Adventures with Brian In Italy

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

Hey there Mike man. Good to hear from you. I really like thread traffic, especially
if it applies and is appropriate and your's always are. Thanks.

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Love the Operation names.

I'm open to suggestions. I like the tounge twister type myself. In Vietnam we used the brand of cars that were being driven back then: Buick, Ford, Jimme, etc. for our call sign. Mine was Spectre followed by the tail number of the plane I'm flying on, most often 029.

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Foggia looks like a good place to hold as it cuts the rail line and the road network. Does look a long way away from your forces though...

Yeah, it's out there by itself and I'm not sure they are getting any supply at all. Next turn the Axis forces will be there or they won't and whether they are or not is the contingency that determines what I need to do next. I've already staged the 82nd Airborne troops at Tarakan to get them ready to depart if they need to put out a brushfire somewhere close. I wasn't thinking of putting a garrison there at Foggia just yet. I was thinking that I would drop in there, hold the city for a turn to establish possession, and then fly out of there lickety split. I'm thinking that would be enough to trigger the event that removes the Axis aircraft but doesn't endanger any of my assets besides the paratroopers. And they knew what they signed up for.
[/quote]

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

So holding the city will let you fly them back out? Interesting.

I was in Bosnia for a tour in the early 2000s and we used names linked to Lord of the Rings.

Have a good day

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like early in T22 before I have moved anybody and I can see
right away that I'm going to need at least one more boat-load of troops to
stabilize the situation in Tarakan. Panzers are starting to show up to the NE and
I don't have nearly enouth troops to deal with the eastern flank. There's a light
screen there and that won't hold back the hordes very long. I need to bring in
a lot more arty for the British side, the west side. I'm going to try to keep the
British units on the west side and the Americans and everybody else on the east
side.

It turns out that there was a boat-load of Free French from Tunesia that didn't make
it all the way to Tarakan last turn that was waiting to land in the bay and I emptied
the port of Messina and both boat-loads landed at Tarakan so two seperate boat-loads
made it to Tarakan this turn. That's very good news.

I need to take an inventory of what's still on Sicily so I can plan better. I need at
least two divisions for the toe of the boot. I can't decide whether or not to open
another front at Reggio now or soon, or if it would be better to let Brian get really
invested in the fighting around Tarakan and THEN spring the Reggio invasion. Or should
I invade somewhere on the east coast of Italy somewhere? Just a thought.

[larryfulkerson]

It's time to start punishing the German front lines on the west side and I want the
ships and aircraft to do most of the work so I'm going to launch a limited attack at
a one-dot setting, using an armor unit because it defends better against German arty,
and I'm calling this a probe instead of a full-fledged attack. The idea is to make
a weak spot in their lines so that I can breakthrough and get into their backfield.
So I'm starting Shiny Chevy this turn with this probe. I'd like to keep track
of the progress of the drive.

I captured Foggia last turn and this is the first full turn that I've owned it so I'm
thinking that the event that removes the Axis aircraft may have fired but I have no
proof and there was no news string announcing any major changes like that so I'm
left wondering.

There are Panzers starting to show up to the NE of Taranto and I have units in danger of
being cut off so I need to send somebody to help straighten out the situation. The Free
French division that just landed volunteered to move out in that direction to help
develop the battlefield to the NE and if possible to continue moving NW along the coastal
road toward Foggia. There's some paratroops at Foggia that need to be releaved. ASAP.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation near Taranto and as you can see it's just fine except
out near the fringes. I have a vague memory of having shipped some RR engineers
to Taranto last turn and if I did I'm going to get them busy repairing going west
from Taranto and northeast to the coastal road. I suspect that supply may be a
limiting factor for any advance leaving this AO.

I've flown in about 6 squadrons of fighters to Taranto and I need to give some
thought to basing some of the shorter-ranged British bombers at Taranto to give
some short-range CS to the front lines. To trim the range to about 20 hexes
and set them to three dots and therefore dedicate them to this fight.

[larryfulkerson]

I've just now discovered that I mis-remembered having shipped the RR engineers last
turn. I've found both of them on Sicily repairing from Messina going south. So I'll
move them to the port and get them ready to ship next turn. There's a higher priority
for repaired rail at Taranto so they need to redeploy. As well as whatever regular
engineers I can scrape up. And I need some recon units to help convert the peninsula
to the east of Taranto. And if there's any aircraft on Sicily I need to move them to the
Taranto area. And then I need to remember to trim their range to fit the new spot.

[larryfulkerson]

I've just now discovered that there's no supply at all at Foggia so the 505th has
to saddle up and move somewhere else. I'll use them on the north coastal road
somewhere to get OR3B, Operation Rubber Baby Buggie Bumper going.

[hingram]

The coastal road is a bust. No supply and the rail line through the mountains is more direct. Elmer didn't even bother to defend the coastal until you get to the town at the end of the rail.
I think Reggio needs to be taken for 1st Armor to appear. Maybe 36th (it showed up there). I sent a mech unit into the heel because an Italian Motor unit appears when you do. Taranto is the sole supply for that entire area.
IIRC I learned this rule very late
7.13. Unit Icon Display
(Advanced Rules)
The colors of icons are a general guide to how
well your units can cooperate. Units of different
Formations will tend to cooperate better in attacks
if they have similar colors. They will cooperate best
if the colors are identical.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the shape of the front lines and the results of the probe. For a small price
I've got an exact list of what's in that hex and it looks like to me that if this
German stack is representative of the other German stacks, this advance is going
to have to be led by the tanks, judging from the number of German tanks in the probed
hex. Fortunately there's not much AA in the targeted hex and that means I can use
the aerial fleet to whittle it down slowly. British arty will play a large part of
this battle no doubt. And the ships are essental but I'm wondering if I should move
them to hit the German arty behind their lines.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: hingram
The coastal road is a bust. No supply and the rail line through the mountains is more direct. Elmer didn't even bother to defend the coastal until you get to the town at the end of the rail.

I think Reggio needs to be taken for 1st Armor to appear. Maybe 36th (it showed up there). I sent a mech unit into the heel because an Italian Motor unit appears when you do.

Taranto is the sole supply for that entire area.

IIRC I learned this rule very late
7.13. Unit Icon Display
(Advanced Rules)
The colors of icons are a general guide to how
well your units can cooperate. Units of different
Formations will tend to cooperate better in attacks
if they have similar colors. They will cooperate best
if the colors are identical.

Hingram dude, you're a gold mine. I checked out the expected reinforcements and you're absolutely right about the Reggio invasion being needed. I see lots of stuff that can be had from landing on the west coast thanks to you.

And as you pointed out it's not ideal that Taranto is the sole supply source because that means that lots of rail will have to be repaired for the advance to propigate from there. And if I open another front on the west coast of Italy that just means more rail to repair yet. Um.....lemme develop the situation at Taranto and clear out the peninsula and set up some solid MLR's for the Taranto area and all the unused troops can be used on a west coast adventure. Maybe two more turns.

And about the cooperation between units depending on the icon's color...to tell you the truth I've been more or less ignoring the cooperation levels so far because of the needs of the front lines but now that you've pointed out that it's a game tool you can use to improve your game I'm going to start watching for that. Thanks.

[larryfulkerson]

I just now struck the southernmost port near Pizzo and I discovered evidence that
the Axis air force is still active ( JG-53 squadron ) and just how much stuff is
in that hex and I'm thinking maybe I can get a diviion ashore there with ship and
air support. Better would be Reggio where I have some long-range arty to support
too. There's no supply point near Pizzo so it's ruled out as an invasion point
for now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's at the port one hex south of Reggio. I see there's motorcycles there
so I surmise that there's at least one recon unit in the hex. I need to do a probe
of the Reggio hex itself to see what's in there.

I think there's two more divisions on Sicily that I can still use to invade one boat
load at a time, one American and one British and there's always the British 1st Airborne
Division at Taranto that is staged and ready. And there's the 82nd Airborne that can
be made ready for use by next turn.

I'm wondering whether or not to start dropping the bridges in northern Italy.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's at Naples right now. This will change next turn I guess, because I've
seen a lot of traffic through here. A lot on the east coastal road going south too.
Sixty six Spitfires brought me this report and none were lost.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's at Reggio right now. It's got all the AAA in the world there so air
bombardment is out. Luckily I just happen to have some ships and they love to
bombard shore hexes and they might just do the trick here. If only I could target
just the AA units alone....I could take them out and then then airplanes could go
to work. That's what I would try to do in real life.

[larryfulkerson]

This is what it looked like just before I pulled the trigger for the second combat
round. I've gained one hex already and I hope to gain some more with this attack.
But then I'll have to call a halt and rest the troops.

[hingram]

You should also have an airborne unit available to scout Reggio. That should tell you exactly what is there. Divide it into its smallest part so you don't lose much.

[MikeJ19]

Very interesting AAR, well done.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Very interesting AAR, well done.

Well thank you very much Mike my friend. I'll see if I can't find some pictures of
the real thing to increase the emmersion factor.

ORIGINAL: hingram
You should also have an airborne unit available to scout Reggio. That should tell you exactly what is there. Divide it into its smallest part so you don't lose much.

Um....I've already done a recon by fire and found out what's in the hex but scoutting by putting some
boots on the ground has a lot of advantages but some drawbacks too. If it survives in the DZ then maybe it can move into the mountains and just wait. It would probably be out of supply so it couldn't wait long but at an oppertune time it could spring out of there behind the enemy lines to drop bridges and unconvert hexes on the roads and rails to stop the flow of supply, etc. Lots of stuff you can do. I just hate to lose them.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a mortar section supporting an infantry regiment on the front lines. They
can shoot smoke, HE, GP, flares, and one other round that I can't remember right
now. Right now they are shooting smoke to cover the advance of the regiment as
they approach within 100 yards of the enemy positions. The mortar section is laying
down rounds just in front of the line of advancing troops. They are doing continuous
fire procedures to keep the smoke as thick as it needs to be.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm slowly getting the peninsula cleared out. As soon as that's done I'm going to
see about heading west along the Taranto Bay coastal road. I've pushed the Germans
out of the way now I need to move the troops. I've got two reserve divisions at
Messina the US 3rd Infantry Division which is staged and ready to sail, and the 8th
Indian Infantry Division that isn't on a port hex yet. There's only one port on
Sicily and it's occupied so far. I'm trying to let the ships, planes, and arty do
most of the heavy lifting so the troops won't get so many losses. The planes are
green but two of the ships are tired and can't shoot, one is parked at Taranto.
I've been eyeballing the west coast for weak spots and so far haven't found a good
place to invade. I need some current recon of the ports.