February 8, 2025

How (Not) to Win at North Africa ’41 – Part 4

Zachary Grant, 26 January 2025

Welcome back to the next installment of How not to Play! Turn four was an action packed and complicated turn, so I’m breaking it into two separate articles. In the last turn, the Allies were falling back and intent on protecting their ports in Tobruk and Bardia. At the same time, the Allied commander was constructing a hasty fortified defense south of Tobruk at Bir el Gub and continued to advance as many of their reinforcements as possible from Alexandria to the front lines. 

The Germans were attempting to maneuver between Tobruk and the Allied defensive position at Bir el Gub in order to encircle Tobruk and cut off its line of supply. Due to their own lack of supplies, and not wanting to engage in unnecessary combat, the Axis tried to block the 11th Hussars who found themselves a wee bit too far west from their retreating comrades in their attempt at slowing the Axis forces from advancing.

Allied starting position for the first impulse of turn four

most images can click to enlarge

Events of the first impulse

Using all available means of transportation at his disposal, the Allied commander trucked and shipped as many units to Bardia as possible. He also snuggly tucked as many Allied forces as he could within Tobruk’s defenses. The brown line outlining Tobruk doesn’t just outline Tobruck’s perimeter, it also prohibits the attacker getting the tank shift bonus in combat. The 11th Hussar Recon battalion easily evaded the German units trying to get behind it and extended the defensive line the Allies were trying to create south of Tobruk.

After the movement phase, the Allied commander didn’t engage in combat. For the time being supply was good, in fact it was excellent. Why? See the Port of Tobruk? See the Port Status at level 4? That means the Allies can support twice as many units as the Tobruk port capacity, so eight. This is going to come back to haunt me later in the game.

At the end of the Allied first impulse, Tobruk is preparing for a possible attack and Allied troops are staging in Bardia to react to whatever the Axis does next.

Allied positions at the end of the first impulse of turn four. Observant readers will notice our mistake of placing two delay markers adjacent to each other, which isn’t allowed in the rules. What can I say, it was our first game. Mistakes were made!

 

Now it is time for the Axis to continue their advance. My intent was to continue my encirclement of Tobruk. As I wrote in the last article, I was beginning to realize a battle of attrition was not going to go well for me and I needed to focus on maneuver warfare instead. I was also appreciating how difficult maneuver warfare is when part of your force isn’t mechanized and your logistical system is tenuous and not able to support the rapid advances you wish to make. I’ve read about the North African campaign multiple times in history books, so this wasn’t a surprise. It just becomes a wee bit more tangible when you experience it in the game you are playing.

Axis starting positions for the first impulse of turn four.

 

For my event roll I obtain a Resource Point. Knowing I need more supplies to support my efforts, I immediately convert the truck unit in Tripoli into a Mobile Supply Unit and send it off to the front. It is able to get to Msus, which is a welcome sight. I use the special transportation rule to send two trucks from the front back to Tripoli so they can bring on more supplies and more of the Italian troops waiting in Tripoli.

This is the latest episode in a running playthrough of North Africa ’41 from GMT Games; you can find the links to all published episodes at the end of article, with new ones each Sunday

In Italy, I have a panzer battalion and the 104th motorized infantry regiment from the German 15th Division, along with supplies and Italian armor replacements waiting to embark to Tripoli. I convoyed everything but the German infantry regiment to Tripoli and I sent the 104th infantry regiment directly from Italy to Benghazi. This requires spending the Resource Point I just acquired; however, I think it’s worth it to get this unit closer to the front. I successfully transported the Axis reinforcements and replacement from Italy to Tripoli. The panzer battalion and supplies arrive safely and the stevedores in Tripoli begin to unload the supplies and direct the German panzers to their next staging point. The 104 Regiment had a slightly more exciting journey!

In order to sneak past Malta I need to roll two six sided dice and hope for a low result. I roll boxcars! Ugh, rolling a 12 was not what I wanted or needed. This means I need to make another roll on the Anti-Shipping Table to determine if the unit arrives unharmed at Benghazi. Luckily, the result is in my favor, so the 104th infantry regiment arrives in Benghazi without incurring any losses and I’m sure a harrowing tale of how they just evaded the British Navy.

Wishing to get as many Italian units on the map as possible, I use a naval transport to ship the Savona 15th regiment to Benghazi. They arrive without incident.

The rest of my movement phase is used advancing the German panzer units around Tobruk to cut off its supply lines. While doing so I try to arrange the German battalions to prepare for any counter attack from the Allies outside of Tobruk or from within Tobruk itself. I know solidifying my siege of Tobruk is going to take time, which I don’t have, so I use the Flak battalions to provide as much defensive support as possible to the weakest parts of my advance. I try to maintain a supply line for the advancing panzer battalions, knowing that the Allies probably have the same idea I have: isolate German units from their supply to make them less effective and easier to eliminate. The end result is a tenuous line around Tobruk. The supply line to Tobruk is cut; however, the encirclement is fragile in places and I’m concerned the Allies will counter attack in order to cut off my supply too.

Axis positions at the end of the first impulse of turn four.

 

Events of the second impulse

The Allied event roll is a bombing raid and he immediately uses it to bomb Tripoli. The raid is a success and I lose a Resource Point. Because I don’t have any Resource Points accumulated in Tripoli, I am now at -1 RPs. Wunderbar.

I can only imagine the radio chatter between the forces in Tobruk and the Allied forces at Bardia. Where to best attack the advancing Germans? How can we reopen our supply lines? The decision is made to attack at Gambut, where the Germans have two panzer battalions, the 2nd motorized machine gun battalion and the I/5 panzer battalion from 5th Light Division.

Two brigades from the 4th Indian Division, the 5th & 11th infantry brigades, supported by Matildas from the 4 Royal Tank Regiment, (RTR) attack from Bardia. Simultaneously, a group of Allies sallies forth from Tobruck to attack from the west. The attacking forces from Tobruk are a diverse group: the British 22 Guard brigade, the 3rd Indian motorized infantry brigade, the 3rd Hussars all supported by more of those monstrous Matildas from the 7 RTR.

The Allied counter attack begins!

 

The Allied commander isn’t taking any chances and launches an all out attack. In addition to the ground forces involved, Tobruk’s artillery lends their firepower along with the RAF providing valuable air support. The final advantage is from the Matildas themselves, which have a slightly better tank rating than the panzers of I/5 battalion. The final odds are 6:1 in favor of the Allies, and then the battle begins.

The Allies final combat plan, with artillery and air support.

 

With all this firepower at their disposal, the Allies are unlucky. The combat result does not allow the Germans to attempt a determined defense, which allows defenders to ignore retreat results, and the German must retreat four hexes; however, the Germans don’t suffer any losses during the battle.

Combat result, with the Germans only suffering a DR4 and the Allies granted an advance of hour hexes if possible.

 

This is extremely lucky for the Germans. What is even more fortunate for the two panzer battalions is they have an escape route. If the Allies had placed a unit directly in front of the Germans, the panzers would have been eliminated! Let’s examine the situation in detail:

Retreating units are allowed to enter only one hex that has an enemy zone of control (the hex outlined in orange); however, they can’t enter two EZOC hexes. If a unit must pass through two EZOC hexes, (the second hex outlined in purple) it is eliminated. Nor can the unit enter overlapping EZOCs. There is an overlapping EZOC in hex 2941, (the hex outlined in red) so that isn’t an exit route. Finally, units can’t retreat through enemy units. If the only path of retreat is through an enemy unit, the defender is eliminated, (again the hex outlined in orange).

Red hex = overlapping EZOC, orange hex = EZOC, purple hex = second EZOC hex. The panzer battalions are just barely able to squeeze out from the Allied attack.

 

The only way of escape is forward! If the Allies had placed a unit directly in front of the Germans, even if that unit didn’t participate in the battle, the German couldn’t retreat through them and both panzer battalions would have been wiped out. Sehr Glücklich!

The two German battalions realizing they are the focal point of the battle and in over their heads, retreat as best they can. They might have failed in their mission to cut off Tobruk and they are at least in one piece, able to fight another day, if they can survive their full retreat. The Allies can now advance after combat and the forces from Tobruk take up positions at Sidi Rezegh.

There isn’t much ability to advance after the battle and the forces from Tobruk maneuver to Sidi Rezegh to threaten the German line of attack.

 

Conclusion & Discussion

The Axis find themselves in a bit of a pickle. The tip of their spear has been blunted by the Allied counter attack. Two German panzer battalions have been badly roughed up and are in full retreat. The Italians are still slowly advancing to support the main German attack and Axis supply is limited. How can the Axis forces get out of this mess? Return next week to see the exciting conclusion of turn four!

Allied positions at the end of the second impulse of turn four.

 


NORTH AFRICA ’41 AAR
PART 1 ~ PART 2 ~ PART 3 ~ PART 4 ~ PART 5 ~ PART 6 ~ PART 7 ~ PART 8


Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web.
You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

2 thoughts on “How (Not) to Win at North Africa ’41 – Part 4

  1. You writing is very clear and unambiguous and one of the best session reports I’ve ever read. The maps are excellent too.

Tell us what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.