Battle of Assal Uttar

On the 10th September 1965 the Pakistani 1st Armoured Division launched the last in a series of attacks to take Assal Uttar and break through the Indian defences. The Indians had no reserves and once their line was broken the way to Amritsar and Delhi beyond would be open. Standing in their way was the Indian 4th Mountain Division reinforced by the 2nd Tank Brigade. The scene was set for the biggest tank battle of the '65 war.

The OB for both sides is here. The map can be downloaded here.

Terrain

The terrain is perfectly flat (strange place for a mountain division!). LOS is broken up by intermittent tree lined hedges. These are widely spaced, no more than one hedge avery 10". The terrain is agricultural. There are some fields of sugar cane, which is high enough to conceal a tank and break LOS. Vision within the fields is 0”, i.e. units have to be touching to see each other. Saves within the sugar cane fields are 5-6. Some of the fields are flooded these are impassible to vehicles, but no impediment to infantry. Other fields contain wheat or other crops and have no effect on movement

The irrigation ditches (blue lines) take a whole turn to cross with vehicles, half turn with infantry. All saves of 4+ for infantry

The red road is tarmac, the others are just dirt tracks. All have shallow ditches along the sides (5-6 save) and are intermittently tree lined.

The dotted line is a 2" wide antitank minefield. The Pakistanis have no mine clearing equipment.

Special Rules

The game starts at 09:00hrs and finishes at 19:00hrs. One turn is an hour, so the game lasts 9 turns. The Pakistanis get to move first [The play test indicates it may have been better as 45 minute turns]

On the 14:00 turn the 1st Armoured Division Chief of Staff arrives on the field in a jeep (historically to sort out the mess that the 1st Armoured found its self in). He brings back most stands of the 5th FF and the 25th Cavalry that failed their quality checks up to the point of his arrival. Any stand of these units that failed its QC and had no reasonable retreat route back to the friendly table edge will not return.

He may attach himself to any battalion or regiment and they will get +1 on QC, as long as he is within 4" of one stand of the company and the company is in integrity. If the enemy ever gets closer to him than he is to a friendly stand he his lost and ALL pakistani units drop 1 QC. Those that started the game with QC 6 flee the field. He may enter the table anywhere along the south west edge of the table.

Victory Conditions

For the Indians to win they must destroy (removed for QC failure counts as destroyed) at least 12 M47 or M48 and the Pakistanis must not make their victory conditions.

For the Pakistanis to win they must hold (no enemy within 6") and one of Assault Uttar, Chima or the crossroads marked X on the map.

If neither side makes its victory conditions then the game's a draw.

Historical Outcome

It was not a good day for the Pakistanis. The 12th Cavalry were not informed of the movements of the 10th Frontier Force and started shooting at it. The Pakistani infantry fled leaving their APC's littered about the battlefield. One squadron of the 4th Cavalry made it to the crossroads. However the commander Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Nazir felt very isolated and the next day surrendered to a squad of Indian infantry without a fight!

The 24th Cavalry and the 5th Frontier force faired little better. The 5th lost two company commanders then broke and fled the field. the 24th left without infantry support was compelled to turn back.

At this point the 1st Division Chief of Staff arrived and turned the 24th and 5th about and tasked them with attacking Chima. However the Chief of Staff and several other high ranking officers ran in to a patrol of the Indian 4th Grenadier Battalion and were all killed.

The loss of so many senior officers plus the fact that that the Indian armour was carving up the Pakistani tank formations caused the offensive to falter and the Pakistanis withdrew from the field.

The Indians claimed 72 M47 and M48 destroyed or captured plus 25 Chaffees though that number includes losses from the previous days and subsequent actions in the area. Certainly there are plenty of pictures of large numbers of captured tanks. They admitted 32 tank casualties.

Game Outcome

The game was played at the Dunstable Generals club on 27th Oct 2003, Dave was my opponent with the Indians. The Pakistanis had an advantage over their historical counterparts in that FFT has no friendly fire rules. The attack of the 24th Cavalry and the 5th Frontier Battalion was pretty true to history, the tanks and M113's getting shot up by the Indian Shermans. On the left flank things went better. A tree line allowed a reasonably un-interdicted route to the far crossroads. Once across the drainage ditches the the 10th FF made a lunge for the distant victory location whilst the M47's of the 4th Cavalry duelled with the Indian Centurions, hidden in a sugar cane field, at long range. The 10th FF almost made it but a squadron of Centurions foiled their plans.

The Indians made their kill tally, though we played 11 or 12 turns rather than the stated 9, so it was an Indian victory, though only by the narrowest of margins.

If playing again I'd set the turns to be 3/4 hour and the game length to be 12 turns.

Links

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/Patton2.html

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/History/1965War/PDF/index.html - the official Indian history. the battle is in Chapter 6.

http://www.defencejournal.com/may98/thewayitwas1.htm - Brigadier Za Khan's memoir. The battle is described on the last (4th) page.