TAIFUN (Allies) vs IIo4Tu (Axis) Full game 1939

[Taifun]

Hi Generals and Commanders,

I am starting a new AAR resuming our current ELO tournament game, me as TAIFUN playing the Allies versus IIo4Tu playing the Axis Powers. As I did earlier in my other AARs this report will lag behind the current turn many months, so now that we are currently in Sep 1940 I will start with a resumé of the first year of our World War II.

In my last game as Allies I was given a rough ride by Cpuncher (a great master) and surrendered December 1941. I lost Egypt and the Middle East, China was defeated and about to surrender and the USSR was in no good shape to withstand or halt the German 1942 summer offensive. I learned many things from my defeat and decided to modify my strategy to see if the Allies could do better against a top player, as the game seems to be Axis favored. (see this interesting threat:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5017738


September 1-15 1939
Poland surrendered in 1 turn! The first time that I see this, a perfectly rehearsed attack that gave the Poles no chances to strike back. German paratroops deploy at Breslau.
Near the strait of Gibraltar 2 Italian Armies in transports (from Libya) enter the Atlantic Ocean. The Allies declared war to Italy and sent a huge combined Task Force to the area… The Allied plan for the next months will be to attack and capture Libya before Germany can send help to their Italian Allies. Also the Italian Regia Marina will be hunted and targeted by our carriers and powerful Task Force.

Congressional Isolationist React Strongly against Allied war on Italy (down to 15%). Spanish Government protested also the Allied aggression against Italy.
The Kriegsmarine started hitting our convoy lanes but there is not much that we could do as all our ships were bound towards the Mediterranean. The following turns an average of 30 MPPs will be sunk each turn.

[Taifun]

September 29-October 13
Both Italian transports are sunk near Gibraltar and French troops advance towards Tripoli from Tunisia.

October 27-November 10 1939
Strasbourg city is captured. Germany declared war on the Netherlands and surrendered. Belgium joined automatically the Allies. The Belgian troops are reinforced and prepare for the next German assault.

French troops come in contact with the Italian garrison defending Tripoli. The 3 Libyan ports are sieged by Allied ships so no reinforcements will be able to arrive in the following turns.

[Taifun]

November 24-19 December 1939
Antwerp is captured but Brussels holds the German assault. The Germans push through the Strasbourg gap and capture Nancy creating a big bulge in the front. The Italians do not move in the South, all remains calm near the Alps.

[Taifun]

In the Mediterranean Tripoli is sieged by French troops. No Italian ships are located in the Tyrrhenian Sea so they must be all concentrated in the Adriatic Sea: an Italian sub is guarding the entrance near Brindisi. British troops near Alexandria are ready to start pushing towards Tobruk where we expect to find a weak Italian garrison defending the fort.

[Marcinos1985]

Great read Taifun, thank you for your time.
On 3rd turn I see nearly 7 German troops upgraded to level 1? Or was it his 4th turn? Anyway, that's a crazy optimized opening. And 10 HP army in Strasbourg succumbed so quickly? Mass plane attack?
Good luck to both players!

[Taifun]

December 22-January 5 1940
The Germans capture Brussels and Belgium surrenders. Advancing south from Nancy the town of Dijon is captured but Lyon is firmly defended by a fully entrenched French corps. We abandon a fort north of Belfort in the Maginot line.
The Italian garrison defending Tripoli (out of supply=0) is easily destroyed by the French infantry and the Libyan Capital is captured. British forces mobilized in Egypt.

[Taifun]

January 19- February 02 1940
Lille city is captured and the British lose an Infantry corps near Amiens. The most powerful German units are in this area near the coast were 5 Armies and 2 panzerkorps operate. In a bold maneuver by the French two German Infantry corps are isolated near Dijon. The first Italians approach Lyon. The Kriegsmarine sinks 56 MPPs in many convoy routes...

[Taifun]

In the Mediterranean the British were surprised to find a strong Italian force defending Tobruk. They moved very early, in the second turn, before the ports were sealed.The Strategic bombers were flown to the area to assist in the reduction of the fortress. The 2 French Infantry corps advance southeast along the coast and reach Sirte. An Indian garrison arrives to Tripoli by sea.

Meanwhile, our Task Force had entered the Adriatic Sea and sunk a few ships but to our surprise the Luftwaffe had sent 2 tac bomber units with fighter support to the Brindisi area under the command of a German HQ! Our Carrier air groups are damaged in a series of air battles.

[Taifun]

ORIGINAL: Marcinos1985

Great read Taifun, thank you for your time.
On 3rd turn I see nearly 7 German troops upgraded to level 1? Or was it his 4th turn? Anyway, that's a crazy optimized opening. And 10 HP army in Strasbourg succumbed so quickly? Mass plane attack?
Good luck to both players!

Thanks for following Marcinos! It was a crazy optimized opening indeed! Poland in 1 and then a fully entrenched French Army strength 10 in 1 turn destroyed with the help of the Luftwaffe... he is an awesome player!

[Taifun]

February 16-March 1 1940
El Agheila is captured by the French on their way towards Benghazi. British forces under General Montgomery move forward towards the Libyan border. Reinforcements have arrived to Alexandria in the form of 2 extra infantry corps: one Australian and one from South Africa. They are refitted and get ready to start operations.
In the Mediterranean Sea our retiring Carriers make a lucky and very important discovery. The nazis have sent 2 para units to Sicily and are ready to jump and capture Tunis! Immediately the Malta AA unit is disembarked in Tunis being replaced by the Cyprus garrison. Near Rome we spot a German panzerkorps that was previously in Antwerp, no doubt ready to be shipped to Tunisia after that port is captured. The Führer has deployed important Wehrmacht assets to the Mediterranean theater of operations… good news for our soldiers defending France…

[Taifun]

An empty Metz (fortified town) is captured. Luxembourg was bypassed and is still neutral. German troops reestablish communications with their isolated infantry corps in Dijon. The Italians push forward across the Alps and capture St Etienne mine complex, but are quickly isolated by French troops in the area. Unfortunately our French Army defending Belfort in the Maginot Line is cut from the rest of the country.
Elsewhere, Malaya prepares for war and the UK begins construction to expand the port of Singapore. USSR annexes Territory following end of Winter War.

[boudi]

Thank you Taifun for your AAR.

[petedalby]

Thanks for another excellent AAR. Absolutely the right call to DoW on Italy to sink their transports. I don't want to jinx you but with such a heavy German investment in the Med I'm going to predict an Allied Victory.

Good luck!!

[Taifun]

Thanks boudi and petedalby for your kind words of support. I think that we always learn more from our defeats than from the victorious games…

March 15-29
To stabilize the French South Front the Italian corps stationed in the St Etienne mine complex became our next target. An Indian Army coming strait from the Suez canal and the Australian Infantry corps from Alexandria both disembarked from Montpelier port and completely isolated the Italians. In the north a thin line of infantry defended Paris.

[Taifun]

In the Mediterranean General Montgomery’s forces came into contact with General Guzzoni’s defending Italians near Tobruk. Benghazi was also sieged by weak Allied forces. The Indian Army and the Australian Infantry corps were initially earmarked to take part in this offensive, their diversion to France will slow down the capture of Cyrenaica. The Italians sent their 1st Fighter Squadron to defend Tobruk against our strategic bombers but it was not a good idea as they will soon be operating in low supply near enemy troops.

By now 3 Italian BBs and 1 CL have been sunk and the rest of the Italian fleet were hiding in ports most of them seriously damaged. Unfortunately our carrier operating near Rome bumped into a new Italian sub recently launched in Naples and took some damaged. I made the mistake of no spotting the Naples port first with the destroyer because I thought that the Italian sub arrived later in August. So now our CV was a sitting duck in the middle of the Axis bombers and it will be sunk next turn north of Palermo.

[Taifun]

April 12-26
French Somaliland surrendered. Germany invades Norway by D.E.
In the French North Front the Germans attacked in force and destroyed the 2 British B.E.F units compelling the remaining French troops to gather around their threatened capital. In the French South Front the isolated Italians were heavily damaged and will surrender next turn near the Massif Central out of supply. The Indian Army took position defending Lyon and the Australians moved to Montpellier. The South Front was quite safe. Our 2 remaining damaged carriers were back near Brest after a successful Mediterranean trip. I needed them to hunt the U-boote that were ravaging the Canadian convoys.

[Taifun]

May 5-24
The Germans launched an all out attack and reached the approaches to Paris in force. Fearing that France might surrender next turn with the loss of Paris and Lyon, the British ordered a general retreat. The Australians evacuated Montpellier coming back to Alexandria, General Lord Gott evacuated towards England with the air units while the Indians were operated to Brest along with the British garrison that went to Bordeaux…
I hesitated to leave behind the Indians defending Lyon but at the end I spared them a sinister end. My initial objective was to hold France until June-July. Unlike my game against Cpuncher that beat me fast, France surrendering April 1940, that left the Germans with many moths and many extra MPPs to prepare a strong Barbarossa. At that game I managed to save the whole B.E.F force but I now think that it was a mistake. This time I lost the whole B.E.F force trading time for British blood.

[Taifun]

Near Tobruk Monty was hitting hard the Italians with the field artillery and by now Benghazi was completely isolated. All the Italian units were running very low on supplies. The British AA unit that was defending Tunis was evacuated and disembarked at El Alamein next to the much travelled Australians. Fearing that France might surrender next turn i did not want the AA unit to be interned in Vichy Tunisia… that will be a huge mistake!!!

[Taifun]

June 7-21
Coming from Sicily the German paras jumped and captured Tunis and Constantine in Tunisia. This came as a surprise for me as I did not think that IIo4Tu will aim for an all of France strategy. Instead, I thought that he would attack Tunisia after Vichy France was created (as did Cpuncher in my last game). The only troops readily available to reinforce the area were a French Infantry corps (that was defending Marseille) that was transported to defend Algiers and our much travelled Australians that were disembarked at Tripoli and entered Tunisia from the south followed by the Malta AA unit. Take notice that the hex between Tripoli and the AA unit is French owned as this will have serious consequences next turn…

I did not think that the Allies were in grave danger as most probably the port of Tunis was captured level 4. My main objective was now to block the port so no more reinforcements would arrive via Tunis, so 2 light cruisers were sent to siege the port, knowing that they will be subjected to many air attacks. The strategic bombers flew to El Agheila on their way to Tripoli.
But I was wrong, the Tunis port was captured level 5 and in that small Tunisian area the Germans massed 1 panzer corps, 1 med bomber, 3 tac bombers, most probably a German HQ and the 2 paras…

Benghazi was captured and the Italian fighters isolated without supply.
USSR annexed the Baltic States.

[Taifun]

In France Paris and Lyon are still holding…