Chapter XXV - Fortress Suez
Players: 2xSOV, USA, UK, GER, 2xJAP, ITA
Recap: The Poltava Charge ended in a disaster and the German forces are now being forced back over the Ukrainian land where they won so glorious battles roughly a year earlier. They are also being troubled by supply difficulties and Romanian allies who did not follow orders. The Red Army ended the year with fearsome attacks almost along the entire East Front. Soon, however, their national seal must end (the 25% bonus). The only other major activity is Italian/Japanese missions in the Med. The German leadership is depending on their success and starts the year of giving Italy yet another full army corps, including infantry with engineer brigades and another panzer division. The mission is Fortress Suez. About half of Luftwaffe will be pulled in this direction as well. The Fortress must fall….
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January 11th, 1942
The Red Army kept attacking the Homyel Forrest, but without their zeal, and now attacking into dense woods, the going was much tougher. After several days of fighting they had to pull back with severe losses. So far so good. This sack into the Soviet center was important. The Red Army could not pass it without risking being cut off themselves. However, if they succeeded to cut off the Homyel Forrest, a big chunk of the best troops in Germany would be lost.
January 13th, 1942
The Red Army attacked another part of the Homyel Forrest, in Bryanskaja, as well as moved into the devastated hell of Nizhyn. After a couple of days of fighting, the Red Army lost both those battle. So far, the German defense line held firm and the Red Army had to bleed badly for the pleasure of killing Germans.
January 17th, 1942
Soon, pure death would rain on the enemy of the Reich. The wunderwaffen would set things straight. It was not a suitable means to stop the Red Army, but it was very suitable, it was predicted, to crush Fortress Suez. Very soon….
January 19th, 1942
The Brits, however, did not like the constant threat against Gibraltar. Casablanca was important as the airfield was well in reach of Gibraltar and the port was the southernmost uboat-base and gave the wolf packs reach half the west African coast. They now launched a serious attack.
18th January, 1942
The Allies was not the only ones on the move. In was judged that Japanese marines were needed to take the heavily fortified Suez. As Suez itself was closed, another route was envisioned. Iraq.
January 26th, 1942
Italy answered forcefully and landed more than an army corps on the Spanish coast in North Africa. Fearing to be cut off the Brits retreated without taking unnecessary chances. They managed to get all of their troops back, but accomplished little. Casablanca was safe.
January 20th – February 1st, 1942
The Iraqis, unsupported by their liege lords, could not possibly resist the two-pronged attack. With Iraq conquered, the road to the Med laid open to the Japanese marines.
January 10th, 1942
The Germans were weak in Ukraine and had difficulties in retreating in order as the Red Army seemed to have a never ending supply of tanks. Supply was (as seen on the picture) difficult to get hold of which made things more difficult. Also, the Romanians did not seem to be interested in following orders and move to the designated areas where they were supposed to support the German retreat. It was a dangerous situation not made easier by the fact that Luftwaffe now was weaker than their opponent due to the force concentration towards Fortress Suez.
January 21st, 1942
The advance of the Red Army chocked the tired and worn down Axis formations and at the late part of January, an extremely dangerous situation unfolded, just east of Odessa. Large contingents of German forces were risking to become surrounded.
January 25th, 1942
Disaster! About 7 fighting divisions were surrounded. None were panzers and more than half Romanian forces, or expeditionary forces. Never the less, this was a loss the Wehrmacht could not afford. The orderly retreat had become a complete chaos…
Authors: Focusing quite a bit on Suez, I did not move my units optimally. However, the Soviet blitz was so powerful and my units, as you can see, in such bad conditions that getting away clean had been close to impossible. This was bad though. Really bad.
February 4th, 1942
The Brits were clueless as they were hit by the wunderwaffe. The V1 rockets were launched from bases in Crete and rained down during a couple of days in early February. RAF tried to intercept them but was met by Axis fighters. Luftwaffe had deployed all their Focke Wolfs within reach of the British fortress.
The airfields were targeted first. The 4th of February, they had been completely obliterated. It would now be very difficult for RAF to keep presence here. This was the first step. More V1s were inbound….
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Happy Easter!
