Chapter VII: Invasion of Italy
At the end of the year 1941, we decide to ripple the Italian waters and begin the preparation of the invasion of their mainland!
Several Italian battleships come to clash with our navy, yet they are too unmotivated to continue fighting for too long and retreat to the port afterwards.
The start of the invasion is in Taranto on 17th December. A lone motorized division cannot hold out against a corps of marines.
Two Italian battleships and a destroyer squadron are sent out to intercept our invasion.
We come out victorious out of this encounter, sinking an Italian battleship on the expense of a screening transport flotilla.
The battleship and destroyers flee to Taranto just to be forced out a few hours later by our marines.
The invasion quickly spreads.
The Italians start to panic and a breakthrough is achieved on the border with France.
On 28th December, a large Italian fleet is encountered.
While it’s a victory on a tactical level for us as the enemy is retreating, it’s a strategic victory for the Italians, as they’ve sunk almost third of our combat ships.
The resistance stiffens on New Year as more reinforcements come.
On 5th January, Finns decide to join the war on the behalf of Axis.
Though battered, our navy is still strong enough to hunt smaller fleets with transports and several sea battles happen near the vicinity of Malta. We are later joined by the British.
In the half of January, German heavy armor arrives on the scene.
And its impact is tremendous.
Luckily, a French contingent, including a lot of tanks, is sent to our help!
At the end of the month, the momentum swings to our side once again.
Our motorized division wasn’t able to take Palermo on its own earlier, hence our experienced marines are sent to secure this last bastion of the Italian resistance in the south.
It turned out Germans aren’t as tough as expected. Even their commander is using ineffective tactics!
A few dozen kilometers away from the frontline, our marines are tasked with taking Napoli. The garrison retreats from the city after a while.
The frontline is collapsing.
At the end of February, two German motorized divisions with armored elements are encircled in Salerno. They are however holding out bravely and wouldn’t give up after days of intense fighting, even if Italians couldn’t provide enough supplies later on.
I’d probably split up this chapter in two originally, but my game crashed and made anything I made past 1st March (auto-save) redundant. I’ll be sure to catch up soon though