A musical global war AAR...

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And here's the weather for the next couple of impulses:

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May/June 1943, Axis impulse number 11:

Japan takes a combined action. Germany and Italy take land actions.

The Italians decide to port attack Mogador. Without any Allied FTR's available, the AMPH in port looks like a sitting duck. Allies roll 10, Axis roll 8, giving them 2 surprise points, which are used to increase damage:

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The Japanese use the two naval moves to start transporting units to improve the defense of Manilla.

For a moment, Germany thought about railing another HQ towards the Omsk area, but since the turn will end before Novosibirsk can be reached by the fast moving MECH, they elect not to do so. A Finnish INF rails out of Finland into the Ostfront and a ARM division rails to Prince Paul who is near Tashkent.

Listen to: Corny Ostermann - Sing ein Lied wenn du mal traurig bist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN0mpCWf5B0

Italian units move forward towards Samarkand and Tashkent. The Soviets can't affort to pass next impulse:

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German motorized units race through Omsk and leave the city again. Yeremenko gets isolated. More heavy German motorized columns are heading eastwards, into the emptyness of Siberia.

South of Perm, Kesselring attacks. He chooses the Blitzkrieg table:

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The OKH orders Kesselring to convert the attack to a retreat, since they don't want the Soviets to be able to put these units in places around or in Tashkent or Novosibirsk.

More music: Hans Rehmstedt - Melodie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3yiB1xzvQ

Planes are rebased. Here is central Siberia:

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In Morocco, German and Italian units are moved from Spain into the country, to bolster the defenders:

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The turn doesn't end:

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May/June 1943, Allied impulse number 12:

Beria, in his command center in Tashkent, receives messages of defeat after defeat. The Soviet airforce is reduced to one bomber. The Soviet navy has it's headquarters setup in the far away port of Magadan, which cannot even be reached by road anymore. Only obsolete submarines and some patrol boats can be used there. In several parts of Siberia, small riots are repressed by the police, but local authorities warn that the population is growing more and more restless. Shortages of food, oil and ammunition are everywhere. The death toll on Soviets soldiers has risen to alarming levels. The Soviet army has been reduced to a couple of pockets and the forces defending Tashkent and Irkutsk. The Soviet army now consists of 10 corps and three HQ's. Four of the corps and Yeremenko are surrounded. The army near Tashkent has shortages of man and equipment...

Music out of the Soviet Union: Музыка 30-40-х годов.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ_zs9aeSag

Still Beria doesn't want to throw the towel. He is insistent: “defend to the last man standing! Communism will die or prevail! The Americans will be able to open a second front this summer”. The officer corps decide they will see if the US will do so and do what they can. But a lot of the officers have a very low morale. So have the men which they have to command...

The USSR takes a land action. All other major powers pass.

Timoshenko orders a retreat into the river line near Tashkent. Vatutin agrees. Again, the Soviet army is digging foxholes along a river line...

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The turn finally ends, no partisans appear:

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May/June 1943, End of turn phases:

Modern warfare uses a lot of oil:

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That goes for the Allies too:

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The destroyed pool says it all:

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Obsolete planes are scrapped by Germany, the US and the USSR. The CW cruiser Dido is scrapped, due to the house rule in play.

Japanese military music: 《軍歌》皇軍入城（"Kōgun Nyūjō " - Imperial Army entry into a castle ）

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7gw1OXL5fg

Gemany produces 52 build points, of which 5 are send to Italy. It uses 10 oil for reorganisation. Germany finishes the CV Seydlitz, the cruisers Prinz Eugen and Lützov together with the captured French battleship Jean Bart II. A submarine gets repaired too. Builds are: offensive, 2 MIL, INF, 4 pilots and 4 FTR3.

Italy produces 18 build points and receives 5 from Germany. It uses 4 oil for reorganisation. Builds are 3 pilots, 3 FTR2, NAV2, PARA and the oil fields at Mosul are repaired.

Japan produces 33 build points. It uses 4 oil for reorganisation. It finishes the CV Katsuragi and a SUB. Builds are: 5 pilots, FTR3, 2 FTR2, 2 CVP1, 1 CVP0, NAV3, 4 CP, INF.

Here are the Axis oil reserves at the end of the turn:

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The CW produces 33 build points and receives 5 from the US. It uses 6 oil for reorganisation. It finishes the cruiser Nigeria. Builds are: HQ-I, LND3, FTR3, FTR2, ATR, 4 pilots, Airlandingdivision, 2 MOT, 2 CP.

France produces nothing but receives 3 build points from the US. It uses no oil to reorganise all units. It repairs a SUB and saves 2 buildpoints.

The US produces 77 build points of which 5 are send to the CW and 3 to France. It uses 6 oil for reorganisation. It finishes the Battleship Illinois and the light CV's Monterrey and San Jacinto. Builds are: AMPH, TRS, 2 PARA, MAR, CVP2, CVP1, 5 pilots, 2 FTR2, 2FTR3 and an offensive.

The USSR produces 15 build points. It uses 1 oil for reorganisation and burns 9 oil in the factories. Builds are 2 FTR2, pilot and 3 INF.


A Soviet soldiers song: Take Your Overcoat, Let's Go Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raW1be_hgA

Here are the Allied oil reserves at the end of the turn:

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Production for this turn totals too 103 for the Axis and 125 for the Allies.

The ambassador of Cuba is seen entering and leaving the temporarily seat of the government of the Soviet Union in Tashkent. One wonders what he wants. Anyway, Beria doesn't surrender...

July/August 1943, Start of turn phases:

More Soviet music: Time to go the way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vXS_msFn44

Here are the Axis reïnforcements:

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And the Allied reinforcements:

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Here are the trade agreements for this turn:

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The Axis roll a 10 for initiative and with a +1 that means the Allies can't ask for a reroll. The Axis elect to go first. And here is the weather for the next couple of impulses:

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July/August 1943, Axis impulse number 1:

The Japanese takes a naval, Italy an air and Germany a land action.

First: a video I found today. Propaganda, of course: "Nasti" News From Lord Haw Haw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh9Y99ISztc

The Japanese fly planes into the China sea and the Sea of Japan. The Italians fly planes into the Bay of Biscay. The Japanese move naval task forces into the China Sea and the South China sea. The Kwantung army is transported into Rangoon.

Japanese Submarines enter the New Zealand coast and search for the allied convoys. Axis roll 1, Allies roll 10. The Japanese slaughter the Convoys:

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Both sides decide to stay in the sea area, but the combat ends when the Japanese elect not to include the submarine in the combat round.

Listen to Japanese music: Shina No Yoru - 支那之夜 - China Night - 李香蘭

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT8T3Shb8gU

In the Coral Sea, a Japanese cruiser task force, aided by submarines, searches for Allied shipping. A Japanese NAV reacts into the 4 box too. The Australian airforce scambles 2 NAV and the US a FTR into the Coral Sea too. Both the Allies and the Axis roll a 5. The Japanese want to avoid the US FTR and chooses the 0 box. The Nashville is surprised by the appearance of six Japanese cruisers, who open fire (4 surprise points used to choose a surface battle):