Introduction

"Graziani's Offensive" is a Europa scenario for War in the Desert that provides an alternative earlier starting point for the campaign. The scenario starts with the Axis initial phase of the Sep I 40 Axis player turn.

Background

For three months since Italy's entry into the war, the North African front has remained relatively quiet, with the Italian garrison of Libya swatting at elusive but effective British raiding coh~mns. A steady stream of directives to advance has reached Libya from Mussolini and Commando Supremo in Rome, but these have been met with just as steady a stream of excuses for delays from the Italian commander in Libya, Marshal Graziani.

Finally, matters come to a head and, faced with dismissal if he does not advance. a reluctant Graziani orders the Italian 10th Army forward. On 10 September, they lumber across the frontier into Egypt, short of transport, short of effective armor, and short of spirit...

Components

All components needed to play"Graziani's Offensive" can be found in War in the Desert. Use the WitD rules except as modified here.

Prepare for Play

Choose a scenario from those listed in WitD Rule 41 B: "Western Desert Campaign," "War in the Desert Grand Campaign," "The North Africa Campaign," or"The Middle East Campaign." Use the starting conditions and special conditions listed in the chosen scenario, except as modified by these "Graziani's Offensive" rules.

Use the Sep I 40 initial forces as provided on the following pages, and use the reinforcements starting from Sep I 40. Begin with the Axis player turn; skip the Allied Sep I 40 player turn.

Starting Conditions Modifications. At the start of the game the Axis player owns the mainland Europe holding box, all hexes in the Italian Central Mediterranean Islands and Libya. He starts with an on-map NTP capability of 3 NTPs.

The weather on the Sep 140 turn is clear in all weather zones.

The Allied player owns all hexes in Malta, Cyprus, Palestine, Transjordan, and Egypt. He also owns all hexes in Gibraltar, Kuwait and Iraq, if these areas are in play. He starts with an on map Eastern Med NTP capability of 10 NTPs: if the Allied player controls the North Africa Command, he has an on- map Western Med NTP capability starting at 10 NTPs.

Special Rules

Special Italian Disarray. Italian disarray is in effect from Sep I 40 until one complete game turn after the Allied surprise attack, or until Feb 141, whichever comes first. In addition:

• the Axis overland supply length for Italian units (only) is reduced to four hexes for the duration of Italian disarray;
• the Axis player may not upgrade a fortress while Italian disarray is in effect;
• Axis SMP costs are doubled.

Italian Invasion of Egypt. Marshal Graziani thought it unwise to move forward into Egypt, but was under intense political pressure from Mussolini to do so. By the middle of September 1940 the situation was such that if Graziani continued to delay his advance he would have been immediately relieved. As such, the Italian player must find himself in much the same situation and must advance into Egypt.

The Axis player must move at least 15 REs of units into Egypt on the Sep II turn. He must maintain at least 15 REs of units in Egypt until such time as an Allied unit attacks an Axis unit, or an Allied unit enters Libya. When either of these events occur, the Axis player is released from this restrictions and may move all Italian units in Egypt freely.

Upgrading Tracks to Roads. A construction unit may upgrade a track hex to a road. To upgrade a track to road status a construction unit must spend 10 MP in the hex building the road. The construction unit may enter the hex and being expending MPs during the movement phase. It does not have to begin the turn in the hex.

The Frontier Road. The transportation line in hexes I 9A:04 19, 0519, and 0618 is a track until upgraded to road status.

Until the upgrade is completed (or until thw Allies attack an Axis unit), the Italian 0-6 Cons III 10 A may enter no hexes other than those listed above and must expend MPs to complete the upgrade as quickly as possible.

Tobruch Bypass. The transportation line in hex 18A:4818 is a track until upgraded to road status.

Allied Special Rules Surprise. Once per game before the Mar I 41 turn, the Allied player may attempt a surprise attack. For the Allied player to attempt a surprise attack, no Allied unit may yet have attacked an Axis unit.

The Allied player announces he is attempting a surprise attack. He designates up to 10 REs of Allied units as participants in the surprise attack. This is the Operation COMPASS Force. The units designated as part of Operation COMPASS Force must all be at least three hexes from the nearest enemy unit.

The Allied player moves Operation COMPASS Force units first in the following movement phase. After their movement is finished the Allied player rolls on the Success Table.

S -- The surprise attack is successful and the bulleted items listed in Rule 37E2 are in effect.

F (or F*) -- The attack does not achieve surprise and the remainder of the turn is played as a normal turn.

Modify the success roll by

+1 for Italian disarray
+1 if the surprise attack was planned one turn in advance,
+2 if the surprise attack was planned two turns in advance.

A surprise attack can be planned, in the same way that an airborne operation must be planned. See Rule 25C. Planning of a surprise attack yields positive modifiers to the operation's success roll.

A surprise attack attempt can be canceled in any Allied initial phase, but it cannot be re-planned the same turn as it is canceled.

Example: In his initial phase of the Oct I 40 turn, the Allied player plans a surprise attack for the Nov I 40 turn (two turns in advance). In the Oct II 40 turn he decides against the attempt and cancels the operation. He re-plans the attempt in the initial phase of his next turn, Nov I 40, to take place Dec I 40.

Axis reinforcements The German intervention in Africa was as much a response to the Allied success in Operation COMPASS as a planned and calculated strategic move. As such, it is reasonable that, had a British success on the scale of COMPASS occurred sooner, then German reaction would have also occurred sooner. (Remember that in the fall and winter of 1940, German land forces were not actively engaged on any front.)

Ignore all reference to German forces in the WitD Order of Battle until the Aug I 41 game turn. In their place use the Conditional Reinforcements and Regular Reinforcements from the following scenario Axis Order of Battle.

All German forces arriving on the Aug I 41 game turn and later appear per the War in the Desert Order of Battle with no changes, as do Italian forces appearing from the Sep I 40 turn on.

Victory Conditions. Use the standard WitD victory conditions for the scenario chosen with the following additions.

• The Axis player scores a one-time award of 5 VPs for occupying an Egyptian city hex (including point cities) before the Dec I 40 game turn.
• Failure to meet the requirements for the invasion of Egypt, maintenance of 15 REs in Egypt or the construction of the frontier road results in an Allied Decisive Victory.

Designer's Notes

The Grenadier #23 presented David A. Sheel's first version of a Graziani's offensive scenario for Western Desert with a commentary from John Astell. This version of the scenario had a "Graziani rule" which introduced a die roll to often reduce Italian units to inactivity. We substituted a shorter overland supply length, a missing frontier road, and SMP inefficiency as a more straightforward way to prompt a player-Graziani to stop at Sidi Barrani.

The other special rules attempt to recreate the peculiar situation in the desert in 1940. As Count Ciano noted in his diary, on 9 September, 1940, "Never has an advance been undertaken that was so much against the will of its commander." So there aren't VP penalties for not advancing the Italians into Egypt. The Axis player simply loses if he refuses to advance -- he's been sacked by Mussolini!

The surprise turn rule modifications give the British the initiative as to when to launch their surprise attack with at least some reward for behaving as they did historically. You might note that launching the surprise attack on Dec I keeps the German intervention forces off the board as long as possible, while also allowing the full time for British vs. Italian warfare before they arrive.

Making the surprise attack dependent on a Success roll gives a certain suspense to the operation and seems likely to be in line with some type of Grand Europa surprise attack rule. The pre-planning of the operation gives a die modification to make surprise almost, but not entirely, a sure thing.

If you feel any of these special rules are too restraining, and, that players should be given freedom to deploy and move forces as they see fit, then it is easy enough to discard any or all of the special rules.

Allied Order of Battle

Axis Order of Battle