Designer's Notes

Axis Order of Battle

The German assault units belonged to the 22nd Airlanding Division, by this time lacking any airlanding capability, that garrisoned Crete and Scarpantos. There were also elements of the 11th Luftwaffe Field Division and the 999th Inf. Regt., both stationed in the Athens area. There were numerous such units available for operations. The controlling factor was the availability of ships, not troops.

The 1-5 Brandenburger battalion represents elements of two Brandenburger battalions and also some men of the 2nd Fallschirinjaeger Regiment brought in from Italy.

The air units are straightforward. The most remarkable feature is the speed with which the Germans were able to assemble some 450 aircraft taken from Russia, Italy, and Germany.

Allied Order of Battle

The British land forces totaled five infantry battalions. Two were Territorials, and the remaining three Regular units that had just been relieved from the garrison of Malta. Only a single brigade headquarters was present, the 23411 but the scenario requires more individual units than that, hence the special non-divisional breakdowns for the 234th.

The Marine Cmdo II actually represents a composite of troops from the Long Range Desert Group, SBS (Special Boat Service) and the Greek "Sacred Squadron", some 350 Para-Commandos, reinforced by elements of the British SAS.

The Italian 1-6 Inf III on Samos is part of the Italian 6" Division. The total strength available was much greater, but part of the Samos force was a Blackshirt Regiment (not really an Allied unit) and the rest were coastal artillery troops. The 0-1-5 Cons III on Coo represents a collection of corps troops. Importantly, the temporary airfield they maintain may be the only thing that saves the British.

There is a problem with the Beaufighter counters. The evidence suggests that they had a very bad time engaging the German fighters over Cos and Leros - far more so than their present ratings would suggest. Probably they were in Europa terms flying extended range missions. To reflect this either assume that their range is 20 rather than 24. Note that the P 38G's will always be flying at extended range.

In reality, any attempt to control the Aegean with minimal forces was doomed by two factors. The first was the decision by Hitler to hang onto the area despite the loss of the Italian occupation troops there. Secondly the German war machine reacted with its customary efficiency and speed, diverting land and air formations from Italy and Russia regardless of the pressure being exerted in those area by the Allies. One event in particular shattered the British plans The Germans held on to Rhodes, disarming its large Italian garrison, and so formed a formidable airbase astride the British line of communication. No attempt was made to take Rhodes.

There are two particularly useful books written on the campaign The most detailed is War in the Aegean by Peter C. Smith and E Walker, published by William Kimber in London in 1974. A more recent work is Aegean Mission by Jeffrey Holland, published by the Greenwood Press in 1988. Much additional information will be found in the various Official Histories and Orders of Battle.

Developer's Notes

TEM originally received this battle scenario several years ago from David Hughes - long ago enough that it was designed fo Balkan Front alone with the "Supermarina" naval module. By the time TEM got around to it, Second Front was almost out which would have most of the units called for in the scenario. SF arrived with its own naval system, and by the time some modifications wen made to use that naval system as an option, War in the Desert was nearing completion. It seemed a pity not to wait for the Collector's edition maps, particularly since the BF maps and the Near East version of Turkey didn't match up well at all. With the publicatiot of WitE we finally had all the components available and now, year! after its birth, the project comes to fruition here.

The difficulties in forcing the Aegean battles into Europa come in the great dichotomies of scale in the campaign. Air forces are flying extended range CAP missions from Cyprus and fleets (or squadrons at least) are sailing between continents, while individual battalion: and single supply points are crucial in the island fighting. There are time space dichotomies as well - the main battle was fought in one hex (Lero), but the entire campaign spanned at least 5 or 6 turns.

The result is strange. The Allies have a dozen air and naval unit attempting to support one significant ground unit, while a scratch force of German occupation troops attempts to mount a reaction. A: odd as this ends up being when compared to a typical Europa game it is a rather faithful recreation of the actual campaign and gives good flavor of the Aegean campaign from a bird's eye view.

As is common with small battles such as this, the outcome often depends on a single die roll and the rest of the game constitute ensuring that that most important roll has a high chance of success.

The Dodecanese was almost a must-do battle scenario for TEA since it is one of the few active fronts that may never be included if a boxed game before the final Grand Europa finally arrives. It also covers a subject that most of you have not gained before. I'm only aware of one widely distributed wargame on the subject (Leros from The Gamers) and that covers only the tactical battle for the single island.

"Graziani's Offensive" closed one hole in Europa's coverage of the war. What's next? British Somaliland? The Greek Civil War?

More Dodecanese

Europa Battle Scenario
Designer and Developer Notes
Order of Battle and Counters