Pink Hill Parachutes Over Crete #12 |
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(Attacker) Germany | vs | New Zealand (Defender) |
Formations Involved |
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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 | 16:00 |
Turn Count | 12 |
Visibility | Day |
Counters | 23 |
Net Morale | 1 |
Net Initiative | 1 |
Maps | 2: 96, 98 |
Layout Dimensions | 86 x 28 cm 34 x 11 in |
Play Bounty | 150 |
AAR Bounty | 171 |
Total Plays | 2 |
Total AARs | 1 |
Battle Types |
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Hill Control |
Inflict Enemy Casualties |
Conditions |
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Off-board Artillery |
Terrain Mods |
Scenario Requirements & Playability | |
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Parachutes Over Crete | Base Game |
Introduction |
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After the failure of Company 7 to hold Pink Hill, Col. Richard Heidrich scraped together enough men for a stronger effort. The initial plan had called for 2nd Battalion to follow 1st toward Canea, but clearly the high ground dominating his positions had to be taken before that could occur. Heidrich placed 2nd Battalion’s Company 5 under the command of Maj. Ludwig Heilmann’s badly-depleted 3rd Battalion. Heilmann added his surviving Companies 9 and 12 and sent them up the seemingly lightly-defended hill. |
Conclusion |
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“We proceeded, without opposition, about half way up the hill,” one German participant recalled. “Suddenly we ran into heavy and very accurate rifle and machine gun fire. The enemy had held their fire with great discipline and had allowed us to approach well within effective range before opening up. Our casualties were extremely heavy and we were forced to retire leaving many dead behind us.” Even with Company 6 added in a later attack the New Zealanders held their ground. The fourth attack, launched after dark, found the hill vacant because of a “temporary withdrawal” by the New Zealanders. |
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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No Germans Allowed! | ||||||||||||
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This was the second attempt to capture Pink Hill by the Germans on May 20,1941. Again they failed. There exists a book on the battle, and website, but the book is elusive, and can only be found in New Zealand. I listed the website in my write up on Drifters, scenario #11. It appeared that the Hill would be overrun this time, but the Kiwis proved too tenacious once again. They took twice as many losses as the Germans, 8 steps to 4, but lost only one of the three 60 meter hexes that comprise the Hill. All positions were dug-In by the defenders who remained in their rudimentary fortifications and let the enemy come to them, as they knew that they would have to do. One assault alone tied down at least nine German seps, a 10-1-2 German major and went on over five turns, but never resulted in a subsequent victory for either side. Possibly the Germans should have softened up the Kiwis before launching their assaults. They did have two 8-6 short mortars. Unfortunately even with both mortars combined, they never scored so much as even a M result. The Germans simply could not find their mark in their shooting during the whole game. And 12 turns raced by fairly quickly.Indeed, it was a bloody battle even though the Paratroopers did not ultimately succeed. The end result was a minor victory for New Zealand. |
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