It Takes A Village to Raze a Village

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. The Eastern Front. Army Group North. End of Turn.

1. Orders are to attack and to continue to attack.
2. No time to pause, reinforce or upgrade.
3. It's been a battle of attrition for Army Group North but one that now appears that the Soviet line is beginning to bend a bit in the south.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. The Eastern Front. Army Group Center. End of Turn.

1. Same orders here which are to attack and to continue to attack.
2. Again, no time to pause, reinforce or upgrade.
3. Army Group Center did manage to capture Ryazan, however, it was captured and is being held by a severely deplete tank unit.
4. So, it's likely that Ryazan with switch hands back to the Soviets for next turn (at least).

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. The Eastern Front. Army Group South. End of Turn.

1. Astrakhan is captured.
2. With both Stalingrad and Astrakhan in German hands the axis the question is whether these forces swing north to help Army Group Center or south to attempt capture Grozny and eventually Baku.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Production. Germany.

1. Germany builds a tank unit with all the frills and an infantry corps with infantry weapons level 1 (only frill).

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Research. Germany.

1. Like Italy (and Japan) there's just no budget for additional research.
2. Again, the budget goes to operations, reinforcements, upgrades and building new units.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Research. Japan.

1. I'm afraid for the foreseeable future what you have is what you're going to get with respect to research for all three axis powers.
2. Japan's certainty no exception to where their budget goes and doesn't go.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Production. Japan.

1. Japan bought 3 Chinese garrisons (no frills) to add to their production queue.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Pacific. End of Turn.

1. A USN BB is sunk south of Hawaii.
2. The IJN keeps up appearances in this part of the Pacific.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. China. End of Turn.

1. Static in northern and central China.
2. Japan continues to pivot forces to southern China and beyond.
3. The IJA southern Chinese Army Group begins their slog to Kunming and beyond.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Bay of Bengal & Gulf of Siam. End of Turn.

1. The RN during their turn sunk the Kaga.
2. The IJN forces assigned to this area respond and manage to sink an RN BB and do damage to other RN ships.
3. Looks like Mr. Churchill is serious about his Asiatic Fleet and commitment of CW forces to Asia.
4. I guess the upside is that this fleet and forces aren't in the Med being used against Italy or in Europe being used against Germany.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. Java Sea. End of Turn.

1. Well it's a start. Japan finally invades Sumatra.
2. Definitely more forces are needed there and for Java too.

[rkr1958]

Turn 73. Axis. June 5, 1942. MPPs.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. Opening Messages.

1. Well there goes the KB and the heart of the IJN to Davey Jones' Locker.
2. Obviously, or maybe not obviously, my lack of understanding of how the naval model works was the death of the KB.
3. I though the 4 CV task force would defend itself and also not let surface ships at will run, hit them and run back.
4. I'm now going to have to rely on naval air units and what navy I do have left.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. Decision Event. Convert BB Hull to CV?

No. I think the day of carriers for the IJN is over.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. Decision Event. U-boats to the Black Sea?

No. I plan to continue to focus on convoys to Russia and the UK.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. Battle of the Atlantic. Murmansk Convoy.

1. German U-boats sink 51 MPPs headed to Russia.
2. One of the 5 U-boats currently on station was attack by an RN DD and CL squadron, but took no damage.
3. All 5 U-boats are order to remain on station and keep sinking convoys headed to Russia.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. Battle of the Atlantic. The Atlantic.

1. 2 German U-boats and 2 Italian subs sink 32 MPPs headed to the UK.
2. The 2 German U-boats move closer to safety (i.e., port), reinforcement and upgrade.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. The Eastern Front. Army Group North. End of Turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. The Eastern Front. Army Group Center. End of Turn.

1. German armor takes a pounding and is pulled back away from the front line.
2. Let's hope that the Red Air Force doesn't find them before they can be reinforced.

[rkr1958]

Turn 75. Axis. July 3, 1942. The Eastern Front. Army Group South. End of Turn.