Fall Schwarz 1943 Anti-Partizan Campaign

[Kopfdorfer]

Greetings Everyone,

After getting into Sittang River Bridge and finding map issues I am unable to fix , especially considering that the title bridge was one of the discrepancies, I have decided to cut my losses in Burma (for now) and move on to other theatres.

The winning candidate for its replacement is the Fall Schwarz anti-partisan campaign carried out by the Axis in May - June 1943 in the territory of Yugoslavia. As usual in my "self-training in SEOW" development in campaign design , I have chosen this battle for several reasons.
1) Unique planeset. For the Axis , the Yugoslavian theatre was secondary , and as such , was the home to second and third string
equipment on the ground , and in the air. This will give me a chance to learn to add mod aircraft into the SE database.
2) First Campaign on the Slovenia Map ( I believe). This is an interesting and varied map , with good topography and lovely little wooded
roads , villages in quiet valleys , and many winding roads and railroads - not to mention small well disguised airfields.
3) I have envisioned this campaign as one that could conceivably be flown with all hands on one side (Axis) , since
even though the Axis is flying obsolete aircraft , they are better and in much greater numbers than the partizans. The other feature I
hope to be able to implement , is separate national objectives within the axis side , so the commanders are forced to balance between
alliance objectives , and their own national ones.
4) The possibility exists to use Fall Schwarz to generate a few Ironfront skirmishes within the Campaign design context.


Historical Background
While Mussolini's Italians made their first foray into the Balkans in October 1940 , invading Greece and Albania , they clearly bit off more than they could chew , and with the Greeks actually mounting a partially successful offensive in Albania in early 1941 , Hitler was compelled to step in when a Coup d'Etat occurred in Yugoslavia in March. Germany and Italy invaded Yugoslavia and Greece 6 April 1941 , and Hungary joined in on 11 April.
By the end of April , the Balkans were in Axis hands. Though it had not participated in the capture , Bulgaria took up garrison duties in Western Thrace and Macedonia along with the other members of the Alliance , for the rest of the war.
Germany invaded Crete by air in Unternehmen Merkur in May 1941 , securing the northern Med and Adriatic for the Axis.

from Wiki:
"Throughout the remainder of the war, active Yugoslav, Greek, and Albanian resistance movements forced Germany and its allies to garrison hundreds of thousands of soldiers permanently in the three countries, denying them to the other fronts. Especially in Yugoslavia after 1943, the threat of an Allied invasion and the activities of the partisans necessitated large-scale counter-insurgency operations, involving several divisions, including elite Mountain Infantry (Gebirgsjäger) units."

In early 1943 , the Axis executed Fall Weiss , to round up and eliminate the swelling Partizan forces in Yugoslavia. While it did succeed in causing the Partizans heavy casualties , it failed to break the Partizan forces as a coherent force.
Fall Schwarz was the follow-up operation designed to finish the job.

Fall Schwarz for SEOW

Dates : May 15 - June 15 , 1943

Turns : 3 day Missions of 2 hours (slow aircraft !) and 1 night Mission of 2 hours per campaign date.

Map : Slovenia
Because IL2 does not have a map of the exact historical operational area , the Slovenia Map will stand in. Historically only the northernmost part of Fall Schwarz occurred within the bounds of the Slovenia Map.

Order of Battle (in Brief)

AXIS FORCES

German Units

Armeekommando Sudost
II Armeekorps
1st Gebirgsjaeger Division
7th SS Freiwillige Gebirgsjaeger Division "Prinz Eugen"
118th Jaeger Division
369th (Kroatische) Infanterie Division
Brandenburg Regiment 4
Elts 5th FlaK Division
Elts 20th FlaK Division
KG Ludwiger

Luftwaffenkommando Sudost
Fliegerkorps X

Italian Units
XI Corpo d'Armata
1st Divisione Alpini "Taurinense"
19th Divisione Montagna "Venezia"
23rd Divisione Fanteria "Ferrara"
32nd Divisione Fanteria "Marche"
151st Divisione Fanteria "Perugia"
154th Divisione Fanteria "Murge"

Elts Regia Marina
Elts Regia Aeronautica

Kroatien Units
Kroatian I Corps
1st Mtn Bde
3rd Mtn Bde
4th Mtn Bde
2nd Rifle Bde
1st Replenishment Bde
Zenica Bde
Region I AA Regt (Zagreb)
Petringia Bde
Zagreb Garrison Bde
Kroatian Mobile Bde
Huskina Legija

Fliegerfuhrer Kroatien
Elts Kroatian Navy Minor Vessel Types only
Kroatian Naval Command North
Riverine Flotilla
Kroatian Naval Infantry Btn
Elts Kroatian Air Force


ALLIED OOB

NOVJ :
1st Proletarian Division
2nd Proletarian Division
3rd Assault Division
7th Banija Division

Regional Partizans :
Slovenian Partizans
Croatian Partizans
Bosnian Partizans
Istrian Partizans

Objectives : The Campaign Objectives for each side , and each nation of the Axis side are still being worked out into a functional SEOW compliant format.
More info to follow.

Planeset (preliminary)

Axis

Ar196 Float (LW)
Fi156 Storch (LW)
He46 (LW)
Hs126 (LW)
Ju87D (LW)
Ju52 (LW)
Ju52 Float (LW)
Ju88A (LW)
Ju88D (LW)

Do17z (Kroat)
Ju87B (Kroat)
Fi156 (Kroat)
Ju52 (Kroat)
Fiat G50 Frescia (Kroat)
Ms406 (Kroat - RFG)
SM75 (Kroat)

Cr42 (RA)
Ro37 (RA)
MC200 (RA)
BR20 (RA)
Ca311 (RA)
Cantz501/506 Flt (RA)

Allied
Potez 25
Breguet XIX
DC2
Ford 5-ATC Trimotor
Ikarus IK2
Rogozarski IK3
DH Rapide
Lysander (Liaison/Spy Drops/Pickups)
B24 Liberator (Daily Supply Drops Only)


Comments and thoughts on campaign structure are appreciated on the understanding that they may not be implemented.

More info as the idea unfolds.

Kopfdorfer

[Kopfdorfer]

Time to breath a little life into Fall Schwarz.
OOBs fairly established - amended list will follow.
4Shades has written a little code to allow active airbases and infrastructure that are concealed to the opponent unless reconned.

I have decided to attempt the multiple objective concept , that is , as well as a "Group Axis Objective" , each Axis nation involved will have its own
specific "National Objectives" , so that the group objective will have to be carefully balanced , if all the component nations are to also achieve their
"National Objectives".

I am still wrestling with whether to include a few of mod planes or not.

I very much want to experiment with a "liaison" aircraft function - the ability of small , STOL aircraft (Storch , Lysander) to land on roads or in fields to pickup and drop off officers , spies , and supplies. If an aircraft "Liaison" class was added , perhaps the wingtip smoke function could identify the rendezvous coordinates in the mission log in the same way as recon positions are marked , only in this case used to determine if the pick up was within a required radius , or to locate the drop off point.

Again , I am trying to come up with "partizan" concepts that fit within the functionality of the IL2 engine.
If anyone has suggestions I am keen to hear them , and possibly test them out.

Kopfdorfer
(somewhere in Istria)