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Good work. Keep those allies busy while finishing up Yugoslavia...
 
ruckel said:
Now when the allies have taken Libya they will surely deploy more troops from there and make the other fronts more dangerous.

Great updates as usual :=)

Thus allowing a quick retaking of Libya and possibly Egypt.
 
9.4. The fall of the Land of South Slavs

That morning, General Vercellino was tempted to call off the attack. Heavy rain was falling on Podgorica, causing more troubles for the attackers.

However, even a single day may matter in this campaign, as attacking a day earlier can mean securing a province more than one of your allies.

He contacted Lt. Gen. Lisi to confirm the attack on 21th morning. 7 hours later, Podgorica defenders are defeat and Lt. Gen. Lisi can march towards it.

podgorica-1.png


The same day, a trade with Germany is carried out.

trade2-1.png


Over the few days following, nothing worth of note happened.
Lt. Gambara was able to reach Rijeka by 23th, and Trezzani would have joined him a couple days later.
Gambara took these few days to set up a defensive line just in case any Yugoslavian unit wanted to attack Italian holdings.

As soon as Lt. Lisi reaches Podgorica, an attack is launched on Novi Pazar.

General Vercellino hope that Romanian and Bulgarian troops join the battle, but they seem unwilling to do so, at least in early stages. When the night is about to arrive they do, and Novi Pazar defenders must retreat.

novi.png

Up North, German and Italian units attacks Split. The lone unit defending it is forced to retreat.

Once secured Split, the encircled Yugoslavians are destroyed.

enc2-1.png


Surprisingly enough, the SU decides to fight on the Axis side! (well.. barely).

su.png

A few hours later, Italian troops enter Banja Luka and Novi Pazar. The Italians seems in good shape to try taking Belgrade for them!

nov-ban.png

The final attacks begins in Mid April.
General Vercellino contacts Caracciolo di Feroleto and orders him to reach Belgrade as fast as possible.
According to Italian intelligence, it is possible to reach Belgrade before our Allies.. will this be right?

belgrade.png


The answer is yes!

yug4.png

Yugoslavia is annexed shortly after.

General Vercellino meets with the other officers and Ugo Cavallero to decide where they'll be deployed now.

With about 12 divisions the choice is between trying to retake Libya or heading towards Iraq.

Among this 12 divisions there are 4 1941 infantry units, and General Vercellino is confident that wherever they'll be deployed, they'll be able to make a difference.

yug5.png
 
9.5. Operazione Respiro

Field Marshal Badoglio was holding against the British attacking armies from 3 hours already. He did some progress in holding out, with the help of the night.

2 hours after the first fire he contacted General Amedeo Duca degli Abruzzi, sitting in Dese.

“Amedeo, launch a distress attack on the 3 divisions attacking from Denakil. I need every help available, and your 6 division can weaken British right flank”.

Il Duca degli Abruzzi answered with a simple “With much pleasure” and launched his attack on the 3 British units.

Badoglio, eager to test his prowess in battle, also contacted Mecozzi, ordering him to weaken the units attacking from Kassala.

The following morning Badoglio was pleased to see all the Allied troops ceasing any hostility.

adwa5-1.png

Badoglio enjoyed his break after a month of struggle for Adwa. However the situation wasn’t looking that good. Italian supplies stored in Ethiopia begun to run low, after about 9 months of war. If those supplies would end, defeat was assured.

With the news of a secure position near Suez, a courageous operation could be attempted to open the sea lanes and allow shipping of several tons of supplies and oil to Ethiopia.

It is clear that the sea lanes wouldn’t stay open for much long, but in those days a lot of supplies could reach AOI.

Badoglio met Graziani and Amedeo Duca degli Abruzzi to show them his plan.

Codenamed Operazione Respiro (Operation Breathe) the plan was ambitious.

All Italian divisions sitting in Adwa would have attacked the Assab defenders. Shortly after, Amedeo and Graziani would have launched a joint attack on Dire Dawa. If the attacks were timed properly, both attacking forces would reach Assab and DireDawa about the same day.
That would allow a final attack on Denakil which would destroy a number of Allied units.

Another great advantage from such a move would be the opening of a supply route from Taranto to Assab.

Regia Marina was to be contacted and ordered to send all its available transports to that route, to be sure Italian defenders of AOI would have had enough supplies to hold for more months.

operazionerespiro-1.png


Operazione Respiro begins with a successful attack on Assab, lead by Badoglio himself. Italian troops are scheduled to reach Assab on 16th April.

resp.png

While 5 divisions were moving towards Assab, Badoglio ordered an attack on Gallabat, to avoid any surprise attack on Gonder, left undefended.
Badoglio learns a few useful tricks while leading the battle. As soon as the enemy unit is defeated, Mecozzi is called to destroy it.

gall.png

A few days later, General Umberto Principe di Piemonte leads the Italian attack on Dire Dawa. General Graziani, originally designated as the leader, had a very bad intestinal virus.
Despite this, Operazione Respiro was coming out nicely.

diredawa-1.png

On the very same hours Badoglio needs to launch another attack on Gallabat, supported by Mecozzi as always. Italians needs to avoid encirclement at any cost and this time Mecozzi manages to destroy that MOT unit.

gall2.png

Canadian troops reach Dire Dawa, trying to halt the Italian advance. They are brave, but hopeless.

diredawa2.png

On 10th April, Badoglio is forced to launch another attack. This time the situation is worse, as modern type III British Panzers hold Gallabat. Mecozzi interdiction prove itself as the winning factor. He immediately begins destroying the British armored division.

gall3.png

2 days later, the Italians enter Dire Dawa. General Vacca-Maggiolini manages to repel the first British counterattack.


diredawa3.png

When the second one is launched, Badoglio needs to come in his help. Another relief attack is launched from Addis Ababa on Ginir, with the 3 divisions left.
Finally, the British counterattack is broken.

diredawa4.png
 
9.6. Securing Palestine.

Up in the Middle East theater, Caruso managed to reach Tel Aviv. As soon as he got there he contacted Guzzoni to make sure an attack on the encircled Gaza defenders had been launched.

Guzzoni wanted to delay it by a day, hopefully allowing Caruso motorized unit to gain some organization back. There wasn’t any sign of a counterattack to be launched from Gaza.

Units there were so disorganized that they didn’t stand even an hour, surrendering immediately to the Italian troops (no screenshot could be taken)

Taking advantage from the collapsed front, Caruso immediately begin pushing for Jerusalem, entering it on 24th. Shortly after he moves towards Haifa, to overrun a retreating British unit.

While more troops are moving towards Tel Aviv, Caruso is attacked and defeated by the former retreating British unit (a Canadian exp force, actually).

Mj de Castiglione (skill 4!) is the first to arrive in Jerusalem. He tries to stop the British advance to retake it, but fails. His place his taken by Lt. Ago, who fails as well.

Jer.png

Switching roles, it's Mj Calkin who needs to hold up now, without any luck.

jer2.png

While the Italians are moving to conquer the last 3 provinces before reaching Iraq, Canadian troops land in Gaza. They are all taken prisoners, by a satisfied Gen Guzzoni.

gaza.png

A few hours later, Mj Calkin tries to stop the Italians from conquering Amman, but he is outnumbered 4:1 and can’t hold the line.

amman.png


Canadian army won’t easily give up Gaza, it seems.. however they lose another most precious unit.

gaza2.png

In their struggle to keep Middle East, the British unload another division in Haifa. Italian Marines manage to capture them in a few hours.

Caruso is forced to stop his advance though. Retreating British divisions have much better org than him, and he decides to wait for Roatta.

haifa.png
 
Soon you'll have the Oil of Iraq and Kuwait under your control. And have removed the middle eastern theater of war.

I also commend you on the Yugoslavian campaign it was a job well done.

I play a game with a beginner friend of mine on the net and found out that Italia is better off training mountain units, they have immence advantages over usual Infantry.
 
@thatguy, ruckel: Yes, that's what I hope.. I need to hold onto AOI, though, and my divisions are really running low on org there.

@Deus: I find that "special" infantry units like Mountaneers and Marines are really useful in all wars. The problem is that they take much longer to build, are more expensive and require you another tech to research.

I'd like to build some as Italy in this game as well, but I have troubles in finding the ICs... if I'd have scrapped the idea of a Navy (or took Spain early on) it could have been possible. MNT units are indeed very useful in mountains, hills and forests, while I prefer MAR on amphibious landings and jungle fighting.
 
9.7. Sea lanes are open!

General Amedeo was eager to launch his attack.
He couldn’t stop watching the clock and looking at the radio, waiting for it to bring him the most awaited news.

As soon as he heard the incoming transmission, he didn’t even bother to wait for it to end, immediately launching his attack on the 3 infantry divisions holding Denakil.
With some luck, all the defenders would be taken prisoner.

At the same time, Lt.Gen di Benedetto arrived in Assab and was immediately attacked by French troops lead by Lt. Giraud. Despite being disorganized from 20 days spent moving towards Assab his chances weren’t that bad.

Morale of the troops was also bolstered by General Amedeo dispatch, consisting only in a few words: “Your rear is clear. Have fun.”
After a few more hours of combat di Benedetto was pleased to announce Badoglio he finally was in control of Assab.

resp2.png

Badoglio immediately called Cavagnari, which ordered to create a supply convoy from Taranto to Assab.

The massive Italian commerce fleet, begin to land on Assab 605 tons of supplies every day. It was clear than in just 10 days the Italians would have rebuilt their whole stockpile. Operazione Respiro turned in a clear success.

resp3.png

Taking no time to rest, FM Badoglio immediately launches another attack to avoid encirclement of Italian positions and the fall of Gonder.

gall4.png

2 days later, the Italians are forced to leave Assab against much better forces. A strategic retreat from Dire Dawa is also ordered. Italians are satisfied with the amount of supplies they earned this way.

assab2.png


British units advance on Gambela. Italian Generals consider the opportunity of a counterattack, but with just 3 divisions it’s a risky gamble and they decide to wait for Dire Dawa troops to come back, relying on Mecozzi to weaken the unit holding Gambela.
Simultaneously the usual routing attack on Gallabat is carried out by Badoglio.

gambela.png



The Middle East Front

Italian troops almost completed their repositioning when Canadian units land on Gaza. They are slaughtered once more.

gaza4.png

A few days later, General Guzzoni leads the attack on the last British province of the Middle East, willing to push towards Iraq after that.

al-ru.png

Italian leaders don't forget to research new effective ways of defeating the enemy.

ricerca25.png

 
Disclaimer: for some reason, the convoy won't ship all those supplies each day. As its maximum capacity is of 605 supplies/day I will manually add those when Assab falls. I will also substract them from the amount available to Italy.
 
Su is weird =P
 
Nice batch of updates there!

Nice job in the Mid. East, soon the Oil will be yours, Saudi Arabia would be a good choice for invasion also, as you can get to those British puppets (Oman and Yemen) who have further supplies of oil. All this will make Germany your friend. :D

The Ethiopian attacks were a good idea also.
 
Bravo! Keep on attacking!
 
Italian attacks meet only with victory everywhere, and the SU is just plain weird! :wacko: Avanti Italiani!
 
Please fix the borders in Yugoslavia...they are disgusting... :D
 
@Davisx3m: Definitely.. it will be fun to look what the US are going to do in this crazy "historical" game.

@Deus: Li..what?

@Maj von Mauser: Yes, I was planning to take those british puppets as well. Expecially the one just on the other side of the Red Sea could be a nice base from Mecozzi bombers (who eat LOTS of supplies, making them a problematic unit to keep in Ethiopia). However, I don't want too much belligerance.

@Inkana: as Benito said: "Vincere! E vinceremo!" (Win! And we will!).

@robou: well, Italians always fight only when they know they can win :)

@ColossusCrusher: LOL! That was my idea, though.. I got that Banja Luka to trade for something else, but I won't promise anything.
 
Remember to use your offensive supply button for that extra kick of speed. It makes a big difference in those low infra provinces (like IRAQ), as well as insuring that your units capture certain provinces before your "allies". It seems that you have enough supplies in your stockpiles to utilized this tactic :cool: