Chapter 26 - The End of Persia
When last we saw them, the brave Canadians were trying to conquer Persia from a single level one port. They were trying to beat the advances of both the UK and Soviet Union. So a marine landing was made in the south of Persia to grab a larger port. Fortunately, the defenders of that port were feeling a bit over-optimistic, and launched a pointless assault on the Canadians who had tried to dislodge them.
As you can see from the respective Org levels, the Persians were not overly optimistic about this battle, but they're spending resources they will need soon. Unfortunately, trying to avoid undue optimism myself, I had gone ashore with both marine divisions in the attack. My reserve chance of joining an attack is quite low, anyone not in at the beginning is unlikely to join later. So we'll have a mini-stizkrieg while my men recover their ability to attack.
Meanwhile, around Tehran, I still hadn't realized that my armored cars had zero width and could so not engage in combat as a separate division <sigh>
They remind me of the babe (Ed - what babe?) the babe with the power (Ed - what power?) the power of voodoo (Ed - whodo?) you do (Ed - do what?) remind me of the babe!
Canada took Oom, and, hoping for the best, made a rush toward Tehran. NOTE - what Kenneth Stuart didn't tell me was why anyone would care.
My thoughts on this were these. One, I have no supply, at the moment, so anyone who can get near the enemy with the capacity to attack might as well do so. Sitting still burns as much ORG as attacking, sort of, so use it or lose it.
Also, I have more troops coming, and even if I just wear the Persians down, I do some good. Now, had I been in a better supply situation, clearly the best bet is to beef everyone up and attack at the best possible moment. That might have been a better call here as well. But with divisions in the red and supply hard to come by, I sent the men in.''
Well, it was a thought.
Turns out I did not accomplish too much. Still, I have more units to send, and beating up on one of the very few potent defenders counts for something.
In the meantime, the battle which rages in Messina goes on because I do not have the navy to hold the straits.
Without the million-man army I faced earlier, the Axis do not have the stacking penalty they had then, and so I'm actually in more danger. Well, they are more effective, I suspect that my danger level is low anyway. As you can see, my ORG is not really moving, so far.
HMCS Ontario is completed, my first Light Cruiser, as is Destroyer Flotilla 7. They have zero ORG, but maximum strength, and so they are a welcome addition to the Canadian fleet. Soon they will man the Straits of Messina as their sons and grandsons did before them.
My air force, two wings of Close Air Support Hurricanes, are sent to bomb Calabria. I kill 37 men, but they lose 25% STR each to the Italian CAP. My marines, who landed in Minab, have 38 days of supply to tide them over until they can attack the port we're intent on taking at Bandar e Abbas. My armored cars arrive in Semnan, only to be immediately chased off by the Persians for having zero width.
I take another shot at Tehran when the results come in from Messina.
I call that a win for the good guys, and I am wearing down the defenders in Tehran. In retrospect, it is clear to me that I ought to have massed my forces for an attack on Tehran, though at this point I was still thinking the armored cars would come in handy. We lost 500 men in Tehran and killed 70.
Our attack on Bandar e'Abbas was an almost insta-win. Both sides lost 40 men, but we have ourselves another port.
On the 24th of December we re-think our opinion that the Brits had a better fighter, and order up one squadrom of Grumman F4F Wildcats from the USA very cheaply, $35. We're still underwater in Manpower, by 19.7, but there was a one on the screen burning a hole in my pocket.
There were three more bombing runs on the Straits of Messina, where our shiny new ships had taken up residence. They're getting a rude welcome. However, Canada took Bandar e'Abbas on December 29, 1941. Then, well, I took yet another run at Tehran.
<sigh> We killed 175 but took Satan's own losses, 666. As the year ends, we're down 25.3 Manpower. BTW - I could not see for the longest time where my manpower would go if I got 25.3 in an event. Then I recalled that my naval units were beaten up pretty badly. So all those damned bombing runs in the Straits cost me MP as well as naval STR, I think.
Japan decides Kamikaze. Heh, join the club. I wonder if Japan will launch one weak attack after another on Tehran?
Here's a look at Europe etc in the Diplomatic map as 1941 comes to an end.
Here's the Middle East.
As long as we're taking a look at the overview, here's another look at an exploded Top Bar.
Yes, those are Soviet troops taking the long way round, and presumably using up my precious supply at the Persian Front.
Right about now our reinfocement need in Production was 10.5, but after one overnight it was cut in half and then in half again. It's only a few days at a time that much production goes there. My ships in the Straits are bombed a couple more times, and I send the Light Cruiser off for repairs at around 60% STR. Then the four damaged destroyer flotillas get bombed a couple more times. It's right back to floating wounded doing what they can. Granted, it's no longer that important, given the last land battle, but the Italians can stand to pummel me by land far longer than I can stand to be pummeled. Plus, even if I won every fight, I'm bleeding men I don't have. I want to bleed men I
do have, preferably fighting over somewhere I don't already own.
Here is the Supply Situation near Tehran. Even with Bandar e'Abbas, we have not (yet) got the ability to supply our troops. Thanks Russia!
Yeah, yeah, we were unable to supply them before, but if there's commies nearby to blame, I blame them.
Our fleeing Canadian troops, driven back by the defenders of Bandar e'Abbas, arrive in and capture that coastal province. We made another stab at Tehran with disorganized troops, and were chased away by derisive laughter alone. To add to the misery, we start losing Convoys again, four in the course of a couple days, Gibraltar and further east on the Halifax-Bandar e'Abbas route.
We did make three advances in this general time period, however. Leadership hit Level 3, +15%; Light Artillery hit Level 5, +3.00% Toughness to all my Infantry type units; and Industrial Production hit Level 6, +15% IC. So those were nice.
The Terhan defenders atatcked several Canadian units in Kashan in a very short attack which killed 450 enemy for a loss of fifty Canadians. If they do that ten more times I might be able to defeat them. Not only is that unlikely, my piecemeal attacks have left me unable to do much as the Rooskies have Tehran surrounded, more or less.
I bet they have no supply problems to speak of. I should send my Armored Cars back there.
I had to abandon the Straits of Messina again, but the Italian attack on Messina itself was inconsequential. I lost fifty men and killed 700. The water hardly matters anymore, well, except for the huge hit the Axis take attacking across it. I might as well rest my navy a bit.
My first clue that I'd lost the race for Tehran was when I saw the new, out-of-place capitol. But then I took it a few days later.
Canada conquered Persia!
I win!