I Know, I Know, A Little Early
IF we were talking about November 5th and the Gunpowder Plot, except we're not. No, I was inspired, at least partially, by a participation wargame put on by S.O.T.C.W. stalwart Neil And His Purple Dice Of Doom, which had the tasteless yet accurate title of 'Cape Bon Fires'. You'll see.
As the preamble to this Intro, I am going to whiz back in history to the early Spring of 1943, when the Second Unpleasantness was raging in North Africa. Art!
The Axis bridgehead in Tunisia lacked strategic depth, was being attacked from both east and west, and had no local military supplies worth mentioning. Lots of wild flowers and agricultural land, but those aren't exactly apt for sustaining a modern mechanised army. Thus they relied on being supplied by sea and air. Art!
The sharper-eyed amongst you will notice the convergence of these supply routes off the north-west Sicilian coast, which if Art will put down his bowl of coal -
- is Cap San Vito. Bear in mind that the naval convoys to and from the Axis bridgehead were constrained in movement by the minefields they and the Allies had laid. The counterpart in their domain was Cap Bon, and if once again Art can doff his coke bowl -
Thus began Operation Flax and Operation Retribution, which were intended to destroy the Axis air bridge and naval convoys. I'm going to precis the British Official History of "The Mediterranean and Middle East" which goes into granular detail about Axis naval losses to Allied air power. Three Italian freighters carrying fuel and ammunition were sunk by South Canadian bombers on 7th March 1943, just off Cap Bon, totalling 10,000 tons lost. On 13th March the Brylkreem Boys in Beaufighters torpedoed and sunk an Italian tanker, taking 4,000 tons of fuel to the seabed. On 22nd March South Canadian bombers sunk a 4,300 ton freighter and set ablaze the 'Ombrina', which got into harbour at Bizerta and promptly blew up. The South Canadians also bombed an ammunition freighter in Palermo harbour, which not only blew up and destroyed itself, it took seven other ships totalling 11,500 tons with it. Art!
Ships thrown ashore by the blast. Ships weighing thousands of tons.
On 31st March two more freighters and four MTBs were sunk in a raid on Cagliari.
Meanwhile the Senior Service was not idle. Submarines of the Royal Navy's 8th and 10th Flotillas sank seven large Italian freighters, including a tanker, totalling 22,000 tons, during March. Four more Italian freighters were sunk off the west coast of Italy.
Thanks to the naval Operation Retribution, the Axis were forced to use aircraft to resupply Tunisia, averaging about 200 aircraft per day, ranging from the workhorse 'Tante Ju' or Ju-52, up to the enormous Me 323. Art!
Me 323 disgorging a Marder tank-destroyer*.
On 5th April, 15 Ju-5s were shot down over Cap Bon as they flew in as part of a 75-plane resupply and reinforcement lift. On the same day more South Canadian bombers hit and destroyed 27 Axis aircraft on Sicily as they refulled for onward flight. Later, during 10th April to the 18th the South Canadians and RAF shot down 54 (mostly Teuton) transport aircraft, an insupportable loss. Art!
A 'Gigant' gets a malleting
On 22nd April came the inspiration for Neil: 16 Me-323s were intercepted and shot down from a flight of 21, all of which were carrying fuel and which consequently shone brightly as they fell into the Med. Göring, in a fit of rage, ordered that supply flights to Tunisia be cancelled.
Okay, why am I yarking on about the events of 83 years ago? O I thought you'd never ask! Because this Intro's intro shows exactly how control of the air, what you might call air supremacy, affects matters both on the ground, at sea and - you may be ahead of me here - in the air. The Allied chokehold on Tunisia grew gradually over time, unlike the example I'm going to place before you now. Art!
For the current running total -
There's been an additional tanker hit since then.
What's going on here? Well, the Ukrainians are using their Firepoint 1 and 2 drones to hit these Ruffian riverine tankers, usually in the bridge, head on, causing immense destruction to the superstructure, the bridge itself and also the squishy meatbags manning the bridge. 60 kilos of high explosive will do that. Art!
The 'Favori' looking very much the worse for wear
The 'Favorit' is actually in better condition that a lot of other vessels and could conceivably be salvaged, except that would require tugboats, which the Kozaky are also sinking. Here's a shadow fleet ship in even worse condition. Art!
Completely burned out from bridge to stern with no crew and no way to steer it, yet still afloat and thus a hazard to other marine traffic. The orcs will probably sink it; bombing it from an aircraft as sending a naval vessel would be not only sticking their head in the lion's mouth but giving it a good slap as well.
What happened here was that a very large convoy of small riverine tankers were despatched to Krim in order to resupply the peninsula with fuel. HOWEVER - ah that word again! - given the minimal surviving port facilities for offloading fuel, these ships would have been loitering off the coast for days, had not the Kozaky seized their opportunity.
The surviving ships are hoofing it for the Black Sea and marine transport into the Sea Of Azov has now been suspended, which will affect Ruffian grain exports. As will the loss of 75% of their riverine tanker fleet.
I'd hate to be the one who drew the short straw and had to tell Putinpot about this.
So, the Ukrainians now have fire-control over the Sea Of Azov, a flat factual statement that would have had people looking at you and considering the asylum as an option in 2022.
With all that contemporary internecine content I think we'll skip more details of WW1 hex-and-counter wargames. Too much of a good thing and all that.
Aha! Sally and Tom have arrived to collect our old freezer. See you anon.
One From Left Field
Conrad did not see this one coming. Art!
You may not be aware of this, as the events go back a good fifty years, to the Turkish invasion of what had been purely Greek Cyprus, which has led to an island permanently divided in two, occupied by the Greeks and Turks with a DMZ administered by the UN. Which is also infested by packs of wild dogs that will, and have, eat anyone trespassing in their domain.
Sorting it out now? One wonders what has prompted this turn of events, as Turkey had not been remotely bothered about changing the island's status. Access to the EU? Shortage of loukum ingredients? Ingress of sharks into coastal waters due to global warming?
We shall see. Art!
BINFACE! BINFACE! BINFACE!
Count Binface, that is. You know, the opposition candidate in the Clacton by-election, whom is standing against The Nasty Little Man, Nigel Farrago. Art!
Given the British passion for accommodating fringe candidates in elections that has endured for at least 80 years - Screaming Lord Sutch and the Monster Raving Loony Party anyone? - one wonders what the final polling figures will be. Farrago needs to win by a landslide to be able to claim 'the people are with me!'
We shall see. Art?
O apparently I was a bit hasty, the Ruffian ship total is now up to 90. Art!
Going for the ton?
Edna The Wonderhund
As in, she's wondering what's going on, since Darling Daughter and Quiet Tom are in attendance to spirit away our old freezer for Olly. Normally she bounds up the stairs like the Crust-hunting Cavalry, darting into my room to lick the porridge bowl clean. Not today. She would not be baited or tempted into the Sekrit Layr, so Conrad needed to physically carry her up, and she's been whining ever since. Art!
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| Pining for treats! |
* THIS IS NOT A TANK!
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