Adventures in Italy

[larryfulkerson]

I consider the rail to the east coast good enough and I've started work on the rail
line leading to the west to feed the folks in the middle a little better. If I can
get some better supply to the middle the advance might pick up a little bit. I'm
running into more and more of the Gustov Line as I move the units north.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been expanding the perimeter in the middle a lot and I've started an outflanking
kind of move for the east coast defenders to get them to pull back without much
fighting on my part, not that I'm not puhing and shoving on the front iines there.
The Gustov Line is showing manned and ready to defend. I'm wondering if it's the
same further north.

[hingram]

If you tear up the railroad, Toloun is useless as teats on a boar hog. There is no supply. BTDT

In the turn 100's a French unit will magically appear in that area. If you invade the islands to the west, remember that your sea transport dries up. I have a South African tank unit stranded there. At some point, you might need those airfields.

The Germans win an implied victory if they slow down the Allies. Once you get past Rome and Taranto, you are at the mercy of supply. All the Germans have to do is drop a few key bridges and everything slams to a halt until they get it fixed. This goes on until the next supply point near Massa. In the east, it's a never ending battle and unfortunately, Brenner is in the East. If Devon has any air transport and paras, it's going to be a long slog.

So Devoncop can win with the "death by a thousand cuts" strategy. Larry will have to keep his engineers on the rails and some mobile units on reserve. It might look like Larry can just exploit a breach and dash north but supply will not allow that.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: hingram
If you tear up the railroad, Toloun is useless as teats on a boar hog.

In the turn 100's a French unit will magically appear there. If you invade the islands to the west, remember that your sea transport dries up. I have a South African tank unit stranded there.

Hey there hingram dude. Thanks for posting this fabulous heads up for us. I had no idea. Glad
for your recon for this tid bit. My Toloun still has the exclusion zone around it and I can't use
the port for anything. And if it weren't there I'm still not convinced that it would help me in
a major way unless I started shipping divisions up there to open up a new front, capture some
northern airfields, stuff like that. Hey, that's not such a bad idea. Thanks hingram, for that
idea. You're a gold mine.

[hingram]

Toulon is like a Siren singing to the men on the ship. I was held up in that area over 12 turns trying to repair the rails while my no-longer-advancing division sat in Genoa at 1% supply.

You will have epic forces at your disposal, especially on the Brit side. But I'm afraid Devoncop has the terrain and supply advantage and it is a big advantage. After playing the computer, I am convinced a human player would have wiped me out.

If I had know this when I started, I never would have used my engineers to do anything but fix stuff. They are too valuable to bust on stuff.

[UP844]

@ hingram: did you arrive in Genoa advancing from Toulon?? [:(]

[devoncop]

15th May 1944

The Front appears to have stabilsed (appropriately) for now around Mt Cassino in the West and the other end of the Gustav Line at Lanciano in the West.The Decimo Marine Division forms a small tactical reserve SE of Rome in the West
whilst those troops which had been holding the river line NE of San Severo are streaming back towards Lanciano. The NZ 2nd Division including the strong NZ 4th Armoured Brigade which Larry sent on a right hook to cut them off has been held up thankfully by blocking Panzer Grenadiers of the 15th Panzer Gren Division.

I am likely to lose some units from both this blocking force and the units from near San Severo but the important task is to try and save as many of the Artillery and HQ units with artillery capability and these will be invaluable behind the fortified lines.

Light artillery fire from behind these lines causes minor losses for the allies this turn as they close up.

[hingram]

ORIGINAL: UP844

@ hingram: did you arrive in Genoa advancing from Toulon?? [:(]

Yes. I was hoping my rails would get fixed quickly but I got some bad dice rolls. And there were lots to fix. Because the rails are the only supply route, there was NO supply past the busted rails. I was lucky the computer didn't dispute the territory. About all you can do is send some units past the busted rails towards Toulon to the 30 point supply area and get them to a respectable level and return to Genoa. Or just wait behind the engineers.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation in the middle and as you can see it won't support
operations so I'm going to have to call a halt to the whole thing until morale
improves. I'll have some of them go to close watch and the rest can play volleyball.
I have no idea how long it's going to take before the supply situation improves. If
I come under attack I'll have to pull back to a more defensible position.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been moving units for this turn and I've penetrated the east front German line
so they will be gone soon and the west front terminates on the Gustov Line stretching
north from the water to the moutains in the middle and supply levels are too low to
even plan about doing something. There's no rail service on the east coast or in
the middle so the most progress will perhaps be on the west side but I don't see how
with the Gustov line being so formidable. And during the playback I believe I saw
trainloads of troops making their way south mostly on the east coast highway and rails.
Germans instead of Italians. The Italians I can fight...the Germans are a problem.

[larryfulkerson]

There's only two rail lines leading NW from the Naples area and these are they. I'm
thinking that the only way to advance seriously from here is to follow the rail line
to Rome where the rails gather. This advance needs an Anzio invasion really bad.
The Anzio supply point would be the goal. And then the next priority would be the
linking up of the Aznio supply point with all the Allied forces south of there.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what I'm thinking vis a vee the bridges on the rails leading away from Rome
and feeding supply to the troops to it's SE; I need to drop some more bridges yet
to better hinder the flow of men and supplies. Another thing I was thinking is to
blow the bridges of rails further north of here so that the engineers would have
to travel a bit before they could work their magic. The idea is to starve the troops
in the south like the problem the bombing of the bridges caused for the North
Korean's in 1950-1951. And the invasion of Anzio would be like the invasion of Inchon.
Start from Anzio and make a front line across the country and you've trapped all those
units south of Anzio. But they are ripe for the picking. They won't have any beans,
bullets, or bandaids. They will be reduced to pointed sticks for weapons. They will
likely surrender at the first shot in their direction. The problem would be the Panzers
that are likely stationed in Rome or nearby. Within a short transit to get there at least.
And it's so late in the game that he's probably receive them already. I'll have to look
that up in a hot-seat game. See when he gets them.

[hingram]

One secret is to board a unit onto a train and ride the rails in your rear. If you get stopped, you know that sneaky little banister dropped a bridge or a rail on you. That would explain the sudden loss of supply.

[larryfulkerson]

Here I am in the middle of a great game, given the 1st Armored Division and not
have a mission for them. They are reserves for now. The Gustov Line is mostly
hills, marshes, not terrain for tanks like the terrain in the east. But the
terrain in the east has no supply so that's not so great either. I'm tempted to
park the whole division on the port hex at Naples and wait for the opportunity to
do an amphibious landing at Anzio. I haven't seen the TO to launch the attack yet.
On the other hand if there were some way to get them some supply, the tanks would
come in handy on those mountainous roads. Maybe. So, you guys... what should I
do with the 1st Armored Division?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the problem with supply....the railheads aren't very close. I've driven my
troops out into the supply boonies. They shouldn't be that far out there. My bad.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: hingram
One secret is to board a unit onto a train and ride the rails in your rear. If you get stopped, you know that sneaky little banister dropped a bridge or a rail on you. That would explain the sudden loss of supply.

Good thought hingram dude...I like the way you think. But I'm using that um....graphic mod that colors the entire
hex when there's a broken bridge so if there were a broken bridge in my rear I think I would have found it by now.
And fixed it shortly thereafter. Surely. That's the theory. But hey, if he has the air force for it that would
be a really cool thing for someone to do to his opponent. Sneaky little banister? What did the Germans call the
British? Thommies? I think the English called the Germans Jerries.

[devoncop]

[quote]ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

So, you guys... what should I
do with the 1st Armored Division

Hey Larry.....

I hear there is a victory parade been called in honour of General Mark Clark on Sardinia....I am sure Gen Clarke deserves an display by the 1st Armoured in Sardinia....

Don't ever say I don't try an help you out [:D]

[hingram]

I believe Devoncop's Stukas know what to do with them [:D]

If I was going to invade Anzio, I would do it with something I could afford to lose. Once you take Anzio, then move the armor. This is when you need those airborne units that were taken from you. When I did my first invasions, I dropped airborne which diverted the attention of the Axis and then I applied my strong pimp hand to the port. To lead the invasion, I would probably use a force that I am going to lose in a few turns anyway.
I find that armor is best used sparingly. They are powerful until they are not. Use them like a fullback. Keep them at 100% supply and wait for a hole to open up in the A Gap. Then hit the hole, aiming for HQ's and artillery and send infantry right behind them.
When I punched in at Anzio, that whole line opposing me in the south disappeared so make sure all your units have caught up because they are going to need to move quickly. I didn't think to use air support in the invasion. If you pounded Anzio with bombers, I wonder if the Axis player would start moving units to the North.

[hingram]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Good thought hingram dude...I like the way you think. But I'm using that um....graphic mod that colors the entire
hex when there's a broken bridge so if there were a broken bridge in my rear I think I would have found it by now.
And fixed it shortly thereafter. Surely. That's the theory.

I'm not convinced.I remember moving reinforcements up from Reggio and the train stopped randomly. Everything looked fine. I disembarked a unit, move ahead a hex and suddenly the rail displayed as broken. But it could have been poor eyesight on my part.
I don't think you need the connection. You only need clean ones from the supply source but I connected them because you need reinforcements to come up by rail because your sea transport is probably done or close to it. D-Day happens in less than a month.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: hingram
If I was going to invade Anzio, I would do it with something I could afford to lose. Once you take Anzio, then move the armor. This is when you need those airborne units that were taken from you. When I did my first invasions, I dropped airborne which diverted the attention of the Axis and then I applied my strong pimp hand to the port. To lead the invasion, I would probably use a force that I am going to lose in a few turns anyway.

I find that armor is best used sparingly. They are powerful until they are not. Use them like a fullback. Keep them at 100% supply and wait for a hole to open up in the A Gap. Then hit the hole, aiming for HQ's and artillery and send infantry right behind them.

When I punched in at Anzio, that whole line opposing me in the south disappeared so make sure all your units have caught up because they are going to need to move quickly. I didn't think to use air support in the invasion. If you pounded Anzio with bombers, I wonder if the Axis player would start moving units to the North.

Hingram dude. you're a gold mine. You've been there done the recon and scanned the situation and I
think you're right on the money. Especially with the idea to bomb Anzio for the good that would do.
Soften them up for the assault. At the very least it would give you a list of what's defending
the hex.

I had no other good idea so I parked the 1st Armored Div at Naples and it's got a supply point there
so you won't find a better hex for rest and refit. Not that the 1st Armored needs it. I think they
are combat ready already.

I'm satisfied that the supply problem I'm having is accurate to the real conflict. What's happening
to my army is what would have happened to theirs given the rail system condition right how.