Alderney

Alderney is the northernmost of the Channel Islands, the closest to the French mainland and, at a size of only a few square miles one of the smallest of the islands. The main village is called St. Anne. The language of all the Channels Islands is a patois of Norman French.

Situation

It is April II 1944 and the Allies have decide to stage a little amphibious demonstration which takes advantage of some quirks in SF rules and geography. The target of the amphibious assault will be Alderney Island (17A:0511). The weather is clear, sea conditions calm.

The German player has placed 1x 2-4-4* Static III on Alderney, along with a 2-5-0* Port Fortification. This leaves the other two channel islands with only a 2-4-4* Static III, a 1-2-0* Port Fortification and a 1-6 11 each.

So as not to alert the Axis player, all Allied air, ground, and naval units remain in off-map British holding boxes. Many Allied ground units and some resource points are pre-loaded on LCs and NTs.

The Allied player has (after sending 15 fighters and 5 night fighters into garrison) 50 fighters, 6 NF/NHF, 6 attack, and 15 bomber units in Britain. Allied air units will take advantage of Rule 231, and airbases built in hexes 17A:O110, 0209 and 0505. For all intents those airbases (and every all-land clear hex in Britain) have unlimited airbase capacity. If the combined TAC Air OB is used the Allies could use a few of the low value fighters in the MTO as part of the Britain garrison. This would free up a few more fighters for the ETO.

Assuming the German player keeps his aircraft at a safe distance from Britain, he should have available about 10 fighters, 21 bombers, 3 attack, 3 heavy bombers and 4 night fighters. If the Combined Tac Air OB is used he might have a few more fighters, but not many. Of these 5 B, 2 HB and I HF are anti-ship units, and will most likely be on Naval Patrol. Unfortunately for the Axis player, keeping his air units a safe distance from Britain means few, if any, of his fighters will be able to escort missions. The A types will also be out of position, the HB can not fly DAS, and the B types have their range halved. Conservatively the Germans might have as many as 5 air units within range.

The assault force is on 6 LCs (the maximum number of units that can land on an enemy owned beach is 6.) It consists of four US 3-8 Combat Engineer III and two 3-8 Inf III of an American Division. The follow on force is on 9 NTs, It consists of the US XX HQ, the remaining US Inf III, a 3-10 Mot Hvy AA X, 3 Resource points, and 8 points of supply.

NGS and escort will be provided by three 16-pt and one 12 point TF.

Initial Phase:

The Allied player announces that he will be flying no CAP, and that all of his anti-ship air units are on naval patrol.

The unsuspecting German does not call up his strategic air assets. (If he does call them up, and. places them within range of Alderney, the Allies can spend the turn bombing German airbases, and make the landing in May 1.) The German assigns his code S, M, and V air units to naval patrol.

Movement Phase:

Allied air units sweep down on German airbases which could support the defenders of Alderney. Moving individually, or in small groups, the Allies return time after time to the same airbase until all German air units have been hit. The objective is to remove any Germans that can provide DAS, and any naval patrols within easy range. The Allies have already had two chances to inflict great punishment on any German air units in Northern France (during the pre-game and Apr I movement phase). The Germans should either be dead or at a "safe" distance. The Allies should retain about 30 fighters available for intercept over Alderney, unless it is obvious that lesser numbers are required to ward off German DAS and Naval Patrols. Any German bomber should be facing at least 3 Allied interceptors. Remember, any German fighter that intercepts Allied airbase bombing will be unavailable for DAS or escort.

After slagging the Luftwaffe, Allied air units start bombing the coastal defenses of Alderney. There are 4 CD levels present, 2 for the port fortification, and 2 for the minor port. The Allies want to knock out 2 levels, which requires 4 hits, but tactical bombing strength is halved for this mission. Again individual or small groups of air units fly this mission repeatedly, until the job is done. If insufficient air units remain to perform this mission, or the Allied player has bad dice, don't worry about it. Do not reduce the CD level to 1, as this will force the Allied naval units to engage the CD at a range of zero, rather than 1.

After this air activity, the Allies can start moving their naval units. Two 16 point. and one 12 point TF appear in hex 17A:O 116 having spent 10 MPs. They arrive at night and move adjacent to Alderney at 17A:0412, arriving in daytime. The German player wisely holds his naval patrols for later use.

Naval Combat with the CD is initiated. Per Rule 29B the CD is halved when firing at units in adjacent hexes. The TF are not. The CD gets one I -point shot with a 1/3 chance of a hit. The TF will take four 10-point shots, all of which will hit. The CD is silenced.

If the Allies failed to get 4 hits on the CD with their aircraft the TF will force a second gunfire exchange with the CD by moving out of and back into hex 17A:0412 (if the remaining CD level is 2) or entering Alderney's hex (if the CD level is now 1). At most the Germans will get to use three points of CD gunnery with low odds of a hit.

The three Allied TFs move to Alderney and await the assault force.

Still in the 1st Naval Movement Step, the Allies bring on the remaining 16-pt TF escorting the assault force and follow-on force. This Naval Group moves at night from 17:0116 to 0412 and enters 0511 in daylight.

If there are any remaining German naval patrols they may now attempt to locate the Allied armada. The Allies do not attempt to stop all the naval patrols with patrol attacks, but may, depending on the total air picture, make some patrol attacks on Axis code V air units. If, and only if, a German naval patrol makes contact, can the Allies commit interceptors. This they will do in overwhelming numbers. Suffice it to say that it is extremely unlikely that any German naval patrols will make attacks on the Allied invasion force.

During the next three naval movement steps the Allies will spend 90 naval movement points (NMPs) to conduct the landing and prepare for NGS. During the fifth Naval Movement Step the Allies transfer all ground units of the follow-on force from NTs to LCs.

The hapless Germans can do nothing else to help the defenders. There is no garrison to activate (the Channel Islands are not part of France per rule 3E) and no forces can reach the island under rule 32D (Enemy Reaction). On to the combat phase!

Combat Phase

We have 12 attack factors of engineers and 6 of infantry. One 16-point and one 12-point TF will provide NGS, the engineers are quartered and the infantry is at 1/8 strength (1/4 for being non-amphibious and halved verses the port fortification). The engineers get their +1 modifier, which offsets the -1 for the fortifications. The Allies pile on 10 air units (each with tactical bombing strengths of 4 or greater) for GS and smother any attempted DAS with more interceptors.

Combat comes down to 9 defending Germans, plus 3 and 6/8 attack factors of ground units, 24 points of NGS and 12 points of GS (which was halved from 24) provided by six of the ten air units. German AA strength of 2 was not able to drive off more than 4 Allied air units. So, we have a 4:1 attack with no die roll modifiers. That means the Allies get at least an EX. Any losses will come from the engineers (6 points) and then the infantry (3 points) only in an exchange.

Exploitation Phase

During the exploitation phase the follow-on troops (with LCs), supplies and resource points (directly by NTs) will be landed. At least 2 RPs will be available to build an airfield using quick construction. The Germans don't get to wreck the port, so it can be used for supply in the next friendly player turn.

The Allied naval forces can replenish and withdraw to offmap Britain during the exploitation phase. Alternately, some of them can stay. An unobservant German may forget that LC can act as ferries (rule 34J) making an Allied crossing to mainland France very appealing, and potentially much cheaper than an amphibious assault. An observant German is going to have to move significant forces to garrison hexes 17A:0512 and 0612.

The Allies gain a valuable air base within P-47 interceptor range of Brest, and a possible stepping-stone to Cherbourg at little (or no) cost. They also get to deal the Luftwaffe a severe blow if it attempts to intervene in the operation. At most, they will have taken a few hits on a TF, and exchanged 9 attack factors of US units. More likely, they will have lost no ground units, and taken no naval hits. They have fired NGS with only 2 units, and any air loses will be minor.

A variant of this plan could involve rail breaks and harassment bombing to prevent the Germans from garrisoning hexes 17A:0512 and 0612. Coupled with a larger follow-on force, which would cross onto mainland France on May I via LC ferries.