Drifters Parachutes Over Crete #11 |
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(Attacker) Germany | vs | New Zealand (Defender) |
Formations Involved | ||
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Germany | 3rd Fallschirmjager Regiment | |
New Zealand | 2nd New Zealand Division |
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Overall Rating, 2 votes |
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4
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Scenario Rank: --- of 940 |
Parent Game | Parachutes Over Crete |
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Historicity | Historical |
Date | 1941-05-20 |
Start Time | 08:30 |
Turn Count | 16 |
Visibility | Day |
Counters | 21 |
Net Morale | 1 |
Net Initiative | 1 |
Maps | 2: 96, 98 |
Layout Dimensions | 86 x 28 cm 34 x 11 in |
Play Bounty | 151 |
AAR Bounty | 171 |
Total Plays | 2 |
Total AARs | 1 |
Battle Types |
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Hill Control |
Inflict Enemy Casualties |
Paradrops |
Conditions |
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Off-board Artillery |
Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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Parachutes Over Crete | Base Game |
Introduction |
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Instead of dropping with the rest of the battalion as planned, 7th Company ended up north-east of the prison by Pink Hill. Landing relatively unscathed they gathered their weapon containers and formed up to attack. A large number of men from Company 9 were also active in the area; whether they joined 7th Company or simply attacked on their own is difficult to determine. Defending Pink Hill were 200 displaced truck drivers who had little infantry training but many had been farmers in civilian life and were handy with a rifle. |
Conclusion |
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The New Zealanders claimed they were forced off the hill but the Germans say the defenders held (usually it is the other way around). What is known is that both the Petrol Company was mauled and Company 7 was disbanded after this action due to excessive casualties. Pink Hill was the best vantage point in the Prison Valley area and both sides would continue to contest it. |
Additional Notes |
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The production print of map 98 is missing 3 town hexes, Avalanche press has created a Map 98 overlay to correct this oversight. Philippe Leonard has also created a very nice overlay for map 98 on Board Game Geek. |
1 Errata Item | |
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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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King of the Mounta | ||||||||||||
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There exists a good website on the Battle of Pink Hill in the German invasion of Crete which was actually fought most of the day on May 20, 1941. Against an inferior New Zealand force, a crack German paratrooper force could not push this smaller, seemingly ill-prepared Kiwi unit off the rugged mountain. From the pictures, itappears to be much more substantial than 60 meters and be much steeper in its topography than PG map #98 suggests. In this scenario, the New Zealand Petrol Company and Composite Battalion have to hold Pink Hill against two companies of German paratroopers. The hill is only three hexes in size. The NZ force appears to be extremely ill equipped for its mission, which in part is to hold the hill for four hours. The outlook is bleak. Three hexes is a very small area to hold for this amount of time with its meager resources and inferior units in all aspects- less firepower and lower morale are especially glaring. The only thing that NZ has more of is a bit of off-board artillery. But somehow it worked for the Kiwis. They dug-in on top of hill with their entire force. The Germans simply could not gain a foot hold on top of the hill as the NewZealanders disrupted, demoralized and slowly destroyed their repeated assaults on the dug in truck drivers. First Fire became a key reason why the Petrol Company was able to eventually wear down the German attacks. The final result was a minor victory for New Zealand. The only reason preventing a major was that they lost one hex out of the three on top of the hill, but the Germans lost a substantial eleven steps, while NZ lost four. However, the paratroopers were not entirely beaten. They would be back in the afternoon for a second try with a better prepared force. The Kiwis appeared to be doomed. |
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