Secret Weapons Scenario Preview I
November 2013

Secret Weapons pits weapons that never were against each other in battles that could have happened but never did. The result is 31 scenarios that let the new “toys” fight it out all over the globe, from Germany to Poland to Iraq to Singapore to the Solomon Islands to Kyushu, Japan. The first nine scenarios introduce helicopters into the Panzer Grenadier mix.

Scenario One
Flight of the Valkyries
April 1947

River lines have provided sound defensive barriers since the days of the Sumerians; during the Second World War they continued to stop even mechanized offensives in their tracks. New technology promised to allow armies to practice "vertical envelopment," moving their forces quickly and precisely by air without the confusion of a parachute drop.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin, boards from Eastern Front, and pieces from Hammer&Sickle.

Conclusion

Airmobile operations completely changed the nature of tactical combat in the 1960s, making the concept of "front lines" extremely fluid. But the helicopter had its limitations, particularly in the face of small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery.

Notes

Here the German 22nd Air Landing Division flies onto the board loaded on Fa.223, Fa.284 and P.1003 transport helicopters, and makes an aeromobile assault across a major river. Opposing them is the Soviet 1st Guards Twice Red Banner Motorized Rifle Division, whose infantry are armed with AK-47s (a weapon that can bring down a helicopter even today). So, this one will be brutal for the Germans if they try to go toe-to-toe with the Soviets, and they must therefore use the huge mobility advantage the helicopters give them to maximum effect. The Soviets significantly outgun the Germans but have few AA guns, so they won’t be able to stop German helicopters from transporting units across the river. But they can hold roads and bridges easily by just hunkering down and waiting for the Germans to come to them, so I worked up victory conditions that give the Germans points for taking several objectives on the board. This works to their advantage since they can move large numbers of forces to specific points quickly via helicopter, so the Soviets will have to spread out their forces to cover all objectives.

Scenario Two
Insurgency
August 1945

Later planners would make air mobility a key to defeating irregular enemies. Partisans could no longer depend on the terrain alone to protect them from quick-reaction forces, and far fewer troops would be needed to suppress them since they could rapidly move from one location to the next. At least that's the way it works in theory.

Note: This scenario uses a board and pieces from Elsenborn Ridge, boards from Battle of the Bulge, Eastern Front and Road to Berlin, and pieces from Sinister Forces.

Conclusion

The partisan movement of World War II depended on harsh terrain — swamps, forest, mountains — to shelter its fighters from enemy counterattack. The helicopter was expected to do away with all that, allowing troops to move to any point and deny refuge to insurgents. In practice, it hasn't always worked out that way.

Notes

This is a quick 16-turn scenario where the Luftwaffe 3rd Parachute Division swoops in on helicopters to buzz a nest of Soviet-backed partisans. The partisans all start hidden, and the helicopters can use special air recon rules to find them and then insert Fallschirmjägers to root the partisans out. But a helicopter that flies into a hex with or near enemy units is subject to opportunity fire, which can be devastating to such delicate aircraft. That plus the fact that helicopters count double for victory points mean the partisans can rack up a high score before they have to deal with the elite German troops on the ground.

Scenario Three
Behind the Beaches
August 1945

Germany never developed a very advanced amphibious doctrine, and proposed to invade Britain in 1940 using unpowered Rhine River cargo barges. But the German Navy did deploy the world's first helicopter carrier, and used it for anti-submarine and mine-hunting missions in the Aegean Sea. Had more such carriers been available, they could have given the Germans a significant tactical advantage against Soviet coastal defenses on the Arctic Front.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin, and a board from Eastern Front.

Conclusion

The United States Marine Corps would eventually mate the helicopter with the sophisticated amphibious doctrine developed during the Second World War. Helicopters based on dedicated aircraft carriers would lift troops and equipment to key locations behind the beach defenses, unhinging them at minimal cost in blood.

Notes

This is a fun scenario where the German Marine Assault Brigade storms the Arctic coastline on helicopters and drops behind a river to take a bridge and isolate the Soviet coastal garrison there before reinforcements can arrive. The Germans also get naval gunnery support plus air support from the powerful ground attack jets that come with Secret Weapons. By the time the Soviet 25th Tank Corps arrives the Germans will be way outnumbered, so they have to hope their attack helicopters plus air and naval support can break up the Soviet advance enough for the Marines to hold the bridge and clear a beachhead behind it where more German troops can land.

Scenario Four
Stinging Hummingbird
July 1944

American practice in later decades would at first view the helicopter as an aircraft with special abilities. The French led the way in arming helicopters, following their use of gunships in Algeria with helo-mounted anti-tank missiles. By the 1970s most major powers had built specialized anti-tank helicopters; though they are vulnerable to ground fire, the helicopter can swiftly move to attack from an unprotected flank and is difficult to spot from a buttoned-up tank.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin and Eastern Front. Only use leaders from Road to Berlin.

Conclusion

The helicopter became the bane of Iraqi tanks in the early 1990s, but the first models still had much development before them. They also required that their side establish air superiority lest they become easy prey for enemy fighters. While the Fl.282 Kolibri had supposedly shown itself nimble enough to dodge such attacks, no pilot would have willingly sought an encounter with a LaGG or MiG.

Notes

Here a formation of German attack helicopters from the 22nd Air Assault Brigade comes to the rescue of a German infantry division trying to hold a river line against a Soviet armored assault. The Soviets have superior numbers and will score lots of victory points for getting units across the minor river. So, the Germans must have their AT-capable Fa.223K and Fa.223P helicopters work together to gain crossfire bonuses on the lend-lease M4A3 Shermans which the Red Army 23rd Tank Corps throws at the river line.

Scenario Five
Air Assault
August 1945

Had Nazi Germany somehow managed a resurgence thanks to its secret weapons, a counteroffensive against her war-weary enemies would no doubt have followed. The Red Army had suffered enormous losses in driving to Berlin, and put a large buffer zone between Mother Russia and the Nazis across which it could retreat. But there were some fighting in its ranks who would have no wish to fall back under any circumstances.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin and Elsenborn Ridge, boards from Battle of the Bulge and Eastern Front, and pieces from Edelweiss and White Eagles. Only use German leaders from Elsenborn Ridge.

Conclusion

The German mountain warfare establishment had shown great interest in the helicopter and might have led the way in an air assault doctrine. Producing new secret weapons is hard enough, but the men expected to use them still must work out methods for their employment. Even if helicopters and other secret weapons had appeared on the battlefield, there's no guarantee that the soldiers in the front lines would have known how to best employ them.

Commentary

This is a big scenario where two German divisions (one infantry, one mountain) assault a Polish infantry division holding a line of hills behind a major river. The infantry division enters the board on the ground while the mountain division enters riding transport helicopters and backed by attack helicopters. This will allow the Germans to drop mountain troops behind the river, take bridges and remove roadblocks so the German infantry can cross the river and attack the hill line. A Soviet tank corps will send reinforcements to the Poles, giving the Polish/Soviet forces numerical superiority and lots of armor while the Germans have no armor at all. But the Poles dislike the Reds greatly and will have trouble coordinating movements with them, while the Germans will receive elite helicopter-borne reinforcements from the Luftwaffe including Fallschirmjägers and X7 anti-tank missile units, plus ground attack jets. This makes for a highly mobile scenario ranging over eight boards, with the Germans leapfrogging quickly from one objective to another on transport helicopters while attack helicopters, jets and AT missile units keep the Soviet armor at bay.

Scenario Six
Egg Beaters
July 1948

In the years following the collapse of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union became the looming menace of the Cold War, at least in American propaganda. In actual fact the Communist superpower and its satellites were in no way comparable to the West in terms of economic power, and would not have been likely to prevail in a military struggle. But that did not mean they would surrender any faster than they had in 1942.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Battle of the Bulge, boards from Elsenborn Ridge, and pieces from Sinister Forces and Patton's Nightmare.

Conclusion

The helicopter made its first military impact in Algeria in the 1950s, as French troops used the ungainly machines to locate the hiding places of insurgents in rough terrain. Against an enemy without effective anti-aircraft weapons, the helicopter proved a very useful tool. Even an unarmed chopper could force hidden insurgents to panic and reveal their hiding places.

Notes

Here the American R4 helicopters make their debut in another quick raid on a nest of partsians. But unlike the German helos in the Insurgency scenario, the American R4s cannot act as transports and will only be doing recon in advance of a large American ground force scouring the woods for Soviet holdouts. Once again the partisans are hidden, so any American ground unit that blunders into them will be in danger of taking a lot of casualties. That gives primary importance to the helicopters’ mission, but as before, the helicopters themselves are vulnerable to opportunity fire from any partisan units they scare up.

Scenario Seven
Island of Death
Summer, 1944

One reason why the U.S. Navy was eager to bypass many Japanese-occupied islands on the way to Japan was the hideous human cost of each island taken. Even small numbers of hidden Japanese troops could wreak havoc on the U.S. Marines sent ashore to find them. But had the U.S. Navy put helicopter carriers into widespread use, aerial reconnaissance could have pinpointed Japanese locations and brought much more accurate naval support fire ahead of the advancing Marines.

Note: This scenario uses pieces and the Tulagi map from Guadalcanal.

Conclusion

Though reconnaissance helicopters would have been a huge boon to U.S. Marines advancing through the jungle, they would have been very vulnerable to fire from the same hidden Japanese units they were searching for. An R4 discovering a Japanese machine-gun nest would likely catch a hail of bullets directed at its rotors, and then only the “egg beater’s” remarkable emergency maneuverability could save it from destruction.

Notes

Here the R4 “Hoverflies” scout ahead of a U.S. Marine landing force hitting a small Japanese-held island. All Japanese units are hidden and can perform hidden movement, and any American unit that gets caught in a Banzai attack by hidden units is toast. So the helicopters will be buzzing the jungle while the Marines land on the beaches, and the Marines have to hope that the helos don’t get shot down by Japanese machine gun fire before the Marines and their naval support can root out and neutralize the island garrison.

Scenario Eight
Red Dragons
November 1945

The invasion of Japan would have found the defenders with little better armament than the Imperial Japanese Army had carried into China in 1937. As part of Operation Olympic (the landings on Kyushu), the elite First Cavalry Division was to attack the town of Ariake in Kagoshima prefecture. Japanese defense plans called for a powerful counterattack as soon as the barbarians came ashore.

Note: This scenario uses a board and pieces from Elsenborn Ridge, and pieces from Guadalcanal.

Conclusion

Conventional wisdom often claims that the Japanese would have fought any invaders with suicidal abandon. Many in the officer corps no doubt sought death in battle under the fanatical offshoot of Shinto that affected many junior leaders. Recent scholarship has questioned the dedication of the rank and file to similar goals by 1945.

Notes

This is a very quick one-board scenario in which a few companies from U.S. 1st Cavalry Division try to hold a town against a massed charge by Japanese coastal defense forces, backed by a few tanks and artillery-spotting autogyros.

Scenario Nine
Kranji
10 February 1942

On the second day of the invasion of Singapore, the Japanese made an amphibious landing near the village of Kranji. The goal was to drive Allied forces away from the demolished Johor-Singapore Causeway and establish a beachhead where construction supplies could be landed. This would allow the Japanese to repair the bridge and send their armies across the strait in overwhelming numbers to conquer the island. The Japanese landing forces had powerful artillery support from across the strait, but took heavy losses from an oil slick fire as they were crossing the Kranji River. The landing was in doubt until the Australian commander opposing the invasion ordered a withdrawal after losing communications with his headquarters. Had the Australians stayed, the landing would have hinged on accurate artillery fire keeping the defenders’ heads down until enough Japanese were ashore to take the town and secure the beachhead.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and pieces from Guadalcanal and Afrika Korps.

Conclusion

Accurate Japanese artillery barrages ahead of the landing troops would be key to a swift advance to the Woodlands Road linking Kranji with the Causeway. The best artillery spotting platform against enemies in swamp and jungle terrain offering lots of concealment would have been the Ka-1 autogyro, which had entered production just the previous year.

Notes

Here’s another quick scenario where Japanese autogyros get to beat the bushes ahead of an amphibious landing, trying to root out hidden Australian troops guarding the roads leading inland from the Singapore beaches. Australian gunnery can do a lot of damage by sinking Japanese landing craft before they hit the beaches. So, the Japanese player needs to be careful to let his autogyros perform reconnaissance, spot hidden units and then spot for the powerful artillery across the strait to wipe out the Australian defenders ahead of the landing.

That’s all the helo-centric scenarios from Secret Weapons, although helicopters appear in supporting roles in many more.

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