Anglo-French Expedition to Narvik

[Mithrilotter]

Has anyone said yes to French DE 205 and UK DE 128 and successfully taken Narvik?

DE 128 – UK: Send an Expedition to Narvik?
Event fires: On the 25th April 1940 when Norway has surrendered to the Axis, Narvik is in Axis hands, neither
the UK nor France have surrendered, an Anglo-French expedition was sent to assist Finland, and a
French unit is at Aberdeen.
Cost of accepting: 10 MPPs.
Yes: The strength 8 British Special Forces unit at Inverness will be sent to the area around Narvik, from where
it can attempt to liberate the town. If successful, French and British National Morale will both be boosted by
500 points.
Providing them with some naval support, particularly from Carriers to launch air strikes against the German
forces defending Narvik, could prove useful.
Note: As this is a Special Forces unit, it has the potential to be evacuated in an Amphibious Transport from
Norway without requiring a port, though the cost of evacuating it would be significantly greater than the cost
of sending it to Narvik.

No: Nothing.

Even with two UK Carriers for support, this operation has never succeed for me against the AI for either World at War or War in Europe.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Mithrilotter

Has anyone said yes to French DE 205 and UK DE 128 and successfully taken Narvik?

DE 128 – UK: Send an Expedition to Narvik?
Event fires: On the 25th April 1940 when Norway has surrendered to the Axis, Narvik is in Axis hands, neither
the UK nor France have surrendered, an Anglo-French expedition was sent to assist Finland, and a
French unit is at Aberdeen.
Cost of accepting: 10 MPPs.
Yes: The strength 8 British Special Forces unit at Inverness will be sent to the area around Narvik, from where
it can attempt to liberate the town. If successful, French and British National Morale will both be boosted by
500 points.
Providing them with some naval support, particularly from Carriers to launch air strikes against the German
forces defending Narvik, could prove useful.
Note: As this is a Special Forces unit, it has the potential to be evacuated in an Amphibious Transport from
Norway without requiring a port, though the cost of evacuating it would be significantly greater than the cost
of sending it to Narvik.

No: Nothing.

Even with two UK Carriers for support, this operation has never succeed for me against the AI for either World at War or War in Europe.

warspite1

Yes! [:)] - see post 64

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... age=3&key=

[AllenK]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Mithrilotter

Has anyone said yes to French DE 205 and UK DE 128 and successfully taken Narvik?

DE 128 – UK: Send an Expedition to Narvik?
Event fires: On the 25th April 1940 when Norway has surrendered to the Axis, Narvik is in Axis hands, neither
the UK nor France have surrendered, an Anglo-French expedition was sent to assist Finland, and a
French unit is at Aberdeen.
Cost of accepting: 10 MPPs.
Yes: The strength 8 British Special Forces unit at Inverness will be sent to the area around Narvik, from where
it can attempt to liberate the town. If successful, French and British National Morale will both be boosted by
500 points.
Providing them with some naval support, particularly from Carriers to launch air strikes against the German
forces defending Narvik, could prove useful.
Note: As this is a Special Forces unit, it has the potential to be evacuated in an Amphibious Transport from
Norway without requiring a port, though the cost of evacuating it would be significantly greater than the cost
of sending it to Narvik.

No: Nothing.

Even with two UK Carriers for support, this operation has never succeed for me against the AI for either World at War or War in Europe.

warspite1

Yes! [:)] - see post 64

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... age=3&key=

Yes, some fool of a staff officer forgot to either send reinforcements when the Garrison was down to 1 or, as planned, swap it for the adjacent Infantry Corps brought in to finish the job ...... (shot at dawn)! What a mess that's become. SNAFU.

[BillRunacre]

I've done it in Hotseat mode when I was testing out the scripts, success is far from guaranteed but with Carriers set to Bomber mode it can work.

Fortunately, if it doesn't work you may be able to evacuate them.

[Captjohn757]

I've taken Narvik several times, and have failed on a few occasions as well. The developers, ever mindful of the "gamey" human players, ultimately made the German garrison there stronger than it was historically: the real-world British, Norwegians, et. al. were able to recapture Narvik without too much difficulty, but Churchill & Co. gave up the ship, town and campaign without a fight, literally. As it stands now, unless Narvik is taken in the first couple of turns through a fortuitous roll of the dice (i.e., luck), one has to land British reinforcements --- the Canadian corps and/or an armored unit, plus a HQ will get the job done and provide a relatively easy march down the country. German welfare, ambitions and MPPs seem to start sliding south once Oslo is taken.

[havoc1371]

If I do Narvik, I make sure at least 2 Brit CV's are there to support. It can happen without if you're lucky enough to force the garrison to retreat, allowing the Brit SF to occupy the town.

[petedalby]

Has anyone said yes to French DE 205 and UK DE 128 and successfully taken Narvik?

Having just read this thread - yes. Followed the advice and had 2 carriers ready in support. Hit the garrison with all 4 air strikes - 2 had effect to drop the garrison to 3. Then hit it with the British SF to take it down to 2 and it shattered when hit by the French SF.

I guess I got lucky. What do I do next?

[havoc1371]

If your lucky, the French SF will turn free French when France falls (this happened for me once). Regardless, I transport in a Brit HQ as soon as the port is back to "5" and at least one infantry corps. I work my way down the coast liberating towns until I can get to Oslo. This is a sideshow, but it may draw the Axis into bringing in reinforcements, which it really can't afford. Once Norway is liberated, you have a staging area for air and troops for an invasion of Denmark (or at least the threat). It also robs the Axis of those important ports and mpp's from Norway. All in all, not a bad action to take, since the Narvik operation is instantaneous, not requiring creating and moving AV/AVL's.

[petedalby]

Sounds good - thanks. Sadly the French didn't stick around but I evacuated the French fighters to the UK and they did which was a nice bonus. Yes Narvik is almost a zero cost option so always worth a go IMO.