CFNA 1940-43 devoncop (Axis) vs warspite1 (CW) - no devoncop please

[warspite1]

Turn 89
19th July 1941

Okay so what do I know?

- devoncop continues to maintain a thin screen that he invites me to attack.

- The pressure against Tobruk has dropped

- I don't know where the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions are

All this leads me to believe he is setting a trap..... time I think to try and pull back before those tanks spring into action in my flank!

First things first I have a quick check on force availability.

The Royal Navy are slowly repairing, but it will be some while yet before they will be in a position to sortie - and Barham and Euryalus won't be taking part in anything anytime soon. I wonder if Barham will even repair before she's sunk.

The air force situation is mixed - there have been some heavy losses given the state of some of the squadrons (its a bit annoying that we don't get to know everything that happens).

Currently I have 18 squadrons (only 10 are operational):

9 (5 operational) Hurricane sqns - 178/216 aircraft - 80 in reserve - 6 replacements per turn
4 (3 operational) Blenheim sqns - 91/96 aircraft - 57 in reserve - 3 replacements per turn
2 (0 operational) Tomahawk sqns - 34/48 aircraft - 13 in reserve - 2 replacements per turn
1 (0 operational) Albacore sqn - 8/10 aircraft - 1 in reserve - 0 replacements per turn
1 (1 operational) Beaufighter sqn - 19/24 aircraft - 2 in reserve - 1 replacement per turn
1 (1 operational) Gladiator sqn - 18/24 aircraft - 0 in reserve - 0 replacement per turn

Frankly the fighters could do with a rest but if I am to stage a fighting withdrawal I need air cover!

As part of the pull back I seek to tidy up the front line. I send a regiment of tanks and a battalion of infantry north to recce the situation. In doing so it appears that devoncop really has pulled back - from Bardia, Sollum and Fort Capuzzo. Those aircraft seen in the picture above have flown the nest.

[warspite1]

Turn 89
19th July 1941

I complete the pull-back. I lost no units in doing so and I guess that is because his screen was so thin they were not able to engage and disrupt the withdrawal.

I notice the the sneaky wotsit is continuing to use his AA units as probes. An Italian unit gets so far as Fuka in an attempt to cut the coast road. The unit is destroyed but once again it appears my patrols are not good enough to stop this encroachment....

[warspite1]

Turn 90 - Axis Turn
26th July 1941

Seemingly nothing happens. What is going on? I need some intel!

[warspite1]

Turn 90
26th July 1941

The turn is spent pulling back further toward Sofafi. I can't get what the game plan is at the moment - except that turn his air force was highly active. Maybe that is the plan to take Tobruk using a massive air and artillery and land attack?

[warspite1]

Turn 91 - Axis Turn
30th July 1941

Another quiet turn - he's up to something. I wonder how many quotes from Battle of Britain I can get out [:)]

[warspite1]

Turn 91
30th July 1941

An entire artillery regiment is evaporated trying to reach Tobruk by sea - they couldn't have got the one going in the opposite direction could they? [8|]

But what really cheeses me off is that a fighter squadron is wiped out too. Why does the program keep overriding my orders? I find the air game very frustrating in this regard. The Air Assistant is OFF, I've ordered all of my aircraft to rest but I keep losing them because they are sent into the air. Does anyone know why the game does this?

[warspite1]

Turn 92 - Axis Turn
3rd August 1941

Another eerily quiet turn... what's he at? Ohh there's another one.

devoncop limited his moves to bombarding the hell out of a reconnaissance company - many of the aircraft came all the way from Crete...

[warspite1]

Turn 92
3rd August 1941

Well I'm totally bemused. I lost an artillery unit for nothing. The Axis have pulled back so far there is now a land bridge from Bardia to Tobruk.

I've sent my Australian troops out on patrol from west of Gazala, to Rotunda Segnali - but no sign of the Axis forces....

[warspite1]

Turn 93 - Axis Turn
6th August 1941

I think I saw mention of the panzers when the cursor was flashing south of Derna so it may be they're on their way..... Meantime the Axis turn was limited to bombarding the hell out of an Australian company....

[warspite1]

Turn 93
6th August 1941

How bizarre??? There are three fighter squadrons and an AA unit suddenly appeared.... When I got there it was another 4 AA units - all of which were promptly dispatched.

[warspite1]

Turn 93
6th August 1941

Angry is not the word. I attack a surrounded German company and over 120 aircraft take to the skies in response to the best part of 200 German/Italian aircraft!!! The Axis lose 22 aircraft (just 5 destroyed) and I lose 37 of which 12 are destroyed.....

Next time I will just safely escort the German infantrymen back to their lines and save the aircraft [;)]

[ChuckBerger]

This feels silly. Armies in WW2 were never that invisible, especially in the desert. Air recon, signals and intel should be giving you some clue whether the enemy is around or not. Not to mention all those recon companies you have out, which shouldn't be showing just the hex they're in, but should be presumed to be sending patrols out far and wide.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

This feels silly. Armies in WW2 were never that invisible, especially in the desert. Air recon, signals and intel should be giving you some clue whether the enemy is around or not. Not to mention all those recon companies you have out, which shouldn't be showing just the hex they're in, but should be presumed to be sending patrols out far and wide.

The variable recon levels change along with the commanding generals, and presumably are intended to function as a player handicap based on the relative quality of the leadership.

From the scenario briefing for the CW it falls from 15% to 0% when O'Conner is captured and stays there until first Auchinleck (5%) and then Monty (15%) arrive.

Axis recon starts at 0%, rises to 35% when Rommel arrives and drops to 15% after the British discover the German radio intercept unit and do something about it (midway between Auchinleck and Monty's arrivals).

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: ChuckBerger

This feels silly. Armies in WW2 were never that invisible, especially in the desert. Air recon, signals and intel should be giving you some clue whether the enemy is around or not. Not to mention all those recon companies you have out, which shouldn't be showing just the hex they're in, but should be presumed to be sending patrols out far and wide.

warspite1

It may feel silly, but I tell you what? it makes for an intense experience!!

[warspite1]

Turn 94 - Axis Turn
9th August 1941

The Axis turn is limited to more bombardment of my outposts west of Tobruk. I can see from the enemy turn playback that there are moves afoot out of the Jebel on the coast road. An attack is clearly building and this time there will be no Royal Navy to help.

This is all I can see of the enemy (I can see a bit more than normal) - apart from aircraft symbols on various airfields in a few places - and further back too. Lots of artillery, aircraft and heavy hitting ****.


Now my opponent knows how to keep the RN quiet it will be interesting to see how long (or not) Tobruk can last. I hope Curtis Lemay is wrong about this otherwise from a scenario point of view that will be very disappointing.

[warspite1]

Turn 94
9th August 1941

A quick check of the state of play ahead of the next Axis offensive.

Royal Navy
Queen Elizabeth and Valiant are both 1% off full working order, Barham still has 10% damage.

Ajax and Dido have 17% damage, Euryalus 49%, leaving just Arethusa and Naiad as 100% okay.

All destroyers are at 100%.

Air Forces
I am back down to 17 squadrons thanks to the annoying loss of a SAAF Hurricane squadron.

I decide to place the following squadrons in the Bardia/Sollum area in order to try and assist Tobruk as much as possible:

Stats: Aircraft actual/aircraft max - Proficiency - Readiness - Supply

Fighter squadrons
RAAF Hurricane a - 24/24 - 83% - 100% - 100%
RAAF Hurricane b - 24/24 - 100% - 100% - 100%
RAAF Hurricane c - 24/24 - 100% - 100% - 100%
RAF Hurricane b - 24/24 - 69% - 100% - 100%

Bomber Squadrons
RAAF Blenheim - 24/24 - 67% - 100% - 100%
RAF Blenheim a - 24/24 - 90% - 100% - 100%
RAF Gladiator - 20/24 - 80% - 100% - 100%
SAAF Blenheim a - 24/24 - 78% - 100% - 100%

of the remaining 9 squadrons, 4 are reorganising, 2 are resting and of the remaining 3:
1 x Albacore squadron is on combat support (Fuka)
1 x Greek Hurricane squadron is on air superiority (Alexandria)
1 x South African Hurricane squadron is on air superiority (Zawyet Shammus)

Well that's about all I can do. I have the Kiwis + Poles in Tobruk, I have the Aussies stationed outside (I suspect that devoncop knows that the Aussies go around now from the other threads and is cleverly waiting for them to depart stage left).

That leaves my remaining units. In the absence of any proper infantry support my (effectively) 4 armoured brigades can't realistically fight it out with the panzers and massed Italian infantry (beefed up by German infantry) so.....

[warspite1]

Turn 94
9th August 1941

I know the Australians go soon and the below is from the documentation (the expected reinforcements schedule is missing the Australians as we know). The reinforcements for turn 95 ties up although these are South Africans which I know from my first AAR does not mean they will be ready to deploy.

Interestingly there are more Australians on the map than the 13 I am supposed to be losing but the three on Turn 97 must be part of this (as that makes up 9 infantry battalions). The armour must be the cavalry and the 5 artillery must include the light AA. That leaves the MG battalion and the Engineer? It would be helpful to know which battalion I have for the extra two turns but.....

9th Australian Division HQ
20th Brigade
13th Bn.
15th Bn.
17th Bn.

24th Brigade
28th Bn.
32nd Bn.
43rd Bn.

26th Brigade
23rd Bn.
24th Bn.
48th Bn.

Divisional Units
9th Cavalry Regt.
3rd Machine-Gun Bn.
3rd Anti-Tank Regt.
7th Field Art Regt.
8th Field Art Regt.
12th Field Art Regt.
1st Engineer Bn.
3rd Light AA Regt.

[warspite1]

Turn 95 - Axis Turn
13th August 1941

Right on queue the Aussies disappear - although its not just a brigade left - its two (in line with previous comments about withdrawal on a brigade basis) - so the documentation is wrong too. Turns out that it was the 20th and 26th Brigade that stayed, but its a bit of a shame because I used a company from the 24th Battalion as the forlorn hope to the west of Gazala. If I'd known I could have placed a bigger obstacle there i.e. all of 24th Brigade; a bit gamey but....

...anyway, couldda, shouldda, wouldda, it is what it is and the Axis are on the march once more!!

[warspite1]

Turn 95
13th August 1941

The plan to deploy forward my better air units fell flat on its great fat a**e. The enemy bombarded one of the Australian outposts and two of my squadrons went off to help (the defenders that is - not the bombardment [:)]).

Although the destroyed column shows just one Hurricane, the aircraft available to the two squadrons tell a different story.... I can only hope that the 18 disabled Axis aircraft contain some destroyed units too.....

Even worse, the third Australian Hurricane squadron then decides to go into reorganisation mode in sympathy.

[warspite1]

Turn 95
13th August 1941

But it gets worse for my forward strike units. My full strength RAAF Blenheim squadron - which wasn't involved in any of those engagements - has decided to lose 10 aircraft?? I mean what is that all about?

My Beaufighter squadron is on Air Superiority apparently - and is now down to 10 aircraft. Funny that as it was ordered on R-E-S-T.

So my squadron returns for this turn are:
7 x Fighters on Air Superiority
4 x Bombers on Combat Support
1 x Fighter on Reorganisation
5 x squadrons (3 x FTR and 2 x BMR) on Rest (or whatever the computer decides to do with them)