Mon, 04 Feb 2002 
From: devinc@aol.com
Subject: Current Campaign

 
Options Players M / A 1940 M / J 1940 J / A 1940 S / O 1940 Interlude N / D 1940
 J / F 1941 M / A 1941 M / J 1941 J / A 1941 Interlude2 S / O 1941 N / D 1941 
J / F 1942 Situation M / A 1942 M / J 1942 Situation (2) N / D 42 J / F 43 
Situation (3) M /A 1943 M / J 1943 Situation (4) J / A 1943 Situation (5) S / O 1943 
N / D 1943 Situation (6) J / F 1944 M / A 1944 Situation (7)
 

Options:
WIFFE RAW 6.01. RAW oil. Most optionals. LIF. AIF maps. Annual Vichy. House rules as per my webpage.
 
Players:
Jeff = Allies
Devin = Axis

M/A 1940
 
The winter thaw comes late, but as the freezing weather hardens the muds from previous months and as the blinding snowstorms subside, the Germans roll into 
Belgium, declaring war a few hours later. The Belgians fortify Brussels and Antwerp, deserting the forttress city of Liege, and call for Allied aid. None is forthcoming, 
with the BEF and French content to sit on the border and await their fate.
 
The Germans take out Antwerp with ease but the assault on Brussels involves some very nasty house-to-house fighting and, in the cold weather, the Germans only 
take the city after several prolonged assaults which literally exhaust most of their troops and supply reserves.
Nonetheless, as the weather finally clears, straight from winter to summer-like sunshine, the Germans launch the first great armoured-offensive of the war, launching
into France just west of Metz. The attack is a success, though French resistance is fierce and the French make much propoganda out of the German casaulties, 
claiming to be trading land for German lives and boasting that enough of France remains to bleed to Germans dry.
 
The Italians, assured by Hitler of a quick and decisive victory in France, declare war on France and England and march troops north from Libya into Tunisia, where 
South African territorial troops are holed-up in Tunis. The Italians manage to transport their elite mechanized corps to Tunis across the Western Med and together 
these crush the South Africans and take Tunisia, though the Libyan troops used by the Italians as cannon fodder suffer grievously.
Italian frogmen try to infiltrate the docks of Gibraltar, but are caught and executed as spies.
Italian naval air fails to sink French convoys in the Western Med, which are eventually evacuated, while British subs of amazingly potent design sail into the Italian 
coastal waters and sink Italian shipping. The Allied convoy line bringing Iraqi oil to France is sundered in the Eastern Med as well.
 
The US and Britain begin to lend resources to China as Japan launches assaults in the mountains south and east of Chang-Sha, capturing ground that puts the city of 
Chang-Sha in grave danger. Japanese marines also advance out of Hainan across the straits to occupy now the entire southern coast of China.
 
Russia continues to build up in Siberia, with many cavalry units forming outside of Chita.
 
Partisans occupy Singapore and declare it independent from the British Empire. Britain would like to respond, but it has already promised its French allies to send 
Aussie troops to Hanoi to stop any Japanese thoughts of chicanery in the area. The Brits are now suffering the loss of their most vital Asian naval base and the loss
 of their NEI oil due to partisans in Sumatra.
 
Chinese partisans raid the Japanese oil stockpiles near Peking and burn most of the oil before being wiped out.
 
The US, responding to British worries about German invasions of Iceland as a means to surround Britain for an eventual invasion, occupies Greenland and Iceland.

 
M/J 40
 
Despite some mild rains during the next two months, the Germans hit France hard, though they elect to hold back their largest war reserves (i.e. no O Chits used). 
At every step the French resist fiercely, and although the Germans gain ground, they lose troops...more than the French, and this fills the French with elan.
 
Metz is assaulted after the French give up the southern portions of the Maginot Line, but the city holds against two brutal assaults, with heavy casualties on both 
sides. The French airforce is shot up in action over the central front, though French factories continue to churn out fighter planes.
In the centre, German armour carries the day, though with casualties, and manages to drive to the outskirts of Paris, approaching from the northeast. This causes the
 British, now getting nervous, to withdraw from calais to a point near Le Havre. The French are thus forced to withdraw as well, and Lille is declared an open city, 
which the Germans obligingly occupy.
 
The Italians tromp into the Alps between Nice and Lyon, but are contained by dug-in French corps. Further Italian units trundle into Algeria, seeking to fight the 
French corps in Algiers. British troops, including a division of infantry, arrive in Rabat and shore up Morocco while Indian troops occupy Damascus. Britain, 
uncaring for its Pacific troubles with indigenous populations, continues to send Indians and other colonial troops to Egypt, despite any buildup of Axis forces on the 
border.
 
British troops capture Italian Somaliland, relieving pressure on British Somaliland and Djibouti. Kenyan troops then try to make an end run around the AOI and take
 both Eritrea and Ehtiopia, but some quick maneuvering by the Italians there saves both and the British must be content to have contained Italy in East Africa.
 
Russia, meanwhile, seeing the extent of German losses in France and that the French are likely to last past June of 1940, masses on the Rumanian border and 
demands Bessarabia. Hitler informs the Rumanians that he has no time for Balkan trivialities, and so the Rumanians capitulate. When Hungary and Bulgaria occupy
 portions of Rumania, Hitler agrees to guarantee the rest of Rumanian sovreignty.
 
In China, the Japanese plans, on hold for a year due to bad weather, come to fruition, and after a massive aerial bombardment of Si-An, Japanese troops attack and 
take the city, stunning the Communist Chinese and raising Japanese spirits tremendously. The US is angered and lodges immediate protests.
Unfortunately for China, Russia, on the very next day, occupies the Baltic States, and suddenly every US paper has placed the story of Si-An on page 34 and the 
headlines blare stories of Communist World Domination.
 
As Hitler, a bit worried, repositions his troops in Eastern Poland and moves some SS elements forward as a show of force to Russia, he prepares his next move in
 France. However, even Hitler is shocked by the French decision to declare Paris an open city, ostensibly to preserve the city from ruin, but perhaps also to shore 
up the French defensive lines. As stunned Germans troops march easily into the city, the French prepare a strong defense line south of the Seine.
 
Italian subs sink British convoys in the Central Atlantic.
 
The US interns the Bearn.

J/A 40
 
The Brits, ever worried by a variety of factors, including the German landing craft building program, a newly inaugurated Italian landing craft building program, and 
overatures made by Hitler to Franco, choose to withdraw the BEF from France, in what France terms a "stab in the back". The French, now having to hold the 
Channel Coast, cannot now maintain their defensive lines along the Seine and as gaps appear the Germans rumble through and exploit, though the French still resists
 fiercely when they choose to do so. Nonetheless, German armoured units capture Nantes and Brest and roll towards Vichy and Bordeaux. Metz and Strausbourg 
still hold though, the Germans reluctant to try a third bloody assault on the former.
 
In the Alps, Italian units attack the French emplacements with success, though the Italians cannot exploit as well as the Germans due to the terrain. The Italians do 
begin to march to the western edge of the Alps and threaten the ports of Provence.
 
The French sue for peace and the Germans accept the concept of an armistice. 
 
The Vichy French are relegated to an area covering everything south of Vichy excepting the Atlantic seaboard (i.e. a Level 3 Vichy).
 
The Germans also gain control of Algeria, using the pressure of 3 Italian corps on the outskirts of Algiers as leverage. The British hastily send a full mechanized 
corps fresh from the BEF to Rabat to bolster the division already there,the latter redeployed to Casablanca, and Morocco resists pressure to join the Axis.
With the French fleet almost entirely in Marseilles, the Vichy have a difficult time holding onto its overseas colonies. Immense political pressure by the British ensure 
that Morocco remains Free French. Meanwhile, the Axis bends all of its efforts to Syria and Indochina, and both of these declare for Vichy. Madagascar, the 
French holdings in the Western Hemisphere, French Somaliland, and Reunion all go Vichy.
West Africa, Equatorial Africa, and New Caledonia declare themselves for Free France.
 
The Italians pressure the Vichy to turn over factories in Marseilles (1 factory), while the Germans are granted full use of all remaining Vichy factories and all Vichy 
resources, including Iraqi oil.
 
Vichy France remains with a strong force garrisoning Metro Vichy, though its loyalty to the Germans is questionable (i.e. loyalty rating of 8).
 
In China, the Chinese withdraw from an exposed position north of Canton, needing to send Nationalist troops north to defend Chang-Sha and the rapidly 
deteriorating Communist situation. Mao also rushes troops from Lan Chow to the front. The Japanese assault Nationalist positions south of Si-An but suffer heavy 
casualties in driving the Chinese out of the plains and into the mountains entirely.
Another Japanese assault, preceding the Monsoon rains, in the south fails horribly, with massive Japanese casualties. As the monsoons begin, the Chinese are given 
a respite in the south.
 
Russian continues to build up in Siberia, and Japan responds by raising levees in Manchuria and Korea and sending additional troops to the area around Harbin.
 
British subs raiding in the Western Med are damaged and withdrawn from Italian patrolled waters.
 
The US reacts to the collapse of France with shock and disdain but cannot decide on its next course of action.
 
The Japanese garrison Truk.
 

S/O 40
 
As German troops, now under the watchful command of Von Rundstedt, head east towards Russia, others garrison Bordeaux and Brest. 
Father Winter decides to come early and hard to Europe for the second year in a row, and the Germans are able to deploy perhaps 12-15 corps to Poland. Russia, 
suddenly becoming a bit worried, stops its more bellicose rhetoric and pulls its troops back from the borders.
 
Italian troops deploy out of Algeria to Tobruk, while new troops fresh from the Alps campaign land near Oran to block any incursion by the Brits from Morocco.
 Both sides begin to deploy aircraft to the region.
 
The German subs under Doenitz and the Kriegsmarine sail out to once again harrass British convoys, this time in the Faroes Gap. They fail to find their target, and, 
due to the successful cracking of German naval codes by Blechley Park, the British converge on the Germans and blow much of the Kriegsmarine to bits. The 
Germans surviving attempt to sail home, but a most fortuitous piece of luck just happens to place the British Home Fleet in the North Sea at the precise spot the 
Germans have chosen as their route. Another naval battle ensues, with more German naval casualties. Eventually, the KM is left with its two ancient battle ships, the 
Gneisenau, the newly finished Graf Zeppelin (awaiting planes), and the Bismarck. Three sub fleets rebase to Brest. The Scharnhorst and several battle cruisers are 
in drydock awaiting repair.
 
More partisans arise in the NEI and bolster their kin holding the Sumatran oil fields. Further, two partisan groups have now arisen in India, one in Bombay and the 
other in Calcutta. Britain stops sending its Burmese oil to China and sends its Aussies, expelled from Indo China by the Vichy, into Burma. But the entire Pacific 
British Empire is in the throes of a rebellion.

Interlude
 
The Germans paid a tough price for France, losing an ARM DIV, a MOT DIV, an INF DIV, a MOT and an INF Corps.
 
This gave France a large number of chits with which to secure some nice territories for the Free French. Fortunately for the Germans, the chits they did get were all 
universally large valued. In the end, the Germans got what they wanted...a level 3 Vichy...full Vichy production as concession....Algeria and Tunisia, and Indo China 
and Syria. As such, Axis production is now quite large.
 
Germany traded difficulty in France for two benefits...first the saving of its O Chit, and second, it elected to bite the bullet and build all three of its SYNTH as soon 
as it could. This meant air parity in France and a tough haul, but will now pay handsome dividends for the rest of the game as the SYNTH come on line (1 has and 
the rest will over the next few turns). Japan has its SYNTH on the map, and Italy will next turn.
 
Japan was having a horrible time with the weather in China, but a nice take out of Si-An has really opened up that front and given Japan a needed production boost.
 Japan is now directly threatening another Chinese resource in the south and Chang-Sha, and with those two taken probably by M/J 41, Japan should have given 
China quite a little smacking.
 
While Japan and Russia are pretty much at parity in Siberia, should the hordes of Germans heading east mean a 41 Barbarossa, Russia could be in trouble, as some 
choice units, including Siberian INF and Zhukov HQ are on the wrong side of the Manchurian "hump" and might find themselves sitting 1941 out of the European 
action. On the other hand, with 2 O Chits at the ready and the ability to collapse Vichy at will without losing Tunisia or Algeria, the Brits have to worry about the 
Germans allying Franco and going for Gibraltar, where the Brits have not built a fort!
 
British troops strength in Egypt is adequate, but the British are going to have to clean up the partisans before Japan gets frisky in the Pacific, for they may find 
themselves in big trouble. The problem is that the troops needed to clean the partisans will detract from strength in Egypt.
 
Russia has pretty much lost its chance at taking out Persia pre M/J 41, and must now content itself with waiting to see where the German hammer falls.
 
The US is still horrible in USE, as almost every option they have played has resulted in tension, and the loss of a chit when Russia occupied the Baltic hurt as well. 
The US has yet to play such early options as "Lends 5 resources to the UK" or "Escorts the US East Coast".
 
As the head of the Gestapo stalked evilly around the chair where the prisoner was bound and gagged, still bloody from the morning's sessions, he glared at his 
subordinates standing against the walls of the room at stiff attention.
 
"So, you think you can fool the Reich", he said turning to face the captive, "by giving us false information?"
"You think to turn aside our ambitions in the East for your insane master Stalin by planting false intelligence regarding the strength of British forces in the West?"
"Let me tell you, we at the Gestapo trust no one. Every fact, every rumour that is brought to us is checked and double checked!"
"This is why your reports that the British have not fortified Gibraltar have fallen on deaf ears. We have our own agents...true agents and not double dealing 
Communist-serving scum like yourself...in Spain and they have seen with their own eyes the bulwarks and fortifications thrown up there by the British. And they 
have even brought back pictures...do you understand?"
"Not that any puny British defensive works would stop the Wehrmacht should our Fuhrer decide to strike the British and their little rock mind you, but still, it is an 
important fact to be missed...don't you think?"
The prisoner, drugged and bedraggled, could only limply moan.
"Your failure to report the fortress works at Gibraltar can mean two things and two things only. Either you are a double agent working for Stalin and you have 
sought to feed us this disinformation to cause us to attack the British, in which case you will be executed as a double agent. Or you are the most incompetant spy in 
our ranks and have genuinely missed this important piece of information, in which case you will be executed as a dumbkopf!"
With that, the head of Gestapo turned sharply on his heels and stormed out of the room. As the subordinates filed out of the room and the door closed ominously, 
the captive knew his time was at an end.
(This is a fancy way of saying my game report was in error...there IS a fort hexside in Gibraltar).
 

N/D 40
 
As winter descends, the Axis and Britain engage in an arms race in North Africa, with the former sending German mountain units and Italian infantry to Western 
Algeria via Oran to counter the latter's infusion of Free French colonial troops and British troops into Morocco.
 
Axis troops continue to move east, boding ill for Russia, which is still heavily invested on the Siberian border with Japan. Zhukov relocates his headquarters from 
Siberia to the Ukraine.
 
 

 
J/F 41
 
Using a window of mild weather, Italy and Germany declare war on Greece. The Brits, busy in Morocco and still fearing a possilbe Sea Lion, are in no position to 
reinforce the hapless Greeks, who must go it on their own. Italian divisions land at the southernmost tip of Greece, taking the port there and then, as reinforcements 
arrive, march north towards Athens. Meanwhile, German paratroopers land along the west coast of Greece and Bulgaria aligns with Germany and the Bulgarian 
army marches south, taking Salonika. The Greek merchant navy escapes into the Suez, while the Greek navy attempts to engage the Italian Primo fleet and does sink
 some Italian merchant shipping supporting the invasion before fleeing into the Suez.
 
Japan launches an assault on the resource rich forests south of Chang Sha and captures it.
 
The US occupies Iceland with an infantry division. It also wakes up from its stupor enough to agree to lend resources to the Brits and to give some old destroyers 
to them.

 
M/A 41
 
In rainy weather, the Italians and Germans move up to Athens but cannot take the city in a first assault. A second assault, borne out of desperation and led by the 
Bulgarians, dislodges the elite Greek mountain corps out of Athens and Greece is conquered. 
 
The British sail into the Western Med under Admiral Cunningham with five Carriers in a show of force, only to have the Italian and German air forces rain death 
down on them. Several British air wings are decimated, the Ark Royal is sunk along with a heavy cruiser, and the Brits flee the Med.
 
French colonials advance ahead of their lines in the Atlas Mountains, full of elan, and are bombed and destroyed by the Italo-German defenses in Algeria. Both 
sides continue to build up forces there.
 
The Hungarians ally with Germany.
 
The Japanese assault and capture Chang-Sha. While Chinese attention is focused firmly on that area, the Japanese occupy French Indo China and elite Japanese 
mountain troops land in Hanoi and march north into Kunming, capturing it before the stunned Chinese can react. China reels at this loss of production and has to 
hastily erect a new defense line to protect incursions from the west.
 
The US agrees to escort in the east coast and to embargo strategic materials against Japan.
 

M/J 41
 
Barbarossa begins. The Germans and Italians and Japanese declare war on Russia. The Italians, however, are involved in the Med and have no troops facing Russia.
 
The Japanese immediately assault and capture Vladivostok and march north. The Russians engage in cavalry charges along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and this 
prompts the Japanese to withdraw from the northernmost tip of Manchuria, ceding it to the Russians.
Meanwhile, Rumania allies with Germany and Rumanians first clear and reclaim all of Bessarabia before capturing Odessa and marching into the Ukraine.
 
German troops march through Southeastern Poland and into the Ukraine as well, skirting the Pripets.
 
In the north, German troops occupy all of Eastern Poland outside of the marshes and capture the Baltic States after an easy assault of Riga.
 
Minsk falls with almost no resistance, but Pskov proves a tough nut to crack, requiring two seperate assaults and using much of the German reserves and supplies. 
The city does fall however, with casualties on both sides. As Russia bolsters the defense of Novograd and around Leningrad, German troops head north to meet 
them.
 
The US agrees to lend resources to Russia.
 
Finland enters the war and ski divisions cut the Murmansk rail lines as Russia sends troops to Archangel.
 
Yugoslavia aligns with Germany and pledges its considerable resources to the Anti-Bolshevik crusade.
 
Russia comes to a peace with Japan, ceding Vladivostok and the 2 resource rich areas to Japan but gaining the northernmost tip of Manchuria in exchange. Hitler is
outraged at the quick peace but can do nothing but carry on against Russia.
 
Italian troops in East Africa capture British Somaliland.

J/A 41 (through 3 impulses...2 allied, 1 axis)
 
In Russia, things go badly for the Germans. After a successful bombardment of Vitebsk, the German northern army masses to take the city, but is rebuffed with 
heavy casualties (I rolled a 4!).
In the Ukraine, the Germans and Rumanians attack the southern flank of the Russian lines, anchored by Russian armour, and are again rebuffed (I rolled a 3!).
Exhausted, the Germans are now counter attacked by the Russians, who manage to retreat an SS corps at a cost of heavy Russian casualties.
Kiev is bombed and engaged by German forces but no assault is yet attempted.
 
In India, British troops manage to clear the partisans out of Bombay.

Interlude…bis
 
The J/A turn has so far been very bad for Germany, as its two main attacks rolled a 3 and 4 and its stukas have been missing targets right and left.
To be honest, Germany has gone into Russia understrengthed. I knew this going in...as it is a part of my strategy believe it or not in that I chose to build some very 
specific units in place of masses of infantry and armour. Whether this ends up being a bad strategy time will tell, but as of now the Germans are likely going to take 
Kiev and Vitebsk by the end of 41 but not much more. How 42 turns out remains to be seen.
Germany is producing like a madman now...and this is some of what I invested my effort into. They now have all of Vichy France's resources and factories, 
Yugoslavia's resources and factories, and all 3 synth oil on the map! What this means is that hopefully 1942 Summer will be deadly for Russia with 2 German O 
Chit sitting by waiting to be used.
On Germany's plus side to be matched against a bad Barbarossa is a so far successful strategy of keeping the Brits out of the Med, and a horrible US entry level 
keeping the US out of my hair.
In the Pacific, Japan is doing quite nicely thank you. They have gotten Vlad and two resources from Russia at no cost and grabbed 2 factories and a resource from
 China...one of which is a red factory. This places Japan's production at a nice 21 BP per turn before the Pacific War even starts! I am starting to put my money on
 Japan for the most successful Axis power this game. China's economy has been crippled and she is producing at 3 now with NO OIL available to reorg oil 
dependent units (a synth is coming M/A 42).

J/A 41 (starting impulse 4)
 
The dismal Barbarossa continues for Germany, as an attack against Novgorod fails to cause anything in the way of casualties and peters out. 
The Germans transport Mannerheim's HQ and Finnish mechanized units to try and bolster the flagging Germans and Yugoslavians are railed hurriedly to the front as 
well. German units finished mopping up in Greece also rail to the front. Poland is cleared of German garrisons and even portions of the French garrison is shipped 
East.
Meanwhile, Hitler tries his hand at British shipping and Doenitz manages to maul British merchants in the Faroes Gap, though the Brits manage to patch their convoy
lines quickly.
 
In Scandinavia, the Russians cross into Finland, cutting the road from Petsamo.
 
In North Africa, the British and Free French (the latter under DeGaulle) try to flank the entrenched Axis positions in the Atlas Mountains on the Algerian-Moroccan
 border. The British send mechanized, motorized, and armoured spearheads south into the deep desert around the mountains and the armoured corps manages to 
turn the flank and cuts north into the mountains straight towards Algiers.
 
Unfortunately, this thrust has placed the armour far out of supply, out of fuel, and exhausted. The Axis, seeing that they cannot hope to continue to contain such 
excursions, move their lines eastward a bit and engage the British armoured corps, destroying it with heavy Italian casualties. This results in a stalemate in North
 Africa, as the British have lost their best unit there and are made wary of out of supply thrusts, but the Axis has had to gived up a vital coastal area in Algiers just 
East of Er Rif.
 
The Germans invade and conquer Cyprus.
 

S/O 41
 
The autumn rains come late to Europe, and Germany tries to use this to its advantage in Russia...with partial success. A massive Stuka bombardment of Vitebsk 
disrupts its defenders, allowing Army Group North to smash the Russian defenders of the city with the aid of the Gustav/Dora heavy artillery.
Meanwhile, another assault on Novgorod fails to dislodge the plucky defenders once again. However, German armour slides between Leningrad and Novgorod, 
fully beseiging the former and placing the latter in further danger. Russia rails units from Siberia to block the turning of the northern flank.
 
An assault on Kiev fails, after fierce aerial bombardment that go awry, and a critical attack on the southernmost flank of the Russian lines also fails again to dislodge 
the Russians.
 
In China, the Japanese attack a Communist position in the mountains north of Si-An. The assault succeeds, though the Japanese take horrendous casualties in banzai 
charges. Nonetheless, this puts the northern flank of the Communist Chinese in jeopardy and they withdraw across the desert and begin to form a defense against the
 approaches to Lan Chow.
 
The Russian sub fleet sails from Leningrad and manages to savage the German iron ore convoys from Sweden.
 

N/D 41
 
Winter descends on Europe. As it does, Russian hopes for attacks during the snow are dashed by the suddenly full up and prepared German lines...the result of a 
lot of railing and hasty mobilizations.
 
As the rains fall, the Germans finally, amidst downpours, manage to take turn the flank, though with losses. This key advance now puts the Ukrainian resources in 
danger. The Germans also launch a minor attack in the north which nets a small advance.
 
Not much happens in North Africa, as Britain tries to get its supply situation in order and the Free French call forward its headquarters. The Axis sails Italian 
mountain units into Algiers to further bolster the defense.
 
In Egypt, the Italians finally advance out of Libya and into Egypt. 
Under Graziani, they advance to the outskirts of Alexandria and there, with heavy shore bombardment, attempt to take the city. The Indians and Egyptians therein 
defend well and the Italians must abort the assault with littloe casualties on either side.
Britain and Italy both send fighters to the Egyptian front.
 
The US, awakening from its stupor, gears up for the first time. She also freezes Japanese assets and escorts in the North Atlantic.
 
The Japanese send a mechanized division to southern China and attempt to take the forests northeast of Canton but are rebuffed, its lightly armoured vehicles 
decimated by the Chinese.
 
Vladivostok is repaired.

J/F 42
 
As 1942 dawns, Doenitz once again sails his now huge wolfpack. This wolfpack braves bad weather and British patrols and escorts and savages the British 
convoys in the Faroes Gap, decimating British production and putting the Commonwealth into a convoy crisis. Simultaneously, Italian subs sink Free French 
convoys in Cape St. Vincent, though they suffer anti sub activity in return.
 
The British, after 4 months of small fighter duels in the Western Med with the Italians and Germans, raids the Med in force.
 
A small surface fleet sails into the Eastern Med from Gibraltar and cuts Italian supply to Egypt. A larger force of carriers and surface elements, escorted by subs, 
and under cover a massive fighter air cover sails into the Western Med and cuts Italian supply to North Africa. The Italians respond. The Primo fleet sails into the
 Eastern Med and does battle with the British. The British, apparently with signals information, know where the Italians are sailing and set an ambush. The British 
are outgunned however and the Italians turn the table after the initial surprise wears off and the British must flee the area.
 
In the Western Med, the Axis sends forth most of its naval air. A large naval air battle ensues, and the British show that they now have enough fighters in the area
 to contest the area as Italy loses torpedo planes before ordering its airforce to disengage. However, the Italians do manage to sneak a supply line back into North
 Africa.
 
In East Africa, British Somaliland falls, as does Italian Somaliland and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Tanginyika and Kenya are in jeopardy as well.
 
In China, the Japanese send heavier armoured tanks to Soouthern China and manage to take the firest hex northeast of Canton easily. This puts Kwei-Yang in 
danger.
 
The factory at Kunming is repaired by the Japanese.
 
In Russia, the Germans attack in the dead of winter, through snow, the Russian armoured and winterized forces holding the vital Ukrainian resources. In a fierce 
assault, the Germans, under Von Manstein, take the resources and drive the Russians back. The Russians are spoiling for a counter attack, but Stalin states that 
the Germans are too strong and that the valiant Russian people must prepare for a hellaciously strong Summer of 1942.
 
Partisans begin to rise up in France.
 
The British clear out the Indian partisans in Calcutta, but as they do so, more partisans arise in southern and central India.
 

SITUATION
 
The Germans have had a really dismal Barbarossa so far, being unable to hit anything with their massive stuka force and rolling horribly on land attacks. This has 
resulted in Russia managing to hold Kiev into 1942 and getting the dreaded production boost. Barring horrid luck, however, it is unlikely the Russians will hold Kiev 
next turn, as they have almost no fighter force to stop the stukas and the Germans now have sufficient forces in place in Russia to really crank things up. Once Kiev 
and Novgorod falls (the latter in M/J 42 most likely), then it is wide open for the Germans for Summer of 1942, especially in the south. 
 
The Russians hold a fortress in Smolensk, but that can be bypassed.
 
The British have managed to contest the Med, though once the German FW 190s arrive that may swing against them for a while. Right now the entire Med is 
contestable by both sides, and as such Italian supply to North Africa and Egypt seem to be distinctly 50-50 propositions. The Axis thrust into Egypt is definitely 
half-hearted, but given that most of the available resources have had to go into slowing the Brits in North Africa, it is not possible to really engage in both fronts. 
The entry of Japan into the war may, however, put Egypt out of supply and in future danger.
 
The sub war is starting to swing in the favour of the Axis. The Germans have 15 subs on the map, with the Italians adding another 7. The British are really going to 
have to prioritize and decide if they can afford to maintain such a large fleet active in the Med while also trying to guard its convoy lines. The Axis sub fleet is now 
such that the British must be careful about placing too small of an escort in a sea zone and having the subs simply out surface the surface ships!
 
The real fun is going to be in the Pacific. Japan's production is really quite large and, with both Synth built and Vlad and Kunming repaired, once Japan secures the 
NEI and Malay it's production is going to be ungodly (somewhere around 26-27 per turn). The US horrible gear up delay is going to crimp the US in one of the 
two fronts, and although Jeff likes to go strong in the Pacific, unless Russia can hold in 1942, the US is going to have to invest in Europe and that will give the 
Japanese some free reign for a while.
 
China is hurting. She has 4 resources to her name, and one of those could be put in danger (near Lan Chow). The Japanese are putting together decent defensive 
lines, and a few more hexes taken in the mountains could really dress her lines.

M / A 42

While the weather never quite clears in the north of Russia, it is fine campaigning weather in the Ukraine for pretty much the entire two-month period. It is too bad, then, for the hapless Wehrmacht that they still cannot manage to accomplish anything. They precede their assault on Kiev with a massive aerial bombardment, which basically accomplishes nothing except get 2 fighter squadrons shot down by outclassed Russian I-16s. After the bombing fails, an assault on Kiev falls to pieces (I rolled a 4) and the Germans are stymied by fortress Kiev yet again.

In the north, the Germans try, in bad weather, to knock out or at least reduce the Russians in Novgorod. The fighting is fierce but fails to dislodge the Russians, as reinforcements are brought in and a Russian counter attack pushes the German forces west from a salient that was pushing eastward between Novgorod and Leningrad.

In late April, with the rains now downpouring, the Germans launch an armoured thrust south of Kiev and manage to dislodge the Russians there.

Also, under fire of the Gustav/Dora, Russian troops fall back from a blitz attack south of Smolensk. These two successful attacks, along with the coming of summer, convince the Soviets that it is time to begin to wtihdraw to less agressive and more effective defensive lines.

Accordingly, the Russian begin to withdraw behind the Dnepr River in the south, though mantining Kiev and Dneprpetrovsk, and in the north they abandon entirely the Pripets except for two militia corps which are abandoned to be eventually surrounded and isolated.

In the west, the Axis unleashes its largets sub wolfpacks yet, and to devestating effect. German subs in the North Atlantic and Faroes Gap sunder Commonwealth shipping cutting the lines entirely and throwing the CW into a sudden convoy crisis. Italian subs are effective along the West African coast and off of Cape St. Vincent. Suddenly, there are calls in Parliament for Churchill to rein in the RN's aggressive tactics in the Med and secure the bread and butter for the homeland first.

The CW launches strategic bombing raids in France to little effect.

In North Africa, raging air battles are fought in the Western Med with the Commonwealth trying to cut supply to the Italians and Germans in Algeria. Supply is cut temporarily, and the British bomb the Italians and then launch a desparate Anglo-French attack on the mountains southwest of Oran. The assault, which catches the Italians sleeping, sunders the Axis strongpoints and the British and French begin to pour through the Axis lines. The Axis, re-establishing supply, pull back into a tighter cordon around Oran.

In Egypt, the Italian Primo fleet sails into the Eastern Med and a second assault is launched on Alexandria. That assault fails, with casualties on both sides.

In China, the Communists pull back into the mountains around Lan Chow, ceding the deserts to the Japanese, who begin to advance thereto.

Japan launches a bombing mission against Kwei-Yang, but plucky Chinese fighters, led by the Flying Tigers in their P-40's shoot down 2 Japanese fighter squadrons and a bomber squadron.

The US begins to send naval vessels to Pearl Harbour in an effort to intimidate the Japanese. Japan militarizes the Marshall Islands and the US responds by declaring an oil embargo. This cripples the half of the Japanese fleet, which must remain drydocked in Truk, but it also decides the Japanese high command that action must be taken.

M / J 42

In a day that will live on infamy, on May 2, 1942 the Japanese launched an attack on Pearl Harbour. This was accompanied by declarations of war upon Free France, the Netherlands, and the Commonwealth. A Japanese fleet of 8 CVs pounds Pearl, sinking a US CV and bottoming several battleships and causing minor damage to most of the rest. Nagumo however, worried about the Pacific Fleet in California, withdraws to Truk.

Japanese cruisers raid and sink US convoys near Hawaii. Japan aligns Siam. Japanese marines and seabourne troops land on Sumatra, the partisans there giving way and releasing the oil fields, which are captured. Meanwhile, 3 Japanese corps land in Java and begin to advance on Batavia.

Japan invades New Britain and occupies Rabaul and IJN marines cross into New Guinea. A Japanese corps invades Bruma near the oil fields, and Indian territorial troops are rushed to protect the vital fields. Japanese troops land in southern Siam and advance into Malaya. By agreement with the Malay partisans they do not capture Kuala Lampur and in exchange the partisans give up Singapore and the resources to Japan. Japan captures Singapore without a shot being fired.

The US Pacific Fleet sails into the waters south of Hawaii. US marines sail into the islands north of New Zealand while US army troops fortify New Zealand proper.

President Roosevelt requests that Congress declare immediate war on Italy and Germany, but he is rebuffed by the legislation that is worried about the ability to fight a two-ocean war. Roosevelt then asks for War Appropriations to be passed, but Congress apparently has campaign contributions from consumer-oriented businesses in mind when they declare that there is no need to disrupt the high-quality of life enjoyed by most Americans in order to fight a third rate power like Japan. Roosevelt stalks off to ponder the possibilities of a coup de etat.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the cards begin to fall in place for the Germans.

With Russia seeing the handwriting on the wall for Kiev (finally) they remove their AA emplacements from the city. Nonetheless, the city is well defended by two elite corps and supported directly by Zhokov. But this time the stukas do not miss their marks, downing Soviet fighters and bombing not only the city but also Zhukov's nearby HQ. Now, from 3 sides the city is assaulted and taken with ease. The Germans immediately go about recruiting disaffected Ukrainians to join General Vlassov and the SS. The Germans now have the entire west side of the Dnepr except for Dneprpetrovsk.

In the north, the bastion known as Novgorod finally falls, to stukas and a concerted ground effort. The assault goes smoothly and the Russians are left with one last bastion in the north between the Wehrmacht and Moscow....fortress Smolensk.

The Germans also assault Russia troops in the marshes west of Leningrad, and although they do not take the area, they cause heavy Russian casualties. In the Pripets, the Germans surround the abandon militias and advance to new Russian defense lines at Gomel.

Russian bombers, informed by partisans of Rommel's location, bomb his HQ and manage to wound the German general. He is sent back to Germany to recuperate.

In Finland, Russian irregulars have succeeded in advancing across Finland to the Swedish border in the north. This means Petsamo has been cut off. Finland, responds by sending two corps to guard Helsinki.

In the west, the Battle of the Atlantic continues, with Italian subs having rebased to Bordeaux in April. All told some 21 sub groups sail from France and hit the North Atlantic and US East Coast. Damage to Allied convoys occurs, though not on the scale of March/April 42, but the CW gets a few shots back at the subs. Nevertheless, the CW is still in convoy crisis mode and curtails surface presence in the Med.

In the Med, the CW again assaults and again smashes the Italians, this time Alpini troops dug into the mountains. Out of supply due to CW naval air and Free French subs operating in the Western Med, the Italians decide that any hope of actually holding out in North Africa is now gone and that they now have to fight a delaying action there and begin to gird the homeland. Accordingly, Italian transports sail from Spezia and evacuate two Italian motorized corps from Oran. That port is abandoned to the Brits. An Italian corps rails back to Tunis to hold there while Algerian territorials serving the Germans retreat back towards Algiers for a final defense. Italin mountain troops and Tunisian territorials try to make their way back to the coast as well as Balbo evacuates to Italy as well. In the ensuing chaos, the British send their mechanized corps on yet another wide swing south through the desert and then north into the mountains towards the coast.

Italian subs in Cape St. Vincent find and sink a Dutch transport fleet carrying the WDF to North Africa. All hands on board and an entire armoured corps are lost. A further British transport fleet is heavily damaged and its cargo returned to England.

In Egypt, an Indian mechanized corps arrives to bolster the defense of the Nile, while Italian divisions sail on cruisers into the Eastern Med, threatening invasion.

SITUATION

Given that it has been clear from the start that Germany has only had limited objectives in mind for Russia, it is reasonable to assaume that with the possible exceptions of Dneprpetrovsk and Leningrad, those objectives have been met. Smolensk is very strongly defended, and with the Rommel LIF counter bombed back into the leader cup, it will be tough to take. It is likely that the lines in Russia are pretty much set where they will end up being on both sides for many turns to come.

While Russia has done quite well defensively and the addition of Kiev for 2 extra turns was a nice production boost, she is getting absolutely no lend lease and likely won't for the entire game, and this means she will have a VERY tough time attacking.

In the west, the BoA took an extremely nasty turn for the British, who were operating pretty aggressively in the Med and ended up paying a bit for it when the Axis got a string of nice sub search die rolls. The Axis sub presence is now huge and cannot be ignored and must, in fact, become priority #1 for the Allies, which means North Africa will have to rely on what assets it has.

North Africa has suddenly gone well for the Allies. Although they have enough air currently to dominate the Western Med, the Axis have already pledged both FW 190's coming next turn to the Med, and that alone will tip the balance back to the Axis. From bitter experience, as long as the Axis holds any piece of the rail line from Morocco to Tunis, the Allied advance in North Africa grinds to a slow crawl, especially when bad weather hits in 2-3 turns. Nonetheless, if it is not the beginning of the end in North Africa, it is certainly the end of the beginning.

In the Pacific, obviously things are going Japan's way for the most part. NEI will fall this turn, and with the US plagued by low production and with Singapore already in Japanese hands and to be repaired this turn, Britain is going to have to somehow look to Burma and India.

Overall things look to be leaning in favour of the Axis, but only slightly.

N/D 42:
 
As winter sets in, the Russians see themselves faced by an uber wall of German defenders, bolstered at all key salients by winterized troops, backed by artillery, and row upon row upon row of Stukas and fighters. Stalin wisely announces a moratorium on all Russian land attacks through winter and instead unleashes Kutsenov and the Baltic fleet just before the captured Finnish ports are socked in. With British naval air from Denmark assisting, German iron ore convoys are disrupted. The Kriegsmarine sails without the Graf Zeppelin (still yelling for an air wing) and in a set of bloody battles that sees the Bismarck damaged, the entire Baltic fleet is destroyed or damaged with no ports to return to.
 
German and Italian subs sail en masse into Cape St. Vincent in order to try and disrupt Allied supply into the Med, and although Allied convoys are mauled, the Brits send new convoys and massive escorts to the area and preserve supply.
 
However, the Allies also send convoys into the Eastern Med to set up a second convoy line.
 
A US division lands in Cyprus and liberates the island before rebasing into Palestine.
 
The Allies in Tunisia smash the Tunisian irregulars guarding the mountain pass approaches to Tunis, though the Free French take heavy casualties in the fighting. Tunis is spared assault until next year.
 
In the Pacific, Japan finally lands in the Philippines.
 
Chinese partisans begin to erupt all over China, forming strong concentrations in the far northern mountains near the Manchurian border and in the mountains south of Nanking. Japan responds by sending 4 garrison corps to China.
 
Japanese fleet elements from Truk raid south of the Hawaiian Islands but fail to locate the enemy. However, this causes the US to base fighters in Pearl to guard against a second Pearl Harbour strike.
 
In India, South African and indigenous CW troops oust Indian partisans from an area southeast of Bombay.
 
Japanese and Siamese troops launch an assault on Rangoon and easily capture the city, conquering Burma, though India troops hold the oil wells as Japanese troops advance north into Mandalay and begin to bomb the oil well defenders.
 
On Sumatra, Japanese elements defeat partisans hiding in the swamps north of the oil fields and Japan raises a territorial corps for the NEI.
 
Cruisers, under Mikawa, raid the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Anzanian Sea, sinking British convoys and disrupting oil shipments from Persia and lend lease to Russia.
 

J/F 43:
 
All is quiet in Russia as both sides build up for summer of 43.
 
In North Africa, the Allies mount an aerial bombardment and land assault on Tunis and the city falls, liberating the final bit of French North Africa. The Italian troops in Libya hunker down behind the Mareth Line and await their turn.
 
Meanwhile, the US declares war on Vichy France and captured Damascus. 
The Vichy French are perplexed but not hostile to the Americans.
 
After a short sharp air battle in the Western Med which establishes Allied dominance, British royal marines and engineers invade Sardinia. However, Cunningham, charged with blockading Sardinia and preventing Italian reinforcements, fails in his duty and Italy sneaks in Balbo and an elite corps into Caligari and a garrison corps into the northern Sardinian port. The Allied invasion succeeds in rainy weather, but the Italians are now strong enough in Sardinia to ward off any further attacks for the moment. The Primo fleet and the Italian and German airforces rally and sail into the Italian Coast and drive off Cunningham, showing that, while the Allies have air control of the Western Med, they do not have that luxury yet over the Italian Coastline. Supply is established to Sardinia from Italy.
 
Germany rails into Italy elte infantry, motorized, and mechanized corps while Italy rallies its land forces for the defense of the homeland. Italy now begins to bristle with defenses, with every factory city double garrisons, the entire coastline from France to Taranto in zones of control, and a large air contingent standing at the ready. Five corps guard Sicily.
 
Germany sends a mechanized corps and several infantry corps to France to begin to prepare the Atlantic Wall for eventual invasion. These bolster an armoured corps and 10 corps already in the area on garrison duty.
 
In the Pacific, Japanese forces now advance to the Burmese oil fields and group for an assault. 
 
Reinforcements land in the Philippines for the Japanese, and Manilla is invested from the north and south. However, Japanese bombers miss their targets and a first probing assault on Manilla by the Japanese accomplishes nothing with no casualties, though the US wastes a lot of their precious ammo and fuel reserves (MacArthur used HQ support and cannot reorg now).
 
The US now has a serious fighter ring around Pearl, and Japan hops up its fighter production to match this.
 

SITUATION 3 :
 
Not much has changed from last session. The Allies got their good rolls in North Africa to allow them to clear it out before bad weather closed in, and as such, Tripoli will likely fall in M/A 43 or M/J 43 and Sardinia as well. This means the invasion of Sicily should occur in Summer of 43 and likely, with our new Italian surrender rules, Italy will go sometime in fall of 43. There should be enough Germans in Italy by then that Italy will likely be liberated the turn after it falls and the Allies will face the Germans and rebuilding Italians in Italy.
 
The Russian front is a complete stalemate. The Germans will likely get a lick or two in duringh summer of 43, due to air superiority. But that will probably involve attempts at some key points like Dneprpetrovsk and Smolensk and Gomel to use as anchors for the next winter's defenses.
 
Japan is rolling, with a production of 30 or so, and it looks to me like India is in distinct jeopardy. It might not fall but it may be invaded and half taken at least. Depends on the weather.
 
All in all....the Axis is still doing slightly better than the Allies given the time.
 

M/A 43:
 
In varied weather, Stalin orders someone to attack somewhere and threatens purges for everyone if they do not. That motivates Konev in the north and he resolves to take some impending pressure off of Smolensk. The Russians attack in the forests northwest of Smolensk and manage to push the Germans back with havy Konev-induced mechnized casualties casualties on the Russian side. Stalin calls off his purges and the Soviet propogands ministry goes into overdrive, hailing this as the decisive battle that will see Soviets in Berlin within a year.
 
The Germans bomb heavily in the Dnepr River area south of Dneprpetrovsk, but an attack fails miserably there (roll of 5).
 
The Germans also decide to rid themselves of the annoyance of Friedrikshaven once and for all and so conduct a surprising and risky cross traits blitz attack against the Manchester Militia stationed there. The militia is dislodged, but many Panzers are drowned in the Baltic in the attempt. Nonetheless, the port is retaken and Allied ambitions in Denmark are severely curtailed. British subs operating in the Baltic are now trapped and ordered to expend their torpedos and then ground ashore in Sweden and be interned.
 
Other than the one attack, the entire front is quiet due to rains as both sides send up reinforcements and build up their fighter strength.
 
In the Med, the Italian general Balbo sets up a trap for the combined US and CW forces surrounding Caligari, but US intelligence decodes the plans (US spends 15 points for a reroll and turns a 3 into some gawdawful high roll)and sets up a counter trap. Caligari is overrun and Balbo escapes to the mainland. The Allies then march north on Sardinia towards the garrison guarding the northern port.
 
In Africa, Free French units reach the outskirts of Tripoli.
 
Italian and Germany fighters and naval air attack Cunningham's fleet in the Western Med and manage to drive it off, sinking a CV and damaging two others in the process.
 
German subs sortie from Brest and manage to sink considerable convoys in the North Atlantic, though by this time Allied reserves are enough to make up the losses.
 
The Allies start the strat bombing campaign in earnest, but fail to do damage as the Italians redeploy fighters from Italy to the Ruhr.
 
In the Pacific, Japanese troops bomb Indian irregulars guarding the Burmese oil fields and then attack, taking the oilfields intact to drive the Japanese war machine.
 
The US Pacific fleet, now up to full strength with 15 carriers, rebases to Pearl Harbour for the first time in the war. Japanese fleet elements engage Allied convoys in the Tasman Sea and cruisers under Mikawa raid British shipping in the Persian Gulf and all along the eastern coast of Africa.
 
US subs sail from Perth and manage to sink Japanese convoys in the South China Sea, but the Japanese raids in Tasman put their oil situation into flux and the subs are forced to withdraw back to Pearl.
 

M/J 43:
 
The spring rains don't let up for all of May and part of June, resulting in Stalin cursing the God that does not exist as his generals now have a convenient excuse not to attack. When the weather clears in late June, it is the Germans who are ready, and they launch two attacks. The first, in the north, regains the very ground taken by Konev in March and once again places Smolensk in jeopardy. To the south, the Germans attack the same location south of Dneprpetrovsk as they failed to take in March. This time they succeed under Manstein and thrust a right hook that manages to overrun a Soviet artillery concentration and a fighter airfield. This maneuver puts Dnepreptrovsk in danger and opens the way to a Crimean sortie.
 
Air battles above Soviet airspace are intense. The Germans lose 4 fighter squadrons and their elite Stuka while the Russians lose 3 fighter and a sturmovik squadron in air to air battles and a Spitfire squadron on the ground.
 
In Northern Finland, the Russians capture Petsamo.
 
The Allied strat campaign comes full force this time, with multiple raids from Hamburg to Cologne and including France and Belgium. The raids are mildly successful (3 factories supressed) though air losses on both sides are minimal. Meanwhile, the subs in the Baltic, guided by British naval air, expend their last torpedos very efficiently, cutting off the German Baltic convoys.
 
In the Med, US marines invade Malta and capture the lightly held island. Engineers begin to fix the port. Meanwhile, Allied forces advance to the entrenched Italians in northern Sardinia but do not launch an attack.
 
Axis planes again sortie into the Western Med, but this time long ranged US fighters in Gibraltar drive them off. However, an Italian cruiser raid in the Eastern Med sinks a US cruiser being used as a transport. 
Nonetheless, US marines invade Lemnos in the Aegean as well as the island adjacent to Athens. Bulgarian troops are rushed to guard any crossing into Greece from the latter while Yugoslavian cavalry and a mish mash of troops are sent to the Salonika region to ward any landing from Lemnos. Wavell lands on the island near Athens to provide logistical support for any Greek actions.
 
The Western Wall continues to be built in France, with more German troops stationing along the coastlines and at strategic locations. This includes German armour.
 
 
In the Pacific, things start to heat up a little. The Japanese attack Manilla and fail to take the city, but a massive resuuply effort from sea (6 TRS reorging) allows a second assault which does take the city and the Philippines.
 
Japanese units advance into Imphal, India and take Dacca and Chittatong. The British send Mountbatten to bolster the defenses at Calcutta and a South African motorized corps rushes from anti partisan duty to Imphal to assist in checking the Japanese advance into India.
 
The US navy makes its first sortie of the war, and an invasion force lands in the Marshalls. The Japanese responds by landing reinforcements such that Japan holds two of the three Marshall ports while the US Seabees hold the third. Japanese subs, in a sea full of US ships, sink a US transport carrying most of Nimitz' staff and his HQ. The battle for the Marshalls looks imminent.
 

SITUATION 4:
 
A fairly dismal two turns for the Allies, especially due to weather rolls and short turn ends. Caligari was almost a disaster (Jeff rolled a 3 with a +11 for the dreaded 14 result that would have decimated his landings in Sardinia and kept Caligari in Italian hands). While Sardinia and Malta are now Allied (except for the northern Sardinian port), half of the summer is over and the Allies do still have to take out Tripoli (a mere formality). Sicily is full of Italians, and Italy is extremely well guarded, with at least 2 corps in every city hex on the mainland (one of which is at least German in every case) and corps also warding other locations such as ports. Fighter count in that theatre is currently 14 Axis versus 7 Allied. Even when Italy falls, the Germans will be there in enough force to slow any thoughts of advancing across the Alps. Further, with Italy not completely conquered, the Italian airforce which is rebasing to France, will be active for DDay. My estimate is that Italy falls in N/D 43.
 
DDay will get ashore of course, but against a well prepared Germany with an O Chit available.
 
Russia will be generally a stalemate until at least winter of 43 and more likely until a turn after DDay. The Russians are building FTR like crazy, but I just don't think they can go against a Germany that, by the end of 1943, will have EVERY land unit in its force pool built (yes...that's every one...including the axis minors)and every FTR built (Germany is building at around 50 BP per turn when producing at full). The US entry was do dismal that the Allies cannot afford to LL to Russia, and that means Russia cannot have a line of O Chits to break the stalemate.
 
Germany does have a shot at Smolensk and Dneprpetrovsk, which would bolster their defensive lines significantly, giving the Russians only two single three hex attacks along the entire front, one with two river hex sides at Smolensk and the other against 3 river hexsides southeast of Leningrad. Given the placement of 3 winterized units in each of those hexes and Russia will have no effective winter attacks if those two places are taken.
 
On the plus side, the US has over 20 Intel points, and has been consistently playing the Intel option allowing pre-viewing of the init roll and deciding which side gets the roll, and that could lead to a double turn one day.
 
The Pacific is even worse. Japan is building at 32 BP per turn with oil to spare. Her entire FTR force is already on the map or spiral and her entire 2pt NAV force will be by the end of 1943. Her entire land force will also be built by the end of 1943 (including ARM and guns). The US has a large Pacific fleet, and the CV count is currently even, but that means that currently neither side can operate effectively in the other's home waters. The problem is, that's just fine with Japan. The US needs to project force, and that does not look to be able to be done barring lucky dice rolls before mid 1944 at least. As a side note, the Japanese will be getting 4 CVs in over the next 6 turns to bolster her count as well, though the US will certainly gain more than that during that time period. But the US does not have the land units or FTRs to support penetrating ops in the Pacific and probably won't any time soon, which 
means it will have to island hop very carefully for a while.
 

J/A 43:
 
In clear weather, Hitler orders the Wehrmacht forward to capture those key cities that were on the agenda of the original Barbarossa plans. After bearing the brunt of an initial Russian bombing attack to spoil a buildup near Smolensk, the Germans reorganize and launch massive combined arms assaults on Dneprpetrovsk and Smolensk, the latter warded by the most extensive fortifications in Russia.
 
In the Smolensk assault, Stukas dove in and rammed home their munitions, disrupting all defenders. Then Guderian led the assault, bolstered by two divisons of engineers. Only last minute intelligence provided by the extensive Russian spy rings in Switzerland and some key human wave attacks ordered by Konev himself enabled the Russians to resist the onslaught. The Germans withdrew from the precients of the city and called off the assault after casualties on both sides.
 
In the south, the Wehrmacht had more success. After the Russians withdrew from their precarious position from June's German armoured breakthrough south of Dneprpetrovsk, the Germans gained a foothold on the southeast side of the river and then swung north to assault the city proper. 
Stuka bombardment reduced the city defenses to rubble, and Rommel then commands the assault that decimates the Russian defenders.
 
Before the Russian defenses can recover, Rommel seeks to maintain the German initiative and masses his best armoured corps for a huge armorued thrust along the Black Sea coastline. The Crimean is entered by Rumanian troops, and Sevastapol is strongy reinforced as is the Kerch area. 
Several Russia corps, including armour, and several fighter air bases are eliminated before the Russian lines are reorganized and the Germans now own the swath of territory south and east of Dneprpetrovsk and are within striking distance of Stalino (2 hexes away). 
 
As Germany begins to take heavy losses in the air over Russia, due to some brilliant Russian dogfighting, the Wehrmacht launches an armoured attack in the forests north of Smolensk and manage to destroy a fighter airbase...Guderian's philosophy being if he can't beat the Russian fighters in the air, he'll destroy them on the ground.
 
In the Med, The US and Britain invade Corsica. The Vichy react hostily to the Americans but are merely cool towards the British. Corsica is taken and the Allies begin to use it as an airbase.
 
The Allies also assault the last remining Italian garrison on Sardinia, but timely arrival of German air support causes the attack to fail.
 
Free French and British troops assault Tripoli, and despite Mussolini's boast that the fortifcation of Tripoli will stand for a hundred years, the forts are flanked and Tripoli is captured by the Allies.
 
In Egypt, Indian troops smash Italian troops marching north from Ethiopia.
 
The Allies then invade Sicily, with precision bombing knocking out all of Sicily's airfields. With the BA-65s knocked out, the US and CW land two invasions on the western tip of the island. However, the presence of the Primo fleet off of the Sicilian coast bolsters the beach defenses, and the landings are successful but bog down on the beaches and cannot be exploited.
 
Sensing the moment, Mussolini orders an all out assault by his low grade Italian forces in Sicily and the northern of the two Sicilian landings is crushed and driven into the sea. As The Italians now creep closer to the remaining landing and begin to prepare for an assault there, the Allies hurry fighter-bombers to the area and Lord Cunningham is ordered most imperatively by Churchill to destroy the Primo fleet. Fortunately for Cunningham, scout planes spot the Primo fleet steaming towards the point of Italian attack and ambush it. In some crushing surface battles, both sides suffer losses, but Cunningham's brilliant tactics get the better of the Italians, and the Primo fleet limps home, much of it sunk or damaged while the CW Med fleet loses mostly cruisers. This action saves the Sicilian beachhead as the Italians cannot now launch an attack on the Royal Marines and US Marines holding on there.
 
The Vichy French, outraged at the invasion of Corsica, sail their fleet from Toulon and engage the Allies in a series of massive surface battles that result in Allied convoys and a goodly number of cruisers being sunk while the French fleet suffers about 50% casualties.
 
Meanwhile, Allied bombers launch the largest strategic bombing raid of the war on Lille, Brussels, Essen, Cologne, Paris, and Dusseldorff, and while German and Italian fighters fight furiously, most of the bombers get through and bomb amazingly well, destroying a factory at Essen and hurting German production by between 20% and 25%.
 
Distressed at the US buildups coming across the Atlantic, Hitler orders Doenitz out for what he calls "a final action of the war". Doenitz strikes the North Atlantic, Bay of Biscay and Faroes Gap and manages to maul Allied convoys int he Faroes Gap before things get hot enough that he has to stay under water. The German sub fleet does not commit suicide and returns victorious to Brest.
 
The CW launches naval air into the Baltic to hunt the reformed Baltic convoys, but this time the Germans send the Graf Zeppelin after it. In a hellacious air battle, the Zeppelin's fighter wing is decimated, but the CW naval air wing is also destroyed.
 
In the Pacific, Japan troops worm their way further into India, facing growing Indian reinforcements. Japanese marines invade Ceylon and take the major port there, which is repaired by Japanese engineers.
 
Communist Chinese, aided by Nationalist bombing strikes, attack out of the mountains east of Lan Chow and drive the Japanese across the desert and back to the mountain lines snorth of Si-An.
 
Japanese cruisers raid successfully against CW convoys in the Arabian Sea.
 
US subs, massed at their new base in the Marshalls, sail into the South China Sea and cause some minor damage to Japan convoys before the IJN reacts to suppress them.
 
The US Pacific fleet sails into the seas north of the Marshalls and Spruance launches a sea-bourne groundstrike of massive proportions against Kwajelein. Fearing for its bases there, Japan reinforces the Marshalls with a corps of marines and decides to launch the first major naval strike of the war. The IJN sails in rainy weather, but a break in the monsoons, to hunt the entirety of the US Pacific Fleet, which contains close to 15 CVs backed by a squadron of land based Wildcats and land based Mustangs. The IJn contains 10 CVs and is supported by massive amounts of land based fighters. Ozawa commands against the combined efforts of Spruance, Nimitz, Halsey, and Fletcher.
 
After a short period of feeling each other out, the two fleets locate each other simultaneously and the skies fill with aircraft and ack ack. 
The Japanese pilots prove the better trained, however, and blast a good many of the US carrier planes out of the sky. Five full squadrons of Japanese carrier based dive bombers ascend against the US fleet, but inspired ack ack decimates 60% of the diving bombers. The remaining 40% concentrate on the Hornet, but excellent US damage control results in the CV being saved, though heavily damaged.
 
Two US bomber squadrons survived the air to air massacre and dive on the Japanese fleet, which puts up much much less ack ack but is apparently just as divinely inspired, as the entire American air wing diving on the Japanese fleet is shot out of the sky by anti-aircraft fire (Allies got to roll lowest 3 of 5 and totalled a 15, killing 3 Jap CVP....Japanese got to roll best 1 of 1 and rolled a 10, killing both US CVP! Ouch!).
 
While Bull Halsey argues that now is the time to close on the Japs and pound them with the BBs, Fletcher outranks him and convinced Nimitz that the US has to withdraw and lick its wounds, fortunate to have only had a CV damaged and a CA sunk. The US has lost 9 complete CVP groups, while the Japanese lost a land based naval air squadron and 5 CVP groups.
 

SITUATION 5:
 
Not a good turn for the Allies. About the only thing that really went well for them was the ability to hold Smolensk and the exceptional rolling on the strat bombing. With oil use, Germany produced at less than Japan (24 BP versus 29 BP).
 
But, the landings in Sicily turned out badly. Surely unless we have phenomenally bad weather the Allies will land in at least two more locations on Sicily and will eventually turn the tide now that the Primo fleet is comprised of 5 ships, but the setbacks also mean that they may not have enough time now to finish things in the Med before winter closes in and then they are faced with a looming 1944 and DDay requirement, though our house rules for Italy do mean that the Allies can accomplish a DDay and an Italian surrender simultaneously, though that is certainly not a desired circumstance from the Allied point of view.
 
Russia is in no danger of any sort of collapse, but the Germans managed to really help their lines in the south even more by taking Dneprpetrovsk and getting enough territory south of it to now have a perfectly straight line along the hex grain from the Black Sea to north of Gomel. In fact, there are only 2 places on the entire German line that Russia can get 3 hexes on, and if Somlensk falls that city will become the only hex on the map where Russian has 3 hexes on the German defense lines. It is doubtful if Gomel will be assaulted, but I am really not sure if Russia will even be able to make much progress during winter of 43/44 even if Smolensk holds, and to my mind, that would probably end any hope of Allied progress by J/A 45.
 
In the Pacific, while Japan has only an outside shot at India, it still presents a threat to the sub-continent. The US, after this first large scale naval battle, is going to have to spend at least a turn resupplying its CVs with planes, and events have presumably illustrated that the US and Japanese are effectively at or close to parity in the Pacific and both sides must be very cautious around the other. Unfortunately, that may mean the US cannot really do much in the Pacific until 1944, as Japan is building like a absolute demon at 30 BP per turn (counting extensive oil use) and is slated to build out her entire land forcepool by the end of 1943.
 

S/O 43:
 
As the heavens first open up with massive amounts of rain, followed in October by an early frost, Stalin exhorts his troops to attack up and down the front. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the Russian everyman, his Generals do not listen to his rantings and the Russian front remains quiescent until October
 
Russia does start to rail third rate troops to Siberia, giving the Japanese another thing to start to think about.
 
The bad weather means all plans for any action in the Med are placed on hold. The Allies maintain an tenuous foothold in Sicily...just enough to inspire the Italians to increase war production in defense of the homeland.
 
However, using meteorological information from weather stations in Greenland, the Allies do manage to throw together the most massive strategic bombing raid of the war in a small window of clear weather. Over two thousand bombers attack Brussels, Paris, Metz, Essen, Cologne, and Dusseldorf, and while the Axis sends up a great many fighters to oppose the raid and deploys its best flak defenses over the Ruhr, the Allied fighters decimate the Axis defenders and the bombs rain unholy death, destroying Brussels' factory capacity altogether and causing havoc with the German economy.
 
Even Italy is not immune, as Bleinheims bomb Taranto to some effect.
 
Meanwhile, the Russian Black Sea fleet sails and destroys the Rumanian navy.
 
As winter socks in in October, the Russians finally attack at two points, one against a salient of Panzers north of Smolensk and another in a salient that had crossed the Dnepr northeast of Kiev. The northern assault sees the heavily outnumbered Germans routed, stopping any chance at a thrust to isolate Smolensk. The southern assault, met by very capable German defenders, goes just as well and the Germans are routed across the river. This forces their other crossing of the Dnepr northeast of Kiev to become untenable, and the Germans withdraw entirely behind the river line just south of the Pripets.
 
However, these two attacks have necessitated the redeployment of major Russian assets north, and during the same clear stretch wherein the Allies bombed Germany, Army Group South under Von Manstein and led by the first SS Panzer corps rip through Russian defenses along the Black Sea coast, swinging then northward to reach the outskirts of Stalino.
 
The Germans also launch the second assault on fortress Smolensk, but this assault fails with light casualties on both sides.
 
In the Pacific, the Japanese reinforce India with infantry and begin to advance along the Nepalese border. Marines cross from Ceylon to southern India and begin to advance along the sub-continent's east coast towards Calcutta. 
 

N/D 43:
 
In the dead of winter, the Russians are forced to pull back a salient from west of Stalino, giving the Germans even more frontage against that city. In response, the Russians launch two attacks in the north to relieve pressure on Stalino. Both attacks fail against strong German defenses.
 
Frustrated again by bad weather in the Med, the Allies do manage to finally secure the northernmost tip of Sardinia.
 
The Allies launch another large scale strategic bombing raid, and they do less infrastructural damage but manage to down 3 Axis fighter squadrons to the loss of 1 Allied fighter squadron.
 
In the Pacific, Japan sends its best tanks to India and attacks Indian territorials guarding the last approaches to Calcutta. The Indians are routed and Calcutta is now fully beseiged. Meanwhile, the Indians fall back to river lines running north-south halfway between Dehli and Calcutta and make a stand, bolstered by mechanized units and South African motorized units.
 
The Japanese crush the last partisans in the NEI.
 
The US fleet sails into the Bismarck Sea and its battleships pound Truk mercilessly. After this, US marines led by amphibious tanks invade Truk directly and, despite the presence of two elite corps of Japanese defenders, Truk is taken, though almost all of the US amphibious tanks are sunk, shot to hell, or swamped. However, the port is taken and Seabees immediately begind to repair the port.
 
In response, the Japanese attack the now underdefended US port in the Marshalls and reclaim it, bringin the Marshalls back entirely into the Japanese fold.
 

SITUATION 6:
 
Things are still going badly for the Allies, though a few glimmers have appeared. Taking Truk is, of course, nice, though the US has, in its entirety, 2 MAR Corps and 1 ENG DIV in the entire Pacific theatre, meaning that while they can assemble a potent single island invasion force, they cannot hold more than 1 island at a time and they cannot really go after any further targets without risking losing Truk to a Japanese counter attack. 
 
That said, if you can only hold one island in the Pacific as the Allies...Truk is probably it....though Pearl Harbour is glaringly empty of land unit. With Truk, at least the Allies can threaten the Japanese convoy lines and manage some mischief that they couldn't really do from Pearl. The only problem is the heightened risk of port strikes from Japan (which has a lot of NAV in the area) and the chance of losing supply to Truk, which will screw the entire US fleet and put the island defenders in severe jeopardy. The issue of Truk is certainly flexible and still in doubt.
 
India is on a razor's edge. The Japanese have assembled quite a force there, and should they be able to get some good ground strikes on Calcutta, they have a better than even chance of taking it. Once done, the Brits will be hard pressed to just hold onto the sub-continent, as the Japanese have complete mobility and can strike anywhere in India.
 
Japan is currently producing at 35 BP with 3 oil to spare beyond that. They have built evey FTR through 1943, every 2 pt LND and NAV, have over 35 CP in reserve, and have built almost every land unit through 1943. Ouch!
 
Europe is in a bad way for the Allies. Russia actually, all told, lost ground in the winter of 1943...and there isn't a huge chance of them gaining more than a hex or two in J/F 44. Without a steady diet of O Chits they just cannot make progress, and are in fact facing a summer of 1944 of German counter attacks. And the steady diet of O Chits can't happen without Wallied LL and Wallied LL just cannot happen because poor USE put the Wallies so far behind in production that they have nothing to spare for their Communist brethren. A vicious cycle.
 
If Italy is still on the menu, it will now have to be simultaneous with DDay or instead of DDay. Performing DDay with Italy fully ramped up is a very difficult thing to do (having tried it myself), and I just cannot see what the Allies can really do in Europe before 1945.
 
The strat campaign is working. The Germans are losing about 6 BP per turn from it (i.e. 4 factories supressed) and are losing lots of FTRs, but that, of itself, is not going to win the war for the Allies.
 

J/F 44:
 
As winter continues, Stalin orders the Russians to step up their offensives. Now with, quantitatively, air superiority in the south (and arguably air parity if reorg and quality is taken into consideration), the Russians bomb in the snow and then launch attacks. However, the bombing proves fairly innefective and the attacks fail with the exception of a thrust south of Smolensk that pushes the Germans back behind the river line there.
 
The Germans, now seeing that they will have no chance to push into Stalino and fearing a Russian counter attack on their salient bulging south of Stalino along the Black Sea decide to pull back their lines to a straight front running southeast from Dneprpetrovsk.
 
In Italy, the British and US marines invade the Italian mainland, landing north of the heavily guarded port of Messina and south of Naples and Anzio. Here, also, a US invasion force in support of the marine landings, meant as a diversion only, performs heroically in the face of incredible odds and manages to get ashore as well, though with heavy casualties. The Allies now hold a contiguous line in the mountains north of Messina from one side of Italy to the other. However, the Italians respond in force, moving a unit from Sicily into Messina and moving units south from Taranto and Naples to block any Allied advance north. These reinforcements include an elite German Panzer corps. So bolstered, the Allies are, for the moment, stuck in the mountains.
 
In the Pacific, the US redeploys the Pacific Fleet from Pearl, where she was getting replacement aircraft lost in the previous battle with the IJN, to Truk.
 
In India, the Indian defense forces continue to grow. Calculatta, under siege, is bombed heavily, but manages to hold out and Japan decides not to attack the city. Japan withdraws its marines in southern India to the coast, under mounting pressure from Indian territorials.
 
The Allies mount the most massive strategic bombardment of the war, and manage to decimate the Axis fighters sent to intercept and ravage the German economy, cutting it by 19%. Italian fighters redeploy from Italy into the Ruhr.
 

M/A 44:
 
Amidst a wavering series of hot spells and cold snaps, Russia again attempts to light up the front, as Stalin wishes to soften the Germans in advance of the Allied invasion of France he has been assured is coming. However, the Germans prove intractable, and although the Russians manage to move the Germans out of a salient north of Smolensk, they suffer heavy casualties doing so. The Germans are still on the outskirts of Smolensk, but the frontage against the city has been so reduced that no third attempt at the city seems possible.
 
The Germans begin to send massive reinforcements into France and the Low Countries. By the end of April, some 38 Axis corps are in that area, including 3 HQs and 6 armoured units. In addition, the Vichy French bring another HQ, and 6 corps to the defense of France, including an armoured unit.
 
The strategic bombing continues, and once again the Axis fighters are torn from the sky and the Allied bombing is quite precise. Axis production is again stunted by between 15% and 20%.
 
In Italy, Clark arrives to take command of the Italian invasion, but it has nowhere really to go.
 
In the Pacific, the US Pacific Fleet, preceded by US subs operating out of Eastern Australia, sortie in force into the South China Sea and decimate Japanese shipping there. Japan determines to use subs and coastal shipping to keep oil running through the area (i.e. Teruchai's LIF ability)and uses the land route from Korea, down China, to the south China coast to supply its units in Southern China.
 
Meanwhile, the US sends an invasion force into the Bismarck Sea to invade the Southern Philippines, but Teruchai's supply network stops the invasion cold. Before the fleet can withdraw, the IJN bypasses the provocation of the US Pacific Fleet and accepts the hit to its economy by ceding that sea zone and instead pounces on the Philippines invasion fleet. Half of the transports of the fleet are sunk and the first US marine corps goes down with them. The Bearn (reflagged to the US) is damaged, and a BB is sunk before the US withdraws the invasion fleet back to Truk. Nimitz is furious and wonders how he can ever draw the IJN into direct combat with the mighty, 20 CV strong Pacific Fleet.
 
Meanwhile, the British Med fleet has rebased to Aden and is seeking to relieve pressure on India. To this end, the Brits send scout planes into the Bay of Bengal to locate Mikawa's Mobile Fleet operating in the Bay of Bengal out of Singapore. The planes find the fleet but radio problems mean the British fleet cannot sail in time to catch the Japanese. The scout planes do, however, rip up Japanese transports supplying the Indian forces and another imminent assault on Calcutta is averted, with Monsoon season rapidly approaching.
 
In China, the Japanese intend to show the Chinese that they are not finished with them. Subsequent to bombardment by the largest calibre Japanese field artillery, the Japanese strike out of Southern China and Indo-China and manage to capture the mountain city just north of Hanoi, with almost no Japanese casualties. This strengthens the Japanese lines in the south tremendously and frees Japanese land units up for other duties.
 
Japan withdraws two of its elite garrisons from the Marshalls and an infantry corps from Rabual and brings them back to mainland Japan and the Philippines to start the "Inner Defense Ring". Meanwhile, the Japanese homeland begins to literally bristle with land units and planes. By April, every homeland city is guarded by 2 corps and 3 aircraft squadrons, and Japanese units begin to filter out of the cities into the coastal ports to guard them as well.
 
Stalin, feeling the pinch of no lend lease and a large oil requirement to fuel his massive airforce, demands Persia sell Russia all of its oil. Persia refuses, and Stalin begins to send troops to the Persian border.
 

SITUATION 7:
 
Still a bad situation for the Allies. Summer of 4 is dawning and Russia has still gotten basically nowhere. The Germans are in good shape there with a full strengthed line, many planes, and a reserve line to stop blitzes and provide reinforcements for any breach. The air campaign over Russia is at tactical parity IMO, but Germany still out bomber's Russia, though that gap is closing. But the problem is, parity is just that....parity, and it means the front is stalemated.
 
Italy is very strong and even with our special surrender rules, it looks very difficult for the Allies to manage DDay and make a serious effort to take out Italy before 1945 or late 1944. Meanwhile, the Italians are feeling the luxury of being able to send land units and air units to France. Italy is building at close to 20BP per turn right now, and the Italian late war FTR pool is simply sick.
 
The Allies have the largest strat force I've ever seen in a WIF game, and are rolling like gods in the air to air and bombing, and it is hurting the German economy (without the strats...this game would be history)...but the Allies have invested a lot of BP into this fleet, and whether those BP will now be less useful in supporting a DDay than land units and tactical bombers remains to be seen. The Allied force assembled in Britain for DDay is potent but small, meaning that while the Allies can assemble 3-4 good invasion, they don't have massive reinforcement to follow up and they will be facing, easily, over 50 corps in France by the reinforcement phase of J/A 44. So it remains to be seen how far the Allies can get in France before the weather goes bad on them.
 
In the Pacific, the US again lacks land units. With the sinking of the marine, the US has 1 MAR corps and 1 division in the Pacific theatre. This is bolstered by a few Aussie and a Kiwi. Not enough to do more than hold Truk and conduct plinky invasions. The Japanese have a huge FTR force in the Pacific, and the US has a nice FTR force as well, but in Japanese waters, the Japanese fleet (16 CVs) plus the FTRs against the US fleet (20 CVs) will likely mean Japan will fight with air superiority. 
India is under no danger of conquest now, though depending on the weather, Calcutta could still fall.
 

 
 
 

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