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October 25 - November 8 1940
The Afrikakorps deployed for service in the Mediterranean. Italy declared war on Greece by Script. Romania joined the Axis.
At the El Alamein Front the Indian Special forces defending the fortified approaches to Alexandria were destroyed. A sand storm covering Palestine inhibited our bombers to attack the enemy. As a welcome reinforcement the 7th Armored Tanks was formed near Cairo. The USA started to supply the UK with much needed lend lease MPPs.

Japanese forces approached Kweichow after obliterating our first line of fortifications without a scratch. They have 2 superpower full Armies level 2-3 that are killing machines. Every turn the Japanese destroy 1 or 2 of our Chinese forces and we are unable to replace them. The Japanese are motorizing some of their best Armies.

November 22 - December 6 1940
Italian forces entered Greece: I can’t spare a single unit to help them. At the El Alamein Front the entrenched Indian Army defending the fortified hex between Cairo and Alexandria was destroyed and the Australian I Corps (our last infantry reserve) replaced them in the line. Rain shovers covering Palestine inhibited our bombers from attacking the enemy again!
So far the Axis units identifyied in Libya are: 2 German Armies (mot) with 2 Panzerkorps (mot) and 1 Luftwaffe fighter wing commanded by General von Rundstedt supported by 2 Italian Armies and a medium Italian bomber wing. We hope that these troops will not make it back in time for Barbarossa. I was surprised by how easily the German panzers destroyed the Indian Army, that was fortified behind a mayor river with good supply and well led. A bad omen for the defense of Egypt. We fear that in a few turns (2-3) the whole position will be untenable and a retreat to Iraq with whatever surviving forces inevitable.
From Massawa disembarked at Suez the Sudanese Infantry Corps, but this guys are not in a good shape… with low morale and undersupplied.

December 20 - January 3 1941
Cairo was captured and Egypt surrendered! [X(] The South African II Corps and the Australian I Corps were destroyed to the last man. The attacking Axis forces were much stronger than we thought. The Fuhrer has sent no less than 3 Panzerkorps (mot), 2 German Armies (mot), 1 rocket artillery supported by 2 Luftwaffe fighter wings plus 2 tac and 1 med bomber wings! Uk morale suffered from the loss of Cairo (77%). German (113%) and Italian National Morale (100%) were boosted by the capture of Cairo.

General Montgomery replaced General O’Connor at the British HQ. At last the skies cleared over the battle area and our bombers were able to make some attacks against the panzers. Heavy air combat as defending Luftwaffe fighters were numerous over the targets. The Indian Army (all volunteered!) was left behind as rearguard in Alexandria while our few remaining troops retreated into Palestine.

The Greeks are trying to hold the Italian invaders and the Sudanese Infantry Corps was sent to their aid, disembarking at Athens port. Ioannina town was recaptured in the Ionian Sea coast, menacing the Italian supply.

So far the Germans have invested 1875 MPPs in research, Italy 300 MPPs, Japan 1525 MMPs, UK 1200 MMPs, USA 2450 MPPs and the USSR an impressive 1725 MPPs.

January 17 - 31 1941
Bulgaria joined the Axis. The USSR reacted to Axis successes in the Middle East (50%). Alexandria was captured and Turkey swings towards the Axis (58%).
A couple of British tanks corps will not stop for long the Axis forces and the decision was taken (it took me a while...) to continue the retreat east towards Baghdad, abandoning Mt Sinai and a newly built fortification.

Clearly, as the Italians won’t be able to capture Greece, they made a call to their Axis partners. From Bulgaria, the Germans and satellites approached in force Thesaloniki with 1 panzerkorps and 2 Armies infantry level 2. DimitryN has been so far very lucky with the weather, getting only sunny turns in the whole Mediterranean during the last 3 turns of winter weather, using the Luftwaffe to the fullest with devastating effects. The skies turned gray with rain but we managed to transfer the 2 Greek Armies from Thesaloniki to Athens safely: a great last minute escape! [8D]

After many months at sea including the crossing of the Cape of Good Hope, General Lord Gort disembarked from England at Basra. His new orders: to train the 3 Malayan Infantry corps newly arrived to Iraq. Additional Indian reinforcements are expected to arrive in the near future, the Indian paras already being in the area. More RAF units continue to arrive to the Middle East (total of 3 fighter, 2 tac, 1 strategic bomber and 1 naval bomber) but some need rest and refit.

Excellent AAR Taifun. I love your sense of humor. Your commentary mixed with actual WWII history is especially creative and interesting. Thank you.

Many thanks LoneRunner! I appreciate the support [;)]

February 14 - 28 1941
The retreat towards Iraq continued. In Greece the leading panzerkorps attacked Larissa.

After taking Kweichow the Japanese have reached the Capital Chungking from the south. Coming from Ichang other Japanese troops are trying to surround the Capital from the North. Their attacks are supported by 2 artillery units and about 4-5 bomber units.
A very large percentage of Japanese Armies and Infantry Corps in China are motorized. I personally think that the Japanese economy can’t afford to expend that huge amount of MMPs. They will be soon working with a very tight budget and those MPPs should have been invested in the Navy, Air Force or research. The same can be said for Germany, I seldom motorized any troops at all.

March 14 - March 28 1941
After losing the last British Infantry corps, the Indian Infantry was left behind as rearguard defending Amman (all volunteered!) while the bulk of retreating forces entered Iraq. In Basra arrived much needed reinforcements: 2 Indian Armies upgraded with level 1 Infantry weapons.

In Greece bad weather inhibited the Luftwaffe, giving a brief pause to the defenders.

Very bad news from China… The Japanese have completely overrun our defenses and the main line of resistance near the Capital was broken. The remaining defenders, after successfully destroying a reckless out of supply Japanese Infantry corps near the Chengdu mine complex, are retreating.

April 11 - April 25 1941
Yugoslavia joined the Allies. The Axis were waiting for the killing with 2 panzerkorps and 2 Armies. One Yugoslavian infantry corps captured Triestre and another one entered Albania just to annoy Mussolini. The Sudanese Infantry corps was evacuated to Crete.

After a long range recconaisance from our naval bombers based Cyprus we got a clearer view of the Axis forces in the Middle East. A U-Boot (our old friend U-32) has entered the Red Sea on its way to block the port of Massawa most probably. The Germans are upgrading their bombers and panzers to level 2. They attacked and destroyed the Indian volunteers holding Amman but could not enter the Capital (Mountain hex). But they made a mistake: an elite panzerkors (strength 5) with low supply ended the turn in the dessert hex north of Amman out of reach of the defending Luftwaffe fighters. General Montgomery counterattacked with all our available bombers and they destroyed the panzerkorps. It was a sweet moment after all the pounding and suffering that the Allies have taken in this theatre of operations.

Additional reinforcements arrived to Iraq: an Indian Army disembarked at Basra and a tac bomber landed straight from England, bringing our Desert Air Force to 3 tac bombers, 1 strategic bomber and 3 fighter wings!

May 9 - May 23 1941
Yugoslavia surrendered. The end is near for the last Greek defenders. The Germans have occupied Amman but pushed no further. They need to refit and upgrade their units, wait for the supply situation to improve near the front line and move forward their fighters bases.This much needed lull was used to rearrange our Iraqi defenses. The 3 Indian Armies defend the front line around Baghdad with our Tanks on both flanks and behind our Desert Air Force with the Malayan infantry as reserve. Our tanks are still level 1 (and will be for a long time) and without Armored Warfare are no match for the new panzers.

June 6 1941
The Germans advanced towards Baghdad! Their new offensive started without any reconnaissance of our defenses. It is clear that they wanted to attack as soon as possible, before we had any time to organize the defense of Baghdad, maybe thinking that few weak units were present. The Luftwaffe bombers attacked with 1 medium level 2 but the 2 tac bombers were not even upgraded! Our fighters, in good supply performed decently.
For the first time, the German attack was poorly planned and executed, only damaging an Indian Army and a Malayan corps in the north.

We were expecting an invasion of Syria. After taking Damascus, the supply situation of the Axis in the area would have improved greatly with their railroads, and they could have opened the northern flank of Iraq. Furthermore, the panzerkorps and the 2 German Armies ended the turn with 0 supply! [X(]

June 20 1941 THE BEGINNING OF THE END?
General Montgomery ordered a general counterattack! The surprise was total, the enemy did not expect any reaction. All 3 German units were destroyed in a furious battle, our bombers doing a great job! It was a very serious mistake to leave those precious units with 0 supply so close to the front! A total victory that marks the beginning of the end. The Germans are left with the Luftwaffe, 1 panzerkorps and a few other units to defend the area.

In China is a whole different story. The Capital Chungking was captured along with Sian and all the cities up to the Burma border. DimitryN was only 1 turn behind Cpuncher that captured the Capital June 6 in our game. A very impressive performance. China moved government to Lanchow.

July 04 - July 18 1941
One should never underestimate the German panzers, specially when elite and well led. In our case the last panzerkorps attacked from Ar Rutbah and with air support destroyed the Indian paras and a British tank corps. Our forces retired back behind the Tigris.
Greece fell this turn. The Greek campaign has been a pain for the Axis, started October last year, it lasted many months and required many troops and air support that pushed back Barbarossa invasion.

August 03 - 15 1941
Heavy air combat in Iraq. The remaining panzerkorps uses a new method of “hit and run” and destroyed an Indian Army near Baghdad.
The Italians are approaching Khartoum in Sudan from the north and east. An Italian BB is patrolling the Red Sea with subs.

Congratulations are your defence in Iraq. I really thought the middle east was toast.

But what of Barbarossa, has it not started yet?
What is level of USSR mobilsation?

Good read Taifun, as always. [:)]

Your Allied play is very "Axish" - you really like to engage into combat ASAP. Personally I find it quite puzzling at times. Especially this attack on Italy, I don't really see noticeable advantages. Even if you lost IEA somehow, those ITA units would be far from theatre of war to the end of the game, and NA defences would be weak. Though I understand desire to 'punish' such an offensive play.

Taking tech disadvantage into account, Allies rarely are able to achieve something meaningful in 1940. Your China is a good example, even with promising counterattack it fell apart quickly. On the other hand, your opponent quite overinvested there, I am curious to see his JP tech.

Germany is another matter. After quicker fall of France, they were in a really excellent shape. Maybe this encouraged Axis to go for Egypt, but as it usually is, it came to be a trap (at times it seemed a very risky trap). Ofc loss of Cairo hurts, but again, Axis overinvested there. With so many forces (tanks, planes!) there, and some units tied to Yugo, early Barbarossa was out of question. What is more, USSR and US mobilization was enhanced by Axis gains in NA, giving Soviets much needed MPP's. Not a bad trade, especially that you were able to setup a defense in Iraq.

Speaking of Iraq, even without your counterattack you probably were winning at strategic level (due to Soviet strong position) and with this disaster near Bhaghdad it's gg probably, though I would love to see your opponent continue.

P.S. 08.1941 and no USSR invasion? Stalin must be close to joining on his own now.

The Japanese Mobilization Gambit (as a means to quickly move through mountain hexes and blitz the Chinese) basically depends on Germany making huge gains and requiring the US to put almost all of its MPPs into Europe. Here, with basically a stalemate in the Middle East and Barbarossa not even started yet, the US will be able to focus more on Japan, and all of those unbuilt ships will hinder the IJN.