Slitherine

Your withdrawal in Russia seems effective. Trading land for units is good. It's February, the Soviet offensive won't last much longer.

However, I still think that you were too passive in the NA...

Turn 47. March 9 1942.

For the first time since the start of Barbarossa nothing worth to mention in eastern front. Action is now in the Med where brits assaulted italian positions near Bengazhi leaving a garrison in very bad shape. See image below with allied moves:



Axis responded with a massive aeronaval attack against one of the british shore bombings BB's. Although italian subs are at half strength they achieved to take a few steps from the british naval unit. Regia Aeronautica also participated in the attacks first with the tac escorted by german fighter and afterwards with the italian fighter. Italian BB did not attack but closed the route of escape of the depleted british naval unit. Swapping was made in Bengazhi so Badoglio is now commanding the defenses of the city.

Cybvep wrote:Your withdrawal in Russia seems effective. Trading land for units is good. It's February, the Soviet offensive won't last much longer.

However, I still think that you were too passive in the NA...

This was a mainly defensive system I have tried in NA meaning that until there's not a clear chance of destroying an unit I won't be attacking at all. Keep in mind that since 8th army approached Tobruk, 12-14 turns have passed and the brits have only achieved to destroy a corps unit and at a high cost in the attacking units. This seems to me like a slow progress. Yes, they have now the initiative but axis units are just waiting for the right moment to counterattack so they can destroy 1 or 2 allied units. Now that italian fighter in Libya is a little bit depleted I will bring fighter in Sicily to replace it.

12 steps taken from soviet convoy. Another german mech bought.

Turn 48. March 29 1942.

Major naval engagement in the Atlantic. In last allied turn an escorting RN force composed of 2 DD's sailed to escort soviet convoy. A german sub searched for that last turn torpedoed convoy and found it south of Greenland spotting the whole naval group. You can see this below:



Mentioned naval group was at range of all available Kriegsmarine vessels but the spotting sub and the recently deployed 6th sub unit. This way, first german BB`s attacked british DD reducing it to 2 steps and afterwards german DD finished off british naval unit. Once finished off that escorting unit it was the turn of the subs for torpedoing soviet convoy that was reduced to 51 steps. Below, situation at the end of naval attacks.



Now the Med. Last allied turn, italian BB near Bengazhi was sunk. Apparently, it was finished off by the depleted british BB at 3 steps since this unit could not be evacuated anyway. Ground combats were fierce and british progressed much more than in the past turns. Italian armoured was reduced to 3 steps, an italian garrison was destroyed and other one was reduced to 7 steps. Image below is at the start of axis turn showing allied moves.



Regia Marina responded sinking the depleted british BB. Italian sub at 4 steps was withdrawn to Tripoli port so the task was ordered to the other 2 available italian sub units. In the attack, also participated italian DD that finished off the naval allied unit. Now axis land units moves. First DAK combat action in the desert achieved what was planned, that is, to significantly reduce combat values of the british armoured. This way, supported by Regia Aeronautica tac that took 1 step from the armoured, DAK reduced to 4 steps british X Armoured corps. Adjacent italian corps also participated in the attack but did not take any step. Air combats favoured RAF this time.



Only thing to mention in the east is that finnish army keep on advancing slowly in the north and that Von Bock arrived Smolensk.

Now some info about current lab situation of both Italy and Germany.





Another mech bought meaning that 9-units limit for 1942 has been reached.

Turn 49. April 18 1942.

Still severe winter in USSR won't help for an early 1942 axis summer offensive since troops last a while to recover effectiveness. Anyway, results from this first severe winter campaign can be considered not bad for axis. Wehrmacht has lost 2 mechs and 1 corps unit and has lost Kharkov but Red army did not dare to go further west so positions reached are good for the upcoming campaign. Combats still happening in Finland where a supplied finnish partisan at 4 steps spawned at the end of the convoy movement phase. Below two shots view of the entire eastern front at the end of axis turn.





More action in Africa. In last allied turn, DAK received a beating from the Commonwealth forces and it was reduced to 2 steps. Another italian corps suffered similar luck and was reduced to 4 steps. Of course, depleted italian DD was sunk and other italian sub was reduced to 3 steps. British subs continue to be successful torpedoing italian BB in Reggio. Shot below shows last turn allied moves:



Graziani's mech intervened for the first time in the campaign. Objective was southernmost australian corps at 7 steps. With some air support mentioned Commonwealth unit was reduced to 2 steps so unless my opponent protect this unit by retreating it to Tobruk fortress hex, it might be destroyed in the next turn only with air strikes. Italian armoured received new tanks and Luftwaffe Africa also was repaired. DAK was retreated to a location in which cannot be spotted by allied air forces so it might survive to the next allied turn. At the end of axis turn:



Kriegsmarine is being really successful with the combined surface-submarine fleet action. Another fat convoy and another escorting naval group was spotted as it is indicated in the pics below that shows consecutively last allied turn naval moves, spotting movement from german subs and massive naval attacks to the convoys and to one of the escorting british DD's that resulted sunk. With this last fat british convoy numbers are now 804/521. Soviet convoy reduced at 20 steps.







First year of Barbarossa has ended so here you have casualties screen so far. Check out those really high british naval losses and the german tiny ones (2 subs steps and 2 BB's steps). RAF losses are also important compared to Luftwaffe's keeping in mind that german air force is operating in 2 fronts.



Forces screen:



Bought a 5th german tac.

Turn 50. May 8 1942.

Combats continue in Finland. Cherniakovsky's corps unit joined last turn soviet attacks and along with another corps unit forced a finnish corps to retreat and reducing it to 1 step. Redeployments were made between Kursk and Kharkov. Two shots view at the start of axis turn.





Everything is ready for the axis offensive on the south. This turn axis forces approached the soviets and spotted most of the units they have deployed around Kursk, Kharkov and Stalino. Probing air strikes occurred with a Luftwaffe attack to a VVS tac air base. Overall air combats favoured Luftwaffe. As you can see in the pics below at 2 and 3 zoom levels, my opponent has deployed main heavy soviet units in the mentioned area so it is up to him what to do: to retreat a little or to face the upcoming offensive. Keeping in mind the position that occupy those soviet corps unit south of Krivoy Rog, pockets might be formed there (german paratrooper could be dropped in Crimean peninsula istmus so there will be only another hex to complete a pocket). There's a lot to do in the south like finishing off Odessa reduct, to reach at least Rostov and to invade crimean peninsula to deny soviet bombers air bases for striking Ploesti. So flux of units will be directed to this sector of the eastern front, ignoring or not giving almost importance to others. Images below are at the end of axis turn.








Med. An early Torch is about to be launched. As you can see in the image below, showing arrows of the last allied turn moves, americans are about to land in Tunisia. 8th army continues with its slow but continuous campaing in Libya and an ambushed italian transport was sunk west of Sicily (forget to mention this ambush action in last post).



Axis air forces tried with the australian corps at 2 steps and succeeded. Italian tac achieved a 2-steps hit so no need for a 2nd strike from a fighter unit. Dog fight combats scored a 2-2. Repairing of units in the rest with the italian armoured almost ready for entering in battle again. What to do about the landings in Tunisia? For now nothing. Italians don't have the subs at range for spotting landings in other NA cities so we will have to wait to see the real strength of the inminent allied landings. Italian mechs are about to reach +1 defense factor and so para units. May be is that the way we should focus so I will be buying those kind of units for defending Sicily.



Atlantic now where german naval units have now supremacy that allows them to go after any convoy and to sink or to deplete it. The only thing opposing to that supremacy are the british strats that in last allied turn took 4 steps from a germans sub. This hit u-boat unit was used for spotting purposes in axis turn so last turn torpedoed central convoy at 75 steps could be massively attacked by Kriegsmarine vessels. That's how all happened and the convoy was finished off (804/596 or 74,1% of convoys sunk). This can be seen below:





Mainland Italy is rather and dangerously empty but this axis country spends all its PP's in repairing so no way to build units for now. That's why I bought 2 german corps that will be railed to Reggio and then to Sicily.

~600 PPs sunk so far. That's the equivalent of 6 FTRs and it's only mid-1942. Not bad, not bad at all . The Allies seem weak naval-wise. It's a pity that you didn't try to intercept the American transports going to Africa.

Cybvep wrote:~600 PPs sunk so far. That's the equivalent of 6 FTRs and it's only mid-1942. Not bad, not bad at all .

Yes, but the 6 German subs cost 330 PP, plus upgrades; say a total of 420 PP so far. Given the built in Allied superiority in PP I don't think that this is a good exchange rate. It will of course improve as more convoys go to the bottom. But even an ultra successful sub campaign like this one, in a game where the Allied navy seems supine, I don't see the equation coming out in the Axis' favour.

What? 6 subs? So Vokt has 9 subs in total? Nah, the "Forces" screen shows 9 naval UNITS in total. And Germany starts with 3 subs, so he built 3 more, that's just 165 PPs, not including upgrades and repairs. In this case, only upgrades really matter, because the German subs hardly suffered any damage. The sub campaign will also force the Allies to build more DDs, which are only useful against subs. Additionally, transporting units around is hard when so many subs supported by 2 BBs and 1 DD rule the Atlantic.

I think that naval-wise Vokt is extremely successful and if we take the fact that London was bombed by German STRATs in 1940-1941 into account, the British income must be lowish.

Turn 51. May 28 1942.

Summer 1942 axis offensive has started. But first let's see last allied turn movement in the sector where the offensive is going to take place. As a way to say that soviets have planned to hold and not to retreat, italian corps units in the southern flank of the offensive were attacked with the result of one of them destroyed and other one reduced to 4 steps:



With all the available air support axis forces went on the move. A total of 6 soviet corps units were destoyed in this first turn of the offensive. A guard mech was halved in strength and a paratrooper unit took 2 steps attacking a VVS air base. I expect the soviets to counterattack. They have really good elite units and good upgrades. But if they do that they risk to lose most of their valuable guard units. Yes, the germans would be losing half or more of their armoured units but the soviets would be losing their most important offensive arm. Let's see. Pics below at the end of axis turn.







Combats in Libya continue. British, in last allied turn, focussed in destroying a low effectiveness garrison unit adjacent to Bengazhi. In the rest, repairs were done to a british inf corps. Pic at the start of axis turn:



Now a shot of the landings in Tunisia: americans took the first italian surrender city.



As you can see is a weak Torch operation leaving french Vichy BB's alive and all of the garrisons but the one in Tunis intact. I repaired those garrisons and when possible, I will try to bring french BB at 7 steps in Oran to Marseille port. Not sure it it is worth to move or to repair BB at 4 steps in Casablanca. Anyway, I expect the couple of british subs operating in the Med to torpedo french BB's.

Axis forces in Libya continue to respond making the progress of the 8th army to be slow and tortuous. This turn a british corps was reduced to 4 steps after being attacked first by italian tac, then by Graziani's mech. Even adjacent italian garrison took a step from the corps unit. Furthermore see in the image below at the end of axis turn how main heavy axis units in Africa have already been repaired. Check how the british must be suffering from PP's shortages since british armoured in Tobruk has not been repaired last turn. Same could be said for the carrier in Tobruk port.



And below a zoom level image of the entire NA and western Med scenario. As I told you, Italy is almost empty of units thing that will try to fix in the following turns. Check out also current PP's, manpower and oil levels.



Some replies now to comments german submarine campaign related.

Cybvep wrote:~600 PPs sunk so far. That's the equivalent of 6 FTRs and it's only mid-1942. Not bad, not bad at all . The Allies seem weak naval-wise. It's a pity that you didn't try to intercept the American transports going to Africa.

I have to agree that this is not still mid-game (52-turn is mid game) and the results of the Kriegsmarine campaign are one of the most successful I have had. Naval allied power is certainly a little bit reduced and my opponent will have to invest heavily in that if he wants the things changing in the Atlantic.

Cybvep wrote:What? 6 subs? So Vokt has 9 subs in total? Nah, the "Forces" screen shows 9 naval UNITS in total. And Germany starts with 3 subs, so he built 3 more, that's just 165 PPs, not including upgrades and repairs. In this case, only upgrades really matter, because the German subs hardly suffered any damage. The sub campaign will also force the Allies to build more DDs, which are only useful against subs. Additionally, transporting units around is hard when so many subs supported by 2 BBs and 1 DD rule the Atlantic.

I think that naval-wise Vokt is extremely successful and if we take the fact that London was bombed by German STRATs in 1940-1941 into account, the British income must be lowish.

As I commented above british seem to have problems for repairing units meaning shortages of PP's due mainly to those 600 PP's lost by convoy warfare. Keep in mind that Libyan campaign is being very costly for the brits. Germany has currently 6 subs units and as Cybvep has correctly pointed this is traduced to 165 PP's not 330. I think that the difference between PP's sunk by subs and cost of building current sub fleet is really favourable for the axis.

Talking of that, at the end of convoy movement phase, a soviet convoy at 65 steps was spotted.

Turn 52. June 17, 1942.

Red army retreats. All of those guards and armoured units with their corresponding good soviet commanders attached withdrew east. Soviets continued trying in Finland but they took high losses so I expect the front to stabilize there finally. Two shots view at the start of axis turn.





2nd axis offensive turn in the south of USSR meant the seizure of Kursk and the second capture of Kharkov. Dnepropetrovsk was isolated and its defenders reduced to 2 steps. 3 more soviet inf corps destroyed in the process and another one reduced to 1 steps becoming a guard unit. Furthermore, panzer forces linked with paratroopers dropped last turn. Now all of those Red army units south of Krivoy Rog are in high risk of being pocketed because of this turn axis moves. As you can see in the pics below, taken at the end of axis turn, some of the soviet elite units have moved to Voronezh and the remaining ones more close to Kharkov will probably do the same in the next turn. Path to Rostov an Crimea seem to be clearer now.







Med. Now we have an apparent reason for the Torch landings being executed in Tunis instead of the more typical in Casablanca and Oran. My opponent try to catch axis forces in Libya between two fronts by advancing to Tripoli from Tunis to help the struggling brits coming from the east. This way, in last allied turn, americans advanced to southern Tunisia and attacked Mareth fortified positions reducing the garrison to 6 steps. An US Navy carrier gives air support to the operation. Meanwhile, 8th army persevere in its attacks and in last allied turn a garrison and Graziani's mech were both reduced to 4 steps. Shots at the start of axis turn:





No axis counterattacks this turn but repairs and upgrades of units in all Med scenario. An italian sub was able to reach Cagliari port to occupy a more strategical position and to help with the naval operation of bringing french Vichy BB from Algiers to Marseilles. Shot below is only of Libya scenario at the end of axis turn once repairs were made.



Soviet convoy torpedoed and reduced to 17 steps. Spotted a 43-steps central convoy.

IMO the Allied player is doing the one thing which he shouldn't be doing - sacrificing units in order to stall the German advance at all cost. This is a mistake, because you WANT the Germans to advance deep in Russia and overstretch themselves. I guess that he hopes that Vokt will become too bold and expose himself to a crippling counter-attack... but I think that he won't, because he doesn't seem to be a very aggressive player. The Axis is doing exactly what it should be doing - destroying units. With so many corps lost, the Soviets may even reach the 75% threshold in the 1942/1943. Ukraine is expendable in CEAW, really. Saving units is a bit more important IMO.

GogTheMild wrote:

Cybvep wrote:~600 PPs sunk so far. That's the equivalent of 6 FTRs and it's only mid-1942. Not bad, not bad at all .

Yes, but the 6 German subs cost 330 PP, plus upgrades; say a total of 420 PP so far. Given the built in Allied superiority in PP I don't think that this is a good exchange rate. It will of course improve as more convoys go to the bottom. But even an ultra successful sub campaign like this one, in a game where the Allied navy seems supine, I don't see the equation coming out in the Axis' favour.

I don't agree with these calculations. The Axis sub purchase happens just once unless you start losing the subs. Since it's only 1942 it means the subs still have 3 more years (54 turns) to inflict damage on convoys. I won't matter much for the Axis if the PP cost for 3 subs had been used on corps or armor units instead. When you look at the damage the subs inflict on the UK and later Russian income they are very effective indeed.

Try playing the Axis where you don't invest in subs at all. Then most Allied convoys hit home and get converted into units for the Allies. That means you have to respond to an Allied offensive earlier. That means more turns of Axis damage.

The Axis are doing great if they can harass the Allies for as long as possible. Every turn the Allies will have to respond to Axis movement the later the storm towards Berlin will begin.

Early in the war it's particularly important to keep the UK production down. That means the UK labs are purchased later and UK reinforcements to Egypt will arrive later. That means again that you can keep Italy longer in the war. Think about all the extra PP's the Axis will get for e. g. keeping Italy alive for 6 more turns.

The Allies will outproduce the Axis, but it isn't like that in the beginning of the war. It's only when USA and USSR are geared up that the Axis will be substantially outproduced. That is necessary for the initiative to shift in favor of the Allies.

The naval warfare is better for the Axis in GS v3.0 than in GS v2.1. E. g. the subs inflict more damage than before and they can evade retaliation attacks. They can even decide to hide at sea so Allied DD's can't bump into them. The Allies have to sweep a hex to find the subs.

Cybvep wrote:IMO the Allied player is doing the one thing which he shouldn't be doing - sacrificing units in order to stall the German advance at all cost. This is a mistake, because you WANT the Germans to advance deep in Russia and overstretch themselves. I guess that he hopes that Vokt will become too bold and expose himself to a crippling counter-attack... but I think that he won't, because he doesn't seem to be a very aggressive player. The Axis is doing exactly what it should be doing - destroying units. With so many corps lost, the Soviets may even reach the 75% threshold in the 1942/1943. Ukraine is expendable in CEAW, really. Saving units is a bit more important IMO.

Very true. I use the same strategy when I play the Axis. From 1943 and later the Axis work best to just hold a good defensive line and let the Russians storm your fortress. Just use counter attacks to clear bridgeheads or get rid of depleted armor / mech units. If the Axis can keep his forces together and withdraw when a line is compromised then they can hold out for long. There are many good defensive lines from the Don to Germany. You lose as the Axis once your defense line is shattered and you can't setup new defense lines further west. Then the Russians can rush towards Berlin at full speed. It won't take long to get to Berlin from e. g. Kiev if there isn't a coherent Axis defense line between.

Cybvep wrote:IMO the Allied player is doing the one thing which he shouldn't be doing - sacrificing units in order to stall the German advance at all cost. This is a mistake, because you WANT the Germans to advance deep in Russia and overstretch themselves. I guess that he hopes that Vokt will become too bold and expose himself to a crippling counter-attack... but I think that he won't, because he doesn't seem to be a very aggressive player. The Axis is doing exactly what it should be doing - destroying units. With so many corps lost, the Soviets may even reach the 75% threshold in the 1942/1943. Ukraine is expendable in CEAW, really. Saving units is a bit more important IMO.

It is not only the many corps lost by the soviets but also the many repairing of units made in finnish campaign what can make us think that USSR manpower must not be much healthy.

Turn 53. July 7, 1942.

Soviets retreating in the south and front stabilized in Finland. Last allied turn there was no offensive action from Red army. Two shots view showing allied moves in the east:





In axis turn, Wehrmacht moved SE taking Stalino and S reaching Black sea coasts thus cutting Crimea and soviet units south of Krivoi Rog. Isolated Dnepropetrovsk surrendered either. 2 more soviet corps destroyed in the process, one of them guard unit. My opponent surely will retreat units southern bank of Dnepr river to Crimea so a hard campaign might occur in that peninsula in order to take Sevastopol. Rostov seem to be way more easy objective. Check this out in the pics below taken at the end of axis turn.







Africa. Americans are pushing hard in order to take Mareth fortress. Vichy french garrison there was reduced to 4 steps in last allied turn. British subs continued to harass italian BB in port and british BB started to bomb Tripoli garrison. Last turn allied moves in this scenario:



Shore bombardments of Tripoli garrison only could mean that my opponent try to take that city meaning problems for the axis heavy units in Africa to make an ordered retreat to Sicily-Italy. In fact, if the americans take Tripoli, DAK and italian armoured in el-Gazala will only have Bengazhi port for being evacuated. So here we have the dilemma for DAK of moving west to oppose the americans thus weakening Graziani's units fighting 8th army or to move east to form a Bengazhi reduct trying to destroy one more 8th army unit. Meanwhile, Regia Marina subs saw a chance in the bombing BB at Tripoli so 3 available subs torpedoed the british naval unit reducing it to 5 steps. In the attack to the british naval unit also participated italian tac. Italian BB in Palermo tried to attack british BB but was stopped in port by a second RN sub. All axis land units in Africa were repaired to full strength except an italian garrison at 8 steps and the Mareth garrison reinforced to 7 steps. Shots at the end of axis turn:





Atlantic. USAF saw action for the first time. In last allied turn a couple of american strats in Greenland bombed a german sub unit reducing it to 6 steps. In the two shots view below, taken at the start of axis turn, you can see that event and also the 43-steps central convoy mentioned in last post.





Central convoy was sunk by 4 german u-boat hits (847/639). Now that the subs have finished their movement closer to french ports I will try to upgrade them.

I think that you should either deploy the heavy units closer to Benghazi and attack the British ASAP or move them closer to Tripoli and make a stand there. The Americans seem weak and Tripoli is an Italian surrender city, so they will probably want to take it. It will be hard to evacuate the heavies if you don't decide to do it in the next few turns.

Strategically, I think that if the Allies decide to invade Sicily or mainland Italy in 1943, you will be able to pound them hard. Why? Because you no longer need to be on the offensive in 1943 in the East. Destroy the Soviets in the South, take Rostov, clear the Odessa pocket, keep sinking Soviet convoys and that's it. If the VVS is weak, you can use STRATs to bomb Stalingrad or Moscow. If the Soviets get too bold, you will pound them, too. I don't think that they will be strong enough to make much progress and you can always withdraw in an orderly manner. Unless a glorious opportunity presents itself, don't advance too deep in Russia, because that's what your opponent wants you to do. Who cares if you take Stalingrad for a few turns? You will soon have to abandon it, because 1943 is usually the first tough year for the Axis. On the other hand, if you focus on the Western Allies, your aircraft and heavy units will annihilate the enemy's units. 600+ PPs lost from convoys alone is not sth which the British can ignore, they are weak. Remember, they cannot use the American PPs to repair the British units and the Americans will get nowhere with 3 heavy units in the Med, i.e. it's not enough for Italy, so they need to bring more. You can try to intercept the transports or just focus on convoys.

There is absolutely no threat of a serious 1943 D-Day IMO. The Allies are too dispersed ATM. You just need to watch Brest, because it's easy to secure a foothold there.

Turn 54. July 27, 1942.

As expected, Red army withdrew from southern bank of Dnepr river thus avoiding being pocketed. More actions in last allied turn in eastern front were VVS sorties in Finland with no steps lost in the axis unit affected. Forget to mention in last post that extra romanian, hungarian and bulgarian corps units spawned at the end of last axis turn. Two shots view at the start of axis turn.





In axis turn, vicinities of Rostov were reached by romanian mobile unit thus spotting 2 soviet guard mechs and Chuikov's mech. Check out high inf upgrades in the Red army mech units. Of course, there were no attacks to the city until further spotting of the soviet forces that my opponent has gathered in that sector of the front. Meanwhile, Crimea campaign started this turn with 2 more inf corps destroyed and mainly axis minor units involved. Anyway, given the narrow front in the peninsula a panzer corps or two will be needed if we want this to progress. Zoom level 2 and 3 views at the end of axis turn.







Last allied turn moves in the Med. 8th army pushed hard and isolated Bengazhi corps unit from the rest of axis units in Libya destroying 1 garrison and reducing other to 4 steps. Graziani's mech was attacked and forced to retreat. Furthermore, garrison in Mareth was reduced to 2 steps. Regarding naval engagement close to Tripoli port, an italian sub was left in very bad shape. Typical sub action in Sicily. Shots at the start of axis turn:







Giving the situation with the americans likely to reach Tripoli earlier than DAK, I decided to counterattack the 7-steps australian corps south of Bengazhi. First, Regia Aeronautica tac, then italian armoured and finally DAK mech achieved to destroy the unit and to link again with Badoglio's corps in Bengazhi. Luftwaffe Afrika is prepared to abandon Libya for Italy. Forget to take zoom level 2 shot at the end of axis turn here so only zoom level 3 image of mentioned action.



Axis counterattack success in Bengazhi will force 8th army almost to "wait" for the americans coming from Tripoli. Actually the number of corps units (excluding garrisons) in both axis and 8th army is the same: 5. Commonwealth air support is rather poor, RN carrier is now out of range of the land units so we have a virtual stalemate here.

No convoy action in the Atlantic this turn.

In other things, axis was successful to bring Vichy french BB in Oran to Marseilles and italians bought a paratrooper unit now that their mechs and paratrooper units have reached +1 defense factor. Also, a finnish partisan at 9 steps spawned close to Joensuu.

Turn 55. August 16, 1942.

More Red army retreats in last allied turn leaving west bank of Donets river but Rostov free of units. In Crimea, two inf corps units were deployed at the itsmus of the peninsula. As you can see in the images below taken at the start of axis turn, soviet defensive line is shifted into two main lines one in Donets river and the other one in Don river.





Crimea campaign continued in this axis turn with another soviet inf corps destroyed and other one reduced to 4 steps. Rostov was surrounded by axis units but still not attacked because no availability of air strikes. Reason for that is that campaign to take Odessa has started too with a guard inf reduced to 3 steps and because Wehrmacht made an assault of soviet positions in the eastern bank of Donets river. As a result of this operation 1 more inf corps and 2 garrison were destroyed. Goal is to break this kind of double defensive line mounted by the soviets in both rivers. Furthermore, those soviet armoured units will be left more exposed than now putting pressure on those units to force them to retreat eastwards. Zoom level 2 and 3 images below at the end of axis turn.









8th army kept on trying in last allied turn attaking Graziani's mech without air support the mech being reduced to 5 steps. Malta fighter striked DAK for 1 step. In Mareth, Vichy french garrison survived at 1 step. Shots below are at the start of axis turn.





Axis made repairs of all units in Bengazhi but the italian tac. Another attack to Graziani is expected and if british armoured weakens a little because of that attack we might be taking the chance in the tank unit. Anyway, alone british mech in the coast appears too as a possible target for DAK and italian armoured counting with a support attack from Badoglio's corps in Bengazhi. As you can see Tobruk is empty of units. In other things, italian subs continued to harass depleted british BB in Tunis port reducing it to 2 steps. May be it will be safer for this naval unit to move to Malta port because Tunis port recently taken by the allies only offers 1 step of reinforcement. Screenshots at the end of axis turn:





More convoys spotted this turn: a central convoy at 77 steps, apparently escorted (it was spotted a DD too), and a soviet convoy at 66 steps which location is showed in the pic below.

Turn 56. September 5, 1942.

Only worth to mention actions in last allied turn in eastern front were a soviet corps entering Estonia from Leningrad sector and guards units in Odessa attacking and forcing to retreat an hungarian corps. Black sea soviet fleet is being successful in its shore bombardments since 2 steps were taken from a german mech. Images at the start fo axis turn:





This turn Wehrmacht forces entered Rostov and they made another adjustement of front line SE of Kharkov destroying 2 more garrisons. Goal with these attacks is to leave those soviet tank armies exposed to a hypothetical german attack. In Crimea, Meretskov's mech was destroyed, an inf corps was left unsupplied and another one was reduced to 4 steps. Odessa campaign continued too and a guard unit was destroyed shifting the soviet forces in this sector into two groups. Recently spawned bulgarian corps were railed to Estonia to face Red army last turn advance there. Pics below are at the end of axis turn.









In last allied turn american DD's made shore bombardments of DAK taking 1 step in the mech. Mareth was finally seized by the americans. British BB in Tunis was repaired. Shot at the start of axis turn:



More repairs in Bengazhi and italian subs withdrawing from Tunis (starting saving-oil measures from now on) were main axis moves this turn. An italian mech will be bought next turn so it will be deployed at the same time that the already purchased paratrooper division. Shot at the end of axis turn.



Pics below shows first 77-steps convoy escorting naval group composition and after axis moves once soviet convoy was torpedoed by 3 subs units. Check out too how one of the german BB's in France had to leave for Antwerpen due to continuous allied air and naval harassment.

Turn 57. September 25, 1942.

Unexpected soviet counterattack in Crimea reduced a panzerkorps to 3 steps. In the north, russian corps entering Estonia in last turn, turned back to Russia just to attack a german corps along with another 2 soviet inf corps. German inf took 5 steps but the attacking forces suffered comparetively higher losses. This was probably a probing attack with no further consequences. Also, VVS was active in ground attack missions reducing a panzerkorps in the Donets to 6 steps. Red army has retreated completely from east bank of Donets river. Views at the start of axis turn:







Von Rundstedt led Wehrmacht counterattack north of Pskov where a soviet corps at 6 steps was destroyed. Garrison in Pskov finished off referred unit so no need to break front line there to accomplish that. Bulgarian corps were railed to Pskov to prevent more attacks in this sector. Depleted panzerkorps in the south were withdrawn and little but effective progress was made in both Crimea and Odessa with 2 more soviet inf corps destroyed. Soviet Black sea fleet bombed. Two shots view at the end of axis turn with zoom level 3 image of operations in Crimea and Odessa.








Med. In last allied turn, americans started assaulting italian positions in Tripoli. More shore bombardments in Bengazhi and british corps moved to the coast to cover the route to empty Tobruk. Image below is at the start of axis turn (no significant axis action in this scenario so no shots at the end of axis turn).



Image below is taken at the end of convoy movement phase and you can see locations of central convoy at 77 steps making its way to UK and of recently torpedoed soviet convoy at 37 steps.