Rule I-Introduction

United Press International, 3 March 1939. General Maurice Gamelin, commander in chief of the French Armies, has retired today after a stroke suffered February 28th. Doctors had said yesterday that the prognosis was not good for recovery in the near future. Edouard Daladier, Prime Minister of France, praised General Gamelin for his hard work to ensure the security of France and said that the good people of France wish him a speedy recovery. The Prime Minister also announced that General Maxime Weygand had been recalled from Syria to replace General Gamelin as Chief of the General Staff and Vice-President of the Superior War Council.

Spurred by the occupation of the rump of Czechoslovakia on March 15th, General Weygand ordered an reevaluation of the military potential of France relative to that of Germany, as the seizure of the substantial arms industry of the Czechs had changed the balance of power. The report concluded that France outnumbered Germany on the ground as long as Germany was forced to maintain forces on its eastern borders, but without such a requirement France was doomed to defeat in any war and Germany would get stronger, relative to France, over the years.

Based on this report, General Weygand recommended to the Prime Minister that all efforts be made to secure an alliance with Poland as the only nation capable of tying down major portions of the Wehrmacht if Germany attacked France. The Poles were receptive to the idea as they were newly conscious of being isolated between two hostile powers. Nothing further came of the idea until Hitler began agitating for the return of the Danzig corridor in the early summer of 1939. In August both Britain and France issued guarantees to Poland that if it was attacked by Germany that they would declare war on Germany. Both countries fervently hoped that the guarantees would make Hitler think twice about attacking Poland.

General Weygand, however, had ordered studies done earlier in the summer to investigate the strategic possibilities if Poland was attacked and France had to fulfill its obligations to Poland. They concluded that the Germans were significantly weaker in the West than the French so long as the Poles were still resisting. The transfer of forces from Poland would tilt the scales against France, but this was deemed unlikely to happen quickly. Plans were ordered for an attack on Germany by France and Britain.

Three different plans were considered. The first involved a thrust through the incomplete Siegfried Line into the Saarland with the ultimate objective of K61n (Cologne). Its great advantages were that it would block any possibility of a drive through Belgium by the Germans and its flanks would be covered by the Rhine and by Luxembourg and Belgium, but the easily defensible terrain of the area promised slow going.

The second was an attack across the Rhine into the Black Forest region which was far less well defended by the Germans, but didn't offer any strategic targets short of Stuttgart. The Rhine was not viewed as a serious obstacle due to the enormous French artillery superiority, but progress would be slow as the difficult terrain would hamper all but the mountain troops.

The third was for a drive down the Rhine valley in the direction of Mannheim. While offering many worthwhile objectives relatively close to the French border, it was very exposed to attacks from its flanks and the cities themselves promised to be significant barriers to continued progress.

Drafts of the plans had been shown to the British when General Weygand began frequent informal staff talks earlier that summer. The British were receptive, but warned that their ability to assist would be quite limited during the early portions of the offensive.

The preceding passage offers a rationale for a French attack that the French never seriously considered launching. Due to consistent over-estimation of German military might and poor intelligence, the French made only a token effort to fulfill their obligations to Poland by a desultory advance a couple of kilometers into Germany on September 7th that was soon withdrawn. I've always thought it a fascinating "what-if" to consider what might have happened had the French attacked before the Germans had redeployed from Poland. I've put this scenario together with help from David Hughes and Greg Bartels to let you find out for yourself.

Rule 2--Game Components

Rules

The First to Fight rules are used as amended below.

Orders of Battle.

The initial forces section of the German Operation Saar order of battle supplements the Polish Campaign initial forces section, except for the rail capacity, which it replaces. Otherwise, use the Polish Campaign orders of battle along with the scenario orders of battle, but delete all reinforcements from the German Polish Campaign order of battle.

Maps

Overlay Europa Map 13A on top of Map 16A from Second Front. (Use of Map 16 from Fall of France is not recommended due to the extensive changes to the fortifications.) Finally, overlay Map 37 over Map 13A. Unless otherwise specified, all hex locations are on Map 16A.

Counters.

All German forces are in First to Fight. All French forces are in Fall of France with the exception of the French Am.143M air unit from First to Fight. Use of the Polish Battle air units from First to Fight is required as Fall of France doesn't have enough Battle counters to show what was actually there.

Charts.

Use all the charts from First to Fight, plus the supplements provided herein.

Rule 3-Basic Game Concepts

B. Sides.

2. Polish. Change all references to the Polish player to Allied player. The Allied player also controls all British forces.

a. The Western Allies. The Western Allies are Britain and France.

3. Neutral. Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland are also neutrals.

E. Geography.

1. Scenario Boundary. The scenario's western boundary is hex row 1927-3233 exclusive.

Rule 7-Transportation Lines

A. Railroads

1. Rail Movement (Supplement). Ouvrage hexes with an intrinsic defense factor negate enemy ZOCs in the same manner as a unit with a defense strength greater than zero that started in the hex.

3. Clearing Rail Lines. Change all references to "German" to "capturing player" and all references to "Polish" to "original owning" player. Change the reference to "Poland" to "enemy territory". The one construction brigade in the French OB is treated as a railroad engineer only.

Rule 12-Supply

C. Supply Sources.

1. Full Supply Sources.
French: Any rail hex on the western boundary.
British: Any rail hex on the western boundary.

2. Restricted Supply Sources.
French: Any Maginot Line ouvrage is a supply source for any French units in or adjacent to the ouvrage hex.

Rule 14-Special Ground Units

A. Engineers.

2. Combat Engineers. A combat engineer is automatically supported when attacking into or defending in an ouvrage or Westwall hex. Add ouvrage and Westwall hexes to the types of terrain eligible for the engineer proportion.

3. Assault Engineers. An assault engineer has both its attack strength and RE size doubled when attacking into an ouvrage hex. Its attack strength is doubled when attacking across a fortified hexside (only).

Correction [from # 30]

2. The rules regarding assault engineers in Operation Saar in TEM #29 were not complete. Change Rule 14A3 to read: An assault engineer is automatically supported when attacking into or defending in an ouvrage or Westwall hex. An assault engineer has both its attack and RE size doubled when attacking into an ouvrage or Westwall hex. Its attack strength is doubled when attacking across a fortified hexside (only).

4. Railroad Engineers. The French construction engineer unit has the same abilities as a German railroad engineer unit (only).

B. Artillery.

2. Siege Artillery. Siege artillery units have their strength doubled when attacking Westwall hexes with a net die-roll modifier of -1 or -2 (see Rule 26135) or when attacking across a fortified hexside.

3. Railroad Siege Artillery. Railroad siege artillery is siege artillery that has a range of 2 hexes. When firing at two-hex range, it is not subject to any combat results, may not advance after combat, and may not be included in exchange calculations. Railroad siege artillery units may not attack by themselves at two-hex range; they may only attack if units adjacent to the defending hex are attacking as well. When firing at one-hex range (i.e., adjacent to the defending hex), railroad siege artillery is subject to all combat results.

D. Fortress Units.

1. The Sarre Division. Treat the Sarre Fortress Division as if it has a movement allowance of zero.

Rule 22- Antiaircraft

A. Capabilities.

1. lntrinsic AA Strengths. Each British division and artillery brigade has an intrinsic light AA strength of 1.

Rule 24-Special Air Rules

D. The Battle Bomber.

Use the ratings of the Polish Battle air units for all Battle counters.

Rule 25-Airborne Operations

A. Disruption.

-1 for a French parachute unit

Rule 26-Special Rules

B. Fortifications

2. Fortified Hexsides. Use the existing rule with the following additions. The effects of fortified hexsides are cumulative with ouvrages, and French fortified hexsides have an intrinsic defense. Thus, all units except siege artillery, combat engineers, and assault engineers attacking an ouvrage hex through an improved fortified hexside would be quartered. Combat engineers would be halved and siege artillery and assault engineers would be at face value.

When an enemy unit captures a hex containing improved fortified hexsides, they are destroyed if the enemy unit owns that hex until its next initial phase. Place a hit marker on the hex to show that they are destroyed. A destroyed fortified hexside has no intrinsic garrison and no effect on combat.

4. Maginot Line Ouvrages. The combat effects of the ouvrages of the Maginot Line are as follows: No AEC; -1, all units except siege artillery and assault engineers are halved; units in an ouvrage hex ignore retreats as does its intrinsic defense. Siege artillery and assault engineers attack with their face value. An assault engineer does have its size doubled for purposes of calculating the engineer proportion. Air units flying ground support missions against ouvrage hexes have their bombing strengths halved. The effects of a ouvrage are cumulative with any other features present, such as fortified hexsides.

Ouvrages are not destroyed by occupation. While any German unit that occupies an ouvrage hex cannot benefit from an ouvrage hex, any Allied unit that re-occupies the ouvrage hex gains full defensive benefits. However, any ouvrage hex that is occupied loses its intrinsic defense strength. Any fortified hexsides in an ouvrage hex are destroyed as per Rule 26132. Place a hit marker on such hexes to denote their loss of intrinsic defense strengths. Place another to show the destruction of any fortified hexsides.

Ouvrages provide support for all units in the hex.

5. The Westwall. Due to the incomplete nature of the Westwall, its effects are reduced during this scenario. These effects are as follows: No AEC; subtract one from the number printed in the hex and subtract that number from the combat resolution die roll. This subtraction is in addition to any others that terrain might give. For example, an attack on a Westwall hex with a printed number of 1 would negate AEC and have no other effects on the combat. A Westwall hex with a printed number of 3 would negate AEC and subtract 2 from the die roll, in addition to any other terrain effects.

Allied units never gain any benefit from a Westwall hex. A Westwall hex occupied by an Allied unit reduces that hex's defensive benefits by one per Allied initial phase that it is occupied. For example, a Westwall hex with a printed number of 3 occupied through one Allied initial phase would negate AEC and only subtract 1 from the combat die roll. The next Allied initial phase would see that die roll modifier reduced to zero. Use hit markers to show how many Allied initial phases a Westwall hex has been occupied by an Allied unit.

D. Blitzkrieg.

France had recast its doctrine after the end of the First World War to focus on the methodical battle which the French believed would save the lives of its soldiers through the overwhelming application of firepower to the battlefield. Unfortunately, the French believed that they could control the tempo of battle and found themselves at a loss when confronted by the high-speed pace of the blitzkrieg.

If a French unit moves during its movement phase, then its attack strength is halved, in addition to any other modifications, for all overrun calculations and during the following combat phase. If a French unit is forced to retreat during the German combat phase, then its attack strength is halved during the following Allied player turn, whether it moves or not. (it is only halved once if it retreated during the German combat phase and then moves during its movement phase.) Denote the units that have moved by placing them at the bottom of the stack with a hit marker above them (units that are above the hit marker attack normally while units below the marker are halved for moving). Note that units which are not adjacent to a German unit, with the exception of RR siege artillery, need not be marked since they will not be capable of attacking.

During the exploitation phase, French combat/motorized units have their movement allowance halved again, regardless of whether they moved during the movement phase or not, for a net quartered movement allowance. For example, a French c/m unit with a movement allowance of 8 could move 2 hexes during the exploitation phase. If moved, the combat strengths of French c/m units are halved for overruns during the exploitation phase.

The provisions of this rule do not apply during the movement and combat phases (only) of the first turn that the French attack Germany. It is assumed that the preplanned nature of their initial offensive would minimize French difficulties.

E. Panzer Scare. Any French non-motorized unit retreats two hexes instead of one if the attacking German units include at least one panzer division. All standard retreat rules are followed for each hex of the retreat.

Rule 27-Nations

A. Germany.

Delete Rule 27A2.

4. Intrinsic Defense. The strength of a German major city hex is 4. In addition, every dot city hex in Germany has an intrinsic defense strength of 1.

6. German Movement Restrictions and the French Attack. The Germans did not anticipate an attack by the French. To reflect this state of affairs the following rules are in effect:

• The German forces listed as part of Army Groups North and South, Luftflotten 1 and 4, and 7th Flieger Division may not deploy closer than, nor fly missions within 21 hexes of the French border until the French attack or Game Turn 4, whichever is later.
• No German air units may fly any mission except interception within 21 hexes of the French border until the French attack. They may patrol normally.
• A French attack is defined as an attack by French ground units upon German ground units, or the movement of French ground units into Germany.

In addition to the above restrictions, the following movement restrictions are in effect until the stated game turn:

The German units listed as part of Army Group C may not move until Turn 3. German units listed as part of OKH reserves may not move until Turn 4.

7. The Fall of Poland and its Garrison. During the campaign in Poland and after the evacuation or capture of the Polish government, the specified units are required to remain in Poland or East Prussia.

The evacuation or capture of the Polish government releases all home defense air units for transfer to the West, except for those Me 109Es listed as part of the Polish garrison.

8. German Western Home Defense Air Units. The Home Defense Air Units listed as part of Luftflottes 2 and 3 may not move from the Wehrkreise listed in their starting deployment. Treat them as normal Home Defense Air Units in all other respects.

D. The Western Allies.

Delete the existing Rules 27D1 and 27D2 and replace with the following:

1. Intrinsic Defenses. Each Maginot Line ouvrage, fortress and fortified line hex has an intrinsic supported defense strength. An ouvrage has a strength of 10, a fortress a strength of 5, and a fortified hexside a strength of 2. A hex containing two of the features has only the intrinsic defense strength of the strongest. These have the same properties as German intrinsic defenses (see Rule 27A4).

2. Occupation. The Allied player must garrison captured German cities or pay a victory point penalty. The required garrisons are:

• 1 RE per French-owned reference city in Germany.
• 3 REs per French-owned dot and major city in Germany.

  Treat these garrisons as per German garrisons in Poland (see Rule 27A5).

E. Neutrals.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland are also neutrals.

1. Luxembourg. Luxembourg begins the game neutral, but either player may violate its neutrality. This doesn't cost the German player any victory points, but costs the Allied player 2 victory points.

Rule 28-Reinforcements and Replacements

A. Reinforcements.

The German player receives certain reinforcements that are shown thusly: WK XII, Full: 1x 5-6 Inf XX 214. This means that the reinforcements may be received at any city within that Wehrkreis. If every city within that Wehrkreis is enemy owned, then the reinforcements are placed directly into the replacement pool.

French and British reinforcements are received via rail movement at any rail hex on the western boundary, unless their appearance hex is specified. These reinforcements do not use any rail capacity.

C. Conversions.

The German order of battle also specifies when the German player may convert units. Treat these in the same manner as specified for the Poles.

D. Mobilization.

The German order of battle also specifies when certain German cadres mobilize to full strength. Treat these units in the same manner as specified for the Poles.

Rule 29-Preparing to Play

The Western Allies are deployed after all other forces are deployed.

German units do not exert ZOCs in hexes in France or Luxembourg until the Allied combat phase of the turn that the Allies invade that particular country. Similarly, Allied units do not exert ZOCs in Luxembourg until the German combat phase of the turn the Germans invade Luxembourg.

As the Allies do not declare war until turn 2, Allied forces may not move or attack until then.

Rule 30-Victory

B. Victory Determination.

Maintain separate victory point totals for the Poles and the Western Allies. It will be quite possible for the Germans to achieve a marginal victory against the Poles and to have a major loss to the Western Allies. Delete the awards for French intervention and defeat. It will be necessary to note by unit ID any cadres transferred from the Polish front to the West to give proper credit for German losses.

1. Territorial Awards. Victory points awarded for owning cities are counted during the owning player's initial phase, except for the at any time award. Thus, a city captured during the combat phase and recaptured by the original owner during his combat phase could only yield the VP award for owning a city at any time. Any city does include point cities.

Rule 31-Optional Rules

B. Special Unit Abilities.

1. Heavy Antiaircraft. A heavy anti-aircraft unit does not have its attack strength halved when attacking a Maginot Line ouvrage or across a fortified hexside.

D. German Transfers to the East.

Delete this rule.

F. French Armor Stacking.

French doctrine required tanks to be distributed as support for the infantry, rather than as autonomous formations. To reflect this, only one French tank regiment may be stacked in a hex.

Rule 32- Scenarios

The rules describe the Operation Saar scenario. The rules and a little background follow for another scenario.

A. Belgian Secret Codicil Scenario.

When Belgium renounced its alliance with France in 1936, this scenario postulates that it really added a codicil to the original treaty of alliance that provided for the Belgians to mobilize whenever the French mobilized. This would allow the French to shift many units from the Belgian border to the active sectors of the front as it was felt that the Belgian Army, stiffened by the French units, could defend Belgium against any German assault. However, the Belgians would not permit the French to mount an attack out of Belgian territory into Germany. This, the Belgians felt, would be the best defense against a replay of 1914.

1. Special Rules. Add the units in the scenario OB to the specified turn of the standard orders of battle.

After deployment, but before the German initial phase of game turn 1, roll one die to determine if Germany has detected the shift of forces to the frontier. On a roll of 1 through 3, Germany has not detected the transfer and the game proceeds normally. On a roll of 4-6, Germany has detected the preparations and reacts. The movement restrictions of Rule 27A6 are lifted and all German forces may move normally.

2. Victory. Victory is determined as normal.

French VP Table
Each German c/rn RE eliminated +4
Each German air landing or parachute unit eliminated +4
Each German non-c/m RE eliminated +2
Each German air unit eliminated +5
If any city in Germany is owned by the Western Allies at any time in the game +3
Each turn a reference city is owned by the Western Allies +2
Each turn a dot city is owned by the Western Allies +5
Each turn a major city is owned by the Western Allies +10
If the Western Allies invade Luxembourg -2
Each RE missing from a garrison, per turn -2

German VP Table
Each French mechanized RE eliminated +4
Each French tank brigade eliminated +3
Each French c/m RE eliminated+2
Each French non-c/m RE eliminated +1
Each French air unit or British Blen or Battle air unit eliminated +3
Each British RE eliminated +2
Each British Type F air unit eliminated +5
If any city in France is German-owned at any time during the game +40
Per French-owned hex of Germany at the end of the scenario -1

Modifications to the Unit Identification Chart:

Unit	AEC	ATEC
French Tank	Half	Full
British Tank	Half	Neutral
French Mechanized	Full	Full
British Heavy Antiaircraft	None	None

Modifications to the Terrain Effects Chart.,

Light Infantry moves as per cavalry as well as expending only 1 MP when moving in woods terrain.

Designer's Notes

I've limited the scope of this scenario to the month of September to avoid problems with the shortage of German ammunition that would have been a factor had the Germans fought another campaign shortly after Poland. This also avoided a detailed garrison requirement in Poland that would have been difficult to research, though the air units of the garrison were easily found. The garrison used shows how confident Hitler was in his alliance of expediency with Stalin.

The Fall of France OB missed 2 counters worth of British Battles that I've added using the Polish counters from First to Fight. There were 160 Battles in 10 squadrons in the Advanced Air Striking Force. Similarly, I had to substitute a Po.542 counter for a missing MB.210 counter for the French. Historically, most Po.542s were assigned to reconnaissance units with some Po.540s still in a few bomber units, mostly in North Africa.

The German OB was based on the Europa German OB in First to Fight, but modified extensively to suit the shorter time scale. The regular units were assumed already in position on game turn 1 with the 2nd wave divisions arriving on turn 2. Rather than have players shuffle counters needlessly I've just put everybody in their assigned armies. The Landwehr divisions are assumed to take an extra turn to finish mobilizing. The 4th-wave divisions are assumed to take an extra turn beyond that to form things like division staffs and support units since they were converted from independent replacement (ersatz) units no larger than battalion size.

The French OB is the product of David Hughes's initial research, then modified by me. The arrival dates for most units is an educated guess as the French were about a week behind the Germans in mobilizing. This raises the tricky issue of when a unit is considered combat-worthy. This was exacerbated by the 3-day time scale. You can feel much more confident about these sorts of things when you have two weeks per turn. Much like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, things become much more "fuzzy" the closer you look at them.

For the observant among you, I've deleted a number of German units to guard the Belgian and Dutch borders as well as the North Sea coast.

The only adjustment I made was to accelerate the arrival of the remaining RR guns earlier than their historical date. I thought this was reasonable considering the situation outlined in the scenario introduction. If the French were going to attack, they would need the troops to do so quickly. It is easy to figure out that lots of RR siege artillery is just the ticket for cracking the Westwall, and I conjectured that Weygand would provide them with additional troops to expedite their mobilization. For those of you who disagree, delay the 4 regiments to Turn 6.

Thanks again to all of you who helped.

Operation Saar: Orders of Battle