy and his mother (Roxanne) out. Prudently I retired from Pella to Thebes ‘to ensure no misunderstandings or bloodshed’. I know a massacre waiting to happen when I see one, we were outnumbered 10:1 by the legitimate army. The main thing was that I had survived and was still in possession of my money, army and governorship. Not only that I wasn’t out of favour. Both of the remaining regents were my brothers in law and the next most powerful Macedon was an ally too, at least for now.
Cassander’s troops and money at the end of ‘Funeral Games II’
Today I played in the Megagame Makers ”Funeral Games II” which was the second outing of a classic Megagame of what happens after Alexander the Great dies. As such it involves a mix of military operations, politics and personal relationships to cement power and block others from achieving it.
My starting role in the megagame Funeral Games was as Antipater, one of three regents agreed by Macedonian Assembly in Babylon in the days following Alexander’s death. Antipater was the Governor of Macedonia, Regent and Strategos of Europe and Head of the Hellenic League. The only person with more legitimacy than him to command is Perdiccas, another Regent who is in Babylon with Alexander’s body and the two Kings (Philip III and Alexander IV).
The Belgians on our left were attacked and driven out of their trench line, and retreated towards Calais. The BEF left flank is, although entrenched, hanging in the air again. BEF reserve troops are at St. Omer. A request to the navy is made to bombard Dunkirk. A combined counter-attack will be made by the BEF’s left flank and the cavalry (reserve), supported by heavy artillery and naval bombardement.
Team Control Gloss
The BEF were using the fact that the enemy in front of them appeared to have gone static to rotate and rest their Corps. They also absorbed nine of the 12 available TF Battalions to bring all the Corps back up to full strength after the casualties from their previous counter-attacks and in the retreat afterwards.
Although the Belgian force was liaising closely with the BEF and drawing supplies from a secondary sea head established at Calais the BEF had not realised just how weak it was. It had a battered Belgian Division and a French reserve division in it, making it a very weak Corps (about 60% of the effectiveness of the BEF Corps). The Germans seemed to sense that this was the weak point, or perhaps just chose it because it was the seaborne flank. Either way they hit it with three fresh Corps supported by two heavy artillery units. The odds were stacked against the Belgians and their force simply disintegrated under the weight of the attack.
BEF’s part of the front aint as big as we thought it would be, we cover it to Bapaume.
Team Control Gloss
Well this was where I stopped following the team very closely and handed over to Paul, one of the map umpires, for about 45 minutes. The reason for this was that I was a combined Team Control and High Command Control, and there was a set of private peace talks sponsored by the USPresident Wilson in the US Embassy in Switzerland.
Present for the UK was the Foreign Minister, with a remit to ensure that Belgium was reinstated as per the status quo ante bellum. The other delegates were the German CINC, the Austrian Foreign Minister, a representative of the Czar, the Belgian Foreign Minister, the French Foreign Minister, and the US Secretary of State. (other minor powers were probably represented there also by the game designer, but those mentioned were all player roles).
The military situation at this point was that the Germans were losing in the East, having used most of their military effort in the West. East Prussia had been captured by the Russians. Despite this the Germans were very bullish about their progress and believed that they could hold what they’d taken in the West while re-capturing East Prussia if the war was to continue. Reason wasn’t a key feature of these talks, and in the end Russia and France decided not to pursue them further and walked out. This was after a number of reasonable compromises had been tabled by the British, the Americans and the Belgians. The Austrians were also keen on an immediate armistice and said so at the time.
The conclusion was that the war continued, and the Italians declared war on the allied side when the news of the behaviour of the Germans was made public by the press.
While the talks were going on the BEF used the opportunity of a stablised line to absorb a dozen replacement Territorial Force battalions and managed to rotate its Corps out of the ine to rest them too. Â In addition the Belgians negotiated a deal to re-equip their shattered forces on the French Channel coast with British equipment so that they could share lines of supply with the BEF. The Royal Navy also arranged to deliver these supplied and maintain contact with the Belgians in Ostend and Zeebrugge.
Orders are to entrench from south of marshed terrain In Dixmuiden towards Arras. Right flank tries to attempt a limited attack from Arras and surroundings directioned to the east to conform to the German line. It seems that a solid trench line is being built from Nieuwpoort (Swamped) Dixmuiden, Arras (in German Hands, a salient), BEF will try to widen her covered Area from east from Ypres (still in German hands), towards Arras (still in german hands, but a saillant) to Cambrai, to free up some French troops to attack elsewere. The Belgians are moving to cover our left flank to the coast.
Team Control Gloss
The orders happened mostly as written, but with a small amount of confusion. The Belgians had specified where their left and right flanks would be as places rather than indicating conforming to the British, so there was a slight gap. Fortunately the British had order their cavalry screen to remain in place until the Belgians were there.
Some more confusion, Germans frontline is from the Marsh area (Dixmuiden) to the South, direction Arras (which the Germans appear to have abandoned?) which means that the British advanced somehow without orders to do so. It seems that a change in warfare is taking place, the first trench lines are appearing.
Team Control Gloss
The Germans went firm and started to entrench in front of the British, with more active operations in South East Belgium where the French made a counter-attack and cut off the Western Belgium-France area from railway communications with Germany. This meant that the Germans were unable to advance this turn.
In tandem the British set their cavalry to screen the flank, and being cavalry they found the German front lines and conformed to them. The rest of the BEF remained in their defensive positions (as ordered). ARRAS was still held by the Germans, but the RFC suffered from bad weather and could see the depth entrenchments behind ARRAS so made an erroneous report that it had been abandoned. Had the Germans been able to attack the cavalry screen wouldn’t have slowed them down much at all.
While taking the new positions, the BEF was attacked by the Germans, Arras was lost but the German casualties were high.
British right flank doesn’t have contact with the French. On the political point, the Belgiums requested to the Royal navy to move their toops by sea to Ostend. However, this would bring the BEF in a difficult position again, due to the fact that this would create a gap between BEF’s left flank and the sea.
BEF ‘s base is at Rouen, BEF HQ at Neufchatel en Bray, BEF Railhead at Grandvillers.
We have a gap between Doullens and the North Sea due to the Belgians reluctancy to fill this gap. We request the British Goverment to put some political pressure on the Belgians.
Confusion all around, BEF’s left flank isn’t at Hesdin, but at St. Omer  Indian cav. reconnaissance is making probes towards Dunkirk. Situation is very confusing because BEF command still thought that the BEF was situated from Hesdin to Arras but actually it was from St. Omer to Arras. (With now a Cav. unit probe at Dunkirk. The Belgians (still there!) are helping the Cav. between Calais and St. Omer. Belgiums will probably request supply from the Britsh. French 6th has contact with the BEF’s right flank.
Team Control Gloss
The Indians arrived at ABBEVILLE (having landed a week earlier at MARSEILLES and then moving by rail all the way across France). Despite efforts to rectify the situation the BEF still have two hanging flanks. On the plus side they have a very good logistics supply and munitions are arriving faster than they are using them. Also the first Territorial Force battalions have started to arrive which is allowing them to replace the losses in the regular Corps from the attack on the Scheldt.
At this stage it looked very much like the German Second Army was going to punch through the hole and push towards PARIS while the German 1st Army screened the BEF from intervening. There seemed a realistic prospect that the British would get back on their ship and leave France. The War Cabinet refused the request to move the logistics base from ROUEN to BOLOUGNE on the ground that it was in danger of being over-run. Similarly the BEF moved both its HQ and railhead to be off the route between the Germans and PARIS.
Due to the fact that both the Belgians collapsed to the left of us and to the right of us the French 6th Army were thrown back as well, the BEF was in a difficult position. With bravery and in coordination with the battered Belgium forces a new line of defence had to be formed. After some consideration this line was formed from Montreuil (Belgium Army) and the BEF positioned at the line Hesdin – Arras.
During the last few days lots of german prisoners were made, but we must not forget the casualties on our side. Railhead at Amiens, HQ is moved to Grandvillers.
Team Control Gloss
The BEF made a spectacular fighting withdrawal from the position in the map above. They managed to break contact with the enemy (inflicting casualties on the Germans without taking any themselves). They fell back towards the newly arrived IV Corps which had concentrated at ARRAS. The German 2nd Army (shown above at CAMBRAI) attacked towards ARRAS and captured it (because the British had given the same fighting withdrawal orders to all their forces). Because the Germans didn’t immediately follow up the forward elements of the BEF they formed a line from ARRAS through BETHUNE to ST OMER rather than retiring the entire distance ordered (this was so that they weren’t too far out of contact with the French).
We have attacked the German First Army on our Right flank. They were numerically superior (Five Corps to our three) but we managed to stop their advance and drive them back. In doing this we took significant casualties, almost 21,000 men.
The plan is to keep the riverline Ghent – (towards) Douai, French 6th army will secure our right flank. Belgiums are gasping behind us but still cover the left part (South of Ghent – Antwerp)
Germans advanced (circled our left flank in Ypres, defeating the Belgiums east of our left flank) and at Cambrai (Germans defeating the French?). Threat of encirclement is very sincere. BEF is urgently retreating towards line Hesdin – Arras.
Team Control Gloss
The previous report had been a little worrisome in Horseguards, but the gist was that the counter-attack on the German First Army was going to rejoin the BEF to the French 6th Army. Unfortunately what happened was a major offensive by the Germans. This was stopped dead (and knocked back slightly over the Scheldt) by the BEF, albeit at a high cost in casualties. The French 6th Army didn’t manage to make progress in closing the gap. The Belgians also got pushed back on the left flank of the BEF, and lost contact leaving the BEF with two hanging flanks.
The news of the casualties caused horror in Horseguards and Kitchener, the Minister of War, came out to the BEF GHQ to find out what Field Marshal French thought he was doing. Typically Kitchener didn’t give instructions, although French was left in no doubt that he’d screwed up and needed to make sure that the BEF remained in being (“We’ve only got one army, look after it”).
