Kobiyashi Maru - 1943 GC rematch: kentkroeckel (Allies) vs Seminole (Axis)

[Seminole]

1st Army continues their watch against landings from Corsica.



10th Army is managing the counterattack and will rotate north as soon as mop up completes.



14th Army has two corps manning the Adriatic coast and two corps occupying the Allied left wing.
When the invasion comes they will rotate north and release command to 15th Army.



15th Army will manage the Gustav Line until landing in the north compel withdrawal.

[Seminole]

Air losses:



Ground losses:



Victory Points:



Axis FBs are brought down to hopefully intercept supply flights and attempted Allied interdiction.



Forgot to include the results of Axis interdiction at the beginning of the turn:

[Seminole]

Turn 34
Feb 19, 1944

Weather report:



Garrison needs can be met with existing forces, shouldn’t need to rely on anything currently in Italy.
Rail 2nd SS Pzr Div to Milan to better refit until March relocation. Can shift a unit from the Netherlands to France or Italy as needed in March.
Will begin prep for May by rotating in mech after refit to 85%+ TOE on national supply source.

Victory Points:

[Seminole]

Pocket holds! No sign of the paras, and no additional invasions make landfall.
Will likely take two weeks to reduce the pocket.
The Allies squeezed the cordon, and combat has lowered the remaining MP for several units.
Will work pocket herding west away from friendly lines and divide sub-pockets as best as possible.

Italian front line at the beginning of the turn:



Air losses at the beginning of the turn:



Ground losses at the beginning of the turn:

[Seminole]

The Germans lack the momentum to attack the last two bubbles this week, but five formations have been claimed.
With over 70k Allied losses for the week. Next week could be as profitable.

Units destroyed this week:



Ground losses in Axis phase:



Air losses in Axis phase:

[Seminole]

Turn 35
Feb 26, 1944

New Landings!
The Allies make four(!) separate landings, none of which are mutually supporting or interlocking, and all on the western coast.
From North to South:
Alpha - TF 81 lands the 50th BR Inf Div under I CA Corps
101st US Airb Div supporting
Beta - TF ‘J’ lands 53rd BR Inf Div under I BR Corps
Gamma - TF (C) lands 5th US Inf Div under II PO Corps
Delta - TF ‘S’ lands 85th US Inf Div under V BR Corps

First order of business is to complete the mop up this week in the south and get all mech units on a path north.
Will need to rotate some airborne forces from the Adriatic coast to N Italy, so we can free up forces from N Italy to help contain the west coast.
Intelligence intercepts indicate that at least two divisions of Canadian armor are off the coast waiting to be unloaded.

Apparently I forgot to get a beginning of the turn of the new landings.
Here is the remains of the pocket at the beginning of the turn:

[Seminole]

Allied losses top 106k for the week on the ground:



Air losses:

[Seminole]

Turn 36
March 4, 1944

Weather report:



The Allies surprise us with a paradrop behind the southern part of the line.
1st BR Airborne Div (I BR Corps) makes a landing east of Salerno, behind our line cutting the rails to our forward depot and preventing the mech on rails from immediately heading north.
Division is reinforced with 3 PO Para Bdes, 15k men in all.
Opportunity presents itself to capture an elite unit a few months before D-Day.
Decide to commit Schmalz PzG Bde (even though they are on active rail and could head north), 3rd PzG Div, with 16th & 17th SS PzG Divs.

Ground Attacks by the Italian Luftwaffe Command chewed up 3,050 Allied paras (20% of the force!) and 76 guns (of 186 landed) destroyed.

[Seminole]

Allied attacks from the northern beachheads meet mixed success.
1st Army's goal is to prevent the beachheads from linking up, and to hold the permanent ports as long as possible.
We hope to induce Alpha beach into an eastern advance that we can strike from N. Italy and isolate the vanguard.
Canadians have routed, but I don't think we've welcomed any of them to our POW camps.



In the south the slog continues.
The Germans plan to give ground to the Gustav Line.

[Seminole]

Dietrich’s I SS Pzr Corps leads the assault and the paras are forced to surrender.
16th SS PzG Div (76% TOE) stays put after battle, 17th SS PzG Div (71% TOE) joins 3rd PzG Div (50%) in Salerno to refit and rail out next week.
Schmalz PzG Bde (34%) is east of Salerno covering the depleted 245th Inf Div (8%).
Preliminary plan is to leave 16th and 17th SS PzG Div to help hold Gustav Line.



On map formations destroyed so far this game:

[Seminole]

Allied air losses seemed staggering this turn.
I suspect I'll have at least two Me-109s to strafe the D-Day beaches with.



Ground losses:



Can the Germans capture vehicles?



German motor pool:

[Seminole]

A strategic look at the allocation of armor in the Italian theater.



Italian theater CV:



Italian theater unit names:

[Seminole]

Since January the German winter offensives have reaped a bitter toll:



but you can't see it show up in the Allied OoB!



There must be parking lots full of Shermans, and no shortage of Allied gun tubes either:



Aircraft status:



Allied losses are reflected in their manpower pools.
I've got to think the Commonwealth pools must be hurting.

[Seminole]

Turn 37
March 11, 1944


Weather Report:



VPs have slipped to a Minor Axis victory as this time.
The Allied casualties are really piling up, but the renewed bomber offensive is getting results.

[Seminole]

Beginning of turn:



331st Inf Div (49% TOE) rails to Vienna from EF.
90th PzG Div (33% TOE) rails to Vienna for refit.

3rd PzG Div (54% TOE) rail to Milan for refit.
15th PzG Div (33% TOE) rail to Milan for refit.
26th Pzr Div (37% TOE) rail to Milan for refit.

245th Inf Div (23% TOE) rails to Ancona for refit and attaches to 5th Pzr Army.
352nd Inf Div (31% TOE) rails to Bologna for refit and attaches to LXXXXVII Corps
362nd Inf Div (98% TOE) rails to Naples for Gustav Line assignment.

Counterattack succeeds:

[Seminole]

Allied ground losses of KIA and POW are now 2x Axis losses, and a very significant part of the Axis dead and POWs are actually Italian.



The air war is as brutal as its ever been.



Allied manpower pools continue to sag before D-Day, but the Germans are also clearly refitting the forces rotating Italy.

[Seminole]

End of turn 37 positioning and unit CV:

[Seminole]

Turn 38

[EwaldvonKleist]

Is it over?

[Seminole]

ORIGINAL: EwaldvonKleist

Is it over?

I've been busy, but there are two more turns to go before the Allies rage quit.

I'll see if I can get them posted when I finish turn 1 of my newest game (playing as the Allies, Axis have the EF box on).