POCH002 
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Cretan Fury Heraklion #3 |
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| (Attacker) Germany | vs |
Britain
(Defender)
Greece (Defender) |
| Formations Involved |
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| Overall Rating, 8 votes |
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3.63
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| Scenario Rank: 315 of 940 |
| Parent Game | Heraklion |
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| Historicity | Historical |
| Date | 1941-05-20 |
| Start Time | 17:30 |
| Turn Count | 15 |
| Visibility | Day & Night |
| Counters | 58 |
| Net Morale | 1 |
| Net Initiative | 3 |
| Maps | 2: 98, 99 |
| Layout Dimensions | 56 x 43 cm 22 x 17 in |
| Play Bounty | 166 |
| AAR Bounty | 159 |
| Total Plays | 6 |
| Total AARs | 3 |
| Battle Types |
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| Inflict Enemy Casualties |
| Urban Assault |
| Paradrops |
| Conditions |
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| Reinforcements |
| Terrain Mods |
| Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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| Heraklion | Base Game |
| Parachutes Over Crete | Maps + Counters |
| Road to Dunkirk | Counters |
| Introduction |
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Heraklion, the capital of Crete, would be the target of Col. Bruno Bräuer’s reinforced 1st Para-chute Regiment. His 3rd Battalion would land the west of Heraklion with orders to rapidly subdue the town and secure the port located there. Due to a lack of transport planes it would be late afternoon before the aircraft could return to Greece, load the paratroopers and drop them around Heraklion. The Germans do not seem to have considered that this awkward turnaround would cost them the element of surprise. |
| Conclusion |
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Despite the early warning elsewhere, news of the German attack did not reach the defenders here until 1430 and the commanders scrambled to gather their men and prepare the defenses to receive the Germans. It’s unclear when the Greeks received word but as they had been assigned to defend Heraklion itself, they manned the walls at all times and eagerly awaited the Germans. The 9th Parachute Company made repeated, determined attacks against the South Gate but the Greeks turned them back with heavy causalities. The rest of the battalion could not force their way through the West Gate despite coming close to overwhelming the Greek defenders more than once. |
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| Army |
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| Luftwaffe |
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| Army |
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| Cretan Irregulars |
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| 2 Errata Items | |
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Two British infantry have their full strengths printed on the back. They should both be "2-3" when reduced. (Shad
on 2010 Dec 15)
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Reduce strength direct fire value be came 5-5 in Army at Dawn. (plloyd1010
on 2015 Jul 31)
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| Keep spare units to add t oassault hexes | ||||||||||||||
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I immediately fell back toward Herkalion with the troops marching on the bridge. When the paras started firing on the Greeks in one hex town, I got ready to leave. Lost a step but the leader and remnants made it to the city. The Paras attacked 3 of the 4 gates. As the Greek units got demoralized and exited there were units in interior city hexes able to advance into the assault hex. Do not forget the +1 morale bonus during recovery. The exterior for marching the bridge give the Greeks a large reserve. They are not present iin scenario 4. This a Greek scenario to lose or draw. |
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| 0 Comments |
| Confusión Before Conclusion |
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The Germans exploited a weak Greek defense plan. The plan could not react to massive German firepower. Taking advantage of aGreek response, and a an inferior morale that affected assault combat, the Greeks started to implode In Heraklion. No doubt lucky rolls The paratroopers took a very aggressive tact, immediately trying to force the gates of the city. By the end of the game, three gates had been entered, but only one of Heraklion was secured. Of note, however, is the fact that the PARAs were successful in assaulting the city by setting up fire teams consisting of 18-24 points. Luck must be emphasized as necessary here, because of the -2 column shift addition for each gate. This modification causing a. Whopping-4 shift at the gates. Thus, the attacks on the gates were adjusted to a -2 shift, putting the initial West Gate attack on the 9 column. Box cars were rolled and 2 steps were lost from the Greeks in that hex. By the end, the Greeks had lost 13 regular army points and the 2 villages in 99: 0308 and 99: 0910. The Germans lost only 2 combat steps. TheGreeks also lost 5(!). |
| 0 Comments |
| Short work in the Shadow of The Minotaur | ||||||||||||||
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This was a 4-session play-through with the determined, CavDo leading the attacking German paras, against my defending Brits and Greeks. This turned out to be a rather unbalanced scenario that strongly favors the defending side. Luckily we ignored the FOW, or this one would have been even more in favor of the mixed defenders. We did use the excess initiative & consolidation optional rules. This fight was all about the gates of Heraklion, and the status of Greek/Britsh reserves to be fed into the maelstrom. It was mostly a somewhat tedious close assault extravaganza & die rolling contest. There is relatively little room for maneuver and no armor in this one. The Germans had a long series of difficult decisions to make, and were cursed with throwing 21 combat-7-die rolls in the course of our 15 game turn play-through. As others have reported, this is one for the Greeks & Brits to lose or draw, as their is little chance of a German win. I give it a relatively generous 3, and my worthy opponent, an A, for aggressive effort. This conflict simulation scenario is probably best played in SOLO mode. |
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| 1 Comment |
I concur on all points and did not like playing this scenario. Save this one for solo play only. The outcome is just too likely to mirror what happened historically for this to be a good option for shared, online play.