Indiana theatre, part 3
Indiana theatre, part 3
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Ohio border[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]US continues to make raids on the rail connexion between Ft.Wayne and Ft. Tecumseh, occasionally cutting it, but it is always quickly repaired. This line is not as secure as the Maumee defensive line, but it suffices. One problem the US had was that when the Ohio troops besieged Ft. Tecumseh, they brought much of their stockpiled supplies forward – as that's where they'd be needed. When the British managed to relieve the siege, much of those supplies were left behind, and thus the troops on the Ohio border have to get ammunition and food brought forward. This is not easy – and not as much as hoped is available, since most of what WAS available was forward based.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Ft. Francis.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The siege of Ft. Francis does not go nearly as well as hoped. The US simply doesn't have the experience with siege warfare that e.g. the British developed during the Napoleonic Wars. Nor were they expecting to have to do a classical siege. Oh, they knew it was a theoretical possibility, but proper pre-planning wasn't done in any kind of detail. So, for instance, they don't have all the picks and shovels they really need, and many are requisitioned from locals, and more have to be made. The surface is rock hard by now, and so digging is slow until the diggers get through the frozen layer. Moreover, such experience as did exist was Napoleonic – before the days of shells. Back then, once trench diggers got deep enough to get out of line-of-fire, they were safe. Now, shells can burst overhead, raining death on even a completed trench. So every trench within cannon range needs a roof – but getting a roof in place first means being exposed to shrapnel, and then rifle fire. Work starts several times, then stops until a work-around can be found, and then is picked up and continued. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Also, several times the protective shields and roofs are successfully set on fire (either by sorties from the fort or by incendiary cannon fire). These have to be replaced before work continues.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]By the end of January, the siege of Ft. Francis is well under way – but only about half way towards the point where they could actually hope to take the fort.[1] The situation at the other forts is even less advanced.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]In the meantime, the usual problems of wartime sieges are present. Typhus and dysentery run rampant, and the US besiegers lose more men to disease than they are currently losing to enemy action. The defenders inside the fort are actually slightly better off, as the British/Canadian sanitary regulations are very strict. OTOH, they have way too many people inside too small a space, and while they started with adequate shelter, the continued rocket bombardment has destroyed much of the housing. So, they aren't entirely well off either. Note: because the planned sanitary facilities are massively overwhelmed, the sewage is carried up to the top of the wall, and dumped over. This is not a problem now (in freezing weather), but it will be come spring. Still, it beats having the sewage become the new ground level.... [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Half of the US besiegers are at Ft. Francis, working there, finding the worst problems, and sending work-arounds/solutions to the besiegers at Ft. Brock [in OTL Illinois] and Ft. Liverpool [OTL Terre Haute, basically]. The smaller number of besiegers means those sieges progress more slowly, but faster than ½ speed because they don't have to resolve all the problems. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]US occupied Protectorate[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]By mid-January or so, much of refugee crisis is undercontrol. Certainly, they don't have new homes for everybody, but the initial wild panic is calming, temporary shelter is arranged and supplies are found for most of the refugees. This isn't to say that they are warm, comfortable or well fed, but they are no longer freezing or starving. With the women, children and old folk no longer in immediate danger, the men (ranging from teenagers to men in their 60s) sign up en masse to fight the invaders. Some of them are fed into the British advance along the rail line toward Indianapolis; others help defend settlements like Prophetstown [in OTL Indiana], Prevost [OTL Peoria] and the coal mines south of Chicago; others are put to work with sleds and such draft animals are available to move supplies to those sites to support the increased number of defenders needed; and others take the fight back to the Americans. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Working in small groups (supply is still a problem), the Indianan marauders retake the initiative. They know the land intimately (enough intelligence is used to make sure there are locals from the area of every target picked), they know the people (not everyone fled), and they often know where village caches might be, hidden from the Americans. One or two raids are even made on the fortlets the US has put up to hold the territory down. When the ground was sufficiently frozen and snow covered, they were able to drag a small field cannon to help take down the first fortlet. Then, later, they used some of the Maceroni rockets taken from the supplies around Ft. Tecumseh. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]As the US has several of these fortlets, taking 2 or 3 is not really a significant deal militarily – but it does add to the guerilla problem the US has to deal with. Soldiers don't want to hold a fort that only has a dozen men, so the US has to consolidate, up the sizes of the forts they keep and abandon some of the others. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Meanwhile, most of the Indianan raiders are doing classical guerilla warfare, hitting sentries, supply trains and communication. And, of course, every time they hit a supply train, they not only hurt the American invasion force, but they can use the supplies themselves to stay out longer. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Again, the guerilla warfare is, at the moment, not that much of a problem for the US forces in one way, there aren't THAT many sentries killed or supply trains captured. Probably the US occupation force lost as many men due to illness, accidents and exposure as they did to guerillas in the month of January (although the organized effort wasn't in full swing for the early part of the month). Still, morale is affected. Especially in the small fortlets, men with little to do except 'hold the countryside down' and wait for their supplies and to be relieved, the worry that behind any bush could be an Indian sniper eats at them. And if their supply train is one of the ones hit and never arrives, that obviously just makes things worse. [/FONT]
–
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 For comparison, Wellington's Siege of Badajoz took 21 days with the accumulated siegework skills of the British sappers, with local help, with lots of cannon, and without the defenders having shells for their cannon, nor many rifles. With the frozen ground here, less skills in the US army, etc., it's taking rather more than twice as long. Note that many people today suggest that Wellington was usually too impatient with his sieges and went in before he should have.[/FONT]
However, although the British may not realise this yet it looks pretty clear that Louisiana is safe, at least from the west. May still be attacks from the east but the Americans have suffered some heavy losses and are going to see a lot of demands on other fronts.