I would say that is 99% true. Movement penalties appear to apply, so the Tanks offloading into an empty Mountain province at least have that terrain delay to deal with, possibly giving the enemy time to send a fleet that way.
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I would say that is 99% true. Movement penalties appear to apply, so the Tanks offloading into an empty Mountain province at least have that terrain delay to deal with, possibly giving the enemy time to send a fleet that way.
Yes, It was a slight shock. I should have been more careful with counting their losses and comparing with their original number. It would have been easy to calculate their force as I think no (or very few) new ship was in that attacking task force. Then again, as I knew he could not do much with his sudden naval dominance I wasn't too scared.
In Asia, except subs, I did not have any taske forces out after the success of Singapore Sling. Even if I gave IJN a good beating when it comes to sunk ships, it also rendered me 3x12-stack task forces needing serious repairs. IJN aggresive actions made them bleed, but they weren't alone in bleeding...
Yes. But there's one more factor to it. With a transport plane you can supply troops quite well for a short time, and it was apparent how difficult it was for my CAGs to stop that airborne supply bridge. Lack of supply did not kill him. What killed Japan was 1. the lack of IJN naval superiority west of Malaysia - giving me the opportunity to close in with my transport fleet unapposed offloading troops, and later 2. the lack of IJN naval superiority east of Malaysia - refusing him the posibility to save his men.
Welcome onboard! New post within the day hopefully.
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A very nice read Captain Easy, thanks for an awesome multiplayer AAR.
I find your strategy quite interesting, using the UK's small land forces to create local superiority against the Italians and the Japanese.
It would be interesting to know what forces you keep home, both Land naval and air, and do you feel threatened by a potential German invasion on the home islands?
I find your strategy quite interesting, using the UK's small land forces to create local superiority against the Italians and the Japanese.
It would be interesting to know what forces you keep home, both Land naval and air, and do you feel threatened by a potential German invasion on the home islands?
Hey there. I keep very few units at home. As long as Denmark is in Allied hands there's nought Germany can do, really. I have a British Taskforce in the Baltics, supported by an American. I HAD another back-up task force around the British Isles but had to send it to the Med to throw back the RM. Plane-wise, I use UK as a repair yard 
Most planes are active in the Med or SE Asia. Except a few marines in the pipe, UK has done very small investments in land units, so I have to make do with what I got, keeping very few units as back up and using the majority with as much flexibility as possible. This is of course possible with, as frequently discussed, the HoI-engine's "generous" rules on amphibic warfare.
Most planes are active in the Med or SE Asia. Except a few marines in the pipe, UK has done very small investments in land units, so I have to make do with what I got, keeping very few units as back up and using the majority with as much flexibility as possible. This is of course possible with, as frequently discussed, the HoI-engine's "generous" rules on amphibic warfare.
Hey there. I keep very few units at home. As long as Denmark is in Allied hands there's nought Germany can do, really. I have a British Taskforce in the Baltics, supported by an American. I HAD another back-up task force around the British Isles but had to send it to the Med to throw back the RM. Plane-wise, I use UK as a repair yard
I don't know, would it be possible for Japan to anticipate that you guys would counter the Malaysian landing and for him to keep a strong force preventing you from landing more troops? Is the landing of new troops really "that" liberal in Hoi3?
One more question, are you running a strategic bombing campaign against Germany?
Yeah, pretty much. Particularly in re: opposed landings and disembarking heavy equipment onto rocky shores without ports.
I believe you have the solution for this already as you have a house rule cap of two expeditionary Units at the same time per country.
This allows for some of the smaller powers getting a few units they can't build upgraded to the standards of their major Ally. It wont' allow for overall abuse.
Example would be Finnland equipped with German StuG III G's and Messerschmitt fighters - doing very well but with a limited amount of units etc.
The Allies (Brits) did this all the time to better use the manpower of the smaller Commonwealth nations (Aussie, Kiwis, SA etc.).
It sounds more apealing than license building - and it certainly doesn't come for free as it takes IC from the major to upgrade.
The ship exp couldn't be (ab)used between JAP and GER as Carnage houserules have the different global spheres covered and JAP and GER Navy could only link up under special circumstances.
I fully agree the feature just adds flavour - but It's Carnages game so they will have to decide...
I was thinking about the zombie CAG bug that is still present in SF 2.04f and has only been fixed as late as FTM 3.05.
So far - to my knowledge - no one in the Carnage group has really abused this BUG though.
They all seem to add captital surface ships like BB/BC/CA to their Carrier fleets, which keep the CV fleet from constantly staying out of engagement range. Thereby ameliorating some of the bug.
And they probably don't (deliberately) operate their CV Fleets once theirCAG's are at 0 Org and low strength.
(A bonus of playing with friends...)
AFAIK only the BBs/CAs will close in, while the CVs and screens will stay out of the enemy's range.
No, I guess you have a point there. You can still upgrade two at a time but it is a fairly clumpsy way of upgrading your army and at least somebody within the faction will have to pay for it.
A few. Not as many as in Jolly Carnage as Zid was more attentive. I just did it while I had other air missions going on, or else Zids luftwaffe would f**k med royaly
Thanks. More coming up shortly...
Chapter X - Operation Asian Mop Up
Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Soviet
Recap: The Wehrmacht is bearing down on Soviet, but Italy still have to struggle against the Allies in their own country, as well as their domains in Former Yugoslavia. Operation Singapore Sling was a success and with the help of the Americans, the Brits will try to continue to punish the Japs with Operation Asian Mop Up.
September 30th, 1940
The first target for Operation Asian Mop Up was Kuching. The eastern port of British part of Indonesia was undefended and taken by an infantry division. Kuching, however, was defended only by a HQ. As the famous British Marines, experienced from Italy, Turkey and Former Yugoslavia, attacked – they realized that the Japs had fail to support the HQ with supply. It would be a short battle.
October 6th, 1940
The HQ was easily dispatched and the hungry staff personnel gave up. Before the marines managed to reach Kuching, however, a Japanese naval force snuck past the British Naval blockade and dropped of a substantial force in Kuching. At the same time as they met fierce resistance in the jungle, the marines got to experience Japanese tactical bombers. The marines cancelled their attack on Kuching and tried to dig in instead. Hiding troops in the jungle would be hard to hit. Also, the bombers seemed to have a limited amount of bombs. Maybe they had a little too little in stock. To make it even worse for the Japs, obviously suffering from supply shortage, Bomber Command sent in strategic bombers from Singapore to hit what supply depots they could find. As the weather was quite bad, it is difficult to know how successful these bombings became. Nevertheless, it became a stalemate around Kuching.
The British leadership started to make new plans and hoped to able to retake the initiative after the failure to surprise the Jap in Kuching.
October 7th-8th, 1940
The Battle of Kuching was not only going to be contained to Kuching itself. The water routes, supply and link to transports were ever so important. Not surprisingly, the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy had a major show down here. It lasted for about 20 hours and had all the chaotic ingredients of naval warfare - Powerful battleships, the sleeker battle cruisers, smaller cruisers, destroyers, planes… and bad weather.
Yamamoto had some problems keeping his task force in optimal formations in the storm and suffered from it. Moreover, the Japanese task force seemed to have some supply problems which hampered their efficiency. As a result, it became a quite stunning British victory. The blockade of Kuching held firm. Pictures of the sinking battle cruiser IJN Haruna was soon on the front page of every paper in the common wealth. To have defeated Yamamoto himself gave Cunningham lots of status.
Also, the Japanese aerial attack on the British marines continued. They had even send in interceptors to chase the British strategic bombers away, as well as the British CAGs which had attacked the Japanese bombers, thus trying to take the pressure off the British marines in the jungle.
September 25th – October 25th, 1940
While the world had its eyes on major battle fields like South East Asia, Former Yugoslavia and the Battle of the Bear – the British leadership put together an Army Corps of two new infantry divisions, two motorized divisions who had only had guard duty in Britain since the start of the war, and one Canadian expeditionary division. Their mission, backed up with a naval task force dominated by transports, was to rid Northern Africa from Italians. It was known from various reconnaissance missions that the Italian leadership did not prioritize North Africa at all and resistance would be light.
The information was true. During what was later known as “The One Month Operation” the British Army Corps took Tobruk, Benghazi and Tarabulus. They only met two infantry divisions and a few HQs in total. The losses meant little for Italy and the victory was equally small for Britain. Still, the Italians in North Africa had been annoying by their presence and the British leadership felt relieved to be rid of them.
October 13th, 1940
While the British leadership had its main focus on Operation Singapore Sling and the following Mop Up, the Italians, with the support of German expeditionary forces, increased the pressure on the Brits in Former Yugoslavia. This was not very surprising, if still very unwelcome, and the Brits slowly began to fall back from the areas were the Italian attacks became too powerful.
In the mountains of Podgorica the Italians were in for a hard one. The land was unforgiving and the Brits, supported by a French mountain division, well dug in. After a long battle, the Italians had to cancel this attack – but they soon found weaker spots in a defensive line which started to get some supply problems, partly due to Axis bombing missions.
October 26th, 1940
The British leadership had shipped in reinforcements through a Dutch port and could now launch a powerful attack on the Japanese defenders in Kuching. The weather was terrible with the monsoon soaking the soldiers to the bones, newer letting them dry up. The Japs however, started to have serious supply problems which seriously limited their effectiveness.
This would be neither a fast nor an easy battle, but if the Japs could not get supply or reinforcements through the blockade, they would stand little chance in the long run.
Late October, 1940
The Japs did not intend to leave their troops in Kuching and the sea outside became the theatre for numerous long naval battles. What the Japanese leadership would come to realize was that the majority of the Royal Navy was operation in the area, except them already damaged from previous battles with IJN.
The Royal Navy seemed superior to the Japanese counterpart – but a majority of their research had gone to naval doctrines and upgrades. Also, the fast victories in the Med gave them lots of freedom.
The biggest victory, undoubtedly, was sinking the Pride of the Japanese navy, the Nagato. The battle became epic due to the fact that it all came down to a massive duel with the Pride of the Royal Navy, the HMS Nelson. Nelson managed a direct hit in the bridge of the Nagato early on and the Nagato, needless to say, got serious problems after that and sunk after several more hits. Nelson was hit well and had to steer to port after the battle – her crew heroes in the entire commonwealth.
November 5th, 1940
Alas, the British marines could conquer the port of Kuching more than a month later than the initial attack. The fearsome onslaught by the IJN was not for nothing. At times, the blockade was lifted and due to the chaos of battle, it is unknown to the British leadership if the three Japanese divisions perished or managed to flee (but it is believed they perished).
Nevertheless, Kuching is liberated and IJN have received some fearsome blows. On the other hand, even if the Royal Navy lost comparable few ships, a clear majority of their Asian force (meaning at least half of the RN) is stuck in various ports for repairs. Hopefully, the Japanese leadership has a similar situation.
Author’s note: All these naval battles gave me a very high reinforcement cost – so it was surely not for free.
November 12th, 1940
For some reason, Kriegsmarine made its first planned sortie. The British taskforce guarding the Baltics was somewhat weak, consisting mainly of older ships. When Kriegsmarine sailed out with the powerful trio of Bismarck, Tirpitz and Graf Zeppelin, Admiral Mountbatten knew it was all a matter of pulling back as fast as possible. He lost only an obsolete destroyer flotilla. The Germans lost nothing.
As Kriegsmarine had also succeeded in chasing away the American taskforce, they suddenly owned the Baltic Sea. A quite worrying fact. A few old destroyers were sent to block German infantry to get access to the Danish Isles, but should Kriegsmarine find the destroyers they would all be fish food – and naval reinforcements were far away…
November 20th, 1940
With the Imperial Japanese Navy on the retreat and several of their units on the isles being out of supply, the Allies thought it was suitable to higher the stakes and give the Japs some more pressure. The job fell on the Americans and they landed an Army Corps on Taiwan, which was only defended by a HQ. Now, the Japanese had to DEFEND themselves. With the port of Taiwan in American hands, they would threaten Japan itself.
November 20th, 1940
1. A successful Operation Singapore Sling threw out the Japs from Malaysia and gave the Brits a good base for Operation Asian Mop Up.
2. All ports have been retaken from the Japs. They lost 1 infantry division and one HQ. Some of the areas became British and some (south) became Dutch. More important, the Japs were denied all the resources.
3. Several Japanese transports lying in port were sunk by tactical bombers while a RN taskforce guarded the ocean outside. A lone British division is now retaking most of the lands.
4. Kuching retaken. No troops are left behind as they are needed elsewhere. Japan is not expected to dare a new attack in quite some time.
5. Several ports, rich in oil, are still in Japanese hands. Japan is not expected to try to hold them and they will fall before Operation AMU is deemed successful and finished.
November 20th, 1940
1. Japanese and Chinese forces have taken Mongolia and placed a puppet regime to lead them. The Soviet Far East front is becoming painfully stretched, forcing them to deploy new troops here – troops that would have been well needed in the west. This is worrying.
2. Trying to shrink the frontline somewhat, the Red Army is retreating westwards, thus letting Japanese forces spread north.
3. Japan seems to have problems with partisans. A huge area has been retaken in former Xibei San Ma. Good!
November 20th, 1940
1. Wehrmacht is gaining ground on the entire east front (yellow line is the 1st of September). The Red Army is retreating from more or less every battle, trying desperately to keep the line intact and hinder German break-throughs. So far, except a few sacrificed garrisons, the Red Army has not lost any divisions, but they are growing more and more desperate. Their retreating units are having more and more problem to get rest in between battles and they are risking to b e completely overwhelmed. They are pleading to the Allies to do more to tie up the Germans.
2. The Italians, with help of a German panzer division, are slowly pressing the Brits backwards in Former Yugoslavia (red line is the 1st of September. The Brits are digging in at best possible in the mountains making the job as hard as possible for the fascists. Still, supply problem is a significant problem and they have resently realized that the Red Army have left the Bulgarians to their own, resulting in the Italians threatening to sneak in behind British lines, into Greece (Green line the present border between Italy and Bulgaria).
3. The Allies have been kicked out of the Italian boot but managed to retreat all units to Sicily. They are now reorganizing and waiting for next operation.
4. British forces, with the help of a Canadian division, have taken North Africa in a quite un-dramatic operation. Italy clearly did not prioritize the defense of their African colonies. They are now completely sealed off in their Fortress Europe.
It is clear that German/Italy already from the beginning have gone for a Fortress Europe strategy. British spies have reported a massive focus on land technology and doctrines and also seen plenty of new German panzer divisions as well as Italian medium armor divisions. Knowing this, taking North Africa means nothing. It will without hesitation be hard for Allies to get a proper foothold in Europe.
Late November, 1940
During July, the battleship HMS Warspite and HMS Glorious had become the most famous and celebrated ships in the Royal Navy after countless successes in the Mediterranean Sea. Warspite was left in the Med during Operation Singapore Sling and made little that reached the news. The pride of the Royal Navy however, Nelson, was the most successful ship in the Pacific, sinking three capital ships including the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Nagato. HMS Glorious had only a minor sinking during these operations but it was nevertheless enough to keep her at the front pages in the Commonwealth.
Late November, 1940
With the victories in the Pacific, United Kingdom will shift the focus back to Europe and the Med. Soviet Union is under heavy pressure and the quite mighty Italian army is having victories in Former Romania, Former Bulgaria and Former Yugoslavia. With so many troops at the frontlines they are likely to be quite weak back home, and without a navy, they can do little to hinder an amphibious invasion. As it is too early to open up a permanent frontline in France, the Allies prepare another hit-and-run attack. Operation Legion.
The American objectives are taking the ports of La Specia and Liverno and seal of the northern part of the boot, along the mountains. This line will serve as a delaying wall for any Axis reinforcements. The secondary objective is to close the rest of Italy from the supply stockpile in Rome.
The Brits will take Viterbo and Ancona, as well as placing a Mullberry port south of Rome. Their main objective is taking Rome and the secondary objective to seal of the midsection of the Italian boot.
When/if Rome is taken the Operation has succeeded and the troops can retreat. If possible, they can strike south, wipe out any resistance there and retreat to Sicily like before.
Operation Legion will, except taking the Italian stockpile, pull Axis attention from the Russian front. Possible, supply shortages will hamper their effectiveness for some time, minimizing their offensive effectiveness. Also, several Axis divisions are likely to perish as well. Without Regia Marine as a threat to Allied transports, it is not likely Allies can do worse than just getting kicked out.
It will take roughly a week from this picture to the activation of the operation. The Allied troops and navies are not yet in proper order. Also, three German panzer divisions has been seen south of Venice, moving north. These are the divisions, Erwing Rommel being included, who crushed the last (but smaller) Allied landing in Italy. They are a mighty threat against the entire operation and it is good letting them move away a little further.
.............................................
I realized there's a new AARland Choice AwAARds (round III, 2011) on the loose. Its a good way to give some cred to AAR-writers. If you happen to like this AAR you can always give it your vote under the "Favorite Gameplay AAR, HoI(1-3)" section
Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Soviet
Recap: The Wehrmacht is bearing down on Soviet, but Italy still have to struggle against the Allies in their own country, as well as their domains in Former Yugoslavia. Operation Singapore Sling was a success and with the help of the Americans, the Brits will try to continue to punish the Japs with Operation Asian Mop Up.
September 30th, 1940
The first target for Operation Asian Mop Up was Kuching. The eastern port of British part of Indonesia was undefended and taken by an infantry division. Kuching, however, was defended only by a HQ. As the famous British Marines, experienced from Italy, Turkey and Former Yugoslavia, attacked – they realized that the Japs had fail to support the HQ with supply. It would be a short battle.
October 6th, 1940
The HQ was easily dispatched and the hungry staff personnel gave up. Before the marines managed to reach Kuching, however, a Japanese naval force snuck past the British Naval blockade and dropped of a substantial force in Kuching. At the same time as they met fierce resistance in the jungle, the marines got to experience Japanese tactical bombers. The marines cancelled their attack on Kuching and tried to dig in instead. Hiding troops in the jungle would be hard to hit. Also, the bombers seemed to have a limited amount of bombs. Maybe they had a little too little in stock. To make it even worse for the Japs, obviously suffering from supply shortage, Bomber Command sent in strategic bombers from Singapore to hit what supply depots they could find. As the weather was quite bad, it is difficult to know how successful these bombings became. Nevertheless, it became a stalemate around Kuching.
The British leadership started to make new plans and hoped to able to retake the initiative after the failure to surprise the Jap in Kuching.
October 7th-8th, 1940
The Battle of Kuching was not only going to be contained to Kuching itself. The water routes, supply and link to transports were ever so important. Not surprisingly, the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy had a major show down here. It lasted for about 20 hours and had all the chaotic ingredients of naval warfare - Powerful battleships, the sleeker battle cruisers, smaller cruisers, destroyers, planes… and bad weather.
Yamamoto had some problems keeping his task force in optimal formations in the storm and suffered from it. Moreover, the Japanese task force seemed to have some supply problems which hampered their efficiency. As a result, it became a quite stunning British victory. The blockade of Kuching held firm. Pictures of the sinking battle cruiser IJN Haruna was soon on the front page of every paper in the common wealth. To have defeated Yamamoto himself gave Cunningham lots of status.
Also, the Japanese aerial attack on the British marines continued. They had even send in interceptors to chase the British strategic bombers away, as well as the British CAGs which had attacked the Japanese bombers, thus trying to take the pressure off the British marines in the jungle.
September 25th – October 25th, 1940
While the world had its eyes on major battle fields like South East Asia, Former Yugoslavia and the Battle of the Bear – the British leadership put together an Army Corps of two new infantry divisions, two motorized divisions who had only had guard duty in Britain since the start of the war, and one Canadian expeditionary division. Their mission, backed up with a naval task force dominated by transports, was to rid Northern Africa from Italians. It was known from various reconnaissance missions that the Italian leadership did not prioritize North Africa at all and resistance would be light.
The information was true. During what was later known as “The One Month Operation” the British Army Corps took Tobruk, Benghazi and Tarabulus. They only met two infantry divisions and a few HQs in total. The losses meant little for Italy and the victory was equally small for Britain. Still, the Italians in North Africa had been annoying by their presence and the British leadership felt relieved to be rid of them.
October 13th, 1940
While the British leadership had its main focus on Operation Singapore Sling and the following Mop Up, the Italians, with the support of German expeditionary forces, increased the pressure on the Brits in Former Yugoslavia. This was not very surprising, if still very unwelcome, and the Brits slowly began to fall back from the areas were the Italian attacks became too powerful.
In the mountains of Podgorica the Italians were in for a hard one. The land was unforgiving and the Brits, supported by a French mountain division, well dug in. After a long battle, the Italians had to cancel this attack – but they soon found weaker spots in a defensive line which started to get some supply problems, partly due to Axis bombing missions.
October 26th, 1940
The British leadership had shipped in reinforcements through a Dutch port and could now launch a powerful attack on the Japanese defenders in Kuching. The weather was terrible with the monsoon soaking the soldiers to the bones, newer letting them dry up. The Japs however, started to have serious supply problems which seriously limited their effectiveness.
This would be neither a fast nor an easy battle, but if the Japs could not get supply or reinforcements through the blockade, they would stand little chance in the long run.
Late October, 1940
The Japs did not intend to leave their troops in Kuching and the sea outside became the theatre for numerous long naval battles. What the Japanese leadership would come to realize was that the majority of the Royal Navy was operation in the area, except them already damaged from previous battles with IJN.
The Royal Navy seemed superior to the Japanese counterpart – but a majority of their research had gone to naval doctrines and upgrades. Also, the fast victories in the Med gave them lots of freedom.
The biggest victory, undoubtedly, was sinking the Pride of the Japanese navy, the Nagato. The battle became epic due to the fact that it all came down to a massive duel with the Pride of the Royal Navy, the HMS Nelson. Nelson managed a direct hit in the bridge of the Nagato early on and the Nagato, needless to say, got serious problems after that and sunk after several more hits. Nelson was hit well and had to steer to port after the battle – her crew heroes in the entire commonwealth.
November 5th, 1940
Alas, the British marines could conquer the port of Kuching more than a month later than the initial attack. The fearsome onslaught by the IJN was not for nothing. At times, the blockade was lifted and due to the chaos of battle, it is unknown to the British leadership if the three Japanese divisions perished or managed to flee (but it is believed they perished).
Nevertheless, Kuching is liberated and IJN have received some fearsome blows. On the other hand, even if the Royal Navy lost comparable few ships, a clear majority of their Asian force (meaning at least half of the RN) is stuck in various ports for repairs. Hopefully, the Japanese leadership has a similar situation.
Author’s note: All these naval battles gave me a very high reinforcement cost – so it was surely not for free.
November 12th, 1940
For some reason, Kriegsmarine made its first planned sortie. The British taskforce guarding the Baltics was somewhat weak, consisting mainly of older ships. When Kriegsmarine sailed out with the powerful trio of Bismarck, Tirpitz and Graf Zeppelin, Admiral Mountbatten knew it was all a matter of pulling back as fast as possible. He lost only an obsolete destroyer flotilla. The Germans lost nothing.
As Kriegsmarine had also succeeded in chasing away the American taskforce, they suddenly owned the Baltic Sea. A quite worrying fact. A few old destroyers were sent to block German infantry to get access to the Danish Isles, but should Kriegsmarine find the destroyers they would all be fish food – and naval reinforcements were far away…
November 20th, 1940
With the Imperial Japanese Navy on the retreat and several of their units on the isles being out of supply, the Allies thought it was suitable to higher the stakes and give the Japs some more pressure. The job fell on the Americans and they landed an Army Corps on Taiwan, which was only defended by a HQ. Now, the Japanese had to DEFEND themselves. With the port of Taiwan in American hands, they would threaten Japan itself.
November 20th, 1940
1. A successful Operation Singapore Sling threw out the Japs from Malaysia and gave the Brits a good base for Operation Asian Mop Up.
2. All ports have been retaken from the Japs. They lost 1 infantry division and one HQ. Some of the areas became British and some (south) became Dutch. More important, the Japs were denied all the resources.
3. Several Japanese transports lying in port were sunk by tactical bombers while a RN taskforce guarded the ocean outside. A lone British division is now retaking most of the lands.
4. Kuching retaken. No troops are left behind as they are needed elsewhere. Japan is not expected to dare a new attack in quite some time.
5. Several ports, rich in oil, are still in Japanese hands. Japan is not expected to try to hold them and they will fall before Operation AMU is deemed successful and finished.
November 20th, 1940
1. Japanese and Chinese forces have taken Mongolia and placed a puppet regime to lead them. The Soviet Far East front is becoming painfully stretched, forcing them to deploy new troops here – troops that would have been well needed in the west. This is worrying.
2. Trying to shrink the frontline somewhat, the Red Army is retreating westwards, thus letting Japanese forces spread north.
3. Japan seems to have problems with partisans. A huge area has been retaken in former Xibei San Ma. Good!
November 20th, 1940
1. Wehrmacht is gaining ground on the entire east front (yellow line is the 1st of September). The Red Army is retreating from more or less every battle, trying desperately to keep the line intact and hinder German break-throughs. So far, except a few sacrificed garrisons, the Red Army has not lost any divisions, but they are growing more and more desperate. Their retreating units are having more and more problem to get rest in between battles and they are risking to b e completely overwhelmed. They are pleading to the Allies to do more to tie up the Germans.
2. The Italians, with help of a German panzer division, are slowly pressing the Brits backwards in Former Yugoslavia (red line is the 1st of September. The Brits are digging in at best possible in the mountains making the job as hard as possible for the fascists. Still, supply problem is a significant problem and they have resently realized that the Red Army have left the Bulgarians to their own, resulting in the Italians threatening to sneak in behind British lines, into Greece (Green line the present border between Italy and Bulgaria).
3. The Allies have been kicked out of the Italian boot but managed to retreat all units to Sicily. They are now reorganizing and waiting for next operation.
4. British forces, with the help of a Canadian division, have taken North Africa in a quite un-dramatic operation. Italy clearly did not prioritize the defense of their African colonies. They are now completely sealed off in their Fortress Europe.
It is clear that German/Italy already from the beginning have gone for a Fortress Europe strategy. British spies have reported a massive focus on land technology and doctrines and also seen plenty of new German panzer divisions as well as Italian medium armor divisions. Knowing this, taking North Africa means nothing. It will without hesitation be hard for Allies to get a proper foothold in Europe.
Late November, 1940
During July, the battleship HMS Warspite and HMS Glorious had become the most famous and celebrated ships in the Royal Navy after countless successes in the Mediterranean Sea. Warspite was left in the Med during Operation Singapore Sling and made little that reached the news. The pride of the Royal Navy however, Nelson, was the most successful ship in the Pacific, sinking three capital ships including the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Nagato. HMS Glorious had only a minor sinking during these operations but it was nevertheless enough to keep her at the front pages in the Commonwealth.
Late November, 1940
With the victories in the Pacific, United Kingdom will shift the focus back to Europe and the Med. Soviet Union is under heavy pressure and the quite mighty Italian army is having victories in Former Romania, Former Bulgaria and Former Yugoslavia. With so many troops at the frontlines they are likely to be quite weak back home, and without a navy, they can do little to hinder an amphibious invasion. As it is too early to open up a permanent frontline in France, the Allies prepare another hit-and-run attack. Operation Legion.
The American objectives are taking the ports of La Specia and Liverno and seal of the northern part of the boot, along the mountains. This line will serve as a delaying wall for any Axis reinforcements. The secondary objective is to close the rest of Italy from the supply stockpile in Rome.
The Brits will take Viterbo and Ancona, as well as placing a Mullberry port south of Rome. Their main objective is taking Rome and the secondary objective to seal of the midsection of the Italian boot.
When/if Rome is taken the Operation has succeeded and the troops can retreat. If possible, they can strike south, wipe out any resistance there and retreat to Sicily like before.
Operation Legion will, except taking the Italian stockpile, pull Axis attention from the Russian front. Possible, supply shortages will hamper their effectiveness for some time, minimizing their offensive effectiveness. Also, several Axis divisions are likely to perish as well. Without Regia Marine as a threat to Allied transports, it is not likely Allies can do worse than just getting kicked out.
It will take roughly a week from this picture to the activation of the operation. The Allied troops and navies are not yet in proper order. Also, three German panzer divisions has been seen south of Venice, moving north. These are the divisions, Erwing Rommel being included, who crushed the last (but smaller) Allied landing in Italy. They are a mighty threat against the entire operation and it is good letting them move away a little further.
.............................................
I realized there's a new AARland Choice AwAARds (round III, 2011) on the loose. Its a good way to give some cred to AAR-writers. If you happen to like this AAR you can always give it your vote under the "Favorite Gameplay AAR, HoI(1-3)" section
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Fantastic and comprehensive update CptEasy. The RN was hard pressed but came out on top. Its an exciting game and to me, still seems quite well balanced.
Operation Legion looks like is might be capable of acutally taking the Italians out of the war entirely. Look forward to seeing the result.
Operation Legion looks like is might be capable of acutally taking the Italians out of the war entirely. Look forward to seeing the result.
Wow, that was a huge setback for the Japanese. It must have been really frustrating to lose so many ships and divisions to the Royal Navy. Their success chances against the Allies have plummeted to basically zero.
And those poor Italians - Operation Legion looks very impressive on paper. A campaign to win the war, possibly? Especially since the Axis seems to have miscalculated badly and left Italy only weakly defended.
If Germany doesn't manage to pull off a trick of its own pretty soon, things won't go well for the Axis.
And those poor Italians - Operation Legion looks very impressive on paper. A campaign to win the war, possibly? Especially since the Axis seems to have miscalculated badly and left Italy only weakly defended.
If Germany doesn't manage to pull off a trick of its own pretty soon, things won't go well for the Axis.
This is CptEasy at his finest. A long and comprehensive update involving detailed planning. I love it!
Not that I like the whole hit&run strategy, but hey, it's just HOI3's unrealistic invasion system. Not really the author's fault.
Not that I like the whole hit&run strategy, but hey, it's just HOI3's unrealistic invasion system. Not really the author's fault.
its a shame that the in game invasion system is so poorly designed because in reality an invasion of that size with the sole goal being hit and run could not be achieved. But hey this isn't reality its a game so fair play for explioting a weakness like that in the game. I'm sure they'd use the invasion system to their advantage as well if it was flipped lol
Also Japan look like they are in a very dangerous situation.
It is also not the smartest move in the world to leave the Rome region unguarded twice in a row, especially against an enemy with so much creativity for attacks
Also Japan look like they are in a very dangerous situation.
It is also not the smartest move in the world to leave the Rome region unguarded twice in a row, especially against an enemy with so much creativity for attacks
great set of naval actions, but it does seem that you may be in trouble in the North Sea, if (& a I guess its a big if) the Germans can take Copenhagen.
It does seem as if Germany is being undermined (or to give credit where its due you are undermining) their allies.
It does seem as if Germany is being undermined (or to give credit where its due you are undermining) their allies.
Japan is burning their ships too fast. I think they went to grab too much in too short time.
Sadly true. The amphibious system is not worth the name, it's a big exploit. I hope MP groups will introduce rules to handle that.
Japan is in a dire situation!
Especially if Britain and USA ignore Europe for the time being and concentrate on knocking Japan out
Especially if Britain and USA ignore Europe for the time being and concentrate on knocking Japan out