AAR Mare Nostrum (No Massina)

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November 42, the steppes are empty! Due to the recent Wehrmacht advances, the Russians turned tail and ran, likely to form a line defending Stalingrad. Weather is muddy so it is time for some rest and refits. Russian losses are over 8 million infantry - manpower must be an issue.

Teheran falls and the Persian lend-lease route is closed.

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24th November 42, Germans are pleasantly surprised to find all sunny weather, and a limited offensive in launched in the direction of Orel, destroying some Russian corps. and threatening a hook around to Smolensk. A bit risky since severe winter must be right around the corner, but the Russian attacking potential is quite reduced in this sector.

The nice weather is also used to punch through the meagre defences in the Crimea, surrounding Sevastapol which is defended by a garrison. I guess with two bomber attacks and land attacks from the two hexes it should be possible to capture the fortress when summer returns, further reducing Russian production.

Helsinki and Oslo falls to the Allies while Italian garrison hold out in Bergen. This frees up a lot of units, where to next for the Allies....?

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We have entered January 1943, severe winter has hit and Russia is given a breather, Wehrmacht upgrades to the latest techs while the concentrated uboat flotilla target the out-of-position USN in the Atlantic gap. A CV is sunk along with its damaged BB escort. Hopefully this diverts some PPs to naval rather than land units to contest the continent. RAF converts Norway into a giant air base, while Italians are besieged in snowy Bergen.



Surprise in Catalunya! I was 100% sure all Brit ships were at the bottom of the Med one year ago, but suddenly a Brit BB shows up to support Spanish partisans. Maybe it somehow got to Malta and hid there all this time. Italian sub production is in high gear (they have higher tech than the Germans, strangely) so this distraction should not last long.

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Rommel receives a shipment of new tanks as both sides prepare for the battle of Baku. Two damaged Brit DDs are sunk in the Atlantic but Italian subs in the Med suffer when attacking the Brit hold-out BB.

In Russia both sides sit out the harsh winter, as do the Italians in Bergen.

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March 43, winter continues to rage in Russia and the fronts are still frozen in place. Significant Allied air based in Norway bomb the Reich and Denmark. Luftwaffe is forced to challenge the Reich air space as strategic bombing has taken a toll.

Rommels panzers brush aside the weak garrisons from their mountain hideouts in the Caucasus, but the going is slow. The good news is that the Axis Middle East air contigent, being based in Persia, is not affected by the Russian winter and is able to fly at peak strength vs the Caucasus.

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March 24th 43. Winter rages on, German forces ooze north to find the Russian line defending Bryansk. Mussolini runs out of money during an upgrade frenzy and fails to reinforce the Bergen defenders, who promptly succumb to the Allied offensive. In the south, Rommel gazes down at the Baku oilfields as the Red Air Force show up in strength.



Northwest of Spain the Regia Marina sorties to combine with the sub fleets to sink a US BB and hit the southern convoy. However, Axis naval forces are due for extensive repairs after this winter's intensive naval campaign.

As an aside, an important boon from this Iberian invasion gambit is the ability to base Luftwaffe in Spain to interdict Allied naval movements, in this game the Southern convoys have never reached the UK with anything more than single digit strength. Also, all those ports are very handy for repairing and upgrading subs, being closer to the sea lanes than the French and also out of range from Allied air. 1-2 less turns in port or transit= a lot more damage to the Allied convoys.

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April 13th 43, still winter but Axis forces are fully prepped for the summer offensive. Italian infantry, supported by Rommel, grab one of the Baku oilfields. A Russian tank corps shows up near Baku but effectiveness is far too low compared to the Germans.

Luftwaffe start contesting the airspace above the Reich as new fighters are deployed. As a consequence the Allied strategic bombers focus more on Denmark and probably on convoy protection. Italian sub research reach tech level 5! New panzers and mechs are posted to the Western Front in expectation of some sort of D-Day.

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3rd of May 43, Invasion USA! Italian-affiliated underground crime elements bribe the NYC coastguard, letting a lone Italian garrison invade undefended Manhattan. Little Italy goes big-time in a reverse of the Allied gambit vs Brest earlier in the game.

A long-shot invasion with faint chance of success, but it paid off with the Allies attention firmly fixed elsewhere. Of course nothing but a small irritant which should not last long, but a bit of a boost to the Italian production and a reduction to the US one cannot be bad for the Axis cause.

Last breaths of the Russian winter and still no action in the east, while in the Caucasus Italian infantry take the hex south of Baku.

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May 23rd 1943, summer finally arrives on the Russian Steppes. The Wehrmacht armies roar into action and the Luftwaffe is not contested in the north as panzer pincers close around Bryansk.



Offensives also launched in the south. Fortress Sevastapol is reduced and will fall next turn, while Rommel takes Baku. With these oil fields in hand, even the current massive Axis oil usage should be covered. More Russian tank armies are mobilised near Stavropol.

Quiet in the west apart from the continued bombardment of Denmark. US air tech outshines the Luftwaffe and some losses are taken. Still no sign of US reaction to the Italian occupation of New York.

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June 43, Sevastapol and Baku oilfields secured as Wehrmacht forces close on Krasnodar. The last RAF expedition in Russia is killed off while the Red Air Force flees north from the Causaus.



More Russians die in the north as Bryansk falls and Smolensk is surrounded. The road to Moscow seems open. Russian forces in the center make a mass advance on the Kharkov region, reinforcements bolster the line. Without air support an attack would seem suicidal.



Action in the West! D-Day seems to be underway with landings in Denmark being prepared, even the Russians take part. Something like this was expected by German High Command and ample mechanised forces are put in place to stop any landing while new Luftwaffe fighters gather in central Germany. Uboats and destroyers attack transports near Wilhemshaven.

Even if backed by strong air superiority the Allied landings should be too weak to capture any supply sources against higher teched Germans, seems this invasion is another attempt to offer some respite to the Eastern Front. Maybe Alles in this situation would have been better off doing something off-beat like invading Sweden, would open up more invasion possibilities on a long Baltic coastline.



The heroes of NYC still hold on!

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July 43 - It's on, the Allies land on the northern beaches of Jylland! Panthers blitz the beachhead near on the islands near Copenhagen as a powerful counterattack force is organised near Hamburg. A bit overkill, but the German High Command seeks a quick conclusion to this invasion so as to spend as little time as possible being pounded by the dominant Allied air forces.



The battle for Moscow has started in the sweltering heat of the Russian summer. The forests are thick with both flies and Russian garrison forces, but with no opposition in the air chances are the lair of the beast may be captured. Smolensk is taken and a hook around Vitebsk threatens envelopment of the static-since-September-41-Vitebsk-Riga-line.

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July 22nd 1943. Despite a powerful air umbrella which does inflict some damage, the fresh Allied units are no match for experienced panzer troops and the beachheads are blitzed and/or surrounded. It seems Allied spending may have focused too much on air units, with this limited landing destroyed a threat in the west is unlikely to appear until 1944.



The Americans are keen to reclaim NYC, for now the Italians cling on, but their time is short. At least the prolonged battle will leave a ruined NYC which will take time to recover its former glory (and production).



The Battle for Moscow continues as the Germans force the Russians behind the river and also seize Tula. The Vitebsk river line is wisely abandoned and the Red Army flee in a more or less organised manner towards Leningrad with the Wehrmacht in hot pursuit.



AG South captures Stavropol and the Maikop oilfields while Rommel finishes off the last stragglers in the Caucasus. A cautious advance towards Stalingrad reveals thickening Soviet defences.

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August 43, German forces catch up and destroy most of the defenders in the north, but some make it to Novgorod. A British strategic bomber is spotted in Finland, apparently rebased from the now defunct Norwegian front. Manstein conducts the Battle of Moscow as the Tigers cross the river and reach the Moscow suburbs while the Rumanians cross south of the city. The Kremlin is in sight. A desperate Stalin is churning out masses of garrison forces, but the low quality indicates that even the enormous Russian manpower pool is becoming rather depleted.

Partisans are becoming a pain with major uprisings in Yugoslavia, Russia and Spain, but strangely nothing in France.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic the Amis recapture New York with the Italians fighting to the last man. Collaborators are rounded up and shot. The intense fighting has left the city in ruins with no production though, will take months before the factories are rebuilt.



The Soviet line falls back, leaving Stalingrad somewhat exposed. Axis forces push forward but initial fighting for this strategic city leaves it in Stalin's hands. Grozny and Batumi are open for the taking, defenders having fled the approaching Germans.

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August 31st 1943, a day of celebration in The Reich! Two Russian cities of huge symbolic and industrial importance are taken - panzers roar into Moscow and Stalingrad as Stalin barely manages to move the apparatchiks to Omsk. Further more, German infantry cross the Volga south of Stalingrad and gaze upon the endless steppes, where to next for the Wehrmacht? Mussolini, eager to not be left in the shade, bask in the Italian capture of Voronezh, while Vitebsk falls to the Germans. A bomber gets a nasty surprise when on a run against Pskov, suddenly US fighters appear out of the blue to pounce on the unescorted Stukas.

With both major production centres gone and no Persian LL, can the Russians produce much more than ca 100 PPs? If so, killing off 3 or so corps per turn should put the Red Army on a sliding slope, still a little time left before winter.

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September 20th, 1943. The Red Army counterattacks supported by US air and a German mech spearhead is wiped out north of Stalingrad. Axis forces, determined to keep the Volga bridgehead, expand while the newest Panther tanks arrive at the front.

Italians capture Tbilisi. The Middle East air force is now in range of the Army Group South, and leave Rommel by rebasing north to support the Stalingrad operation.



Stalin looks to have given up on Moscow and makes a tactical retreat. Also in the north significant air from UK and the US show up to aid a resurgent Red Air Force, looks like further advances will be costly. Pskov is nevertheless overrun and Novgorod surrounded.

Large partisan uprisings continue in the USSR, the fall of Stalingrad and Moscow seems to have had no effect on Russian morale. In the West limited strategic bombing picks up, this time concentrating on France, avoiding German fighter defence.

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October 10th, 1943. Still sunny, Novgorod is stormed and the noose closes around Leningrad. Around Moscow the Red Army has retreated, Wehrmacht refuses a possible routing pursuit with winter right around the corner, a Russian counterattack against unentrenched forces would be costly. Instead rear forces slowly move towards Kalinin. After an intense campaigning season some rest will be welcomed.



No rest in the south, Luftwaffe bomb everything in sight and an Italian-lead breakout east of Voronhez combined with a panzer push from Stalingrad threathens to envelop the Russian river defenders. Axis forces are now fighting so far from home that the supply level is low though, so movement will be very restricted when winter sets in. No rush for Omsk is possible despite the apparent lack of Russian defence.



Finally, the Atlantic is due to heat up after some quiet months. A fat convoy is spotted headed for the British Isles, and the refitted uboat forces take up position in the Atlantic Gap, hopefully out of range even from the uber-teched US bombers (tech level 17!). Regia Marina is also in range for a potentially devastating blow.

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Oct 30, 1943. Winter is right around the corner and the Wehrmacht rushes to get some advanced positions near Saratov. WAllied air combines with the Red Air Force to punish panzer spearheads. Italian forces eliminate the last Russian holdouts in the Caucasus, completing the conquest of the oil-rich region.

Sizable escort forces is spotted off the English coast, thus Regia Marina declines battle and retires to the Spanish ports. Better to have a threat in being than one at the bottom of the sea. Axis subs still ambush the convoy and get in some hits and sink a destroyer. However, US strategic bombers now have the range to close the Atlantic Gap and the uboats are forced into crash dives with significant losses. The happy time is over!

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November 19th, 1943. Snow covers the steppes and the German advance is bogged down. Stalin abandons the compromised river line and the Russians retreat from the Moscow and Voronhez fronts. Allied air forces also seem to have rebased further back into the Urals.



In the south, Rommel reunites with the AGC after a long three-year slog from Tobruk-Cairo-Baghdad-Basra-Teheran-Baku-Grozny. The Caucasus is a pain to cross with low supply levels slowing down movement!

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Dec 29, 43. Muted New Years celebrations as the Wehrmacht slowly slog across the snowy steppes. Tambov is taken again weak garrison opposition, other Russian forces retreat before the spearheads towards the Urals. In the north Kalinin is given up without a fight - where has the Red Army gone off to? Operations are started to root out the last Russian presence on the Black Sea as the Luftwaffe commence bombing Kerch.

After the horrendous losses of the last major Atlantic battle, Dönitz is granted more research reichmarks to come up with tougher uboat models. Italian scientists share their advanced knowledge.

Even if the harshest part of winter is still not here and the Soviets may stage some kind of winter counterattack, the High Command has set the total conquest of the Soviet republic as the target for 1944 - Omsk or bust!

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Feb 27th, 44. Subs hit the Russian convoy but Italians are promptly disciplined by US air and knocked down to 1 step, even in winter weather (or are ASW factors not halved?)



WAllied air based around Helsinki occasionally bomb the Swedish ore as well as continue harassing Axis forces clearing out the Leningrad pocket. Yaroslavl falls easily as Germans advance north and east.



The garrison defenders of Saratov and Penza also succumb, perhaps Kuibyshev will be more strongly defended?



Losses so far, absolutely massive Russian ones, a result of a largely infantry-based army being rolled up on the steppes in 1943. Remains to see the quality of the defenders surely entrenched in the Urals by now and boosted by one long winter's buildup.