February FSO: Breaking the Gustav Line - Shingle to Diadem

[Nefarious]

February's FSO is posted and open for registration and squad modification.

Frame Dates:

Feb 1st 2013
Feb 8th 2013
Feb 15th 2013

http://ahevents.org/fso-current-next-event.html



The situation in Italy after Christmas of 1943 was one of frustration and deadlock. On the West coast of Italy the US 5th Army was in a deadly slog attacking through the Bernhardt line positions. On the Adriatic coast the British 8th Army had just fought a bloody street fight for the small town of Ortona. Both Allied Armies were now facing another enemy now in the form of snow and rain which were making muddy mountain roads impassable.

By January 15th, after heavy casualties over the last six weeks of fighting, the US 5th Army had reached the Gustav line and were now facing the formidable defenses of Monte Cassino. The town of Cassino and its monastery formed natural defensive positions at a key area in the Gustav line and could not be avoided. The attacks on the Western side of the Gustav line and Cassino started on January 17th. The first few days saw heavy fighting in all areas of the US 5th Armies advance.

On January 22nd US VI Corps landed at Anzio and secured a beach head, but under the command of Major General John Lucas they failed to attempt an immediate strike out of the landing area and became surrounded. By the time Lucas attempted an offensive operation on January 30th, his forces met heavy resistance. February saw the Germans launch a massive counterattack and the situation in the encircled beach head was becoming very serious. The Allies held the beach head and on February 22nd Major General Lucas was replaced by General Lucian Truscott.

While the situation at Anzio was becoming critical and the weather worsened, the Allies at Monte Cassino prepared for more attacks on the town and the monastery which was destroyed by air attack on February 15th. The fighting for the monastery would last three more months until it was captured by Polish troops on May 18th after the launch of Operation Diadem. Five days later the US VI Corps broke out of the Anzio beach head and was poised to cut-off the retreating German forces from Cassino but instead was diverted for Rome. Rome would fall to Allied forces on June 4th, two days before the Allied Invasion of Normandy.

The role of Allied air power was instrumental in the Allied victory at Cassino and Anzio. Operation Strangle, the interdiction of German troops and supplies like fuel, ammunition, and food began in March 1943 and severely affected the German logistics of supplying their defenses. During the Cassino and Anzio operations the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces provided vital air support missions that turned the tide of many of the critical ground battles. This FSO depicts the air battles in central Italy, early 1944.



- Fw 190F-8 Panzerblitz rockets will be disabled.
- Only aircraft with minimums must be flown.
- Requirements Indicate # of Pilots.
- Formations are enabled but not required.
- Certain Aircraft will only be active from certain fields. Please refer to the Objectives and Orders.
- Pilots may refuel and rearm at ANY FRIENDLY FIELD.
- All Aircraft must land successfully at ANY FRIENDLY FIELD before T+120 or you will be counted as lost.
 
Scoring:

AIRCRAFT

02 pts - Single Engine Aircraft
05 pts - Twin Engine Aircraft

BASES
 
Destroyer - 18
Cruiser   - 72
Carrier   - 144
200 - Town
288 - Small Airfield
396 - Medium Airfield
572 - Large Airfield
219 - Vehicle Base
 
NOTE: When a target is attacked the attacker gets the points for objects destroyed at the target while the defender gets the points for all objects not destroyed at the base.
 
Ace Missions:
 
Each side will have one mandatory Ace mission per frame. These frames will represent notable pilots of the time and theater. One pilot from each side will designated an "Ace" Pilot. They must fly the Aces listed aircraft. They will be scored as follows.
 
Ace Pilot = 20 Points
Ace Pilot Kills = 20 Points
 
So for example if an Ace Pilot is shot down they are worth 20 points to the other side. Like wise, every victory an Ace Pilot lands they will be rewarded 20 points.

Axis Aces –

Frame 1 - (BF109G-6) Hauptmann Herbert "Puschi" Puschmann flew with JG51 in Russia scoring his first kills during Barbarossa. He would claim 37 victories from July 1941 to August 1942. He would be then be transferred to North Africa and later Italy where he claim 20 more enemy destroyed. Puschmann was killed February 3rd 1944 while engaging B-25 bombers in the Rome area. He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross.

Frame 2 – (C.205) Major Adriano Visconti started out in the Regia Aeronautica but after the Italian surrender joined the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana. He was given command of the 1st squadron of the 1st Gruppo Caccia. Visconti got his first kill with the ANR on January 3rd, 1944. He flew the C.205 and Bf109 until the ANR disbanded in 1945. Visconti was killed by communist partisans after surrendering on April 29th 1945.

Frame 3 – (Fw 190A-5) Hauptmann Siegfried “Wumm” Lemke was a veteran of the Channel Front, where he shot down his first enemy aircraft, a Spitfire in 1943. In late January 1944 he was transferred to Southern France. In February he was transferred to Italy to counter the Anzio landings. He would shoot down 16 aircraft in March of 1944. Lemke would go onto claim 70 victories. He survived the war and passed away in 1995.

Allied Aces –

Frame 1 – (SPIT VIII) Lt. Col Charles "Sandy" McCorkle took part in the Aleutians campaign before taking command of the 31st FG in Sicily flying Spitfires. He would take part in the Salerno and Anzio landings. Shooting down 5 enemy aircraft in Spitfire, he was one of the few American Spitfire Aces. He would go onto shoot down 6 more when the 31st transitioned to P-51s in April of 1944. McCorkle passed away in 2009.

Frame 2 – (P-40F) Capt James Fenex Jr was a flight leader in the 316th FS of the 324th FG. On February 16th, 1944 near Anzio, Fenex shot down a Fw 190 bringing his total number of kills to 3. At the end of March, he led a bombing mission in his P-40 to Anzio, where he claimed two more Fw 190s South East of Rome. Fenex would be the last pilot to acheive ace status flying the P-40 in the MTO.  

Frame 3 – (SPIT VIII) Squadron Leader Albert "Bert" Houle flew with the RAF in 213 squadron flying Hurricanes in North Africa. He would start to accumulate victories when he was transferred to 417 Squadron RCAF. On February 29th, 1944 near Anzio, Houle would shoot down two Fw 190s to bring his total to 13 confirmed kills. This was to be Houles last combat mission as he was wounded in the neck. Houle passed away in Canada in 2008.

- Italy terrain
- Icon Range – Friendly 3k, Enemy 3k.
- No Radar
- Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 63360 (12 miles)
- Tower Range – 63360 (for display to match the above Fighter and Bomber Warning)
- External view for bombers (F3) - On
- Friendly Collisions - Off
- Enemy Collisions - On
- Kill Shooter - Off
- Fuel - 1.0
- Ack - 0.4
- Formations - Enabled
- Bombsite calibration - Main Arena Standard
- Visibility - 17 miles
- Object Downtime – full (200)
- Winds - None
- Game Clock:
                     Frame 1: 08:00 ( 8:00 AM, Morning)
                     Frame 2: 12:00 ( 12:00 PM, Noon)
                     Frame 3: 16:00 ( 4:00 PM, Afternoon)
 
Designed by Nefarious 2013

Please take the time to contact your squads and ask what their choice of rides would be.
 
You can contact all the squads on your side here.
http://ahevents.org/fso_email/mail_address.html
 
Please note the updated rules.
http://ahevents.org/fso-related/fso-rules.html

[STXAce8]

In Feb. 1943, G-6s were just arriving. To make this more accurate the axis should have more g-2s in the first, second frame a 50/50 split, third with only a few g2s, like 12.

[Nefarious]

In Feb. 1943, G-6s were just arriving. To make this more accurate the axis should have more g-2s in the first, second frame a 50/50 split, third with only a few g2s, like 12.

This event is set during the shingle operation through the diadem operation, january through may 1944

[STXAce8]

There were no g6s anywhere near the front lines in January, and they were just getting into the fight in February.....

[AKP]

In Feb. 1943, G-6s were just arriving. To make this more accurate the axis should have more g-2s in the first, second frame a 50/50 split, third with only a few g2s, like 12.

This FSO depicts the air battles in central Italy, early 1944.

[STXAce8]

Oh, sorry

[Seadog36]

Nef, AKP,

Shouldn't there be P-47D11s in these frames? The 325th FG, for example, operated P-47s from 14 December 1943 – 24 May 1944. There were the mainstay fighter of many 12th and 15th AF units operating at that time. It seems crazy to leave jugs out of this, and we even have an appropriate MTO 57th FG skin for it.

The MTOs leading US triple ace(18 kills) Was Col. Herchel Green 317 FS. Most of his kills were in Razorback P-47s. Below are the dates:

01/30/1944 – four JU-52, one MA-202, one DO-217 – Flying the P-47
03/11/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-47
03/18/1944 – one ME-109 – Flying the P-47
03/29/1944 – one FW-190 – Flying the P-47
04/07/1944 – one ME-110 – Flying the P-47

325th P-47s on patrol over Italy late 1943

[Nefarious]

Thanks for your informative post on the P-47. As a CM i hate to leave out aircraft of a plane set, especially if it saw a considerable amount of service in that theater. Sometimes aircraft are left out intentionally to focus on other specific aircraft. Im at work typing from my phone right now, but this evening i will take a look at it and see if there is someway to work something out.

[DEECONX]

AIRCRAFT

02 pts - Single Engine Aircraft
05 pts - Twin Engine Aircraft

So will P38s be worth more?

[Seadog36]

That would be great Nefarious~ it will make the setup much richer and the match up more accurate.

The tremendous contributions of the jug always seem to get eclipsed by the P-51 in Europe and the P-38 in the Pacific. I have a huge amount of information on our most produced fighter (15,660, even more than the P-51 which was produced until 1951) if you ever need any resources.

Regards,

~Seadog36

[j500ss]

So will P38s be worth more?

Bombers are usually always worth more points               


Just had to throw that out there   


 

[blazer65]

Bombers are usually always worth more points               

Shouldn't fighter kills in a P-38 count for more too, since its obviously harder to dogfight in bombers.   

[Nefarious]

I have decided not to change the plane set at this time. The P-47 was very close to being added to the plane set a few weeks back but this is the set I chose. The set we have now was from several weeks of planning and discussion with the FSO team and other CMs and with just a a few days from Objectives I'm not going to start tampering with it.

[DEECONX]

Shouldn't fighter kills in a P-38 count for more too, since its obviously harder to dogfight in bombers.   

Ding ding we have a winner!

[Seadog36]

I have decided not to change the plane set at this time. The P-47 was very close to being added to the plane set a few weeks back but this is the set I chose. The set we have now was from several weeks of planning and discussion with the FSO team and other CMs and with just a a few days from Objectives I'm not going to start tampering with it.

That would be a shame Nef, the setup and historical time frame is tailor made for the plane. I've seen a lot of last minuet additions and subtractions in plane types, numbers and composition over the years. The P-47 was the first successful US response to the FW 190, and it seems to merit another look.

Regardless, thanks again to you, all the CMs and FSO staff, I know it's a lot of work to get it organized every week~ looking forward to fighting in the Italy map next month, and it would be great to be surprised with an accurate addition.

~Seadog36