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Jul/Aug 1940. Allied #7 & Axis #8. Weather.

36. The weather remains the same except for that the storms across the equator (North Monsoon) lessen a bit to just rain.

Allied #7.

37. The CW takes another combined. Maybe combines aren't all that bad if you're the CW? France and China take a land. The USSR takes a combined and the USA passes. There's a 10% chance of the turn ending at the end of this impulse.

38. The reason behind the CW taking another combined was that they want to try to catch the Italian cruiser force in the East Med and they needed to move their corps in France. Both the RN and RM fail to find each other in the East Med so all that was a bust for the CW.

39. The end of turn roll is a 2! The allies, who would have been happy to see the turn end, just missed it!

Axis #8.

40. All three axis take a land.

41. The Japanese in China make a strategic bombing raid on Kweiyang, Chain. Even a 1 PP reduction in Chinese production is major. The Japanese raid fails. It has no effect.

42. The Germans, who have no organized HQ units in France, conduct three land combats. One of these land combats is preceded by an artillery ground strike one a stack of two units containing an organized 5-3 French infantry corps and a disorganized 3-2 AA division. The ground strike successfully disorganizes the 5-3 corps.

Jul/Aug 1940. Axis #8. Land Combat. France [54,30].

43. The first land combat, which is NOT on the hex ground struck, is partially successful. The partial disorganization are disappointing.

Jul/Aug 1940. Axis #8. Land Combat. France [55,30].

44. This land combat is on the hex that was successful ground struck. It's an overwhelming success and provides the Germans with their second hex adjacent to Paris.

Jul/Aug 1940. Axis #8. Land Combat. Rouen, France.

45. Another good land combat roll by the Germans.

Jul/Aug 1940. Allied #9 & Axis #10. Weather.

46. Good weather for the Germans continue in France, but only if the turn which has a 30% of ending after the allied impulse continues.

Allied #9.

47. The CW, again, takes a combined. They need to move their units in France and they want to give trying to engage the Italians in the Eastern Med another go.

Jul/Aug 1940. Allied #8. The Eastern Med. Round 1.

48. It's the Italian RM that manages to find and surprise the RN looking for them. The Italians are able to isolate and engage the CW convoy escorts in box 0. The result is is that one RN cruiser is sunk and the other two escorts are forced to abort. This leaves the 5 CW convoy points there completely unprotected. Both the CW and Italians stay and the naval combat proceeds to a possible second round.

Jul/Aug 1940. Allied #8. The Eastern Med. Round 2.

49. The second round of naval combat also goes the Italian's way and they finish what the started in round 1. 4 Greek CPs are sunk and 1 CW is aborted. This clears box 0 of all CW ships and convoys.

50. On the positive side for the CW, what's not shown is that there are 2 French CPs in sea box 0 that can now be used to transport the two CW resources that are flowing through the Eastern med. Still, losing 4 CPs hurts.

51. Both the RM and RN decide to stay and the naval combat proceeds to a possible third round.

Jul/Aug 1940. Allied #8. The Eastern Med. Round 3.

52. The third round of naval combat goes decisively in the favor of the CW. 3 of the 6 Italian cruisers in the area are sunk and 2 are aborted. This leaves a lone cruiser backed by an Italian fighter in box. The Italians decide to stay in order to maintain supply to their forces in Libya. Of course their hope is that further combat can be avoided through a failed CW search. Of course the CW stays and the naval combat proceeds to a potential fourth round.

Jul/Aug 1940. Allied #8. The Eastern Med. Round 4.

53. The lone remaining Italian cruiser and fighter do manage to give RN search planes the slip. The Italians are able to avoid further combat and the naval battle in the East Med ends. By remaining in the area, Italian forces in Libya stay in supply.

54. The allies hope (again) of this being the last impulse of the turn is thwarted by a roll of 6 against the the 30% chance. So the Germans will get the chance to continue their attacks in France.

Jul/Aug 1940. Axis #10. The Western Front.

55. The Germans briefly toyed with the idea of making an assault directly on Paris this impulse. However, the odds were just too low and in the end they decide to make two higher odds attacks in preparation for the attack on Paris their next impulse (if the turn continues for two more impulse, which is unlikely) or next turn.

Land Combat. France[57,30].

56. The first of the two land combats doesn't go well. The Germans roll a 5, have to lose a 6-4 motorized corps and see the remaining attackers disorganized. On the up side, the Germans did manage to kill the lone French defender and take the hex. And, since none of the attacking units were in a hex adjacent to Paris, the possibility of an attack on Paris later this turn, if this turn continues, remains.

Jul/Aug 1940. Axis #10. Land Combat. France[54, 29].

56. The more crucial of the two land combats go very well for the Germans. They take a third hex adjacent to Paris and are now in position to possibly take the city this turn. All they need is some luck in both the turn getting to their next impulse and the weather remaining fine. The chance of continuing is 40%

57. The end of turn roll is a 1! So much for luck!!! Yuck!!! Duck!!! Opps ... better stop my rhyming with "luck". [;)]

Jul/Aug 1940. End of Turn. The Western Front.

58. The Germans are at the doorstep of Paris. They really do want to move first next turn and finish the job. But so do the allies. Not to finish the job but to frustrate and prevent the Germans for getting the city. Surely the Germans can win 1 of the next two initiative rolls. If they don't that'll be 6 lost in a row. Well ... I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll just have to be patient and see what happens. [&:]

Jul/Aug 1940. Destroyed/Repair Pools.

59. Lots of carnage this turn.

Jul/Aug 1940. US Entry Options.

60. The US chooses an entry marker for the Japanese pool. Their next objective is to get an entry level of 22 and tension level of 11 in both pools in order to, "Gear Up Production." But they don't have the tension in either pool yet. So the US choose to "Freeze Japanese assets" (option 23) and "US East Coast Escorts" (option 11). These actions get the desired tension in the Japanese pool but over shoots in the German/Italy pool. These two choices also drop the entry level below the required 22 in both pools.

Jul/Aug 1940. Eastern Europe.

61. German garrison levels are getting a bit low there. However, I don't see them getting much better, if any, given that Germany needs to finish off France, run CW out of France, take care of Greece and then deal with the impending CW alignment of Yugoslavia. What a mess!

Jul/Aug 1940. Greece and the Eastern Med.

61. And here's one of the big reasons for that mess.

Jul/Aug 1940. East Africa.

62. Mussolini did manage to expand his empire by conquering both British Somailand and Kenya. With everything else going on I really don't understand, what if anything, the CW could have done to have prevented this.

Jul/Aug 1940. China.

63. Slow but steady advance by the Japanese against the Nationalist Chinese. The communist are enjoying their vacation in the mountains and valleys of the Honan province.

Jul/Aug 1940. Country Economic Reports.

Jul/Aug 1940. Victory Totals.