Moderators: The Artistocrats, Order of Battle Moderators
This Operation must probably be mentioned somewhere: Operation Strangle! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation ... ld_War_II) )
Yes, I will deal with Operation Strangle and the destruction of Cassino by air bombardment with popup event messages.ColonelY wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:07 pm About Operation Diadem scenario:
More info here (it's rather complete - but fortunately there is a summary at the beginning) : https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/p ... 6/R851.pdf
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From here one could certainly use few pictures for good and immersive events:
https://expressdigest.com/images-show-t ... e-cassino/
Indeed, it's worth being mentioned: "American bombers destroyed the famous abbey of Mt Cassino on February 15. The Allied commander was convinced that the ancient monastery was a German observation post. Ironically, German troops occupied the ruins after the air raid."
Then, these ruins even helped the German to put quite a strong stand there up... 
bru888 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:14 pmMascarenhas wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:31 pm Is not this a perfect setting for the Brazilian Expeditionary Force show up?Good suggestion, Masca, but I am afraid that they arrive too late, as the Colonel says (Wikipedia has them coming to Italy even later, in September 1944).ColonelY wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:04 pm I had never heard of this Brazilian Expeditionary Force - thank you for introducing me to this aspect.
Represent this force? Well, I would say not in this scenario because they start arriving in Italy in July 1944 while this battle takes place in May 1944... (Besides we've already plenty of various nations involved.)
These Brazilians were involved at the Gothic Line, so later in the Italian campaign and more northwards...
Plus, their flag wouldn't make the "squint factor" (that imaginary line, not to be crossed, where squinting one's eyes and pretending overcomes something unrealistic). There simply is no flag in the game that comes close to the Brazilian flag:
Flag_of_Brazil.jpg
Too bad, though. I would LOVE to find a spot for the Brazilian Expeditionary Force insignia! (I wonder what's in that pipe he's smoking.)
Brazilian_Expeditionary_Forces_insignia_(smoking_snake).svg.png
We can complete this with some chosen passages from the English "equivalent" Webpage:ColonelY wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:36 pm Some selected passages translated from https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Monte_Cassino
About the first battle and the contribution of the French forces (that should interest us for this campaign!):
For its part, although the CEF [= Corps Expéditionnaire Français] was unable to seize Mount Santa Croce and Carella due to a lack of reserves, it did achieve numerous successes on particularly difficult, steep terrain: the capture of La Selva, Costa San Pietro (1,450 meters above sea level), Acquafondata and Monna Casale (whose twin peaks rise to 1,220 and 1,225 meters) often constituted as many sporting and military feats. In two months, the 2nd DIM and then the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (3rd DIA), supported by two groups of Moroccan Tabors (GTM), achieved significant results: an advance of more than 15 kilometers in some places in mountainous country, the capture of 1,200 prisoners, and the disabling of an entire German division. During the January 1944 offensive, the North African riflemen were the only ones to seriously threaten the Gustav Line, even succeeding in breaking it at Belvedere during the incredible assault of the 4th Tunisian Rifle Regiment (4th RTT). Later, in his memoirs, General de Gaulle wrote that during this battle, "the 4th Tunisian Rifle Regiment accomplished one of the most brilliant feats of arms of the war at the cost of enormous losses. " But these operations on the northeastern flank of Cassino were not the priority of the Anglo-American staff, which persisted in wanting to break the lock of Mount Cassino with a frontal attack.
[...]
This French breakthrough could have been exploited for good, but the reinforcements that the French requested were refused... 
ColonelY wrote: ↑Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:59 am [...] “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…
[...] 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)
[...]
If it has to be mentioned (and I would say yes of course), then it will be now... in this scenario, or at the latest right after in campaign event... 
Excellent! Above all: the aerial bombardment was also completed by artillery work, there were civilians inside... and the Nazi propaganda exploited the case (that was predictable). 
Of course, but not all divisions had always exactly the same number of regiments, battalions, etc. (so, if necessary, a few more units in the German divisions should not be too shocking). Moreover, a strong (German) heavy infantry unit well entrenched here and there on the battlefield... that's also something! Yes, it's up there now. I sneaked all that stuff into version 0.32. Well, let's say all the stuff that I am going to include.ColonelY wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:47 pm Do you plan an update of the campaign before Operation Diadem is ready?
There is Dakar (a slight adaptation of one objective descr + perhaps dealing with railway bridges) and few news related to Corsica... I would like to test the last version of the scenario on Corsica.
As always, I will try to follow the actual orders of battle as much as I can. This is a moderately-sized map, so I think battalion-level will be appropriate for Operation Diadem.ColonelY wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:58 pm
Mascarenhas wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:34 am I am well aware that it was a tiny contribution but, alas, Brazil is the only Latin American country who sent forces to fight nazi-fascism in Europe. So there´s also some Brazilian blood she for this feat.
