Free France Campaign

Moderators: Order of Battle Moderators, The Artistocrats

bru888
Order of Battle Moderator
Order of Battle Moderator
Posts: 6181
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:39 pm
Location: United States

Free France Campaign

Post by bru888 »

Free France 1940-1945
by bru888 (Bru) and ColonelY

image.png
image.png (1019.31 KiB) Viewed 7945 times

Free France 1940-1945 (24 scenarios) v.1.1

Bru: design, graphics, writing
Colonel: inspiration, research, testing

Free France is the government-in-exile led by Charles de Gaulle, a French general and government minister who chooses to continue the fight against the Axis powers after the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940. Yearning to be accepted as an equal of his allies, de Gaulle engages in an uphill struggle to reassert the authority and prestige of of his beloved France. This campaign, in 24 scenarios and many campaign event messages, tells the story of Free France from start to finish.

Scenario List:
The Battle of Dakar
The Battle of Gabon
The Capture of Kufra
From Keren to Massawa
Operation Exporter
The Battle of Bir Hakeim
Operation Lila Denied
Fezzan
Battle of Medenine
Battle of the Mareth Line
Normandie-Niemen
Operation Vesuvius
Operation Diadem
La Combattante
Jedburgh Missions
Argentan
Operation Dragoon
Liberation of Paris
Strasbourg
Operation Nordwind
Indochina
Amherst Drop
Battle of Authion
Black Forest

Note: The Free France faction in this game is extremely limited as to available units. It is eligible only for the most basic of specialisations and there are no French commanders. For these reasons, there are no core units, specialisations, or commanders in Free France 1940-1945. Moreover, some of the Free French units have been "borrowed" from other factions. Hopefully, the design creativity, historical accuracy, and in-depth storytelling that we have attempted to offer the player will make up for these shortcomings.

Standalone versions of the scenarios in this campaign are available here.
- Bru
gunny
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:17 pm

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by gunny »

Yeah with the Free French ya can get some partisans and you could give em some experience ...
ff1.png
ff1.png (748.75 KiB) Viewed 17232 times
they can operate behind enemy lines ... with no supply ...
ff2.png
ff2.png (957.19 KiB) Viewed 17231 times
raxulus2
Lance Corporal - Panzer IA
Lance Corporal - Panzer IA
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:08 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by raxulus2 »

Yes, that's something interesting with a lot of unusual battles againts the opposing french armies (Vichy versus Free french) :?
A really good idea and not very often tested. :D
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

Great! :D

So, here are already more info:

:arrow: Main battles, campaigns, Free French units in presence, as well as few nice photos: http://www.francaislibres.net/pages/page.php?id=277

Well, of course it's in French; if needed, the copy-cup possibilities with some good online translator (as https://www.deepl.com/translator) could help. :wink:

:arrow: The three (big :roll:) books of "Mémoires de guerre" of General Charles de Gaulle... I have read them few times and they are an excellent source as well, therefore I could really provide some help if the project materializes...

I think that a Free France campaign should begin with the Operation Menace, in front of Dakar! :D
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
Erik2
Order of Battle Moderator
Order of Battle Moderator
Posts: 9478
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:59 pm
Location: Norway

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by Erik2 »

Interesting project.

Board games can be valuable sources.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... ch-general

1940-41 stuff.
http://france1940.free.fr
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

Suggestion of campaign description:


"France has fallen, but at the instigation of the General Charles de Gaulle it could rise again like a phoenix! Even if Pétain's French government in Vichy collaborates with the Germans, the fight against the Germans must continue. France must be liberated from its Teutonic occupier, the Free French must help the Allies in this War - only then can France regain her dignity and hope to sit as an equal with the Allies on the day of the much hoped-for final victory.

In London, thanks to the support of Winston Churchill himself, the General Charles de Gaulle has spoken from 6 p.m. on the BBC the 18th June 1940. Answering his Call, which is about to become famous, many brave guys begin to gather themselves in Great Britain. There is for example the "Division légère alpine" returning from the (desastrous) Norwegian campaign, thousands of soldiers wounded in Belgium before being hospitalized in England, a few units of the "Légion étrangère", ships, many volunteers, as well as even few planes stolen by their crews to the Vichy's government, all these braves are gathering in England.

In short, Free France already has now some means, the beginning of an organization and a certain popularity. It's the time to start the ascent all over again!

So even though Hitler has won the first round in Europe, the second round is about to start... in Africa! The Africa, where fighting is already under way, as the Axis forces are aiming for Suez...

For the Free French, there is nothing to expect at the moment from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia. It is much more promising in French Equatorial Africa, with its four French colonies: Chad, Congo, Gabon and Ubangui. Indeed, Chad, Congo and Ubangui soon join the Free France movement, as does Cameroon! On the other hand, for Gabon to join the cause, it will certainly require a real commitment of forces...

But first of all, we must consider the case of the Senegal's capital, the city of Dakar!
"


So what about something like this? 8)
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 3:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

And about this first scenario description AND the briefing... :wink:

"If we could control Dakar, a lot of new ressources will go to our war effort and this great base would make it much easier for our Allies the British in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Any action without the support of the Royal Navy is impossible, but its ships are also required to cover England and act in the Mediterranean ... The Royal Navy will not be able to stay in these waters for very long, so rapid and direct action will be required.

So Churchill and me, the General Charles de Gaulle, agreed on Operation Menace: a huge and impressive squadron that appears in the morning (psychological impact!), planes throwing sympathy leaflets over the city, flags of various nations flying in the wind, parliamentarians with white flags sent in two small speedboats to offer the city to join the Free French...

Oh, we expect of course a few cannon shots "for the honour", but that's all.

Alas, the HQs, less convinced than Churchill of the importance of the operation or the chances of success, have actually cut back on the means initially planned; it is for example no longer question of an available Polish brigade... Worse still, as a result of few mistakes by the British, several French cruisers from Toulon were able to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar and settle in the port of Dakar... Worse still, the Dakar garrison has no intention at all of joining the Free French Forces: Their AA guns fire on the planes throwing leaflets, our speedboats come back as quickly as possible under machine gun fire despite the white flags!

So the hostilities began, with some French on each side! The initial plan doesn't clearly work as planned...
"

-------

To start the briefing, maybe something like this: (with as basis the top part of this colored picture or something: https://www.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=htt ... 3749165572 )

"Hello boys! I'm General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, and recognised such by the British Government of Churchill himself.

If I had been listened to at the time, everything would have been different, because I was then advocating the reorganization of the French army in order to have highly mobile concentrations of armoured forces... the German Blitzkrieg could then have been countered much more effectively.

But there's no shortage of work, so let's cut to the chase!


-> THEN ABOUT THE ACTUAL SCENARIO OBJECTIVES DIRECTLY...
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:56 pm, edited 7 times in total.
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

And here already some map - although I've seen some really better about Dakar around 1940... But still, anyway, there is this little one already: https://www.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=htt ... 3749768817

Vichy's defenders: This little map shows at least the position of main coastal guns :D; moreover, there was an airfield at Ouakam and at least 2 forts - one in an island (Fort Gorée) and one in the Cape Manuel (Fort Manuel)... Plus a famous railroad Dakar-Niger and a big port (including places for submarines).

It shows as well Rufisque, location of a (potential) landing in this scenario...

It's not about deserts here, but many more open terrain, a lot of swamps as well as few forests, few lakes and a river... plus beaches, of course and some mountains ("Les Mamelles"); such a map should as well show le "Cap Vert"... :wink:


As well a picture of this historic element: https://www.google.ch/imgres?imgurl=htt ... 3750274877
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 12:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

Already some anecdotes/events related to the Dakar scenario: :D

1. These "Luciole touring" aircraft already mentionned, and parlementarians on a speedboat...

2. There was a small dispute between Charles de Gaulle and the English Admiral Cunningham. This operation was to be a Free French operation with the English just in support, but Admiral Cunningham wanted to offer hospitality to Charles de Gaulle aboard his own old battleship Barham and, in exchange, take command of all the forces himself. Charles de Gaulle refused, of course! He decided to stay on the Westerland or the Pennland, two Dutch ships flying the French flag (or the Free French flag probably; those ships were carrying some Free French troops). -> :idea: So, there should be (amongs much heavier ships) these two "merchant ships" with the corresponding names, as well as an event to talk about this, as well thus as a secondary objective to not let those two ships sink! :wink:
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

Erik2 wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:30 am Interesting project.

Board games can be valuable sources.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... ch-general

1940-41 stuff.
http://france1940.free.fr
Thanks a lot for your interest and those sources. :D


Such a campaign has never been done before on OoB. It could contain lots of great anecdotes, lots of fun, and amongst others pay tribute to the impact of these somehow "irreducible" people... 8)

But to develop this campaign, to take up this challenge, one would need at least really competent and experienced OoB people... that's why one could immediately think to the CSD Studio! :wink:

Also, maybe... I hope...
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

gunny wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:29 am Yeah with the Free French ya can get some partisans and you could give em some experience ...
Of course, there could as well be few scenarios around the actions of the French resistance :idea: - they have for example been active before the famous landing in Normandy, but not only, of course! :D

The French resistance, it means sabotages (mainly railroads), maquis (sometimes even besieged by the Germans with real assaults), some guerilla urbaine, the British dropping material (like exlosives), the spying and recon activities, etc. A few scenarios on all this would also be an interesting addition and offer a new perspective. :wink:
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

For the second battle of El Alamein, in terms of maps there is the French page of Wikipédia about it (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconde_b ... El_Alamein)... all the southern parts of it actually, because it was mainly there that the Free French were (although maybe not those airborne, like paratroopers or airplanes crew). So considering the battle first as a whole for the briefing, then "zooming" on the southern parts of it and having only this part on the real map for the corresponding scenario should do the trick! :idea:

As for the landings on Normandy, one could only highlight a portion of the battlefield... :wink:


But, well, I may not be much good at finding great maps... :(
bru888
Order of Battle Moderator
Order of Battle Moderator
Posts: 6181
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:39 pm
Location: United States

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by bru888 »

Colonel and others, thank you for everything so far. (The Colonel, by the way, deserves the credit for this idea. You may have surmised that from his enthusiasm. :) )

Now, don't be disappointed if you don't see anything for quite a while. I have a prior commitment that I am working on now, for one thing. And, although my designing skills have been honed over the past few years, I am still rather slow in getting a single scenario together, much less a campaign, because I spend a lot of time on the details.

That said, however, this campaign is now definitely on my "To Do" list. So if any of you think of further contributions to make, this is the place.
- Bru
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: A Free France Campaign?

Post by ColonelY »

bru888 wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 1:10 pm That said, however, this campaign is now definitely on my "To Do" list. So if any of you think of further contributions to make, this is the place.
Wonderful, thanks a lot. :D
bru888
Order of Battle Moderator
Order of Battle Moderator
Posts: 6181
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:39 pm
Location: United States

Re: Free France Campaign

Post by bru888 »

ColonelY wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 1:14 pm
bru888 wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 1:10 pm That said, however, this campaign is now definitely on my "To Do" list. So if any of you think of further contributions to make, this is the place.
Wonderful, thanks a lot. :D
Heh, I've taken the question mark out of the thread title! :)
- Bru
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: Free France Campaign

Post by ColonelY »

Suggestion of campaign description - version 2 :wink:

Maybe the final "But first of all, we must consider the case of the Senegal's capital, the city of Dakar!" doesn't really represent the importance of the event... :? So, to give more depth to it as well as to depict the overall picture more precisely (and still fully historically), it must be developped... So, maybe something like this, definitely a more complete version: :idea:


"France has fallen, but at the instigation of the General Charles de Gaulle it could rise again like a phoenix! Even if Pétain's French government in Vichy collaborates with the Germans, the fight against the Germans must continue. France must be liberated from its Teutonic occupier, the Free French must help the Allies in this War - only then can France regain her dignity and hope to sit as an equal with the Allies on the day of the much hoped-for final victory.

In London, thanks to the support of Winston Churchill himself, the General Charles de Gaulle has spoken from 6 p.m. on the BBC the 18th June 1940. Answering his Call, which is about to become famous, many brave guys begin to gather themselves in Great Britain. There is for example the "Division légère alpine" returning from the (desastrous) Norwegian campaign, thousands of soldiers wounded in Belgium before being hospitalized in England, a few units of the "Légion étrangère", ships, many volunteers, as well as even few planes stolen by their crews to the Vichy's government, all these braves are gathering in England.

In short, Free France already has now some means, the beginning of an organization and a certain popularity. It's the time to start the ascent all over again!

So even though Hitler has won the first round in Europe, the second round is about to start... in Africa! The Africa, where fighting is already under way, as the Axis forces are aiming for Suez...

For the Free French, there is nothing to expect now from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia. It is much more promising in French Equatorial Africa, with its four French colonies: Chad, Congo, Gabon and Ubangui. Indeed, Chad, Congo and Ubangui soon join the Free France movement, as does Cameroon! On the other hand, for Gabon to join the cause, it will certainly require a real commitment of forces...

But one thing at a time! For the time being, the city of Brazzavile (Congo) stands as our capital, the capital of the Free France. And currently, we must consider the case of the city of Dakar!

Dakar is of course the capital of Senegal, but above all Dakar is now the capital of the French West Africa, with its eight French colonies: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Dahomey and Niger.

May Dakar join our cause, and it won't go unnoticed.


:D
Last edited by ColonelY on Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bru888
Order of Battle Moderator
Order of Battle Moderator
Posts: 6181
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:39 pm
Location: United States

Re: Free France Campaign

Post by bru888 »

This really is great stuff, Colonel, and I appreciate your taking the time to share it. Believe me, it will be quite useful when the time comes.
- Bru
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: Free France Campaign

Post by ColonelY »

bru888 wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:20 pm This really is great stuff, Colonel, and I appreciate your taking the time to share it. Believe me, it will be quite useful when the time comes.
Thanks. I plan to continue making few searches (including in the Memories of Charles de Gaulle) and putting here the info I think relevant for the sake of this future campaign... :D

Of course, this will take some time as well. :wink:


:idea: When the campaign will be in development, I think it will be good to make the first few scenarios available quite "soon", I mean without waiting to have all of the campaign scenarios almost ready (as for example in the beta Winter War 1939). So more like a mini-campaign in between or something. This will allow us to test them "as they develop", and to check directly whether there is any issue, as well as their enjoyability and to check too if there are any anecdotes or historical events to add, etc. Once the first part will be fine, then few scenarios (a next small bunch of them) could be added then checked, etc. That way it will be easier, I think, thanks to a smaller scale work. :wink:
ColonelY
Colonel - Ju 88A
Colonel - Ju 88A
Posts: 1519
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2020 8:46 am

Re: Free France Campaign

Post by ColonelY »

Phew, finally found a good quality map of Dakar for (more or less) the period under consideration: :D http://1886.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/items/show/9378

We see the terrains, with colors, it's zoomable, etc. It has been made by the Geographical Service of the Army... So, that should be fine!

For this scenario, one should go enough eastwards at least to see Rufisque (around which a landing had been planed and, in real, just at the last moment aborted).

:arrow: Actually, this one is even better... same source, a little later (so closer to the period of interest for us) : http://1886.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/items/show/9366
Zekedia222
Staff Sergeant - StuG IIIF
Staff Sergeant - StuG IIIF
Posts: 297
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:30 pm
Location: Somewhere between Chattanooga and Anchorage

Re: Free France Campaign

Post by Zekedia222 »

It seems quite fortunate that there is at least one person with a wealth of knowledge on whatever campaign you choose to do. DTA provided maps which are important for the Winter War, and now Colonel is a fountain on the Free French.

Perhaps next you could do an East Afrika campaign, with colonial British infantry, against lower year Italian infantry.
Klinger, you're dumber than you look, and THAT boggles the MIND.
- Charles Emerson Winchester III
Post Reply

Return to “Order of Battle : World War II - Scenario Design”