Operation Cerberus
Feburary 11-12 1942
While U-Boats receive much of the recognition for the Kriegsmarine's contribution to the Battle of the North Atlantic, during the early days of the war, even the German surface fleet became a menace to Allied shipping. Two ships, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, both cruisers, and their escort ravaged Allied convoys. After a series of operations where they were credited with large tonnages of Allied shipping, both ships returned to Brest, France to make repairs and refit for sea. After some time, a third Kriegsmarine Cruiser, the Prinz Eugen, joined them in Brest. After some consideration by German High Command, the decision was made to reposition them to Kiel, Germany. After a considerable amount of planning was conducted, the orders to execute Operation Cerberus (the three-headed dog of Greek mythology) were issued, and preparations to set sail began. Cerberus depended on an amount of inter-service coordination between the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe not seen at any other point in the war. Adolf Galland promised that the 3 German capital ships would sail from start to finish in the shadow of Luftwaffe aircraft and that he would allow no harm to come to them from the Royal Air Force.
Meanwhile, in Great Britain, plans were underway to send all three ships to the bottom of the Atlantic should they attempt to put to sea. British agents worked the docks in Brest, keeping an eye on the ships at anchor. HMS Sea Lion, a British submarine lay in wait just off shore of Brest, monitoring traffic in and out of the harbor. Coastal Command aircraft patrolled the skies using radar to track shipping movement night and day. The British were convinced that the German ships would use the cover of night to make the passage, and had planned to counter their eventual departure. Churchill himself considered the potential for passage through the English Channel an issue of British national honor and put an inordinate amount of pressure on the Royal Navy to block any attempt. The British had the resources in place to counter the passage, and waited patiently for the Kriegsmarine to make their move.
Through the fortunes of war, the 3 ships and their escorting destroyers slipped out of the harbor in Brest during the evening, on a time table that would have them pass through the Straits of Dover during daylight. It wasn't until mid-day on the 12th that the ships were detected, and then merely by a chance visual contact from patrolling fighters. While the British scrambled their resources to attack the German ships, the Kriegsmarine vessels made their way through the Straits unmolested. Only in the early afternoon was the Royal Air Force and Navy able to manage an attack on the ships, only to be continually driven off by the Luftwaffe and bad weather. In increasingly thick fog and high winds, the German ships were able to stave off the British attacks and slipped into Kiel the next evening, relatively undamaged.
This setup is a recreation of these two days. This setup is a modified version of Nefarious's "Channel Dash". I thank him for allowing me some creative liberties with his previous work.
<S> Stoney74
For an excellent synopsis of the actual history, go to http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/scharnhorst/history/scharncerberus.html
RULES
Arena:
Special Events Arena
Country Percentages:
Allies 45%
Axis 55%
Allied Aircraft:
Spit I
Spit V
Hurri IIC (Limited to 30 per frame)
TBM-3 (Limited to 30 per frame)
B-25C (Formations enabled)
Axis Aircraft:
Bf-109E
Bf-109F
Bf-110C
Ju-87
Ju-88 (Formations enabled)
Notes:
--All plane types used must be flown at a minimum of 24 aircraft (8 formations)
--Allies must fly 3 of 5 aircraft types during Frames 1 and 2
--Allies must fly 4 of 5 aircraft types during Frame 3
--Axis must fly 4 of 5 aircraft each frame
--TBM-3 can only be configured with Torpedoes (no rockets or bombs)
Fields:
Frame 1 Allied: A51, A55, A22, A21, A18, A20
Frame 1 Axis: A73, A72, A40, A39, A38, A37
Frame 2 Allied: A3, A8, A6, A11, A13
Frame 2 Axis:A35, A49, A50, A60, A61
Frame 3 Allied: A25, A26, A27, A3, A10
Frame 3 Axis: A49, A60, A61, A68, A69
Special Weather Settings:
Frame 1 Visibility:10 miles
Frame 2 Visibility:8 miles
Frame 3 Visibility:6 miles
Winds will be from varying direction each frame. Wind speeds will vary from 5-40 mph depending on altitude. The higher you go, the faster the upper level winds will be.
Victory Conditions:
Aircraft:
Ju-87 3 Points
Spit I 5 Points
109E 5 Points
TBM-3 5 Points
All other fighters are 10 points
All other bombers are 15 points
Objects:
Kriegsmarine Objects:
Gun
Destroyer: 50
Cruisers:100
Ground Objects:
5 Gun
5 Manned Gun
5 Ammo Bunker
5 Fuel Bunker
5 Barracks
5 Radar
30 Vehicle Hangar
30 Fighter Hangar
30 Bomber Hangar
30 Town Building
Scoring: Objects destroyed will be credited to the attacking side. Objects not destroyed will be credited to the defending side. Damage from one frame carries over to the next frames.
Field Order:
Allies-Rook
Axis-Bishop
CM-Knight
Arena Settings:
--BoB Map
--Fuel Burn 1.0
--Icons Short
--.5 Ack
--Ship Hardness X2 (Doubled)
--Fighter and Bomber Warning Range 52,800 (10 miles)
--
--Visibility as listed above
--Radar Off
--Enemy Collisions On
--Friendly Collisions Off
--Killshooter Off
--Formations Enabled
--Downtime multiplier set to max
--Time per Frame objectives
--Bomber auto-calibration (MA Style)
Contact all the squads on your side at:
http://events.hitechcreations.com/squadops/assignments_fri.php
Updated FSO Rules at:
http://www.ahevents.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=121