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

[warspite1]

Turn 174
16th May 1942

So for the reasons stated above the offensive has to continue. Four hexes are targeted for bombardment with a view to an attack on three if the turn continues - two in the north, one in the centre and one in the south.

The turn does continue and there was bit of a bonus as an Italian motorised battalion from the Trento Division evaporates - leaving one German infantry battalion in that hex.

I continue the bombardments against three of the hexes and launch my attack against the lone German motorised infantry battalion south of the railway line on the coastal plain.

The next round sees two attacks. I continue the bombardments in the south and centre but attack in the north at El Hammam and to the south east. The assaults see the Axis pushed back from the airfield, while to the south the Axis forces are also sent into retreat along the eastern end of the Alam Halfa Ridge.

I finish off the turn with two attacks - one in the north and another in the centre where I had previously been bombarding to try and weaken the defenders. Unfortunately I can't take a picture as its end of turn, but the Axis forces held and inflicted large scale losses in the north. In the centre the Axis held but some units were forced into retreat.

In the absence of a picture of the front I will show the losses for that turn. Once again it won't make good reading for the Commonwealth forces but there should be some reasonable damage inflicted on the enemy this time too....(I hope)....


Another punishing turn for the CW - and it will get worse as a tank regiment and AT battery are out on their own, plus a lot of stacks are necessarily over-stacked (to allow for attacking) and so will be punished by artillery fire). But on a positive note the losses were more even this time and I even managed to bag a few panzers (note self propelled guns are included in tanks and so not all of the Axis tanks will be tanks, but the majority of those 63 will be panzers or Italian tanks).

Oddly - considering ALL my fighters and bombers were at rest with 0 range - there was an air battle....No idea how that was even possible, but at least normality was restored with the result and the CW losing more than double the aircraft [&:] Even if I don't fly - and have no range to fly, the program gets those CW aircraft somehow [:D]

[warspite1]

Turn 175 - Axis Turn (in real time)
20th May 1942

The first 450+ moves are taken up with reinforcements moving in the Tobruk area

Then a number of aircraft rebases are made closer to the front - including the 'Hurricane Killer' the vaunted CR-42....

Then the action turns to the western front

The bombardments start in the north and centre of the front - a Hurricane evaporates. I assume this is one of the reorganising squadrons stuck at Amiriya??? and another one??

A FF battalion evaporates - as does a South African AT

Units switch from the south to the north - there is obviously a big attack to come here

Then more bombardments in the north...

...and now the south

An AT unit evaporates as does an entire battalion of motorised infantry from 2nd Armoured Division

Lots of movement in the hills in the south now

More reinforcements moving up around Tobruk

More bombardments - from the area I think this is targeting my artillery

An air base unit evaporates

Yet another battalion of infantry evaporates

Yet more bombardment - how many is this now?

Another AT unit evaporates

A battalion of Coldstream Guards evaporates - this is faintly ridiculous

A battalion of the Essex Regiment evaporates

Yet another AT battery evaporates

The Axis forces attack the airfield at El Hammam and the CW retreat

Another AT evaporates

An HAA evaporates

And that brings the turn to a close. Bombardment % of up to 42%, at least one aircraft squadron, at least 5 battalions of infantry, and numerous AA and AT units all evaporated - and only one attack was launched......right.....

[warspite1]

Turn 175 - Axis Turn
20th May 1942

The butchers bill....

303 infantry squads destroyed..... 4 as a result of land combat....

But these are just numbers. The plain fact is that if devoncop could see what I have left then he would just march onto Cairo. He has many stacks of 9 units per stack full of infantry, armour and artillery while my 'divisions' have all but ceased to exist.

[warspite1]

Turn 175
20th May 1942

There are no reserves left - what is engaged is all there is.

I dispense with the bombardment round and simply go straight to the two assaults - against El Hammam in the north and the usual target in the centre. Both are backed up with all the artillery that can be mustered.

In both cases the enemy retreats. With no thought for the consequences the Commonwealth forces press ahead.

In the north the German and Italians are pushed back on to the coastal road, while in the centre a flak units holds position but is then despatched prior to combat.

There is only one combat in round 5 as an attack is launched with all artillery in support against the Axis units that have just retreated to the coast. The lack of AT guns could be crucial here.

The Germans suffer serious losses including the loss of a panzer battalion.

The final round sees two attacks. Although the prediction is poor, the fact that the Axis units can't retreat with their backs to the coast makes this an attack I have to go for. The second one, south of the Alam Halfa Ridge, is more risky, but I have 4 regiments of artillery support and so I decide to risk it..... but then I don't and I pull out....

[warspite1]

Turn 175
20th May 1942

But I proceed with this northern attack and this pays off as the tanks of what remains of 10th Armoured reach the coast and wipe out the defenders holding the coast road.


For El Hammam read Gumrak.....

[warspite1]

Turn 175
20th May 1942

For the first time in a looooong time the Commonwealth get the overall better of the engagements where land combat is involved.

It's fair to say the losses - particularly in tanks - is serious but in all categories the Axis losses were greater and the amount of artillery pieces lost is very encouraging. I just hope its not too little too late....

[Zorch]

remember Foch - "My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking."

[warspite1]

Turn 176 - Axis Turn (in real time)
23rd May 1942

The turn starts with some of the Axis forces on the coast road falling back – but I can’t see how far and it doesn’t appear to be all of them.

To the rear some artillery are moving west and some east – those moving west I can’t tell If they are some of the units previously retreated

There is some Italian reinforcement in the centre and then the action moves to Mersah Matruh and more reinforcements. These include panzer forces, Ariete tanks and Bersaglieri

More reinforcements – this time from further back in the Jebel

The dreaded bombarding then begins – an attack on the exposed CW units southwest of El Hammam seems to be in the offing

Then more reinforcement of the centre and south before the barrages begin once again. These are all along the line…..

…and there are a lot of them………

…and still they continue…..

A Royal Horse Artillery regiment evaporates

A French artillery regiment does the same


A look at the losses shows the extent of the disaster that greets the CW armies. The army's artillery has been annihilated (although at least the Axis lost 44 field guns to counter fire).... In return the Axis lost 19 bombers (5 destroyed).

[warspite1]

Turn 176
23rd May 1942

The news just gets worse. The number of tanks available is well below a 1,000 and another 3 regiments have disappeared from the order of battle.

The entire 8th Army has less than 100 anti-tank guns and just 317 field guns...

The news continues to hit GHQ like big thick slabs of concrete - right in the face. The 10th Armoured go into reorganisation....

Not for the first time I don't know what to do! [:D]

One of the big problems is that I don't know the level of the German air bonus. Thanks to the battles won in the last couple of turns the Axis artillery threat to Amiriya has reduced - at least for the time being. So do I bring my aircraft back or try and sit out the bonus???

To be honest, if the proficiency and readiness rates are half decent, then I don't think I have much choice.

[warspite1]

Turn 176
23rd May 1942

Well I've slept on it and....I'm still none the wiser [:D]


But I think one thing is becoming clear. I have to try and help the units stuck out in the desert. They have enough problems with the artillery let alone the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica.

So the plan will be to fill the airfields at Amiriya and then we'll see about turns 177-181 (and the Axis air bonus) at that time.

I start the turn with four bombardments - one below the Depression, one in the south and the other two in the north. I have moved away from the coastal plain and am concentrating on the units east of the Alam Halfa Ridge. All guns and bombers have been vectored on this one hex....

The Axis forces retreat but disaster strikes.... I fail a proficiency check.....Oh dear - that is serious.


Quelle surprise! The Commonwealth bend over and take it from behind in the air once more. Good job the Italians had 114 of their vaunted biplanes on hand eh?

[warspite1]

Turn 177 - Axis Turn (in real time)
27th May 1942

The turn starts with reinforcements moving through the Bardia-Sidi Barani area.

The Axis then begin their attacks – starting with the southern part of the front. Some CW units retreat but I couldn’t tell if that was an attack or bombardment. I assume it was an attack.

Then the bombardments start to open up

The 2nd Rifle Brigade retreats and panzers move into the newly opened gap

More bombardments start up – north and south

Another attack in the south sends more units into retreat – this is a problem….

More bombardments in the south. This is a major effort in this area

Then the northern sector gets more attention and a Free French AT evaporates

The bombardments continue

The turn ends. Let's see what the damage is.


Interestingly this time the Germans have more sorties and suffer more losses. This is curious because the Axis have a 50% shock bonus. Having said that, there appeared to be more Italian fighter numbers this time.

[warspite1]

Turn 177
27th May 1942

The Axis air shock bonus is 50% [&:] So what now? I was going to simply move away with the air force, but the number of biplanes employed in that last turn makes me wonder.....

I just can't decide what to do. I mean 50% is a lot - particularly given the imbalance in air results generally. But then the Germans lost a lot of aircraft last turn.

The CW have 11 squadrons reorganising this turn and many others are in no fit state to fly. I think its the state of my air units that forces my hand here.

The issue of reinforcements and their starting positions rears its ugly head once more. An Australian fighter squadron finds itself in El Hammam....of course!

Edit: Oh and I've just found my second fighter reinforcement....placed in Burg El Arab..... Thank goodness these two weren't reorganising (as has happened previously).

One of the reasons I think (this is just a guess) I may be losing units in the Axis turn is that the reorganisation comes off after my turn and then the computer gives the aircraft a random order. To try and avoid this if possible I have set all my reorganising units to 0-range.

[warspite1]

Turn 177
27th May 1942

The next thing to do is to sort out the southern sector of the front. This is has been relatively quiet but there has been movement of Axis artillery into this sector over many turns and last turn, for the first time, devoncop has made a real effort here.

I can't allow this front to be opened up and there would then be literally no where for me to anchor my left flank and the Axis motorised and panzer formation would simply steam into Cairo from the south.

That said I can't allow more and more forces to be sucked in here and leave the coast road practically undefended.

The defence of this sector (which includes south of the Depression) has been largely in the hands of the 5th Indian and the 50th Infantry Divisions with tank support from the 7th Armoured Division, the 22nd Armoured Brigade and 1st Army Tank Brigade (although these units have largely been sucked into the fighting in the centre).


Note: the 7th Armoured Division regiment is a reconnaissance regiment. There are no Commonwealth tanks in this sector.

[warspite1]

Turn 177
27th May 1942

A look at the dire state of my infantry battalions (many down to less than a third of authorised strength) confirms that there is absolutely no possibility of offensive action this turn - and indeed if I stick around then its going to be evaporation city next turn (although even if I withdraw it may still be.....).

I was largely able to withdraw my front line forces. The AA units as usual get the brunt of the engagement but only one infantry unit - a Free French Marine company - fails to make it back to the new front line.


The position post withdrawal but pre-movement into position.

[warspite1]

Turn 177
27th May 1942

The position with the armoured forces continues to worsen - down to less than 76% of authorised strength now (934 tanks), but the artillery position has not worsened.

However the real problem - and it is a massive problem - is the infantry. I had 4,600 infantry (rifle and SMG) squads on turn 169 - I now have 3,175. If devoncop gets wind of this he can steamroller my line....

[warspite1]

Turn 178 - Axis Turn (in real time)
30th May 1942

The turn begins with reinforcements moving along the coast road – Ariete, panzers, artillery and Oasis units amongst them

Then the programs pans out to the Jebel and more reinforcements

Then its back to the mersa Matruh area and yet more reinforcement movements including Besaglieri units

Now, of course, it’s the bombardments starting up

A Light AA battery evaporates in the south I think

Then in the north an anti-tank battery evaporates

More bombardments and then artillery is on the move in the north

In the centre of the line on the junction of the two Corps, an RAF base unit retreats – and then another as the Axis pack the front line

And the turn ends - I wonder if there was a proficiency fail?....

That was a better turn for the CW – only 25 rifle squads, 3 AT and 7 AA guns lost (in addition to 8 mortars, 18 machine guns and 16 trucks.

[warspite1]

Turn 178
30th May 1942

The 1st Armoured goes into reorganisation dammit.

Pondering on that turn its perhaps interesting that the Axis launched no aircraft?? Despite this I am not going to get drawn into an air battle at a 50% disadvantage. I move my previously reorganising units out of harms way and check their range remains at 0. There are 3 squadrons still reorganising and I check their range status also.

[warspite1]

Turn 178
30th May 1942

I try and retreat an AA battery in the centre of the line but it evaporates. I won't be moving back any further however. So its a case of moving my reinforcements up - these are not placed at the front regardless of the infantry situation as these few battalions constitute my only reserve....

[warspite1]

Turn 179 - Axis Turn (in real time)
3rd June 1942

There is no mucking around this time – the Axis turn starts off with panzers moving up to the frontline on the coast road….

The rest of the frontline is then engaged

Now it’s the turn of reinforcements moving up just behind the front panzers, Bersaglieri amongst them

In the centre an RAF base withdraws, then another, while a third evaporates. I can see lots of artillery just behind the line.

The bombardments begin – three in the north centre and south – then a bit more movement and the barrages begin anew – four more

Now the Axis attack the airfield at El Hammam – an Indian infantry battalion evaporates

Now the Axis start moving units in the south out of the mountains – and then all along the line

The bombardment of the poor blokes in the front line recommences and a Heavy AA battery evaporates – as does a SAAF airbase and a battalion of 5th Indian Division in the south…. The CW are in big trouble here….

Now, south of the Depression Italian units start to infiltrate around the CW positions

More shuffling of units and then more bombardments – lots of bombardments….

Then the turn ends.....

[warspite1]

Turn 179 - Axis Turn
3rd June 1942

The butcher's bill was not quite as bad as first feared.