War in the West Campaign 43 Allied AAR

[marion61]

I've started this game playing as the Allies. The fow/fom, lock hq support, and East Front box are on. I've set the Axis AI to 110 in each category.

The first turn is pretty much set up for the Allies, but I choose to set up my air directives manually. At first setting all the directives is very confusing and the AI does an okay job, but learning to set them manually is important to getting bombs where you need them. I've set my air directives to help cover my initial landing, and the landings I plan on turn 2. On turn 1 with the planes in England I usually won't bomb to far into the Reich, but get my fighters closer to the coast so that on turn 2 they will be ready for escort duty. My normal strategy in the air war in Germany is to use all my bomber groups to take out a specific area. Night bombers hit certain targets and the day bombers other targets. Once it's bombed out, I'll move on to fresh areas. I don't like to fly unescorted missions either. It's never worth the bomber losses.

My main objective in the Med. is to cover my invasion beach's, take out the ferry and ports, and interdict any reinforcements headed south. This map shows all my air directives in the Med. for this turn.

[marion61]

T1 Ground
I've reset all the British amphib. invasions to the boot of the main land. Against the AI it's a little risky, but I want to knock Italy out of the war as soon as possible. I've also reset one of my US amphib. to invade Sardinia since all those units will turn if I successfully invade the Italian mainland. I need to secure Sardinia and Corsica as soon as I can so that I will be able to invade further up the coast. I've also consolidated my airborne divisions and assigned them new drop zones. There are not enough transport for both divisions on the same turn, so one will be dropped on T2 and the other on T3. The US drop will be on Sardinia to assist there, and the British drop will support the landings on the mainland.

The only invasion forces hitting Sicily this turn will be II Corps units. All the Italian units will hopefully be gone on T2 and II Corps can take the island without a fight. 5th Army will follow on behind II Corps/7th Army. I want to capture and repair all the larger ports on Sicily so that I can start to set up my next invasion. I get rid of some weak corps commanders to. One last thing I do on this turn is to turn on auto upgrade for all air groups, turn all the empty airfields to 0 priority, and set Malta Air Cmd and Tactical AF to priority replacements since they will bear the brunt of the losses this turn. If the troops can't get beans n'bullets, then they can't make dead Germans for Patton.

This screenshot shows my invasion beach's for Sicily and the Boot.

[marion61]

T2
My air coverage in the Med. is used to cover the invasions, while RAF Bomber Cmd. destroys HI and Fuels in the Rhur, and 8th Air Force is taking out Fuel, Oil, and Sub pens around Hamburg.

II Corps successfully took the beach's, and there was one Italian brigade engaged, which quickly retreated. 5th Army will be following onto the beach's and Sicily should be mostly mopped up by turn 3, except for Messina.

Not shown on this screen is the invasion of Sardinia, next to it's largest port, and I've dropped the entire 82nd to support that invasion since I'm not using air cover on Sardinia.

I've moved all of 8th Army for the invasion of the Boot. There are usually significant reinforcements and there's no guarantee that all my units will make it ashore. Next turn I have the British AB Division set to land at the choke point behind any reinforcements heading to the mainland invasion beach's. By using the entire Division in one hex, it's chances of surviving till relieved are increased. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't use this against a human opponent.

Pre-invasion.

[marion61]

T2 Post Invasion. I've moved several fighter groups from Tac Air onto the invasion beach's of Sicily and naval patrol craft. Got to have the naval patrols to increase my interdiction levels near the invasions. I almost lost 1st Armored Division because my air coverage on Sicily was inadequate, naval and Air Superiority. 1st Armored is sitting under II Corps HQ in southern Sicily with a CV of 1 from going through a contested area.

[marion61]

Turn3

The Med. air is still covering the mainland invasion of Italy, while Bomber Command and 8th Air Force continue with their set targets till they are either done or if I see too many bombers getting chewed up.

One infantry division with the support of the 82nd AB land successfully onto Sardinia. I have a US armored division and 1st FF Corps set as a follow on units, and I use the Italian units that switched sides to cut the other German units off from their ports. These Italian units will withdraw on Aug. 21 turn, so use 'em or loose 'em. On Corsica I use only the Italian units until I have the port in Southern Sardinia captured and repaired enough to use. Then I will ship the FF Corps to mop up on Corsica before the Italian units withdraw. If I wait, I would probably have to waste time invading Corsica later.

II Corps is just securing Sicily. All the ports except Messina are allied now on Sicily, so I will start priority repairs on the ports and railways. I need all four ports on Sicily ready so that I can prepare for another invasion further into Italy. That's the reason I like to secure Sardinia and Corsica early so that I can expand the airfields and support an invasion all up and down the Italian west coast. 5th Army units come ashore and move towards Messina.

All my invasion beach's were taken by VIII Corps and XXX Corps from the 8th Army and the British AB Division landed at the choke point behind several German divisions. I hope the airborne troops will hold out long enough to be relieved and to capture a few of these divisions before they escape.

[marion61]

Turn 3 End

I managed to get all of the 8th Army units onto the beach's and XXX Corps on the west side of the boot caused two German divisions to retreat. My airborne unit could be in trouble with more reinforcements coming in from the north, depending on which units they are.

[marion61]

Turn 4 Air

No changes to the air war in Germany.

I've moved the bulk of the fighters of Coastal Command to the airfields in Southern Sardinia and naval air units I've spread out between all three invasion areas. If you want supplies to the beach's you have to keep the Allied Interdiction levels up. I don't have a pic of this, but you can access this feature in the map tab to see interdiction levels. I've received air reinforcements and after I placed them all, I always go to the air group tab and change their upgrade status to auto. I also check to make sure my airbases with aircraft have a supply priority greater than zero.

I move air groups onto Sicily and onto the airfields created by the invasion forces. I've set most of my TAC Air to unit and ports. The Strategic Grnd Support I've set to railway's and interdiction to try and slow the German units escape routes

[marion61]

Turn 4 Ground

Sardinia should be secure with in a turn or two and then the FF Corps can land at a port in Corsica to finish the German forces there off.

7th Army and 5th Army finish securing Sicily, while VIII Corps will move to relieve the airborne troops and to start reducing Reggio. XXX Corps will finish securing the beach head and try to contain the German units attempting to escape. Until I get some armored units up there, those German units will probably escape.

[marion61]

Turn 4 Ground and Air Losses.

[marion61]

Air Losses Turn 4

[marion61]

Turn 5

The Air War over Germany continues. Daylight bombing is way more effective than Night Bombing. I'm going to have to adjust the 8th Air Force so that they can finish off the Ruhr. The areas around Hamburg, fuel, oil, and sub pens are almost all at 100% damage so I can take a few turns to help Bomber Command finish off the Ruhr. Once this is finished I plan to start taking out aircraft and heavy industry next.

The Air War over Italy is slowly moving up the boot in support of 8th Army. The Axis units are conducting a good withdrawal from the boot with out allowing me to surround them. It appears all the axis units north of my line will escape for now. I'm still waiting on armored units to get to the front. One thing to mention is that two of the 3 defenders in Reggio Calabria moved out of the safety of the level 3 fort. Not sure why since they had no chance of taking my beach head.

7th and 5th Army are moving to the ports on Sicily to start prepping for another invasion, hopefully by mid October. Probably won't release my TF's for another turn or two so 7th and 5th Army will be cooling their heels. I do plan to take the armored divisions from 5th Army and assign them to 8th Army.

[marion61]

Turn 5 Sardinia

I should have the port in Cagliri soon. Then it will just be mopping up here and moving air units to the my new aircraft carriers, USS Sardinia and USS Corsica.

[marion61]

Turn 5 Corsica

[marion61]

Turn 5 End

Axis units are going to escape the Air Borne trap.

[marion61]

Turn 7

The Axis units escaped the trap on the boot. The Brigade that was in Reggio Calabria moved out of the level 3 fort on turn 6 and all three units were captured. Now that the ferry is open I will move the last two Naval TF's towards their invasion ports. The ports are small and will take until the middle or end of October to have enough prep points to invade.

Sardinia is being difficult being secured, while Corsica is easier than usual to take. I've already started to repair ports and upgrade airfields on Corsica.

[marion61]

Turn 8 Air Losses

[marion61]

Turn 8 Ground Losses

[marion61]

Turn 8 Air

One thing I have noticed is that I've had to increase my bomber altitudes. Below 20k the daylight bombers were taking heavy flak casualties. Bomber Command I raised to 18k even though they weren't taking near the flak casualties that 8th Air Force was.

I've taken the Strategic Air Force and the Tactical Air Force and concentrated them in a two hex area to break out of the toe. My southern air forces are all committed to helping 8th Army break out of the boot. The picutre shows a lot of sorties, but most of those big numbers are recons.

[marion61]

Turn 8 New Invasion sites

I've selected my new invasion sites, and the British 6th Airborne will support the beach's closest to Rome. I'm hoping to get so far behind those axis units down south that I will have time to trap them down there. Depends on how much resistance I meet around Rome. My interdiction numbers around the new invasion beach's are rising and have made the seas neutral. Once Corsica is secure and the bases upgraded, I'll have control over the invasion beach's. My northern most invasion beach is going to be delayed a few turns and will embark from Corsica.

I'll start doing recon flights over the beach's next turn to see what I'm up against. I'll change targets so that the AI won't be too accurate about where to deploy. I try to set up this invasion to go off before November when the bad weather starts.

[marion61]

Turn 8 End

I don't normally gamble on attacks, but the units sitting on that mountain hex didn't have a realistic CV (wish I'd screen shot the attack) for just a PzG Division and a regiment so I conducted a Deliberate Attack and disloged them. I don't have units with enough MP's left to take the hex.