| Isle of Calypso
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
March 2008
Operazione C.3, the Italian plan for the invasion of Malta, originated during the Ethiopian Crisis of 1935-36 when open war between Britain and Italy seemed at least possible. Planning moved ahead slowly, and began to take shape more firmly after Italy joined the Second World War in June 1940.
While the plans differed in scope and forces committed, all of them included an invasion of Gozo, the smaller island to the northwest of Malta. Gozo is noted for its fine beaches, and as the place where Odysseus remained for seven years as the love-slave of Calypso. Despite these charms, the island has practically no military value: no airfields and no sizable port facilities. Some in the Italian command questioned whether Gozo needed to be invaded in the first hours of C.3, or if it could not wait until after the main island had been secured.
The Italian Navy developed landing craft for the invasion and had the sea-lift capability to put three divisions on the beaches — two on Malta, and one on Gozo. Placing an entire division on Gozo — the 1st Superga Infantry Division was slated to make the assault — would have been overkill for a nearly unprotected island. Landing a third division on the main island would give the assault much greater weight while also stretching the Allied defenses. First Division had trained intensively since early 1941 — as had the other two divisions — hitting the beaches of Tuscany. The division fought well in Tunisia in 1943 and likely would have been the equal of 4th "Livorno" and much better than the other division committed to the first wave of C.3, 20th "Friuli." Like the other divisions, Superga had two infantry regiments and one of artillery; it lacked the Blackshirt component attached to Friuli.
As a variant for Island of Death, allow the Axis player to land all three Italian divisions provided in the plan. The Axis player plans the landings of three divisions, using the same procedure as for the 4th and 20th Infantry Divisions. All three may land in the same Beach Zone, or in any combination of separate zones, as long as each beach hex is assigned to a different division. The Axis player does not have to reveal his or her choice to commit the Superga Division to the assault until units are placed in their landing boxes.
If the Axis player chooses to commit the extra division, shorten the game by one day (four turns). With more troops involved, the Axis commander will be expected to secure Malta that much faster so that Gozo can be occupied as well.
You can download the new Superga counters here. |
