Witness to World War 2.

[rkr1958]

Turn 13. Sep/Oct 1941. End of Turn.

Production. USSR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 13. Sep/Oct 1941. End of Turn.

Production. Summary.

[rkr1958]

Turn 13. Sep/Oct 1941. End of Turn.

1-YR (6-Turn) Production. Axis.

[rkr1958]

Turn 13. Sep/Oct 1941. End of Turn.

1-YR (6-Turn) Production. Allies.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941.

Trade Adjustments.

Because of the refusal of MWiF to honor my decision to send the New Caledonia RP to the USSR and the Senegal RP to Great Britain, and the great frustration this caused when MWiF swapped these each of the 20 or so times I maded this change, I decided to take the Free France to USSR 1 RP trade deal "off the books". I will "keep" this trade deal by managing it manually. Effectively I will increase USSR saved oil by 1 somewhere to reflect this deal PROVIDED there's enough "unused" CP's at sea to route the New Caledonia RP to the USSR.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941.

Initiative.

Both sides wanted the initiative. Neither side had a modifier for the first roll, however, the allies win ties, which was the outcome of the first roll (i.e., 9-9, allies win). The axis elected to re-roll with a 36% chance of winning. The re-roll gave the allies a +1 modifier. The axis (badly) lost the second roll 1 to 8+1=9. The allies elected to move first.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: composer99

Time for a bit of back-seat WiFFing. The CW ought to have invaded the port of Bari, north of Taranto, instead of Sicily. They would have gotten a ZoC on the rail line into Taranto, meaning the Axis couldn't reinforce it, and then they could walk into the city unopposed subsequently (unless the turn happens to end early). Occupying a factory city in Italy is one of the possible conditions to trigger the conquest of Italy. Occupying Sicily is not.

Also, with no Italian ZoC, the notional in Bari would have been weaker, meaning a much better combat result on the same die roll.

Yes, that does look to have been the better choice.

After playing through and thinking about the difference in these two landing sites a bit more I now believe the best choice for this invasion was Trapani in Sicily versus Bari in mainland Italy. Granted that landing at Bari would have caused the Euro-axis more headaches in the short-term, however, with US entry several turns away I don't think the Brits would have been able to stay ashore in the long term if they had landed at Bari. The Brits got unlucky with the turn ending when it did (30% chance), otherwise they would have gotten Palermo if it hadn't, which is the only Italian supply source in Sicily. Now they're going to have to fight for it, but not (I believe) fight to stay ashore in Sicily. There are two big differences I see in the favor of the Brits wrt/fighting in Sicily versus mainland Italy and these are: (1) the axis can only rail 1 unit per turn into Sicily and (2) once Palermo falls then the Italian lose their only supply source on Sicily.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

Weather. Rain continues in the arctic and starts in the north temperate. Everywhere else is fine.

Actions. USSR - land, China - land, Great Britain - combine, Free France - naval, USA - combine.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

China. Post Move.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

USSR. Rail.

1. Rails 1 & 2/3. The blue factory at Kharkov, just prior to being overrun, is dismantled and railed east to Karaganda.

2. Rail 3/3. Sverdlovsk MIL army, at Sverdlovsk, is railed to the newly designated "Hero City" of Minsk.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

USSR. Post Movement/Pre Air Rebase.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

RN. Free French. Planning Document for Sicily and Italian Coast.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

RN. Free French. Italian Coast. Round 1.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Allied #1.

RN. Free French. Italian Coast. Sicily.

The allies have managed to cut supply, for now, out of Palermo to the rest of Sicily.

[composer99]

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

ORIGINAL: composer99

Time for a bit of back-seat WiFFing. The CW ought to have invaded the port of Bari, north of Taranto, instead of Sicily. They would have gotten a ZoC on the rail line into Taranto, meaning the Axis couldn't reinforce it, and then they could walk into the city unopposed subsequently (unless the turn happens to end early). Occupying a factory city in Italy is one of the possible conditions to trigger the conquest of Italy. Occupying Sicily is not.

Also, with no Italian ZoC, the notional in Bari would have been weaker, meaning a much better combat result on the same die roll.

Yes, that does look to have been the better choice.

After playing through and thinking about the difference in these two landing sites a bit more I now believe the best choice for this invasion was Trapani in Sicily versus Bari in mainland Italy. Granted that landing at Bari would have caused the Euro-axis more headaches in the short-term, however, with US entry several turns away I don't think the Brits would have been able to stay ashore in the long term if they had landed at Bari. The Brits got unlucky with the turn ending when it did (30% chance), otherwise they would have gotten Palermo if it hadn't, which is the only Italian supply source in Sicily. Now they're going to have to fight for it, but not (I believe) fight to stay ashore in Sicily. There are two big differences I see in the favor of the Brits wrt/fighting in Sicily versus mainland Italy and these are: (1) the axis can only rail 1 unit per turn into Sicily and (2) once Palermo falls then the Italian lose their only supply source on Sicily.

Fair enough: now that I've had a second look at CW production, Sicily is looking better for the CW forces as they exist in this particular war.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Axis #3.

Actions. Japan - land, Germany - land, Italy - combine.

Again, Italy is "forced" to take a combine in order to address the situation in Sicily. Also, the British landings in Sicily are forcing the Germans to send a number to troops to Sicily and mainland Italy which would have otherwise gone to the Eastern Front.

Italian Coast.

The Italian RM choose not to initiate a naval combat, however, the RN do and successfully find and engage the RM in a surface battle. However, RN naval gunnery accuracy lacks a lot to be desired.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Axis #3.

Italian Coast. Round 2.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Axis #3.

Sicily. Mainland Italy.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Axis #3.

The Eastern Front. Luftwaffe Ground Strike 1/2.

[rkr1958]

Turn 14. Nov/Dec 1941. Axis #3.

The Eastern Front. Luftwaffe Ground Strike 2/2.