The players: Stewart - Allies
myself - Axis. This will not be a neutral report!
Rules: We're using most of the normal options (partisans, etc), SIF, PIF, new MIF, divs/guns, terrs, Cruisers in Flames, 2d10 combat, "Stalin's War" Soviet production (+.25 in '42 OR when Germans declare war; '42 city mods become '43, '43 city mods deleted), Izzy's EZ oil rules. We are also trying Devin's victory point system, and Italian and Japanese surrender. We are using LOC Vichy. We are also using the errata from the Annual as well some of the optionals including Offensive Points rules, randomized naval losses, revised Chinese attack weakness, lending limits, and face-down aircraft rebasing. No ITPOTE, no DSB, no warlords, no Convoys in flames.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1941: JAPAN ATTACKS COMMONWEALTH; YUGOSLAVS GO WILD
The Netherlands had existed uneasily as an island in Axis-dominated Western Europe. That status ended on November 1, when Germany and Italy declared war and quickly overran Holland. Within hours of that, Japanese marines landed on Java, Sumatra, and Borneo - Japan declared war on the most perfidious of colonists in Asia, the Commonwealth, and their running-dogs the Dutch.
The CW was caught flatfooted. The Japanese (using offensive points to do a land + naval) quickly seized Tricomellee on Ceylon (and subsequently, Colombo), Rabaul, Hong Kong, and landed near Batavia. Other forces took the key oil fields on Java and Borneo, and Japanese infantry occupied the "impregnable" fortress of Singapore. The NEI capital Batavia surrendered to a wave of Japanese marines by the end of November.
Churchill sent a squadron lead by the Formidable (carrier) towards India. A Japanese task force with 3 carriers damaged the Formidable and the cruiser Birmingham in the Arabian Sea, and sunk some British shipping near India and Australia. However, a port strike against Bombay failed, and the Japanese failed to intercept a transport sailing alone from Bombay towards the Eastern Mediterranean, a failure that was to have rude consequences for their European Axis allies...
November was cool but clear in Europe. Balbo resumed the assault of Athens. The Italian air force softened up the defenders well, setting up a high-probability attack. However, the British and Australians defended well and repulsed the Italians and Germans. (Note: I rolled a '6' on 2d10. I needed a 7 to succeed. Grr.)
The CW sent MORE reinforcements to Greece - ALEXANDER's HQ showed up near Athens. Territorials from Northern Ireland landed in Lemnos. Having eluded the Japanese, the Bombay militia appeared. And on December 18, Berlin was stunned to receive a declaration of war - from YUGOSLAVIA! Yes Churchill had managed to delude Prince Paul of Yugoslavia that the four CW corps in Greece meant that the Axis was on the decline and promised Paul rich territorial rewards in Central Europe if Yugoslavia joined the alliance of shopkeepers and communists.
So over the objection of his saner generals, Paul agreed. Yugoslavian infantry occupied Bratislava; cavalry approached Bucharest and the Rumanian oil fields. (Fortunately, German intelligence had heard of these negotiations, and various militia and garrisons were hastily deployed to Budapest, Bucharest, and Sofia...)
(NOTE: In WIF, if CW or France get 4 corps into a country adjacent to Yugoslavia, they can align them. So my three failed attacks vs Athens gave Stewart the time to eventually get 4 CW corps into Greece. So much for the Axis aligning Yugoslavia, one of the purposes for this snakebitten Greek campaign.)
The Germans made some more progress in Russia in November's fine weather. Von Beck cleared out a strong Soviet outpost in Smolensk. Gorki, Saratov, and Penza fell (all abandoned by retreating Soviets), and the Germans approached the western fringes of the Urals (i.e., reached the edge of the European map). A German corps occupied Tallinn, conquering Estonia. The Soviets reinforced the Caucasus and in late December Zhukov routed a German mountain division that was threatening Tiflis (Georgia). In late December German armored forces destroyed a Soviet army in the dry desert near Astrakhan, but the Soviets hastily mustered some troops (reinforcements) to defend that Caspian city.
In the Far East, the Japanese assaulted and captured Blagxxxx, the last Soviet city east of Irkutsk. The Soviets hold a line along the Volga, and the passes of the Caucasus, though Germans are partway thru the passes on the western edge, along the Black Sea.
And the Soviet Baltic Sea fleet suffered the ignominy of being caught by the sudden onset of winter - and sank.
The US was active. They announced the beginning of strategic bomber production, and imposed an oil embargo on Japan (which now controls all NEI oil).
BP lost: USSR 39 (15 in Baltic), Japan 4 + 9 opoints, Germany 6, CW 9, Netherlands a lot.
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SEP/OCT '39: Germany takes out Poland, Denmark. CW forces land in N Denmark, isolated by German subs. US occupies Iceland/Greenland. Japan whacks a Chinese cavalry corps.
NOV/DEC '39: Germany destroys British forces in Denmark, conquers Hungary. Japanese commit Rape of Chang Chow. US authorizes Chinese aircraft.
JAN/FEB '40: Rumania joins Axis after Soviets claim Bessarabia; Axis attacks Bulgaria. Japan bloodied in attack; atrocities in Chang Sha. Terrible weather in Europe. US interns French carrier. CW builds up in Egypt.
MAR/APR '40: Italy declares war on France. Germany routs Belgium. Bloody stalemate in south China. More CW units to Egypt.
MAY/JUNE '40: French pushed out of Belgium, lines begin to break. Italians conquer Tunisia. US resources to China. Japanese attacks in China get nowhere.
JUL/AUG '40: German onslaught continues. France collapses, sues for peace. Free France set up in Madagascar; most French possessions are Vichy except Asia, Pacific, Americas map territories. German assault on Sofia fails. Germany invades Norway (turn ends too soon). Japan gains territory east of Chungking. US gives CW destroyers.
SEP/OCT '40: CW reinforces into Norway, Norwegians fend off German assault. Sofia still holds out. Bomber Command hits Germany. Japanese assault in central China goes nowhere. US bans strategic materials to Japan.
NOV/DEC '40: Germans capture Oslo, but British reinforce Norwegian ports. Bulgarians repel another German/Rumanian assault. Japanese push forward in Chinese mountains. US announced Lend Lease for China.
JAN/FEB '41: Gort goes to Norway. Germans streaming into Poland from France. US authorizes resources to USSR. ZERO losses on either side - lots of bad weather.
MAR/APR '41: Minor Japanese advances in China in heavy fighting. Germans FINALLY take Sofia, conquer Bulgaria. Soviets begin to pull out of Poland, reduce troops along Manchurian border. USA freezes Japanese assets.
MAY/JUNE '41: Germany declares war on USSR, takes Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Minsk, Vilnius, Riga (Odessa, Vitebsk hold out). US authorized lend lease to USSR, fleet to Pearl. Stalemate in Norway. No Japanese progress in China.
JUL/AUG '41: Germans bust through the lines, roll into Moscow, capture Rostov, Stavropol, approach Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Japan attacks USSR, takes Vladivostok, Khabarovsk. Germany and Italy declare war on Greece; Axis attack on CW-reinforced Athens fails. CW and Italy STILL not at war. US sends Lexington, Yorktown, battleships to Pearl Harbor.
SEP/OCT '41: Soviets abandon Stalingrad. Germans approach Caucasus; no combat on Russian Front in wet weather. Axis attack on Athens fails, again. British bombers sink Scharnhorst in portl. Japan pulls back from forward positions in China, align Siam. US first gear up.
Posted Sat Sep 27, 2008 4:46 am