A 'Bita' action in the South Pacific Part 1 - Historical Background, Rules & Forces

Aussies first action in WW1

Bita Paka (Rabaul) Part 1 - Background

In which the gits are introduced to some obscure history and the characters for the forthcoming game 

This week takes the old gits back to September 1914 and another real life inspired minor action that, if it wasn’t for the likes of war gamers, would be relegated to the rubbish bin of history. 

One of the old gits specialises in researching weird and unusual actions and turning them into passable versions of beer and skittles war games. This is accompanied by elaborate highly detailed terrain, rule variations requiring a read through by a team of very expensive city solicitors, collections of specialised figures that leaves one wondering to which other use they could possibly be put, and enormous amounts of chips and lollies. 

Much has now been written about the opening actions in WW1 undertaken by the Australians in New Guinea. Charles Eckart wrote a quite decent summary of the opening incident in Rabaul in one of the Too Fat Lardies specials a while ago. A great deal of additional information has also been collected by the Australian War Memorial and associated history groups in recent years.

To Summarise:

The Australian government put together an expeditionary force in 1914 to take the German possessions in New Guinea and Rabaul. This force consisted of a makeshift military unit of approximately 1000 men and six naval companies totalling roughly 500 men from various Australian  craft, as well as the craft themselves. Several Capital ships and the submarine AE2 were included as there was a threat from the German Pacific fleet. The Germans did not have a standing militia in any of their pacific colonies; only a police force and German volunteers. 

On 11 September the Australians landed in Rabaul. Naval companies were dispatched inland to locate and destroy the German transmitter station at Bita Paka. What followed was a running skirmish and several encounters (that could be called battles if one squinted hard enough) lasting most of the day. The trail to the station wound narrowly through dense and in some places impenetrable jungle and the force was plagued by snipers and well sited German trenches. The action had everything a war gamer could want ; trenches, snipers, pipe bombs, urgent reinforcements including the ships cook and staff (most were issued with ‘a pistol and a cutlass’, however the cook insisted on using a very big ladle), senior officers leading  bayonet charges, people yelling at each other incomprehensibly and so forth.

Eventually, the German forces had either been dispersed, surrendered, or pushed back.  In the final action of the battle a half-company of naval ratings with the Machine Gun section, under Lieutenant Bond was sent to take possession of the wireless station at Bita Paka. Remaining resistance was very weak and a German carrying orders to dismantle the wireless was captured. At Bita Paka the equipment was found undamaged though the masts had been cut. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

The Bita Paka action could be played as a series of smaller linked actions along the path culminating in the final push to the transmitter station. In this way the Australians would have to fight through each obstacle while controlling losses. They would be mindful of  their need to get to the station before it was destroyed.

However because we are contrary buggers who are never satisfied with anything simple we thought that another way was to go to the end and see what might have happened if the Germans had managed to offer something approaching resistance at the station itself. They had the troops; what they lacked was the leadership and the morale.

When Lt Bond pushed down the track into the clearing the only German Officers remaining were either captured, killed, or ten miles away guarding the capital at Toma. Resistance at the end was tepid to put it mildly.  However the Germans still had a number of native snipers loose in the jungle as well as some 20 German volunteers and 100 native police at the Bita Paka clearing. In addition The Governor was at Toma, ten miles away with a further 10 Germans and an unknown number of native police (estimates vary but it was probably somewhere between 20 and 100 men).  

However Governor Haber did not order his reserve to Bita Paka, and no local leadership was present to continue the fight. Haber formally surrendered several days later without further resistance. 

Our “what if…” scenario therefore starts at the point where Lt Bond advances his small force down the path and into the clearing. Upon entering the clearing near the police barracks, Lt Bond does not disarm the Germans (not winning a DSO in the process). Instead Feldwebel Ritter manages to call out a warning before being gunned down. Ignoring his undertaking to end resistance and surrender Bita Paka (even if he had the authority) Leutnant Kempf knocks his two guards to the ground and dashes across the compound to rally the troops around and in the barracks.

Feldwebel Schipmann immediately informs him that a runner has been sent to Toma for the rest of the force and that an engineering team is dismantling the transmitter. There are also reserves surrounding the Transmitter Station itself but he is unsure how many. 

Their objective as it has been all day is to buy sufficient time to ensure the transmitter is destroyed or at least rendered inoperable.

The good Leutnant turns to his inadequate force of native police and volunteer Schutztruppe and exhorts them for one last effort for the Fatherland.

The game, as they say, is afoot.

The Table

Containing the Bita Paka clearing surrounded by dense jungle. The transmitter station to the left next to the Toma road. The Australians are entering to the lower right. In the clearing are a party of Germans discussing what to do about the Australians. It is at this point Kempf breaks free and the game begins. The large church could either be a portent or just hasn’t been cleared away yet. Mind you I would have thought a cathedral would have made a very good tent indeed. 

The Protagonists 

This a designed as a demonstration game with the guests playing the three Australians (or four if you put Veale into the mix).

Lt Bond RAN

Lt Kempf

Commander Beresford RAN

Lieutenant Gilliam

Captain Travers 

The Rules

Heavily modified and simplified Iron Ivan Price of Glory WW1 skirmish 

The Combatants 

Australian Naval & Military Expedition (Rabaul September 1914)	Figures	Marksmanship	Valour	Courage	Weapon
Commander Beresford	1	5	4	9	Webley
Marine guards	2	5			SMLE Rifle
Lieutenant Bond	1	5	4	8	Webley
6th Coy 1stsection	6	5	4	5	SMLE Rifle
(Midshipman Collins)	1	5	6	6	Webley
Lieutenant Gilliam	1	5	4	7	Webley
6th Coy 2ndsection	6	5	4	5	SMLE Rifle
Petty Officer Palmer	1	5	4	7	Webley
3rd Coy 1stsection	6	5	4	5	SMLE Rifle
Midshipman Veale	1	5	4	6	Webley
3rd Coy 2ndsection	6	5	4	5	SMLE Rifle
Petty Officer Sandys	1	5	4	7	Webley
4th Coy 1stsection	6	5	4	5	SMLE Rifle
Midshipman Buller	1	5	4	6	Webley
4th Coy 2ndsection	6	5	4	5	SMLE Rifle
Captain Travers	1	5	4	7	Webley
Machine gun section	3	5	4	5	Vickers HMG/SMLE

German Schutztruppe (Rabaul September 1914)	Figures	Marksmanship	Valour	Courage	Weapon
Governor Haber	1	4	4	9	Luger
Leutnant Kempf	1	5	4	8	Luger
Feldwebel Schipmann	1	4	4	5	Luger
Truppen	2	4	4	4	Mauser
Einheimische Polizei	6	3	3	3	Mauser Machete
Unteroffizer Krupp	1	4	4	5	Luger
Truppen	2	4	4	4	Mauser
Einheimische Polizei	6	3	3	3	Mauser Machete
Feldwebel Schmitt	1	4	4	5	Luger
Truppen	2	4	4	4	Mauser
Einheimische Polizei	6	3	3	3	Mauser Machete
Feldwebel Daimler	1	4	4	5	Luger
Truppen	2	4	4	4	Mauser
Einheimische Polizei	6	3	3	3	Mauser Machete
Unteroffizer Offstag	1	4	4	5	Luger
Truppen	2	4	4	4	Mauser
Einheimische Polizei	6	3	3	3	Mauser Machete
Engineers	2	0	0	0	Unarmed
Snipers	1d4 +	4	na	na	Mauser
Leutnant Fiebig	1	5	4	7	Luger
Settlers and misc	10	3	4	3	Mauser Machete

Stay tuned for Part 2 : The PHART phase and the unfortunate rigidification of Lt Bond - an after action report by Commander Beresford to AN & ME commander Holmes.