Leros: Last German Para Drop

Leros: Last German Para Drop by Joni Nuutinen is a turn-based strategy game set on the Greek island of Leros on the Aegean Sea near Turkey.

After the Italians flipped sides in late 1943, the British rushed everyone from regular troops to their most experienced special forces (the Long Range Desert Group and the SAS/Special Boat Service) to the island of Leros to secure its key deep-water port and huge Italian naval and aerial facilities. This British move threatened both the oilfields of Romania and tempted Turkey to join the war.

Germans had to seize control of this key stronghold, now held by both the Brits and the Italian garrison, and launched Operation Leopard. The only chance for victory was to audaciously parachute in the last battle-hardened Fallschirmjäger (German airborne troops) in the middle of the narrowest spot of the island while also carrying out several amphibious landings with the help of Brandenburg special forces and German Marine commandos.

Several of the planned landings fully or partially failed, but Germans managed to create two beachheads... and so the parachute drop that was already once canceled, was instantly re-ordered in an attempt to gain more momentum.

A historical signal sent by Lieutenant Colonel John Easonsmith, the commander of the Long Range Desert Group, in the middle of the combat: “Everything difficult but we are all confident of outcome if no more Germans land. German Parachutists pretty to watch but suffered many casualties.”

The battle of Leros included an unprecedented number of different WW2 special forces fighting in such a contained place. Italians had their famous MAS, the British threw in their most experienced members of the Long Range Desert Group and SAS/SBS (Special Boat Service), while the Germans deployed Marine Commandos, the remaining parachute veterans, and various Brandenburg companies, infamous for their multi-language, multi-uniform tactics that confused their opponents.

Thanks to the irregular shape of the rugged islands (including nine bays), paratroop drops, and multiple landings, a chaotic, cutthroat battle soon blazed between mountains and fortifications as various elite forces wrestled for the control of every foothold. As the hours passed and turned into days without a break in the fierce fighting, both sides realized that this particular battle was going to be a very close call.

Do you have the nerves and wits to turn this thriller scenario into the last major German triumph of WW2?

"Leros has fallen, after a very gallant struggle against overwhelming air attack. It was a near thing between success and failure. Very little was needed to turn the scale in our favour and to bring off a triumph."
— The Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Ninth Army, General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, reported to the Prime Minister: