COMMAND CONTROL

All elements must have a chain of command and communication network. The lowest level of command is the platoon, though certain support sections will have the same status if attached directly to a company or higher HQ. Thus a company will usually consist of three or four platoons with a support platoon consisting of sections of mortars, machine guns and anti-tank weapons. Such sections may have their own command and may be detached out to other platoons in the company.

Multi-element commands cost more points (see the page on Points Values). If one such element is destroyed or temporarily disabled, the next available may take over in the following period.
A unit losing its only command element may designate a new one at the end of the second morale phase after its loss.

A commander may be transferred to a non-command vehicle, such as leaving a command car and riding in a tank, but will lose control for that period. This is not a cause for a morale check, it just means that no orders can be issued or messages received. Subsequently, the commander will only be able to command directly any elements on the radio net of the vehicle he is in. Other orders must be passed through his HQ with a period's delay.
E.g. a battalion commander leads an attack in a tank of one of his companies. He may use the company net to directly command all elements of that company but other parts of the battalion can only be given orders, or heard from, via HQ.

Command elements that have radios in separate vehicles, such as cavalry elements on horses with radio cars carrying the sets, must be co-located and stationary for radio communication to be used. They may, of course, still use messengers and other signals.

If a command element is split over two vehicles, such as Jeeps, motor-cycles or VWs, the destruction of one vehicle will affect the command of the unit in different ways. In each case, command control is lost for a period and prompts a morale check.
The section becomes a half section, being PD if the passengers of the destroyed vehicle are also lost, D if the passengers survived (the most important personnel will be carried in the remaining vehicle at reduced command effectiveness). Such survivors must first of all be picked up by the surviving vehicle.

In order to retain control and cohesion of units, all elements must remain within the radius given below, in metres, from the next highest command level depending on the type of unit and situation.

Unit		Attack/Encounter	Defence	Recce
Element of a platoon, or section	No radio With radio	100 200	150 300	150 500
Platoon-sized HQ	No radio With radio	200 400	400 750	500 1000
Company-sized HQ	No radio With radio	400 1000	500 1500	500 2000

Dispersed gun batteries
Artillery batteries may disperse their pieces to the maximum allowed by the command and control rules. These are, however, designed for combat troops and allow for greater distances than are normally used by artillery. A battery spread out to more than the area covered by its fire zone (see 13.11), causes the pattern covered by their fire to become larger but of a lesser FN and increased error (see 13.12).

A unit must be within command control to be given orders or to pass a report up to its HQ. This applies at the beginning of a game as well as during it.

Command control is lost in the following circumstances:

1. The command element is disabled
2. A radio or telephone is destroyed or the line cut
3. A unit moves out of its command radius
4. A unit or element is left behind due to terrain, suppression, dispersal or neutralisation

Causes 1-3 are each a reason for taking a morale check with any elements or units outside the command radius counting as losses.

An element that is outside its command control radius must attempt to move inside at the first opportunity, unless occupying field defences.

A unit outside command control must attempt to move inside at the first opportunity, or remain where it is with its orders changed to ‘hold’.

Communication within a unit is considered to be immediate provided they are within command control radius (note that acquisition – handed on by friends does not apply until the next fire phase). Other communication is either by radio, telephone, signals or runners.

Radio. All radios at the beginning of the war were bulky and unless in a fixed position required motor or horse transport to move them: unless integral to a vehicle, they are noted in the army lists by the vehicles having [R] beside them. The command element must be inside or touching the vehicle to be in radio contact. Later in the war portable sets were more widely introduced, but their range was short and battalion HQs or above still required transported sets.

Telephones. Infantry HQs and gun positions occupying defensive positions are considered to have been there for long enough to be able to lay wire communications with field telephones linking the command net. These lines should be indicated on the player’s map and may be broken in the following circumstances, a score on a D20 equal to or higher than that shown indicating a break.

Potential cause of break	Die roll
Crossed by friendly infantry, horses or any wheeled vehicle	20
Crossed by tracked vehicle, or enemy infantry on foot	19
Within a fire zone of artillery up to 125mm in calibre	17
Within zone of rockets, bombs, or of artillery over 125mm calibre	15

Line laying
A party from an HQ of company or higher level, or any observer element, may lay line on foot at a speed of 2cm per period. Vehicle laying from a command vehicle makes its speed 10cm per period maximum.

Fault finding must be done on foot at a speed reduction of 2cm but without the burden of cable. A party will start from an affected HQ the period after an attempt to use a broken line.

A line laying party may carry up to 1.5 km of line per half section, or double this at half speed.

Visual signals. Coloured smoke, signal flares, flags or other signs may be used to signal pre-arranged actions or normal tactical moves, provided they are visible to the element being communicated with. The meaning of such signals for non-standard evolutions must be specified before the game. Semaphore flags, heliograph or signalling telegraphs may pass messages of a limited nature at slow speed, one simple or a short segment of a longer, complex message per period.

Runners, riders, DRs and other messengers. Runners move at fast infantry speed; riders at fast cavalry speed (including cyclists on roads). Vehicles may be used to carry messages between elements at their normal speed.
The availability of messengers will depend on more things than are normally considered in a wargame: vehicles not in the listed OOB, breakdowns, being used for other tasks, missing in action, borrowed from other units, returning to their own unit or taken from rear-echelon. Therefore, use a D10 and the following table whenever a messenger is to be sent from one location to another to show what is currently available. A commander will usually send whatever is indicated, though a further attempt to find another means of transport may be made next period.

Reconnaissance units will have more messengers available. Long range recce may add or subtract 1 or 2 when the roll is made to find what is available (some terrain may favour those at either the top or bottom of the list). Close recce may add or subtract 1.

Higher HQs will also have a more ready and varied source of messengers. For CHQs +1 or -1 is possible. BnHQs may have up to +2 or -2, higher HQs +3 or -3. These are in addition to the modifiers for recce units.

In each case the unmodified die roll may be used, but any required modification(s) must be stated before rolling. For any unit made up of a particular type of troops, such as a bicycle company or cavalry troop, that type of messenger can always be chosen without a die roll.

E.g. a Polish platoon of TK-3 light tanks on close recce patrol spots the enemy when advancing along a main road. None is equipped with radio so a messenger must be sent to CHQ. The player can use a -1 modification and decides to do so, as motorcycles would be best on the road. A roll of 4 means that only a field car is available and the player decides to send that rather than wait for a period to try again.
Once the message reaches CHQ, another messenger must be sent to its other platoon, which is moving through a wood beyond a footbridge. The player wants to send a man on horseback or a runner so uses his maximum +2 modifier. A roll of 5 gives him a cyclist, who can of course move on foot.

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