seow crete '41 - axis edition
TRANSCRIPT
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Operation"Mercury"SEOWcampaignbriefing
May20,1941.By
102nd‐YU‐Devill
Historical background
Allied forces had occupied Crete when the Italians attacked Greece on 28 October 1940. Though the Italians were initially repulsed, subsequent German intervention drove 57,000 Allied troops from the mainland. The Royal Navy evacuated many of them; some were taken to Crete to bolster its garrison. Possession of Crete provided the Royal Navy with excellent harbors in the eastern Mediterranean, from which it could threaten the Axis southeastern flank. From the island, the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania, which were critical to the Axis war effort, were within range of British bombers. Given its strategic value, Winston Churchill would later quote a telegram he sent to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff on 4 June 1940: "To lose Crete because we had not sufficient bulk of forces there would be a crime." The German army high command was preoccupied with the planned invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), and was against involvement. However, senior Luftwaffe commanders were enthusiastic about the idea of seizing Crete by a daring airborne attack. The desire to regain prestige after their defeat by the Royal Air Force over Britain in 1940 may have played a role in their thinking, especially before the advent of the much more important (and army‐controlled) invasion of Russia. Hitler was won over by the audacious proposal, though the directive stated that the operation was to be in May. The secondary priority of the attack was underlined: Crete was under no circumstances to be allowed to interfere with the upcoming campaign against the Soviet Union. In advance of the land battle, the Germans launched frequent bombing raids against the island in order to establish air superiority. This air campaign eventually succeeded in its objective, forcing the Royal Air Force to move its planes to Alexandria.
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At the outset of the land battle, the Allies had the advantage of naval supremacy and defending with relative numerical superiority, while the Germans had air superiority, more highly trained troops, and the momentum of an unbroken run of victories. The Battle of Crete began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code‐name Unternehmen Merkur ("Operation Mercury"). Greek and Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered very heavy casualties, and the Allied troops were confident that they would prevail against the German invasion. The next day, through miscommunication and the failure of Allied commanders to grasp the situation, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to the Germans, enabling them to fly in reinforcements and overwhelm the defenders. The battle lasted about 10 days.
Campaign vs. history
Our campaign SEOW Operation "Mercury" begins just before the invasion. In the interest of gameplay we have to have an allied air force present and ready to put up a fight against the axis attack. We imagine that a more fortunate chain of events has led the allied forces to decide to stay and fight, such as the decision of Greek generals earlier in April during "Marita" to pull back the Greek army from the fabled Metaxas line to a more defendable position on the Haliacmon line and to abandon territory previously won from the Italians in Albania. This enables the British to hold off axis advance further, thus giving more time for the RAF and some remnants of the Greek Air Force to fly to Crete and organize defenses there. While the size of allied ground forces which ultimately occupy Crete is very close to historical, as well as the naval forces in the theater; the air forces are not historical but are in the neighborhood of what could plausibly be present had such events transpired as proposed in this passage.
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Victory Conditions and campaign goals
The two opposing generals have anti‐symmetric goals. Both have 3 goals to fulfill, and it will be necessary to fulfill these goals IN SEQUENCE. Meaning: if one fulfills his secondary and tertiary goals, it amounts to absolutely nothing unless the primary goal is fulfilled. The 3 goals are as follows:
Priority
AXIS
Total A
xis
Minor Axis
Pyrrhic Axis
Pyrrhic Allied
Minor Allied
Total A
llied
ALLIES
Priority
3 Inflict 50% and more
casualties on the CREFORCE manpower (infantry)
Save more than 50% of CREFORCE manpower
(infantry) 1
2 Inflict heavy casualties on
the RN
Prevent heavy casualties of the RN
2
1
Conquer Crete (take and control at least 2/3 air bases and 2/3
control points
Hold Crete (hold and control at least 2/3 air bases and 2/3
control points
3
So, for example, if the Allies fulfill their primary and secondary goals, they obtain a minor allied victory. If however, the primary allied goal is not obtained, whatever the outcome of the other two goals, an Axis total victory will be proclaimed. If the primary goal is not obtained, but has been also denied to the other side, then a Pyrrhic Victory will be proclaimed as per the table above. Now, I will explain each goal in detail and the associated campaign rules.
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"CREFORCE"
The Allied Primary Goal (Axis Tertiary Goal) is saving more than 50% of the total infantry on Crete (named "Creforce"), so that it can fight another day. Since the evacuation was only possible by destroyers and cruisers, no heavy equipment is loadable, so it is not counted towards this goal. Only manpower must be saved while other units can be sacrificed to delay the enemy advance. The infantry is counted as saved in two cases: 1. If Crete is lost to Axis, but there is more than 50% of all the starting infantry squads in the Egypt withdrawal point, then this infantry is counted as safely evacuated. Only infantry in the supply point is counted; infantry still surviving on Crete will be counted as POWs and infantry on ships not in range of a withdrawal point are counted as still in danger from air attacks. 2. If at the end of the campaign, Crete is still Allied, and more than 50% of starting infantry has survived either on the island or is evacuated in the withdraw point (infantry on ships is also counted no matter where they are). The Allied commander can evacuate his infantry troops only by using fighting ships of the RN. For this purpose Cruisers and Destroyers will have a small cargo carrying capacity. The evacuation (loading of troops on ships) can ONLY be performed WITHIN 3km of a Control Point in ALLIED possession. It doesn't matter if the CP is contested, but it needs to be Allied controlled. This simulates the real WW2 evacuation operation locations and evacuation under fire. If the Axis captures all the CPs before the end of the campaign, CREFORCE is counted as cut‐off and eventually will become POWs. If however Allies manage to regain control of a CP, they can proceed to evacuate through it. IMPORTANT: The "Creforce" evacuation is not allowed to begin unless the Axis has captured at least 1 airbase on Crete. If an airbase is captured it is supposed that the Allied HQ will deem the situation on Crete untenable and it is possible to get clearance from Churchill to abandon the defense. From the moment this is fulfilled, the dynamic of the evacuation it is entirely up to the Allied commander. However, this does not stop the Allied commander to try and reverse the fortunes of war, decide to go on the offensive and re‐take Crete bases. However, if he loses more than 50% of his force in the process, it will be to no avail (check goals).
Ziel: KRETA!
The Axis Primary Goal (Allied Tertiary Goal) is to take possession of the Island of Crete. This is achieved when Axis has control of 2 out of 3 airbases AND 2 out of 3 Control Points. The airbases are Maleme, Stavromenos and Heraklion, and the CPs are ports through which the Allies are trying to evacuate: Suda Bay, Sphakion and Heraklion Port. See the map below for locations. The Axis planner has several ways at his disposal to fulfill this objective: German 7. Fallschirmjaeger Division is poised to strike in a massive air drop; 5th Panzer Division and Italian "Regina" Division are waiting to be embarked on a small flotilla of Greek boats and to invade Crete by sea. Finally there are 3 more German infantry divisions (5th and 6th Gebirgsjaeger and 22 Air Landing Infantry Division) which can be transported either by air transports or ships. These 3 divisions can only be partly transported by planes (without their vehicles, which must come by sea), and only unloaded by LANDING the Ju52s on a captured airfield, since they are not paratroopers. Until the first ship comes ashore, the only additional supply to German paras on Crete can come from Ju52s dropping supply
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drops. The Axis commander has complete discretion as to WHERE and WHEN he will drop his paratroopers. He can choose to drop on all 3 major objectives simultaneously, or concentrate all his forces on only one objective. He can also decide on the moment of the beginning of the para drop (be aware that the battle begins with no Axis units on Crete). The one thing the Axis commander MUST respect is he must drop the entire 7. Flieger and Luftlande Sturm units (the paratrooper regiments) in 2 major drops. So, 2 CONSECUTIVE missions in the campaign will be the major Axis air drop, involving many human piloted Ju52 transport planes. These transport planes will take up usual bomber plane slots of the Axis ‐ expect no additional plane slots during the drops! After this has been done, the Axis can manage their supply or reinforcement transport flights (bringing other airlanding divisions) according to their own plans and dynamics.
Second aspect of the invasion, and an even more important one is the sea landing. The capture of Crete will not be likely to succeed without the sea borne element. The fact that it succeeded in real life was mainly due to many factors we can neither simulate nor disregard from hindsight. Therefore, the Axis commander will attempt to change history by successfully landing the 5th Panzer Division on Crete and/or the Italian Regina Division. These forces, along with the heavy equipment of the other infantry divisions, must be loaded on ships and sailed to Crete. They can be landed at ANY TIME AFTER the para drop and AT ANY POINT on the island! The only constraint to the movement and landing of these boats is their natural speed and the presence of the RN and RAF patrol planes. It is completely up to the Axis commander on how he will manage the dynamic of these transports. The table below gives the allowed cargo for each transport ship type; for example, a fishing boat can only load infantry and arty and not tanks, and this must be respected. The axis will have 10 sea movement slots in each mission available.
Class Capacity Cargo type allowed
Armed Paddle Steamer 200,000 Tanks, Vehicles, Artillery
Armed Tramp steamer 500,000 Tanks, Vehicles, Artillery
Fishing junk A 30,000 Infantry, Artillery
Coastal Tanker 2,000,000 Supplies only
Rudesheimer Troop Ship 50,000 Infantry, Artillery
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Royal Navy vs. Luftwaffe
The Secondary Goal for both sides is dealing with RN casualties. In historical Crete the RN commander in the Med sector Admiral Andrew Cunningham, decided that the ships will support the army on the island in spite of RAF's withdrawal and thus the they will operate virtually unprotected from the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica. When confronted by his colleagues about this decision to stay and protect the army on the island in such adverse circumstances, he said: "It takes 3 years to build a ship but 3 centuries to build a tradition", and so the RN remained faithful to the army troops trapped on Crete. As a result the RN suffered heavy casualties: 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers were sunk and further 10 ships, including the HMS Formidable, were heavily damaged and out of action for months. This has been a significant hit on the British Navy in the Mediterranean Theatre and should be accounted for in our campaign as well.
The Axis has no fighting navy to speak of. The Italian fleet is still licking wounds from the battle of Cape Mattapan few months earlier, and is reluctant to engage in another major sea battle. This provides an opportunity for Luftwaffe to show to Hitler that it can be more effective than a full fledged navy. This it will have to do, since on the other side, the Allies have RN squadrons marauding around Crete and prepared to pounce on any invasion fleet poorly escorted and made up of flimsy transport boats. As we established in the previous chapter, the Allied commander will have to play a game of cat and mouse with his axis counterpart; they both have sensitive ships afloat and those can come under attack by their respective air forces and combat ships at any time, yet they MUST operate. If the Axis is to capture Crete it must push its sea invasion and if the Allies want to stop the invasion or evacuate the troops they must move their own ships around and thus expose them to the LW and RA torpedo and bomb‐carrying airplanes. Coming back to our case and taking all of this into account, the goal will be to save RN ships (for the Allies) or to damage/sink them (for the Axis) . In order to account for the damaged ships, which is just as important on the aftermath of the battle, we will have a system of tracking damage that gives points for sinking (1 kill), heavy damage (1/2 kill) and moderate damage (1/4 kill). The goal for the Axis is to obtain at least 15 "kills" of RN ships . The details of how the tracking system works, will explained in "The naval war ‐ rules" chapter.
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The naval war ‐ rules
The Axis has no restrictions on their ship movement or task force formation. The Allies however do; all RN ships will be placed on the map in pre‐built historical task forces. These will not be allowed to be broken up. The only exception will be to release a damaged ship. Here we come to the damage tracking system, and how it works. If a RN ship is damaged, the Allied commander has two options: either it can continue as a part of the TF, or it can be released from TF duty to try to get off the map and into the safety of Alexandria. If the second option is chosen, the damaged ship is required to go the shortest possible route towards the designated withdraw point. It can't take any troops with it on the way and is not allowed to engage on purpose any enemy targets, but is a fair game for the axis. When it comes (if it makes it without being sunk) to the withdraw point, the current damage level is noted and the ship is withdrawn once and for all from the map. The damage level is added into the RN casualties pool. Again, it is 1/2 kill for a heavy damaged ship and 1/4 for moderate damage at the time of withdrawal. Light damage doesn't count. Of course, if the ship has been sunk before making it out of the map, 1 kill is entered into the damage pool. At the end of the campaign the state of all ships on the map is also analyzed and appropriate damages added to the pool. The result threshold is 15 kills; this means either 15 sunk RN ships or the equivalent number in damaged ships as per above mentioned point system.* *‐ I am considering another option for the 2nd victory goal: victory threshold of 50% of the total number of ships put on the map by the Allied planner. This will enable us to increase (not by much) the RN numbers if the Axis airforce proves to be too effective. This is important as a balancing option to the admin. Some loadout restrictions will be imposed on the Axis with regard to ship damage; no SC1000 and heavier bombs. Axis has enough planes carrying SC500, Torpedoes and Motobomba weapons which should be more than enough to take care of the RN. On the other hand, the ships will have a 0.333 historical rate of fire (FMB value 3.0). This must be set so that they will have some chance of defending themselves. Remember, the allies have 28 plane slots (22 fighters max) vs. 56 plane slots for the Axis; this should mean that the Allies cannot put a dedicated CAP above the task forces, or at least only when they are very close to the island. This should effectively conserve the historical state of things in spite of our unhistorical presence of the RAF. There is a perk available for the Allies; if the Formidable Carrier Task Force is present on the map, the Allies will have 4 additional plane slots. More on this in the "Air war" section. Important: once the RN task force enters the map it cannot be withdrawn! So be careful when you decide to put it on the map! A RN ship can be withdrawn ONLY if it has suffered damage. Although light damage isn't counted into the pool a lightly damaged ship can be taken out of a TF and withdrawn. As mentioned it will not count, however, this ship will not be able to go back to the map UNLESS a task force is near the ship supply point. In this case it can come back AFTER a 1 mission delay and become a part of the TF with 100% strength (simulates light damage repaired by crews). As far as the RN movement goes, everything on the map is allowed except Rhodes. RN is forbidden to attempt shore bombardment of Rhodes. Other Axis bases are fair game, but be aware! There are formidable defenses around them consisting of 15in coastal guns. You are risking additional ship damage by undertaking such action!
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Since the allied ships will be in task forces the risk of collision is minimal. Axis has higher risks because it can operate without forming task forces. In either case plan your movements carefully because admin intervention on this is not guaranteed. IMPORTANT: The naval recon decay is set to 90% each mission. This effectively means that both sides need to rely almost entirely on pilot reports on ship positions.
The ground war ‐ rules
The ground war is a bit simple in this campaign, as there is not a lot of space or movement slots. The allied units are placed on the map in roughly historical places. The allied planner has HQ units near every larger concentration of troops which will enable him to re‐arrange his defenses as he sees fit. The OOB is very close to a scaled historical OOB. This means that the forces facing axis are strong in numbers and considering historical hindsight, the axis is going to have an even tougher job conquering Crete. Both sides have simple movement, but the planners need to respect a rule of moving tracked and wheeled vehicles only near roads as far as the map resolution permits it. Infantry can be moved anywhere. Bridges do not need to be operational for units to cross them. They are over small dry riverbeds so it is plausible that even heavy equipment can go across without a bridge.
The Allies will have 15 movement slots which simulates the confusion and bad communications. They will not need more in the beginning since most of their forces are concentrated around the objectives in a good defense posture. However, if the situation turns bad for them, the Allied commander will need to take a careful look on how to efficiently move his forces to evacuation points. The Axis commander will have 25 movement slots available, simulating better training and spirit of the elite paratrooper units. Allies start with lower morale and less supply in their supply centers. Both sides have special units represented by jeeps (allies) and Falls HQ bunkers (axis) which are named for all major unit commanders. These units boost morale. The CCC feature of SEOW will be disabled in this campaign. The reasons are because the map is small, and the allied movements slots are already quite limited, which accounts for the comms problems. Also in case of Axis paratroopers, they could get completely cut off by Allies targeting their HQs, and that is just not very realistic since these guys usually have high initiative and battlefield awareness and are able to conduct operations even out of comms range with the HQ. For capturing objectives such as CPs and airbases, standard SEOW rules apply for numbers of needed and overwhelming forces (check SEOW wiki and MP settings).
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Ground forces can be moved during the whole mission, and embarkation delays are off. Moving units by embarking/disembarking is forbidden, except rearranging within the radius of control of a single HQ unit. The air drop of men and equipment is performed with a smoke tap, on a flight planned according to SEOW para drop specs. The smoke must be activated below 1000m ASL, to simulate German para drop techniques used historically on Crete (lowest recorded drop was from about 76m AGL). Units available for para drop are given in the table below, and are placed in the "7 Flieger & LLS" Road Supply point in the MP. Some para droppable units are also found in other divisions (5th Panzer, Gebirgs regiments) but they must be landed by air or sea and not dropped from the air. These units are in other axis road supply points.
Paratrooper units:
Pz. Grenadiers Inf. (Falls)
Mg42
Mortar 80mm
37mm ATG
MG42 Bunker (HQ)
20mm Flak 38
75mm mtn. Gun
IMPORTANT: No Allied invasion of any islands on the map is allowed. The Allies are on the defensive, and all troops evacuated from the island must only go into the Egypt supply point.
The air war ‐ rules
Both sides should have enough planes to fly for about 13 missions counting heavy attrition rates. If they manage to save planes and keep a usual level of attrition no reinforcements should be needed. If however one side looses all its planes before the campaign is over, or more precisely if it can't occupy more than 50% of the air slots, there is a pool of reserves from which they can receive some reinforcements. If a side decides to use its reserve pool, it gives up one level of its achievement at campaign's end. For example, if the axis uses its reinforcements and finishes the campaign with a Total Axis Victory, the outcome of the battle is proclaimed as a Minor Axis Victory (one level worse). The reserve pools for both sides will not be disclosed publicly but will be shown in each side commander's annex. If the pool is used, all the aircraft in the pool can be used, without limits. The use of the reserve pool has to be requested by each side and then be approved by the admin.
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In this sense the persona of the admin can be imagined as a Hitler/Churchill split personality; if the axis pool is used it means that Hitler has granted his approval on diverting more squadrons from other theaters such as North Africa or forces readying themselves for Barbarossa; if the Allied pool is used, then he is Churchill giving express permission to reduce the defense capacity of Malta and Britain by diverting the necessary squadrons. In both cases your side is considered to have reduced fighting capacity elsewhere, and thus your victory in this theatre is reduced in significance by one level or your defeat is even harder in the grand scheme of things.
The playability settings in SEDCS are set at 56 plane slots for the Axis and 28 plane slots for the Allies. The Axis have to maintain a 50:50 split in each mission between Italian and German planes. One plane more or less will not be a problem, but no larger deviations from this split will be tolerated. If due to plane losses the Axis is unable to maintain the equal split, this limitation will be lifted. In case that the reserve pool is used, these limits are also lifted, but the pool cannot be used if there are still planes (even only of one nation) to be flown on the map.
The Axis are not allowed to have more than 28 fighters per mission (this also needs to be split equally between the two nations as long as possible). The Allies are limited to 22 fighters per mission. A stated before, when an aircraft carrier is present on the map, it increases the allied plane slots to 32. These additional 4 slots may be used ONLY by planes taking off from the CV, and these have no limits on the type (can be either fighters or bombers). If the CV has no planes left on it, the 4 additional slots cannot be used.
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The correct landing base will be enforced in this campaign (airplanes not landing on planned destination incur a rearm delay). Of course airplane loadouts are enforced and so is landing. Aircraft will be able to take off from a contested airbase, but will be destroyed at base overrun (no capture). Both sides have planes in air supply points on the edge of the map. These planes are comprised in their respective OOBs (disseminated to the commanders in annex). They start from the air supply because there is no more room on the airfields on the map for them to be parked. These planes can be brought onto the map ONLY when there is enough room on an airfield to receive them (room made by attrition), and they have to be brought in full flights (4‐plane flights for fighters and 3‐plane flights for bombers) and landed on an airbase of your choosing (with free slots). They are not allowed to be withdrawn back into the supply point. They will have no restriction on payload or fuel, but have to be planned as a transfer flight to an airbase. There are two exceptions of this rule: air transports for the Axis, and RAF bombers operating directly from Egypt for the Allies. In the first case there is no loadout limitation, and the Ju52s SHOULD be returned into the supply point, while in the second case the Bostons will have a fuel limit that will simulate them operating from Egypt. Both of these types should be planned to withdraw at the end of the mission, but must be landed on any friendly airfield if piloted by a human, before the mission ends. No planes taking off from the map are allowed to be planned to end up into the withdraw points. There are loadout limitations for Axis planes in effect. Only bombs up to and including 500kg are to be used, and fighter types carry no ordinance except extra fuel tanks. This can be seen in detail on the costs page in the MP. The classification tables for planes are found below (including reserve pool types).
Fighters Bombers
Beaufighter MkI Battle MkII
Blenheim MkIF/IVF Blenheim MkI/MkIV
CR.42 Boston MkII
Fulmar MkI Do‐17Z
G.50 He‐111H2
Gladiator MkI/MkII Hs‐123B
Hurricane MkIa/b Ju‐87B
M.S.406 Ju‐88A4
MC.200 SM.79
Me‐109E4/E7 Sunderland
Me‐110C7/E1 Swordfish MkI
P.11c Z.1007bis
Sea Gladiator Z.506B
Spitfire MkII
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Various settings and rules
The campaign will last at least 16 missions. If the game is going well and everyone agrees we can increase the length to 20 missions with appropriate re‐scaling of air and ship assets for both sides. This can be easily done and will not upset the balance (hopefully). Based on how the first few missions will proceed I will propose this extension to the respective sides. For now it suffices to know this option is on the table. The missions will be flown 2 times per campaign day, at different game time hours. Between each 2 missions of one day there will be a 6h time skip, and between second mission of the first day and the first mission of the next day there will be a 19h time skip. This will give us close to realistic dates of the campaign and also different flight conditions based on the time of day. This means that the first mission of the campaign starts at 06h local time and the 16th mission at 19h local time. Sunrise and sunset in Crete in May is 06h and 20h, and this is set accordingly in the SEDCS. So, there will not be any night missions, but the last mission will go into dusk. During the time skips no rearm or supply use will be registered. Also no recon decay will be in effect through time skips. Duration of each mission is 2h. Industrial production is disabled, but the infrastructure is still on the map. It is useless to hit factories, but the fuel tanks remain a valid target. Radar is enabled for the Allies. There is one Short Range radar set on Crete, and radars on ships. No IFF is enabled! The shore based radar will repair itself after 2 missions after being destroyed. The unit names are very close to historical. The Allied ground and naval forces have been re‐named to fit the correct disposition of Allied troops on Crete. The Axis planner needs to put his units on the map through the reinforcements interface in the MP, so when he does that it would be nice to respect the correct unit naming. The details will be given in the annex. Both sides will introduce new planes through air supply points, so it is up to the planners to respect the unit names which are also given in the annex.
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AXIS COMMANDER ANNEX
Luftwaffe Regia Aeronautica
Geschwader Type Planes Base Squadriglia Type Planes Base
II/JG77 Me‐109E7 16 A 361 G.50 9 T
III/JG77 Me‐109E7 16 G 395 G.50 9 T
I/LG2 Me‐109E4 16 P 393 CR.42 12 T
II/LG2 Me‐109E4 16 M 394 CR.42 12 G
I/ZG26 Me‐110C7 12 A 192 Z.1007bis 6 T
II/ZG26 Me‐110C7 12 G 193 Z.1007bis 6 T
I/StG1 Ju‐87B 12 A 354 G.50 12 K
II/StG1 Ju‐87B 12 P 355 G.50 12 K
III/StG1 Ju‐87B 12 P 162 CR.42 9 K
I/StG2 Ju‐87B 12 M 163 CR.42 9 K
III/StG2 Ju‐87B 12 M 374 CR.42 12 K
10/LG2 Hs‐123B 12 G 217 Z.1007bis 6 RM
I/LG1 Ju‐88A 9 G 214 Z.1007bis 9 RM
II/LG1 Ju‐88A 9 G 215 Z.1007bis 9 RM
III/LG1 Ju‐88A 9 G 364 MC.200 9 RM
II/KG26 He‐111 9 G 365 MC.200 9 RM
I/KG2 Do‐17Z 9 G 201 SM.79 9 RG
III/KG2 Do‐17Z 9 G 202 SM.79 9 RG
III/KG3 Do‐17Z 9 A 204 SM.79 6 RG
Total LW 223 205 SM.79 6 RG
363 MC.200 9 RG
359 MC.200 12 RC
362 MC.200 12 RC
369 MC.200 12 RC
281 SM.79 6 RC
Transport planes 160 Z.506B 9
I/TG2 Ju‐52 16 G 208 Ju‐87B 12 G
II/TG2 Ju‐52 16 G 238 Ju‐87B 12 G
145 SM.75 10 G 239 Ju‐87B 12 G
Total transports 42 Total RA 276
Total axis (transports not included)
499
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Axis airfields legend
Base Label
Assopos A
Pounta P
Milos M
Thira T
Catavia RC
Gadurra RG
Maritza RM
Karpathos K
Greece Air supply G
Reserve pool
II/JG27 Me‐109E7 16
III/JG27 Me‐109E7 16
II/ZG26 Me‐110E1 12
I/KG51 Ju‐88 9
II/KG51 Ju‐88 9
II/KG4 He‐111H6 9
Axis ground forces OOB:
Units transportable completely by air and deployed by a parachute drop.
They are located in:
"Road Supply 7 Flieger & LLS"
Unit names allowed from the MP units list:
7. Flieger Division Luftlande Sturm
7 Flieger
Platoons Type
27 Fallschirmjaeger
6 Mg42
6 Mortar 80mm
6 37mm ATG
3 MG42 Bunker (HQ)
6 20mm Flak 38
Luft Lande Sturm
Platoons Type
9 Fallschirmjaeger
9 Mg42
9 Mortar 80mm
6 37mm ATG
6 75mm mtn. Gun
6 20mm Flak 38
1 MG42 Bunker (HQ)
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Units transportable partly by air or fully by sea. Can be deployed by air transport landing on a captured field
or by unloading from a ship.
They are located in: "Road Supply Air landing troops"
Unit names allowed from the MP
units list:
5. Gebirgsjaeger Division 6. Gebirgsjaeger Division 22. Luftlande Division
5th Gebirgsjaeger Division
Platoons Type Transport
18 Wehrmacht Infantry Air/Sea
6 37mm ATG Air/Sea
6 75mm leFH Sea
12 75mm mtn. Gun Air/Sea
2 Pioniere Sea
1 PzGR. Abt. HQ Co. Sea
6 Truck Co. Sea
6th Gebirgsjaeger Division
Platoons Type Transport
18 Wehrmacht Infantry Air/Sea
6 37mm ATG Air/Sea
6 75mm leFH Sea
12 75mm mtn. Gun Air/Sea
2 Pioniere Sea
1 PzGR. Abt. HQ Co. Sea
6 Truck Co. Sea
22nd Inf. Div. (Airlanding)
Platoons Type Transport
27 Wehrmacht Infantry Air/Sea
6 37mm ATG Air/Sea
18 75mm leFH Sea
6 20mm Flak 38 Air/Sea
4 Pioniere Sea
2 PzGR. Abt. HQ Co. Sea
6 Truck Co. Sea
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Units transportable only by sea. Can be deployed by unloading from a ship.
They are located in:
"Road Supply Sea Invasion Forces 1 & 2"
Unit names allowed from the MP units list:
X Panzergrenadier Brigade 5. Panzer Division
50 Reggimento Artiglieria Regina CCCXII Battaglione Misto Carri 10 Reggimento Fanteria Regina 9 Reggimento Fanteria Regina
5th Panzer Division
Platoons Type
15 Wehrmacht Infantry
6 Mg42
6 Mortar 80mm
12 75mm leFH
12 150mm sFH
12 PzIIF
16 PzIIIG
4 PzIVE
6 Opel 20mm Flak
6 Aufklaerer Reg. Co.
2 PzGR. Abt. HQ Co.
4 Naschub Co.
6 Mech Co.
8 Truck Co.
Infantry Division "Regina"
Platoons Type
9 Italian Infantry
12 Fiat M13
6 Mortar 80mm
6 75mm field gun
6 75mm mtn. Gun
6 25mm AAA
2 IT Commando HQ
6 IT Truck Co.
Axis naval OOB:
Class Number Capacity Cargo type allowed
Armed Paddle Steamer 2 200,000 Tanks, Vehicles, Arty
Armed Tramp steamer 4 500,000 Tanks, Vehicles, Arty
Fishing junk A 5 30,000 Infantry, Artillery
Coastal Tanker 2 2,000,000 Supplies only
Rudesheimer 6 50,000 Infantry, Artillery
Class Number
Gabiano Corvette 3
MAS‐501 Class MTB 8
Minensuchboot 2
Soldati Class DD 1