Timing for moving units from Italy for 44 invasion of France

[Phleem]

I am playing the 43-45 campaign for the first time as WA vs AI, and am wondering about the timing of getting the 44 invasion of France ready. Pretty much every unit is in Italy, and I know I need to start moving them back to England, but I was hoping someone would be kind enough to give me some suggested dates for milestones. Things like when you need to get the first few corps on the boats back, when the Amphibious targeting must be started, and when you should have everything on the ground in the UK and ready to go.

Any other tips for how to get the support units organized would be appreciated too.

[szmike]

You need invasion force preparing by the end of February if you want to invade in May with decent prep points. Reinforcments for after landing need 3-4 turns to go back depending on amount of troop ships and ports availability.

[Seminole]

when the Amphibious targeting must be started

Can't address all of your questions as I lack the experience, but I offer this to help you with planning the amphib targeting/composition:
It breaks down prep points earned for each possible combination of units by port size. Keep in mind you can shift units during the prep phase without penalty. The TF requires more prep points (50) than the units do (30) to launch, so you can juggle things:

[Q-Ball]

Depending on how many units you have in the Med, and how much shipping you have lost, figure at least a month to shift reinforcements back to England. I would probably leave more. You definitely do not want to have to be doing this in June, as you'll want to reserve all your shipping capacity for getting units from England to France

[Dereck]

I follow basically what was done historically:

By the end of December 1943 I have the following units transferred from the Mediterranean to England:

United States:
82nd US Airborne Division
2nd US Armored Division
1st US Infantry Division
9th US Infantry Division

British:
BR XXX Corps HQ
1st BR Airborne Division
2nd BR Armoured Division
5th BR Infantry Division
50th BR Infantry Division
51st BR Infantry Division
4th BR Armoured Brigade Group
8th BR Armoured Brigade Group
231st BR Infantry Brigade

Don't wait until the last minute. You need to reorganize your forces since it's easier if you have the British units under XXX Corps so you can easily move them from the line and to England.

The US troops I usually keep with the 7th Army and use them to take Sardinia and Corsica. They never see Italy at all.

[Hofstadter]

I actually dont move any units from the mediterranean. Bu the time i have reached the ravenna line, it will be a few months before the europe invasion and i will have set up for operation dragoon. Generally the units pushing up through southern france link up nicely

[LiquidSky]

I agree...I push all excess units except for the paratroopers into southern france. This is a very important front as it forces the Germans to abandon any pretense of holding your armies back in <insert invasion here> in the north. I motorize all my infantry brigades and push all my tank brigades into one army.

You don't need them in England..waiting around with the rest of the divisions. In Southern France they will be a threat.

[KWG]

It depends on what you think you still need in Italy. And your plans for Italy/South France.


If in doubt move your not needed units in Italy to Africa until you decide on where to use them.

[Dereck]

For the invasion of southern France I move these units out of Italy to join the US 7th Army and the 1st FF Army by the end of June 1944:

VI US Corps
I FF Corps and all FF troops

3rd US Infantry Division
36th US Infantry Division
45th US Infantry Division

65th Sep US Infantry Regiment
115th Sep US Infantry Regiment
442nd Nisei Sep US Infantry Regiment
517th Sep US Infantry Regiment

[Phleem]

Thanks for the replies. I should have made it clear that I moved just about every unit down from the UK to Italy. The shipping is going to be busy undoing that all winter and spring.