The weather turns bad as snow hits the entire map. The Entente work hard at preparing their defenses. The French and British reinforce the areas between their armies to defend against the Central Powers offensive. French troops build up their reserves and another line of entrenchments is prepared. The Italians hit the Austrian factory at Triest again.
The Zepplins put two more terror bombing hits on Birmingham – the British player realizes that he will never have a fighter unit outside of London in this game. Army Group C successfully reacts and a ground assault is launched against the French 37 Corps. The artillery (since it is all in divisional form) is not able to participate and the French succeed in reinforcing with two chssr divisions. The air battle is won by the Central Powers, but none of the four tactical Recon missions succeed. The attack goes through for a BX. The French lose 8 morale points while the Germans lose 5.5 morale.
The French exploit two more chssr divisions into the hex.
Total losses were 18 French Metropolitan, 7 French African, 5 French Colonial Manpower and 26 Equipment Points. The Central Powers lost 42 German Manpower and 10 Equipment Points.
Tom: Once again, those ***** German divisions can absorb his losses with losing the morale. This will be scary, particularly when he gets to try out Arthur’s newest ruling on bombardment disruptions (where you can place a second disruption on a unit and destroy/cadre/remnant it). With all of that nasty artillery he has it will probably be very deadly.
The Central Powers are able to rebuild their cadres from the battle while the French are only able to rebuild three of their six divisions. Zepplins hit Birmingham for another terror bombardment. The air battle over the French 37 Corps results in the elimination of a Fok E1 and a Nie 11! Offensive bombardment disrupts three divisions and a cadre while also eliminating two cadres. The effectiveness was truly helped by great die rolls by Carl. Defensive bombardments are now fired by the defending troops to either side of the French 37 Corps. The defensive bombardment disrupts a MG X. The attack now hits and results in a 9:1 with no DRMs. The DD result hits the French hard and the German 17 Corps takes the hex! French morale is now at 46.5 and sinking fast.
The French army is frozen by fear (no reaction rolls made for any French army HQs!) but the British react and build up a reserve corps to send in aid.
The Central Powers have lost nothing while the Entente has lost 15 French Colonial, 7 French African, 5 French Metropolitan Manpower and 22 Equipment Points.
Carl: One hex down, another 5 hexes to Paris! Only 46.5 morale points for the French to lose. A few more turns like this one (where France has lost 17 morale points) and the French will be at NW 0 for the first time. I will have to make hay and hit the French hard while they are at 0 in order to get them to surrender. I will be giving the NW edge to Britain soon because the Germans are close to going down to NW of 3. I have probably ignored the British too much during the game but the French have really been worn down.
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