More on Vis during World War Two

I have just finished the September update of Balkan Military History.

The feature article is a more detailed account of how the allies used the island of Vis during WW2 as a base to attack German garrisons in the Adriatic. There are many small scale actions that are ideal for wargaming with Bolt Action. I have tried a couple out on the tabletop. This one involves a joint attack on a fortified position on the island of Solta by partisans and commandos. It's one of the earlier raids before the Germans really dug in.

This is the German position.

Here you can see the Commandos starting their attack. Still needs a figure for Colonel 'Mad Jack' Churchill, with his Claymore!

and then the Partisans launch a flank attack.

The allies had a 1,000 point force, the Germans 600 points. It was still a difficult job to break in and thats without mines and barbed wire. One German defence position had more than 30,000 mines!

If you want to get a real feel for what it was like on the island, Bill Strutton's 'Island of Terrible Friends' is a great read. The medical facilities can only be described as basic, even worse for the partisans.