[Desert war] The guns of Abd El Rahman - November 02, 1942

Operation Supercharge - Sacrifice of the 9th Armoured Brigade.
Mediterranean Theater By: jdrommel - Last update: 10/19/2013
Axis Player: Allied Player:
x4 x10 x6 x10
    first You play first


Historical Background:
During Operation Lightfoot in last October 1942 on El Alamein front, the British infantry sufferd heavy losses to reach its objectives so Montgomery was obliged to use tanks for Operation Supercharge, intended to breakthrough definitively the front. New Zealander General Freyberg was in charge of the initial attack towards Aqqaqir Ridge. 9th Armoured Brigade had the mission to break the German line equipped with numerous anti-tank guns placed by Rommel along the Abd El Rahman Trail (or Telegraph Trail). According to Brigadier Currie, it was a real sacrifice mission, his tanks had to cross a first defense line composed of 50mm anti-tank guns before to reach the Abd El Rahman Trail and to face the second line composed of 88mm anti-aircraft guns and then to reach finally Aqqaqir Ridge. Hidden by the darkness of the night, British tanks crushed the first enemy line while suffering some losses. But with the daylight of the morning, they became easy targets for the 88mm guns and therefore it was an absolute massacre of tanks. At the end of this day, 9th Armoured Brigade had only 19 tanks on the 94 before the battle, the rest was burning in the desert.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.

Briefing:
Axis player [Germany] : 4 command cards.
Allied player [United Kingdom] : 6 command cards, you move first.

Conditions of Victory:
10 medals.
Abd El Rahman Trail is a permanent medal objective for the Allied player.
Aqqaqir Ridge is a temporary medal objective for the Allied player.

Special Rules:
- Use "BCF Command" rules (Nations 5).
- Special Weapon Asset rules (SWAs 1 - Special Weapon Assets) are in effect for the units equipped with Anti Tank Weapons (SWAs 2).
- Use "Big Guns" rules (Troop 3) to the Axis artillery unit with Big Guns badge.
- Use "Heavy Anti-Tank Guns" rules (Troops 23) to the three Axis artillery batteries with 88 badges.
- The Axis player Lays out the minefields (Terrain 29).
- Use "North African Desert" rules (Action 9).
- Use "Night Attack" rules (Action 19).
- Axis tanks can be activated only when full daylight (level 6 on the visibility chart).

Scenario Bibliography:
- Magazine Historica hors-série n°85 - Victoire dans le désert.
- Militaria Magazine hors-série n°16 - Opération Supercharge.
- Magazine Batailles & Blindés hors-série n°8 - Afrika Korps tome 2.

Official scenario of FFM44. Played during the Breakthrough tournament at Paris on the 28th of September 2013.

Warning:
Please note that this scenario was not approved by Richard Borg or Days of Wonder, so you have to check yourself about playability, potential gaming issues, etc.

Set-up Order
12
9
2
8
12
2
9