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July 24, 1941

Axis, August 1st, 1941

August 1, 1941

Axis, August 9th, 1941

August 9, 1941

Axis, August 16th, 1941

The Italian amphibious Invasion fleet for Gibraltar located in the Western Med. found out that Gibraltar is technically unassailable from here. (Note: can only be amphibiously attacked form the Atlantic, not from the Western Med., just found this out). Our air attack was only able to damage but not to eliminate the defender. We will now try to use an airborne invasion from Morocco and at the same time move the Italian fleet via the Suez canal around Africa into the Atlantic. But we do this very apprehensively and have much respect for the Royal Navy.

August 16, 1941

Axis, August 24th, 1941

A friendly reader educated me via PM on the airborne rules and that these units cannot be dropped on mountain hexes (i.e. Gibraltar). Thank you for the hint. The lesson for this Axis command: Read your manual!

Since we have bought the airborne unit already we hope to find same later use for it. For now this leaves us with the last option of an amphibious invasion on Gibraltar via the Atlantic. But that will be a while since we want to scout the waters with a few subs first. I would not be surprised if the RN is somewhere hiding along the way just waiting for the RM to come through the Suez canal.

August 24, 1941

Axis, September 1st, 1941

Two long years of war are behind us.

September 1, 1941

Axis, September 9th, 1941

September 9, 1941

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind;

and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."

John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

Taking the game this far is an interesting experience.  Cornel and I are about a week to ten days ahead of these posts, and as the positions crumble I find myself thinking upon just what such an outcome would have meant.  One really cannot think of much good to say about the Nazis astride the whole world. When I play the Axis in games I imagine myself in control of whole nations, with the power to make them "good guys", but being on this end of the loss I have no such solution. I am reduced to listening to "Land of Hope and Glory" and wishing God would make us "mightier still".
 
If you have never played out the whole crushing spectacle it might be worth a try.
 
Chuck

Axis, September 16th, 1941

It may be consoling that few empires lasted long, including totalitarian ones - even though the verdict is still out for a few of them.

On the other hand, if the outcome of WWII would have been different, we would have been brainwashed differently, too - and probably now rejoice instead that, fortunately, western capitalism was defeated 70 years ago - as hard as that is to imagine in today's world. But who is still mourning the lost cultural values of conquered ancient empires?

Back to the task at hand:

September 16, 1941

Axis, September 24th, 1941

As the length of the Russian front line shrinks it turns out that the German Heer is too large in comparison to Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. We start a voluntary disarmament process of regular infantry in favor of upgrading the other weapon branches. (We dismantle troops near Atyrau. The unit lost to the Soviets near Orsk was of course not a planned reduction and a clear victory for the Red Army).

September 24, 1941

Axis, October 1st, 1941

The Italian fleet has still not arrived in the Northern Atlantic, treading very carefully through African waters. The worst case scenario for the Axis right now is to encounter the RN while our fleets are still separated. We are also reluctant to release our tanks prematurely for an invasion of England before finishing off the strong Ural defenses completely. Hence England has to wait a bit longer.