Explorations in Strategy - Italy at War

n.y.o: I will conquer Suez later, with armed force.

Maj. von Mauser: The problem with Romania is that it's army is pretty big. I'm actually very fortunate that they didn't intervene in my scuffle with Greece.

Piko: Thanks, and will do!

quetzilla: Yeah I too thought that Yugoslavia dragged on a bit, though I think you could see me skipping over more by the end and focusing on the more important stuff. I don't want to get too bogged down in the operational details really. And yeah, the problem with Greece is that it's a problem.

Baltasar: Actually no, it isn't. It isn't a quick way to victory, but I didn't actually really plan for that. Being the cynical bastard I am, a major part in my war calculations is combat experience of all types (and particularly land). If I wanted a quick war, I'd have landed at Athens and in Chalcidice (sp?), the triple peninsula where the other Greek VP is.

The Balbinater: I'd argue with the assumption that you can only concentrate on one at a time. With thirteen projects going simultaneously I'm doing fairly well I think, though I'm just concentrating on a handful of units (CLs, CVs, inf) and industry. Also, to call a war land-based is basically to state a given. Wars have to be land-based, there's no such thing as a war that isn't. People live on land, after all. Every other branch of the armed forces needs to, in the end, influence events on land. I'm still operating just in the littoral regions of the Med and other seas: wherever my armies operate, my CAGs can reach and thus my naval power can make itself felt. Furthermore, these are wars of resource conquest, so that I can then build up a bigger army to help me in my imperial ambitions!

Baltasar/Maj. von Mauser: I don't know enough about the Italian invasion of Greece to really comment much.

billy bob: Yeah, it does seem a bit silly, especially with the Italians having a major navy and all.

Stuyvesant: Well as I explained to Baltasar above, it's almost basically a haunting by choice given that all the VPs Greece has are accessible directly from amphibious landing. I just wanted some more combat experience! Also, to answer your question about the north: no.

Beppo: Too close to the total eruption? Germany hasn't yet even conquered France! I've still got a good year at least until anything happens. Plus, I'm hardly going to be mired. As for Campioni's performance, I've yet to really do any naval doctrine so that explains the arguably poor performance. That'll be sorted out later.

Enewald: Yes, both accessible from the sea, so if I had wanted to I really could have ended the dispute in an afternoon.

Maj. von Mauser: Joint operations are always fun, yes.

BlitzMartinDK: True, true. Which is why I wanted to fight Greece on my terms rather than on its. If Greece had the capability to threaten my convoys, it needs to be conquered!

I'll try to have an update for tomorrow evening!

FlyingDutchie: I think I will have fun in Greece, thanks!

Maj. von Mauser: Interesting stuff. Can you recommend any book on the Italian invasion of Greece? English language, of course.

Baltasar: That's a bit harsh. The Italians did have some good commanders. I understand that Roatta was reasonably effective in Yugoslavia, and Messe was quite good as well and gave Monty a good few hard times.

teamgene: Thanks!

The Balbinater: Hey, don't worry. The army will be getting its share of love. It takes a lot longer to love a navy than an army.

I'll try to have that update for tonight, guys! Also, try to cut back on the historical discussion a bit, hmm? This isn't the history forum, after all.

womble: Awesome! Paradox should put me on commission.

BlitzMartinDK: Yeah, it's pretty well known that amphibious operations are the most complex bastards of all.

Nikolai II: I basically agree with you.

Update coming up!

The Year Italy Joined the World War
Part 2: Operation Titus Quinctius Flamininus II, February 11 – March 5, 1940

The period of February 10 to March 5 saw first hope that Gambara’s corps would be decisive in its exploitation of the empty space before it, then worry as it found itself in an increasingly hostile situation and then finally near despair for a few hours as all of Gambara’s work seemed greatly threatened by Greek offensive action. In the end, it seemed to remain a deadlock, notwithstanding limited Italian action in the north, that would only be broken by reinforcements.

By the 14th of February, Gambara’s corps had secured a considerable bridgehead in central Greece and continued its expansion. Messe was sent swinging along the northern coastline of the Gulf of Corinth toward Mesalongi and Astakos. Caracciolo di Feroleto and Nicolosi had moved northward, the former occupying Gardiki and the latter pushing beyond it to Trinala and the heart of Thessaly. Frattini, whose objective was Lamia, had run into the first Greek area of resistance in the area. However, it seemed likely that he would put to flight the Greeks in a short while. Every omen pointed toward Gambara’s corps continuing its successful advance.


Gambara’s corps pushing into Greece.

Meanwhile, in the north Roatta began a limited offensive of his own, after being pushed back in a handful of places. He ordered Scattini and Bitossi to hold his eastern flank while he pushed toward with Giorgis and Mancinelli in Albania, their western flank anchored on the Adriatic Sea. The Greeks had pushed into Albania and taken Vlore, a Greek victory Mussolini was unwilling to let go unpunished. Thus the Greek invaders were attacked by a force twice as strong, the two Greek brigades being assaulted by four Italian brigades. At the same time, all situational reports emanating from frontline headquarters noted that the Greeks were moving considerable forces southward. Not only was Roatta not active enough to hold the Greek army in place, due to his comparatively few forces, but a counterattack was likely to materialize in the south.


The battle of Vlore and the neighboring situation.

Only three days later came news that shook the entirety of Europe. France had surrendered. After a long, grueling campaign of some four months, Germany had finally overpowered its enemies in the west. Germany occupied northern and western France while leaving a rump government ruling the rest of France from Vichy. Italy supposedly made certain minor territorial gains for its benevolent neutrality in the next traditions of raison d’etat and realpolitik, including Monaco, Barcelonnette and Briancon, but the Vichy regime seemed reticent about actually ceding these territories. Meanwhile, Frattini’s attack on Lamia, even supported by Caracciolo di Feroleto, began to founder on superior Greek numbers, which now totaled six brigades to their four. Elsewhere, Nicolosi had nearly reached Trinala and Messe was involved in a dual battle for Mesalongi and Astakos with a Greek division.


France surrenders! And the situation in the south.

The Greek counterattack began on the 20th. It fell on Frattini, who was not only still busy at Lamia but was holding the vital artery of Amfissa that linked the port of Piraeus to Gambara’s spearheads. These Greek divisions attacking did so from Lamia, thus also becoming relevant to that defensive battle. To mitigate matters by some bare extent, Vlore fell to the Italians on the 20th, with a three-to-one casualty rate in favor of the Italians. Mancinelli immediately began pushing toward the abandoned but fortified town of Ioannina. This hardly impacted the battle for Amfissa though, which became so serious that Frattini abandoned his own push on Lamia, having taken just over eight hundred casualties in that fight, as opposed to just over seven hundred Greek deaths. By the 24th, Nicolosi was withdrawing from Trinala and marching southward to reinforce Frattini, in the hopes that Frattini would hold out long enough and that a single division would suffice to save Amfissa.


The situation in Greece on the 24th of February.

Messe, too, had been encountering difficulties in his twin battles for Mesalongi and Astakos. However, by the 27th he had achieved a surprising reversal of fortune and had not only halted the Greek advance on Mesalongi but pushed them away from Astakos as well. Altogether the battles cost some five hundred and seventy Italian lives, as well as those of one thousand one hundred Greeks. This victory was somewhat negated by Frattini’s defeat at Amfissa the next day, and the prospect that Gambara’s corps would be cut off from supply and even defeated in time. The little consolation concerning this defeat was that Nicolosi was close by now and might reach Amfissa in time to hold the Greeks, and that they lost a good hundred more men than the Italians did: five hundred and forty to four hundred and forty. Nicolosi lived up to his promise, arriving mere hours after Frattini’s defensive lines finally broke, and immediately halted the Greek advance. Gambara’s corps was safe. In the north, meanwhile, events were moving slightly faster. Scattini and Bitossi had gone onto the offensive themselves, attacking Greek inroads into Illyria at Veles. Also, with Romania quiescent, Bastico began moving portions of his army southward. Half of it remained on the Romanian border. The other half, the new corps of three divisions commanded by Ago, was temporarily placed under Pintor’s command for a special project.


The wider situation of the war, on March 5th.

The war had slowed down during the last week of February as the Greeks made their presence felt in the south. Nevertheless, Roatta’s limited offensives in the north were a first step in redressing the balance. The decisive stroke would, however, come from Ago’s borrowed corps.