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aspqrz02 -> RE: How to get to Gibraltar as Axis to capture it? (11/10/2019 3:54:28 AM)
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That would have been interesting.
The General Staff (German) estimated they could support only a reinforced Corps against Gibraltar ... one Sturm (Heavy Infantry) and two Regular Infantry Divisions, a couple of heavy Artillery Regiments (but not RR Guns or the superheavies they used against Sevastopol ... there were no standard gauge rail lines in Spain, and no connected rail line runnin north south) and, IIRC, one, maybe two, Assault Gun Battalions.
This was their estimate of what the Spanish rail and road net could support.
They only allowed for the 1 (or two) Assault Gun battalions for the simple reason that the only land approach is, IIRC, less than a klick wide at its narrowest ... trying to push two Panzer divisions through that, then up a mountain, would have been ... interesting ...
In the game, as in so many other WW2 games (but not this one at the moment) Gibraltar should be counted as a Sevastopol type fortress, and would have to be reduced over several months as was Sevastopol.
There's no way a coup de main could have been undertaken against it ...
* No beaches worth spit. The biggest are unsuitable for landing craft and might, barely, allow a single company to be landed at what is effectively the base of a cliff and swept by MG and artillery fire from protected positions.
Then there's this little problem for the 'phibs and escorts ... called the RN. The landings will be opposed.
* How many Paradrop operations can you recall from WW2 where paras were dropped on a mountain? None?
Then there's the other problem, one often not handled well in WW2 games, the Paras and the air transport capacity needed to handle them.
What most people don't know is that the operations against Belgium etc. fairly gutted the paratroop infantry division(s) which were, barely, rebuilt in time for the Crete operation.
Even worse, and even less well understood, is the fact that the Germans lost something like 75% of all their Ju-52s during those earlier operations ... and the Ju-52 production rate was such that those losses hadn't been fully replaced by the time of the Crete invasion, which is one of the key reasons the German operations there almost came a crupper ... they couldn't drop a lot all at once, and the cycle time for each drop was almost way too long ...
Could the Germans have reduced the fortress? Sure, just like they did with Sevastopol ... and it would have taken at least as long, assuming they could manage their supply lines through suddenly partisan infested Spain.
And, regardless of whether they do or not, the Allies almost instantly pick up the Canaries, making the South Atlantic convoy routes that much safer, and, assuming the Germans pick up Portugal as a job lot with Spain, the Allies also get the Azores (heck, the Portuguese, allies of the Brits since the 14th century) would probably have urged them to do so and turned a blind eye after proforma public protests ... and with the Azores in allied hands the southern half of the mid Atlantic gap (not covered by allied ASW airpower) is suddenly no longer a gap, reducing the effectiveness of German U-Boats dramatically.
Unintended consequences.
Phil McGregor
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