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Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL) v Liquidsky (AX)

 
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Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL) v ... - 4/27/2018 8:09:56 PM   
Gunnulf


Posts: 686
Joined: 10/31/2012
Status: offline 		Continuing a long and unhealthy tradition for masochism and biting off more than I can chew I seem to have taken up the challenge to be Liquidsky's lastest punching bag. He might have been out of the game for a little while but no doubts he's not forgotten much and is a sharp operator. Certainly expecting to learn a few tricks the hard way... That humble disclaimer out of way the game has kicked off; myself trying to advance the forces of the Allied democratic nations, Liquidsky trying to thwart my noble ambitions with his Axis of fashionistas.

The first turn is already complete. Given my perception that he is a canny and aggressive opponent I have opted to concentrate my efforts on Sicily and avoid the temptation to divide my command. There is definately good logic to diverting a couple of TFs to Sardinia as QBall did against me I am aiming to try to complete the liberation of a single island as fast as possible for the potential goal of persuading the Italians to abandon the Axis. We'll see, I suspect Liquidsky will have a strong garrison in North Italy to minimise the chance of this surrender but you never know...

So here is the turn at the beginning of turn 2. I opted to utilise my Middle Eastern airforces to fully protect the invasion routes against counter-attack and attrition. Until I can get bases established closer interdiction is of only of limited nuisance effect and exposed to fighter interception, and in the first turn at least the local ports are fairly well suppressed. Once we can get ashore properly we can switch targets properly.

I shifted several Beaufighter and a few Liberator squadrons from the UK in order to pick up some of these naval patrol tasks going forward as the Western approaches are more than adequately protected. On the flipside the P38 Squadrons from the Med will head north to 8th Air Force to given better escort protection, while in Tunisia a few P40 squadrons receive shiny new P47s which should be enough in the short term to protect the missions I envisage for Strategic Air command, at least until we can secure the Foggia airfield complex.

Up in the North West Europe theatre, nothing too outrageous. We re-organise fighter commands dispositions and send 3 air superiority missions over France to try to do a bit of damage before he inevitably pulls everything out of Allied fighter range, and 8th Air Force sends 4 groups hunting over the Netherlands too. Good results on both efforts, not devastating but effective enough for starters. Bomber command switches out its obsolete Stirling Is and those Wellingtons that will switch to Lancasters. Everybody else has a crack at the Ruhr before Liquidsky turns it into a complete hornets-nest of flak. However we do also send a few squadrons to attack the U-boat factories around Bremerhaven with apparent good success. 8th Air Force splits in two and takes a wide sweep north across Denmark and hits the U-boats at Danzig and the fuel at Stettin with recce reporting good success and low losses on both efforts, partly thanks to the remaining 2 P47 groups escorting at least accross the north sea leg.

SO, anyway, we are (relatively) safely ashore, the second wave ready to disembark. No sign of a determined Panzer counter-attack (not that we expected one quite yet..) and just a screen of Italians trying to slow our expansion slightly. Time to sit down and work out what on earth to do next...!




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< Message edited by Gunnulf -- 4/27/2018 8:12:12 PM >

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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/28/2018 12:52:07 AM   
John B.


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Status: offline 		I'm following this one! Good to see another campaign on here.

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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/29/2018 7:29:46 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		17 Jul 43 - Turn 3

Turn 2 the focus was on bombing the Ruhr by night and day, with a subsidiary couple of missions by Bomber command to hit U-Boat and Fuel targets in Schleswig Holstein. Fairly underwhelming results from the small raids, with Mosquitoes hitting one and 3 Lancaster squadrons hitting the other, but losses light and works as a nice diversion. Maybe. VPs from bombing after 2 turns are +10 with -2 for Uboats. However Liquidsky has done well optimising his anti-partisan operations giving him a hefty -6 so the overall effect is only +1. Progress I guess but we need to up our game...

Now in turn 3 the focus shifts to the Hamburg region, its tempting to hammer the Ruhr again but we need to spread the love (bombs) to try to get the bombing points up. Plus we can see from the flak intel that every hex is 9-9 already so he has been busy spending APs to shift Flak regiments in. We can't avoid it, there are too many key industries we need to hit there, but we can spread the net to hit other targets more often and save a few losses. Not that Hamburg is a soft target, far from it but its another key centre to level. We opt to hit it by day and night again, this being slightly more efficient for our recce jockeys. Bomber Command will load incendiaries and prioritise manpower targets while 8th AF looks for more fuel, HI and U-Boats. We have 6 groups of P38s flying from Norfolk so at least the B17s won't be flying solo too much. As a subsidiary we set 2 seperate raids; 3 groups of Liberators with a heavy P47 escort hit the vehicle factory at Antwerp, and the Mosquito group go for an outlying U-Boat target (they hit a He111 factory instead...).
Overall losses are not too bad, and in fact in A2A combat overall we lose just 63 to his 68 which is satisfactory. Of course we pretty much double that for operational losses but still, 67 of his pilots KIA is a small step in the right direction!

Elsewhere in the Med we fly air superiority over sicily, and hit the port of Olbia on Sardinia. 4 groups of B17 with a single group of P38 and 4 squadrons of Spitfires at their max range. I was half expecting a reception committee but so far nothing seems to have flown since turn 1, not even Italians. So no doubt he is building up for some hammer blow somewhere... I can try to cover all the angles but its going to be relatively impossible to prevent him doing some damage somewhere. We'll see!





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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/29/2018 8:08:28 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		Down south we edge forward across Sicily. Liquidsky throws out a wall of Italians broken down into regiments making Patton fight every inch of the way which is of course highly frustrating. It encourages hasty attacks which mostly work but racks up fatigue, uses bullets and slows the advance to a relative crawl (though I suspect fast forward a few weeks we will dream of progressing like this..!).

No danger of not taking the island (famous last words) but likely much slow than historical which is annoying of course. I'd like to think that at least all the small victories gains experience and maybe leader skills, but I suspect its optimistic that there is much upside. If I hadn't landed with a full force it would have been even slower progress of course so I guess thats positive too as we might have been moving even slower.

In Monty's sphere just a single regiment in Catania which is swept aside and we land 1st Airborne Div and end up facing the HG Pz Div below the slopes of Mount Etna for the first sign of stiff resistance.





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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/29/2018 8:52:22 PM   
LiquidSky


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Owwwww. The most important stat I track is how many pilots I lose. 67 is bad. Almost double what I get in a turn. I always try to preserve the Luftwaffe for as long as possible.

I keep the fighters together rather then spreading them out over all of Germany. I never let them fly anywhere the allies can fly Air Superiority missions, that just trades Allied pilots for German ones.

I used to use up the Italian airforce in Sicily, but I find it better to pull it back to guard against the inevitable mainland invasion.

My anti-partisan points come from turning up my supply and reinforcement priorities to 4. Manpower is leaving the pool and filling up all those units on Garrison. A lot of CV's got a boost. They can get a further boost from Support Attachments.

Sicily is too late to defend. If the allies land with the default invasion, the island is doomed to fall....Messina can hold out for a while though but it is dangerous to do so since the island can be cut off. I usually land with everything except for one Amph..which I use as a roving shore bombardment...or a snap invasion of Italy.

There will be German counterattacks in this game...just not in Sicily.


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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/29/2018 10:33:02 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		Yes that initial supply boost is a great trick for ramping up the CV values everywhere, took me a few games to learn it. I think as much from giving everybody in France & Benelux a full quota of supplies & ammo moreso than filling up with manpower, unless you have units on refit too.

Be nice to think I can force a supply order of 67 Luftwaffe wreathes every turn but I suspect that might be wishful thinking... At a deficit of 30 per turn that would remove the Luftwaffe in about 60 or so turns, except that the extra squadrons turning up spoils that maths a little obviously. However I'll get caught out more than once I'm sure.

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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/29/2018 10:45:51 PM   
LiquidSky


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I am not adverse to adding untrained pilots when I must...or disbanding squadrons even. The Luftwaffe doesnt run out of pilots so much as it gets diluted with lower and lower experience.

An unfortunate turn of events in Sicily for Patton/Montgomery. Much finger pointing as a motorized Italian division drives between the two armies, overrunning two airfields and taking Gela.






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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/29/2018 10:58:50 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		Its going to be one of those days eh? I saw your unit there but thought the ZOC from 1st US Inf and rough terrain was going to prevent such hijinks. Obviously very wrong on that one then.

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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/30/2018 1:47:00 AM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		24 Jul 43 - Turn 4

This weeks targets over the Reich are Hamburg & Hannover for 8th AF with a focus on HI & Fuel, and Bomber Command Bremerhaven & Bremen with a focus on Manpower & Uboat factorys & pens. Bombing VPs dropped to +9 last turn though Uboats -1 so net the same but we need to crank it up a bit if we want to make progress. I've no doubt that every construction unit is busy repairing damage though so maybe this is as good as we can hope for. We'll see. The air combat ramped up a notch though with A2A victories slightly in our favour and reportedly 106 Luftwaffe KIAs, though once again operational losses were inevitably higher for the allies overall.
Subsidiary milk runs for Bomber command over Versailles & 8th AF over Eindhoven to target some more vehicle factories, both seeming to have reasonable success against light opposition. We'll keep mixing it up here to keep him honest about flak, no doubt at some point an ambush will pop up somewhere but c'est le vie.




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/30/2018 2:02:18 AM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		On Sicily we clear up the mess in the rear fairly easily. Highly annoying that its possible for the Italians to drive almost to the coast, through ZOC, over a river and rough terrain without any reaction from the Allies. Obviously thats the nature of turn based games and hopefully cuts both ways later, but it was a particularly long drive... The main damage being the airfield that only had 1 Hurricane squadron but apparently hadn't auto-sized down in terms of manning so had loads of mechanics milling around.
Patton's troops wade forward through the sea of Italian regiments in the west while Monty comes up against a brick wall in the east with 4FJ, HG Pz, 29 PzGn plus Schmaltz and presumably 15PzGn. The slopes east of Etna have an estimated 150cv so thats a no go and the other routes will probably get locked down too soon. He can sit there as long as he likes really, no point throwing British and Canadian lives away in a futile gesture. Its easy to lock that corner down quickly without too much effort but can't hang around forever.




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/30/2018 4:14:58 AM   
LiquidSky


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What will inevitably drive me from Sicily will be the threat of invasion. There are just too many good places to land along the boot that can cut off any and all Germans in Sicily. I know how long it roughly takes to prep an invasion.....and a RECON mision over Tunis and Bizarte shows me the tree French units in Bizerte (so no invasion craft) and only two units in Tunis....either a div or reg invasion? Smaller units prep faster, but are much weaker on the landing. Might be time to turn on the Italian airforce.

Its hard to believe that my HQ's were once overloaded in Sicily....now it seems I only have some farmers armed with shotguns trying to keep the Yanks away from Palermo.

Messina OTOH is a fortress.




Possible invasion unit in Tunis?

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< Message edited by LiquidSky -- 4/30/2018 4:15:31 AM >

_____________________________

“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 11
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 4/30/2018 11:21:30 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		31 Jul 43 - Turn 5

Last turn bombing VPs sneaked up to +10 / -1 Uboats so small progress but I feel the German Todt units are rebuilding hard and suppressing the score a little. Otherwise partisan operations only draw -4VP so seems likely reserves have been deployed to Southern Italy perhaps. Or simply supply drawdowns in France dropped CV a little. Net effect is +4 progress. Could be worse but not breaking out the champagne yet.
Targets of the week are the Ruhr again for Bomber command and 8th AF, plus half of 8th AF hit the Frankfurt region for the first time. No day fighters encountered over either target, either by luck or by design. Only a few skirmishes with night fighters really. Bombering results seem quite satisfactory. Axis KIA is mostly operational losses from (presumably Italian) autonaval patrol. Otherwise just one secondary operation to hit Antwerp again and seems like it got flattened, like Eindhoven and Versailles were last week.
So far overall modest results after 5 turns, not stellar but (famous last words) no disasters.





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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/1/2018 12:06:54 AM   
LiquidSky


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There are eight Garrison zones. At most you can get is 1 vp per zone. The percentage chance of a point is the Required percentage -100%....so if you are at 154% of requirement, you have a 54% chance of a VP for that zone.

When the VP's for garrison drop to 0-1 consistently....that's when you know I am up to something.

_____________________________

“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/1/2018 12:07:36 AM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		Sicily continues to be a grind, Patton slowly wading through the mafia miltia regiments. No real opposition and we should clear up in 2 or 3 turns which is not a disaster and Patton's already giant ego is fuelled by a tally of 32 victories to 3 hold/defeats. Some experience boosts for the Infantry divisions too. Its a very frustrating tactic but not too many advantages in the grand scheme and I haven't yet felt the need to deploy 82nd Airborne to assist.

Monty takes a more measured approach to crack the outer defenses of Festung Messina. Strategic command batters away for days with every 4E in theatre. From the reports the results are pretty underwhelming, virtually no disruptions to the PzGn div, though the Italians are a bit harder hit. In rough terrain it was a desperate measure to break the stalemate and we consider scrubbing the attack, especially as recon IDs PzGn lurking in reserve but we decide to roll the dice to appease Churchill (and avoid Patton's taunting) and launch XXX Corps with elements from VIII corps too. Its not pretty with 2.7k losses but 29PzGn is dislodged from its position. Seems likely XIV Pz Corps will just pull back to a tighter perimeter and no chance of a proper breakthrough at this point given the terrain. I don't normally bring the British Armoured divisions to Sicily as they are then often unused and in the wrong place for phase 2 but perhaps this might have been a nice chance to have cut of Schmalz & 15 Pzgn. Coulda/shouda... Otherwise a costly battle, probably not worth it, but at least it succeeded, there will be plenty worse results ahead I'm sure!





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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/1/2018 1:07:28 AM   
LiquidSky


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One thing I remember from when I played the Allies is that it is always best to Overwhelm. There is no real need to be subtle or sneaky....you can bring to bear overwhelming force in. I usually do the default Sicily landings...save for a single Amph..but I always bring over as much stuff as I can to take the island quickly. I also keep invasions planned close to the area I am fighting (and paradrops).

For example I would plan a quick invasion with the extra amph on the hex next to Messina...along with a paradrop in both hexes. The invasion gives you a port for supply and the paratroopers should be strong enough to hold the hexes long enough to bring a couple more divisions in.

I would also plan another invasion in the Toe...If the Germans are in Sicily in force, you cut them off....if they are not...you can roll up the toe, and shift the invasions farther north as you go.

The Allies suffer from not having Air Superiority in Italy.....they get a false sense of security in that they have a buttload of planes, but the Axis have more airbases...so they can bring to bear a lot more aircraft in a tight area.

They can gain the Air Superiority they need to leapfrog forward, but they have to build/upgrade airbases to do it.

I don't mean this as a critique of Grunnulf's game. It is more a cautionary note as I have a pretty good idea what the Allies are capable of, and defend against it.


_____________________________

“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 15
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/1/2018 3:23:51 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		There should always be a fear of being cut off at the back of the German players mind for sure. In fact in reality there were a number of Brigade sized amphibious landings in the planning stages along the eastern Sicily coast but the front moved north before they were executed I believe. I myself have always considered them but am far too nice to actually do it, partly through fear my opponent would rage quit if 3 or 4 good divisions were lost so early in the game. Too nice that is until now...!

Nope, still too nice for my own good, but this can change...

7 Aug 43 - Turn 6

Fairly quiet in the skies again over Germany with only a few skirmishes as we focus on the South West of Germany around Stuttgart & Schweinfurt. Bombing relatively unmolested and flak certainly lighter than the Ruhr make it a relative milk run. Clearly the Luftwaffe death star is docked further north.




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/1/2018 3:58:40 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		Palermo falls with barely a shot fired in the end as the last regiment lays down its arms. However 6 troops are sadly lost to alcohol poisoning after discovering a wine cellar. So ends the campaign for the Western end of the island with some nice new air bases and a slightly battered port. I must admit when I first saw the wall of Italian Regiments I was filled with a little gloom that it would take ten turns to wade through the mess, but in actuality I'm not sure its a tactic I would necessarily replicate. We've suffered virtually no casualties, all the US divisions have gained 1-4 Exp points from the numerous battles and we are pretty much on schedule, at most 1 turn behind, having used no extra troops, in fact I usually drop in 82nd Airborne to assist the final assault if Palermo is looking like a strong bastion. 6 of 1, half a dozen of the other I guess, something has gone badly wrong if you can't take this end of the island.

In the eastern end as expected a pull back to a tighter perimeter with a few pickets of Italian's left behind as a sacrifice to the gods. This will be a tougher nut to crack for sure but all divisions fully supplied and in good shape so we maneuver into position opposite the German lines...
For want of something better to do Strategic Command starts to create a bit of mischief in the railyards of Calabria which draws out some Italian fighters which are duelys dispatched.




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/2/2018 2:49:50 AM   
LiquidSky


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The defence of Italy is starting to shape up. Ports are all getting a German unit to defend them. Two Panzer Corps in position.

I am getting rather nervous about the Germans in Sicily though....I suspect as soon as next turn an invasion somewhere in Italy. If it is near the toe, it can cut them off. Messina can be impregnable, but only at the cost of losing all the Germans defending it.

Luftwaffe Reich is suprisingly in pretty good shape. It has only really been hit hard twice and has had time to recover for the next big hit. The Italian airforce is primed and ready to repel all boarders. I will try to prevent their surrender for as long as possible, but I will have to hold Messina for that to occur. Otherwise they will probably throw in the towel when the allies hit the INVADE button.




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“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 18
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/2/2018 4:41:18 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		14 Aug 43 - Turn 7

Starting in Sicily for a change, an outlying garrison of sacrificial Italians is dispatched. Honestly, this is no way to treat your comrades in arms, they should certainly think about surrendering, or better still switching sides...
We'll come against the MLR now though. We can batter through at higher cost but we'll soon see if the threat of the backdoor closing triggers a fight or flight reaction. We've not seen 4 FJ for a while so perhaps they already exited the scene as being too critical to lose [edited: actually stacked with HG Pz, my mistake!]. Not that any of those divisions is truly disposable obviously. Both Tactical and Strategic commands begin to make the road uncomfortable but still possible to run the gauntlet.






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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/2/2018 5:57:42 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		Hamburg is back in focus for the air campaign. Losses are pretty much equal in A2A fighting and I'd say roughly 40 of the axis KIA were Luftwaffe, so basically sustainable for now. Bombing results ok, nothing stellar. VPs last turn from bombing +11 still but overall as the Axis have drawn down their garrisons and fighting was light in Italy the counter creeps +6 in our favour. Better than a kick in the teeth.

In summary, the air war ticking along, Sicily grinding slowly forward, but all eyes are on phase 2 as our logistical wallahs count, and carefully load boxes of bullets and toilet paper into the holds of the assault ships... So long as the Telegraph don't publish the locations in a crossword then the destination should still be anyones guess. Even mine!




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/4/2018 2:07:54 PM   
LiquidSky


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Apparently I have been invaded in Sardinia. A lone American division braves the beach right where my naval interdiction ends.

The Italian airforce for which I have held back from the fight in Sicily, is now tasked with guarding the seas around Italy. As Mussolini said, Italy is an aircraft carrier in the med.

I suspect that I might have been invaded elsewhere as well, but the interdiction will delay it. With the loss of 88 LB's, 40 Patrol and 16 TB's, I will not be able to sustain it.


Here is the glorious seas around Italy...controlled by Axis.




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< Message edited by LiquidSky -- 5/4/2018 2:08:09 PM >

_____________________________

“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

(in reply to Gunnulf)
Post #: 21
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/4/2018 2:25:49 PM   
LiquidSky


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I have to admit though, I never expected an invasion in Sardinia. When Italy surrenders, they give the Island up for free. And the Italians surrender when a check is passed when:
1) All of Sicily is allied....or,
2) All of Sardinia is allied...or,
3) The moment an invasion is launched against mainland Italy...or,
4) An in-supply allied unit is in mainland Italy.

Impossible to stop 3). Which leads to 4) being impossible.

The check is the CV of Germans in Italy...divided by 4. With 200 giving 100%. Meaning I would need 800 German CV..not within 10 hexes of an allied unit.
Not gonna happen. I do have around 200 CV not near allies...but when he invades? Who knows. Probably going to be around a 25% chance of holding on.




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“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 22
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/4/2018 8:50:46 PM   
Gunnulf


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Status: offline 		21-28 Aug 43 - Turn 8 & 9

Busy few days at real world SHAEF so bit slow to write up. Main focus obviously on the Med - well aware of the minimum time needed to prep in a level 6 port Liquidsky flips the auto-navalpatrol button and the Italian air force gets busy dominating its sphere of the sea. Luckily the only bit of sea we needed this turn was the path to Sardinia and the invasion goes ahead. We don't anticipate German resistance and aware that it will flip if/when the Italians surrender, but thats still a big question mark on when while there are Germans in Messina. Everybody else takes the hint with the threat of being cut off and bugs out but 2 divisions of Fallshirmjager hold the proverbial fort generating an estimated 310 CV. Clearly thats going to take some firepower to shift so just as well we went to the trouble of Plan B to avoid a complete stalemate. In the meantime preparations are ongoing elsewhere obviously. As per billing Liquidsky knows every trick and angle in the book so this was never going to be a cakewalk but lets see what we can do...

Otherwise on the VP front, bombing still at +10 but clearly drawing down on Garrisons now as no negative VP from that and thus +8 overall in turn 9. September on the horizon and 5th Army gets its quota of artillery. We were never going to invade properly until that turned up as we certainly expect a hot reception.




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/5/2018 9:47:55 AM   
Gunnulf


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Joined: 10/31/2012
Status: offline 		4 Sep 43 - Turn 10

Quick update as relatives here for the long weekend and apparently the long haired CinC feels I'm being anti-social... Clearly doesn't realise whats at stake here. Anyway, there is somewhat of a Mexican standoff on the outskirts of Messina. Huge CV in an city from 2 FJ Divs, and we don't have a huge appetite for trashing 8th Army in a Siciligrad. On Sardinia the mainly US expeditionary force secures the airfields in the Caligiari suburbs which are an important new asset, and the city should fall next turn. No doubt there is at least 1 German unit in Olbia so that might take a while to secure the whole island but it should be easier than Messina. Famous last words.

Otherwise bombing the Reich continues. Air losses light on both sides with only contact from the night fighters with 8th AF getting free runs in SW Germany. So far nowhere near the losses of historical 1943 and both bomber forces have near 100% operational availability, hardly any needing rest for morale breaks. VP wise +10 bombing +2 cities -2 Uboats -2 losses -1 Partisans Overall +7 so still creeping in the right direction.




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/7/2018 4:58:32 AM   
LiquidSky


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Sadly, despite a rather large commitment of German CV to Italy....the Italians surrender when the Allies invade around Brindisi.

To defend Italy, I put one Panzer corp around Taranto....another near Naples, and a third near Rome in anticipation of invasion sites, so the LXXVI Panzer Corp under General Herr is in the vicinity of the invasion site.

Not a lot of interdiction in front of the beach heads...I think I can take one of them at least.

Holding Messina no longer means anything, although I was going to remove one of the FJ anyways to help guard around Reggio Calabria..now they will make a run for it up the coast.




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Post #: 25
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/7/2018 6:00:13 AM   
LiquidSky


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In an epic battle for the British beachhead..the Panzers were stopped by the valiant efforts of the British and American navies.

But it was close...oh so very close....

I agonized for a while over what to commit or do. I could have drawn a line using Taranto/the hills/the coastal hex with the fort to wall in the invasion area. I could have also thrown in two more units. Ah well....I may not have overcome the emergency beachhead defence, but I did cause some real casualties to the British which will help victory points.






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“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 26
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/7/2018 7:40:18 AM   
LiquidSky


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After much agonizing, thought and half a bottle of wine I decide to launch a second deliberate attack...with only 2 of the 4 units capable.

This time the Luftwaffe decided to make an appearance, and the British are forced back from the Beachhead. I figured that even if I bounced again, the losses to the British would have been worth it.

Now to decide if I want to advance into the hex adjacent to two fleets...and with no Fort.




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“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 27
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/7/2018 7:57:05 AM   
LiquidSky


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I wish I could capitalize on this invasion, but he has only committed half his amphibs. With 3 more capable of invading somewhere, I still have to guard all the ports and keep the rest of my panzers in reserve to react. And there is no way I will be able to kick him out of Brindisi as it is both a port and city, so I have to content myself with what I was able to do, and guard the exit to the peninsula...and await the next invasion.

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“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 28
RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/7/2018 8:46:08 AM   
Gunnulf


Posts: 686
Joined: 10/31/2012
Status: offline 		11 Sep 43 - Turn 11

Yes, after 3 bottles of wine and very little thought we decide to force the issue and get ashore in Italy. Given the amount of naval patrol the Italians were throwing out (obviously the leaders we have been negotiating with neglected to tell the Regia Aeronautica to go easy a bit...) it was never going to be a pain free operation, but rather than take the losses bludgeoning uselessly at Messina we decided to take a few risks at sea. Having already long ago picked west of Brindisi as the (relatively) least risky spot we kept with this a few turns ago. Any other realistic site was going to be immediately locked down on the hills overlooking the beaches, or in Calabria at the neck. Still it will be tough to get out of the peninsula but at least with a port and potentially air bases. We contenplated delaying longer to add an extra division or brigade to strengthen the landings slightly but decided to go with single divisions at 80% prep, rightly or wrongly, and 82nd Airborne in support.
It took the whole of Strategic, Tactical and Coastal commands to bludgeon a path through to the beaches and could have almost fallen short at any point in the chain. As it is the area directly around the proposed beachhead was at 3 vs 3 with some stiff fights with the Italians at all points. We almost consider scrubbing the enterprise and writing it off as a diversionary ruse but the cat is out of the bag and we pull the trigger. Naval attrition is 17 & 18 and the 2nd wave loses a number of ships maneuvering into a position to follow up but the die is cast and the invasion goes ahead. Turn not yet opened but you can get the gist of it above obviously. Sounds suitably brutal but perhaps less than our worst fears and maybe the gamble has paid off. Given the prospect of waiting longer and facing mud and misery, changing sites to something a little safer, but more lock-downable, then this was maybe the least worst option, but time will tell. Liquidsky certainly made it as tough as possible from every angle, but it will be a couple of hours before get to assess the damage firsthand. Better get a few more bottles of wine in I think...

In other news Caligliari fell last turn! Yay! Obviously given the Italians surrendered this is a moot point, but the surrender trigger was never guaranteed. Better odds now September and I had an reasonable clue that anti-partisan garrisons in North Italy were minimal given the VPs generated but still. We'll see a bit later if Olbia was garrisoned as suspected and whats happened in Corsica. Strongly suspect those are still held in some way shape or form...




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RE: Hanging washing on the Siegfried Line - Gunnulf (AL... - 5/7/2018 9:06:29 AM   
LiquidSky


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Joined: 6/24/2008
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I have to admit that I wouldnt have invaded on that side....I prefer a more cautious approach of invading close to Reggio...and more invasions along the way up the coast. Once you have landed, the Italians will surrender. Maybe not right away, but you get a check every turn you are in supply. And Axis units close to the front dont count for preventing it.

It is lucky that the Italians surrendered. They do have very good aircraft at interdicting the sea zones. And their fighters are a free loss at shooting down whatever they can get. As it stands I think the Italian fighters only got to fly for one turn. The patrol/torpedo planes probably only had a couple more turns left in them. Operational losses were just too much.




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“My logisticians are a humorless lot … they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay.” – Alexander the Great

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Post #: 30
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