This article and the ones following it concern a campaign waged by Members of the Palm Beach Gardens High School Wargames Club, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33403, U.S.A., an organisation of wargamers (ages 16-18) who started an official school wargames club in September 19?0. Most of our battles are World War II types, for which we use Airfix troops with Airfix and Roco-Minitanks for our vehicles, plus a small number of conversions. It must be realised by anyone who reads this campaign report that such a type of wargame situation must be regarded with open-mindedness, which may be hard to achieve. But if this open-minded stand can be made, it will be a most worthwhile report to read. Although you can fight a broad spectrum of campaigns in different areas of the world for your Second World War battles, why not alter the true facts of history and create an entirely new area for having your campaign? The Gardens High Wargames Club did just that! We had been fighting a large number of late war battles with the Germans versus the Russians, and were getting rather tired of them, then our Vice President David Clark suggested we begin a large scale campaign -- the Invasion of North America! We were all very enthusiastic about this project from the start, because it was an entirely new area in which to fight. Scores of questions came to our minds (as they are probably coming to yours!). When to have the Invasion, and where? Where should we arrest or extend the development of weapons? What was to be the war situation which would allow the United States to be invaded? How strong were our allies and enemies to be, and more importantly, who were they to be? I hope that such questions have excited your imagination as they did ours. The following narrative will explain our plans and hopefully answer these questions. No doubt many of the armchair generals who read this section will contest the fact that Germany could have successfully invaded Great Britain in 1940. But we urge you to understand that it is but one of the facts which we have to bend in order to make our campaign possible. THE WORLD SITUATION - 1940-1947 (This situation mixes fact with fiction to let us arrive at the Invasion of the North American Continent). In 1940, after the fall of France, Germany successfully invaded Great Britain, although "Operation Sealion" was a very near thing indeed for the German forces. The British Home Fleet was almost successful in intercepting the German invasion forces, but the combination of Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine was able to damage or destroy a large part of the Fleet, at considerable cost to themselves. But once the German Panzer forces were ashore, they ran roughshod over the remaining British Army and Commonwealth Forces on the island while the planned defences of the Home Guard were unable to withstand the combined attack of German tanks and aircraft. With assured mastery of the air, the Germans were able to disorganise English counterattacks and disrupt supply efforts, as they had done in France. Even though the British resisted magnificently, London was captured early in September 1940, and the British Government joined the French and Polish Governments-in-exile in Canada. With the island command post of the Empire under Nazi domination at the end of 1940, it is little wonder that things went badly for the British troops in North Africa. Although General Wavell had conducted a brilliant campaign against the Italians in December 1940, the appearance of Rommel with his Afrika Korps saved the day for the Axis. The Desert War see-sawed back and forth, the British becoming weaker with each successive Axis offensive. On July 7th 1942 Rommel made a successful attack on Cairo and Great Britain was doomed in the Near East, with Axis forces in control of the Suez Canal. Germany then successfully assaulted Crete and took Malta, while in a costly operation Fascist Spanish troops took Gibraltar. British power finally collapsed when Japan entered the war on the Axis side on 8th Dec 1941 (Pacific Time) and Singapore fell Feb. 1942. Hitler had attacked Russia in June 1941, and destroyed huge amuunts of Soviet equipment besides taking thousands of prisoners. In May, the Germans launched an attack into the Caucaucus in an attempt to link up with Rommel's forces in North Africa, which they were able to do when Neutralist Turkey joined the Axis side. The European democracies were finally and utterly defeated when German and Japanese troops met in India in mid-1943. In the Pacific, Japan's island campaign was extremely successful, and in 1943 Australia and New Zealand fell -- victories that cost Japan dearly in land troops and armoured equipment. In America, the combined military leaders of the Allied countries advocated an immediate counterattack on the Axis powers wherever it could be mounted (as they actually did in World War II). American authorities unwisely shared this opinion, and there was a disastrous attempt to invade England in August 1943. Although the Allied troops were able to establish a beach-head on the western coast, they could get no further than the beach. They were soon killed or captured, and their fate was sealed when the Allied naval forces withdrew under heavy attack. At the close of 1943, the Axis powers were in control of all of Europe, Great Britain, North Africa, the Soviet Union (to the Ural Mountains), the Pacific island chains, China, Manchuria, South-East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. North and South America plus South Africa were the last land areas in the hands of the Allies. In North America, feverish attempts were being made to replenish the Allied troops with arms, and to fortify America's coasts. The Axis powers of Germany, Japan, Italy, Vichy France, New Britain (this is the name for Nazi-controlled England) Turkey and Spain united to plan the final defeat of the democracies. It was decided that Germany would make the first attack upon the United States in March 1947 while Japan would keep the American forces busy in the Pacific as the Japanese were not strong enough to mount an offensive against the United States because of the heavy losses to their forces in Australia, together with problems of supply and resistance groups in her captured territory. Her role was to be a diversionary force so that Germany could mount the invasion without too much interference. The years 1944-1947 were a kind of "Phony War" in which neither s ide made attacks of any significance -- the Axis forces consolidated their conquests and prepared their invasion forces, the Allies concentrated on re-supplying their armies and trying to get supplies through to the Russians, who were resisting from the Urals eastward to Manchuria. Preparations for the attack on American soil lasted a month more than was expected, so the invasion was reslated for April 1947. A - THE ALLIED FORCES 1. Land Forces: A great variety of both Allied units and Allied equipment were used in this campaign, There are American, Free British, Free French, Canadian, Commonwealth Nations and South African troops involved in the heavy fighting in the North-East United States and as a demonstration of goodwill, the Russians have sent a small tank unit equipped with T34/76, T34/85 and JS III tanks to the U.S. The armoured vehicles which the Allies are using include: M4 Shermans, M6 Heavy Tanks, Churchill VII's, M26 Pershings, A43 Black Princes, Centurion IIs, M36 Jackson TD, M10 Tank Destroyers and M40 Self-Propelled 155mm guns. Both M8 Greyhounds and Daimler II armoured cars are used for scouting and security duties. The White/International Harvester M3 Halftrack and Canadian Ram Kangaroos are used for armoured personnel carriers. Allied artillery includes the six-pounder anti-tank gun, 25lb guns, 105mm Howitzers, 150mm guns and the famous 155mm "Long Tom". Anti-aircraft guns are limited at present to 20mm guns, 40mm Bofors and .50 cal. machine-guns mounted on half-tracks. Soft skinned vehicles include Dodge, Guy, Scammell, AEC and Ford trucks, and of course the "Jeep". North American Campaign WWII Invasion (WN 115) Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 114 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com