Sicily to Brenner Pass Revised

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T62 situation near Rome. Landing at Anzio has caused the Germans to have to defend in two directions and they ended up
defending neither side well. The front has opened up and I'm getting surrounds on various Axis groups and the Free French have
donated a formation to capture Rome from the south. All they need is someone to watch their flanks.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation in T66. Still trying to invest Rome. Still building rail to the front. Mopping up in the rear and trying to get a
surround on Germans at the front. Progress is being made.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what the Rome area looks like in T66. Mop up in the rear and fire and maneuvor at the front. As the supply level improves I'm
moving units north and I'm spreading out and converting hexes and looking for Germans. Especially along the roads and rails. I'm
running into a lot of those strongpoint thingies. They are good for roadblocks but they are easy to surround before destruction.

[ogar]

Larry,
Thanks again for these full-featured AARs - always entertaining, and informative.  I was worrying that you were going to spend the rest of the game in and around Naples, and BOOM ! - Roma and beyond !

Is the Anzio landing sort of hard-coded (you must land at Anzio within turns X - Y ?) or did you just select that spot per strategy and tradition ?  With that big hole in the Gustav Line sector, I wonder if you really needed a full scale landing - although anything to get Elmer budged out of F on a mountainside will help.

@Steve - Congratulations on your editing/re-working.  I think the Sicily section - for one -  looks very well-done.  Having an aggressive, experienced player like Larry be slower than Patton, slower than Monty, is - I think - a good design feature; although it is frustrating to play a design that good.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: ogar
Larry,
Thanks again for these full-featured AARs - always entertaining, and informative. 

Well, thank you very much for your kind words. I'm one of two Allied players in a PBEM game of WITP-AE and us allied players
are getting our but kicked and I was in a rather bad mood until I read your words. Cheer up larry it's just a game. I thank you for
your interest and for reading this thing this far.

ORIGINAL: ogar
I was worrying that you were going to spend the rest of the game in and around Naples, and BOOM ! - Roma and beyond !

This is my second time through this scenario and I sort of knew what to expect and so on. I'm not all that good.

ORIGINAL: ogar
Is the Anzio landing sort of hard-coded (you must land at Anzio within turns X - Y ?) or did you just select that spot per strategy and tradition ? 

Um......It's my understanding that Anzio is the northernmost port on the west coast. I could be wrong. But Anzio also has a supply
point and I REALLY needed that right then. I was stuck at a hard place north of Salerno and needed some way to outflank the
Germans and because of the terrain the only way to do that was an invasion. And I picked Anzio because it was close to the action
site, it had a supply point, and I thought it was the last port headed north from Salerno. So I started gathering up troops to use in
the invasion and by the end of four turns had about two divisions worth of boots on the ground ready to go at ports, >100% supply,
and the rediness was reasonable ( 70% or more ). Weather was good, moonless night, tide was going out exposing the iron works
in the beach. It was just the right time to go.

ORIGINAL: ogar
With that big hole in the Gustav Line sector, I wonder if you really needed a full scale landing - although anything to get Elmer budged out of F on a mountainside will help.

Yeah, it COULD have been done w/o a landing in the rear but an invasion was the solution to the problem that was potentially quicker
and easier than fire and maneuvor typically are.

ORIGINAL: ogar
@Steve - Congratulations on your editing/re-working.  I think the Sicily section - for one -  looks very well-done.  Having an aggressive, experienced player like Larry be slower than Patton, slower than Monty, is - I think - a good design feature; although it is frustrating to play a design that good.

Yeah, kudos to Steve for this scenario. Um.......I'm not sure what you mean by me being slower than Patton, Monty, etc. Am I behind
the historical schedule? I'm not that good a player you guys..........I just tend to post a lot.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's Rome in T68. I've surrounded the Germans and I'm mostly doing mop up and moving troops north.

[sPzAbt653]

Thanks Ogar. I'm working in increments and with Mr. Fulkerson's help this one is getting better. It seems close to historical up to about 12-43, but I need to plug those holes in the Gustav Line, get a better German reaction to Anzio, and slow Allied supply down. Hopefully it won't end up being too frustrating so as to be not playable.

I could also use a book written from the Allied side so I could get a better perspective on their difficulties. Not one of those books full of personal accounts of Johnny taking that machine gun nest, but a book that details operations. If anyone could recommend one, I would appreciate it.

[larryfulkerson]

OK. It's T69 and Rome is finally cleared of Germans and it's got a broken bridge but I can fix that lickety split. The railhead is close to
Rome already and I'm planning on continuing the rail in two directions: north and east. I'm aiming for some supply levels in the middle
of the map that can support combat.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the east side in T69. I'm continually getting into meeting engagements which turn into fire and maneuvor and after about three
or four turns I can have surrounded the unit and am ready to attack seriously. Depending upon terrain and supply and so on.

[JeffroK]

http://www.history.army.mil/html/booksh ... 2-mto.html

The US Army Histories on PDF.

[sPzAbt653]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

http://www.history.army.mil/html/booksh ... 2-mto.html

The US Army Histories on PDF.

Careful what I ask for, eh ?

Thanks very much Jeff, in a couple months I will be able to answer any questions I have. [&o]

[larryfulkerson]

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you profusely for this link. It's just what the doctor ordered. I've read a lot from books such
as these and I found a link one time where you could purchase books like this from the US government but I didn't like the prices myself.
They may have come down in price since the 20th century and now in the 21st century they may have a going out of business sale.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the zoom out of T69's front lines. You can see how I like to surround the target before I destroy it. It keeps any small trickle of
equipment from going back to the pool for future use.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of my losses so far:

[larryfulkerson]

My partisans have been busy in Northern Italy busting bridges and converting rail hexes. I've lost about 5 partisan units so far.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the strategic situation in T71. Still moving north, although, most of the good supply level is a thing of the past. I'm getting into the
single digits now and the going is going to have to stop. I need to lengthen the supply rail and probably go in a new direction with it. I
feel like I'm entering another slow period in the scenario where there's no more supply points to be had going north and progress will
slow dramatically. Dramatically

[larryfulkerson]

I did it again......I went to dig in a unit and ended up destroying a bridge instead. D'oh. And I did a fat finger slipo and clicked on the
map thus rendering the undo unusable. D'oh. I'll have to get one of those valuable RR engineers up here to fix the hole in the rail.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the West coast area in T72: I'm running into very low supply areas and it's looking like I'll have to wait for the supply rail to get a
lot closer before I can advance properly.

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Here's the West coast area in T72: I'm running into very low supply areas and it's looking like I'll have to wait for the supply rail to get a
lot closer before I can advance properly.

@Steve (warning: nitpicking ahead):

You may want to put an escarpment around Orvieto (been there, cool site btw). Yes, all around

[sPzAbt653]

You may want to put an escarpment around Orvieto

Cool. Thanks !