Target for Tonight, Op Six - Mannheim Ludwigshaven

The Target for Tonight, Berlin Campaign moves well into the second half of our series of eight games with game six, the operation to Mannheim-Ludwigshaven on the 23rd-24th September 1943.

The campaign is delicately balanced with the British victory point tally pegged back over the last two games with Bomber Command starting the series with three very successful ops leaving them looking at a Major Victory, slipping to a Victory at the halfway and now resting in that range with an average of 14 victory points but only two points away from slipping further back into a draw, defined as 'Mounting losses cancel out the effects of bombing'.

Op 1 - Berlin, 23rd-24th August 1943
Op 2 - Nuremberg, 27th-28th August 1943
Op 3 - Berlin, 31st August-1st September 1943
Op 4 - Mannheim, 5th-6th September 1943
Op 5 - Hannover, 22nd-23rd September 1943

The 'pegging back' has primarily been due to a gradual improvement in Nachtjagd tactical capability, recovering from the dismantling of their tactical set up with Bomber Command's deployment of Window in the June raids on Hamburg. This recovery most amply illustrated in Op 4 to Mannheim when severe losses especially among veteran and elite crews badly damaged the game result and the campaign situation as a whole, very much the 'Black Night' for Bomber Command in our series of games.

However with an improvement in the German defences has come the inevitable effects of poor Pathfinder marking and the difficulty in bombing deep into Germany during moonless nights in very bad or bad weather conditions and the effects on that marking if it goes astray.

Thus with three games to go the campaign is very nicely balanced and very interesting to see how things will look as we get to the stage where Bomber Harris would take stock and decide to commit his force to an all out attack on the German capital in November; with half the raids from then until March 1944 focused on the city until Bomber Command was ordered to support the build up to D-Day with Berlin left battered but certainly not destroyed.

The list of historic ops that cover the period of the Battle of Berlin, where we are selecting the first eight largest raids of that period.

The Bomber Command War Diary, describes the raid on Mannheim-Ludwigshaven on 23/24 September 1943 thus;

'The raid was intended to destroy the northern part of Mannheim, which had not been so severely hit in the successful raid earlier in the month. The Pathfinder plan worked well and concentrated bombing fell on the intended area, although later stages of the raid crept back across the northern edge of Ludwigshaven and out into open country ...'

As with our rendition of the earlier raid on Mannheim our bomber commanders achieved a similar bombing result as described above, all be it with damaging losses. Thus it would be interesting to see if a similar bombing pattern could be achieved more cost effectively and would the Pathfinder marking replicate the historical result?

The target map showing the weather over the target and home airfields and Mannheim, a deep target beyond the Rhur limiting fuel and bomb load

The weather briefing seen above together with the group rosters and individual plane load outs were issued to the players who set about deciding on the fuel/bomb lift plan for the raid that settled on a minimum fuel/maximum bomb lift arrangement seeing the Lancasters of 1 and 5 groups bombed up with a maximum lift of cookies, whilst the other groups would back up with the usual mixed load of HE/Incendiary.

The roster drawn up for the Mainforce Groups with a full turn out by 4 Group Halifaxes.

The route to the target showed a planned approach straight in and straight out but coming into the enemy airspace over Wilhelmshaven to suggest a possible approach on Berlin before turning south to run straight in to the target before running back to the coast south of Amsterdam and home.

Route plan for the Op, showing RAF and Luftwaffe Nightfighters operating in the various legs of the route. The number indicates the quality of the fighter, 2 to 5 being the number added to a D10 requiring 11 or more to cause a hit.

The forecast winds over the target were from the northwest and the broken cloud would permit the use of Newhaven target markers with less propensity to drift.

Our Group Commanders decided to mark the docks as the aiming point looking to keep their bombing well up to the marker to keep the concentration close to the centre of the city.

Target map with Newhaven target markers being used and yet to be planned, allowing for the northwest wind forecast for the raid

All the groups had a mix of experienced, novice and veteran crews with 3 Group Stirlings having one of the stronger crew line ups. However there was a high proportion of jumpy bomb aimers among all the groups which could only make things difficult when looking to bomb close up to the markers.

Aircraft Ops Sheet filled out for 3-Group Stirlings ready for the raid on Mannheim

Thus with all the raid preparation done, and the aircraft bombed up, the various squadrons lined up at their respective airfields and started to roll down the runway into the darkening skies over northern England.

Aircraft assemble after takeoff with two aircraft forced to abort with undercarriage failure

It was during the take-off and assembly that Op Six suffered its first casualties, although in this case all the crews involved survived the drama which saw 1 Group Lancaster, C-Charlie, with its veteran crew on its 21st op and later that evening 3 Group Stirling, F-Freddie, another veteran crew on its 21st op both abort due to undercarriage failure to retract, with both aircraft landing safely after dumping their loads.

From the assembly to the enemy coast there were no further alarms as the stream continued on gaining altitude, testing guns and preparing for the adrenaline rush of the announcement 'enemy coast ahead' as all eyes strained in the darkness for any potential threat.

Unfortunately the mark one eyeball served no help for 4 Group Halifax K-King, another veteran crew on its 25th op and looking forward to a well earned break from operations and with a pilot showing signs of that fatigue with a developing pattern of early turn backs over the enemy coast.

This time there would be no early turn back as a III/NJG3 Me110 experten equipped with Schrage Musik approached stealthily from below and delivered a raking fire from that quarter that took out the port inner engine starting an immediate fire, but then raked back to the closed bomb bay causing a massive explosion in the night sky over the German coast.

The crew had no chance to react and probably didn't know what had hit them, as the stream, disconcerted by the flash, reported enemy starshells being used as they pressed on.

The next target for the NJG3 experten was 1 Group Lancaster B-Beer another veteran crew on its 18th op who managed to spot the German fighter on its approach and start an immediate corkscrew manoeuvre suffering hits to the port wing fuel tank and tail plane during its manoeuvre and managing to keep flying and make good its escape, later suffering flak damage and limping home after bombing with four damage die, only to succumb to all the damage on the return leg over the enemy coast, with only the bomb-aimer and mid-upper gunner escaping to be captured.

This same Me110 pilot would go on to intercept 3 Group Stirling I-Ink who would manage to escape without damage and complete their 29th op.

Stirling I-Ink corkscrewing desperately to avoid the attentions of the NJG3 experten Me110 over the German coast

The next two casualties occurred close to Kassel as 5 Group Lancaster P-Popsie's veteran crew on their 23rd op spotted the I/NJG6 Me110 closing in on it and went into an immediate corkscrew, but a short burst from the German fighter saw the starboard outer engine burst into flames and the plane went into an uncontrollable dive, with just the bomb-aimer and rear gunner able to exit the aircraft before it hit the ground.

Not J-Jug, but I-Ink the one that got away!

The same Me110 pilot would go on to claim a second victim as the stream turned near Kassel for the run into the target when 4 Group Halifax L-Leather, with a novice crew, only on their fourth op whose aircraft was badly damaged whilst corkscrewing, hitting another bomber in the stream, losing the starboard inner engine and causing a fire that a very inexperienced pilot was unable to deal with, before losing control and crashing south of the city with no survivors.

3 Group Stirling I-Ink rears up us the bombs are released over Manheim

Thus with three aircraft shot down and two aborted on take-off, the stream turned in through the flak zone without any further loss and prepared to make the approach over the target.

3 Group Stirling H-Harry makes a good central approach as it begins its bomb run over Mannheim. The number of jumpy bomb-aimers was starting to make itself felt as indicated by three earlier drops close to the lower board edge.

Right from the get-go, the bombing run got off to a poor start with jumpy and even steadier bomb aimers dropping early with Jack, Queens and Kings seeming to be making up the complete deck of cards.

All aircraft completed their runs with no go-arounds and just one aircraft straffed by a lone FW190 Wild Boar fighter that caused a few holes in the fuselage, but otherwise no damage.

6 Group Halifax T-Tommy with its crew on their 30th op looking forward to a well earned leave begins its run up over Mannheim. The Group had a good night, with all aircraft bombing and with no losses.

As the bomber stream set course for home the final flash photo of the target showed a reasonable cluster of bombing around the blue target marker, but with nearly half the bomb load dropped short leaving a lot resting on the accuracy of the Pathfinders in the poor conditions coupled with any drift from the prevailing wind.

The run home went surprisingly well, with the Nachtjagd drawn away by a spoof raid over Schweinfurt that explained the lack of freejagd Wild Boar fighters over the target which had been very evident on the previous two raids and a quiet run back to the coast with just Lancaster B-Beer, finally succumbing to damage sustained on the flight to the target.

The landing proved equally uneventful all bar 6 Group Halifax that had a 'sticky' landing that was recovered well by the pilot avoiding a likely tyre blow out and subsequent crash and the surviving crews were bussed off for debriefing by the intelligence teams.

The final photo-flash over Mannheim reveals a disappointing creep back from the target markers 

The raid picture was quickly assessed and showed a poor bombing result with nearly half the crews bombing short with creepback falling into the open fields south of the city, which was made worse by Pathfinder inaccuracy and wind drift to pull the on target bombing into the southern outskirts, just causing two major fires in the residential areas of Ludwigshafen.

The bombing results showing the fields south of the city getting a plastering from the creep back

When the victory point calculation for the raid was done it showed two major fires added to the value of the target city producing just 14 victory points to which was offset by the Nachtjagd scoring four victories yielding 12 victory points for the quality of crews lost, netting just two points for Bomber Command for this op.

Once the results of drift and inaccurate Pathfinder marking, actually marking the rail yards in the south east outskirts, were added to the mix, it revealed that the cluster of bombing in the north had in fact fallen in the south causing just two major fires for the amount or ordnance dropped

Thus the situation at the end of Op Six sees Bomber Command with 72 victory points after losses which equates to an average of 12 victory points which places the campaign into a drawn situation with two ops to play and the commentary on the campaign reading,

'Mounting losses cancel out the effect of the bombing'

However Bomber Command have two close range targets, Hanover and Dusseldorf coming up which will offer them the opportunity to bomb up with very heavy load outs, to get in and get out on a relatively short flight, hoping to score big points with fewer losses.

This will require scoring another possible 56 victory points in the next two ops to gain a victory, with the two city targets yielding 7 victory points for their value leaving another 49 points to chase requiring 12 major fires or 6 major fires in industrial areas, split between the two targets, or a combination of the two, before losses - by no means impossible having scored 48 points in the first two ops, but certainly challenging.

Next up - New 1:700th ships for my growing French fleet roll down the slipway for my current project 'All at Sea'

All at Sea - Cape Ortegal, 4th November 1805, Dumenoir's Opportunity

Picking up where Jack and I left off from last month with our play-testing of War by Sail from Ostfront Publishing.

The rules are available through Wargames Vault, in the link below, on which you can see a short video showing the rules in action to get an idea of the basic mechanics. Our principle change has been to add a chit driven activation system, taken directly from Kiss Me Hardy rather than the dice driven activation as illustrated in the video, together with combining turning and sailing straight into one complete action.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/290486/War-by-Sail

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/01/all-at-sea-first-games-new-rules.html

We continued adopting, adapting and improving, this time joined by Bob and David and playing a set-piece engagement where both parties were looking to fight for very different reasons.

As explained in the first post we were focused on developing some chase scenarios where one party could gain victory points by escaping and or causing damage to the pursuer equally as well as just damaging the pursuer enough to turn from the hunted into the hunter by finishing off the wounded opponent. I aim to do some more of these type of games to better hone the set up for them.

French commander at the Battle of Cape Ortegal,
Vice Admiral Count Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley

In this scenario we set out to play the game where both parties were offering battle and for this game I chose the action that occurred on the 4th of November off Cape Ortegal on the northwest corner of Spain that juts out into the Bay of Biscay, during which Sir Richard Strachan engaged four French survivors from the Battle of Trafalgar the month previous, under the command of Vice Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, who had also commanded his squadron in the van at Trafalgar.

Battle of Cape Ortegal

I say both parties offering a fight, which was not at first the case, as Dumanoir had at first considered returning home with his surviving squadron, then thought better of it by deciding to make a nuisance of himself in the Bay of Biscay, only to find himself challenged and pursued by Sir Richard Strachan's four third raters and three frigates, which gradually gained on the retreating French squadron.

Realising running was not an option, the French admiral was forced to offer battle, and by the time he made the decision to turn and fight, he had forgone the chance of turning to offer battle with a more favourable wind, which had now shifted against him.

The set up for our game

I know some gamers turn away from eras or periods where one side in a conflict greatly outperforms their enemy for one reason or another, declaring the engagements it offers as uninteresting games, because victory so often favours one side.

This has never been something that has bothered me for I have always thought that these games are more of an intellectual challenge in considering how the weaker side and its commander could have done better and by rewarding the player for identifying the ways to improve the outcome in the action over and above their historical predecessor.

Thus it comes down to how you decide to describe 'victory' in your scenario and thus weighting the objectives for both sides appropriately.

The set up sees both sides approach each other with a bow wind blowing left to right, with the British 36 gun, 18 pounder frigates Phoeinix and Santa Margarita out ahead of the British column, now with HMS Hero out of position and missing HMS Namur because of the chase it has been performing.

In the historical battle, the four French third rates were battered by their equivalent British opponents, easily allowing the accompanying British frigates and the remaining fightable British third rates to take command of the situation and complete the capture of all four French ships who seeing the situation they now faced struck rapidly.

Thus any British player should be expected to do a better job or match that of Sir Richard Strachan by taking all four French third rates.

For Dumanoir's performance it would seem reasonable that any outcome the other side of an outright British victory would seem like a good performance on the part of the French player.

The French squadron, to right is led by Duguay Trouin, followed by Dumanoir's flagship, Formidable, followed by Mont Blanc and Scipion, the British 74 HMS Hero is seen out of position after the chase, at the rear of the British column opposite, led by Strachan's flagship HMS Caesar.

To make the scenario more interesting, our set up differed from the historical event in that we assumed Dumanoir was more decisive in his decision making that he actually was, by assuming that the decision to turn on the British pursuit was taken earlier while the wind was still blowing ESE instead of from the SE to which it veered by the time he made the decision to turn.

This was an interesting component to our game as it meant both sides approached each other at half speed contending with a bow wind, and that during the course of our game the wind did indeed veer to the south east by the end of play, which allowed the French to keep the wind to their advantage.

The 1:700th models really lend themselves to the 'dolphin eye' view of the camera, over and above what you can do with the smaller scale models, allowing you to create pictures straight from the National Maritime Museum collection.

HMS Caesar, leads HMS Courageaux, with Dumanoir's squadron in sight ahead 

Having Bob and David join us allowed for two more minds to input on the changes Jack and I had made during our first play-throughs of the rules and the addition of more ships, activation chits to draw, instead of cards to shuffle and more players, would test the ability of the game to flow along and all of us still getting to grips with the mechanisms of play.

Thus Bob took command of the heavy British squadron, Strachan's ships of the line, and David took the two British frigates, whilst Jack assumed the role of Vice Admiral Dumenoir.

The view of the French squadron from the British 36 gun frigate HMS Santa Margarita

The latest addition to my collection is the Bucentaure, nearest to camera, standing in as the 80 gun Formidable, Dumenoir's flagship

The steady approach forced on both sides by the prevailing wind meant that the first opportunity to open fire with their long eighteen pounders was offered to David's two frigates as he closed on the French column.

We played the game to the code of the era, not allowing the French to open fire on the smaller fifth rates until fired upon, and David kept his powder dry as he continued to manoeuvre towards the rear of the French column as it advanced on the three British third rates.

Likewise, particularly given the French position of looking to disable their pursuers to make good their escape, we had the French firing on the uproll looking to shred their opposites rigging whilst Strachan's boys were doing their utmost to put as many holes in French hulls as they could in the shortest amount of time possible.

Both main columns looked to increase their speed of approach by turning with the wind, that saw the lead French ship pull slightly ahead of the column and draw close enough to Strachan's HMS Caesar to attempt a disabling broadside against the British flagships rigging.

The resulting barrage missed the upper area and crashed in among the top deck causing the first crew casualty marker, easily shrugged off by the British 80 gunner.

As the British column turned likewise with the wind, the return fire from the lead British third rates proved decisive and a resultant fire on the Duguay Trouin from the early exchanges brought a devastating end to the first contact as the French 74 was rent apart by a massive explosion as the fire got quickly out of control.

Jack opens fire at long range with the Duguay Trouin on HMS Caesar, aiming for the rigging with his lower deck 32-pounders, as David looks on

Duguay Trouin opens fire on HMS Caesar and HMS Phoenix, a British frigate out of camera , that has just fires at the French 74.

The exchange of fire at the front of the French column was quickly followed by an exchange of fire at the rear of it as the British frigate HMS Phoenix turned across the stern of the Scipion to deliver a crashing stern rake into the French 74, only to be replied to with an equally crashing return broadside as she crossed the rear of the French ship,taking down two masts on the frigate and effectively taking it out of the action.

HMS Santa Margarita, the remaining frigate, wisely kept its distance for the remaining parts of the game as the heavy ships set about each other in earnest.

The action commences as the opposing columns make contact and with British frigates feeling out the rear of the French column

Suddenly the Dugauy Trouin, with a fire amidships is torn apart by a massive explosion amid the smoke of gunfire

The French were keen to keep the wind and thus steered along the length of the table as the British not looking to tack so close to the enemy mirrored their move by wearing around to run a parallel course.

These few moves to get their respective columns into position for the next exchanges saw the wind gradually move towards the south east as the ten turn way point was reached, after which the game would end by a variable die roll, that would see an addition three turns added.

The French turn towards the British line as the wind veers to their advantage allowing a rapid approach to close range

The French now had the wind up their skirts and with Jack compelled to leave before the game end, David took over the final French manoeuvres as their ships bore down on the British line, in a very Nelsonesque approach to deliver their broadsides close in accompanied by exchanges of small arms fire from the opposing marines.

The new wind is indicted from the south east as the French column moves into the attack

As the two columns drew near, the opposing lines of ships opened fire as the targets presented, with the French needing to draw blood to offset the loss of the Duguay Trouin which held the scenario in the realms of an outright British victory with the fifteen points to nil it generated.

As expected the last two turns was close up and bloody with the British just as keen to maintain their fifteen point advantage by equally mauling the remaining French ships.

However it is difficult to control events when 32 and 24 pounder gun decks start pouring on the hurt at musket range and with the last round of play determined as turn thirteen it was not entirely clear who had come out on top amid the smoke and damage markers, not to mention two fires.

The exchanges of broadsides are now close up and personal as two of the French ships move into musket range and with ships on both sides showing fires braking out

Once all the morale checks and fire checks were concluded we set about totting up the final scores, which showed one French third rate sunk, one struck giving the British commander twenty-five victory points.

However two of the British third rates were now totally dismasted and drifting, one a bloodbath through lost casualties and one with heavy casualties awarding the French commander twenty-six victory points, resulting in an 'Indecisive' result.

The little marker tokens amid the smoke and flames denote the damage that is occurring from the multiple hits on both British and French alike, giving the appearance of the flotsam and jetsam that would litter the surface of the water in battles of this era as bits of rigging and hull was blasted overboard.

The French had improved their result over the historical outcome achieved by Dumenoir, even though the remaining two French third rates, now damaged but still able to fight would have to deal with HMS Namur 74 and three British frigates closing on the scene of battle, with the outcome of that encounter by no means certain to favour the French.

The game rattled along through the day, playing as we did thirteen turns from about 11am to 5.30pm and a hour for lunch.

The use of chits rather than card shuffling was much better and helped speed play and the inclusion of the KMH wind change mechanism worked like a dream producing an historical outcome.

The gem of the War by Sail rules is as commented previously, the gunnery mechanism that allows the players to use the guns that each ship carried with all the pros and cons that the different armament arrangements offered the historical captains.

Bringing Home the Prizes - Sir Richard Stachan's HMS Caesar 80, tows home the captured Formidable back from Ortegal

There is much more period feel when you grab fourteen d6 to roll for hitting with fourteen lower deck 32 pounders, then an equal number of mid deck 18 or 24 pounders, then finishing off with upper deck 8 or 9 pounders and hopefully a few 32 or 18 pounder carronades, range permitting, totting up the damage points and finding the result caused by all those hits or not as the case may be.

That period feel is not the same as with other age of sail games I have played where you are simply rolling a die generated factor based on those different gunnery load outs, and the points of damage totting up really captures the battering the target ship is taking during a particular combat - great fun.

Thank you to Bob, David and Jack for indulging me in a day of just playing with model ships, such fun to add to the pleasure of putting these models together.

I look forward to doing some more of these game reports as the collection grows and looking to further develop scenario set ups with War by Sail.

By Fire and Bayonet, Grey's West Indies Campaign of 1794 - Steve Brown

I've just finished reading a book I got for Xmas and one I've been looking forward to reading since its publication by Helion back in 2018 with the stunning cover artwork 'The Landing at Martinique' by Peter Dennis immediately catching my eye when I first saw this advertised.

My decision to embark on building a new collection of 1:700th age of sail collection themed around the French Revolutionary and later Napoleonic War period, conveniently coincided with this book doing the rounds and so made an easy choice to include on my Xmas list.

Helion have, in recent times, cornered the market in publishing highly interesting and very specific military titles that focus in depth on a particular campaign, leader or both, often not covered by other publishers in modern or past times and they are to be congratulated and better still supported in their efforts to bring these important titles to the military book reading customer.

I'm doing my bit by having a couple of English Civil War titles by them and a more recent acquisition on my bookshelf,  'The Key to Lisbon', which formed an important part of my Peninsular War battlefield research library prior to my setting off touring the area last summer and a book I reviewed in June last year.

 The Key to Lisbon - Kenton White

Thus it was that I started to get reading this book almost immediately it was out of the wrapping paper.

Lieutenant General Sir Charles Grey 1794 - Henry Bone

My familiarity with Sir Charles Grey was from an interest in the American War of Independence during which Major General Grey developed his very individual way of leading his soldiers, arriving in New York in 1777 and leading a brigade during General Howe's Philadelphia campaign in that same year.

Advancing on Philadelphia after the Battle of Brandywine, Howe ordered Grey to neutralise an American brigade under the command of General Anthony Wayne encamped near Malvern in Pennsylvania, that saw him initiate an attack on the American camp at Paoli Tavern on the 20th September 1777, a little after ten o'clock at night; instructing his composite light battalion and their supports, the 42nd Highlanders and 44th Foot, to remove the flints from their muskets, to ensure the attack would be carried out with the bayonet and with no chance of any accidental discharges on the approach, with his troops ordered to go:

"in a silent manner by a free and exclusive use of the bayonet."

The British attack at the Battle of Paoli

The British troops attacked in three waves, catching the encamped Pennsylvanian and Maryland troops completely by surprise and routing them without a shot fired, with the American brigade losing 53 killed, 113 wounded and 71 captured, for the loss of 4 killed and 7 wounded.

He would repeat the same shock tactics a year later at Old Tappen, New Jersey when on the 27th September 1778 he led a battalion of light infantry and grenadiers supported by the 33rd and 64th Foot against a similarly encamped Continental Dragoon regiment housed in farm buildings.

Only forty cavalrymen escaped the attack, leaving fifteen of their comrades dead and another fifty-four wounded or captured, again without a shot fired.

It was the result of these actions that saw Sir Charles Grey earn the title by both sides, 'No-Flint-Grey', a compliment in British circles, but less so among the American rebels who labelled him a butcher and sought to propagandise the attack at Paoli Tavern as the Paoli Massacre, inflating the casualty report in their efforts to turn what was an embarrassing defeat into a way of raising sympathy for their cause.

Ill health would force an early exit for Grey from the American War, to be followed by a period back home, that would see his Whig political leanings interfere with his opportunities for further advancement, eventually causing him to retire to his estate and a focus on family and a private life away from military affairs, until the outbreak of war with France would see his summoning back to command forces earmarked for an expedition to the West Indies and planned attacks on French possessions.

The regulation dress of British infantry operating in the tropical West Indies during Grey's Campaign
Private, Grenadier Company, 45th Foot, Sergeant, Light Infantry, 48th Foot, Officer, 9th Foot.
Martinique 1793 - Bryan Fosten , Osprey Wellington's Infantry (1) Men at Arms Series 114

It is after this introduction to Grey and the tactics he developed in America that he would again use with outstanding success in this next campaign that Steve Brown commences his book taking a look at the state of the British army at the start of the long war with France and the plans for the expedition.

As Brown highlights in his outline for Grey's campaign, the West Indies and Caribbean theatre had been a significant battleground between France and Great Britain during the American War with several large naval engagements featuring, that culminated in Admiral Sir George Rodney's defeat of Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes, 12th April 1782; a battle that effectively restored British naval supremacy in a war that had seen a few significant set backs that threatened the British hold on its global possessions and its position at the negotiating table when the war reached its inevitable close.

Vice Admiral Sir John Jervis, later Earl St Vincent , pictured here in 1795 by Lemuel Francis.
Described in the book as a 'fist of iron in a velvet glove', Jervis' relationship with Grey and his abilities as a naval commander formed a pivotal role in the outstanding success achieved between February and April 1794 before Yellow Fever and French reinforcements took a hand.

The importance of close naval cooperation in a theatre composed of islands loomed large in the upcoming campaign of 1794 and Brown looks closely and pays tribute to the other key personality in the campaign, Admiral Sir John Jervis, who was a close personal friend of Sir Charles Grey and whose abilities as a naval commander coupled with their bond of friendship formed one of the key strengths of the early success that the campaign enjoyed.

So with the outline of the two British commanders earmarked for the West Indies campaign of 1794 clearly established, the book goes on to describe the plan of campaign developed by the British administration under Prime Minister William Pitt; as a badly prepared nation geared up for yet another war with France, resting as it did on the need to support European allies (Austria, Prussia, Holland and Hanover), offering practical aid to opponents of the revolution in France and using the navy to capture French colonies.

The third aspect of that strategy bears some inspection as it was key to undermining the French will and ability to wage war, with the French Sugar Islands, as the West Indies possessions were often referred to, being a significant contributor to the funding of such a war. The region provided as much as 40% of French overseas trade and the attached income that it provided in taxes and tariffs, with 50% of that trade reliant on Haiti. The revolution created new tensions in the islands with French Royalist held plantations heavily reliant on a large slave populations now offered the chance of a bit of 'liberte, egalite and faternite' if they were willing to keep working and fighting for the republic.

France was practically bankrupt following its involvement in the American War and was fast losing its ability to feed its population, thus loss of its French West Indian Islands would be a major blow at its attempts to stabilise its situation and to spread its revolutionary ideals and guillotines outside its own borders.

As well as looking at the French situation Brown does a good job at illustrating the frustrations and inadequacies affecting the British with regards to deploying its limited manpower and assets to support its strategy and thus we see just 7,000 fresh faced recruits pulled together to form the force that Grey would take with him, when the plan quite clearly illustrated a need for twice that number of troops to allow for losses from Yellow fever and casualties, not to mention a total lack of planning for the administration of the islands once they were captured..

The great equaliser for forces campaigning in the West Indies in the late 18th century. Not known at the time but Yellow Fever, described as an acute viral hemorrhagic disease, that causes fever, headaches, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and often death was spread by infected mosquitoes, the effects only enhanced among tired men worn out by the demands of campaigning and combat.

Then we see a large part of the force dragged off to support the Duke of York's campaign in Flanders, which it successfully performs but which causes it to depart for the Caribbean two months behind schedule, a schedule carefully planned to avoid the campaign extending into the months when disease rates would increase dramatically, as events would prove.

What stands out from the description of this governmental mismanagement is the patient control of events by both Jervis and Grey as they set about working to their best abilities in the circumstances they found, best exemplified by Grey's training and leadership instilled in his new command, bringing all the experience and knowledge he had gained in the American War.

The Capture of Fort Louis, Martinique, 20th March 1794 - William Anderson.
As HMS Asia 64, and the sloop HMS Zebra, provides covering gun fire against the fort, Commander Faulknor leads his men up the beach to attack the fort on its landward side. This picture well illustrates the mobile war fought by the British in the campaign. 

Brown details the organisation put in place by bringing together the detached grenadier and light companies to form six elite battalions that would spearhead Grey's attacks, utilising the 'shock and awe' aspect, to use a horrible modern term so loved by the media, of silent fast moving attacks with the bayonet often at night or in the early hours to take out key positions, relying on the steady British line companies, artillery and naval parties to deal with Republican forces in open field battles.

The close naval support from Jervis is also well outlined, as the navy with its boat and naval landing parties able to rapidly move troops to various beaches, and provide support on land with their marines and sailors, often hacking paths through virgin forest and dragging large guns over mountains to provide heavy artillery support against French held forts.

The 6,500 man force sailed to the Caribbean on Monday 3rd February 1794 that culminated in a campaign that saw three French islands, (Marutinique, St Lucia and Guadeloupe) rapidly captured and occupied, with Guadeloupe, the largest, falling on the 24th April of that year.

Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, commander of Republican forces on Martinique
skilfully made the best of his small garrison that forced Grey to fight longer than he had intended to capture the island thus setting back an already tight timetable designed to avoid the worst ravages of the fever season.

However the masterful generalship displayed by Rochambeau on Martinique was to badly derail British plans for an even more rapid conquest than it turned out.

The lost time only added to the woes of an inadequately sized force that had performed brilliantly to capture the islands but was too weak to hold them, and with losses suffered to disease and combat, most units could expect to lose half their compliment by campaign end due to disease, coupled with senior officers distracted with civilian administration duties instead of garrison command, the inevitable setbacks soon followed with the arrival of fresh French troops and naval support lead by the dastardly rabidly Jacobin Victor Hugues.

Victor Hugues reads like a Serbian militia leader from the war in Bosnia specialising in eradicating friend and foe alike when it suited him, developing a favourite tactic of roping together suspected royalists and their sympathisers before a large pit, before shooting the group with massed musketry, causing the dead and wounded to pull those still alive into the mass grave, before rapidly covering it up to snuff out the cries of the wounded and those still very much alive.

Quite depressing really to see that war criminals haven't changed much over the centuries even if muskets have been replaced by modern assault rifles.

The behaviour of Hugues contrasts dramatically with Grey who hanged several of his soldiers after warning them against looting French property and having to make examples of the very few that disobeyed his orders. The result was that after several French towns fell to British assault, the citizens did not suffer the pillaging that characterised other assaults on towns in later campaigns.

By Fire and Bayonet was a thoroughly good read and informed me about a campaign that I had only a passing knowledge of before reading the book.

Steve Brown has put together a wealth of information about the campaign and provides a really strong narrative of the operations and the subsequent action that followed, together with the political manoeuvres that preceded and followed the campaign.

Just as interestingly he charts the careers of the key characters that survived the campaign together with the many famous names that I immediately recognised of junior officers who would feature large in the later campaigns of the Duke of Wellington in Spain, Portugal and the Low Countries.

Jean Baptiste Victor Hugues

Sadly Victor Hugues died in his bed, but I have to imagine his last hours must have been somewhat troubled.

So I really enjoyed this book but have a few rather minor criticisms. The regular complaint of books not having enough maps is not one I can level at this particular tome, however it is really frustrating to have a map of Guadeloupe or Martinique that doesn't have indicated the places where much of the fighting is being described in the text. Thus they provide an overview of where the forces were and where they went, shown in the form of arrows, and the key towns. However there are forts and prepared positions where the fighting took place that are simply omitted.

The other quibble is the several mis-types with words missed out or mis-spelt that caused me to go over several sentences to make sure I understood what the intent of the sentence was, which is surprising, but maybe a casualty of the cost involved in proof reading these days. Helion as I say are to be congratulated for their efforts in producing books like this, but attention to detail such as this is important in being able to command an appropriate price for the end product.

By Fire and Bayonet is 244 pages and includes the following;

List of Plates
List of Maps
1. The West Indies Theatre
2. Grey's movements on Martinique, March 1794
3. The Capture of Saint Lucia, April 1794
4. The Capture of Guadeloupe, April 1794
5. The Loss of Guadeloupe, October - December 1794
Preface
Acknowledgements
Naming Conventions

Prologue
1. Never was a Kingdom Less Prepared
2. Grey
3. Jervis
4. Ostend and Back
5. The Knife-Edge
6. The Capture of Tobago
7. A Lock Step Banditti
8. Landing and Consolidation
9. Falstaff's Corps
10. Saint Lucia
11. High-Water Mark
12. Enter Hugues
13. We Have Been Greatly Neglected
14. Prize Money
15. Daily Expected
16. The Cost
17. The People

Appendices
I. British Forces in Windward and Leeward Islands June 1793
II. Return of Troops Disembarked at Barbados 1 February 1794
III. French Garrison of Martinique February 1794
IV. Returns of British Forces in Windward and Leeward Islands in 1794
V. State of Martinique Garrison in November 1794
VI. Grey's Officers
VII. Royal Navy Squadron at Martinique, February 1794
VIII. Royal Navy Squadron at Guadeloupe, April 1794 

Bibliography
Index

I have to agree with Steve Brown's conclusion that Sir Charles Grey is one of best British general officers of his generation and indeed of the period, demonstrating a great flare for developing a very unique offensive system that proved to be a battle winner when used by British troops under his command, but also a very clear ability to manage forces at a higher level with the use of his multiple columns to envelop and overwhelm the French forces defending these islands rapidly.

Of course Grey's ability on land relied on his close working relationship and friendship with another great commander, Sir John Jervis whose abilities at sea were equally of a very high order and his influence on the Royal Navy in terms of organisation, training and discipline paved the way for others that came after him.

From a wargaming perspective, I found myself looking at a naval campaign in one of the Too Fat Lardies Specials, combining the use of Kiss Me Hardy and Sharp Practice to run a fictional campaign of island hopping in the Indian Ocean. With a book such as this, why bother with a fictional campaign when you could easily conduct the historical one instead - just a thought.

By Fire and Bayonet is in glorious hard back as well as being available on Kindle, but frankly I would recommend getting the former, just for Peter Dennis' excellent cover and the feel of a beautifully made hardback book. From a brief inspection of the net you should be able to pick it up for between £15 to £20 new.