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The US also invades the isolated island of Ponape not far from Truk. It is an ideal airbase for bombing and paradrop missions aimed at Truk.

In Western Europe, the French, who have debarked onto partisans, secure more coastal hexes. A US division lands to help out. The Allied goal is to nip into one of the ports on the coast, allowing corps to debark off transports.

The Allies are counting on the many other land unit requirements the Germans have to keep them from sending reinforcements.

In Italy, the Allies advance to the front, arranging to have three hexes on Rome.

Finally, and most significantly (for the US & CW), the critical invasion of France begins.

Land Combats

This form is the land combat resolution form. I want to show it first because it shows all the land combats the Allies have to resolve (they would also have a +21 invasion of Ponape in the list, but the Japanese decided not to include the notional - turning the attack from an automatic victory that had to be resolved as a land combat into an automatic victory that just had the hex change control - a distinction without much difference).

Attack on Nanchang
Here is the Chinese attack on Nanchang.

As per the table above, it's a +21 attack, which on the 2d10 table means it's an automatic victory for the Chinese.

Here is the result of the combat. The Japanese militia is destroyed, and the Chinese suffer neither losses nor inconvenience.

That is the benefit of attacking units that are both out of supply and disorganized.

Once the Chinese have moved on to attacking Japanese forces on or near the coast, they may find it rougher going...

The Pacific Combats

As the table above showed, the attack on Rabaul was very strong (+17 die roll modifier, and a chance of increasing the modifier due to fractional odds).

Not surprisingly, all turns out well at Rabaul.

Here is Rabaul after the combat is done - the US has rebased in a long-range bomber.

Here is Ponape after some new air units are flown in to base there. Conveniently for the air transport unit, there is a paratrooper corps sitting in a transport at sea, just waiting to debark.

The Eastern Front

The USSR launches an attack in Belorussia, hoping to use the better outcomes on the blitz table to clear the infantry out (whether they kill them or not) to create gaps in the line.

However, it doesn't go that well - the combat die roll was 2, the lowest possible result!

The blitz table is relatively forgiving though, so the USSR takes light losses, although its forces in the area are completely disorganized.

The situation in Belorussia at the end of the Allied impulse.

The USSR attacked the Germans in Chisinau and the Hungarians in Sevastopol.

Both attacks turn out rather similarly: the Red Army secures the objective, taking moderate losses (1 unit lost) and partial disorganization (half units remain organized, the rest are disorganized).

Here is the outcome at Sevastopol.

Here is the outcome at Chisinau.

(The Germans are technically given the option to retreat. However, since the only valid retreat path - the empty hex southwest of Chisinau - is blocked by USSR unit zones of control and contains no friendly units to keep the path open, all the German defenders of Chisinau are destroyed.)

The situation in the Ukraine and Rumania after the combats are resolved.

The Western Front

Both invasions were +21 attacks - so shoe-ins.

The Allies are ashore in France, and with most of the German forces in theatre in disarray, they are there to stay.

The Allies bring air units in to begin with.

French & US HQs in the UK reorganize air units for future use.

The Battle of Rome

Having set up to attack, and with lots of battleship support, the Allies attack.