Gettings folks. I am moving on to the Scenario team so this will be my last TOD as a CM. During this TOD I will be training my replacement in the fine art of CMing:)
The next event is Malta 1942. Here is the write-up. Please pick you side preference.
By 1941 Malta was under severe air bombardment by the German X Air Corps under General Seisler operating from Sicilian air bases. By October of the same year Hitler issued the order to paratroop General Kurt Student to prepare, in cooperation with the Italians, for operation "Hercules" - an airborne assault that never materialized.
By 1942, the bitter struggle for control of the central Mediterranean reached its climax. To the German mind there was then no alternative: either Malta or the German Africa Corps under command of the legendary desert fox, General Erwin Rommel would be lost. Field Marshall A. Kesserling, C-in-C German Armed Forces in the area, decided Malta was too great a nuisance to be allowed to live. It was to be smashed, made silent and uninhabitable, then invaded. Accordingly he ordered a change in the German attack tactics on Malta, from small formations, to carpet bombing by dense concentrations of bombers.
The entire "Fliegerkorps" in Sicily, consisting of three hundred fifty aircraft, was thrown against Malta with a vengeance. In April 1942 alone 6,730 tons of bombs were dropped, a dubious record of airborne wholesale destruction which still holds true to this very day. The German High Command thought the obliteration of Malta and its people was complete. But they were wrong. Under the crescendo of exploding bombs and mounting casualties, the hardened Maltese and their British comrade-in arms stood firm and fought back as best they could.
By August 1942 the island of Malta had not received a supply convoy since June and food and other supplies were running dangerously low. It was imperative that Malta be held against the Axis so in August a convoy consisting of 13 fast merchant ships and a tanker was prepared to sail the island. The convoy came to be known as Operation PEDESTAL. Escorted by the largest number of warships ever assembled for a single convoy, PEDESTAL encountered intense opposition from Axis forces and only five of the Merchant ships reached Malta. Yet the 32,000 tons of supplies brought to Malta by the five surviving ships enabled the island to hold out until the siege was lifted.
In recognition of the great discipline and valor shown under siege by its people, King George VI awarded Malta the George Cross. In May 1945 the war in Europe came to an end, and with it Malta had earned a place of honor in the annals of world history.
Planeset wil be Spit V's, Hurr IIc's, F4f's, Bostons, C202's, Bf109F4's, Ju87, Ju-88's
FRAME 1 IS JANUARY 3RD
ADMIN CM - skernsk/Suave
SET-UP CM - Ghostdancer
