GREEK READING MATERIAL

Command Ops: Battles From The Bulge takes the highly acclaimed Airborne Assault engine back to the West Front for the crucial engagements during the Ardennes Offensive. Test your command skills in the fiery crucible of Airborne Assault’s “pausable continuous time” uber-realistic game engine. It's up to you to develop the strategy, issue the orders, set the pace, and try to win the laurels of victory in the cold, shadowy Ardennes.
Command Ops: Highway to the Reich brings us to the setting of one of the most epic and controversial battles of World War II: Operation Market-Garden, covering every major engagement along Hell’s Highway, from the surprise capture of Joe’s Bridge by the Irish Guards a week before the offensive to the final battles on “The Island” south of Arnhem.

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Phoenix100
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GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

Anyone help? Been playing some Greek scenarios - Elasson Reargaurd, for example, and tried to find books/material to read about the Greek campaign, from the pov of either side, but finding it hard to locate anything interesting. Anyone recommend any good material telling the stories of these battles in Greece? I don't know who designed Elasson Reargaurd, for example, but I wonder where did they get the info as to troop starting dispositions etc? Many thanks.

Peter
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Arjuna
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Arjuna »

Peter,
 
IIRC most of the data for that came from the Australian and New Zealand official histories. I can't remember off the top of my head the author of the New Zealand official history. But the Australian onbe is by Gavin Long. The book is called Greece, Crete and Syria and it's part of the Australia in the War of 1939-45 series. Just looked up Long's book again and it covers the Elasson Rearguard action on p123.
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Phoenix100
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

Thanks, Dave. I'll try to find the Long.

Peter

Found it. £60 a volume, anywhere I look....
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springel
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by springel »

I lost the link, but I think the official Government Australian history of WWII is available online.

EDIT: it is not what I remember seeing last time, but I found this link:
http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/

EDIT2: this looks more like it:
http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/AWMOHWW2/Army/Vol2/

That last one is the complete work by Gavin Long in PDF.
Phoenix100
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

Super! Thanks Springel.
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Arjuna
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Arjuna »

Is it really sixty quid. Maybe I should sell my library. [:)]
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

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Phoenix100
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

Thanks Daz.
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

I read the NZ history and, as I suspected, the Axis came straight down the middle and, just as in the game (lol), were halted (for nearly a whole day, in fact) nth of the Elasson crossing by NZ arty. The real life tactic seems to have been to just push through it, using the Axis arty which arrives late in the day, but losing many tanks (as also happens in the game if you try this) in the process.

Springel's link is much appreciated! You can read it all on line without paying a penny!

But what about the Axis side, Dave? Where did you get info about detailed Axis dispositions in order to make the scenario and OOB? The Aussie history doesn't say much about the Germans, of course.

Peter
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Plodder
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Plodder »

All the Official NZ WW2 histories are available online here:

NZ Official WWII Histories

The one detailing Greece is called To Greece. Every battalion and regiment also has it's own history so you'll find more info about the campaign in each of those as well.
Gen. Montgomery: "Your men don't salute much."
Gen. Freyberg: "Well, if you wave at them they'll usually wave back."
Phoenix100
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

Many thanks The Plodder. Excellent.
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Arjuna
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Arjuna »

Here's the bibliography from the COTA manual.

Books, Magazines, and Printed Articles

Bailey, Maj. Gen. J.B.A. Field Artillery and Firepower. Revised and expanded. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2004.
Buchner, Alex. The German Infantry Handbook 1939-1945. West Chester: Schiffer Military History, 1991
Buckley, Christopher. Greece and Crete 1941. London: HMSO, 1952.
Cervi, Mario (transl. Eric Mosbacher). The Hollow Legions: Mussolini’s Blunder in Greece, 1940-1941. London: Chatto & Windus, 1972.
Chamberlain, Peter and Ellis, Chris. British and American Tanks of World War II: The complete illustrated history of British, American and Commonwealth tanks, 1939-1945. 2nd ed. New York: Arco Publishing Co, 1975.
Crow, Duncan. ‘Brief history of the Panzer Divisions’ in Panzer Divisions of World War 2. Windsor: Profile Publications.
Cruickshank, Charles. Greece 1940-1941. London: Davis-Poynter, 1976.
Davies, W. German Army Handbook 1939-1945. 2nd ed. New York: Arco, 1977.
Detweiler, Donald S. (ed). World War II German Military Studies. New York: Garland, 1979.
Farndale, Gen Sir Martin. The Years of Defeat Europe and North Africa 1939-1941. London: Brassey’s, 1996.
Fergusson, Bernard. The Black Watch and the King’s Enemies. London: Collins, 1950. Excerpt kindly provided by Thomas B. Smyth, Archivist, The Black Watch Regimental Archive.
Greene, Jack and Massignani, Allesandro. ‘The Summer of ’42: the proposed Axis invasion of Malta’, in Command Magazine: Military History, Strategy & Analysis, issue 20, Jan-Feb 1993.
Heydte, Freiherr Friedrich August, Freiherr von der (transl Moss, Stanley W.). Daedalus Returned: Crete 1941. London: Hutchinson, 1958.
Hellenic Army General Staff. Abridged History of the Greek-Italian and Greek-German War. Athens: Army History Directorate, 1997.
Hoffschmidt, E.J. and Tantum, W.H. IV (eds). German Tank and Antitank. Boulder: Sycamore Island
REFERENCE MANUAL
204 Books, 1979.
Horner, David. The Gunners. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1995.
Jentz, Thomas L. (ed). Panzertruppen: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany’s Tank Force. Vol 1, 1933-1942. Atglen: Schieffer Military History, 1996.
Joslen, Lt. Col. H.F. Orders of Battle: United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939-1945. Vol 1. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1960.
Kaltenegger, Roland. Deutsche Gebirgsjäger. Stuttgart: Motorbuch, 1977.
Lehmann, Rudolf. Die Leibstandarte vol I. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1987.
Long, Gavin. Greece, Crete, and Syria. Australia in the War of 1939-1945. Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1953.
Lucas, James. Alpine Elite. New York: Jane’s, 1980.
Mitcham, Samuel. Hitler’s Legions. London: Leo Cooper, 1985.
Nafziger, George F. Infantry in World War II. London: Greenhill, 2000.
Nafziger, George F. Panzers and Artillery in World War II. London: Greenhill, 1999.
Nasse, Jean-Yves (transl. Schubert, G., Funken, Dr. H.W., and McKay, Alan). Fallschirmjäger in Crete. Paris: Histoire & Collections, 2002.
Niehorster, Leo. Mechanized Army Divisions, 22nd June 1941. Hannover: Niehorster, 1990.
Niehorster, Leo. Mechanized GHQ Units and Waffen-SS Divisions, 22nd June 1941. Hannover: Niehorster, 1992.
Reinhardt, Hellmuth. Airborne Operations: A German Appraisal. Washington: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1950.
Routledge, Brig N.W. Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914-1955. London: Brassey’s, 1994.
Several volumes of Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939-1945. Wellington: War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, various dates. Electronic versions available at http://www.nzetc.org/.
Terzakis, Angelos. The Greek Epic 1940-1941. Greek Army Press, 1990.
Weingartner, James. Hitler’s Guard. Illinois: Southern Illinois University, 1974.
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Arjuna
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

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Source Material

Several Kriegsstärkenachweisungen, located in Awender, Christoph. ‘Kriegsstärkenachweisungen (KStN)’, on World War II Day by Day, http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/.
Several Australian, New Zealand, and British War Establishments, located in Chadwick, Tony. Military Tables of Organization, http://www.militarytablesoforganisation.com/.
Einsatz Kreta: Gefechtsbericht XI Flieger-korps 20 April – 2 Juni 1941, held by Australian War Memorial.
Australian, and New Zealand tactical maps and situation reports, and a series of German graphische Lageberichte for April 1941 held by the National Library of Australia Map Room.
Topographic maps of the Balkans, Greece, Crete, and Malta in scales from 1:31 680 to 1:250 000 and of various dates between 1915 and 1965, held by the National Library of Australia Map Room.


Websites and Online Articles
The websites and online articles used in researching AA: COTA are far too numerous to list. Some of the more generally useful are listed below.
‘The Defence of Florina, and the Monastir Gap, Greece 10-14 April 1941: a Spearhead Mini-Campaign’, on Moher, John (ed). Spearhead: Rules and Organizations for Division-Level World War II Wargaming by Arty Conliffe, http://www.geocities.com/ww2spearhead/.
Altenberger, Andreas. Lexikon der Wehrmacht, http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/.
Barton, Derek. The Royal Artillery, 1939-45, http://www.ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/.
Dillon, John. Battle of Crete, http://home.freeuk.net/johndillon/.
Evans, Nigel F. British Artillery in World War 2, http://members.tripod.com/~nigelef/
Honner, David Michael. Guns vs. Armor, http://gva.freeweb.hu/.
JodieCon: Crete 1941, http://jodiecon.org/articles/crete99/.
Kennedy, Gary J. Battalion Organisation during the Second World War, http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/.
Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth, http://www.regiments.org/.
Moher, John and Christodoulou, Dimitris. The Defence of Greece 1940-1941, http://www.geocities.com/ww2greece/.
Niehorster, Dr. Leo. World War II Armed Forces Orders of Battle and Organizations, http://orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/.
REFERENCE MANUAL
206 Pastore, Davide. ‘Operazione C3 – 3 – Army’ and ‘Operazione C3 – 4 – Landings’, in sci.military.naval, Apr 29 and 30, 1998.
Pipes, Jason. Feldgrau.com – research on the German armed forces 1918-1945, http://www.feldgrau.com/.
Rothwell, Steve. British & Commonwealth Orders of Battle, http://homepages.force9.net/rothwell/.
Tanks of World War II, on http://www.onwar.com/.
Turnbow, W.W. ‘The Italian Army in WWII’, on 1.JmA: 1. Jagdmoroner Abteilung, http://www.1jma.dk/.
Way, Greg. Fallschirmjäger 1936-1945, http://www.eagle19.freeserve.co.uk/.
Wendel, Marcus. Axis History Factbook, http://www.axishistory.com/.
World War II Vehicles and Advanced Squad Leader, http://www.wwiivehicles.com/.

Individuals, Organisations, and Discussion Groups

Many people (too many to mention all of them) helped with the research for this game. As well as our ever-intrepid beta testers, some (but not, unfortunately, all) of those who did so are listed below. They are not mentioned in any particular order and I sincerely apologise to those whom I have inadvertently missed out.

John Moher, Dimitris Christodoulou, and Bob Mackenzie from The Defence of Greece 1940-41 discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greece1940/. Oberst a.D. (Bundeswehr) Steffen L. Rhode of the Bund der Deutscher Fallschirmjäger passed questions and answers between myself and some of the surviving German veterans of the drop on Crete. Brad Maneera of the Australian War Memorial also assisted with aspects of the Australian experience on Crete. Useful information about the Italian forces was also forthcoming from the Italianisti – Military History Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/italianisti/. Other researchers at Feldgrau.net (http://www.feldgrau.net/), the Axis History Forum (http://forum.axishistory.com/), and Lexikon der Wehrmacht (http://forum-der-wehrmacht.de/) also gave generously of their time and expertise. Contributors at both the British Empire Commonwealth Forces email list (http://lists.topica.com/lists/Emp-Comm-Forces/) and the Britregiments discussion group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/britregiments/) assisted as well. Assistance was also provided by the Australian Army History Section, and Robert Carpenter of the Australian Defence Simulation Office. Jeff Leser of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth also provided research assistance.
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Phoenix100
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RE: GREEK READING MATERIAL

Post by Phoenix100 »

OK!!! Very comprehensive! Many thanks, Dave. Did I already have that list, I wonder, sitting in the back of my COTA/GREECE manuals.......if so, sorry....

I see that the game was actually put together at the cost of tremendous time and effort, with a particular attention to historical detail. That's good to know as I had previously thought you just sat there and made it all up, rather like writing fiction.....[;)]

Sadly, the Moher website seems to exist no more.
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