Total
War in Europe Master Scenario List and Overview Part II:
It
seems that the scenario numbering convention for this series
goes like this:
1XX = TFB, 2XX = WSF, 3XX = Next title in series, etc...
It
also bears noting that the scenarios' numbering system can
sometimes look as if perhaps a scenario is missing, it appears
that the fist digit refers to the title (e.g. 2 = WSF, per
above, and the 2nd digit may refer to theater or campaign.
E.g. -21X -where the 1 refers to the Greek campaign - just
an educated guess on my part, though). I felt this note
was needed as the list jumps from 219 to 221 (it may just
be period as well - as 22X seems to refer to CW vs Italy
and 23X seems to be CW vs Italy/DAK). -ST
War
on the Southern Front:
#200-Mareth
Line Started Scenario:
The
Mareth Line, Tunisia, March 20th 1943. After finally pushing
Rommel's DAK and their Italian allies back to Tunisia early
in 1943, almost 3 years after the desert war began, Montgomery
and the 8th Army had to wait for their supply to catch up
with the spearheads, before attacking the pre-war fortifications
called the Mareth Line. Finally, by March 20th, Montgomery
was ready to breach the line. Getting Started: "On
the Mareth Line" is the Getting Started scenario
for War on the Southern Front and is to be used,
along with the Getting Started help file, to gain familiarity
with the game system.
#210-Greece-10-40.scn
Italian/Greek War:
Albania,
Oct 28th 1940: Mussolini wanted a conquest to show Hitler
and the rest of the world that the Italian Army was a capable
force. With much bravado, the Italian Army invaded Greece
in late 1940. Over 6 divisions' worth of men spearheaded
the invasion. Initially taken by surprise, Greek outposts
were driven back; but the invasion lost its momentum and
stalled. The Hellenic Army rallied to the cause and within
a month the Greeks were counter-attacking, forcing the Italians
back into Albania. Designer Note: This is a longer scenario
than we normally would include, as it covered periods when
there was little action, but we felt players would want
to try it, although gauging meaningful victory levels for
it was challenging.
#211-Greece-10-40_short.scn
Italian/Greek War (short):
Albania,
Oct 28th 1940: Mussolini wanted a conquest to show Hitler
and the rest of the world that the Italian Army was a capable
force. With much bravado, the Italian Army invaded Greece
in late 1940. Over 6 divisions' worth of men spearheaded
the invasion. Initially taken by surprise, Greek outposts
were driven back; but the invasion lost its momentum and
stalled. The focus of this scenario is the first 16 day
(8 game turns) where the Italian Army had the momentum.
#212-Greece-11-40.scn
Italian/Greek War (Greek counterattack):
Albania,
Oct 28th 1940: After some initial success in the first 16
days, the early invasion of Greece by the Italians came
to a stalemate. By mid November the Greek reserves began
reaching the front and, while the front with Bulgaria remained
quiet, the Greek High Command transferred a number of divisions
to the Albanian frontier for their own attack. But the Greeks
did not succeed in breaking through and their offensive
towards Valona failed. Another stalemate prevailed.
#215-Balkans-4-41.scn
Invasion of the Balkans 1941:
Invasion
of the Balkans, April 1941: Hitler's advance on the Balkans
was motivated by the desire to secure his southern flank
before invading Russia, rather than helping his Italian
allies. "Operation Punishment" was a masterpiece
of German efficiency and the Yugoslavs stood little chance
against German organization and armaments. They surrendered
unconditionally on April 17th. The Greeks, with their British
allies, were left to face the onslaught and the Greek army
eventually surrendered April 23rd. The British forces remaining
moved south, and some 43000 men were taken off the mainland
to Crete, which also fell to the Germans shortly thereafter.
#216-Greece-4-41.scn
Invasion of Eastern Greece:
‘Unternehmen
Marita’, Greece, April 6th 1941: The German invasion
of Greece relied as much on politics as it did on military
force. Bulgaria joined the Axis in March 1941, thereby giving
Germany excellent bases for an invasion. Yugoslavia joined
the Axis on March 25th, and rights were secured to pass
through her territory and drive into northern Greece. Greek
political pride played into German hands as well; resentment
of Italy and Bulgaria resulted in 90% of the Hellenic Army
being deployed in Albania, or along the border with Bulgaria.
A single division held the entire Yugoslav boundary. Greece’s
ego would be her downfall. Britain attempted to parry German
gains; the pro-Nazi Greek king was wooed by the Allies,
and one armored and two infantry divisions were stripped
from North Africa and sent to Greece. OKH had devised an
ambitious plan. Using an Army split along two axes, a force
of six divisions would drive into Thrace from Bulgaria,
lulling the Greeks into believing the Bulgarian deployment
was sound, while the main Panzer force passed through Yugoslavia,
invading down the Axios River corridor into the Greek heartland.
Italian forces would also attack to keep Greek units fixed
on the Albanian Front. The plan was nearly un-hinged by
a coup in Yugoslavia. The new regime nullified transit rights
and renounced all treaties. In response, Hitler ordered
the immediate invasion of Yugoslavia to occur with the invasion
of Greece. The tanks of the Axios River thrust would just
have to fight their way to their start positions.
#217-Greece-4-41_Alt.scn
Invasion of Greece (Reinforced):
In
his book, "The Grand Alliance", Winston Churchill
was often writing his generals in Cairo expounding on them
the importance of doing everything virtually within their
power to support Greece and the Greek Army in their coming
fight against the Germans. Even at the expense of stripping
the Middle East of forces needed to defend Egypt and the
Nile. The actual plan called for a stronger force to hold
the Aliakmon. The army started to move units to Greece on
March 5th, but before the plans were complete, the Germans
struck. This scenario has the British Army reinforced with
the Polish Motorized Brigade and the 7th Australian Division.
#218-Crete-5-41.scn
Invasion of Crete:
Crete,
May 20th 1941: In the desert, Tobruk was surrounded and
Rommel stood on the Egyptian frontier facing the British,
who, a few days previously, had halted Operation Brevity
to relieve Tobruk. Operation Seelowe, the invasion of Britain,
had been cancelled and all eyes were now looking east. Six
weeks had passed since the Germans had invaded Yugoslavia
and Greece to bail out their Italian partners. Now their
attention was focused on the Soviet Union, where Hitler
had massed his army on the Russian border for Operation
Barbarossa. Thus, in the big picture, Crete was a small
sideshow where the Allies clung by their fingernails to
southern Europe, the Germans having far greater issues pressuring
them. It was at this time, the Germans, at the pinnacle
of their airborne power, decided to invade Crete using Generalmajor
Kurt Student's crack force of Fallschirmjäger. There
were several plans proposed, ranging from one major Drop
Zone, to others where troops would arrive scattered in 7
locations. The final plan for "Operation Merkur",
or "Mercury", represented a compromise imposed
by Reichsmarshall Goering, calling for a morning assault
in the Maleme\Canea sector, followed up with two afternoon
drops in the vicinity of Rethymnon and Heraklion. Designer
Note: To investigate alternative Axis Drop Zones, see scenario
# 219.
#219-Crete-5-41.scn
Invasion of Crete (Variable Entry):
Crete,
May 20th 1941: In the desert, Tobruk was surrounded and
Rommel stood on the Egyptian frontier facing the British,
who, a few days previously, had halted Operation Brevity
to relieve Tobruk. Operation Seelowe, the invasion of Britain,
had been cancelled and all eyes were now looking east. Six
weeks had passed since the Germans had invaded Yugoslavia
and Greece to bail out their Italian partners. Now their
attention was focused on the Soviet Union where Hitler had
massed his army on the Russian border for Operation Barbarossa.
Thus, in the big picture, Crete was a small sideshow where
the Allies clung by their fingernails to southern Europe,
the Germans having far greater issues pressuring them. It
was at this time, the Germans, at the pinnacle of their
airborne power, decided to invade Crete using Generalmajor
Kurt Student's crack force of Fallschirmjäger. There
were several plans proposed, ranging from one major Drop
Zone, to others where troops would arrive scattered in 7
locations. The final plan for "Operation Merkur",
or "Mercury", represented a compromise imposed
by Reichsmarshall Goering, calling for a morning assault
in the Maleme\Canea sector, followed up with two afternoon
drops in the vicinity of Rethymnon and Heraklion. Designer
Note: This scenario explores an alternative landing zone
plan using the Strategy | Operations Feature where the Axis
player can select where the drop zone will be - historical
or alternative.
#221-North
Africa 12-40.scn Operation Compass:
North
Africa, December 8th 1940: Operation Compass in 1940 was
the first battle of the desert war in North Africa. The
original intent of the operation was reconnaissance and
a limited offensive, with the objective of disrupting Italian
forces that had invaded Egypt in September 1940. After the
attack began, it soon became clear that the British forces
could accomplish more than that. In less than two months
the British conducted what turned out to be a blitzkrieg
across 500 miles of North Africa, destroying nine Italian
divisions and taking 130,000 prisoners. The result of this
devastating Italian defeat is what directly caused the arrival
of the Desert Fox and his Afrika Korps to Libya in March
1941. Designer Note: Please note the unit withdrawals on
both sides.
#230-North
Africa-4-41.scn Rommel's First Offensive:
North
Africa, March 24th 1941: Rommel had arrived in Tripoli mid
February, by mid March he assessed that the British were
not going to attack, indeed they were using troops from
North Africa to bolster the defence of Greece. Accordingly,
he attacked using 5th Light Division with two Italian divisions.
Meeting little opposition they swiftly moved east along
three axes of advance, arriving piecemeal at Tobruk on April
10th. The British had reinforced Tobruk with the 7th Australian
Division which grimly held the port. Rommel bypassed Tobruk
and finally ran out of steam after taking the Halfaya Pass
at Buq-Buq on April 25th.
#231-North
Africa-5-41.scn Operation Brevity:
May
1941: After the Axis had captured the Halfaya Pass, both
sides continued to build up strength. Gen Wavell realised
that he could not mount a relief operation without occupying
the pass, therefore he ordered a three pronged attack to
take the pass, Sollum, and Fort Capuzzo. Rommel believed
this to be a major advance and swiftly counter attacked
in strength, retaking all but the pass. Later, on May 10th,
the VIII. Pz Regt outflanked the defenders and compelled
them to withdraw. The pass was then reinforced with more
fortifications and 88mm anti-aircraft guns.
#232-North
Africa-6-41.scn Operation Battleaxe:
June
1942: By June 14th, Gen Ritchie had accepted the fact that
the battle for the Gazala Line had been lost, and ordered
the units remaining on the front line to break off the action
and withdraw. The Axis closed in at once and surrounded
Tobruk by June18th. The Australians had held a long siege
the previous year, so the upper echelon expected the same
again this time. The Tobruk Garrison this time was roughly
the same size as before, and was organized around the 2nd
South African Division, but the fortifications were not
near as strong. Many of the mines had been pulled to be
re-sown on the Gazala Line and, through the changing of
the garrison, many minefields were simply lost track of.
As before, Rommel by-passed Tobruk and drove the 8th Army
back across the border into Egypt. But on the night of June
19th, Rommel disengaged his tanks at the front line and
doubled back to strike at Tobruk. When the attack began,
General Klopper thought the first strike was a diversionary
attack and thus was slow to react with his reserves. Before
he could, it was too late. The front line was broken in
a sector held by the 11th Indian Brigade, with the Cameron
Highlanders and Mahratta Light Infantry, perhaps two of
the best regiments in the 8th Army, that were, as it turns
out, stretched over too much frontage. The fortress of Tobruk,
having withstood the siege for months the previous year,
fell in a single day's fight. It was a staggering blow to
the British, in particular their leader Winston Churchill,
who was said to have muttered, "Defeat is one thing,
disgrace is another!"
#241-Syria-8-41.scn
Invasion of Syria:
Syria,
June - July 1941: The Vichy French forces holding Syria
and Lebanon were seen as posing a direct threat to the Allies.
After the fall of Greece and Crete a force was sent to break
the Vichy hold of these countries. It was outnumbered by
the Vichy forces, and it took fairly heavy fighting to take
Damascus. The force pushed on north and was joined by troops
from Iraq, an armistice was signed July 11th which gave
control of Syria and Lebanon to the Free French forces.
#250-North
Africa-11-41.scn Operation Crusader:
November
- December 1941: At this time, both sides were short on
supplies, more so the Axis, but Churchill pressed Gen Auchinleck
to mount an offensive. XXX Corps would advance to engage
enemy armor and relieve Tobruk, while XIII Corps would invest
the frontier positions around Fort Capuzzo. Rommel mistook
XXX Corps' attack for a strong reconnaissance, and instead
of meeting it head on, made strong countermoves to secure
the border area. After much confused fighting during which
the British lost a large number of their tanks, and a South
African Division was nearly destroyed, the 2nd New Zealand
Division was able to break through to Tobruk. Rommel decided
to withdraw to El Agheila as his troops were close to exhaustion
and the supply situation was critical.
#260-North
Africa-1-42.scn Rommel's Second Offensive:
January
21st 1942: After the German offensive following Crusader,
the Germans were in a position which was, in fact, strategically
not too bad. They could not be outflanked and they were
closer to their supply base at Tripoli. The British on the
other hand were thinly stretched across the Cyrenaica with
a long line of communications trailing all the way back
to Egypt. With the forces at hand Rommel thought if he struck
quickly he could gain local superiority and drive the British
back across the desert once again, this time capturing Tobruk
and driving all the way to the Nile. Ambitious plans which
almost succeeded.
#261-North
Africa-5-42.scn Gazala to Alamein:
Gazala,
May 27th 1942: After recapturing Cyrenaica early in the
year, Rommel and the Africa Korps paused to catch its breath.
Facing them, across a minefield stretching from the Mediterranean
Sea to the French stronghold at Bir Hacheim, some 65km to
the south, was the 8th Army. It was led by the ever tentative
British commander, General Ritchie, a staff officer who
had never commanded anything larger than a company in battle.
Ritchie deployed his infantry in a number of defensive boxes
along a static front line with an open left flank. This
position, known as the Gazala Line, was backed with the
only mobile formations, the armored divisions that represented
his reserves. Everyone at 8th Army HQ expected Rommel to
drive down the main road along the coast. Therefore Rommel
provided a diversion in that direction to keep the British
command occupied; while he led the powerful panzer divisions
and the best of the Italian mobile formations around the
end of the line into the British rear area. Dawn found the
Axis forces slicing through the screening armored car recon
units Ritchie had deployed to cover his open flank. This
would be a battle where the British led 8th Army was once
again outmanoeuvred. While the position Rommel placed the
Africa Korps in was very tenuous for a number of days, due
to the lack of supply, poorly co-ordinated British counter-attacks
left Rommel to turn a bad situation into one of the greatest
victories in his career.
#270-North
Africa-10-42.scn Alamein:
El
Alamein, October 23rd 1942: Two years had passed in the
struggle for control of the Western Desert. Each side had
won, and each side had lost, neither side had managed to
inflict a decisive defeat on the other. The two sides had
frequently been compared to two boxers, each tied with the
elastic rope of their supply line, as one moved further
from the supply source, the stronger the pull his rope exerted
to get him back to his corner. The balance had now passed
back to the 8th Army, close to its supply and getting stronger
each day, while the Afrika Korps was at the end of its rope
and getting weaker. Montgomery had planned a deliberate
bleeding of Rommel's daunted troops, attacking here and
there to cause them to react and burn precious fuel in constant
movement. The time was now ripe to finish the Afrika Korps
once and for all. Monty's plan was for XIII Corps to mount
holding attacks, while XXX Corps delivered the main blow
in the north. Two corridors were to be secured so that the
armor of X Corps could move through the extensive minefields
and destroy the Axis armor. British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill called the Allied victory at Alamein "The
End of the Beginning!"
#271-North
Africa-10-42.scn Alamein HTH:
El
Alamein, October 23rd 1942: Two years had passed in the
struggle for control of the Western Desert. Each side had
won, and each side had lost, neither side had managed to
inflict a decisive defeat on the other. The two sides had
frequently been compared to two boxers, each tied with the
elastic rope of their supply line, as one moved further
from the supply source, the stronger the pull his rope exerted
to get him back to his corner. The balance had now passed
back to the 8th Army, close to its supply and getting stronger
each day, while the Afrika Korps was at the end of its rope
and getting weaker. Montgomery had planned a deliberate
bleeding of Rommel's daunted troops, attacking here and
there to cause them to react and burn precious fuel in constant
movement. The time was now ripe to finish the Afrika Korps
once and for all. Monty's plan was for XIII Corps to mount
holding attacks, while XXX Corps delivered the main blow
in the north. Two corridors were to be secured so that the
armor of X Corps could move through the extensive minefields
and destroy the Axis armor. British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill called the Allied victory at Alamein "The
End of the Beginning!" Once through the Axis line a
swift advance was aided by Rommel's withdrawal to El Agheila.
Designer Note: This scenario is best played HTH.
#280-NW
Africa-11-42.scn Torch Landings:
North
Africa, November, 1942: For the powerful Wehrmacht, 1942
was a good year. On the Eastern Front they had reached the
Volga and the battle for Stalingrad had begun. In the North
Atlantic, the wolf packs roamed, sinking more ships at an
alarming rate. But in the desert while the Suez Canal had
been threatened, Rommel had been in retreat for a week or
more. Now, although things were looking better for the Allies,
they could not be said to be winning yet. It was not the
Beginning of the End, rather it was perhaps the End of the
Beginning. American ground forces were about to enter the
war in Europe, coming ashore in Vichy held territory at
various strategic places. They were not sure what, if any,
opposition they would face. But as author Rick Atkinson
said, "They were ready to right a world gone wrong".
Designer Note: This is a very small scenario depicting the
invasion phase, as the American army sought to secure Casablanca,
Oran and Algiers. As the Allies did not know what they would
face, which units would fight and which units would surrender,
it makes use of Strategy | Operations which under AI Axis
control will give this scenario variations in play each
time.
#281-NW
Africa-11-42.scn Tunisia Campaign:
Tunisia,
Nov-Dec 1942: This scenario covers the initial Allied attempt
to take Tunis from mid November to late Dec 1942. It starts
on Nov 17th, when first contact was made between Allied
forces rushing eastward and Axis units that were rushed
to Tunisia from Sicily. The Allies tried a quick push to
Bizerta, using the British 36th and 11th Infantry Brigades
from the 78th Infantry Division, supported by an armored
regiment from the British 6th Armored Division. Although
this attack was unsuccessful it was quickly followed up
by a more concerted and deliberate attack with US, British,
and French forces. The scenario ends on Dec 31st, 1942.
Historically the Allies halted their offense on Dec 26th
after minimal progress was made after a month of tough fighting
against Axis forces that continued to grow in strength as
reinforcements flowed over from Sicily. Allied casualties
were nearly 21,000 over this period.
#283-NW
Africa-2-43.scn Tunisia (Kasserine Start):
Tunisia,-
Feb, 1943: By early 1943, Rommel was holding off the cautious
British on the old Mareth Line where Monty was waiting to
build up his supply for the next push. Anderson with a mixed
force of British, American, and Free French Troops were
pressing from the west. At this time, the Germans tried
an audacious plan to strike at the largely green US troops
putting the Allies back on their heels. But in the end,
the Axis troops were too badly outnumbered and, without
control of the sea, they were doomed to wither on the vine.
Still, they were able to hold until May 12th, all the while
delaying the next phase of the Allies plan to attack Sicily
and Italy.
#290-Sicily-7.43.scn
Operation Husky:
Sicily,
July 9th 1943: With the North African Campaign over, the
Allies, at the behest of an impatient Soviet Union, turned
towards the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe. The island
of Sicily was the logical stepping-stone between the Allies'
desert victories and the European mainland. In what was
something of a dress rehearsal for the much more famous
Normandy landings a year later, two Allied armies, the American
7th and the British 8th, set out to invade Sicily. Each
supported by its own airborne assault, the invading armies
would hit the southern shores and immediately push northward,
their ultimate objective the port of Messina at the island's
north-eastern tip. The plan called for a Commonwealth thrust
along the eastern coastal roads and for an American drive
directly through the island's center. The Italian 6th Army,
supported by two German divisions, lay in wait across the
rugged Sicilian landscape. The Axis forces would use the
unforgiving terrain to offer opposition that historians
would later immortalize in books with names like "Bitter
Victory" and "Sicily: Whose Victory?"
