Action at Nery

A bit of Unpleasantness

As the German guns roared into action over the ravine Briggs thoughts turned to finding either somewhere to hide or bigger guns.

The German movements in the opening round 

The German guns opened up in turn one and instantly found both the range and the target through the visually inhibiting fog.

L battery received the full destructive effect of 18 77mm field guns and ceased to exist. 

Despite desperate attempts to interrupt the German regiment pivoted and unleashed a similar curtain of doom at the adjacent 11th Hussars. The survivors reeled back through the street. The 2nd Dragoon Guards took damage from long range sniping and fell back from the exposed edge. 

On the Sugar refinery road the Germans galloped straight forward and past the well concealed 5th dragoon guards. Whether the intention was to throw a force forward to enfilade  nery or to block reinforcements was unclear. Regardless of their intent the entire regiment was blown away by accurate fire at point blank range.  When the firing stopped the sunken road was filled end to end with death. It was a taste of things to come on the refinery road.

The second regiment had wisely ridden to the far side of the  refinery and escaped the carnage. Bent on revenge they formed up and charged the rear of the 5th DG across the short field of standing stooks of corn. Failing to dislodge the enemy in the first charge the melee became a swirling mess of men and horses chasing each other amidst the small field. 

Due to a complete absence of targets Garnier ordered the artillery and machine guns to limber up and move up in support of the 18th Brigade near the refinery.

He also ordered the 3rd Brigade to cross the extremely difficult terrain in the ravine and assault nery from the front. This was achieved without even coming under fire.

Recognising the lethality of the on target artillery and the overwhelming odds, Briggs ordered whatever survivors remained to rally on his position and sent an urgent message to Corps HQ for reinforcements. The 2nd DG pulled back to the far side of the street and prepared to face an entire dismounted German cavalry brigade. 

After much manoeuvring and some delay in the fog, the supporting regiments of 18th Brigade reached the refinery and immediately threw themselves at the rear of the desperately fighting 5th DG. Under pressure from both front and rear the Dragoon Guards succumbed but not until inflicting some severe punishment on the Germans. 

Realising the need to capture nery before British reinforcements could arrive, Garnier ordered the 3rd Brigade to immediately pass through the buildings on the edge of the town and directly engage Briggs. They received a devastating volley from the concealed 2nd DG and the assault ground to a halt. 

With increasing desperation Garnier pushed a mounted regiment to the cross roads  near the refinery whilst ordering the second regiment to ride toward the other side of the town. This unit would both reinforce the 3rd Brigade attack and also cut off the access point on the far side to reinforcements. 

The artillery was hurrying forward but had been held up trying to cross a small hedge and ditch to get back onto the road. The Guards Machine guns had likewise been severely held up trying to get through some difficult terrain. 

With a flurry of trumpets and lots of tally ho shouts the reinforcements arrived ; the Household Cavalry charged down the refinery road catching the German blocking regiment at a standstill. Immediately behind the Germans was the entire artillery regiment still limbered and trying to get into position. If the Household Cavalry could breakthrough the day would be won. I battery set up on the slight rise to the right and opened up on the destroyers of the Dragoon Guards.

Garnier realised that the battle had reached a pivotal point. The Germans were on top but the cost was enormous and he was unsure as to whether his force could  prevail against the fresh British. He had to hold off the reinforcements whilst winkling the remnants of Briggs command out of the town. 

The 2nd DG meanwhile had come off the worse against the brigade coming out of the ravine.  Some good shooting had reduced them to a collection of horse holders and support troops. Briggs found that his entire defence force consisted solely of his headquarters troops.

The 1st Middlesex regiment however made all speed toward nery and emerged from the woods to see an entire German hussar regiment hurtling down the back road. Calmly forming up they destroyed two squadrons with close range musketry and halted the movement. A runner from Briggs found them with orders to meet him in the small chateau on the left of the main road. They moved off but encountered the 3rd Brigade troops trying to cross the Main Street. After a brisk firefight they reached the chateau and the remaining Germans pulled back across the road. 

The Guard machine guns had finally made their way forward and unlimbered a mere couple of hundred metres from I battery who were desperately trying to realign the guns after destroying the last of the German cavalry in the cornfield of doom. For whatever reason the machine guns did not fire : they may have lost sight in the mist, experienced equipment failure or something else entirely. 

With time rapidly running out Garnier despatched the remaining regiment from the refinery fight to attack Briggs position down the Main Street.

In column they attacked. Briggs head quarters staff fought bravely and the attack once more stalled. Briggs pulled his men back to rendezvous with the Middlesex in the chateau.

The Household cavalry were not making any headway at the cross roads. The Germans were being whittled down but there was no sign of them breaking. 

At that moment the machine guns managed to take out the reinforcement commander and the remaining German squadron at the cross roads pulled back rapidly to a position by the refinery.

The German artillery despatched a battery to assist the hard pressed cavalry against the Middlesex threat and hurriedly unlimbered behind the cross roads. As the German cavalry were withdrawing the artillery unleashed a two battery volley at I battery and disabled them completely. 

Through the clearing mist at less than 100 metres the German artillery dropped their sites and totally destroyed the Household Cavalry.   The cross road joined the sunken lane and the cornfield as another scene of mass destruction. 

Briggs in the town had seen off a further assault from the dismounted cavalry. However with the destruction of the Household cavalry and I battery he was now reduced to a company of Middlesex and their machine  gun section. Facing the inevitable he withdrew his weary survivors  out through the increasingly narrowing path back to British lines.  At the very least there would be someone left to report back to HQ. 

The bloody crossroads, sunken lane, and the corn field. In this small space the Germans lost three cavalry regiments and the British two.

The enormous German artillery train was the key. It was fortunate in being able to identify its targets in the first move and cause enough damage to wipe out a third of the defenders in the same move. It was also manoeuvred into exactly the right spot to decide the cross roads fight. The arrival of the British reinforcements almost turned the tide. 

A desperately fought game where the result remained in doubt till the last move. Small things like being able to see through the mist at the right time became critical. The Germans however had lost a full brigade of cavalry, one reduced to a squadron, and one other reduced to  the headquarters troop.  They had started with a full cavalry division and ended with something not much bigger than a reinforced brigade. 

A scenario which, despite looking like a fore gone conclusion, turned into anything but….one player commented that when we tested the scenario out he wondered how the Germans could win…when we played it, he wondered how they could lose. 

And next we will turn to something completely different.

ACTION AT NÉRY

        Western Front 1 September, 1914

Setting up

Amidst the splendour of an average Adelaide winter the table is constructed, terrain modified, rules rewritten, 10mm WW1 figures touched up, and sides decided.

Nery in lower Flanders slumbers in the mist and fog of early September 1914. The British 1st Cavalry Brigade under Brigadier Briggs has spread out through the village and is preparing to move off in the ongoing retreat after Mons. A patrol from the 11th Hussars reports Uhlans in the forest as the German artillery opens up.

Briggs orders the 5th Dragoon Guards to throw out two squadrons to guard the. Left flank. The mist hides everything and the Guards peer into the ravine.

The 11th Hussars race forward to man the leading edge of the houses bordering the ravine. They have nowhere near enough troops to man the necessary frontage.

L battery Royal Horse Artillery should never have been here; they straggled behind the Corps assets and came into Nery late. The 6 guns of the battery were lined up between the Main Street and the ravine with the limbers in pole down condition awaiting the renewed retreat. Hurriedly the gun sergeants attempt to get the guns into action. The Battery Major is killed in the first barrage. Targets appear out of the mist and disappear just as quickly. It is impossible to range the guns accurately. 

On the far right near the sugar beet refinery the 2nd Dragoon Guards take cover behind a sunken road. Runner have been sent to Corps HQ urgently seeking reinforcements. However given the army is meant to continue the retreat, it is unknown whether any assistance can be provided. 

1st Brigade peers into the mist.

2nd DG catch a glimpse  of what appears to be a Brigade sized mounted force approaching on the Refinery road. These are full strength German cavalry units and the 2nd DG feel very outnumbered. 

On the left 5th DG see another cavalry Brigade emerge from the woods and form a firing line along the edge of the ravine.

Not to be outdone, the 11th think they can identify an entire machine gun company and a full regiment of 77mm artillery. 

Briggs receives the various reports stoically atop his lookout in the Main Street. If the reports are accurate he is up against a full cavalry division with an attached field artillery regiment and brigaded machine guns. He estimates that the Brigade is outnumbered and outgunned by about 3:1. He can only pray that the reinforcements arrive in time. The only advantages he has are good old British pluck and the SME Lee Enfield rifle in expert hands.

Next time : Tsog gets down to the desperate biffo.