My second AAR (again)

[yvesp]

In the Mouth of the Amazon they find nothing.
In Cape St Vincent, they spot the enemy. Thats the first time from the start of the war!
However, the strong protection and presence of enemy planes prevents any damage, and the subs have to turn tail.

[yvesp]

But in Cape Verde basin, they find poorly protected ships...

[yvesp]

Of which they sink some, and force others to abort.

[yvesp]

As the Commonwealth cannot afford to desert the sea area, the fight goes on...

[yvesp]

and on...

[yvesp]

The Italian campaign cripples the British merchant shipping and the convoy chain is cut.
This is a severe blow!

Note that there should have been planes in the area. It was planned, and the move partially executed turns ago. They would have drastically mitigated the results, by reducing all attack odds by two columns. However they were diverted to protect Egypt. Thus, the standoff in Egypt has interesting consequences...

[yvesp]

Meanwhile, some German bombers find their unprotected targets.

[yvesp]

In Northern China, the snow is not sufficient to prevent the Japanese advance.
Indeed, as expected, the troops avoid the now strongly defended Tungkwan to head to the undefended Sian. Unless the Chinese pull a miracle, this would force the evacuation of Tungwan, as only that city has the troops able to protect Sian. No other troops can reach the city in time and save it.

[yvesp]

In the South, the Japanese troops advance in the mountains, surrounding the 20th garrison in order to destroy it. The advance on Chengsha is now underway, but the city is still well protected even though the troops around it are barely able to fight.

[yvesp]

The Chinese don't lose without taking with them some Japanese.
This combat will probably stop the Japanese advance in the south for the turn, as to few troops remain to prosecute anything serious.

[yvesp]

Not much happens afterwards.

Germany moves its units around, only to discover that indeed, there are not enough land units to prosecute together the attack of Yugoslavia and that of Spain!
Yugoslavia takes precedence: better leave Spain alone as long as it is friendly and the army is not ready to knock it out.
Anyway, it seems clear that summer is the earliest date where an attack could be done.

The commonwealth vainly tries to retaliate, sending its own subs in the mediterranean. But the Italian fighters are good wardens and prevent attacks.

In this context, seeing that soon paratropps and marines would be descending on Egypt, Wavell takes the initiative, using the advantage that Balbo is badly supplied, to launch an attack of its own on advanced defenses. The result is a mitigated success. It could trigger a dangerous backclash. It could also lead to the destruction of the Italian forces in the next weeks. All depending on how the italian react. Will they risk an emergency supply of Balbo and risk their fleet in the process ?

[yvesp]

In China, the front looks like it is going to stabilize.

The Japanese might shorthen the Northern front and pull back some units to go south unless thsy try and push to Sian. But the Chinese potion is strong enough to warrant heavy losses.

On the other hand, the Japanese have now taken extremely strong positions that should be able to hold off the Chinese. The Southern front is strong enough too if the japanese wanted to keep their positions. However, unlike Sian, Changsa seem to be accessible, provided that some troops come in reinforcement.

What objective for the japanese ? Capture Changsa, Hengyang and the resource between. Secure the position by holding positions in the mountains and protect the railway line. That should be sufficient before turning South, against the Netherland east Indies and Malaysia, where easy pickings await Or, alternatively, protect against a Russian attack.

A secure, mostly passive, Chinese front is the key for later in the war.

Of course, unexpected successes or failures might change these plans.

[composer99]

ORIGINAL: yvesp

Many of the best French units are removed from the game.

It's worth noting, since the De Gaulle HQ is highlighted in this screen capture, that the De Gaulle HQ is automatically placed in the Free French force pools if it has been removed from play or otherwise not on the map (in a Free French hex).

[yvesp]

The Italians take the bait and bring troops to reinforce in Egypt.
The Gibraltar task force fails to find the few enemy ships.
A light cruiser sent along the Italian coast to work with the subs also fails to find anything.

[yvesp]

ORIGINAL: composer99
It's worth noting, since the De Gaulle HQ is highlighted in this screen capture, that the De Gaulle HQ is automatically placed in the Free French force pools if it has been removed from play or otherwise not on the map (in a Free French hex).

I know that ; the highlight was random.
This is anyway a good reason not to build De Gaulle prematurely... Otherwise, he might well end up in Vichy! What a shame!!!

[yvesp]

December weather finally turn good, and for lack of having anything serious to do, the japanese tries to bomb the Chinese factories.

[yvesp]

And succeeds in Sian

[yvesp]

Taking the opportunity offered by that good weather, the Japanese decide to advance near Changsa. On the contrary, an attack on Mao was rejected as the risks where seen as too high considering the potential gains.

The attack succeeds, and the Japanese suffer the easily replaced loss of some Korean troops.

In constrast, the destroyed Chungking militia should take long to be active again.

Note: In the combat, the mech did attack. That was a mistake, but it doesn't change the result if I play as if it did not. Had it attacked, the Chinese would have chosen the blitz table to force the loss of that expensive unit.

In Haïchow, the japanese clean up some partisans.

[yvesp]

The Italian prayed extremely strong for an end of the turn, but were not listened.
Their fleet was at risk in the east med.

But the british were not looking at the right place: the fleet once more avoided detection.

However, the newly brought Hampden bomber did find Balbo.

This was rather annoying, because either the fleet had to stay at sea, or Balbo would stay disorganized for lack of oil... In turn, this might well be his demise in the current configuration (forecast of a +6 blitz attack at least next turn)

[yvesp]

Indeed, the Commonwealth doesn't even wait!
That demi victory should win some time! Indeed, bringing troops to Egypt isn't that easy for Italy...