I thought I was going to croak last night

 Earlier in the week my wife got some flu bug.  So I played Mr. Nurse all weeks.  It was like the old Hong Kong flu from the 70's.  I got it late last night.  I swear I puked up my toe nails and more.  Currently I'm a wet noodle in a Chow Main bowel.  Not much to post.  

Oldsarge

Interest twist to playing DVG Tiger/Sherman solo game with ASL counter

 Clement Vatier came up with a interesting twist for Tiger/Sherman solo.  He is using ASL counters. As Clement points out below,

Ok I admit it. I use ASL counters for my Tiger Leader/Sherman Leader Campaign. Just using DVG counter for stat references, but the ASL ones have such an immersive flavor. (And it helps me to keep some tracks directly on board)

Code of conduct for players.

 Nothing more I hate is the folks the wine and complain about the game your playing. If that person doesn't like the rules or the game. Why in the hell are you playing.  For me it is the enjoyment of the game. Playing against friends that enjoy the hobby like I do.  

This should be posted on the wall anywhere you are gaming.  P.S. I hate so called rule experts.  Shit happens just like in life.

Barons War. 1215-127

 I have bought into this game system..  Why because I'm nuts or just lack will power.  Still waiting for my figures to shipped to me from the jolly old UK.  

If you are not familiar with war Barons.  The game is a creation of Footsore minatures.   The original owner and sculptor Bill Thorn has disappeared a short time after he allowed the current owners his name (Footsore).   I had purchases a number Bill's figures over the years from his website.  But back to Barons War.  You can anything or everything about the game here at Warhost :Warhost Barons Wars  The era is Set against a backdrop of a Civil War that lasted for two years, 1215-17, as a result of the issuing of Magna Carta.

These figures and game set can be purchased from Footsore U.K. or Footsore U.S.  Just beware as the UK shop has most, but you have to deal with the postal service..  As of late is Lord save from the postal worker.   

Note there now a game you can use all those Warhammer fanstcy  figures.  That some us bought in the 80 and 90's.   More to come

What is in the pipeline for Advance Squad Leader, (New Releases)

 For my ASL buddies.  Looks like there will be a big hurt on the wallet soon.

Borrowed from another forum , what’s in the ASL pipeline.

MMP, Hollow Legions reprint with desert & Sons of Negus (Preorder 2021)

MMP, ASL Journal 13 with Board 77 (2021)

MMP, Overlay bundle (Preorder 2021)

MMP, Drop Zone Ste Mère Église HASL (2020-21)

MMP, Ortona : Little Stalingrad

MMP, Slaughter at Ponyri (2020-21)

MMP, The Dawn of Eagles, Rotterdam Mini-HASL

MMP, Sword and Fire: Manila 45 HASL (Preorder 2021)

MMP, Chapter E Pack

MMP, Pocket Size Chapter H (2021)

MMP, Pocket Size Charts – spiral bound (2021)

MMP, Rare Vehicles & Ordnance (mentioned ASL J9)

MMP, Sevastopol HASL (mentioned ASL J9)

MMP, The 10th Guards Rifle Division Action Pack (mentioned J11)

MMP, Polish Eagles (tent.) HASL, Poles from 1939-1945 (+Mokra CG, 1 map, 2 geo, 20 scenarios)

MMP, Marco Polo Bridge HASL

MMP, Spanish Civil War

MMP, The US First Cavalry Division Action Pack (2021 ASLOK)

MMP, Supplemental Map Bundle 2 (2021)

MMP, Sparrow Force, The Battle of Timor

Bounding Fire Production, The Devil’s Anvil: Peleliu

Bounding Fire Production, (Late War in Netherlands)

Bounding Fire Production, (North Africa)

Bounding Fire Production, Sangshak Operation U-Go (PTO, Brit/Japanese, HASL, CG & 20 scenarios) – Hathaway & Nogueira

Bounding Fire Production, (PTO, USMC)

Bounding Fire Production, (Scenario Pack Philippines Campaigns)

Bounding Fire Production, (mini HASL, Battle for the Manila Sports Complex, 7 scenarios + CG)

Bounding Fire Production, Operation Neptune

Bounding Fire Production, Mannerheim’s Cross (Finnish Pack)

Bounding Fire Production, East Front Pack

Bounding Fire Production, Recon by Fire 5

Bounding Fire Production, High Ground 3

Lone Canuck, TM Opening the Baltic Gap, 5-6 July 1944, the Soviet Summer Offensive

Lone Canuck, TM Battle of the Hedgerows Lurking Panthers, July 1944, Normandy

Lone Canuck, Grossdeutschland Pack 3 High Tide at Kursk July 1943

Lone Canuck, Red Surge Operation Kutuzov, July 1943, Orel

Lone Canuck, WinPak 3

Lone Canuck, Operation Bagration

Lone Canuck, TM Sacrifice & Courage, Cassino, Jan 1944 ( US 133d Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division “Red Bull” vs. 44.Infanteriedivision “Hoch und Deutschmeister”)

Lone Canuck, Storming Hitler’s Festung Europa – Juno Beach

Lone Canuck, Wacht Am Rhein 2nd Ed, Vol 2 – Hitler’s Last Gamble in the West

Lone Canuck, Operation Martlet Objective Barracuda – Battle for Fontenay le Pesnel, 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division vs Panzer Lehr & 12th SS Hitlerjugend Divisions

Lone Canuck, Hell at Dom Bütgenbach, Hitlerjugend 12th SS-Panzer Div vs the Big Red One.

Lone Canuck, Battle of Lake Khasan, 1938 Russians vs Japanese

Lone Canuck, Brandenburgers Hitler’s Special Forces

Lone Canuck, Elst, XXX Corps’ Highwater Mark

Lone Canuck, Battle for France, from the Somme to the Seine

Le Franc Tireur, Amiens & Abbeville 1940 HASL (PT @ ASLOK 2017)

Le Franc Tireur, Deluxe Pack 2

Le Franc Tireur, Case Green (Czechoslovakia)

Le Franc Tireur, Prokhorovka CG

Le Franc Tireur, Armored Trains

Le Franc Tireur, Tarakan (Borneo)

Le Franc Tireur, Gothic Line

Le Franc Tireur, Le Corps Franc Pommiès (French Resistance)

Le Franc Tireur, Madrid 1937/1938

Le Franc Tireur, Eben Emael + Kanne (German paras in Belgium)

Le Franc Tireur, Stavelot (Bulge)

Le Franc Tireur, Stalnie Prostori II

Le Franc Tireur, Indochine 1946-1954

Le Franc Tireur, Bir Hakeim (Gazala)

Le Franc Tireur, Kohima

Le Franc Tireur, St Nazaire 2, plus the Battle of Bengtskär

Le Franc Tireur, FTC10 Fox Hill

Hazmo: Scenario Pack 1 A World at War

Kansas City ASL, WWI ASL The Great War

New England Volunteers & Yankee ASL, Nor’easter Pack II

Advancing Fire Group, Orsogna (Italy, Gustav Line, December 1943)

Advancing Fire Group, Prokhorovka (Kursk, July 1943)

Advancing Fire Group, Alytus (Barbarossa, June 1941)

Advancing Fire Group, Roma (Italy, September 1943)

Advancing Fire Group, Termoli (Italy, October 1943)

Advancing Fire Group, Counterattacking the Thumb (Campleone-Aprilia, Italy, February 1944)

Advancing Fire Group, Targu Frumos (Romania, April-May 1944)

Advancing Fire Group, Caen, Buron-Franqueville sector (June-July 1944)

Advancing Fire Group, Rauray (July 1944)

Death to Fascism 2 “Not one step back!” (ASLOK 2021)

Sherry Enterprises, Schwerpunkt #24

Sherry Enterprises, Rally Point #19 PTO SK

Sherry Enterprises, Rally Point #20 The Italian Army in WW2

1313

6 Comments

Like

Comment

1956 Sinai War Battle of Ulm Katef-Abu Ageila by Efim Sandler

 Efim Sandler is an amazing History on IDF and Conflicts.  This is one of the early battles of the IDF. A lot of information here. 

SUCCESS ON TOP OF FAILURES

Battle of Um Katef – Abu Ageila, Operation KADESH, 1956

Operation KADESH also known as Sinai War is pretty controversial and many details are hardly known. What can be said that is was the first employment of Armored Corps as attacking force and it actually pretty much shaped the mindset of IDF. During the 8 day campaign the focus of the armored action was placed on the Um Katef/Abu Ageila complex finally taken by November 2, 1956 and by many opinions was a breakpoint of the war in general. Despite common belief armored part of Op KADESH was a set of failures that eventually led to a victory.

On the eve of the Op KADESH IDF forces targeted for breakthrough into Sinai consisted from 38th DIV led by Gen Wallach, that included two armored brigades – 7th and 37th, and two infantry brigades – 10th and 4th. The overall management of the operation was taken by Gen Simhoni, IDF Southern Command CO. The most potent force was 7th (active) Brigade, commanded by Col. Ori Ben-Ari and included 82nd Battalion with three tank companies of total 39 tanks – two of new M50 and one M4A1E8. 9th Armor Battalion with newly arrived 35 AMX-13 tanks in three companies, and 52nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion on halftracks. 7th Brigade was reinforced by 61 Mech Infantry Battalion with halftracks from 16th Brigade. 37th Armor (reserve) Brigade, led by Col. Shmuel Glinka, included 377 Armor Battalion with two companies of Sherman M3 tanks, 266 Battalion with a company of AMX-13 tanks and two mechanized infantry battalions – 278 and 54 (latter attached from 11th Brigade).

On the eve of the 1956 war, Brigadier General Sarni Yassa Boulos, commanded the 6th Infantry Brigade, with responsibility for the defense of Abu Ageila. The Egyptian 6th Infantry Brigade was missing its 16th Infantry Battalion, which general headquarters had withdrawn for service in the Canal area. This move left the 6th Brigade with only two of its organic infantry battalions and the following organization: 17th and 18th Infantry Battalions, 289th Reserve Battalion, 78th Antitank Battery and 94th Antitank Battery (together 22 Archer tank destroyers), 3d Artillery Regiment (16 25-pounders). This force numbered approximately 3,000 men. In addition there were two armored brigades with T-34 and Su-100 reportedly deployed in Bir Gafgaga and Jibel Livneh.

The original plan was to employ IDF ground forces only on D+3 (72 hours) after the opening of hostilities in a ‘limited manner’ aka by airdropping 890 Paratrooper Battalion over the Mitle Pass. The only exception would be taking over Qusmiyah (Kussmiya) by 4th Infantry Brigade, that would serve as a key entry point in case the paratroopers would get into trouble. From the beginning of the action on October 29, IDF command started to spread its armored forces between the units – one company of AMX tanks 9/7 went to 202 Paras acting over the southern route – Quantilla-Bir Tamda. 52nd Battalion was assigned to 4th Brigade that got stuck over Qusmiyah. Here came the major controversy of the operations – the conflict between Moshe Dayan (IDF Chief of Staff) and Brigade General Assaf Simhoni (IDF Southern Command CO). Dayan insisted on holding the ground forces until D+3, while Simhoni did not really get it and believed that moving faster is better. On the other hand, Dayan believed in using armored units as support for infantry, while Simhoni believed in tanks as leading attacking force. Nevertheless 7th Brigade and other ground forces of 38th Division were ordered into Sinai on the night of October 29-30.

After getting over the Qusmiyah, Simhoni ordered Ben Ari to exploit success and move forwards towards Um-Katef. Ben Ari ordered 52 Battalion supported with tank company (assigned from 82 Bn) to get to about 3km distance but not to engage. 52 Bn CO, Uri Rom did not get the order properly and ordered to attack, and ran into precise Archer fire that claimed at least one Sherman. Getting into the spot, Col Ben Ari ordered to stop the attack and retreat. With IDF 7th Brigade already in Sinai, Dayan ordered 10thBrigade to attack Um-Katef and open the route towards Abu Ageila. The order was given without any coordination with 38 Division that led to a disaster. Two 10th Brigade battalions – 104 and 105 both messed up during the night and did not reach their objectives. Dayan ordered 377/37 to move in, led by Brigade CO, Col Glinka. The 37th force included two tank companies and two infantry companies. The tanks lost the direction (or stuck over the dunes) and Col. Glinka decided to perform a frontal attack without tank force. Glinka force entered minefield and was engaged by heavy fire including Archer destroyers. During this attack 37th Brigade lost 20 KIA and 65 WIA including Brigade CO, who later died from wounds in the hospital.

In the early afternoon of the 30th, an important event occurred that proved a turning point in the Israeli attempt to take Abu Ageila. Elements of the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade's reconnaissance company discovered that the Daika Pass was unguarded: the Egyptians had blown up a bridge just before the entrance and then had withdrawn deep into the defile. On learning this, one Israeli reconnaissance platoon occupied overwatching positions, while a second platoon moved into the defile. By 1615, the second platoon reached the northern tip of the Daika Pass, within view of Ruafa Dam some ten kilometers to the northeast. There, the platoon commander observed Egyptian trucks rushing supplies into the main defensive perimeter. Despite presenting a ‘golden opportunity’ to get to the Abu Ageila from the rear, the Daika Pass was a pretty tough objective to manage by armored forces, that did not allow to deploy more than two tank platoons in one line. The passage was led by 61 Battalion followed by 82 Battalion (CO Avraham Adan). Egyptians reportedly were surprised and 7th Brigade elements managed to approach 3km distance from Abu Ageila unnoticed but immediately got under artillery and Archer fire. According to one version with attack succeeded in overrunning the stronghold, upon another version the attack has been repelled and Abu Ageila was vacated on November 1 due to Nasser order to pull all army units to repel British and French invasion. Nevertheless by the morning of Oct 31, 7th Brigade elements managed to take over the Abu Ageila Junction, cutting Egyptian 6thBrigade from El-Arish.

On the eve of October 31, Avraham Adans’ 82ndBattalion was ordered to attack Ruafa Dam and performed an ad-hoc attack by two M50 platoons of A Company (CO Moshe Brill), mechanized infantry company, and Shermans of D Company that was taken back from 10th Brigade. Need to mention that the attacking force could mount only 14 tanks as other elements of 82/7 were sent towards El-Arish to block possible Egyptian armor assault (that never materialized). According to the plan, D Company would perform direct fire support for Brill tanks attacking from north-east while infantry will follow the tanks. There were no time for rehearsal as the sun was going down, and the whole plan messed up from the start. Brill tanks started to receive fire and shifted towards south-west getting in between the direct support tanks of D Company. Adan ordered D company to stop firing and join the attack of A Company. Under heavy and precise anti-tank fire most of IDF tanks were hit, only two tanks and one halftrack reached the lines of Ruafa Dam. Mechanized infantry was cut from the leading force by Egyptian tank fire from the direction of El-Arish and Archers from Ruafa Dam stronghold.

From the memories of Lt. Yakov Maya, D Co, 82/7:

“The two companies began to move, Brill parallel to the road, and Sasson (Mech Infantry) on the road. When the force got exposed to the enemy, two of infantry halftracks were hit and destroyed with many casualties. The tanks of Company A also began to be hit. Brill decided to change the direction going south-west instead. One of the platoon leaders was killed. Suddenly I’ve spotted out Operations Officer running towards me and waving to join the attack. One of our platoon leaders was wounded, the tank of another could not start, thus it was only me. On the approach my loader reported that the breach could not be locked – I ordered to get to the MG and fire. Soon he reported the blocked barrel. I ordered the crew to pull out all hand grenades available in the tank. I fired my Uzi and threw grenades at running Egyptians. And there was a huge blow at the tank – and the tank fell on the side over the Egyptian trenches. Fortunately Egyptians left their positions and we managed to get out safely.”

Despite Ruafa base was overrun by Israelis it was not secured – Adan simply had no resources to clean the area and pulled out all forces to Abu Ageila Junction by 10pm. The attack on Ruafa Dam costed 82nd Battalion 14 KIA and about 30 WIA – half or the casualties was mechanized infantry. A and D Companies lost 7 tanks (half of the force) that were hit and knocked out, several others developed technical issues or threw tracks. After receiving reinforcements and supplies Adan mounted another attack on the early morning of November 1. This time it looks that Egyptian forces left the base. According to Israeli report there were 14 Archers, 7 57mm anti-tank guns, 6 25-pdrs and 4 anti-aircraft guns. Egyptian sources mention lesser amount of Archers – 8-10 and that the whole compound was defended by just one company. According to one IDF veteran – “if Adan would have any intel on Ruafa, he would never order such attack.”

On the night of November 1-2, IDF 10th Brigade completed encirclement of Um-Katef stronghold while most IDF units were directed towards Suez Canal. 82/7 remained in blocking position at Abu Ageila Junction to repulse any incoming Egyptian attack. By the morning November 2 IDF entered Um Katef and found it abandoned. On the same day of November 2, 1956, a tragic event occurred when tanks of A Co, 82/7 spotted a company of M3 Shermans of 377 Bn, 37th Brigade, assigned to 10th Brigade. The M3 tanks bypassed Um Katef stronghold and approached 82/7 blocking positions. Moshe Brill misidentified them as Egyptian tanks due to the leading Egyptian jeep captured and reused by Israelis, and ordered fire from 600m. The company was whipped out with 8 (9) tanks destroyed and about 25 dead. The firefight was stopped by a Piper pilot that spotted the error, landed near 82 Bn to report. This was the worst friendly fire accident in the history of IDF Armored Corps.

The Battle of Um Katef/Abu Ageila and Ruafa Dam in particular was taken as first IDF Armored Corps success in leading the attacking force. A Company, 82/7, received Commendation Medal from 7th Brigade CO, while its commander Moshe Brill was awarded Medal of Courage.

Later Moshe Dayan confessed that his interference into the fight and operation in general while confronting Gen Simhoni, and overruling 38 Division Command caused unnecessary casualties without any significant gains. On the other hand Gen Simhoni was not respective to 38 Division Command as well – he pulled 7th Brigade and then 37th Brigade managing them separately, that actually led to the tragic friendly fire on Nov 2.

Need to mention that Op KADESH accounts are pretty loose in details and even messing up the dates. Many events are covered by extensive layer of propaganda, nevertheless here we have more or less clear picture of the events.

aptured Archer tank destroyer at Abu Ageila

Engineering assets of 7th Brigade. Sinai 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

Col Ori Ben-Ari, during Op KADESH
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

tanks of 82/7 (D Company). Sinai 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

9/7 moving towards Bir el-Hasana. Sinai 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

Shermans in Sinai. October 31. 1956

tanks probably of 37 Brigade, Abu Ageila area. Nov 2, 1956

M50 tanks of 82/7. 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

Destroyed Egyptian Sherman, Sinai 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

AMX tanks of 9/7 at Bir el-Hasana. 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

Victory parade of 7th Brigade, Sinai 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

9/7 moving towards Bir el-Hasana. Sinai 1956
from Ori Ben-Ari archive

captured Egyptian armor after the war, Israel 1957