East Friesland - Battle for Braaga

After the fall of Kovoska, the East Friesland forces were driven back swiftly by the Barovian backed West Friesland army.  Only when assistance arrived from The People's Republic of Hessnovinia began to reach the front line, were the East Frieslanders able to start putting up resistance.

This battle takes place nearly 3 months into the war. A single platoon of East Friesland troops hold the outskirts of Braaga against the onrush of the West Friesland advance.
 

A small platoon take positions along the western edge of Braaga

Outdated East Friesland guns await the order to fire.

 A full company of West Friesland men have arrived in the form of four platoons and a command unit backed up by Barovian armour and guns. They have complete air superiority, allowing the West Friesland bi-planes to fly freely, dropping small bombs, carrying out reconnaisance and strafing targets.

West Friesland platoon with PZIII

West Friesland platoon with old PZIV

Unbeknown to either force, a Hessnovinian company is about to push into Braaga to support their East Friesland allies with armour and vehicles. This element of the 24th Motorised Brigade is just one of the new entrants into the war that are about to change the one sided nature of the conflict.

Hessnovinian C Platoon with half tracks and scout car

Watching his troops advance, Lt Colonel Marc Kruger, in command of the West Friesland forces, signals the light artillery to prepare to fire on targets provided by the forward observers.

West Friesland Command Unit wait on a wooded hill

PAK artillery waiting for fire orders

The West Friesland 1st Platoon of Hawk Company of the 11th Battalion advance along a narrow track while elements of the 2nd Platoon, gunnery and observation close in on a deserted warehouse.

1st platoon  Hawk Company- West Friesland 11th Battalion

Forward Observation Team advance position.

On the eastern edge of the field, the Hessnovinian commander, Colonel Uri Czherjenko commandeers a building with attached garages and orders A and B platoon to move up.

Hessnovinian A Platoon unload in front of command building

B platoon with T34s move up also.

(The picture above shows the platoons gathering. The figures on the right are the command group - where figures placed against a building, they will be considered inside.)

West Friesland had complete air superiority at this stage of the conflict.

Thus the stage was set for the first clash involving Hessnovinian troops directly and one that would lead to a further escalation as Barovian units would respond in kind within a month of this.  On the East Friesland side, then, one platoon of EF light infantry with soft transport, 3 platoons plus command unit, Hessnovinian 24th Motorised Brigade plus 2 half tracks, one armoured patrol car, 2 x T34 main battle tanks and 2 soft vehicles.   On the West Friesland side, 3 standard platoons and 1 artillery platoon with PAK88 gun, 1 command unit with soft transport and command vehicle, 1x PZ1, 1xPZIII, 1xPZIV, 1 half-track, 3 x Fokker Bi-Planes with 2 AP bombs and machine guns. 

The objective - control of Braaga.  This battle represents one small slice of the greater conflict for the town and, as normal in such campaigns as this, the outcome will decide the overall result of this phase of the struggle for the town.  To be continued.....

The Old School House Siege

So.....what a long break from the blog and the wargames table. Life isn't quite as simple as it used to be and priority had to be given elsewhere for a while but here I am, back again to indulge my interests in public;

The Old School House Siege is the second part of a skirmish between invading West Friesland military, a facist power with extensive military capabilties and communist East Friesland.  West Friesland had been bringing troops in on cargo ships for weeks when they launched this assault.  Beset by better armed men, the East Friesland military police battle to retain control of their parliament house.  Meanwhile, ministers slip across the rear lawn to safety.

West Friesland troops push forward

By this stage, the East Friesland MP had lost most of the vantage points. A mortar was shelling them from the hill and reports were coming in that more West Friesland troops had arrived on the outskirts and were now advancing into the railway yards and factory areas of the city.

As the East Friesland force gathered about the Old School House, trying to make best use of sandbags and defensive points, one of the APCs took a serious hit from the PZ1 causing it to catch fire. Moments later, it had brewed up and stood useless, aflame in front of the building.

The mopping up began shortly after. West Friesland troops took up positions all around, including on advantageous roofs and balconies. A last hard core of the communist MPs fought bravely on until the last, making West Friesland pay for the ground but the Parliament building had fallen and a bitter blow had been struck by the old enemy.

Meanwhile, the loss of the majority of the East Friesland fleet had enabled the invasion to move on at a pace backed by the Facist Alliance.  However, the Peoples Republic of Hessnovinia had gathered a fleet task force including a number of troop ships ready to come to the aid of their much smaller ally.

Meanwhile...in the Gulf of Caranthia

Where was I?  It's been a hectic month. So hectic, I managed to miss my appointments for progress and chemo because I had it so fixed in my head (and on the calendar) that they were this week.  There has been bowling on most days and as Club Captain, that means a lot of work as well as play plus a wedding reception there which wanted planning out, the usual coaching, a 99th birthday and life..... all of which tends to trump wargaming and its preparation.

Anyway, let's get the story of this alternate/fantasy earth-like planet and its wars back on track. There was a facist attempt in progress to overthrow the communist government of East Friesland and unite the two island states into one.

While the struggle went on for control of the capital, Kavoska, a West Friesland naval force was inbound for the port of Hajukja, intent on landing facist re-enforcements.  Barring their way in the Gulf of Caranthia, the East Friesland navy, such that it was.  That force now sailed southwards to intercept.

The two forces were largely destroyers and, in the East Friesland case, torpedo boats. Although West Friesland had a battleship, it was an old, out of date ship that could not keep up with the fleet. The cruisers and light cruisers were the key capital ships. After that, it was down to the lighter units to use torpedoes to cause damage.

West Friesland swiftly turned eastwards, aiming to use the channel north of Hornsbergen to make their approach. Forming into a core flotilla, the cruisers sat in behind a screen of destroyers.

At this stage the wind was blowing against the West Friesland fleet (from the east) but not strongly. The West Friesland command, sighting the enemy through the slight haze, decided to throw out a screen of smoke to cover a rapid move ahead by the cruisers.

Meanwhile, the East Friesland ships had split into small sub forces intending to try and catch the enemy on the hop with its torpedo boats.  The issue was to be proven that old torpedo boats were too slow to keep up so by the time they arrived in position, the battle was largely decided.

                                                                                                                                                   
The first blow to East Friesland was their advancing light cruiser Scheilander moved in to fire on the lead WF destroyer, Patozec but the destroyer swiftly turned across her bows and let go with a full spread of torpedoes which the marker above shows put four of five in with a chance of striking.

The effect was devastating and shortly after, the cruiser listing badly as she tried to escape, sunk as more torpedoes slammed into her. The West Friesland flotilla pressed forward and soon, the second EF light cruiser was ablaze.  One by one, the EF ships were sent to the bottom or forced to pull off and run, damaged badly by WF fire and torpedoes. One of her light cruisers, Jacolek succeeded in destroying one WG ship and damaging another but took so much damage in reply that she had to steam south-east, running for Parvik with what remained of the fleet.

The cruiser can be seen heading south and torpedo boats still stretching to reach the battle. Heroically, the EF Minesweeper "Dornica" blocked off pursuig ships, striking with her light gunnery before running aground on a sandbank after her bottom and hull were torn apart by torpedo fire.

The battle was done and West Friesland troop ships soon broached the channel accompanied by the old battleship, "Kempvert" which would offer a floating artillery platform to support the landing.

The East Friesland torpedo boats use the islet as a cover before pulling out as West Friesland ships take position  to bring the troop ships through.

The battle was decided not by the longer range guns, which largely proved ineffective, doing little damage before the ships closed to torpedo range where the West Friesland destroyers with multiple tubes did a lot of damage at close range to light cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats alike. The torpedo boats by comparison with less tubes and a need to fire forward to cause most damage were no match.  East Friesland's fleet was outnumbered and outgunned. It proved that intent was not enough at sea.

The result of this encounter was twofold.  First, West Friesland were able to make a landing and set down re-enforcements to continue the invasion of East Friesland.  Secondly, East Friesland's ally, the People's Republic of Hessnovinia ordered the Vostagrad fleet to sail south, protecting troop and supply ships carrying equipment and troops bound for East Friesland. One of the world's major powers was about to intervene directly to prevent its communist ally from falling.  With a Barovian fleet approaching and also a North Maravaal flotill heading into the area, the clash of beliefs was about to widen the conflict way beyond and old rivalry.

It was as the military analysts had been predicting.