Last Days of the Luftwaffe

Last Days of the Luftwaffe

The Soviet Red Army has smashed its way through German occupied Poland and Hungary as winter turned to spring in 1945. Warsaw has been liberated. Budapest and Königsberg both were captured. Now Stalin has his sights on capturing Austria, Czechoslovakia, and as much of Germany as he can before the Nazis surrender. 

On 25 March, the 2nd Ukrainian Front launched the Bratislava–Brno offensive by crossing the Hron river. On 30 March, the Front then crossed the Nitra river and quickly rushed across the Danubian Lowland towards Bratislava. Meanwhile, the 3rd Ukrainian Front began to advance into Austria and take Vienna. While the street fighting was still intensifying in the southern and western suburbs of Vienna through 8 April, other troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front by-passed Vienna altogether and advanced on Linz and Graz. By 15 April, armies of the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front pushed even further into Austria. The completely exhausted remnants of what had been the 6th SS Panzer Army were forced to flee to the area between Vienna and Linz

The offensive to capture central Germany and Berlin started on 16 April with an assault on the German front lines on the Oder and Neisse rivers. After several days of heavy fighting the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front punched holes through the German front line and were fanning out across central Germany. By 24 April, elements of the 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front had completed the encirclement of the German capital and the Battle of Berlin entered its final stages. On 25 April the 2nd Belorussian Front broke through the German 3rd Panzer Army's line south of Stettin. The 58th Guards Rifle Division of the 5th Guards Army made contact with the US 69th Infantry Division of the First Army near Torgau, Germany at the Elbe river. Soviet forces fought their way into the centre of Berlin as April turned to May, and the German capital surrendered on 2 May. 

The Nazi regime considered Czechoslovakia and neighboring areas as their last bastion in the event that Berlin fell. Therefore, in 1945 they concentrated many powerful military units in the region, including elements of 6th SS Panzer Army, 1st and 4th Panzer Armies, and 7th, 8th and 17th Combined Armies. After Berlin’s capture, the Soviets attacked towards Prague, prompting the citizens of Prague to revolt against the Nazi occupiers.The 1st Ukrainian Front opened the Prague Offensive on 6 May, attacking southward. The following day, the 2nd Ukrainian Front attacked northwestwards.Between the 2nd and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, the 4th Ukrainian Front continued its advance on Olomouc. Facing overwhelming attacks on three sides, as well as the armed resistance within Prague itself, German forces surrendered unconditionally, ending the war in Europe.

This FSO will recreate the air battles over the Soviet-German lines in the final month of the European portion of World War 2.  

Side Split: Allies 50% / Axis 50%

First Sorite

Aircraft After T+30

Ordnance Restrictions:

• Bombs and Rockets only available for the Tu-2S and 190F-8 in Hour 1
• Tu-2 will be limited to only the 2x 250Kg bombs. 
• 500Kg bomb disabled Fw 190F-8.
• 250Kg/500Lb bombs available on the 109G-14, and P-39Q in Hour 2.
• 30mm cannons disabled on the Fw 190A-8

Event Rules and Clarifications

• Alt Cap is 16K for fighters, 12K for all bomb/rocket carrying aircraft. 
• Flying off the map is forbidden.
• Minimums, Maximums, and credible force are for the first sortie of each frame. CiC’s satisfy these requirements by assigning squads whose combined minimum commitment level meets or exceeds the stated levels.
• Each side must assign a credible defense force of at least 9 players.
• Squads may not mix fighter aircraft manufacturers in Hour 1 (For example, a squad assigned 109K-4’s may also use 109G-14’s but not any Fw 190’s.)
• Fw 190F-8 and Tu-2 must be used in the ground attack role.
• 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.
• Only aircraft with bombs enabled will score points for destroying target objects. 
• Any non-target object that is destroyed will be restored at the earliest convenience by a CM. 
• Air Spawns will be set to a 5K altitude, if used.
• Scoring values will be reduced in Hour 2 to compensate for an increased sortie rate. Aircraft on their first sortie will always score full points against enemy aircraft even after the second hour begins. A player's first sortie ends once they rearm, land, or are shot down. This is to prevent a situation where a last minute strike in Hour 1 can award full bombing points while only risking 1/4 points for a death on the way home. 
• Rook territory will represent land captured by the Americans.

Scoring

Arena Settings 

- Terrain: Danube

- Fuel Burn: 0.8 (to ensure all Soviet fighters have over an 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: 1100 (11AM) Game Clock

- Clouds: light5k

- Wind: 

0K-2K: No Wind

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

12K-16K: NW TO SE  - Speed 10

16K+: 45MPH downdraft

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