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1943: Tunisia - The Verdun of Mediterranean

Details
Written by: Darren F. Gideon
Category: Mediterranean Theatre
Hits: 18
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In Libya Montgomery and his 8th Army, the famous desert rats, race through across the Eastern Desert until finally being brought to a halt by Rommel at the "Mareth Line" where he was dug in and tried to end his long retreat from Egypt.
 
Fortunately for him the 8th Army was almost at the very end of its supply chain which brought its rapid advance to a screeching halt until ports in Libya were repaired and supply dumps created closer to the Tunisia border. Meanwhile in the west the Allied 1st Army had landed in Morocco and Algeria on November 8th and had rolled up both countries in the face of only sporadic Vichy resistance and light German defenses.
 
However, Hitler was determined to make Tunisia the cornerstone of the Axis defense of North Africa, swearing to turn it into the Verdun of the Mediterranean. General Arnim was immediately sent to take command of the German and Italian forces in Tunisia and to sieze it from the French before they could switch sides and turn it over to the Americans and the British, as they had just done in the "Darlan Deal" for Morocco and Algeria.
 
All told Arnim had 110,000 troops, 200 tanks (with some of the new Panthers present) and Flieger Korps II had been reinforced to 445 combat aircraft and 637 transport aircraft. Facing this in the west was the Allied 1st Army made up of green American troops, unreliable  French divisions (freshly come over from the Vichy regime), and fresh British divisions new to North Africa.
 
The western airforce made up of both USAAF and RAF was untried and had yet to develop the command structure and tactics that the Desert Air Force in the East had developed after several hard years of warfare. While in the east stood the battle hardened 8th Army eager to finally end their long tour of duty in Africa with only the German and Italian forces in Tunisia standing in their way. 
 
This FSO will recreate the conquest of Tunisia by the Allies in 1943.
 
PLANESET:
 
TUNIS1943SET2
 

SPECIAL RULES:

- FIGHTER ALT CAP - 20K

- All Bomb Carrying Aircraft ALT CAP - 14K

- P-38G - 1,000LB BOMBS DISABLED

SCORING:

 
TUNIS1943SCORE2
 
 

OBJECT SCORING:

OBJECTS14

 TUNISWEBMAP
 
SETTINGS:
 

- Tunisia terrain

- Icon Range - Friendly 3k, Enemy 3k.

- No Radar

- Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 79200 (15 miles)

- Tower Range - 79,200 (for display to match the above Fighter and Bomber Warning)

- External view for bombers (F3) - On

- Friendly Collisions - Off

- Enemy Collisions - On

- Kill Shooter - Off

- Fuel - 1.0

- Ack - 0.3

- Formations - Enabled

- Bombsite calibration - Main Arena Standard

- Clouds - Light5k.awa

- Time:

   FRAME 1 - 0900

   FRAME 2 - 1200

   FRAME 3 - 1500

- Object Downtime - full (200)

Original Design - Ghostdancer 2007

Updated by Nefarious 2023

A Maltese Miracle

Details
Written by: Spikes
Category: Mediterranean Theatre
Hits: 18

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January 10th, 1941
 
After the amazing success of its Torpedo bombers at Taranto November 1940, The HMS Illustrious sailed victoriously through the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean. For two months it would act as escort for many Malta bound convoys, making sure the desperatley needed food, fuel and fighters reached thier destination.
 
In late December 1940, The first detachments of Fliegerkorps X started to arrive in Sicily. Operations formally began on Janurary 10th, when Ju87s of StG 2 found the Illustrious steaming near Malta. HMS Illustrious was heavily damaged when the armoured flight deck was penetrated by an 1100lb (500kg) bomb. That and six other bomb hits forced her to limp to Malta, while the remains of her fleet sailed to Alexandria. The next day StG 2 would find that fleet and send the cruiser
HMS Southhampton to the sea floor.
 
From the 10th to the 23rd of Janurary the Illustrious would seek what little shelter she could find in Grand Harbor, Malta. Miraculously after 13 days of intense bombardement by Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica aircraft, the Illustrious remained untouched. She would then sail for Alexandria, Egypt and then for Norfolk, Virginia. She would return to the fight in May of 1942, and return to the Mediterranean in August of 1943.
 
Malta's long siege would last another two years. The 13 days the RAF defended the Illustrious would blend into the three year long siege of Malta, but it would not be forgotten.
 

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Scoring:
 
AIRCRAFT

02 pts - Single Engine Aircraft
05 pts - Twin Engine Aircraft

BASES
 
Destroyer - 18
Cruiser   - 72
Carrier   - 144
200 - Town
288 - Small Airfield
396 - Medium Airfield
572 - Large Airfield
219 - Vehicle Base
 
NOTE: When a target is attacked the attacker gets the points for objects destroyed at the target while the defender gets the points for all objects not destroyed at the base.
 

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- Italy  terrain
- Icon Range – Friendly 3k, Enemy 3k.
- No Radar
- Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 63360 (12 miles)
- Tower Range – 63360 (for display to match the above Fighter and Bomber Warning)
- External view for bombers (F3) - On
- Friendly Collisions - Off
- Enemy Collisions - On
- Kill Shooter - Off
- Fuel - 1.0
- Ack - 0.4
- Formations - Enabled
- Bombsite calibration - Main Arena Standard
- Time 11:00AM
- Visibility - 17 miles
- Object Downtime – full (200)
- Winds - None
 
Designed by Nefarious

Breaking the Line

Details
Written by: Kathy Bailey
Category: Mediterranean Theatre
Hits: 18

 

Image
Image by skernsk

The Italian campaign to exploit the ?soft underbelly of Europe? proved to be more difficult that first thought.  The initial landings at Salerno and Taranto went better than expected, but soon the Allied troops ran into resistance from well led German forces, as well as the unforgiving harsh Italian terrain. 

When  the Allies landed, Italy quickly surrendered.   The Germans originally planned to withdraw  to northern Italy, but Adolph Hitler ordered his forces to hold a defensive position south of Rome. This position, known as the ?Gustav Line?, ran from coast to coast and included the heights and monastery of Monte Cassino.  Built along the Garigliano and Rapido rivers, the ?Gustav Line? was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements, barbed wire and minefields. Along the line, were 15 divisions of the German Army under the command of General Kesselring.  

After gaining air superiority Allied air forces began attacking supply lines, bridges, rail lines, and communications in order to break the stalemate in Italy along the ?Gustav Line?.  For much of the time the Allied Air Force achieved a daily average of over 1200 sorties, and on one occasion it recorded 1933 sorties in a single day.  Close air support came of age in the Italian campaign.  The front that was stagnant along he ?Gustav Line? began moving north towards Rome once Army and Air Force assets began co-ordinated attacks.  Much of today?s air support doctrine started in the skies over Italy.

 

ARENA

Image

COUNTRY PERCENTAGES

Allied - 50%
Axis - 50%

 PLANESET


 ALLIEDAXIS
  • P51-b (limited to 20 Max/per Frame)
  • P-47d11
  • P-38G
  • Spit MkVIII (limited to 20 Max/per Frame)
  • P-40E
  • A20
  • B26
  • Bf-109G2
  • Bf109G6
  • Fw190A5
  • Bf110G
  • C205
  • Ju-87(Max 20/frame)
  • Ju-88

 

ACTIVE  FIELDS

  • A28
  • A68
  • A77
  • A78
  • A79
  • A80
  • A81
  • A34
  • A35
  • A54
  • A55
  • A65
  • A66

 

 

 

Victory Conditions

- Value of objectives will be communicated in the Frame CO
- Fighter kill = 10  points
- Bomber kill = 15 points
- Ju-87 kill =10 points

Arena Settings


 - Italy Map
 - Fuel 1.0
- Icons short
- .5 Ack
- Fighter and Bomber warning range (5 miles)
- Tower range set to 5 miles to match above settings
- Clouds / visibility
Frame 1, 18 miles
Frame 2, 15 miles
Frame 3, 10 miles

- Radar off
- Friendly collisions off
- Enemy collisions on
- Kill shooter off
- Calm winds
- Time: Mid-Afternoon

Designer Notes

- Fleets may be used as objectives for the FSO, if they are not set as a target they will be moved out of play
- Any friendly base can be used to RTB and refuel. 

CM Notes

- All objectives must be attacked (in squad strength)  by T+60
- 100+ LA-5's are not allowed!!
- Ju-87 pilots will get a second life in a fighter.
- B-26 and Ju-88 can be flown in formation

Design by:

skernsk

 

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