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9-25-42

The ring around the Allied beach head is complete now. The mountain to the NE of Marseilles is impassable for the troops on hand.

It will be hard to break out - but it is also hard to attack this pocket because of defensive terrain. More Axis air is on the way to help out. I hope we can also prevent the Allied from landing air in the pocket via interdiction.

The RM is cruising off the coast line and is attempting (with some success) supply interdiction. But the Italian ships are vulnerable to carrier strikes.

AXIS High Command continues to bait the Allies into unsupportable invasions, thinking that it is draining the Allies of the capability to carry out a sustained invasion. Latest example, the 1-level port north of Rome is no longer garrisoned, and there is only one Italian air unit capable of interdicting an Allied invasion there.

The bait in that instance will not be taken. No need to take it. The goal of Allied incursions along the Mediterranean coast has never been to sustain a landing. It has been to support our Soviet allies. That goal has been achieved, as 1942 has seen a complete stall of the AXIS advance in the Soviet Union.

We wonder how Italians feel about the German-driven sacrifice of Italian soil and blood, for the sole benefit of the failed German adventure in the East.

The Winter of '42? 1943? They may very well witness the withdrawal of AXIS forces from the USSR, voluntary ... or forced. And they will surely witness the sustained presence of Allied forces in the West.

10-9-42

The Axis command is very pleased to learn that Allied intelligence interprets our foolish mistakes and man-power shortage as cunning strategy .....

However, taunted by the Allies for stalling at the East Front (which is, of course true - but we don't admit to it in public) the Axis makes a late season push to take Kalinin - merely to feed our propaganda machinery. Question is if we can hold it. It seems to be a precarious position.

Our Italian Allies are of course enthused about this success and are as stable a member of our Alliance as ever.....

10-9-42

Furthermore, the Axis also exerts itself in the north were we finally succeed in undermining the Russian blocking position north of Pskov. But this comes too late in the season to have much meaning.

10-9-42

The Axis has not released much information on force balances yet except earlier when we stated that we were at a 2:1 disadvantage compared to the USSR.

While we have stalled when it comes to land gain we have improved the force ratio by (mostly) trying to make high odds attacks only. Now we are at roughly a 3:2 force disadvantage which feels much better. German units are on average stronger than their Soviet counterparts - so we can live with this. I hope this ratio does not deteriorate again over the course of the coming winter.

At the Marseilles beach head the Germans get ready to counterattack but there was not too much action this week - so no picture.

10-23-42

The weather is still holding up for the most part (just some rain) and German infantry managed to pocket 2 Soviet mech corps near Narva. The question is if the most exposed German blocker can hold the next turn.

10-23-42

The Axis started their attack on the Allied beach head around Marseilles and shattered a UK corps. This constricted the Allied held area by one hex.

But we will not be able to uphold our naval blockade of the port for long in the face of strong British and US naval units present.

Unfortunately the Allies also managed (already last turn) to land some aircraft in the pocket and they also have a very strong British tank unit present. This is still very dangerous should the Allies manage to break out.

This looks very much like the sort of situation I have been getting into in my game with MM. Axis can bring more land and air units to bear and over time would expect the Allies to be wiped out.
The Naval blocade is not really necessary, air units can stop them swapping fresh units in and out.

Very true. Except that the Axis air was not always effective at preventing units coming in.

But as Gary stated above - his aim is not really a sustained invasion - at least at this time - but to distract Axis units away from the East Front. He is successful at this obviously. And it is quite costly for the Axis to fight the Allies here. So he exchanges Axis for Allies production almost 1-1 which is good for the Allies I would say. But I cannot ignore it and give them a future foothold.

Since you mention it, I follow your game with MM also very closely even though I don't comment much. I think that you are much more experienced than I am and hence I cannot really offer much new insights. But in the game that you play as the Allies, you have managed to stop the Axis much earlier in the East. In exchange they lasted much longer in the Med. It is an interesting trade off. Looking forward to how it plays out.

11-6-42

The Axis attackers forces one of the pocketed Soviet mech corps to surrender and we finally cross the Narva river at the Baltic coast.

11-6-42

The Allies manage to shatter an exhausted German corps in France during their turn but also suffer a loss of a US corps west of Marseilles during the German turn. We are now in a position to attack Marseilles itself.

11-6-42

But there is never any respite. In their endless quest to torture the Axis they have now landed at the west coast of Sardinia near Cagliari which is the obvious target. They probably wanted to stay out of the range of our Italy based bombers which could have interdicted the landing. (The German bomber south of Rome has flown in after the fact).

This is a very fine move of my opponent. Both the target (Sardinia - which is a stationary aircraft carrier) and the method are well chosen! It is of course much harder for the Axis to oppose this than it is on the main land.

Furthermore the RM - currently refitting in Naples - would have liked to sail to the new landing site and prevent supply dumps. But the Allies bottled us up in harbor. The RM attempts a very costly breakout - it succeeds but costs us the CA Trento and further serious damage.

11-20-42

In heavy fighting we can tighten the noose around Marseilles once more and shatter another US corps.

11-20-42

The Allies on the other hand unleashed a serious air and ground attack on Cagliari. The shaken Italian garrison can barely hold out this turn. But I think if we invest in holding Sardinia we just throw good resources after bad. It is a lost cause unfortunately and an important stepping stone - quite literally - for the Allies.

The RM is also powerless to fight off the Allied fleet at the coast of Sardinia providing supplies - but we tried nonetheless.

11-20-42

Winter hits suddenly very hard with Blizzards in the central sector and the Reds use the opportunity to pour out of the woods north of Rzhev. This was so far the quiet sector of the front since it has a poor supply situation. But now our supply to both Rzhev and Kalinin is cut and we see ourselves forced to withdraw west and give up Kalinin.

11-20-42

The only ray of light comes from the north where we eliminate the last Soviet corps in the Narva pocket. This shortens the front and we free up some units for transfer into the threatened central sector.

The Germans are in pure reactive mode for a year now. Exactly where the Allies want us to be. Next spring we have to find a way to break out of this mode - but I am sure the Allies will keep us occupied no matter what our plans are.

12-4-42

After withdrawing from Kalinin we want at least hold on to Rzhev. But we must open the supply route. Fresh German troops approach the area but the going is slow in the winter weather.

12-4-42

The Allies did partially withdraw from Marseilles and we eliminated the remaining defenders. This will free up a number of strong German units.

It is the 3rd landing in Europe (after Sicily and Denmark) that we could defend against. But the fourth landing is already under way.

12-4-42

The latest Allied venture is successfully progressing in Sardinia and we will not be able to do anything about it. Cagliari did fall this week and the rest of the island will follow. Remaining troops will receive hold orders.

12-18-42

The only noteworthy activity during this week in the Med was a sea battle off the coast of Sardinia. A futile attempt to stop the Allies reinforcing their position ended in some mutual sinkings - but the Allies with their large navy can afford to stomach the losses of course much better.