“The Battle of Crete (Unternehmen Merkur) was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an airborne invasion of Crete. Greek forces and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation and German offensive operations, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell, enabling the Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions on the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast. Over half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy; the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance…
At 08:00 on 20 May 1941, German paratroopers, jumping out of dozens of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, landed near Maleme airfield and the town of Chania. The 21st, 22nd and 23rd New Zealand battalions held Maleme airfield and the vicinity. The Germans suffered many casualties in the first hours of the invasion, a company of III Battalion, 1st Assault Regiment lost 112 killed out of 126 men and 400 of 600 men in III Battalion were killed on the first day. Most of the parachutists were engaged by New Zealanders defending the airfield and Greek forces near Chania. Many gliders following the paratroops were hit by mortar fire seconds after landing and the glider troops who landed safely were almost annihilated by the New Zealand and Greek defenders…
Some paratroopers and gliders missed their objectives near both airfields and set up defensive positions to the west of Maleme airfield and in “Prison Valley” near Chania. Both forces were contained and failed to take the airfields but the defenders had to deploy to face them. Towards the evening of 20 May, the Germans slowly pushed the New Zealanders back from Hill 107, which overlooked the airfield. Greek police and cadets took part, with the 1st Greek Regiment (Provisional) combining with armed civilians to rout a detachment of German paratroopers dropped at Kastelli…”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete)
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Tactical Situation: German Airborne Forces attempt to seize a critical airfield from ANZAC troops in order land additional troops in the conquest of Crete.
German Objectives: Seize and hold all the airfield; a bridge and Hill 107. ANZAC Objective: Prevent the capture of the three objectives.
The typical Mediterranean rolling terrain starting at the sea and ending in the interior of Crete. Numerous vineyards and orchards dotted the landscape. The Airfield was located adjacent to the coast with a dry river bed running along one of the table edges. The ANZAC Companies deployed in several areas with Bofors 40mm and HMG defenses surrounding the Airfield. The Germans received Air Support according to the special rules.
Scenario Special Rules:
1) German player had to pre-plot all their glider landing target areas. Random German reinforcements would enter along both long table edges.
2) The composition of both the German and ANZAC units was predetermined. ANZAC units also had predetermined deployment. All units were taken from the Burning Empire Book.
3) Because of the intense historical aerial bombardment that took place prior to the start of the game, all ANZAC units were pinned. In addition, smoke rules were used for the entire board to reflect the large amount of dust from the bombing. On turn 3 was there a chance the dust would abate, based on a role of five in each players starting step.
4) Two Matilda tanks in very poor mechanical condition were deployed near the Airfield. If they moved or traversed their turrets they had to roll for break down (a roll of 1 caused the tank to be destroyed).
6) All the German Gliders were equipped with MGs that could be used on the first turn.
7) German air attacks rolled 1D6 against each Bofors emplacement. On a roll of 4+ they were destroyed.
8) No company morale would be rolled for either side, this would be a fight to the death!
Deployment:
Four New Zealander Companies (A, B, C and D) were deployed around the Airfield, Hill 107 and along the Dry River bed. All units were infantry units only (no mortars or ATRs). Support weapons included a platoon of MMGs, a Universal section (without recon) and a section of 3″ Mortars.The airfield defense company had six MMGs attached. The two Matilda tanks were located near the airfield. All ANZACs were rated as Confident Trained. Also, ANZAC communications were sporadic and required runners to run between the units to pass on orders.
The Germans consisted of an Air Landing Glider Battalion descending on the Airfield and Bridge and the second Air Landing Battalion scattered around Hill 107. Fallschirmjager (FJ) reserves would be marching on the table at the bridge and across from Hill 107. All German units were rated Fearless Veteran.
Narrative:
During the preliminary Aerial Bombardment, two of the seven Bofors AAA guns were destroyed.
On Turn One, 1st Battalion gliders in the dry river bed close enough to assault several of the HMG and AAA positions at the Airfield and Bridge. The Fallschirmjager suffered remarkably few casualties during the landing. Second Batallion gliders, on the other hand, suffered moderately on landing and substantially during the melees that followed.
On Turn Two, First Battalion continued to tear into the Airfield defenses while capturing the bridge. Casualties on both sides were heavy. One of Second Battalion’s landing areas was cleared of Germans by a New Zealand Platoon that was left with two stands. The remaining Fallschirmjager of the Second Battalion dug in and tried to hold until relieved.
By Turn Three, First Battalion had seized most 0f the Airfield and the RAF Camp, with the ANZAC holding on to the eastern side. Due to the uncertainty of where the German Reserves would arrive, the ANZAC defense was frozen in place, except for local counterattacks. Second Battalion’s survivors continued to draw heavy small arms fire from several platoons, the Matildas and several Universal Carriers and losing several more stands. Two FJ Platoons arrived on the far right side of the table and maneuvered towards the Australian Platoon located in a small village on the road to Hill 107.
On Turn Four, Second Battalion was finally crushed by local ANZAC attacks. First Battalion consolidated his hold on the Airfield, as it tried evicting the remaining ANZAC forces that were still holding on. MMGs and ATG reserves entered behind First Battalion, providing them with much needed support. Another FJ platoon entered the board following the first two. ANZAC forces managed to pin all of the FJ platoons, killing several stands. The Luftwaffe finally appeared striking the ANZAC command element on Hill 107, killing a runner stand.
On Turn Five, Greg received two more FJ platoons which attacked from the march a New Zealand Platoon which was maneuvering towards the other FJs, killing several stands. Although he was being reinforced, Dennis’s units were heavily bloodied and unable to move on Hill 107. An additional FJ platoon entered from the east and attacked towards Hill 107, but was pinned down by the defenders. Due to the threat of the new FJ arrivals, the Matildas finally tried to shift position to better support Hil 107. One managed to make it into position, while the other just caught fire and had to be abandoned.
By Turn Six, The FJ was able to clear the Australians out of the small village, but was unable to proceed due to the the arrival of the universal platoon (with its machine guns) from Hill 107. The First Battalion had finally run out of steam against the last airfield defense platoon that continued to hold on after falling back to the orchards.
The game was called at this point. The Germans had lost Second Glider Battalion, First Glider Battalion was down to a handful of infantry and support weapons and the two FJ attacks were stall against the ANZAC forces in front of them The Germans tentatively held two objectives, with the third out of reach. With the British controlling the high ground, the game was called an ANZAC minor victory.
– Manteuffel