SEC
The Battle of Malta!
20 27th May
3:00 pm Eastern, 21:00 CET SEA II
In 1942, Great Britain was waging a land war against Italian forces in North Africa and their allies, Rommel's Afrika Korps. Malta was a critical component to this campaign, as the island could be used as a base to interdict efforts to resupply Axis forces operating in North Africa.During this stage of the war, Malta was critically short on munitions, food, and fuel for both military operations and civil use. Attempts to run the blockade and resupply Malta proved to be costly and often ended in failure; the two-pronged effort to resupply Malta during June 1942?known as Operations Harpoon (from Gibraltar) and Vigorous (from Alexandria, Egypt)?were unsuccessful, only two merchantmen from Harpoon and none from Vigorous reached Malta, while many others (including the only tanker included in Harpoon) were sunk, and the escorting warships also suffered heavy casualties. Military planners knew Malta would be forced to surrender if fuel, food, and ammunition did not get through before the end of August. The local air commander had warned the planners that there remained only a few weeks' supply of aviation fuel. The Admiralty drew up plans for another convoy to sail at the earliest practical date, mid-August.
The Admiralty started to plan Operation Pedestal in the early weeks of July 1942, and it was soon recognized that this was to be the main effort to relieve Malta, and would employ the largest escort force yet deployed for a single convoy, including two battleships and three aircraft carriers.The supplies were to be carried by fourteen merchant ships, the most important being the SS Ohio, the only large, fast tanker available.
The convoy was attacked fiercely. Three transports reached Malta on 13 August and another on 14 August. Ohio arrived on 15 August, heavily damaged by air attacks, and under tow by destroyers Penn and Ledbury. The rest were sunk. Ohio later broke in two in Valetta Harbour, but not before much of her cargo had been unloaded. An aircraft carrier (Eagle), two cruisers (Cairo and Manchester) and a destroyer (Foresight) were sunk, and there was serious damage to other warships. The Italian losses were two submarines and damage to two cruisers.
This convoy, especially the arrival of the Ohio, was seen as Divine intervention by the people of Malta. The 15th of August is celebrated as the feast of St. Mary's Assumption and many Maltese attributed the entrance of the Ohio into Grand Harbor as answer to their many prayers. It had been agreed by military commanders at the time that if supplies became any lower, they would surrender the islands
On 15 April, King George VI awarded Malta the George Cross, the highest civilian award for gallantry in the Commonwealth, normally awarded to individuals: to honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history
Setup:
Allies
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Bishops, 40% of participants
-- Hurricane IIC, Spitfire V, B25, Wirblewind
-- Planes enabled at Malta fields (a47, a118, a119), and Spit V at c110.
-- Wirblewind enabled everywhere on land.
Orders Frame 1
Primary Target: Protect the HMS Eagle
Secondary Target: Defend Malta and the Airbases
Axis
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Knights, 60% of participants
-- Bf 109F-4, C.202, Ju 88A-4, Ju 87D-3
-- Planes enabled at a4, a11, and a22 (south coast of Sicily).
-- Wirblewind enabled everywhere on land.
Orders Frame 1
Primary Target: Sink the CV
Secondary Target: Destroy all Airbases of Malta
Restrictions:
-None
Arena Settings
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Terrains: Italy_1
Event start, game time: 5:30
Time multiplier: 1.0
Icons: Icon range 2.5k (~7500) friendly
and enemy Iconrange 1k
Fuel Multiplier: 1.0
Radar: Axis tower radar range 65000, dar bar range 150000
(about one full sector), 2min update rate
Allies Tower radar range 65000, 2min update rate
Killshooter: Off.
Friendly collisions: Off.
Kill messages: Off.
design and hosted
by dhyran
