Slitherine

you have to look at the reason the British occupied Syria. The entire offiensive was to prevent the Germans from using Syria and Lebanon as sprigboards for attacks against thier positions in Egypt. If you want historical accuracy you should allow the Germans to move freely through Vichy Territory. Please refer to the Paris Protocals signed by Admiral Darlan on behalf of the Vichy Gov. allowing Germans access to military facilities in Syria. according to wikipedia this was never actually put into place but does show the level of cooperation between Vichy government and the Germans.

We didn't see German troops stationed in Vichy France for offensive operations like an invasion of Spain prior to Torch. One of the first things the Germans did after Torch begun was to militarize Vichy France both in France and in North Africa. It was in Germany's interest to keep Vichy France neutral so they didn't have to garrison it.

So it's not ahistorical that Germany has to DoW Vichy France in order to move into their territory. We also know that the Free French worked from 1940 to persuade different Vichy French regions into joining Free France. They succeeded some places and over time more and more Vichy French wanted to support the Allies. The Germans were furious the Vichy French troops defended so poorly against the Allied Torch invasion. That was one reason they decided to militarize Vichy France. They claimed the French weren't able to defend their own territory and the Germans were right about that. Many Vichy French troops switched side to Free France soon after Torch begun. This is the reason we let Free France be activated when Vichy France is activated.

Syria is in a different territory than North Africa and the fact is that the Allies occupied it without any retaliation from the rest of Vichy France. Several Vichy French territories were attacked by the Free French or the Allies without turning Vichy France into German hands (meaning German units occupied Vichy French territory).

The key question is what would have happened to the other Vichy French territory if Germany had invaded Syria. We don't know, but our interpretation is that it would activate all of Vichy France. We believe some Vihy units would join the Free French etc. Maybe Algeria and Morocco would change while southern France would remain neutral. Still a choice had to be made and we wanted to make the Germans think twice about doing it.

My point is the German's never had to "invade" Syria they had free passage anyway. That is why the British invaded Syria in the first place. Wouldn't have been more fun game wise if the British had to worry about Syria as they did historically?

Turn 55. August 16, 1942.

To my surprise and delight it looks like Jim is pulling his invasion force out of Portugal and Spain. While he took losses there including three air units and a fourth badly depleted, one tanks corps and a couple of infantry corps I'd be hard press to dislodge him from the coast. It looks like he's threatening a landing in Spanish Morocco. I reinforced the infantry corps there and moved a German fighter to block his landing. He could still land in Casablanca; however, that would require a DOW against Vichy France, which would also activate Syria on the side of the axis.

Taking advice from senior military advisers the axis have formed an invasion force to out flank the allies in Egypt. Two German and one Italian corps were recommend; however, all that could be thrown together quickly was one German and one Italian corps. The decision for speed tipped the balance to go with that versus waiting two or three turns. The UK sub is out there and there are at least two fighters. We'll see what kind of response I get from Jim but unless he blocks all landing hexes these corps are landing.

I moved more axis fighters and ground units to the south to defend against the Russian offensive there. Hopefully I have sufficient forces to blunt his intentions.

The 6 German u-boat flotillas are at sea and headed for convoy areas. Three will go after the Russian convoy and three will go after the central convoy.

Good, 2 troops are better than none... If that sub decide to surface you'll be able to severely deplete it with your planes. Make sure you send in reienforcement next turn. If you land you'll need to consolidate your gains, make the allies move from their defensive position in the Sinai.

IF all goes well, you should be able to break the deadlock...

That little stunt the allies pulled back in Spain is now a bust, good for you. I still winder why they decided to land there.

But the main question is: What are you doing agaisnt the russians? Ultimatly they are the one that will make you win or loose... Their defense seems imprenetrable... At tihs point i think you are quite right to stay on defense, but it wont be enough in the long run... Any toughts?

How is your oil and manpower situation, Ronnie? Can you continue to be this active on 3 different fronts?

Stauffenberg wrote:How is your oil and manpower situation, Ronnie? Can you continue to be this active on 3 different fronts?

Manpower just hit 75% for the Germans and is above 75% for the Italians. My oil at the end of the turn was around 300. I still only have three armor corps. One in Russia with a leader, one in Spain and one in the Med. My main oil consuming units are my air.

Turn 56. September 5, 1942.

Both UK sub groups are in the Med and they knocked the German invasion transport down to 4-steps! The axis attack and destroyed a UK infantry corps east of the canal. After these attacks a Luftwaffe fighter unit hit one of the RAF fighter bases. Jim also moved the two UK fighters and tank corps to block the axis invasion. Bravely the severely depleted German infantry corps landed and attacked the depleted UK fighter unit but inflicted no additional losses. The Italian BB tried to its hand at it and lost 1-step to none inflicted. The Italian invasion corps move adjacent to Jerusalem to force Jim to protect that city. The 4-step German infantry corps won't make it but its doing its job. To quote a 1977 movie that I just finished watching a couple of days ago, "And I will show you where the Iron Crosses grow." Unfortunately most will be awarded posthumously.

To say the least the 1977 movie, "Cross of Iron", was one strange movie and very 70's like. Watching it I flashed back to my college days ... I digress ... sorry.

Jim pulled out of Portugal and gave it to me. I decide to send an Italian BB squadron to reinforce the one in the east Med. I debated sending it via the Med or the Red Sea transport loop, which would get it there one turn earlier. I choose the latter and it raw into a buzz saw. The Italians have just given Jim an early Christmas present. The upside is that I got very good intel on him moving more forces to reinforce the Med. This intel reinforced my decision to land with the 4-step German corps and press the attack in Egypt.

I have an embarrassment of riches in available North Africa supply points. As winter approaches in Russia, I decide to reinforce Egypt with: (1) German tank corps, (2) German mechanized corps, (3) German tactical bomber, (4) German fighter, (5) Romania fighter and (6) Italian infantry corps. The additional cost in supply points is 14, which should leave me with 4 points or so available. I will probably move one or two more German infantry corps there. I am happy to make Egypt and the middle east the battlefield between the axis and western allies.

In Russia, I was passive except for two tactical bomber attacks against the pesky BB Black Sea fleet. The Romania DD fleet also got into the action. The Russian BB Black Sea fleet was reduced to 2-steps and is blocked by the Romania DD fleet, which lost 1-step.

German wolfpacks attacked and sunk a small allied convoy in the mid-Atlantic and attacked the Russian convoy. Jim has at least two allied DD squadrons in route to the east of the convoy, which is now only at 33 PPs, so I let it got.

By the way, I have 3 partisans in Spain pop up and 1 in Poland. Like all partisans I'm dealing with them aggressively so the partisans don't get out of control.

I built 3 German infantry corps. My turn ended with 280 oil points, German manpower at 72% and Italian manpower at 85%. The next Italian build will be a DD (or two). The Italians have 3 BB but will lose one near the Horn of Africa and may lose a second in the east Med if Jim goes after it. This leaves me with one BB in the Med.

Nice job with Portugal! You really gave the Western Allies a good punch in the gut. You will not be able to beat Russia, but you may be able to hold them off if you keep the British and Americans contained. It was smart of you to tailor you strategy accordingly and focus on the landing in Portugal.

Why didnt you take the opportunity to bomb those subs? They need to be recuded if you want your landing / naval strategy to be successeful there.

Also, if you want to be successeful, you should send more troops to land, more than the allies can cope with. The general iea was to overwhelm the Allies with superior numbers coming from multiple vectors.

You destroyed a corps , but didnt advance in the void. Is there any reason for this? Only relenteless pressure will make the allies break, and the main reason is simple, they cannot reienforce the area as fast as you can...

joerock22 wrote:Nice job with Portugal! You really gave the Western Allies a good punch in the gut. You will not be able to beat Russia, but you may be able to hold them off if you keep the British and Americans contained. It was smart of you to tailor you strategy accordingly and focus on the landing in Portugal.

Thanks.

supermax wrote:Why didnt you take the opportunity to bomb those subs? They need to be recuded if you want your landing / naval strategy to be successeful there.

I decided to use them to go after his mechanized corps and air. I want to destroy as many of his ground troops as I can before he can reinforce his defensive line from troops he's pouring into the Persian Gulf.

supermax wrote:Also, if you want to be successeful, you should send more troops to land, more than the allies can cope with. The general iea was to overwhelm the Allies with superior numbers coming from multiple vectors.

I didn't have anymore to spare. I have more troops on the way but they're two to three turns away.

supermax wrote:You destroyed a corps , but didnt advance in the void. Is there any reason for this? Only relenteless pressure will make the allies break, and the main reason is simple, they cannot reienforce the area as fast as you can...

I was following the advice in our Strategy Guide in a section written by Joe. I'm not going to advance until his double defensive line breaks. Also, the unit that I would have had to move in there was a tank corps, which I have no doubt that Jim would have tried to destroy and probably succeeded.

Turn 57. September 25, 1942.

Jim destroyed the German landing force, repaired one fighter which he put on sentry and moved the badly depleted fighter unit out of my spotting range. German fighters hit the repaired RAF fighter at it's base knocking off 4-steps. The axis also depleted a UK mechanized corps by 5-steps.

A top military adviser has chastise the axis commander in North Africa for his lack of aggression in exploiting last turn's destruction of a UK infantry corps. This commander's philosophy is more in line with the UK General Montgomery versus the USA General Patton. Who was needed? A General Montgomery or a General Patton? Time will tell.

Jim trapped the unfortunate Italian BB squadron near the Horn of Africa. It survived last turn and was able to report that the UK transports moved to the Persian Gulf.

Turn 58. October 15, 1942.

The axis finally breached the UK defenses and crossed the Suez Canal in force. Two Italian corps have established a bridgehead east of the canal. In order to do this the axis had to ignore those pesky UK submarine groups, which finished off the 3-step Italian transport in Alexandria. Italian transport capacity, which is a maximum of 2, is reduced by 1 for 3-turns due to the loss. So capacity will be 1 for at least 3-turns. The Italians have placed an corps in an invasion position to both draw out the UK sub groups and threaten to outflank the British defenses. The Italians, who are not normally known for their ferocity and aggressiveness, have performed bravely and fought with distinction in this desert campaign. Let's hope this continues as the axis will exploit the Suez breach and push to Jerusalem.

In support of these middle eastern operations, a German mechanized corps docked in Alexandria and an armor corps in Tripoli. Also, a German tactical bomber rebased in Sicily on its way to the middle east. The German fighter in Sardina that's was providing cover for the Italian BB got hit hard last turn and lost 3 steps down to 4. It had to repair and is providing CAP for the rebasing tactical bomber. The Romania fighter hit the Malta airbase and both fighter units lost 1-step.

As late fall approaches so does winter in Russia. Axis reconnaissance shows Russian armor and air forces in the south. German intelligence assess that these forces are there for both defensive and offensive reasons. The defensive assessment is that the allies believe the axis are in desperate need for oil. While the oil situation is NOT bountiful it's far from desperate. The offensive assessment is an estimate that Russia plans to attack in the south when the weather turns. Almost all of the Luftwaffe in Russia is in the south. The axis plans are to build up defenses there and to hold.

The axis oil at the end of the turn was 269, German manpower was 71% and Italian manpower 86%.

You mentioned earlier that you don't plan to attack into Iraq. Why is this? It seems like that's the most available oil for you.

jjdenver wrote:You mentioned earlier that you don't plan to attack into Iraq. Why is this? It seems like that's the most available oil for you.

Iraq is not do or die for me like capturing the Suez Canal was. I will continue to push towards Iraq. If Jim defends heavily there then I've accomplished my objective, which is that he's committed a lot of UK and US forces there. I don't believe I can take it in that case. If he chooses not to defend it heavily (which I doubt) then I will take it.

The bottom line is that I will make a push for Iraq and the middle eastern oil fields but not a do or die one.

Good, you advanced into the void with your troops... If he counter-attacks and doesnt retrat, you will have won the Middle east!

I think keeping the British occupied in Egypt is enough. It takes a long time to get to Baghdad and Basra even if you defeat the units in Palestine. The Allies can send units from USA and rail them to the Iraqi cities in time for the Germans to get any oilfields.

The Russians look strong in the east, but it takes time to kill the units east of the Dnepr in the south. But if the Germans lose more units than they can build then the defense line will crumble some time, maybe during the next winter). So I would give first priority to build more units for the east and form a double line in the south. If it seems the Russians can roll up the southern units east of the Dnepr then it's better to retreat across the Dnepr and use it as a wall to keep the Germans at bay. But you need a double defense line to prevent any unwanted retreats. If the Russians can make such a retreat they can send armor units across the river and widen up the bridgehead.

I think Ronnie can win this game if he manages to hold in Russia and prevent Allied bombing of German cities. The easiest way for Jim to disrupt Ronnie's plans would be to build strat bombers and bombard the German production. To stop this Ronnie would need several fighters stationed inside Germany. Having a reserve force outside Allied spotting range in France is also a good idea.

Watching the oil consumption is going to the very important. With higher techs you use more oil and 400 oil can disappear quickly if you need to fight on all fronts. Wasting a lot of oil in Egypt without getting any oilfields is probably not worth it. The Axis player should either go all out in Egypt and capture all the Iraqi and Persian oil or just use some units to contain the situation, using the Suez as a defensive front line if necessary. You need the air units to stop any Allied offensives, but it might take awhile before that situation happens.

Turn 59. November 4, 1942.

The allies counterattacked against the bridgehead east of the Suez Canal and destroyed the Italian mechanized corps. The Italian commander was knocked out for 5-turns. The UK sub groups devastated the Italian transport threatening invasion knocking it down to 3-steps. It was evacuated through the Suez Canal. No attacks were launched from the desert army. I used this turn for repairs and upgrades.

A German u-boat flotilla that attacked the central convoy off the east coast of the USA last turn was hit heard by a US strategic bomber, which reduced it to 5-steps. It retreated southeast and ran smack dab into a large allied naval fleet escorting a US mechanized, infantry and armor corps. The question is where is it heading? Axis forces on the Spanish front were placed on high alert. Also, the German and Italian fighters in Sardinia and Sicily were held in place and repaired. The transports if headed for Portugal or Spanish Morocco are two turns away. This will give me enough time to redeploy forces if this area is the target for these transports.

Turn 60. November 24, 1942

The western allies finished off the Italian beachhead east of the canal. Jim apparently has decided to stand and defend east of the canal. I had hoped that he would break and retreat but that's not the case. A second German armor corps reached Alexandria to join the newly arrived German mechanized corps and second tactical bomber.

The allied troop convoy spotted last turn appears to be headed to the Persian Gulf. A brave commander moved his u-boat flotilla right in the middle of the troop convoy to keep track of its movements. Even though the intention of his destination was to be a bit more distance; never the less he's in line for the Iron Cross.

The Russians launched three probing attacks last turn (2 in the south and 1 in the north) that depleted three corps. I filled the gaps as best as possible. The bad news is that severe winter hit at the end of my turn and I expect a general Russian offensive (especially in the south) next turn.

I deployed one new German infantry corps this turn and built a German and Italian infantry corps. I'm afraid one to two new infantry corps per turn is not nearly enough. I need to build more but I'm having to use a lot of PPs for repairing air.

You expect a russian offensive in the south but the russians have less possibilities of breaking the lines there. If I were you I would be afraid of an offensive in the north where the russians really have the chance to break the lines.