Carnage al Dente
Chapter XVI - The Romanian dilemma
Players:UK, USA, 2xUSSR, GER, ITA, JAP
Still an Axis player on vacation
Recap:The two main struggles in the world war is Britains attack on ockupied France and Axis attack on the Soviet Union. Nothing significantly have yet happened.
April 28th-29th, 1941
While the Brits kept pressing on from the west, they landed a new force in Le Havre, in northern France. Their bombers roamed quite freely and it was painful days for the Axis. Then the Italian fighters arrived and managed to pick off a few bombers. That by itself would not turn the Brits away but the continuous bombings were a real morale-buster and to be rid of a few of them would make it a lot easier for the men on the ground. The Italian fighter-pilots had had a hard time, often meeting superior British Hurricanes, and wreaking havoc amongst the bombers were a splendid and morale boosting activity. Still, it did not take long until they had to fight Hurricanes again.
Also, the Hungarians had arrived in force and really bolstered the Axis line of defense.
May 5th, 1941
Suddenly, all Brits pulled back. They were by no means forced back but simply chose to leave. The Axis on the west front could let the breath out but the Axis leadership knew than an Army of practically unwounded Brits were on the loose on the seven seas. It was far from reassuring.
May 6th-9th, 1941
Italian interceptors and multiroles were on the prowl over the Med as British naval movement was expected. They were not disappointed, even if the air-battles became hard and taxing. It annoyed the Italian leadership than even the British CAGs seemed to fend off the Italian fighters quite well. A small victory was the bombing of a Soviet submarine.
May 10th, 1941
In the end, a group of submarines spotted an east bound task force with transport ships. The next British blow would seem to fall east of Malta. Their Japanese Allies was warned as an attack to cut off their Persian Army would be a rewarding target for the Brits – If they dared to face the ILJ again. It could also mean an attack along the east coast of Italy or an attack via the Black Sea. It would be too much to say all of these targets were well covered, but they would not come as surprises for the Axis.
May 14th, 1941
During the fighting in the west and the air-duels of the Med, the joint Italian-Romanian attack-force had reached the eastern shores of the Azov Sea. The Red Army could offer little resistance and the offensive pace was fairly high. Zingales and his motorized division was attacked in what was probably a desperate stalling battle, were the enemy infantry stormed across the river. They were met by one of Italy’s best Major Generals and fairly seasoned men who had seen battles against the Red Army since the beginning of the conflict in early December 1940. Although the 101th division had not fully recovered from previous battles, they could easily hold their ground against the attackers and plenty of Russians fell in the mud in the vicinity of the broad river, or in the woods were Zingales men awaited.
May 16th, 1941
In about two weeks, the Brits had shifted their entire army from the west coast of France to the east coast of Romania. It was quite a feat. The Italian leadership had forseen this as one of several possible targets for the Brits. Still, as the attack came the defense seemed far too light. It was partly as at least one of the Romanian divisions which had been dug in here had recently moved away. It was also, which they Italian leadership had not properly had paid attention too, due to the low number of brigades in these division. Still, the Romanians had taken a lot of new lands (including several VPs) so the Italians were not too worried.
Authors note: I was more or less in charge of this situation as the other players had their hands full already.
May 17th, 1941
The British motorized divisions lurched forwards with great pace and before long, the Italian division supporting the Romanians came under attack. They could easily fend off the Brits who fell by the numbers. It was difficult to get the vehicles across the river.
It was hardly reassuring, however, as it was obvious that this was just a stalling battle. Reconnaissance told the Italians the fast British units were moving on their northern front. Encirclement was only a matter of time as the Romanian units seemed to be of little use.
May 21st, 1941
While the battle closed in around the Romanian capital the Red Army started an offensive against the retreating Romanians deep into Russia. The forward Italians suddenly become quite alone in the front and started to retreat towards the provincial capital (Rostov), as the Red Army had cut of the retreat route towards Germany.
May 21st-22nd, 1941
Authors note: The fall of Romania at this time came as a shock to Italy and the Axis. Only 6 VPs were lost and Romania had 14. Apparently, only the native VP counts. I didn’t know this, and it changed the expected outcome significantly. Bugger…
This was obviously a huge miscalculation. It was a clever and well organized British attack, but hardly surprising. Axis had simply built their defense on a completely miscalculated belief on the Romanian fighting spirit. Now the shit will really hit the fan….
May 23rd, 1941
After the Romanian disaster, the map changed considerably. The Romanians suddenly became in peace with everyone which caused some strange events with troops left deep into neutral territory. Unfortunately for the Italians in the east, they were far into Soviet territory…
May 25th, 1941
The Italian troops put up a valiant fight but help was too far away and there were too many revengeful Russians around. The Italian defenders in Rostov managed to dig in somewhat as it took some time before the Red Army managed to surround the city. The Russians got to fight hard for the city but in the end, the Italians had little chance.
These veteran Italians would even die in battle or end up in Russian custody. Three divisions were lost. A very sad event.
......
Soviet Union was saved by the bell. Their southern front was more or less shattered and they had lost the posibility to mount any serious defense. Suddenly, all Romanians and Italians dissapeared and plenty of land was returned to them. The Germans would need som time to react. The Brits had bought Soviet some extremely valuable time.
