Free France Campaign

[bru888]

About Mareth Line

I also prefer the big scenario, without automated sections.

And I am glad that you dragged that moldy old PC out of the attic so that you may continue playing OOB!

[Erik2]

HMS Barham (first scenario) was a Queen Elisabeth class battleship, now available in the editor

[bru888]

Preliminary lineup of objectives for Battle of the Mareth Line:

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[ColonelY]

'Looks really great!

[bru888]

'Looks really great!

Thanks. Now the trick is, 'ow in the bloody 'ell do I make this contraption work?

[ColonelY]

Some thoughts related to 09Medenine:

I made a little research about the units present at that time... because if the scenario is perfectly doable in about 10 turns, now that it has a limit of 15 turns, there may be room for few more enemy units... ( )

1. One Italian paratrooper unit?
Paracadutisti '42 (42, yes due to when this battle takes place!)... we've some German paratroopers, we know that there was some Italian paratroopers involved within Rommel's troops (some of them have even fought against Free French at El Alamein I believe), so...

2. One (experienced) Bersaglieri unit?
We know there was some as well, like their 39th Regiment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80th_Infa ... _La_Spezia) or their third regiment in the Division Centauro (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisione ... entauro%22) either adding one Bersaglieri unit under the name "Divisione La Spezia", or even "Divisione Centauro" or without any custom name perhaps (like the German paratroopers are now)?

Two options: these two units could be simply added on top OR as replacement of some units already there (like the Italian paratrooper instead of one German paratrooper and the Bersaglieri instead of one regular infantry unit) Well, I would prefer just adding them, but...

3. Not any single enemy AT unit? Some German AT unit to be added somewhere, like one 8,8cm Pak 43?

4. The German "10th Panzer Division" (mainly Pz III) was there as well but isn't represented yet... let's think a little... 2 tank units per Panzer division, an actual total of 6 enemy tank units... hem... at disposal, more time than required... beware not too make it too difficult either... hem... What about adding two German tank units called "10th Panzer Division" but deployed and used as reserve units , like deployed a little backwards and starting to move between turn 6 to 8, perhaps one from each main road?
Overall idea: don't involve them too soon to avoid unbalancing the early part of this battle. But once we're crossing the river and beginning to slaughter all enemy troops in front of us, then...
(By the way, this "reserve" aspect could work as well for the Italian paratroopers and Bersaglieri... just in case... )

5. It is said this battle was foggy at start... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Medenine)
'Could add a sandstorm during the very first turn of this scenario together with another event, a fifth event as introduction, with this picture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_Br ... NA1076.jpg and few short words saying and saying, a little in the spirit of the short briefing (and for the same reason it was brief!), something perhaps like "Despite the fog, the battle is already raging, so let's stay focused. Tally-ho!"

6. On the anecdotes (same webpage), there are "Two New Zealanders were killed and two wounded in a raid over the 4th Field Ambulance" The 4th Field Ambulance? Could there be an opportunity to add another secondary objective involving some (spawned) depleated allied units and some Medical Jeep unit for once?!
I'm not sure what it would be worth, but that's an idea...


Et voilà !

[ColonelY]

Few more points:

-> Now, it's said that the Free French had some tanks with them at Medenine (the "Premier Régiment de Marche de Spahis Marocains" with one tank company http://www.francaislibres.net/pages/page.php?id=390 ... perhaps even some British Crusaders, but I'm not sure at all about this)...

-> A name for the German paratroopers? Perhaps the "285th Bn Thunderbolt" (https://boowiki.info/art/guerre-en-1943 ... _battaglia)

-> To give more strenght to the player as well, you may add an infantry unit called BIMP perhaps together with some cool and immersive event poping-up as soon as this unit has moved (https://www.france-libre.net/bimp/)... (A nice opportunity to recall the famous Bir Hakeim, by the way!)

[ColonelY]

And still a little more:

One could add a Panhard recon unit called "Force L" as well on the French side... we've had several of them in the previous scenario, so now that they've reached the Allies, why would have all of them disappeared?
Like this, more variation in terms of units in presence, among other things...

One thing to partly consider is that all the Fenchies weren't from the Force L. Some of them have pushed together with Monty's main army (like these Spahis mentionned within the previous post or the really famous BIMP)... so not all land Free French units need to be tagged as "Force L" anyway... So not (at all) 100% garrison duties after El Alamein, sorry! ( )

[ColonelY]

10MarethLine:

Preliminary lineup of objectives for Battle of the Mareth Line: [...]

One could consider creating some good (side-)action on the Sea as well, as we've a good portion of it...

For example, one can read: "The Royal Navy succeeded in dislodging the Italian fleet from the Mediterranean, thus allowing the movement of ships from the United Kingdom, while the control of Malta by the Royal Air Force (RAF) prevented the supply of arms to the Italians by sea." (translated from this source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campagne_de_Tunisie)

This could result in the RAF coming from Malta bombing a supply convoy (supply ships, various transport ships and even some merchant ships, why not?) which still tries to force the blockade....
(Why not? At start it could have definitely been possible!)
A failure there, it could be many RPs offered to the Italians and some also to the Germans...
This could be with a few Allied ships coming as reinforcements (but which should not have too much impact on the land battle, perhaps even being exited once mission achieved), with several German submarines ready to make some ambushes here and there... ( )

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.21 has been uploaded. It includes the following updates to Battle of Medenine as listed below.

Free France 1940-1945 (nine scenarios)

- Added Bersaglieri and Paracadusti units as static defense Guarnigione Villaggio (village garrisons) at Zemlet el Lebene and Sidi Makhlouf, the two primary victory points for the British.
- Added transportation to several Axis guns which were overlooked.
- Added a foggy sandstorm at the beginning of the scenario:

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I had mentioned that I liked the gameplay balance in this one even though it is a foregone conclusion that the Axis attack will fail. As it should, because it is a prelude to Battle of the Mareth Line. Still, it needs to be played well.

We cut back the turns from 20 to 15, but now we have added 2 more units, entenched in villages to be removed. Much more, and the balance will go the other way. So this is enough units, now.

[ColonelY]

Enough? But the French could have few more as well...

[bru888]

Enough? But the French could have few more as well...

No, we are done with Battle of Medenine. I didn't mention this but another consideration is that it's a bit crowded down there in that corner of the map! So enough is enough.

But don't worry, there will be French tanks in Battle of the Mareth Line. Including the Somua 35 and Char B1 units promised earlier. Plus the Free French will be driving them! (I will work some plausible explanation into the text as to how they were acquired from the former Vichy French in North Africa.)

[ColonelY]

Okay, fine. And you're right, it's anyway already a little crowded down there.


What do you think about some side-action at Sea for the Mareth Line?

[bru888]

What do you think about some side-action at Sea for the Mareth Line?

That's a possibility. You (and Masca) wanted a "big" scenario, n'est-ce pas?

[ColonelY]

Oh oui !

[bru888]

I kept saying to myself, "Self, surer than stuff, you are going to forget Les Rochambelles." Finally, I resolved the matter by working ahead a bit. These campaign popup messages will occur just before Operation Vesuvius (September 1943):

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(I cleared up the extra spaces between words in the second message.)

[bru888]

10MarethLine:

Preliminary lineup of objectives for Battle of the Mareth Line: [...]

One could consider creating some good (side-)action on the Sea as well, as we've a good portion of it...

For example, one can read: "The Royal Navy succeeded in dislodging the Italian fleet from the Mediterranean, thus allowing the movement of ships from the United Kingdom, while the control of Malta by the Royal Air Force (RAF) prevented the supply of arms to the Italians by sea." (translated from this source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campagne_de_Tunisie)

This could result in the RAF coming from Malta bombing a supply convoy (supply ships, various transport ships and even some merchant ships, why not?) which still tries to force the blockade....
(Why not? At start it could have definitely been possible!)
A failure there, it could be many RPs offered to the Italians and some also to the Germans...
This could be with a few Allied ships coming as reinforcements (but which should not have too much impact on the land battle, perhaps even being exited once mission achieved), with several German submarines ready to make some ambushes here and there... ( )

Yes, definitely, upon further reflection. Until Operation Torch brought American air power to North Africa, Regia Marina still held sway in the middle Mediterranean. It was air power that saved Malta and squelched the Axis supply line to Tunisia. This can be represented in the Mareth Line scenario; not a major air/sea battle that did not occur in real life, but an interdiction of a convoy into Gabès with the prize being a reduction of Axis resources. (Heh, I may return briefly to my friendly/enemy resources parity mode with the objective to reduce it to my new normal of 25% enemy to friendly resources.)

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By the way, I inadvertently made Mareth Line the first scenario of the campaign while working on it today. Since I don't know exactly when that occurred, I uploaded the corrected campaign again. Same version number.

Free France 1940-1945 v0.21 has been uploaded. It includes the following updates to Battle of Medenine as listed below.

Free France 1940-1945 (nine scenarios)

[bru888]

I was chastened to read about the French role in Operation Diadem last night. Operation Diadem, which is synonymous with the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino (not the entire Cassino campaign) hinged on the brilliant French performance in the center. It saved the day when the U.S. forces on their left flank, and British forces on the right flank, were stalled early in the battle. It will be an honor to do Operation Diadem for OOB.

And there will be Goumiers galore!

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[ColonelY]

[bru888]

And there will be Goumiers galore!

Eh, don't expect me to lionize them, though, after reading about what they did to citizens of the Liri Valley once the Allies had pierced the Gustav and Hitler lines and broken out of Anzio.

Enough happened to allow me to say that, as a group they were fierce fighters but as men, they were filth. Less than men.