Piper's Pit BBS/FTP: ibm 0200 - 0209/ibm0200-0209/ibm0200.tar/ibm0200/OP-PED.ZIP/PEDESTAL.TXT

Text File | 1994-05-30 | 17.4 KB | 319 lines

                     OPERATION PEDESTAL

               The Malta Convoy of Aug 1942

         A Scenario for SSG's 'Carriers at War II'

                      by Andy Ralls

INTRODUCTION

This scenario was inspired by the scenario of the same name which appeared
in SSG's magazine RUN 5 Issue 12. However, after prolonged research, I have
concluded that there was little of the original scenario that was accurate
and so I have redesigned it from scratch. Indeed, the only remnant of the
SSG scenario is the design of the map! In addition, the SSG version was
designed to run on the 8-bit version of CAW, whereas this version employs
all of the additional features of CAW v2.05. Designing it to run under CAW
2 has necessitated the production of a large number of graphics files for
plane, ship, base and combat graphics, as well as the map. A word of warning
- I AM NO ARTIST!! Therefore, feel free to fiddle with the graphics to your
heart's content. I only ask that if you DO improve any graphic images, you
e-mail me the results so I can use 'em. Deal?

I am aware that John Noory has uploaded a version of the original
scenario to GAMERS; a hearty well-done to him for the obvious work that went
into it. I reckon his WarRoom is better than mine, but I'm still working on
my technique and I may upload a revised .AIQ in the future.
Why do we need another one? Well, as I hope you'll see, the graphics I've
included add considerably to your enjoyment of the scenario.
In addition, as I've outlined below, my (albeit amateur) research has
uncovered much in the original version that is just plain wrong and that I have
been at pains to correct. This is not an indictment of the author of
the original scenario, or of John Noory, just a note that you can
expect this one to play differently and to be much tougher for the Allies
to win - as it was historically.

INSTALLING THE SCENARIO

This scenario requires CAWII. Installation of the CAW Construction Set or
CAW I is not necessary.

When unzipped, the following files should be present, and they should be
installed in the indicated sub-directories of your CAW directory:

PEDSCEN.ZIP     -   ZIPfile containing files for \CAW\SCENARIO
PEDCOMB.ZIP    -   ZIPfile containing combat graphics
PEDPLAN.ZIP    -   ZIPfile containing aircraft graphics
PEDSHIP.ZIP    -   ZIPfile containing new ship graphics
PEDPICT.ZIP     -   ZIPfile containing files for \CAW\PICTS
PEDESTAL.TXT    -   This text file

Each ZIP file should be copied to the appropriate directory as follows
and unzipped:

PEDSCEN.ZIP to \CAW\SCENARIO
PEDCOMB.ZIP to \CAW\COMBAT
PEDPLAN.ZIP to \CAW\PLANES
PEDSHIP.ZIP to \CAW\SHIPS
PEDPICT.ZIP to \CAW\PICTS


When all the files are copied, you should find that 'Op Pedestal' has been
added to the list of available scenarios and that there is a historical and
2 variant scenarios.

              ********IMPORTANT NOTE**********

If you have installed John Noory's version of PEDESTAL, this installation
will overwrite his work. If you wish to retain his stuff, you will need to
back-up the earlier version of PEDESTAL to another directory. Sorry, but I
wasn't prepared to rename all my files which were 90% complete when John
uploaded his Magazine version.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY

By the middle of 1942, the British campaign in N Africa for the defence of
Egypt was reaching a crisis. Axis convoys had managed to supply sufficient
materiel to Rommel's forces to enable him to mount a successful assault on
Tobruk and drive Auchinleck's forces back to the Libyan/Egyptian border. In
order to blunt this thrust while Commonwealth forces were built up for a
counterattack, it was necessary for allied aircraft based on Malta to
interdict the Axis sea lines of communication from Italy to Tripoli. Malta,
situated close to the main Italian and German airfields on Sicily, was
particularly vulnerable to air attack and, indeed, had been subjected to a
continuous bombardment since Italy entered the war in 1940. In July 1942,
the Deputy Governor of Malta, Sir Edward Jackson estimated that supplies of
food, fuel and armaments would be expended by the first week of September of
that year if no relief was forthcoming.

In June, 2 convoys, 'Harpoon' and 'Vigorous' had been mounted simultaneously
from both ends of the Med to attempt a breakthrough. 'Vigorous' from
Alexandria was forced to turn back after suffering considerable damage and
the loss of several merchantmen. The battered remnants of the 'Harpoon'
convoy, including just 2 merchant ships out of 5 that left Gibraltar,
finally limped into Valetta bringing scant relief to the besieged island.
The War Cabinet decided that only a maximum effort involving units of the
Home Fleet, Force H, and the Far East Fleet would be likely to succeed in
breaking the siege of Malta - Operation 'PEDESTAL'. To this end, a convoy of
14 merchant ships, including the fast American oiler 'Ohio' (carrying aviation
fuel), was assembled, escorted by a formidable array of Royal Navy vessels
including the carriers 'Victorious', 'Indomitable', 'Eagle' and 'Furious'.
Added to these were the battleships 'Nelson' and 'Rodney' as well as a full
complement of light anti-aircraft cruisers and destroyers. 'Furious' was not
officially part of the 'Pedestal' convoy, her role was to ferry 42 Spitfires
to Malta, after which she was to return to Gibraltar.

Opposing the convoy, the Axis had assembled some 650 combat aircraft on
Sardinia and Sicily, most of which were units of the Regia Aeronautica
which had by now accrued considerable experience in anti-ship attacks
after having practised against the Mediterranean Fleet for the best part
of 2 years. In addition, the German High Command had relieved the exhausted
Fliegerkorps X (which departed for Greece in June) with Fliegerkorps II
from the Russian front. This assembly of aircraft was based on Sicily and
included over 150 JU-88 and JU-87 bombers and dive-bombers, and was
augmented by additional units from N Africa for the Pedestal operation.

The Regia Marina had assembled a surface force of heavy and light cruisers
to fall on the convoy as it approached Malta, and 19 fast torpedo boats,
augmented by 4 German E-boats, were available for harassing duties on
the flanks of the convoy. Finally, a force of 18 submarines, 3 of which
were German U-boats, were deployed in 2 zones along the convoys route.
The convoy, 'Force F', passed the Straights of Gibraltar on the night
of 9/10 August and suffered it's first casualty, the old light carrier
'Eagle', torpedoed by U-73, on the morning of 11 August. For the next 2
days, the convoy was subjected to intense aerial bombardment, submarine
attack and the ever-present threat of action from Italian surface units.
At the end of this period, 5 merchant ships limped into Grand Harbour,
including the 'Ohio' so badly damaged that she was only kept afloat
suspended between 2 destroyers, but with her precious fuel supply intact.
As well as the loss of the Eagle, the RN had suffered heavy casualties
including the crippling of the Indomitable and the loss of several
escorting cruisers and destroyers. Indeed, so heavy had the losses been
that the Italians claimed a considerable victory and the Luftwaffe was
convinced that they had sunk or incapacitated 4 fleet carriers (and also
believed that one of them was the USS Wasp, used earlier in the year to
ferry Spitfires to Malta). In fact, despite the losses, the supplies
brought to Malta represented a narrow victory for the British forces and
one that ensured that Malta would remain as a viable base to control
the sea lanes to N Africa.

DESIGN NOTES

I originally set out to enter the raw data for this scenario into CAW
straight out of Run 5. Unfortunately, it became apparent that much
additional work would be necessary to complete it. In particular, I
ended up drawing a whole bunch of ships and aircraft to provide
visuals for the Axis (and some of the Allied) units that were not
present with either CAW or CAW2. This whole process took an inordinately
long time, but I'm generally happy with the results. Apologies for the
Axis base drawing, it was the best I could think off! Astute players
of CAW will note it's just a modified version of the Japanese base
drawing.... The Italian carrier drawing isn't...I ran out of steam
at this point!!!

The time taken to complete the graphics enabled me to go
into the OBs for both sides in some detail and it was at that point
that alarm bells began to ring. Quite clearly, the OB in the original
scenario had been designed either from incomplete sources or with a
desire to see playability take precedence over historical accuracy.
As I lean towards the latter, I decided to widen my search to see if
I could improve on things. The excellent book by Peter Smith (see
bibliography) provided a superb starting point for an understanding
of who did what to whom and how many of which they did it with. However,
although the Axis air OB given in that is still a little flaky, I
figured that this was close enough. I then came upon the Italian Air
Force Official History which helped considerably (OK, I don't speak
Italian, but after a few glasses of Chianti, you can usually work out
the main bits). It went into far more detail that Smith, but only
helped from the point of view of the Regia Aeronautica. Help was at
hand in the shape of probably the best work on any aerial campaign
I've ever come across. 'Malta 1942 - The Spitfire Year' by Christopher
Shores and Brian Cull provided complete OBs for both sides and had
the advantage of being the most up-to-date research on the subject
available. Many of the Axis air groups begin the scenario in N
Africa and Italy. This is accurate - Sicily and Sardinia were
reinforced during the early stages of the operation when it became
apparant that PEDESTAL was on it's way.

The Axis knew that a large convoy was planned because of lax
security during preparations in Liverpool, so these extra air groups
were on standby to move. The computer AI will reinforce bases as
necessary - a human Axis player will have to do this manually.
From the naval perspective, Smith goes into some detail on the naval
OBs of both sides and from this it is clear that the Italian surface
units available were considerably less potent than those present in
SSGs version of this scenario. Firstly, the battleship 'Littorio',
although serviceable (more or less) could not put to sea because of
a shortage of fuel oil. She could have been made seaworthy, but to
have done so would have been to denude her escort screen by taking
the oil used for her destroyers. Similarly, several of da Zara's
cruisers were harbour-bound throughout the operation, or were kept
in Navarino watching the Eastern Med where Vian's cruisers were
staging diversionary attack on Rhodes for just this reason. Those
Italian surface units which were present still represent a viable
threat; the only reason they did not play a more active part was a
misplaced fear of the power of the air units on Malta. A certain
increase in Italian naval fortitude may well have had different results.
In the variant, you can see what would have happened had Littorio
sortied with the rest of the fleet. Also note that the starting
locations of the Regia Marina are accurate; da Zara's 7th Cruiser Div
left Cagliari on the evening of 11th August to rendezvous with
Trieste plus escorts - they were never anywhere near Taranto during
this operation.

I have also rearranged and corrected the Pedestal convoy setup. To play
historically, Force Z, the carrier group, should be given close escort
orders to Force X, the convoy proper, until reaching the area north
of Cap Bon, between Sicily and Tunisia. At this point Force Z turned
back to Gib because of the threat from minefields and the risk to the
carriers from the close proximity of Sicily. In fact this group turned
back early because of a crippling attack on 'Indomitable'. Force X
should then proceed unescorted to Malta - when the fun really starts!!
Ideally, this should be timed so that this point is reached during the
evening of 12 Aug, to give the convoy maximum protection during the
ensuing night. Note that the Pedestal groups start with very low
endurance. They had been exercising in the Atlantic (Operation 'Berserk')
immediately prior to making the run for Malta. Whereas the major units
could have made the run at a moderate speed without refuelling, the DD's
and DE's had very short endurance and required refuelling. To this end,
I have included a variant with the historical 'Force R', the refuelling
group based on Gib. Not only does this make things more historical,
but the presence of an additional group floating around serves to
confuse an Axis player even further.

In Malta, the remnants of the June 'Harpoon' convoy await the right
opportunity to make a dash for Gib. As the Allies, you won't get many
victory points for trying it, but, again, the presence of another task
group can cause confusion to the Axis. Also, leaving them in Malta
is probably more dangerous than putting to sea! These are in the
same variant as Force 'R'.

In the original scenario, the Axis were given 2 convoys to get to N Africa.
Clearly, this was a play balance mechanism pure and simple. It gives
something for the Axis player to do (I know, so does launching attacks by
650 aircraft, but ships are what this is supposed to be about, right?).
It will not surprise many to discover that there were NO Axis convoys
around during the Pedestal attacks. To have sailed them would have been
to risk mistaken attacks by the huge aerial armada in the air all over
the central Med at the time. All convoy sailings were suspended until
14 Aug. However, I have left these in, for the same reason that the
original designers put them there (I presume) - it's fun for the Axis
to see if they can run a convoy or two while all the other
unpleasantness in happening.

The Allied air OB is VERY different from the original. No land based
aircraft at Gibraltar (why do you need them there?) - no land-based
Hurricanes (Malta was a Spitfire-only zone!) - additional heavy
bombers on Malta including Wellingtons and Liberators. Basically, Malta
is pretty much of a no-fly zone for the Axis, unless they mount an all
out attack on it. This may well achieve significant results, but at the
cost of attacking the convoy, and that's where the VPs are. However, watch
the Axis AI, and make sure you have a GOOD CAP over Malta....

The air group on Aquila (in the variant) is pure speculaton. She had not
completed fitting out at the time of the Italian capitulation and there
are scant records about her possible operational uses. However, the Germans
had intended to use modified Ju-87s on the Graf Zeppelin if they had ever
put her to sea, so it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the
Italians would have done likewise; they already operated the land-based
aircraft. I use Re2000s for the fighters, put you could just as easily
replace them with Macchis or G.50s. Either way, without radar, Aquila
probably isn't going to last long anyway.

The crippled vessel display needs some explanation. Normally, players
would expect to see only major surface units here - CVs, CVLs, BBs, that
sort of thing. I have also included the major (10,000 tons or over)
freighters. This is because most of the damage to the convoy occurred
after the CVs had headed back to Gib and the convoy had become
fragmented by sub and MS/E-boat attacks. Put simply, as long as the
convoy stayed close to the escorts, it was fairly safe from air attack
because of the large volume of flak it could put up. However, as
individual vessels suffered damage and dropped back, they became easy
prey for the torpedo boats and subs. By allowing individual vessels to
break off, the convoy can keep up a good speed, and the vulnerability of
lone freighters is recreated. Finally, I have added to the bases on
Sardinia, giving the Italians the correct airfields to launch from.
Anyway, I've waited a long time to see 'Decimomannu' in a wargame...
That's it. Hope you enjoy it. I'd really like to have some feed-back,
even if it's negative. I'm now putting together a scenario based on the
Battle of Matapan, and then maybe I'll head for the N Atlantic. So if
the interest is there, I'll maybe upload some more stuff. I just wish SSG
would do the same thing. How about it chaps?

Cheers

Andy Ralls (100116,361)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

British Offical History - The Mediterranean and the Middle East - Vol 3 -
Maj Gen I S O Playfair

War at Sea Vols 1&2 - Capt S W Roskill

Pedestal: The Malta Convoy of August 1942 - Peter Smith (Easily the
best book on the operation, and a thundering good read to boot)

Malta 1942 - The Spitfire Year - Cull and Shores, Grub Street. 1991.

Fighting Ships 1906-1921 and 1922-1945, Conways.

Combat Aircraft of the World - Bill Gunston

World Aircraft of WWII Part 1, Angelucci and Matricardi - Sampson Low
Guides, 1978.

Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II, David Mondey - Temple Press
Aerospace, 1978.

L'Aeronautica Italiana Nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Vol 2. - General Santoro.

La Marina Guerra Mondiale, Vol V - G Fioravanzo

Royal Air Force 1939-1945 - Richards/Saunders

The Italian Navy in WWII - Bragadin

The Ciano Diaries - (Trans)