The Battle of Kohima

The wargaming  battle of Kohima was held in December 23 2014.  It’s important to mention that our wargame is only inspired from the historical event.   In no way, we can consider it as historically accurate.  In fact, that’s a mix of the battle of Kohima and Imphal.

Summary of the real battle of Kohima

Here a short reports of the BBC on the real Battle of Kohima.  An interesting three minutes which will put you in context.

 

You can read a good summary of the two battles in Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Imphal

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kohima

 

« The Battle of Kohima, Nagaland, was the turning point of the Japanese U Go offensive into India in 1944 in the Second World War.

The battle was fought in three stages from 4 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima in north-east India. It is often referred to as the "Stalingrad of the East".

From 3 to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the besieged British and Indian troops of IV Corps at Imphal were supplied. By mid-April, the small British force at Kohima was relieved. 

From 18 April to 13 May, British and Indian reinforcements counter-attacked to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured. The Japanese abandoned the ridge at this point but continued to block the Kohima–Imphal road. 

From 16 May to 22 June, the British and Indian troops pursued the retreating Japanese and reopened the road. The battle ended on 22 June when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal met at Milestone 109, ending the siege of Imphal. 

In 2013, the British National Army Museum voted the Battle of Imphal and Kohima 'Britain's Greatest Battle'. »

 

The wargame of Kohima in pictures

The initiale set up of the british side included  a « redoute » on the top of the ridge and positions around the road.

 

A view of the village of Kohima

 


The road to Kohima from the west



THe "redoute" from the east




The headquarter of british troops






A british artillery position



British position made of sand bags

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The japanese attack was concentrated along the road and in the forest near by.  Both japanese troops and National Indian National army  troops  tried to overun the british positions. 

Japanese soldiers attacking along the wood

Indian national army taking a british post

Heavy fighting around the headquarter




Heavy fighting around the headquarter (con't)

Banzai!  Let's go forward!
 







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were able to take control of the road but furious british counter-attacks finally broke the japanese offensive.  The british troops were a mix of Indian British army (Armies in plastic, Gurghas (Airfix), Aussies ( VVVV) and regular british troops (armies in plastic, Armies of the world)

Anzac troops fighting back



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

British new troops going toward Kohima



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventhough both sides have artillery and tanks, they didn’t play a big role in the battle.   The tanks were to few to do any difference and artillery was to weak particularly on the japanese side.  The 75 mm guns used  were not powerful enough to cover the troops nor to eliminate the british 25 pounders.   The battle of Kohima was essentially a fight between infantries. 



 

The battle of Stonne in 1/32

The battle of Stonne is not the most well-known battle of WWII but it is an interesting one.

As quoted in Wikipedia:

On 13-14 May 1940, German tanks crossed the Meuse River under the command of General Heinz Guderian. The town of Stonne and the woody hills of Mont-Dieu were the single area where it was possible to try to stop this German advance. On the night of 13 May, the French moved various elements to this area to attack the Germans;

Operations near the town involved 90,000 German troops and 300 German tanks, opposed by 42,500 French soldiers and 130 French tanks. The Germans lost 26,500 men (wounded and killed) and 24 tanks, while the French lost 7,500 men (wounded and killed) and 33 tanks.

Some historians call it the Verdun of WWII:

The village changed hands 17 times over the course of three days of fighting between 15 May and 17 May 1940.

The battle of Stonne; setting up the village

We built the village with our first "destructible buildings".  The houses are made of wood pieces.  The other buildings are made of foam panels.  Both are "totally destructible " as you will see.  We also had a public market to increase the number of buildings.

The battle of Stonne; French troops going forward

In the real historical event, there were B1bis tank battalion deployed.  Unfortunately, we haven’t done any yet.

The French tanks used are a mixed of real tanks (like the Renault D2) and "out of our twisted mind" tanks.  Only for the French army, we did create some.

The battle of Stonne; fighting for the town.

 

The battle of Stonne, the end.

The russian 152 mm ML20 gun

Original idea behind the 152 mm ML20

I chose to build the 152 mm ML 20 for Petite Infanterie Red army.  Ours was poorly equipped compare to its German counterpart.

Considering that the historical Red army artillery was a powerful one (it actually contributed a lot to Russian victory), we cannot live with the status quo.

The choice of that model is based on a simple thing: it’s both aggressive and slender.

History of the 152 mm ML20

The original designation of the 152 mm ML was 152 mm gun-howitzer model 1937.

This gun was design to replace the old 152 mm Pushka obr. 1910 which was unsuited for mobile warfare because of its weight.  Like many other Russian guns, the 152 mm ML20 was the result of continuous improvements, baby steps by baby steps and not any kind of quantum leap revolution.  

Source: The Encyclopedia of weapons of World War II. Metrobooks Publishing, 2002.

 

 

 

The best way to describe the 152 mm ML20 can be found in this Wikipedia quotation:

"The ML-20 was one of the most successful Soviet artillery pieces of World War II. Its characteristics positioned it between classical short-range howitzers and special long-range guns. Compared to the former, the ML-20 has better range (e.g. the German 15 cm sFH 18 had range of 13.3 km), which often allowed it to shell positions of enemy artillery while remaining immune to enemy fire. Its advantage over the latter was in weight and cost, and therefore in mobility and production rate. For example, the German 15 cm K 39 with range of 24.7 km weighed 12.2 tons and only 61 pieces were built; of the excellent 17 cm K 18 (23.4 t, 29.6 km) 338 pieces were manufactured; lighter 10.5 cm sK 18 (5.6 t, 19.1 km) was more common (2,135 pieces) but its 15 kg shell was much less powerful than a 44 kg shell of ML-20. German attempts to produce an analogue to the ML-20 were unsuccessful. The 15 cm sFH 40 was never produced due to construction defects; the 15 сm sFH 42 had insufficient range and only 46 pieces were built. In 1943 and 1944 Wehrmacht announced requirements for a 15 cm howitzer with a range of 18 km, but none reached production."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/152_mm_howitzer-gun_M1937_(ML-20)

 

 

Source of pictures of the  152 mm ML20

Original drawing of the gun can be found here

http://www.o5m6.de/152mm_ML-20.html

I strongly recommend that Engine of the Red Army for any scratch builders.  Even though, the drawing is not at scale, you have everything else.   

 

Building of the 152 mm ML 20 Fact sheets

Made of wood, plastic and rubber

Barrel

• Barrel made with a birch wood rod.

• Muzzle brake made of a plastic tube

• Offsets  in the barrel made with heat shrink tubing (the ones use for electrical wiring)

 

 

Carriage

• Wheel of the carriage made of pills cap container

• Rubber band of the wheel made of hair elastic (the flat model)

 
 
 

• Shield made of thin veneer (the one use to make furniture)

 

 

 

limber

• Wheel of the carriage made of pills cap container

• Rubber band of the wheel made of hair elastic (the round model)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all folks!  

We are ready to do wargaming with our brand new 152 mm ML20.