C, C
Axis Player Turn
In Italy all surviving units are now “secure” behind the Po and Adige Rivers. Despite this, more forts are constructed behind the Piave River. Hitler declares there will forever be a part of Italy that is German! But then he was a nutter. Cossack cavalry enters the Vosges region of France accompanied by SS Mountain and OKW light units. Around the Flanders beachhead units are shuffled to try and maintain the line while some are slipped off to man the Seine and Marne lines. Two hexes are abandoned to avoid three stack US attacks. The beachhead grows…..
Allied Player Turn
“The Breakout”
In Italy the allies make an effort to break the Po Line. the Luftwaffe is slaughtered trying to prevent the massive allied air offensive. Flooding of the canal intensive hexes fails miserably, obviously due to the height of summer being upon the region (rolled unsuccessfully for all hexes). South east of Rovgio a US attack goes in and despite rolling a DR, the thoughtful positioning of SS Political Police just behind the trenches turns the battle into a blood bath and wipes out the defenders for the cost of a few thousand easily replaced US infantry. North east of Ferrara defensive AA aborts 5 out of 6 GS aircraft and causes the attack to fail (AS). At Legnago the Poles are crippled in a brutal EX roll which cadres two German C/M units.
The line holds, but it is battered and smoking, with a nasty gap near Rovigo.
In France around Dijon, the British advance has sucked most of the German motorised and mechanised units towards it. Three British Corps attack the 9th Pz XX and cripple it with a DH result. North and South of Dijon, French and British units attack two SS corps in concentric attacks with lots of GS flown overhead. Both stacks are surrounded and destroyed for HX results. Berlin explodes in fury and spins about on the bunker floor and blames the bolshevik-jewish alliance for providing loaded dice. The 1st SSF slides through the gaps to enter the mountains north of Besancon. West of Beavais, Canadian and British infantry polish off a weak Corp again courtesy of SS Political Police turning a DR into an EX. Hitler orders that all Political Police be round and shot. They spend the next few weeks arresting one another before Goering intervenes and stop the silliness. in the Bordeuax region, the Portuguese and Guards Corp finish off an isolated German Corp in Areachon.
Around the beachhead, the US Army gets serious and batters the defenders. North east of Lille two US Corps attack some paratroopers, infantry and a Panzer cadre rolling a DH on them. At Arras, despite AA beating off a third of the GS aircraft, the defenders are bounced out for a HX result while west of the town the Germans are pushed back with a DR to the Somme (despite two thirds of GS aircraft being beaten off – a curse on AA!). A 32 mile gap is blown in the line and the US Tank crews start salivating at the thought of the upcoming exploitation phase…..
Exploitation: “The Charge”
In Italy the 2nd Armored, 34th Motorised Infantry and an AA regiment overrun a cadre of Croatians and push into Padova, breaching the second line of the Po network. Millions of Reichmarks of fortifications are made redundant.
In France, French and British Motorised and Mechanised units sprint into Nancy while a British Corp pushes in to liberate Luxembourg. Out of the beachhead the US Army pushes into Valenciennes and onto the outskirts of Brussels.
The German line is in tatters and suddenly the units around Paris and the Seine are looking isolated from the rest of the Fatherland. The borders of Germany lie open from Luxembourg to Strasburg and those units that could make a difference are caught behind the spreading tentacles of the US Army in Flanders.
Time to call out the Hitler Youth……..