The Last Redoubt - Belgium 1914 - part 1

This was a toy soldier game played last week with 54 mm figures, the Belgians provided by me and the Germans by Lloyd. The scenario was more inspired by than based on any particular action but took as its setting the general situation in Belgium in the early weeks of the Great War.

A vast horde of Germans.  This photo by Russell, others by Pete, Martin and myself.

The Belgian Army, having inflicted something of a reverse on the Germans on the river gat is now pulling back in a degree of disarray towards the national redoubt at Antwerp.  In our game we had a Belgian mixed brigade with orders and secret individual objectives as follows:

Overall Belgian objective: carry out an heroic defence and inflict reverses on the Germans.

Nominate three objectives.

 
General J Van Acker (Martin) – 6^th Mixed Brigade
                                                HQ
                                                2 supply columns
                                                Fort Affreuse
                                                3^rd Carabiniers Rgt (-)
                                                                        HQ
                                                                        Inf Co
                                                                        MG Plt
                                                2^nd Artillery Group (-)
                                                                        2 Bty, 75mm guns
 
Personal objectives:     Speak with a French or (if you can manage it) Flemish accent.
Give press interviews and pose for photos, perpetuating the ‘plucky little Belgium’ image.
Be seen to be supporting your subordinates while secretly gathering as much resource as possible for the defence of Antwerp.
Issue lengthy and ‘inspiring’ orders to your subordinates.
  

The fort and it's garrison.  The CO is heroically/stupidly waving from atop the ramparts.

 
Colonel W Bogaerts (Russell) – 4^th Chasseurs a Cheval
                                                            HQ
                                                            2 Cavalry Sqns
                                                            Cyclist Sqn
                                                            Armoured Car troop
                                                5^th Chasseurs a Pied
                                                            HQ
                                                            2 Inf Co
 
Personal objectives:     Speak with a French or (if you can manage it) Flemish accent.
                                    Carry out an heroic action with your cavalry.
Refuse to cooperate with Bresseleers – he is an over-promoted bumpkin who knows nothing of modern war.
Demonstrate the usefulness of armoured cars
  

 
Colonel G Bresseleers (John) – 27^th Regiment de Ligne
                                                            HQ
                                                            4 Inf Co
                                                            MG Plt
                                                            Field Kitchen Co
 
Personal objectives:     Speak with a French or (if you can manage it) Flemish accent.
Undermine the General at every opportunity – everyone knows that job should be yours!
Protect the field kitchen.
Inflict an embarrassing defeat on the Germans.

27 Rgt de Ligne

The all-important field kitchen.  A Cobri (not quite Lego) model.

The Germans had a reserve corps of two divisions with the prospects of a reinforcement brigade depending on dice rolls. The letter never showed up as Corps commander Simon rolled an unbroken run of ones and twos.

Overall German objective: complete the encirclement of Antwerp and prevent it’s reinforcement.

Secretly allocate 15, 10 and 5 VPs to three objectives nominated by the Belgian player.

Lt General E Draeger (Simon) – IX (Reserve) Corps

                        HQ - 4 staff officers, 2 motor cars

                         3 Transport Columns

                         Artillery Rgt 17 – 2 howitzers

                         Feld Flieger Abt 17 – 1 aeroplane          

Personal objectives:  Speak with a German accent

                                 Strut around like the conquering hero you want to be seen as.

                                 Avoid military embarrassments.

Address your troops with the contempt they deserve – they are mostly fat old reservists.

Major General S Dubourg (Lloyd) – 5^th Reserve Division

                                                            HQ

                                                            Cavalry Sqn (2)

                                                            Reserve Inf Rgts 33,44,45 (20 figs each)

                                                            Reserve Feld Art Rgt 37 – 2 guns

                                                            MG Co

                                                            Transport column

                                                           

Personal objectives:    Speak with a German accent

                                    Carry out atrocities against the local populace

                                    Lead your men heroically, from the front!

                                    Win a great military victory

  

Prime targets for German 'frightfulness'.  A convent and....

...a monastery.  Possibly one of the orders which brews beer?

                                   

Major General Colonel S Jeschke (Pete) - 6th Reserve Division

                                                            HQ

                                                            Cavalry Sqn

                                                            Reserve Inf Rgts 141,176,2 (20 figs each)

                                                            Reserve Feld Art Rgt 71

                                                            MG co

                                                            Transport column

                                                           

Personal objectives:     Speak with a German accent

                                    You are a sensitive academic, given to quoting Schiller and                                                 Goethe

                                    Prevent unnecessary casualties on both sides

                                    Lead your men heroically, from the front!

Next time...the battle commences!

Stasi Museum

The Stasi (Ministry for State Security) museum in Berlin is based in the former Stasi HQ.  It felt very familiar from books and TV series such as the splendid Deutschland 83.  Which I'll now have to watch again.

In the entrance foyer is this Barkas B1000.  It may look at first glance like a delivery van and I suppose that's pretty much what it was. The deliveries in question were suspect comrades being delivered for questioning.  The rear compartment is apparently fitted out with five cells (they must be tiny) and space for a guard.  The curtain is a homely touch.

 

What a great wargames table!

Minister for State Security Erich Mielke's office.  Very welcoming.

I liked this photo of a Stasi official with his collection of model aeroplanes.  I'm sure this means they were all nice chaps - right?

DDR Museum

An essential for any visitor to Berlin must surely be the DDR Museum.  This seeks to give a view of life before the wall came down, using photos, artefacts and reconstructions of a 'typical' workers' apartment and Stasi offices.

My favourite exhibit - a Volvo 264TE - as used by a few lucky and 'more equal' comrades.  The top brass preferred 2 and 7 series Volvos and Citroen CX rather then anything produced in the Communist bloc.  This, apparently, showed what a go-ahead country the DDR was.

Spacious office accommodation.  At least that's what I have by comparison with this.

"So comrade, where were you last Saturday?"

That Volvo again.

You might understand why I was drawn to this exhibit.  The toy soldiers are about 60mm, the AFVs about 1/87.  The real question I think is 'who killed the bear?'

And finally....no it's not my hotel room.  If you gave the wrong answers in the Stasi interrogation this was the next stop.

A trip to Berlin

Just back from a few days in Berlin. Here are a few fairly random photos to set the scene. Where better to start than a Prussian Field Marshal. 

The TV tower is visible from much of the city. 

Brandenburg Gate. 

Bundestag, complete with enormous glass dome. 

The finance ministry. A vast edifice originally built as the Luftwaffe Ministry and then taken over by the East German government. 

Speaking of the East - it was a lucky comrade who was allocated one of these apartments in Karl Marx Allee. 

No shortage of beer on offer. Purely medicinal of course, as the weather was damn hot. 

 

Shopping opportunities too…..

Three Frontiers and a Trier

Having set off from Schwebsange, a wrong turn saw us crossing the border into Germany too early.  Luckily there was a roundabout after only half a mile so it was back into Luxembourg for some shopping and a top up of diesel at £1 a litre.  Then off again into Germany, heading for the old - originally Roman - town of Trier.

The Roman bridge over the Moselle.  This is the oldest standing bridge in Germany (we'll not dwell on what happened to the others...) and while the upperworks have been replaced twice, the piers date from 2nd Century AD.  Trier lies on the south bank of the river - the motorhome parking is on the north bank only about a 20-minute riverside walk away.

The view from the bridge - looking east.

Partly concealed by trees and more recent buildings I spotted this c1942 flak tower. Apparently so well built it's virtually impossible to demolish.

A rather older fortification - the Roman Porta Negra.

Teetering next to the dustbin of history was this statue of the least amusing of the Marx Brothers.  He lived here for a while so there are plentiful supplies of Mark-related tourist tat.

Mixed in with rather soul-less postwar edifices are plenty of nice old buildings.

Mrs G commented on the similarity to my collection of HO scale plastic model railway buildings.

Porta Negra again.  It's really quite a substantial edifice.

In the adjacent town museum was this (approximately 1/300 scale) model of Trier.  What a scandalous waste of wargames terrain!