In FitE/SE the Axis player has available a powerful asset not possessed by his historical counterpart. I am not speaking of the unlimited intelligence, enhanced control over Axis Allied armies or increased foreknowledge of the weather, but rather the presence of the 22nd Air Landing Division.

Of course I am aware that the 22nd was present in the Soviet Union, notably in the operations in the Crimea versus the fortress of Sevastopol. The difference between game and history is the ability of this unit to make air assaults via glider transport. The problem stems from this unit's unit-type symbol-that little bar running through the "crossed rifles" of the infantry symbol. We'll address this later, but first let's examine the actual history of this unit.

The 22nd "Oldenburg" Luftlande Division was an active division made up largely of personnel from Oldenburg and East Prussia. Its 16th, 47th and 65th regiments had been trained in air landing procedures: they knew how to get into and out of Ju52s quickly. The division was equipped as a normal infantry division, which meant that the bulk of the division's supporting units, including the artillery regiment (the 22nd), were not able to accompany the division when used in an air landing role.

Although one regiment was made available for operations in Poland (the 16th) it was not employed for any air landing missions. The whole division, however, was available for the assault on The Netherlands and was used in its intended role, as air landing troops.

The division was charged with following up elements of the 7th Flieger Division, after the paratroops had seized and secured air fields in The Netherlands. Their primary mission was to capture the Dutch capital, Den Haag (The Hague).

Having thus paralyzed the Dutch government, it was expected that resistance would collapse.

Of course, plans have a habit of going awry in the heat of battle. The Dutch defense at Den Haag was stronger than expected and heavy losses were experienced by the air landing troops. Not all of the airfields were controlled by the paratroopers and many of the follow up troops were diverted away from their primary objectives.

Although many of the Ju52 pilots made heroic efforts to bring their passengers down on the airfields where battle was still raging, their very bravery caused problems. Soon, many of the airfields were littered with wrecks and later flights had no where to land. Even those airfields successfully captured were rendered useless by the twisted wreckage of Ju52s crash landed on and.around the fields. Many of the Ju52s chose to land upon the Rotterdam- Hague autobahn. The divisional commander, Lt. Gen. Graf von Sponeck (complete with full dress uniform and horse) was put down in a field, after the Ju52 he was in was unable to land at either its primary or secondary airfield.

The attack upon The Hague was a failure, although there can be no denying the confusion and discomfort caused the Dutch by the arrival of a regiment of airborne and two regiments of air transported troops.

Kesselring, the commander of Luftflotte 2, then ordered von Sponeck to concentrate on assisting the airborne forces fighting for the Waalhaven airfield and the Willems bridge at Rotterdam.

It was at Rotterdam that the most unusual air landing was made. The 11th Company, 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 22nd Luftlande Division didn't land at a captured airfield. Rather, these men, along with elements of the divisional pioneer battalion, arrived literally underneath the Willems bridge, by landing on the Nieuwe Maas in 12 antiquated He 59 floatplanes! As if to REALLY make this a unique operation, the first troops to reinforce the floatplane landed company were elements of the III/FJR 1, who arrived by trolley bus!

After landing in a sports stadium by parachute, these troops simply took public transit to the battlefield! This coup de main, assisted by III/FJR 1, was a complete success. Though hard pressed, the men of III/16 Inf and III/FJR 1 held out until the Rotterdam bombing raid convinced the local Dutch commander to capitulate.

It should be mentioned here that these actions by 22nd Luftlande were carried out as air landing operations. No gliders were used in any of these landings, the men simply deplaned from transports landed at airfields. Considering the paucity of gliders in the Luftwaffe, this is understandable.

What gliders were available were used in the capture of bridges in the east of Belgium and at Eben Emael, all situations where the special qualities of glider assault (silence, decreased dispersal of troops, ability to transport more than personal weapons, etc.) were of primary importance.

Although the 22nd Luftlande was included among those troops allotted to the "Sea Lion" mission, and was alerted for possible employment in Operations "Merkur" and "Marita", it was never again to be employed in an air landing role. As ground troops, the men of the 22nd Luftlande acted as part of the garrison of Rumania during the Balkan campaign, and later participated in "Barbarossa". During the late summer of 1942 the division was transferred from the Crimea to Greece, ending up as the garrison of Festung Kreta. One regiment, the 47th, was transferred to Tunisia late in 1942, where it was destroyed.

Beyond nebulous plans to use the division in the assault on Malta (planned but never attempted), this is the story of the division. What does all of this mean, in terms of Europa games? For FoF, TFH, BF, WD and FitE/SE, the picture is clear. For each of these games, the Axis should have the services of a division trained in air landing operations; i.e., one which can be transported by air and landed on friendly controlled airfields.

This situation is well represented in FoF, where there are insufficient glider units available to warrant any special rules for glider assaults by air landing infantry. However, all of the other games include enough glider air units to provide sufficient lift for one or more regiments of air landing troops, along with special rules to cover their use in this manner.

However, the historic fact is that, regardless of Europa rules to the contrary, the 22nd Luftlande was never used in an air assault role as allowed by these games. FitEISE is a serious case due to the number of glider air units available and the lack, early on, of any "true" airborne troops. If one wishes to launch an airborne operation prior to the arrival of the 7th Flieger, one is forced to employ the 22nd Luftlande. BF is even worse, since it not only decreases the number of glider units required for an air assault, but it also misrepresents actual German paratroops as air landing infantry (the Sturm regiment).

The question is simple; could the 22nd Luftlande Division have been used in the manner that these games depict? Part of the answer is simple as well; it never was... But could it have been?

My simple answer is "No". Nothing I have read indicates that the troops of this division ever received any training in glider operations, even in terms of transport, let alone air assault. And the mere fact that they were not used in this manner is circumstantial evidence that they were not glider capable. Another piece of circumstantial evidence is the personality of Hermann Goering; had these troops truly been "airborne", in the sense of being capable of air assaults, even only with glider transport, then he never would have let them remain outside his control. ALL airborne units (until late in the war) were controlled, raised, and maintained by the Luftwaffe.

If the evidence is against 22nd Luftlande being used as glider assault troops, what does this mean for those Europa games where it appears? Simple, do not allow the units of the 22nd to make air assaults, regardless of the number of gliders used. These units, the three breakdown regiments, may be transported to captured airfields, but nothing else.

"But", you exclaim, "I rely upon these units as part of my airborne contingent!" Tough. If they weren't airborne troops for Hitler and Co., why should they be for you?

Or, "But", you exclaim, "there must have been something special about these troops. Their special training and their use in Holland demonstrate this!"

True. And to show this, in game terms, we need to develop a new unit type and rules to go along with it. What made the 22nd unique was its training in the air landing role: debarking from transport aircraft onto recently captured airfields.

Currently, Europa rules differentiate between two classes of "airborne" troops: true paratroops, dropping by parachute; and glider infantry, airborne units inserted onto the battlefield through the use of specialized glider air transport. But in fact, the very existence of the 22nd Luftlande indicates that there was a third class of "airborne" troops, distinct from the other two. What we need is a new unit-type symbol to be used by "true!' glider-airborne troops; this is a simple matter, just add the gull wing symbol to the present glider infantry symbol, as shown below.

Voila, we now have our three "classes" of troops. Parachute airborne, which drop from transports, glider airborne which require some percentage of gliders as lift, and air landing (with its current symbology) which can merely be air transported. For Europa purposes, the only Axis units affected by this rule change appear in Westem DesertlTorch, these being the "Bee' Luftwaffe Glider Infantry Regiment and the Italian DdA Glider Infantry Regiment. As "true" glider units, these two regiments deserve the new symbol, along with its abilities.

For all games, the 22nd Luftlande remains as depicted and functions as an air landing unit. But we still need to show, in game terms, the special abilities of this unit, now that we have denied it the air assault capability. This too is a simple matter.

Change the air transport rules such that one may only transport units to airfields that were under friendly control (owned) at the start of the immediately preceding friendly initial phase, unless the unit being air transported is a parachute, glider, or air landing unit. Now the 22nd may be used in its intended role, without making it unduly powerful, but while still showing its special training. Of all the German units available, only it can follow up the airborne in the same air phase in which an airbase is captured.

(For Fire in the East/Scorched Earth, the Soviet parachute-infantry brigades are treated as air landing troops for purposes of air transport to newly captured airbases, even if not using the optional rule concerning their air drop capabilities. The two Guards glider infantry brigades should also be treated as air landing, and not glider, troops. This is necessary since the Soviets have no glider air units in the game.)

As an added bonus, this also prevents the absurd situation, often seen in FitE/SE, of security regiments and SS police regiments being used as airmobile shock troops by the Axis player. The foolishness of allowing a couple of thousand 40+ year old Landesshutzen to act as the spearhead of Armee Gruppe Sud's advance into the Ukraine requires no elaboration.

There you have it. Two minor changes to the game, and not only is the 22nd Luftlande depicted in its true light, but, in addition, ludicrous abuses are prevented. While the German player does lose some airborne capability, it was unrealistic and non-historical capability to begin with. Thus, I feel that the use of these rules will make for a better game, as well as a better simulation.

And isn't that what Europa is all about?