Free France Campaign

[ColonelY]

[bru888]

I have finished the campaign introduction: the main image, the background image, and three popup messages as the campaign starts. Test viewing it just now, tears came to my eyes. I cried out "Vive la France" followed by singing a chorus of "La Marseillais" with my kepi held over my heart.

220px-Kepi_mg_3387.jpg (6.25 KiB) Viewed 2263 times

[LNDavoust]

Sorry not sorry

[bru888]

Sorry not sorry

Thank you for the Campaign Defeat image!

[bru888]

One great thing to come out of this process for me will be finding a home for a long-unfinished scenario called Operation Lila. This was originally supposed to be an additional scenario for the official Kriegsmarine DLC campaign (my version of it, of course). I worked on it quite a while, finishing the maps and even unit placement, and then I got sidetracked.

Plus, frankly, the idea of "improving" on official DLC went out the window, for various reasons. Operation Lila went into cold storage.

Now, though, it would be a good addition to Free France. I have to flip the alliances; Germans to AI, French to the player, and a bunch of other adjustments. But I definitely have a working concept in mind and I should be able to pull this off. The working title has been changed to "Operation Lila Denied."

"Now Bruce, you lovable moron, that was a Vichy France location and event. Free France was not involved, technically." True. I touched on this in the scenario description:

The Allied invasion of North Africa has provoked the Germans into invading the 'zone libre' of Vichy, neutral according to the Armistice of 1940. Admiral Gabriel Auphan, has guessed correctly that the Germans are aiming to seize the large French fleet at Toulon, and has ordered it to be scuttled.

Operation Lila begins on 27 November with Germany's 7th Panzer Division, augmented with units from other divisions, converging on Toulon from the east and west. Technically, the French naval crews and the small Toulon garrison owe their allegiance to Vichy France. For one day, however, they and a few civilian volunteers will become honorary members of Free France.

I hope that if the scenario is good enough - it will at least be rather unique, I think - that the player will not mind this distinction.

[LNDavoust]

Sorry not sorry

Thank you for the Campaign Defeat image!

Alternative version


Now more seriously, the story behind the take appears to be quite interesting, even Free France-related:

http://harbel.com/the-mystery-of-the-crying-frenchman/

One great thing to come out of this process for me will be finding a home for a long-unfinished scenario called Operation Lila. This was originally supposed to be an additional scenario for the official Kriegsmarine DLC campaign (my version of it, of course). I worked on it quite a while, finishing the maps and even unit placement, and then I got sidetracked.

Plus, frankly, the idea of "improving" on official DLC went out the window, for various reasons. Operation Lila went into cold storage.

Now, though, it would be a good addition to Free France. I have to flip the alliances; Germans to AI, French to the player, and a bunch of other adjustments. But I definitely have a working concept in mind and I should be able to pull this off. The working title has been changed to "Operation Lila Denied."

"Now Bruce, you lovable moron, that was a Vichy France location and event. Free France was not involved, technically." True. I touched on this in the scenario description:

The Allied invasion of North Africa has provoked the Germans into invading the 'zone libre' of Vichy, neutral according to the Armistice of 1940. Admiral Gabriel Auphan, has guessed correctly that the Germans are aiming to seize the large French fleet at Toulon, and has ordered it to be scuttled.

Operation Lila begins on 27 November with Germany's 7th Panzer Division, augmented with units from other divisions, converging on Toulon from the east and west. Technically, the French naval crews and the small Toulon garrison owe their allegiance to Vichy France. For one day, however, they and a few civilian volunteers will become honorary members of Free France.

I hope that if the scenario is good enough - it will at least be rather unique, I think - that the player will not mind this distinction.

Each time i read your post my Orderofbattleism intensifies, Bru

[bru888]

Each time i read your post my Orderofbattleism intensifies, Bru

As intended, in part. (The other part being fun.) The game developers owe me four birthday presents so far.

[bru888]

And here is your first disappointment: Madagascar is out (ironically, given what I said about it earlier concerning the campaign map). I might do a standalone scenario on the Battle of Madagascar someday, but I will not be working on it for the Free France campaign.

This is the reason: What I said earlier about not including battles in which "Free French troops were present but did not play a significant part in the proceedings. That is the rule of thumb: Not bit parts, but significant roles played by the forces of Free France."

The Battle of Madagascar was waged by Commonwealth forces against troops loyal to Vichy France. The Free French were not involved at all. General de Gaulle did request of Churchill that Free French forces be included in the invasion but Churchill, "following experience in the Battle of Dakar in September 1940, did not want a joint operation launched by British and Free French forces to secure the island . . . It was agreed that the Free French would be explicitly excluded from the operation."

Zzzzzt. Out. This campaign is about the numerous contributions that Free France made to Allied victory in World War 2, not how Vichy France lost its colonies. The fact that a Free French administration took over once Madagascar was in Allied hands does not signify.

Believe me, there will be more than enough scenarios, including a couple of surprises, to fill out this campaign nicely.

[bru888]

I am also eliminating these:
Tholy44
Strasbourg44
Colmar45

Reason: Conboy has covered these battles and quite capably, I might add. We don't want to duplicate or "top" something that a currently active forum member has contributed.

He also did an Operation Dragoon but our version will be unique. (We may take a peek at his, though. )

[bru888]

Therefore, these are what I see as the component scenarios of our Free France campaign:

Dakar - September 1940
Gabon - November 1940
Kufra - January 1941
Keren - February 1941
Operation Exporter (Syria-Lebanon) - June 1941
Bir Hakeim - June 1942
Race For Tunis - November 1942
Operation Lila Denied (Toulon) - November 1942
Réunion - November 1942
Convoy HX 228 (Battle of the Atlantic) - March 1943 [Out - see below.]
Normandie-Niémen (Eastern Front) - April 1943
Operation Vesuvius (Corsica) - September 1943
Operation Diadem (Monte Cassino) - May 1944
Operation Jedburgh (French Resistance) - June 1944
Invasion of Elba - June 1944
Falaise Pocket - August 1944
Operation Dragoon (Provence) - August 1944
Liberation of Paris - August 1944

As I was looking at this list and thinking about 1945, it occurred to me that the Liberation of Paris . . . what a great climax to this campaign! By the time Paris was liberated, the Free French forces stood at 560,000 (they would peak at 1,300,000 in May 1945), the Allies were closing in on Germany from the west and east, and with the exception of the Battle of the Bulge, the war in Europe was winding down.

Sure, the Free French forces took part in late-1944 and 1945 battles like Tholy, Strasbourg, and Colmar but as I said before, those have been covered already. I will make mention of these battles at the end of the campaign.

As to the scenario selections above, some were suggested and some are my own ideas. In addition to the "FF must have played a significant part" requirement is another rule of thumb: I was comfortable only with those episodes on which I can get my hands on a comprehensive amount of information in just a few sources, preferably one. This means, of course, that the incidents had to be rather famous. Many suggestions have been made (thanks in particular to ColonelY) but a good number of these are just too obscure.

Plus, we didn't want this to become another Germany Grand Campaign with 50+ scenarios!

So, 18 scenarios (linear progression, no branching) covering land, sea, and air; Europe and Africa; and 5 years of war. I am comfortable that this campaign will capture the essence of Free France without needing to visit every battle in which their forces participated.

[bru888]

This morning, I am having qualms about one scenario: Convoy HX 228.

I have a special fondness for sea battles in OOB. For one thing, I missed naval warfare in the war simulation games that I played before encountering OOB. For another thing, I love making maps for sea battles: Deep Water, Fill Map, "Are you sure?" Yes!

But I don't get much of a charge from battling submarines in this game. When defending, I find it difficult and tedious trying to locate subs. I am concerned about a scenario in which all the player is doing is hunting subs before they destroy X number of merchants ships.

Does anybody have thoughts? I have compiled data on the 3 destroyers and 5 corvettes that were escorting this convoy, and I selected 24 merchant ships to include (the actual 60 would have looked ridiculous) as well as 12 U-boats of Wolfpack Neuland that attacked them. I just don't see this playing out well without artificial constraints on the U-boats as they maul the merchant ships while the player is trying to cover the map with only 8 ships.

I am thinking of looking for a surface action instead, even if I have to embellish it a bit. With all due respect to Forces Navales Françaises Libres, they didn't see much meaningful action during the war.

[bru888]

Yeah, I am soured on this submarine warfare scenario.

I tinkered around with a prototype: a surfaced sub cannot be seen except by surface craft right next to it; a submerged sub can be detected by sonar from two hexes away but (a big "but"), the detecting surface ship cannot fire in the same turn. Other ships must do so. If there aren't any around, the sub moves away in its turn.

Pack sub hunting requires a cluster of destroyers; there are only 8 in this scenario; and with 24 merchant ships, the map must be adequately sized with a lot of area to cover. I see much frantic rushing around, near misses, and frustration in this situation.

I like to think I have developed a feeling for scenario viability. When I am not looking forward to even designing one, it is no good. Into the waste basket with this one. Too bad, because I had gathered a good deal of information on Convoy HX 228.

I really scoured the history of the Free French Naval Forces, including the links to individual ships. Again, no disrespect to those men, but after Operation Catapult, the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, and the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon, there wasn't much of a French navy left. The ships that escaped those events served mostly in support of air and amphibious operations which was important, but not exciting enough for an OOB scenario.

Free France naval forces are featured in a couple of the other scenarios; that will suffice. Now I am looking for an alternative 18th scenario, preferably in 1942 or 1943.

[bru888]

Free France naval forces are featured in a couple of the other scenarios; that will suffice. Now I am looking for an alternative 18th scenario, preferably in 1942 or 1943.

I'm thinking Second Battle of El Alamein. Erik, you have that battle in your Desert Rats campaign. Can I lift that and redevelop it to more prominently feature the Free French participation?

[ColonelY]

[...] I'm thinking Second Battle of El Alamein. [...]

'Sounds really good to me!
In this case, may I suggest you to focus more/mainly on the southern part of this battle? Indeed because there, the Free French represented about a third of the Allies engaged!

(I've already written "a little" about it ; the French version of the wiki page offers more maps than the English one, for some (strange) reason... )

'Could help: Webpage (in French, but easy to translate with nowadays tools): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconde_b ... El_Alamein; first maps: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr & https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr & an enemy massive counter-attack - they took the bait! (a key element worth mentioning!) - here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr & there are few more maps, of course...
=> See the southern part, the three southern Allied formations!

So, maybe represent only this part as scenario map, and put some immersive comments during the briefing, or even via some events if needed, to inform the player of what's happening in the north if it's relevant for its battle...

[ColonelY]

There, the Frenchies were in charge of the extreme South of the front (as at Bir Hakeim)... well, the land forces, of course, for they had at that time several planes and pilots active as well on this theatre of action.

[ColonelY]

If you extend this southern part of the map a little northwards, some Greeks units may even appear! Who'd have believed that?

[Erik2]

Free France naval forces are featured in a couple of the other scenarios; that will suffice. Now I am looking for an alternative 18th scenario, preferably in 1942 or 1943.

I'm thinking Second Battle of El Alamein. Erik, you have that battle in your Desert Rats campaign. Can I lift that and redevelop it to more prominently feature the Free French participation?

Yes, of course. Maybe restrict it to the part of the battlefield where the FF were present.
I'm still considering a battle of the Bir Hacheim/Hakeim box.

[bru888]

Yes, of course. Maybe restrict it to the part of the battlefield where the FF were present.
I'm still considering a battle of the Bir Hacheim/Hakeim box.

Very good, thanks. Therefore, here is the revised lineup:

Dakar - September 1940
Gabon - November 1940
Kufra - January 1941
Keren - February 1941
Operation Exporter (Syria-Lebanon) - June 1941
Bir Hakeim - June 1942
Second Battle of El Alamein - October 1942
Race For Tunis - November 1942
Operation Lila Denied (Toulon) - November 1942
Réunion - November 1942
Normandie-Niémen (Eastern Front) - April 1943
Operation Vesuvius (Corsica) - September 1943
Operation Diadem (Monte Cassino) - May 1944
Operation Jedburgh (French Resistance) - June 1944
Invasion of Elba - June 1944
Falaise Pocket - August 1944
Operation Dragoon (Provence) - August 1944
Liberation of Paris - August 1944

You have plenty of time if you want to work something up for Bir Hacheim/Hakeim. I will put that aside until I make progress on some of the other scenarios.

[conboy]

Bru, Erik
Y'all wrote:

We don't want to duplicate or "top" something that a currently active forum member has contributed.

Well, I skipped most of the French involvement in the Vosges. I was quite ignorant of the Free French activity in the war and only became aware of it in developing those scenarios. My scenarios are US 3d Division-centric so the French participation is slighted therein. In the Le Tholy scenario, the French magically appear in the East, and in the Strasbourg scenario, they magically appear in the West. I'd like to see how they got there!

Also, I should have broken my Strasbourg scenario into two battles -- To the Meurthe and then start again from the Meurthe to Strasbourg.

I think the only one where I tried to portray their comprehensive involvement was Colmar, but the Free French operations in the north part of the battle aren't carefully portrayed by me.

I must say though that I would be one of your most enthusiastic supporters to play your interpretation of the Free French involvement in eastern France and Germany.

Sorry I didn't catch this earlier -- badly preoccupied lately.

conboy

[bru888]

Conboy, for now, Erik and I have decided to end the campaign with the Liberation of Paris. We kicked around those later battles in which the French fought in late 1944 and 1945, but they seem anti-climactic and questionable as to how much of a role the French played in them. You indirectly support that assessment with the low profile that the French have in your excellent late-war scenarios.