Defending Greater Germania 1942 - Includes combined WitW and WitE2 AARs

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Western Front
Situation Report Sept 4th 1943 Turn 10
Army Group B


This week sees The Allied Air Forces once again concentrating there bombing campaign at the Industrial centres in Northwestern Germany. The Ruhr and Hannover regions the main targets with enemy air groups numbering in some cases up to 500 hundred Bombers, most of the enemy attacks aimed at our oil production facilities.

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German defences both air and ground units engaged with spirited resistance and caused heavy losses to the enemy's bomber forces, however due to the enemy having greater numbers they were able to press home there attacks.

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Western Front / Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 4th 1943 Turn 10

Massive Air Battles rage over the Hannover region as Luftflotte Reich engage with the US 8th Air Force.

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In Northern Italy Axis Forces are taken by surprise by the unexpected levels of Partisan activities adding a further strain on precious manpower and resources needed on Sicily.
Anti Mussolini forces sabotage rail lines and depots, disrupting supply and munitions railed from Southern Germany to Axis Forces fighting in Southern Italy.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 4th 1943 Turn 10
Army Group C

The Italian Front takes a new turn as the partisan activities in the North threatens operations in the South, with his Axis Air units already stretched engaging the enemy on Sicily and in Southern Italy Gen Kurt Zeitzler now orders air and ground units to crush the resistance movement in the North.

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Allied pressure continues as Southern Italian Ports and Air Bases are hit repeatedly by the enemy, II Flieger Korps units flying many sorties struggle to contain enemy air activity despite there best efforts.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 4th 1943 Turn 10
Army Group C

The situation in the air war over Sicily is grave the last remaining air unit stationed on the island Stab / ZG1 now down to 1 operational fighter along with 3 fighter Squadrons based at Calabria and 2 Squadrons at Crotone are more or less the islands defence against the enemy.

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The Allies continue a wave of carpet bombing which cannot be countered.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 4th 1943 Turn 10
Army Group C


On the Palermo / Messina Highway Patton's 7th Army supported by The Brit XIII Corps launches an Armoured assault East of Calafu, Gen Hube's Pz Korps contains the attack only to have The Allies regroup and assault Axis positions again, The attackers take large losses with there frontal assaults making no ground.

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While a major battle is taking place along the coast road another assault inland against Ital 6th Army and XIV Pz Korps is also halted, the enemy suffering heavy losses with little gain, Brit XXX Corps using a massive Artillery barrage to try to weaken our defensive lines is stopped cold despite us losing more troops.

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Failing to achieve any breakthroughs against Gen Hube's lines both Brit XIII and XXX Corps now turn there attention against Balck's LXXXX ArmeeKorps and the Ital XVI Corps ( Gen Agostino Cinti ) hoping to punch through and push on to Messina and cutoff 5th Pz Armee and Ital 6th Army's escape route.
Despite a series of attacks our lines hold and the enemy suffers more losses for no gains.

While the battle rages across the island the lead units of the battered Ital XII Corps cross onto the mainland and take up defensive positions along the coast and begin to rebuild and rest.


Notes
For historical context

Sicily Fell August 17th 1943

Italian surrender ( armistice signed 3rd Sept 1943 ) announced 8th September

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Western Front / Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 4th 1943 Turn 10
Stats

Manpower losses are still almost double of our enemy, this seems to be due to the enemy air attacks on our ground forces rather than actual ground combat.

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We continue to inflict heavy losses on the enemy's air fleets but our own air units are being drained away with attrition, but our ground forces need air support, quite a dilemma.

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Despite the constant bombing our production is not in serious difficulty yet.

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WITW Battles IF 10e.jpg (142.57 KiB) Viewed 1237 times

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Hi all
Doing a rush job on one of my turns thought i would get one out for the holidays, I try usually do one from each theatre of war but I have run out of time as I wanted to get both out yesterday but i will just have to settle for only one and double up the Western front later.
Since I do one Army Group at a time ( post ) it will take a few minutes to post them all.

regards

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Sept 9th 1943 Turn 43
Army Group North

With all operations wrapped up in The Baltic States and Finnish forces assaulting Soviet forces along the entire Northern Theatre, Army Group North's attention is now turned towards the Vologda and Yaroslavl regions, 18th Armee together with 8th Armee begin to encircle The Soviet 51st Army, while the XXXVIII ArmeeKorps fortifies its position at Cherepovets blocking the 49th Guards Inf Corps from pushing through and relieving there pocketed comrades North of Babaevo.

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The situation on the Yaroslavi front line is mostly quiet 16th Armee made some small gains but for the most part the Armee is sitting tight guarding the Northern approaches of the Moscow battle front, XXIII ArmeeKorps ( 9th Armee ) did come under some attack but easily contained them, the trapped Soviet 60th inf Corps attempted a breakout but gained little ground for heavy losses and remains isolated with no hope of rescue.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Sept 9th 1843 Turn 43
Army Group Centre

More major battles erupt as Soviet forces try to punch through our lines in an effort to reach the Soviet capital, the attacks fail with heavy losses to the enemy, East of Moscow two pockets cutoff from the previous weeks operations are destroyed freeing up troops to be sent forward to the front lines.
At Rayzan 3rd Pz Armee and 4th Armee destroy the pocket here also, the Red Army offensive in this sector has come to a complete halt there Army's smashed.

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At Lipetsk the battle intensified as the enemy launched a new offensive which broke through our lines creating a corridor for most of the trapped forces to escape, our Commanders caught by surprise by the scale of the enemy counterattack, as 4 Soviet Army's ( 3rd, 13th, 60th and 4th Tank ) struck at the town of Dobroe with overwhelming numbers brushing our troops aside this allowed there Tank units to pull back to safety.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Sept 9th 1943 Turn 43
Army Group South

While The Southern wing of 2nd Armee Destroys the two trapped enemy units South of Voronezh 2nd Hun Army advances forward moving towards Pavlovsk and Rossosh,there main objective to take control of the Voronezh / Rostov rail line, an important rail link in the Central sector of the Soviet Union, it will also straighten the front line and hopefully allow us to create a reserve for the coming winter months.At Ostrogozhsk the 25th Tank Corps is encircled, further South the 42 Guards Inf Corps remains cutoff, at this time Soviet attacks are piecemeal and easily contained.

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On the Hungarians right flank The Steppe and Southwestern Front's offensives have ground to a halt, 4th Pz Armee with support from 6th Armee and Romanian forces blunting the enemies attacks then pushing through there lines to cut off there lead forces,with there spearheads cutoff the enemy simply gave up the fight and for the most part retreated not willing to attempt to rescue there comrades.

The Axis success was all the more stunning by the fact that two of Gen Hoth's Inf Korps, III Luft Field Korps and XXIX ArmeeKorps facing 3 Soviet Army's had very little involvement in the action apart from some minor skirmishes.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcdl7uvGSdY

Not called into action 1st Recon ( 62nd Inf ) relax despite the Soviet threat.

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Eastern Front
Situation Report Sept 9th 1943 Turn 43
Army Group A


Here in The Caucasus the enemy offensive is destroyed, simply overwhelmed by superior speed and firepower of 1st Pz Armee and 3rd Rom Army, what enemy units that weren't destroyed in the initial firestorm of battle remain cutoff and isolated, all that remains of The North Caucasus Front, the 3rd Rifle Brigade which barely escaped destruction. 17th Armee still in the process of disembarking from there trains after there journey from the Black Sea theatre of operations will be deployed in the operational area between 1st Pz and 3rd Rom units.

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Western Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group B

Another week of enemy air activity in Western Europe by RAF Bomber Command and The US 8th Air Force, with the usual targets of regular fuel and oil facilities at Cologne and the Hannover industrial region being hit, German Air defences went into action with the enemy suffering substantial losses.

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However some new developments occurred which have worrying implications for the OKL high Command, a major air raid on the last day of the week struck the city of Magdeburg, the enemy striking at our synthetic fuel making facilities.
The enemy has been constantly attacking fuel and oil producing plants but seems to be going all out to cripple our fuel supplies on the Western Front due to the successes on the Eastern Front.

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Western Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group B

Even more alarming two massive air raids occurred during the week, one on day 3 the other on day 7 with the enemy flying deep into German territory, further than any raids in Western Europe to date, the 450 mile air battle starting from Ostend Belgium and ending with attacks against Munich and Bad Toelz in Southern Germany, the huge engagement involved I Jagd Korps, II Jagd Korps , Luftflotte Reich and air units from the 1st Ital Air Fleet operating in Northern Italy.

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German air units in Battle against enemy bomber forces attacking Munich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPzrA25 ... WL&index=9

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group C

The Partisan activity in Northern Italy continues though at a lesser scale as 3 German Korps arrive 1SS Pz Korps, LXIV ArmeeKorps and LXXIV ArmeeKorps ( 10th Armee ) and begin operations to secure Axis military and civilian facilities and infrastructure vital to the war effort.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group C

In the South ports were the main target along with attacks on airfields, the enemy trying to destroy our air units on the ground,despite the overwhelming odds our forces did have successes in the air.
In the Molise region the city of Foggia the HQ for II Flieger Korps was hit as were the surrounding airbases of Cerignola,Lucera,Amendola, Salsola and San Severo.
In a day long battle around San Severo airbase the bombers of The Strategic Air Force battled with II Flieger Korps ( IV / JG 3 and II / JG 27 ) along with The Ital 3rd Air Fleet ( 22a Ital FB GRP ), our fighters launching repeated intercept missions, both sides inflicting an even amount of losses.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group C

II / JG 27 Operations

The unit is stationed in Southern Italy and operates in the Molice region

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This week together with 2 other units it intercepted a Bomber force that was attacking Southern Axis airfields, during the course of the battle the unit lost 1 plane and did not score any kills.
However the other units had better luck.

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The enemy pressed home its attack destroying 6 of our aircraft on the ground for the loss of another of its planes

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Doing this turn has taken longer than I hoped and I am not yet finished it and have two other turns i wanted to post, but its work time hopefully when i get home i can at least finish this turn.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group C

At Sicily and Southern Italy Allied air power is almost unstoppable this week the Ital 3rd Air Fleet puts up spirited resistance but are simply outnumbered with the enemy bombing our airbases and ground forces at will, only our Flak defences both mobile and at the ports of Messina and Calabria are the most effective counter and are able to destroy several of the enemy bombers.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group C

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The Axis defence line on Sicily holds again this week thanks to arrival of more reinforcements, Gen Balck's units come under attack first by The I FF Corps which easily contained, South of this battle XIV Pz Korps and Ital 6th Army clash with US 7th Army and Brit XII Corps, here to Gen Hube is able to blunt the assault. The enemy regroups for a fresh attack on our lines starting with a heavy artillery bombardment and with the support of French troops US and Brit Infantry launch a frontal assault.

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In the Axis Centre the timely arrival of the 4th Fallschirmjaeger Div helps hold the enemy from breaking though as the Allies open up with a huge artillery barrage followed by a direct assault by nearly 90 thousand men and over 730 AFV's, the attack fails with heavy enemy losses, a second attack is launched by the Brit XXX Corps only to fail with high losses.

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Italian Front
Situation Report Sept 11th 1943 Turn 11
Army Group C

Sicily

Having failed to make any breakthroughs in the Centre and to the West of the island, Brit XXX Corps switches its axis of attack and strikes at our forces defending the East coast, once again the The Allies open up with a artillery followed by an Inf and Armoured push against our fortified defence positions,the attack is halted, this time only minor casualties on both sides, US 5th Army launches a probing attack with Armour but this to is defeated.

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