Gazala madness! *spoilers*

[Bonners]

Okay, I'll admit to this being the scenario that always had to be the one that had to be got right for me. Too many years ago to mention me and my mate used to play the SPI games and I also had AH's Tobruk; out of the SPI series Gazala always seemed to be the most fun battle to fight. Both of us always made mistakes and with evenly matched forces it was always a good ding dong battle. Then we would re fight the battles at platoon and tank battle with Tobruk, happy days!

....and boy did they get this one right!

Reaching back into the recesses of my memory I tried to recall the mistakes and cock ups of my youth, and tried to get a working strategy to win. I decided that I would definitely do the classic right hook but I would not be put off by lack of supplies and the British line in my rear, I was going to hook all the way round, keep going deep and go straight for Tobruk by the back door stopping for nothing on the way. Meanwhile I was going to stay fairly static on the front line maybe do some odd raids with planes and then have a quick poke around on the northern end of the line as that was where my strongest forces were.

With my main Italian mobile divisions I made the decision to go all out for the Free French at Bir Hacheim, they will not be be bothering me for long. With my right hook I also assembled every German tank I had as I knew I'd soon be meeting up with those pesky Grants. One thing I did do was upgrade one of my PZIVs to an F2, IIRC they didnt get deliverred until right at the end of the battle so didnt play a significant role, but in my mind the Italian Navy came up with the goods so I got them early!

The first turn went badly, which was a sign of things to come. Just like in the real battle my attacks on the main line were uncoordinated, achieved little and ended up losing valuable points to my aircraft which would come back to haunt me later. Down south things went better with my mobile forces sweeping away the screen units and advancing on mass, the Italians were setting up for the assault on Bir Hacheim.

I cant remember the exact chronology of events after that, so apologies if I get some of the timelines mixed up.

After the rubbish attempts on the line on turn one I withdrew all the way along the line appart from in the north where I was determined to use the strong German forces to batter a way through. Batter a way through I did, but it took me about 20 turns. The strong AA defence meant that my airforce was pretty useless and by the time the infantry had taken them out the line was broken anyway, all I succeeded in doing was gobbling up valuable prestige points. I think the attrition went my way eventually, but boy was it bloody.

The Italian assault on Bir Hacheim meanwhile went far better. Massed artillery and much more careful use of the airforce meant that their lines were bloodied and suppressed constantly as my forces inched their way through the minefields, eventually taking Bir Hacheim fairly early on. This was surely an opportunity for exploitation later.

And so on to the crux of the battle, my AK mobile forces down south. As my intelligence predicted I ran slap bang into the Grants, as per the real battle it was not pretty; I was there in force, my airforce was ready and I basically swept over them leaving a few burning hulks in the desert, I even got one salvaged to add to my armoury, everything was going so well.

Decision time, do I back hand the Gazala line or go straight to Tobruk? My nerve held and my forces launched on mass towards Tobruk. It was at this point that things started to get very messy. The assault on Tobruk went perfectly, the AK still sweeping all before them; went in through the back door and there was nothing I could do to stop them. Elsewhere things were going wrong in a big way. The SAS and British para raids on my airfields were a shock, but little more than nuisance value, I caught them mid air and the survivors were easily mopped up by my Italian infantry, which also gave them something to do.

But a more significant raid down South was going to have far reaching effects. I didnt defend my forward airfield (in the South), had by passed the airfields on the way to Tobruk to get later on. I was now left with nowhere in range to land my aircraft. Through careful management (how I could have managed a bit of that earlier!) I managed to only lose one 110 and one 109; but with the rest of my aircraft units depleted the British were now gaining a degree of air superiority. I had a desperate two turns where I was sorting my mess out where my aircraft were basically inactive and the British made full use of this time gradually picking away at my AK units around Tobruk. I eventually managed to stabilise the situation and gained parity in the air, but a lack of prestige left meant that I was never going to gain the air superiority that with a bit of care would have been mine.

Meantime, with me taking Tobruk meant that the Gazala line forces were in full retreat with my infantry units gradually inching their way through the minefields to take the last objectives. Further South, after their brilliant gains at Bir Hachiem I'd taken my eye off the ball with the Italians. They'd inched their way through the minefield only to run head on into the Matildas covering the backside of 150 Brigade Group. I should've taken an early decision to retreat and go back round Bir Hacheim, instead of slugging it out for a couple of rounds and taking losses first. After all their gains I basically tied them to the minefield ruining all my earlier good work.

The final few turns I played were basically a slug fest. My infantry units moving through the minefields were taking out the retreating allied artillery and AA guns with the faster units being dealt with by my stronger units around Tobruk. But with the hammering my units have taken from the RAF it is taking time. Of course there is one other factor still in play, 150 Brigade is still sitting pretty in the minefields across my lines of communication and there is no way I'm getting them out in the last few turns as I'm just not strong enough with no prestige left.

And there I left it last night, I was absolutely exhausted. I will have to play out the final few turns after the weekend, but I cant see how I'm even going to get a marginal victory, my losses are just far too great, which is a good thing......as I get to play it all over again!

I cant tell you how pleased I am with this. To my mind the Gazala battle has been worth the price of the AK add on by itself, just for taking me back 30 odd years to the games of my youth and finding out that I'm still just as capable at making the same cocks ups 30 years on!

[Bonners]

So, as a follow up to that what would I do differently?

I reckon that there is no point going for the main line in the early turns. Similarly it is better to keep the airforce well clear, the AA defence is just too strong and my strategic bombers are not strong enough to suppress it. Next time I think I'll still assault in the North but wait until I have more significant artillery support before doing so, in other words a bit of coordination is needed.

I'll still use the Italians to take Bir Hacheim as I think that went well, but as in the real battle it is not possible for Rommel to dash straight for Tobruk until 150 Brigade is dealt with. So next time I think I'll do the right hook, leave some forces around the airfield to defend against the counter attack and use the rest of the forces to go round the back door of 150 Brigade along with the Italians coming up through the minefield from Bir Hacheim. I should still be in a strong position to win the race to Tobruk as I'll then be sitting across the British lines of communication. Strangely enough similar choices that had to be made in the actual battle....

[monkspider]

Great post! That is funny that you described the battle as exhausting, the first sentence of my write up during beta-testing was that it was "(a) long, epic, and somewhat exhausting scenario". I have played the Gazala scenario three times now and I find it to be one of the toughest of the campaign. I never seem to have enough forces to do all that I want to do. It sounds like you had a similar experience, it really is great scenario.