Would Sir like extra bombs with that?

[bomccarthy]

Do you have a system for refitting ground units? I didn't used to (spent most of my time trying to master the air game), but I recently started using the Commander's Report to assign "Refit" to any unit whose TOE dropped below 75%. I also make "Ready" any unit whose TOE exceeds 85% (so that they don't deny replacements to the units that really need it). It seems to be helping maintain the CV of most units in turns where it is hard to rotate units back to a supply dump for R&R.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

Do you have a system for refitting ground units? I didn't used to (spent most of my time trying to master the air game), but I recently started using the Commander's Report to assign "Refit" to any unit whose TOE dropped below 75%. I also make "Ready" any unit whose TOE exceeds 85% (so that they don't deny replacements to the units that really need it). It seems to be helping maintain the CV of most units in turns where it is hard to rotate units back to a supply dump for R&R.

In WiTW the refit routine is a bit obscure as it gets caught up with (a)do you have enough supplies/delivery capacity; (b) priority of depots; and (c) priority of HQs. In addition it depends if you have the needed equipment anywhere (which is why I am bombing German medium tank production).

My view is all this comes together very differently for the Axis and the Allied sides and also varies a bit by theatre.

So for the Axis in France and anywhere apart from S Italy in 1943 you have no meaningful delivery constraint (ie you have the rail cap to move what you need to move). So a good trick is to set every depot in France to #4 and every HQ in France to #4 for the first few turns. That pulls massive amounts of supply and reinforcements into the relevant units, gives you a safety net for the garrison rules and really sets up those theatres for when the fighting starts in 1944. To assist this I pretty much put them all on refit.

S Italy is different as you can't deliver all you need (and that is before the Allies make it worse by bombing your rail net). So there, yes, I use various rules to try and make sure that the key units get the resources they need. But this is refit+HQ status. Its a bit unintuitive but a HQ at level #1 priority gets the first tranch of supplies at the same time as one at #2 (or higher). What the levels do is to determine how much % of need a command can gain (if that supply exists). So a #3 or a #4 will fill out to a higher level (both supplies and reinforcements/replacements) but only if you have enough for everyone's level #1 needs. So trying to refit in a supply poor region can be frustrating.

By 1945, assuming the Allies have managed the air war, you have the opposite problem. Massive shortages of everything and limited delivery capacity.

The Allies its more locational. In the main you have few global shortages so its all a case of delivery. I tend to have most units in the UK on refit and linked to #4 priority commands - esp the units I am going to use for the invasion of France and the armour. You want these fit and chunky [8D] for the tasks ahead but there is not much need to prioritise too carefully in the UK.

Italy in turn is a problem. You have a supply delivery problem there, so if you set all your HQs to #4 quite simply its akin to making no decisions at all. Refit in Italy often means pulling units off the line, basing them at Naples or Rome can help (both are large rail yards and thus high supply capacity).

France sort of is in-between. Once you get the Normandy/Brittany ports you have ok supply but you really need to prioritise its allocation or again ... everybody gets too little. So leaving units to the rear, esp say in Paris can help those units refit quite nicely. You certainly need to rotate stuff off the line or you enter 1945 with a collection of 1/2 cv ants ... and your only salvation is that the German army is no better off.

So when I play WiTE1/2, I regard the % ToE and the refit status as the key tools, in WiTW you have to take account of delivery capacity and HQ priorities (WiTE2 has similar rules but you are mostly dealing with overland supply). This gives me three dynamics

1) supply rich environment (remember that the supply net distributes freight which becomes fuel, supply, ammo and replacments), and lots of relevant equipment. ... You might as well fill out your army, prioritise if you want to focus things;
2) supply poor environment ... you need to use the depot/HQ priorities to assist the process. Even at the best, if you need to refit a formation then often it needs to move out of the sector;
3) supply ok environment ... sort of similar to #2 but you can be a bit less obsessive, but you still want to control the flow and that is via refit+ToE+depot/HQ

[loki100]

T27

First VP chart for 1944. All my bombing pts have gone (remember the divisor is much higher now) but Rome is compensating. I'll drive down the V-weapon score this turn.



As part of that campaign, shift 8 AAF to the area around Nordhausen. Have the V-weapon factory as the priority and will let the bombing routine pick up secondary targets.

The P-51s are in the same zone but with an AS mission and no longer primarily just there to protect the bombers.



The bombing didn't really pay off (unless you are factory owner in Bitterfeld) so I may repeat the missions next turn but with more focus.



The P-51s seem to get caught up over the Netherlands, but did a lot of damage.



Tac Air went for the remaining V-weapon sites in France and ports and rail capacity. Not that effective.



Gave Bomber Command a change of scenery. I have this enduring belief that it is effective at bombing around Hannover.



And the evidence, not surprisingly, proves me wrong again. Back to the Ruhr next turn.



Not much happens in Italy. Basically trying to build up for a renewed offensive but this means a lot of redeploying and letting the depots fill out. I am going to start to pull some units out to return to the UK (partly to prepare for France but also I have too many units to properly supply on the current front line).

Also converting a lot of FB-F formations to FB and starting to create US 9 Air.

[loki100]

T28

Apols for gap in posts – this has been half written for a while but suddenly had a huge influx of work.

I'll not report the VP chart so much from now on as largely I find 1944 you simply have to do certain things (that will cost VP) and its relatively easy to keep the Bombing/V-weapon score about zero. V-weapon sites do repair faster than the U-boats but are also a lot more vulnerable. So last turn's focus on them paid rewards.

My goal is to end the Summer roughly where I am now, ie on the upper end of a draw. At that stage hopefully city VP will build up quickly and will start to add some 'bombing' VP for having captured the relevant factories.



Bomber Command back to what it does best.



Except actually it didn't. Weather conditions resulted in just a single raid taking place.



US 8 AAF I put together two related missions. One was a designated raid on the V-weapon factory at Nordhausen and the other was a wider raid on HI, AFVs etc in the same broad area. Also note the P-51s are now flying AS rather than escorts.



I guess the V-weapon raid was a success.



The main raid was ineffective but the AS missions paid off.



15 Air managed a decent raid on Steyr, slowly reducing that cluster of factories (and that is 50% of the German Pzr IV production).



Tac Air carries on hitting v-weapon launch sites and rail yards.



Situation in Italy. Need to think about what I want to do now. Its not really worth taking lots of losses to make more gains, but you can force a serious diversion of German effort here if you press hard enough. Anyway for the moment, letting supply build up, preparing some small landings and pulling out a few units to return to the UK.

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: loki100

Situation in Italy. Need to think about what I want to do now. Its not really worth taking lots of losses to make more gains, but you can force a serious diversion of German effort here if you press hard enough. Anyway for the moment, letting supply build up, preparing some small landings and pulling out a few units to return to the UK.

Pushing hard in Italy really paid off for me in my current game. I didn't divert any ground or air assets from England, but by bombing the railyards in Italy every turn with heavy and medium bombers from 15th AF and Tactical AF I apparently weakened the German ground forces to an incredible degree. They were in the red for supply almost every turn and seemed to be receiving relatively few replacements.

I had the 15th AF ignore strategic targets (left those to 8th AF and BC), except for two weeks of strikes on the Ploesti region, which wrecked the refineries until the USSR captured them. I also used Tactical AF FBs to target 3-4 railway chokepoints on the western side of Italy every turn (committed (2)16-plane strikes per hex each day - which kept the hexes at 30,000 points of rail usage and level 9 interdiction). Even when all of the railyards were in the red, I kept them targeted. This apparently hits supply, as well as available rail cars.

After a second invasion in the same place as yours in early Jan '44, I was able to break into the Po River Valley in late May and take all of Northern Italy by the middle of July. This enabled me to send almost all of the motorized units, as well as all US and non-British UK infantry, through Southern France (after a relatively small S. France invasion in July) to join the 21st Army Group in Belgium by the end of Sept.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

ORIGINAL: loki100

Situation in Italy. Need to think about what I want to do now. Its not really worth taking lots of losses to make more gains, but you can force a serious diversion of German effort here if you press hard enough. Anyway for the moment, letting supply build up, preparing some small landings and pulling out a few units to return to the UK.

Pushing hard in Italy really paid off for me in my current game. I didn't divert any ground or air assets from England, but by bombing the railyards in Italy every turn with heavy and medium bombers from 15th AF and Tactical AF I apparently weakened the German ground forces to an incredible degree. They were in the red for supply almost every turn and seemed to be receiving relatively few replacements.

I had the 15th AF ignore strategic targets (left those to 8th AF and BC), except for two weeks of strikes on the Ploesti region, which wrecked the refineries until the USSR captured them. I also used Tactical AF FBs to target 3-4 railway chokepoints on the western side of Italy every turn (committed (2)16-plane strikes per hex each day - which kept the hexes at 30,000 points of rail usage and level 9 interdiction). Even when all of the railyards were in the red, I kept them targeted. This apparently hits supply, as well as available rail cars.

After a second invasion in the same place as yours in early Jan '44, I was able to break into the Po River Valley in late May and take all of Northern Italy by the middle of July. This enabled me to send almost all of the motorized units, as well as all US and non-British UK infantry, through Southern France (after a relatively small S. France invasion in July) to join the 21st Army Group in Belgium by the end of Sept.

Fair points. I agree with taking out the Italian rail net and you have a lot of bombers good for that purpose already in the Med theatre. Guess I am prepared to trade off a bit of this for some strat bombing of S Germany/Austria as there are a lot of nice targets in range. If you do this you may need to concentrate on either the rails running down from Bologna or on the Adriatic coast so as to really hamper one of the Axis flanks.

My last PBEM really taught me the reward for an Allied player who persists in Italy. Combined with botching my management of the EF box, his continuous pressure, incl lots of small invasions had me retreating in N Italy by mid-1944 which set up a disastrous situation.

[loki100]

T29-T30

Conflating a couple of turns as T29 saw heavy snow/blizzards and all the UK air was grounded. Equally still building up in Italy.

My goals over this phase of the game are limited and all really aimed at the landings in France.

For VP, I am content to balance out V-weapon losses for Strat bombing gains. Till the weather improves, I am struggling to do much damage. This maybe a bit false as recon is poor due to the weather as well. Equally as we move closer to the landings, more of the Strategic bombing force will be diverted to taking out the railnet.

Am converting a lot of FB-F to FB, especially where they have planes with good load outs for ground attacks or can be converted/upgraded to something useful. So the Hurricane II is a decent choice, not as good as the Typhoon but pretty effective as is the P47-15. The latter are being allocated to US 9 Air as they return from training.

For the moment, the 2 engined bombers of 2 Tac Air are going for v-weapon launch pads and rail yards. For family reasons I always feel a bit odd at ordering airstrikes on the Netherlands.



Two turns of P51 AS missions are starting to really hit the Luftwaffe. In a PBEM as the axis you know its the beginning of the end of the Luftwaffe as an effective force when the Allies adopt this stance.




US 8 Air still going for strategic targets rather than VP. In the circumstances not a bad result.



Bomber Command claims an impressive result – not sure I believe them.



US 15 Air niggling away in S Germany with the B-17s but the bulk are hitting the Italian rail net (along with the 2 Engined bombers in Tac Air).




On T30, finally launched an attack north of Rome. Broke the line but the attempt to exploit was stopped by a reserve reaction by a PzrGr division.

Have been using the 1 hex interdiction trick. You can get high scores with not too many planes and it effectively isolates a single stack – combined with damaging the rail net these will receive little if any freight.



For France, 3 invasion hexes now chosen and preparing. Still have 3 TF in the Med – one preparing, one keeping open a temp port near Rome and the last rotating to repair.

[loki100]

T31-T32

Again the turns are conflated as T31 saw almost no strategic air action but T32 was better weather – and clear in Italy.

One important shift in T32 was the massive Axis air losses. Many were due to operational reasons but also due to my ongoing AS campaign. My working assumption is this is the critical point in the air war as the Luftwaffe has had to abandon relying on trained pilots and is using lower experienced pilots – who in turn tend to increase losses radically.

If so, I can accelerate my current process of converting FB-F to FB formations.

This shows the air losses – and for the Axis by plane type – in T32:



And the results of the P-51 sweeps on that turn. I'm no longer linking this to the deployment of the strategic bombers and instead simply going where I think the Luftwaffe can be found.



For the rest of the strategic war, 15 Air hit Munich for a change and the Italian rail net. Till the weather improves over the Alps I am going to suspend the raids into S Germany as – I think – I am getting a better reward off the rail campaign.

In OOB terms, all the 2 and 4 engined bombers in the Med are now in 15 Air and the FB formations are split between Tactical Air (supporting 5A) and Malta Air (supporting 7A).



8 AAF went for the Baltic coast to hit the v-weapons again and other targets.



BC attacked to the south of the Ruhr.



2 Tactical Air is active degrading the rail net and returning to the v-weapon launch sites as I can.



Offensive north of Rome continued with heavy fighting. On T31 my attempt to exploit last turn's gains failed.

Note that the rail line up the Adriatic to Pescara is fully repaired now. The other line will reach Naples by T33.



The Germans clearly don't like my gains and made 2 large attacks in response.



In turn I shifted to a weaker target. Broke open their defensive line but again the exploitation attack failed.



If the bulk of the Axis airforce had a bad week, as you can see there, it was very effective. Looking at the detail can be informative and it appears as if they have a cluster of highly experienced Italian pilots available.



To the south, 8A took Gaeta. First attack just failed – frustratingly I'd forgotten to move the TF into position to support.



Doing a second attack immediately is not usually a good idea in WiTW. But here I could add fresh naval guns so gambled.

The German defenders were mostly disrupted before the actual assault occured.



VP scores. As intended, more or less keeping bombing VP- v weapon VP neutral. The small loss for T31 was part of the reason to move 8 AAF to the Baltic on T32.

The outbreak of heavy fighting in Italy is wiping out any VP gain. Hope though is it will pay off with more city VP for the summer of 1944.

[loki100]

T33

Weather slowly improving and so is bombing effectiveness.

Since I am making (some) progress in Italy have stopped using 15 Air in S Germany and its all aimed at the Italian rail net. I think I can manage another 10 or so turns of active operations in Italy before I really need to pull out planes and some combat formations to support the invasion of France.

Sticking with Italy, here's the end of turn. On the west not just managed to break the line again but this time managed to exploit. Strongly suspect that Polish brigade is going to be battered but it all helps to build up momentum.

On the east the naval landing with a single brigade reached 50% preparation so ordered it to attack. If there is any opposition its doomed so no real gain to having a higher number of PP. I've sent a US infantry division and will fly in a Para regiment (next turn) to give me a fairly solid stack.

And then start preparing another similar invasion closer to Rimini.



In the air, BC attacks to the east of the Ruhr. Basically will hit a cluster of small targets.



Worked out ok, Kassel itself was badly hit. Again the Germans are losing the air battle badly.



On which subject, the P-51s continue to do AS sweeps to the west of the Oder. This one was set up around the path chosen for 8 Air to give it more protection.

Looking at some of the detailed reports, the average experience of the German pilots is reducing rapidly.

Realise this is vs AI, and that a German player wouldn't have engaged with my FC sweeps in the summer/autumn of 1943 but this is by far the earliest I have seen this collapse of the Luftwaffe. In a PBEM you can delay it into the autumn.

I think it supports the logic to using FC aggresively in 1943, even if I did actually run out of Spitfires as a result. It also allows me to convert more squadrons from FB-F to FB which makes the impact of tactical air all the more devastating in France.



Tac Air back to the Netherlands as that v-weapon site is hard to keep suppressed.



Since I seem to have air superiority, 8 Air goes somewhere new. Time for a day time raid on Berlin.


Which proves to be devastating. Nice collection of VP targets and a lot of damage to the Stug production.

Again, note how ineffective the German fighters were.



So, unless I am really misreading the situation, that is the Luftwaffe finished as a dangerous force. The advantage to me now is that I can accelerate converting FB-F to FB and risk using lower levels of escorts for the bombers. Equally I can risk pushing 8 AAF outside its main fighter cover (into areas like SW Germany which has some juicy but isolated targets).

I've tried three things I've not done before:

a) FC as a very aggressive AS function – I had someone do this to me in a PBEM and while I could minimise it by careful deployment it was a constant source of losses. Negative is it was out of planes by October 1943 but there is a bit of so what to this. I start converting British and Canadian formations to FB and re-equipping with Typhoons and Hurricanes at that stage in any case.

b) using 55 as my morale cut off. I've tended to go higher, around 70, but this has not seen any real increase in my losses and its allowed me to keep a sustained bombing effort linked to

c) only using the Strat bombers 2-3 days a week means I have had little problem with fatigue or forcing beaten up formations to fly again (this does tend to generate operational losses)

My guess is that b+c gave me lower bombing VP for the first 10 or so turns but by the time I reached 10 per turn in 1943 I could sustain that relatively easily. One thing that doesn't work is pushing a tired strategic bombing force or risking raids with a limited bomber force. Early game, mass compensates for recon problems and also stops a small raid being dismantled if caught out badly by the Luftwaffe.

[loki100]

T34

Quick check of the VP screen indicates two small (ahem) problems. The V-weapon loss is now up to 3 and I'd like that reduced back to 2 (or lower) and I am losing VP as a result of the Italian offensive.



Decide to deal with the first issue by altering my Strategic bombing strategy. Shifted Bomber Command to the region around Frankfurt but on the usual HI/Manpower attack. But this time I have 8AAF four single city targets and assigned the planes to each. Each raid has a different type of target but is mostly either v-weapon production or medium tanks/trucks.

This shows the overall pattern over Germany. Note the AS is set up to provide additional cover.



Produced another very bad turn for the Luftwaffe. All my P51 squadrons are reduced in strength but this has proved devastating. Just to add to the Luftwaffe's misery, FC is back hunting them in France. I basically traded 128 fighters for 363.



Bomber Command was reasonably effective.



8 AAF had mixed results. Stuttgart escaped without too much damage.



Hopefully that ends V-weapon production at Nordhausen



And at Ulm



And did some damage to the Pzr V production at Nuremberg.



While all this was going on, Tactical Air continued to bomb the Netherlands.



So on balance that should help with the V-weapon problem. Now my bright idea to deal with the land casualty VP problem was ... to attack.

On the Adriatic I needed to reach the landing site so attacked with well rested infantry and armour from 7A. Mostly went well apart from the final attacks.

Above Rome decided to see if I could exploit the weakened German line. Well did make some gains but not really enough to justify all the efforts.



Here's a list of all the battles. Feels more like I am recreating the Somme offensive than what I'd like to achieve.



And the total ground losses reflects that.



The good thing is that the Italian rail system is bombed out so the Germans should be struggling to replace their losses.

[loki100]

T35-T36

Short report for these turns as heavy rain over the UK meant I rested all the UK based airforces. Starting to re-organise the air OOB for the invasion of France.

So 9 Air and 2 Tac Air start to take shape for the next stage (almost all the FB are now trained as bombers apart from the Mosquitos in Tac Air that are operating as escorts for the bombers). Hopefully as the weather improves I can use the LB in those formations to take out the v-weapons and rail net in France. I'll also divert some Halifaxes from BC to assist.





VP situation on T35 reflected the recent fighting in Italy.



And the Italian front on T35. I've suspended my offensive in Lazio as I want to rest and I'm happy if the Germans decide to make their front line the open fields rather than up behind the Arno. On the Adriatic pushed up so that the landing is secured and planning a similar operation further up the coast. I'll keep attacking with 7A (weather permitting) to try and exploit the disruption caused by that invasion.

[loki100]

T37

Back to rain in the UK so can bomb again. Good thing after 2 weeks rest is I have a lot of bombers – bad thing is I have a lot of targets as the VP situation reflects my enforced holiday.



Bomber Command split into two groups. Usual night raid by the Lancasters over the Ruhr was devastating in places.



The Halifaxes did a day raid (protected by a FC AS mission) to take out the v-weapon launch sites in the Netherlands, plus rail and ports. Not too bad, but would have liked more damage of the v-weapon sites.



Tac Air went for NE France and a mix of launch sites, rail yards and ports. Some raids far better than others.



9 Air used its bombers to hit Cherbourg. Not bad but think they need more practice.



I split 8 AAF into three separate raids each with allocated bombers. This was meant to take out PzIV production but was probably the least effective raid I have ordered.



This was aimed at the V-weapon production – think I needed far more planes than I allocated.



Now that is nice (unless you lived in Scheweinfurt). Nothing left to hit by the time they returned for the second raid.



15 AAF carries on bombing the Italian rail net.

Overall another very bad week for the Luftwaffe. The aggressive AS sweeps seem to have made a real difference.



More ground action in Italy. 7A managed to break the German line and exploit a fresh tank division up to Ancona. I flew in a Paratroop regiment to help the spearhead (this is a trick I like to use a lot – seems a better use of paras than actually dropping them).

On the west, 5A managed a small breakthrough, potentially threatening a small pocket (could have sealed it if the first attack had worked).

[loki100]

T38

Last turns attention to the v-weapons has reduced that source of lost VP. Unfortunately more heavy fighting in Italy is shedding VP in that respect – but at the moment this is probably worthwhile.



Strategic air war keeps to usual pattern. Elements of 9 Air, BC (the Halifaxes) and 2 Tac Air hit rails, ports and v-weapons in NW Europe. Rest of BC and 8 AAF over the Reich. 15 AAF taking out the Italian rail and port network.

FC is running AS over NE France and the Low Countries. P51s still hunting over Germany. Some of 15AAF fighters are doing an AS over central Italy.

8 AAF is proving to be rather frustrating. Concentrated on just 2 targets but got no decent results over either. This was primarily meant to take out AFV production and while its nice to hit the Stugs my desired target was the PzIV production.



Also went for the industry and fuel around Hannover – to little effect. I think I'll try to bomb at lower altitudes and see if that helps.



On the other hand 9 AAF contributed by taking out the Belgian rail net and knocking down the Antwerp truck production.



BC had a week by the sea – Hamburg not the Ruhr. Ok but not really that effective.



The Halifaxes went for Le Havre – I want this and Cherbourg knocked out completely before the invasion. Will repeat next turn.



2 Tac Air went for the Paris region. I fear someone is going to have to explain one of those raids to De Gaulle.



Italy. Took some empty hexes on the west side. The bypassed German units on the Adriatic proved to be annoyingly resiliant but Ancona will be a functioning port next turn.

[loki100]

T39

Bombing VP (ie bombing- v weapons) is still positive so I'll leave the v-weapons alone for the moment. Pattern of bombing much the same as last turn.

Bomber Command's main raid was the eastern edge of the Ruhr. It is much more effective when it can find the target.



The Halifaxes remain twinned with Le Havre. That should leave the port out of action by the time of the invasion.



US 15 Air did the usual tour of Italy but I also decided that Vienna was nice at this time of year. Not that effective a raid by the B-17s.



8 Air I decided to bring back into a single force, still trying to knock out the Pzr IV production. Still missing.



9 Air hit the Sedan region – only target was the rail net.



Tac Air struck the rail net to the south of Paris. Someone needs to go and apologise to De Gaulle again.



And life was busy in Italy.

And frustrating.

The AI counter-attacked on the Adriatic coast and managed to break open the pocket. Due to its – slightly annoying – ability to move from pockets it then mostly escaped.

Now I think it rather overdid all this as for the first time its badly deployed defensively. My original plan was to hold back the offensive north of Lago Bolseno for a few more turns but I was facing a weak regimental screen. Also the main tank units had 45-50MP – this was key as I want to exploit not just force the Germans back.

The resulting offensive featured a paratroop drop (regimental), another regiment of paras being flown into a captured airbase.

Also another brigade sized landng planned south of Rimini. Unfortunately, this one is going to be contested but hopefully its only a weak FZ unit. If it succeeds, that landing will cut all the rail links from N Italy to the main German combat formations.

[Chuske]

Wow, big breakout and cut off all the AIs supply. Nice work!

Have you done much transferring of air units between the Med and UK, or have you continued pretty much with what you started with in each? Will you make a big air move back to UK soon to support D-Day?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Chuske

Wow, big breakout and cut off all the AIs supply. Nice work!

Have you done much transferring of air units between the Med and UK, or have you continued pretty much with what you started with in each? Will you make a big air move back to UK soon to support D-Day?

I find the key in Italy is to have the patience to allow your Arm/mot formations to regain 40+MP. If you don't then at best you push the AI back and perhaps force it to retreat to an even better defensive line. Most players would abandon all of Tuscany south of the Arno denying you the chance for any real mobility but you need to have the tools to take advantage - not least as you can never create a ZoC free gap in the front to move through.

I moved about 8 Typhoon formations to the Med once I had taken Sicily. About 4 of those went back to the UK a few turns back. More generally as I've been converting FB-F to FB I've deployed those that started in the Med to the UK (mostly) so I guess in total there has been a net shift to the UK but not dramatic.

I'm actually in a bit of a mess in Italy. Most games by now the most pragmatic solution is to leave only a minimal offensive force as you won't get much more - this is assuming the front is along the Appenines that is nearly impossible to breach. Then the balance can go to form the force for the invasion of S France and mostly back to the UK.

I've done the easy stuff of sending some of the heavier artillery SUs etc back to the UK. I like to form up one US corps with all the allied heavy guns and then use that as a sort of coastal fortress busting formation - in conjunction with the naval guns. But I have at least one UK Corps (ideally XXX) and about 3 armoured divisions in Italy that I usually have in the UK. My fear is running out of troops in France as once you break out, covering the flanks and being able to retain a strong offensive force is always a challenge.

Been spending the last few turns, trying to work out solutions to this - I can pull 2 US armoured formations and the corps out and I think that will have to do.

[loki100]

T41-2

T41 was heavy rain in NW Europe so rested all the UK based airforces. Despite this still kept a positive bombing score (ie bombing – v weapons) but overall losing a few VP due to the intensity of the Italian battles. I guess I should be happy the Axis is trying to attack but its costing me a lot of losses.

So situation in Italy at the end of T41. Have reinforced the latest landing and managed another small breakthrough in S Tuscany. As usual the AI has slipped out of the looming pocket but I've still trapped some units.



T42 back to bombing. 8 AAF went for Berlin and in particular the rail depots there. Lowered the altitude and added an extra day.

Much better results (if true), taking out those rail depots should really hamper German supply movements.



9 AAF did its part in the 'ports and rails' tour of NW Europe. NE France and W Belgium were visited this turn.



Bomber Command carried on doing what it does best – hit the Ruhr.



While the Halifaxes moved onto Dieppe.



2 Tac Air went for the rail net to the west of Paris. Another letter of complaint is received from De Gaulle.



And Italy after T42. Lots of German attacks but I was content just to occupy some vacant hexes and let the armour rest.

Another brigade invasion is in preparation, this time to the north of Rimini.



As mentioned in my response above – I have too many ground units still engaged in Italy. The possible reward is a clean breakout into the Po valley in 1944. The concern is this diversion is going to badly weaken my offensive in France.

Invasion plans. All 4 landing groups are now ready so its a case of waiting for better weather – usually mid/late May. A secondary invasion is in preparation aimed at the Netherlands. I like this target as it tends to pull off German units and also gives you airbases that you can use to put the P51s anywhere over the Reich. Its not going to lead to a breakout but for a commitment of a corps HQ and 4 divisions you can often pin down a larger German force.

[Chuske]

I guess it depends how badly beat up the AI is. HarryBanana's AAR (altho with much older ruleset) he wore the AI down so much in Italy that it was easier to land in France. So Italy can be war winning or losing or neither.

So I guess the question is can fighting on with large number of divisions deliver you enough profit in terms of weakening the AI vs weakening you for the upcoming battle in France. Unless I was sure I would pull out key units and just slog in Italy to the Arno line with what is left.

That pic suggests AI is strong near Rimini but weak in Tuscany, so one more push could get you up to the Arno then maybe you can fortify there and then pull out more units to refit in UK ready for a breakout in France?

I'm just starting a campaign (first one in awhile and first with the beta). Wondering how you are setting up your ground attack and recon ADs, i terms of raid size/intensity an number of days flying. My last game with the last full (non-beta) patch I struggled to keep both recon and FB-Bs flying as any AD intense enough to achieve anything in terms of recon or interdiction caused a lot of fatigue/morale loss. Also do you assign groups to ground support or just keep it on auto? I've never really felt I sussed the right balance between support and interdiction and unit attacks particularly in Italy, in France I'm usually heavily favouring interdiction.

[Gunnulf]

ORIGINAL: loki100

T25-26

Second option is to split the landings around Le Havre. This is a bit of an odd choice but my logic is that you will not take Le Havre easily (but you can isolate it using Paratroops). You'll have to abandon one of your landing ports (too much naval attrition from Le Havre) but otherwise you are to the east of the Seine but well placed to take the Brittany ports and Paris

Sounds like utter madness and folly to me! One would have to be some sort of deranged jibbering lunatic to try to pull that off!!

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Chuske

I guess it depends how badly beat up the AI is. HarryBanana's AAR (altho with much older ruleset) he wore the AI down so much in Italy that it was easier to land in France. So Italy can be war winning or losing or neither.

Yep that is more or less my analysis [;)]. This could pay off, could lead to the usual stalemate along the Arno-Gothic Line or see units I really need in France bogged down in Italy.

I don't think the AI is reinforcing Italy with fresh units. So while I am costing it replacements - and the occasional destroyed formation - its not pulling out of France. My gamble is this fighting, plus the bombing strategy, leaves their Pzrs etc in France as powerful but very fragile - and not easy to repair once damaged

ORIGINAL: Chuske
So I guess the question is can fighting on with large number of divisions deliver you enough profit in terms of weakening the AI vs weakening you for the upcoming battle in France. Unless I was sure I would pull out key units and just slog in Italy to the Arno line with what is left.

That pic suggests AI is strong near Rimini but weak in Tuscany, so one more push could get you up to the Arno then maybe you can fortify there and then pull out more units to refit in UK ready for a breakout in France?

Its actually shifting a lot between the two coasts. In its turn it ran down its forces in the east and reinforced in Tuscany - but it also stopped trying to eliminate my latest bridgehead.

I think my backstop position is if all this effort simply generates the usual stalemate, I can start to pull out in June and then those units can either land in S France or form fresh reserves for France - for the moment, the lure of the Po valley means I've decided to stick with more in Italy than I have used in past games

ORIGINAL: Chuske
I'm just starting a campaign (first one in awhile and first with the beta). Wondering how you are setting up your ground attack and recon ADs, i terms of raid size/intensity an number of days flying. My last game with the last full (non-beta) patch I struggled to keep both recon and FB-Bs flying as any AD intense enough to achieve anything in terms of recon or interdiction caused a lot of fatigue/morale loss. Also do you assign groups to ground support or just keep it on auto? I've never really felt I sussed the right balance between support and interdiction and unit attacks particularly in Italy, in France I'm usually heavily favouring interdiction.

In Italy I find you have such a mix of units that its hard to be very precise with your airpower. So in the main I'm accepting the auto-allocation and running an interdiction and GS mission with each of the tactical air forces (I'm using the old Malta command as it helps keep an Adriatic/Med split to my air allocations.

But yes, unless I do one hex interdiction, I struggle to get much over 4 and usually less. Not helped by all the rough terrain in Italy so I regard the interdiction as simply making things that bit harder for the Axis. You can't isolate the entire front line as you can in France.

Its this sort of stuff, plus thinking of a strategic bombing strategy, that makes WiTW both so appealing and enjoyable vs the AI. Its the sort of resource allocation, planning, evaluation stuff that I find enjoyable ... now if only the game needed the application of Bayesian statistics I'd be completely content [8D]

ORIGINAL: Gunnulf

ORIGINAL: loki100

T25-26

Second option is to split the landings around Le Havre. This is a bit of an odd choice but my logic is that you will not take Le Havre easily (but you can isolate it using Paratroops). You'll have to abandon one of your landing ports (too much naval attrition from Le Havre) but otherwise you are to the east of the Seine but well placed to take the Brittany ports and Paris

Sounds like utter madness and folly to me! One would have to be some sort of deranged jibbering lunatic to try to pull that off!!

Yep, almost as insane as constantly attacking up the Adriatic Coast?