FEEDBACK FROM THE WW2 AIRSOFT GAME - The Invasion of Crete, 2-3 Feb 2013-Part 1
Background
The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta) was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur ("Operation Mercury"). Greek and Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island.
After one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered very heavy casualties, and the Allied troops were confident that they would prevail against the German invasion. The next day, through miscommunication and the failure of Allied commanders to grasp the situation, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to the Germans, enabling them to fly in reinforcements and overwhelm the defenders. The battle lasted about 10 days.
The Battle of Crete was unprecedented in three respects: it was not only the first battle where the German paratroops (Fallschirmjäger) were used on a massive scale, but also the first mainly airborne invasion in military history; the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from the deciphered German Enigma code; and the first time invading German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. Because of the heavy casualties suffered by the paratroopers, Adolf Hitler forbade further large-scale airborne operations. However, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to build their own airborne divisions.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete reference wikipedia
Feedback from the Game 2nd and 3rd Feb 2013
This to date was the largest of the WWII Airsoft games in South Africa with 9 Allied players and 7 German players. All of them made an effort to get the kit correct. We also had female players on both sides. Grant traveled the 700km from Durban to play the US airborne advisor. Chris, Daniel and Karin (Gretel) also traveled around +180km to get to the game. We also had two further MCRS club members in Tyron and Patrick attend. I unfortunately could only make the Saturday and the same with others, given the game a natural attritioning of the Allieds to set in motion the turn in the battle in Crete to the German’s advantage.
The game day started with the preparation of period type supplies and army ID cards. Medical kits were issued along with each ones Field dressing. The Field dressing could only be used once during the whole game. This was followed by a safety briefing, a discussion of the game play, the medic rules and the need to watch for “land minesâ€. What is great about these games is the types of game play involved with the small tight knit of players, the lack of incidents and care not to hurt each other unnecessarily.
The Germans were deployed by a Junkers Ju52 Isuzu pickup to their drop point. They had to move up, recover weapons and take on the Allied.
The British (Allied) troops consisted of Commando’s, regular infantry (which had some SA troops in them) and an American advisor. The British troops first deployed to the old ruins to be used as their HQ and briefed. The objectives were to send initially two commandos the white house, and send two troops to the cross roads to await the German advance. The further objectives were to establish a communication line to the white house about 800m away and to keep the communication line going. For this purpose a role of 1000m of wire was to be used along with two period type military telephones. The Brits had to try hold their HQ, the Whitehouse and the control point at the cross roads. The Brit CO had to during the day do an inspection and sign the books of all the troops at these points.
The game started with deployment of the troops. TJ and Wentzel to the Whitehouse. Renier and Philippe to the cross roads.The telephone line was also laid between the HQ and the Whitehouse, and this tested, by Hendrik and Grant.
A minimal amount of watch was left at the HQ and a section (Patrick and Tryon) went to out patrol the area around the HQ. The CO then had to start his inspection, and during this time whistle signals were heard from the cross roads. So he pushed onto the Whitehouse and he carefully darted over the open land to flank the Whitehouse. A patrol was then sent out towards the cross roads but they were ambushed by a German LMG squad and the lead man and the CO’s Thompson was hit. After applying a battle dressing Hendrik and the rest of the patrol crawled and back tracked to the HQ. Feedback was then received from the patrol that they had run into Germans with the Germans receiving heavy causalities. Philippe made it also back from the cross roads and gave details of the battle with the Germans. Renier had been wounded and taken prisoner.
Another patrol was sent out to find the Germans. This was ambushed and casualties experienced on both sides, including the shooting of the Brit medic, after capture. Also during this time Wentzel had his foot polluted by a “land mine†and had to go back to the parking lot to recover.
A report came in via the telephone that the Germans were attacking Whitehouse and the CO set out with a patrol to assist. On arriving the Germans were retreating with heavy causalities on both sides. The Germans had also successfully bombed the white house with a smoke bomb.
The patrol then returned to the HQ. A German prisoner was brought in and questioned and then executed as retaliation for the medic killing. (For this staged pic, the pistol was cleared/empty and note the finger away from the trigger)
A big lull occurred in the fighting and this time was used to tuck into the period type rations and Hendrik brewed a cuppa...
With boredom setting in and the return of Renier it was decided to attack the German base and a large force was sent out to try finding the base. Patrick, Tyron and Karin remained to protect the HQ. The attack force flanked a long distance and then moved towards were the German base was suspected to be. This turned out to be quite a long trek.
No sign of Germans were found and it was decided to return to the HQ. On returning to the HQ it was found that the German force had attacked in force and the 3 had successfully held and killed off all the Germans and was down to their last 20 rounds of ammo, held in the HQ. It was also discovered that the telephone line was cut. A patrol was sent out to the white house to repair this. Two cuts were found and repaired and the surroundings of the Whitehouse were inspected but no Germans found.
The Brit CO did his afternoon inspection along with TJ. A patrol was sent out and a number of Germans were killed and two prisoners brought in. They were questioned and during this time the Germans decided to attack and killed both prisoners and no Allies. A group of Brits were sent out and sustained heavy casualties but killed all the Germans and so the day 1 ended. Poor Daniel was the last German captured and took well to the torturing and posed pics
By this stage I think everyone was happy and weary. The weather suited a day in Crete with plenty of heat and sunshine.
*Note* I can only display the pics I took. I found Serpia was useful to remove inaccuracies.
This was part I of the game and a part II is planned later one.
A dead German paratrooper being searched
John and Richard discussing the cnditions of the German surrender before the game started
Terrorising a prisoner ( I hope Chris-the German wasn't laughing in the pics!!!!!)
Point of clarity here, before someone asks the obvious: while the event was based on the invasion of Crete, we received far too many post-'41 impressions to really credibly call it Crete. More than half our Germans were in Dot44 W-SS impressions after all, and three of the intended FJ players cancelled at the last minute. We even had an American para...
Medical kits were issued along with each ones Field dressing. The Field dressing could only be used once during the whole game.
This intrigues me - perhaps you could elaborate on your medic rules? It strikes me you have started off in a very progressive fashion - concentrating on planning, recce, communication and small encounters/accidental engagements - rather than following a written game plan or just shooting each other all day. One side reacting to the other's actions. I'm impressed!
Our medic rules can be found here: http://ww2mar.co.za/rules/medic-rules/
Basically, you have two options when hit:
1) Wait for the medic to reach you and start treatment via the medic rules
or
2) Use a Field Dressing - either your own, or that of a fellow soldier - to treat the wound. The FD is a use-once-only bandage, which allows a single wound to be treated without the intervention of a medic... but this FD may only be used once per event.
We issue the FD (or Wundverbande - WV) in Altoid tins, as imitation of the US Carlisle dressings, to both sides: green tins for the Allies, and grey for the Germans. The players immediately started using the tins for storing other things as well, from cigarettes to hydration sachets!
Some more pics on the SA airsoft site.
Our medic rules can be found here: http://ww2mar.co.za/rules/medic-rules/
Wow thats the most comprehensive system of medic rules Ive seen in use, I would imagine that it gives the Medic a more important role than in our games and a better chance roleplay the medical attention given. How well did this work and did the players enjoy the system?
Yes, it works very well for us. We have a dedicated Allied medic (she always plays medic), and I do a medic-cum-rifleman load-out for the Germans, and after explaining the basics to the medic, it goes very smoothly.
What makes it realistic:
- Because you have six different medical supplies, treating the player now relies more on 'What do I have left in my satchel' than it does on simply reaching in and pulling out a generic bandage.
- On the more severe wounds - e.g. number 8 leg wound - the treatment will consist of multiple items that need to be applied, which all takes time and exposes the medic to that gut-wrenching terror of waiting for an enemy shot to hit while you are working. No more 10 seconds to tie a rag around someone's wrist - you now need to pin a bandage in place (using two safety pins), then apply a bandage pad (or two) underneath to staunch the blood-flow, and then you need to wrap the whole thing down with a tourniquet. Believe, I acquired some new grey hairs during some of those treatments!
I very much doubt us changing the system after this, it has a nice blend of milsim and practicality to it now.
