Joe’s war- a Boer War battlescenario AAR

[kenneththegreat]

Lookin' nice, you Lyn fan. It looks pretty historic right now, but as usual your way of writing complentates for/with that. Keep up the good work!

[cuchulain]

True

But still, even though Albert Speer wasnt a hardcore nazi, and regretted his actions, he was still part of the regime, and was convicted in Nürnberg.

Anyways, great work with the battle scenario and the AAR

well a lot of people claimed not to be hardcore and to regret their actions. racists can still be historically interesting

[Lord E]

stnylan Thank you, yes I think people always like to think that the war shall end before it has even started…


Iron-Chef Oh I think he will do ebtter this time…


Trimalchionis Glad you enjoy the story


kenneththegreat Thanks. Well at the moment the Boers could have pushed me a little further back to make it even more historical, but it seems pretty much right. The Boers advance at the start and the British receiving reinforcements and then take the offensive…


cuchulain Poeple tend to claim a lot of different things after matters have happened, but what ever they did they might still be interesting to read about..

[Lord E]

Buller takes the offensive

When December arrived General Buller had finished his preparations and was ready to start his attack. Receiving his last despatches from London and understanding that the last of his reinforcements would arrive in Ladysmith on the 5th of December General Buller decided to start his main attack on the 10th of December.

General Buller’s plan for the attack on Bloemfontein

The British divisions knew of the Boers and they thought themselves to be prepared to face them in battle. However Buller decided against sending the Irish division into the frontline as rumours among the soldiers was that the Irish in reality sympathized with the Boers and they might have changed side or obstructed the attack.



On the morning of the 10th of December Buller had his main force just to the east of the city of Winburg. Here the Boers were waiting in a hill for the British attack. On the morning on the 10th of December the infantry rushed forward protected in the flanks by cavalry. As the infantry rushed up the slop they were harassed by continuous Boer fire. Buller, understanding that the fire was a great threat to his infantry’s moral, ordered Lieutenant-General French’s cavalry division to flank the Boer positions and attack from the rear.

Lieutenant-General John French, his cavalry received the task of outflanking the Boers

While Buller pinned the Boers down with continuous artillery fire and infantry action French moved his cavalry around the hill. When his division had managed to outflank the Boers French at once order a general advance. The cavalry rushed up the hill and capture the Boers by surprise. This ended the Boer opposition and several hundred Boers were captured by the British.

British forces moving forward after having defeated the Boers outside of Winburg

After the main Boer army was defeated at Winburg the road to Bloemfontein was open to the British forces. Knowing that little opposition was to be expected General Buller orderd French to move with his cavalry at all hast to Bloemfontein to secure the city. At the same time Buller sent most of his infantry divisions north towards the Transvaal border. Securing the southern parts of the Orange Free State would be left to French’s cavalry and the 3rd infantry division. On the 24th of December, Christmas Eve, French sent the message to Buller that Bloemfontein had fallen to his forces. The British had captured the capital of the Orange Free State.

[stnylan]

Sharp and incisive, but I am sure a tougher challenge waits ahead.

[lifeless]

very nice updates! all you need now is pretoria and you win! how many divs are there?

[Jape]

This looks interesting, though surely facing two one-province enemies can't lead to a very extensive game?

[2Coats]

People its a battlescenario. Its supposed to be short. I tend to think of Bscen's as a multiplayer setup for a short game anyways.

Great style Lord E and a good change of scenary from all those German AARs.

Well done Allenby, you should be v. proud of your work.

Play on.

[Lord E]

stnylan Yes, Bloemfontein is actually the easiest of the two. In Transvaal the Boers have a full army of 11 or 12 division waiting for us…


lifelessThanks. Yes, but Pretoria will be harder, as I said I think they have 11 or 12 Boer divisions protecting it


Jape Well the scenario is very good and very interesting. Yes, it is only two province enemies, but they are well trained and have a decent sized army so they put up a good fight still. Also as 2Coats say it is a battle scenario and they aren’t made to last as long as a full game


2Coats Thanks. Glad you like it, got a new update up next and in this one we shall read of a famous man from the Second World War.
Also you are very much correct Allenby has made a great scenario and a great mod.


I would like to say to all that 1914 is well worth the wait and you should all test it out now that the first version has been released

[Lord E]

Churchill’s escape

During the first weeks of warfare the Boers had done many successful raids on British patrols and railroads and because of this they had managed to capture many British officers and soldiers. One of these was a young man called Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill.

The young Winston Churchill

The young Churchill was not in South Africa as a part of the armed force, but as a correspondent for the Morning Post. On the 15th November 1899 he managed to be allowed to go with an armoured train towards the frontline. The train consisted of a locomotive sandwiched between three wagons fitted with loopholes and carrying a 7 pound gun. The train was heard and seen by the Boers long before the British could see the Boers, so as the Boers opened fire, the British didn’t see the large stones the Boers had placed on the tracks.
The three wagons were derailed and overturned. The Boers fired onto the wagons while the British either defended the train, ran away or tried to clear the line.
Eventually this was accomplished and the locomotive and 50 wounded survivors steamed back to Estcourt. The British lost 4 dead, 14 wounded and 58 taken prisoner, including Churchill. The prisoners were all taken to a prisoner of war camp in Pretoria.

Churchill (far right) as prisoner of war

Churchill wasn’t a man to sit still in captivity and he soon found it possible to escape from the camp by climbing the fence at night. From here he travelled to Witbank, here he met a British mine manager and he helped Churchill to hid in his mine and later managed to hid him onboard a freight train heading for Portuguese East Africa from there Churchill managed to secure passage on a steamer and return to Durban.

Arriving in Durban Churchill was greeted as a hero by the British and the British forces. He was soon offered to join Lieutenant-General French’s cavalry and Churchill accepted. He wanted to return to fight the Boers and he had promised himself that he would rescue his friends; they were still in captivity in Pretoria. So the hero travelled north with French’s cavalry, Pretoria was the next major target for the British forces in South Africa.

Churchill joined Lieutenant-General French’s cavalry to return to fight the Boers

[2Coats]

Gawd bless, England Mr. E! And Gawd bless Mister Churchill.

Hip-hip.

Hip-hip..

Hip-hip....

[Mettermrck]

Well done, Lord E! Time to change your avatar to the Union Jack, the next budding Allenby in our AARland.

[stnylan]

A brilliant little episode. It is always good to be reminded that Churchill had an action-packed life before 1940.

[lifeless]

very nice update! might we see him in command by some accident?

[Allenby]

Good job, WSC - and well edited with the screenshot of the event. I haven't quite got round to having the proper photograph put in.

Well done, Lord E! Time to change your avatar to the Union Jack, the next budding Allenby in our AARland.

It is an honour to be compared with the great E-man - thank you!

[Lord E]

2Coats Indeed, God Bless. Huzzah


Mettermrck Thanks. Well maybe, but I shall continue my other AAR as well And I must say it is an honour to be compared with Allenby



stnylan Thanks. Yes, it is very interesting to read about his early life as well, and it is actually thanks to Allenby that I remembered this episode, I had actually not thought about it until the event trigger in the game so thanks to Allenby and his event I made this update


lifeless Thanks, no I don’t think we shall see him in commnad, he ins’t in the game as a elader, but you shall see more of hi myes


Allenby Thanks. Yes, he did very good back then, and thanks to you for putting the event in the game and making me remember about it. Yes, I understood that you might have an idea about changing the picture
It is an honour to be compared with you sir

[Lord E]

Battle for Transvaal

General Buller had secure Blomefontein and Johannesburg just in time for Christmas and now as the New Year arrived he intended to take command again. Knowing that his position as commander was under threat and that the government in London had plans for possible changes in leadership if he didn’t end the war soon Buller decided to make all preparations for the attack on Transvaal in January.

General Buller’s plan for the attack on Pretoria and Transvaal

Before the attack could begin Buller needed time to get his forces into positions and make the last set of preparations for the attack. Therefore he decided to start the attack on the 20th of January. To spearhead the attack Buller placed Lieutenant-General French’s cavalry division.

Cavalry from Lieutenant-General French division

On the early morning of the 20th of January the British started their main push. Moving quickly forward into Boer territory they soon faced stiff opposition.

The battle lasting all along the 20th with little gains being made by either side, still the British were slowly pushing the Boers back. The battle continued to rage all during the next two days with the Boers fighting hard. However on the 22nd of January French’s cavalry assisted by the 2nd Division broke through the Boer line and now the cavalry could use their great speed and strength, moving quickly forward and attacking the Boer positions from the rear it soon caused the Boers to break and on the 23rd the battle was all but over. French’s cavalry left the battle line and moved quickly towards Pretoria.


The young Winston Churchill serving with his cousin the Duke of Marlborough in the cavalry would be the two first British officers to enter Pretoria. Having volunteered to go on a scouting mission the two decided that they shouldn’t stop at the outskirts of the city, but move into it. The Boers were defeated and little was left in the city as the two entered the city. Rushing towards the prison where Churchill himself had been a prisoner the two demanded and received the surrender of 52 Boer guards of the prison camp there.

During on the 24th of January the rest of the division moved into Pretoria and secured the town. The Boer forces had surrendered and the British had won the Boer war.

[Zauberfloete]

Rule Britannia!! Excellent ending!

[stnylan]

Nice ending with Churchill, and a good advertisement for the scenario. Pleasure to read.

[Jape]

Short and sweet. Huzzah! Sorry I ever doubted you Lord E, as someone has already said, a fitting advertismeent for this scenario and the 1914 mod.