Allied Turn

The US rebuilds the 45th Inf XX, and the British finally upgrade their 7th Arm XX. The Allies again spend 12 resource pts to increase the French rail cap to 21 RE’s. In GB the Allies load up an Art [xx], an Arm X, an Inf X, 2x Arm II’s, and 2x TC’s for transport to the Med during the turn.

Using the US 1st and 9th Inf XX’s, the British 52nd Mtn XX, the French 3rd Mtn XX, and 4x French Mtn III’s the Allies line up for an attack on an Italian stack just southeast of Grenoble. They fly in a CAP of 6 fighter groups, and then during the combat phase fly in 10 air groups on GS missions, which 4 of the CAP fighters escort. The Italians stay on the ground. The Italian AA of 1 aborts a bomber group and returns another. At 6:1, -2 the Allies roll a ‘6’ for a DE. An Italian Alpine XX is reduced and the rest of the Italians go into the replacement pool. The British and French Mtn XX’s advance into the hex.

The Allies can find no decent attacks against the German wall across the Rhone valley, and instead build up 35-pt and 31-pt stacks on the south bank of the Isere River. On the west bank of the Rhone is another 35-pt stack. Along the southern edge of the Massif Central the Allies have a row of stacks that average more than 20 pts in defense strength, and the Allies still cling on to the mountain hex southeast of the town of Millau.

The British 7th, 11th, and 42nd Arm XX, along with the US 2nd Arm XX move in for an attack against a German 14-pt stack just northwest of Sete. The Allies fly in a CAP of 10 fighter groups, and then in the combat phase fly in 14 air groups on GS missions, which half the CAP escorts. With most of their fighters sitting in St.Etienne, Lyon, and Grenoble to defend the Rhone valley, the small stack of German air groups at Toulouse stays on the ground. The German AA of 2 manages to abort 3 air groups and return another. At odds of 7:1, + 2 the Allies roll a ‘1’ for a DE. A German 5-7-6 Inf XX is reduced to a cadre and smartly retreats behind the 16th Pz to give it an escape route. The 26th Pz cadre and an AA ant are eliminated. The Allies advance a 39-pt stack into this hex.

In the final attack the Canadian 5th Arm XX, British Guards Arm XX, the British 15th and 53rd Mixed XX’s, the British 1st Abn XX, and 3x British Inf XX’s mass for an attack on the German 16th Pz XX in their relentless campaign of attrition against German c/m XX’s. The Allies fly in a CAP of 10 fighter groups, and then in the combat phase fly in 16 air groups on GS missions, which half the CAP escorts. The German AA of 3 could only return 2 of the GS groups, leaving odds of 10:1, -2. The Allies roll a ‘4’ for a DE. The 16th Pz XX is reduced to a cadre and retreats thru Allied ZOC’s into the hex that the Inf cadre retreated into. The Allies advance a 35-pt stack into this hex.

The Allies are now defending a perimeter 24 hexes long with a average defense strength of 23.7 pts.

Axis Turn

Due to the situation in France the German 113rd Inf XX is not transferred east. Note that the North, Greater Germany, and Southeast Theaters are treated as rigid garrisons with the Axis player having no control over what transfers into or out of those theaters, but units in the West and South Theaters that transfer east can instead be retained in those theaters. The Germans rebuild an Inf XX and replace a PzG X, but are able to reorganize only 1 more Inf XX.

The Italians pull out of Grenoble into the mountain hex to the northeast. The Germans are now defending 3 hexes along the north bank of the Isere with a 23-pt stack, a 19-pt stack, and a 15-pt stack 2 hexes north of Grenoble. They still have the same 21-pt stack, topped by the 6th Pz XX, defending along the west side of the Rhone River. The Germans were able to substitute in reorganized 5-7-6 Inf XX’s for the 5-6 Inf XX’s that had been defending the mountain hexes along the southern edge of the Massif Central. The Germans are still weakest along the western side of their perimeter. The 6 hexes starting in the town of Millau down to the sea have an average defense strength of only 11.7 pts. They do have the makings of a second defense line, but it has gaps.