Carnage al Dente
Chapter XXIV - The attack on Sicily
Players: Players: UK, 0.5 USA, 1.5 USSR, GER, ITA, 2xJAP
Recap: The end of 1941 had been tough going for the Axis as their advances had stopped on most fronts. Soviet was still a powerful enemy and USA would most certainly join the Allies within short. United Kingdom had the initiative and could roam freely in the Atlantic and the Med after both Kriegsmarine and the Regia Marina had recieved crushing blows, crippling all their hopes of seriously challinging the might of the Royal Navy. There were no telling where the next blow would fall.
January 12th, 1942
The defense of Sicily was based on the idea that the Regia Marina could engage, together with the air force, with a landing fleet. Thus, the defenders on the coast were not really there to stop the enemy – but to delay them long enough for Italy to answer in air and on the sea. With the Regia Marina all but wiped out, the strategy was halting massively. The Italian leadership had tried to retreat the troop over the sound but Soviet submarines patrolled the strait and made it impossible.
The Brits had obviously realized this as well and attacked not long after the destruction of the Regia Marina.
January 13th, 1942
The Regia Aeronautika DID respond, however and soon made it difficult for Bomber Command to operate over Sicily. It mattered little, however, as the Brits landed in great force.
January 16th, 1942
On land the Brits cut Sicily in half and attacked Palermo, without significant resistance. In the air they had to pull back after meeting stunning counter-attacks by Regia Aeronautica and soon Italian bombs fell on the attackers as they struggled through the mountainous landscape.
January 20th, 1942
The Italians had little of what fire power was needed to stop armor. Still, the Brits would not get Sicily without combat. The Italians did lose ground pretty fast and the first half of the island was lost after a week.
January 25th, 1942
Amongst the rocks and old lava-streams of Catania, the Italians, supported by a German expeditionary infantry division, made their final stand. They did not have to suffer visits by Bomber Command. They did, however, receive a rain of naval gunfire. They could take the naval guns and as the Brits only managed to get to motorized divisions into the battle, it seemed they could hold on for a while.
January 27th, 1942
The Brits quite quickly managed to reinforce the attack and soon the last standing Italians on Sicily came under a vicious attack with hordes of Brits charging at them. It was simply impossible to hold them back.
January 28th, 1942
Just before the month would shift, the Italians in Catania surrendered and the Italian bombers pulled out. Sicily was lost.
Authors note: For some good ol discussions about game mechanics realted to amphibious assaults -
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?611362-CaD-Game-Mechanics-Discussions-Amphibious-and-Fight-to-the-Bitter-End-event&p=13903835&viewfull=1#post13903835go here. No discussions about game mechanics in this AAR please - but all other comments are much appreciated.
January 16th, 1942
In the middle of the winter, the Brits landed a small force in the north of Finland.
Authors note: We was somewhat surprised by this and could not understand what they wanted with this attack – except possibly pull at the Finish AI who was fighting with the Rus in the south of the country.
February 1st, 1942
Authors note: We suddenly noticed Soviet had once again got their surrender process back, although it was 100% after “Fight to the Bitter End”. We did not know how long it had been like this or why. As we really did not know about the event in the first place we simply though it was part of it someway and changed strategy accordingly…
February 4th, 1942
Authors note: We spied a suitable VP in range and charged against it. 2 VP would be enough…
February 6th, 1942
We sort of thought it was a good time to kill of the Rus…
February 12th, 1942
This looks good, doesn’t it? I have actually never seen this victory sign before in my life as games never tend to come this far. It somehow felt a little queer as we did not understand the game dynamics behind it. But it became clear as we talked with the heated Allied players. After choosing “Fight to the Bitter End” the Red Army had managed to capture a VP, and with that, the count was on again. When we retook the VP, the event fired again, and as we had changed to conquer – they lost it all. After some not entirely calm discussions the Axis agreed to a “Live and let live doctrine”
The last save (3rd of Feb) was to be modded to give Soviet more unity and thus a lower surrender process. IF Stalingrad would fall, however, they would have to fire the Bitter Peace event. So the game is on. To be continued…
If you want to discuss the game mechanics behind this odd event, please do so
here as we would like the AAR to be free of game dynamic diskussions. But we love all the other comments (sorry to nag about this but we don't want tis AAR to be closed again).
