War for Independence, Fight #3

All,

AKA, the third fight in the Battle of Mar Gush

It is 0505 on 30 March 1948, and while the 2nd Platoon is battling soldiers of the Jordanian Army on the northern edge of the Jewish village of Mar Gush, pickets have alerted Dor Peleg, former Sergeant in the Jewish Brigade, Palmach member returned home, and commander of the 3rd Platoon, of enemy soldiers approaching from the south, where the Nelani River, passing east of the village, cuts back to the west.  The Company commander, Captain Avi Peleg, is in the north with 2nd Platoon, and 1st Platoon is manning the roadblock east of the village on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road, so the 38-year old platoon commander does what he must: he immediately deploys his unit to the southeastern corner of the village, where they occupy prepared positions and steady themselves for the coming onslaught.

Overview, north is up, the village of Mar Gush at top left, a small citrus orchard at top center, a Jewish trench line at top right, Cedar Hill at bottom left, and the Nelani River at bottom center/bottom right.

The opposing forces, with Jordanians on top and Jews on the bottom.  As with the previous fights, the Jordanians will begin with a set amount of troops (16, in this case), but will receive reinforcements during the fight.

3rd Platoon, from bottom left to top right:

Dor Peleg, age 38, former Jewish Brigade Sergeant and Palmach member returned home, Sten
Abel Shitrit, age 19, a village youngster, Sten
Bogdan Shalit, age 21, a university student returned home, Mauser
Alon Shahak, former Jewish Brigade Corporal and Palmach member returned home, Sten
Honi Ashkanazi, age 32, former British Navy Yeoman, Lee-Enfield
Ariel Gantz, age 48, refugee from France and member of French Resistance, MP-40
Daniel Eisentkot, age 51, refugee from Bulgaria, Sten
Yuval Matt, age 17, refugee from Norway, Mauser
Aaron Ayalon, former British Army Paratrooper, Sten
Boaz Efrat, age 20, a village youngster, MP-40
Eran Levy, age 25, a refugee from Poland, Mauser
Isaak Naveh, age 47, village dentist, Mauser

And as I'm typing this, I realize I actually used the wrong figure for Dor.  The bottom left guy clearly has a rifle, and Dor is supposed to have a Sten...  Oh well, Dor's Sten had a malfunction he couldn't clear, so he picked up a spare Mauser, just for this fight.  Have to have the armorer look at that damn Sten...

The point element of the Jordanian Army element, consisting of four Bren teams and eight riflemen.

All the figures are 15mm troops from Peter Pig, and I'm playing these fights using Ivan's "Five Men at Kursk," modified slightly.

Another shot of the map, this time with troops.  The only difference is that now 3rd Platoon is deployed in the trench at top center/top right (north/northeast), and the Jordanians are deployed at bottom center/bottom right (south/southeast).  But things are about to get a little tricky on ya!  Old Dor's a cagey veteran, got a few tricks up his sleeve; let's see how it shakes out.

The Jordanians.  Their plan is to have two Bren teams (center right and top right) lay down fire while the rest of their unit advances.  After an arty barrage.

While Dor Peleg has his entire platoon (squad, really) in the trench, watching the Jordanians approach.  "Incoming!!!"

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!  Jordanian 25-pounder artillery shells impact nearby, but luckily none strike the trench (I rolled, and there were a couple pin/suppress morale results, but no one was hit, and I rolled to see the timing of the Jordanian infantry attack, and they were late, so I removed the morale markers, figuring Dor would have gotten them back in shape).

As a member of the Palmach, Dor had experience in facing off against the Jordanians, and that experience gave him insight.  "Hunker down boys, everything will be alright.  This will go on for another ten minutes, I promise."

Ten minutes went by, and there was a short pause in the firing.  "And now comes the smoke."

KARUMP! KARUMP! KARUMP!  Smoke shells began landing, and with that, Dor was struck by inspiration.  Above the din, he called out four names: "Alon Shahak, Yuval Matt, Eran Levy, and Isaak Naveh, stand fast!"

"Everyone else, follow me!"  Alon, Yuval, Eran, and Isaak remain in the trench, while Dor leads the rest of the platoon north, back into the village (center left, heading off table).  They run west through the village, then cut south...

Emerging near Cedar Hill, which Dor promptly climbs at the double time!  You can see the smoke screen and trench at top right, the Jordanians are off camera to right.  In any case, it appears Dor's little ploy worked, for as he was leading the bulk of 3rd Platoon up Cedar Hill...

The Jordanians were just crossing the Line of Departure, leaving their Jump-Off Positions on the south bank of the Nelani River.

As the Jordanian infantry splashed into the calf-deep water, Dor's flanking element broke into two, with three men moving into firing positions atop Cedar Hill (bottom center left) and Dor leading the remaining four men towards the river (center bottom to bottom center).

The Jordanians are oblivious to the threat to their flank; the two Bren teams (bottom center and bottom right) hammer away at the Jewish trench, managing only to pin one soldier, Alon Shahak.  Though it wasn't spoken, and didn't need to be, Dor left Alon in charge of the men in the trench.  Dor and Alon grew up together in Mar Gush, served together in the Jewish Brigade, and served together in the Palmach before returning to Mar Gush to defend their home.

The Jordanian infantry emerge from the river, and the Jews take them under fire.  Two European Jews recently arrived bang away with their Mausers, knocking down one enemy soldier.  The irony of Jews using German rifles to fight for a nation of their own is not lost on Yuval Matt, the Norwegian, or Efran Levy, the Pole.  Yuval is only 17, and Efran but 25, though both seem far older than their years due to the horrors they witnessed and endured under Nazi rule, but they haven't lost their sense of humor: Yuval giggled as every time Efran missed an enemy soldier, he claimed the Nazis had sabotaged his rifle!

Back at Cedar Hill, the youngsters Abel Shitrit and Bogdan Shalit are atop the hill (left) and firing on the advancing Jordanians, Abel with his Sten and Bogdan with his Mauser, while Dor leads Ariel Gantz and Daniel Eisentkot across the river (far right).  Ariel and Daniel are also European refugees, with Ariel of French descent and actually fighting as a member of The Resistance, while Daniel a Bulgarian who spent time in a concentration camp.  The two old men (Ariel is 48, Daniel 51) carry submachine guns: Ariel because of his familiarity with the MP-40, Daniel because he says his eyesight is so bad he couldn't hit anything if he could only fire one bullet at a time.

Firing downhill, Abel and Bogdan are able to put one Arab out of the fight (bottom left), knock another down (left-hand white bead), and pin one more (yellow bead).  The top white bead is from Jewish fire from the trench.

Boaz Efrat, a 20-year old kid from the village, sprints up Cedar Hill (bottom left) next to Abel and Bogdan, where he raises his MP-40 and sprays at the Jordanians (top right)...

Hitting absolutely nothing, and not even scaring anyone!  This is the moment the Jordanians realize they have a problem on their left flank; a Bren gunner (bottom right) spins and returns fire at the youngsters on Cedar Hill (top left, with Dor, Ariel, and Daniel visible at far left)...

Boaz falls back, suppressed (red bead at bottom left), while Aaron Ayalon, a former British paratrooper (bottom center) raises his Sten and lets off a long burst...

Turns out Aaron is quite capable with the Sten, having carried it during Market-Garden with 1st Airborne Division.  He was actually captured by the Germans in Oosterbeek; he assumed a more 'British' name, ultimately escaping captivity with a handful of comrades in March 1945.  In any case, Aaron's Sten barked and another Jordanian feill (center left), another was knocked down (just above him), another was pinned (yellow bead at top center), and a Bren gunner fell back, suppressed (red bead at top right).

A Jordanian rifleman (2 o'clock from the center explosion) pivots and returns fire...

The rounds zip past as Aaron splashes into the river (bottom center) and Honi Ashkanazi, a 32-year old former British sailor (bottom left) raises his Lee-Enfield and fires back...

Being a sailor, of course he (top right) misses.  His target, a Bren gunner (bottom left) levels his weapon and fires a burst in return...

But he misses too, and Honi goes splashing into the river.

Back at the trench, Alon and his comrades (bottom) lay down fire on the advancing Arabs (top right)...

Two more enemy infantrymen fall (center), and two have seen enough to make them decide to fall back across the river.


*Despite all my 5Core games, I've actually never run into this situation before: I've got guys that need to fall back, suppressed, but they have to fall back across a river, and even being very generous, I don't figure they could make it all the way across.  So I moved them into the river and marked them as suppressed, so when their turn comes up I'm going to make them commit a mandatory move to the rear ,where they can get out of the river, into some semblance of cover, and flop to prone.

The Jordanians in the fields are suffering mightily, caught in a crossfire between the trench in the north and Cedar Hill in the west.  Even more, Dor is aggressively leading Ariel, Daniel, Aaron, and Honi forward in an attempt to cut off the lead element and force the enemy to call off the assault.*

In any case, a brave but pinned Jordanian rifleman (yellow bead at center left) crawls over to his knocked down buddy, rolls him over, and checks him out.  He's good to go, back in the fight.

*That is the goal for the Jews in this fight: Dor has to essentially eliminate the enemy in the southeast corner of the board; as long as there are Jordanians there, enemy reinforcements will continue to arrive.  Or until I get worn out ;)

From the southeast, an enemy Bren gun (bottom right) reloads and hoses down the Jewish trench (top), suppressing the village dentist, old Isaak Naveh.

And while the one Bren team (bottom right) is laying down fire, the other realizes the threat to their flank, so they pick up, dash left, and flop down in a new firing position to counter this threat (we call that a 'supplementary position;' can't believe I still remember that!).

As the enemy Bren team (top right, behind the bushes) drops into place, Dor (bottom left) spots them.  He raises his rifle and fires...

Total miss!  "Dammit, I need my trusty Sten!"  But the enemy is apparently shaken, as they (bottom left) return fire on a clot of five Jewish soldiers and miss everyone (top left)!  At right are the two Jordanians falling back across the river.

They complete their withdrawal, flopping behind the nearest bush.

But the enemy is making progress: slowly the Jordanians in the fields south of the trench are getting their men back into fighting shape, getting their men to return fire.  A pinned rifleman (bottom right) raises up and fires, suppressing Yuval (top center left).  Just to the Jordanian rifleman's right...

The suppressed Bren gunner (right) tries to self rally.

And now he's putting on his water wings!

But fleeing into a river (top right) isn't the best of tactical plans, and the old Resistance member, Ariel (bottom left), guns him down.

But no sooner does he fall than five more Jordanian infantrymen show up in the southeast, immediately thrashing into the river to carry the assault on the trench forward!

From the trench (right), Alon and Eran engage the newcomers in the river (bottom left).  Meanwhile, Isaak and Yuval, lying in the bottom of the trench, suppressed, both try and self rally.  Isaak is good, but the young Norwegian folds.*

*Another first: I've got a guy in a trench that tries to rally, but fails spectacularly.  I could have him run out of the trench, falling back, but instead I decide to keep him in the trench.  But I need to do something more than just keep him suppressed; he's beyond suppressed, more like 'broken,' i.e., completely unable to contribute to the fight or even defend himself, and I decide the only way he's getting out of this state is if a buddy comes over and checks on him.  So, I mark him as 'man down,' and treat him as such, though instead of being knocked down by fire, he's just lying there at the bottom of the trench, a wimpering, whining mass.  If he fails again he will run out of the trench, and if that happens I can pretty much guarantee the Jordanians will spot him and gun him down :(

Somehow Alon and Eran (top left) manage to totally miss the Jordanians in the river (top right)...  Atop Cedar Hill (bottom center), Bogdan raises his rifle and fires on the enemy reinforcements...

Pinning one (yellow bead) and forcing one to fall back, suppressed (red bead).

Back with Dor (bottom left), Daniel pops up and sprays with his Sten, targeting the Bren team that moved over to engage them (right, in bushes)...

But Daniel's firing is wild, totally missing!  The Jordanian Bren team (bottom right) returns fire...

Ariel is knocked down (hard to see, but there's a white bead just above the guy on the right bank of the river at center) and Daniel is forced to fall back across the river (red bead at bottom left)!  Dor (center right) pushes another clip into his Mauser, raises up, and looks straight down the barrel of that Bren, snapping rounds off as fast as he can manipulate the bolt...

Killing the gunner (top right)!  Dor dashes ahead (just left of the tracer).

Honi moves up (bottom left) and fires, and this time the former Yeomen strikes his target, knocking down the Bren's assistant.

With Honi (right) laying down cover fire, Aaron moves up and checks Ariel (bottom left).

But the former Resistance member is out of the fight, and it doesn't look good.  "Dor," Aaron hollered, "Ariel needs medical assistance, now!"

Boaz (bottom left, with Daniel at bottom right and Abel and Bogdan above him) tries to self rally...

He's good, and he immediately moves up to check the old Bulgarian, who's clearly shaken by what happened to Ariel.  But Daniel is able to snap out of it, and he's back in the fight (bottom right).  And then the impetuosity of youth strikes...  Abel (top left) is getting a bit antsy, wants to be a hero.

He charges down off of Cedar Hill (bottom center), Sten gun blazing, 9mm shell casings marking his path...

But he (top right) fails to hit anything, and a seasoned Jordanian rifleman (bottom left) calmly turns, aims, and fires...

Dropping Abel in his tracks.

In the fields, pinned Jordanians continue to crawl to their knocked down comrades, checking them.  But it's not good: one is unconscious and one is out of the fight.  Their buddy (center) sights in on Eran (top center) and fires, but the round simply skips off the parapet.

Wow, that was some seriously bad die rolling!

In the southeast, three suppressed Jordanians (red beads) attempt to self rally: two are good, one only gets up to pinned.  And Eran (top center) is proving quite popular: the Bren team at bottom center right marks him as a target and opens fire...

They (top left) miss and Eran returns fire...

Knocking the enemy gunner down (white bead), a beautiful shot for the 25-year old Polish refugee!  The first batch of Jordanian reinforcements moves up (center right).

The former Jewish Brigade and Palmach comrades, Dor (center right) and Aaron (bottom center left, with Honi at bottom right) spot the movement (top center) and cut loose...

One enemy rifleman goes down and their Bren gunner falls back, suppressed (red bead), but the last rifleman (center bottom) sights in on Eran (top center) and fires, suppressing him!  The trench is in a bad way...

And three more Jordanians arrive and dash into the river (top right).

On the south bank of the river, Honi (bottom left, with Dor above him) fires on two Jordanians taking cover in the bushes (top right)...

He pins the Bren gunner (lower of the two yellow beads at top right), then crashes through the brush, into close combat with the knocked down assistant (bottom left)!

Damn, I missed some pics!  Honi beats the knocked down assistant, moves up, beats the pinned Bren gunner...

Moves up, takes on a pinned rifleman!

And beats him!  In a frenzy, Honi continues dashing forward (center), looking for more victims!  But a Jordanian assistant gunner turns and fires his Lee-Enfield...

And the former British sailor crumples to the ground...

Dor (bottom left) has his view of Honi's escapades masked by the trees, so he's unaware of what is going on.  The former Jewish Brigade Sergeant is more concerned with the endless supply of Jordanians closing in on his men in the trench, and he decides to do something about it!  Dor calmly sights in on the new batch of Arab reinforcements (top right) and begins squeezing off rounds...

One enemy soldier falls (top left), while the other two fall back, suppressed (red beads at bottom right; the guy that just shot Honi is at center bottom, next to the knocked down Bren gunner)!  Dor moves up...

But an enemy rifleman (bottom center) spots him (top center) and fires, knocking Dor down!

Aaron (bottom center) sees Dor (white bead just above him) go down: "Nooooooooooooooo!!!!"  Aaron moves up, firing as he goes...

But the shock of seeing his commander fall (top left) throws his aim off, and the enemy rifleman (bottom right) that knocked down Dor fires again, knocking down Aaron!

Boaz sees Dor and Aaron (top right) fall.  He screams out, "come on, old man, things are not going well, they need our help!"  And with that, Boaz and Daniel dash back into the river.

As they move up (far right), Bogdan (bottom left), still atop Cedar Hill, tries to alleviate pressure on his comrades in the trench (top left).  He fires as fast as he can, cycling the bolt like an old pro, targeting Jordanian infantry in the fields.  He is somewhat surprised to see an enemy soldier actually fall (center left).

Back in the trench, things are ugly, with only Alon (bottom, pinned) still in the fight.  Eran is broken (off camera to right), while Isaak and Eran are suppressed (red beads).  Alon fires his Sten as Isaak and Eran try to get themselves back into the fight.

But things are not going well: Eran manages to get 'up' to pinned, but Isaak, the old village dentist, like the young Norwegian Yuval, fails and is now broken, curled up in the fetal position at the bottom of the trench.  And then insult to injury: Dor's lifelong friend, comrade in the Jewish Brigade and Palmach, takes his toll on the enemy, knocking down two of them (white beads at bottom center/right).  But the sole remaining enemy rifleman on the right flank (center bottom) returns fire, knocking down Alon!  Only Eran is still in the fight in the trench, and he's pinned, with no real hope of getting to Yuval and Isaak to get them back in the fight.

Bogdan snakes his way down Cedar Hill, moving down to check on his friend, Abel (center left).  Abel is bleeding, but tells Bogdan not to worry.

In the fields below the trench, a Jordanian rifleman moves over to check on his buddy (center), when he spots Bogdan (top left), who is busy reloading after charging down the hill.  The Arab raises his Lee-Enfield and fires...

Bogdan falls next to Abel (bottom left), and the Jordanian turns to his comrade (top right); the enemy rifleman is back in action, meaning yet another body has re-joined the fight against the trench.  The situation is precarious...

More enemy soldiers in the fields turn their attention on the trench and the Pole, Eran (top right) finds himself the target of said attention.

Rounds impact the berm, forcing Eran to drop to the bottom of the trench (red bead at far left).  The Jordanian shooter sees his head go down and dashes forward (bottom center).  If any Jordanians manage to get into the trenches, 3rd Platoon is going to be in a big trouble; one man in the trench could easily roll up the pinned/broken Jews in the trench, and then the guys on the south bank of the river will find themselves cut off, exposed, and massively outnumbered.

In the southeast, a rifleman checks the knocked down Bren gunner (white bead); turns out he's already dead.  The two suppressed men (red beads) both successfully self rally.

At this point in the fight, the Jews only have three men still in the fight, and one of them (Eran, in the trench) is suppressed.  Daniel, the old Bulgarian, and Boaz, a village youngster, are the other two, and they are both on the south bank of the river, hoping to get to Dor an Aaron.

And with the Jordanians in the fields focused on the trench, and the Jordanians in the southeast focused on getting their men back in fighting shape, that's exactly what they do.  Daniel and Boaz dash out, grab Dor and Aaron, drag them back behind the trees (center), and check them over.  Both are good!

While back in the trench, Eran has managed to self rally.  And just in time to: the Jordanian rifleman that suppressed him moves up to finish him off, but Eran snaps to and fires...

Putting the Arab out of the fight! 

Wow, I needed that!

A bit to his right, three Jordanians move up towards the west end of the trench, where Yuval Matt, the 17-year old Holocaust survivor from Norway (bottom left) lies quivering.  Eran (top left) pivots, aims in with his Mauser, and fires...

He was able to hit a Jordanian at point blank range, but misses these three...  The enemy troops (bottom left) return fire...

They miss Eran (top center), at which time the former British para, Aaron (bottom center), turns on them (center) and cuts loose with his Sten, dropping one enemy soldier.

But Aaron's (top center left) fire attracts attention from a Jordanian Bren team in the southeast (bottom left), which promptly opens fire on the cluster of Jews on the south bank...

The youngster Boaz falls back (red bead at bottom left), but Daniel (center left, with Dor and Aaron behind him) stands his ground and returns fire, pinning the gunner and forcing the assistant to fall back.

And then Dor (bottom center left) targets the recently rallied Bren team (top right, just behind the one that just fired, whose yellow bead you can see next to the bushes...

Dropping the gunner and pinning the assistant (top right, and you can see the pinned gunner, with yellow bead at center top, and suppressed assistant, red bead at center right, from Daniel's firing)!  Aaron moves up (bottom left), firing from the hip...

He drops another Jordanian, and the two remaining (pinned and suppressed troops) surrender!

Daniel (bottom center) fires to the north, helping his comrades in the trench.  Another enemy soldier drops in the fields.

And Eran emerges from the trench, capturing the last Jordanian still in the fight!

Holy crap, that was close!  The situation was truly in doubt; if Eran hadn't made that incredible shot (with 1D6!) to stop that Jordanian rifleman getting into the trench, it was all over.  You can see I 'cheated' by stopping the influx of more reinforcements, but damn, they'd received plenty of reinforcements already, and nothing in the rulebook says I have to keep feeding them more troops ;)

The fight was fun; it was supposed to be a rather conventional attack-defense fight, the 'right-hook' counter was a spur of the moment decision.  Not sure where it came from, it wasn't the original plan, but it sure added some spice.  I don't know how it seemed to you guys, but from my perspective, when the Jews first came down off Cedar Hill it looked like it was going to be a walkover, and then all of a sudden the 3rd Platoon guys started dropping like flies!  The next thing I knew I was about to have the trench overrun and the guys in the south cut off.  I was already figuring the next fight would be a counterattack by 1st Platoon to re-take the trench and relieve pressure so the guys on the south bank of the river could escape!  But I halted the flow of Jordanian reinforcements, Eran made his heroic stand in the trench, then the guys on the south bank managed to rally and put out some very effective fire both to the east and to the north.  So, all's well that ends well ;)

Anyway, Dor set his boys to the task of policing up the battlefield and taking care of their casualties.  He'd only just crossed the Nelani River when the company commander, Avi Peled, showed up.  Avi lit two cigarettes and passed one to Dor; they both puffed quietly for a few moments, surveying the field.  "Sorry, Avi, perhaps I was a bit too bold."  "No, Dor, stop it.  I demand boldness from my lieutenants.  You did the right thing, it's just that our men are still growing into their shoes.  We'll get there.  I assure you, had you set back in the trench, the Jordanians would have kept coming until you ran out of bullets, then trampled you.  Our only hope was for you to drive them back.  And make no mistake, my friend, it will always be that way."

Dor and Avi then moved out, checking on their men.  They made the enemy suffer: Dor counted the bodies of 21 brave Jordanians, and the platoon captured another three.  The situation for the Jews was as follows:

-Isaak Naveh, the village dentist, was killed in action.

-Ariel Gantz, the former French Resistance member, was hit by a Bren gun three times in the left thigh, which had to be amputated, ending his war.

-Honi Ashkenazi, the former British sailor, was shot in the left shoulder, but is expected to make a full recovery, returning at the end of April.

-Bogdan Shalit, the university student returned home to defend his village, was also hit in the shoulder, but not as bad as Honi.  He should be back in about ten days.

-Abel Shitrit, one of the village youngsters brought up to fight, was his by bullet fragments in the face, he should return in approximately one week.

Well, that wraps this one up.  Next up is 2nd Platoon moving east to eject the Jordanians from their foothold in the village, stay tuned.

V/R,
Jack