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I am continuing with my French Foreign Legion solo mini-campaign, which comes straight out of the pages of Dave Thomas' excellent Small Wars.
Thus far, the little French garrison has been largely able to contain localised unrest, but things are about to get a bit hotter, especially at the oasis. Under the command of the redoubtable Major Moselle, the company of hardened legionnaires has been dispersed across a number of sites in the immediate vicinity of the fort as part of their tour of duty. They recently put down a riot in the kasbah with the aid of a fresh platoon of troops arrived from headquarters.
In my second session the local sheikh decided now was the time to attack the fort itself. Sadly for him, he did not muster a large enough warband to achieve the task. In addition, Major Moselle managed to get a runner to the kasbah, where the English officer Lieutenant Rose was finishing off local resistance. He returned in time to join in the battle at the fort and seeing him coming, the Arabs decided to melt away into the dunes.
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| Lieutenant Rose arrives at the fort, two Bedouin clans attack |
Morale at the fort was beginning to decline, but Moselle managed to keep at least one platoon resting up between missions. We are still at this stage of the game only about six weeks into a six month tour. Nerves are starting to fray. It is an additional issue for the commander to contend with.
La bataille de l'oasis
The big news in month three was the revolt at the oasis. We had had problems there before. Captain Macron was dispatched with the MG crew and the situation went south from there. The legionnaires lost one of the MG crew in the first battle. This was the point when the villagers chose to revolt as well, forcing Moselle to send Rose's platoon to sort them out. Rose also failed to contend with the situation there. Moselle had made a strategic error, as the gun and LeJaune were still at the kasbah which was quiet as a Sunday afternoon in Lent.
The situation at both the oasis and the village was looking increasingly out of control. More Arabs were arriving to join the fighting at the village. Lieutenant Verte was still resting his men at the fort, so Moselle decided to send him to reinforce Rose, as the village security situation looked the most parlous. LeJaune was summoned back from the kasbah. Moving through the parched desert hills, Verte was ambushed again, in the same pass as before. He managed to fight his way through to the village and reinforce Rose. Moselle decides to mention him in dispatches.
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| The oasis battle - later stages (gun crews are blue) |
In the oasis, Macron's men were taking more losses, with more Bedouin warriors joining the battle in a bid to wipe out the legionnaires. This was not looking good. But the two platoons back in the village also had their hands full. Moselle pondered sending his last platoon into the fray.
Luckily, at this stage Rose and Verte managed to get a handle on the situation in the village. The oasis revolt grew, so Moselle sent in LeJaune - reluctantly. Rose was recalled to the fort. Just in time as it turned out, as the kasbah rioted again. By this stage, the oasis rebellion was quelled.
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| Macron's platoon wishing they were somewhere else... |
These events are fairly abstract, as we are now over three months into the tour at end of session two. Keeping at least one platoon resting in the fort means that morale has been largely under control. There have been no deserters. One error was to leave a platoon AND the gun in the kasbah, and assume one platoon could sort out the oasis problem. This was not the case: and, on top of that, more tribesmen joined the fighting there than had been anticipated. In both the village and the oasis, it took TWO platoons to really bring things under control. Macron had the tripod machine gun with him, but this did not seem to help against the numbers he was facing.
My big worry at this stage is the gradual attrition of my troops. Macron's platoon in particular has been decimated by the oasis battle. It may be at some point I'm forced to merge his platoon with one of the others. I'm still really only into month four. Morale is holding up, but that can change too.
I may have to watch Beau Geste this weekend...
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