Woodscrew Armies Campaign - A Deadly Reckoning

 

Battle of Camp Supply - early action

Great Battle at Camp Supply!

Tenth Army in Grave Peril!!

Fears held for Fate of Tenth Army!!!

August 6, 1889.  Camp Supply.

Reports have reached this News Agency of a Great Battle fought in the Forbidden Zone between our Brave Tenth Army and the Chinese Incursion. One who was there has reported to us of a disaster: huge and ferocious attack by Asiatic hordes; our troops overrun, equipment lost and at least one Brigade Wiped Out!!  Appalling loss of life and materiel.

Tenth Army's forward supply depot 
'Camp Supply' (sketch by Tony Adams)

Much as we hope and wish for Tenth Army only the best of fortunes, we must deplore the incompetent bungling of the General Officer purporting to command it. After a fortnight's campaigning, what has General Jackson to show for his marching and countermarching, and footling little combats? We have the answer: a litany of bungles, misjudgments, scrapes and last-minute rescues, such as to mark forever the Commanding General as one of the least deserving ever to have been placed in command of an Army.

Camp Supply tent, wagon and supply lines.

Having barely scraped out of an ambush at Yangzigu; a single brigade being caught isolated in the middle of nowhere; the Army, with a large army howling in pursuit,  having to cut its way through a blocking force to reach their present position; there they stood at bay at their forward tactical supply depot: 'Camp Supply'. There, some scant field works were caused to have been constructed, with a few stretches of barbed wire scattered about.  It seems that in all the confusion no one ordered the evacuation of the line of communication troops, the carts, wagons and pack animals and the supplies of provender and ammunition. It all remained in place for the enemy to stretch forth their hands and take.

37th Brigade behind earthworks

Heavily outnumbered, Tenth Army has had to withstand the terrific attack by forces seeking vengeance not only for the loss of their lands two decades ago, but also of their recent losses. It seems that whilst the main attack was directed at the defences along the escarpment line west of the river and the main camp, a strong column enveloped the flank of our army's position and was set to roll up the whole line. The fate of Tenth Army remains problematical, whether in headlong retreat, or swallowed up and prisoners in the hands of the Chinese Army.

An 'old photograph' of the 17th and 19th Brigades
awaiting the assault

Our reporter was unable to stay the course, being caught up in the rout and destruction of one of the Brigades, the 17th, Brigadier-General Early commanding. Well, we might have expected Early, notorious for rashness and carelessness, would fritter away the troops in his charge. Why General Jackson posted him in the position of greatest danger will be a mystery to many, but is merely yet another to be added to that Officer's growing inventory of errors.    

Top pic in black and white

To be sure, the reporter could not say that he directly witnessed the rout of the whole army.  He allowed that the issue was still in doubt as he left the field.  But what he has told us leaves us with little doubt that our gallant troops have suffered a serious reverse, that the so-called 'Emperor of China' will absorb the Forbidden Zone back into his imperium, and the credibility of our military has been forever compromised. We should not be surprised to see a Chinese Army violating our borders, sacking our towns and massacring our people.

We await with bated breath the Court Martial of General Jackson and his subsequent rendezvous with the firing squad.

Hordes of Chinese swarming in 
to the attack

Great Battle in the West!!

Tenth Army in Fight for its Life!

Terrible loss of life and limb!

August 6, 1889

Rumours have become circulating of a great battle that has been fought, three or four days ago, deep in the Forbidden Zone, some 50 miles or so from our frontier.  According to people we have interviewed, our Army having retired upon its forward supply camp, was brought to bay there by a vastly superior Chinese Army.  After a pause to gather its strength, enemy launched an all-out assault, the vehemence of which astonished and appalled the eye witnesses who tell of it. 

Yet the issue remains in doubt. Certain it is that the fight was a tough one. Such a near run thing, perhaps, that even its survivors are unsure of the outcome. Although in the last day or two there has been increased traffic at the frontier of Army transports - a great many ambulances as well as wagons sent for revictualling and replenishment - there has been little sign there yet of an army in rout or retreat. The outgoing traffic is carrying on. Reports have been contradictory. Some talk of a heavy defeat, others state that, though with difficulty, the enemy were repulsed, and the camp Supply position held. 

We await  more definitive news  with our hopes and prayers for general Jackson and his Army. 

* * * 

I think it timely here to remind readers of the inspiration for this campaign.  It is exactly as the title of this series suggest: the Woodscrew Miniature Army blogspot of Tony Adams.  Click on the link to his blog spot.  Here is a more specific link to Tony's blog posting that kicked off this campaign:
'The Chinese Move South'.  You might be interested in our discussion in the comments section.

Woodscrew Armies Campaign - Unlocking the LOC

As Tenth Army enters the field, the Chinese 
South Column lies in wait on and behind the
heights south of Turnoff Creek

The Commander of the Chinese South Column, Hung T'u Sun, gazed northwards through the gathering dusk of July 29 at the twinkling lights of campfires, about a mile distant, across the plain below where he stood. On his own initiative he had thrown his army corps across the enemy's line of communications. Now here he was, wondering if he had chosen the path of true wisdom.

Strategic situation 27-29th July, 1889

The position was an awkward one.  The only defensive line in this locality was a series of ridges just south of a creek that ran across the road leading north to Yangzigu, some twenty-five miles distant.  It ran alongside the road branching westward - South Column's line of communication, in front of his line.  A thick wood west of the ridge line represented a barrier in that direction as well.  Hung T'u Sun knew he was taking a fearful risk, his own line of communications as much imperilled as the enemy's. He had to hope that T'ai Kun Wu was not too far behind those distant lights.  

In an effort to shorten the long odds against him, the Chinese commander presented only part of his force astride the south road, with the remainder off to the right on the reverse slopes of the high ground.  He hoped that in this way, his musket-armed conscripts would at least get to grips with their enemy, with perhaps a fighting chance of holding them back or even driving them off.  The forces available to him were:

South Column:

• 7th Regulars, 20 figures
• 20th Conscripts, 14 figures
• 21st Conscripts, 15 figures
  
• 22nd Conscripts, 15 figures
• 2nd Cavalry, 10 figures
• 4th artillery, 1 figure

This force was much attenuated from that which faced the Union Army a week before, totalling 64 Infantry (10,667), 10 Cavalry (1667), 1 Artillery battery with 1 crew figure (4 guns, 167gunners); That is to say, 12,500 men and 4 guns.

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson - 'Old Blue Light' to his more admiring troops, 'Fool Tom' to his detractors - sat on his camp chair gazing into his small campfire. Overnight the couriers had been coming in from the north. Brigadier-General Remington 'Reb' Klamath's 10th Cavalry was shadowing the Chinese main army, now a formidable force of over 40,000 men, and that was pushing southward.  Still a day's march distant, but that was to place a literal deadline upon General Jackson's Army. He had less than a day to clear a path through the enemy facing him across the road, and carry on south. He was glad Brigadier-General Early had arrived during the day, even though it meant that his formation, 17th Brigade, should have had to retrace its steps to get to where it had stood the previous night. Unaided, Early's 4500 could never have stood off a much superior enemy for a whole day. Not if that enemy was the enemy right wing column he'd faced on the 20th.

Major-General Jackson had with him:

Tenth Army:

• 37th Brigade, 19 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 machine gun figures (3500, 4 guns, 4 machine guns)
• 38th Brigade, 19 infantry, 2 artillery, 1 machine gun figures (3667, 8 guns, 4 machine guns)
• 39th Brigade, 18 infantry, 1 artillery, 2 machine gun figures (3667, 4 guns, 8 machine guns)
• 17th Brigade, 21 infantry, 2 artillery, 2 machine gun figures (4167, 8 guns, 8 machine guns)
• 110th Artillery, 4 artillery figures (16 guns {2 models})
• 210th Pioneer Battalion, 4 figures

Totals: 81 Foot (13,500) , 11 artillery/6 guns (1833/48) , 6 machine gunners/4 MGs (1000/32);
(16,333, 48 guns, 32 MGs)

 
Daybreak, July 29.  The Union Army uncoiled itself from its overnight repose, none too uncomfortable it being a mild night, and advanced into battle. There was no time to be lost; but no call to be overhasty either.

[Aside:  This is the way the 'programme' panned out.  This could very easily have been a 'Baylen' situation, with the French (Union) throwing in attacks piecemeal as the troops arrived, hoping to clear the road before the Spanish (Chinese) main army closed in from behind.  Had T'ai Kun Wu been only a half-day distant, things might have been a deal more touch and go. Mind you, I have played out an action very like that, in a 'Napoleonic' campaign, long, long ago... ]

Brigadier Bidwell's 37th Brigade leading into the field, Jackson directed towards the apparently unoccupied rising ground far to the left of the highway. The stream running across the road was a mere rill, a slight obstacle only, though the wagons would have to use the ford where the road crossed. Thirty-eighth and 39th Brigades followed up the road, to cross at the ford, and 17th Brigade was to march to the right, partly to seal off the west road, but also to storm the heights beyond the stream and the enemy artillery battery position thereon. The Union artillery would follow the central brigades, with the train and the Pioneers bringing up the rear.

The tale is soon told.  The little battery of Chinese cannon opened up an inaccurate fire as the Union forces drew up towards the river line, barely missing with its first salvo the 38th Brigade MG battery still limbered up and moving forward. They would have to endure yet more 'incoming' to bring the enemy within range of their own fire.

On the left (eastern) flank, 37th Brigade lined the river with all arms before the infantry began to cross. Spying the Chinese cavalry beyond a gap in the rising ground, the Brigade's artillery let fly, but did very little damage.

In the centre, 38th Brigade, still under gun fire, lined the creek west of the road, leaving the 39th to cross over the ford.  Once deployed, the 38th Bde guns opened up upon the enemy line of regulars, and scored an immediate success.  

The 37th Brigade artillery and MGs also settled into shooting up the Chinese cavalry, but once more ineffectually, as the latter, finding the climate becoming a little warm once the machine guns joined the chorus, drew off behind the east-most ridge.  

With the arrival down the road of the artillery, and 17th Brigade well on the way to forming up to the right of 38th Brigade, General Jackson deemed the time right to launch the first attacks to the left of the road.  Crossing the ford in column, 39th Brigade formed up into its customary battle lines, wheeled left and began to climb the slopes of the hill beyond. By this time, 37th Brigade was already atop the higher ground to their left, and engaged in a deadly duel with 22nd Conscripts along the summit.

This was the Chinese plan.  As the Unionists pushed up the northern slope, the conscripts would advance up the southern. When they met, they would be in easy musket range.  Who knew what might happen then?  In fact, in the opening exchanges 22nd Conscripts gave a very good account of themselves. Despite the Union superior numbers and firepower, for the first few minutes the conscripts gave as good as they received, and with luck might have done even better. 

[Aside: The Chinese Army every now and then performs far beyond the limitations this campaign narrative has placed upon it. 22nd Conscripts 14 figures. smoothbore musket armed, rolled 2 plus 1/3 dice with a die range of 4 (5s and 6s not counting); against 37th Brigade's magazine rifles, 18 figures' 4 plus 1/2 dice at a die range of 5.  The Chinese outshot the Unionists!  When the hits were resolved into casualties, they came out at 3 figures apiece.  This was actually not so much good Chinese shooting, as rather woeful Union. Perhaps the latter were a little blown by the uphill climb.] 

The unequal firefight could really have had but one outcome. Once settled into their work, despite taking further losses, but a further half-hour sufficed to crush the conscript formation, driving the scant survivors pell-mell down the south slope.  There was no pursuit.  For below them, they could see a formation of Chinese cavalry, over 1500 strong, preparing to charge.

The Chinese formation in the heights immediately to the left of the south road was the target of 39th Brigade.  To wheel left and advance up that slope was to present the Brigade's right flank to the larger, regular formation, the 7th, on the other side of the road. General Jackson hoped that the artillery and machine guns lining the riverbank would suffice for protection at least until 38th Brigade had crossed the stream to face them.  

Events were slower to develop in this part of the field than they had to the left.  A bombardment of the 38th Brigade machine gun line finally obliterated the guns, but 4 smoothbore cannon could be no match for the more accurate and far more numerous Union ordnance. And 17th Brigade and the heavy artillery were still hastening forward.  

Just as 37th Brigade were driving 22nd Conscripts from the East Ridge, the 38th found themselves engaged in a much deadlier duel.  Thinking to face but one Conscript formation (the 20th), they were suddenly faced by a second (the 21st), all, as it transpired, according to the programme directed by Hung T'u Sun. Fighting upslope against superior numbers, 39th Brigade had also to endure incoming from their right, as the Chinese regular formation counter-attacked. Colonel Tarrant C. Hazebrook fell, mortally wounded.  Lieutenant-Colonel Miles R. Long took over the command.

The Union army had far more to feed into the fight. Though its lesd position was for the moment dangerously exposed, 39th Brigade had the support of the 37th's support weapons, they having no targets to aid their own infantry.  But the 37th were doing well enough without that support. Having routed what remained of 22nd Conscripts, they met the subsequent Chinese cavalry charge with the aplomb of veterans.  

For the loss of hardly a man, they obliterated the cavalry formation as it surged up the hill.  Very few were the survivors still mounted that fled back down the slope minutes later.  

The counter-attack by the Chinese regulars, already under effective gunfire, was soon met by 38th Brigade, deploying in behind the 39th, but facing the enemy across the road. The intervention of 17th Brigade forced the Regulars to split their line. With the Chinese battery silenced long since, the superior rate of fire, greater numbers, and the support of heavy weapons quickly smashed the Regulars' formation.  Within minutes, what was left of the whole Chinese line gave way,  dissolving into a horde - and no very large horde at that - of fugitives, chased by the Union infantry.  

The sudden collapse might have been decisive for the fate of the South Column, for it would have been no great task to demand and accept that corps' surrender. Time only was lacking. Gathering his army in hand, packing his wounded into and onto every available space afforded by wagons, limbers and guns, Jackson ordered the march south to continue, sending back a message to his cavalry to leave off watching the enemy main army, and close up to Union army's main body. Today's battle had cost 10th Army some 1500 casualties.

They took no prisoners; whoever surrendered were simply let go. Gradually the road ahead cleared.  When 10th Cavalry trotted through shortly after noon, three hours later, hardly an enemy soldier was to be seen.

The main Chinese Army of T'ai Kun Wu arrived at the stricken field late in the afternoon.  He had hoped that he could incorporate the South Column into a force capable of driving the Union Army quite out of these empty disputed lands.  He was disappointed to find that South Column would be out of the campaign for a long time to come.  

Throughout the afternoon, the Union Army having long departed in a cloud of dust, Hung T'u Sun managed to rally a scant three and a half thousand men.  Overnight, more survivors straggled in, but by morning, it was clear that South Column had scarcely more than half the numbers with which it went into battle the day before, its few artillery had all been destroyed, and the trains, prudently left at Weshall Pass were a day's march away.  

On reflection, T'ai Kun Wu was disinclined to blame his Corps Commander overmuch.  He had dome what he could to trap the Union Army, and, with losses of near-on 6000 men, could scarcely be reproached for lacking in fighting spirit.  With a philosophic air, he ordered Hung T'u Sun to clear away the battlefield as best he could, gather his wounded, and retreat to his fortified camp 2 days to the west.  The following day, the 30th, he resumed his march southwards. 

Before the end of the day, with the sun already dipping beyond the western hills, he had run the Union Army to earth.  They were ready for him. 
 

Recent Acquisitions...

 

In the last few months - since July - I have been adding to my war games library, the four pictured volumes in order from left to right.  It perhaps behoves me to say something about each of them - as resource books, all very different from each other, and all with something new and interesting to say to me.

John Curry(ed)  and Paddy Griffith, Paddy Griffith's Wargaming Operation Sealion: The Game that Launched Academic Wargaming, The History of Wargaming Project, (2021). 

'I could do with some light bed-time reading,' I remarked when I first heard tell of this volume.  Not light reading, I was told.  Although I have twice read it from cover to cover, and have given some thought how I might 'do' Operation Sealion as a solo campaign, I'm here to tell you that 'light reading' it ain't.

It is a pretty comprehensive war games campaign resource - all four volumes are - but this one is really an account of a multi-player game conducted in 1974 by the late renowned Paddy Griffith.  This was something of an experiment - The Game That Launched Academic Wargaming - to examine a 'what if' campaign, to wit, Operation Sealion, the proposed German invasion of England in the Autumn of 1940. 

Taken from this series of articles beginning
https://www.beastsofwar.com/battlegroup/operation-sea-lion-invading-england-part-one/

It seems that in researching, gathering the materials and developing the project, Mr Griffith concluded before the game was actually played, that the invasion really had very little chance of success.  Not to put too fine a point on it, it was doomed.  Novels that take Operation Sealion as the basis of an 'alternate history' come in for some criticism on account of their underlying assumptions.

Now, it happens that I have a copy of the memoirs of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander of one of the Luftwaffe groups, Luftflotte 2, that were engaged in the bombing attacks on Great Britain during 1940-41.  He expressed the view that the thing might, given the right conditions and meticulous planning, have gone ahead to a successful conclusion.  At the time, the Luftwaffe overall were enthusiastic about the project; the Wehrmacht rather ambivalent; the Kriegsmarine didn't want a bar of it.  

Kesselring also expressed some surprise that the early planning hadn't begun back in 1939, as soon as the invasion of France was determined on.  This is possibly hindsight talking, but it seems not unreasonable to suppose that some such plan might have been begun, as a contingency upon France being overrun or forced to surrender (the value of a contingency plan - or the consequences of the lack of one - must have been brought home to the UK in recent years, with the Tory government permitting itself to become committed to Brexit with neither plan nor policy.  Amazing) .  The moment it was clear France was defeated, measures ought to have been set in motion.

Again, this may be hindsight, but Kesselring allowed that the moment the bombing switched to what he candidly called 'terror bombing' of cities, he knew Operation Sealion was 'off' the agenda.  Interestingly enough, Griffith allowed that in the context of the Operation itself, London, qua communications nexus, would have been a legitimate military target, to disrupt the transfer of reinforcements and supplies from north of the Thames.

Now, before the change of bombing policy, the Luftwaffe had engaged in an attritional battle against the RAF.  It appears that the German Army and Navy insisted upon total air domination as the sine qua non of the seaborne invasion.  This was of course an impossible demand, as Griffith and Kesselring would have agreed. About half of the UK was simply not reachable by the Luftwaffe; if the situation became sufficiently desperate, the RAF could have withdrawn north of the limit of Luftwaffe's range, and still been in a position to attack the beach landings and the Channel as well. 

As far as Kesselring was concerned, he thought air domination or even simple superiority were too much to ask for.  Rather he thought it sufficient for the success of the invasion that the Luftwaffe could contest the air above the invasion, and maintain that contestability until such time as airfields might be established on English soil.

I could bang on even further about this, but I found that the assumptions behind the war games project interesting in the light of Kesselring's own recollections.  But with one or two little tweaks (to give the invaders a fighting chance) Paddy Griffith's Operation Sealion is based upon conditions as they actually were.  To take just one small element, Admiral Raeder would not risk his capital ships in such an operation in such enclosed waters.  It has to be admitted, one battleship (Bismarck) and two battlecruisers (Scharnhorst and Gneisenau) weren't a whole lot  to throw in against the numbers of major units the Royal Navy could show!  Perhaps had the navy been prepared to risk the entire fleet of major units down to light cruisers...?

Now, I haven't said all that much about the John Curry edited book!  I hope readers will infer from this, though, that I found it a fascinating read: I read it through twice, cover to cover, within a fortnight.  If you want to run such a campaign, it's all there, up to and including the tides at two locations where landings might have occurred, weather conditions, phases of the moon, availability of military forces - all arms - and, in the British side, their states of readiness.  It really is a major project; a project for professionals.

But the editor has included two other, much briefer sections to follow  the 1974 project run by Paddy Griffith (some of whose participants included persons who were involved in the 1940 operations, including the Luftwaffe ace, Adolf Galland).  One is a Wargame Developments game at COW 2008, designed by John Curry, among others.  If the Paddy Griffith operation was designed for something beyond the scope of a club project (though I think the resources offered could so be used), the COW version would be considerably more in a club's reach.  

The book concludes with an Appendix account of a 2009 Sealion game at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.  These are Paddy Griffith's own 'debrief notes' of that event.  It's less than 5 pages long but an amusing read - an after dinner mint to round off a vast meal.

I do have one complaint, though: the thing could have stood a lot more editing than it got.  There is something definitely not right about the September 1940 tables on page 54, which had me looking up current tide times to get a better bearing on what they ought to have been.  There are other typos and glitches scattered throughout - always an irritant to me.

This ...erm ... review having taken up more space than I anticipated, I have added the other three volumes by way of foreshadowing future postings about each in turn. 

Andrew Rolph, Kharkov, May 1942: The Last Disaster, Self published? (2021).

Graham Evans (aka "Trebian"), Taiping Era: Tabletop Wargame Rules for land conflict in mid-19th Century China, Wargaming for Grownups Publications, (2020).

Bob Cordery, The Balkan League: A Matrix Game campaign including the Portable Balkan Wars Wargame rules, Eglinton Books, London (2021).

Woodscrew Armies Campaign: The Chinese Offensive

Union reinforcements:
 17th Brigade, 5th Army, Brig-Genl J. A. Early 
commanding

Situation

Strategic Situation July 24, 1889

'The Almighty blessed our arms with victory to-day.' So began the report of Major-General Thos. J. Jackson to the Secretary of the Army in the Union capital city. For all his praises to the skill, stamina and success of his Tenth Army - and there was no doubt the general took great pride (on the whole) in his officers and men - he was beginning to sense that, in the Chinese Army, they were taking on a veritable Hydra.  

Three separate columns had his army defeated, yet all remained in being and at large - and the reports he received two days after the battle at Liaoyang did nothing to set his mind at ease. His cavalry, having followed up - at a discreet distance - the defeated enemy, set about observing from south of Yangzigu village, where the enemy had halted. There they reported a considerable concentration of Chinese forces. A large column, descending from the north, had joined the two the Tenth Army had already faced. The three combined presented a formidable force, a good 40,000-50,000, the usually reliable Brigadier General 'Reb' Klamath reported. A lot for fewer than 20,000 to take on. Thank the Heavens for the 5th Army reinforcements coming up from the south.  

Not to be forgotten was the enemy column somewhere west of the turnoff just half a day's march to the south. His scouts there had reported, before being chased off by enemy cavalry, that this southern corps was holed up a day's march west of the Weshall Pass battlefield and fortifying. For the moment there seemed to be no indication of their moving, but he left the scout picket at Weshall Pass to keep watch along that road.

Tony Adams's sketch of strategic situation. 
'N' should actually read 'W'.

Meanwhile, the reinforcing brigades would be arriving at Camp Supply, Jackson's centre of operations a day's march south east along the 'main' road to the south east - Jube Early's 17th Brigade by late July 26th; Joshua Chamberlain's two days later. It would take a further day and a half from there to reach him at Liaoyang.
     

Reinforcements for Tenth Army.
19th Brigade, Brig-Genl Josh. Chamberlain commanding.

The Other Side of the Hill... 

T'ai Kun Wu, commander of the Chinese Army of the East - the Army to Recover the Lost Lands - sat musing in his pavilion just outside the ramshackle, semi-deserted town of Yangzigu. The East column conscripts had done much to place the town and nearby features in a state of defence should the Barbarians come, and the North Column arrived there shortly after his own defeated West Corps. The late defeat was unfortunate - he had thrown everything into that assault, and victory had seemed so within his grasp. How he wished for some of the devil's rifles the barbarians possessed!

But the combined columns now gave him a force of something over 40,000 troops. So far his information indicated that the enemy had less than half that number - surely even his superior equipment couldn't redress the difference? And what of the South Column? T'ai Kun Wu dictated his orders to two messengers to be sent by different routes to find South Column, to order them forward and take, if possible, the road junction to the east of them.  

Once he had reorganised the troops about Yangzigu - some badly depleted formations had to be disbanded and/or merged - he would begin his own push southwards. Something had to be done, and that right soon. In this depopulated wilderness, provender for his troops was hard to come by, but his ammunition position was the really problematic consideration. If ever the barbarians discovered his trains - it scarcely bore thinking of.

The manner of conducting this phase of the campaign was to program the Chinese actions, and ask Tony Adams to indicate Jackson's orders. After the battle of July 22nd, West Column retreated through the next two days to Yangzigu. There, T'ai Kun Wu spent the next two days reorganising and preparing his army once more to advance southward - all three columns combined. Meanwhile, the South column, hovering a couple a days' march west of the Union line of communication, was fortifying in place.  

The duplicate messages were to direct the South Column to move against the Union LOC, sent by different routes. Both were diced for: a '1' meant the messages failed to arrive (the messengers got lost, were waylaid, or simply deserted); a '6' meant the messenger was captured and message deciphered. Both rolled a '1'! However, there was always a chance that the commander of South Column would take the initiative without orders. From July 24th I diced for their moving east, a '6' being required. Sure enough, on the morning of July 27 that corps emerged from its fortified position and pushed eastwards, reaching the Weshall Pass battlefield late the same day. They would reach the turnoff by evening of the 28th.

It was on this very day, the 28th, that the main Chinese Army launched its offensive from Yangzigu.

General Jackson had decided to wait at Liaoyang for the arrival of his reinforcements. At midday of the 28th, Brigadier-General Jubal A. Early arrived with 17th Brigade - somewhat understrength, but a welcome addition to Tenth Army all the same. But it was during the same forenoon that unwelcome news of greater import also arrived. The scouts at Weshall Pass, chased out of the place by hordes of advancing Chinese, reported that the latter would be up to the turnoff by evening. From his cavalry, a dusty messenger arrived. The main Chinese Army was on the move.  

At once, Jackson issued his orders. His army would march south. There was no question but that the road south had to be cleared. Sure enough, upon arrival at the turnoff shortly before sunset on July 28, Tenth Army found a Chinese force in place, astride the road. Clearly they hadn't been there long - and in fact had won the race by a bare hour. They had had no time to prepare field fortifications. With a large Chinese force close - maybe a day's march - behind, Jackson had less than a day to clear the road...  

Reorganizations:

Both sides have had to reorganise their armies, the Chinese rather more than the Union.  

Union 10th Army:

• 37th Brigade: 19 Infantry, 1 Artillery (crew), 1 MG (crew) = 21 figures, 1 gun, 1 MG (228th Bn attached from 38th Bde)
• 38th Brigade: 19 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 MG = 22 figures (228th Bn detached), 1 gun, 1 MG
  
• 39th Brigade: 18 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 2 MG = 21 figures
  
• 10th Cavalry: 13 Cavalry, 1 Artillery = 14 figures
• 17th Brigade (attached): 21 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 2 MG = 25 figures
• 19th Brigade (attached, at Camp Supply): 21 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 2 MG = 25 figures 
• 110th Heavy Artillery: 4 figures, 2 guns
• 210th Pioneer Battalion: 4 crew

Totals: 136 figures, 8 guns, 5 Machine guns (22,667 troops, 52 guns, 32 Machine guns.

Chinese Army of the East:

North Column: 

5th Regular = 28 figures
1st Cavalry = 15 figures
17th Conscript = 19 figures
18th Conscript = 19 figures
19th Conscript = 19 figures 
Artillery = 2 figures 

Totals: 102 figures, 1 gun (17,000 troops, 8 guns)

East Column:
6th Regular = 21 figures (merged with 13th Conscript, rearmed with recovered M/L rifles)
9th Green Tigers = 10 figures
15th Conscript = 19 figures
16th Conscript = 19 figures
Artillery = 2 figures 

Totals: 71 figures, 1 gun (11,833 troops, 8 guns)

West Column:
1st Regular = 21 figures (merged with part 2nd)
2nd Regular - disbanded (merged with 1st and 3rd)
3rd Regular = 21 figures (merged with part 2nd)
8th 'Blue Leopards' = 10 figures
10th Conscript - disbanded (merged with 11th and 12th)
11th Conscript = 18 figures
12th Conscript = 18 figures
Artillery = 2 figures

Totals: 90 figures, 1 gun (15,000 troops, 8 guns)

Total Army at Yangzigu:
263 figures, 3 guns (43,833 troops, 24 guns)

South Column: 
7th Regular = 20 figures
2nd Cavalry = 10 figures
20th Conscript = 14 figures (4 from 21st attached)
21st Conscript = 15 figures (4 attached to 20th)
22nd Conscript = 15 figures
Artillery = 1 figure

Totals: 75 figures, 1 gun (12,500 troops, 4 guns (4 lost at Weshall Pass)

Grand Total Army of the East:  338 figures, 4 guns (56,333 troops, 28 guns) 

Great Battle in the West

Chinese Army Heavily Defeated

More Work to be Done

August 1, 1889

This newssheet is pleased and honoured to report yet another victory to the credit of ours arms in the last week. The Chinese Emperor's attempt to recover the lands forfeited in the course of aggressive war twenty years ago, is being met stoutly by the sturdy hearts and polished weapons of our Tenth Army, led by the redoubtable Major-General Thomas J. Jackson. His command is being ably seconded by his Brigadier-Generals and a well-trained staff.  

In certain quarters we are being regaled to the carping criticism of our gallant army, most of it directed at their commander. Perhaps were are bearing witness to the senescence and debility of advancing age - the source of opprobrium claiming eighty years of establishment. But feasibly, and more charitably, we might attribute the intemperate language being used to the quite justifiable fears for the fate of our 'Guardians of the West'. No unpopular commander would wear the affectionate sobriquet 'Old Blue Light', bestowed by his loyal troops. We leave the reader to surmise the identity of those 'certain quarters'.

It is true that Tenth Army faces a formidable foe - and, by all accounts, a wily one: determined, ruthless, resilient. It is true that the so-called Army of the East has taken some very hard knocks, none harder than the rout at Liaoyang, where the enemy lost more than a third of his force. But instead of skedaddling west right out of the disputed country, back he comes, within a day or so, with an even larger force. In the face of this, and to the threat to the Tenth Army's line of communication back to his Centre of Operations, Jackson has had perforce to order a retrograde movement, and to brush aside as quickly as may be the enemy who has essayed to interfere.

This is a veritable David versus Goliath battle, and our heartfelt wishes lie with our Shepherd, that he drives the Philistine far from our frontiers.

Great Battle in the West

Chinese Army Still Undefeated

Fears Held for Tenth Army

August 1, 1889

It seems our General, 'Fool Tom' Jackson, has once again put his foot in it. Having left one of his Brigades to sustain the fight against the enemy's main Army, the General reaps some minor accolades by defeating and driving off an isolated enemy detachment. This subsidiary engagement this General elevates to the dignity of a battle - no modest hero, he - whilst for a second time, at Liaoyang, Brigadier Bidwell has had perforce to face off against a much more numerous foe.

So great the numbers - so furious the onset, withal - that Bidwell's isolated Brigade was fairly driven from the field, his guns overrun, whilst Jackson was still on the road. That the action turned into something resembling a Union victory must redound entirely to the credit of Bidwell's gallant command in standing off for so long and exacting such a fearsome toll before admitting, under duress, passage to the Chinese Army. The main body of Tenth Army, arriving not a moment too soon (indeed, we might say several moments too late), was able to reverse Bidwell's ill fortune and set the enemy to the rightabout. Not, however, without further cost to men and materiel. The General's claim setting the enemy's loss at three times his own we might justly take cum grano salis.

The tale endeth not there. All Jackson's Great Victory at Liaoyang achieved was to drive the Chinese main column onto his supports. And such supports! Reports tell of Jackson now directly facing double the numbers he recently defeated. Whilst he sits idle upon the late field of battle, his seemingly redoubtable adversary once more gathers his strength for an even more powerful blow. Catatonic as the hare transfixed in the glare of a torch, he then permits an enemy force to insinuate itself betwixt his army and his base! 

He has in the meantime been joined by 17th Brigade. It would appear that that formation must on the march have passed across the front of the insinuating column by not more than a day's distance. If by some miracle Jackson escapes the toils within which he finds himself inveigled, it will be to have fallen back to his 'Camp Supply' - a good 40 or so miles back from where he reached just over a week ago.

We think perhaps to say General Jackson has 'put his foot in it' is to select the wrong end of his anatomy; hence the wrong metaphor.  Perhaps the part so encumbered is that more usually associated with the noose.  The pity of it is that so many good men must share that fate.

Woodscrew Armies Campaign - Carnage on the Trail

Chinese 'West' Column approaching 

Following the twin combats of July 20th, Major-General Thomas J. Jackson hastily gathered his army in hand and issued his orders. Dispatching the cavalry that had been with him with him to march north at once to join Brigadier Bidwell's command, he sent with them an order to make a stand at or around a dilapidated place called Liaoyang on the road. Himself with the main body of Tenth Army he hoped to join with him before the pursuing Chinese column did.  

10th cavalry - horse holders at the rear.

For his part, Bidwell selected the twin hills northwest of the ramshackle town as a suitable defensive position.  Once the cavalry had recombined into a whole brigade, the 10th, he formed them up on the high ground to the right of the road. Thirty-seventh Brigade occupied the eminence left of the trail, with the machine guns covering the open flank.   

Main body, Tenth army: 39th Brigade marching 
through Lingyao

It was a full day and more before the Chinese column - the West Column - arrived, and could be observed on the heights during the afternoon of July 22nd shaking out into a line of columns.  Anxiously, Brigadier Bidwell began casting his eyes down the road south.  Were those dust clouds approaching?  

Chinese storming the heights

For his part, T'ai Kun Wu was determined from the outset upon an all-out attack, and issued his orders according.  The heights looked a deal more formidable than the enemy that stood upon them.  The slopes could be scaled; the enemy driven back and overrun.  See to it.

(This was the simplest possible 'programme' for the Chinese column: Lay out the columns, point them at the enemy, and say 'go get 'em.  Stop for nothing'.  Makes for plenty of tension!)

Attack upon 10th cavalry

'Saw to it' the Chinese columns did.  The sole rifled artillery in the Chinese inventory deployed soon into action at effective range, and even drew first blood in this battle, striking and causing casualties to the 37th Brigade line. For some reason, the two supposedly more efficient Union batteries in action took a while longer to get the range.

Pushing a little forward, the defenders' lines opening up a searing fire downslope against the attackers.  Yet, with men dropping everywhere, the columns pressed on, stepping over the dead and dying as they scaled the incline.  The Union lines seemed to be holding for a time, at least, but there was no stopping the oncoming tide of Chinese infantry.

Attack upon 37th Brigade

Not that the Union forces were emerging unscathed from the onslaught. Nor was 37th Brigade's machine gun fire proving very effective in stopping the more stately advance of the 'Blue Leopards' .  

39th Brigade infantry facing off against
Chinese 3rd Regulars (smoke premature - they aren't yet 
in rifle range),

Hoping to envelop the Union left flank, the 3rd Chinese Regulars had advanced towards the western end of the ridge, where the elevated ground descended into the level of the plain. There they encountered the infantry of 39th Brigade, arriving just in time to prevent that envelopment. The firefight that ensued kept the 37th occupied, but still left the 'Blue Leopards' space to force their way up the end the ridge.

Can 10th Cavalry hold...?

A further sinister development was unfolding in the gap through which the road passed. The sole defence was a gun battery, which, though causing casualties to an approaching column (11th Conscript) proved quite unable to stop them. Before they could extricate themselves, the guns were swamped by the Chinese and the crews that stayed with their guns were cut down. On the heights, both infantry and dismounted cavalry were being edged back, still cutting down the assailants in swathes, but themselves losing heavily.  

Chinese conscripts storming the pass defended 
by only a battery of guns

As the battle raged on for the ridgeline, the Chinese edging forward in the face of a terrific fire, the remaining reinforcements, 38th Brigade, were marching up the road towards the pass. They might have hoped to fill the gap in the Union line, but events overtook them.

38th Brigade arriving on the field

Battle rages for the heights, casualties heavy
on both sides.

Reinforcements arriving, but are they in time...?

Forcing their way to the hill crests, the attackers began to edge back the defenders. Although the line began to give a little, it still for the time being appeared to present a solid front. Yet despite appearances, it was scarcely possible that the thin line of cavalrymen could defend for long. Even with its artillery, the bluecoat cavalry - less their horse holders - were outnumbered nearly three to one by 1st Regular and 12th Conscript formations. Losing a quarter of their line in a matter of minutes, the cavalry drew back, briefly putting a short distance between themselves and their adversaries. Although giving out more than they were receiving, the respective attrition rates favoured the attackers.

Heights' defenders starting to give ground...

Such was the case on 37th Brigade's front, though there the Union was meting out a terrible punishment to the 3rd Regulars. That formation began the battle numerically stronger than any other in West Column. Confident in their numbers, they pressed 37th Brigade closely, ignoring their losses as they surged up the hill. Alongside them, 11th Conscripts pushed up just as confidently.    

... and rout

Then the Union line collapsed. Having taken heavy losses, and with the 'Blue Leopards' at last joining the battle, overrunning the machine gun company, it seemed nothing could stop the Chinese swarming over the hill. Even after the rout of 11th Conscripts, the surviving Unionists were left facing three to one odds. Their resistance broken, what remained of 37th Brigade tumbled down the hill onto the road.  There, appreciating that the hill line was lost, Brigadier General Lemar McKittrick formed the line of 38th Brigade east of the road where they stood, and directed his machine gun company around his right flank to link up with what was left of the cavalry.

The heights are lost; 10th Cavalry having lost 
heavily

The collapse of 10th cavalry was no less precipitate. The Chinese waves swept up the ridge and over the thin blue line. The close quarter fighting of bullet, blade and butt swamped the horse soldiers. Few emerged from the ruck to make it back to the horse-holder lines, the disorganised remnants galloping far into the plain. Not so hard pressed, the flying artillery limbered up and made off, where they were to form a gun line well to the rear.  

Chinese infantry swarming over the heights
and through the pass...

Having taken the heights, T'ai Kun Wu might have called a halt there, observing that a line almost as powerful as the one just overcome was facing him in the plain below. But the good T'ai Kun was not one to hesitate when there was a chance for a famous victory, and an end to a difficult campaign.  He ordered his troops onward - onward to victory!

... into the plain beyond

In this he was perhaps too sanguine. Two of his regular units (1st and 3rd)  were looking very tired, and the 2nd was about to enter fire fight against roughly equal numbers (39th brigade), and a huge deficit in firepower. The only really fresh unit was the 8th 'Blue Leopards', who were about to engage the newly formed Union line with their breech-loading rifles.  

10th Cavalry make off, leaving the flying artillery 
as rearguard.

Although it took time, the second Union line was reinforced with machine guns and artillery - the line teased out to the right by the 38th Brigade machine gun detachment, and farther off, the 10th Cavalry's flying artillery.  On came the Chinese: 1st and 3rd Regulars, much weakened, and the slightly fresher 11th and 12th Conscripts.  In raw numbers the Chinese might yet carry the day.

Tenth Army drawn up at the foot of the hill 

Firefight between Chinese 3rd Regulars and
39th Brigade 

It all went wrong for the Chinese army. For a space the 2nd Regular formation held its own against the firepower of 39th Brigade, even after the latter's machine guns joined the action. Not for long. At medium range, the muzzle loading rifles were no match for magazine rifles and machine guns. Losses mounting at a catastrophic rate sent the 2nd Regulars - such as who remained standing - reeling back in rout. At once, 39th Brigade wheeled to their right - right athwart the flank of the ridge, and consequently, of the Blue Leopards.

3rd regulars routed, leaves Chinese flank open...

Suddenly the Chinese 8th and 3rd formations found themselves in a desperate struggle with their inferior firearms against the vastly superior Union weaponry and supporting equipment. Their right flank enveloped, the Blue Leopards were massacred within minutes. Trying to press home against 38th Brigade, 3rd Regulars were simply swept aside.  On their left, the Chinese enjoyed some success. Braving machine guns and canister fire, they actually reached the gun lines, inflicting heavy losses among the crews. Though defending themselves with trailspike and rammer, pistol and Bowie knife, they had no chance against such fearsome odds.   

Chinese storm the Union gun and MG lines 
east of the road...

At the full tide of their onset, the Chinese column abruptly collapsed.  Abandoning the artillery and machine guns just taken, the assailants became hordes of fugitives. The tide receded far more rapidly than the onset, all but one formation, 1st Regulars, reduced to a fleeing mass.

There was no pursuit. For one thing, the Cavalry had been roughly handled, and was in no condition to pursue. Thirty-seventh Brigade had been almost destroyed, its artillery and machine guns overrun, its survivors routed. Torn between the bitterness of defeat and rage at the tardy support, Brigadier Bidwell was at least somewhat encouraged by his commanding general's soothing words, and subsequently by the unstinting mention in dispatches. As far as General Jackson was concerned, Bidwell's adamant defence had gone far to win the battle once the reinforcements arrived...

The Union victory had come at a very high cost, over 3000 casualties. The ambulance wagons and the hastily set up field stations and temporary hospitals two days' march to the southeast were going to be busy. The artillery and machine guns overrun were in turn abandoned by the retreating enemy, and some could be recovered and brought back into service. All the same, eight guns and four machine guns had to be written off as unserviceable. A certain amount of reorganisation was clearly indicated.

This was no Pyrrhic victory. There was no question but that in the eyes of most, this had been a shattering defeat for the Chinese West Column. Even in the tide of success, the losses had been great, and much of the army exhausted just in storming the heights. They could count themselves fortunate perhaps in achieving as much as they did by way of exploitation. Well over 9000 casualties that battle had cost - three times, as it transpired, the Union losses (actually 9500 [57 figures] to 3167 [19 figures] being the net losses respectively).  

Though disappointed,  T'ai Kun Wu, characteristically, was inclined to take the optimist's view. With anything like equality in materiel, he would have won that battle. That would be a matter to take up with the emperor upon the termination of this campaign. And he still had the whole of North Column in hand, as well as what remained of East Column. A little bit of rest and reorganisation - a few days only was all he needed - and he'd be ready to take the field once more.  

He would need to move fairly quickly. Already there was a trickle of traffic westward upon the long road to the Empire, some of it comprising members of the state service nobility.  Intriguers to a man, they would be ready when the time came to whisper into the Emperor's ear the words to bring T'ai Kun Wu's career to an abrupt end.