Allied Turn

The weather roll was a ‘6’ for snow in zone D, mud in zone E, and rough sea in the Mediterranean. The hypothetical Jan – Jun 43 column on the SF Allied Replacement Chart has US: 1 NRP, 6x Inf RP’s, 6x Arm RP’s, 4x Res pts; Br: 2 NRP’s, 6x Inf RP’s, 4x Arm RP’s, 4x Res Pts; Can: 1x Inf RP; Ind: .5x RP. The British replace an AA X from the Mid East Replacement Pool, and rebuild the 6th Arm cadre to full strength in southern France. Also in southern France the US replaces 2 artillery units and the French replace a small Inf XX. A permanent airfield is completed at Toulon, but it is not nearly enough for the Allied air groups flooding into the MTO. Many bombers get parked on the 12-cap airfield at Gibraltar.

The supported components of the British 42nd Arm XX and the 3th Mixed XX, 2x US AA III’s joined by the CCC of the 2nd US Arm XX, 2x Inf III’s, and a c/m ant sailing from the US appear in a vast convoy just north of Mallorca. After 2 sea boxes in daylight and then 2 sea boxes at night, the convoy finds itself in hex 17A:4916 at dawn. From 12 hexes away the naval patrol stack at Toulouse makes contact and flies in 2x Ju88’s, which are intercepted by 4x P-51’s. A Ju88 is killed and another is aborted for an intercepting P-51 aborted. From 17 hexes away the naval patrol stack at Sassari fails to make contact. The Italian naval patrol stack at Genova declines to make an attempt.

Realizing they will soon be withdrawn, the Aus 9th XX and SA 1st XX turn around at head back towards Egypt along with a couple of Recon II’s. This reduces the British chase group to 4x Arm XX’s and 6x Inf XX’s. The 3x Arm XX’s at the head of the chase are stopped by a roadblock of 3x Italian garrison units at Homs. They attack at 10:1, + 2 and advance into the hex on a DE. The British exploit thru Tripoli, historically occupied on January 23rd, but are blocked by 2x garrison units in the swamp hex southeast of Zaura.

In French North Africa the French move an Inf XX from Tebessa down to put the Italian 133rd Arm cadre in a ZOC, and edge other stacks of French units eastward up to the Tunisia border, and across the border northeast of Le Kef. Staging thru Alger and Constantine the Allies fly 8 bomber groups (6 of them heavies) on a port bombing mission against Tunis during the exploitation phase. The 3 Axis fighters at Tunis intercept and return a bomber at the expense of a fighter being aborted. The bombers score 4 hits on the major port of Tunis.

In southern France the Allies pull back into a straight line reducing the perimeter to just 13 hexes long, including 7 mountain hexes, a major city hex, and a swamp hex. The Allied defense line includes 4x Arm XX’s 2x Mixed XX’s, 4x Inf XX’s, and 6x small French XX’s.

At the start of the exploitation phase a British TF including the battleships Nelson and Rodney, the fleet carrier Formidable, a CA, 2x CL’s, and 4x DD’s depart Gibraltar and reach Alger 9 sea-boxes away in 1 naval step. They stay at Alger for 2 naval steps. They stay in Alger for the first 12 hours of the final naval step of the exploitation phase and then move along the coast of Algeria for 3 sea-boxes in daylight. Realizing what they are doing the Axis player attempts a naval patrol contact in the last hex of the third sea-box from 16 hexes away in Cagliari. The contact attempt fails and the British continue their move for 3 sea-boxes at night, ending 1 hex offshore 5 hexes west of Bizerte. The Axis player transfers a Ju88, a Z.1007, and a Ju88C heavy fighter to Cagliari joining 3x Ju88’s already there. He also transfers a Fw190 and a Me109 from Sicily to Tunis, and 3x Fw190’s and a Me109 from southern France to Trapani. The 4 transport groups at Palermo are transferred to Catania.

In GB the Allies load up 2x Canadian XX’s, 2x large Canadian Art X’s, and 2x AA X’s, and ship them out towards the MTO.

SF 42 1943 JanI Axis Turn situation map

Situation on the West front after the SF 42 1943 JanI Axis turn during the SF42 game

Axis Turn

The hypothetical Jan-Jun 43 column on the SF German Replacement Chart for the SF Total has: .5 NRP, 6x Inf RP’s, 6x Arm RP’s, 12x Res pts. This allocation assumes that the SE Replacement Chart has only 12x Inf RP’s (not 15) for the Jan-Jun 43 period, which is a reasonable reduction if the Allies have landed in France. The SF Italian Replacement Chart is used as is. German reinforcements in Europa are a Rkt III, a Cmdo II, and 2x Pos AA. The Italians receive an AA III. The Germans rebuild the 7th Pz XX in southern France. They replace an Art III from the North Africa Replacement Pool at Tunis. They then spend another 2x Inf RP’s to convert it into 2 artillery units. They also replace a mot Inf III at Tunis. The Italians replace a Para III at Tunis. Before the end of the Axis Initial Phase the Allies stage in 4x Spit V’s, 3x D.520’s, a P-40F, 3x P-38F’s, and a P-38G and fly them as CAP over the British TF off the coast of Tunisia in anticipation of heavy naval patrol attacks.

Those naval patrol attacks start with the stack at Sassari succeeding on its contact attempt from 16 hexes away. The Allies drop 6 fighter groups out of CAP to intercept the 4 bomber groups, doubling up on the 2x code-V’s. The Allies kill a Ju88 and a He111, abort a Ju88, and return a He111. The Allies decline to fly a mission, so the stack at Cagliari attempts contact and succeeds. The Allies drop the final 6 fighter groups out of CAP to intercept these 5 bomber groups and an escorting Ju88C. The P-38G and Ju88C miss each other. The 5 Allied fighter groups kill a Ju88 and return 3x Ju88’s without loss to themselves. The British TF opens AA fire with 3 ships against the surviving Italian Z.1007, and aborts it. This time the Allies stage 2x Bftr’s from Marseille to North Africa and into a CAP over the British TF. The naval patrol stack of 3x Ju88’s at Marsala attempts contact from 16 hexes away and fails.

The Italians spend a resource pt and sortie their fleet at Napoli with the Littorio, Veneto, and Roma, a CA, a CL, and 2x DD’s. It moves 4 sea boxes in daylight to a sea box northwest of Trapani. A code-V Bftr at Valetta attempts naval patrol contact, and fails. The British TF off Tunisia attempts naval reaction contact, and fails. Also moving in this first naval step are a CL, 2x DD’s, and 10x NT’s from Palermo, which sail 2 sea boxes in daylight to rendezvous with the TF from Napoli. Now moving at the much slower speed of the NT’s, the convoy sails 2 sea boxes at night and enters Tunis, where it embarks the supported components of the 131st Arm XX, a mot Art III, and a mot Inf III, during the 2nd naval step. This uses up the damaged port’s capacity of 8. These c/m units spend 2 MP’s for the first naval step and another 2 MP’s for embarking. The convoy sails from Tunis for 2 sea boxes at night, and at dawn enters a sea box 3 hexes off the western tip of Sicily. The British TF attempts contact again, and succeeds.

During the British TF’s reaction move, the Formidable once within range flies off its TBF. The code-V TBF has its bombing strength doubled to 6 and halved for rough seas back down to 3. The code-V torpedo bombers may target specific capital ships. It targets each of the Italian BC’s [modern battleships] and misses twice but scores 1 hit on the Roma. The British TF reacts into a hex adjacent to this large Italian convoy, meaning the first gunnery round will be at long range. Due to rough sea halving their naval combat strength the 2 British and 2 Italian capital ships will fire using the 3 column. The damaged Roma, and the CA’s on each side will fire on the 2 column. The British ships all fire [with a +1 DRM due to superior gunnery radars] at the Roma and score 3 hits. The 2 undamaged Italian battleships fire at the Nelson and Rodney, and score a hit on each. The Roma and the Italian CA miss.

Faster than the older British battleships, the undamaged Italian BC’s, the CA, and a DD disengage and return to Napoli. The closing British TF enters the same hex as the convoy, defended by the damaged Roma [only able to move at the same speed as NT’s], 2x CL’s, and 3x DD’s. The Nelson and Rodney each score a hit on the Roma and sink it. The British CA, 2x CL’s, and 3x DD’s score 3 hits on the NT’s. Randomly selected they hit NT’s transporting the German 4-3-8 mot Art III and 3-10 Mot III and the Italian 2-10* Mot III sending those units to the bottom (South Theater Replacement Pool). An Italian CL scores a hit on the British CA, but the rest of the convoy escort misses. For the final round the Nelson and Rodney fire at an Italian CL and score 2 hits reducing it to a half strength CL [can not be repaired, can be combined with another half strength CL]. The Italian 2x CL’s and 3x DD’s all miss. The British score 4 hits on the NT’s, 3 of them now empty, and 1 transporting the Italian 4-3-8 Arm* III. The Italian escorts rescue 1.75 German special replacements and 1.2 Italian special replacements from the warm Mediterranean and escape back to Palermo.

Of the Axis units remaining in North Africa the little Italian Inf XX makes it to Sfax, the 21st Pz XX gets within 1 hex of Sousse, the 133rd Arm cadre gets to within 3 hexes of Kairouan, the 90th Mot XX gets to within 2 hexes of Tunis, and the 132nd Arm XX and 15th Pz cadre get to Tunis itself. There is no thought of another evacuation convoy this turn with the lightly damaged British TF sitting off the western tip of Sicily. A Ju52 transports the Italian Para III from Tunis to Palermo. During exploitation the Axis fall into a straight defense line 4 hexes long starting in Tunis and ending 1 hex in front of Bizerte. The 133rd Arm cadre and a small mot Art III can only reach Enfidaville.

In Italy there is little movement as the Italians are content with the 6x XX’s and 7x RE’s now on the French side of their border. The Italian are still not willing to risk an attack on Nice with only a 1/6 chance of a DR.

In southern France the 4x Pz XX’s and assorted c/m RE’s mount an attack on the British Guards Arm XX and the newly arrived 42nd Arm XX at 4:1, -4. The 50% chance of an AR is meaningless when all the attackers are c/m. The Allies fly in 2x A-20’s as DAS, but the fearsome German AA aborts 1 and returns 1. On a roll of ‘5’ the Germans get an EX. The 2 British Arm XX’s are reduced to cadres, and 3x US ants are eliminated. The Germans reduce the unlucky 7th Pz XX again, and eliminate an Art III. During exploitation the Germans advance a 25-pt stack into the clear hex they had just won, leaving a 17-pt stack in the hex on the south side of the Durance west of Avignon, a 15-pt stack in Avignon, and a 16-pt stack in the rough terrain east of Avignon.