By the Numbers: Another Solo Global War AAR

[rkr1958]

Turn 6. July/Aug 1940. Uneasy Soviet/Japanese Peace in Asia Continues.

Scripted. Slight changes to the garrisons are made per scripted table.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1940 Soviet/Japanese Neutrality Pact.

1. First chit by down sides is drawn. Again, this is chrome except for the significant impact on the Nazi-Soviet pact chits.

2. Green indicates compliance with the pact requirements. Light green indicates more units than required. Specifically, the Soviets have 4 infantry corps/armies and only need 3. This over garrisoning was due to rail and movement constraints of combine actions for a neutral Soviet Union.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1940 Nazi/Soviet Pact Correction.

1. The yellow line indicates the pact values provided previously, which erroneous included the chit that had to be included in the Soviet/Japanese neutrality pact.
2. The line below is the correct pact values.
3. Essentially, the Soviets drew a 5-value chit at the end of this turn. They put that chit in the defensive pool of the Nazi-Soviet pact and move a 1-value chit from the defensive pool of that pact to the defensive pool of the Soviet-Japanese pact.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Resource Lending/Grants.

No change from last turn in either Mandatory or Supplemental (i.e., temporary) agreements.

Supplemental Agreements/Grants:
1. Free France to China. 1 non-oil. With the Burma Road still closed due to political pressure from Japan, China hasn't been able to receive this resource.
2. Germany to Italy. 5 non-oil.
3. USA to Great Britain (CW). 3 oil, which are being saved/store in Canada.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. CWAKE.

Combat Tally/Theaters.
1. 4 active theaters with 39 total combats logged.
2. 28 of 39 logged were naval, 9 air and 2 land combat. So a very active naval turn in the Atlantic and Med with 1 combat in the North Sea.
3. In addition to the active theaters (Atlantic, Western Front, Med & Asia/China), summaries will also be provided for East Europe and East Africa.

Weather/Impulses
1. The allies won the initiative and elected for the axis to move first.
2. There were 8 impulses, which is 1.5 shy of the expected 9.5 for a May/June turn.
3. Since there was an even number of impulses, there was no change in the initiative track, which is at +1 axis. Since the allies won the initiative, the axis will also win any ties next initiative.
3. The weather was typical for May/June.

Key Events.
1. Finland and Bulgaria were aligned to Germany.
2. A (new) CCP partisan at the end of the turn popped up in China.
3. The US had the entry and tension in both pools to, "Pass War Appropriations Bill".

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. East Africa.

1. Great Britain transports CW units into Mombasa, Kenya and Aden to thwart any ideals of an non-contested/easy conquest by Italy of these and other East Africa CW controlled countries.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. EOT-PRB (End of Turn, Post Reorg & Builds). Asia. Japanese-Soviet Pact.

1. Soviets had 4, but only needed 3, infantry corps on the Manchuria/Korea border.
2. 2nd Siberian corps started on their rail journey to Eastern Europe, making it to Siberia this turn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Combat Logs. Asia.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Start of Turn. Axis.

Axis #1.
1. Japan Launches Major Offensive Against CCP Forces in the Northern China.
2. Elite 8th CCP Route Army Puts Up Heroic Defense.
3. Umezu's IJA Army Group Achieves Phyricc Victory over 8th CCP Route Army, which is destroyed.
4. Umezu sees massive flips, in addition to losing a mot division, which likely will shut down any offensive opportunities for the rest of the turn.
5. Japanese bomb Chunking but fail to inflict any damage on the Chinese war production.

Allied #2.
1. Chinese cavalry division gets behind Japanese lines through a gap between Army Groups IJA and IJN and threatens to disrupt war production.

Axis #3.
1. Powerful ground strike by IJN Vals manage to disrupt the troublesome Chinese cavalry division behind Japanese lines and on the verge of upsetting war production.
2. The poor performance of Japanese bombers continue, again they bomb Chunking and fail to inflict any damage on Chinese war production.

Axis #7.
1. Troublesome Chinese cavalry division annihilated.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. EOT-PRB. Asia.

Partisan.
1. Umezu is again dishonored by leaving a vital coal mine undefended which allowed a CCP partisan group to seize said mine and deny the Japanese 1 RP for production.

Breakdown.
1. A nationalist cavalry corps in Ichang, China separates into an infantry and cavalry division with the intention of continuing to try to exploit the gap between Japan's IJA and IJN army groups in the hopes of disrupting Japanese production and/or plans.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. The Western Front. Combat Logs.

Axis #1.
1. Horror at the British Admiralty and 10 Downing Street.
2. KM supported by the Luftwaffe and Italian air gain uncontested control of the North Sea.

Allied #2.
1. British Admiralty makes the hard decision that the reputation of the RN will be attempted to be redeemed elsewhere more critical, for now, than in the North Sea.
2. For the moment, KM control of the North Sea will be left unchallenged.
3. Though the wise and practical decision, it still doesn't sit well with Winston.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Axis #1. Europe.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. The Western Front. Axis #3.

1. The Wehrmacht in cooperation with the Italians and Vichy government conducted a survey to ensure that all territory (i.e., hexes) in occupied France, Belgium and Holland is properly garrisoned (i.e., covered by a ZOC).
2. The end result of the survey is that as long as forces remain where they are, or are suitably replaced, no partisans can spawn.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. EOT-PRB. Western Front.

Return to Base.
1. KM BB Bismarck, Luftwaffe fighter group and Italian Nav group that so embarrassed the British Admiralty by sole control of the North Sea were return to Brest.
2. Germany concedes control of the North Sea, and further embarrassment of the British, to strength their weaken forces in the Battle of the Atlantic.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Battle of the Atlantic. Combat Logs.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Battle of the Atlantic. Axis #1 - Allied #2.

Competitive:
1. Decisions usually come with consequences and in this case for the allies who won the initiative and decided to move second (i.e., allowing the axis to move first), this put a whole lot of unprotected CW CPs at risk.
2. Germany hopes to make the allies pay a big price for deciding to make them (the axis) move first.

Axis #1.
1. 2.4 million tons (12 CPs) of Allied shipping left unprotected in the North Atlantic.
2. Axis wolfpack on the prowl fail to find these vulnerable convoys.
3. A smaller wolfpack search for unescorted convoys in the Faeores Gap.
4. Though unlike the Atlantic, the RN does have ASW patrol force at sea (3-box).
5. Also fortunately for the convoys, they're within range and provided coverage by RN naval planes.
6. The RN manages to damage a German u-boat flotilla and force the Italian flotilla to abort.
7. KM surface raiders in Brest attempt to run the RN blockade in the Bay of Biscay. The RN manages to damage one of the raiders and force the second to abort at the cost of a damaged heavy cruiser.

Allied #2.
1. Powerful RN ASW escort and patrol forces are sent to the North Atlantic and to a less extent, because of the threat is significantly less, to the Faeores Gap.
2. A joint RAF/RN naval strike mission on Brest and St-Nazaire does no damage and sees the loss of a carrier air group. On the positive side the crews were rescued so the loss was in planes only.
3. The RN moves an additional 400,000 tons (i.e., 2 CPs) into the North Atlantic.
4. Lone German u-boat flotilla in the Faeores Gap decides to stay submerged.
5. However, that's not the case in the North Atlantic.
6. Though heavily defended, German and Italian subs manage to sink 1.2 million tons of shipping (i.e., 6 CPs) and force another 0.6 million tons (i.e., 3 CPs) to abort.
7. Only 0.8 million tons (i.e., 4 CPs) are left in the North Atlantic, significantly disrupting Great Britain's war production.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Battle of the Atlantic.

Axis #3.
1. German u-boats and Italian subs in the North Atlantic and Faeores Gap remain submerged.

Allied #4.
1. Great Britain pulls together what they can and rushes 0.6 million tons (i.e., 3 CPs) of shipping from Portsmouth and another 0.6 million tons (i.e., 3 CPs) from Liverpool to the North Atlantic. This move replaces 6 of 9 CPs either lost or aborted earlier, leaving a deficit of 3 CPs.
2. German u-boats and Italian subs are ordered to engaged convoys in the North Atlantic but fail to find them.

Axis #5.
1. Italian subs and German u-boats in the North Atlantic unsuccessfully continue their search for allied convoys.

Allied #6.
1. Great Britain manages to move an additional 200,000 tons of shipping (1 CP) from Gibraltar to the North Atlantic, still leaving a deficit of 2 CPs.

Axis #7.
1. Axis subs operating in the North Atlantic make an all out effort to find and sink allied convoys.
2. However, RN ASW patrols are successful over multiple rounds of combat and ward off the sub attacks with great loss to the subs.
3. RN ASW success does come at the cost of a sunk CA and a second one damaged.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. Battle of the Atlantic. Allied #11.

Competitive:
1. The CW player devises this brilliant plan to return and reorg 3 CPs and then assuming the allies get another impulse (56% chance) get them back out to effectively restore the convoy lines completely.
2. To do this the CW had to take a naval because each of the 3 CPs came from a different sea area.
3. So, the CW player also decided to return and reorg a CV, BB and CA in order not to "waste" reorg points and have these naval forces in place to continue to go after the Italian navy in the Med.
4. But, plans of mice and men ... the turn ended on this impulse.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. The Med. Combat Logs.

[rkr1958]

Turn 11. May/June 1941. The Med. Axis #1.