The 1st Infantry Division
"Big Red One"

Operation Torch

Photos

The Army

Army List 

This army was used by Sean Smith at Breakthrough 2003.

The Rifle company below is inspired by the Big Red One at The Battle of El Guettar in March 1943.

HQ

1 Company Command rifle team
1 2inC rifle team

1st Rifle Platoon

1 Command rifle team
3 Squads (3 rifle teams per squad)
1 Bazooka team

2nd Rifle Platoon

1 Command rifle team
3 Squads (3 rifle teams per squad)
1 Bazooka team

Anti-tank Platoon

1 Command rifle team in a jeep armed with an AA HMG
3 57mm anti-tank guns towed by 0.75 ton Dodge trucks

Reconnaissance Platoon

2 Recon Jeeps (1 armed with a AA HMG & 1 with a light mortar)
2 M3 Scout Cars

Tank Destroy Platoon

1 Command Recon Jeep armed with an AA HMG
2 Section of Tank Destroyers (1 Recon Jeep & 2 M10 Tank Destroys per section)

Artillery Battery

1 Command Rifle Team in a 0.75 ton Dodge truck with a AA HMG
1 Staff team in a 0.75 ton Dodge truck with a AA HMG
2 Observers each in a jeep
4 105mm howitzers towed by 2.5 ton Dodge trucks

Total Points = 1495

Note: Designed using solely the FOW rule book.

History

Introduction

The 1st Infantry Division was nicknamed the ‘Big Red One’ because of the large red ‘1’ on the division’s shoulder patch. It was formed in 1917 as part of America’s commitment to General Pershing’s Expeditionary Force.

At the commencement of WWII it was the oldest active division of the U.S. army. During WWII it fought in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany.

Operation Torch

On the 8th November 1942 the Big Red One landed on the coast of Algeria, as part of operation ‘Torch’. The plan was to catch Axis forces in a strategic pincer. The British Eight Army was attacking from the East and the American forces would catch the Axis forces in the rear, by attacking from the West. What the Allies did not counted on was the speed of the German reaction. The Germans rushed reinforcements to Africa and managed to seize Tunisia before the allies.

By February of 1943 the German Army felt strong enough to take advantage of its position between American and British forces. It adopted a strategy of central position. A bare minimum of forces were left to hold off the British and the remainder attacked the inexperienced American forces. It was brilliantly successful.  The American forces were routed in a series battles. Allied reaction to this reversal was swift. Alexanda, a British General, was appointed Theatre commander. Fredendall was sacked as commander of the American Armies II Corp and replaced by Patton. 

The American Army was demoralised by its defeats at hands of the German Army. Alexanda’s plan was to give the American Army small and easily achievable tasks to rebuild it morale. The American forces would launch attacks to tie down German forces and retake Gafsa, while the main effort was made by the British Eight Army in the South.

Patton despised this sick room treatment of the American Army. He had plans of his own. He noted that a single weak Italian division, reinforced by about 800 Germans, lay between Gafsa and Maknassy. His plan was to seize the vital pass just outside of Maknassy with 1st Armoured Division, breakthrough and cut off German Armies supply line, while it was busy dealing with Eight Army offensive. After taking of possession Gafsa he ordered the 1st Armoured Division to peel off and attack Maknassy. The Big Red One was ordered provide a flank guard for 1st Armoured Division, against any German forces moving towards Gafsa from Gabes, by  taking the high ground beyond Bou Hamran.

The Germans reacted with their usually speed. An impromptu battlegroup prevented the 1st Armoured Division from capturing the vital pass near Maknassy and the 10th Panzer Division moved against the Big Red One, with the goal of recapturing Gafsa.

Campaign Map

In the early light of the 23rd of March American observers saw German Armoured battle groups rolling along the valley on either side of Gabes to Gafsa road in precise formation. The tanks leading in the open, assault guns supporting them from firing positions in the rear, lorried infantry a tactical bound behind, ready spring out and continue the assault at the first signs of the Panzers coming to a halt. The Battle groups were supported by intense artillery fire on any American positions that stood out to the German observers. The attack was heralded by Stukas diving like gannets to attack American positions. The panzers smashed their way through the American gun line and carried on towards El Guettar. For a moment it looked like it would be a repeat of previous routs of American forces.

Suddenly the panzers ran into a minefield, which had layed by the Big Red One for just such an event! Now it was turn of the Americans to become over eager. The American Tank Destroyer battalions revealed themselves prematurely and 30 of them were knocked out. However, the remaining tank destroyers, firing from behind cover, managed put out of action 38 panzers before the 10th Panzer Division pulled back to reform and reconsider its position.

Just before dusk the 10th Panzer Division launched a second assault against the Big Red One.  This time it was an infantry assault supported by tanks.  This was the moment American artillerymen, who had been slaving all day to replenish their ammunition, had been waiting for. In the words of an exultant American gunner “ … [we] crucified them with high explosive shells and they were falling like flies.  Tanks moving to the rear; those that could move”.

The battle of El Guettar was a crucial moment in the history the American Army It provided the American Army with the opportunity to reverse its fortunes against the German army in equal combat.  The Big Red One showed it could stop German armour, which the 1st Armoured Division had failed to do several times. Never again would the German Army push the American army around with impunity.

Sources

Grunts.net: Home of United States Military History webpage.
2003 The United States Army Combat Arms Divisions.
URL: http://www.grunts.net/army.html.

Kenneth MacKsey
1969 Crucible of Power: The Fight for Tunisia 1942-1943. Publisher - Hutchinson.

United States Military Academy West Point Department of History Map Library
URL: http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/Atlas%20Page.htm