Inside The Reich - Allies (Axis PO)

[Silvanski]

The long awaited "second front"... OK it's not much yet, but at least a pacifier for Stalin [:D]

Maybe the prologue to the liberation of Gibraltar...

[Silvanski]

3 April 1943
ALLIES capture Casablanca.
10 April 1943
Bucarest has been reduced to ruins.
ALLIES capture Bucarest.
17 April 1943
Bucarest is captured, Romania surrenders! There were not many Romanian units left anyway... I let the Soviets undertake a small-scale maritime action to capture Varna. In combination with an attack out of Turkey this brought the Red Army in a decent position in Romania... It however triggered the appearance of the German Balkan army group

The beginning of the April 24 1943 turn. Allies go first.

South-Eastern Europe

[Silvanski]

The Soviet succes in Romania frees up units for other sectors of the front: interesting situation just south of the Pripet marshes...

[Silvanski]

The British and Americans managed to get and hold on to two bridgeheads in North Africa. They're involved in a race with destination Tanger... and from there on: Gibraltar! Spain is gonna be a hotspot because....

[Silvanski]

Not in the news but very important... a British landing in undefended Barcelona! Gotta move fast and capture Madrid to take Spain out of the war.
My tactic is to take offensive action in several spots ... let's see how Elmer will judge between diversion and main attacks...

There's also been some action again in the Middle East, but the outcome is uncertain unless I can get more Soviet reinforcements there.. Also, if all goes well in North Africa I can launch an (American) offensive towards Egypt and the Port Said supply source... I'm sure this will force the Axis -mainly Italians I bet- to send reinforcements overseas

[Silvanski]

The situation at the beginning of the May 15 1943 turn... allies go first.
My only move was to undertake a naval operation to take Malta.
I let the map do the talking.
I captured the Nile delta and the Port Said supply point in a naval operation.
Elmer seems to be dumbing down. Important supply points like Port Said and Warsaw were left undefended.
Warsaw was entered through the back door. Outflanking Elmer is the key to succes as I noticed in my 1914-1918 campaign which ended in 1915. On the attack he's ferocious, but defense against manoeuvers is his weak spot. Large German forces are concentrated in Belgium and Northwest France while Central Europe was unprepared to defend against the Red Army.
I outsmarted Elmer in the Middle East by attacking Mosul. This drew his units away from the Bagdad supply point.
Madrid fell after two weeks of fighting. Tanger is reached.
Still have to deal with remnants of the Vichy-French and sizeable Italian units before North Africa is secured though.

[Silvanski]

Spain and Northwest Africa on May 15 1943...

What puzzles me is the lack of news appearing on my screen... The sitrep log gives some, but not all cities I'm capturing or liberating.

[Silvanski]

... the Middle East and Egypt on the same date

[TOCarroll]

This is a teriffic AAR. I am espically fascinated with the game, as I amplaying Inside the Reich as Axis (Allied PO). Obviously, Elmer doesn't do the same thing, but I do dread the Allies gaining the initative. From your AAR I think my best chance (as would be historically) is to knock out the Soviets or Commonwealth fast. I've got the whole Middle East (also Spain & Gibraltar + N Africa) in 1940, and am waiting for the weather to clear to start Barbarossa (with 5 Army Groups: North, Center, South, Balkans, and Caucasus).
 
     Your are sure on target about Elmer being a little slow on the defense. I just hope I don't bog down around Smolensk (ring a historical bell?) and then get smashed.
 
     Good luck with the Allies!
 
     Tom OC

[L`zard]

Silvanski:

Slightly off-topic, but what proggy are you using to manipulate your screenies?

Great AAR, dude!

[Silvanski]

ORIGINAL: L`zard

Silvanski:

Slightly off-topic, but what proggy are you using to manipulate your screenies?

Great AAR, dude!

Thanks for the response guys.

Good luck with the campaign TOCarroll. Speed is of the essence for the Axis. Your Barbarossa will let the world hold its breath even harder it seems.

L`zard, I use IrfanView (freeware) to capture and convert screenshots and Photosuite for arrows -also used that to mod some already modded GUI and map things (came with my printer program)

[L`zard]

@Silvanski:

Thanks, I'll DL infraview and maybe this time rtfm, eh? [:D]

[Silvanski]

ORIGINAL: L`zard

@Silvanski:

Thanks, I'll DL infraview and maybe this time rtfm, eh? [:D]

tfm is a doozy [;)]

[Silvanski]

29 May 1943
The war effort of the Allies improves!
ALLIES capture Oran.
ALLIES capture Vitebsk.
ALLIES capture Almeria.
5 June 1943
ALLIES capture Damascus.
ALLIES capture Plovdiv.
ALLIES capture Minsk.
19 June 1943
ALLIES capture Pskov.
26 June 1943
Allied bombing takes its toll on the Reich. ... the overall Axis supply will be affected

The situation at the start of Turn 200 - June 26 1943 Allies go first.
The Eastern Front: German counterattacks have isolated Soviet units in Poland, notably the ones in Warsaw, but the Wehrmacht is under constant pressure in all other sectors. Pskov and Minsk have been liberated.
I'd like to reinforce the central sector in order to exploit the gains made in southern Poland.

[Silvanski]

Spain and North Africa on June 26 1943.
The Western allies are controlling most of French North-Africa after defeating the Vichy and Italian troops there and American units are advancing east in order to link up with the British troops occupying the Nile delta.

In Spain it's not been easy going so far. Got chased out of Madrid, and Franco's troops got help from the Italians based near Gibraltar. Good in a way cuz that makes the attack on Gibraltar a bit less daunting.

[Silvanski]

The situation in the Middle East on June 26 1943.
The Germans are getting isolated and have been losing their supply points.
The small Soviet expeditionary force has been doing a great job.

[Silvanski]

10 July 1943
ALLIES capture Daugavpils.
17 July 1943
ALLIES capture Krakow.
ALLIES capture El Alamein. North Africa came under Allied control a few weeks later. The Germans in the Middle East were finally defeated near Mosul
24 July 1943
ALLIES capture Almeria.
ALLIES capture Al Bayda.
31 July 1943
ALLIES capture Vilnius.
ALLIES capture Cadiz.
21 August 1943
ALLIES capture Malta. The Italians surprised me with a small scale naval operation, thus I had to take swift action
ALLIES capture Sofia.
AXIS capture Sofia. Stubborn resistance by the German Balkan Army Group
28 August 1943
AXIS successfully defend Leningrad.The successes in the Baltic states freed up units to reinforce the Leningrad front
4 September 1943
ALLIES capture Marseille. Hit'em in the soft underbelly!!! As Elmer chooses to keep the bulk of his Western forces near the Channel coast, I decided to undertake the invasion of France in the South. It's a long road to Paris but it's still September 1943... A combined operation involving a landing and attacks from units coming through eastern Spain liberated Marseille.
Before advancing further North the Allies will have to regroup first. There are still a few Spanish/Italian pockets of resistance in Spain I'd like to clear first...
As a measure of diversion the British carried out a limited landing on the eastcoast of the Danish peninsula... No German reaction thus far...

The situation in southern Europe at the beginning of the Sep 11 1943 turn (Allies move first)

[Silvanski]

... and the Eastern front on September 11 1943

[Silvanski]

Attached screenie shows the situation in Europe during the October 16 1943 turn, and (hypothetical) approaches to Berlin...

(still apx 20% of my turn left)

We're getting... Inside The Reich ja ja!!![:D]

The Red Army went in the offensive against the Finns and liberated Leningrad...


18 September 1943
AXIS capture Krakow.
ALLIES capture Krakow.
ALLIES capture Sofia.
ALLIES capture Leningrad.

25 September 1943
Sofia is captured, Bulgaria surrenders! [:D]
AXIS capture Krakow.
AXIS capture Bayonne.
ALLIES capture Copenhagen. ... and a valuable supply point
ALLIES capture Bayonne.
AXIS successfully defend Paris. An Allied blitz move brought them to the southeast of the French capital...

9 October 1943
AXIS defend Timisoara.
AXIS successfully defend Krakow.
ALLIES capture Lublin.
AXIS defend Paris.
AXIS defend Koenigsberg.

16 October 1943
AXIS capture Lublin. [:@] It's not easy sending reinforcements fast enough to the battlefield in southern Poland
ALLIES capture Thessaloniki Ruskis in Greece... concerto for balalaika and bouzouki... or was it bazooka?

[Silvanski]

23 October 1943
Budapest is captured, Hungary surrenders!
U-Boats taking heavy losses,Allied shipping increases!
ALLIES capture Viipuri.

30 October 1943
ALLIES capture Paris.
ALLIES capture Lublin.

6 November 1943
AXIS successfully defend Caen.

13 November 1943
AXIS successfully defend Antwerp.
ALLIES capture Bordeaux.
ALLIES capture Sarajevo.
ALLIES capture Caen.
AXIS capture Karlsruhe. I overextended the advance which left some valuable armoured units isolated due to a strong German counterattack

27 November 1943
ALLIES capture Lvov.

4 December 1943
ALLIES successfully defend Malta. ..against a pathetic Italian attempt to land a single unit

11 December 1943
AXIS successfully defend Trieste. Succesful campaign to clear the Balkans of Axis troops... Italy has been isolated from Germany...
ALLIES capture Lvov.
AXIS successfully defend Le Havre.A tough nut -like Caen heavily defended with aid of those big coastal guns

18 December 1943
ALLIES capture Trieste.

25 December 1943
AXIS successfully defend Vienna.

1 January 1944
ALLIES capture Hamburg.
ALLIES capture Helsinki.

8 January 1944
Helsinki is captured, Finland surrenders! But there's still a significant German presence in the North

15 January 1944
ALLIES successfully defend Hamburg.

The situation on January 15 1944... can the war be won in 1944? Fact is that the Germans on the Western front are very aggresive and the Western allies have been receiving some harsh blows.