Operation Diadem is rather familiar to me, as it might be to many gamers. I think the third wargame I talked my parents into buying for me was Avalon Hill's Anzio (1969 version) on my 12th birthday. "So realistic even the mapboard is printed in Italian," if I remember the ad correctly. Judging by the faded check marks covering the used-up Time Record Card, I spent a significant number of hours over Anzio's board. I sure had more time back then. Anzio's basic game starts in May, 1944 with Operation Diadem.

Orders of Battle

Developing the orders of battle was rather easy, using Ws Apr I 44 campaign scenario as a base. The main problem was that the large number of units gave an inordinately long setup time for what I wanted to be a short, one-evening game.

The first to go were the naval units. Some quick research on the period uncovered only an attack by Allied frogmen on LaSpezia and several actions between American PT Boats and German corvettes or sub-chasers (remember PT 73 from McHale's Navy transferring from New Caledonia to Italy?). Also, one or two Allied cruisers were usually providing fire support along the Tyrrhenian coast, but this wasn't enough to make much difference at Europa scale, particularly given the all-or-nothing task force approach of SF. You could leave in actual Allied naval transport counters, but that is a lot of bother for not much effect.

Next came Europa heresy--out went the air units. By the May I 44 turn, the Allied MTO OB boasts over 100 air units. The first time I tried playing the scenario, I used these air units and encountered the following problems:

• Using these units doubles the Allied setup time.
• Physically, the airfields require either much more map space or numerous off-map display boxes.
• Even using wing markers, counter-clutter increases considerably.
• Play slows down, as the Allied player wrestles with the inevitable optimization decisions of "which units fly which missions to which hexes.

Abstracting the air game gave other benefits besides negating the problems mentioned above:

• Rail movement can be abstractly eliminated (along with RR Eng and other construction units), and playing time reduced even more;
• Small, non-c/m AA units can be dispensed with;
• Complexity is reduced to a level quite suitable for an "Introduction to Europa" game. In fact, one valuable playtester had no previous Europa experience.

The only missions normally worthwhile in "BfFV' are GS, DAS, and harassment. Generic TBFs allow these missions to function adequately. The other possible use of air units is for supply transpoM but this should be a rare need.

To arrive at a base of 75 TBFs available for the Allied player, I started with 193 TBFs available from the May I MTO Tac Air OB. I subtracted 50 for rail net bombing missions, 15 for escort and CAP duties, 25 to account for AA fire returns and aborts, and 25 for odd factors that would be left over above an optimum odds-ratio, and 3 more to give a nice, round number. On the first turn, I added back 25 rail net bombing points, allowing for their diversion to support the initial effort. On Jun II, the number goes down to 50 as air units are diverted back to strategic targets and to attacking targets in southern France.

The generic TBF points are immune to AA fire for simplicity. This does give the Allies an advantage over the usual situation because he doesn't have to worry about how many TBFs will make it to the hex. I tried to account for this by subtracting the 25 TBFs "for odd factors."

Generally, the type-specific air units are one of the things that puts Europa a solid notch above other WWII games. In this particular case, however, I feel they just aren't justified. Originally, I wanted to include an optional rule for those who insist on using air units. However, this would also mean putting back the construction units and resource points to repair things and build bases, adding naval units back to account for the possibility of bombing transports, researching airbase locations, and so on. In short, it just wasn't worth it. You can always play the MTO campaign starting Apr I 44.

The final casualties in this weeding out were the numerous minor units that just aren't needed in such a short time frame. These units include construction units, garrison units, training units, antiaircraft units, and small Allied units such as mortar battalions. In particular, the German engineers are frantically working on the Gothic Line and aren't available for construction that would be likely to affect this scenario.

The 1-2-6 'A' Inf III at Cassino is Kampfgruppe "Bode," detached from 305th Infantry XX on the Adriatic coast.

The 44th HuD Inf XX was in the process of transferring from its position east of Cassino to the Liri Valley, in the Cassino hex itself. There aren't any breakdown counters for a 10-6 division, so we left "Hoch und Deutschmeister" in its original position, which worked better for the setup.

The 'A' US infantry regiment arriving Jun 144 is the 361st Infantry Regiment, the first portion of 91st Infantry Division to arrive in Italy. The British 'A' mot Inf X that starts the scenario in the Anzio beachhead is the 18th Infantry Brigade, the direct descendent of 7th Support Group of desert renown. It is a breakdown unit of 1st Armoured Division, the remainder of which (2nd Arm X) is still in the Near East.

I openly admit that my main research source for the placement of Axis non-divisional units was the SF Apr I 44 setup. If some non-divisional units transferred between the 10th Army, 14th Army, and northern Italy, between April I and May II, the scenario probably misplaces them. If you have firm data on the deployment of these units, let us know.

German Reserves

The German command was particularly concerned with the possibility of Allied landings in their rear, particularly at Civitavecchia, or the mouth of the Tiber. Allied intelligence was fairly successful in raising the Germans' concern level, even though such landings were really impossible because so many landing craft were tied up in Operation OvERLoRD. German reserve activation reflects Axis intelligence gradually figuring out the true Allied intentions.

One complaint during playtesting was that the outcome was too dependent on the Axis activation die rolls. If you agree, either negotiate set activation the rolls, or bid on the first turn activation die roll, with the lower bidder taking the Axis side.

In early versions of the scenario the 26th Panzer Division deployed in reserve status in hex 26:1724, its historical location and use. We changed this to "within one hex of 1724," so the Axis player can place the unit in hex 26:1824, if he wishes. Without it, 26:1824 is fairly indefensible. In the original DLADEm plan, the forces in the Anzio Beachhead did not attack until the May II 41 turn. This was so the attacks in the south would draw off those German reserves in close proximity to the beachhead, particularly 26th Panzer. If the panzers start in 1724, there is no reason for the Allies to even consider delaying their attack from the beachhead.

Street Fighting in Rome?

The scenario's special rules expressly prohibit the Axis from directly defending Rome-an important victory point objective and excellent defensive terrain. Even the Nazis could not justify the destruction of "The Eternal City" in house-to- house fighting. The U. S. Army history, citing the OKW War Diaries, states:

"The Germans had only two choices: to evacuate Rome or to defend it street by street and house by house. The latter course would gain Kesselring a little time but would leave the city in ruins and invoke the certain condemnation of all Christendom.".

It continues: "On 11 March in a note verbale for the German Ambassador to the Holy See, the Vatican reminded the Germans of their earlier assurances to spare from the ravages of war the Vatican City and Rome's famed monuments. The immediate effect of these representations was a 13 March order by the Fourteenth Army, in whose zone of responsibility Rome lay, directing all military personnel, except medical detachments and quartermaster, butcher, and bakery units, to leave the city. German soldiers could enter Rome only with special passes, and the Vatican City, including St. Petees Church, was placed off limits. All military convoys were forthwith to be detoured around Rome. The German command hoped by these measures to remove all legitimate military targets from Rome and thereby give it the status of an open city within the meaning of the Hague Convention."

Surprisingly, the Germans treated the cultural value of Rome with considerably more respect than the Allies, who were ready at all times to enter the city with guns blazing. As the Allies drew closer to Rome, Hitler himself forbade the destruction of the bridges over the Tiber because of their "historical and artistic merit."

The German High Command made their final decision early in June: "...on the afternoon of 3 June the OKW instructed Kesselring to hold his front south and southeast of Rome only long enough to permit evacuation of the city's environs and withdrawal of the Fourteenth Army beyond the Tiber... Thereafter, he was authorized to withdraw the army north of Rome and re-establish a new line north of the city and extending east and west astride the valley of the Tiber."

The scenario rule on Rome takes the decision of defending the city proper out of the player's hands as it was taken out of Kesselring's hands historically. However, in TEM #38/39 John Astell makes a good argument why SF doesn't include a rule against fighting in major western European cities, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend using this rule in a campaign game.

Victory Conditions

Judging victory in "BffV' is harder than for many scenarios. The main question is how to judge territorial gains versus destruction of German units as the primary Allied goal. Alexander's goal was destroying the German Army, but Clark only had eyes for Rome. And if Rome is important, is when the Allies take Rome important? Clark wanted to take the city before D-Day for publicity purposes, but if you give the Allies bonus points for taking the city on or before Jun I 44, that gives the German player knowledge he didn't possess historically. I finally settled on the German "strategy" rule as the best way to simulate the factors involved in Kesselring's actual decisionmaking process.

There was also the choice of when to end the scenario. It would be rational to let the game run to the autumn and base victory on breaking the line of the northern Apennines. Ending at the close of June, however, keeps the game short, and also represents the end of the true "Battle for Rome." In July the French CEF and US VI Corps withdraw for the invasion of Southern France and the scale of operations diminish. As such, the Allied player's true enemy is the Allied High Command, who is about to rob his theater of a lion's share of its firepower and any chance for future glory. He must win big enough on the field to change Ike's mind and cancel the southern France operation. Historically, the scenario was a marginal or possibly substantial Allied victory against a German withdrawal strategy. Interpret a decisive Allied victory to mean the invasion of southern France is canceled and the troops kept in Italy to exploit the situation. The Gothic Line falls in late summer and the Allies push to the Alps and into Yugoslavia.

Playtesting

"BfR" received much more in-depth playtesting than many previous Europa scenarios. The playtesters rooted out many, many significant rules problems and effors. I hope future scenarios can receive the same quality and quantity of pre publication testing. 

Battle for Rome Operation Diadem: May - June, 1944

Europa Scenario
Order of Battle: Allies
Order of Battle: Axis
Designer Notes
Playtest Report Charts (very slow: 343K)
Europa as History: Battle of Rome
Playing for Real? Cheat!
Civitavecchia: Smile When You Say That
Play Aid Charts