RAID ON REMONVILLERadCon 2008

February 16, 2008

We were at RadCon in Pasco Washington this weekend running hours and hours ofWatch Your Six!! Once again I ran my “signature game”, the Raid and Remonville and onceagain it filled up nicely. As per ususal I had gripes about 7 hours for a game being too long. Once again no one left during the course of the game despite the fact we finished a half hour laterthan planned.

[Background]The Great War was coming to a close. The final nails were about to be hammered into ImperialGermany's coffin by the American Expeditionary Force. As part of the final phase of theMeuse-Argonne offensive, a squadron of Salmson 2A2's were ordered to bomb the critical railjunction at Remonville. This represented a significant departure from accepted air doctrine - atleast as far as the Salmson's were concerned. There was no radar in the Great War. Interceptingenemy aircraft often was accomplished when a telephone call was received from frontline positions. Intercepting aircraft were then left to guess the destination of the intruding aircraftafter they left the ground. There were no receiving radios on aircraft during the Great War.Because the interceptors operated with little information about the eventual destination ofbombing aircraft, the bombers almost always approached their targets without interference.Remonville was the exception to this rule. Remonville was one of two key rail junctionsand was located well behind the lines. Any raid on Remonville would take a long time to developand, because there were few other potential targets in the area, the destination of bombing aircraftwould be rather obvious.

The Salmson 2A2 was an aircraft not normally used for bombing. Itwas much better suited to reconnaissance duties. Typically, the Salmson would take off early inthe morning and position itself over it's objective. Soon after sunrise, the Salmsons wouldcomplete their reconnaissance missions, put their nose down and head for home. In a slight dive,the Salmson 2A2 was faster than any German interceptor aircraft. So well suited was theSalmson for this role that they often flew alone and were seldom if ever assigned an escort. It isnotable that only one Salmson pilot achieved "Ace" status with 5 victories. This was not becauseof the performance of the aircraft in combat but rather because the Germans could seldom bringone to battle. Laden with eight finned 75mm artillery shells, the Salmson was neither fast normaneuverable. Indeed they were little more than sitting ducks. As a concession to the impairedflying characteristics of the Salmsons, General Mitchell assigned a flight of Spad XIII's to fly aprotection patrol in connection with the raid on Remonville.

The German air units in the Meuse-Argonne sector had largely converted to the FokkerD-VII. This might have been the best aircraft of the war and certainly was more than a match fora Spad XIII in a one on one confrontation.

Historically, the American Spad XIII's claimed 11 victories (7 were later confirmed)against no losses. It is difficult to ascertain if the Salmsons bombed Remonville or if they did,what damage might have been done, if any.

[The Game]This version of the scenario calls for a scaled down version of the historical action. Four

Salmson 2A2s fitted out as bombers are escorted by 4 Spad XIII single seat aircraft. In

opposition the Germans field a force of two Halberstadt Cl II two seat aircraft and eight FokkerD-VII single seat aircraft.

This was the first time I have run this scenario using the conservation of momentumrules. These rules take a little longer to learn, take a little longer to play and require more space. The game was played on a 6' x 16' surface. You will note in some of the pictures a sailing shipgame is being played in the back ground. The guy running that game needed to be closer to anelectrical outlet than his assigned table would accommodate. To help him out, we were slidingour own playing surface down our table as the bombers progressed so they could play their gameas well.

Initial Allied Formation: Salmsons lead the way!

Intercepting Halberstadts

Fokker D-7's at game start

Bracing for Impact – Halberstadts attack

Every time I run this scenario, the player running the Halberstadts goes charging in beforethe Fokkers are in a position to attack. This time was no exception. In no time at all, oneHalberstadt was in a spin and the other had its’ engine and radiator shot up so badly it had toland.

Halberstadts in Trouble

Fokker’s begin their attack

The Fokker D-7's attacked in two separate waves. The first batch circled around theflanks of the Salmsons and attempted to slide in behind them.

Salmsons under siege

The Spads had been lagging behind and were unable to intervene before the Fokkerslaunched a brief but furious attack. Call it luck or call it great strategic planning: no significantdamage was done to the Salmsons and the Fokkers were now exposed to the tender mercies ofthe escorting Spad XIII’s.

Salmson formation lines up on Remonville

Following the initial Fokker attack, the Salmson Flight leader took some engine damage. Knowing the condition of his aircraft would unnecessarily slow the formation, he gave the signalto break formation. The other crews were having none of this and remained in formation thusprotecting the first two aircraft in the formation. The second Salmson was grievously damagedand its pilot severely wounded.

In an effort to maintain his speed, the Salmson Flight leader dipped his nose and wentinto a prolonged dive. The momentum of the heavily laden Salmsons was enough to out pace theFokker D-VII's for a time, providing a much needed respite. By the time the formationdescended as much as it could, the flight leader had managed to line up the flight for a final runon Remonville -- still in formation.

At this point the Salmsons were still six or seven hexes distant from the objective. TheFokkers were closing fast.. It would be a close run thing.

Fokkers closing on Salmsons

Spads pursue Fokkers as they break off

Fokkers attempt to deliver a coup de gras before the Salmsons reach Remonville

Thus began a long and painful running battle all the way to Remonville. Time and timeagain the Fokkers would swoop down on the Salmsons. Two of the Fokkers jammed their gunsand were unable to clear them for the duration of the game. Time and time again Spad XIII’swould attempt to intercept the Fokkers with mixed success. The Fokkers were just toomaneuverable for the Spads to get more than a passing burst. One Fokker was shot down duringthis phase of the battle but that single kill was too little to staunch the continual attacks of theFokkers. The Salmsons were sturdy aircraft and took an amazing amount of punishment en routeto Remonville.

Spad XIII shoots down a Halberstadt

Not all of the Allied Players were mission oriented. One of the Spad XIII’s abandonedthe Salmsons to do a little cherry picking. After a brief chase the Spad finished off a Halberstadtsouth of Remonville while enduring the howls of derision from the rest of the Allied force.

Salmson #2 crashes into Remonville

As the Salmsons neared Remonville, the Fokkers delivered their final frantic attacks. AFokker with a black and white striped wing delivered a very telling attack to the first Salmson toreach Remonville. The wounded pilot breathed his last as bullets smashed into his skull anddestroyed the engine. The observer was hit and badly wounded. Still the crippled bird pausedfor a moment and slumped forward gliding over the target area, much to the chagrin of theFokker pilot that had done everything possible to stop this seemingly indestructible aircraft. Faint with blood loss and knowing his actions in the next few seconds would be his last, theobserver let go the bombs. In a Hollywood movie, the bombs would have set off massiveexplosions and won the day. This time, the bombs failed to find the rail yards and destroyedsome civilian dwellings. The battered Salmson crashed to earth a short distance beyond the fallof the bombs.

Salmson #3 also reached Remonville and dropped its bombs. It too had suffered damagebut the crew were hale and it seemed, for a time, they might find success. This Salmson crewwere not trained in bombing and despite a great opportunity, none of their bombs found thetarget.

Ahh, would cruel fate allow the Americans to make it all the way to Remonville only tofail in the final execution of their mission?

Salmson #4 hits pay dirt!

After dropping his bombs Salmson #3 veered in front of Salmson #4. A collision wasnarrowly averted. One of the Fokkers made a final effort to destroy the intruding Salmson #4with a deflection shot, but all of the bullets failed to find their mark. With cool, collectedprecision, the bombs of Salmson #4 were let go and exploded in the rail yards with great effect. Great gouts of flame followed a number of secondary explosions as Remonville erupted into aninferno. Mission accomplished. American Victory!

[Analysis]

This used to be an easy scenario for the Germans to win. The last two games have goneto the Americans – albeit very close wins both times. In an unusual departure from other games,the Salmsons maintained their formation practically until the bombs fell. This prevented theinterior aircraft from suffering much damage, or so it seemed. In fact the Germans went crazytrying to inflict damage on the interior aircraft and did comparatively little to the exposed outsideaircraft. Go figure.

Well, once again it was a riveting game with a photo finish. I’ll be running this at leasttwo more times. Once at Enfilade in Olympia at the end of May, 2008 and again at TacticalSolutions in October of 2008. Hope you get a chance to play!

Mike Clinton