OTT ED Mission 10 - Three Bridges to Victory - 19th October 1916 - by flash
Situation:
There is a salient into the lines formed from what was initially a bridgehead over the river Ancre. It is the desire of the General Officers commanding that this salient be eradicated and the line straightened out to the river line and that area to be subsequently used as a springboard for an offensive on the enemy's flank. To that end we have been aiming our efforts into this exact action but so far it seems that no matter what we throw at them the enemy resists all our exertions. This is frustrating to say the least but more importantly there is a danger that it will begin draining our resources that are desperately needed for the successive operations.
This resistance has thus far been somewhat of a mystery as shortly after the bridgehead was established we destroyed the three bridges that crossed the river effectively cutting off the bridgehead, whilst we accept there is a chance of supplies being ferried across the river there should not be such a flow as to support and replenish the troops there let alone supply the replacements that seem to appear in the area.
Information has been received from the Intelligence Corps (http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/gen...ence_corps.pdf) that might just explain what has been going on. A well placed and trusted source (subsequently identified as the renowned female spy Fatamari aka Fifi la Fan) has identified that the enemy has built an 'underwater bridge' alongside one of the three destroyed bridges over which many men and supplies are moved during the hours of darkness - an underwater bridge is just that, a bridge built underwater ie the deck is just below the surface of the water so as not to be visible - this explains why our frequent reconnaissance has not seen any movement or bridging structures. The enemy has also been very cunning by not drawing attention to the area with the siting of anti aircraft weapons around the bridges concerned or being overly protective of the airspace above them. The only thing we don't know now is which one is the bridge concerned; it is therefore proposed that you will bomb all three downed bridges to ensure we get the job done.
The enemy are used to seeing reconnaissance flights at high levels and so it is proposed that the bombing will be conducted at that high level.
Ground:
Two mats size will do this, ie 120cm x 90cm or 4' x 3' in old money, or bigger for those that have the room and extra mat - don't own any mats but there may be suitable rivers to hold the target cards which should be evenly spaced along the length of the river or board you are using, playing across the width of the table if possible
Mission:
Bomb the three bridges again !
Method :
Bomber(s) masquerading as recce at high level with escorting fighters will launch attacks on all three bridges
Targets:
Broken bridge target cards
Execution:
Players fly one aircraft, fly all the others as AI (though put the I into AI for bombers if needed)
Friendly forces:
At least 1 two-seater with bombs & 1 Escorting scout
Enemy forces:
At least two fighting scouts.
Forces Option:
You can make this game as big as you like with as many planes and types as you can handle on each side so long as it's reasonably balanced sides !
Victory:
Direct hits on all three bridge targets, or, if only one or two bridges hit, a direct hit on the underwater bridge.
Partial: Hits, but not all direct hits on all three bridges, or underwater bridge.
After the game roll a D6: on a 1,2 the first bridge bombed was the underwater bridge, 3,4 the second and 5,6 the third. Where only one or two bridges are hit if the corresponding bridge received a direct hit then victory is yours !!
Special rules:
High level bombing -
Dropped on a 'long' card: Once released bombs will fall 2 x Straight + 1 x Stall.
Dropped on a 'stall' card: Once released bombs will fall 2 x Stall + 1 card length
This is to reflect the parabolic of the falling bomb from greater height.
Bombs can be dropped in part or in whole loads and how the carriage of bombs affects your aircrafts performance I will leave up to you pilots....
Guns and Ammo:
It's October 1916 - The Bulldogs have just been supplied with 97rnd pans for their Lewis machine guns - one of the first so supplied from the production run.
For those that use the restricted ammo rule this will give Lewis equipped aircraft 6 phases, or 2 GT, of firing !
German rear gunners - mostly equipped with the Parabellum MG14 - have an ammo restriction of 9 phases of firing, or 3 GT, before having to reload.
Allow the gunner in a two-seater to hold fire & engage at close range for maximum affect
Wounded gunner optional rule in affect for this mission:
Wounded Observer: - option for obs/recon/bomb missions:
a. You knock him down for the remainder of the turn he is hit in
b. He stays down the whole next turn
c. He returns to action at the beginning of the next turn with these penalties applied.
ie 4 move gun jam, can only fire at short range & not after steep moves.
d. A second hit and observer is killed.
Game Notes:
This game has been written for both sides of the campaign to play as the attacking force - well one side can't have all the fun !
October also sees the introduction of the Spad VII to the RFC and & the Albatros D.II to the Jasta's so expect some brisk opposition !
Bombing Diagram Here in the files for download
I wish you all luck
Reply With Quote
Creeps up on ya don't it !
This one looks really great Dave.
Originally Posted by flash
Sounds like you are ready for a stiff drink Squadron Leader.
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