WiF - The Second Half

[Orm]

At this point of war I suspect that the number one priority for the Western Allies should be to send build points to USSR. Priority number two should be to send oil and resources to USSR. Everything else is secondary. Many a times has the Allies lost because of sending to little to late to USSR.

But this is easy to neglect and I often do so. [:(] Sending ten build points per turn were once the minimum, for me, to send to USSR during the first years of the German/USSR war. Somehow that has become reduced a lot over the years to become close to nothing. But that is most likely a huge mistake on my part. [:(]

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Orm

At this point of war I suspect that the number one priority for the Western Allies should be to send build points to USSR. Priority number two should be to send oil and resources to USSR. Everything else is secondary. Many a times has the Allies lost because of sending to little to late to USSR.

But this is easy to neglect and I often do so. [:(] Sending ten build points per turn were once the minimum, for me, to send to USSR during the first years of the German/USSR war. Somehow that has become reduced a lot over the years to become close to nothing. But that is most likely a huge mistake on my part. [:(]

Mmm ok. I'll see what sort of Murmansk convoys can be set up in the winter turns. Should be easier than in the real world, as Norway is neutral, so not much the Germans can do about it - beyond trash convoy points in general.

[Orm]

From India to USSR by the Persian route might be considered as well if Japan is not to much of a threat to convoys in that area.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Orm

From India to USSR by the Persian route might be considered as well if Japan is not to much of a threat to convoys in that area.

Persia is Soviet held but I believe there is a German partisan there athwart one of the railways... I'd have to have a look to see if there's actually a route.

Needless to say there are no spare Soviet troops for Persia at the moment!

[EUBanana]

Sept/Oct 42 Axis #3

Italy combined, the rest land

Italy sorties the fleet into the western Med - there is an 8 ship Allied CVTF in the 3 box, if the Italians can force a surface combat they can make a mess of that.

The surprise rolls are not kind - Italy rolls a 9, CW a 2. The Italian fleet is heavily bombed. They still outnumber the Allies in naval factors by 2 to 1, so they linger, but that's the only combat that happens.








There follows a battle between Italian land based air and the Commonwealth force in the Coast of Italy sea zone. One Italian bomber is forced to abort, the other is shot down. Looks like the CW owns the Mediterrean, bar the Eastern Med.

[EUBanana]

Then the Germans launch various ground strikes on Russian positions. The Red Air Force, what's left of it, rises to meet the enemy, aborts a bomber but is shot down in turn.

[EUBanana]

Looks like the Bf110 was superfluous, the Nebelwerfer did the job on its own...

[EUBanana]

A lot of Axis attacks but the odds are all much lower than der Fuhrer hoped (intervention by a Shturmovik didn't help). But fine weather, not going to get many more chances in 1942, so go for it.

The Japanese have been biding their time for a while by Manila, but it's been bad weather for months on end.

[EUBanana]

Well and truly over the river...

[EUBanana]

Attritional warfare at Odessa, but the Axis units lost are not very valuable ones.

"Germans are expensive, send in the Romanians.".

[EUBanana]

Sep/Oct 1942 Allied #4

Here's the Eastern Front at the start of the Allies turn, after the German assaults...

[EUBanana]

Wallies take naval, USSR/China land.

A fair bit of reorganising at sea as the Wallies get a convoy line to the USSR set up. The CW has a 5 point convoy line to Murmansk already, the USA will take another round to do likewise.

The US also sends a Beaufighter to Gibraltar, and deploys the fleet around Truk, looking for an engagement with the IJN, which in that zone is lacking any carriers at all.

Unfortunately, despite using a Catalina in the 4 box to try and engage, the Axis surprise the US and force a surface engagement. Plentiful US battlewagons inflict some damage to the IJN, though...

[EUBanana]

With some sucking luck, the USN suffers rather worse... at least in the long term.

However the US shrugs, lots of Essexes in the pipeline.





The Japanese are left with ~40 naval factors to the USN's ~66, and the IJN have no carriers unlike the USN, and so they choose to abort rather than get beaten on some more which seemed most likely. Thus, Bismarck Sea is under US control, for now anyway.

[EUBanana]

There's a lesser engagement in the Western Med as well, when Commonwealth carriers find the carrierless Regia Marina.

[EUBanana]

However the Italians linger, eying the convoy and its escorts, and succeed in forcing a surface engagement with it!

Bad luck means an Italian modern CA goes down, but the Commonwealth suffers worse.





After that the Italians have had enough, having equal naval factors with the CW, and (more importantly to me anyway) no heavily armoured ships to absorb hits left.

[EUBanana]

Sep/Oct 42 Allied #4.

The USSR rail moves the factory in Kalinin to the central USSR, far from the fighting, and then reorganises the front.

In the north the positions around the Dnieper are abandoned in favour of a line in front of Moscow in the forests there, aside from a strong point at Bryansk, in part because Bryansk has a disorged Shtumorvik in it...

In the south, units fall back to Vorenezh, though again they linger in the cities.

[EUBanana]

No attacks, so the impulse ends.

The weather is kind to the Allies...

[EUBanana]

Sep/Oct 42 Axis #5

Germany land, Japan combined, Italy combined.

Italian submarines head to the western Med to try and take out the convoy point there, the escort is gone now due to the action last impulse where the CW fleet in the 0 box got drubbed (still CVs in the 3 box though but bad weather).

Japan moves a transport to the South China Sea - due to having 0 convoy points there thanks to the earlier Allied submarine activity the supply on Java has been cut, this reopens it.

The Italian submarines fail to find anything though...

[EUBanana]

Allies all pass. Theres only a 30% chance of the turn ending if they do this but none have anything particularly burning to do, even the USSR only has a few slight things to rearrange. Worth the risk, they deem.

A '5', the turn continues, and its all fine weather too!

Sep/Oct 1942 Axis #9

Germany land, Italy/Japan combined (not much to do).

Japan moves a couple of AMPHs out of Truk to the China Sea, where they collect some of the MIL and MAR on the PI for use elsewhere (Java...). Theres no point maintaining an amphibious force at Truk anymore anyway IMO as the US fleet is in the South Pacific in force.

Italy sends another submarine to the West Med. This time the subs find the convoy point and sink it without loss. Mission successful, they abort back to La Spezia.

German Stukas hit Bryansk and forces adjacent to Bryansk, 2 out of 2 units disorged at Bryansk, 1 out of 2 in the hex next to it, which bodes ill for those guys.

Then the land moves for Germany... they decide to focus upon the hex adjacent to Bryansk in the north, and on Kursk in the south. They don't have enough available units for multiple attacks across the line anymore.

3 attacks, all good odds - adjacent to Bryansk, Yeremenko in the Pripet Marshes, and Kursk.

[EUBanana]

Good rolls everywhere for the Germans, all attacks succeed spectacularly bar the Yeremenko one, where the attackers are disorged - that doesn't matter.

Yeremenko's lil squad did manage to tie up 4-5 corps for a whole year though so not bad.

HQ support was used in the attack on Kursk though so those guys can't advance much further this turn. But with impulse 9 surely there can't be long to go.