Introduction

"Operation Crusader" is a Europa battle scenario for Western Desert or War in the Desert covering the British Eighth Army's attack to relieve Tobruk. It begins with the Nov II 41 game turn and ends after the Jan I 42 game turn. The scenario can also serve as the starting point for an abbreviated WD or WitD campaign game.

Background

Through five hot months of the African summer, the Eighth Army and Afrika Korps have faced each other in stalemate. The contest has not been on the battlefield but along the supply lines, as both sides have worked feverishly to build a superior force. Finally, Rommel has accumulated enough men, support, and supplies to renew his assault on the Tobruk fortress. Auchinleck, the British C-in-C in the Middle East, knows of the German plan through Ultra intelligence. He has scheduled his own offensive, "Operation Crusader," to begin just before the German attack ...

Components

All the components needed to play "Operation Crusader" can be found in Western Desert with the exception of the Allied pioneer construction units and the German and British engineer regiments. These units appeared as optional rules in TEM #6 and TEM #8, respectively. Counters for these units may be found on the inside back cover of TEM #9.

You may use the original WD rules or the WitD rules as you wish, although these rules assume that the later WitD rules are in use.

Prepare for Play

Set up Maps 18 and 19. The Axis player sets up first, using all units listed as Initial Forces in the "Operation Crusader" Axis Order of Battle. The Allied player then sets up all Allied units; he also records the location of his hidden supply units, if using the Hidden Supply Units optional rule. Where possible, either player may set up divisions in assembled or broken down form.

At the start of the game, the Axis player controls Libya (except Tobruk), Sicily, Sardinia, Pantelleria, Lampedusa, Rhodes, Greece, Crete, the Aegean islands, and all hexes in Egypt occupied by or in the ZOCs of Axis units specified in the initial setup. The Allied player controls Malta, Tobruk, and all hexes in Egypt except those controlled by the Axis player.

Note that in the Allied Nov II 41 Initial Phase, the Allied player may repair Malta. He also receives reinforcements in Egypt.

Special Rules

Operational Boundaries

No ground unit may move east of the Suez Canal. The Axis player may not conduct a special operation at any time during the scenario. Neither player may scrap units. Optional: To save space, you may wish to fold map 19 in half and use only the western portion. If you do this you should make the city of Alexandria synonymous with "the Delta" and allow Allied units to overstack in Alexandria.

Armor Effects

Units gain AECA and ATEC at a ratio of 1:7 REs, instead of 1:5.

Fortresses

A -1 die roll modifier applies to attacks on fortresses.

Reinforcements and Replacements

Both sides receive reinforcements and replacements per the "Operation Crusader" order of battles.

Victory Conditions

"Operation Crusader" begins with the Allied player turn of Nov II 41. Victory is evaluated after the completion of the Axis player turn of Jan I 42. A complete game is four turns long. Only the Allied player scores victory points, as outlined in the "Operation Crusader" Victory Point Awards.

Operation Crusader Victory Point Awards

Upon occurrence:

+5 Each Axis armored division flipped to cadre
+5 Each Axis armored RE eliminated (do not count individual battalions).
+2 Each Axis air unit eliminated.
+1 Each Axis non-armor RE eliminated.
+1 Each Axis armored battalion eliminated.
-1 Each Allied RE eliminated.
-2 Each Allied division flipped to cadre.
-2 Each Allied air unit eliminated.

At the end of the game:

+20 Tobruk is Allied controlled and can trace a line of hexes free of Axis ZOCs to an Allied supply terminal. Allied ZOCs negate Axis ZOCs for this purpose.
+5 Tobruk is Allied controlled and can trace a valid overland supply route to an Allied supply terminal. Note: This VP award is cumulative with the 20 point award above.
+1 Each Allied RE in Initial Forces Middle East Reserve that has not left the Delta during the entire scenario.
- ? The Malta status number
-30 Tobruk is Axis controlled.

Note that if an Axis armored division is entirely eliminated, the Allied player scores a total of 10 VPs (5 for flipping the division to cadre plus 5 for eliminating the 1 RE cadre).

Levels of Victory
Victory Points Levels of Victory
40 or more Allied Decisive Victory
25-39 Allied Substantial Victory
12-34 Allied Marginal Victory
6-11 Draw
(-7)-(+5) Axis Marginal Victory
(-20)-(-8) Axis Substantial Victory
(-21) or less Axis Decisive Victory

Credits

The designer wishes to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of Allen Angeloff, Greg Bartels, Gerry Germond, and Chris Sahni in the playtesting and development of this scenario.

Optional Rules

Hidden Supply Units

The Allied player may keep two supply units hidden. Each supply unit may contain one or two supply steps, but must begin the game with the initial forces in the Allied Order of Battle.

The Allied player secretly records their position in the initial set up. During each Allied movement phase the Allied player records the number of SMPs expended in moving the hidden units and their new location. Hidden units expend SMPs normally. The Allied player does not have to report the number of SMPs remaining unexpended at the end of each turn.

If Axis units enter any hex containing a hidden supply unit, that supply unit is placed on the map and that supply unit is destroyed or captured as per the normal supply unit rules.

During every initial phase, the Allied player checks the location of his hidden supply units. If a hidden supply unit is more than 5 hexes from an Allied ground unit and more than 5 hexes from an Allied airfield, that supply unit is immediately placed on the map. No supply unit may ever be hidden other than the two supply units originally designated by the Allied player. Once these are expended or destroyed, there are no more hidden supply units.

Unopposed March

An unopposed march may be used in the movement phase only. A unit making an unopposed march may expend movement points equal to 1.5 times its printed movement rating. A unit may only make an unopposed march if the following conditions are met:

• the unit must be in general supply as judged during the initial phase
• the unit does not enter a hex adjacent to an enemy occupied hex unless the intervening hexside is impassable to all enemy units in the enemy occupied hex. Note: A unit may begin its movement phase adjacent to an enemy occupied hex.
• the unit does not expend movement points for any other purposes except movement (such as engaging in overrun or construction).

Exploitation Phase

All units may move in the exploitation phase. All phasing combat motorized units may spend movement points equal to their movement rating. All phasing non-combat motorized units may move up to one-half their movement rating in the exploitation phase.

Armor Attrition

Any armored (not just combat motorized) unit that moves more than half its movement rating during the exploitation phase must roll a die. On a roll of V the unit is eliminated (a division is flipped to its cadre side).

Free Setup

Deploy airfields and forts per the scenario OB. Axis ground units may set up in any hex in Libya (except Tobruk), or any hex in Egypt west of hexrow 19:04xx. Allied units may set up in Tobruk ' Malta, or any hex in Egypt east of hexrow 19:07xx. All air units may set up at any friendly airbase.

Designer's Notes

"Operation Crusader" presents the North African war in a balanced situation that is rare in many Europa games. The Allies have 96 attack strength points including reserves and tactical air support to the Axis 81 defense strength points. The British are in the weaker situation, however, due to their split forces and the necessity to attack. The result is often a dogfight much like the style of the real battle.

The victory conditions give high priority to the destruction of German armored units. This was the primary goal of "Operation Crusader." The relief of Tobruk was actually secondary. This provides some motivation for the Axis to save DAK for another day and lift the siege of Tobruk if things go badly, rather than risking a battle of complete attrition and a decisive Allied victory.

I tried to keep the VP schedule simple. You can argue that eliminated motorized REs should be worth more than nonmotorized, German armor is worth more than Italian, and so on. If you feel that it is important, you can tamper with the schedule as much as you want.

Optional Rules

Limited intelligence is always messy in a wargame and the optional hidden supply rules are no exception. Their intent is to give Rommel a target for his historical "Dash to the Wire," on the Axis Nov II exploitation phase. If Afrika Korps had found the Allied supplies, the British would have had to call off the offensive. They missed however, and the British went on to eke out a marginal victory. The superior Allied strategic intelligence, air reconnaissance, and ground recon keep the Axis from receiving hidden supplies.

Not allowing the Allies to make any new supplies hidden is for simplicity. The 5 hex limitation for supply units is meant to keep the Allies from sending their supply trucks deep behind Axis lines unprotected. Like I said, limited intelligence is messy.

The armor attrition rule is basically concerned with the same historical event. At the beginning of Rommel's dash, Afrika Korps was in fairly good order. When they reached the frontier, they were in poor shape indeed, yet had not fought any significant ground action (They had been attacked from the air).

The hidden supply/armor attrition combination also comes into play at other times in the historical African campaign. The most notable are during O'Connor's offensive and Rommel's "Midsummer Night's Dream" raid of Sep I 41. Both the hidden supply/armor attrition rules are very optional for the scenario, but they do tend to ease a difficult British situation. Use extreme caution if you attempt to use these two optional rules in a campaign game. Some strange things can happen, particularly with hidden supplies, without considerably more extensive rules.

Setup and OB. The Axis setup is rather interesting from several respects. Originally, I thought it wouldn't have a chance, but it turned out not to be too bad. A major flaw, however, is the setup of the Axis fort in Halfaya Pass. A better position is at Fort Capuzzo, one hex back in 0326. In 0326, they would have help from the escarpment. If you want to give the Axis the benefit of the doubt, scoot the Axis units in 0426 back to 0326 in the initial deployment.

Several sources list the "Panzergroup Afrika" engineers as being in the line at Halfaya. To me, this suggests that the German engineer unit should rate a 1-8 or at least 0-1-8 before Nov II, instead of converting Dec I.

During playtesting, we discussed whether three Axis forts should ring Tobruk. The British official history described these as "minefields and fieldworks." Since Europa assumes fieldworks to exist inherently with a defending unit, and since I think the minefields probably faced Tobruk, I left the proposed forts out. I also considered making the Bardia fortress improved since the cut off Axis units there lasted a good while, but I decided there wasn't enough evidence of true improvements.

The "Crusader" OB lists 4th Arm X as supported, a state which it cannot achieve at this point in a WitD campaign game. It was called a 'Brigade Group' for the operation which implies support, and the British history explicitly states the unit had supporting arms.

Oasis Force consisted of 29th Indian Brigade and the 6th South African Armored Car Regiment. It travelled all the way to Jalo Oasis during the campaign. The speed of their advance suggests they should possibly be c/m. I doubt anybody made the trip walking. Since there are no transport counters yet available in the WitD OB in November 194 1, 1 left them non-motorized.

If you're of the camp that think the Axis should be the first player in WitD, I would recommend beginning the scenario on the Allied player turn of Nov I.

I have considered three pioneer brigades (see TEM #6) to be working in the Levant and two brigades to be working on the Egyptian railroad. You could set up these last two if you want, but they should be building rail hexes. That's a long-term project that a player of this scenario wouldn't benefit from in the short time frame.

Finally, if you don't want to use the pioneer units, on the Allied OB:

Delete: 2x 0-1-4 Cons X [any]
Add: 1 x 0-1-6 Cons III W

Operation Crusader Auchinleck's Offensive November, 1941

Rules and Set Up
Allied Order of Battle
Axis Order of Battle
Campaign Game Additions