TAIFUN (Allies) vs IIo4Tu (Axis) Full game 1939

[Taifun]

After the fall of Chenchow our troops defend the roads leading to Sian, while the front at Ichang is quiet…

[Taifun]

February 14-28 1941
More sandstorms hinder air operations in Libya. 2 Luftwaffe medium bombers based around Sirte bombard the port of Benghazi. The panzerkorps have upgraded their tanks to level 2. The Germans are apparently holding the front with a strong rearguard with potent Luftwaffe support… Barbarossa is not that far away and most probably those planes and tanks will be needed in the USSR after all. But General Montgomery is a cautious man… he moves forward his lines but leaves a strong rearguard around Tobruk. He badly needs air support and now the new panzers outclass our unique tank corps.
The UK convoys are being decimated: receiving 1575 MPPs and losing 506 MMPs at sea (25%) since the war begun. USA is now 34%, the USSR 44%.

[Taifun]

March 14-28 1941
Indian paras jump from Nicosia and capture an abandoned Rhodes island. The Libyan front remains calm. After reassessing the situation, General Montgomery is planning to start an offensive next turn to recapture the El Agheila area and start the push north towards Tripoli. Only 2 German units have been identified holding the El Agheila area. He moved forward with his HQ along with all his troops leaving their entrenchments…

Greece mobilized in response to the coup in Yugoslavia.
These last turns the UK has invested heavily in research with a total of 1075 MPPs and Diplomacy 300 MMPs. Germany has invested 1550 MPPs in research and also 300 MPPs in Diplomacy.

Monty’s new offensive was endorsed by Churchill, who agreed that maximum pressure has to be put on the Germans…

[boudi]

You don't Hunt the Uboots on your convoy lines?

[IIo4Tu]

ORIGINAL: Marcinos1985

The consequences of the attack on Italy on the first move and the subsequent capture of Libya. A significant advantage for the allies despite the mobilization penalty for the United States.

May I ask why did you want to kick him out of NA so hard? Ofc there will be a constant threat to Italy if you let him have NA, but perhaps it's a threat you can live with, I don't really know. At the same time, push into Russia will be harder without those 3 (now 2?) tanks. Very curious how will this play out.

As DAK event fired, the lost tank will probably be irreplacable, unless Germany didn't buy panzers up to the limit, but it's hard to imagine they would not.

To leave such a huge force of the British alone seems to me too dangerous, let it be better to fight than to live a quiet life for the British.
In any case, it is better to see what happens in this scenario, although in subsequent games I have thought through options for ensuring the security of Libya at a higher level.
And as for the bonus tank, it is easy to lose it in Russia, I myself have knocked it out of opponents many times, so the loss is certainly unpleasant, but not fatal.

[Taifun]

April 11-25 1941
Before our troops could get into an attack position the Germans appeared in force from the El Agheila area and effortlessly destroyed the II South African Infantry corps in the marsh Hex. The appearance of a second panzerkorps was a nasty surprise, as I thought that it could already be on its way to the USSR border…
Worse still, both tanks were refitted and had very good readiness+moral above 100%. Not knowing the real enemy strength, and caught in the open Cyrenaican plain without entrenchment, General Montgomery ordered a general retreat towards the East and Tobruk. The Malayan infantry corps was left behind positioned in the marshes as a rearguard…

More bad news. CV Formidable was sunk near the Dogger Bank by the 2 Axis maritime bombers attacking from Hamburg. The German maritime bombers were last seen 2 turns ago near Sirte. CV Formidable was part of a powerful Task Force chasing U-Boote and destroyers in the Norwegian convoy route.

[Taifun]

May 9-23 1941
The Germans, after pushing aside the Malayan Infantry corps (strength 4), followed our retreating troops and destroyed our precious AT unit southwest of Tobruk, but they took serious tank losses in the process. Our troops counterattacked and nearly destroyed a German Infantry Corps (strength 2) and a panzerkorps (strength 1). The Führer has sent additional units to Libya including at least: a second German Infantry Corps (mot), a para FSJ, another German HQ ([X(]) and an Italian medium bomber unit. Our new Spitfires type II are superior to their Messerschmitts type I, but we do not have enough of them.

Yugoslavia joins the Allies. USA is still 34% but the USSR is 60%.

[Taifun]

June 1941
Yugoslavia surrendered. An oversized German invading force included 3 Armies, 1 panzerkorps, 1 infantry corps and field artillery assisted by 3 tac bombers… an overkill?

[Taifun]

July 1941
The Germans in Libya started a new offensive from the El Agheila area. Near Bir Hakeim they destroyed the British XII Infantry corps and our precious field artillery unit. Our troops continued their advance backwards towards Egypt leaving behind the Indian Army defending Benghazi and the tanks at Tobruk. The town of El Agheila was bombed and reduced to level 1 by our strategic bombers. General Montgomery thinks that he can hold the Axis troops long enough near Tobruk for his remaining troops to reach the El Alamein area…

[Taifun]

August 1941
The panzers assaulted the Tobruk fortress. The British tank corps, unable to resist the impact, retreated under the force of the attack towards the Jebel Akhdar! Our forces were split in two and worse still the fortress and port were captured level 4 or 5! We lost a fighter wing surprised on the ground. Our remaining forces continued their retreat as fast as they could. This was a dark hour for the 8th Army Group.

[Taifun]

Barbarossa was at last launched August 1941 and I will use this milestone, THE REAL WAR, to review the conflict so far. The Commonwealth forces have bravely fought the Axis powers for 2 years. IIo4Tu did a great job getting all the French territory and those extra MPPs greatly helped the German economy, getting now well above 600 MPPs every turn.
Benito Mussolini’s forces took a severe beaten losing Libya and many troops and ships (including 3 BBs and 3 Armies) his Navy and Armed forces becoming much unimportant. General Montgomery’s troops did a good work initially holding the Germans in Libya, but when the second panzerkorps escaped destruction with 1 point of strength [:@], the tide turned and I just suffered a severe defeat with the loss of Tobruk. We will see if Monty is capable of holding the Suez Canal… a Canadian Infantry corps already recaptured Oran. USA 55%.
The fact that the Germans got involved at all in the North Africa fight with so many assets should be seen in the global context as those troops will be unavailable for the Russian front. Moreover, I think that the Allies won a battle when the Führer lost 3 turns of good weather May-July before invading the USSR.

The U-Boote have done a good work sinking over 500 MMPs in our convoy lines without a loss. But the surface Kriegsmarine have lost 1 BC, 2 CAs, 1 DD and suffered severe damage to most of his remaining fleet 1 BB, 1BC, 1 CA and 1 DD by September 1941 against the loss of 2 CVs and 2 DDs. Their U-Boote are dispersed all around the glove and new weapons are being developed in our labs to eliminate them very shortly…

The China front is holding well as Siam, Ichang and Chungking are still in our hands. But their new leader, General Jack Ma, is having many problems to replace the loses unable to raise any new units…

[Taifun]

Barbarossa. The Soviet dispositions and planning.
The Soviets concentrated their defending forces in 2 big areas: the Baltic States and behind the Dnepr river in the Ukraine.
Stalin opted for a forward defense in the North and all cities and towns were defended by entrenched troops. Most players leave Kaunas and Wilno undefended and prefer to put the main line of defense further back behind the Dvina river or even further back around Pskov-Polotsk-Smolensk. At the last moment the tank corps was relocated a little further back, behind Daugavilps. With 5 Armies, both AA units, both armored units, the armored train, a new AT unit and our only HQ this part of the front was the best defended area. The central part of the front around Smolensk was heavily fortified but left undefended… The idea was to hold the Dvina river line for 2-3 turns and then, with the arrival of the mud, hold the Parnu-Pskov line in the North and Smolensk in the Center.

[Taifun]

In the Ukraine our fortified defense line followed the Dnepr river with only a few units forward of the river. Odessa was left undefended… Some fortifications were constructed in the Crimean isthmus.

[Taifun]

Barbarossa the first blow. August 1941
Starting late summer the Germans had only 2 turns to work before the mud arrives in the central and northern part of Russia so they concentrated most of their tanks in the South.
North of Pripyat marshes they operated with 2 panzerkorps and 2 mechanized infantry units. They were surely surprised by our forward defenses in the Baltic States and only Kaunas was captured after a hard fight. All the auto-span forces in this area were saved destruction, including the fighter wing, medium bomber wing and the mechanized infantry corps. The Soviet infantry corps entrenched in Wilno was not attacked and redeployed to the Smolensk area with the light tanks coming from Minsk.

In the South the Soviet light tanks escaped destruction and moved east of Kiev but that was all that could be saved. The Germans were operating with 3 panzerkorps and 2 tank corps (one from Rumania and another Hungarian, total 5) and many armies plus the field artillery… Zhukov was operated to Kharkov from Siberia to defend this area of the front.

[Marcinos1985]

Stalin opted for a forward defense in the North and all cities and towns were defended by entrenched troops. Most players leave Kaunas and Wilno undefended and prefer to put the main line of defense further back behind the Dvina river or even further back around Pskov-Polotsk-Smolensk. At the last moment the tank corps was relocated a little further back, behind Daugavilps.

Could you elaborate more why did you decide to defend so forward? It has some logic if you know opponent will attack late, but you setup defense probably way earlier.

I see your opponent bought tanks also for Romania and Hungary, as well as some mechs. How many bombers are there? His forces are certainly well prepared, time is ticking though.

[Taifun]

[/quote]
Could you elaborate more why did you decide to defend so forward?
How many bombers are there? [/quote]

We are currently in December 1941, it is too early to say if this forward strategy was successful or not. It is always a question of time/space/units for the USSR and it is a big problem for the Allied player to solve this equation.
2 German medium bombers are operating in Libya, so I think 1 medium bomber and 4 tactical bombers are in the USSR.

[Taifun]

September 1941.
USA 58%. Germany 70 land units vs 52 USSR.
North of Pripyat marshes the invaders captured an evacuated Wilno and destroyed the Soviet corps defending Minsk but couldn't enter the city. In the Baltic States our troops were evacuated or retreated behind the Dvina, leaving an Army behind to defend Riga. More troops kept arriving to the Smolensk area to set up a defense.
In the South Kiev fell and the Germans reached our Main Line of Resistance (MLR) on the great Dnepr river.

[Taifun]

China
In the North our forces defend the mountains around Sian successfully, but in the South the Japanese, were they have massed their aviation, are pushing slowly but steadily towards our Capital. The Ichang front in the central area is surprisingly calm…

[Taifun]

September 1941
The Indians were destroyed and Benghazi was occupied, leaving without supply our tank corps and the AA unit in the Jebel Akhdar. Those 2 panzerkorps were now unstoppable and our remaining forces retreated East to try to form some kind of MLR.

[Taifun]

October 1941
USA 61%. Germany collects 740 MPPs per turn. Since the war started: Germany Collected total income 13527 MPPs, Spent units 10151 MPPs, Lost 4797 MPPs. Their economy is strong, above the average but they are fitting alone without the brave Spanish and Turkish.
Mersa Matruth was captured and Iraq joined the Axis creating additional problems in the Middle East. The Germans disembarked a HQ ([X(]) and 2 infantry corps in Algiers to take care of the Canadians holding Oran.