Volume 456-BR8 Issue 05 - Axes & Alleys

There is only one real reason you would attempt
to land a large expeditionary force in Long Island,
and that is to seize New York City and possibly
the port facilities in Brooklyn and New Jersey.
Therefore, the following ideas will assume that
that is your goal and that to achieve that goal you
would need at least an Army Group (let’s say five
divisions plus support and transportation units)
and a large fleet of transport vessels and escorts,
including a carrier group and plentiful groundsupport
gunships or fixed-wing craft.
The best time for an invasion would be
around late summer in order to have good
weather conditions for an autumn campaign.
Ideally, you want to be able to seize control of New
York City before the deep winter begins in
January. The urban environment would provide
excellent winter billets for a large army group as
well as easy access to food and fuel supplies. A
bitterly cold winter would be a good time for
digging in, destroying bridges and establishing a
defence perimeter. Snow and other adverse
weather would make major sorties by enemy
troops into your position difficult at best and will
help to prevent overflights of your airspace by
enemy units.
The first wave off the LSTs will need to be
infantry or possibly marines. Thus, the Army
Group should be composed of two divisions of
infantry, two divisions of mobile infantry and one
armoured division. The first division will secure
the beachhead and allow time for some heavier
equipment to be brought up. While armour will
be important to repel any heavy counter attack,
for the most part heavy armour will be a
hindrance in the densely populated urban areas.
It would be best to have light tanks and selfpropelled
artillery, with a few heavier tanks
available to conduct coordianted attacks on
strong enemy positions.
An ideal landing spot can be found just
east of Northport Bay at the adjacent Crab
Meadow Park, Indian Hills Country Club and
Sunken Meadow State Park. While the south-