Mechili 24th January 1941

Scenario played : 10th September 2009 (ftf game with D.Simms)

On the 24th January elements of 4th Armoured Brigade went looking for a fight at Mechili where intelligence placed an infantry regiment and two tank battalions. They found a strong unit of the Babini Armoured Brigade, a scratch unit formed from around the 4th Infantry Tank Regiment detached from the Ariete Armoured Division. The Italian units had had no time to work together before being thrown into action and it’s officers hoped the mother division’s hard training of individual crews could make up for this lack.

Along the main east-west road running north of Mechili about 0915 hours, elements of the 7th Hussars Tank Regiment began their approach on the Italian positions. Some way behind these, about 2 hours distant were another 16 British cruiser tanks from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. The Hussars were made up of 20 out-of-date Mk VI tanks armed with just MG’s, and with these they hurried towards the positions of the Italian 60th Sabratha Division two miles south positioned behind a great wadi. Once the Hussars committed themselves, the Italian armour, positioned astride the east-west road quickly made their way to the expected entry point of the following cruisers and placed themselves in a position to launch an ambush tank v tank battle. The Italian infantry also began advancing toward the oncoming Hussars.

The Hussars made contact with the enemy about half an hour later and were greeted by the accurate fire of some Italian 47mm AT guns. The Hussars lost two tanks but pressed on. This proved a suicidal ploy as a mass of enemy infantry rose up and destroyed the rest of the already demoralised platoon whilst AT fire knocked out another two Mk VI’s. The Hussars were by now in complete shock and with some Italian M13/40 tanks also becoming embroiled the combined force knocked out a further 8 tanks ! By 1030 am, with 14 of their starting number now smoking wrecks, the Hussars had to try and extricate themselves. Meanwhile, up at the main road, the 2nd RTR sailed into the prepared ambush with their cruisers, losing 10 of the 16 within thirty minutes. These were able to lose off some shells themselves and this accounted for 4 x enemy M13/40 tanks.

The battle at the main road then raged on for about one and a half hours as the remaining British cruisers fought courageously for their lives. Using their better training, tanks and rate of fire, they managed to hold in combat a far larger Italian tank force of 32 tanks throughout that time. But having lost the initiative, the remaining 6 tanks were picked off one by one, as were the rest of the Hussars, but not before a further 6 Italian metal hulks were left strewn in the desert sand. Italian losses were almost more than required but they had managed to pick off the last few British tanks in time. But regardless, this was still a fantastic Italian tank victory, inflicting 36 destroyed tanks on the British at a loss of just 10 of their own.

The British did try and fling a late arriving infantry force at the Italians around 1430 hours, but against the tanks that were now dug in, this simply resulted in the wasteful loss of 50 or so infantrymen from the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Italian victory was by now complete as the British resorted to desperate bombardments from their 25 pdrs with little or no effect. The Italians had won at Mechili.

The British recklessly approached the Italians with their MkIVb’s, and they paid the price with 6 tank steps lost by 1045. British reinforcements would have to take care not to lose any more steps. The Italians spread their tank forces in the desert between the salt marsh and the oncoming British tanks. The Italian plan now was to aggressively engage the Bristish. At 1215, the Italians had achieved their victory condition of eliminating 8 British tank steps. Could the Italians hold off the reinforcements that were likely to arrive in the afternoon, without significant losses?

At 1400, the Italians had lost 14 steps (all tanks). They too were reckless, and instead of withdrawing after inflicting serious losses to the British, they continued to attack. The surviving British tanks fought to the end, taking out a lot of 13/40s and 11/39s. The battle ended in a draw. The Italians made a tactical error by not withdrawing.

This is a rather odd scenario. The Italians have a large entrenched force of infantry and anti-tank guns, plus some light artillery, however the British don't have any infantry until (possibly) late in the game. They also have a large tank force sitting in a wadi. For their part, the British have a bunch of light tanks (MkVIbs) later supplemented by some A13s and A10s, and then, possibly, an infantry force with a 25lber in tow (literally).

I read other AARs of this before playing, and they gave me some ideas. With the light British tanks, I made a move towards the entrenched and dug in infantry, hoping to take some pot shots at long range to maybe get a few lucky hits, avoiding the AT guns and Italian tanks. The MkVIbs, as terrible as they are, at least are faster than the Italian infantry and the Italian tankettes in the area. The cruiser tanks don't enter until turn 6, so the Italians used the 1st 5 turns to send a few tanks to try to pin down the MkVIbs, and the rest to ambush the reinforcements.

And ambush they did, with the British losing 3 steps of tanks as they entered the board (nice die rolling by the Italians). I did not play with the rule where efficient tanks, such as the British, can move and fire on the same turn, I think if I replayed this I would. Meanwhile, the MkVIbs ambushed the Italian L3/35s, only to get outrolled by the Italians and caught up in an assault that let the "real" Italian tanks catch up to them.

The tank battle raged by the edge of the board, with the British getting in some licks, but the Italians having the numbers to close to assault range where the British efficiency was less of a factor. With lousy 2 lber guns, the British tanks were better off using their DF values to try to inflict morale checks and step losses in assault, however Italian numbers evened things here.

Meanwhile, some of the Italian infantry came out of their foxholes to try to close with the MkVIbs, and while the British shot up some of them, they should have pulled out of range because being caught in assaults meant that the Italians could bring in reinforcements while there were no spare Brits.

By turn 13, the British had suffered 9 steps of tank losses (out of 18 on the board), giving the Italians their win condition. However, the British had taken a toll on some of the Italian infantry and tankettes in the assault, and then a lucky 12 wiped out 2 steps of M11/39s. In total, this brought the Italians to 16 step losses, which guaranteed the scenario would end in a draw. I called it there because the only other thing that could really happen was the British, now even more badly outnumbered, would be wiped out, and if the reinforcements arrived, it wouldn't change the scenario from being a draw.

There's probably a better way to run the British, however with the Italians able to set up an ambush on the tanks, they have an uphill fight (uphill out of the wadi?). It's hard for me to see this one not being an Italian victory or, more likely, a draw.

After trying this one out I have to admit that I have no idea how to use such lousy tanks. Since this is a real action one has to wonder if the actual commanders had the slightest idea what they were doing.

As others have reported, this is indeed an odd scenario with victory conditions that are in need of revision. My honorable & redoubtable opponent and I played this 26-turn scenario out over 4 face-to-face sessions without using the FOW rule. The Italian side began with a large entrenched force of infantry with a pair of AT guns, and a great deal of Colonel Babini's armor deployed in the northern portion of the map. As noted elsewhere, the British side does not receive infantry reinforcements until at least 3 turns after turn 16 (1300). In our play through, with bad die rolls, these ground troops showed up 9 turns later at 1500! By then, the Italians tanks and tankettes had eliminated all 18 step of British light and cruiser tanks, yielding 36 victory points, at the cost of only 2 steps of M-11/39 tanks. The scenario's final score was 36-4, with the Italian victory never in doubt after about turn 13. The only question was how long would it take Babini's slow-moving M-11/39 and M-13/40 medium tanks to get in range on the rugged north side of the map, and eventually close assault the elements of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment that showed up as reinforcements on turn 7. Before then, the machine-gun-armed Mark VIB light tanks of the 7th Hussars were no match for the Italian armor. As the British armor was being destroyed, the Italians began withdrawing their numerous infantry platoons and other units to the cover and concealment provided by the northern escarpment. They eventually were able to withdraw all their forces by road off the north map edge.

I did enjoy this scenario and would have given it a 4, but it was simply too easy for the Italian side to clobber the inadequate British tanks, even with the Allied advantage of "tank efficiency." The Italians had the time to slowly, but surely, withdraw their troops to prevent the loss of the required 14 Italian steps. I think that the victory conditions should be revised to reward the Italian side for getting their forces off the board, rather than for the required 8 steps of British tanks eliminated. If the victory conditions provided 1 victory point for every 4 Italian steps safely evacuated from the game board, it would be a more realistic condition. After all, this encounter was a rearguard action, intended to allow the Italians to withdraw as much of their battered 10th Army to the comparative safety of Benghazi and points west, in the aftermath of the major British success of Operation Compass in December 1940.