Quite sometime ago I wrote a simple resource document for a Spearhead mini-campaign set in the Florina Valley in April 1941. Mackay force was a weak-division sized force (of British, Australian & New Zealand troops) sent to cover the Monastir Gap; and prevent a German thrust down central Greece that would split the main Greek Army on the Albanian Front in the west from the British & ANZAC “W” Force (and remaining weak elements of the Greek Army) on the Bulgarian (eastern) front. It was necessitated by the sudden and very unexpected ‘rapid’ collapse of the Royal Yugoslavian Army, which, although not overly modern was still expected to have put up sufficient resistance to have at least held up the Germans for a few weeks and been able to at least hold a final defensive line in Southern Yugoslavia in co-ordination with the Greek Army on the Albania frontier.
This of course did not happen and the Yugoslav Army (of nominally 700,000) collapsed within the first few days of the German-Italian-Hungarian-Bulgarian invasion and formerly surrendered on the 11th day (as an aside for comparison the Polish Army of 1,000,000 battled for 5 weeks before surrendering – but the Yugoslavs’ had not completed mobilising and did have serious political divisions within their army that undermined it, most especially between the Croatian, Slovenian and neo-German populations vs. the Serbians – something that re-emerged post-Tito in the 1990’s Civil Wars).
Anyway, back on the subject, the Florina Valley became an unintended battleground as a result – since Force “W” (the Anglo-ANZAC Corps sized expeditionary force) had been committed to support the limited elements of the Greek Army holding the eastern frontier – and as such was in a position facing the threat from German forces in Bulgaria, leaving it’s left flank open to any German forces that broke through Yugoslavia into central Greece. Mackay Force, was a response to that – cobbling together the sole (weak) British Armoured Brigade, along with a weal Infantry Brigade of a couple of battalions of Australian Infantry, a battalion of New Zealand Machine Gunners, and assorted attached British & Australian Artillery, Anti-Tank and Anti-Aircraft units.
My mini-campaign resource provides the information for Spearhead (or similar scale game players, such as Fistful of Tows or Command Decision rules) to replay the first few days of the Greek Campaign in the Florina Valley as the German forces in Yugoslavia (9th Panzer Division and the SS Adolf Hitler Division) breakout of the Monastir Gap and attempt to drive down central Greece, west of Mt. Olympus, and entrap the British & ANZACs (and Greeks) by cutting their line of retreat to Athens.
You can find my mini campaign here: The Defence of Florina, and the Monastir Gap, Greece, 10-14 April 1941.
