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Turn 17: (Oct 23, 1943)

I have upgraded to 1.00.08 now. Invasion preparation shows another four or five turns to

go before it is ready. I have a large force to land and my intel has been showing the

beaches are occupied so the landing will have to be double divisions on almost all of the

beaches. My supply lines are almost up to the Foggia airfields this turn. Next turn I

will be able to start occupying those and setting the stage for the 15th USAAF to start

hitting the Ploesti oil fields.

Air: The Tactical AF adds a new Ground Attack mission to start interdicting and hitting

the units in the Axis Italian front line. The rest of the air directives stay in place.

The ETO is boxed in with bad weather and nothing flys so the air losses this turn are

relatively small for both sides.

Land: Not much going on. Just waiting on the invasion and some minor probing of the Axis

defenses. The Allies have good naval control everywhere now as the Axis seem to have

stopped their naval patrols during the bad weather in the Med.

Aircraft: The US has continued to keep their almost 4:1 superiority in aircraft.

Fuel: The Axis have been able to recover some of their fuel stores during the bad weather

but it is not climbing very fast.

Oil: The Axis oil stores continue to climb. I am only a few turns away from being able to

start bombing Ploesti and then the oil stores should start to drop.

Turn 18: (Oct 30, 1943)

Status: Pretty much the same as it has been. Things are not too active with the weather

being rain and the invasion still preparing.

Air: I move the Tactical AF up to the Foggia airfields closer to the front line. The

Italian heel airbases get the Strategic AF. The XII Carrier Command finishes its transfer

to western Sicily. The Strategic AF now has range to hit Ploesti starting next turn.

With bad weather over the ETO and having moved a large portion of the aircraft in the MTO

there are extremely low aircraft sorties and losses for the turn. Check out the weather

map:

Land: I break down the divisions on the front lines and leave only brigades/regiments in

the front line. With the bad weather and the fort level of 2 across the front, the

smaller units can hold the line while giving a chance for my other troops to refit and

recover behind them. It will also lessen my attrition losses. Most of the Axis units in

the line are also regimental level and would have to concentrate to counterattack me.

Preparations are proceeding. This turn sees one invasion group of the five ready to go

(i.e. Prep > 50). Next turn should see another two groups ready. The other groups will

probably need another three or four turns - into December, 1943. This will also start to

see the weather clear up in the MTO and make the invasion easier.

Turn 19: (Nov 6, 1943)

The status is static.

Air: The 15th USAAF is not yet recovered from moving up last turn and the amount of ready

aircraft is too low to fly. The Tactical AF is ready to go and coverage of the front line

area is much better than it had been now that the range is shorter.

Land: Three of the invasion groups are ready to go. Just waiting on the other two and for

the weather to clear.

Turn 20: (Nov 13, 1943)

The front lines are static. The Axis is once again doing naval patrols to the north of

Corsica.

Air: I prepare my airbases and AFs for next turn's invasion of the Italian mainland. I

have moved a lot of my aircraft around for better range coverage in the MTO.

Land: I finish the supply preparations in Italy. I have supply depots (Priority 1) on all

airbases on a rail line. I have other depots in place for supplying the front line combat

units. All of my combat divisions have three SUs attached. Infantry divisions have armor,

AAA, and engineers. Armored divisions have AAA, engineers, and infantry/artillery.

Real life hit me between the eyes and used me as a punching bag for the past few weeks - but things are beginning to change for the better and returning to normal. So back to the game and trying to catch up on the AAR.

Turn 21: (Nov 20, 1943)

The current Axis defensive line in Italy looks to be well manned with several divisional units in the line.

My invasion is now ready. The weather is rainy - but that will be the weather until April or May. I will run

the Air phase and then decide on the invasion.

Air: I change the Tactical AF to concentrate everything in the invasion area. Interdiction attacks are now at

HIGH intensity. The Strategic AF plans to bomb Ploesti but also gets missions to bomb railyards in northern

and central Italy.

The Ploesti raids do well - 60 Oil refineries out of production. The naval path to the invasion sites is

completely in my control.

Land: I launch the invasions. I also airdrop the 1st BR Airborne and the 82nd US Airborne divisions to

support the landings. I send a large second wave out for next turn's reinforcements. And I forgot the screen

shot! And the screen was blacked out while the invasion went in so I have to wait to get the turn back in

order to see if I even landed anyone through amphibious or air drop means. The suspense!