Back From Vacation

I just spent a week and a half in Italy, Austria and Hungary.  To be honest, I spent the week in Italy watching baseball as it was the Europe/Africa qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

My BLACK-SS counter fans will be glad to know I was rooting against Israel, but it wasn't for any reason you approve.  First, they are in Asia, not Africa or Europe--playing in the E/A bracket they get out of playing the great teams like Taiwan, Japan and Korea.  Second, they are mostly American minor leaguers and really, Israel doesn't have a league to speak of, as opposed to Italy, Czech Republic and the Netherlands--who build their teams on home grown talent.  And finally, the underdog, South Africa, was such a compelling story.  In college I protested South Africa and today they field an integrated team.

But enough about that, what about the ASL?

First, I didn't play any ASL, although there are a lot of great guys in Italy and it is a great place for a game.  However, I was close to the Gothic Line and many of the places where the 92nd Infantry Division fought.  The 92nd is my favorite US division because they are known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

Also, they are the US's only Black infantry division in WWII.  They were known as "Eleanor's Niggers" among Army brass because the First Lady was the champion in the creation of a Black division.  Their leadership was generally drawn from Southern military schools because Southerners "knew how to handle" Blacks.  Clearly, for Southern graduates of military schools this was not a choice assignment and they were not exactly the cream of the crop.  Because of this, morale was very low and leadership was not very good.  In fact, in order to raise their combat effectiveness high enough they had to attach the 422nd (Nisei) RCB, which made them eligible for a place on the line.

For more on the 92nd, check out Spike Lee's fabulous film:  Miracle at St. Anna.  Also, if you get the chance, check out The Home of the Brave.

Somewhere, I have a trove of scenarios I was working on for the 92nd; one with a historical map of Massa, Italy, where it fought its toughest battle.  I will look around to see if I can find them and clean them up.

Next, I spent some time in Eastern Austria at the family (well, not really family, but they have the same last name and we treat each other like family) winery.

We spent one day harvesting grapes, after which I ached so bad...

However, this is also directly on the Hungarian border and this is where the ASL part gets interesting.  In 1945, the Reich launched its final assault in order to throw the Red Army back to the Danube, liberate Budapest (this is post Festung Budapest) and get back the oil fields of Southern Hungary--which were the last available reserves the Reich had any kind of access to.

The Germans called this Operation Fruhlungswachten--Awakening of Spring.  The Soviets called it the Battle of Lake Balaton (there are now a series of Hungarian candy bars named Balaton.)

Clearly, it wasn't successful and as the Red Army counterattacked they threw the Germans hurdling back to Vienna.  So we have two SS Panzer Armies, loaded with PzKwVIB's, the Hungarian die hard fascists, Austrian Volksturm who would rather be anywhere else pitted against hardened Soviet Guard units, Romanians (who hated the Hungarians so much they nearly fought a war while BOTH nations had troops fighting with the the Germans in Russia), Bulgarians (who never fought in Russia at all) and even Yugoslavian partisans under Tito harassing the Germans southern flank.

And I had a chance to see the ground close up.  So, for the next couple of weeks a lot of my time is going to be chronicling Fruhlungswachten and the subsequent Vienna operation.  I may even have a Red Navy gunboat connection for fighting in VIENNA!  I plan to dovetail this into my ASL DYO rules.  There will also be lots of pictures from Hungary, Budapest and Vienna.