- Details
- Written by: Darren F. Gideon
- Category: Mediterranean Theatre
- Hits: 21
Operation Marita
The Battle for Greece
PLAYBILITY NOTES
Several non-historical adaptations have been made to this campaign to make it playable for 500+ players. First off the British only had 80 serviceable aircraft deployed to mainland Greece at the time of the invasion. The collapse of Greece was so swift that they did not have time to redeploy other assets to it from Palestine, Egypt, etc. The Germans deployed over 500 aircraft in their attack which quickly seized air superiority over both Yugoslavia and Greece.
For playability I am making the assumption that the British freed up and deployed a much stronger force of air assets to the theater. Basically that they stripped Palestine, sent more aircraft from Egypt, and actually prioritzed sending reinforces directly from Britain to Greece. This is why P40Bs are involved in this setup (historically several RAAF and SAAF squads in the Eastern Med. were equipped with P40Bs at this time period). In reality the Middle East commander General Wavell did everything he could not to deploy any air assets to Greece and even argued against the Greek campaign (Churchill finally over ruling him) since he believe it threatened his position in Egypt by draining him much needed forces.
Next the main heavy bomber in the Greek campaign for the British was the Wellington. Well actually medium but it was the heaviest the British had that was involved. Simply put AH planeset does not have any plane that is a close sub based on performance. However, the British need a twin engine bomber with a decent bomb capacity and the closest twin engine bomber I have based on peformance and bomb load is the B25C. So it is standing in for Wellington.
Finally the Italian airforce was involved in this campaign and deployed significant numbers of G.50s and M.200s for this campaign. I want to include them in the battle and after research have found that the I-16 is very similiar in performance to both of these planes. So the I-16 will be standing in for them in this setup.
DESCRIPTION
After the fall of France Mussolini hoped to match the German success and re-assert his belief that Italy was an equal peer to Germany by invading Greece, a country he viewed as an easy target. The Italian offensive out of their colony of Albania initially made progress but the Greeks counterattacked and within 3 weeks droves the Italians off of Greek soil.
Britain, by treaty was obligated to come to the assistance of Greece, and by November had deployed a few Hurricane and Blenheim squadrons to mainland Greece. Also it had deployed ground forces to Crete, freeing up the 5th Cretan Division to deployed to the mainland.
The Greek counter offensive from November to March 1940, supported by British air power, which neutralized the Italian air superiority, allowed the Greeks to invade and hold southern Albania.
However, unknown to the Greeks or British, Hitler had decided to intervene to help out the hapless Italians and issued Directive No. 18 which planned an assault on Gibraltar and Greece by January 1941. This was dropped though when Spain's General Francisco Franco rejected plans for an attack on Gibraltar from Spanish territory.
Directive 20 was then drawn up by the German High Command for an attack on just Greece ("Operation Marita") with its troops crossing through a compliant Yugoslavia. However, the Germans demands for transit through Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav government's granting of this sparked off a coup d'etat and the new government repudiated this agreement with the Germans. The Yugoslavs did not do this because they were pro-British but more out of a last ditch attempt to stay out of the war altogether.
This resulted in Britain and Greece considering only the Bulgarian and Albania fronts to be avenues for a German attack and they deployed their forces to just cover those areas leaving the Yugoslav front undefended. Hitler furious at the Yugoslavs ordered his generals to come up with a plan to attack both Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941.
The British convinced the Greeks to allow them to fully take over the defense of Crete and to also deploy a British Expeditionary force of 62,000 troops to mainland Greece. However, the Greeks didn't want to antagonize the Germans and put severe restrictions on where the British force and would not let it be deployed to the Bulgarian front.
The Germans unleashed their attack on April 6th and drove deep into Yugoslavia capturing Strumica on April 7th, Prilep on April 8th, and were north of Monastir by April 9th. This positioned German forces to be able to attack the Greek town of Florina, outflanking the Metaxas line in the east (where the Greeks were holding their own against German attacks from Bulgaria), and threatened to encircle the Greek forces in Albania and the British W force in the west.
With the Yugoslav surrender the Greek and British forces were left in untenable positions which forced the Greek to abandoned the Metaxas line in the east. While the British force W started a fighting withdrawal back to southern Greece to avoid being encircled and cut off. The Western Greek forces refused to abandon Albania and were quickly cut off by the Germans. After several sharp battles the Greek First Army surrendered on April 20th.
British and Greek forces in the east fought several holding actions while they withdrew south. On April 21st it was decided to evacuate Greece and by April 30th the British had evacuated 50,000 soldiers from Greece to Crete.
PLANESET FOR THE FSO
GREEK AIRFORCE PLANESET
Hurricane Mk I
RAF PLANESET
Brewster B-339B (Brewster B-229 with 3x12.7mm gun package)
Hurricane Mk I
P40B
Wellington (B25C with glass nose package)
YUGOSLAV PLANESET
Hurricane Mk I
Bf 109E-4
Ju 88-A4
ITALIAN PLANESET
G.50 / M.200 (I-16 with 4x7.62mm gun package
Ju 87D-3
Ju 88A-4
LW PLANESET
Bf 109E-4
Bf 110C-4b
Ju 87D-3
Ju 88A-4
COUNTRY PERCENTAGES
The sides will be divided into roughly 50% Allied (British, Greek, Yugoslav) and 50% Axis (Italian, German).
SCORING
AIRCRAFT
05 pts - Single Engine AC with 1 crew
10 pts - Single or double engine AC with 2 crew
15 pts - Double Engine AC with 3+ crew
BASES
288 - Small Airfield
396 - Medium Airfield
572 - Large Airfield
219 - Vehicle Base
SHIPS
CA - 120 points
CA - 60 points
DD - 30 points
NOTE: When a base is attacked the attacker gets the points for objects destroyed at the base while the defender gets the points for all objects not destroyed at the base.
ARENA SETTINGS
- Greece
- Fuel 1.00
- Icons short
- .5 Ack
- Radar (Bar only) : 60 mile range,10 minute update, altitude 500 ft and up
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 26,000 (about 5 miles)
- Tower range set to 26,000 (for display only to match the above setting)
- Clouds / visibility
Frame 1, 9 miles
Frame 2, 11 miles
Frame 3, 8 miles
- Radar off
- Friendly collisions off
- Enemy collisions on
- Kill shooter off
- Calm winds
- Time: 11 AM
SPECIAL RULES
NOTE: special rules sent out with the objectives trump these special rules.
1. Nobody on the Greco/British/Yugoslav and Italian/German side gets a second life flying a plane.
2. Bomber formations are disabled / not available.
3. A minimum and maximum number will be assigned to each aircraft type. The CiC of each side must deploy the designated minimum per aircraft type and can not more than the maximum per aircraft type. Outside of that the CiCs can deploy the aircraft types anyway the want (i.e. can have squads fly 2 aircraft types and in split they wish as long as squads are assigned same objective).
4. If both CiCs agree they may have the setup CM end the frame early. This is usually done if one side wipes out the other side (i.e. 60 versus 5).
5. Dead pilots may gun bombers. They may not man the guns of airfields or ships.
6. Ships can maneuver by the their side during the frame as long as they stay in their containment area. Ships must stay in containment area defined in the objective orders. If they go outside of the containment area a penalty will be assessed.
7. All targets must be attacked within the first hour of the event. Both CiCs should include sending their battle plans to me so that I have proof that they planned to attack their targets by T+60.
8. All attack targets assigned must be attacked by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.
9. All defense targets must be defended by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad.Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.
- Details
- Written by: Darren F. Gideon
- Category: Mediterranean Theatre
- Hits: 16
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DESCRIPTION
General Eisenhower attended the Casablanca Conference only briefly. On January 15, after a harrowing journey in which his B-17 lost two engines, and he ended the trip in a parachute harness, he reported on the progress of the campaign in
In the Trident Conference the Americans reluctantly had to settle for moving the invasion of
On May 12, 1943, the same day on which the Allied field commanders approved the final plan of invasion for
Operation Barclay was put into effect to disguise the troop objective of the allies in 1943. Its goal was to convince the Germans that Sardina, Corisca, or
On June 7, 1943 Eisenhower outlined his plan for the invasion of
NOTE: We will be using the
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ALLIED AIRCRAFT |
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AXIS AIRCRAFT |
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BRITISH Spitfire VIII B26B P47D-11 Jeep LVTA2 LVTA4 M-3 M-8 |
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ITALIAN Bf109G2 Jeep M-8 SDKFZ-251 Tiger I
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COUNTRY PERCENTAGES
Roughly 50 / 50 with the Axis having slightly more.
SCORING
CV - 120 points
CA - 60 points
DD - 30 points
5 pts - Single Engine AC with 1 crew
10 pts - Single or double engine AC with 2 crew
15 pts - Double Engine AC with 3+ crew
288 - Small Airfield
396 - Medium Airfield
572 - Large Airfield
TBD - Port
219- Vehicle Base
ARENA SETTINGS
- Italy terrain
- Fuel 1.00
- Icons short
- .5 Ack
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 52,000 (about 10 miles)
- Tower range set to 52,000 (for display only to match the above setting)
- Clouds / visibility
Frame 1, 13 miles
Frame 2, 7 miles
Frame 3, 14 miles
- Radar off
- Friendly collisions off
- Enemy collisions on
- Kill shooter off
- Calm winds
- Time: 11 AM
SPECIAL RULES
Note special rules sent out with the objectives trump these special rules.
1. Nobody on the allied life gets a second life flying a plane.
2. JU87s get a second life.
2. Bomber formations are enabled / available.
3. A minimum and maximum number will be assigned to each aircraft type. The CiC of each side must deploy the designated minimum per aircraft type and can not more than the maximum per aircraft type. Outside of that the CiCs can deploy the aircraft types anyway the want (i.e. can have squads fly 2 aircraft types and in split they wish as long as squads are assigned same objective).
4. If both CiCs agree they may have the setup CM end the frame early. This is usually done if one side wipes out the other side (i.e. 60 versus 5).
5. Dead pilots may gun bombers. They may not man the guns of airfields or ships.
6. Ships can maneuver by the allied side during the frame as long as they stay in their containment area. Ships must stay in containment area defined in the objective orders. If they go outside of the containment area a penalty will be assessed.
7. All targets must be attacked within the first hour of the event. Both CiCs should include sending their battle plans to me so that I have proof that they planned to attack their targets by T+60.
8. All targets must be attacked by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.
9. All targets must be defended by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.
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GROUND RULES
A ground combat element will be incorporated into the event. Right now in frame 3 there will definitely ground combat. In frame 2 there might be ground combat to simulate the actual amphibious invasion. Specific rules regarding the ground combat will be forth coming. Basically I will be using the same rules and capture the flag idea that was used in the Tunisia and August Storm FSOs.
First off the ground combat will be a type of capture the flag for frame 3. Both sides will spawn outside of a base not controlled by either and will be tasked with capturing the neutral (third party base) and holding it until end frame (so a sort of capture the flag but with a stationary flag).
The amphibious invasion, if done will be following slightly different rules.
Also GV life might either be a one life affair for those assigned to GVs or if I determine that the GV players get a second life in planes later in frame they will not be allowed to up in planes until after a specific time marker (i.e. T+40 or T+50, etc. ... it is to TBD). However dead GV players may man the guns of other tanks and vehicles.
- Details
- Written by: Steven Jackson
- Category: Mediterranean Theatre
- Hits: 19
PRELUDE TO STALEMATE:
OPERATION AVALANCHE
In July of 1942, a historic meeting began that served as the foundation for Allied European strategy for the rest of the war. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt met, at what is now called Camp David, with their respective military chiefs, and began a roadmap of how the western Allied strategy would play out. American military chiefs were strongly in favor of husbanding the emerging allied resources for an direct invasion of France, as early as possible--preferably in the Spring of 1943. Churchill, acting in a roll closer to that of his World War I post, Lord of the Admiralty, lobbied Roosevelt, with considerable resolve, for moving into the Mediterannean first. Churchill proposed a landing into North Africa, followed by continued operations throughout the region as the war progressed. To the chagrin of General Marshall and the rest of the U.S. military chiefs, Roosevelt acquiesced to Churchill, and agreed to begin the campaign against Germany in North Africa. France, for now, would have to wait.
As the North African campaign struggled through the winter of 42'-'43, more planning was conducted for the next step. At the Casablanca conference in January 1943, Churchill and Roosevelt, with their military staffs, met again to discuss the subsequent operations following victory in Tunisia. Again, U.S. military leaders pressed Roosevelt to turn all attention towards France, and again, Roosevelt agreed with Churchill's Mediterranean strategy. The plan that was adopted included an invasion of Sicily, followed closely by a direct invasion of Italy itself. Sicily was captured in August 1943 and the stage was set for the invasion of the Italian peninsula.
The plan called for a series of three landings: Operations Baytown, Slapstick, and Avalanche. Baytown would see portions of Montgomeries 8th Army landing in Calabria, directly across from Sicily. The remainder of 8th Army, mostly British Paratroopers, would land by ship at the port of Taranto during Operation Slapstick. Finally Avalanche, a few days after Slapstick, would see the main Allied landing force attack just south of Naples, along a small coastal plain in Salerno. Montgomery's army, moving north from both the "toe" and "heel" of the "Boot", would link up with the main force along the Salerno beachhead. The combined forces would then move North to take Naples, and then, ultimately, Rome. After Italy surrendered, Baytown and Slapstick were basically unopposed by the Germans, as General Kesselring withdrew his forces north. On September 9th, 1943, Allied forces went ashore at Salerno, and immediately found themselves literally fighting for the beachhead. After just over a week of extremely hard fighting, the Germans began withdrawing north again. The Allied forces reconstituted, linked up with Montgomery, and began working their way north, capturing Naples on 1 October. As the Allies reached the Volturno River, north of Naples, they slammed directly into the first of Kesselring's famous Italian defensive positions, the Volturno Line. From fall of 1943 until the summer of 1944, the Allies would face a series of stubborn defensive lines, and ultimately, stalemate.
This FSO setup will attempt to replicate the Allied and Axis air operations that occurred during Operations Baytown (Frame 1), Slapstick (Frame 2), and Avalanche (Frame 3).
Frame 1: 13 March, 2009 (1400 Game T-Time)
Frame 2: 20 March, 2009 (1200 Game T-Time)
Frame 3: 27 March, 2009 (1000 Game T-Time)
Scoring:
Objective based scoring will be used. 50% of each frame's score will be for air-to-air kills, with the remaining 50% being divided between 5 air-to-ground objectives each frame. Each air-to-ground objective will be worth a total of 10 points. Objective scores will be based on victory criteria that will be published in each frames objectives.
Air-to-Air
Air-to-air score will be worth 50 potential points each frame. The total number of aircraft that lift for each side will be tallied and added together using their respective point totals. That number is the total aircraft potential for each side. All single engined fighters will be worth 1 point. All aircraft with multiple crewmembers will be worth 1.25 points. To reach the percentage score, the total points scored will be divided by total aircraft lifted. For example, if 60 P-40, 20 B-26, and 14 A-20 aircraft launch, and 20 P-40, 10 B-26, and 2 A-20 aircraft are shot down, the Japanese would score (20) for P-40, (12.5) for B-26, and (2.5) for A-20. The total value destroyed (35) is divided by the total number launched (94) to get a percentage (37%). That percentage is used to modify the 50 potential air-to-air points i.e. (35) / (94) = 37%; 50 X .37 = 18.5. So, in this example, the Germans would score 18.5 points for air-to-air victories.
Air-to-Ground
Air-to-ground score will be worth 50 potential points each frame. Each of the 5 target objectives will be worth 10 points to either side. The Allies and Germans will be awarded points based on victory conditions listed in each frame?s objectives. Target objectives will consist of strategic targets only. Each objective will have its own victory conditions that will define who receives points, and for what destruction criteria. Both sides will have an equal potential to score the same points for each objective.
Plane Set:
Allied:
P-38G (36 max)
P-40E (48 min)
Spit VIII (48 max)
Spit IX (36 min)
SeaFire (24 max)
Bostons (12 formations min)
B-25 (12 formations min)
B-26 (12 formations max)
A-20 (12 max)
Axis:
C202 (14 Min)
C205 (14 Max)
Bf-109G2 (70 Min)
Bf-109G6 (70 Max)
Bf-110G (28 Max)
Fw-190A5 (28 Max)
Ju-87 (Available, No Min)
Ju-88 (28 Formations Max)
Special Rules:
--Manual calibration will be used for bombers
Arena Settings:
--Italy Map
--Fuel Burn 1.0
--Icons Short
--.4 Ack
--Fighter and Bomber Warning Range 48,000 (~8 nautical miles)
--Tower Range 48,000 (~8 nautical miles, To Match Warning Range)
--Visibility 17 Miles
--Wind speed will vary with altitude and frame. See Objectives
--Radar Off
--Enemy Collisions On
--Friendly Collisions Off
--Killshooter Off
--Takeoff time per frame descriptions above
Task Groups:
Allies will have (2) Task Groups per frame. (1) Task Group consists of the normal compliment of ships. The second Task Group will consist of all ships except the CV. They will be placed on the map by the Frame Objectives (by the Admin, me) but shall be under Allied CIC control during each frame. See Frame Objectives each week.
Contact all the squads on your side at:
http://ahevents.org/fso/view_assignments.html
Updated FSO Rules at:
http://ahevents.org/fso-related/fso-rules.html
- Details
- Written by: Spikes
- Category: Mediterranean Theatre
- Hits: 18
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Operation Strangle
Time Frame - March 1944
   "Operation Strangle" was conceived by Allied commanders to reduce the flow of enemy supplies in Italy below requirements by attacking their supply system. It was determined that the enemy's abilities to supply, reinforce, and shift forces could be so weakened that the Gustav Line could neither withstand determined ground attacks nor withdraw in order.
   Beginning in March, Allied Medium and Fighter Bombers struck targets from the Gustav Line to the Swiss frontier. While the Medium bombers wrecked marshaling yards and repair facilities, the Fighters and Fighter Bombers of the XII Air Support Command cut rail lines and bridges. The Fighter Bombers in particular, proved surprisingly successful as bridge busters.
   Heavy Bombers borrowed from the air war over Germany hit distant rail centers in the northern Italian cities. This scrambled enemy troops and supplies from beyond the Alps, as trains stacked up north and south of Rome. No trains were able to run from the Po Valley, and substantially all supplies had to be moved by truck south of Florence.
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Arena
Special Events Arena (SEA)
Country Percentages: 50% - 50%
Allied Planeset
P-38J
P-47D-25
P-51BÂ Â Â
Allied Taskgroups
German Planeset
Bf 109G-14Â Â Â
Me-410Â
Fw 190A-5
Fw 190A-8
Fw 190F-8
Ju 88A-4
Italian Planeset
C.205Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Notes
▸Â Â Â Each side must utilize at least 5 different AC types per frame.
▸Â Â Â Formations will be turned on for Bombers on both sides.
▸Â Â Â Both Allied and Axis must utilize Bomber's each Frame.
Restrictions
Allied are restricted to take off from designated bases.
(To Be Determined)
Axis are restricted to take off from designated bases.
(To Be Determined)
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Victory Conditions
Aircraft
   Pts   Objects
▸Â Â Â 10.0Â Â Â Fighter Aircraft
▸Â Â Â 15.0Â Â Â 2 engine Aircraft
Carrier Group
   Pts   Objects
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Gun Battery
▸Â Â Â 20.0Â Â Â Ship
▸Â Â Â 50.0Â Â Â Cruiser
▸Â Â Â 100.0Â Â Â Carrier
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Ground Targets
   Pts   Objects
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Gun
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Mannable Gun
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Ammo Bunker
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Fuel Bunker
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Barracks
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Radar
▸Â Â Â 25.0Â Â Â Vehicle Hangar
▸Â Â Â 25.0Â Â Â Fighter Hangar
▸Â Â Â 25.0Â Â Â Bomber Hangar
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Town Building
▸Â Â Â 05.0Â Â Â Factory at strategic target
Field Order
▸Â Â Â Bishop - Axis
▸Â Â Â Knight - Allied
▸Â Â Â Rook - Campaign Managers (CM?s)
Arena Settings:
- Italy_1 Map
- Fuel 1.0
- Icons short
- 0.5 Ack
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 42,000 (about 8 miles)
- Tower range set to 42,000 (for display only to match the above setting)
- Haze/fog full visability (17 miles)
- Radar off
- Enemy Collisions On
- Friendly collisions off
- Killshooter off
- Formations enabled
- Bomber calibration: Auto ( MA style )
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Designer Notes
My concept on the planeset was to allow for a fairly historical setup, and allow the country CiC's some leeway for their planning.
Designed By
Nomde
- Details
- Written by: Scott Avery
- Category: Mediterranean Theatre
- Hits: 17
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Artist Credit: Screen shot: APDrone | |||||||||
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Background Information
While the Eighth Air Force focused on bombing Germany, down in ItalyÂ
a long-running campaign against transportation and industry has been raging on.  The Fifteenth Air Force, based out of places with names like Torretto, Pantanella, Vincenzo, Ramitelli, Lesina, and Madna, continued to pound the German war machine.   During its 18 months of existence, the 15th dropped over 300,000 tons of bombs on targets in 12 countries of Europe, including military installations in eight capital cities. Its combat personnel logged 148,955 heavy bomber sorties and 87,732 fighter sorties at the cost o 3,364 aircraft lost and 21,671 personnel killed, wounded, missing and taken prisoner -- 20,430 bomber crewmen and 1,187 fighter pilots.  Â
This Squad Operation series recreates some of the action in late 1944 when escortedÂ
B-17s and B-24s continued their strikes against targets in Northern Italy/Austria while fighter-bombers crippled ground transportation units.  Arena Country Percentages Â
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Victory Conditions Convoys and Trains are 200pts for the entire object. Points awarded to defenders for percentage not destroyed. Strategic targets are 400 points awarded by percentage destroyed. Points awarded to defenders for percentage not destroyed.  Arena Settings - Visibility - Variable per frame. Frame 1: 12 miles
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 8 miles (42000) - Tower based radar 8 miles (42000) - Radar off - Friendly collisions off - Killshooter on at launch. Killshooter turned off when fields are closed.( T+15 minutes ) - No wind - Set game clock to 12 noon  Â
Designer Notes
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CM Notes
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Setup CM:Â For full manual calibration, see the following thread: Â November FSO- Mighty Eighth - WARNING TO BOMBER PILOTS Â Â Design By |