Terrain Movement in Crete Reconsidered

[saracv3]

Indeed, it appears I’m fixated on Crete and I am. The reason for this is the map artwork. I consider it to be the best in the PG series even though one map has a a serious flaw w a missing town (map 98).

However, I’ve been doing a bit of research, uncovering the war diary of Australian commander Lt. Colonel Ian Campbell. Campbell would eventually be captured on Crete by the Germans, and spent four years as a POW. In his diary, he reveals a few details that aren’t addressed in the game. The terrain was and is (you can tell this by looking at the pictures) much tougher than terrain modifications listed in the Special Rules. In one part, he states, “...The sides of the RIDGE made movement very slow indeed...many terraces were 20 feet perpendicularand long detours had to made to find some way up them. I estimate it would take nearly two hours to move from my headquarters to Hill B....”. Campbell says his headquarters was south center of the airfield at Pigi. This is a very short distance, at least according to the map in play for scenario 30. So where is Hill B? If he says he traveled two hours to Hill B but his headquarters was south center of the airfield, I would put his headquarters on the long ridge just east of the wadi on map 96. Hill B would be the largest hill on map 96. If we use map 96 as actually representative of the topography of the battlefield, Campbell traveled only 1000 yards in two hours!

I think the terrain probably needs a an additional +1 or §even more realistically a +2 moving up and down slopes w olive groves and vineyards. The other thing that Campbell says is that 2/1 and 2/11 Battalions could not position in cover became they couldn’t see the German planes coming in.Theyalso had trouble seeing any enemy through the dense shrub and groves. He specifically writes that they set upon hill tops and not in the forested hillside. This goes contrary to what Dr. Benninghof writes in the synopsis for Chapter 5 of PoC.

This is important for the set up in Scenario #30 East of the Airfield. In this scenario, 4 German planes are slated to attack on Turn 1. The problem is, there are no German ground forces to spot for them.The German ground forces don’t come in until Turn 2!

Campbell passed away in 1997, age 97 as a retired Major General.

All for now.

[Shad]

I think the terrain probably needs a an additional +1 or even more realistically a +2 moving up and down slopes w olive groves and vineyards.

Would that be fun to play?

[saracv3]

Well, I don’t think it would be funner, but it would be interesting. We certainly see other scenarios w similar situations, such as snow, rain and mud.

One aspect of the game is to recreate military history. This is what might be considered fun for any PG aficionado. Crete as a game may not be as fun as other games in the PG because it has virtually no armor battles. However, the various infantry scenarios and weapons alongside unusual terrain and victory conditions make for a fun game.

[saracv3]

It actually is a horrible boor. I’m just trying to make it sound good!

[saracv3]

I owe an apology to Dr. Mike. Reading further into Lt. Colonel Ian Campbell’s diary, (I also should say that he was commander of the Creforce contingent around Heraklion and Rethymon in the east part of Crete) he writes more detail about the defensive positions of 2/1 and 2/11 Battalions. When the Luftwaffe hit the Australians on the hills , they missed their targets because the Aussies moved under the olive trees. The Luftwaffe couldn’t see their targets. They only were able to hit the airfield.

This is important for turn 1 of scenario #30 because the Luftwaffe has 4 planes, a key offensive weapon in which to hit the 2/1 . But the rules of the game do not permit air power attacks in Limited Terrain, including olive groves, which is considered light forest. This means that the Germans can not attack on at least turn 1 since they have no troops on the ground as spotters.

Another great find in Campbell’s diary ( haven’t read through the whole thing yet) is that the Greeks only had 10, yes 10, rounds for each US Springfield rifle that they had! Wow, if this was factored into the game they’d have only enough ammo for one turn and that would be a generous concession. Right now in turn 2 of scenario 30, three Greek platoons are moving into an Assault w a German paratrooper platoon. This probably pretty realistic considering their training, attitude, and ammunition shortage.