A German JU-52 on fire above Crete, May 1941 | Thoughtco
Last week marked the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Crete, which was the first time a significant objective was seized mainly through airborne forces and the last time the Germans tried a major airborne operation. Crete, while a successful operation, was a bloody one. Much of that could be laid at the feet of the issues of jumping onto an objective with a defender who is expecting you, as the Commonwealth forces certainly were.
But how does this translate on a wargaming table?
Airborne operations are one of the ultimate “high risk-high reward” options in warfare. Aerial combat bred a soldier who had to be tough and able to fight comfortably in small groups well behind the enemy’s frontline. Very few airborne operations have gone off without a hitch. Even the most successful ones.
While the Germans pioneered the use of airborne forces in combat in World War II, the technology of their parachutes was crude, to put it mildly (for instance, you couldn’t steer the chute). Anything heavier than a pistol or a few hand grenades had to be dropped in weapons containers, something the German airborne came to regret later in Crete, as the Commonwealth soldiers learned to stake out the containers and shoot whoever came along.
While Allied airborne equipment was better and the training had improved, the Allies were still vulnerable to the same issues all airborne soldiers were - you can only bring so much with you. The British 1st Airborne at Arnhem and Oosterbek found that out when they inadvertently dropped into the teeth of two SS Panzer Divisions, whom, while neither had many panzers between them, were still more heavily equipped than the British paras they faced. The results were grievous for the British 1st Airborne and the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, where out of the 11,000+ combined dropped over the course of three days, some 2600+ made it back out over the lower Rhine.
The fact is, when wargaming these operations, be it on a board or in miniature, airborne troops uniformly have great morale, probably among the best encountered in any rules set. However, they are light - often more lightly equipped than their normal leg infantry counterparts. Drops in World War II often scattered badly, especially if it was a drop conducted at night, which made the divisions coalescing into a fighting whole that much harder. Airdrops since World War II have often reflected this, and the drops are smaller and are usually done against objectives where relief is not going to be long in coming. But, even there, things go awry, such as the French experience at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
28mm British Airborne Jeeps by Warlord Games | The Wargames Website
One of the best kinds of skirmish games for paratroopers on the miniatures side is to do what I call the “rock soup” campaign. Basically, give the players a full platoon of paratroopers and then lay out an objective. Split the platoon up between three or four “planes” of 12-20 paratroopers and weapons canisters each. Make 1” squares of paper for each paratrooper or equipment canister, numbering them to correspond to said figures. Then, carefully balance them atop a ruler 18” above the playing surface in the pre-selected drop zone. Then, turn over the ruler and let the paper fall to earth. If the paper lands numbers facing up in clear terrain, the drop went fine. If it’s face down, roll to see if someone got a jump injury or if the equipment survived the drop. If it lands in terrain, then determine what makes sense based on the circumstances. Land in any kind of water? Well, equipment is lost outright, and the paratroopers should roll to see if they get tangled up in their chute and drown.
Soviet Cold War Era Airborne in 20mm Scale | The Cold War Wargamers
Now keep in mind, this is mostly for World War II as modern parachutes are much more accurate and stable. In fact, I’d make a post-1945 drop able to move the final landing spot 3” in any direction of the dropping player’s choice. Figures should be unable to move or shoot for one turn, as they’re trying to get their chutes off and oriented. If the objective is defended, then your paras are in for a rough time.
Once the paras can move, their first instinct is to do what they call “roll up the stick” and find the rest of their unit. This should be the point of the first game. The parachuting player is trying to get organized, and the defending player is trying to prevent it. If you make this a night game, it gets even tenser.
28mm US Airborne by Warlord Games |The Analogue Hobbies
You then make the second game about the paras trying to seize their objectives with what they have while the defenders try to hold them. One way to make it easier on the paras is to make the defenders too few to control everything. Most sensible airdrops aren’t going to be done in the face of formidable defenses.
Etsy.com
But what about board wargaming? What are the uses for those airborne formations? All too often, I see gamers using them in throw-away roles that are rather tough on the airborne units. To be honest, it’s such a poor use for these elite units. But I have a few ideas:
- As an exploitation force – Dropping airborne units behind an enemy line that’s about to break is always nice to make sure that the enemy units have nowhere to retreat to when you break through and thus, kill more units Plus, you relieve your guys that much faster.
- Seizing lightly defended positional objectives (airfields and bridges come to mind) – If your opponent has left something like that open, or maybe an HQ unattended, an airborne unit or two making a quick raid pays dividends (even better if you have helicopters).
- As quick reinforcements to beleaguered units – Airdropping reinforcements into a pocket is a good idea, assuming you can hold the pocket and can relieve them quickly. If not, you may have just thrown those airborne forces away.
I hope all this has been useful food for thought. For more reading on the topic, see the Further Reading section, and, as always…Good Gaming, Everyone.
Further Reading
- WWII Airborne Warfare Tactics, Osprey Elite Series Volume 136, Rottman, Gordon, Osprey Publishing, 2006
- Crete 1941: The Battle and the Resistance, Beevor, Anthony, Penguin Books, 2014
- A Bridge Too Far: The True Story of the Battle of Arnhem, Ryan, Cornelius, Hodder & Stoughton Edition, 2015
- It Never Snows in September: The German View of Market-Garden and the Battle of Arnhem, September 1944, Kershaw, Robert, The Crowood Press, 1990
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(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)