How the Axis could have won II. Allied AAR

[warspite1]

19th - 26th July 1942

Meanwhile in the Atlantic something smells fishy - and its not the contents of Baldricks Apple Crumble....

[warspite1]

19th July 1942

Here is the position north of the Pripyat Marshes. Three main areas of attack are developing - and Polotsk is receiving some attention too.

[warspite1]

19th July 1942

In the south there has been an effort to move into the Crimea, while to the north, the Germans once again (4th time) seem reluctant to launch rescue missions for encircled units - Something that Bill and Hubert may want to review?

[warspite1]

26th July 1942

Reinforcements

United States
Medium Bomber (New York)

Soviet Union
Destroyer (Archangelsk)
Tactical Bomber (Kursk)
Army (Konotop)

MPP Expenditure

UK - Research Armoured Warfare and Command and Control
USA - Corps + reinforce
USSR - Upgrade and Reinforce - only purchase is a Maritime Bomber.

[warspite1]

26th July 1942

The US Navy are out for revenge - although need to temper this emotion with the fact that they have transports to watch over.

The old battleships New York and Arkansas spotted an Italian light cruiser squadron and pulverised the hapless unit - which then barely escaped with just one cruiser afloat. New Mexico and Texas finished the job and were ordered to keep heading west to seek out any other units of the RM. Off the coast north of Benghazi they came across the Guilio Cesare. Idaho and Mississippi were ordered to attack and, in a most uneven contest between the WWI-era ships, the Cesare was sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean.

The 7th Cruiser Division, with the carriers under their protection, took the van as the USN continued to seek any possible targets - but there were none to be found.

The Allied navies, cursing their lack of destroyers, attempted to deal with the known U-Boat menace, whilst seeking to protect the transports from potential new ones. The US 10th and the British 1st Destroyer Flotillas left their respective fleets to attack the German Wolf Pack spotted south of Crete. The attack was successful but after taking serious hits, the remaining U-Boats made their escape. Meanwhile the 9th Destroyer Flotilla, although badly mauled from the previous encounter with a battleship, was ordered to continue through the Sea of Crete in order to appear in the Kythera Channel and hopefully catch any retreating U-Boats. Instead the British destroyers came across the Italian submarines they had previously duelled with and so began a deadly game of cat and mouse that resulted in destruction of all remaining Italian submarines and the almost total annihilation of the destroyer flotilla.

At this point the British ordered all ships - regardless of their state of repair - to sea. The US 1st Army was aboard transports south of Crete with little to no protection - the transports with Task Force 34 were no longer adequately covered, and the survivors of the British 9th Destroyer Flotilla was struggling to remain an effective fighting force. First the Greek Squadron put to sea with the four elderly battleships that had still not been properly repaired after their previous encounter with the Regia Marina. Warspite, Barham, Ramillies and Malaya headed into the Sea of Crete to cover the withdrawal of the 9th Destroyer Flotilla - but in so doing came across the Conte di Cavour 200 miles west of Rhodes. The Italian battleship fought well but could not overcome four 15-inch gunned battleships and was soon sunk. The Greek Squadron was ordered though the Kythera Channel to act as a picket for all three Allied task forces.

While all of this was happening, to the south of Crete, more U-Boats were spotted. The carriers Illustrious and Victorious used their already depleted air power to help destroy the German Wolf Pack, but at a cost of all remaining aircraft.

The final act of the day was the order to US ships Ranger and Wasp and HM ships Illustrious, Victorious, Ramillies, Malaya and the 9th Destroyer Flotilla to head for Alexandria.

[warspite1]

26th July 1942

The US send a bomber unit to Crete and Patton heads for North Africa. Meanwhile the British destroy the Italian Corps northwest of El-Alamein.


While the panzers are away, the British Army will place (Anon. 1715)

[warspite1]

26th July 1942

Nothing new to show in the USSR. The Soviets continue to build up and play a waiting game to see if the Axis can fully show their hand - particularly in the centre of the front.

[warspite1]

2nd - 9th August 1942

We start at sea again. I will do what I did in the last turn in the Atlantic and do a summary of the Axis turn and my turn together. That seems logical given the fluid nature of the fighting.

1. It is confirmed: The Kriegsmarine are attempting a breakout into the Atlantic. The two US Destroyer Flotillas find themselves in the middle of hell and are shelled from all sides and overcome in less than 2 hours. Twelve destroyers are sunk.

2. The Soviets and the British deploy their submarines on the Finland/Norwegian convoy routes respectively.

3. Both the 1st and 2nd Destroyer Flotillas of the Northern Fleet put to sea after Churchill tells Stalin he needs to pull his finger out and do some work if he wants Lend Lease convoys to continue.

4. The 16th Escort Flotilla destroys the remnants of a Wolf Pack trying to get home via the northern Scottish coast.

5. After the sinking of the US destroyers the Coastal Command and USAAF aircraft in Iceland work flat out to locate the enemy fleet. They are quickly successful and even get an attack in on one of the battleships (result unknown). However, the intel confirms that practically the entire fleet is at sea - and with every ship of the USN Atlantic Fleet in the Mediterranean, that news is sub-optimal....


Top: The known ships at sea.
Bottom: A recap of the positions of the British fleets. With an enemy this powerful the British cannot afford to engage separately as they would most likely be defeated in detail.

[warspite1]

2nd - 9th August 1942

6. Well that was unexpected.... Admiral Forbes takes control of the two task forces. He orders his four carriers; Ark Royal, Furious, Eagle and Hermes to get into a position to launch all out air attacks on the enemy ships - ideally targeting the battleships. Four strikes are launched and all four are successful. At least two ships - possibly heavy cruisers are sunk by the men of the Fleet Air Arm.

7. Forbes sends his battleships and battlecruisers into action, but it soon becomes apparent that the Germans have at least four capital ships at sea. Worse still, King George V and Queen Elizabeth cannot get into the battle as the Nelson, Rodney, Hood and Repulse begin exchanging fire with the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The exchange is brutal, Gneisenau comes off worst against the two battlecruisers, while Scharnhorst suffers considerable damage against the 16-inch guns of Rodney and Nelson. Both German ships withdraw under a hail of shells.

8. At this point Forbes orders his cruisers to give chase and to try and get a torpedo attack going. The 18th Cruiser Squadron (Newcastle, Neptune, Birmingham and Glasgow) ignore the fact that there are two German battleships on their flanks and head straight for the burning Scharnhorst. The cruiser Birmingham takes hits from the 11-inch guns of Caesar and Anton turrets (the only two still operational) but behind her, Neptune appears out of the mist and smoke and launches two torpedoes at the German ship. One misses but the second hits and Scharnhorst is now a sitting duck.

9. Forbes now orders the 2nd Cruiser Squadron (Southampton, Arethusa, Belfast and Edinburgh) to adopt the same tactic. Unfortunately for them the Gneisenau is in better shape and all guns are working. However, for some reason the guns are not as accurate and only Arethusa suffers any significant damage as the cruisers make their high speed approach to close the range. Once again one torpedo (from Belfast) finds its home at Gneisenau reels under the blow and continues withdrawing to the northwest.

10. Forbes now commits the 2nd Escort Flotilla. Desperate to see the Scharnhorst sunk, he orders the 6 destroyers to follow the 18th Cruiser Squadron and effectively sneak in while the battleships gunfire is turned elsewhere. The tactic works like a dream. Three torpedoes find their target and the Scharnhorst sinks beneath the icy sea.

[warspite1]

2nd - 9th August 1942

Off the west coast of Ireland a Wolf Pack is detected but despite the presence of four flotillas, the U-Boats make good their escape.

2nd August 1942

What is left of the RM take no action at sea. On land the Axis do not seem to know whether to withdraw, hold or attack.....

[warspite1]

2nd August 1942

The Germans are probing for weaknesses but not finding any. Here VII Corps took a look at Tartu and.....wished it hadn't.

[warspite1]

2nd August 1942

I think the Germans have run out of ideas. They cannot breakthrough anywhere as they have insufficient resources necessary to enable them to concentrate in one place and get a decision.

[warspite1]

9th August 1942

The US Navy has taken some losses in the last few weeks. Well its now revenge time. 1st and 2nd Army (with II Corps attached) land in North Africa between Benghazi and Derna. The Canadian I Corps lands with them and occupies Gazala. The troops quickly push inland.


2nd Army just as its about to destroy this airfield....

[warspite1]

9th August 1942

To the east meanwhile, and the British attempts to meet up with the American/Canadian force. For the first time in about two years, El-Alamein is actually not under siege.... Another German Corps is placed in the bin marked 'destroyed'.

[warspite1]

9th August 1942

The German Corps that got all inquisitive at Tartu is no longer inquisitive... or anything else. The Soviets breakout from behind their river lines and crush the German Corps, reclaiming much territory in the process.

[Orm]

Time for general attack in USSR and Egypt?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

Time for general attack in USSR and Egypt?

warspite1

General attack? I am certainly on the attack - but it still needs to be measured to ensure I don't do anything stupid at this stage.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

Time for general attack in USSR and Egypt?

warspite1

General attack? I am certainly on the attack - but it still needs to be measured to ensure I don't do anything stupid at this stage.

And to be fair General Attack cannot be in two places at once?

Agree with your earlier post that the AI seems very unwilling to rescue encircled units ... something that wiĺl hopefully improve

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: loki100

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

Time for general attack in USSR and Egypt?

warspite1

General attack? I am certainly on the attack - but it still needs to be measured to ensure I don't do anything stupid at this stage.

And to be fair General Attack cannot be in two places at once?

How about his second in command, Major Offensive?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

ORIGINAL: loki100

ORIGINAL: warspite1


warspite1

General attack? I am certainly on the attack - but it still needs to be measured to ensure I don't do anything stupid at this stage.

And to be fair General Attack cannot be in two places at once?

How about his second in command, Major Offensive?

warspite1

Or his subordinate Private Parts?