FUORI DELLA STORIA L’UOMO È NULLA
October 1941
NEW POST SEPTEMBER 27th
NORTH AMERICA SERIES GAME #4
Players (11/11):
- AXIS: Germany(2), Italy & Japan
- ALLIES: UK(2), USA & Canada
- KOMINTERN: USSR (2)
IL FASCI ITALIANI DI COMBATTIMENTO
Armistizio
Agenzia Stefani *
Fall 1941
Game is over.
I apologize for not being to keep up the AAR the way I hoped I would. Real life got the best of me. Next AAR will be of a different style. To allow people to follow the game, while requiring less writing.
On the game itself…
In late 1939, after a failed Seelow and a Soviet push trough Poland, Germany called for peace and the three factions met in Geneva for peace talks. A ceasefire was in effect in most part of Europe (except Turkey, where Italians and Russians were still fighting each other). The Crusade’s fate against bolshevism was fading. Then, after three weeks of talks, the Axis left the table. Von Ribbentrop’s trick had work again. The Axis war machine, fully rested, launched a surprise counterattack on the Soviet Bear, while the Italians were landing in Crimea. The Crusade was resurrected.
Everywhere, we could see Bolsheviks fleeing the Axis hordes. Victory was at hand.
During that span, Italy did expand deep in the Soviet in 1939-1940, taking Turkey, most of Caucasus, Crimea and pushing North of Rostov na Don. We did all this while Cagliari & Sicily were under British tyranny. Germans took Leningrad, but got stuck in the low Ukraine and far from Moscow. The Bear was at 36% surrender progress… We almost got him… Almost… But we failed to break his armors as Germany had mostly LARM and MECH, while we had LARM and slow AT. But not in enough number to stand firm. So in early 1941, the campaign turned to a total disaster
Germany started to retreat. We had to abandon our Eastern colonies. The Russians were coming strong.
We got hit hard by the Allies during summer 1941, when UK and Canada made a strong move against our nation. A push from France trough the Alpes, combined with a massive paradropping and a landing of Marines around Genoa, was the 1st part of their plan. The 2nd part was an aggressive pincer move against Roma from both South (landing) and North (land push supplied from Naples).
Luckily enough, we did expect that kind of move and had our 20 divisions recalled from USSR in time (campaign over there was lost since early summer 1941 when we failed to break the USSR armor). Part of it trough strategic redeployement but… most of it by SEA! (Yeah, I will come back on this later…).
A very good management of our strength allowed us to stop the UK on the French border, and annihilate all Paras/Marines between Genoa and Roma. We also drove back at sea the Canadian expeditionary North of Roma. The most satisfying part of our counterattack was our surprise landing/paradropping in Southern Italy (Tarrento) to deprive UK from Naples and its main supply source. We definitely managed to kill their attack. Everything came to a halt as UK had no other choice than to stop and secure its rear. Putting an end to its attack.
The key factors in this game
I would say the main factor was our full naval mobility the Allies never managed to deprive us of. Good air force was also a key to our success too.
Our Navy reaches 6 BBs at his peak (4 modern BB), with enough screen to sustain an attrition war (we built only 3 additional DD beyond the 4 BBs put in production in 1937 after a tech rush of all 4 main carachteristics). In 1941, when Italy became the main battlefield, we still had 2 BBs + 6 escorts to fight off the invader (and 4 transports)
We did well with that fleet. I think the Allies underestimated the importance of those forces, or the importance of controlling the Med. The fact that we could still move troops from Venice to mid-Italy while mid-Italy was cut off from the rest of our forces in Fall 1941 is a clear demonstration of our ability to take full advantage of the sea. The sea invasion of Tarrento in Fall 1941 is another example. So were our constant moves in the Black Sea, where we were protected from the evil Brits by our seizing of Istanbul.
In the air, we had 6 INT + 9 NAV + 3 TAC. NAV got their best doctrines. Same for INT. Otherwise they would have been outmatched against the UK. Those NAV/INT combo allowed us to fight off the Brits fleet and save our main fleet for key operations.
During the game, we were never shy to use our fleet. But we (almost) never used it where it would not count. Until the lost of our last submarines, we were able to spot most Allies movement and plan our NAV/INT or NAVAL moves wisely. Killing off whatever forces that could be killed or heavily damages without exposing our main forces. Given the balance of power in the Med when the war starts (e.g. there was enough French (20+7cargos), Aussie (9 + 9 cargos), Canadian (6+10 cargos) and UK (35+12 cargos) ships to kill us 10 times), I guess we did rather well since we kill the whole French fleet (less 2), Aussie fleet (1 guess 1 or 2 ships escaped), Canadians (less 2 DD and 4 cargos) and we did hurt the UK (1 CV, about 10 ships sunk… and some cargos too). The hunt was a good one.
One thing that gave us a huge mobility was our 2 Air Transports. Very useful those last 2. We used them to move our 4 PARA from towns to towns: rebasing aircraft with troops allowed us to protect Naples when the UK tried to take it back, to protect Venice when the Canadian tried to land there, or to fight off the enemy in Tirane earlier. To airdrop behind enemies lines too. Or just to air supply our troops whose sea supplies was cut down. That last part allowed us to keep Cagliari long enough. To survive in Crimea when everything was lost. Etc. Definitely, the investment was worth it.
Those 4 PARA were previous militia upgraded… So they kept their 25% XP to start with. Important fact, as we stayed the whole game long on an accelerated pace of training. So converting militias into MOUNTAIN or PARA was crucial.
We also managed to get 6 LARM + 2 ARM (PzIII bought from lendlease). Useful in the East. We lost most of them but useful anyway as they allowed us to try to outflank the Soviet.
Of course, when the game ended, the manpower pool was as dry as the Sahara desert… 43 left… (we got lvl 6 agriculture to help us a little).
Roma got a sea fort, in case. My guess is it prevented direct landing on Roma (its garrison too…).
What else to say… We bought one partisan cell to allow us to fully see the Allies movement in South Italy. Useful.
Bottom line, the failed Seelow killed Germany. The Peacetalks were in fact a 3 weeks ceasefire we all agreed to have to save the game and have fun. Was a great decision as it allowed everyone to have fun for another 6-7 weeks.
This is a great group.
We shall be proud of us as we matured and came out stronger.
Eager to beat you as Romania in Game 5 !
VICTORY CONDITIONS
According to our victory conditions, number of points of each faction in 1939, 1940 and 1941 (in the order):
AXIS
85
127 > 125 = Minor Victory (France, Balkans, Turkey, most of USSR, China, most of India)
53 = Germany surrenders, Japan and Italy under pressure
ALLIES
42
42
78 > 75 = Minor Victory (France and Western nations liberated)
KOMINTERN
52 > 45 = Minor Victory (in sight of Berlin… Balkans under control)
27
72 > 45 = Monir Victory (Major Victory is 80 pts… so almost a Major one)