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I'm still playing the first tutorial. What is best as defender (Axis) if I want the enemy to bleed as much as possible? Should I hold my ground or fall back to a given defence line or...? What is the best strategy?

That all depends on who you are playing and what you are best at.

make them expend as much movement as possible before engaging. Give ground if you have a better defensive position but don't sacrifice ground needlessly. Leave a speedbump in place (expendable unit surplus to defensive requirements) to maintain contact, cause attrition and force him to attack it first (expending movement)

You have to be careful to not defend too long and let your forces get bled white. When the breakthrough comes you won't have anything to stop the Allied juggernaut. The Germans held the Allies several weeks after D-Day not far from the beaches but when the breakthrough came (Cobra) it was a big one.

Everything Belphegor said is true also. Try to have Allies not hit your main line in Italy until the rains start.

Thanks, I'll try some different strategies. It's after all a small scenario.
First I tried to build a defense line near the place they came ashore, but they just walked right through my line! So that's why I'm asking.

ORIGINAL: jnpoint

Thanks, I'll try some different strategies. It's after all a small scenario.
First I tried to build a defense line near the place they came ashore, but they just walked right through my line! So that's why I'm asking.

Did you add support units to the defenders?Was your hq's close enough for support?Was Allied air interdiction levels high?

If we are talking about Husky against the AI, here's what I recommend:

1) Don't defend near the coastline. The terrain isn't favourable for the Axis and the lines too long. After the Allies went ashore I pulled the units back behind the Semeto, forming a preliminary line from Catania to Adrano. The elements of 15th Panzergrenadier were railed to the hex east of Mt Etna awaiting to be recombined. Also, all regular Italian divisions on the Western part of the island were railed behind the Semeto. The coastal divisions were left as speedbumps at Palermo, Marsala and Trapani.

2) Rail down 29th Panzergrenadier and 1st Fallschirmjaeger to Reggio di Calabria to send them over.

3) Build up a line centered around Mt Etna and that mountain northwest of it. This basically shortens the front to three hexes in rough terrain. The hex at the northern coast only needs light garrison. The other two hexes should be manned by a German unit (I used the Panzergrenadier Brigade and Hermann Goering) and two Italian units. 15th Panzergrenadier (and later 29th Panzergrenadier) are positioned behind them to build up forts and provide reserve activation.

This should be a pretty solid line against the AI and all hexes to Messina are also in rough terrain with short frontlines.

Here's how it looks like on my turn 5. Made a small mistake the last turn when I was too worried about the Allies breaking through on the eastside of the Etna, placing Hermann Goering northwest of it into a tough situation, so I pulled the panzer division back. But shouldn't be backbreaking.

Thanks for the advices. I finally got a minor victory [:)]