Barbarossa Blitz

Barbarossa Blitz

The Molotov–Ribbentrop non-aggression pact was shattered on June 22, 1941 when Nazi Germany launched their invasion of the Soviet Union, code named Operation Barbarossa. By the end of June, Germany’s Army Group South had crushed the Soviet Southwestern Front at Brody and was advancing towards Kiev and into southern Ukraine. Army Group North had secured Lithuania and was chasing the Soviet Northwestern Front out of Latvia.  Army Group Center had captured the cities of Bia?ystok and Minsk in Belarus and was advancing towards Smolensk in Russia.  

In the air, the Luftwaffe achieved remarkable success in its initial attacks on Soviet air bases. Over 3000 Soviet planes were lost in the first 3 days alone, most of them on the ground. Further losses mounted as the VVS threw aircraft into ground attack battles in a vain attempt to slow the advance of the German troops. Organizational problems also led to heavy losses for the VVS, with top line fighters being allocated to units in small batches and their crews receiving little training in the new LAGG’s, MiG’s and Yak’s before the German attack. Reinforcements were drawn in from the Russian interior including two regiments of MiG-3’s, whose pilots were experienced test pilots, that were sent to bolster the defense of Smolensk. But the Luftwaffe had its own combat seasoned experts flying the Bf 109, Most notably was Werner Molders of Jagdgeschwader 51, who began July with 90 aerial victories.  

This FSO will recreate the battles in northwest Russia during July 1941 where the Soviet VVS defended against the onslaught of the Luftwaffe.

Side Split: Allies 50% / Axis 50%

Hour 1 Aircraft

Hour 2 Aircraft

Ordnance Restrictions:

20mm cannon disabled on the C.205 to represent a MiG-3.

1800Kg bombs disabled on the He 111 and Ju 87.

250Kg bomb for the Bf 109E is disabled in Hour 1 but enabled in Hour 2.

Event Rules and Clarifications:

Alt Cap is 16K for fighters, 12K for all bomb carrying aircraft.

Bf 110C must take bombs with the intent to be used in the ground attack role.

Bf 109E may take a bomb in Hour 2 only.

CiC’s satisfy the requirement for aircraft with minimums by assigning squads whose combined minimum commitment level meets or exceeds the aircraft minimum.

All pilots in squads assigned the Bf 110C or He 111 must fly that plane. (This rule does not apply to Hour 2)

Two Hour 1 attack objectives will be assigned each frame. All He 111’s must attack one target and all Bf 110C’s the other. The CiC will decide which target is attacked by which plane type. The CiC must also assign at least 6 fighters to each objective to satisfy a credible force.

Credible defense force must be at least 10 fighters assigned to each target. Other fighters may be assigned a more flexible role.

Both Hour 1 target areas must be bombed before T+60 and Hour 1 targets become invalid after T+60.

Hour 2 targets are only valid for pilots launching a new sortie in Hour 2 or rearming their Hour 1 plane after T+60.

The Hour 2 target will be a single base.

Flying off the map is forbidden.

Any non-target object that is destroyed will be restored at the earliest convenience by a CM. 

Scoring values will be reduced in Hour 2 to compensate for an increased sortie rate. 

Scoring

Arena Settings 

- Terrain: Russia

- Fuel Burn: 0.8 (to ensure all soviet fighters have over and hour of endurance) 

- Icons: 3K Friendly/Enemy for aircraft.

- Ack: .3

- Fighter and Bomber warning range: 63360 (about 12 miles)

- Tower range set to 63360 (for display only to match the above setting)

- Haze/Fog: 15 miles

- Radar: Off

- Enemy collisions: on

- Friendly collisions: off

- Killshooter: off

- Time: 1000 (10AM) Game Clock

- Clouds: light5k

- Wind: 0K-2K NO WIND

2K-12K: NW TO SE - Speed 5

12K-18K: NW TO SE  - Speed 10

18K+: 45MPH downdraft

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