Just bought yesterday

[Ostwindflak]

So with the 30% off coupon code I finally picked this game up. I played Operation Husky back to back as the WA, trying to learn from my dumb mistakes.

My first attempt resulted in an Axis Minor Victory. My second attempt was a draw.

Each time I found the road the British have to travel to Messina to be rough going. The German HG Div. and the other PzG Div. make it very hard to push through. I have not captured Messina in either try, but did Palermo both times.

The one question that I would like some advice on is the strategic air in this scenario. Is it beneficial to have the Strategic bombers assist in ground attack operations throughout the scenario where it is essentially only 7 turns?

Or should I switch them to full on Strat bombing in the North once the troops have landed and the beach head has been expanded?

I have noticed in both play throughs that my ground casualties have been fairly high as compared to the Axis. I believe most of this was due to troop ships being sunk enroute to Sicily, but an average of 34,000 casualties at the end of turn 1 on both play throughs seemed a little steep to me.

[marion61]

Once your ashore, I use my strategic bomber's to destroy the ports and railyards at Palermo and Messina, and Reggio. Axis doesn't fight very well when your interdicting their supplies. Learning how to set up manual air directives will help you, as the ai does okay, but it never does enough. Always make sure you have ground support AD's set for the troops. In most combat, a ground support mission can tip the balance for you, so make sure you have plenty. Ground interdiction is good too as it causes unit disruption and retreat casualties. If you see a large concentration of mech. units or armor, send in your FB's to rip them to shreds. Just some ideas.

[Fallschirmjager]

I ignore western Sicily until Messina falls. I use the US infantry to push to the left of Etna and use my armor to cut the island and then roll east along the northern coast. In my last few games, Messina has fallen before Palermo.

As Meklore said, use heavy and medium bombers to hit ports and railyards at Messina and Reggio Calabria. Hitting rail yards destroys freight. Speed is the biggest issue, if you can move before the Axis gets lvl 3 forts then it makes things far easier.

[decourcy2]

Even beyond bombing the ports on Sicily i use the heavies to obliterate Naples port and Taranto port. I think that helps keep the island isolated.

[Ostwindflak]

Ok, so I need to focus on setting most of the AD myself. From the suggestions it seems that strategic bombing things such as fuel, oil, manpower, weapons, etc. is not needed for the scenario. I should just use the heavy and mediums in support of the push in Sicily.

Will naval interdiction missions reduce the amount of ships I lose while transporting to Sicily or is that more from enemy planes bombing my ships?

[marion61]

If your not getting points for bombing those targets, then yes I'd concentrate on cutting supplies coming down the toe to Sicily, and use your naval interdiction around the ports to close them off by sea.

It's always good to have more naval interdiction than you need, but don't drop it over your beaches till you have some ports open and functioning on Sicily. Check your air battle reports and see what the ai is doing. You can see what it bombs and where it patrols, so if there's any axis naval patrols close, always have some naval up, especially if your only ports are the temp. ports. You can also probably spare some Wellington's and Halifax's from Strategic Air to perform naval patrols. Load them out with mines, and set naval patrols around any open ports left on Sicily. Then use your heavy bombers for railway and ferry interdiction. That will essentially turn supply to a trickle in Sicily, if not isolate it. But you have to close the ports you can't reach yet with naval interdiction.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Ostwindflak

Ok, so I need to focus on setting most of the AD myself. From the suggestions it seems that strategic bombing things such as fuel, oil, manpower, weapons, etc. is not needed for the scenario. I should just use the heavy and mediums in support of the push in Sicily.

Will naval interdiction missions reduce the amount of ships I lose while transporting to Sicily or is that more from enemy planes bombing my ships?

I find the air war is like an onion ... (messy and makes you cry? - no) ... in that you can explore in more and more detail as you come to grips. One thing to look at is the different bomb loads. For eg the Lancasters have a mine load which is probably ideal for naval interdiction and I've often found that 4 Engined bombers are good for naval interdiction.

My rule of thumb for targetting is:

- if it can't move, use 4 engined bombers ... things that can't move include cities, airfields and patches of sea
- if it can move but only in a limited way, use 2 engined bombers ... this is why I like using 2 engined bombers both to hit rail yards and rail interdiction (in effect you are bombing moving trains that deliver supply etc)
- if it can move easily ... hit it with a fighter bomber

So in Husky, good uses for the heavy bombers are naval interdiction or wrecking ports ... both will squeeze axis supply and ease your conquest of the island.

Good idea to check out the payload options. If a fighter bomber can use a rocket, then adopt that approach. Also for interdiction, lots of small bombs seem to be better than a few really big ones.

[Ostwindflak]

Thank you for the replies and suggestions gents. I will delve a bit deeper into the Air War and check load outs and such.

[Brambo]

Thanks for a great question, I had the same results as you, Axis Minor Victory against me and a Draw. These answers really help, so I'll add my thanks to you guys. Now back to the manual and find the manual ad rules [:)]

[HMSWarspite]

If I may add a further rule of thumb: if it has lots of light flak (especially Airfields), don't use FBs. It is very dangerous and you will run out. This is more for the future than for Husky...

Oh, and 4 engines for NI works very very well if they aren't being intercepted by fighters. If they are, escort them well, or use 2e a/c. A mix of Beaufighters and others works well.

[cmunson]

My rule of thumb for targetting is: - if it can't move, use 4 engined bombers ... things that can't move include cities, airfields and patches of sea - if it can move but only in a limited way, use 2 engined bombers ... this is why I like using 2 engined bombers both to hit rail yards and rail interdiction (in effect you are bombing moving trains that deliver supply etc) - if it can move easily ... hit it with a fighter bomber

Great advice and very true.

[Ostwindflak]

So I am now on game 3 of Husky. Into the start of Turn 3 now.

I did as you fine knowledgeable men suggested. I created all my own ADs. 4 engine bombers hitting ports, airfields, and rail yards in Sicily, twin engine bombers hitting railroads and airfields, and fighter-bombers doing ground attack and interdicting.

I think the results of the air combat phase were better than my two previous games letting the AI do it. At the end of turn 2 the Axis have lost right around 500 or so planes (give or take as I am at work and don't have the game in front of me) and my own losses were right around 300 planes.

I also noticed that a few of the Axis divisions weren't able to pull back as far from the landing zones as they had in previous games, allowing me to actually hit some before they retreated fully into the mountains.

I also took the advice of using some Wellingtons and loading them with mines. I dropped the mines at the ferry crossing for the two turns. I am not sure how successful it has been, but my Wellingtons suffered for the effort as they could only be escorted by P-38s. I only assigned one squadron of 32 Wellingtons to drop the mines and out of that 18 were lost in 2 turns. Mostly to flak.

All in all I like the manual ADs better and it isn't as intimidating now after delving into it and giving it a go.

[Ostwindflak]

So I just finished my third go at Husky. This time the outcome was an Allied Minor Victory. I still didn't take Messina (was very close to doing) but I have been steadily improving.

The advice you guys gave with the manual handling of the ADs helped a lot. I need to get better at managing fatigued squadrons as my operational losses were pretty high.

I am still uncertain what the best approach is to laying mines from LBs around ports. My losses seemed tremendously high every time I tried it.

[marion61]

You can manage your pilot fatigue and morale thru the commanders report. At the bottom of the air group tab there are sortable options. For a scenario like Husky I'd probably filter my air groups at 39 and below to rest and 40 and above morale to operations, and then sort out the low ready aircraft groups to rest also. If your not using recon, you should, for every aspect of your air. Recon the ports, and rail yards for sure as this helps hitting them, the same goes for airfields and units and any type interdiction. Recon helps increase your effectiveness at that target. If your losing lots of planes, recon the airfields and then send some heavy bombers to destroy the AI air capability. Just make sure you have escorts.

If your flying naval patrols, you should always have fighter escort to fend off interceptions and Air Superiority. Fly naval around the easier ports to get to like Syracuse and Catania, and Palermo, and then blast the crap out of all the other ports. Messina and Reggio has a nest of fighters so I probably wouldn't do a naval patrol around it. Just keep the ports and railyards bombed each turn.

[Ostwindflak]

Thank you for the reply meklore61 and the insight in how to manage the morale and fatigue. As for recon I had recon missions plotted every turn except for either turn 4 or 5. On that turn I canceled all air operations due to rain across the region and to give my fly boys a rest and for damaged aircraft to get fixed so I could put more planes in the air the following turn.

Operational losses weren't as high the turn after the rest period, but the subsequent turns saw the high numbers hit again. I believe it was turn 7 where I had around 70 operational losses which was more than my losses to flak and air combat combined for the turn.

Most of the planes I see escorting my naval patrols are P-38s. After I capture some airfields on Sicily and move some fighter bomber and fighter squadrons to the mainland, should I move some of my coastal airforce to Malta so I can get better escort range around Messina for naval interdiction when the time comes?

Also should I be flying air superiority around areas the enemy is conducting naval interdiction missions in?

[marion61]

If you have P38's in Coastal Command they are better utilized as escorts for Strategic Air Force. And yes, moving air to Malta is a good idea for naval interdiction of Messina. I'm guessing you already have Malta Air Command on Sicily? Plus the shorter the distance you have to fly to reach your naval patrol zones, the better your interdiction will be. It's all about how many sorties you can get up, not how many planes you have.

AS is very important, and yes if you look at the map and turn interdiction on you can probably see the flight path of the axis bombers as they do naval patrols. I usually set my AS to intercept them as far out from their patrol as I can, placing my AS over the path they are taking to get there. AS is like a jack-of-all trades directive. It does a little bit of everything besides just intercepting enemy planes.