Amritsar to Kargil: Wargaming South Asian conflicts 1919-1999

The session I co-presented at VCOW2024 was entitled AMRITSAR TO KARGIL – WARGAMING SOUTH ASIAN CONFLICTS 1919-1999 and looked at the variety of conflicts that took place in South Asia from just after the Great War until the end of the twentieth century.

I prepared a PowerPoint presentation and split the slides into separate decades.

South Asia in 1919

South Asia in 1919. The British-controlled areas are shown in pink, China and Tibet in yellow, Russian in red, Afghanistan in dark green, and Persia in light green.

• In 1919, South Asia was almost entirely part of the British Empire.
• To the northeast was China and Tibet, to the northwest was Russia and Afghanistan, and to the west was Persia.

South Asia 1919 to 1929

• Almost as soon as the Great War ended, the region began to see a series of conflicts break out.
• 1919: 3rd Anglo-Afghan War began on 6th May 1919 when Afghanistan invaded British India.
• Fighting ended when an armistice was signed on 8th August 1919.
• The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 resulted in the Afghans gaining control of their own foreign affairs from Britain and the British recognizing the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and British India.
• The Afghan invasion sparked off a tribal rising in Waziristan on the borders of modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• This lasted from 1919 to 1920, and the use of airpower featured prominently during the campaign.
• On 13th April 1919, a pro-independence rally in Amritsar in the Punjab was ‘dispersed’ by Gurkha and Sikh troops under the command of Brigadier Dyer.
• The troops opened fire on the peaceful crowd, and it is estimated that over 2,000 people were killed or wounded.
• The so-called ‘Amritsar Massacre’ (also known as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre) gave great impetus to the non-cooperation movement that was launched 0n 4th September 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi.
• From then on this was a growing thorn in the side of the administration of British India as those seeking a peaceful route to independence coalesced around the movement.
• The period also saw episodes of violent rioting that was usually suppressed by equally violent means and mass arrests.
• The non-cooperation movement ended on 12th February 1922 after an incident at Chauri Chaura.
• On 4th February, a mob had attacked and burnt to the ground police station containing 22 police officers in response to police violence against a group picketing a liquor shop.
• Widespread violence was only just averted thanks to the Gandhi’s intervention, but this did not stop him being arrested and jailed for six years for sedition.
• This splits the Congress Party and saw the rise of a nationalist movement that saw violence as the only path to independence.

South Asia 1929 to 1939

• Peaceful protests continued and culminated in the Salt Satyagraha.
• This led to the Government of India Act (1935) which recognised the Congress Party as representing the political views of the Indian people …
• … but there were a growing number of violent incidents as the number of those who favoured violence to achieve independence grew in strength.

South Asia 1939 to 1949

• The outbreak of the Second World War was seen by many Indians as the opportunity to win independence for India, both peacefully and by violence.
• British Indian Army troops initially served alongside the BEF in France and then played a valuable role in the fighting in North and East Africa.
• When the Japanese declared war on the British Empire in December 1941, units of the British Indian Army fought against them in both South and Southeast Asia.
• At the same time, Subhas Chandra Bose and Thakin Aung San raised and led Indian and Burmese troops who fought alongside the Japanese against the British Empire forces.
• By 1945 and despite being on the losing side, these troops – particularly the Burmese – were battle-hardened and remained committed to the liberation of their countries.
• Before the war ended – and in the face of a growing threat from Communist-led Burmese forces – the latter changed sides in the belief that this would help gain Burma independence once the war ended.
• Once the war ended, the British agreed that the BIA (Burmese Independence Army) would form part of the new Burmese Army and sent a Training Mission to Burma to assist in this process.
• At the same time, the newly-constituted Burmese Army began a counterinsurgency campaign against Communist guerrillas and dacoits (bandits) that rumbled on for many years afterwards.
• The new army and Burmese politics were riven by rivalries, and this culminated in the assassination of Aung San and most of the Burmese Cabinet on 19th July 1947.
• During 1947 and 1948, British rule in South Asia came to an end as India, Pakistan, and Burma all gained independence.
• This process was not achieved without serious outbreaks of violence between different religious groups, and saw mass migrations of millions of Hindus, Sikhs, and Moslems.

South Asia 1949 to 1959

South Asia in 1949. India is shown in pink, Pakistan in blue, the disputed Kashmir and Jammu area in grey. Burma in light green, Nepal in orange, Bhutan in gold, Sri Lanka in light grey, China and Tibet in yellow, Russian in red, Afghanistan in dark green, and Persia in light green.

• The period following independence was not with its difficulties for the newly-formed nations.
• The counterinsurgency in Burma continued unabated, and saw the growth of semi-independent, tribe-based ‘nations’ ruled by local warlords and financed by the production of drugs. 
• At the same time Communists – supported by the Chinese government – also sought to overthrow the Burmese government.
• Fighting broke out between India and Pakistan almost as soon as they gained independence, and the 1st Indo-Pakistan War was fought from 22nd October 1947 until 1st January 1949.
• The war was fought for the control of the Kashmir and Jammu area and led to the de facto division of that area by the Indians and Pakistanis.
• In September 1948, Indian troops ‘invaded’ Hyderabad (Operation Polo) to ensure it integration into the new state of India.
• Its Moslem ruler (the Nizam) and his predominately Moslem army had wanted to remain independent, much against the wishes of the almost entirely Hindu population.
• The invasion began on 13th September and by 17th a ceasefire was announced, and Hyderabad was subsequently integrated into India.
• However, the period of integration saw a lot of inter-communal violence that the Indian government seemed unable to curb with any great success.

South Asia 1959 to 1969

• Operation Polo was the first of several such military operations to ensure the integration of minor states and European colonies into India.
• The most important of these was Operation Vijay (1961), which saw the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman, and Diu invaded by overwhelming Indian forces and resulted in their ‘liberation’ and integration into India.
• 1962 also saw the Indian Army in action against the Communist Chinese Red Army along the border of the North-East Frontier Agency Area to the west of Bhutan and east of Nepal in what was termed the Sino-Indian War.
• The fighting lasted just over a month and was resolved by the signing of a treaty that supposedly formalised the boundary between the two nations.
• The Indian Army’s performance was not regard as being as good as it could have been and led to recriminations between the leadership of the army and the government.
• Emboldened by the apparent weaknesses exposed by the Sino-Indian War, Pakistan began to infiltrate troops in the disputed areas of Kashmir and Jammu.
• This led to the outbreak of the 2nd Indo-Pakistan War, which was fought between 5th August and 23rd September 1965.
• After a series of land, sea, and air battles, neither side was able to gain an ascendency, and a ceasefire ended the fighting with no territory changing hands.
• Indian troops were also involved in a series of counterinsurgency operations in the Northeast of the country as well as fighting against the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in east-central India.
• The latter conflict is still ongoing and shows no sign of resolution.

South Asia 1969 to 1979

• Growing tension between the Bengali population in East Pakistan and the predominately West Pakistani government of Pakistan led to growing tensions in East Pakistan.
• This led to the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, which saw many examples of atrocities committed by both sides in East Pakistan.
• India intervened in support of the Bengalis and sent troops into the area.
• This – in turn – led to the outbreak of the 3rd Indo-Pakistan War, which lasted from 3rd December to 16th December 1971.
• The Indians and Bangladeshis achieved a resounding victory which guaranteed the independence of Bangladesh.
• During the fighting, the Indians captured territory in West Pakistan as well as Kashmir and Jammu.
• As an act of goodwill, the former was handed back to Pakistan … but the latter was retained.
• After gaining independence, Bangladesh did not enjoy a very long period of peace.
• Between 1972 and 1975 they had to contend with a Communist-led insurgency, and between 1975 and 1977 there were three coup d-état and two major mutinies!
• 1971 also saw the Communist-led JVP insurrection in the previously untroubled Sri Lanka … but this proved to be the opening shots of what was going to be a much more important conflict.
• In 1973, the King of Afghanistan was overthrown in a coup d-état.
• This marked the beginning of a period of instability in the country that resulted in an invasion by the Russians in 1979, who installed a puppet regime.
• Efforts by the Russians to impose a Soviet-style government on the country was resisted, initially by local warlords and later by the Mujahedeen.
• 1974 saw the underground explosion of a nuclear device (The Smiling Buddha) by the Indians.

South Asia 1979 to 1989

South Asia in 1979. India is shown in pink, Pakistan in blue, Bangladesh in purple, the disputed Kashmir and Jammu area in grey. Burma in light green, Nepal in orange, Bhutan in gold, Sri Lanka in light grey, China and Tibet in yellow, Russian in red, Afghanistan in dark green, and Persia/Iran in light green.

• Other than in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, this decade saw very little large-scale military action in most of South Asia other than the ongoing insurgencies in Burma, Kashmir and Jammu and central-east India.
• The Afghan Mujahedeen received support from overseas (e.g. Charlie Wilson’s War) and in 1989 the Russians eventually withdrew after suffering 68,000 casualties.
• The Afghans suffered between one and two million killed, thee million wounded, and seven million became refugees.
• The Mujahedeen then began an offensive whose goal was the overthrow of the Afghan government.
• Between 1st and 6th June 1984, units of the Indian Army mounted Operation Blue Star to remove Sikh militants from the Harmandar Sahib Complex in Amritsar.
• During the fighting, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was damaged, and on 31st October that year, the Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi – was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
• Over the following few days, 8,000 Sikhs were killed in retaliatory attacks.
• In 1983, the Sri Lankan Civil war started, and this rumbled on until its conclusion in 2009.
• Indian intervened in 1987, initially as a peacekeeper but later took an active role in fighting the Tamil Tigers.
• 1984 saw the forces of Pakistan and India clashing over control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir.
• This situation gradually escalated in intensity over the next 15 years.

South Asia 1989 to 1999

• During 1992 the Mujahedeen finally captured Kabul and took over government of Afghanistan.
• They were – in turn – overthrown by the Taliban in 1996, and Usama bin Laden moved into the country.
• It then became the base from which Al Qaida mounted its campaign of terrorism against the West.
• In 1998, in retaliation for Al Qaida attacks on US embassies in East Africa, the United States mounted a series of cruise missile strikes on Al Qaida bases in Afghanistan.
• The last decade of the twentieth century saw a mutiny (1994), an attempted coup d’état (1996), and a successful coup d’état (1998) in Bangladesh.
• In 1996, civil war broke out in Nepal which resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy and the creation of a republic.
• The fighting lasted until 2006 and was marked with numerous atrocities on both sides.
• Growing tension between India and Pakistan saw both countries stage several underground nuclear tests (India: 5; Pakistan: 6).
• In 1999 it was Pakistan’s turn to experience a coup d’état.
• In the same year, the confrontation between India and Pakistan in Kashmir and Jammu erupted into what has become known as the Kargil War, which has ended in what can best be described as a stalemate.

It wasn’t until I did the research in preparation for this presentation that I realised the sheer range of conflicts that took place, including conventional wars, counter-insurgencies, civil wars, and coup d'états.

Over the years I’ve wargamed several battles set during the earlier Indo-Pakistan Wars and designed wargames about Operation Polo (the military operation that resulted in the integration of Hyderabad into India) and Operation Vijay (the military operation that resulted in the annexation of the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman, and Diu into India). It would appear, however, that there are still lots of conflict that as yet remain to be wargamed.

Battle in the Vietnam War

Like a lot of people of my generation, the fighting in Vietnam was something that we lived with in our teens and early twenties. There was hardly a nightly TV news report that didn’t mention the fighting, and it was one of the reasons why I did not go to live in the US in 1972 when the opportunity arose. (At the time, my then girlfriend – who was a US exchange student – asked me if I’d like to go to New York to work in her family’s jewellery store … and then I discovered that if I did, I was liable for the draft even though I wasn’t a US citizen.)

My first experience of wargaming the conflict was at the very first Conference of Wargamers, which was held in 1980 at Moor Park. Greg McCauley – who was then a soldier in the British Army and a protégé of Paddy Griffith – staged a game using his rules, BUCKLE FOR YOUR DUST.

Not long afterwards, I was invited by Paddy to take part in a large-scale Vietnam game entitled MEMPHIS MANGLER. This took place under the aegis of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst’s wargames club, and I was given the role of being a US advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). It was the first ever megagame and was a wargaming experience like no other I had ever experienced.

Subsequently, Paddy Griffith wrote quite a lot about the Vietnam War but until now his writings have not been available in a single volume. As part of his ‘History of Wargaming’ project, John Curry has assembled this material and published it as BATTLE IN THE VIETNAM WAR: INCLUDING BUCKLE FOR YOUR DUST AND OTHER WARGAMES.

The book has an introduction by John Curry, forewords by Lt. Col Greg McCauley (Retd.) and Peter Perla, is split into eight chapters, and has a selected book list. The chapters are:

• Summary of the War
• A Chronology of Main Events
• Politics Trumps Battlefield Outcomes
• The Lessons of the Vietnam War
• Estimated Total War Casualties
• The War in a Nutshell
• Geography
• Troop Types and Organisations
• Communist Forces
• The Face of Battle
• The Pattern of Literature dealing with tactic in Vietnam
• Three Types of Battle
• The Alleged Supremacy of Technology in Vietnam 1965-73
• Low-Level Tactics
• The Impact of the Helicopter on the Way the War Was Fought
• Rules of Engagement (ROE)
• Reflections on the 'Dustoff'
• Operational Analysis Data from the Vietnam War
• Wargaming the Vietnam War
• Why Wargame Vietnam?
• Dungeons & Dragons – Indochina style
• Wargaming the Second Indochina War
• Types of Vietnam Wargame
• Sample Scenario: Fighting patrol
• Sample Scenario: Go-On Search and Destroy
• Sample Scenario: Extraction
• Sample Scenario: Operation Pensacola Pitcher, 29 August 1967
• Rule Set 1: Buckle for Your Dust: Miniature Wargames in Vietnam, 1965-73
• Rule Set 2: Mouth of the Dragon: Rules for Riverine Operations by Paddy Griffith
• Rule Set 3: 'One Braincell Vietnam' in 300th Scale by Andy Callan
• Memphis Mangler: The First Megagame (1981)
• A REMF's Guide to the Country – Its Flora, Fauna and Colloquialisms

There is also a Quick Reference Sheet for BUCKLE FOR YOU DUST.

In my opinion, this book contains pretty well all the information that wargamer who wants to refight battle from the Vietnam War needs to know. I did play a very minor role in getting it into print (I submitted my memories of taking part in Memphis Mangler), so my judgement might be seem as slightly suspect. However, most of this is pure Paddy Griffith, with a big dollop of Greg McCauley and a smaller one of Andy Callan, and these are people whose work is always worth reading. As Peter Perla states in his foreword:

'This book is another example of the multidimensional talents and sheer capacity of detailed research and intricate design by Paddy Griffith.'

You don't get many higher compliments than that!

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BATTLE IN THE VIETNAM WAR: INCLUDING BUCKLE FOR YOUR DUST AND OTHER WARGAMES was written by Paddy Griffith (with contributions by Greg McCauley and Andy Callan) and edited by John Curry. It was published in 2023 by The History of Wargaming Project (ISBN 979 8 3856 1798 2).

Some new books

It was my birthday earlier this month, and my old friend Tony Hawkins sent me a book as a present. The book is entitled HARRIER 809: BRITAIN'S LEGENDARY JUMP JET AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FALKLANDS WAR, and I have been reading it over the past week.

As the tile implies, it tells the story of the Harrier's part in the fighting and ultimate victory in the Falklands Conflict, particulalrly from the point of view of 809 Naval Air Squadron, which was specially reformed, trained, and sent south with the Task Force to supplement the existing two Harrier Naval Air Squadons, 800 NAS and 801 NAS. The new squardon was formed by Lieutenant Commander Tim Gedge, and was transported south on the ill-fated Atlantic Conveyor. Luckily they were offloaded before the Atlantic Conveyor was hit and seriously damaged 25th May 1982 by two Argentine air-launched AM39 Exocet missiles, and the aircraft and crews were split between HMS Invicible and HMS Hermes.

My other new book is OPERATION BARBAROSSA AND THE EASTERN FRONT 1941. The publishers (Pen & Sword Books) had it on special offer, and as I thought that it might be of help when I revive my Eastern Front/Great patriotic War project, I bought a copy.

It is an illustrated history of the first few months of the campaign, and contains many photographs that I have never seen before. I might now have bought the book if it had not been on sale, but I am very glad that I did as I think that it will be a very useful source of ideas and inspiration.

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HARRIER 809: BRITAIN'S LEGENDARY JUMP JET AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FALKLANDS WAR was written by Rowland White and published in 2020 by Bantam Press (ISBN 978 1 787 63158 8).

OPERATION BARBAROSSA AND THE EASTERN FRONT 1941 was written and compiled by Michael Olive and Robert Edwards and published in 2012 by Pen & Sword Books (ISBN 978 1 848 84867 2).

I have done a lot of reading since the beginning of the month.

Whilst I was in hospital, my only recreation was reading. As a result, I ‘consumed’ quite a few books that were already on my Kindle. These included:

• PIETR THE LATVIAN by George Simenon
• THE HANGED MAN OF SAINT PHOLIEN by George Simenon
• THE SHIP by C S Forester
• THE GENERAL by C S Forester
• THE CAPTAIN FROM CONNECTICUT by C S Forester
• DEATH TO THE FRENCH by C S Forester
• THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
• SPAIN IN ARMS by E Hooton

Since coming out, I’ve been able to read quite a few printed books, including:

• THE PAULISTA WAR: THE LAST CIVIL WAR IN BRAZIL: PART 1 by Javier G de Gabiola (published in 2020 by Helion and Company ([ISBN 978 1 9128 6638 0])

• WARSAW 1920: THE WAR FOR THE EASTERN BORDERLAND written by Steve Zaloga and illustrated by Steve Noon (Published in 2020 by Osprey Publishing (ISBN 978 1 4728 3729 5])

• ARMIES OF THE ITALIAN-TURKISH WAR: CONQUEST OF LIBYA, 1911-1912 written by Gabriele Esposito and illustrated by Giuseppe Rava (Published in 2020 by Osprey Publishing [ISBN 978 1 4728 3942 8])

• WARSHIPS AFTER LONDON: THE END OF THE TREATY ERA IN THE FIVE MAJOR FLEETS 1930-1936 by John Jordon (Published in 2020 by the Naval Institute Press [ISBN 978 1 6824 7610 9])

I hope to add more books to this list over the Christmas break, especially as I have to remain in isolation until my wound has fully healed and I have recovered from my recent operation.

P22: Rhine patrol boat

During our recent trip to Sandwich, Kent, I saw what looked like a small military vessel alongside the River Stour quay. On closer inspection, it turned out to be the P22, a patrol boat that was built and operated by the United States Navy as part of the Rhine Patrol from 1952 until 1958, when she and her sixteen sisters were handed over to German Federal Army or scrapped.

P22 remained in German service for ten years, and was then sold for use as an oil rig support vessel.

She was bought by Barry Field in 2014, and brought to Sandwich three years later for preservation by a charitable trust that he helped to set up with the assistance of the town’s council. She is open to the public at weekends (and for special events), and has taken part in both the 75th D-Day anniversary celebrations and the recent film, DUNKIRK.

The development of British Armoured Fighting Vehicles from 1945 to 1970

I had always understood that at the end of the Second World War, the British Army's armoured formations were mainly equipped with the ubiquitous Sherman tank in several different versions, and a number of British-built Cruiser and Infantry tanks, namely the Cromwell, Comet, and the Churchill. In the wings were the Centurion (which was entering service as the war ended) and an updated version of the Churchill tank known as the Black Prince.

It was my belief that soon after the end of the war, a decision was made to replace the former Cruiser and Infantry tank designations with a new Universal tank, which was the Centurion. Some of the others continued in service with the Territorial Army or in specialised roles within the Regular Army, but it was the Centurion that formed the backbone of Britain's tank force until the introduction of the Chieftain. At one point, a heavy 'tank killer' armed with a 120mm gun was brought into limited service to support the Centurions, but only a few of these Conqueror tanks were built, and they were replaced when new Centurions armed with the L5 105mm gun began to be produced.

I was aware that there had been some experimental tanks built during this period, but it always seemed that these were never intended to enter service, and that the progression from Centurion to Chieftain, and then on to Challenger had been one of seamless development. How wrong I was, and David Lister's book THE DARK AGES OF TANKS: BRITAIN’S LOST ARMOUR 1945-1970 throws much-need light into what turns out to have been a much more interesting and diverse history than I was heretofore aware of.

The book is split into four part and a total of fifteen chapters:

• Introduction
  
• Part 1: Armour of the Line
• Chapter 1: The End
• Chapter 2: A Tank for All
• Chapter 3: Universal Engineering
• Chapter 4: Flame in the Dark
• Chapter 5: Conquering Cancellation
• Chapter 6: Firepower is Chief
• Part 2: Light Armour
• Chapter 7: Light is Right
• Chapter 8: The Prodigal Son
• Chapter 9: Reach for the Skies
• Chapter 10: The Last Success
• Part 3: Infantry Armour
• Chapter 11: The Smallest Enigma
• Chapter 12: The Return of the Infantry Tank
• Part 4: War Rocket
• Chapter 13: The Time of Giants
• Chapter 14: Swings and Roundabouts
• Chapter 15: Foiled Again

Until I read this book, I'd never been aware that the Centurion was the forerunner of a larger, muli-role tank (the A.45) that was intended to come into service in the early 1950s. It was also known as the FV200, and would have been the basis of a whole range of AFVs:

• FV201: Gun tank, armed with a 20-pounder gun
• FV202: AVRE(T) [Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, with a turret], armed with a 6.5-inch Breech-loading gun
• FV203: AVRE(L) [Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, with a launcher. This was fitted with a trackway and ramps so that it could be used to bridge a gap, and had the capability to carry fascines and a twelve-man demolition party!]
• FV204: Flail gun tank
• FV205: Self-propelled medium anti-tank gun, armed with a 4.5-inch gun
• FV206: Self-propelled medium artillery
• FV207: Self-propelled heavy artillery
• FV208: Bridge-layer
• FV209: Armoured recovery vehicle
• FV210: Heavy artillery tractor
• FV211: Medium artillery tractor
• FV212: Heavy armoured personnel carrier

Although the FV201 looked like an enlarged Centurion, the chassis had eight road wheels, and resembled that used for the FV214 Conqueror heavy tank. It was also the basis of the FV215 tank, which would have had its engines mounted at the front of the vehicle so that it could carry a super-heavy gun (183mm/7.2-inch calibre!) in a turret at the rear.

A prototype A.45/FV201 Universal tank.

An FV214 Conqueror tank.

What do you get when you put a Centurion turret of a Conqueror hull? An FV221 Caernarvon tank!

Alongside the FV200, the British tried to develop FV300 light tank and various associated self-propelled guns. Although this project was cancelled in 1953, Vickers persisted with the design of the chassis, which later formed the basis of the very successful FV432 armoured personnel carrier and its derivatives. All of this is covered in detail in the first part of the book, and the second part looks at the various light armoured fighting vehicles developed during the year up to 1970. These include the Contentious light tank, which was designed under the aegis of Project Prodigal. This was to be an air-portable tank, that could – if the need arose – be dropped by parachute! As part of the work undertake under Project Prodigal, a test rig was built using parts from a Comet tank to see if it was possible to design a tank with a limited traverse gun that could be elevated using the vehicle’s suspension. In some ways this can be seen as an early example of the concept that Sweden developed into the Stridsvagn 103 (Strv 103) or S-Tank.

The Comet tank test rig that was used during the development of the abortive Project Prodigal FV4401 Contentious tank.

One interesting project that is also covered in this part of the book is the P.35 ‘Jumping Jeep’, which was fitted with small lift engines designed to allow it to ‘jump’ short distances over obstacles. An armoured anti-tank version – which was to be fitted with Vickers Vigilant missiles – was even proposed. Needless to say, this project never came to fruition. The third part examines the development of the Armoured Personnel Carrier, starting with the Oxford (a somewhat larger development of the wartime Universal Carrier), through the Cambridge, to the FV432 and eventually the MICV-80 … which was the forerunner of the Warrior. The final part of the book covers the development of the anti-tank missiles that became the Malkara, the Vigilant, and the Swingfire, and their associated launch vehicles. It also looks at the various British attempts to produce artillery rockets and armoured launch vehicles … and their ultimate failure.

An FV1620 Humber Hornet, armed with two Malkara anti-tank missiles. The vehicle was based on the British FV1611 Humber Pig 4 x 4 armoured truck, and carried two ready-to-fire Malkara missiles on a retractable launcher at the rear. It also carried two reloads inside the vehicle. It was air-transportable, and could be air-dropped using a cluster of six large parachutes.

After reading this book, I came to the conclusion that the various British governments, armaments manufacturers, and the Army had lots of ideas and ambitions that were severely restricted by the need for the post-war economy to recover. The funds to develop many of the projects covered in this book to fruition did not exist, and the changing internal and external political climate negated the reasons behind some of them. Some – such as the rocket projects – required levels of technical development that were not possible at the time, and suffered from what can best be described as technical over-reach. They were bound to fail … and not always gloriously! I found this book to be very informative, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about British Armoured Fighting Vehicles during the early part of the Cold War.

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THE DARK AGES OF TANKS: BRITAIN’S LOST ARMOUR 1945-1970 was written by David Lister and published in 2020 by Pen & Sword Military (ISBN 978 152675 514 8).

Postcards from Portugal

During our visit to Lisbon’s Museu Militar last month (was it really only six weeks ago that we were in Spain and Portugal?), I bought two packs of postcards. The first was a set that showed Portuguese uniforms that were worn during the Guerra Peninsular (Peninsular War) 1807 to 1814.

From the top left going clockwise: Cavalry trooper of Cavalry Regiment 11 (1806); Infantryman of Infantry Regiment 9 (1806); Gunner of Artillery Regiment 2 (1806); Officer of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion (1807-1808).

From the top left going clockwise: Infantryman of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion (1808); Infantryman of the 4th Battalion of the Beira Cazadores (1808); Cavalry trooper of the Royal Guard of Police Lisbon (1808); Infantryman of the Royal Guard of Police Lisbon (1808).

From the top left going clockwise: Cavalry trooper of the Portuguese Legion (1808-1813); Infantryman of the Portuguese Legion (1808-1813); Corporal of Infantry Regiment 24 (1813); Soldier of Cazadores Regiment 6 (1811).

The original pictures were a set of watercolours painted by General Bartolomeu Sezinando Ribeiro Arthur (1851-1910).

The second set showed Portuguese soldiers in the uniforms worn during the Campanhas Ultramarina (The Overseas Campaigns) 1961 to 1974.

From the top left going clockwise: Everyday bush uniforms; Brigadier in field uniform No.2, m/960; Flechas (Angola), Captain in field uniform m/964; African soldier wearing uniform m/934.

From the top left going clockwise: Walking out uniform No.2, m/964 shorts, long socks, and m/964 shoes; Sapper First Corporal wearing working uniform No.3 m/964 with m/964 boots; General wearing white m/966 uniform; Campaign uniform m/964.

The originals of these pictures were painted by Carlos Alberto Santos.

Naval wargames in the early days of the missile era

Since its earliest days, the United States Naval War College has had a history of using wargames to train officers, and with the dawn of the missile age in the 1960s, it developed a set of wargame rules that reflected the impact of missiles on naval combat. These have now been published by John Curry's 'History of Wargaming' Project, and I recently bough a copy.

It is thought that UNITED STATES NAVAL WAR COLLEGE MANUAL WARGAMING (1969): WARGAMES AT THE START OF THE MISSILE ERA was written by Frank McHugh, who worked in the War Gaming Department from 1934 to 1974, with a break during the Second World War during which he served with Patton's Third Army.

The book originally had an Introduction, five chapters, and seven appendices:

• I. Introduction: Purpose and Contents
• II. Pregame Procedures
• III. Damage Assessment
• IV. The War Game
• V. A Sample War Game
• Appendix I. Formats for Status Boards
• Appendix II. Weapon Employment and Damage Assessment Forms
• Appendix III. Damage Assessment Tables
• Appendix IV. Damage Assessment Rules
• Appendix V. Damage Assessment Flow Charts
• Appendix VI. Surface-to-Air Missile Assessment Procedures
• Appendix VII. Sample Table of Random Numbers

This book contains all the information a group of wargamers would want to be able to set up a battle using these rules. The layout of the game is described in detail in II. Pregame Procedures, and III. Damage Assessment explains how the damage caused by combat is assessed and recorded. The rules are relatively simple, and deal mainly with the Basic War Game Cycle (i.e. Decision Phase, Action Phase, Measurement Phase, Evaluation Phase, and Information Phase). It also places emphasis on the recording of what has happened by the Control Group's designated historian, as this is seen as a vital element for the follow-up critique of the wargame.

The example included in the book makes it very easy to understand how the rules work, and the inclusion of all the necessary forms and tables ensures that the book is a complete package as far as any potential users are concerned.

One final thing; this was a book written by professionals for professionals, and may not appeal to the average wargamer. However, its style and layout are an example to anyone who write wargames rules, and it has certainly given me a few ideas as to how to improve the way I present my rules to the wargaming public.

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UNITED STATES NAVAL WAR COLLEGE MANUAL WARGAMING (1969): WARGAMES AT THE START OF THE MISSILE ERA was edited by John Curry and published in 2019 by the 'History of Wargaming' Project (ISBN 978 0 244 51764 9).

L’Iber: Museo de los Soldaditos de Plomo, Valencia: Twentieth and twenty-first centuries

The is extensive coverage of both the First and Second World Wars as well as examples of AFVs from the Cold War era.

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First World War

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Second World War

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The Cold War

Other people's Portable Wargame battle reports: A twentieth century border skirmish

I was very pleased to see that my old friend and regular blogger, Ross Macfarlane, had very recently used my original Early and Mid-Twentieth Century PORTABLE WARGAME rules to fight a border skirmish in the on/off war between the Red Patch Rebels and the Ducal Army.

His battle report about the Assault on the Hastee House crossroads is inspiring, especially for anyone who likes to fight their battles using 54mm-scale figures on a gridded tabletop, and the following photographs show just how effective this scale of figure looks on a normal sized wargame table.

His comments about the rules are also worth reading, especially as they chime very nicely with my own current thinking. I have my Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War project very much in mind at the moment, and have been thinking that the Pin rules in DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME might be a bit superfluous to my requirements, although I have a long way to go before I make any final decisions on that particular aspect of the project.

Warship 2019

It's the time of year when the only annual that I always buy – WARSHIP – is published.

The current edition of WARSHIP is the forty-first volume to be published, and it contains the following:

• Editorial
• Armed Merchant Cruise: The Conversion of HMS Kanimbla, 1939 by Peter Cannon
• The French Battleship Brennus by Philippe Caress
• The Genesis of the Six-Six Fleet by Hans Lengerer
• The Rise of the Brown Curtis Turbine by Ian Johnston
• Battlecruiser Tiger: The Arrangement of the Main Engines by Dr Brian Newman
• In Aurora's Shadow: The Russian Cruisers of the Diana Class by Stephen McLaughlin
• Project 1030: A Nuclear Attack Submarine for the Italian Navy by Michele Cosentino
• The 340mm Coast Defence Battery at Cape Cépet by John Jordan
• Powder Magazine Explosions on Japanese Warships by Kathrin Milanovich
• Beyond the Kaiser: The IGN's Destroyers and Torpedo Boats after 1918 by Aidan Dodson
• Early British Iron Armour by David Boursnell
• Australia's First Destroyers by Mark Briggs
• North Sea Partners: The British and Dutch Navies in the Cold War Era by Jon Wise
• USS Lebanon (AG-2): A Jack of Several Trades by A D Baker III
• Warship Notes
• Vickers Cruiser Design No.866: An Alternative to the 'Country' - With a Japanese Connection by John Jordan
• The Helicopter Cruiser HMS Belfast by Conrad Waters
• Berthing HMS Victorious After Reconstruction by David Hobbs
• A's and A's
• Reviews
• Warship Gallery
• A series of previously unpublished photographs of the inter-war Polish Navy presented by Przemyslaw Budzbon

Another bumper collection of articles that will keep me enthralled whilst I read them ... and which I will refer to many times in the future.

One item in Warship Notes that caught my eye was the proposal to convert HMS Belfast into an Amphibious Transport and Assault Ship. This would have involved removing her rearmost triple 6-inch turrets and replacing them with a flight deck and hanger for at least four Wessex-type helicopters, and accommodation for two companies of infantry. Provision was also to be made for the ship to carry four LCAs on davits abreast of the two funnels. Although the conversion was never undertaken, it makes an interesting comparison with the conversions of HMS Tiger and HMS Blake.

Yet again, an excellent publication ... and I will be ordering next year's edition as soon as its detail are released!

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WARSHIP 2019 is edited by John Jordan (with the assistance of Stephen Dent) and published by Osprey Publications (ISBN 978 1 4728 3595 6).

Connections UK: Operation Vijay

I will be attending Connections UK again this year ... and my offer to put on a session at the Game Fair on Wednesday 5th September has been accepted! I will be running OPERATION VIJAY, which is about the Indian invasion/re-integration/liberation* of the former Portuguese colony of Goa in 1961.

The brochure for the Games Fair was published over the weekend, and my session is described as follows:

GAME DESCRIPTION
Goa (and several other smaller enclaves) had been a Portuguese colony on the Indian mainland since the early Voyages of Discovery, and after India had gained independence, the government saw it as a priority to re-integrate the colony into India. This had already happened in Hyderabad (successfully) and Kashmir (unsuccessfully).

In 1961 the Indian Armed forces were given the go-ahead to invade/re-integrate Portuguese-held territory into India but it had to be completed within 48 hours. Resources were made available, and planning began. Once the plans were completed and approved, the invasion/re-integration went ahead.

All this took place against a backcloth of inter-service rivalry and very poor intelligence. There was no guarantee of success, and any of the service that failed to achieve its part of the plan was likely to see less funds being allocated to them in the future.

PROFESSIONAL UTILITY
Outside of India, Operation Vijay is little known. As such, it is a very useful tool for those wanting to see the interaction between military and political constraints in an environment that is very different from that the players are used to and within a strict timetable. Although the Indian Armed Services still retained a very British outlook and organisation, they were already beginning to develop their own traditions and modern military history.

The players will take on the role of senior officers of the Indian Armed Services, one being the overall service commander and the other the officer responsible for enacting their service’s part of the plan. The game will begin with a detailed briefing, followed by individual services producing their hour-by-hour plans. These will then be brought to the table and integrated. The format at this stage will be a committee game with elements of Matrix Gaming.

Once the final overall plan is agreed, it will be moved onto the map, with (where possible) hour-by-hour bounds being used. At this stage the game will have moved into a more ‘free kriegsspiel’ format.

Map of Goa. Click on the map to enlarge it.

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* I have seen this operation described by writers as an invasion, a re-integration, and a liberation. The choice of which word to use usually depends upon the writer's point-of-view and nationality. I tend to use the word invasion because in my opinion that is the easiest term for players to understand.

T-34 Owner's Workshop Manual

Back in what my wife likes to call 'eighteen hundred and frozen stiff'* (in other words, a long time ago) when I could still fix my old cars with some spanners, a couple of screwdrivers, and some swearing, I used to own copies of the relevant workshop manuals published by Haynes.

Over the past few years they have begun to publish a range of workshop manuals about a wide range of types of transport, including the RMS Titanic, the AVRO Lancaster bomber, and Saturn V rocket. One of this series that I had not come across before was the manual for the T-34 tank, but as I saw it on sale for only £4.00 in a local branch of THE WORKS, I just had to buy a copy.

The book is subtitled '1940 to date (all models)' ... and it certainly seems to do exactly that. Its chapters include:

• The T-34 story
• T-34 at war 1941-45
• Operating the T-34
• T-34s in post-war foreign service
• Anatomy of the T-34/76
• T-34 weaponry and firepower
• Appendices
• T-34 variants including SPGs
• The T-44
• T-34 turrets

I have several books about the T-34, but this one seemed to cover the technical aspects of the design and its variants better than the rest ... and at the price being charged, it was a bargain.

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T-34 TANK: OWNER'S WORKSHOP MANUAL was written by Mark Healy and published by Haynes Publishing in 2018 (ISBN 978 1 78521 094 5).

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* This expression was used in an episode of DAD'S ARMY by Private Walker when referring to Corporal Jones's service in the Sudan Campaign.

An even older Paraguayan River Gunboat!

The Paraguayan Navy's Humaitá-class river gunboats may well be regarded as ancient by most modern standards, but their longevity pales into insignificance when compared to that Navy's Capitán Cabral (ex-Triunfo, ex-Adolfo Riquelme), which was first launched in 1907!

She began life as a river tug, and was purchased and converted into a river gunboat soon after she was launched. She was originally armed with a single 3" gun, but in the late 1980s this was replaced by a 40mm Bofors automatic cannon, two 20mm Oerlikon automatic cannons, and two 0.5" machine guns.

At the same time as she was re-armed, the ship was modernised. Her original steam engines were replaced with new diesel ones, and her superstructure was completely re-modelled. She was certainly still in service in 2016 ... one hundred and eleven years after she was launched!

Small Wars: New Perspectives on Wargaming Counter Insurgency on the Tabletop

It seems to be my week for acquiring new books. On Friday the latest addition to John Curry's 'History of Wargaming' Project arrived ... David Wayne Thomas's SMALL WARS: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON WARGAMING COUNTER INSURGENCY ON THE TABLETOP.

I have known the author ever since he joined Wargame Developments many years ago, and he is a regular attendee (and session provider) at the annual Conference of Wargamers. As a result I have seen in operation (and taken part in) some the games featured in this book, and I can assure anyone who buys and uses the rules therein that they will enjoy some thought-provoking and well-designed games.

Besides a Foreword written by Brian Train (who is probably the foremost designer of counter insurgency board wargames), the books has six separate rules for COIN games:

• Company Level Actions in the Early 21st Century: Boots on the Ground (by John Armatys)
• An Isolated Outpost: Six Months in the Sahara
• Soviet involvement in Afghanistan: Eight Years in a Distant Country
• Counter-Insurgency in South West Africa
• The Irish Troubles 1920-21: Flying Column
• LBJ’s War 1965-68: Good Morning Vietnam!

The book also contains an extensive list of COIN games and rules as well as a five-page bibliography.

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The book is published by the 'History of Wargaming' Project, and costs £12,95 plus postage and packing (ISBN 978 0 244 65183 1).

The Soldier

During a short visit to a local discount bookshop, I bought a copy of Chris McNab's book entitled THE SOLDIER for £5.00. The book was published in 2016 by Parragon, and was originally priced at £16.00.

The book is split into three sections, and each section is divided into three chapters.

• Section One: Global Conflict and Revolution
• The Seven Year's War
• The American Revolution
• The Napoleonic Wars
• Section Two: The Age of Empire and Statehood
• The American Civil War
• Colonial Wars
• Wars of Empire and Unification
• Section Three: The World Wars and Modern Conflict
• World War I
• World War II
• The Modern Era

Whilst this might not be the most definitive study of what it was like to be a soldier over the past two hundred and sixty years, it has some interesting illustrations. It is certainly worth £5.00 of anyone's money ... although personally I wouldn't have paid full price for it.