Once Upon a Time (somewhere) in the West

[loki100]

Turns 14-15 2 October – 15 October 1943

I'll conflate these turns as T14 saw little action and T15 was pretty much a continuation of earlier decisions and strategies.

Turn 14 saw extremely bad weather all over Northern Europe leading to a complete suspension of the air campaign. As a result the only air action was in the South where my losses were only 61 and the bulk of these were suffered by Tactical Air as I directly bombed those German units at Reggio Calabria,

By the end of the week, elements of 5 Army were making some progress towards the Basento and in turn threatening to dislodge the German defences west of Scalea.



The consequence of no strategic bombing was a drop in the gain of VP.



Still the weather had improved by T15 so I was sure that 8 Airforce and Bomber Command would deliver a decent haul of VP this turn.

Well for whatever reason they put on a show of stunning ineptness. Each mission is single hex, supported by recon and this was as good as it got.



Still at least total losses were only 316 and fighter command carries on inflicting impressive rates of attrition.

In Italy, 5 Army continues to press along the coast. Crotone is penned in by Paratroopers and the port is destroyed so the Germans can't escape. They can wait till I have finished off Reggio Calabria.



The command of both the US V Corps and the British units on Sicily have been passed to 8 Army. I can now use the ferries so start deploying British units to the mainland. The Germans are still very powerful but last week they had a defensive cv of 110. Incessent bombing and, I suspect, very poor supply, is steadily eroding their capacity to fight.



Sardinia is almost cleared, will probably take 2 more weeks to complete the task.

The invasion north of Rome is ready, many potential invasion groups are up to 70 in readiness (I know there are Panzer divisions in the area) and each will land 2 divisions plus follow on formations. Its a case of timing, I need to project some sea interdiction (I can already commit Spitfires over the planned landing zones) and ideally I want 5 and 8 Armies to be ready to exploit any gains towards Naples.

But autumn is progressing and I also want both the transports and a number of combat formations returned to the UK.

Picture is slightly more dramatic this time, actually of Canadian armour in action in Sicily.

[loki100]

Usual 2 turn report.

In the air, in northern Europe, I'm doing 3 things.

Strategic bombing using 8 Air (still basically U-Boats and HI) and Bomber Command (Manpower and HI). Add in fuel when I can but both are doing 2 large attacks twice per week.

I'm also using Strat bombers by day (both 8 Air and BC) to hit railyards and ports in France. Finally element is Tactical Air, logistics and interdiction. I'm actually cutting this back and putting more and more squadrons to rest in preparation for 1944 (why lose Typhoons now?). Finally I've left Coastal Command just to do automatic missions, again see no point to running up losses on naval interdiction.

So here is the target map for T16, each turn some variation of actual targets.



In the Med, for T16, Strat bombing was hitting rail yards and ports, regular attack on Ploesti. Tac Air was supporting 5 Army in Italy, some interdiction on Sardinia and taking fairly heavy losses bombing the German forces at Reggio Calabria. For T17 the only significant change was more recon and interdiction around Rome.

Again here is the T16 target map.



On T16 losses were down to 251, I think the AI has not really conserved its airforce. Bomber Command remains hit and miss (literally). Some turns/raids are deadly, others report little damage. Lost 322 on T17, worst was for Tac Air braving the flak at Reggio Calabria but I really want to weaken those German units.

On the ground, three main fronts. At Reggio Calabria I'm waiting for supply and constant interdiction to weaken the Germans. By T16, they were down to 64 cv (defensive). By T17, they were down to 54 so I decided to risk an attack. Well that was grim. May need to take into November before I can risk it again.



In the same turn, I decided to try and make progress at reducing the Crotone forces. I really want to clear out my rear so I can fully exploit any German withdrawal when I land at Rome. Well that led to another disaster



In the meantime 5 Army was making limited progress. On T16 pushed a little along the Gulf of Taranto



However, on T17, I managed to stretch the German lines and break out along the coast. Wouldn't risk this against a human player but it should bring the front to Salerno if I'm lucky.



Finally on T16, took the last port on Sardinia and on T17 destroyed the last German units. Most of the units will now be deployed to Corsica but some sent to support the planned Rome landings.

By T17, net gain from the strategic air war remains at +3 (it seems I can't avoid some degree of trade off between bombing VP and loss for U-Boats).



Finally, here's why fatigue matters. Pushed this armoured unit too hard in clearing Sardinia. It was showing 16cv a few turns back. Needs to rest now.



Anyway with so much dramatic fighting, felt a suitable image was needed;

[loki100]

Turns 18-19 (30 October – 12 November 1943)

Relatively short report this turn. All my air was grounded in northern Europe for both turns and in most of the Med for T19. That meant I lost 132 and 32 planes on those turns respectively.

On T18, my Med air activity was mostly around preparing for the Rome landings, I am becoming increasingly worried about making those landings and being able to redeploy to the UK for the main invasion in 1944.



On T19, the only area where the weather was not too bad was in the south of Italy. The German forces at Reggio Calabria have steadily weakened, so I decided to gamble on another attack.



Ouch again, but one bit of good news was that their cv collapsed to 14. I'd guess that they are out of supply and very low on ammunition. So while in general, its not a good idea to repeat a failed attack, this time I did so.



VP situation remains ok, even after two turns of little bombing.



Given the bad weather, and how late into 1943 this now is, I need to attack at Rome next turn (if at all possible).

Oh and to celebrate destroying all those Tiger Tanks, and to show that they do have a secondary use (as an umbrella), here is a picture of rainy Italy

[loki100]

Turns 20-21: 13-26 November 1943

Again I'll put the turns together, but this time a lot more action. Before starting T20 I was wondering if the AI had over-committed earlier in the game, well I was in for real shock. This is the second time its not just managed a competent response but really taken me by surprise.

Almost the first thing I did was to check the weather



So not only can we have an air war we can visit Rome. I still think I am behind, but hopefully can get the French invasions set up by mid-Jan 44 at the latest.

In northern Europe, I experimented with ignoring the U-Boats and sending 8 Air into SW Germany. There are a lot of high value (lots of HI and big rail yards) down there, not much flak and it allows you to escape the fighters [1]



In Italy almost everything is hitting the invasion area. Lots of recon, lighter bombers from 15 Air are going for airfields, tac air for interdiction. The only variation was to risk a long range unescorted strike at Linz.

Losses matched the intensity with 411 lost and 174 German planes shot down. Bomber Command were still clearly in the pub after their two week break as they hit nothing. 8 Air more than made up, levelling Frankfurt and Stutgart. 15 Air did little damage at Linz so I'll leave that till I have bases in southern Italy.



In south Italy made more progress around Salerno as I start to disrupt the German defensive lines. But the main issue is at Rome. This shows my invasion (effectively 3 corps) force.



So far I have lost 73 troop ships (25 this turn) and 418 cargo ships (32 this turn).

Anyway, the invasion starts as a partial disaster. A German PzGr division holds off my northern landing. This costs me a lot of VP (I think I made a huge mistake using the French as the assault troops), eliminating all my small gains since the start.



The AI clearly didn't like me messing about off its territory. That is a serious commitment given it has been relatively quiet for a few turns.



Anyway in the air, for Italy its everything to support the landings, apart from a few attacks on railyards. I feel I am committed and need to try and secure Lazio before winter really sets in.



In N Europe, much the same as last turn, Overall losses were down a bit to 333. Bomber Command seemed to have sobered up a bit and did at least hit something. Kassel and Stuttgart again was the recipient of 8 Air's model of air warfare



In southern Italy, the German front has broken, I'm trying for a few pockets but some of my units need to be back in the UK fairly soon.



The landing zone sees some bitter fighting. Lots of German reserve re-actions hold some attacks



But I manage to win enough to create a bit of depth, even though a lot of 7 Army (especially my command units are still sailing around rather vulnerable)



Oh and for a picture, here is the great Anna Magnani expressing her opinion of all those German reserve activations [2]



[1] I've pulled this stunt in my PBEM too, think it creates a nice dilemma for the Axis player.
[2] From, of course, the founding film of the Italian realist cinema, Roma, Città Aperta

[loki100]

Turns 22-24: 27 November – 17 December 1943

I'm going to start to reduce the scale of these updates, at least till I land in France. Both operationally and strategically its more a case of working through some predictable iterations (also I've somehow managed to lose the T22 screenshots).

On T22, the AI gave me Rome, so by the end of T44 I'd managed to push a bit to the north of city, and start pulling units back to the UK.



At sea the AI has been pretty clever, in that it only tries to interdict one turn in two. So it is very tempting to reduce my interdiction effort. In practice I have almost all of Tac Air and the Coastal Command protecting the landings (as I don't fear a massive land based counterstroke). I think here the difference in vs the (good) AI and PBEM is clear.



Elsewhere in Italy, most German units south of Naples have escaped but I have trapped a few and starting on the slow process of eliminating them.

I've lost 91 troop ships and 493 cargo ships.

VP, I'm slowly recovering from the losses when I landed. Hopefully the regular flow of Vps now I hold Rome and Naples will help.



Weather in northern Europe is poor, but I decided to try an 8 Air raid on Berlin as a test (up to now I've grounded them in the worst conditions). It seemed that the poor weather limited axis air interdiction but the bombs flattened a large part of the city's industry



Might try that in PBEM as a gamble but if it went wrong, it'd go very wrong.

Overall, I guess my goal now is to see what happens vs AI if you follow a reasonably historical time frame and approach.

And despite the liberation of Rome, Anna is still not all that happy:

[loki100]

Turns 25-27: 18 December 1943 – 6 January 1944

For a while I'll carry on conflating blocks of turns, more or less reflecting how I'm playing the game.

There is nothing surprising going on at the moment. I'm sending the equivalent of 2 corps back to the UK (Infantry so as to set up the invasion). In Italy, I'm bombing all those fortified ports using a combination of strategic air and tactical air. The intention is to use interdiction and ground strikes to steadily weaken the Germans.

Around Rome, I'm happy to hold the current lines. I need to connect that sector with S Italy but I'll take opportunistic chances to make gains if they occur.

Weather in northern Europe is bad for most turns so air losses fairly low (T25-383; T26 – 519; T27 – 108).

Bomber Command remains very hit and miss over the effect on manpower. On T26 I was too ambitious with 8 Air and went for Magdeburg. I did some damage but at considerable cost.



I'm making rail yards a regular part of the bombing priority now for all raids.

Overall (this is from T27), the air war is shifting in my favour. Given a 1-1 loss ratio, especially in air combat, I think the AI is more aggressive than a player would be about using up the Luftwaffe.



By T27,the VP situation takes a small dip as the V1/V2 become a target.



I respond by allocating a lot of strategic air to taking out the launch sites in France, doing a reasonable amount of damage (despite the weather).



Italy sees a small German counterattack at Civitavecchia



But this meant they had weakened the centre of their line so responded by using the fresh NZ division to try and break up their current front.



Elsewhere Bastia fell. It had been bombed for 5 weeks and the German garrison was less strong than it appeared due to the ongoing air interdiction.



So despite all this, is Anna happy?



Not yet it seems.

[jwolf]

Nice style to give the "human element" with Anna. So what will make her smile: Italy's surrender? Or not until all the Germans are driven out?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

Nice style to give the "human element" with Anna. So what will make her smile: Italy's surrender? Or not until all the Germans are driven out?

There are some photos of her in a cheery mood, so I'll save those for a suitable moment.

But her usual (those minded to criticism would say only) role was that of a working class Roman mother having to deal with varying numbers of totally feckless men, so she does spend a lot of time channelling her inner fishwife. She was revered in Rome for effectively portraying a slightly (or substantially) over the top rendition of real life in the city in the 40s and 50s.

She was lucky that neo-realism put a lot of emphasis on very dramatic acting, which did suit her. A case of actress and cinema style coming together. She wasn't originally even the star of her first couple of films. Roma Citta Aperta was actually made in 1944-5 just after the liberation and she doesn't even survive to the end. The later films, she is more central.

[loki100]

Turns 28-30: 8 January – 28 January 1944

Again a relatively short update as the weather in northern Europe was snow/blizzard so very little happened. I've an 8 division invasion of the Contentin peninsular in preparation and have removed a lot of tactical air from the Med to the UK. Most of this is resting and/or training, and the only air action is strategic bombing of the V1 launch sites.

Bomber Command at night is doing little damage over Germany and I'm using 8 Air to hit the V1 sites. One good thing about this is they are easier to reach than the U-Boats so can reduce them to near zero.

The result is the only daylight bombing in Germany is from 15 Air. Hitting places like Graz is relatively easy from south Italy and by the end of the month should have some air units ready to take off from near Rome so can reach into southern Germany proper.

Air losses reflect the relative lack of action (108, 87

In Italy itself, the weather was mostly clear. Using the airforce to help clear out the various ports. Combination of sea interdiction and direct bombing helps to weaken the defenders. Also hitting the supply lines of the German forces north of Rome.

While I am taking my time and carefully setting up each attack, the final outcome really does reflect the impact of multi-turn interdiction. Note how much the AI's defensive CV drops when I actually attack.

This approach gave me Salerno, and later Bari



Only Brindisi to go.

On Corsica, took Calvi, leaving Porto Vecchio as their only stronghold.



Although I had decided to keep on the defensive north of Rome, it appeared the Germans had worse supply problems than I did. A small offensive towards Lake Bolsena drove them back and yielded a small pocket.



By the end of T30, my repaired rail lines reached Rome.



So by the end of January, this is the situation and this time I intend to remain on the defensive. 5 Army on the west coast has 2 corps. 8 Army on the east another 2. In addition 8 Army has control of the 2 corps clearing out the ports. These are mostly armour and I'll remove at least one corps plus more infantry to the UK in February. That will leave the equivalent of 5 corps in Italy, one in Corsica and a few non-allocated divisions. I'm not currently preparing for any more invasions in the Med as I want to save shipping for the invasion of France.



VP situation is slowly improving as the City VP score adds up.



So with Aquilea captured, time for a new style of picture (though Anna may have more to say later). Pontius Pilate is meant to be buried nearby, so I can now claim to have liberated his grave - well actually he is meant to be in the lake … this lake:

[loki100]

Turns 31-35: 29 January – 3 March 1944

Since pretty much nothing happened in these turns I'll conflate all four into one report. For the first two turns the weather in N Europe was so bad that little air action took place. In Italy, I was concentrating on clearing out the remaining German held ports and redeploying units back to the UK.

Air losses reflected this with only 78 lost on T31, 122 on T32 and 137 on T33.

Main change was to start sending 15 Air into Austria and South Germany, starting with a raid on Vienna



On the ground, Brindisi fell on T31. Porto Vecchio proved to be tougher, holding off my attacks on T32 and T33 before finally falling on T34.



T33 saw much more air action as the weather improved.

Bomber Command did their usual poor performance after a few weeks off, but 8 Air flattened much of the industry at Essen and 15 Air moved onto Linz.



T34 saw more luck for Bomber Command at Hannover (I have a non-scientific theory that they are more effective if you hit the same target on sequential weeks), Stuttgart was visited by 8 Air and Munich by 15 Air (even if it was heavily contested).



VP gain has slowed a bit due to lack of bombing but all the V1 sites in France are now heavily damaged.



I have a fairly conventional 8 Division invasion planned in Normandy and this will be ready by May. I have 2 taskforces still in the Med so could organise an invasion in S France but I'll leave that till later in the summer. I'll set up a second N Europe invasion using the two new taskforces and the units removed from the Med. This will be aimed at the Netherlands but whether I carry it out is dependent on the AI's response to the first landings.

On the ground in Italy, I've halted offensive operations for now. I'm letting the supply situation improve and its a lot easier to start the summer attacks on the plains of N Lazio/S Tuscany rather than with the Germans behind a river or dug into the Appenines.

In the meantime, Anna seems to be indicating she is a wee bit impatient ...

[loki100]

Turns 36-39: 4 March – 30 March 1944

Again, I've conflated a month here. No ground operations since I'd cleared Corsica and very little use of tactical air as I want it all nice and rested for the main invasion. I've converted the last few Hurricane II's that were in the fighter role to fighter bomber (with rockets these are very effective, if short ranged) and they will start to return by late April early May.

With airbases around Rome, its now feasible to start sending 15 Air into south Germany and to hit the ports in south France.

On the land, my plans are firming up.

The main invasion will be in Normandy with 8 divisions in the first wave. This sector will be shared between three armies (2 Br, 1 US, 1Ca). 3 US Army is enjoying the weather around Glasgow and has a 4 division invasion in preparation for the Netherlands. I'm not sure I'll actually execute this as it depends on how the Normandy battles work out.

One thing I've noticed is how fast Tfs build preparation points in such large ports.

In the Med US 5 and British 8 Armies are in Italy, strong enough to hold the line and take advantage of any German withdrawals. US 7 Army is scattered about but has 2 Task forces and could invade S France later in the summer. These are not under preparation at this stage as I want to concentrate naval assets on N Europe.

The result was a steady air loss of 300-400 per turn.

Bomber Command remained very variable, some raids were devastating, others still inflict few if any real losses.



I'm also going for railyards. If I understand the manual, this not only hampers direct unit movement but also breaks up the flow of resources between industrial sites and of supply across the map.



Its interesting to see all the strategic raids now on one map. Here is the pattern from T37:



In the final turn, I shift 15 Air to Ploesti with almost 1000 bombers and lots of reconnaissance.



The result is pretty spectacular. I think in future I'd not bother with a few B-17s but wait till the bulk of 15 Air can be sent and the reconnaissance planes are in range.



VP situation is steadily improving, but I fear will worsen once the ground war recommences.



Mainly due to weather, I expect a very similar pattern for April with most of the effort going into the strategic war. I'll have the Normandy invasions ready for May so its a case of deciding when to risk landing.

And Anna. I hear you cry, how is she? Well the weather is warm in Rome so she has given up her commentary on the war effort, time for some fun:

[loki100]

Turns 40-46: 1 April – 19 May 1944

Again I've conflated a lot of turns here. All the first wave of invasions are ready, so the only ground action is assigning SU and making sure the best commanders are in position.

At the start of April, the only air action is strategic bombing of Germany and Romania. In truth I am running out of targets and seem to have broken the back of the Luftwaffe. Each turn air losses are in the range 250-320 and the Germans are losing much the same.

I've started targeting German fuel production and from T42, even started to send 8 Air deep into Germany hunting down the V-weapon factories on the Baltic



The other difference from T42 is I start to commit the level bombers assigned to 9 Air, Tactical Air and 2 engined bombers from Bomber Command to isolating the Cotentin Peninsula. At this early stage the target is rail interdiction to see if I can choke off supply.

By T43, I'm checking the weather reports with some obsession.



The interdiction effort has generated a number of specific block points, at least for supplies



VP score is now very positive. I'm making a small gain on the airwar and from the Italian cities I hold.



But in practical terms the Strategic air war is not really showing much returns.

German stocks of oil, fuel and supplies are staying steady



This routine carries on up to the start of T47, when a high weather system arrives from Russia. Time to invade:

[loki100]

Turns 47-48: 20 May - 3 June 1944

As the weather has now cleared across Northern Europe (and the forecast is good for next turn as well), its time to invade.

The first thing is a massive shift of air priorities to ground attacks.

Basically there is a dedicated 'unit' and 'interdiction' attack on each planned invasion beach (2 by Tactical Air, 2 by US 9 Air) using Fighter Bombers. As far as I can, I've stripped out secondary fuel tanks from all planes in order to maximise payload.

Behind those is an 'interdiction' mission by the US 8 Air. Finally Bomber Command and 8 Air are doing 'railway' attacks at choke points.

The intent is to severely weaken the units on the beaches, do some damage to German responses and generally undermine them by reducing supply.



Not shown, but coastal command is flying naval interdiction and Fighter Command has an AS box just to the east of the main landing areas to try and catch any German fighters.

The heavy bombers of Bomber Command and 15 Air carry on the strategic airwar.

Losses are fairly light (346 overall) and the ground attack aircraft take few losses (17 from tactical air and the same from 9 Air) which rather surprised me.

Lots of recon has given me a good idea what is where and pretty decent interdiction levels.



So the first wave set sail for France (all are at 90% preparation)



All landings, including the Paratroops, are made safely. Several German counterattacks are fairly easily handled.



The main shift in the airwar is to move the one hex Ground attack boxes one hex inland to target the German units. The rest is as before.



Losses though are a lot higher with 641 planes shot down but mostly reflecting a disastrous raid by Bomber Command (148 bombers and 22 escorts lost). 2 Tactical Air lost 33 and 9 Air 140 (perhaps reflecting their attacks on a cluster of Pzr divisions).

Again, decent levels of interdiction and reconnaissance.



I start pushing in a few fresh units and re-organise the corps sectors so that each is under the control of a single HQ.

German Oil production seems to be stalling under the sustained attack in Romania and elsewhere.



Vps to T47 are positive despite the increase in losses.



And since we are now concentrating on France, a change of image … Paris prepares for liberation

[jwolf]

Well, Anna was certainly more pleasant to the eye. [;)] Do you expect to land in additional spots in Northern France or just push harder from the one place?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

Well, Anna was certainly more pleasant to the eye. [;)] Do you expect to land in additional spots in Northern France or just push harder from the one place?

I'll see what I can find for the next update [;)]

I used those 2 extra TFs the Allies get as reinforcements and have a 2 corps (under 3 US Army) invasion of the Netherlands in preparation. For the moment, I'm going to concentrate on Normandy and try to break out but if the Front stalls by the end of August, I'll do the second invasion.

I also need to think about setting up an invasion for S France, but want to optimise shipping in the Channel for the moment

[Seminole]

I have a suggestion for your naval support:



You have four TF, but only need two in order to actually support your temporary ports.
However, if you left three and positioned them as shown above you could supply your temp ports AND shell his coastal positions 'for free' each turn:

In addition, Amphibious HQ units will
bombard any enemy units in adjacent land hexes at
the end of that players air execution phase, potentially
causing damage to ground elements. At the end of the
Western Allied player turn air execution phase, each
amphibious HQ unit will automatically bombard all
adjacent Axis ground units potentially causing damage
to some Axis ground elements in both the combat units
and any attached support units. Amphibious HQ units
project fighter naval patrols into water hexes within
2 hexes of the amphib HQ unit, representing carrier
based aircraft that can reduce enemy naval interdiction
(17.3.5). Level 1 and 2 ports that are adjacent to an
amphibious HQ unit are immediately fully repaired in
the Allied logistics phase.

I highlight that last part because I've yet to see mention of it in any AARs. Very useful to send a TF or two around Corsica and Sardinia repairing the small ports in a single turn.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Seminole

I have a suggestion for your naval support:

...

You have four TF, but only need two in order to actually support your temporary ports.
However, if you left three and positioned them as shown above you could supply your temp ports AND shell his coastal positions 'for free' each turn:

In addition, Amphibious HQ units will
bombard any enemy units in adjacent land hexes at
the end of that players air execution phase, potentially
causing damage to ground elements. At the end of the
Western Allied player turn air execution phase, each
amphibious HQ unit will automatically bombard all
adjacent Axis ground units potentially causing damage
to some Axis ground elements in both the combat units
and any attached support units. Amphibious HQ units
project fighter naval patrols into water hexes within
2 hexes of the amphib HQ unit, representing carrier
based aircraft that can reduce enemy naval interdiction
(17.3.5). Level 1 and 2 ports that are adjacent to an
amphibious HQ unit are immediately fully repaired in
the Allied logistics phase.

I highlight that last part because I've yet to see mention of it in any AARs. Very useful to send a TF or two around Corsica and Sardinia repairing the small ports in a single turn.

I'd stumbled on that outcome by accident, in an earlier test game, was wondering why some ports seemed to repair so quickly and went off to check the manual.

In this case, I'm going to keep the TFs in position for a few turns. It means I can concentrate naval interdiction a bit more out to sea and their addition combat bonus is very welcome. Given that I am not next to any ports and that German air responses are relatively weak I'm not risking too much ... I hope

[loki100]

Turns 49-50: 3 June – 16 June 1944

Well by T48 I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Ashore in force in Normandy, tactical air feasting on the Germans, just a matter of time etc etc.

I think their maybe some quote somewhere about 'hubris'?

For T49 I decided to bring the Italian front back to some life. I'm not looking to attack north of Rome, but set up rail interdiction to choke off the flow of supplies. I've bombed pretty much every rail junction in Northern Italy so this should cause additional truck demands and losses.



In Normandy, I carry on with both trying to stem the flow of supplies and interdiction. The latter includes a behinds the lines effort generated by US 8 Air and a number of intense attacks on specific hexes (Tactical and 9 Air). I need to try and extend my beachhead as fast as I can.



The Luftwaffe tried to contest my air campaign leading to almost 1-1 loss ratio, with them taking very heavy losses around my various deeper raids or the supply interdiction bombing in Italy



Neither 2nd Tactical Air nor 8 Air are taking many outright losses due to flak but both are suffering a lot of damaged planes. In turn that is lowering morale and I'll need to start resting them from T50.

The Germans try to attack my two flank landing zones and both are repulsed with some ease. In turn, my primary target has been heavily hit by air interdiction, but it takes two attacks to dislodge it (so no chance to follow up)



Still that is one hex no longer fortified.

Turn 50 brought significant responses. This time the Germans attacked along the northern part of the front. The two beachhead attacks failed, but elements of VII US Corps that had formed by inland salient were badly defeated.



This led to a bit of a panic. It seems clear that the bulk of the German army is in Normandy and that any progress will be slow. To assist I now have two British armoured divisions in the beachhead (so more likely to be able to move into a vacated hex), but it seems that I am in for a bitter attritional battle (and facing a 1000 VP penalty for not taking enough ground)[1].

Although I have had to rest some air units, I decide its time to divert about 30% to support the landings in the Netherlands. Bomber Command is pulled off hitting Germany and provides the naval interdiction. In Normandy, my priority air target is Caen, if possible I'd like to turn the German response into a pocket, at least for their slower units.



Again actual losses are light, and I manage a 1-1 exchange with the Luftwaffe.



My main problem is the number of damaged planes in 9 Air and Tactical Air are lowering morale in the key FB squadrons. On the other hand, this time the Germans tried to contest the skies and a combination of Fighter Command on AS and well escorted 8 and 9 Air raids meant they took very heavy losses. As last turn, their defense in the south against 15 Air is also costing them a lot of planes.

Recon indicates a weak defense in the Netherlands so I decide to gamble.



The freshly arrived British and Canadian armour supports a massive attack on Caen shattering what is left of 2 Panzer Divisions.



Guards Armoured Division advances into the shattered town.



[1] – My view is this penalty is ok, it reflects the need for speed over caution that affected the Allies at key stages and stops me simply sitting on four well fortified hexes (plus the beach-head defense bonus) and inflicting losses using tactical air power.

[loki100]

Turns 51-52: 17 June – 30 June 1944

On T51, my landings in the Netherlands were successful, apart from one paratroop brigade that was destroyed. The German response was immediate [1], but at least this relieved the pressure in Normandy.



I finally had to rest quite a lot of air units, not so much due to absolute losses as the impact of damaged planes on unit morale. The basic pattern of attacks carried on as before. I used 2 Tactical Air and 9 Air for direct attacks on specific hexes and level bombers to either interdict supply through specific hexes or movement behind the German lines. I also committed a lot of Fighter Command to the Netherlands. My logic here is looking at last turn's combat results, the Luftwaffe is fighting over the Netherlands and this is a good chance to inflict heavy losses.

Overall, loss ratio was near to 1-1, though I did have over 1000 damaged planes.



It is pretty clear the Luftwaffe is contesting the Netherlands but has abandoned Normandy. Since the P-47s are in range and able to escort in strength, the results are pretty good. Equally 15 Air's attacks around Vienna cause heavy interceptor losses.

In Normandy, I manage to expand the bridgehead, most battles are relatively easy to win, as the shown CV of many German units is vastly inflated (interdiction and supply constraints).



To add to the pressure, a fresh paratroop division is dropped on St Lo, driving out the German defenders and threatening their units to the north of my bridgehead with encirclement.

For T52, I keep to much the same pattern. This time 9 Air provides close air support in the Netherlands and 2 Tactical Air in Normandy.

VP situation has turned a bit against me reflecting the losses from the ground fighting.



I decide to let the heavy bombers of Bomber Command go back to night bombing in Germany as I want to test the effectiveness of directly bombing specific factories.



For various reasons the result is much more combat and heavy losses on both sides.



The Luftwaffe takes heavy losses in the Netherlands and in respect of both strategic air-raids. The two bombing raids (coded with 1) show that they are taking heavy losses trying to resist my raids. Those marked 2 are the air actions over the Netherlands, the Luftwaffe has effectively abandoned Normandy.

Bomber Command is remarkably accurate at Magdeburg, especially as I've switched the bomb loads of the Lancasters from incendiaries to conventional bombs.



In the Netherlands, I manage a small advance towards Dordrecht and slightly expand my beachhead. I can now land the HQ units and bring in a few reinforcements.



In Normandy, I manage to break out, the three armoured divisions of XIII British Corps clear the north bank of the Orne and almost reach Vire. In the north British and American armour reach the outskirts of Cherbourg only to find the port is strongly defended.





With my beachheads secure I start redeploying planes. Short ranged aircraft from Tactical Air and Fighter Command go to Normandy. In the Netherlands, I deploy escorts for both Bomber Command and 8 Air, as 9 Air can provide good cover from the UK.

[1] – which calls into doubt the effectiveness of my obsession with bombing rail yards

[jwolf]

From my amateur's point of view it looks like the main effect of the Dutch landings was to ease pressure at Normandy and allow something of a breakout there. Well done.