Campaign for Greece An Early War Supplement for IABSM! By Chris Stoesen With a foreword by Richard Clarke © 2005 Written by Chris Stoesen Edited by Nick Skinner Table of Contents Foreword................................................................................................. 2 Introduction.............................................................................................. 3 Background ....................................................................................... 3 The Campaign.................................................................................... 3 Troop Types ...................................................................................... 5 Campaign Notes ................................................................................. 5 Campaign Time Table .......................................................................... 5 Battle 1: VEVE ........................................................................................... 6 Scenario 1: A Surprise Encounter............................................................. 8 Scenario 2: A Stubborn Defence ............................................................. 13 Scenario 3: Destruction of the 2/8th ....................................................... 16 Battle 2: PTOLEMAIS ..................................................................................21 Scenario 4: Holding the Line ................................................................. 22 Scenario 5: Outflanked ........................................................................ 24 Battle 3: SERVIA PASS.................................................................................28 Scenario 6: Surprise Attack................................................................... 29 Battle 4: PLATAMON ..................................................................................32 Scenario 7: Hell’s Angels...................................................................... 33 Scenario 8: Panzer Assault.................................................................... 36 Scenario 9: Pandeleimon...................................................................... 38 Battle 5: PINOS GORGE ...............................................................................41 Scenario 10: Last Stand ....................................................................... 42 Battle 6: DEFENCE OF THE PASSES.................................................................45 Scenario 11: Domokos Pass ................................................................... 46 Battle 7: CORINTH .....................................................................................48 Scenario 12: Achtung! Fallschirmjäger! ....................................................49 Scenario 13: Glider Assault...................................................................51 Battle 8: KALAMATA...................................................................................53 Scenario 14: End of the 14th Hussars .......................................................55 Scenario 15: The Rear Echelon’s Last Stand ...............................................57 Bonus Battle: THE METAXAS LINE ..................................................................59 Scenario 16: Bunker Hill ......................................................................60 Units Needed Check List .............................................................................63 BAG THE HUN SUPPLEMENT: The Air War Over Greece .......................................64 Introduction .....................................................................................64 Campaign ........................................................................................65 Specific Rules for air combat in this campaign ...........................................71 Map Notes .......................................................................................72 Sources ...........................................................................................74 Appendix 1: Aircraft Lists By “Squadron”........................................................75 Appendix 2: Airfield Forms ..........................................................................83 Appendix 3: German Squadron Forms.............................................................96 www.toofatlardies.co.uk Page 1 Foreword By Richard Clarke hat the campaign in Greece in 1941 was a dismal failure for Britain cannot be denied when viewed from a political and strategic point of view. Vacillation by the Greek Tgovernment, combined with the limited resources of a Britain then isolated in her opposition to the Axis, ensured that too few resources were deployed, and these arrived too late. But within this disastrous campaign can be found stories of heroism and defiance that typify the spirit of the British soldier throughout our history. In Greece, with their back to the wall, the British and Dominion troops from Australia and New Zealand conducted a hard contested fighting withdrawal in the hope of gaining sufficient time for the Royal Navy to rescue the thousands of men waiting for evacuation. On the German side the emphasis is on the speed that typified the early war blitzkrieg campaigns. With Barbarossa looming the Germans needed to destroy all opposition in the Balkans and secure their oil supplies in Romania from aerial attack. In addition to sixteen varied and challenging scenarios for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! Chris also allows the gamer to use our Bag the Hun rules to replicate the aerial war over Greece, as the hard pressed Royal Air Force faced the combined might of the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica. The campaign structures that Chris Stoesen has provided replicates the pressures on both sides magnificently, and allows the gamer to link together his games, be they on land or in the air, and judge his performance against the brave men of all sides who fought and died in the battle for Greece. Richard Clarke May 2005 www.toofatlardies.co.uk Page 2 Introduction Background The struggle for Greece came after Germany had delivered an ultimatum to both that nation and Yugoslavia. The resistance to the demands of Nazi Germany led to the invasion of both countries on the 6th of April, 1941. Neither nation was ready for the German attack. Great Britain had defense agreements with both countries and had pledged to support both nations. By the invasion on April 6, only a portion of the three promised divisions had arrived. The troops that did arrive were from the New Zealand 2nd Infantry Division, the Australian 6th Infantry Division and the British 1st Armored Brigade. A Brigade sized formation of the RAF was also committed to the fight. The RAF had been operating in Greece for almost a year. The squadrons had experienced heavy action against the Italians in Albania in support of the Greek Army. By April of 1941, the RAF was exhausted and worn out. The Greeks had two Army groups in place to meet the German advance. In the North West, the Greek 1st Army Group was fighting the Italians in Albania. To the Northeast, the 2nd Greek Army group was waiting for the German attack in Macedonia through the Bulgarian border at the Metaxas line. The Greek Air Force was a conglomeration of RAF cast-off aircraft and an assortment of French, Polish and even German aircraft. Most of their squadrons were barely operational by the time of the German invasion. The Yugoslavs were hoping to defend the Monastir Gap that has historically funneled invading armies into Greece. Officers sympathetic to Germany divided their army. As such, Yugoslavia’s troops did not hold up well against the initial German attack. Within three days their country was in German hands. On the 9th of April, the German push into Greece began. In the East, the Second Greek Army surrendered to the Germans on the 9th of April. This signaled to the British commanders that Greece was indefensible and began making plans to evacuate their forces. In the North-East, the New Zealanders who were supporting the Greek Second Army were given orders to fall back to the Mount Olympus Line. They set up an intermediate line at the Aliakmon River to cover the retreat from the Metaxas line. In the West, the Australians had set up a blocking force at the base of the Monastir Gap near the city of Vevi. Command gave them orders to fall back to the Servia Pass. On both sides, the German Army was in pursuit of the evacuating British forces. At no time during the campaign was any serious consideration given by the British to hold Greece. The campaign quickly turned into a shambles as the Germans pushed harder than expected, leaving large numbers of British casualties and POWs in the wake of the retreat. The constant theme of the campaign was the absence of the RAF and the abundance of the Luftwaffe present over the battlefield. The RAF was known to the ground troops as “Rare As Fairies” due to this. In all fairness, this was a rather harsh judgment on the RAF as they were outnumbered in the theater by a ratio of 10 to 1. Also the RAF has older inferior equipment compared to the Luftwaffe. The 4th Australian Battalion of the 2nd Australian Division recorded this about the hardships of the campaign in their War Diaries: “1. The multitude of enemy aircraft, and the complete absence of our own. 2. Repeated bombings, dive bombings and machine gunning. 3. The realization that if they became casualties, they had very little hope of getting away from GREECE.” The reality of the campaign was that it