Time of Writhe - Axis

[Chocolino]

August 16th, 1941

Rumor has it that US and UK convoys arrive in Murmansk loaded with military goods. The German navy has recently finished its first carrier (via event) and the Kriegsmarine will soon test the waters of the North Atlantic in hope to find some juicy convoy targets.

The effect of Lend Lease is that first Russian tank corps reappear in the front near Moscow and we have to be careful not to be overrun there. The Russians have also organized a fairly strong defense north of Stalino and it took quite some effort to break it up in part. The most southern controlled area is within 5 hexes from the Black Sea.

[Chocolino]

September 9th, 1941

The USA has joined the Western Alliance after all (Gary edited the files to make this happen). Axis troops make still good progress in the Russian south and the units around Odessa and Kirovograd have left only the land connection via the Crimea and the Kerch strait. But they can always supply via sea port through Odessa.

The summer campaigning season in Russia is essentially over and we have to prepare for the inevitable Allied landing - somewhere.

[Chocolino]

September 24th, 1941

German troops suffer form heavy Russian tank counterattacks east of Orel. But in the south we are still marching and reached Rostov.

The Kriegsmarine has left port to intercept Lend Lease convoys to Russia. An initial small naval battle with the US was in favor of Germany and a few captial US ships including one BB could be sunk with no German ships sunk.

[Chocolino]

Player note: Gary and I have fought a nasty technical problem over the last week that was apparently caused by one particular US move. After identifying it, it was easy to avoid and we are moving again. (Keep in mind that we are still using V1.5 here. The current version will behave differently)

[Chocolino]

October 1st, 1941

The Axis command is increasingly alarmed by US naval activities. Is a landing in Europe imminent? We are definitely not well prepared and stretched already thin on one front let alone two. A second major front could spell a quick collapse of the Axis effort.

But for now we are taking advantage of our position in Russia and press ahead in the little time remaining until the Axis focus will swing over to defense.

[Fishbed]

*sob*

[Chocolino]

Player Note: As the technical problems mentioned previously continued to persist, Gary and I decided to go back several month and replay some moves. This helped avoiding the "chief culprit" incident. I have just finished the October 9th-1941 move for the second time and we have now arrived at the same game time where we have been stopped previously. While you will notice in the next full post (tomorrow for 10-16-41?) some minor inconsistencies with the last one because of the replay, the situation has overall not really changed all that much. The biggest difference is that Pskov could not be taken at the same time since the USSR has learned from experience how to defend it better the second time around. The Russian PP losses are also lower the second time around.

I have added just a quick snapshot for now.

[Chocolino]

October 16, 1941

The Axis had to put quite some effort into gaining Pskov this time around but succeeded with the help of their trusted tank corps.

The (almost) independent country of Ukraine has been formed. As its war economy comes into gear, the Ukrainian PP production will be larger than the German production from the same occupied cities as they are not annexed (and we don't expect the USSR to fall).

The bulk of the German attack force is concentrated around Rostov and faces the same historical dilemma all over again: where to head next, east or south?

[Chocolino]

November 1st, 1941

Winter is coming and Soviet Partisans landed quite a coup. They dismantled the Russian Industry in occupied cities and transported all installations east (Russia had the transport Industry east event). This cuts into our production from occupied Russian cities - almost all have now 0 PPs. But more importantly, the USSR gains a healthy 70PP per turn. Together with land lease, their income exceeds the German production now by about 100PP. This ratio is further strained by a very successful Allied strategic bombing campaign on the German heartland.

For the Axis to remain successful, we need to continue to destroy Russian PP at a very high rate. Because of high upkeep costs, we will not buy additional units but invest in R&D so that L4 tanks can be available when needed.

[Chocolino]

November 16th, 1941

When is an Allied relief operation in the West starting? It seems Russia is in need of it. Strategically, one threat is a UK invasion of the Caucasus via Allied Turkey where Axis units are very thinly stretched.

The US could enter the by a landing in Portugal or Spain if they don't want to risk an early landing in France. It is awkward that the US cannot by default join the Allies out of their own devices (Gary had to revert his manual setting of a US entry into the Western Alliance as this most likely caused our earlier technical problems). Can the British use diplomacy to bring the in? Churchill also had to write a lot of letters to Roosevelt at the time.

[Chocolino]

December 1st, 1941

Axis troops can move across southern Russia with the least resistance that we have seen since the beginning of the Russian campaign. But there are still defenders in the larger Caucasus region. Just south and southeast of Stalingrad seems to be a void. Our infantry tries to move in but is not fast enough to really take advantage. We have to be careful not to have too many single exposed forward units that are vulnerable to fast Russian encirclements. Russia has several L3 tank corps and more income than the Axis to buy additional ones if they like.

[Chocolino]

December 16th, 1941

Winter weather, new Russian L3 infantry ane reappearing Russian tank corps stop the fast German progress in the Caucasus and Stalingrad region.

[Chocolino]

January 1st, 1942

The UK becomes more and more dangerous in south-east Europe. The Italians can delay but not hold. Sooner or later this will mean that the Germans have to deal with it, too.

[Chocolino]

February 1st, 1942

The winter weather has put a stop on most of our operations. There were only smaller adjustments to the front.

[Fishbed]

Taking Stalingrad will be such a milestone already... Whatever happens next, congrats

[Chocolino]

Thank you. Yes, considering the slow and cumbersome start of the Russian campaign almost two game years ago, the Axis has come a long way. But one has also to see that the USA could never join the Allies in this game, making them only cash/PP providers so far. An early landing in Europe with US help may have caused a different outcome.

[Chocolino]

February 16th, 1942

Stalingrad is now seriously threatened. But taking it is more a symbolic victory. It has no immediate economic benefits as its industry has been moved east. (There may be again a one time bonus for taking it). Still, the city is one of the major Russian supply centers and of course is worth a lot of victory points. But unless one is still alive at the end of the game that does not really matter.

The Allied strategic bombing campaign is taking a terrible toll. We are scraping the bottom of the PP barrel just to pay maintenance and do necessary repairs but refrain again from air attacks altogether for this reason.

[Chocolino]

March 1st, 1942

We are hoping for an early spring. Maybe the tanks can rumble a bit further east from Stalingrad. The Russian overall strength is constant despite their retreats. The battle is far from won. We also have to keep an eye on the very dangerous British Greece and Bulgaria.

[Chocolino]

March 16th, 1942

Stalingrad falls completely which brings in a 220PP one-time bonus together with Batum at the Turkish border which falls at the same time. Other than that is the fall of Stalingrad purely a "prestige" victory for which we care little since it does not buy any ammunition. But we have to get the city supply to move further east. The Russians let us expand freely east now and must be building defenses further back.

We lost the encircled unit south of Astrakhan but could reach the Caspian Sea anyways a bit further south since all local Russian units were focused on keeping the German unit encircled.

The situation at the Russian-Turkish border is still unclear. We hope the UK/French and Turkish will have to commit resources that are needed for their campaign in SE Europe.

[Chocolino]

April 1st, 1942

The Russians retreat but can hold out for a while still. They let us advance from Stalingrad so that it is the Axis that has to fight at stretched supply lines. Still, the Axis makes slow but continuous progress also in the Caucasus region and pushes near Novgorod and north of Tver. The US has to make a move soon to distract the Axis and force us to withdraw units for defense.