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THE QUEEN IN GERMANY
More Targets for B-17
By Doug Bleyaert
The roar of engines fill your ears once again as
you climb aboard your B-17. The adrenaline flows
freely through your body as you taxi off to your
next mission. Today's mission is to bomb the
U-boat pens at Saint Nazaire. As you get up to
14000 feet and join up with the rest of your squadron
you secretly wish that it wasn't just the U-boat pens
you could bomb. To attack the shipyards themselves
is what you want-taking your bombload right to
Hitler's doorstep.
B-17 gives the solitaire player many choices to
bomb and a good system of selecting targets
-not often were the pilots consulted as to where
they were going to bomb. Even though there are
plenty of targets there is always that yearning for
more, especially for some in Nazi Germany itself.
Admittedly, to bomb the Reich and return to brag
has a certain attraction to it.
In looking over WW2 maps, the historian of the
air war will find a great many targets to choose from
other than the ones provided by the original game
system. One crucial area that the Allies bombed
heavily was the industrial heartland of Germany-
the Ruhr Valley. The cities of Bonn and Cologne
were attacked a number of times. A little farther
into Germany were the cities of Kassel and Hamburg
and Schweinfurt (with its strategic ball-bearing
MISSION TARGETS
G-3a MISSIONS 11-25
Roll 2D.
ROLL TARGET
11 Amsterdam
12 Amsterdam
13 Cologne
14 Colognl
15 Bonn
16 Bonn
21 Dusselc-. .
22 Saarbrucker
23 Saarbrucker
1 24 Oshabruck
25 Frankfurt
26 Frankfurt
31 Mannheim"
TYPE
Aircrafi
Aircraft
lndustry
lndustry
lndustry
lndustrv
lndustr
lndustr
Industr)
Aircraft
lndustr
lndustry
lndustrv
32 Mannheim* lndustry
33 Kassel* Aircraft
34 Kassel* Aircraft
35 Karlsruhe Aircrafi
36 Munster Aircraft
41 Offenburg Aircrafi
42 HamburgX U-Boat!
43 Hamburg* U-Boats
44 Braunschweig* Industr)
45 Braunschwe Industr.
46 Hannover Industr.
51 Hannover* Aircrafi
52 Schweinfurt Industr>
53 Schweinfurt Industr!
54 Stuttgart Industrl
55 Freidrichsha Industrl
56 Freidrichshaven Industrl
61 Mageburg* Industrl
62 Mageburg* Industrj
63 Leipzig Aircraft
64 Brander Aircraft
65 Berlin* Industrj
66 Berlin* Government
factories). None of these were included in the game
B-17 because during the period which the game
spans (November 1942 through May 1943), these
were not the American targets. Still . . . the lure
of new challenges is enticing for solitaire players.
The alternative mission list I offer is by no means
exhaustive. Nor does it replace the original 8-17
list (Table G-3), but acts as a supplement to it. The
following rules should be used in conjunction with
the new target list:
1) Since the raids on the second list are considered
riskier (and therefore rarer) than those included in
the game, they will not be selected by higher com-
mand for you as often. Before the target selection,
one die is rolled: ''1-5"-use the original Table G-3;
"6"-use the new mission list below.
2) Planes flying the longer missions were afforded
better fighter cover near England due to the impor-
tance of these missions. This can be reflected by
adding "+2" to the roll for fighter cover (Table
G-5) in Zones 2, 3 and 4.
3) On longer missions, fighters had a tendency
to cover the bombers as long as they possibly
could-sometimes to their own demise due to fuel
shortages. On the outward leg in Zone 5, a die is
rolled for fighter cover. On a roll of "6", poor
cover is available in Zone 5 (a roll " 1-5" indicates
Glla FLIGHT LOG GAZETTEER
no cover). This represents those few fighters tha.
would stay with the formation for a few minutes
longer than usual. There is no die roll for cover in
Zone 5 on the return to England (although rule 2
above applies for the return flight).
4) Once the bombers reach Germany, the prob-
ability of enemy fighter waves was greatly in-
creased. With the bomber stream on radar, and the
proximity of fighter bases, enemy opposition in 1943
was stiff. To reflect this fact, the bombers flying
in the low squadron of the formation receive a +2
modifier to the die roll for number of German fighter
waves (Tables B-l and B-2). There is no modifier
for planes in the high or middle squadrons. This
modification takes effect throughout the time that
a bomber is in Germany (defined on the Flight Log
Gazetteer for each target).
Taking a glance at the Gazetteer, the modifier to
the roll on Tables B-1 and B-2 for a trip through
Germany might look low to many. However, at this
point in the war, such raids on Germany were
usually large scale, which meant that any individual
bomber had less chance to be attacked even though
there were more enemy fighters buzzing around.
So, for those who might have made the Grand
Circuit-bombing every target on Table G-3-we
are proud to offer these new targets. Good luck.
TARGET CITY ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE ZONE
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Amsterdam -2/W -l/W -
Berlln -2/W -1/W
Bonn -2/W -1/W
Branden -2/W -1/W
Braunsc -2/W -1/W ., . . .,..
Cologne -2/W -l/W \I -1lN OIN-G
Dusseldorf -2/W -1/W l/N O/G
Frankfurt -2/W -1/B l/B -1lB-G O/G
Freidr~chsha\ -2/W -1/B OIB-G
Hamburg -2/W -1/W 1/W OIG
Hannover -2/W -1/W 1/N O/G
Karlsruh- 2/W -1/B B-G O/G
Kassel 2/W -1/W l/N O/G
Le~pzlg 2/W -1/W 1/N O/G
Magebu _ 1/N O/G
Mannhetm /B-G O/G
Munster 1/N O/G
Offenburg l/B OIB-G
Oshabruck l/N 0 -
Saarbrucken l/B OIB-G
Schwe~nfurt 2/V1 -1/W -1lW-P 1/N OIG O/G
Stuttgart -2/W -1lB -1/B 1/B OIB-G O/G O/G
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'Add +1 to dle roll for flak occurence over target, Table 0-1
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