Winston's Soft Underbelly -- A Dream Realized?

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. China. North Monsoon.

The same for this theater. That is, movement and no combat due to the weather.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. The Western Front. Italy, Austria and the Balkans.

Snow and Blizzard were enough to discourage the Western Allies from conducting any land combats in this theater this turn. So nothing, except for some minor movements, occurred.

[rkr1958]

28. The Western Front. Western France and the Bay of Biscay.

Weather estimates gave a 30% chance of fine weather in the North Temperate for the second and third allied impulses. The CW and USA decide to put a small invasion force to sea in the Bay of Biscay to either draw German resources to this area and away from the southern or eastern fronts or establish a presence in western France if the Germans didn't react. In order to protect there fragile production (i.e., keep needed resources), the Germans did move modest reinforcements led by Kesslinger to France to discourage and allied invasion there. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for either side, the weather made any amphibious invasion attempt by the Western Allies too risky.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. The Bay of Biscay and North Sea.

A small CW invasion force also sailed into the North Sea. Again, the Germans were forced to react but the weather prevented any landing.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. The Finnish Front.

Neither side is motivated to fight the other on this front. So things are fairly static, or possibly at a stalemate here.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. The Eastern Front. North.

The Soviets continued their slow, and sometimes, painful progress on this front. Worth noting is that the Soviet did manage to "liberate" the city of Brest-Litovsk this turn.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. The Eastern Front. South.

German Army Group South is on the verge of total collapse. Over the next two summer turns it could get very ugly for the Germans in the south. That's what the Red Army is hoping for and, honestly, that's what the Western Allies are hoping for too. The next two or three turns (i.e., 6 months) may see a race between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies for the Balkans and for Czechoslovakia.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. Country Economic Reports.

The Soviet Union even with 4 trade non-oil resources from the West, was forced to use 1 oil point needed for full, that is 100%, production for unit reorganization. At a multiplier of 2.00, that "lost" production point translated into a loss of 2 build points.

Note the USA crash build program for more CPs. They bought 8 CPs this turn which will arrive in Nov/Dec 1944.

Also note that while still sufficient USA and CW oil reserves (i.e., saved oil points), are steadily decreasing and may, at their rate of decline, could start impacting production in a year (i.e., 6 turns) or so.

[rkr1958]

28. Mar/Apr 1944. Trade Agreements for May/Jun 1944.

Though the USA and CW could address their declining oil reserves with the 4 non-oil resources being sent to the USSR, they decide to maintain that agreement, for now.

[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1944. Victory Totals.

This turn saw a total of 8 impulses with the allies moving first and the axis moving last. The weather was fine in the North Temperate for all of the four impulse pairs (i.e., 8 impulses) and fine in the Arctic for 3 of the 4 pairs (the other was rain). The allies (USA, CW, USSR and China) took only land impulses; i.e., no combined or naval impulse taken by any allied power. The focus of this turn was the land war against Germany. The USA played 2 o-chits and the CW 1 and used them to double land combat values.

Though this turn saw no change in the victory totals from last turn, a lot did happen to German on the ground in the East, West and in the Balkans.

[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1944. Destroyed Pool.

The Germans really took it on the chin this turn on all fronts.

The Eastern Front (USSR Land Combat) Breakdown: The Soviets carried out 8 Blitz and 9 Assault, or 17 total, land combats against the Germans on the Eastern Front. These attacks breakdown as follows,

2:1B 1
3:1B 1
4:1B 1
5:1B 2
7:1B 3

3:1A 2
4:1A 4
5:1A 1
7:1A 1
10:1A 1

Reminder: Theses, and all odds given do NOT include those attacks increased by 1 column due to a successful fractional odds roll.

The Western Front (USA and CW) Land Combat Breakdown: The Western Allies conducted 4 Blitz and 5 Assault, or 9 total, land combats against the Germans in Germany, Austria and the Balkans. These attacks breakdown as follows,

4:1B 2
5:1B 1
7:1B 1

3:1A 1
4:1A 1
5:1A 2

The Germans conducted one counterattack the Western Allies at 4:1B.

The Japanese conducted two land combats against the Chinese, one at 7:1B and the other at 1:1A.

[rkr1958]

May/Jun 1944. Reserve Pool.

Note the number of reserve pilots that Germany and the USA have.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. The Western and Balkan Fronts (Western Allies).

The biggest gains the Western Allies made this turn was on the Balkan front. They are on the cusp of expelling the Germans completely from Yugoslavia and are in position to push into Hungary.

On the Western Front, the Western Allies did manage to push further into Austria and Germany. In fact, the Germany city of Munich is surrounded on 4 of 6 sides by the allies, which has closed off its factories from being able to support the Germany war effort.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. German Final Production.

In addition to the loss of the war production in Munich, the Germans lost the oil fields in Romania as you shall see in the next post.

Though German production is still working away near it's all time high max capacity, the allies are on the verge of being able to crippling it, which should lead the way to the complete collapse, and ultimate defeat, of the Reich.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. Red Army South.

The Red Army this turn managed to annihilate German Army Group South and move in force into Romania, which should be completely conquered next turn.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. The Red Army. Poland and the Baltic States.

The Red Army manage to completely conquer Lithuania and Lativa this turn. The USSR has nearly managed to push the Germans back to the agreed Nazi-Soviet pact border. However, Stalin has no plans at stopping there. Really it's now longer about the defeat of Germany, which is no apparent. It's about what territory Stalin can grab before the Western Allies get there.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. Allied Enemy Partisan Numbers.

Now is a good time, I think, to take a look at the allied enemy partisan numbers. Specifically, Italy as the Western Allies move out of Italy and into Germany, Austria and the Balkans they (the Western Allies) will need to make sure to bring in low value corps in order to keep the garrison value up so that no Italian partisans will appear.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. Axis Partisan Numbers.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. China. North Temperate.

Two attacks by Japan against the communist Chinese in the north with mixed success.

[rkr1958]

May/June 1944. China. North Monsoon.

Weather prevented anything of consequence, or really anything, happening on this front this turn.