All,
Afternoon, 10 April 1941
Here we are, the inaugural battle of Kampfgruppe Klink's campaign in Greece. A little background, first: the German invasion of Greece was known as "Operation Marita," and commenced on 6 April 1941, finishing up on 30 April 1941. Following the Fall of France, KG Klink got to lounge around a bit in the French countryside. Then, as the seaborne invasion of the United Kingdom (the proposed "Operation Sealion") was contemplated, they got to do some amphibious training and lounge about the French coastline. As that died down they were given a brief home leave, then set about conducting an intense training program to prepare them for 'something big out east.' As this was occurring, the Italians decided to up and invade Greece in 1940, and they were roughly handled, suffering greatly during the winter and into the new year, at which point the German High Command decided (was told) they needed to formulate plans to go pull Il Duce's chestnuts out of the fire, hastened by the UK's decision to reinforce Greece with Commonwealth infantry and armor in March 1941.
KG Klink was moved east, first to Romania, then on to Bulgaria, where they sat out the fighting in Yugoslavia. They also sat out the initial invasion, the breech of the Greek defenses on the Metaxas Line, and then of the Commonwealth defenses at the Aliakmon Line, before being committed. They fairly cruised along until reaching the area in and around Veroia, at which time they ran into strong, though hastily organized, Commonwealth infantry and armored elements which had re-formed there. KG Klink's involvement in the Fall of Greece revolves entirely around the operations to break the Commonwealth defenses in and around Veroia, with the objective being the investment of Servia and its key mountain pass.
The first battle sees Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup advancing on a key mountain crossroads manned by members of the British Royal Engineers supported by Armored Cavalry from New Zealand.
Overview, north is left. The Germans will be entering from the north and attacking south, where the Commonwealth forces will be defending, able to emplace anywhere from their baseline up to the east-west running road. The road is improved (at least in terms of 1941 Greece), there is a small hamlet consisting of three stone buildings at center, a few patches of trees scattered about, but the dominant terrain feature is the hilltops dotting the countryside (clockwise from left): Hill 189 (left), Hill 234 (top left), Hill 320 (top right), and Hill 415 (bottom right).
I'm playing with very simple terrain so that I can lay it down and scrape it up as quickly as possible, to get in a lot of games as quickly as possible.
I'm playing solo using Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command, modified a bit. I've bumped it up a level (using multi-based stands, not individual troops), I simplified fire and melee combat, and morale (5Core concepts, as always), as well as movement (I like dicing for movement, but it significantly slows things down for me). I changed the CoC Dice so that it represents indirect supporting fires from Higher HQ, and I did away with the Patrol Phase. I love the Patrol Phase, but it doesn't work for me playing solo, so what I do is designate an attacker and a defender; both sides start completely off table, using their Command Dice to deploy on table (as normal), but where it differs is that I basically give the defender a deployment area of half the table, and he can deploy anywhere in that area, even dug in, so long as it's at least 6" from any attacker.
If you're now wondering, then, why do I still call these rules "Chain of Command," it's because the entire game revolves around the use of Chain of Command's brilliant activation system (command roll/Command Dice), the use of leaders' command initiative, and the 'Force Morale' concept of declining Command Dice and morale to breaking. To me, that's the heart of the system, and it makes for a fun game.
The opposing forces, with Germans on the left and Commonwealth on the right.
Battlegroup Freitag (AKA, 1st Schutzen): consists of the CO stand, two rifle platoons (a Platoon Commander and four rifle squads, each), a weapons platoon (Platoon Commander, two MG-34s, and two 80mm mortars), and a platoon of three Stug-IIIs.
The Commonwealth force: Royal Engineers and New Zealand Cavalry
Commanding Officer: Major Butler, R.E.
Armored Car Platoon from the New Zealand Cavalry (two w/Bren, one with 2-pdr gun)
British Royal Engineer Platoon (Platoon Commander and three Engineer Squads)
Weapons Platoon (Platoon Commander, two Vickers MGs, and two 3" mortars)
I'm playing these games in 10mm using figures from Pendraken and Minifigs UK, roads from Fat Frank, hills from Warzone, buildings from Crescent Root, rivers from Wargamers Terrain, and trees from Gunner at Signifer.
As German infantry move on Hill 415, a spotting round from one of their 8.0cm mortars fall a little short…
Commonwealth defensive positions in the village are under heavy fire from German heavy weapons and now the 2nd Germany infantry platoon is closing on them.
The Germans take the village!
While the Vickers MGs are engaging the Germans coming up Hill 415.
And one of the Stugs is knocked out!
To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link
Next up, Captain Freitag and his men are right back in the thick of it, taking on some Kiwis to take a bridge.
V/R,
Jack
