Fao Landing Part II

The battle is over and the British have started their long march north towards Baghdad, or they will once orders are released from the India and Colonial offices.

For now the reports show the Ottomans were tenacious trying to get through the Indian troops and escape to Basra. Losses were heavy for the Turks with half of the force dispersed and the rest captured.

This was an interesting scenario getting me back into the If the Lord Spares Us, rule set. Artillery was limited with the HMS Espiegle involved in a friendly fire incident. Machine guns were not used as was done historically. I am working on rules addenda that will include reinforcements and recovery for the campaign.

What is known in this 2014 study is the British have landed their Brigade north and west of Fao to reorganize for the advance on Basra. Leaving their mountain guns on the transports. Limited intelligence will be a major influence for the campaign. From the Brigade two companies were dispatched to protect the oil facilities around Mohammerah and an additional company acting as porters and guarding Fao. With a fifth of the companies on other duties Brig-General W. S. Delamain Indian Expeditionary Force 'D’ is already diluting his attack force.

I am finding this to be a slow but educational study on the campaign.

Up next, Johnny Turk strikes back.

The landing has finally taken place at Fao.

Brigadier General Delamain has launched the long awaited landing in the upper Persian Gulf having taken place a month late. The British landing was conducted at the telegraph station of Fao instead of the beaches around the fort. This allowed the Indian Army to get a jump on the Ottomans.

British and Indian units have secured the telegraph station causing the Ottomans to be out of communication with Basra. The troops are now advancing against the fort attempting to disperse the Turks with fire from the HMS Espiegle. Unfortunately the Turks were not aware of the plan as they continued on to the village little slowed.

More to come from the field shortly.

On to Baghdad - Line Up of Battles

I have worked through the first set of battles for the campaign. They will start with the Landing at Fao and go through taking and holding Qurna (Battle of Eden). For the Indian Army, they need to continue to win. At worst they need to ensure they do not lose.

The reasons are simple. The Royal Navy can offer some protection in covering a defeated Indian force, yet if the loss is significant; there is limited naval transport to remove a defeated army. Without the facilities at Basra the British are looking to retire to one of the Persian Gulf islands, possible without all of their army. Surrender would be devastating and could give strength to anti-British feelings among the Arabs, Indians and Afghans.

For now we will assume that the Indian Army will be victorious against the Ottomans. Why of course they will be. This line up sounds more like a football lineup than a list of battles.

• Landing at Fao
• Sanniya – Possible Counter Attack
• Saihan – Reconnaissance in Force
• Sahil – Attacking a fortified Objective
• Basra – Saving the City from Looters
• Qurna – Securing Basra from the North

Next up, were do the British land. A very good question.

Drilling at Fao

The Ottoman troops are drilling in and around the Fao fortifications. They are ready to fight for Allah and the Ottoman Empire. At least until the HMS Ocean shows up. OK while I would love to add in a pre-dreadnought, we will have to settle for the Cadmus-class sloops.

Back in the USSR

A funny thing has happened recently with my Blogger account. I am getting more traffic from the old Soviet Union and Warsaw Pac countries than ever before. This part of the world as well as China is difficult for westerners to generate interest in blogs and other Social Media. Yet Russia, Ukraine and Poland has generated a great deal of traffic for me with Russia being in the top five most days.

The reason appears to be yandex.ru the Russian Internet company. While I do not read Russian I am impressed in the look and feel of their site. Very clean and easy (I assume) to navigate. With 60% penetration in Russia and operating in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Turkey this is a search engine bloggers and SEO professionals should not discount. The company has also opened an office called Yandex Labs in the San Francisco Bay area.

While I have not received any comments from my eastern European readers I appreciate the traffic and look forward to hearing from them. My recent On to Baghdad project may spur some interest as the Russians will make an appearance I am certain in Persian. But that is for another blog after I paint up the troops.

Armies by the Numbers

One of the biggest issues with running any historical campaign is working out the numbers of troops fielded by both sides and making that work with the rules you are playing with. If a rule set calls for each figure to represent 20 real troops, does that include officers and NCOs. What about the followers still found in early 20^th century armies.

And then there is the battle with intelligence itself. How many troops are really there. Looking at the four battalions in General Delamain’s force in November 1914 it is easy to figure how many stands I will need.

Unit	British		Indian		Followers
	Officers	Other Ranks	Officers	Other Ranks
2nd Dorsetshire	22	875
20th Punjabis	13		19	808	45
104th Rifles	13		19	809	43
117th Mahrattas	12		18	808	45

This comes from the Official History.

Yet my rules call for smaller stands. I can live with this as units will have troops detached and conducting other duties. This will give the Indian Regiments 12 stands and the 2^nd Dorsetshire 16 stands which is in line with the rules, If the Lord Spares Us.

And then on to the Ottomans. Here there are a few intelligence issues here. The Indian Army was lacking good coobarated intelligence on the ground with most information coming from Arab forces looking to curry favor with both the British and Ottomans. Often at the same time.

This is what is known in the Basra to Kuwait area from September 1914 on ward to the landing at Fao in November.

• September 1914 – 8,000 rifles, 500 sabres, 58 guns and 6 machine guns in and around Basra.
• It is latter reported that there are two regiments between Fao and Kuwait.
• A further report showed 3,600 infantry, 1,000 gendarmerie and two batteries of guns in the Basra - Kuwait area.
• The Shaikh of Mohammerah is able to bring 5-10,000 rifles to the fight (presuming on the British side.
• The Shaikh Kuwait was able to bring an additional 16,000.
• 38^th Division and gendarmerie were known to be the only troops between Baghdad and Basra once troops were redeployed towards the Caucasus Front when the Ottomans entered the war.
• Major Radcliffe from Kuwait sources had the Fao area holding 400 troops and seven to eight guns.
• The Shaikh Kuwait reported that mines were received for the waters off of Fao.
• Lastly there are the Turkish sources. Fao had 110 rifles, four guns and no machine guns.

These are assumed to be a mix of local Arabs and Ottoman troops.

For the Ottomans I will go with small companies of three stands each compared to the British four and Indian three. The number of companies is undetermined.

So how do we run this? I think very carefully. General Delamain knows he has over whelming superiority and has the Royal Navy to assist. But in any good game there has to be a certain level of uncertainty. Do the Ottomans have machine guns? Will the warships be able to bring in a barrage prior to the landing? Are the Ottomans trained or just a rabble?

In the end I am going with a random events/forces chart (to be seen in the next Lardies Christmas Special) for the beginning of this campaign. Will General Delamain win? I think so as it will be hard to stop the British from advancing on Basra and possibly Qurna. Hard, but not impossible.

On to Baghdad - The Teams

Here we have the players. Each has its weaknesses and even a few strengths. It will be a long hard slough but I am sure the British will be in Baghdad by Christmas, just not sure which year.

Indian Army 
This is the basis of the British forces in the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia. The Indian Army was responsible for this area as well as east Africa, yet it does not appear they have a plan on what to do. Most of the army plans dealt with the Northwest Frontier. This army up until the siege of Kut Al Amara operated on a shoe string logistical budget. At one point it was thought that all that was needed to take Baghdad was two divisions, one on the offensive and a second defending the supply lines. They were wrong by several factors.

Ottoman Empire
The Sick Man of Europe, but in the words of John Young in the Holy Grail, I’m not dead (yet). The Ottomans and their army were fighting well above their class, doing respectably against the Russians, British and French on four fronts. Good on the defensive, the Allies should be wary of these troops.

Persia
The Persian Army was an army in name only. They had trouble maintaining their frontiers from Russian and British forces as well as internal brigands. This was a land of intrigue were German and British spies operated in the open. Easily fodder for another game. Easy to throw together a border force for Through the Mud and the Blood but I see little likelihood of a larger force being put on the table. Than again…

Russian Empire
They have a strong interest in Persia and the Ottoman border areas. Easy enough to add a Cossack unit or two to the mix. FYI, the Cossacks were used as part of the police force in Persia. Like the Persians, not a main player, but there are possibilities.

Wild Card Forces, There are so many here…and a few that could be a surprise.

Heading North

For those interested, and if you are reading this I assume you are, On to Baghdad is a historical campaign that I will be running over the next few months. It will be using 15mm miniatures from my collection and hopefully others that I can bring along with this insanity.

My figures are a mix of Mini Figs and Peter Pig. I know there are a few others but they were bought on a lark and I forget the companies. We will also see small craft and some trucks and cars as they were used in Mesopotamia at the time.

Terrain is easy as the campaign is fought mostly in a flood plain and I have buildings from doing Aqaba. Rules will be a mix of the Lardies’ Through the Mud and the Blood, and If the Lord Spares Us.

Please follow along for battle reports, how to build river craft and most important how we do against the history.

Next up, the Fort at Fao.

On to Baghdad

As the Germans advanced deeper into France the British Empire was unifying to assist the home islands. The Indian Army while looking to support operations in east Africa and in France also looked at protecting the oil refineries in Mohammerah for the Royal Navy.

The Persian Gulf for decades was considered the domain of the Royal Navy and the Indian Army. It surprised no one when the HMS Espiegle and HMS Dalhousie arrived in the Shatt-al-Arab protecting British interests.

While the Ottomans were concerned at this intrusion in what they considered their territorial waters they lacked a navy to enforce their claims.

On the 5^th of November the Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’ arrived to protect the facilities and the next day landed at the old fort at Fao.

This blog will follow the advance north to Baghdad in real time using historical sources, period media and miniatures. Lots of miniatures. Together we will fight the battles as the Indian Army advances On to Baghdad.