Turn 50 – May 8, 1942
Fair weather in the east at last. My goals for the 1942 campaign are as follows, in order of priority:
1. Recapture lost ground in the south to give me room to retreat during winter
2. Kill a handful of Russian heavy units
3. Capture Moscow
Doing all 3 may be too ambitious with the forces I have, but I will do my best. But first, I need to try to break out of this pocket Morris has me cornered in.
In the south, I see an opportunity to kill a guard mech and push in on the Russian bulge from 3 sides. Morris will be able to withdraw most of his forces, but I should catch a few stragglers. And if he doesn’t retreat, I will destroy his whole army!
In the Med, Morris really surprises me. His armada poised to land in Sicily instead sails on to Tobruk. I was sure he was going for an early invasion of Sicily, which could not have worked in my opinion. This is good for me in that it gives me more time to prepare adequate defenses—I want German corps with +1 defense leaders in both Sicilian cities. But it is also bad in that when the attack does come it will be more difficult to stop, especially if Morris conquers Tunisia to use as an airbase. But that provides benefits for the Axis as well.
Overall, I am happy with the way things are going in the Med to this point. It will be awhile before Morris is ready to make a serious move against Italy, so for the moment I can focus most of my attention on the USSR.
USSR Center
USSR South
Med
Final tally for the turn: 1 guard mech, 3 corps, 3 garrisons/partisans. Value = 205 PPs. Not a bad haul. And that guard mech is strategically worth a lot more than 55 PPs. The Siberian Guards are the Red Army’s best weapons; losing one so early is a major blow. It will make later offensives more difficult, especially in rough terrain.
