Revanchism in Europe (PBEM gwgardner vs Chocolino)

[battlevonwar]

Would be interesting to see what it takes to make Italy break. War of attrition by the British at Sea there. Guess they figure they have the numbers to risk losing.

[Chocolino]

ORIGINAL: battlevonwar

Would be interesting to see what it takes to make Italy break. War of attrition by the British at Sea there. Guess they figure they have the numbers to risk losing.

Agree - but it will be hard for them to succeed on their own until they have finished with North Africa or until the US joins (which will be very soon).

[Chocolino]

12-5-41

The Italians fight a delaying retreat in the desert. The retreat part works well but unfortunately the "delaying" part not so much.

[Chocolino]

12-5-41

Now that the Italian aircraft left Algeria to fight in Sicily the British manage to dislodge the Italian defenders on the rail line.

The US is still neutral. But they have very few units on the map so far. Either they transferred all production to other Allies or they have everything in the build queue.

[Chocolino]

12-19-41

The British take El Agheila without stopping and proceed towards Tripoli. Italy expects a sacrifice of the remaining Italian troops - they will not be shipped out.

[Chocolino]

12-19-41

The British also make progress in Algeria where they push the Italians from a decent defensive position on a lucky attack.

[Chocolino]

12-19-41

As the East Front is quiet, all eyes are on the Med at this time of year. The only good news for the Axis come from Italy where a German corps attacks successfully across the strait of Messina to bolster the sagging Italian morale. This was heavily supported by some joined Axis air fleets and also some Italian subs for supply interdiction.

The Palermo garrison however - foolishly - decided to sortie out of their defensive perimeter for a follow on attack with the same German corps. They attacked the northern most British unit and tried to establish a corridor to Palermo - but it failed. Now Palermo is weakened considerably. We hope it will have no irreparable consequences.

[Chocolino]

1-2-42

Oran is now surrounded by Allied troops and the British also land in the little port of Bone between Algiers and Tunis. Since all our supply comes through the main north African ports, this does not worry us too much - but it will speed up the Allied conquest of N.A. The latter is a concern of course. We will try to build a good defensive position around Algiers and hope it does not crumple at the first Allied attack.

[Chocolino]

1-2-42

The US enters the war - this is bad for Italian morale which hovers just above the breaking point. To make matters worse the weakened Palermo defenders pay the price for last weeks audacity (stupidity) and Palermo falls as a result. As long as Syracuse was the only port in Allied hands a reconquest of Sicily was very doable. Now we have shot ourselves in the foot.

The weather (double rain) prevents the Luftwaffe and their Italian counterparts to support any German attacks in Sicily. Axis HQ decides to husband their strength for a better opportunity.

[Chocolino]

1-16-42

The British are unstoppable in Lybia - at least by Italian defenders.

[Chocolino]

1-16-42

In Algeria we occupy two river defense lines to protect Algiers - at least for a while I hope. Oran is still hanging on and Tunisia is still in Italian hands for the time being.

[Chocolino]

1-16-42

Now that the heavy rain turned into frost in Sicily we can make a little bit of progress there and push the British back. A second German corps is now deployed in Sicily and a third waits to get entry.

[Chocolino]

1-30-42

The East Front has been very quiet lately - but there have been a few local firefights of course. Today German infantry were able to storm the city of Bryansk during a light frost.

[Chocolino]

1-30-42

German infantry also wormed their way further into Sicily. We have to give up North Africa it seems but it is a bit early to forego Sicily quite yet without a fight. Italian submarines try to prevent British supplies to reach Sicily. While they are somewhat successful enough supplies get through for the few British troops remaining.

In further news, the port of Oran in western Algeria did get conquered by the Allies this turn (no pic - got corrupted).

[Chocolino]

2-27-42

The US has landed near Tripoli and joined the fray - now not only politically but with boots on the ground. The US supports the Allied assault on Tripoli who actually manages to hold out for another week.

[Chocolino]

2-27-42

Canadian forces try to outflank our defensive positions in Algeria. Since the Allies don't attack directly the defenses must be of reasonable strength. But the Allies have deployed most of their air elsewhere so that they don't have much support here any more.

[Chocolino]

2-27-42

The Germans make progress in Sicily and oust two more British units, leaving only the Palermo garrison to deal with. In order to drive the corps west of Palermo into the sea, a German corps had to leave the German line and leave a gap south of Palermo. Let's see how the Allies respond. Will they risk further units in Sicily at this point. Having a harbor and a foothold on the other hand is very valuable to them.

[Chocolino]

3-13-42

The Allies landed two more land units in Sicily and pushed into the open hex south of Palermo cutting off one German corps. German infantry fought very hard to re-establish the connection and shattered one Allied corps.

[Chocolino]

3-13-42

The defenses around Algiers are still holding for the moment. Tunis and some Tunesian ports are also holding out.

[Chocolino]

3-27-42

The Axis through everything they had at Palermo and failed. Axis HQ organized over a dozen air-strikes - also using planes especially railed in earlier for this purpose from the USSR and stationed near Rome and Naples.

The Palermo defenders are weakened, though and we can only hope that they cannot fully replenish via port supply (which is also interdicted). We may have another chance next week.