Explorations in Strategy - Italy at War

Gladiator: Thank for the link! As for the British production, I did notice them having 159 brigades (this at the beginning of 1941), which is probably a bigger army than what I have.

anweRU: Well, the RN does have quite a few transports...As for your game, it seems like you may stretch yourself a bit thin, what with CVLs, marines, armor...

EvilFishtank: I've not thought that far ahead yet.

Baltasar: Hehe, others have suggested it. I've not yet said anything myself.

Enewald: Yep!

Sokraates: It's not as much either, as the game mechanics that I'm exploring. And strategy of course, of which logistics is its arbiter, but those I'm decently good at. More so strategy than logistics, however, but still.

Gladiator: I second his question. You gonna write an AAR? Or has this pushed out all HoI3 Italian AARs from the forum for the moment?

I'll try to have an update for tomorrow evening, guys! I may not manage though, between work and feeling ill. Just a heads up there.

anweRU: Hehe, the academic year is always tough on AAR writers. As for what I plan to do, that'll be revealed in future updates.

womble: Heh, good stuff. Well, I'll see what happens with the Suez Canal in my game.

ColossusCrusher: Sounds like it.

No update tonight unfortunately. I actually slept half the day, and drank nearly three full liters of orange juice since the morning. I'll try to have something for tomorrow though.

anweRU: Pah, you professors just go get hammered at pubs with your PhD students! I know it happens!

Emerjent: Yeah I am feeling better now. I basically blitzed it with about 16-18 hours of sleep since waking up yesterday morning, and with about 2500% of my daily recommended intake of vitamin C, including three liters of orange juice.

quetzilla: Hehe. I tended to sleep, wake, sleep, wake, eat, sleep, wake, sleep, wake, eat, sleep, wake and then finally sleep the night.

I'll try to get that update done for tonight!

womble: It does sound a bit bugged. :wacko: I've not yet had sufficient experience to be able to give any opinion myself.

No update tonight, unfortunately! Between class, some work and a nap I somehow lost time. I'll have an update for tomorrow evening though, absolutely promise.

The Year Italy Joined the World War
Part 14: Operation Vespasian II, December 8 – December 31, 1940

December passed by quickly and easily for the land forces dedicated to Vespasian. Virtually no battles were fought and Italian forces advanced everywhere, the British having pulled their forces back to protect Tel Aviv. The siege of Tel Aviv began during this last month of the war, and was the only point on the globe at which Italian forces were adjacent to their British enemies.

By the 8th of December, Geloso’s infantry had crossed the Suez Canal and were beginning their march to Tel Aviv, where there would take up positions outside the city for the purposes of investing it. Mussolini had explicitly ordered that Tel Aviv not be attacked. It would be besieged. Much like the British Salonika bridgehead during the First World War, Tel Aviv would essentially become a prison camp. While Salonika had kept unwitting captive, due to operational incapacity and strategic irrelevance, some half a million or so British troops, Tel Aviv would only so capture a couple tens of thousands at the very most. However, it was the fact that it was a port that caused Mussolini to wish to besiege it. He did not wish to unnecessarily risk the Regia Marina in a showdown battle with the Mediterranean Fleet; he had future plans in which Italian carrier fleets would play a significant part. The siege was to allow the carrier air arm of the Regia Marina, in coordination with whatever units of the Regia Aeronautica that had the range to reach Tel Aviv, to sink the Mediterranean Fleet.


Vespasian’s progress on December 8th.

The siege was, however, a slow affair. Italy did not have the sheer weight of planes to be able to frequently dare the dangerous skies above Tel Aviv, filled as those skies were with lead and steel. Thus, the only British naval losses inflicted consisted of sinking a single transport flotilla. On land, the progress of the troops was quick, even taking into consideration the complete lack of resistance. By the 21st, Bergonzoli had alone cut all roads into Tel Aviv, had driven up the coast of Palestine and was nearly at the border with Vichy Levant. The Transjordan area was soon to fall as well, and plans were being made to push all the way to the Iraqi border. The British were not going to even try to push out of Tel Aviv and cause whatever havoc they could.


Palestine and the Transjordan on the brink of falling.

In late December, the Royal Navy undertook a half-hearted attempt to escape from Tel Aviv. The carrier HMS Eagle, the light cruiser HMS Capetown and two destroyer flotillas sallied out, seemingly headed for Malta. Ghé’s entire fleet of big guns was waiting for any such attempt. In the fight, the Eagle kept out of harms way, but all other British ships were destroyed: the Capetown and both destroyer flotillas. In return, however, they had sunk an Italian destroyer squadron. Nevertheless, Mussolini felt confident that the Regia Marina was able to afford such losses, given that few such escape attempts were made and usually resulted in disproportionate British losses.


A British attempt at blockade running.

These events marked the conclusion of a very eventful year for Italy. In themselves barely noteworthy, they punctuated a year of great significance for both Italy and the war as a whole.