Parachutes Over Crete: scenario #15: Engineer Drop.

An interesting scenario, as I love scenarios with actual airdrops in them. I noticed that the airdrop rules are a little different than Korean War: Counter-Attack or Nihon Silk, just some minor things, so I had to read over them twice.

The Greeks & Cretan forces setup according to the rules mostly around the Bridge victory hex but also the four units that need to start on the other map with intentions of blocking German units or rejoining their comrades around the Bridge hex on map 96 depending on the situation. The German scattered pretty badly in their parachute drops and one Lieutenant was lost, landing right in a group on enemy units.

After the first 10 turns, I thought the Germans had no chance to take that bloody bridge but they pulled together and with the help of air-support were able to gather some momentum. On the very last turn, they assaulted with a strong force and knocked out the one demoralized Cretan unit and Greek officer for the victory and control of the bridge.

I tell you what, this was no easy task and only with some luck of the dice and the German air-support were they able to win a major victory on the very last turn, otherwise the Greeks would have win. Just for this factor alone and that it’s an actual airdrop scenario, I’ll rank it a 5 out of 5. Great scenario to play.

AP gave me a paper, two sided terrain chart in this game for some reason? I guess they ran out of card stock.

This is a small battle which in reality was a major Greek victory. The Germans underestimated Allied strength in the area and launched a paradrop with only two companies of engineers.

In this scenario, there are only 37 counters, yet it plays “big “. The battlefield has varied terrain that allows both sides to try to outmaneuver each other in a chess match. Both forces are evenly matched. However, the Germans do have one huge advantage: AirPower. Not a tremendous amount, four turns worth. But this was enough to destroy key Greek positions.

The game started with the 7th Airborne DivisioParachute Engineer Battalion dropping in close to the bridge over the Kervis River. The 8th Greek Regiment was not caught off guard. Enough platoons were in the area to move in swiftly and capture three German leaders in the first turn and destroy a platoon step; the first German loss to the Greeks in three games. The Germans pulled together by the third turn and started to take a toll on the Greeks. The two Cretan platoons were completely destroyed in the 2nd turn. In the 4th turn, six Greek steps were killed off

By the 6th turn, the Greeks lost the bridge and two more steps. A German mortar was assaulted (assaults were comprised most of the combat) by a Greek 10-1-1 Lt. and two infantry units and. disrupted all three Greek units! And so the die rolls went. The final tally was that the Germans lost four steps, the Greeks eleven, and the bridge fell to the paratroopers.The game was mercifully stopped in the 9th turn with a German minor victory.