The very long awaited mod, Afrika 40-41, has been released and is available at the RD clan website. Follow this link RD Afrika Files to gain access to the files and the main Afrika 40-41 forum. You will find more historical and detailed info there as well.
The Red Devils have also challenged any clan to arms. The Mercenaries team is now taking roll call for anyone who may want to reform the team. You can register for the team by replying to this thread.
Hitler was raging across Europe and the allies were desparately working to find a way to stop him. America was not yet in the war so the British Commonwealth was the allied power tasked with this job. Hitler and Mussolini had joined forces and Italy was given the task of securing Afrika for the Axis to ensure complete control over Mediterranean shipping lanes. The allies, desparate to score a victory in the war to boost morale, needed a win but had to do it with depleted resources...
Italy entered the war with the bombing of Malta by the Aeronautica Reggia and thus cast their lot with the Axis forces. They began deploying troops to Afrika.
So the British began to turn their attention to Afrika in an effort to prevent total Axis control of the mediterranean and Europe.
At first the Commonwealth conducted only scouting missions and raids along the border of Egypt and Libya to test Italian troop strength and to make their presence known. Attacks on the border proved fruitful and on June 14th they began to step up actions by attacking the areas of Fort Capuzzo and Fort Maddalena making Africa another theater of operations for the war.
Such was the inspiration for a personal 4 year journey to learn how to mod, make maps and learn about the African theather of operations in WWII. Lots of people helped out with the mod. Many have come and gone and many helped out from the beginning clear through to the very end. Even tho I provided the initial idea and prime motivation to complete the mod it was truly a group effort. Mostly advances but a few retreats but the battle of getting the mod done was finally won!
IMHO the aesthetic of the mod captures what I believe to be the issues present to both sides in this theater of WWII. Lack of supplies and resources, difficult terrain and a lack of manpower. Both sides had to invent a new kind of warfare on the spot. This wasn't something either side had the luxury of preparing for. They made it up as they went. Many made a name for themselves because of the situation. Others have been lost to history for not rising to the occasion. And still others noted for their dramatic failures in the desert of which they never recovered.
Modding CC to accomodate desert warefare was a difficult proposition. Often real-life actions were spread out over months and hundreds of miles. Every effort was made to preserve realism while maintaining playability and staying within the confines imposed by the CC engine.
Many units had to be left out. Cities in which many important actions during this time period also had to be left out. It wasn't a decision I wanted to make but was rather forced to. Making the mod focus on smaller area and time wasn't an option either as often there wasn't enough substance to warrant a full blown mod but rather at best an operation and more often batles.
So we did our best to give a sense of the history and a facimile of what the early desert war was like. In retrospect I've stumbled upon new information that could've been used. That will likely always be the case. The good thing about game mods is that they can always be updated. I intend to release a series of updates and possibly sub-mods to reflect some of this new information to increase the mods accuracy. I invite anyone willing to do the same to create their own improvements and release them as sub mods as well.
Thanks to the mod team for all the help putting this together. This mod wouldn't have happened without each and every one of you pitching in. Thank you! I feel we did a great job and hopefully those of you who download it will to. Enjoy!
In August of 2004, Zappi, Homba, Bambam887, RedScorpion and MOOXE all pitched
in to create this Close Combat site. I would to thank all the people who have visited
and found this site to thier liking. I hope you had time to check out some
of the great Close Combat mods and our forums. I'd also like to thank
all the members of our volunteer staff that have helped over
the years, and all our users that contributed to this site!
