“US Cavalry: From Horse to Helo
This year’s theme will be “Beginning of the End”: 65th Anniversary, 1944 Campaigns.
The theme encompasses many interesting actions across the better portion of the globe. Land, Sea,
and Air scenario possibilities equally abound. From Luzon to Bastogne, and all points in between,
1944 showcases no fewer than 38 major battles and Campaigns, involving troops drawn from more than a
dozen Nations.
Just a few of the actions from 1944 that can be used for game inspiration: Luzon, Leningrad,
Operation Tempest, Bombing of Berlin, Operation Shingle, Marshal Islands, Anzio, Salerno, Monte Casino,
Sevastopol, Crimea, Rome, D-Day / Normandy, Continuation War, Saipan, Operation Bagration, Burma, Minsk,
Caen, Baltic Campaign, Guam, Operation Spring, Warsaw Uprising, Florence, Operation Pluto, Operation
Dragoon, Liberation of Paris, Falaise Gap, Brussels, Antwerp, Operation Market Garden, Athens, Aachen,
Leyte Gulf / Philippines, Greek Civil War, Battle of the Bulge, Malmedy, and Bastogne.
In January 1944, the Soviets expelled the German forces from the Leningrad region, ending the longest
and most lethal siege in history. The following Soviet offensive was halted on the pre-war Estonian
border by the German Army Group North aided by Estonians hoping to re-establish national independence.
This delay retarded subsequent Soviet operations in the Baltic Sea region.
On June 6, 1944 (known as D-Day), the Western Allies invaded northern France and, after reassigning
several Allied divisions from Italy, southern France. These landings were successful, and led
to the defeat of the German Army units in France. Paris was liberated by the local resistance assisted
with the Free French forces on 25 August and the Western Allies continued to push back German forces
in Western Europe during the latter part of the year. An attempt to advance into northern Germany
spear-headed by a major airborne operation in Holland was not successful, however. The Allies
also continued their advance in Italy until they ran into the last major German defensive line there.
On June 22, the Soviets launched a strategic offensive in Belarus
(known as "Operation Bagration") that resulted in the almost complete destruction of the German
Army Group Centre. Soon after that, another Soviet strategic offensive forced German troops from
Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland. The successful advance of Soviet troops prompted resistance forces
in Poland to initiate several uprisings, though the largest of these, in Warsaw, as well as a Slovak
Uprising in the south, were not assisted by the Soviets and were put down by German forces. The Red
Army's strategic offensive in eastern Romania cut off and destroyed the considerable German troops
there and triggered a successful coup d'état in Romania and in Bulgaria, followed by those
countries' shift to the Allied side. In September 1944, Soviet Red Army troops advanced into
Yugoslavia and forced the rapid withdrawal of the German Army Groups E and F in Greece, Albania
and Yugoslavia to rescue them from being cut off. By this point, Communist-led partisans under
Marshal Josip Broz Tito controlled much of the territory of Yugoslavia and were engaged in delaying
efforts against the German forces further south. In northern Serbia, the Red Army, with limited support
from Bulgarian forces, assisted the partisans in a joint liberation of the capital city of Belgrade
on October 20. A few days later, the Soviets launched a massive assault against German occupied Hungary
that lasted until the fall of Budapest in February 1945.
In contrast with impressive Soviet victories in the Balkans, the bitter Finnish resistance to the
Soviet offensive in the Karelian Isthmus denied the Soviets occupation of Finland and led to the
signing of Soviet-Finnish armistice on relatively mild conditions and Finland's shift to the Allied side.
By the start of July, Commonwealth forces in Southeast Asia had repelled the Japanese sieges in Assam,
pushing the Japanese back to the Chindwin River while the Chinese captured Myitkyina. In China, the
Japanese were having greater successes, having finally captured Changsha in mid-June and the city of
Hengyang by early August. Soon after, they further invaded the province of Guangxi, winning
major engagements against Chinese forces at Guilin and Liuzhou by the end of November and successfully
linking up their forces in China and Indochina by the middle of December.
In the Pacific, American forces continued to press back the Japanese perimeter. In mid-June 1944 they
began their offensive against the Mariana and Palau islands, scoring a decisive victory against
Japanese forces in the Philippine Sea within a few days. These defeats led to the resignation of
Japanese Prime Minister Tōjō and provided the United States with air bases to launch
intensive heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese home islands. In late October, American forces invaded
the Filipino island of Leyte; soon after, Allied naval forces scored another large victory during
the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history.
On December 16, 1944 German forces counter-attacked in the Ardennes against the Western Allies. It
took six weeks for the Allies to repulse the attack. The Soviets attacked through Hungary, while the
Germans abandoned Greece and Albania and were driven out of southern Yugoslavia by partisans. In Italy,
the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line. In mid-January 1945, the Soviets
attacked in Poland, pushing from the Vistula to the Oder river in Germany, and overran East Prussia.
|
