Road to Where: Axis

[gwgardner]

Here's why the German High Command has halted all offensive operations on the Eastern Front:

in this segment of the North part of the front, the Russians have 29 infantry, level 2-3 on average. The Germans have 20, level 3 on average. Overall High Command has identified 10 Russian armored corps, to 2 corps, and 4 divisions, for the German army as a whole.

As a result, both motorized and armor units are in position to be transferred rapidly to the west, once the point of Allied assault is determined.

However, one option being considered, if the Allies do not assault the continent by June, is to transfer all armor and mech to the south, and attempt a breakout and rollup of the weaker Russian forces there.

Expectation is that the Allied assault will come in Portugal. The Allies need Gibraltar above all else, to open up options for them in the Med.

[gwgardner]

It's mid June now, and for the first time the Allies/Comintern, are using air units.  Trouble is, the reports aren't detailed enough for me to tell WHERE!!  The report says 5th Air Army, 4th Air Army, but not which country.  Nor does it say where the strike took place.  Only the target unit is indicated.  Try searching for a specific unit among 200!

Anyway, I think that it's the Comintern with the air units, since the USSR was able to blow a couple of holes in the Eastern Front. 

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

It's mid June now, and for the first time the Allies/Comintern, are using air units.  Trouble is, the reports aren't detailed enough for me to tell WHERE!!  The report says 5th Air Army, 4th Air Army, but not which country.  Nor does it say where the strike took place.  Only the target unit is indicated.  Try searching for a specific unit among 200!

Anyway, I think that it's the Comintern with the air units, since the USSR was able to blow a couple of holes in the Eastern Front. 

Ahh the old disappearing infantry corp trick. Those Russians are sneaky buggers!

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: James Ward


Ahh the old disappearing infantry corp trick. Those Russians are sneaky buggers!

Indeed. I especially like the way they came up with 5 air armies! That's what's maddening however, I can't tell, by the air army name, which country it is. Is that the US with five air armies? Or the Russkies?

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

ORIGINAL: James Ward


Ahh the old disappearing infantry corp trick. Those Russians are sneaky buggers!

Indeed. I especially like the way they came up with 5 air armies! That's what's maddening however, I can't tell, by the air army name, which country it is. Is that the US with five air armies? Or the Russkies?

Perhaps there is a little deception involved using the old Rename unit feature [:)]
Or maybe you are really in big trouble and it's accurate. If so just pray you aren't attacked by the 10th air army next turn!

[gwgardner]

July 1, '42

northern front, two Russian assault lines, one aimed at Riga. If Riga is lost, there will have to be a general withdrawal back to secure supply lines.

Central front is static. German High command considered an offensive there, but there is just no available infantry reserves to exploit any advance. Too many forces are tied up guarding possible Allied invasion points. There is a temptation to bleed away those garrison and mobile reserve units, but sure disaster would follow once an invasion is attempted.

[gwgardner]

Southern Front, one major line of Russian assault, against the relatively weak Romanian portion of the line. The Romanians continue to pour their resources into shoring up the line. Meanwhile, the Italian High Command steadfastly refuses to forward any more reinforcements to the East. At least they have not withdrawn any units from the Dniester Line.

[gwgardner]

Hoooolyyy ... crap.

[gwgardner]

DDay + 7

German High Command was surprised that the US and British forces did not quickly advance across their entire perimiter, and follow up their initial invasion force with a wave of reinforcements. As far as could be determined, only one followup US corps joined the fray.

The British 213th division was vulnerable, in a bridgehead across the Elbe. High Command saw this as an opportunity to blunt the momentum of the Allied invasion, and moved it's mobile reserve into action. The British salient was destroyed in two rounds of attacks over a three day period.

Unfortunately, reconnaissance shows that the US corps are much, much stronger, and any attack on them would be futile. High Command is struggling to set up a defensive wall before the Americans are able to bring in subsequent waves of reinforcements.

[gwgardner]

Whether or not the Soviets timed it with the Allied invasion in the West, they have launched heavy attacks at three different points along the Eastern Front.

Riga and Minsk are in the crosshairs in the North and Center.

[Joshuatree]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

Hoooolyyy ... crap.

Don't you just love it [:)] barely holding the lines... and then whammo, a dastardly attack from the Allies.
Good luck. [:D]

[gwgardner]

In the South, the valiant Romanian forces have put up a strong defensive position along the Carpathians. As a result, the Soviets seem to have decided that the Italians are likelier targets in the plains north of Kishinev. The Dniester River line, where the Italians have been parked for more than a year, is soon to be abandoned if the Soviet offensive maintains steam.

Unfortunately, if retreat is indeed necessary, the front will be LENGTHENED. Bad news all around, as the only units to fill in the line are the weaker Romanian and Bulgarian infantry - all still level 1 forces.

A fallback line is being prepared along the Prut and Danube. Romanian and Bulgarian forces are already moving in, preparing for the Italian retreat.

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: Joshuatree



Don't you just love it [:)] barely holding the lines... and then whammo, a dastardly attack from the Allies.
Good luck. [:D]

I'm going to need incredible luck. Actually, I don't think any amount of luck will do. Fortunately, the loyal Italian allies, quite willing to see German soil as a forward defensive position for Italy, are coming to the rescue.

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

ORIGINAL: Joshuatree



Don't you just love it [:)] barely holding the lines... and then whammo, a dastardly attack from the Allies.
Good luck. [:D]

I'm going to need incredible luck. Actually, I don't think any amount of luck will do. Fortunately, the loyal Italian allies, quite willing to see German soil as a forward defensive position for Italy, are coming to the rescue.

When you are counting on the Italians to rescue you, it's pasta time to wish for luck, you need a miracle. Better tell them to bring the Pope and anyone else who can help up from Rome![:)]

[gwgardner]

Overall situation:

Who wants to lay odds on the Soviets getting to Berlin first?

[gwgardner]

History books will call Mid-August 1942 as The Breakout. Both the Americans and the Soviets are on the move.

[gwgardner]

Coup d'etat. The Italian High Command, with the support of the King, have ousted Mussolini from power and placed him in confinement in an undisclosed location. The last straw came when the Fascist dictator personally rammed through High Command orders delaying the retreat along the Dniester, leading to a collapse of the front near Odessa. Further, he forced the sending of an entire motorized corps to the Eastern Front, in the face of the disaster there. The Italian Army Group East, in distant memory called Army Group Caucasus, was shattered by a powerful Soviet tank assault south of Kishinev. If the pullback to the Prut-Danuble line had been allowed to proceed as planned by High Command, it would have been orderly.

High Command is faced with the daunting task of rescuing as much of Army Group East as possible, while attempting to stave off panic at their back in the capitols of Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

The Bulgarians have called up the last of their immediate reserves and are setting up a defensive line around Sofia. Meanwhile, the preponderance of the Bulgarian forces have remained idle guarding the Greek frontier, against an expected but never forthcoming British assault from the south.

Romanian forces still hold along the Carpathians, but no one believes they will be able to hold the new line along the Prut and Danube.

[gwgardner]

The Allies have opened a new bridgehead in France. German High Command will move swiftly to contain it, using the mobile units around the Kiel salient, and production of new infantry units, but that will suffice only to delay its advance.

[gwgardner]

Disaster on the Dniester. Most of the Italian Army Group East has been destroyed in an explosive advance and encirclement by the Soviets. Having cut off all transport to the pocket of Italian forces, it is impossible to get them out. Nothing is left for them but to surrender or be destroyed piecemeal.

The Prut/Danube line is looking very thin, now that there is no Army Group East in existence.

Italian High Command is constructing another line along the Yugoslavian border, having determined that Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary will fall all too easily.

[gwgardner]

Disaster on the Dniester. Most of the Italian Army Group East has been destroyed in an explosive advance and encirclement by the Soviets. Having cut off all transport to the pocket of Italian forces, it is impossible to get them out. Nothing is left for them but to surrender or be destroyed piecemeal.

The Prut/Danube line is looking very thin, now that there is no Army Group East in existence.

Italian High Command is constructing another line along the Yugoslavian border, having determined that Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary will fall all too easily.