The biggest WWI battle in Africa: Mahiwa (1917)

On Easter Monday, we returned to the fascinating sideshow that was East Africa in WWI, where von Lettow-Vorbeck's German Schutztruppe led vastly larger British Empire forces on a merry dance for the whole duration of the war.

This book has been on my shelves since I was about 15 - now at last I am wargaming it!

Anton has already given us two African WWI offerings: Tabora and Otavi. Those were mere appetizers for this week's game, the largest battle of the campaign: Mahiwa. I think many wargamers are familiar with Tanga, the 'Battle of the Bees', but few of us will know of the larger and bloodier engagement at Mahiwa - I certainly had not heard of it.

The gist is that British Empire forces were chasing much smaller German columns around what is now southern Tanzania; three Nigerian battalions bumped into a column under General Wahle; von Lettow saw an opportunity to inflict a serious defeat on this Nigerian force, did so, but this then developed into a more general battle as more British Empire forces arrived. Although the Germans inflicted 2,700 casualties for the loss of only 500 or so of their own, the German losses were irreplaceable, whereas the British were not. Nevertheless, von Lettow continued to cause mischief all across East Africa for more than a year thereafter.

How did our game go? Herewith a dozen or so annotated photos, followed by some reflections. (Actually, we played it one and a half times, with a few scenario modifications after the first full go.)

First, a treeless and troop-less panorama just to get you oriented. Top edge is north; 5'x4' table is about 6 miles x 5. Bush gives cover everywhere but without limiting LOS. The Nigerian brigade starts dug-in on the two hills north of the central marsh. Buildings are landmarks. Wahle's column deploys within 6" of Nyangao, on the east edge, ready to attack the Nigerians. Von Lettow's column arrives along the road via Mkwera, lower left corner. Mahiwa itself is at the southern end of the marsh. The other three British brigades will arrive from the east edge on Turns 3 and 5 (later amended to 3 and 4).

Trees and white objective counters added. There should be one on the top hill as well. Also, the Germans can earn one or two objectives for exiting one or two units off the SW corner at the end. The Nigerian-held hills are 'highwater mark' objectives - i.e., the Germans get a victory point just for taking them, they don't have to keep them. Germans needed 3 for a draw or 4 for a win (later amended this to 4 for a draw or 5 for a win).

Colonel Mann motivating his 1st & 2nd Nigerian battalions. Figures are Baccus 6mm Colonials from Mark's collection. (Before you complain about his unflocked bases, be glad that they will make it easier for you to follow the action in this game, as the Germans are on green ones!) Troop scale for this scenario is 125 men per base, so these British battalions have 600 men each.

Von Lettow-Vorbeck leads his column into Mkwera. Figures are Irregular 6mm Boers from Anton's collection - suitably scruffy for the Schutztruppe after three years without any supplies from home. They are skilled veterans by now, though, so they get the Skirmisher rating and are far superior to the mainly Raw and Fragile British forces. It's quality versus quantity - the Germans are outnumbered two to one in this battle.

Wahle's force deploys to assault the Nigerian positions. No subtle tactics from Anton here! The German units are 2-base companies of ~250 men. The base with the red fluff is a half-base MG unit representing 2 or 3 machine-guns.

Anton's force has crossed the river (top right) to advance into the teeth of the Nigerian fire. The northernmost Nigerian battalion has descended on Anton's flank. Three of his six companies have been wiped out on the first turn. Fortunately, Von Lettow's column is shaking out (lower left) and lending fire support, so two Nigerian battalions have also suffered serious casualties and are Spent (black fluff)

'The African Queen'! This is one of the 6" guns the Germans salvaged from the cruiser Koenigsberg (an episode that doesn't really have much to do with the classic movie, The African Queen, but I like to think it does).

Turn 3. (Looking east now.) Masses of Brits (actually mostly King's African Rifles or Indian troops) have appeared behind Anton, whose remaining two companies nevertheless fight a game delaying action on the hilltop road. Mark's Nigerians are mostly wiped out too. As von Lettow, I have started pushing a couple of companies left through the marsh to try to sneak onto the Nigerian hill, while most of my force screens the line of retreat back through Mahiwa and Mkwera.

Start of German Turn 5. The British line has advanced, but slowly, delayed by Anton's valiant rearguard as well as by the terrain. (We later deleted the minor stream branches on the right of this pic.)

On Turn 5, my lads have got into the marsh but they won't be advancing out of it - too many Lee-Enfields lined up in front of them. But at least we've diverted several British battalions away from pressing down the road.

That said, the last British brigade - including the cavalry and the best British battalion on the table (55th Rifles - they get flags and skirmishers!) - is doing its best to push through the middle.

Slow going for the British left on the southern flank.

But now the British right outflanks my left. Those two companies in the marsh are doomed. Will the Brits be able to seize the strategic height of Mremba Hill behind them? Fortunately, my reserve company bottom right will preempt the British advance and hold that objective.

And on the right, the British advance grinds to a halt, as two battalions suffer heavy casualties and are Spent (which is why the Germans are now Low on Ammo - brown fluff).

The first game therefore ended in a German victory. We agreed it was a little too hard for the British even to get a draw, so we made a few changes. Anton and I had time to push units around for another half a game, with different plans and scenario tweaks - not enough to absolutely confirm that the tweaks balance it properly, but enough to demonstrate that different plans are possible and the game can go very differently. Well worth playing again.

Reflections

Battlefield geometry. Anton really has an eye for the shape of a battle and the resulting structure of a scenario. In last week's report on Braga (1809), I commented on the virtues of games that 'use the whole pitch'. That very much applies to Mahiwa, where first the Nigerians are sandwiched, then Wahle's sandwichers become sandwichees. The 'highwater mark' objectives, plus the end-of-game retreat objectives, also stretch the action across the pitch. That complex geometry makes for lots of options and lots of decisions.

Multi-day battles - greater than the sum of the parts. Mahiwa was not a single-day, set-piece battle. It was a series of actions spread across 15-18 October 1917. By taking advantage of BBB's elastic scale and compressing all these into an 8-turn game, Anton has made a great scenario and managed to represent an important but neglected battle, whose component actions would not have been nearly as interesting if tackled individually.

Hurrah for the esoteric and obscure! Of course, we all want to fight Waterloo, or Gettysburg, or Borodino, or Koeniggraetz - surely no serious historical wargamer's gaming career would be complete without the likes of these on his CV - but it is also wonderful to game battles we've never heard of and know nothing about. There is the joy of discovery, the pleasure of learning, often spiced with unique or bizarre incidents or larger-than-life characters. And the tactical challenges are entirely fresh too (no more "of course he should never have attacked Hougoumont"). Thank you, Anton, for helping us to explore another hidden corner of history.