Free France Campaign

[Mascarenhas]

Uh, oh, I see my comments came a bit late. Try it again tomorrow. Regards.

[ColonelY]

[...]Free French air presence in Italy? Yes, there was some... at least the "Bretagne" group. The "Groupe (de bombardement) Bretagne" has supported the Italian campaign while being based in Sardinia... (but it could perhaps just as easily have come from our new USS Corsica). ( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupe_de ... t_Bretagne )

Very good. We will see them in Operation Diadem. Thanks, by the way, for your kind words earlier. After a long day of editing, they (and those from Jeff and Masca) are most welcome and are what keep me going.

So, indeed, the "Escadron Bretagne" (of bombers) that we've seen in the Fezzan campaign may show up again in 13OperationDiadem. But flying with which model of bomber?

Then I said to myself: And what about French dogfighters, then?

So here it comes A study about Free French dogfighters in the skies of Italy and Corsica…

First, let’s introduce some historical aspects, shall we?

The future Escadron Provence, perhaps still called Escadron Dijon (but I doubt it a little)…

“The EC 1/7 Provence originated as Groupe de Chasse 1/7 GC 1/7 (Hunter Group) Dijon in 1932. […] In January 1939 the fighter group 1/7 relocated to Tunisia, and subsequently moved to Egypt after the 1940 armistice. It was disbanded in October 1942 after having fought with the Vichy army in Syria. […]
GC 1/7 was recreated in September 1943 using Spitfire MK VB and participated in the North Africa campaign, the campaign to liberate Corsica and the Provence landings, thus giving it the name Provence. At the end of World War II, the unit was awarded the "Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)" and from December 1945 to January 1946, the fighter group received a consignment of captured Japanese Nakajima ki-43 "Hayabusa" fighter planes.”
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escadron_ ... 7_Provence & completed with extracts translated from its French equivalent webpage)
*******
The Escadron Corse…
“[…] In January 1940, the group was stationed at Cannes to be converted to Dewoitine 520 in preparation for the French Campaign. During the six weeks of the French Campaign, the group won 52 victories. On June 18th, the unit left France to take refuge in Tunisia, then settled down in August, in a stable way, in Oran, until November 30th, 1941, date of the dissolution of the group.

The GC I/3 was reborn on 1 January 1943 and actively participated in the Italian campaign. In the autumn of 1944, the group was engaged in the Rhone valley, reached Lyon, Dijon, Luxeuil, Strasbourg and then Germany. At the time of the capitulation, the 1/3 had won 108 victories and received 190 commendations. It was given the name of Corsica because of the important part it played in the liberation of the island of Beauty [a nickname for Corsica! ] and acquired the right to wear the fourragère of the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945. […]”
(translated from here https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escadron_ ... 3/11_Corse as only available in French)
*******
The Escadron La Fayette...
“Following the Armistice of 22 June 1940, the pilots and their aircraft were sent across the Mediterranean to French Algeria, under the control of Vichy France. On 9 November 1942, during Operation Torch, the Anglo-American landings in North Africa, these pilots flew against the landings. After the Army of Africa joined Free France, the group was reequipped with American Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters on 25 November. Retaining the Lafayette designation, GC II/5, under the command of Constantin Rozanoff, flew missions against Axis troops in Tunisia in 1942 and 1943. […] Integrated into the new 4th Fighter Wing and equipped with P-47, it took part in the 1944 French Campaign and in the 1945 German Campaign.”
( from here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escadron_ ... La_Fayette and completed with translated parts of its French equivalent)
**************
Then, about our scenarios…

Well, we know that the Free French have fought well and have been equipped in order to carry on their duties… at some point, they have been equipped by Americans (P-40, later P-47) but still by English as well (hence the Spitfire).

The “Escadron La Fayette” could perhaps be useful later in the campaign, but let’s focus a little more on the History of the two first squadrons… Both of these have been involved during the liberation of Corsica, but under different names (why making things easy? )…

Well, the Corsican scenario starts the 9th September 1943… at that time (or just a little later), one of these Free French units were flying on (British) Spitfire Mk. V B… and perhaps the second one was still flying on Dewoitine 520 or perhaps on “regular” (US) P-40 Warhawk (both of these two later models have the same stats in OoB)…

Anyway, they can’t be called “Corse” or “Provence” yet!

We could consider this - Drum roll, please, here is the plan:

Adding some Free French flying various models of planes (taking into account their XP gained throughout this campaign) together with some new secondary objective of dealing enough damages to enemy air forces… As reward? The contribution of a Free French squadron named “Escadron Corse” in the next “13OperationDiadem” scenario! (Relatively small squadron, so that it may be of good help but not unbalance all if not present as having been failed in 12OperationVesuvius.)

In 12OperationVesuvius, perhaps they could appear under a somehow generic French name like “Escadron de Chasse” or something… to depict the different origins of the equipment and since we are sticking more to generalities rather than to a specific squadron, we could also involve several different types of planes...
(Then the slightly less detailed naming of units on this particular scenario won't complicate the decision about this point. )

For example, here’s what could be pictured:
1. Remove one US P47 and replace it by 3 units of Free French: one Spitfire Mk. V B (more or less equivalent in terms of stats) and two older units being one regular P40 Warhawk and one Dewoitine D.520.
These two older planes are of course weaker, but have both exactly the very same stats…
But then one would have to balance the first encounter, by having two extra dogfighters as well on the German side, but two old ones… The Bf 109 E and Bf 109 F have the same attack vs small that a P40 or a D520 but a slightly better defense.
2. Add one extra Bf 109 E and one extra Bf 109 F to compensate!


3. Later, in the very next scenario, the “Escadron Corse” could be flying either the same Spitfire or some P47C or, even better I think, both models (I don’t know which one it was, but both are plausible as having been used by Free French – anyway, some variation in the units present on the field, or the sky, is always nice)… like 2 units of each?
More info for a cool event text about it (for the Operation Diadem scenario - some elements are already known, few are new…):
Perhaps with this picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... uselang=fr
“On August 27th 1939, composed of SPA 69 (Cat's head) and SPA 88 (Snake - these are kept on the insigna later!), the I/3 group is stationed at Velaine-en-Haye (Lorraine). In January 1940, it is transformed on Dewoitine 520. During the French Campaign, while the Luftwaffe was bombing French air bases, the group was credited with 52 victories.

On June 18th, the airmen left France for Tunisia, and then moved to Oran, Algeria. At the beginning of August, the group took part in surveillance missions along the North African coast and in the protection of Allied convoys. From April 1944, the pilots fought in the skies over Corsica, and later in Italy, for its liberation. The unit then flew up the Rhone valley, to land in Germany. At the time of the German surrender, on May 8, 1945, the 1/3 proudly displayed 108 victories and received 190 commendations! Afterwards, it was given the name "Corsica" because of its active participation in the liberation of the island of beauty.”
(Complementary research done; source: http://defens-aero.com/2014/01/70-ans-p ... corse.html )
EDIT: This unit wasn't of course immediately called "Corse" just after the conquest of the island, but for the sake of immersion why not taking a slight liberty here as well about adapting this in a way which is anyway very plausible?
*******

In the heat of Vesuvius
[…] But why in the heaven USAF and FF would carry so few supplies on an invasion like this? I´d suggest you add 12 cp/round for them. […]

An adaptation in RPs will be required with this new module... together, why not, with a slight increase of these two income.
*******
By the way, “the island of Beauty” as a nickname for Corsica is sweet enough to be discretely added once somewhere in the texts, isn’t it? Yeah, perhaps once if the “Escadron Corse” is spawned in the next scenario thanks to achievements in the Corsican scenario… but perhaps once as well within this one.


Et voilà !

[bru888]

In the heat of Vesuvius

I could n´t let it off since the beginning. What a design, what a depth, tremendous creativity, particularly in the switching areas system for naval units. I loved it, and is a crucial feature, in order to achieve all the objectives. Lots and lots of fun and a nice challenge. In my view, resources are unbalanced for American air and overall French. Ok, I understand that the Italians should be under-supplied, given their situation. But why in the heaven USAF and FF would carry so few supplies on an invasion like this? I´d suggest you add 12 cp/round for them.

Besides, the glitch with the coastal guns, already mentioned, I noticed that a pack of Schnellboots in the south-west, near Bonifacio, is idle. Is their fate playing dead chicken?

Thanks a lot for another masterpiece, and congratulations.

Uh, oh, I see my comments came a bit late. Try it again tomorrow. Regards.

Not at all! Yes, we worked around that anomaly with the coastal gun, and the error with the southern Schnellboote was found.

But you picked up on one major regression that happened during yesterday's tumult, and you reminded me of a minor adjustment that I told myself to remember, then forgot.

MAJOR: When rearranging triggers yesterday, I somehow managed to lose the Change Income effect for the French army. As with all of the spawns (except the navy; I usually don't provide for income for ships), there is supposed to be a Change Income effect of +30 and that was missing in version 0.31. It's in version 0.32. THANKS.

Minor: You reminded me that I wanted to move the +5 supply from where that recalcitrant coastal gun at Calvi was located to where it was moved on an island near Bonifacio:

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That extra gun may make things a bit more difficult for the player, especially when hunting Axis auxiliary ships. Thanks.

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[bru888]

Aaaaaannnnnddddd...

Heh. Now, you see how someone's contribution can mushroom? As I was posting above, I noticed this error:

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Various German warships that I had added on the east coast of Corsica were done so under the Germany faction flag instead of Kriegsmarine. Quality control!

Fixed. Thanks again, Masca.

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.32 has been uploaded. It includes all of the edits made to Operation Vesuvius as discussed above.

Free France 1940-1945 (twelve scenarios)

[Mascarenhas]

I was about to try v.31. Thank God I didn´t.

[bru888]

I was about to try v.31. Thank God I didn´t.

Thank God and Bru. Definitely in that order.

[bru888]

That is good information about the Free French squadrons, Colonel. I will be using it. First though, a bit of French grammar. What is the difference between "escadron" and "escadrille"?

[ColonelY]

That is good information about the Free French squadrons, Colonel. I will be using it. First though, a bit of French grammar. What is the difference between "escadron" and "escadrille"?

Awesome!


The difference between "escadron" and "escadrille"?

Well, in the air force, the French term "escadron" is used to translate the English word squadron. Indeed, the "escadron" is the basic operational unit of the French Air Force, in which the term "escadron" replaced the term "groupe" [= group, obviously ] from 1949 onwards in order to standardize with NATO allies who used "squadrons".

Now, an “escadron” generally groups two or three “escadrilles”.
The “escadrille” has a dual administrative and operational function, although most of the operational management is done at the “escadron” level.
A pilot is assigned to an “escadrille”, but the aircrafts are generally assigned to the “escadron”.

Yeah, that may be a little confusing… Better use simply the term escadron/squadron everywhere, I think, that shall do the trick!

[ColonelY]

[...]
Adding some Free French flying various models of planes (taking into account their XP gained throughout this campaign) together with some new secondary objective of dealing enough damages to enemy air forces… As reward? The contribution of a Free French squadron named “Escadron Corse” in the next “13OperationDiadem” scenario! (Relatively small squadron, so that it may be of good help but not unbalance all if not present as having been failed in 12OperationVesuvius.)

In 12OperationVesuvius, perhaps they could appear under a somehow generic French name like “Escadron de Chasse” or something… to depict the different origins of the equipment and since we are sticking more to generalities rather than to a specific squadron, we could also involve several different types of planes...
[...]

Or, alternatively, instead of having to deal enough damages in terms of strenght points to enemy air forces (that has already been seen within this campaign), it can perhaps count the amount of enemy air units killed (the French having to do the kill in order to make it count)...

Perhaps this sec obj could then even be divided into two parts - one related to enemy dogfighters, one to enemy bombers. But both needed to be completed to see some "Escadron Corse" showing up during the next scenario.

[bru888]

Congratulations and thanks go to ColonelY for figuring out and informing me (by PM) of a way to have the Free French submarine Casabianca appear when dropping off additional OSS Operational Groups AND (a big "and" for this was what was not working for me) getting it to disappear again the following turn. Well done, Colonel.

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Poof! It disappears like the ghost submarine that it is. (It reappears for battle later on. Also, the "Undeploy Ship" hex has nothing to do with it; this is for the player to move his ships around the island.)

[ColonelY]

[bru888]

The difference between "escadron" and "escadrille"?

Well, in the air force, the French term "escadron" is used to translate the English word squadron. Indeed, the "escadron" is the basic operational unit of the French Air Force, in which the term "escadron" replaced the term "groupe" [= group, obviously ] from 1949 onwards in order to standardize with NATO allies who used "squadrons".

Now, an “escadron” generally groups two or three “escadrilles”.
The “escadrille” has a dual administrative and operational function, although most of the operational management is done at the “escadron” level.
A pilot is assigned to an “escadrille”, but the aircrafts are generally assigned to the “escadron”.

Yeah, that may be a little confusing… Better use simply the term escadron/squadron everywhere, I think, that shall do the trick!

Good thought, that last one. You know that I like to use French and local languages here and there but it's better when the words that I choose bear some resemblance to English (or are well-known phrases from other languages) which many of us know. In this case, "escadron" is similar to "squadron" so I will use that word. I used "escadrille" once in Normandie-Niemen but I will change that to "escadron" for a future update.

[terminator]

Dakar version 0.28 ?

Railroad Yard = Open Terrain impossible to take a ticket to ride

It is very difficult to move in this forest, I was looking in faster moving means...

[Mascarenhas]

Good point Terminator, I second your suggestion, having noticed when I played, but forgot to mention.

[bru888]

You are not meant to take a train ride into Dakar. You could do so, I suppose, by boarding in Rufisque, but come on. "Righto, chaps. Everybody got their ticket? All aboard, now. Next stop, Dakar! (If the Vichy don't blow up our train, that is.)"

If anything, the Railroad Yard prevents such nonsense until at least it is cleared. Then you have to go back to Rufisque if you want to take a train. Until the next roadblock; I may put more in now that you have pointed this out.

Everybody and his brother has WHEELS to help cover the distance. When you play these scenarios, do you want to play them historically and realistically, or are you looking for a way to game them?

[terminator]

You are not meant to take a train ride into Dakar. You could do so, I suppose, by boarding in Rufisque, but come on. "Righto, chaps. Everybody got their ticket? All aboard, now. Next stop, Dakar! (If the Vichy don't blow up our train, that is.)"

If anything, the Railroad Yard prevents such nonsense until at least it is cleared. Then you have to go back to Rufisque if you want to take a train. Until the next roadblock; I may put more in now that you have pointed this out.

Everybody and his brother has WHEELS to help cover the distance. When you play these scenarios, do you want to play them historically and realistically, or are you looking for a way to game them?

There is one last means of transport that I have tested, it is at least as fast as the road in the forest(in haste, I forgot the Supply ships ):

[ColonelY]

To enrich the scenario on Corsica even more, here are some ideas:

*******
First the raw material:

1. There one can find, I think, 2 pictures that could be worth adding – once put in black and white or in shades of gray to make them look “older” : https://www.carigami.fr/magazine/un-ava ... corse.html
The first one (the 10th medium picture, the citadel of Corte) under the French title (in this webpage) of “Corte, la capitale secrète de la Corse”
Once translated, the text that may be of interest for us is this one:
“Corte, the secret capital of Corsica
Right in the center of Corsica, in the mountains, at equal distance from Ajaccio and Bastia, Corte is in many ways the sentinel of the Corsican soul, its historical and cultural capital. Built in the hollow of a beautiful natural amphitheater, it surprises with its narrow citadel perched on its rocky peak.”

Then (the 17th one if I’m not mistaken) under the French title of “Un coucher de soleil aux îles Sanguinaires”
Again as:
“A sunset in the Sanguinaires islands
The name is scary. Not far from Ajaccio, four islets that coast not far from the coast... The lighthouse facing the Mediterranean is one of the most famous and most popular postcards of Corsica. The sunsets are of course of great beauty...”

2. Always looking for heroines to highlight?
Here is a nice anonymous one, either via this entire image or just the right side. The text below:
“Attacked by three Germans, this young 16-year-old courier put them to flight with her machine gun and accomplished her mission.”
https://www.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=htt ... egUIARDJAQ

2bis. You’ve another one here: https://www.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=htt ... egUIARCbAQ

3. Another beautiful photo of Corsican resistance fighters in the maquis:
https://www.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=htt ... egUIARCZAQ
*******
Then some idea about building-up:

1. Together with the spawning of the Free French troops about to land, adding an event mentioning these “Sanguinaires islands”…
The focus is now near Ajaccio, that’s where these tiny islands are (and we’ve several rocks as decoration in these waters already – excellent!), and the “Sanguinaires” somehow announces the color - it will heat up!
(It's not as good as the monasteries in Eritrea or the Krak des Chevalier in Syria, but it's a bit in the same vein I think. Anyway, it may enhance immersion while being a cool addition, so…)

2. About later, when partisans do block key roadblocks… Perhaps once our first land troops get “relatively” closer to the central location of Corte, several hexes away, so more than the actual 1 set up for this location, that is, one could imagine this :
-> Spawn two units of “Corsican Partisans” both one hex away from Corte itself… That should trigger the exiting of the AI-controlled Partisan unit.
-> Pop-up the event related to this location, to “the sentinel of the Corsican soul”, to “its narrow citadel perched on its rocky peak”…
-> This can be completed by one or another picture related to women in the Corsican resistance… and/or with the pictures of the guys in their maquis (of course with a short but cool and immersive text!)
-> Spawn an unit of German Zündapp Motorcycle few hexes in the North, that’ll move down as if scouting Corte… (being on S&D or something)
I think there is a little lack of action near this sector right now. I’ve found track of Italian Bersaglieri units on moto (!) having fought in the Allies side… but these guys weren’t that many and the Italians (in the North) are already strong enough in this scenario… still, there was some motorcycles here and there… And what about having a few Partisans under control until the end? They can still be of some use, make some recon actions, etc.
*******
Finally, two other little ideas (independent of the raw material presented above):

1. About the German auxiliary vessels… why are they all aligned straight towards the West? They are not necessarily an organized group as the convoy trying to pass through near the Mareth Line… One could perhaps consider rotating several of them, to give a more “natural” feeling, but not too much either to avoid some “chaotical” look.
Some may be heading for Bastia, some moving around, or preparing to leave the ports in the South-East, etc.

2. At some point, one German recon plane patrolling above the center of the island and above the eastern coast? It could be some Dornier or Blohm&Voss which could intrigue (more) the player because they are less recognizable than a Storch or than an Arado as a "simple" reconnaissance unit!
Besides, I have the hope that this eye in the sky will offer a chance to the Germans moving towards Bastia in the North by following the road all in the East of the island to fire some shots with their artillery towards the interior of the land, on the way...


Et voilà !

(And, in principle, I think I've now suggested all I could about this scenario.)

[terminator]

Dakar v0.28-30

There is a problem with this Primary Objective. By raising the Union Jack and not the banner of La Croix de Lorraine, it also counts for the Primary Objective

[ColonelY]

You are not meant to take a train ride into Dakar. You could do so, I suppose, by boarding in Rufisque, but come on. "Righto, chaps. Everybody got their ticket? All aboard, now. Next stop, Dakar! (If the Vichy don't blow up our train, that is.)"

If anything, the Railroad Yard prevents such nonsense until at least it is cleared. Then you have to go back to Rufisque if you want to take a train. Until the next roadblock; I may put more in now that you have pointed this out.

Everybody and his brother has WHEELS to help cover the distance. When you play these scenarios, do you want to play them historically and realistically, or are you looking for a way to game them?

Well, instead of adding more roadblocks at the risk of unbalancing the scenario (the timer keeps running), we may have another way to neutralize the railway... and, I would argue, in a way that might even enhance the immersion: Let's blow up some bridges!

Look:
There is one NW of the Railroad Yard...
There is another W of Tiaroye (village)...

The first one can be blown up as soon as the sec obj "Destroy the stalled troop train" is achieved!
So simply complete your "Destroy troop trigger train" by first blowing this bridge, ovbiously , AND second adding another short and cool event saying few words about the Vichy's French doing their best to delay us on the road or, rather, rails to Dakar. (To enhance more immersion, make it explicit!)

The second one can be blown up (no event poping-up required this time, I would say) as soon as the "Tiaroye Station" has been captured!

The two times, one could wait until our troops are closing in near these bridges, but then I think it would be a little unfair, because the player may already have put some troops on train and, well, as some of them may be a little tricky to disembark...

The (very) good point about this is that these two bridges are "only" railway bridges, i.e. blowing them won't delay our land troops still able to use the regular bridges...

And, well, if the player really wants to, I think that the Engineers will be able to repair these railway bridges, but it will require some time and organization... So, more complicated but doable if the player really wants to... So, from that point of view, I think it would also be better.