Second World War at Sea: Bomb Alley
Operational Scenario 42: Surrender
8–10 September 1943
By Steve Cabral
July 2013

General Maxwell Taylor was spirited into Rome prior to an invasion of Italy to see the feasibility of Italian co-operation. His conclusion was: trap. So a pure southern strategy was decided upon, to land at Calabria September 3rd and then Salerno. Interference by the Italian navy was to be avoided, so plans were made to allow the Italian fleet to surrender itself in Malta. Unsure of true Italian intentions, a heavy battle fleet was retained at Malta. Unknown to the Allies, the deposing of Mussolini told the Germans that Italy was untrustworthy; many well recalled 1915. German forces were on standby to neutralize any and all Italian efforts at perfidy. The Luftwaffe stood at the ready with the new anti-warship glide bomb the Fritz X plus Hs293 guided missiles. Operation Avalanche would commence September 9th at Salerno, in theory free from Italian naval interference.

Time Frame: 18 turns
Starting Weather Condition: 1 (Clear)

Axis Forces

At La Spezia (AA6):
BB07 Roma   
BB06 Vittorio Veneto
BB05 Italia (ex-Littorio)
CL10 Eugenio di Savoia 
CL09 Duca d’Aosta
CL07 Montecuccoli
DD44  Mitragliere
DD38 Fuciliere
DD36 Carabiniere
DD42 Velite 
DD41 Legionario
DD25 Oriani 
DD31 Artigliere
DD23 Grecale 

At Genoa (Z5):
CL11 Abruzzi 
CL12 Garibaldi
CL13 Regolo 
DE20 1 x Spica

At Naples (AG12):
DD02 Da Noli
DD11 Vivaldi

At Taranto (AL13):
BB04  Caio Duilio
BB03 Andrea Doria
CL05 Cadorna
CL23 Pompeo Magno (CL 22 class)
DD Da Recco

At Pola (AG5):
BB02 Giulio Cesare

At Trieste (AG3):
Seaplane Tender Miraglia (use TR13)
DD51 Riboty
DE19 1 x Spica

Allied Forces

At Malta (AH21):

BB02 Warspite
BB13 King George V (BB14 class)
BB03 Valiant
DD53 Faulknor
DD60 Fury
DD43 Echo
DD82 Intrepid
DD Raider (DD165 class)
DD10 Vasilissa Olga (Greek)
DD27 Le Terrible (French)

Special Rules

Air Bases: Allies may use Malta; Axis may use Italy and Sardinia only.

Air Allotment: Germany rolls using 1942 tables. No Group 1 Bf109f are in Fighter Pool. Germany also receives one Do217, one He111h (torp) and two Bv138 seaplane counters all at two-step strength, plus unlimited Fritz X and Hs293 missiles for use on the Do217. Britain has two Spit V, two Sund and two Cat counters, each of two steps, at Malta. No other Allied or Italian air units are rolled for. All German fighters and Ju87 are removed turn 7 and all bombers but Bv138 are removed on turn 13.

Loyalty: On Turn 1 the Allied player rolls two dice for each port with Axis ships. On any result other than 12, all the ships in port convert to Allied control.

Movement: Italian ships in Italy must move to Malta (pre-plot course) without entering Row E north of AE20. Those in Naples would have move west of this line in first turn or are considered destroyed. Adriatic ships must move to Malta while staying two zones from AK17. British ships may not move from Malta unless a port stays loyal to Axis. Once spotted by Axis air, they move and plot as an intercept mission and may move to Bone (Y20) or Majorca (R14).

Reinforcements: On turn seven 3 x Spica DE are added at La Spezia (AA6). Allies roll for control.

Guided Missiles: Only Do217 aircraft may carry a missile. Do217 aircraft releasing the Hs293 do so out of AA range. Fritz X must be dropped over the target but from high altitude.

Each Hs293 missile is 5d. Each Fritz X missile is 3d they hit on 5 or 6, +1 if no AA on target, -1 if CAP defending, -1 Fritz versus tertiary hull armor. All modifiers are cumulative and there are no automatic hits on 6.

Fritz penetrates primary armor and Hs293 penetrates tertiary armor. Use the Torpedo Damage table for each hit. If carried by a half-squadron, the missiles die rolls are halved, rounded down. Do-217 may load only one of Hs293, Fritz X or bombs on any turn in a Hanger Box and it must be written down.

Special: The Italians had no idea why German planes hung outside AA range, and had no knowledge of missiles. On the first attack using any missiles the missile strength is doubled and may be split onto two different targets.

Victory Conditions

The Allies receive VP for damaged or sunk enemy ships, as do the Axis. The Allies receive one VP for each Italian ship arriving only in Malta. Germany gets six free VP for two Italian DE that rammed and sank one another. Axis receives 3 VP for any friendly ship in Naples at scenario end.

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