ultradave(WA) vs scout1(Ger), '43-'45 Campaign (Turn 88, Mar 3, '45)

[scout1]

Aug 19th ... Uncle Joe is not being very tough on his Marshal's .....

[scout1]

Almost the entire Axis East front Infantry listed as unready ...... We must have distributed massive amounts of vodka in the areas we're vacating to the Soviets ....

[scout1]

Looks as if most of the Soviet advance is limited to the South ....

[ultradave]

Tired of being stalemated by hordes of Germans, the Allies open up a new front with an invasion of southern France near Montpelier. A bit of a gamble as I went farther west thinking it would be more lightly defended than going straight for Marseilles or Toulon. We'll see how that goes, but it's a sure bet that there isn't much opposition present initially. It's all facing me in other places. The picture below doesn't show everything. Don't want to give too much info to Scott.

This should add some interest to the game and give the Germans a headache.

[scout1]

that only accounts for 2x of your amphib HQ's .... where are the other 3x me wonders ..... ?

[ultradave]

Oh Lordy. Where do all these Germans keep coming from? This doesn't look good for the home team. Not to mention my Airborne support went all to hell too.

[ultradave]

In an attempt to break the stalemate in the Le Havre invasion, a massive Airborne drop with amphibious support is launched on the Cotentin penninsula. This is risky as it may be too easy for him to bottle up the penninsula, however, the hope is that in extending his lines, we'll be able to organize a breakthrough somewhere, and the addition of another port will allow space and supplies to bring in more reinforcements.

Invading farther east was tempting but my feeling was he'd be expecting that and with would be even more ready to react to that than here. We'll see how it pans out. I may have made a couple of mistakes with these two moves, but like they say - no guts, no glory.

[ultradave]

I was not expecting to get hemmed in so easily in Montpellier. I expected light defense and a reasonable clear shot and sliding over to Marseilles. This may turn into quite a struggle. On the other hand, the Germans will have to take troops from somewhere to contain things, and with some luck that may leave an opening to expand and breakout of these stalemates.

[scout1]

I can see your airborne background oozing out all over the place ...... ;>

[scout1]

Fortunately, the railroads are working just fine ......

[scout1]

At both ends of the country ......

[ultradave]

< GROAN >

[ultradave]

ORIGINAL: scout1

I can see your airborne background oozing out all over the place ...... ;>

Yes, can't resist using them.

[ultradave]

This is not looking good but we're hanging on. However, breaking out of the beach head and getting more troops ashore (and especially some armor), is going to be tough going.

[ultradave]

The situation on the French coast. At least here I can get ashore.

[ultradave]

And meanwhile back in Italy, the boys are enjoying the cuisine and wine more than fighting.. (fighting being useless here at the moment).

[scout1]

And yet they hold on .....

[scout1]

stubborn group of lads you have there ...

[ultradave]

Oh, no. That doesn't look good.

But stubborn, yeah.

"We're paratroopers son. We're supposed to be surrounded"
-- Dick Winters

[ultradave]

Ah. His intelligence was a little off. Much better than it looked. I think we'll soon own the peninsula and Cherbourg. Next - to get out of there. It might have been smarter to have invaded farther north along the coast, but I think he's probably been expecting that, and with the resources he's scrounged from the east front I was afraid of being thrown back into the sea. In Montpellier we seem to be up against a brick wall, even after concentrating all the airpower I could get together for ground support.