Briefing
Malta - Operazionz C3 1942 The Italian plan for the capture of Malta Version 2.4 PBEM, Italian and British PO Thanks to Marc Custer 1. Unit colours German: Grey Italian units: Yellow British: Tan 2. Background The failure of the Axis to invade Malta must stand as one of the great strategic blunders of WWII. But the Italians had a plan for invasion in 1942, Operazione C3. This was a wholesale Italian affair with a little help from the Germans. This plan must not be confused with Operation Herkules which was a German plan similar to Operation Merkur. Both plans were scrapped after the fall of Tobruk in 1942 when the Germans lost interest since Kesselring had already declared Malta to be destroyed after incessant bombing. 3. Illustration Italian Folgore paratroopers enter their transport-plane 4. Approximate VPs needed for different victory levels Draw: 0-194 Marginal 195-388 Significant: 389-582 Overwhelming: 583+ 5. Changes 2.4 Added victory points for British fot locations, generally doubled objective values. New ship equipment with multiple ranges where applicable, added submarines. House rule submarines: Subs may only attack enemy vessels that are adjacent at the start of the turn. Surface vessels must attack revealed subs that are adjacent. Surface vessels and seatransports may not move away from a revelased sub. Surface ships may not attack subs directly using ranged bombardment. Reorganized British naval formations; the ships belonging to Operations Harpoon and Vigorous are available from turn-5, the ships belonging to Operation Pedestal are available from turn-13. Added British Theatre Options with Victory Point costs for transferring the Indian ocean fleet and parts of the Home fleet. Added British TO with VP cost for releasing Fleet Air Arm squadrons. Added Italian TO with VP cost for Aero Navale torpedo squadrons. Added Italian TOs with VP costs for selecting beach supply. Italian armor arrival dependent of occupation of either Valletta or Berzebugga ports. There’s a 10% change that Italian air or naval attacks on Valletta or Berzebugga ports may temporarily remove British supply points at these ports. Italian supply points moved to sea hexes next to home ports. House rule air: Italian paras and gliders may not drop/land directly on known enemy units or airfields/urban locations.. Removed Anchor terrain on Maltese ports. Increased British night combat proficiency from 33 to 50. Increased British force supply level from 15 to 20. British forts now have one coastal artillery and one fixed artillery component, both with local defence infantry and MGs. Each fort pair is now a separate formation on internal support. The British get an additional 5 VPs each turn from turn-14 to the end of the scenario. The British reinforcement formations in Alexandria are now available by activating separate Theatre Options with VP costs. The destroyers and destroyer escorts of the Operation Pedestal convoy have been added to the formations. Added British TOs with VP costs for activating several FAA squadrons in Egypt. German ‘lend-lease’ Fallschirmj?r units available by activating TO at half normal VP cost, change of withdrawal changed from 90% to 50% and turn range increased from 4 to 8. German air units available by TO at a VP cost and withdrawn if the Fallschirmj?rs withdraw. Decreased Italian night combat proficiency from 33 to 25 Increased Italian force supply level from 10 to 15. Decreased Italian force proficiency from 60 to 55. Halved Italian replacements. The loss of each of the Italian battleships triggers a 80% chance that the rest of the battleship formation will withdraw. Italian TOs for activating MTBs have been split up into separate ones for each squadron. Major ships sunk incur extra VP losses based on actual strength. Fixed minor bits on the map. 6. Changes 2.1 Movement bias set to 250 Air shock set at 1% on night turns for both sides Removed railway supply lines at sea, added Italian supply points next to the ports. New house rule; ships entering supply points at sea must stay there for the remainder of the turn. New unit icon colour combinations Italian air and naval formations changed from free to army support. British air and naval formations changed from free to force support 7. New house-rule Italian paras and gliders may not drop/land directly on urban locations, enemy airfields. 8. Map Destroyable bridges are marked with a "#". (TOAW treats parallell road/river/canal-hexes as bridges, these are not to be destroyed). Bridges can only be destroyed by an Engineer/ Pionier unit. On-map airfields are marked with an "A". 9. Notes This scenario includes a special equipment-file in the Graphics/ ‘Malta - Operazione C3 1942’ folder with individual ship classes and with ranges for all equipment adjusted for the 1km map. Players should move seaborne units first, then airborne units and finally land units. This scenario starts one turn before the hypotetical Italian airborne invasion. The Allied player may move his decoy units to make the Italian player guessing about defender’s locations.The Ultra warnings are the rationale behind this. The Italian para saboteurs start 1 turn before the real air invasion and the Italian Nuatori swimmers likewise start one turn before the naval invasion. They may land at any coastal hex for recon and confusing the defenders. There are VP penalties for destroyed divisional and higher HQs, 20 VPs for Allied Malta HQ, and 10 VPs for Italian Div HQs, 20 VPs for Italian Corps HQs and 40 VPs for Italian Army HQ. In addition there are VPs lost for destroyed supply bases: Army 20 VPs, Corps 10 VPs, Div 5 VPs, Bde/Reg 2 VPs. Only HQ units reconstitued. Attrition divider is set to 5, max rounds is set to 5. 10. Naval house-rules War-ships exerts a 1 hex zone of control (ZOC). Ships or seaborne transports must immediately stop when encountering enemy ships or coastal forts. Units which start the turn in enemy ZOC may move freely out of this zone until it enter a ZOC of a different enemy unit and then it must stop. The Italian units available on turn-5 (San Marco etc) are the only ones available for seaborne assaults against enemy coastal hexes. They must all be invading the same beach, note hexes marked * on the map. The later Italian reinforcements must land on the same beach, on friendly hexes only. Some Italian Corps assets are available after occupation of Valletta or Birzebugga ports and must land on either one. Ships entering sea hexes with supply points (thus blocking supply) must stop there for the remainder of the turn. 11. Victory ponts The sinking of each major ship of the enemy awards additional Victory Points. Destroyer = DD 11.1. Allied additional VPs Aircraft carrier, CV: 20 VPs Battleship, BB: 10 VPs Cruisers, CA/CL: 5 VPs 11.2. Italian additional VPs Battleship: 20 VPs Cruisers CA/CL: 10 VPs 12. Air notes No paradrops may be staged from Malta airfields. The Italian player may not transfer any air units to Malta. Only one original on-map Allied fighter air-squadron may be placed at Victoria airstrip on Gozo at any one time. Larger replacement squadrons must land on Malta airfields. 13. Other Options The Allied player has 10 dummy infantry units wich may be used as decoys to provide disinformation about Allied unit placements. The Allied player has one TO that activates an additional Malta Bde wich must be used on turn-1. Both players gets Theatre Options for activating supply convoys wich increase overall supply by 5 points. The Allied convoys also releases fighter airplanes replacements. These TOs are dependent on friendly control of the various ports. The Italian player gets one TO to receive additional ships at start and various TOs to deliver supply to various airfields after they have been occupied. Activating the supply TOs means there will be no airtransports available for 4 turns. All TOs have different Victory Point costs. OBS! The German Ramcke Fallschirmj?r Bde is on loan and will be withdrawn about turn-16 for transfer to the East front. The German panzer Bn is for keeps. 14. Sources Battle For Malta (Forty 2003) Siege Malta 1940-1943 (Bradford 1985) Malta The Last Great Siege 1940-1943 (Wragg 2003) Air assault on Crete (Avalon Hill 1977) Hunters from the sky (Whiting 1974) World War II Airborne Warfare Tactics (Rottman 2006) Conquest of the Aegan (Panther Games 2006) All The World’s Fighting Ships 1922-1946 (Conway 1980) All The World’s Fighting Ships 1906-1921 (Conway 1985) Panzertruppen Vol-1 (Jentz 1996) Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Vol-2 (Richard 1974) forum.axishistory.com Erik Nygaard

Briefing

Malta - Operazionz C3 1942

The Italian plan for the capture of Malta

Version 2.4
PBEM, Italian and British PO
Thanks to Marc Custer

1. Unit colours

German: Grey
Italian units: Yellow
British: Tan

2. Background

The failure of the Axis to invade Malta must stand as one of the great strategic blunders of WWII. But the Italians had a plan for invasion in 1942, Operazione C3. This was a wholesale Italian affair with a little help from the Germans.
This plan must not be confused with Operation Herkules which was a German plan similar to Operation Merkur.
Both plans were scrapped after the fall of Tobruk in 1942 when the Germans lost interest since Kesselring had already declared Malta to be destroyed after incessant bombing.

3. Illustration

Italian Folgore paratroopers enter their transport-plane

4. Approximate VPs needed for different victory levels

Draw: 0-194
Marginal 195-388
Significant: 389-582
Overwhelming: 583+

5. Changes 2.4

Added victory points for British fot locations, generally doubled objective values.
New ship equipment with multiple ranges where applicable, added submarines.
House rule submarines:
- Subs may only attack enemy vessels that are adjacent at the start of the turn.
- Surface vessels must attack revealed subs that are adjacent.
- Surface vessels and seatransports may not move away from a revelased sub.
- Surface ships may not attack subs directly using ranged bombardment.
Reorganized British naval formations; the ships belonging to Operations Harpoon and Vigorous are available from turn-5, the ships belonging to Operation Pedestal are available from turn-13.
Added British Theatre Options with Victory Point costs for transferring the Indian ocean fleet and parts of the Home fleet.
Added British TO with VP cost for releasing Fleet Air Arm squadrons.
Added Italian TO with VP cost for Aero Navale torpedo squadrons.
Added Italian TOs with VP costs for selecting beach supply.
Italian armor arrival dependent of occupation of either Valletta or Berzebugga ports.
There’s a 10% change that Italian air or naval attacks on Valletta or Berzebugga ports may temporarily remove British supply points at these ports.
Italian supply points moved to sea hexes next to home ports.
House rule air: Italian paras and gliders may not drop/land directly on known enemy units or airfields/urban locations..
Removed Anchor terrain on Maltese ports.
Increased British night combat proficiency from 33 to 50.
Increased British force supply level from 15 to 20.
British forts now have one coastal artillery and one fixed artillery component, both with local defence infantry and MGs. Each fort pair is now a separate formation on internal support.
The British get an additional 5 VPs each turn from turn-14 to the end of the scenario.
The British reinforcement formations in Alexandria are now available by activating separate Theatre Options with VP costs. The destroyers and destroyer escorts of the Operation Pedestal convoy have been added to the formations.
Added British TOs with VP costs for activating several FAA squadrons in Egypt.
German ‘lend-lease’ Fallschirmj?r units available by activating TO at half normal VP cost, change of withdrawal changed from 90% to 50% and turn range increased from 4 to 8. German air units available by TO at a VP cost and withdrawn if the Fallschirmj?rs withdraw.
Decreased Italian night combat proficiency from 33 to 25
Increased Italian force supply level from 10 to 15.
Decreased Italian force proficiency from 60 to 55.
Halved Italian replacements.
The loss of each of the Italian battleships triggers a 80% chance that the rest of the battleship formation will withdraw.
Italian TOs for activating MTBs have been split up into separate ones for each squadron.
Major ships sunk incur extra VP losses based on actual strength.
Fixed minor bits on the map.

6. Changes 2.1

Movement bias set to 250
Air shock set at 1% on night turns for both sides
Removed railway supply lines at sea, added Italian supply points next to the ports. New house rule; ships entering supply points at sea must stay there for the remainder of the turn.
New unit icon colour combinations
Italian air and naval formations changed from free to army support.
British air and naval formations changed from free to force support

7. New house-rule

Italian paras and gliders may not drop/land directly on urban locations, enemy airfields.

8. Map

Destroyable bridges are marked with a "#". (TOAW treats parallell road/river/canal-hexes as bridges, these are not to be destroyed).
Bridges can only be destroyed by an Engineer/ Pionier unit.
On-map airfields are marked with an "A".

9. Notes

This scenario includes a special equipment-file in the Graphics/ ‘Malta - Operazione C3 1942’ folder with individual ship classes and with ranges for all equipment adjusted for the 1km map.
Players should move seaborne units first, then airborne units and finally land units.
This scenario starts one turn before the hypotetical Italian airborne invasion. The Allied player may move his decoy units to make the Italian player guessing about defender’s locations.The Ultra warnings are the rationale behind this.
The Italian para saboteurs start 1 turn before the real air invasion and the Italian Nuatori swimmers likewise start one turn before the naval invasion. They may land at any coastal hex for recon and confusing the defenders.
There are VP penalties for destroyed divisional and higher HQs, 20 VPs for Allied Malta HQ, and 10 VPs for Italian Div HQs, 20 VPs for Italian Corps HQs and 40 VPs for Italian Army HQ.
In addition there are VPs lost for destroyed supply bases: Army 20 VPs, Corps 10 VPs, Div 5 VPs, Bde/Reg 2 VPs.
Only HQ units reconstitued.
Attrition divider is set to 5, max rounds is set to 5.

10. Naval house-rules

War-ships exerts a 1 hex zone of control (ZOC). Ships or seaborne transports must immediately stop when encountering enemy ships or coastal forts. Units which start the turn in enemy ZOC may move freely out of this zone until it enter a ZOC of a different enemy unit and then it must stop.
The Italian units available on turn-5 (San Marco etc) are the only ones available for seaborne assaults against enemy coastal hexes. They must all be invading the same beach, note hexes marked * on the map. The later Italian reinforcements must land on the same beach, on friendly hexes only. Some Italian Corps assets are available after occupation of Valletta or Birzebugga ports and must land on either one.
Ships entering sea hexes with supply points (thus blocking supply) must stop there for the remainder of the turn.

11. Victory ponts

The sinking of each major ship of the enemy awards additional Victory Points.

Destroyer = DD

11.1. Allied additional VPs

Aircraft carrier, CV: 20 VPs
Battleship, BB: 10 VPs
Cruisers, CA/CL: 5 VPs

11.2. Italian additional VPs

Battleship: 20 VPs
Cruisers CA/CL: 10 VPs

12. Air notes

No paradrops may be staged from Malta airfields.
The Italian player may not transfer any air units to Malta.
Only one original on-map Allied fighter air-squadron may be placed at Victoria airstrip on Gozo at any one time. Larger replacement squadrons must land on Malta airfields.

13. Other Options

The Allied player has 10 dummy infantry units wich may be used as decoys to provide disinformation about Allied unit placements.
The Allied player has one TO that activates an additional Malta Bde wich must be used on turn-1.
Both players gets Theatre Options for activating supply convoys wich increase overall supply by 5 points. The Allied convoys also releases fighter airplanes replacements. These TOs are dependent on friendly control of the various ports.
The Italian player gets one TO to receive additional ships at start and various TOs to deliver supply to various airfields after they have been occupied. Activating the supply TOs means there will be no airtransports available for 4 turns.
All TOs have different Victory Point costs.
OBS! The German Ramcke Fallschirmj?r Bde is on loan and will be withdrawn about turn-16 for transfer to the East front. The German panzer Bn is for keeps.

14. Sources

Battle For Malta (Forty 2003)
Siege Malta 1940-1943 (Bradford 1985)
Malta The Last Great Siege 1940-1943 (Wragg 2003)
Air assault on Crete (Avalon Hill 1977)
Hunters from the sky (Whiting 1974)
World War II Airborne Warfare Tactics (Rottman 2006)
Conquest of the Aegan (Panther Games 2006)
All The World’s Fighting Ships 1922-1946 (Conway 1980)
All The World’s Fighting Ships 1906-1921 (Conway 1985)
Panzertruppen Vol-1 (Jentz 1996)
Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Vol-2 (Richard 1974)
forum.axishistory.com

Erik Nygaard