Operation Greif - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Background Briefing: On the 25th July 1943 the Italian dictator Mussolini was toppled from power and Italy threw in its lot with the Allies and declared war on Germany. Mussolini was arrested on the orders of the king and imprisoned in Gran Sasso Hitler, although furious with the Italians. could not see his old friend treated in such a manner and chose you - SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Otto Skorzeny - along with twenty Luftwaffe paratroopers to rescue the imprisoned dictator. A glider-borne operation is planned for the assault on the heights of Gran Sasso where Mussolini is held. At Practica di Mare areodrome you and your Luftwaffe paratroopers from Fallsirmjage r-Lehr - Battalion under the command of Major Mors and fifty SS men belonging to your unit are now prepared for action. You are equipped with amongst other things explosives, laughing gas and forged British bank notes. Intercepted radio messages have determined that The Duce is being held in the hotel Albert Rifugio on Gran Sasso and this is only accessible by fenicular railway, which passed through the mountains. Frontal assault iss out of the question so an airborne landing is planned. Your Gliders took off on 12th September at 12.30. At the drop zone aerial reconnaissance had mistaken the drop zone for a meadow which was in fact a small piece of very steep ground with a sheer drop at the end. This meant that the Gliders will have to crash land near the hotel. Intelligence reports that there are heavy-armed patrols in the vicinity; manned pillboxes guarding all obvious approaches; and that Mussolini is being held in the main building. How to escape: we dare not risk a descent by foot, or via the fenicular railway, so we have arranged for a light aircraft to land and fly Mussolini away. You must therefore arrange to break him out of his imprisonment, escort him to the Storch and send the plane off. (There is neither a runway, nor even sufficient take-off space: don't worry, once the plane is over the cliff's edge, it may pickup suifficient speed before hitting the rocks.) This may all seem improbable to you - but it can - and must - be done.