Messina-what the heck happened??

[joe6778]

I clearly evacuated 21 ground units to the east, but the final result was a loss! What happened? I can't continue the 42/43 West Campaign.

I can attach a screen shot if I knew how to do it.

[Kerensky]

Without a screenshot, its hard to say.

The two most likely reasons are you had some air units, but you did say ground.
The other reason this scenario trips some people up is:

IDS_SCEN_AXIS_CAM_OBJECTIVES <i>Decisive Victory:</i><br/>Bring at least 18 total GROUND units to the Italian mainland to the East AND hold at least five objectives.<br/><br/><i>Marginal Victory:</i><br/>Hold at least five objectives.

If you totally abandon the Victory Hexes in the west on Sicily, you can't fulfill the 5 objectives requirement.

[joe6778]

That must be it; I completely abandoned Sicily. The alternative (which seems impossible) is to evacuate 18 units and defend Sicily with three units. That's not going to happen. So my only option is to try to hold Sicily.

[Resolute]

The difficulty of that scenario really depends how many italien units you managed to evacuate in one of the prior ones (name escapes at the moment). I usually have about 15 which makes it easy to get them over and hold the rest with my german core force.

[Kerensky]

That must be it; I completely abandoned Sicily. The alternative (which seems impossible) is to evacuate 18 units and defend Sicily with three units. That's not going to happen. So my only option is to try to hold Sicily.

Yup, that is the danger of that scenario.

<p>I highly advise evacuating any Italian units you have remaining first, while using your main forces to hold off the continued Allied advance. If you have not preserved enough Italian units, you may need to evacuate your own forces to meet the evacuation requirement, a predicament that could spread your forces dangerously thin.</p>

[wargovichr]

Correct, you must hold minimum objectives at end. The number of Italians you move across allows you to keep more Germans in Sicily. A good counter offensive from the Messina corner near the end turns to hold minimum major objectives is key. Use highest quality Italian units to help the defense during the battle and cross the rest.
An extra high naval attack number strat bomber helps clear out the channel.
Carefully calculate that it takes a turn or two to get units across important when sneaking that last few units from the Sicily defense over the straight. One can lose too by not understanding ONLY GROUND units must cross over NOT AIR.
Early game fighting defensive withdrawal into the Messina corner allows best use of mainland AA** and most efficient fighter escort of naval attack bombers while conducting regular duty air defense, and bleeds the Allies allowing the end turns counteroffensive.