Free France Campaign

[jeffoot77]

hello

I just finished the first mission in Dakar and here is my review:

Very pleasant scenario, historical accuracy is impressive. That is an awesome work! It is a pretty easy scenario but i got some frustrations in the end because of two facts:

- i was obliged to rush in the end and i didn"t even capture one airfield... i won but with 49 turns /48 ( i cheated and add one ) .There should be 50-55 turns. Why all the games force player to rush? what is the interest? there is no more strategy when u just prey to not encounter an enemy...

- and the second fact is that i had planned a strategy based on the power of my ships to assist my tropps to land on the shores of dakar but at 10 turns of the end, the english ships vanished! why not juste a warning of 5 turns before doing it?

So the end of the scenario was horrible : rush and units diseapearing, i nealy lost all my units...

But for the first 40 turns, it was magic. Thanks for this campaign.

[bru888]

Why is the Free French campaign not available in the community content through Order of Battle?

Two reasons:

1) It's not finished yet. Currently, only 10 out of a projected 19 scenarios are ready, although those have been polished thanks to assistance from valued forum members.
2) To be included in the community content crate requires the developers to deem the work worthy of the honor, then make provisions to make it available with the game.

Got it. Thanks.

This is probably answered earlier in the thread, but where do I save the Free France campaign? I got Order of Battle through Steam. Thanks.

viewtopic.php?f=374&t=82576

Thanks for your interest.

[bru888]

hello

I just finished the first mission in Dakar and here is my review:

Very pleasant scenario, historical accuracy is impressive. That is an awesome work! It is a pretty easy scenario but i got some frustrations in the end because of two facts:

- i was obliged to rush in the end and i didn"t even capture one airfield... i won but with 49 turns /48 ( i cheated and add one ) .There should be 50-55 turns. Why all the games force player to rush? what is the interest? there is no more strategy when u just prey to not encounter an enemy...

- and the second fact is that i had planned a strategy based on the power of my ships to assist my tropps to land on the shores of dakar but at 10 turns of the end, the english ships vanished! why not juste a warning of 5 turns before doing it?

So the end of the scenario was horrible : rush and units diseapearing, i nealy lost all my units...

But for the first 40 turns, it was magic. Thanks for this campaign.

Jeff! How timely for you to be dropping by! But let me address your comments first.

Thanks for them; maybe I will jump the turns up a bit; to 52. The reason why a designer doesn't want to award too many turns in a scenario is that if the number is significantly too much, the designer is giving a RP bonus to the player. RP income scheduled for the turns that were not needed get rolled forward to the next scenario. I will definitely add a warning about the fleet disappearing, if I did not already mention it. I have to look.

It's timely for you to have stopped by because I am working on Normandie-Niémen, the next scenario in this campaign. You are the author of the campaign Normandie-Niémen (of which you were kind enough to allow me to avail myself to resources if needed; thanks again). Since mine is just one scenario, I chose the Battle of Kursk to feature the squadron. It should be interesting in that Erik was also kind enough to allow me to borrow his Kursk scenario and I am in the process of automating the land battle. Let's see how it comes out, while our Normandie-Niémen heroes are doing battle in the sky!

So, you may want to hang around at least for my Normandie-Niémen; as I said, it's next and it should be out soon.

[Mascarenhas]

Version 024 report

Made it in 47 turns, barely achieving the " decimate Axis force3s" obj. Western construction group never appeared, nor additional fighters - it gave me some headache, after all those bombers buzzing over me. This time I lost less ships, at the cost of a bit more air, not sure if it´s worthwhile, since I better preserve my air boys for the sequence.I think that if you´re increasing the kill rate to achieve success, it would be fair providing a bit more resources for Brits, NZ, India and, of course, nos héros. All in all, it´s ok. I´ll try next version later.

[bru888]

Version 024 report

Made it in 47 turns, barely achieving the " decimate Axis force3s" obj. Western construction group never appeared, nor additional fighters - it gave me some headache, after all those bombers buzzing over me. This time I lost less ships, at the cost of a bit more air, not sure if it´s worthwhile, since I better preserve my air boys for the sequence.I think that if you´re increasing the kill rate to achieve success, it would be fair providing a bit more resources for Brits, NZ, India and, of course, nos héros. All in all, it´s ok. I´ll try next version later.

Yes, sorry for all the versions. I get carried away sometimes . . . Version 0.25 has the construction groups, I believe.

Say, do you have any thoughts about Dakar being only 48 turns, given what Jeff said above?

[ColonelY]

[...]
- i was obliged to rush in the end and i didn"t even capture one airfield... i won but with 49 turns /48 ( i cheated and add one ) .There should be 50-55 turns. Why all the games force player to rush? what is the interest? there is no more strategy when u just prey to not encounter an enemy...

- and the second fact is that i had planned a strategy based on the power of my ships to assist my tropps to land on the shores of dakar but at 10 turns of the end, the english ships vanished! why not juste a warning of 5 turns before doing it?

So the end of the scenario was horrible : rush and units diseapearing, i nealy lost all my units...

But for the first 40 turns, it was magic. Thanks for this campaign.

Hello and thanks for this feedback!

There is one point a little worrying, I mean the part "units diseapearing, i nealy lost all my units"...

Well, you're expected to land all your troops around Rufisque and then to progress inland with them. If I've understood correctly, you've then planed another landing, meaning you had several units moving on transport ships towards Dakar (instead of moving inland). Okay, so far so good, I would say. The supporting British ships have to leave these waters at some points, that's on purpose, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Does it mean that you've seen the transport ships disappearing as well while going for the shores of Dakar?!

If YES, then this has to be fixed!


But then, if you've lost many, many of your infantry units that way, then you were clearly lacking some power to take Dakar itself... and this may be enough to explain this final rush, and why you needed a little extra turn and why you haven't got for the AFs on time as well.

[ColonelY]

Version 024 report

Made it in 47 turns, barely achieving the " decimate Axis force3s" obj. Western construction group never appeared, nor additional fighters - it gave me some headache, after all those bombers buzzing over me. This time I lost less ships, at the cost of a bit more air, not sure if it´s worthwhile, since I better preserve my air boys for the sequence.I think that if you´re increasing the kill rate to achieve success, it would be fair providing a bit more resources for Brits, NZ, India and, of course, nos héros. All in all, it´s ok. I´ll try next version later.

Yes, sorry for all the versions. I get carried away sometimes . . . Version 0.25 has the construction groups, I believe.

[...]

In v0.23 there was a "Construction group" unit spawning together with the 2 addtional fighters (and the additional bomber)... all of them really close to our 3 airstrips in the South-East. (Thus these new planes could have been considered as some of the "old" ones, perhaps...) So this "Construction Group" wasn't "western" (as I've suggested it) at that time...

But now, in v0.25, (and if I'm not mistaken ) there should be 1 western Construction group (really one western, this time! ) spawning at the very same time that these other additional units will be spawned in the SE (= 1 Construction Group, 2 New Zealander fighters and 1 Bomber unit - so there the same units than before, except for some flag changes)... bringing some NZs there may offer a nice variation and make it easier to find/see them as well while making them clearly "different" than dogfighters from the previous groups.
(So it's not possible now to confuse these fighters with planes that had been on this battlefield for quite some time already.)


Oh, and by the way, I agree with Masca: a bit more resources would be welcome in this scenario... I would say especially for the British India!

[bru888]

I think what Jeff meant by "units diseapearing, i nealy lost all my units" was the removal of British air and naval units in Dakar, without warning, once all Vichy air and naval units have been defeated. To give fair warning for this, I added this statement to one of the objectives:

Screenshot 1.jpg (297.26 KiB) Viewed 2133 times

I will leave the amount of turns at 48, however, for a couple of reasons: First, we have had a number of players go through Dakar and complete it without too much trouble in 48 turns or less. Second, it's difficult to go back to change the amount of turns; not in the setting itself but adjusting the deployment hexes. These are set with the number of deployment availability turns and there is no way to know what those were set for in the editor. I don't want to just change them all to include additional turns without remembering whether I set some of them to be limited to just initial deployment phase or a certain set of turns. If there was a common complaint of too few turns, then I would have to do so but I am choosing not to at this time. No reflection on Jeff, but we have seen situations in which the game needs to be played better in order to win — or lost if not — in a reasonable amount of turns. Some players do, and some don't.

But what I have decided to do is to make the campaign itself easier by allowing it to advance when a scenario result is Draw. With the exceptions of Bir Hakeim and Medenine, these scenarios can all end in a Draw and up until now, I have required the scenario to be replayed for a Draw. Instead, the campaign will advance to the next scenario with Major Victory, Minor Victory, AND Draw.

Screenshot 2.jpg (261.85 KiB) Viewed 2132 times

Major and Minor Defeat will still lead to campaign defeat, however. Also, a Draw will still be treated as a negative result in the outcome statements, because a tie is never completely satisfying. All that is different is that the player will not be forced to replay the last drawn scenario unless he wants to; in that case, he can call up a saved game and proceed from there.

These changes will be in the next update, most likely when Normandie-Niemen is released.

[bru888]

There will be a 20Strasbourg-Nordwind, or a 20Strasbourg and a 21Nordwind that focuses on Strasbourg. We mentioned the Oath of Kufra about the French flag returning to the Strasbourg Cathedral, so it makes sense to show Leclerc's drive to take that city in November 1944. I may have to bolster the Germans a bit in order to make Strasbourg competitive. Nordwind is a natural follow-up, but only in the area of Strasbourg. Colmar Pocket is out, by the way; de Lattre did not shine in that operation, ultimately needing the help of a U.S. Corps to finally crush the pocket in February 1945. I will talk about what happened at Colmar but I will not do a scenario about it.

[jeffoot77]

"several units moving on transport ships towards Dakar "

--> exactly, i have planned this. The transports and supply ships didn't diseappear but the naval support was necessary for my plan. I haven't seen or read too fast the message " when all air and naval units of dakar destroyed." I think it is good for historical accuracy but anyway player may cheat and let one plane or ship (to 1 strenght ) to keep his english ships ...

To avoid this, maybe just making the ships diseapearing at the turn 44 or 45 and not when all the enemy are destroyed... juste an idea.
For the number of turns, To Bru888, when the player is beginning the scenario , he is thinking , he will have plenty of time to make it .. 48 turns seem so long! 50 turns seem the minimum.

of which you were kind enough to allow me to avail myself to resources if needed; thanks again).

--> no problem for the Normandie campaign, it was just a short campaign with not all the work you are providing for the France campaign ! It is a honor for me if i can help you!

(I can't wait to start scenario 2)

[ColonelY]

There will be a 20Strasbourg-Nordwind, or a 20Strasbourg and a 21Nordwind that focuses on Strasbourg. We mentioned the Oath of Kufra about the French flag returning to the Strasbourg Cathedral, so it makes sense to show Leclerc's drive to take that city in November 1944. I may have to bolster the Germans a bit in order to make Strasbourg competitive. Nordwind is a natural follow-up, but only in the area of Strasbourg. Colmar Pocket is out, by the way; de Lattre did not shine in that operation, ultimately needing the help of a U.S. Corps to finally crush the pocket in February 1945. I will talk about what happened at Colmar but I will not do a scenario about it.

Well, I would vote for a 20Strasbourg and a 21Nordwing scenarios.

Excellent idea to come back to the famous Oath of Kufra!

[bru888]

There will be a 20Strasbourg-Nordwind, or a 20Strasbourg and a 21Nordwind that focuses on Strasbourg. We mentioned the Oath of Kufra about the French flag returning to the Strasbourg Cathedral, so it makes sense to show Leclerc's drive to take that city in November 1944. I may have to bolster the Germans a bit in order to make Strasbourg competitive. Nordwind is a natural follow-up, but only in the area of Strasbourg. Colmar Pocket is out, by the way; de Lattre did not shine in that operation, ultimately needing the help of a U.S. Corps to finally crush the pocket in February 1945. I will talk about what happened at Colmar but I will not do a scenario about it.

Well, I would vote for a 20Strasbourg and a 21Nordwing scenarios.

Okay. Same map for both, though. I am figuring on a map of the approximate area inside this red box:

00021.jpeg (116.45 KiB) Viewed 2057 times

Because, as usual, I am not interested in portraying the entire Nordwind operation, just the Free French portion of it. The same thing will go for Operation Dragoon and Falaise Pocket. In Dragoon, I will focus on de Lattre at Toulon and Marseille. In Falaise, it will be Leclerc driving for Argentan.

[ColonelY]

Fine!


Various elements for later, the first being a new one, and the other more reminders of still useful elements: (Translated from this source: http://www.fondationmarechaldelattre.fr ... e/APHL.pdf )

For the capture of Toulon and Marseilles in 8 days, General de Lattre received congratulations from General Marshall, US Chief of Staff. The Americans took 7 weeks to conquer Cherbourg and 2 months to conquer Brest. The Americans demanded the landing of Provence because half of the supplies of General Bradley's army group were going to transit through Marseille, Cherbourg being at saturation point.

General de Lattre, who was to follow the Americans by the Napoleon road, made 2 divisions cross the Rhône with the means on board: The 1st DB (Division Blindée) and the DFL (Division Française Libre) which will go as far as Saint Etienne and Lyon, if it is not audacity, what is it?

The 2nd DB did not liberate Paris by itself, the Americans sent an army corps commanded by General Gerow to which the 2nd DB and the 4th DIUS (United States Infantry Division) belonged, which will liberate the East of Paris.

November 1944, it is the capture of Belfort in 8 days !!!

On November 19, 1944, by the raid of lieutenant Jean de Loisy on 60 kilometers, including 50 kilometers in enemy territory, the 1st AD and the First French Army arrived first at the Rhine and took Mulhouse.

March 1945, de Lattre entered Germany, crossed the Rhine with derisory means, made the German campaign and in a little more than a month conquered the Palatinate, the Baden country, a part of Württemberg and its capital Stuttgart, 800'000 inhabitants. The Americans were furious. De Lattre entered Austria and took 110,000 prisoners.

It was thanks to the action of the First French Army that General de Gaulle was able to obtain from the Allies the presence of General de Lattre in Berlin on May 8, 1945 to sign, in the name of France, the act of surrender of Nazi Germany.

*******

Another element NOT to be forgotten:

Campaign event: "Highly symbolical meeting!"

"At Nogent-sur-Seine, west of the Langres plateau, on 12 September 1944, two reconnaissance units make contact. One comes from the "2e Division blindée" of Leclerc, while the other comes from the "1re DFL".

Thus, after hard fightings, the arm of Leclerc, from Normandy, and the arm of Tassigny, from Italy, Corsica and North Africa, can finally shake hands!

In the eyes of the French combattants, this meeting embodies the dazzling victory of the French army over Nazism, the end of the dark years of the Occupation!

But, of course, the war is not over yet..."

Or something similar...

*******

At some point, an historical event may mention the role played by the French merchant ships...

*******

Leclerc's cult expression: « Ne dites pas que c’est impossible ! » ("Don't say it's impossible!”)

*******

I have ordered a book that I should receive soon (if there is no problem with what everyone knows ):
“L’apport capital de la France dans la victoire des alliés”, written by Dominique Lormier (April 2011)
(So, as title something like: “France's capital contribution to the victory of the allies”…)

Alas, this book (made by historians!) is only available in French right now…

[...] 3. After their meetings (FF and "loyalist" French forces) the French Army committed nearly 400,000 men to the theatres of military action in Italy, France and then Germany. In Italy, the supreme commander of the German forces, General Ringel wrote, after the war: "(...) the man whom even the German command recognized as its most dangerous adversary in Italy: General Juin with his Frenchmen." (p.291)

4. Half of the liberation of the national territory is the exclusive work of the French forces (FF troops, Lattre de Tassigny's army, Leclerc division). On the specific subject of the Resistance's contribution to the victory of the D-Day landings and the decisive days that followed, the American General Eisenhower, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, acknowledged the important role played by the Breton Resistance:
"(...) I believe that the destruction of enemy rail communications, the harassment of German automobile traffic and the increasing pressure exerted by the organised forces of the French Resistance on German troops played a considerable role in our victory" (p.339).

5. "From the declaration of war in September 1939 to the capitulation of Germany in May 1945, the French army and Resistance units counted 255,200 killed. French military losses in the Second World War were almost as heavy as those of the United States (300,000 soldiers killed) and Great Britain (326,000 soldiers killed). The French army and the fighting forces of the Resistance can claim the disablement of 900,000 Axis soldiers (German or Italian), killed, wounded and prisoners, including 688,000 from 1941 to 1945 and 212,000 in May-June 1940. France's place alongside the three other victorious great powers is therefore not usurped, as the figures themselves bear witness". (p.461-462, always from the same book).
[...]

*******

By looking at history, one will discover a lot of interesting things. In fact, there should be (much) more scenarios in this campaign than I thought at first; I was at least right to say that there could be as many as for any other big campaign!

[...] The “2nd Division blindée” of Leclerc, also known as the “Division Leclerc” or even (because it was so famous) “Armée Leclerc”:

After the Normandy, the stages of this division follow one another in a fantastic charge. Alençon was liberated on 12 August, and the strong entry into Paris on 25 August, in the midst of the jubilant crowd of Parisians and French forces from the interior, the F.F.I., who took part in the fighting, allowed General de Gaulle to be cheered as he descended the Champs-Élysées.

Returning eastwards, Leclerc's men liberated Vittel, annihilated a Panzer brigade at Dompaire on 12 and 13 September and liberated Baccarat on 31 October. They crossed the Vosges Mountains, bitterly defended, and on 23 November 1944 Strasbourg was liberated.

They held their famous "Oath of Koufra"!

After hard fighting in the south of Alsace, during more than two months of a particularly harsh winter, the 2nd D.B. took part, as part of the 1st French Army, in the liberation of Colmar on 6 February 1945. There were no more Germans in arms on French soil, with the exception of the Atlantic pockets where elements of the 2nd D.B. would liberate Royan in April 1945.

Impatient to enter Germany, General Leclerc succeeded in committing his division in Bavaria and captured Berchtesgaden, the Nazi stronghold, three days before the German surrender.

So, battles/scenarios:
[...]
• Paris
Charles de Gaulle had to insist to the Allies that his 2nd armoured division could lend a hand to the partisans who took up arms and set up barricades in the city - while Hitler gave orders to destroy it! This led to the Battle of Paris. Afterwards, for political reasons, Charles de Gaulle insisted again that the Americans hold their famous parade there (the USA hasn't recognized his action yet!) -> this will deserve an event towards the end of the "Battle of Paris" scenario or a "Campaign event" right after...
[...]
• Royan (an Atlantic pocket – yes, both landings and the pushing back of Germans towards Germany makes sometimes think that there was no more fighting German in France, which is utterly wrong – real strongholds have resisted until, or almost, the capitulation of Germany – and the Free French from inside have massively contributed to reduce these places!)
• Bavaria and Berchtesgaden (highly symbolical!)
[...]
• Falaise (Well, this was well-known anyway. The less known part of it is the following: There, Leclerc surprised even the Americans by his audacity and began a movement to surround a large group of Germans, even if it meant advancing his tanks on a sector "reserved" for the Americans according to THE main plan... Leclerc was ordered to stop his lightning advance, allowing many German troops to avoid envelopment and annihilation in their pocket! )
[...]
On the eve of the landing, the order of battle of the occupant is extremely powerful in Brittany: 7 infantry divisions, 2 parachute divisions, 1 fortress regiment, 29 coastal companies, 3 groups of fortress artillery, 2 battalions of the Luftwaffe, about ten "Ostregiments" (Ukrainians, Georgians, Poles, Russians ...). In all, 150'000 men in Brittany!

In Brittany, no less than 20'000 Free French "from Insade" gather (AS, FTP and ORA). Their mission: to fix the 150'000 enemies there, to prevent them from converging quickly towards Normandy, the place of the coming landings...
The maquisards will be reinforced by detachments of parachutists from Free France (including the "2nd Regiment of parachutist fighters" with its famous "4e Bataillon FFL-SAS")... A lot of railway sabotage (as in Normandy).

Example: [Well, see corresponding previous post, please, just in case! ...] The battle of Saint-Marcel: undeniable tactical success for the Resistance: 42 killed, about sixty wounded and 15 prisoners against 300 Germans killed and 1,000 wounded - and that set a target for about ten thousand German soldiers...

German report: "were not terrorists but a well-organized and well-behaved army".

Above all, the Germans discovered with surprise, on the rear of the Normandy battlefield, the existence of well-armed, well-led forces that inflicted serious losses on them and which they were unable to destroy. They noted that the Breton FFI were in permanent contact with the allied staff, since they had brought the air force into the fighting!

After that, there were many more coups de main, brilliant daring, then the arrival of more French paratroopers, etc.

I could provide more information if needed.

But in any case, there is already enough to make two new splendid scenarios:
• The delaying action/harassment of the German infantry division on the move.
• The defense of the Saint-Marcel camp.
***
Last element: the Tunisian campaign!

This campaign was a succession of battles and many of them have actually involved the Free French troops…

Again, the contribution of the Free French is not anecdotical at all:
The French committed 75’000 men and lost 15’000 (killed, wounded or missing), the Americans 95’000 and 12’000, the British 130’000 and 17’000.
The Germans had 80’000 men and the Italians 110’000... in the end 150’000 of these were taken prisoner, more than a quarter of which (40’000) were thanks to the French, despite their relative lack of motorized means....


Victory in Tunisia is important for two reasons: it paves the way for an invasion of Italy and it allows the French Army of Africa (formerly under Vichy) to join Charles de Gaulle's Free French...

But it was not easy at first: for the former Vichy's side, the others were "deserters", "adventurers" and "mercenaries". For the latter, the others were "hidden" and "collaborators".

From then on, there were 400'000 soldiers available under the flag of Free France! For the most part, it is American equipment that will now equip them. The biggest units will be the 8 divisions: 5 of Infantry and 3 Armored!

Free French (+ ex-Vichy French army of Africa) in Tunisia:
• 4 infantry divisions (Division de marche d’Alger, de Constantine, du Maroc, d’Oran)
• Brigade légère mécanisée
• Corps franc d’Afrique
• Détachement saharien
• Brigade légère motorisée of general Leclerc (the L Force!) -> it has joined the British 8th Army in Libya
Mainly with old French material from the 1940’s campaign… Despite this, they’ve held strongly the Grande Dorsale (Tunisian mountain range) at the beginning of the campaign! The Germans facing them had as tanks: Tiger I, Panzer III & Panzer IV!

[...]
• Ksar Rhilane[/b] (in the south of Tunisia, Leclerc force, on the side of the British 8th Army… his motorized brigade try to hold this position versus the recon group Luck and a company of the 15th Panzerdivision… the British propose him to abandon this position but he refuses and asks for a air support! This was granted. Several times the enemies rush forward against the L Force… Monty thought Leclerc was dead when he received a message from him announcing the victory!)
[...]

[ColonelY]

Damn, I've really written a lot, on overall!

[...]
• Brigade légère motorisée of general Leclerc (the L Force!) -> it has joined the British 8th Army in Libya
Mainly with old French material from the 1940’s campaign… Despite this, they’ve held strongly the Grande Dorsale (Tunisian mountain range) at the beginning of the campaign! The Germans facing them had as tanks: Tiger I, Panzer III & Panzer IV!

[...]
• Ksar Rhilane (in the south of Tunisia, Leclerc force, on the side of the British 8th Army… his motorized brigade try to hold this position versus the recon group Luck and a company of the 15th Panzerdivision… the British propose him to abandon this position but he refuses and asks for a air support! This was granted. Several times the enemies rush forward against the L Force… Monty thought Leclerc was dead when he received a message from him announcing the victory!)
[...]

So, about what has already been done, and now toegther with these info :

Possibility to add a Tiger tank unit in MarethLine scenario? If yes, then PzKw VI Tiger H would be the best suited (according to dates)...

Possibility to add some event (either campaign event or historical event if happening during one scenario, either the 09Medenine or the 10MarethLine or perhaps even the 08Fezzan) talking about it... Complementary info (source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Ksar_Ghilane - which hasn't even its equivalent in English ), saying that
"The battle of Ksar Ghilane is an episode of the Second World War in North Africa and is part of the Tunisian campaign. It takes place on March 10, 1943.

Attacked by German armoured tanks and self-propelled guns belonging to the 15th and 21st Panzerdivisions, supported by stukas, the Free French of the Leclerc column won a defensive victory and prevented their opponents from discovering the concentration of New Zealand troops preparing to attack the Mareth Line.

A column today commemorates this battle at Ksar Ghilane, with the inscription: "Here, from 23 February to 10 March 1943, General Leclerc and Force L, from Chad, victoriously supported the assault of the enemy forces, inflicting severe losses on them.""

Picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr

[bru888]

Yes, I do go back through this thread — not page by page, mind you — searching for the topic immediately at hand. For example, I will now search for "Normandie" and "Niemen." It does help if you would bring your comments forth again at the appropriate time. The next scenario is Operation Vesuvius and I know that you had a bunch of things to say about Corsica:

Complements for the CORSICA scenario:

The German army in Corsica relies really on elite soldiers (the "90th Panzergrenadier Division", motorized grenadiers, as well as the SS assault brigade "Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS" -> this last brigade ONLY and therefore not yet improved to a real division! I've checked this! ).

The Free French also benefited from the help of the Basque destroyer and the submarines Perlet and Aréthuse - which, therefore, could also appear within this scenario !

Concerning the Italians who helped the French, in addition to the two divisions already mentioned, there were: the 10th Regiment "Celere" and the 175th Alpini Regiment...

The Moroccan infantry once again demonstrated an astonishing mobility in these mountainous areas... (so, again, Tabors represented by the Gurkas's model may be more representative! )

The Germans are better equipped in armor vehicles than the Franco-Italians, do not hesitate to counter-attack with motorized units supported by their tanks - not to mention the control of the sky which belongs there to the Luftwaffe (which, by the way, will lose 50 planes in these fights)...

The Germans have lost about 13 ships as well (many of them being just "transport" ships, but still)...

USS Corsica -> "The most magnificent aircraft carrier near the coast of Provence was now at the disposal of the Allies" (That had been written by the Free French General Giraud, in Algiers)...
In fact, on the eve of the landing in Provence, Corsica was used as a place of concentration for more than 100'000 French or Allied soldiers and a large quantity of equipment.


-> So, for this scenario as well I think there should already be enough relevant info!

SCENARIO: OPERATION VÉSUVE – THE LIBERATION OF CORSICA:

Although not very well known, the Liberation of Corsica is a true epic!

Let me introduce it to you first, then we can dive more deeply towards the actual corresponding scenario…

Well, in short:
Networks, "maquis" (scrub), secret missions of the Free French, undercover English agents, an island occupied by 80,000 Italian soldiers, airdrops and arms deliveries by submarines from Algiers, shootings, ambushes, daily survival, radio links, clandestine printing works, caves in the maquis, betrayals, arrests, executions by the Ovra (the Italian gestapo), liberating battles from the 9th September to the 4th October 1943...

The internal Resistance (almost 12’000 fighters wearing Moorish-headed armbands!) fought first against the Italians and then, once Italy had surrendered to the Allies, fought massively against the Germans (including some formidable SS unit!) sent to hold their island... At that time, even the Italians will sometimes help the Resistance to fight against their former allies, the Germans... Then the Free French sent reinforcements: 5'000 men of shock battalions and Moroccan battalions. With the internal Resistance, even the help of Italian divisions, the fight continued against the German divisions.

The final battle will take place in Bastia, a martyred city...

The liberation of Corsica, it was a total surprise in the political landscape of 1943. It fed in real time Charles de Gaulle's political will and thinking and accelerated the Allied victory. Indeed, this strategic island for Hitler was liberated a year ahead of Eisenhower's plans! And this, even without the help of the 6 divisions initially planned!
******
After the Franco-German armistice signed on the 22nd June 1940, Corsica was in the Free Zone. It will remain so until the 11th November 1942, when Italian troops invaded Corsica: 85’000 Italian soldiers! The period of Italian-occupied Corsica, as well as the development of the Resistance, has begun… These 85’000 Italians will be joined a little later, in June 1943, by 15’000 soldiers of the German troops, i.e. a total army of 100’000 men for a population of “only” 215’000 inhabitants. So almost one occupier for every two inhabitants took position all over Corsica and requisitioned the houses…

So, from the 11th November 1942 on, the Resistance took shape and organized itself. And from North Africa, where the Allies had already gained a foothold, arms, ammunition and radio sets arrived clandestinely. These deliveries were made by submarines and their missions from mid-December 1942, and by parachuting from the spring of 1943.

Two missions left Algiers for Corsica in December 1942 and January 1943. They acted without consultation. One of them, “Sea Urchin”, was prepared in London under the control of General de Gaulle (few guys disembarked from the British submarine Tribune during the night of 6 to 7 January), later followed by the “Frederick” mission (few guys disembarked from the British submarine Saracen during the night of 10 to 11 February). The other, “Pearl Harbor”, was the emissary of the services of General Giraud installed in Algiers (few guys disembarked from the French submarine Casabianca during the nights of 5 to 7 February).

Then as famous anecdotes, there was too:
The 10th March, after an unsuccessful attempt at Canelle, the submarine Casabianca went further south, to the cove of Favone, and succeeded in its mission of recovering two members of the Pearl Harbor mission and five crew members of the submarine who had remained involuntarily (!) in Corsica during previous landings on the west coast of the island.

Please take as good note that the Free French submarine Casabianca has even been called the elusive "Phantom Submarine"! (This is enough nice to be mentioned, to appear somewhere within this scenario…)

In the summer of 1943, the Casinca Resistance (yeah, they needed names!) had set up its HQ, where they installed the printing equipment which they had taken from the Italian Consulate in Bastia… there, more than 50’000 leaflets and "Le patriote", the National Front newspaper as well as "Terre corse", the Communist Party newspaper, will be printed... Yeah, here as well there was many Communists!

Here is already a map of Corsica showing the different locations where the submarine Casabianca was acting (1942-1943): http://www.itineraires-liberation-corse ... li/1170%20

This is, of course, just a glimpse of the whole... But there is no real point in developing it all. Let’s focus on what may be useful to create scenarios, shall we?

But still, like this there should already be enough matter to make nice and relevant scenario briefings and descriptions…
*******
When Italy's capitulation was announced, the National Front of the Insular Resistance issued an insurrection order on 9th September 9. Ajaccio was liberated the same day (with some fighting against the Germans, and Italian support for the resistance fighters). Ajaccio thus became the bridgehead where the troops, almost exclusively French, from Algiers, landed from 13 September.
Maps of the action (with arrows!):
https://www.secondeguerre.net/articles/ ... corse.html (with airfields too!)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr
***
Known forces:
French forces:
-> Local partisans (from various groups): almost 12’000 men
-> “1er bataillon de choc” (elite paratroopers, who had partly travelled on… the famous submarine Casabianca!)
-> An important part of the “4e Division marocaine de montagne” (4e DMM), commanded by gen. Louchet, i.e. the “1er Régiment de tirailleurs marocains”, the two first squadrons of the “4e Régiment de spahis marocains” (almost like a recon unit, but on light tanks – the Stuart?), the third group (or a squadron) of the “69e Régiment d’artillerie de montagne”.
-> “2e Groupe de tabors marocains” (2e GTM), around 3’000 men, called « les goumiers » (who were in principle Berbers; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr)… light infantry, composed by 3 battalions, the “1er Tabor”, the “6e Tabor” and the “15e Tabor”… (by the way, this 2e GTM was one of the six most decorated French infantry units of the Second World War!)
-> Naval forces: cruiser Jeanne d’Arc, destroyers Le Fantasque, Le Terrible, Alcyon, Fortune et Tempête, submarine Casabianca… The cruiser Montcalm appeared sometimes to help -> so may be spawned at some point !

Italian forces on French side:
-> A part of the occupational garrison, namely the divisions Friuli and Cremona… These two units have been put, by the Italian HQ, directly under the command of the French general Louchet (4e DMM)!
20th Infantry Division “Friuli” (gen. Lorenzis): 87th Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Regiment, 35th Artillery Regiment (with an AA group, 20 mm, and with 100/17, 75/27, 2x 75/18 field cannons groups), 88th Blackshirt Legion (!), 20th Engineer Battalion and 20th AT Company (47/32 AT-guns), for the main relevant units…
44th Infantry Division “Cremona” (gen. Pedrotti), composed mainly by the 21st Infantry Regiment, the 22nd Infantry Regiment, the 90th Calabria Blackshirt Legion (!), 7th Artillery Regiment (with an AA group, 20 mm, and with 100/17, 2x 75/27 field cannons groups), 144th AT Company (47/32 guns), 13th Armored battalion (with motorized MG company)…
-> Destroyer Aliseo + gunboat Cormorano (both having sunk at least seven German ships in the Bastia’s harbor on the 9th September 1943 – small battle of Pietracorbara!)

US special forces:
It seems that around 400 of them were involved in Corsica too, towards the end of the action...

German forces:
“90e Panzergrenadier Division”, including as “Panzergrenadier Regiment” (motorized) the 200th and the 361st and maybe still the 155th*, plus the “190th Panzer Battalion”, the “190th Artillery Regiment”, the “242nd Sturmgeschütz Battalion” and the “1st/190th AT Company” (with tank-destroyers!)
*If they had already no longer the 155th Panzergrenadier Regiment, then they should have had instead the recon group “Panzer Aufklärungs Abteilung 190”…
SS Sturmbrigade “Reichsführer SS” (which contained at least a motorized battalion – but could have already been upgraded to a real division – with another name, I’m not sure… ‘should be checked!) -> this brigade (or more!) oversaw the defense of the Teghime Pass, over Bastia, a Pass they begin to lose the 2nd October 1943…

Italian forces staying on German side:
An unit of paratroopers…
***
The Germans have retaken Bastia; the Resistance strongly held the central mountains to prevent the Germans to use them to send troops from the East to the West or the opposite… the Germans received troops from Sardinia but were in a process of evacuation!
The “4e division marocaine de montagne”, disembarked in Ajaccio from Algiers, must intercept these evacuating German troops, covered by the RAF and the USAAF for air support, whereas the Germans must reach the Northern Italy to help putting there a stand…
=> This will make a great and somewhat unusual scenario: Germans evacuating an island, trying to delay the Allies, while Italians helping Frenchies full on pursuit...

I suggest starting this scenario on September 29, 1943, when the Allies have already disembarked and conquered a good part of the island... including Porto-Vecchio in the southeast. So duration: September 29 - October 4! (This seems a reasonable and won't impose too many "crossroads").
The Germans are evacuating from Bastia and other ports on the east coast, blowing up bridges to slow the Allies down...
The San Stefano pass must be taken, then the Teghime pass (historically this was done on September 30 and October 3 respectively), then the final push to seize Bastia!

With as objectives, of course, the capture of several places on the map, perhaps even with deadlines, but also (why not? ) the sinking of several German ships fleeing to the east and/or northeast... For this, there is at least a famous Free French cruiser and a famous Free French submarine (the Casabianca, nicknamed the elusive "Phantom Submarine" – this should be mentioned), as well as, if needed, an overwhelming air superiority and few of the other mentioned ships...

Finally, within the texts for "Major Victory", “Minor Victory”, etc. the following facts could/should be mentioned to respect the History and add even more flavor to the campaign:
1. Corsica is the first part of France (as such, therefore without considering the colonies here) to have been liberated from the Occupation.
2. It has been liberated a year earlier than Eisenhower's plan and even without the help of the six divisions provided for that purpose.
3. The island, nicknamed "USS Corsica", serves from now on as a very useful and welcomed air base for Allied operations in Northern Italy and in Provence (Southern France).

Two big pictures, just in case:
https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr ... 81695.html
https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr ... 38064.html

[ColonelY]

Okay, I'll try as well to find (back) some relevant info when the time comes.


But precisely, about the last scenarios you've made, there could be one event added (exactly poping-up the 10th March 1943 - during a scenario or as campaign event?) and possibly another German unit added... (How? See the end of this post...)

Damn, I've really written a lot, on overall!

[...]
• Brigade légère motorisée of general Leclerc (the L Force!) -> it has joined the British 8th Army in Libya
Mainly with old French material from the 1940’s campaign… Despite this, they’ve held strongly the Grande Dorsale (Tunisian mountain range) at the beginning of the campaign! The Germans facing them had as tanks: Tiger I, Panzer III & Panzer IV!

[...]
• Ksar Rhilane (in the south of Tunisia, Leclerc force, on the side of the British 8th Army… his motorized brigade try to hold this position versus the recon group Luck and a company of the 15th Panzerdivision… the British propose him to abandon this position but he refuses and asks for a air support! This was granted. Several times the enemies rush forward against the L Force… Monty thought Leclerc was dead when he received a message from him announcing the victory!)
[...]

So, about what has already been done, and now toegther with these info :

Possibility to add a Tiger tank unit in MarethLine scenario? If yes, then PzKw VI Tiger H would be the best suited (according to dates)...

Possibility to add some event (either campaign event or historical event if happening during one scenario, either the 09Medenine or the 10MarethLine or perhaps even the 08Fezzan) talking about it... Complementary info (source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Ksar_Ghilane - which hasn't even its equivalent in English ), saying that
"The battle of Ksar Ghilane is an episode of the Second World War in North Africa and is part of the Tunisian campaign. It takes place on March 10, 1943.

Attacked by German armoured tanks and self-propelled guns belonging to the 15th and 21st Panzerdivisions, supported by stukas, the Free French of the Leclerc column won a defensive victory and prevented their opponents from discovering the concentration of New Zealand troops preparing to attack the Mareth Line.

A column today commemorates this battle at Ksar Ghilane, with the inscription: "Here, from 23 February to 10 March 1943, General Leclerc and Force L, from Chad, victoriously supported the assault of the enemy forces, inflicting severe losses on them.""

Picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr

About the possible single enemy Tiger unit in the scenario 10MarethLine:

'Could be spawned already depleted (to avoid unbalancing all even if putting some warbeast there!) when the first town is taken: El Hamma or Gabès!
Spawned several hex in the North of these locations, and aggressively moving South following basically some road or put on S&D...
Spawned perhaps at 5 or rather 6 strenght points... 'Coming together with an event as soon as it becomes visible for the player...
'It's a strong unit, so to avoid the AI replenishing it directly, better spawning it when the time comes instead of re-deploying it from start!
'Not to be put near the Mareth Line itself to avoid partly unbalancing this part of the scenario...
The French have had their big B1... what about bringing a depleted dreaded Tiger? As it seems that it could definitely have been there anyway, so...

[ColonelY]

And, as relevant elements (timewise), you've two pictures of the famous Les Rochambelles here: viewtopic.php?f=374&t=97262&p=860897&hi ... rc#p860897

Perhaps the picture with De Gaulle can be added as well? (I find this one pretty nice.) You're already written the text of these events and used several pictures... one more shouldn't be much of a bother anyway, should it?

[ColonelY]

Yes, I do go back through this thread Yeah, I know — not page by page, mind you No worries at all! — searching for the topic immediately at hand. [...]

[ColonelY]

About Corsica, a picture when the Italians take possession of the island: http://web.ac-corse.fr/clg_cervione/La- ... e_a47.html

(The one in the middle, of course.)

[jeffoot77]

just some feelings for mission 02 ( gabon) :

+ (positives points) : various units, well balanced difficulty, enough turns for minor victory, some very good ideas (like riots or this damned hidden submarine!) , many strategies are possible (like making encirclement of the groups of enemy tanks ), the recon plane is very useful , the history of the atack is very well told with pictures and texts .. well done !

- (negatives points) : the deploy emplacement are weird : not a lot possibilities for ships and i have chosen the bottom locations for planes because , at the top , the locations are too far away. you try to encourage the player to divide his forces and it is obvious that it is a mistake to deploy planes in north ( i haven't tested it)
In the last turns, some difficulties to take far villages (because the units defending them are healing each turn) but not really a problem with the big numbers of turns.
I just couldn't take the mine because I only sent 3 units including a tank. Maybe you should warn the player that the mine is well guarded! or maybe the mine should be placed in the north west of the map and not so far...

Many thanks for this campaign; it was a lot of fun for me !