After playing some more games of Unconditional Surrender, I felt an urge to return to the Balkans with Dominion of the Blitzkrieg. It includes a couple of scenarios from the invasion of Greece in April/May 1941. The WW2 Battle of Thermopylae and the Invasion of Crete. First up, Thermopylae which took place as 2nd New Zealand and 6th Australian Divisions covered the retreat of Allied forces further south. Both divisions committed a brigade each to the rearguard action (6th NZ Brigade and 19th Australian Brigade. They were attacked by troops from 5th Panzer Division and 6th Gebirgsjager Division under the command of Ferdinand Schorner. Schorner rose to be an Army Group commander with a rather unenviable reputation for shooting his own men. Wikipedi account here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae_(1941)
Battlefield from the south. The pass is rather wider than in Spartan times as sedimentary deposits have extended the shore. I visited there in 1981, and was a bit surprised to find it nothing like the Hollywood version! There are mountains on one side though.
6th GJ and 5th Panzer are to the north with three tank units in the front line, and two infantry units and a bomber unit in reserve. They are all average and I've given them all two stands each, the tank units have a rather higher proportion of heavier tanks than in the 1940 games I ran.
The New Zealanders and Australians have four infantry units, regular artillery (with two fire missions) and and anti tank guns. Historically artillery and 2pd fire destroyed a number of German tanks. These are all average with no particular defensive benefits, presumably as a result of retreating for days under continuous air attack.
The attack opens on the right as the Luftwaffe clears the way for the panzers. The Allied attempt to fill the gap fails due to the panzer+air combination. On the left the artillery shells the panzers ineffectively and the ground engagement is also indecisive.
The outflanking panzers destroy the Anzac centre with an outflanking attack, and once again the attempt to move reinforcements up fails. On the left however the Anzacs supported by artillery prevail and the ground is littered with burning panzers. GJ double up to fill the gap.
Heavy fighting breaks out o the left (the vagaries of the activation dice, both sides have to fight here). It results in mutual annihilation of both sides infantry, but in this case the Anzacs can move up their last infantry unit as there aren't any panzers in this sector.
Unfortunately both infantry units on the left destroy each other again! That forces the Germans to commit their aircraft to 'holding' the gap, equally the Anzacs have to put their anti tank guns here where ideally they'd be facing the panzers.
The panzers duly outflank the AT guns but without effect, while the 2pdrs try to break through the air interdiction.
Their luck cant hold out forever though, and another panzer flank attack encourages them to join the retreat to Corinth. At that point, the Allies just have their guns left while the Germans still have three units, so despite heavy losses, the Germans win.
That was a decent game, although I did have to flick through the the rules quite a bit to remind myself of the correct sequence of events and the way the special blitzkrieg era reinforcement rules work. Quite a lot happens in each turn in these rules. I wanted to give it another go though, and see if the Anzacs stood a chance.
The second attempt went a bit better with honours even for the first few turns, but after some pounding, the panzer + air combo once more opened up a gap in the Anzac line. At least the 2pdrs and carriers ended up fighting some tanks this time. There was quite a slugging match along the front line in this one.
Sadly the panzer breakthrough on the left doomed them eventually and once again it was up to the artillery to cover everyone else withdrawing. Another Axis win.
The third attempt was another Allied wipeout, they only managed to knock out one group of German tanks before being completely overwhelmed. A third Axis win. Perhaps the allies can't win this one? I'm not sure, although unit for unit both sides are matched on a points basis, I suspect the German combined arms force multiplier is just too great for the Allies in this one. Historically the Anzacs beat off all the German attacks and withdrew on their own timetable.
As we were in the Med and had the novelty of having 8th Army figures facing off against Field Grey Germans, I also set up the Battle of Crete scenario. Crete was the largest German airborne operation of the war, and pitted 7th FJ Division and 5th Mountain Division against 'Creforce' under General Freyburg. The defending force was large. but only really had four combat formations, two brigade groups of 2nd New Zealand Division, and a brigade each of Australians and British plus a small number of tanks and a large number of Greek volunteers. Much of the garrison had been evacuated from Greece and morale was low while chaos and confusion was high. Wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete
Battlefield from the south. The Germans (fairly obviously) are coming on over the Aegean while the Commonwealth are defending the three critical airfields at Maleme, Retimo and Heraklion. I've made the sea a bit bigger for this one, and the land a bit narrower. The pass on the left is the route to one of the evacuation ports on the south coast. I've visited Heraklion but not the other two towns. I played Chris Kemps large NQM game covering this battle last year, and the setup is partly inspired by Chris's game.
The defenders have three brigade groups dug in, one at each airfield. So these are infantry with a (D) advantage. In reserve are another brigade group and a unit of unreliable tanks. I've put the tanks in reserve over near Heraklion. Freyburgs HQ was actually in the pass on the left.
The Germans have an interesting force. A unit of elite bombers (ouch!), three unreliable paratroopers (the regiments of 7th FJ Division) and three unreliable elite infantry (the regiments of 5th GJ Division). The infantry are all unreliable to model the vagaries of air transport, or in the case of the GJ, the rather unfortunate attempts to ferry some of them across the sea in the face of the Royal Navy! Most of the GJ were flown in once an airfield was captured.
I set up some Ju 52s as well because they look nice flying over the sea. With all these unreliable units, this is going to be a wild ride.
The Luftwaffe demolishes the defenders at Maleme and the FJ land - they are still unreliable though (shown by them being in a column). The Allied infantry reserve moves up to deal with them.
Catastrophe at Heraklion and as the FJ attempt to land and are destroyed by the defenders (they failed their reliability roll - assume they are scattered in the hills and mopped up). One of the GJ units is allocated this sector instead.
The Luftwaffe supports Maleme, but the bombs miss the Allied infantry (anything but a 1 or 2!). Sadly for the Germans, the dice decree a battle in the centre, and the FJ at Retimo are scattered by the defenders. 7th FJ Division has been gutted. More GJ are allocated to the sector.
Once again the Luftwaffe plaster Maleme but the Anzacs survive. Much excitement at Retimo as the first GJ units enter combat, they actually pass their reliability roll! The infantry fighting is indecisive though - both sides need 5+ to hit. I imagine the GJ were flown into Maleme and marched along the coast.
The FJ at Maleme finally get into action in indecisive fighting. At least they didn't fail their reliability roll! The fighting continues at Retimo, with neither side getting the upper hand.
The focus of fighting shifts to Retimo with both sides attacking here and being repulsed. Has the battle entered a stalemate?
No. A column of GJ makes its way past Retimo and attacks Heraklion (ie they passed their reliability roll). The attack is indecisive but all three sectors are engaged now. At Maleme the Allies attack the FJ but are repulsed.
The defenders of Maleme finally succumb and the high mileage Matildas and Vickers Lights clank over to the far end of the island.
The GJ overcome the defenders of Heraklion, leaving Retimo outflanked. The tide is turning I think. Freyburg personally supervises the defence.
To no avail as the GJ overcome the Retimo defenders. The British tanks deploy to attack Maleme (they passed their reliability roll!) but are then destroyed in battle. The Battle of Crete is over and an Axis win. That was fabulous, I really enjoyed that, it was nail biting from start to end and turned out with a very historical narrative and outcome with the island captured but 7th FJ Div largely destroyed.
I just had to run that again.
And predictably it was a complete catastrophe for the Axis. Their entire land and paratroop force was destroyed, and even the Luftwaffe ended up in the sea in flames! I can see why Hitler gave up on airborne operations.
I really enjoyed both of those scenarios, but particularly the Crete one. It is endlessly re-playable and very tense from start to end. Great stuff.
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