Operational Log: 18:00 GMT Saturday, March 1st1941
Local Time Malta: 20:00 Saturday
in Zero Point Achtung Cthulhu
The Mediterranean Theater
Act Two: OPERATION HERCULES: Malta
BACKGROUND
August 8th 1940: Operations Sea Lion and Green are successful. German forces complete the occupation of the UK
Sept 1st 1940 Italians invade Kenya
September 9th 1940, Italians invade Egypt.
October 25th Hitler announces in Paris that the BUF, Spain, Vichy, Hungary, and Romania have all now joined the AXIS.
October 28th Italy invades Greece
November 11-12th: The Battle of Taranto, Free British Commonwealth naval victory
November 12 to 14th: AXIS-Soviet Talks, ends indecisively. Both sides agree to continue to settle their grievances peacefully and to resume talks in about 6 months.
November 27th: The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, a naval battle between the British and Italians, ends indecisively.
January 6th 1941:
FDR makes his “Four Freedoms Speech”.
January 8th 1941: Free British forces complete the evacuation of 20,000 civilians
(99% of the civilian population from Gibraltar) are on Atlantic convoys to Canada.
Only a token force of Free British Marines are left behind. Invasion by Axis forces from the north is expected at any moment. Free British Royal Navy task Force H sails from Gibraltar, blowing up their dock facilities as they pull out.
January 10th 1941:
· More Naval battles reported in the Mediterranean around Malta. The winners depends on which side is reporting it. Malta is still a member of the Free British Commonwealth.
· President Roosevelt submitted H.R. 1776, better known as the Lend-Lease bill, to Congress.[15]
· The results of a Gallup poll were Americans are asked, "In or out? On the question of the United States entering the war against Germany and Italy, how would you vote — to go into the war, or to stay out of the war?" 88% said stay out, 12% said go in.[7]
The British Union of Fascists (BUF) issues an Ultimatum to the Free British Commonwealth forces in Gibraltar join the BUF or face the consequences.
January 15th 1941:
German, Spanish and BUF forces invade Gibraltar. They are meet with only token resistance.
February to March 1941:
German and Italian bombing raids of Malta increase to a daily occurrence.
By March 1st the last of the RAF planes is destroyed on the Valletta Airfield.
The Free British Royal Navy pulls out Malta that morning that morning redeploying to Alexandria Egypt.
Scene One: The Crusader's Library (National Library of Malta)
Saturday, March 1st1941
Local Time Malta: 20:00 Saturday
Valletta
Special Agent Nathan Chance of the United States Government “Special”
investigation team “Delta Green” assists the Free British agents of Section N as they
convalesce and search for information on the various volumes of the Books of Shadow,
in the Crusader's Library in Valletta Malta .
The Mission:
According to “N” this is the best place for the “Special Agents” to find a lead on the arcane books.
You’re Objectives:
1. Protect the “Special Agents” from capture by AXIS Ahnenerbe forces.
2. Finish convalescing.
3. Find out if the Book of Shadows Volume Four. N believes it is hidden somewhere in the Malta Crusader Libraries.
4. Get the agents and the books to safety. "N" believes the AXIS will be coming to Malta VERY soon.
The team finally gets some leads. Records of the French invasion in 1798 tell of Napoleon's head "Egyptian-logiest" removing several books of ancient "Arcane" nature from the library to conduct a demonstration for Napoleon at the ancient Maltese temple of Hagar Qim on the southern shore of the island.
Scene two
The team finally decides not to wait for morning and loads up 5 of their 8 Royal Marine guards into two Land Rovers and drives to the south end of the Island to spend the night in Zurieg, a town near the ruins. The team plans to wake early and investigate the town and the ruins the next day.
Scene three
0600 Local
The next morning the team breaks up into two groups : One searches the ruins, the other the town library. The group at the ruins find nothing useful, but the group at the library find a book detailing the Napoleons visit in 1798 and even mentions two volumes of the "Books of Shadow" ; Fire and Void. The Books were loaded onto the French Flagship the L'Orient and sailed away to Alexandria Egypt.
0800 Local
The group still searching the ruins note a large formation of planes flying around to the North dropping a multitude of parachutes. The team group at the ruins retrieves the group in the library and they load up their Land Rovers while listening to their vehicle radios; German and Italian paratroopers have taken the Valetta Airfield and are in the process of taking the city.
Scene Four
The team gets in the Land Rovers and using agent Scout's Field Craft skills avoids the German and Italian paratroopers to reach "Pretty Bay" on Malt's south east coast. There they board the last submarine leaving their base there; the HMS Taunt. The team watches docks get blown up by demolition charge as they climb into the forward hatch. The British submarine is submerged a few minutes later and the team travels the next ten days to Alexandria in the cramp confines of the forward torpedo room .
