Your favourite possible hypothetical scenario/CG

Ric of The LBC

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DOWNFALL was already in the planning stages, forces allocated and steps underway for acquiring logistical support to include forward basing of supplies and allocation of shipping assets required for he landings plus Dates and operational plans set for OLYMPIC. The British Navy had also already started operating in the South China Sea area for potential invasions/occupations of Tiawan/Hong Kong as well though I'm not sure how far these plans had been finalized. In the United States the public was war weary but still determined to push the conflict to its inevitable end and as much as I am reticent to say, the war had taken on a life of its own and had become somewhat common-place; It was expected we would have invaded Japan and brought the war to a close and there's no doubt in my mind that it would have proceeded in that fashion. I deem it very doubtful that the U.S. especially would have stepped back from direct confrontation with an enemy at that time to simply let six million plus Japanese starve to death to win the war. Hate and revenge, though not laudable attributes, are huge motivators.
Japenese civilians attacking a company of Marines with pointed sticks. It sounds like a hoot.
 

Rock SgtDan

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Gibraltar is a little more intriguing, as it only required a bit of cooperation from Franco. but still, it would have meant bringing Spain in on the side of Germany. I haven't read much about why Spain stayed out of the war (other than simply war weariness generally), so I'd have to leave that to someone else.
Now you are talking a whole line of major modules for hypotheticals, starting with a counter set for the Spanish. Might as well include all the counters for the Spanish Civil War too.
 

Michael Dorosh

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It seems the historical consensus is that even Hitler never really considered invading England in a serious way.
There were detailed plans, and Grossdeutschland even trained for an assault on Gibraltar. But armies plan for fantastic things all the time. Hitler wanted Britain as an ally. He knew that if he took the British Isles, all the riches of the Empire would remain out of his reach, and all occupying Britain would do was require a costly garrison with nothing in return.

That assault on Gibraltar might be scenario (or CG) worthy though the tunnels etc. might make it complicated. In the end probably about as dull as a bug hunt on Iwo Jima.

Patton vs. the Red Army gets discussed in a lot of counter-factual consim communities. Pershings vs IS-2s, etc.

I think a Dieppe HASL with separate maps for all the landing beaches would be of interest - but depicting RUTTER as it was supposed to go in June, not the remounted JUBILEE of August 42. The original plan had IIRC parachute landings and stronger fire support.
 
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Michael Dorosh

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I would like to see a civil war scenario between the Wehrmacht and SS following a successful assassination of Hitler in 1944.
Could take place anywhere but two places of real interest would be Rastenburg (Wolf's Lair) and Berlin. The Grossdeutschland (and specifically the Führer Begleit) and Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler were given joint responsibility for Hitler's personal protection and would have been at close quarters in both locations. It was Otto Ernst Remer of the GD guard battalion in Berlin that arrested Goebbels, talked to Hitler, and then set about defusing the plot in Berlin. Black vs blue counters would be a natural.
 

RobZagnut

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Air Assault on Malta
Bad memories.

I was at a game store in Seattle when we were visiting my brother. They had AH's Air Assault on Crete/Invasion of Malta and Squad Leader. Both new AH games I'd never seen before. I chose Crete/Malta. Big mistake. Took be a month to find a local store that carried SL and I had to borrow $5 to get the $12 to buy it, wishing the whole time I had bought SL from the start.
 

von Marwitz

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I think Malta was close to happening.
I have read a book about the considerations about Malta a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the details. One major factor was the available German airpower which did not have the strength deemed necessary for the operation. Another factor that played a role for operations in the Mediterranean time and again was the fuel supply for the Italian Fleet.

von Marwitz
 

Paul M. Weir

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Unternehmen Herkules (Operation Hercules) was indeed fully planned and almost ready to go. While Axis resources were tight they were deemed sufficient and it would more likely to have succeeded than not. The main worry was that the Italians had only one naval radar set (a German one) in case the British Navy hit them at night. Whatever losses the Axis would suffer would have been made up for by less future sea and air losses due to continued British operations from Malta.

What scuppered the operation was Rommel's successes during and after Operation Compass, the capture of Tobruk and the drive into Egypt. That both drew men and material from Herkules and removed the urgency from the operation.
 

TopT

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Bad memories.

I was at a game store in Seattle when we were visiting my brother. They had AH's Air Assault on Crete/Invasion of Malta and Squad Leader. Both new AH games I'd never seen before. I chose Crete/Malta. Big mistake. Took be a month to find a local store that carried SL and I had to borrow $5 to get the $12 to buy it, wishing the whole time I had bought SL from the start.
Air Assault on Crete wasn't a bad game. My buddy and i played that many times. It is not Squad Leader though.
 

Craig Benn

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Unternehmen Herkules (Operation Hercules) was indeed fully planned and almost ready to go. While Axis resources were tight they were deemed sufficient and it would more likely to have succeeded than not. The main worry was that the Italians had only one naval radar set (a German one) in case the British Navy hit them at night. Whatever losses the Axis would suffer would have been made up for by less future sea and air losses due to continued British operations from Malta.

What scuppered the operation was Rommel's successes during and after Operation Compass, the capture of Tobruk and the drive into Egypt. That both drew men and material from Herkules and removed the urgency from the operation.
Operation Compass was O'Connor's attack against the Italians in Dec40-Feb41 from memory. Rommel didn't have any success during it - because he hadn't arrived at that point.

I'm not sure you can say Herkules was more likely to succeed than not. Invasions like that are inherently risky businesses with a large luck factor. Crete very nearly failed.

However I'm not convinced Malta falling would be decisive. The key factor is the handling capacity of the Libyan ports and their distance from the front. Even if all the supplies had got through Rommel wouldn't have reached the Nile. Given the naval losses supplying Malta it might have been better for it to fall.

Maybe.
 
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Paul M. Weir

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I should have said Battle of Gazala, the result of Operation Crusader, sorry, a senior moment on my part.
 

The Purist

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….However I'm not convinced Malta falling would be decisive. The key factor is the handling capacity of the Libyan ports and their distance from the front. Even if all the supplies had got through Rommel wouldn't have reached the Nile. Given the naval losses supplying Malta it might have been better for it to fall.
I would agree with you on the necessity of invading Malta, or the ability. By the summer of 1942 Malta had 30,000 troops and a few hundred guns defending it.

While Malta did some serious damage at times (but this was not the usual case) what held up the regular delivery of supplies was not the Royal Navy or the RAF based on Malta but rather the physical limitations on the Italian side. Unfortunately, the standard post-war narrative emphasised Malta's role and this made a convenient alibi for the axis commanders.

Fuel oil for the Italian navy was not just scarce, it bordered on almost non-existent. Germany was already facing serios fuel shortages by September 1941 and found it was not only having to 'short-ship' allotments to the army in Soviet Russia during Barbarossa but also the U-Boat arm and Luftwaffe. In many ways, the high attrition rates amongst the tank and aircraft eased the fuel supply problems but at the cost combat strength.

The second issue was the infrastructure limits found in the port capacity of Tripoli and Benghazi and the ability to move supplies forward without a railway. Tripoli could dock less than five (5) large merchantmen at a time, the rest of the vessels had to wait out at sea, with attendant risks from submarine attack. Benghazi could barely handle 2000 tons per month and unloading was often delayed/decreased by bomber raids from Egypt.

The Italian navy delivered more than 85% of the supplies that embarked from Europe. Tripoli, and often Benghazi, had supplies stacked up in depots but no way to move these supplies to the front. By the spring of 1942 DAK's two panzer divisions, PAA's 90th Light division, Italian armour, motor and leg infantry (a total of just 10 divisions) were using almost as many trucks as a German army group used in Soviet Russia. Furthermore, at any one time as many as 50% of the Italian and German trucks were off the road missing vital spare parts or tires.

And so the supplies the troops so badly needed sat in the ports while Rommel blamed the Italians, Kesselring and Halder for not supporting him (in a side show).
 
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The Purist

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I should have said Battle of Gazala, the result of Operation Crusader, sorry, a senior moment on my part.
? Crusader was Nov-Dec 41 that lead to the British relief of Tobruk and driving Rommel back to El Agheila. You are probably thinking of Operation Venizia (Venice), Rommel's May 42 offensive that led to the fall of Tobruk in late June.
 

AdrianE

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Fuel oil for the Italian navy was not just scarce, it bordered on almost non-existent.
That is actually incorrect. For the period where the war in NA was in doubt they had enough. See the tables on fuel stocks in Sadkovich's book Italian Navy in WWII. Your comment is only true in 1943.

The second issue was the infrastructure limits found in the port capacity of Tripoli and Benghazi and the ability to move supplies forward without a railway. Tripoli could dock less than five (5) large merchantmen at a time, the rest of the vessels had to wait out at sea, with attendant risks from submarine attack. Benghazi could barely handle 2000 tons per month and unloading was often delayed/decreased by bomber raids from Egypt.
This is correct. The only way the axis could supply an army that could take Alexandria, is if they had Alexandria. In retrospect the Axis never had a chance to win the North African campaign.
 

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