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Zovs -> RE: The question to ask about The Italians (9/22/2020 2:36:18 PM)
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Some other food for thought.
Okay I am pulling these out of the design notes of a board war game series that started back in the mid-to-late 1970's and continued on till the nineties. The game company in question this time is GDW (which later changed to GR/D) and the game series is the Europa series.
I'll start with the Spain and Portugal module (just hoping these will add insight or further usefulness to the conversation and I am not Mr. Astell and not advocating one point above another just sharing some info for discussion:
Spain: The effects of the Spanish Civil War influenced the development of Spain's armed forces during World War II. The Civil War greatly damaged the Spanish economy, and Spain experienced serious food shortages in the immediate post-Civil War years. The result of this was that the Spanish armed forces, while not neglected, were not substantially expanded or modernized, as rebuilding the economy was a much more important goal of the Spanish government.
Much of Spain's military equipment had to be used throughout the entire World War II period, even though most of it was obsolete or worn-out by 1939/40. The domestic industry simply couldn't supply the armed forces with sufficient modern equipment. Furthermore, Spain had few foreign sources of equipment. Germany — pro-Fascist Spain's logical supplier — needed its pro duction for its own and its fighting allies' war needs. Further- more, Spain's consistent refusal to join the Axis or to allow German troops to attack Gibraltar from Spanish soil resulted in somewhat strained relations between Germany and Spain. Thus, Germany was unwilling to supply Spain with much military equipment, allowing only token aid (some tanks and assault guns, a few aircraft, some aircraft manufacturing licenses).
Army: In the early war period, Spain officially had three mountain divisions: the 42nd, 43rd, and 52nd. However, there were sufficient mountain troops available for the equivalent of only one division. Accordingly, I showed the 43rd as a mountain division (since it had more mountain troops than the other two) and the 42nd and 52nd as infantry divisions.
The three regiments of the Spanish Foreign Legion were actually organic elements of divisions in Spanish Morocco (the 1st was in the 101st Division, the 2nd in the 93rd, and the 3rd in the 92nd). However, there were three independent Army infantry regiments (the 74th, 75th, and 76th) stationed in Morocco. Since I wanted to show the Legion directly, I arbitrarily swapped the Legion regiments with the Army regiments. By the way, the Spanish Foreign Legion, unlike its French counterpart, had very few foreigners in it (around 10%, with the rest being Spanish).
In the mid-to late-war period, the Spanish Army went through several reorganizations. A reorganization not shown in the module was the renumbering of almost all the regiments in the Army. Since the renumbering did not reflect any change in actual organization or capabilities, I saw no need to include the extra counters required to show this reorganization.
Air Force: The German foreign-aid air units are included for flexibility in Europa. While Germany actually did supply a few aircraft of the models shown, there weren't enough delivered to rate a counter. Almost enough Me 109Gs were supplied to deserve a counter, except that Germany neglected to include engines with them. Spain also obtained a license to manufacture Me 109G airframes but was unable to get engines from Germany. After much work, a Spanish aircraft engine was fitted to the airframe, with the result being the HA-1109.
Portugal: The light infantry regiments are composite units of independent battalions, and their unit IDs are the military region numbers where they are located. The cavalry brigades are sup ported because I factored independent artillery assets into the brigades.
Battle for Spain Scenario: The scenario is based on a hypothetical situation: what if Germany's strategy for 1941 was the defeat of Britain, rather than the invasion of the USSR. Although threatening to invade Britain itself would be part of the strategy, the likelihood of success against a stronger (than in 1940) RAF, Royal Navy, and British Army seems rather remote, - leaving the "Mediterranean Option" as Germany's most probable route to success. In essence, Germany would try to eliminate British presence in the Mediterranean (Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus), North Africa (Egypt and Libya), the Balkans (Greece), and the Near East (Palestine, Transjordan, and Iraq). Also, a large eastern garrison would be needed to guard against any Soviet moves, as a German incursion into the Near East would certainly increase tension between Germany and the Soviet Union. In this sequence, I assumed that an attack on Turkey would be necessary. A German attack on the Near East is hardly credible without passage of German troops and supplies through Turkey, and Turkey probably wouldn't permit this.
Similarly, Spain wouldn't allow Germany passage through Spanish territory for an attack on Gibraltar. Unlike speculation on Turkey's actions in such a situation, the actual historical record on Spain's intention is clear. Throughout late 1940 and early 1941, Germany repeatedly tried to get Spain to enter the war or to allow German troops to attack Gibraltar. In response, Spain stated its sympathy for the Axis cause but always refused the German requests. Fortunately for Spain, Germany's interest on these topics lessened as the planning for the invasion of the USSR grew. However, in the hypothetical situation outlined above, Spanish refusal would prompt German invasion. The Battle for Spain scenario examines this situation.
Scenario Rules: The Spanish preparedness rule shows the unlikeliness that Spain would be caught by strategic surprise. With months of German diplomatic pressure and German troops concentrating on the French-Spanish border, Spain would react.
At least, Spain would see the German preparations as a bluff to force Spain to Germany's will and would order partial mobilization as a counter bluff. By the way, although I assume Germany doesn't achieve strategic surprise, I do posit that the Germans achieve operational surprise. This is why the Germans receive the surprise turn on turn 1.
The rules on Portugal try to balance Portugal's traditional pro-British policy with Portugal's desire not to go too far and thus incur a German invasion. While I think that Portugal in actuality would have maintained strict neutrality in the event of a German invasion of Spain, Germany wouldn't be sure of this. Thus, the Portugal rules inject some uncertainty here, so that the German player won't be sure of Portugal's intentions.
The victory conditions reflect the fact that Germany must try to win the campaign quickly. With the war constantly expanding in 1941 (with operations in North Africa, the Balkans, the Near East, possibly against Great Britain, and possibly against a Soviet attack), a long-term campaign in Spain is against Germany's interests and would divert resources needed elsewhere.
—John M. Astell
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