by David C. Isby - Russ Giffordrussgifford.net/MovesScans/Moves10/Vehicles_Soldiers.pdf · by David...
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14 VEHICLES IN SOLDIERS by David C. Isby The age of the internal combustion engine was just beginning in 1914. As the automobile had only been recently invented, there was no widespread military use of it. In the fifteen or so years preceding the outbreak of the Great War, however, just about every nation experimented with arming and armoring automobiles. In most cases, these ideas were quickly forgotten and to most people, the armored car was an invention more at home in an H.G. Wells novel than a modern battlefield. Most nations attached touring cars to their headquarters to take officers on inspection tours. The Germans, however, took the precaution of making every motor-truck in the Reich liable to call-up, and in 1914 these were used for carrying artillery ammunition from railroad stations. German cavalry divisions also had a few unarmored civilian sports cars for scouting, each manned by a cavalry officer with a carbine and his chauffeur. These were fairly successful in the scout role in northern France, although they were dead when faced with any sort of resistance. The Belgians armored many civilian automobiles and used these for reconnaissance, although they were not much better than the German types. The Belgians also produced a genuine armored car, the Minerva, which was not widely used in the 1914 campaign and most built were sent to Russia. The only real users of motor vehicles in 1914 were the British. Earlier armored car ideas in Britain met the same resistance as they did elsewhere. Britain was, however, more "motorized" than any other European nation. Most important, the British had Winston Churchill, Lord of the Admiralty. Churchill was often looked upon in 1914 and afterwards, as an advocate of impractical ideas such as machine guns, heavy artillery, armed airplanes, and armored vehi- cles. While the Army brushed these things off, Churchill was awake to the possibilities of these new inventions. Hence, by 1914, Churchill had assembled an interesting force: eight armored cars, Rolls-Royce, Lanchester, and Peerless types under Lieutenant-Com- mander Samson. To get them into action, Churchill attached them to the Royal Naval Air Service, under the premise that they were to be used for rescuing downed pilots, which they were in' fact used for on at least one occasion. The real purpose, however, was for Churchill to get his "toys" into action as soon as possible. The "toys" as they were derisively known at the time, each carried a .30 calibre British Army machine gun, some carrying a second gun in reserve. Weighing about four tons, they could still make between 45 and 60 miles an hour on a road. At its thickest, their armor was nine millimeters thick, only slightly thinner than that of the first tanks which were not to appear for another two years. Their wheels were bullet-proof, as was the whole car, by virtue of its armor plate. The Rolls-Royce model was used, with but minor modifications, by the British Army until 1941. The armored cars landed, along with a Marine brigade, at Dunkirk on 26-27 September 1914. They moved inland to the Lens sector. In this movement, the Marines were aided because they had been issued, before leaving England, with a number of London buses. These red, double-deck type "B" buses had been borrowed from the London Transport com- panies, and the drivers and conductors enlisted into the Marines. Churchill sent these buses, still in their red paint, down to join the rest of the Marine brigade. This proved to be an excellent idea. Once the Marines were established, they became responsible for providing information onGerrnan troops in the "race to the sea," troops trying to get around the allied flank. The armored cars and the buses proved their worth in the scouting around Lens, and on 30 September, the armored cars and some troops carried in buses, along with French troops, repulsed a strong German cavalry probe on the road between Motbeque and Cassell. Later, as the front solidified, the armored cars were sent into the Ypres salient. They were just about the only type of unit that could survive reconnais- sance missions in the area. They were also, on at least one occasion, used to spearhead an attack. By this time, the army had also become convinced of the value of motor transport, and they grabbed all the buses and drivers the Marines had left. The buses were used throughout the war, gaining the nickname "Old Bill" after the Bairnsfeather cartoon character, a bedraggled old soldier. The armored cars became less useful as the front entrenched. Their great weakness was that a three-foot ditch could stop them, and the trenches proved an insurmountable obstacle. The increased artillery fire also make life difficult for the armored cars, so they were, in 1915, shipped off to Gallipoli, where the hilly terrain made them ineffective. Armored cars were, however, kept in France until the end of the war. Although they were not to see any real action until the British breakthrough of 8 August 1918, Churchill's "toys" had opened the eyes of the army to the fact that armored fighting vehicles were possible, and in 1915, development started on the tank, a new weapon that would alter the face of the war. In the following Soldiers scenario, the player can see how the Armored Car, in its few actions in 1914, made a lasting impression on the British staff. It is not only included for its historical importance and for being good "games" but so that players could see what it wasliketobea "Panzer Leader," -1914style. [6.!°1 12 [~O[ 15 RULES FOR VEHICLES In Soldiers there are two types of vehicles armored cars and buses. Only British Naval and Marine units were equipped with such vehicles. Bus units may be used to transport infantry or Machine gun units. Armored Car units cannot transport other units but function as mobile machine gun platforms (A) Vehicle units may move only on Road Hexes or through Clear Terrain Hexes. (B) Up to one Infantry or Machine Gun company may be transported by a bus unit in a given Movement Phase. (C) To pick up a "passenger" unit, the bus expends four Movement Points and the "passenger" unit expends two Movement Points. The "passenger" unit may move to the hex which the bus is on or the bus may move to a unit's hex to pick it up. No actual movement on the map is accomplished by the Movement Point costs of boarding the bus. (0) Leaving a bus requires the bus unit to expend an additional four Movement Poin s and the passenger unit must expend two Movement Points. Again no movement on the mapsheet is accomplished by this Movemen Point cost. (e) When a unit is moving on board a bus place the bus unit on top of it. A unit may en its Movement Phase on board a bus. (F) Units may not fire or "observe" fire wh ::: being transported in a bus. (G) Bus units defend with the Defens= Strength of "2" regardless of the type of hs they are in. If a bus unit is "eliminated" transporting a unit, the unitlsl are as.: "eliminated." If bus units are "disrup while transport units the "passenger" units considered dropped-off before a "disrup ec marker is placed on top of them. The bus _ itself may not move in its next Movem=r Phase. (H) Armored Car units are armed with Ma Guns. They have the same combat ca ~ as British Machine Gun units; i.e.. their A~ Strength doubles against units three or ==- (continued on fJi'fi7
Transcript of by David C. Isby - Russ Giffordrussgifford.net/MovesScans/Moves10/Vehicles_Soldiers.pdf · by David...
14
VEHICLES IN SOLDIERSby David C. Isby
The age of the internal combustion engine wasjust beginning in 1914. As the automobile hadonly been recently invented, there was nowidespread military use of it. In the fifteen orso years preceding the outbreak of the GreatWar, however, just about every nationexperimented with arming and armoringautomobiles. In most cases, these ideas werequickly forgotten and to most people, thearmored car was an invention more at home inan H.G. Wells novel than a modern battlefield.Most nations attached touring cars to theirheadquarters to take officers on inspectiontours. The Germans, however, took theprecaution of making every motor-truck in theReich liable to call-up, and in 1914 these wereused for carrying artillery ammunition fromrailroad stations. German cavalry divisions alsohad a few unarmored civilian sports cars forscouting, each manned by a cavalry officerwith a carbine and his chauffeur. These werefairly successful in the scout role in northernFrance, although they were dead when facedwith any sort of resistance. The Belgiansarmored many civilian automobiles and usedthese for reconnaissance, although they werenot much better than the German types. TheBelgians also produced a genuine armored car,the Minerva, which was not widely used in the1914 campaign and most built were sent toRussia. The only real users of motor vehicles in1914 were the British.
Earlier armored car ideas in Britain met thesame resistance as they did elsewhere. Britainwas, however, more "motorized" than anyother European nation. Most important, theBritish had Winston Churchill, Lord of theAdmiralty. Churchill was often looked upon in1914 and afterwards, as an advocate ofimpractical ideas such as machine guns, heavyartillery, armed airplanes, and armored vehi-cles. While the Army brushed these things off,Churchill was awake to the possibilities ofthese new inventions. Hence, by 1914,Churchill had assembled an interesting force:eight armored cars, Rolls-Royce, Lanchester,and Peerless types under Lieutenant-Com-mander Samson. To get them into action,Churchill attached them to the Royal Naval AirService, under the premise that they were tobe used for rescuing downed pilots, whichthey were in' fact used for on at least oneoccasion. The real purpose, however, was forChurchill to get his "toys" into action as soonas possible. The "toys" as they were derisivelyknown at the time, each carried a .30 calibreBritish Army machine gun, some carrying asecond gun in reserve. Weighing about fourtons, they could still make between 45 and 60miles an hour on a road. At its thickest, theirarmor was nine millimeters thick, only slightly
thinner than that of the first tanks which werenot to appear for another two years. Theirwheels were bullet-proof, as was the wholecar, by virtue of its armor plate. TheRolls-Royce model was used, with but minormodifications, by the British Army until 1941.
The armored cars landed, along with a Marinebrigade, at Dunkirk on 26-27 September 1914.They moved inland to the Lens sector. In thismovement, the Marines were aided becausethey had been issued, before leaving England,with a number of London buses. These red,double-deck type "B" buses had beenborrowed from the London Transport com-panies, and the drivers and conductors enlistedinto the Marines. Churchill sent these buses,still in their red paint, down to join the rest ofthe Marine brigade. This proved to be anexcellent idea. Once the Marines wereestablished, they became responsible forproviding information onGerrnan troops in the"race to the sea," troops trying to get aroundthe allied flank. The armored cars and thebuses proved their worth in the scoutingaround Lens, and on 30 September, thearmored cars and some troops carried inbuses, along with French troops, repulsed astrong German cavalry probe on the roadbetween Motbeque and Cassell. Later, as thefront solidified, the armored cars were sentinto the Ypres salient. They were just about theonly type of unit that could survive reconnais-sance missions in the area. They were also, onat least one occasion, used to spearhead anattack. By this time, the army had also becomeconvinced of the value of motor transport, andthey grabbed all the buses and drivers theMarines had left. The buses were usedthroughout the war, gaining the nickname"Old Bill" after the Bairnsfeather cartooncharacter, a bedraggled old soldier. Thearmored cars became less useful as the frontentrenched. Their great weakness was that athree-foot ditch could stop them, and thetrenches proved an insurmountable obstacle.The increased artillery fire also make lifedifficult for the armored cars, so they were, in1915, shipped off to Gallipoli, where the hillyterrain made them ineffective. Armored carswere, however, kept in France until the end ofthe war. Although they were not to see anyreal action until the British breakthrough of 8August 1918, Churchill's "toys" had openedthe eyes of the army to the fact that armoredfighting vehicles were possible, and in 1915,development started on the tank, a newweapon that would alter the face of the war. Inthe following Soldiers scenario, the player cansee how the Armored Car, in its few actions in1914, made a lasting impression on theBritish staff. It is not only included for its
historical importance and for being good"games" but so that players could see what itwasliketobea "Panzer Leader," -1914style.
[6.!°112 [~O[15RULES FOR VEHICLESIn Soldiers there are two types of vehiclesarmored cars and buses. Only British Navaland Marine units were equipped with suchvehicles. Bus units may be used to transportinfantry or Machine gun units. Armored Carunits cannot transport other units but functionas mobile machine gun platforms
(A) Vehicle units may move only on RoadHexes or through Clear Terrain Hexes.
(B) Up to one Infantry or Machine Guncompany may be transported by a bus unit in agiven Movement Phase.
(C) To pick up a "passenger" unit, the busexpends four Movement Points and the"passenger" unit expends two MovementPoints. The "passenger" unit may move to thehex which the bus is on or the bus may moveto a unit's hex to pick it up. No actualmovement on the map is accomplished by theMovement Point costs of boarding the bus.
(0) Leaving a bus requires the bus unit toexpend an additional four Movement Poin sand the passenger unit must expend twoMovement Points. Again no movement on themapsheet is accomplished by this MovemenPoint cost.
(e) When a unit is moving on board a busplace the bus unit on top of it. A unit may enits Movement Phase on board a bus.
(F) Units may not fire or "observe" fire wh :::being transported in a bus.
(G) Bus units defend with the Defens=Strength of "2" regardless of the type of hsthey are in. If a bus unit is "eliminated"transporting a unit, the unitlsl are as.:"eliminated." If bus units are "disrupwhile transport units the "passenger" unitsconsidered dropped-off before a "disrup ecmarker is placed on top of them. The bus _itself may not move in its next Movem=rPhase.
(H) Armored Car units are armed with MaGuns. They have the same combat ca ~as British Machine Gun units; i.e.. their A~Strength doubles against units three or ==-
(continued on fJi'fi7
29VEHICLES IN SOLDIERS(continued from page 14)
hexes distant, they may fire over units, theymay interdict two adjacent Clear Terrain hexes.
(J) Armored Car units have a DefenseStrength of "seven" except when in Townhexes. In Town hexes their Defense Strengthis "twelve."
(K) Only Artillery and Machine Gun units mayattack Armored Car units. Machine Gun unitsmust be in an adjacent hex to fire on armoredcar units. Artillery units may attack armoredcars up to their maximum range.
(Ll Each Armored Car unit must be attackedindividually Results affecting other units in thesame hex as an armored car unit have no effecton the Armored Car unit. Results of attacks onArmored Car units also do not effect any otherunit in the same hex.
1M) If an "e" result is obtained in an attack onan Armored Car unit the unit is destroyed. If a"c" result occurs the Armored Car unit mustuse all its Movement Points to retreat in itsnext Movement Phase directly away from theunit that fired on it. It may not fire at the end ofthis retreat movement.
IN) Armored Car units require two unusedMovement Points to fire in the Fire Phase aftertheir Movement.
IP) Armored Car and Bus units may never gointo Improved Positions or enter Entrenchedhexes.
(0) Armored Car and Bus units may not be inthe same hex with Mounted Cavalry units;otherwise vehicle units do not count towardstacking limits at all.
FRENCH AND BRITISH REPULSE OFGERMAN PROBE, MOTBEOUE-CASSELAREA (30 SEPTEMBER 1914)The British Marine Brigade landed at Dunkirkto help safeguard the flank. They brought withthem their armored cars, the first of their type.The Marines scouted from their base at Casselwith Commander Sampson's eight armoredcars accompanied by Marines in comman-deered London buses. Cooperating with theFrench 63rd Independed Chasseur regiment,they repusled a probe by units of the German9th Cavalry Division, who ran when they sawtheir carbine bullets bouncing off thearmored cars.
ORDERS OF BATTLE. ALLIED6 French infantry companies, 2 Frenchmachine gun sections, 4 armored cars, 3 busunits, 2 British infantry companies, 2 Britishmachine gun sections. DEPLOY first. AllFrench units deploy in Wood H. All Britishunits enter the mapsheet by road 6. All Britishunits may be carried in buses at the start.
GERMAN12 cavalry squadrons, 1 cavalry machine gunsection, 2 gun batteries. DEPLOY enter themapsheet turn 1 from the northern edge,anywhere west of the railroad. MOVE FIRST.
GAME LENGTH12 Game-Turns
VICTORY CONDITIONSThe Allied Player wins if there are less than 3undisrupted German units south of the canal atthe end of the game.
The German Player wins if the Allied Playercannot fulfill his victory conditions .••
