To The Last Man, Spring 1918

 Lyn McDonald | To The Last Man, Spring 1918 (Viking 1998)

A description of the the German offensive in March and April 1918 quoting eyewitness accounts. Some of these eyewitnesses fight in several different locations at different times and it is this movement which gives the book its strength. 

Most of the accounts quoted are British and so what we have is a description of the British (and French) reaction to the German offensive, unlike Martin Middlebrook's "The Kaiser's Battle" (Allen Lane 1978) which describes the opening day of the offensive using both British and German accounts. 

The book does not explain the context of the actions described. The British had introduced a new defensive system of outpost, battle and reserve zones. Understanding how this worked and the problems experienced by the British Fifth Army are critical to understanding what is being described and its significance. I noticed only occasional references to individual zones. The reduction of British divisions from 12 to 9 battalions and the take over of a large sector of inadequate French trenches by the Fifth Army are mentioned in passing.

There are many maps in the book but they describe the (relative) location of eyewitnesses or tactical actions. The location of corps and dvisions is not identified. As a result I was unable to understand sentences such as “but the Fifth Army held everywhere except for the 18th Division”.

The book is a useful source of tactical scenarios. The scenario“Then the man with the Flak said ‘Everyone Attack’ ..”  in Stout Hearts & Iron Troopers is based on one such action.

In the final third of the book the text become lttle more than linked eyewitness accounts. This accentuated the confusion and lack of context to the point that I stopped reading the book: the literary equivalent of loosing the will to fight and surrendering. 

Setting the East Ablaze

Setting the East Ablaze | Peter Hopkirk (!984)

Conflict in Central Asia following the Bolshevik Revolution.

1918 | An Absolutely First-class Man | The Indian Political Service instruct Eric Bailey to travel to Tashkent to find out what is happening in Russian Central Asia.

1917-18 | The Strange Adventures of a Butterfly Collector | The story of the Tashkent Soviet before Bailey arrived, based on the account of Captain Brun, a Danish officer sent to improve the conditions of the Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in Russian Central Asia. Muslim Kokand was brutal sacked by the Soviets but an attack on Bokhara was violently repulsed.

1918 | Bailey Vanishes | General Mallinson’s troops clashed with the Bolsheviks in Transcaspia. Sir George Macartney arrives in Tashkent but leaves because British troops have landed in Archangel. Bailey is questioned by the Cheka but escapes arrest disguised as an Austrian PoW. Nazaroff, Bailey’s White Russian contact, plans to overthrow the Soviet but is arrested, and Osipov takes over the conspiracy.

1919 | The Executioner | Osipov, the Commissar for War, overthrows the Tashkent Soviet for a day. There is a blood-bath. Brun avoids revolutionary justice. Mallison withdraws from Russia. Bailey is unaccounted for. 

1919 | Hunted | Nazaroff is in hiding and escapes to Kashgar the following year. Bailey is in hiding in the hills but returns to Tashkent after the Osipov Uprising.  

1919-20 | Bailey Joins the Soviet Secret Service | The Kremlin regain control over Tashkent. The Third Afgan War breaks out. Bailey decides to leave Tashkent. In disguise he is recruited by the Cheka, with his police contact Manditch, to spy on Bokhara. From there they escape across the border into India.

1918-19 | ‘To Set the East Ablaze’ | Major Etherton replaces Sir George Macartney as Consul-General in Kashgar. Etherton enhances his intelligence network. Governor Yang Tseng-hsin disarms the Red and White Russians entering Sinkiang. The Kremlin set up the Comintern. Roy becomes the leading Indian communist.

1919-20 | The Army of God | The Cominten look to exploit increasing Muslim unrest. The British commit the Amritsar Massacre. Frunze occupies Bokhara. The Soviets lose the Battle of Warsaw. Roy proposes an invasion of British India. The British gather information on Comintern and counter Bolshevik activity. Etherton continues his flow of intelligence.

1920-21 | The Bloody Baron | The anti-Bolshevik and anti-semitic madman Baron von Urgern-Sternberg takes control of Mongolia with an army of White Russians, Cossacks and Mongols in a series of appaling attrocities.

1921 | An Avenue of Gallows | The Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement is signed. Roy’s plan is abandoned and his activites move to Moscow. Etherton ignores the attempt to stop his activites. Lord Curzon is rude to the Soviets. Gandhi becomes the leader of anti-British protest in India. Urgern-Sternberg believes himself to be the rencarnation of Genghis Khan. He invades the Soviet Union and is defeated. The Soviets shoot the Baron and occupy Mongolia.

1920-23 | The Last Stand of Enver Pasha | The sack of Kokand led to fighting between the Bolsheviks and the Basmachi. Frunze turns the tide in favour of the Soviets. Lenin appoints Enver Pasha to lead a Muslim invasion of British India but instead he leads the Basmachi against the Bolsheviks. Gandhi launches a civil disobedience campaign but stops it when turns violent. Roy makes little headway and is criticized by Stalin.

1922-23 | Curzon’s Ultimatum | Enver Pasha is defeated and killed. Lord Curzon tells the Soviets to stop interfering with British interests in Asia. Both sides think they win.

1923-24 | Squeezed Out Like a Lemon | Borodin organises the infiltration of Sun Yat-tse’s Kuomintang Party. Lenin dies. The British recognise the Soviet Union.

1923-27 | Skullduggery on the Silk Road | The Soviets appoint Doumpiss Consul-General in Sinklang. Nazaroff flees to Britain. Doumpiss unsuccessfully challenges Yang Tseng-hsin.

1927 | The Lady Vanishes | The British break off all relations with the Soviets. The Chinese communists are violently suppressed by Chiang Kai-shek. Borodin’s wife Freya is captured by the warlord Chang Tso-lin but the Comiterm arrange for her to escape.

1929 | The Last of the Central Asian Dreamers | The defection of Bajanov enables the British to crack down on Indian communists: the Meerut Conspiracy Trial. Yang Tseng-hsin is assasinated and a brutal civil war breaks out in Sinkiang between Chin Shu-jen, his Minister of the Interior, and Ma Chung-yin, leader of the Tungans 

1933 | The New Bogy-men of the East | The Soviets ccupy Sinkiang on the border of British India. But Stalin becomes preoccupied with the rise of Japan and the formation of a Popular Front against Fascism including Britain.

 

White Plains (Chatterton Hill) - an AWI battle using British Grenadier

A multi-player game of British Grenadier at Abbeywood Irregulars in Frome based on the White Plains scenario.

The British must cross the bridge over the Bronx river and drive the Americans off Chatterton Hill . 

The British force, under the command of General Von Heister, contained 4 brigades: -

1. Maitland - 3rd Light Battalion, Hessian Jagers, 17th Light Dragoons & local Tory Scouts. A elite brigade of skirmishers and scouts.
2. Leslie - 5th, 28th, 35th & 49th Regiments. A brigade of British line under an excellent general.
3. Rall - Lieb Regiment, Rall Grenadiers & Knypheusen Fusiliers. A second-line brigade of Hessians. 
4. Cleaveland - 3 batteries of 12 pdr guns and 3 batteries of 6 pdr guns A large brigade of artillery.

The Americans deployed the Maryland Continentals in a redoubt on the hill and the elite Delaware Continentals in a redoubt below it. A militia battalion was deployed in a third redoubt to the west. They were supported by 3 units of skirmishers and a reserve of a brigade of 2 second-line battalions. 

In Turn 6 the Americans were reinforced by a brigade of 3 second-line battalions.

The battle begins

Cleaveland's artillery brigade was deployed on the hill on the east side of the Bronx river. It fired at the American forces on Chatterton Hill but had no significant effect on the battle. The 12pdr batteries could not move. The 6 pdr batteries did not move. They were limited to ineffective bombardment of the redoubts. This powerful brigade could have more effect if the 6 pdr batteries had been moved and if Leslie's brigade had delayed before assaulting the American position.

Maitland's brigade deployed on the west side of the river. Van Heister wanted them to just screen the deployment of Leslie's and Rall's brigades and then turn the American's flank. Instead they engaged the American redoubts where their specialist abilities, and elite status, were wasted. 

Leslie's brigade crossed the Bronx river first and immediately committed its first battalion, the 27th Foot, to charge the entrenched Maryland Continentals. This isolated attack was driven back and the battalion routed off the table. Von Heister reminded Maitland that he should attack as a brigade not individual battalions. 

Rall's brigade marched behind Leslie's brigade.

The attack on the redoubts

Maitland's battalions continued to engage the Continentals and Leslie's battalions continued to assault the redoubts but without achieving anything. The Americans deployed their reserve brigade between the two redoubts on Chatterton Hill. A charge by the Dragoons against one of these second-line battalion was driven back and eventually the cavalry routed off the table. Van Heister was frustrated that Maitland had not charged the Dragoons into the back of the Delaware Continentals while they were facing Leslie's brigade, but he had delegated such tactical decisions to his brigadiers.

The flank attack

Roll's brigade advanced along the road, as instructed by Van Heister, until then were ready to turn and engage the American right flank. This contained a battalion of levy skirmishers and a militia battalion in the woods, with a couple of second-line battalions behind them. There was a good chance that the large Hessian battalions could rout the levy and militia and then overrun the demoralised line battalions before rolling up the American line. Unfortunately their movement was slow and the battalions were disrupted. This prevented them from charging the Americans and instead they had to engage in an insignificant fire fight. 

With Maitland's and Leslie's brigades routed and Roll's brigade halted the American had an unexpected victory.

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Historically the Hessians deployed first with the British behind them. The Hessian brigade assaulted the American position on the hill and the British brigade followed up and overran it. 

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Von Heister's intention was for Rall's Hessian brigade to deploy first and wait for Leslie's British brigade to deploy to their left. Maitland's light brigade would continue to move along the road and threaten the American flank. The large Hessian battalions would then engage the Americans and the superior British battalions would assault their weak centre while the cavalry and elite light battalions got behind their flank.

The Americans had small, poor-quality brigades. If the British had broken an American battalion then this could have led to brigades fleeing and gaps appearing in the American position. Unfortunately fortune favoured the Americans on this afternoon.

Von Heister changed his mind and deployed Leslie's brigade first. This mistake was compounded by Maitland and Leslie forgetting the overall plan and engaged the entrenched Americans prematurely with individual battalions. This lead to the destruction of their brigades.