Following the collapse of Greece, the Germans decided to eliminate the sole British bastion remaining in the Aegean, the island of Crete. The plan was to capture the island's airfields with parachutists, quickly fly reinforcements to the island, and then take the island. Another reinforcement attempt, using captured Greek shipping, was to be made during the invasion.

Marita-Merkur covers the Crete situation only in con text with the overall campaign. Although a separate Crete scenario was available in time for the game's publication, it was decided not to print the scenario. The reason for this decision was that the scenario gave away too much information to the Axis player in regards to the invasion of Crete; far better was to allow him the joys (or agonies) of discovering the correct method method for launching an airborne assault by himself.

Situation

The Axis controls all of mainland Greece and the islands except for Crete. The Allies control Crete. Only map 15A is used for this scenario; map 14 is not.

Axis Deployment

1. Airfields. Place one temporary airfield and one 1-10 Engineer 11 (mot) in each of the following hexes: 1415, 0813, and 0915. Place a permanent airfield in hexes 1610 and 2503. Rhodes is also in operation (Rule 31N).

2. Off-Map Airbases. Axis long range bombers (Ju 88A's) may base off the north edge of the map. Off-map based air units must spend an additional 7 movement points to enter or exit the north map edge.

3. Air Units. Place in any Axis controlled airbase.

11 x Ju 52
2 x DFS 230
5 x Ju 88A
1 x He 111H
3 x Ju 87B
2 x Me 109E
2 x Me 110C

4. Ground Units. The following units (XI Air Corps) may be placed anywhere on mainland Greece. They may deploy broken down.

10-6 Parachute XX 7
5-8 Mountain XX 5
3-8 Mountain III B

5. Naval Transport. The Axis has three regimental equivalents of captured shipping, one of which may carry heavy equipment.

Allied Deployment

1. Airfields. Place a permanent airfield in hexes 2114 and 2310.

2. Ground Units. Place the following units in the specified hexes. All brigades are deployed unsupported.

hex 2310:
British: 2-6 Infantry X 14, 1-6 AA II

Hex hex 2211:
Commonwealth: 2-6 Infantry X 6/19
Greek: 1-6 Infantry cadre any

hex 2113:
British: 0-1-6 Static Marine X MNBDO
1-10 AAII (mot) 52

hex 2114:
British: 1-6 AA II Mal.
Commonwealth: 3-6 Infantry cadre 2

Game Length

The game begins with the May II 1941 game turn. The game continues until the victory conditions are met.

Victory Conditions

The Axis player wins if there are no Allied units on Crete at the end of a game turn.

The Allied player wins if there are no Axis ground units on Crete at the end of a game turn.

If, at the end of a game turn, both players believe that they are incapable of achieving victory, they may agree to cease play at that point. In this case, the Allied player is awarded a moral victory.

Special Rules

There are no special rules for this scenario. The full range of Marita-Merkur rules is in force.