Introduction

"Neutral Yugoslavia" is a variant for the "Operation Marita" or "Marita-Merkur" scenarios in Balkan Front. It explores the very viable possibility that Yugoslavian diplomacy was able to maintain its position of neutrality and that Adolf Hitler decided that it was in the best political and economic interest of Germany not to violate that neutrality.

Hypothetical Background

The Italian invasion of Greece in October of 1940 thrust the Balkan peninsula into the war's limelight and brought increased political pressure from both sides against all the small countries of the region.

The fall of France had removed the Allies from the position of continental power, however. After this, most nations of southeastern Europe - Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria - fell into step with the march of German success.

The holdout - except for the Greeks, battling against the Italians in the mountains of Albania - was the traditionally westward looking Yugoslavia. Headed by the pro-British regent Prince Paul, Yugoslavia maintained a steadfast political neutrality, although increasingly isolated amid her Axis-leaning neighbors.

With Germany having decided that military intervention against the Greeks was required to bail the Italians out of the quagmire in which they had immersed themselves, pressure against the Yugoslavs increased even more. This culminated in a meeting between Paul and Hitler in March at Berchtesgaden.

In two days of conferences, Peter agreed to numerous concessions in the economic area, including guarantees of bauxite and antimony deliveries in ever-increasing amounts and credit terms for those and other raw materials that amounted to direct gifts to the German economy. At the close of the meeting Paul issued a strong pro- German, anti-Allied statement that invited the German favorites Croatian Ante Pavelich and former premier Milan Stojadinovich to join the government. But the Yugoslav delegation's great success, however, was in their avoidance, through the economic offerings and political rhetoric, of the signing of the Tripartite Pact and joining the Axis outright. Paul pled internal political problems with various Serbian factions within the government that were being dealt with but were presently still posing a significant threat to internal stability. The Prince secretly pledge to Hitler to join the Axis when his political situation had stabilized.

Much to his generals' dismay, Hitler agreed to this and instructed his planners to prepare Operation MARITA, a strike at Greece through a fully-cooperative Bulgaria that would respect Yugoslavian neutrality and avoid entangling that country in any way.

The German general staff protested vehemently, pointing to the logical difficulties that were sure to appear when attempting to supply an offensive over the single-track rail line that ran from Sofiya, Bulgaria south into Greece. Hitler, however, dismissed these arguments with wave of his hand and lecturec the officers on the needs to bend their operations to fit the needs of political reality.

On April 6, the German 12th Army attacked over the Greco- Bulgarian border and a new chapter of the war had begun...

Scenarios

The "Neutral Yugoslavia" variant can be used with either the "Operation Marita" scenario (Rule 33B), or the "Marita-Merkur' scenario (Rule 33C) in Balkan Front. Choose which scenaric will be played.

Operation Marita - Neutral Yugoslavia

Game Length. The scenario starts with the Apr 141 turn anc ends upon the conclusion of the Apr 1141 turn.

Prepare for Play. Use Maps 14A and 15B. Use the orders ol battle given below for initial forces and reinforcements.

Marita -Merkur - Neutral Yugoslavia

Game Length. The scenario starts with the Apr 1 41 turn anc ends upon the conclusion of the Jun 1141 turn.

Prepare for Play. Use Maps 14A and 15B. Use the orders oi battle given below for initial forces and reinforcements.

Special Rules

Initial Conditions. Germany has intervened on Apr 1 41, Bulgaria has joined the Axis and is at passive participation on Apr 141. Thereafter, Bulgaria is at partial participation.

At the start of the game, the Allied player owns Greece and the portion of Albania as listed in the Greek order of battle. The Axis player owns Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania. Bulgaria, the Dodecanese Islands, and the portion of Albania as listed on the Italian order of battle. Turkey is neutral.

Yugoslavian Neutrality. Yugoslavia is neutral. No units ol either side my enter Yugoslavia at any time. Any that are forced to do so are eliminated. Supply lines may not be traced through Yugoslavia.

Axis air units may overfly Yugoslav territory withoul violating Yugoslav neutrality. Axis air units, however, may nol enter any hex adjacent to a Yugoslavian major city, dot city, ot reference city hex.

Beginning immediately upon the first occurrence of an Axis air unit overflying Yugoslavian territory, Allied air units maN also overfly Yugoslav territory with the same restrictions.

Victory

Determine victory per the standard victory rules (Rule 3).

Allied Order of Battle

Use the "Operation Marita Allied Order of Battle" battle exactly as presented in the Balkan Front rule book, but omit the Yugoslav Neutrality Watch forces.

Axis Order of Battle

Axis Initial Forces, Apr I 41

Airfields: Place one permanent airfield each at: Lagosta (14A:2726), Foggia (14A:3132), Durazzo (14A:3720), Elbasani (14A:3919), Brindisi (14A:3926). Valona(14A:4121), and Scarpanto (1513:2503).

Italian: Albania. From the following units, eliminate units totaling at least 55 attack strength points, of which at least 5 must be from mountain units and at least 4 from artillery units. Place remaining units anywhere in Albania on or north of the following hexes: 14A:4221- 4420-4120-4119-4018-4017.

1 x 2-8 Lt Arm Cadre 131 Cn
1 x 5-8 Alpine XX 3 Julia
1 x 4-8 Alpine XX 2 Tri. 4 Cns. 5 Pst
4x 4-6 Inf XX s Sfor, 6 Cno, 19Vnz, 53 Arz,
15x 3-4-6 Inf XX I I Bm, 22 CdA, 23 Fer, 24 Pin 29 Pie, 33 Ac, 36 For, 37 Mod, 38 Pug 41 Fir, 48 Taro, 49 Par. 56 Cas, 58 Leg, 59 Cag
3x 3-6 Inf XX 7 LdT, 48 Bari. 51 Si
3x 1-6 Inf X 1, 2, 3 (Alb)
1 x 1-0-5 Static X CCNN (Alb)
3x 2-8 M/C III 1B. 2B. 4B
1 x 2-6 Inf III 3 GdS
3x 1-8 Cav III 6 Ao. 7 Mil. 19 Gde
1x 3-8 Art III 3 C
1x 3-2-6 Art III 26 C
4x 2-3-8 Art III 4 C, 8 C. 9 C, 14 C
1x 2-1-8 Art III GaF/Sud
5x 0-1-6 Cons III 3,4.8,9, 14
1x 1-6 Tank II 4 M
1x 1-6 Marine II III/SM
1x 1-8 Ski II NIC
position AA AA~4

Regia Aeronautica

Select at random two air units to start inoperative.

Place in Albania or Italy.
2x BR.20M 3NB4 2-7/22
1x CR.32bis 3F2 0/9
1x CRA2 3F3 1/8
1x G.50 3F3 0/8
1x Ju 87B/R 2D3 4-1/9
4x MC.200 3F3 1/9
1x SM.91 2B2 1-4/22
1x Z.506B 2B3 2-5/F/22
1x Z.1007b 3B5 2-5/22

German:

12th Army.

Place in Romania or Bulgaria. No more than one division rnay be placed per hex adjacent to the Yugoslav or Greek borders. At least 5 REs must be placed on rail hexes in Romania.

1x I I-10PzXX 2
1x 9-10 Pz XX 9
1Ix 9-10 Mot XX DR (SS)
1x 6-10 Mot XX 60
1 x 6-10 Mot XX Grp LSSAH (SS)
3x 7-8 Mtn XX 5. 6, 73
4x 8-6 Inf XX 46, 50, 72, 164 Lr
1x 3-2-8 Art X 128
1x 4- 10* Mot III GD Lb
1x 2-8 Inf III 125
2x 1-2-8 mot Art III 49,623
2x 2-3-8 Art III 511. 787
1x 1-2-8 Art III 109
1x 3-10 mot hv AA III (AA=6) 180 Lr (I-W)
1x 2-10 mot hv AA III (AA=4) 99~ 201 (I-W)
1x 2-8 Eng III 617
2x 2-6 Eng III 685,690
2x 0- 1 -5 Cons III 18,45
1x 0-8 Mtn Cmdo II 111/800 (OKW)
1x 2-1-0 Aslt Gun II 190
1x 0-1-10 mot It AA II (AA=1) 609
1x 1-10 mot Aslt Eng II 50
1x 1-8 Mtn Eng II 658
position AA AA=10

Luftwaffe

Place at any airbases in Romania or Bulgaria.

1x Ju 52 1T20/20
x He 111H 4B42-5/22
6x Ju 87B 2D34-1/9
1x Ju 87R 2D34-1/13
2x Ju 88A 4B53-5/26
2x Me 109E 7F5 1/7
1x Me 100C 4F42/12
1x Me 110D 4F44-2/12

Axis Reinforcements

Apr I 41

Italian: Reinforcements: Place in any hex or airbase in mainland Italy.

2x 3-4-6 Inf XX 18 Mes, 32 Mar
1x SM. 79-1 2B3 1-5/22

Replacements: 1 Inf

German:

Reinforcements: Place in any hex or airbase in Germany.

1x 7-6 Para XX 7 (LW)
1x 3-5 Air Lndg III 1 St (LW)
1x DES 230 0GT-1 -/T
10x Ju52 IT2 0/20

May I 41:

German:
Withdraw: 8 air units, including at least 3 type F, 2 type B, and 2 type D air units.

Jun I 41

German:
Reinforcements: Place in any hex or airbase in Germany. 1x 2-3-4 Static XX Grp 395 OFK
Withdraw: 5 air units of any type except type T or GT.

Other German Forces

Turkish Border Watch. This unit is guarding the Turkish border in Bulgaria. The Axis player may call it into play as a reinforcement in any Axis initial phase on or after Apr II 41, placing it on any hex on the east edge of the map in Bulgaria. (Cost: -6VPs.)

1x 9-10 Pz XX 16

Ploesti Watch. These units are guarding the Ploesti oilfields in Romania. The Axis player may call any or all of these into play as reinforcements in any Axis initial phase following the turn Germany intervenes. placing them on any hexes on the east edge ofthe map in Romania. (Cost: -1 VP per RE.)

1x 8-6 Air Lndg XX 22
1x 3-10 mot hv AA III (AA=6) GG (LW)
1x 1-10 Mot II W/GG (I-W)

Reserve Forces. The Axis player may call any or all of these units into play as reinforcements in any Axis initial phase following the turn Germany intervenes, placing them on any hexes on the north or east edges of the map in Romania. (Costs: -6 VPs per panzer division; -4 VPs for the cavalry division; -3 VPs for the light infantry division.)

1x 11-10 Pz XX 12
1x 9-10 Pz XX 13
1x 6-8 Lt Inf XX 100
1x 8-6-8 Cav XX 1