JUL I and II, 1915
North Africa
Italian forces continued their aggression in July. To buff their army’s strength, colonial officials replaced the colonial light regiment, albeit in unsupported form. The leading Italian rifle brigade seized an undefended Sirte. The metropolitan light regiment slipped further east along the coast, toward Sirte and a range of oases that it could raid regularly to further reduce Sanussi manpower inflows.
That reduction would be useful because in July 1916 the Sanussi accrued probably the most manpower they could, 4.5 points, due to control of many tribal areas in the Sahel as well as almost every oasis in the Sahara outside Rio de Oro. The Sanussi, however, suffered somewhat from having a camel unit in the replacement pool and being unable to replace it due to the limitation of having no more than one camel unit in play per friendly-owned camel recruitment hex. The Sanussi did replace 1-6 and 1-2-6 irregular brigades from the eliminated while isolated pool, for five points of manpower. Further Sanussi expansion promised little more gain, but they nonetheless continued their outward creep into Chad and to within movement range of Senegal.
African natives continued to rebel more strongly as the war passed, with the lone tribe in Portuguese Guinea both rebelled and immediately expanded to level-2 in July.
Central Africa
French forces started the end of the Cameroon Campaign in July by upgrading a colonial mountain brigade from 2-3-6 to 3*-4-6, landing it in Victoria, and overrunning the German battalion defending Duala.
German loss: 1*-2-7 jaeger battalion and the Cameroon supply network
The French then mostly boarded ships and moved to the southern Cameroonian port of Kribi, from which they could more easily overrun or attack the Germans south of the major river in August.
British forces continued the conquest by attacking Bertua at the far eastern end of the German position. Maximum odds and a long-prepared tactical plan resulted in complete victory for the British.
Entente loss: SP
German loss: 1*-2-7 jaeger battalion and SP
The British then shifted their logistical support to come through Duala via a division of native porters, so that their campaign could continue in August.
In response to defeats on both ends of their line, with no supply network, German forces in Cameroon resigned themselves to eventual defeat. The jaeger battalions, two and a half regiments worth, assembled in Jaunde with three supply points and 30 newly-created general supply points. The construction regiment, unable to reach Jaunde, marched away southeastward to cause any trouble it could. Behind it, the garrison of Jaunde looked forward to a 15 month siege and a dramatically better than historical performance.
South Africa
While clustering for protection the Portuguese nonetheless continued to oppress the nearest rebel tribe and finally reduced it from level-2 to level-1.
South African forces, awaiting the October invasion, edged northward to better overawe the natives.
Free of Portuguese and Boer influence for the first time, the Mbunda tribe in southeastern Angola promptly increased its rebellion from level-3 to level-4 and fielded the first African unit on the DJ05 map. It naturally moved westward to influence a neighboring tribe to follow in the Mbunda footsteps.
German forces shifted northward and slid past the seaward Portuguese “flank” to position for an attack across easier terrain in August.
East Africa
Inspection of the replacement cost chart indicated that German units are cheaper by about half than their strength would indicate. That being the case, the Germans in East Africa promptly replaced 2-4-7 machinegun battalion and upgraded a 1-2-7 to 2-4-7 strength. Those two units, entrenched on the main invasion route from Mombasa and supported by the lone German artillery unit, then freed all the jaeger riflemen to protect the other invasion routes into central Tanganyika with truly formidable strength. British forces in Mombasa could only watch in dismay and pray the Germans would not roll the dice and attempt to win the campaign in one fell swoop.
AUG I and II, 1915
North Africa
Italian forces continued their aggression against the Sanussi in August as their units achieved the appropriate arrangement, in coastal strongholds, from which to raid outward in the future. The Italians aimed to either tie down additional Sanussi forces to hold the oases near the coast or to deny the manpower from communities there to Sanussi recruiters.
Two British colonial regiments, a British irregular brigade, and a French light battalion departed the Cameroon Campaign to contest Chad with the Sanussi.
Sanussi forces continued their growth and aggression too. Near Senegal, Sanussi quartermasters distributed batteries of modern German mountain guns to three brigades of previously unreliable, now enthusiastic camel cavalry (1-0-7C to 1*-7C upgrades). After moving into a central position in August, the Sanussi facing Senegal could either drive to the Atlantic coast and attack a French garrison near Rio de Oro, or attack a part of the French frontier defense in Senegal proper in September. Meanwhile, northeast of Lake Chad, where British irregulars from Cameroon had gone to raid Sanussi-loyal oases, the Sanussi dispersed the band after light combat. The British were pleased because the Sanussi paid for the victory and the British wanted to re-recruit the band in East Africa.
Entente “loss:” 1-6 irregular cavalry brigade
Sanussi loss: SP
Central Africa
German forces in Cameroon consumed four general supply points in the Entente initial phase and three in the Central Powers’ initial phase.
British and French forces hermetically sealed the German force in Central Cameroon into its one-hex pocket, preparatory to placing them under siege in September. The British could not achieve an attack with plausible odds (1:1 with -1 modifier would be achievable but lunacy) and the French would not risk irreplaceable units for uncertain gain in a 3:1 attack to probably exterminate the Germans the quick way. The remaining French units in western Cameroon moved back to the coast and began taking ship to Mombasa, where the first five units arrived before September.
A stray French unit from southeastern Cameroon and the garrison regiment of Gabon combined to isolate the stray German construction regiment, so that it could not draw supplies late in the month and immediately surrendered.
German loss: 0-1-5 construction regiment, isolated
South Africa
Portuguese forces in central Angola converted a supply point into general supplies, to offset the effect of the Germans having disassembled both the local supply network and the two eastern Portuguese stacks’ link to any port.
South African and British colonial forces continued to wait in northern Namibia for the word from London to invade Angola.
In Angola, the Germans massed and attacked the Portuguese garrison of the port city of Benguela. The partially-supported Portuguese force could have drawn German blood, the odds were only 3:1, but superior German morale gave them a decisive victory.
Portuguese loss: 2x SP, 1*-2-5 rifle regiment, 1-2-4 colonial regiment, .33 irrelevant morale points
German loss: SP
The Germans then spread out to cantonments at tribal home hexes in coastal and central Angola.
East Africa
Nothing noteworthy happened on either side.
SEP I and II, 1915
North Africa
Italian light troops began raiding eastward out of Sirte while French camel troops continued raiding southward from Morocco and Algeria, both to minimize Sanussi manpower recruitment.
The French added a light regiment to the pair of camel battalions in garrison in the only port in Mauretania, added an artillery battery to the regiment, and thus rendered place and force safe for another month.
Along the Sahel frontier, British and French garrisons of many coastal colonies moved north to take back ownership of various tribal areas, towns, and an oasis or two, to further minimize Sanussi manpower recruitment.
The Sanussi Brotherhood recruited 3.5 manpower points in September, a large but realistic influx.
An African tribal rebellion in Chad expanded from level-2 to level-3.
Central Africa
The German pocket in Cameroon consumed six total general supply points during the month. In two months, another supply point would need to be converted. With their force of five battalions eating inefficiently, the Germans also replaced a 1-6 jaeger battalion inside the pocket, from accumulated manpower and special replacements. The Entente contented itself with placing the pocket under close siege, in the same hex, and consoled itself with the fact that by the time the pocket surrendered, the units that conducted the siege would no longer have to demobilize for a significant period before re-entering the war. Normally three British colonial regiments demobilize when the Cameroon campaign ends, then return to service for East Africa later.
South Africa
Portuguese forces in central Angola consumed eight general supply points and completed the suppression of a level-1 rebellion back to a peaceful status. Heavier terrain shielded the two remaining Portuguese camps and the occupants hoped to remain safe until the South Africans could save them in October.
A new rebellion appeared in Angola, not surprisingly very near the existing level-4 rebellion, then expanded immediately to level-2 status.
East Africa
A new tribal rebellion broke out in far northeastern Mozambique, level-1, as if to balance that the Portuguese in the far southwest completely suppressed the rebellion that had briefly appeared there.
A large French force completed assembly at Mombasa and a part of the force pushed inland along the railway along the German frontier. The town of Tanga lay open for the 13th month, adjacent to both Mombasa and the German frontier defenses, but tsetse flies defended the town better than any jaeger and even without it the Germans would retain a functional supply network. British administrators further north called-up a brigade of native raiders and started it marching toward Mombasa.
German forces in Tanganyika welcomed yet another jaeger regiment to the defense force and provided it with the standard artillery complement.
Notes and comments to this point
- French colonial and Army of Africa, and British colonial, manpower is like gold. None of those forces will accumulate 5 points during the whole war in Africa and the French get no foreign manpower at all, making their best units absolutely irreplaceable.
- Italian, metropolitan and colonial, and Indian, manpower is surprisingly plentiful and all three forces can replace a few units gradually during the war in Africa.
- Given that German units enjoy superior morale, there is no safe attack against German troops at any odds, but the Entente is able to mass against native and Boer units for assured results in many cases. Being safe slows campaigns but losing units would slow them more.
- I’ve come to believe that the Sanussi should, at the minimum, place each Italian coastal enclave under siege. That would reduce Italian mischief, which otherwise can get out of hand when the Sanussi attack the French and the Italians get some reinforcements from Europe (per the OB, nothing extra) and replace a couple of units. The Italians in mid-1915 have real strength, relative to a bunch of overstretched irregulars.
- Aside from the Italians, nobody has any incentive to take the fight to the Sanussi. The French and British might pick off a stray 1-0-7C or 1-6, but they’d be crazy to attack with any chance of an EX result. Even the Italians have bigger fish to fry; if they can hold the 3 cities, they’ve accomplished their mission and no morale point loss against the Sanussi helps with the war in Europe.
- All that said, I think if I ever play the Sanussi again, I’ll probably invade the Sahara immediately with just a few, weak units – to max the manpower income – but actually attack the Italians on the coast as soon as the interior is cleaned-up and the supported Sanussi can all mass. Take a swipe at a weak port to attract the NGS, just maybe succeed anyway but probably get a bloody nose, then really whack another port on the same turn to get a probable win that could cripple the Italians in Libya and cost them…about 18 morale points in Europe over the course of the war.
Then I think after a year of rebuilding I’d push a real Sanussi invasion into Algeria somewhere, just in time to let the eastern Berbers have a successful rebellion and cost the French some real units and morale points. Maybe the western Berber could even be dug out of their prisons by a dedicated Sanussi effort. - What cheeses me off intensely is the Germans in Namibia being allowed to run and hide in Angola. On the historical schedule in Europe, that completely screws the British, who can’t finish the Namibia campaign for a year past historical. It further ticks me off that the historically damp squib of a Boer Revolt basically can’t go anywhere near that badly for the Boers with any remotely plausible series of rolls…it would take Boer decisions that are deliberately self-destructive to even come close to historical (maybe the Boers voluntarily disband all their units during their first initial phase?). I’m also unhappy about the Germans in Cameroon being able to squat pretty safely on a pile of GSPs for half the war, though in that case the Entente at least gets some benefit from not ending the campaign. All those British and German morale points matter and the rules shove them away from historical results, which can only be achieved if the CP player wants to do badly.
- I fear East Africa will go the same way, but there are more variables there and it may not. And, of course, the Entente has a huge ability to shift units between theaters where that didn’t happen historically, so the Entente should be able to at least start the various campaigns earlier than historical. I may have gone wrong in some of those decisions (a French amphibioius invasion of Namibia in about October 1914 might’ve been just the ticket, retrospectively, rather than hammering the Berbers).