Carnage al Dente
Sorry for slight delay in posting. You know - vacation and all that stuff....
Chapter XXXI - The Attack on USA proper
Players:USA, UK, CAN, SOV, 2xGER, JAP, ITA(spec)
Von Rosen is back as extra player on Germany, but due to some unexpected problem to return German expetitionary forces from Italy, some will still be lead by Italy (me). I failed to return entire "trees" of units and HQs and in the end had to break them down to divisions to return them. Don't know if its just me....
Recap:The battle is raging on. Axis are preparing to break the Allied initiative with an attack on USA proper followed by an attack on London. It will be a gamle, but a gamble hoped to end the war. Germany, helped by Il Duce, will also try to strike hard at Moscow. The attack on Moscow will be prepared after the ongoing push just north of the Azov Sea.
November 12th, 1942
In Italy, things were calm. The Allies had massed huge contingents of troops by the frontline and reconnaissance flights showed they had reserves although many were probably HQs. It was still a substantial force and Axis was unsure how well they would sustain a determined attack – especially in the fields in the east.
November 10th, 1942
The Americans who had had very few units at the quiet front in western Vichy suddenly broke out from the fog of war and rushed two German units which had strayed to close in their eagerness to retake provinces (actually suggested by the Italian leadership who did not like the sight of too much American lands (and fog of war) in Vichy).
It looked like a dangerous situation for the German units.
November 13th, 1942
The Brits launched an armor attack along the northern French coast to give the Germans yet another front to manage. The German frontline swayed back after the first skirmishes. They had gotten used to this British tactic. Still, an all out armor attack was something new and depending on how much reserves they could throw in behind the first wave of armors, this could turn out really hairy as Germany had very little behind the first line of defense.
November 25th, 1942
It turned out the Allies did not have any significant reserves either, and they did not manage to destroy any Axis units and had to pull back without any successes. They managed to do so in an orderly manner and got away with all their units.
Authors note: The German leadership managed to save the two units on the American front with a paradrop which secure a retreat-route out of a narrow sack. The Americans had the same idea but luckily, the German paradrop was just hours ahead of the Americans who in turn got a hot welcome sinking down towards the landscape.
November 23rd, 1942
After capturing Archangels (airfield and harbor in the north) the Red Army had been fairly quiet in this section of the German east front. Italy still had command over the German forces here although the Fins acted on their own. The Italian leadership had no real intentions of doing anything offensive here and had weakened the lines. They were actually somewhat worried that a serious Soviet attack could break the front apart. When the attack came it was not very hard. But it turned out to be determined. It continued well into December were at least one or two fresh Red divisions changed place with those who battle-weary had to pull back. In the end, the Red Army could not force the dug in Germans back and cancelled the attack. With this, the far north would be secure for some time ahead.
End of November, 1942
As the battle for Rostov raged on by the Azov Sea, German forces also attacked – once again – the Crimea Peninsula. Last time, Italian forces could just march straight through it. This time, the German forces had to fight hard for it. The defenders were determined, dug in and had naval guns to support them. In the end, they could not resist the German panzers and the defenders shattered and ran in chaos - but not before giving the attacker a long and hard battle. It was clear the Red Army was becoming a less and less inferior opponant. It was a worrying fact. They had to be broken soon or the Axis would become too strained.
December 2nd, 1942
By the time Germany had won in Crimea, Rostov had fallen in German hands and one infantry division followed by a HQ fell into German custody. The Italian leadership then moved the panzer division southwards to take Taman and capture the broken Russians on Crimea but they managed to move out by train from Kerch, via ferries, to Taman and away before the panzers could force their way through mud and snow.
December 4th, 1942
The situation in Persia has been quite stabile during the late autumn. The Brits have reinforced enough to make it impossible for Japan to do anything offensive operations. On the other hand, the Japs seem confident in holding back the Brits.
The Italian leadership is very worried about a possible landing in the back of the Japanese position.
November, 1942
The evil Allies continued their crusade against small defenseless nation in Central America.
Late November, 1942
And so came the Japanese attack on the United States of America. It was a rather weak attack, both due to the fact that Japan had lost some transports previously and that they were afraid to over-burden the supply capacity of Galapagos – which was the Island that made this attack possible.
The main objective with this attack was not to deliver a crushing blow but to force USA to focus on the home front rather than anywhere else, especially as Germany prepared Seelöwe. It was crucial to take one but preferable both of these ports and airfields.
December 5th, 1942
Rather soon it was clear that the Americans had a little more forces here than initially believed (although most units in the cities are HQs). RAFs rebased some air wings and United States managed to bring more reinforcements to the battle rather quick. It was worrying.
It became clear that the weak Japanese attack was to spread out. Los Angeles would not fall. San Diego, however, was only lightly defended by a small garrison.
December 12th, 1942
It now was clear the whole attack would fail. Not only that, as the Americans cunningly forced the battle weary Japanese soldiers into the Palm Desert, they would not be able to retreat back to the ships. They would fight a couple of more days but would eventually be lost.
The garrison in San Diego had in fact been defeated but before the Japs could take the city, the Americans managed to drop a division of paratroopers who secured it. The battle-weary Japs could not dislodge them.
On the bright side – several American submarines had been flushed out of the ports by port strikes and then been engaged and sunk by the IJN. It is unclear how many but maybe as many as 6 packs but probably a little less. A Canadian vessel had been sunk as well.
On the strategically side – The attack succeeded in pulling Allied air force and attention as planned but as the Japs were defeated so quickly, the Seelöwe were not ready to be launched yet. Thus, the Allied air force (and paras) would rather quickly be able to rebase to Europe again. This was bad news indeed.
Authors note: In hindsight, Japan should have focused on San Diego alone. That would have worked. Not obtaining Los Angeles would mean the Allies had an air base in range which would weaken the Jap position, but that would still have been a lot better than what happened.
December, 1942
Around Italy, it was mostly very calm. A few smaller skirmishes between scouts along the border were the only action on land. Most soldiers were happy to dig in for the winter and let the war be decided on other theatres – at least as long as winter lasted.
The Regia Aeronautica, however, made several sorties to patrol the Allied positions and the surrounding oceans. It led to a few dog-fights and at one time a British transport detachment was spotted and bombed. It is not believed any ships were actually sunk even though several got damaged.
A large gathering of troops was spotted in Palermo. The cursed Brits were obviously up for something new devilry. The question, as ever, was where the blow would fall.
December 17th, 1942
Although not much had happened on the actual frontline, reconnaissance warned about incoming American reinforcements who struggled through the barren Persian landscape.
December 17th, 1942
The German push north of the Azov Sea have thrown back the defenders and opened up against Stalingrad. The epic city is still far away and the Axis did not actually think they could reach it – but they wanted the Soviet leadership to believe they were going to try. The plan was still to mass a large scale assault on Moscow, but plans had been somewhat delayed as important panzer divisions were still locked by the front in the south, trying but not yet succeeding, to create another pocket.
December 17th, 1942
A few more Soviet divisions have perished these latest two months, but the Axis failed any significant break-through in the East. One good thing, however, now when winter close in, it is the fact that Soviet has lost both its fur-processing centers and now lack the ability to produce high quality winter clothing.
Japans attack on the USA turned out to be a disappointment. Even though USA seem to have lost several subs in the process, somewhat balancing out the lost Japanese infantry, the strategically implications are worse. The idea was that the attack on Moscow and Seelöwe would happen more or less on the same time as USA fought off the Japs on their mainland. As seen, the RAF was called for and USAF brought paratroopers. That was all following the Axis plan. The problem was that the battle was over before Seelöwe could be launched. It would be little problem for the Allies to rebase planes and paratroopers now – even though some might still suffer somewhat from the clashes with the Japs.
To sum up – the Axis now felt a lot less eager to launch Seelöwe. They would, once again, let the Allies take the initiative and then react.
The attack against Moscow could still be done. The Germans would prepare and then strike – hoping to take the city and surround as much of the Red Army as possible.
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Next chapter - The Allies launch a new large scale operation in the wake of the Axis faliur to take the initiative
