Scenario and AAR Crete Campaign Turn 2 Battle 3 Vlakheronitissia

 

Attack-Counter Attack at Vlakkheronitissia

Campaign day 1 Turn 2 Meeting Engagement Attack / Counter attack 

DUKE Forces Officer 1 BR17 Scouts 2 

1 Infantry Platoon (Regular)

1 Platoon command section 

1 2" mortar team

3 Infantry rifle sections ( 1 in reserve arrives from  turn 5)

1 Vicker Heavy MG and loader team

1 battery off table 2x 3" mortars 

Pre registered target point (Village chapel)

Timed 3.7" mountain howitzer  4x3.7" mountain howitzers (PRTB  corner field SW corner)  

1 sniper with spotter 

5 Cretan Irregulars (Elite)

5 Cretan Irregulars patrol (Veteran)

German Forces  Officers 3 BR 22 Scouts 2 

1  Fallschirmjaeger  Sturm Platoon  (Elite) 

1 80mm mortar team 

1 sMMG MG34

1 Forward Artillery Observer team

1 Timed Air strike by Ju-88 

1 sniper 

1 Fallschirmjaeger Foot patrol

 

We are making movement with counters on a hex map of northern Crete and then fighting out the engagements as they occur. The second turn includes the German second lift and the movements of the  troops dropped into the island at dawn in the first turn .  The German paratroopers are moving around the south side of Hill 107 whilst the New Zealand forces move to defend the key locations 

The relevant part of the campaign map. Arrows indicate to movement towards the battle 

Cretan Irregulars prepare to ambush the advancing Germans with shot guns and old rifles 

The 3.7" mountain guns open fire on a map reference east of the village 

Cretan Irregulars cross rough ground toward the center of the village

A British infantry section advance past a crashed glider. 

A Sniper and his spotter pin down the advancing paratroopers behind a stone wall. 

Cretan irregular in the village main street. Capture an objective (marked with a drop canister) . There irregulars have just eliminated the advancing Fallschirmjaeger squad in close combat.

The Luftwaffe arrive to turn the tide of the battle. The Ju-88's  medium bombs didn't cause much damage  but the Battle Rating loss was key to causing the New Zealander to withdraw. 

The Platoon HQ captures' another objective in the filed outside the village

The Grmans end with 18 BR out of a total of 22

The New Zealanders and Cretans reach 18 under combined mortar fire and air attack. and withdraw back up Hill 107. 

Battle for the Village of Vlakkheronitissia and Hill  107

I began by deploying my scouts, sniper team, and Cretan irregulars in a stone outbuilding and surrounding rough ground within the German deployment zone. Their mission was to ambush German troops as they entered the table. What I had not anticipated was that the sniper and his spotter would eventually have to conduct a desperate close-range defence of the building, as I had inadvertently positioned them directly on the Germans' most likely route of advance towards the village.

The main New Zealand  force advanced from the hill overlooking the village to the north-east, intending to seize the objectives represented by parachute supply containers. Each side had placed two objective markers. The Germans deployed their scouts within their own deployment area, covering what would become the main axis of their platoon's advance.

The Ne Zealanders quickly established their Vickers machine gun and light mortar on the slopes overlooking the village. Two infantry sections then advanced: one towards a large building at the northern end of the village and the other towards the crossroads in the centre. The lieutenant and his headquarters section moved behind these units, intending to seize an objective located in the open ground. The Cretan irregulars were positioned to support the attack on the village centre.

The German response was swift. They brought forward a mortar team and observer, supported by a heavy machine-gun team and an infantry section. The machine-gun and infantry units pushed through the rough ground toward the northern end of the village while the mortar team established a firing position to support their advance.

The German mortar proved highly disruptive. Its harassing fire repeatedly pinned British infantry and significantly slowed the advance. However, British off-table artillery and New Zealander's 3" mortars eventually targeted the village centre, driving off the German observer and inflicting casualties on advancing Fallschirmjäger attempting to capture the same objectives.

Despite the barrage, the Cretan irregulars pressed forward and contested the central objectives. Advancing through intermittent mortar fire, they successfully launched close assaults against German troops. In hindsight, I had placed these irregulars in an excellent position but failed to exploit their ambush capabilities fully by not issuing them enough orders early in the battle. As a result, German infantry were eventually able to pin them down and destroy them in close combat with grenades and machine pistols. Even so, they accounted for a German sniper and helped disrupt the German advance.

Meanwhile, my sniper and spotter, stragglers from a British Indian Army unit proved extremely effective. From his concealed position he delivered enfilading fire against advancing German troops, repeatedly pinning them and preventing significant progress along the southern edge of the village.

The New Zealand infantry experienced mixed fortunes. Some elements became pinned in olive groves near a crashed glider, but others successfully reached the village. Supported by accurate Vickers machine-gun fire, these troops launched close assaults that forced German defenders to retreat or surrender, allowing the British to secure another objective.

However, the Germans continued to apply pressure through mortar fire. Eventually, a particularly accurate barrage struck the objective at the northern end of the village, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing the New Zealand infantry to withdraw following a failed morale test. This setback coincided with the arrival of a Ju 88 bomber, whose attack on the slopes near the village centre further shook British confidence.

Recognizing that the battalion would be unable to hold it's territorial gains, the New Zealand commander ordered a withdrawal to the north-east. Until the arrival of air support, German progress had been limited. Once the Ju 88 entered the battle, however, the Germans gained their first significant foothold at the base of Hill 107.

The capture of Hill 107 was a crucial objective. Controlling the hill would secure the landing ground at Maleme, enabling German reinforcements to arrive during later turns of the campaign. Though the British withdrawal denied the Germans a decisive victory in the village itself, the battle marked the beginning of a dangerous German advance toward one of the most critical objectives on Crete.