Crete 2 Canea.....

[M4Jess]

CRETE*
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Design M4 Jess*
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Airborne Landings*
Part II "Canea"*
(20 May 1941)*
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The first turn is the German Air-Attack, after the attack, hit the "QUIT ORDERS" Button to start the battle*
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Early on the morning of May 20, waves of dive bombers and low flying fighter planes subjected the Maleme, Canea, and Suda Bay areas to the heaviest bombing and strafing attacks yet experienced by the seasoned troops manning the defenses. Most of the antiaircraft guns were put out of action and the defenders were forced to seek shelter. Bombs were dropped at the approaches to the airfields to put the telephone lines out of order.*
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At 08:00 the first gliders, each carrying twelve men, landed near the airfield and on the beaches near Canea. At the same time, approximately 2,000 parachutists jumped in waves of 200 each at fifteen-minute intervals. Two of every three parachutes in each wave carried containers with weapons and supplies. At Maleme, the parachute troops jumped into strong enemy fire from infantry weapons, emplaced in positions built into the hills south of the airfield. Many of the paratroopers were killed during the descent or shortly after landing. Because of the concentrated enemy fire most of the men were unable to recover the weapons containers and had to rely on the pistol, four hand grenades, and large knife they carried. One battalion of the assault regiment landed too far to the east among olive groves and vineyards near Maleme and was greeted by murderous machine gun and heavy weapons fire. Casualties were very heavy, and the medical platoon that had set up a first aid station in a farmhouse was overwhelmed by the constant influx of seriously wounded men. The gliders would have been completely destroyed by enemy fire, had they not been covered by clouds of dust which formed as soon as they touched ground.*
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The commander of the 7th Airborne Division, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Suessmann was killed during the approach flight, while Generalmajor Eugen Meindl, who was in command of the Maleme group, was critically wounded shortly after landing. Both the Maleme and Canea groups were therefore without their commanders.*
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The success of the Maleme operation depended on the quick capture of the airfield so that reinforcements could be landed without delay. To achieve this the British forces had to be dislodged frown Hill 107, which dominated the airfield and the surrounding terrain. The remnants of the initial force launched simultaneous attacks on the hill and the airfield at 15:00. Despite heavy opposition and fire from the British antiaircraft guns emplaced near the airfield, the attackers captured the northern and northwestern edge of the airfield and advanced up the northern slope of Hill 107. Two German transport planes tried to land on the airfield toward evening but machine gun fire prevented them from doing so.*
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The Canea group, which was to capture the village of Suda and the town of Canea and eliminate the British command staff, located in that area, landed on rocky ground and suffered many jump casualties. The few men who were not wounded attempted to gather weapons and ammunition and establish contact with their comrades. Here the German paratroopers were opposed by New Zealanders who engaged them with small arms and heavy weapons fire from olive groves offering perfect camouflage for snipers and machine gun positions. The isolated German elements made little headway against the well-entrenched enemy forces.*
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Meanwhile, the German command in Greece assumed that the operation was progressing according to plan because all troop carriers with the exception of seven returned to their bases. On this assumption, which was proved erroneous only after several hours had passed, the troop carriers were readied for the afternoon landings at Heraklion and Retimo. Because of a delay in the refueling, these planes arrived too late over the designated drop points and the paratroops were therefore without direct fighter and bomber support. One parachute combat team in regimental strength jumped over each of the two points between 15:00 and 16:30. Running into very heavy British fire, the parachutists suffered even more casualties than at Maleme and failed to capture the airfields, towns, or ports. Some of the troops landed at the wrong points because the troop carriers had difficulty in orienting themselves. After they touched ground the Germans found themselves in an almost hopeless situation. Surrounded by greatly superior enemy forces, they struggled for survival. Their signal equipment had been smashed during the airdrop and they were therefore unable to establish contact with the nearest friendly forces. Although they were completely on their own and faced by an uncertain fate, they were determined to hold out to the end in the vicinity of the two airfields so that they would tie down the enemy forces and thus assist their comrades in the western part of the island.*
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Air reconnaissance and radio messages had meanwhile rectified the erroneous picture of the first landings in western Crete. By the evening of 20 May not a single airfield was securely held by the Germans. The most favorable reports came from Maleme, where the defenders were falling back from Hill 107 and their perimeter defenses around the airfield which, however, was still under British artillery fire. Moreover, crashed aircraft and gliders obstructed parts of the field. Thus, no field was available for the airborne landing of the 5th Mountain Division, which was scheduled for the next day. Canea was still in enemy hands and the isolated troops landed at the four drop points had so far been unable to form airheads, let alone establish contact among themselves. While the attacker had run into unexpectedly strong resistance and had failed to reach the objective of the day, the fury and strength of the onslaught surprised the defenders.*
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You are about to join the jump at Canea, Good Luck, Retimo is next.*
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M4 Jess:rolleyes:

[Mojo]

Thanks Jess:D Did you get my email about the first one?

[WhiteRook]

Thanks Jess, I am still fighting through #1 now!

[Mojo]

Hurry up there WhiteRook. I need somebody to share my misery about #2. I'm getting my clock cleaned. I can't get any momentum and they've broken me once already.

[WhiteRook]

Well I finished #1 at 4:15 this morning! Needless to say I felt like I had my Arse handed to me in a beaten up paperbag! :p

The final scores were: Ger-5492 Anz-3052 for a Draw.

I lost 565 men and Allies lost 905. I could not take Hill 107, though I only tried with a small force.

I did take and hold, Roponlana, Pirgos, Malema Airfield and the RAF HQ. I had all the VH's in Malema until the last 3 turns when my 5 badly beaten up units were overwelmed by massed infantry attacks. They gave a good account of themselves however and went down fighting to a man! I tried to get several infantry units into Malema and had I had one more turn I would have had the lost victory hex once again.

I never did try to take Pempla Chapel, command and control was killing me. I had whole colums of reinforcements stuck at the top of the board unable to move them down the roads. Ouch!

I also foolishly lost the (2) 50 vp's in the NE as I left them unguarded! Doh!

Well I guess its time to get shreded in #2 tonight!

[Fallschirmjager]

I still havnt played the first one.

OK its time to start cutting away things that take too much of my time.

Ill cut sleep back from 5 hours to 3
I put my myself on 2 meals of half rations per day (worked for the men on Bataan)
And ill only leave the house twice a week.

[M4Jess]

Now Fallschirmjager,


You were das man who asked for this..watsdamatta...yougotalife??


M4

[Mojo]

Hee, hee well I got a DV in the first one and actually got it to end a few turns early. Boo yah. Air power

#2 is a totally different matter. Draw:o

And I was thinking about becoming an honorary Fallschirmjager after the first one.

[WhiteRook]

Well it was even worse in the second battle! A bloodbath for the Germans!

Scores: German 2244 Anzac 3520 Draw again!

I lost 402 men to the Anzac's 382.

All I managed to take and hold by end game was the lower 1/3 of the Prison and the very northern most building in Canea.
Also bagged one 100 pt. VH in Suda, the 2 50 pt. hexes on the east edge of the map and a 50 pointer somewhere in the middle.

Sorry guy's, a pathetic showing on my part!

[Mojo]

I couldn't get any of my forces consolidated in the second one except on the SE side. The way they were dispersed after insertion meant that they were all subject to crossfire and I couldn't seem to bring any concentrated firepower to bear on any one spot. I even had squads popping smoke and jumping into the sea. I think I only captured 2 VHs.

Hard going and a poor showing on my part. 10 more turns and I'd a had em though:D

[M4Jess]

Hang in there guys!! The Mountian Troops are Comming!!!

Just 2 more landings and reinforcments are on the way! Sounds like the battles are following history (a little)

M4:D

[WhiteRook]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mojo
I even had squads popping smoke and jumping into the sea.

Now I can not help it, I should not laugh - but it made me chuckle none the less. Thanks Mojo - I feel better now!

[kilarian]

WhiteRook,

You said in an earlier post that you were having troubles with C&C. I am a total neophyte with this game so far, but how on earth did you manage to even get reasonable results with C&C in an airborne operation?

I'd love to see your detailed AAR.

And thanks to all you guys, I've just started playing WAW and it looks very cool.

Cheers,

Ki

[rickh]

Originally posted by WhiteRook
Well I finished #1 at 4:15 this morning! Needless to say I felt like I had my Arse handed to me in a beaten up paperbag! :p

The final scores were: Ger-5492 Anz-3052 for a Draw.

I lost 565 men and Allies lost 905. I could not take Hill 107, though I only tried with a small force.

I did take and hold, Roponlana, Pirgos, Malema Airfield and the RAF HQ. I had all the VH's in Malema until the last 3 turns when my 5 badly beaten up units were overwelmed by massed infantry attacks. They gave a good account of themselves however and went down fighting to a man! I tried to get several infantry units into Malema and had I had one more turn I would have had the lost victory hex once again.

I never did try to take Pempla Chapel, command and control was killing me. I had whole colums of reinforcements stuck at the top of the board unable to move them down the roads. Ouch!

I also foolishly lost the (2) 50 vp's in the NE as I left them unguarded! Doh!

Well I guess its time to get shreded in #2 tonight!

I just finished # 1 after a 3 day struggle. Only got a draw despite having control of all VH and ending on turn 15. Score 6668 Axis 2880 anzac. What do you have to do for a victory? Less casualties I guess..I just figured out halfway in that some times smoke is better than bravado:rolleyes: I lost about 640 men va 1025 for the Aussies.
#2 is murder, start of turn 3 and I'm broken Anyway great scenarios, thanks to the author and thanks to Matrix games:)
JUst finished #2; another draw 6988 axis vs 3937 allies actually captured the prison and towns as well as the corners (air support is great) couldn't regroup in the centre though, lot's of casualties from endless small arms fire from units hidden in the rain:(Oh well off to start #3

Wow that was tough! just finished # 3,another draw; score Axis 5346 Allies 2820. Held the hill against repeated assaults,(were these Aussies or Russians?;) Gave up on the airfield early and just pulled back to the hill. I'm just lucky 2 of my 6 81mm mortars made it O.K. On to #4

[WhiteRook]

Kilarian,

Thanks for the complement! I have been playing all forms of SP against the A.I. for a long time.
SPWAW is a Great game no doubt about it!
My suggestion to someone new to the game is to turn C&C off utill you have several differnt battles under your belt.
Command and Control makes playing the game aginst the A.I. much - much better/harder.
I wish I could do an AAR for these great scenarios that Jess has provided us with. But it takes me "much-much" longer to play a scenario if I intend to submit an AAR. I have to jot notes as I play and take screen shots and the such.
Remember - smoke is the para's friend.......

[hellcat]

Man what a meatgrinder Crete 1 was! Thanks to M4Jess for these scens and also to FJ for making the request also! I only got a draw in the first one also! 5520 vs 4067 and I lost 766 men to Anzacs 978. No wonder AH got the wobblies over future large scale drops! I failed to get the VH on Hill 107 despite 3 attacks on it (a couple more turns and I would have got it), I got thrown out of Malema town where the VH's changed hands several times and I also lost one VH NE of the town in those counterattacks towards the end. If only I could have got more of those 20mms into action... if only I had naval gun support... A great scenario though, am onto Crete 2

[hellcat]

Crete 2 final score for me was another draw 3476 vs 3505 points and I lost 539 men to Anzacs 522... Managed to take the Prison, Canae, the two VH in the South East and one other south of the road... looked at the map when the game ended and couldn't believe how many enemy units were displayed! I think the trick must be to go for the Victory hexes and not to be distracted with other forces elsewhere... once you can extricate yourself from the bad situation you drop into that is! Good one Jess! There was me thinking African Abbatoir was tough! Onto 3...