Allied Turn

The weather roll is a ‘5’ for winter in zone D, mud in zone E, and rough seas. The permanent airfield at Toulon upgrades to 6 capacity. The British rebuild their 42nd Arm XX to full strength. The French replace 2 of their little 1-8 mot Inf III’s. In North Africa the Australian 9th Inf XX, a Recon II, and 4 unused RP’s are withdrawn, and 2x Free French X’s are converted to a forming division. The British repair 2 air groups. In GB the Canadian 5th Arm XX is upgraded to a 8-7-10 Arm XX. Before the end of the Initial Phase the Allies fly 3x Spit V’s and 2x D.520 into a CAP over the TF off the coast of Tunisia.

At the start of the Movement Phase the naval patrol stack at Cagliari attempts contact from 11 hexes away, and succeeds. The Axis send 5 bomber groups and a Ju88C as escort. The Seafire aboard the Formidable joins the 5 fighter groups dropping out of CAP. A Ju88A is killed, the Ju88C, a Ju88A, and a He111 are aborted for a Spit V aborted. The TF’s AA misses. The Ju88A misses, but the code-S He111 scores a hit on King George V. The Allies refill the CAP with 4 more fighters. The naval patrol stack at Marsala from 16 hexes away attempts contact, and succeeds. A Ju88A and a He111 are aborted, but a Ju88A avoids AA and scores another hit on the King George V. The British TF, alternating night and day sails back to Gibraltar, where King George V sails back to GB for repairs that will take 4 turns. The British send the modern battleship Duke of York to take its place.

The supported components of the British 1st Inf XX, 3x AA X’s, and an AA III rendezvous just north of Mallorca with a convoy from the US with an AA III, an Eng III, and 4x c/m ants. After 2 sea boxes in daylight and then 2 sea boxes at night, the convoy finds itself in hex 17A:4916 at dawn. From 16 hexes away in Lyon the only bomber in southern France attempts contact and fails. The Italian naval patrol stack at Genova declines to make an attempt, and the convoy arrives safely.

In Tunisia the 4x British Arm XX’s close to within a hex of Tunis, while their 6x Inf XX’s are strung out along the road around Sfax. The French advance to within 3 hexes of the northern end of the Axis line. During exploitation the British envelope the Axis defense line (average defense strength 9.5) with a stronger line (average defense strength 10.8) that also has full ATEC. The Allies fly in 5 heavies to bomb the port of Tunis. The Axis intercept with 5 fighter groups. The Allies have 3 aborted for a defending fighter killed and another aborted. The Allies score 1 hit reducing port capacity to 5.

In southern France the Allies once again build their strongest possible stacks around the German penetration with stacks of 31 pts on either side (both half ATEC) and stacks of 17 pts (both full ATEC) along the bottom of the penetration.

In GB the Allies load up 4x Art X’s, 2x Eng X’s, and 4x c/m ants and ship them out to the MTO. At the same time the British TF sails from Gibraltar, and reaches the same spot off the coast of Tunisia where it can intercept any evacuation attempts by the Axis.

Axis Turn

The Axis reinforcements in Europe this turn include a small German Inf III and an Italian AA III. The Germans rebuild the 7th Pz XX to full strength. The Italians replace the 31st Arm III at Palermo, making the 131st Arm XX whole again. Although the Italians think about rebuilding some of the units in the North Africa Replacement Pool, especially the many 2-3-6 Art III’s, it is too dangerous to try to ship RP’s past the British blockade. The Germans repair 9 aborted air groups, mostly bombers which they use to restock Cagliari and Marsala. The Germans start quick construction of 3 more forts along the English Channel. Before the end of the Axis Initial Phase the Allies fly in a CAP of 5 fighter groups over the British TF off the coast of Tunisia.

The Axis player decides against any naval patrol attempts, having lost too many air groups. It would cost 16 ARP’s to replace and repair all the German air groups in the various killed and aborted boxes, and they only have 2 ARP’s left. The Axis player look at an attack in Tunisia, but the best they can achieve is a 4:1, -7, where the only possible result is an AR.

In southern France the Germans look at attacking but the best they can do is a 2:1, -2. With an AE and an AH possible, the Germans decline to make an attack. Instead they strengthen the defense at Sete and the 2 minor port along the south coast of France, and start sending minor non-c/m units north fearing they are only 4 turns away from an Allied landing on the north coast of France.