warspite1
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Turn 124 - Axis Turn
22nd November 1941
1 - Italian units from the Trieste, Trento Ariete, Sabratha and Pavia Divisions with air support attack south of Fort Capuzzo. The 1st Natal Mounted Rifles and the remnants of a recce company retreat in the face of the attack with the loss of almost 90% of their men. 30 CW aircraft contest the battle - 17 Blenheims and 13 Tomahawks - and lose more than a third of their number, 11 aircraft (3 destroyed). Italian ground losses of men and equipment are negligible and of 326 aircraft that support the attack, the Axis lose 8 (2 destroyed).
2 - north of Capuzzo 25! artillery pieces support an attack by Italian infantry from 5 divisions and totally destroy the South African 2nd Botha Battalion. 56 CW aircraft fly to defend including 40 Hurricanes but almost half the Blenheims and 40% of the Hurricanes are lost - 23 aircraft (8 destroyed). The Italians take no ground casualties at all and lose 19 aircraft of 161 aircraft (2 destroyed).
3 and 6 - the Axis open with a bombardment against the northern most units of the Allied line. Once again, despite being on 'minimal losses' orders in order to encourage retreat, the whole battalion is wiped out. I might as well have put them on ignore losses and at least caused the attackers to take some proper losses.... also once again the CW air force decide to fly in penny packets - 12 bombers and 19 fighters. 7 are lost (1 destroyed). The presence of the British AA unit seems to have been for aesthetic purposes only as of the 79 fighters (over half are biplanes) and 20 bombers that fly (all aircraft are Italian), just 6 aircraft lost, (1 bomber is destroyed).
4 - the Axis take back control of the approaches to the Halfaya Pass. The machine gun battalion is wiped out - maybe I've got the purpose of minimal losses wrong? This time the RAF fly in slightly higher numbers - 20 bombers and 75 fighters, but the results are the same - 23 aircraft lost including 17 fighters (12 destroyed) and a Hurricane squadron simply evaporates. The Axis flew 197 aircraft and lost 13 (only 5 destroyed).
5, 7 and 8 - these attacks are against Fort Capuzzo itself. The fort is well defended and the troops on ignore losses. The first barrage does minimal damage and then the Axis attack supported by 27 artillery units. It looks like just one Italian infantry battalion attacked the fort!! but it received less than a quarter losses of men and not one piece of equipment. This time only 15 enemy fighters supported the attack and lost 6 (0 destroyed). But numbers don't seem to matter as the results remain the same, and of the 36 CW aircraft involved, 11 are lost (4 destroyed). For the final assault a number of Italian divisions are employed and the British lose all four units defending the fort plus 2 fighter squadrons evaporated. I can only guess that the program ranks the Beaufighter as the worst aircraft ever to have taken flight. The CW flew with 57 aircraft and lost 31 (3 destroyed - but in reality more as none of these 3 came from the two squadrons that evaporated). The Italians lose a dozen rifle squads in taking the fort and one machine gun squad, but again, not a single piece of equipment - no mortars, no field guns, nothing..... The Axis aircraft numbered 225 and they lost 22 (6 destroyed).
9 to 13 - these are bombardments of surrounding positions as per the map. More major losses of equipment - particularly precious artillery pieces and the 2nd Heavy AA Regiment and a company of the Natal Mounted Rifles are evaporated.
One attack, that doesn't even involve the Afrika Korps, and a large part of the 1st South African Division has largely ceased to exist....
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< Message edited by warspite1 -- 2/25/2018 9:28:25 AM >
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RE: CFNA 1940-43 devoncop (Axis) vs warspite1 (CW) - 
. 
) have appeared. I move the Blenheim asap back out of harms way.... 
I'll go through the enemy Combat Results again but.... 
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