Adventures in Italy

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what things looked like before I have moved anybody. I'm going to press north
all along the front lines and see what progress I can make this turn. All the aircraft
are green and most of the troops are green and I expect something to happen this turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation: great on the west and pitiful on the east. I've put
the American engineers to the task of helping the British engineers extend the rails
and the rail is being extended faster which is a good thing. Meanwhile the British
troops are forced to save up their supply to move or attack and the advance on the
east if agonizingly slow.

The Americans have some mopping up to do and then they can zoon off to see what they
can find.

[larryfulkerson]

I've set up an attack on the east side to hopefully get rid of the roadblock and
clear the path to the next set of roadblocks. And in the west I drove a recon unit
north a little bit and found the next roadblock going north in the mountains instead
of along the coast. I think for now i'll just contain them and see if I can't find
a way to get behind them somehow.

[larryfulkerson]

I found a way around the roadblock in the mountains but it's kind of complicated
and involves defeating the roadblock on the western coastal highway. Which I have
to do anyway. This might defind a future mission for some units.

[larryfulkerson]

I've got the Indian army busy converting hexes on Sardinia. The island is handicaped
by the fact that it's got only a single supply point down south and by the time that
supply flow reaches the north end it's very low single digits. Not really helpful
for using the airfields up north. Maybe the supply levels will improve when I've
gotten more cleared than you see here. I doubt it.

[larryfulkerson]

The 82nd Airborne Division was withdrawn this turn. I'm going to miss them. Now the
only airmoble troops I have might be the Rangers or the special forces troops. I'll
have to take a look around and see what I still have. Otherwise the air drops are
probably out for the rest of the game. D'oh.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the starting lineup in T52. And the supply situation as it is right now.
As you can see the supply levels are rising but it's still pitiful at the front
lines on the east side. But there's still several sizeable units that have enough
supply to be green and I'm moving them to the front. The yellow ones I'm going to
pull back to a parking position on the broken rails and let them rest. The arty
are being used during my turn and sometimes during Ian's turn so that they are
perpetually low on supply.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like when I ended my turn. It looks like we're going to be
fighting over the roads and rails for a while. I'll have to put together an
invasion to go around these guys.

[devoncop]

I am convinced another amphibious invasion is coming next turn...as a result the
artillery support that had been assigned to the front lines has had to be reallocated to the two crucial ports of Salerno and Taranto.

My hunch is that Larry may hit both so we are in a very dangerous phase.....

This turn was restricted to consolidating defensive positions in the passes and some light artillery bombardment....

[larryfulkerson]

It looks like next turn I'm scheduled to receive the 1st Armoured Division but they
are all red and going to need some rest before they will be combat ready. I'm not
sure where they are being born and I'm hoping I own it. If not I'll have to get it
somehow to get the units. Hold on a second and I'll go see where they are to be
born and give you a full report: I added a picture to the original image to show
the approx. area where these addresses point. To the NE of Napoli. I'd have to land
at Salerno and fight my way to the area to capture it to get the units. They are
going to be in my list unless and until I capture the area and redeem them. Great.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's how the amphibous assault went. Not good. I'll have to try somewhere
else. This place is too strong. Two divisions at three-dots didn't go anywhere.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what the front lines looked like when I ended the turn. A tiny increment
of progress was made.

[devoncop]

Well the coastal defences West of Altavilla did better than I could have hoped and this turn some self sacrificing JU87s caused another 11% losses to the unfortunate Free French Moroccans.

Can I now expect direct attacks on Salerno and Tarantino ?

I have only been getting weak Security battalions and Panzer Grenadier battalions as reinforcements up to now for the most part but I am due 2nd FJ Paratroop Div so I will get at least a small strategic reserve. I am trying to man the Gustav and Hitler fortified lines further North with whatever spare units I can find. Not easy.

[larryfulkerson]

I've learned to take the final picture of the front lines before I pull the trigger
on the attacks. Most often I run over the number of allowed rounds and that burns
the turn. Ian is moving more people this way so the situation is steadily getting
worse. Great scenario.

[devoncop]

11th Jan 1944 turn.

An abortive attempt to use very short range attacks on the remnants of Larry's invasion fleet SE of Salerno at Paestrum succeeds only in losses of 30% as Allied air wreaks havoc. No additional allied losses so I wont be trying that again for a while.

There is a few rounds of desultory shelling from HQ units supporting the troops in the central mountains SE of Lauria against the US infantry and Free French Special Forces causing 4 to 5% casualties per round but otherwise the turn was notable for very heavy interdiction...the worst for a while. As a result I have moved heavy flak units down to Taranto which was targeted repeatedly. These units were also hit. Larry seems to have lost 100 or so planes but this is not an issue for him given his resources I think.

Does this indicate a strike at Taranto ? Given the arbitrary nature of interdiction maybe not but the Ports defenders are on a critical state of alert.

[larryfulkerson]

Those two regiments that got stuck after the abortive amphibious assault
were in the green this turn so I was able to embark them on a ship and
sail them to safety. One of the fighter groups upgraded from I think
P-40E/N's to late model P-38's with the fabulous range of 289 hexes.
I can reach everything important with that plane.

I've turned the INT back on. I was using them as CS and I decided
INT was more important. So in the early turn I use them as CS and
then at the end of the turn I change them to INT. It does wonders
in slowing down Axis traffic.

I could really use some naval support in getting ashore in these
invasions. It's sorely missed.

[MikeJ19]

The battle for Italy was certainly a slugfest. I like how you keep trying to get around Devoncop's defence line.

Have a good day

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
The battle for Italy was certainly a slugfest. I like how you keep trying to get around Devoncop's defence line.

Have a good day

Hey There Mike. Thanks for posting. That's what helps me keep going. I've got a report for this turn:

Here's what the front lines look like just before I ended the turn. I made some
progress on the east side by pushing the roadblocks off the road and killed another
one and some British units moved to the extent of their MP's. There's another
roadblock on the road that I'll have to deal with. On the west side the American
units are tired and need rest. I've got at least two divisions sitting on ports
ready to go at a moment's notice but judging by the failure at Salerno I don't
have enough power to get ashore there. It'll have to be somewhere else.

[MikeJ19]

The lack of East-West roads does not help you much either. In some ways it seems like you are fighting two independent battles, one per coast. At least the terrain seems to be opening up some, which could stretch the German defences.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
The lack of East-West roads does not help you much either. In some ways it seems like you are fighting two independent battles, one per coast. At least the terrain seems to be opening up some, which could stretch the German defences.

I was just thinking that same thing. Great minds run in the same circles I guess. And yeah, I
welcome the better terrain. I've got the Free French going up the middle in the mountains because
they have troops with mountaineering skills and the only problem with the FF troops is that their
units lack the punch that the American units have. I can't push the German units around with them.
It takes a couple of them in concert to make a decent attack odds ratio.

Soon now I'm going to do a series of bombing of the enemy ports as a way of doing recon, to see what
kind of defense the port has. I need to find a weak spot with a supply point nearby. This fighting
in the mountains is killing my troops. Sometimes the interface between my units and the Germans is
a single hex and I have to go at the Germans one unit at a time. Not good. And it's slow. That's
one of the worst things about it.