Allied Turn

With a weather roll of ‘4’ clouds roll in and mud prevails in Zone D, while Zone E remains clear. The Mediterranean Sea remains calm. Realizing the Allies have arrived as liberators, Vichy France rolls to join the Allies. The alternative of trying to remain neutral and have German Pz XX’s overrun them was unappealing. French North Africa then joins the Allied side.

In Egypt the British rebuild both the 50th and 51st XX’s, replace the 23rd Arm X, and replace an A-30. Arriving at Suez with no movement left are the 56th Inf HQ, 2x Inf X’s, a MG X, and a Par II from GB, and 3x AA II’s from the Near East. The British use the British 5th, 50th, 51st XX’s, the Australian 9th XX, the NZ 2nd XX, and the SA 1st XX to attack the small Italian 17th Inf XX. They use the 7th and 10th Armor Divisions, the 4th and 23rd Armor Brigades, a mot AA X, and a Recon II to attack the German 164th Inf XX. Finally they use the 1st and 8th Armor Divisions, the 24th Armor Brigade, and 4x Recon II’s to attack the Italian 185th Para-Inf XX. The first 2 attacks result in DE’s, the third attack results in a DR, but now isolated the Italian Para-Inf XX is eliminated. The British use 2 Arm XX’s, an Arm X, and 2x Recon II’s to overrun the German 164th Cadre at 8:1 odds. The remaining 2 Arm XX’s exploit past Matruh and adjacent to the Italian 102nd Mot XX.

The Allies move its reserve force towards Corsica. The Italian naval patrol stack at Cagliari attempts to intercept at its maximum range of 20, and fails. The reserve force moving the last 2 sea boxes at night arrives and enters the now friendly port of Ajaccio. It disembarks a US 3-8 Inf III and the 34th Inf HQ. They both advance to Bastia, while the French Mtn II in Bastia retreats to Ajaccio.

Disembarking at Port de Bouc are 2x US Arm III’s, 2x US Arm HQ’s, 2x Inf HQ’s, and 2 c/m ants. Disembarking at Sete are a British Inf HQ, a British AA brigade, a US Inf HQ, a US AA regiment, and 2 resource pts. The Allied player moves 3x US Inf III’s and an Inf HQ to Nice, 3x US Inf III’s into the French fortress just north of Nice, the entire US 1st Inf XX and 2x Arm III’s up the Rhone river to Valence, and the entire British 78th Inf XX northwest to Carcassonne. French units drift south towards the widely separated Allied line, except 1 division holes up in the intermittent lake hex north of Lyon while a French division and cavalry brigade stay in Lyon itself. The Allies make no attacks in France, and very little exploitation.

The Allied player transfers 4x British Spit V’s from Gibraltar, thru French North Africa airfields up to Lyon, joining 2x French D.520’s. He transfers 4x US Spit V’s from Gibraltar to Nice and 2x US P-40F’s to Corsica. He then tries transferring 3x US P-38’s from GB to southern France. The Germans patrol attack with 2x Fw190’s west of Rouen, and return a P-38. The other 2 arrive at Nice. He then transfer 3x British P-51’s along the same route to Toulon. The Allies make an airfield attack on the 2 German fighter groups at Abbeville using 2x Spit IX’s, and in the ensuing air combat abort a Fw190. The way now clear, the Allied player attempts 3 rail breaking missions using combinations of long range fighters and bombers on the rail lines running south out of Paris, but they all miss. The Allied player transfers 2x Bftr’s, 2x Msqto’s, and a Canadian P-51 from GB to Marseille. Finally the Allied player transfers a Bftr from Egypt thru Malta to Marseille.

SF42 1942 Nov I Allied Turn Situation map

Situation on the ETO in the SF42 game. Allied positions after the Allied Nov I 42 regular turn

Axis Turn

The Axis player does not attempt to sail any German nor Italian RP’s to North Africa, hoarding them for the West instead. The Italians receiving their full allotment of 4.25 Inf RP’s and 2 Arm RP’s per SF. The Germans spend 3 ARP’s to replace a Ju88 and repair a Ju88 in North Africa.

The Italians do sail a heavily escorted convoy of 4 NT’s to Tobruk (using 3 Naval Steps), embark the Italian 80th Air Lndg XX and an Aslt Eng II (using 1 Naval Step), and get almost back to Italy (using 2 Naval Steps) before the end of the Movement Phase. British anti-shipping groups, based in the delta, are too far away to attempt contact. The Italians spend 1 of their 2 resource pts to shift their 3 modern battleships, a CA, and a CL from Taranto to Napoli as obviously any Allied naval threat will come from the west. The Axis player looks at Corsica but does not have the amphibious assets to make an opposed landing. Instead using 3x NT escorted by a single DD flotilla, he transports the 20th Inf XX to La Maddalena on Sardinia to strengthen that island’s defenses.

In North Africa the Italian 102nd Mot XX, leaving a ZOC, just manages to cross the Libyan border with its movement. All other Axis c/m units race toward El Agheila using admin movement, while 3 small Italian divisions reach Bengazi, hopeful of evacuation. With exploitation the 102nd Mot XX reaches Gazala, 13 hexes behind nearest retreating Axis stack.

In northern Italy the Axis player fills up the hex adjacent to Nice, but can only achieve 1:1, -2 odds against this partial major city hex. He looks at an attack from 2 hexes against the French fortress northeast of Nice, but gets even worse odds. He pushes a 3-8 Inf XX and a 4-8 Alp XX towards Gap, but the way is blocked by a French 3-8* Mtn XX. Success only comes in the northwest corner of Italy where the Italian advance unopposed into Savoy, a province they historically claimed.

The Axis player transfers the 2x Ju88’s from North Africa and 2x He111H6’s from Sicily to the 3-cap permanent airfield on the minor city of Sassari in the northwest corner of Sardinia, and transfers the Italian naval patrol stack at Cagliari to Genova. In their place the Axis player moves 2x Ju88’s from Sicily to Cagliari and 2x Ju88 just arriving to Trapani. The Axis player bases arriving German airborne units and transports at Palermo.

In France the 3x Pz XX’s in Paris rail south, but are blocked by the small French division in the intermittent lake hex north of Lyon. The 10th Pz XX railing down from Nantes and non-c/m forces starting from the Bordeaux area are blocked by a French 1-8 Cav X parked in a loop created by the Garonne and Lot Rivers 4 hexes southeast of Bordeaux. A single Pz III admins from Paris down toward Clermont. The Axis player shuffles Res XX’s down the west coast of France to replace the divisions advancing towards Toulouse, but can not weaken the English Channel coastal defenses too much, knowing the Allied invasion threat will only increase.

The Axis eliminate both the Cav X northwest of Toulouse and the small French Inf XX in the intermittent lake hex, and exploit the 10th Pz XX to Toulouse and the 6th, 7th, and 26th Pz XX’s down around Lyon. The Pz III occupies Clermont, into which 3x Fw190’s are transferred. The Axis player also transfers 2x Ju88, including a code-S, and a Fw190 from northern France to Toulouse.