Slitherine

Free France 1940-1945 v0.68 has been uploaded. It includes the new Amherst Drop scenario.

Free France 1940-1945 (22 of 24 scenarios)


Information about the SAS and its French battalions:


Later on, the Belgian battalion of the SAS arrives, along with a wandering Pole unit:


The Canadians finally show up when it's all over, with a victory for the player, of course:

bru888 wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:25 pm But no, these are human-controlled units and there is no slowdown in the game or degradation of video quality.

Glad to hear that because I experienced massive increase in loading times for the later US pacific official campaign missions. And on the final scenario I even had that huge bombed out Tokyo causing significant and noticeable framerate drops.

Then again, my gpu is very old and there's no way I can replace it with these out of control prices.

Epperaliant wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:40 am

bru888 wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 3:25 pm But no, these are human-controlled units and there is no slowdown in the game or degradation of video quality.

Glad to hear that because I experienced massive increase in loading times for the later US pacific official campaign missions. And on the final scenario I even had that huge bombed out Tokyo causing significant and noticeable framerate drops.

Then again, my gpu is very old and there's no way I can replace it with these out of control prices.

Well, there are other factors that I should have mentioned. I was concentrating on "Thinking ..." time that is lengthened by having too many units in one AI team with a task like "Seek & Destroy."

The size of the map is a big factor in terms of loading sluggishness and perhaps framerate drops. That Tokyo scenario map looks to be 80 x 65 hexes, which is rather large. The designer used a lot of decorations (trees, houses, etc.) which factors in. And there are well over 100 enemy units on the map.

I try to keep my map size down to 60 hexes on a side maximum (exception: Indochina, which is 80 x 40) but my enemy unit count has been creeping up to about 100 in some scenarios.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, your old GPU may not fare too well with some scenarios in this campaign.

I just hope it will be an acceptable loading time.
With Tokyo I really approached the maximum I could tolerate.

I do have a preference for smaller scenarios with less stuff to manage but I understand the appeal of these gargantuan scenarios to some people.

On a plus side, it really forces you to avoid save-scumming and use proper recon because I'd rather lose some requisition than waiting 5 minutes

You will be pleased to know, perhaps, that my next project, Battle of Authion, will take place on a tidy and thrifty map of 40 x 30 hexes. I found a nifty map of the Authion Massif to use as a template, as shown here:


Battle of Authion will be the next-to-last scenario in this campaign. 1st Free French Division vs. (weakened) German 34th Infantry and Italian Littorio Divisions.

Looks really interesting, I am silently following yours and Erik's work here and I make no mistery that one of the main reasons I got this game was the quality custom campaign scenes.

I just wish there was an Italian campaign, Panzer Corps had a very nice custom made one.
It would leave lots of room for experimentation, like having to deal with constant lack of supply, epic fighting retreats, heroic last stands and also dealing with an uncaring ally.
Later on it could also make a split in the campaign tree after the Armistice, where your core force needs to pick sides in a split and leaderless country.

This ... THIS is what I do for you guys! (Actually for myself, to satisfy my thirst for knowledge once I'm engaged in a topic ).

Purchased, for its Chapter 16 — "Authion: The Final Battle":


If you read the description of the battle in Wikipedia's article, you will understand why I went looking for another source.

22AmherstDrop:

Ah, that’s a nice and immersive briefing, excellent!

Very good, very good... So, first test; here are the elements that came out:

-> Won the aerial duel without too many problems once at t8 and once at t9... so, I'd say there's nothing to change here! (And no problem with the AI's thinking time either.) Nice addition, the German AA unit covering their northernmost AF…

-> Visual element… I think that our planes of the “right wing” start facing too much the left (except the one in the “middle” of the map, that is), therefore, I suggest one “shift + R” per planes of this “right wing” (except for the one in the middle of the map).

-> About the pri obj “air supremacy”: under the trigger “Don't establish supremacy”, I strongly advise replacing the actual condition (“check unit count”), by the “if this obj is still open, then let’s put it as failed”…

Reason? Well, the player has to destroy or repel the enemy planes... so they can land on an airfield... when the objective is validated, it is possible that one or two depleted units have landed... but if they take off again just before the test (start of 11th turn), then there will be enemy planes in the air again and, therefore, this obj will be considered as failed, which, of course, we don’t want! Once considered successful, it should not change.

-> The Dutch partisans don’t reveal any target right now (and their respective defensive groups stay “idle”)… These partisans are controlled by the AI, so wrong color in the “Deploy Targets” folder, under both “check unit(s) near hex” and “remove unit”.

-> It can be a bit tricky to manage the supply situation at the beginning of the scenario, but it's manageable without too much trouble... Towards the end (when the fighting takes place towards the last upper third of the map), it becomes too easy... the supply situation is stabilized, our troops have been able to gather and, therefore, concentrate their efforts... As a result, I think we will have to reinforce this sector (the northeastern part of the map) a bit. Few extra German units could already be put there, I think… But we can come back to it later as well and be more precise (I'm thinking of my next test.)

-> Once we’ve taken the airfield we must capture and destroyed the nearby German bunker, then it could be time to trigger some small German counter-attack, aiming to recapture this airfield… it could be from Giethoorn one armored recon unit (being spawned), perhaps followed by an infantry unit, together with two or three units from Wolvega (already on map, starting then to move)… therefore, this obj could be like “seize and hold […]”, with the possibility to put it back to “open” (a trigger enabled once we’ve achieved this obj) during the scenario, depending on how things go…

-> I really like the system of partisans guiding us to targets of opportunity, BUT it can happen that our paratroopers get there before they are even led there by the partisans! So, inactive defenders... then, later, partisans showing "targets" in territory that is already under control... hmmm... Consider the possibility that some of these sites are discovered "by chance" by the player. => Let's consider a certain sector... if its defenders (already on the map) become visible (to some of our land units!), it would then be possible to spawn the corresponding targets of opportunity... then let the partisans arrive, guide us (as it is kno), and then disappear without doing anything more when they arrive in this particular sector... then, we could even surprise them, our Dutch partisans from the inside!

Et voilà !

bru888 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:06 am Any suggestions for campaign events around early to mid-April 1945? We have space before Amherst Drop and Battle of Authion but we are booked for Black Forest and campaign victory. Something related to Free France, of course.

Colonel, this is from the April 1945 page on the Fondation de la France Libre chronological web site that you called my attention to way back when. This is the time period that I am talking about: [...]

I have talked or will talk about the Atlantic pockets. I am interested in the "De Gaulle in the East/Alps" entries. Anything about this at this particular point in time in his memoirs? Any pictures?

Heh, I was excited when I thought "East" meant "Far East" but I think it means "Eastern France." Still, his perambulations could be interesting.

I'll do some research...

Free France 1940-1945 v0.69 has been uploaded. It includes the following changes to the Amherst Drop scenario.

Free France 1940-1945 (22 of 24 scenarios)

• Reoriented all planes (instead of being on collision course with each other).
• Replaced "Check Unit Count" condition with "Check Objective State" condition in "Don't establish supermacy" trigger, as advised.
• Added a Steenwijk Airfield counterattack. It spawns in the nearby forest between Giethoorn and Wolvega in order to hopefully avoid the embarrassment of appearing beneath the boots of French paratroopers who happen to be standing in those towns!
• Correspondingly, made the "Seize and hold Steenwijk airfield" into a back-and-forth objective.
• Changed light blue to dark blue alliance for Dutch partisans to reveal targets of opportunity (and for themselves to disappear). I assume all segments of the Dutch partisans module are now working (Spawn Partisans, Route Partisans, Deploy Targets).

The last edit changes the nature of the scenario, of course. Let's see how you do on your next test.

I am sticking with "the system of partisans guiding us to targets of opportunity" even if French paratroopers do wander around up north. If the targets revealed by Dutch partisans do pop up on French territory, so be it. The paratroopers would not have perfect knowledge of local topography, and so certain targets may still need to be "revealed" to them by the local. However, if the player does stumble upon the defending Volkssturm teams prematurely, I also:

• Changed the AI task of all Volkssturm teams (Feldgendarmerie and NSKK) from Idle to Static Defense in case they are discovered prematurely.

bru888 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:06 am [...] Heh, I was excited when I thought "East" meant "Far East" but I think it means "Eastern France." Still, his perambulations could be interesting.

By "East" there, it was indeed more Eastern France, at that time:

A translated extract from here:
https://journals.openedition.org/cdlm/6 ... DMaritimes
“On April 9, 1945, at the end of a military inspection tour that took him to the Rhine and the Alps (Grenoble, Saint-Pierre d'Albigny, Beaulieu), the head of the provisional government of the French Republic paid an official visit to the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes.

His program was busy: review of units of the 1st DFL and presentation of the Liberation Cross to the 13th half-brigade of the Foreign Legion, as well as the War Cross to various local Resistance fighters, laying of wreaths at the war memorial, speeches at the Masséna square, reception of personalities (CDL, Prefecture Council, diplomatic corps, Chamber of Commerce, CGT, clergy, newspaper editors, presidents of veterans' associations), speech and lunch at the Prefecture, reception and speech at the Town Hall, laying of wreaths at the Torrin and Grassi memorials, before returning to the California airfield.”
*******
One picture in Nice:
http://museedelaresistanceenligne.org/m ... A#zoom-tab

Translations:
“Caption:
Visit by General de Gaulle to Nice on April 9, 1945

Media analysis:
Here we see the head of the GPRF (Provisional Government of the French Republic) leaving the war memorial, just before giving his speech on the Masséna square. Around him, in the front row, we can see the regional commissioner of the Republic in Marseille, Paul Haag, and General Doyen, commander of the Army Detachment of the Alps, and, just behind him, the Minister of War, André Diethelm, and General Garbay, commander of the 1st DFL.
General de Gaulle is photographed at the moment when he encourages the public to move aside, as he did in Paris on August 26, 1944 on the Champs-Elysées. Not pictured here are Prefect Escande and René Cassin (Vice President of the Council of State) and Jacques Bounin (Regional Commissioner of the Republic in Montpellier) from Nice, who had made the trip.


Historical context:
In order to announce the imminent offensive on the Alps, General de Gaulle decided to go to Nice, where he pronounced the famous sentence before 50,000 listeners: "The wind of victory is blowing over the Alps and will overtake them. The previous evening, the head of the GPRF had met with the officers of the 1st DFL (Free French Division) at Beaulieu, some of whom were unhappy at having been deprived of the invasion of Germany in order to be sent to a front that was considered to be secondary. De Gaulle was received at the prefecture as well as at the town hall and he decorated the plaques of the hanged men of the Avenue de la Victoire (Torrin and Grassi). He told the prefect that the reception of the people of Nice had been the most enthusiastic since the liberation of Paris.”
*******
(Source: https://francearchives.fr/facomponent/a ... 6179304252 )

Trip to Nice (Alpes-Maritimes)

Contents: (description of the various photo)
n° 674-n° 675 : unit review of the 1st division of the Free France (DFL).
n° 676-n° 677 : award of the Liberation Cross to the 13th half-brigade of the Foreign Legion.
n° 678 : award of the Croix de Guerre to various local Resistance fighters.
n° 679 : end of the ceremony, General de Gaulle salutes.
n° 680-n° 683 : Wreath laying at the monument to the dead of Rauba-Capeù.
n° 684 : General de Gaulle and the official delegation arrive at the place Masséna.
n° 685 : speech of general de Gaulle from the balcony of the town hall.
n° 686-n° 688 : the crowd during the speech of general de Gaulle.
n° 689 : General de Gaulle and the official delegation leave the town hall.
n° 690-n° 693 : General de Gaulle and the official delegation in the streets of Nice.
n° 694 : departure of the official procession for the airfield of Nice.
n° 695 : General de Gaulle boarding his personal plane.
n° 696-n° 701 : shooting, in margin of the visit, of the agents of the central photographic service.

And these photos (which you can zoom in on), of course:
https://www.siv.archives-nationales.cul ... einIR=true

bru888 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:35 pm [...] I am sticking with "the system of partisans guiding us to targets of opportunity" even if French paratroopers do wander around up north. If the targets revealed by Dutch partisans do pop up on French territory, so be it. The paratroopers would not have perfect knowledge of local topography, and so certain targets may still need to be "revealed" to them by the local. However, if the player does stumble upon the defending Volkssturm teams prematurely, I also:

• Changed the AI task of all Volkssturm teams (Feldgendarmerie and NSKK) from Idle to Static Defense in case they are discovered prematurely.

Okay, presented like that, it sounds perfect.

bru888 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:35 pm [...] The last edit changes the nature of the scenario, of course. Let's see how you do on your next test. [...]

Yes, another feedback will come...

De Gaulle's perambulations could be interesting, that's for sure.

For example, as far as the East is concerned, de Gaulle went all the way to Moscow to discuss with Stalin (December 1944) and to sign with Stalin a Franco-Soviet alliance pact.

Example: (Translated from here https://www.lhistoire.fr/1944-de-gaulle-choisit-moscou )

"On December 10, 1944, de Gaulle and Stalin signed in Moscow a Franco-Soviet alliance pact. Against all expectations, it was towards the Kremlin that the General turned. Unusual union, sealed without enthusiasm in a climate of mistrust...


Much more than a "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals" dreamed of later, it was a solid tradition of Franco-Russian alliance that de Gaulle found himself carrying, when he made his way to Moscow in the heart of winter 1944. For his first big trip after the Liberation, the General had reserved it for Stalin. While France, still at war, was licking its wounds, he went away for three weeks to seal a Franco-Soviet alliance pact that was supposed to last twenty years.

This pact may appear in retrospect as a diplomatic act out of place and useless. How can we explain the apparent eagerness of the leader of liberated France to get closer to the Kremlin at the end of the Second World War?

In the months following the Liberation of Paris, de Gaulle had been preoccupied with restoring the "rank" of a France diminished by the humiliating defeat of 1940 and by the Occupation. [...]"

And, as additional examples, some other pages, directly available in English, related to these talks:

https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org ... 2af151b391

https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org ... 98ecf8427e

ColonelY wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:48 pm By "East" there, it was indeed more Eastern France, at that time:

This is perfect. You will see it leading into Authion in the next update.

More translated from https://journals.openedition.org/cdlm/6 ... DMaritimes :
1. “The first report of the visit was proposed by L'Espoir in its evening edition of April 9: it was entitled on the whole first page INOUBLIABLE JOURNEE. With one heart, enthusiastic and confident, NICE SHOUTED TO GENERAL DE GAULLE ITS RECOGNITION AND AFFECTION, devoting five columns out of eight to the event, with in particular the title 60000 Niçois sang LA MARSEILLAISE with General de Gaulle.”
About 60'000 people singing La Marseillaise together, that must have been something, damn it!

Well, we won't dwell too much on the details of the speeches, but, anyway... another extract:
2. “An analysis of General de Gaulle's three speeches reveals both national constants (national unity, rediscovered greatness, necessary renovation) and local specificities (affirmation of the French character of Nice, tourism recovery, airport development).

In the speech delivered on Place Masséna, one can detect a similarity with the speech made at the Paris City Hall on August 25, 1944 ("Nice liberated, Nice proud, Nice glorious"), although there is no allusion to the liberation of the city by the resistance fighters alone, the main part of the speech consisting of confirming that Nice belonged to France ("Nice has never renounced itself, nor renounced France! "), to denigrate the transalpine annexationist pretensions ("Ah! they were naive and insolent at the same time those who had pretended that one could tear it off from France"), to announce the imminent and victorious offensive on the Alps ("The wind of the Victory blows on the Alps...and is going to exceed them"), the Franco-Italian diplomatic settlement, the spirit of renovation and the unity.”
The end of this can clearly "announce the color" before the Authion scenario...

ColonelY wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:15 pm The end of this can clearly "announce the color" before the Authion scenario...

ColonelY wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:02 pm [...] For example, as far as the East is concerned, de Gaulle went all the way to Moscow to discuss with Stalin (December 1944) and to sign with Stalin a Franco-Soviet alliance pact.
[...]

Complements:

De Gaulle, to go to Moscow, transited, on the way out and on the way back, through Tehran.

On the way out (first by plane), he passed through Tunis, then through Cairo (where de Gaulle visited King Farouk), then through Tehran (where he visited the Shah of Iran).

Arrival in Baku on November 26... Because of the russian winter and the weather conditions, the plane was replaced by a train, a special train "of the Grand Duke" (because it was used by the Grand Duke Nicolas during the First World War).

Passage through Stalingrad (demolished but being rebuilt), at the request of the general...

Arrival in Moscow (by train, on December 2)... de Gaulle will spend 8 days there. Total duration of the talks with Stalin: about 15 hours. The main working sessions took place between the two men on December 6 and 8 (of which we have the minutes).

Objects: to re-establish the old Franco-Russian alliance (in case Germany could start again later...) and to clarify the future of Poland.

For Poland, there are two "governments": the one installed in London, which coordinates the military commitment of the troops supporting the Allies on the Western fronts, and the one installed by the Soviets, the Committee, or Government of Lublin, when their armies have taken over the territory of Poland...

The question of Poland was an important one... and became very acute when it came to its political regime.
Indeed, for Churchill, it had a strong symbolic meaning since the United Kingdom had welcomed the Polish government in exile during the war. For Roosevelt, it affected the American electorate, since he had just been re-elected after having made promises to millions of Americans of Polish origin.
Stalin, however, set up a Polish Communist government, installed it in Lublin after the liberation of eastern Poland, officially recognized it in July 1944 and entrusted it with the administration of Polish territory behind Soviet military lines.
The West refused to recognize this government because they felt that there was a problem of representativeness.
To overcome this problem, they agreed at Yalta (where de Gaulle had not been invited!) on the establishment of "free and unconstrained elections". However, Stalin did not have the slightest intention of dissolving the government in Lublin or of submitting to truly free elections. He would only rearrange the Lublin government team by adding a few more Polish members.

Thus, when they met, Stalin tried to win de Gaulle to this cause... But de Gaulle always refused to turn his back on the Poles who were fighting on the side of the Allies in the West and continually argued that democratic elections should be held in Poland to resolve the issue once and for all!

From the war memoirs (T3, p. 190 of the edition I have):

"This massif [of the Authion], it is the 1st "Free French" Division that has the mission to take it. [...]

On April 8, leaving the Rhine, I reached the Alps. Having received General Doyen's report in Grenoble [...] I arrived in Menton in the middle of Garbay's troops. To these companions, who were the first to answer my call and who, since then, have tirelessly lavished their devotion, I want to tell them myself how important for France the final effort that is required of them is. Then, wanting to give the operation a national resonance, I went to Nice on the 9th and, from the balcony of the Town Hall, announced to the crowd "that our arms were going to cross the Alps". The voice of the people acclaimed this decision. On April 10, our troops went up to attack the Authion.

For seven days, they fight there, climb the escarpments, seize the forts [...]"
*******
And now, translated from here http://resistance.azur.free.fr/dossier/authion.htm , are some more information:

"A territorial problem

The military operations carried out by the First Motorized Infantry Division, a division better known under its old name, the "First Free French Division", or more simply the 1° D.F.L., during the months of March, April and the beginning of May 1945, had as their objective to retake the fortified massif of the Authion from the Italo-German troops, to invest the western slope of the Alps, and then eventually to penetrate into Piedmont.

First of all, it seems essential to place these various operations in the Alps in their more general context; on the one hand, political, and on the other hand, military; and for this, we will first of all call upon the "War Memoirs" of General Charles de Gaulle, where we can read:
"Our government had long since fixed its intentions with regard to the border of the Alps. We intended to bring the limit of our territory to the very crest of the massif, which would mean giving us the few enclaves that the Italians had on the French side, near the passes. We also wanted to incorporate the formerly Savoyard cantons of Tende and La Brigue, perhaps we would do the same with Ventimiglia, according to what the inhabitants wished" ...

It should be remembered that after the Treaty of Turin, dated March 24, 1860, which provided for the attachment of Savoy and the County of Nice to France, parts of these two provinces had been detached for the benefit of the Italians, and particularly, as far as the County of Nice was concerned, the upper part of the Upper Roya Basin with the localities of Tende and La Brigue.

In fact, our intentions concerning these territorial claims were only to demand reparation for the prejudices suffered at that time. However, our government was aware that our Anglo-Saxon allies were totally hostile to any territorial modification of the Franco-Italian border of 1939; also, faced with this position, one of the concerns of our leaders was to do everything possible to make the best use of all the circumstances that presented themselves, allowing us to occupy militarily, with our troops, the territorial enclaves that we were claiming, thus presenting our allies with a fait accompli.

After the landing on the coasts of Provence, in August 1944, and the victorious battles of our arms that followed, the German troops occupying the southern part of France moved back towards the Rhine without, however, completely clearing the Alps, a front that, in fact, covered the right flank of the Axis troops stationed in northern Italy.

The Alpine Front (Winter 44-45)

At the end of 1944, in spite of the combined actions of the Battalions of the French Forces of the Interior of Provence, Dauphiné, and Savoie, supported by the 442° Combat-Team and the 4th Moroccan Division, the Italo-German troops could not be pushed back beyond the crests of the Alps; and in the department of the Alpes-Maritimes, they still held the Authion massif very firmly.

The military situation on the Alpine front did not change much until March 1, 1945, when the Alpine Army Detachment was created - in agreement with the Allies - and placed under the command of the French General, DOYEN.

This detachment, based solely on French units, was hierarchically under the orders of the American General, DEVERS.

General DOYEN was, in fact, responsible for a particularly extensive front, following the Alps chain from Lake Leman to the Mediterranean Sea.

The mission assigned to this army detachment was the following: "To cover the lines of communication of the 6th American Army Group of General Devers", communications which, from Marseille, went up towards the North through the valleys of the Rhone and the Saone.

It is essential to note that, in the minds of our Allies, this mission was strictly defensive.

The 1st Free French Division returns from Alsace

The front of the Army Detachment of the Alps was divided into two sectors

- a northern sector, from Lake Leman to the Pic des Trois Evêques, which was entrusted to the 27° Alpine Infantry Division, and to the 99° and 141° Alpine Infantry Regiments.

- And a southern sector, going from the Pic des Trois Evêques to the sea, which was assigned to the 1° D.F.L., which was initially reinforced by the 3° Alpine Infantry Regiment, and then by the 18° Regiment of Senegalese Tirailleurs.

On the enemy's side, we had, in front of this Army Detachment, two very hardened German Divisions, the 5th and the 34th Mountain Division, as well as two Italian Divisions, " LA MONTEROSA " and " LA LITTORIO ".

The 1° D.F.L., coming from the Alsace front, after having participated in the defense of Strasbourg, joined the Southern Sector of the Army Detachment of the Alps, during the first half of March 1945; and the divisional command post was established in Beaulieu sur Mer.

This large unit, which, since the landing on the coasts of Provence at Cavalaire on August 15, 1944, had participated in the entire French campaign as part of the 1st French Army, was at that time commanded by General Garbay; it comprised three Motorized Infantry Brigades equipped with American material:

- The First Brigade: Colonel de St Hilier, then Lieutenant Colonel de Sairigne
- The Second Brigade: Colonel Gardet
- The Fourth Brigade : Colonel Delange

As well as a Reconnaissance Regiment based on Marine Fusiliers, the 1° R.F.M. (Corvette Captain de Morsier)
- an Artillery Regiment (Colonel Bert)
- a group of F.T.A. and various Battalions, Engineers, Signals, as well as various services: health, stewardship, etc...

The D.F.L. took command of the Southern Sector on March 15, 1945; from that date on, a great deal of patrolling was carried out along the entire front of the Division in order to establish the enemy's line of resistance as accurately as possible.

On March 22, 1945, the General in command of the D.F.L. received the order to study the possibilities of attacking the fortified massif of the Authion.

The resumption of this massif to the troops of the axis, allowed indeed, in a first time to definitively eliminate the potential threat of the enemy, on the flank of the allied communications, and in a second time, an exploitation towards the pass of Tende, then possibly an action on Piedmont.

The objective to conquer: the Authion massif

- How is this important objective presented?
The Authion massif, located on the right bank of the Roya, approximately at the height of Saorge, reaches an altitude of more than 2,000 meters; it dominates the alpine valleys of the Cairos, the Roya and the Beverra by about 1,500 meters, surrounded by steep, ravine-like and deforested slopes. It is very difficult to reach it, only a strategic path in twists and turns, mostly through rocky ridges, allows to reach it.

This mountainous massif was crowned by important military works:
Two forts: that of the Forca in the North and Milles Fourches in the South. Concrete forts, protected on the top by several meters of earth and surrounded by high gates and a deep ditch, beaten by the fires of Caponnières.

We also found the Redoute des Trois Communes to the North-East and the modern work of Plan Caval to the East. The Authion massif was therefore of decisive strategic importance in this part of the Alps.

On this subject, it is important to remember that the military works that have just been mentioned had allowed the French troops in June 1940, to break all the invasion attempts from the Italian troops.

The German command of this alpine sector had made this massif the very base of its defensive system.

A Bavarian battalion of the 34th Mountain Division held the fortified works, these works were further protected by important field works, namely :
- trenches, dense networks of wire, barbed wire, and anti-personnel mines

The flanks of the massif were mined and beaten by enemy fire, and reserves of German troops, stationed in the Roya valley, were ready to intervene on threatened points.

At the beginning of April 1945, the D.F.L. Command was informed that a general Allied offensive on the Italian front was to begin on April 9, 1945. This offensive was placed under the orders of the British Marshal Alexander.

It was therefore of the utmost importance that on this date the German-Italian enemy be vigorously attacked on all fronts and in particular on the Alps, so that no unit of the Axis could be withdrawn.

The date of the offensive action on the Authion was thus set. Unfortunately, due to the particularly unfavorable weather conditions on April 9, 1945 in this sector of the Alps, marked by heavy snowfalls and a total lack of visibility , the attack on the massif could not actually begin until dawn on April 10, 1945.

[...]

The plan of attack of the fortified massif, the main objective of the mission, can be summarized as follows: "A powerful frontal attack on the Authion, which two columns, bypassing it on either side, would take from the rear, one by the Rauss pass, the other by the Giagiabella"

The main mission was entrusted to Colonel Delange's 4th Brigade, and the internal distribution of this Brigade was as follows

- Frontal action Battalion of Marine and Pacific Infantry (B.I.M.P.) commanding Magendie. Battalion reinforced with tanks of the 1st Marine Rifle Regiment (1° R.F.M. and sections of the Assault Group)
- Column by the Col de Raus, March Battalion n° 21 (B.M. 21) Captain Oursel - Battalion reinforced by a Company of Ski Scouts of the 3° R.I.A.
- Column towards Giagiabella (March Battalion n° 11)

This main action of the 4th Brigade was supported by two secondary operations:
- To the north, by a Group formed by elements of the 3° R.I.A. and the 18° R.T.S. and whose axis of effort was oriented towards the Gordolasque valley.
- And on the other hand, to the South, by the 2nd Brigade of the D.F.L. in the direction of Mangiabo.

The 1st Legion Brigade of the D.F.L. was kept in reserve in the region of Lantosque. The installation of the units on the bases of departure was carried out during the night of April 9 to 10, 1945."


Etc.

This is already something to enrich the scenario, the events that come just before and to increase the overall immersion...