1943: Operation Husky, the Invasion of Siciliy

 

 DESCRIPTION

 
  Operation Husky was an operation born in controversy. During the so-called Second Washington Conference in the early summer of 1942, an acrimonious debate raged between the British and their new American allies over the future strategic course of the war against the European Axis powers. General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, espoused the view that the Allies could successfully confront the European Axis only by means of an amphibious invasion of Western Europe, and that consequently no operations which might detract from this goal should be undertaken beyond the operations in North Africa. The Casablanca Conference was schedule for early 1943 to discuss the joint allied objectives for that year.
 
General Eisenhower attended the Casablanca Conference only briefly. On January 15, after a harrowing journey in which his B-17 lost two engines, and he ended the trip in a parachute harness, he reported on the progress of the campaign in Tunisia. The decisions of the Combined Chiefs of Staff first came to his knowledge when he received his copy of the official minutes of the conference. Eisenhower had anticipated that the Allies would pursue some further action in the Mediterranean at the end of the Tunisian campaign, so that even before the Casablanca Conference his staff had been tentatively planning an operation against Sardinia and Corsica. 

In the Trident Conference the Americans reluctantly had to settle for moving the invasion of France to 1944 do to several factors. The British were able to successfully push for an operation in the Mediterranean with the troops and material freed to the allied after the fall of Tunisia (where they took 275,000 prisoners, wiping out the Axis troop reserve for the whole Med theatre). 

On May 12, 1943, the same day on which the Allied field commanders approved the final plan of invasion for Sicily, the Combined Chiefs of Staff met at the White House with Roosevelt and Churchill. The latter began the discussion by asserting that once HUSKY had been successfully concluded, the prime objective in the Mediterranean must be to drive Italy out of the war by the best available means. He recounted a litany of beneficial developments - closer ties between the Allies and Turkey, enhanced activity on the part of Balkan guerrillas, which would in turn require either a German retreat from the region or the withdrawal of considerable German forces from Russia, and the elimination of the Italian fleet - all of which would perforce transpire once Italy were driven from the war.

Operation Barclay was put into effect to disguise the troop objective of the allies in 1943. Its goal was to convince the Germans that Sardina, Corisca, or Greece was the next operational target of the Allies. It was hugely successful and the Germans dispatched 5 divisions to Greece to defend against an invasion that never came.

On June 7, 1943 Eisenhower outlined his plan for the invasion of Sicily to the War Department. In addition to the elaborate air plan, which called upon each of the various air commands in the Mediterranean area to contribute to either the build-up or the invasion itself, Eisenhower described a series of simultaneous seaborne assaults, assisted by air landings, to capture the seaports of Licata and Syracuse and the airfields between these cities, in order to lay the groundwork for operations against the airfields at Gerbini, Catania and Augusta. While an aerial campaign would strike Sardinian, Sicilian, and Italian airfields and targets to lay the ground work for the invasion and to keep the Germans guessing on what was the true target.

NOTE: We will be using the Italy terrain for this event.

COUNTRY PERCENTAGES

Roughly 50 / 50 with the Axis having slightly more.

SCORING

CV - 120 points

CA - 60 points
DD - 30 points

5 pts - Single Engine AC with 1 crew
10 pts - Single or double engine AC with 2 crew
15 pts - Double Engine AC with 3+ crew

288 - Small Airfield
396 - Medium Airfield
572 - Large Airfield
TBD - Port
219- Vehicle Base

ARENA SETTINGS

- Italy terrain
- Fuel 1.00
- Icons short 
- .5 Ack 
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 52,000 (about 10 miles) 
- Tower range set to 52,000 (for display only to match the above setting) 
- Clouds / visibility 
  Frame 1, 13 miles
  Frame 2, 7 miles
  Frame 3, 14 miles
- Radar off 
- Friendly collisions off 
- Enemy collisions on
- Kill shooter off 
- Calm winds 
- Time: 11 AM

SPECIAL RULES

Note special rules sent out with the objectives trump these special rules.


1. Nobody on the allied life gets a second life flying a plane.

2. JU87s get a second life.

2. Bomber formations are enabled / available.

3. A minimum and maximum number will be assigned to each aircraft type. The CiC of each side must deploy the designated minimum per aircraft type and can not more than the maximum per aircraft type. Outside of that the CiCs can deploy the aircraft types anyway the want (i.e. can have squads fly 2 aircraft types and in split they wish as long as squads are assigned same objective).

4. If both CiCs agree they may have the setup CM end the frame early. This is usually done if one side wipes out the other side (i.e. 60 versus 5).

5. Dead pilots may gun bombers. They may not man the guns of airfields or ships.

6. Ships can maneuver by the allied side during the frame as long as they stay in their containment area. Ships must stay in containment area defined in the objective orders. If they go outside of the containment area a penalty will be assessed.

7. All targets must be attacked within the first hour of the event. Both CiCs should include sending their battle plans to me so that I have proof that they planned to attack their targets by T+60.

8. All targets must be attacked by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.

9. All targets must be defended by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least  I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad. 

 

GROUND RULES

A ground combat element will be incorporated into the event. Right now in frame 3 there will definitely ground combat. In frame 2 there might be ground combat to simulate the actual amphibious invasion. Specific rules regarding the ground combat will be forth coming. Basically I will be using the same rules and capture the flag idea that was used in the Tunisia and August Storm FSOs.

First off the ground combat will be a type of capture the flag for frame 3. Both sides will spawn outside of a base not controlled by either and will be tasked with capturing the neutral (third party base) and holding it until end frame (so a sort of capture the flag but with a stationary flag).

The amphibious invasion, if done will be following slightly different rules.

Also GV life might either be a one life affair for those assigned to GVs or if I determine that the GV players get a second life in planes later in frame they will not be allowed to up in planes until after a specific time marker (i.e. T+40 or T+50, etc.   ... it is to TBD). However dead GV players may man the guns of other tanks and vehicles.

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