Axis PBEM AAR (MIRROR)

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i3:
As mentioned in an earlier post, a Natchi cav slipped into Changsha to retake so an assault by Umezu, spearheaded by a combat engineer division has to backtrack to re-take the city.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i3:
In north China the city of Chengchow which has been invested for months is finally assaulted with only light losses for the Japanese North China army group.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i3:
By the end of i3 here are losses. 2 impulses of strong attacks and an o-chit by the Wermacht have begun to attrit the allies in France and the German forces are mostly organized with only Guderian and a few planes flipped.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i5:
Lucky for the Axis, good weather continues in impulse 5. The clear weather is a boon after the terrible weather for the first 8 months of the war.

The British have advanced to the rear after their heavy losses last impulse and now the French are manning the entire front line.

After studying the situation it appears that 2 blitz attacks can be launched with good breakthrough possibilities. German mechanized forces were held in reserve near Cologne last impulse in case an opportunity emerged for a panzer advance south of Metz and it appears that this is exactly the weak point that will be available.

A blitz attack in the north will be able to split the BEF from the French forces in Belgium and an attack in the south will trap the remaining garrison forces in the south Maginot forts as well as threaten to pocket forces on the Belgian border.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i5:
The Luftwaffe launches ground strikes along the French line in 3 locations:
1) the hex SW of Lille (5-3MIL, 5-5MOT, 3-2ART) using a newly built JU-87D (6)
2) the west ardennes forest hex in Belgium using an ART division (2) (4-2MIL,5-2MIL,3-2AT)
3) the hex SW of Metz using Ju-88A1's (4) (4-3INF, 3-3MIL)

The French air force doesn't fly - choosing to save the Potez FTR3 and the LeO 451 LND3 for ground support.

The results of the GS are:
1) all 3 units flipped
2) 4-2MIL flipped
3) no units flipped

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i5:
The French air force flies to support both attacked hexes. LND3 flies south, Potez flies north. In the north the Potez clears through and in the south the LeO 451 shoots down the intercepting Italian air wing equipped with Macchi C.200 fighters then clears through to support the defenders.

The French air heroics are in vain though as both attacks are successful and achieve breakthroughs. The German ARMDIV in the south breaks through into the mountains to cut off the 2 french GAR in the Maginot.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i5:
Here is the situation after German breakthroughs and air rebase. von Runstedt is flipped to re-org 2 ART and a Stuka. The allied defense is now severely compromised and if clear weather continues the blitkrieg may be on the verge of even greater success. The bulk of the French army is not in danger of encirclement with a flipped MIL in the Ardennes and all French air used while the Luftwaffe has reserves remaining although von Bock in Belgium is the only GE HQ remaining face up.

If the turn continues and Lille can be taken, then face-down Lord Gort in Boulogne is also at risk.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i5:
Here are losses by the end of i5. This is in addition to a couple of unitz blitzed off to arrive again in JA 40.

While the Germans have not fared well in the air or with ground strikes, the weather has been good, the attacks all high odds efficient attacks, and the French forces are being rapidly out-flanked and attrited.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i7 French front:
The French army on the Belgian frontier was partially flipped and its mobility was limited by zocs. The French attempted to fall back but were still vulnerable to being pocketed. However there was only 1 GE HQ left faceup by i7 and limited air remaining.

With this in mind the German high command planned 4 attacks for impulse 7.
1. An all out +12 assault on Lille with the hope that half of the units will remaing faceup and be able to attack Gort next impulse. This will remove an impediment to the German advance and expose Gort facedown on the coast. The alternative was a fairly low odds blitz against Gort immediately but with a good chance for another impulse the decision was made to wait an impulse to attack Gort. There was an 82% chance that units attacking Lille would remain at least half face-up.

2. An automatic attack on the flipped and soon to be OOS 4-2 MIL in the Ardennes.

3. An automatic attack on the flipped and OOS 3-1 GAR in the Maginot.

4. A +11 blitz vs the 2 strong INF corp at Reims. This attack would be supported by the German fallschirmjager corp making their 2nd drop of the turn, carried by the Italian ATR/LND wing.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i7 continued:

There were 2 Luftwaffe air units available to conduct ground strikes in preparation for attacks 1 and 4. Unfortunately the grounds strikes were ineffective and no units were flipped in either attack hex.

[jjdenver]

The attacks went in with fairly good success with half flip at Lille - setting up an upcoming devastating next impulse for the Wermacht against a now completely OOS French army group on the Belgian border.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ i7 continued:

A shatter at Lille was converted to retreat to eliminate both French corps defending the city.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ continued:

.....unfortunately for the Axis side the allies ended the turn with a 1 roll during impulse 8. This gave the French a chance to recover with many of their units blitzed off but able to reorganize and return at the beginning of July.

Here is EOT situation in France.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ EOT Med:

Here is the situation in the Med at the end of 40 MJ. The axis columns have advanced to the outskirts of Tunis.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ EOT:

Here is the situation in China at EOT 40 MJ. Rainy weather and a bad attack roll have stalled Yamamoto's offensive in the south while in the north Terauchi's army faces the Chicom army but is awaiting reinforcements and air power.

[jjdenver]

40 MJ losses for the turn. Steady, efficient attacks with an o-chit thrown early to create penetrations have allowed the Wermacht to destroy the strength of the French army.

In Persia the Soviets storm into Tehran and conquer the country.

[jjdenver]

This game has gone on (probably) permanent hold in JA 41. But I don't like it when I read an AAR and don't know the outcome so I'll give a very brief update.

JP is having success in China. Chungking just fell in JA 41, Chengtu looks like it will fall soon. Sian is also held by JP. JP and SU are at war and Vladivostok has fallen. US has cut off all JP oil but JP has about 12 saved oil.

Morocco/Algeria went free french and Brits are battling Germany and Italy in the mountains west of Tunis.

Germany is in Russia and it looks a bit like the Red Army is toast as they took very heavy losses from Gomel to Krasnodar. Rostov still holds. USSR appears to be on the ropes and about to be down for the count but you never know, I think sometimes they can make a big recovery if they can reach winter 41.