CHS Scen 2 - help with Blackforce

[spence]

In February 1942, elements of the 7th Div AIF: specifically the 2/2 Pioneer Bn and 2/3 Machinegun Bn and some small support units arrived in Batavia on Java. At some point there were those who thought to follow with the rest of the division though most responsible officers saw the situation in the DEI as too far gone. In any case these units were organized as a brigade sized mobile reserve force on Java called Blackforce which performed quite credibly in the defense.

I need information regarding the TO&E of these units (or that of similar units).

I understand from one source that the 2/3 Machinegun Bn's machine guns and most of the rest of its equipment was shipped on a different ship than the battalion's personnel and that the equipment never arrived. Was the equipment ship sunk enroute? Did the battalion therefore function as essentially a rifle battalion?

In most WitP scenarios these units never show up other than as squads/equipment in the 7th Div AIF but in scenario two (Rising Sun) they constitute a significant addition to the defense of the DEI.

Other small units which were available or committed and that I have either limited or negligible info on are:

3rd Hussars (light tanks...originally reinforcements for Singapore...ended up on Java, I think as part of Blackforce)
214 Pioneer Bn (Aus)...originally slated to go to Timor with 148th (US) Artillery Regt (-1 Bn) to secure the airfield at Koepang...the Japanese got there first and the units debarked at Darwin just prior to KB flattening the place...all 3 units remained at Darwin thereafter.

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: spence

In February 1942, elements of the 7th Div AIF: specifically the 2/2 Pioneer Bn and 2/3 Machinegun Bn and some small support units arrived in Batavia on Java. At some point there were those who thought to follow with the rest of the division though most responsible officers saw the situation in the DEI as too far gone. In any case these units were organized as a brigade sized mobile reserve force on Java called Blackforce which performed quite credibly in the defense.

I need information regarding the TO&E of these units (or that of similar units).

I understand from one source that the 2/3 Machinegun Bn's machine guns and most of the rest of its equipment was shipped on a different ship than the battalion's personnel and that the equipment never arrived. Was the equipment ship sunk enroute? Did the battalion therefore function as essentially a rifle battalion?

In most WitP scenarios these units never show up other than as squads/equipment in the 7th Div AIF but in scenario two (Rising Sun) they constitute a significant addition to the defense of the DEI.

Other small units which were available or committed and that I have either limited or negligible info on are:

3rd Hussars (light tanks...originally reinforcements for Singapore...ended up on Java, I think as part of Blackforce)
214 Pioneer Bn (Aus)...originally slated to go to Timor with 148th (US) Artillery Regt (-1 Bn) to secure the airfield at Koepang...the Japanese got there first and the units debarked at Darwin just prior to KB flattening the place...all 3 units remained at Darwin thereafter.

Australian Pioneer battalions of the AIF were basically organized as Infantry Battalions with four rifle companies.

36 Rifle Squads (maybe Combat Engineers), 6 3in Mortars, 12 2in Mortars, 4 Vickers MMG, 4 2pdr ATG

[TOE from David Hughes et al, The British Armies of the Second World War, Vol. 5, Australian Army]

Don't know about 2/3rd MG Battalion losing its equipment, but their original equipment were 48 Vickers MMG and some Brens for air defense.

3rd Hussars: If I remember corrctly, only one squadron of the regiment went to the DEI. Thus probably only 16 Stuart I tanks.

[el cid again]

This matter is c overed in a thread somewhere - as it was corrected in RHS due to comments on the forum.

[Ian R]

Have a look here: http://testofbattle.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=60&sid=576dbe6a6dc196a687fa02186ca5d032
 
and: http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/20/chapters/22.pdf
 
and http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/british_armour.html
 
3rd Hussars:
 
There is a website for this unit, which I think had Vickers Mk VI light tanks. It - or a squadron - may have operated with Blackforce but it is highly unlikely it was actually formally assigned as a subordinate unit to Blackforce. (All original documents from that period seem to have disappeared). While some sources say that it and the US 2/131 FA were under Blackforce command, the whole lot were actually under command of British Major General Sitwell, who reported to Lt Gen ter Pooten.
 
Blackforce's commander:
 
"Lieutenant Arthur Seaforth Blackburn VC [served on Gallipoli in the ranks, gained a field commission and won a VC as a subaltern at Pozieres 1916]. During World War II he formed and commanded the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion, which fought in Syria in 1941. Blackburn and his battalion were part of the 7th Australian Division, which was returning from the Middle East. The troopship Orcades was diverted to Java in late February 1942, with the 3000 troops on board ordered to disembark and assist the Dutch in the island's defence against the Japanese. Blackburn was promoted to Brigadier and placed in command of 'Blackforce', the assorted group of over 3000 Australian troops from various units."
 
The hotch potch:
 
2/3 Machine-Gun - 710 men and 2/2 Pioneer Battalions - 937 men, accompanied by the following AIF units with approximate strengths, 2/6 Field Company HQ and one platoon of guards - 43 men, 105th General Transport Company - 206 men, 2/3 Reserve Motor Transport Company - 471 men, 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station - 93 men, Stragglers - 165 men, Details - 73 prisoners, allegedly they had plenty of Bren guns but not much of anything else. They did have some Bren Carriers and some Humber Recce Cars. Which they had "procured" from a transport rather than been "assigned".
 
Other forces apart from NEI ones:
 
"Also on Java Island was a British army contingent under the command of Major-General Sir Hervey D.W. Sitwell consisting of a squadron of British 3rd Hussars with twenty-five light tanks, five British Anti-Aircraft Regiments, two without guns (the 77th Heavy AA Regiment, 21st Light AA Regiment, 48th Light AA Regiment - with anti-aircraft guns, 6th Heavy AA Regiment and 35th Light AA Regiment - without), all up including other Britishh detachments 3,500 men plus there were about 2,500 Indian drivers, clerks, etc in Java Island.
 
[left]The American army contingent (ca. 750 men) on the other hand consisted of only one single army unit - the 2nd Artillery Battalion of 131st American Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas National Guard (558 officers and men) under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Blucher S. Tharp, which arrived in Soerabaja on 11 January 1942. [part of the 26th Artillery Brigade that was enroute with the "Pensacola Convoy" to the Philippines when it fell, and was diverted to Brisbane. Three batteries of four 75mm cannon.] A few days after their arrival in Java, the 19th Bombardment Group of the U. S. Army Air Corps, arrived under the command of Colonel Eugene L. Eubank. They had escaped from the Philippines with a few remained B-17 bombers, pilots, co-pilots and other ground personnel that managed to get aboard as the planes took off while under attack."[/left][left] [/left][left]Look here: http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/usarmy/pfab.htm
[/left][left] [/left][left]Ad Hoc stuff:[/left][left] [/left][left]The British 6th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, which had lost most of its guns at sea or in southern Sumatra, was equipped as an infantry unit to deal with possible parachute attacks and sent to Tjililitan airfield on the 26th February. The two Australian battalions and a hastily formed composite Australian battalion, together with "B" Squadron of 3rd Hussars, an Australian engineer unit and a British signal section, were formed into a mobile striking force under the command of Brigadier A. S. Blackburn, V.C. - to be known as "Blackforce". An improvised field ambulance, the American field artillery and about 450 RAF airmen who had been hastily armed and trained as infantry under the command of Wing Commander Alexander were added later. The force was ready for action by the 28th February 1942.[/left][left] [/left][left]Have a look here: http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/java.html[/left]

[spence]

Thank you all for your input and links.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the Blackforce War Diary to open up.

BLACKFORCE is therefore a hodgepodge of units: some experienced soldiers from 7th Div AIF, some experienced British tanks, some pickups from the flow of replacements headed to Singapore that only got halfway there and some refugees from that place that only got halfway back. Other than the tankers it seems that none of the troops were equipped in accordance with any standard TO&E. They basically just helped themselves to various weapons of assorted nationalities under the supervision of no one in particular from amongst the equipment and stores that had made it to Java (there were apparently significant quantities of weapons originally destined for Singapore as well as a good deal of "stuff" intended for the local forces that the Dutch Quartermasters forgot to weld in place). Coming up with a "unit" for inclusion in Scenario 2 will be a piece of cake[8D]

[spence]

I don't want to create a monster that can singlehandedly stop the IJA cold on Java.  I don't have any experience creating a ground unit in the editor though and here's a tentative Blackforce (omitting Battery D of the 2/131 (US) Artillery that was also attached - both Blackforce and the 2/131 will have to get from where they start to Java or wherever in the first place and since they start in different places they'll have to travel seperately)
 
88 x Anzac Rifle Squads
20 x Anzac Engineer Squads
6 x 3" mortars (?)
4 x 2 pdr AT guns
6 x Bren Carriers
10 x Humber Armored Cars
25 x Mark VI light tanks (?)
110 x Support Squads
 
1188 infantry
 
60 experience
75 morale
 
(?) means not sure if this weapon is in the data base
 
Don't really know how to figure out what the AV of this unit would be.
Any comments?

[DuckofTindalos]

I'd maybe tone down Experience and Morale a bit. Not much, but we're not looking at an experienced unit here. Several fragments of the unit contain experienced troops, but that doesn't make for an experienced whole.

Also maybe cut down a little on the Support Squads.

[spence]

Was checking the Australian Army link that Ian R included in his post and clicked on 2/14 Battalion Diary in hopes that my previous reference to the 214 Pioneer Battalion might have been a misprint.

A lot of what is in these war diaries is pretty mundane though a bit interesting in it's own way (being caught AWOL in the 2/27th cost 3 Pounds apparently) though here and there are some interesting tidbits relating to what almost was.

In any case it seems that the 2/14th was embarked on HMT City of Paris steering a NNE course towards Java at the time of the Battle of the Java Sea and was in company with the 2/16th and 2/27th Battalions at the time. A check in the 2/27th's War Diary shows the troops being assigned to continuous AA watches with their LMGs beginning on 21 February 42. It looks like there was at least a whole brigade of the 7th Div within a few days (turns) steaming of Java when the situation went from bad to worst. IRL the troops went to OZ but what if the Japanese had been a few days or a week late in their advance?

Speaking solely from the standpoint of the Rising Sun Scenario (which ends on 16 March) it looks like the cavalry is just about to sight the wagontrain and could make for a pretty exciting endgame in this minigame (almost certainly, IRL, 7th Div would have been lost entire had it made it to Java).

[Ian R]

Spence,
 
"Pioneer Battalion" = engineers, and at that time, = pick and shovel boys. It is unlikely they had any real infantry training since they got out of recruit camp.
 
When I did my army reserve service in the early 80s, the battalion pioneer platoon (or was it a 10 man section?)  had jackhammers and pn. drills and all sorts of you beaut stuff, and a lock box full of explosives and claymores and suchlike.  No such luck in 1942.

[spence]

Stock Scenario 2 is pretty unbalanced when fought between 2 humans...especially towards the end of the scenario. Blackforce is not included...nor are any of the other elements of 7th Div which were in theater around 1 Feb (at Bombay). In fact a lot of Allied "what ifs" are not addressed in any fashion By expanding the map (so the IJN Player can't pin the Allies against the wall so to speak) and providing at least the ability to introduce forces which were available I hope to make the scenario more competitive between humans in PBEM.

Unfortunately the section of the Australian Army Archives dealing with Pioneer/Engineer battalions is not available on line (yet). The 214th Pioneer Battalion remains a mystery although I did find one link that indicated it was basically an undertrained infantry battalion. The unit did embark for Timor but was turned around after some serious (but ineffective) air attacks on the convoy concurrent with Japanese operations against Timor.

I just figure to let the Allied Player decide whether he wants to risk SHIPPING these units into the fray. At least on paper they seem to be strong enough to hold off the Japanese until the end of the scenario...that would constitute an Allied victory (of sorts). Against the AI that is possible but against a human it's a pretty unlikely eventuality even with the handicap of victory points the Allies get in Stock.

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: Ian R

Spence,

"Pioneer Battalion" = engineers, and at that time, = pick and shovel boys. It is unlikely they had any real infantry training since they got out of recruit camp.

When I did my army reserve service in the early 80s, the battalion pioneer platoon (or was it a 10 man section?) had jackhammers and pn. drills and all sorts of you beaut stuff, and a lock box full of explosives and claymores and suchlike. No such luck in 1942.

The AIF Pioneer Battalions were somewhat different from other "Pioneer" units of WW2 (actually quite strange) and equipped as shown above. They were not formed from (Engineer) Field Companies and were not related to other CW (British or Indian) Pioneer Battalions. They were only found in the AIF Divisions (I think that they were originally intended as a work force but converted to infantry).

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: spence



Unfortunately the section of the Australian Army Archives dealing with Pioneer/Engineer battalions is not available on line (yet). The 214th Pioneer Battalion remains a mystery although I did find one link that indicated it was basically an undertrained infantry battalion. The unit did embark for Timor but was turned around after some serious (but ineffective) air attacks on the convoy concurrent with Japanese operations against Timor.

Can find out when at home (have a list of all Australian battalions that shows their assignments). 214th sounds strange for Australian numberings. The 2/14th Australian Field Regiment was at Darwin in Dec 1941.

[DuckofTindalos]

ORIGINAL: Kereguelen

3rd Hussars: If I remember corrctly, only one squadron of the regiment went to the DEI. Thus probably only 16 Stuart I tanks.

Not Stuarts at this point of the war. Mk VIb light tanks with machineguns only.

[Kereguelen]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

ORIGINAL: Kereguelen

3rd Hussars: If I remember corrctly, only one squadron of the regiment went to the DEI. Thus probably only 16 Stuart I tanks.

Not Stuarts at this point of the war. Mk VIb light tanks with machineguns only.

Yes, correct. Mixed up 3rd Hussars with 7th Hussars (which had received Stuart I tanks by this time).

[treespider]

From:
http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/java.html
 [left]"The First Australian Corps returning from the Middle East was projected to arrive at Java Island via Oosthaven (Sumatra Island). The main body of the AIF 7th Division would begin to arrive 25 February and not be ready for full scale operations till mid March and the AIF 6th Division not ready for any task until "the middle of April at the earliest". It seemed doubtful to General Vernon Sturdee, Australian Chief of Staff, that the Australian 7th Division could reach Sumatra in time and considered the prospects of holding Java "far from encouraging". The Australians, under Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur S. Blackburn, had been landed from the transport ship Orcades and were being retrained for the guarding of airfields until a final decision was taken about the defence of Java. These two Australian fighting battalions, 2/3 Machine-Gun - 710 men and 2/2 Pioneer Battalions - 937 men, accompanied by the following AIF units with approximate strengths, 2/6 Field Company HQ and one platoon of guards - 43 men, 105th General Transport Company - 206 men, 2/3 Reserve Motor Transport Company - 471 men, 2/2 Casualty Clearing Station - 93 men, Stragglers - 165 men, Details - 73 prisoners, formed an ad hoc composite mobile brigade. Under command of the now promoted Brigadier A. Blackburn, a gallant and enterprising officer who had served on Gallipoli in the ranks, won a VC as a subaltern at Pozieres 1916 and between wars commanded a MG battalion plus led the 2/3MG Battalion in the Syria campaign with the 2/2 Pioneers as support against the Vichy French, and for operations "Blackforce" would be directly under Lieutenant General Hein Ter Poorten, Dutch Commander-in-Chief."[/left]