DQ2004's AAR #2 - "Ouch. ...that hurt"

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The huge US production is beginning to make its mark. These are the Allied reinforcements for Jul/Aug 1943

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Mind you the huge German production is also having an effect, and of course at this stage in any game there's heaps of kit appearing for each side.

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Here are the sunken (& scrapped) ships up to the end of May/Jun 1943. Sparviero & Pisa were scrapped prior to the commencement of hostilities and are thus whited out, and one Commonwealth CA is missing off the end of the scrollable screen.

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In September the Regia Marina receives the newly finished former French Battleship Jean Bart (II). Naturally this is not a suitable name for an Italian ship, and it is renamed Dante Alighieri.

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Manstein arrives in North Africa.

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In yet another of the interminable series of battles over London, the RAF loses heavily yet again.
Fighter reinforcements are arriving every turn, and every turn they are getting blown out of the sky.

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The Wehrmacht forces spearheaded by SS corps prepares to smash through the Soviet line

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Forgot to do a screenshot of global control at the start of the turn again. Here is Axis control after movement in the first impulse.

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Near Sverdlovsk the sole Soviet FTR in existence, newly arrived in fact, a wing of Lavochkin La-5n's, make mincemeat of the Bf-110 escorts and force the Stukas to flee. Just one gets through to the target.

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At the southern end of the Urals, the Soviet 4th Mechanized army is forced to retreat, but the attacking German corps are disorganized. Not what Rundstedt wanted, and he is forced to reorganize the army at the end of the impulse.

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The attack towards Sverdlovsk shatters the defending units. Not ideal and again Guderian must reorganize units in order to continue the offensive.

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The British launch another big port attack on Brest. With only one defending fighter, and a weak Me-210 at that, they figure they have a chance this time. Their target is the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, about to be joined by a sister ship, the Peter Strasser. The British can't allow the Germans to have two carriers running around. They get the surprise points and the Me-210 is aborted. The AA fire is desultory and has little effect. The Beauforts dive down on to their target...

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So close! Graf Zeppelin is heavily damaged, but is repairable. Doenitz is furious that Georing has not provided sufficient air defence for his prize carrier.

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In the Urals, the Soviet line is perilously near collapse.

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Yet another bombing raid on London, this one does some damage.

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Guderian and Rundstedt launch more attacks on the weaker Russian line.

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They break through in the South. Yeremenko is cut off.

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In the Pacific, a big battle is looming in the Coral Sea. The Australian Beauforts are in the thick of it, but they lose their escorting carrier planes. Despite this, they still shoot down the attacking Zeros!

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And at the end, the Japanese lost their last fighter, but with its last shot it aborts the remaining SBD.
No Allied aircraft have gotten through

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The Japanese bombers cop some damage from the heavy flak, but sink the USS Ranger. OUCH. Yet another US carrier on the bottom.