Weather Roll = 2; mud in zone C, clear in zones D & E. Atlantic = 2 – calm, Med = 2 – calm.

Axis Player Turn

All units are in supply, but Elba would be U-4/isolated without the delivery of supply steps last turn. Brest is isolated. Germany activated most of the France garrison and called on their General Invasion Alarm and Luftwaffe Alarm (conditional reinforcements).

Germans place as many fighters as possible from their Strat Air Force with naval patrols, the others within staging distance of the Allied beachhead. The intention is to draw off Allied fighters with naval patrols and hit the ports hard. This open display of Axis air power will also probably diminish the amount of harassment flown by the Allies.

Naval Patrols: The Allies don’t like to take chances with code V and M air units and allot multiple interceptors to each. A Fw200 and Ju88 code V are shot down while a Ju88 code S and Me109 are aborted. A missile armed Do217 eludes two fighters and is aborted by AA while a Me410 gets through only to miss the RM TF at 17:0617.

Battle of the Ports: The Luftwaffe is thrown at both Allied minor ports in a series of day and night raids. Heavy fighter escorts cannot prevent carnage wrought by P-47’s and Spitfire IX’s. In the end 6 German bombers and 1 fighter are killed, 8 bombers and 1 fighter aborted. The Allies suffer 2 fighter and 1 night fighter aborted. Several German day bomber units crash attempting night landings. Many Luftwaffe fighters attempt bombing runs, but decide to ditch their bombs when confronted by Allied interceptors. Allied Air Forces show that they now rule the skies over Brittany.

On the Ground: In Italy the German lines are thinned. Germany leaves rear guards, but otherwise abandons the Biscay coast. No counter-attack is mounted in Brittany, where the Germans leave enough troops to prevent a rapid advance. Panzer forces are moved forward to threaten an over ambitious Allied advance. (Given Allied harassment there was not a single German c/m division within reach of Allied troops.)

Allied Player Turn

US replaces 2x 2-1-10 Amphib Tank II, Brits replace 1x 2-3-8 Engineer X and repair the hit to their ENTF. All Allied air units are repaired. The US MTO strat air force is called up. The Allies begin feeding massive amounts of troops into Brittany. The unsupported regiments of four Infantry divisions are airlifted to temp bases built adjacent to the ports of Quimper and St Brieuc, meanwhile LCs deliver the HQs. Ports at Elba and Bari are rebuilt and repaired.

The Allies make a series of attacks at: 17:0817 against 6 DF at 9:1 from three hexes. A 5-6 Inf XX suffers a DE and the cadre retreats to 0816. The Allies take the minor port intact. 17:0919 verses a 2-5* cadre at 7:1 -1 getting a DE. 17:0820 verses a 5-7-6 Inf XX. A DE is rolled at 4:1 +2 and the cadre is killed by ZOC. 17:0920 at 9:1 -1 verses a 1-2-8 SS Police III for another DE. 17:0822 against 4 DF at 9:1 -1 gets a DH and kills the remainder by ZOC (isolated), capturing the port of Quimper. During exloitaion the 2-6 cadre at 17:0816 will be overrun. No DAS, GS or NGS was used in these attacks.

In Italy: US Strat Air carpet-bombs 26:1921 and suffers short bombing. The attack goes in at 7:1 -3. Dice roll is a 5 for DH result, 4th Fallshirmjaeger XX is cadred and retreats, along with 924th Fortress III. During exploitation 2nd NZ Mech XX and a Brit Mot Art X enter the devastated hex.

In the ETO: The Allies now have 4 minor ports worth 60 REs of supply and a port capacity of 12. By the end of April II there are 15 divisions (3 Armored, 9 Infantry, 2 Airborne and 1 Artillery), along with 26 REs of non-divisional units on the continent. However, the allies have yet to capture a city and 4 LCs were damaged unloading cargo. The Germans had 13 AF of unisolated and 2 AF of isolated losses. A significant force of Allied units is embarked on LCs at Plymouth (12:3715), there is an LC at sea in 17:1722 (Yeu) and the equivalent of 2+ Airborne divisions are still in England with a third in the MTO.

Commentary

The Allies can build up fast, very fast. Four minor ports means no worries about becoming isolated, and a significant supply burden is gone so long as the troops stay close to those ports. Brest and another marshalling yard should fall next turn. Germans in France should be able to retreat in good order since few of their units are in Allied ZOC. The Gustav line will need to pull back a bit, and is in need of a few more troops to hold against carpet-bombing. The Germans will start the May 44 2-month replacement cycle with significant numbers of dead and aborted air units.