Weather roll is a 4, clear everywhere. Atlantic and Med roll calm seas.
Axis Player Turn
Germans repair 2 killed and 10 aborted air units, all but 1 are bombers. 3x Ju88A4 remain in the Elim pool. Many are place in Paris where they can reach Allied ports. The air-launched V-1 unit is aborted, but drew 3x NF. Eleven Luftwaffe bombers raid St Malo and Grainville at night. They meet 3x NF and ineffective flak, net losses 1 Ju88 aborted. Grainville takes 1 hit, St Malo 4. 5 of 6 day units crash land (very bad dice). All available Pz XX move to a line in front of the Seine while an Infantry XX seals itself inside fortress Cherbourg. Hopefully this display of force will buy a little time at no great cost.
Allied Player Turn
French MR 10 is liberated and will produce replacements beginning Dec I 44. (Meanwhile the 1/2 Metropolitan Inf RP from the MTO goes away.) Several units come out of garrison in N Africa, Corsica and Britain. The first 4 rail cap are built in France.
Partisans take out the Do217 at Dijon in a bold attack. Strat air roll is a 2 for a +1.US replaces a 2-3-10 Mot Eng, Brits replace their 5-3-6 Aslt Eng Tk X and the 5-10* Czech Tank X, all are placed in Nantes. P-47’s bomb out the FW190 at Bordeaux and are immediately followed by an airdrop at 17:2723 by 2x US 3-5 Airborne Regts. Three Allied TF duel with CDs at 17:2521 and 2522, silence the CDs and suffer no damage. A Ju88 code V was shot down trying to attack the TF. The abandoned port of Caen is destroyed during Allied movement, Lorient falls to a 5:1 and the port there is also destroyed.
A DR at 17:1008 takes the minor port of Deauville intact. In a series of assaults US 1st Army takes the row of bocage running 1008-1410 inflicting 16 DF (12 AF) in losses with one EX cadring 4th Inf XX. Elsewhere British 53rd Inf XX takes the minor port of Blaye while US Paras take Pauliac, covering both sides of the Garonne estuary north of Bordeaux. Comments: By the end of May 44 the Allies have advanced to a line running from the east at Deauville (17:1008) to Tours (17:2110) then around to Poiters (17:2316). Axis forces still hold Bordeaux and port forts at Cherbourg, Rochefort and La Rochelle.
The British are being very cautious about casualties. Allied air cover is not keeping up with the ground advance in France, thus far only a few airbases are available on the continent. MR’s 4, 9 and 11 are set to be liberated Jun I 44 and the Allies are only 7 hexes from Paris along a wide front. Supply in central France will be a real issue for the Allies until their Jul I turn when the rail net comes up. The Allies continue to knock out rail lines in the Strasbourg area only to see a mass of German engineers repair the breaks. German rail nets anywhere near the front have been pounded into oblivion with no effort being made (or possible) to fix them. Many allied planes sit on the ground due to lack of targets within range.
Leave a Reply