Fall 43

[joegrundman]

Battle of the Atlantic

The Happy Times are truly over for the U-boats, but the Atlantic is still far from safe for the allies. But every passing month more and more of the advantages pass to the allies

Furtehr improvements on ASW yield yet another mod.

German mods total= 12
NDRM 4
U-boat ULTRA card 1
torpedoes 4
french ports 2
US at war 1

Allied mods=11
NDRM 3
ASW ULTRA card 1
ASW 4
Air range 2
CVEs 1

Net mod +1 Germany

Germany has 13 U-boats against 17 ASW

germany rolls 12! ouch! A devastating resurgence as new tactics begin to offset the allied advantages = 3/9

Allies roll 10 mod 9! a 4/9 result. 4 U-boats are sunk, only 1 extra transport sunk for the mod

total transport losses 4 destroyed, 9 damaged

16 transports remain in the atlantic

Japanese I-boats in the pacific get a bit of a poundingg

2 I boats against 1 ASW

Japan
NDRM 3
Sub card 1
air range 1
torps 1
Noumea 1
total 7

Allies
NDRM 3
Air range 2
ASW 4
total 9

net mod -2 Japan, +2 allies

Japan rolls 9 mod 7. 1 transport damaged
US rolls 10 mod 12 1 I-boat sunk, the other prevented from doing further damage

[joegrundman]

Sorry about the delay, i've had to reinstall windows

Japanese supply to Darwin protected by 2 AAF is attacked by 4 allied AAF.

All convert to AAS for this

There are two combat hexes. The allies have an ADRM breakthrough so the levels are equal at 3

4 allied AAS vs 2 jap aas
allies roll 6, 1/3, japan rolls 4, 1/0

3 allied AAS attack the convoy rolling a 4! 1 hit the convoy is scattered and destroyed by a squadron of B25s!

The Darwin garrison is isolated

[joegrundman]

Naval skirmish in Coral Sea

A somewhat confused rencounter turned into something bigger as small forces got quickly reinforced with much larger forces

There is only 1 CG bigger than 10 factors on each side, so 1 die each

Japan 1
US 3


The American long guns fire a great salvo on the Japanese

13 factors fire rolling a 7, 3 hits! A CA2 is sunk, another damaged

The Japanese 8 factors roll 8, 2 hits, sinking an American CA2.

The Japanese promptly withdraw from battle and abandon the invasion of Suva

Japanese Raid the Pacifc

Three Kongo class BC3s raid the Pacific

Raider roll= 2=a CA2 and a BB5 (not available) engage, so it's just a CA2

the Japanese roll 8, 2hits, sinking the CA2

the raiders second encounter rolls a 5

a CA2, a BB5, a random ship, a CA2, aa BB5 engage (BB5s not available), all available - CA4 + BB2 Guam

All the Japanese fight the Guam rolling a 7. Alas the underpowered Guam is overwhelmed and sinks, the return fire gets a 7, scoring only 1 hit, not damaging the Japanese battleships

[joegrundman]

Spain

The germans attempt a high risk assault to improve the dfenses in spain by attacking the British armor at U14

there is no ground support sent from either side so it's 10:4

Germany rolls a 6 and takes it with no loss, restoring limited supply to a 4o6 near Madrid

Russia

The Great Retreat




The startled German commanders orders a massive evacuation of Eastern front positions, including the abandonment of Leningrad and Rostov, to set up a new defensive line behind the Dnieper and Drina rivers, keenly aware as they are that the Russian counterattack risks enveloping the main german army in what would be the Rostov kessel

[joegrundman]

Attrition

Japan attritions communist china, 1-10 factors , rolls 5, 1 loss
Japan vs nationalist china, 21+ factors, +1 mod , rolls 6! 4 counters lost
Germany versus Russia 31 factors, -1 mod rolls 4
Germany versus allies in spain, 17 factors, 0 mod rolls 2, 1 counter

[joegrundman]

construction

Japan launches 3 carriers and acclerates development of BB4 Tsushima

Carriers launched

CV3 Amagi, CV3 Unryu, CVL2 Ryuho

The Germans force through all the rebuilding they can to reboost there army and continue a frantic redeployment further west in Russia, abandoning certain units that couldn't disengage to a merry future in the gulag. Such was the devastating effect of Zhukov's Operation Saturn

[joegrundman]

Operation Saturn continues




The Red Army after liberating Rostov, Smolensk and Kharkov makes a renewed attack on the German positions near the northern Pripet marshes, where intelligence reported a weakness in the German line





Air Battles rage as Red Air Force provide air cover for ground support

3 GErman AAF +1 vs 3 Red AAF-1
germany rolls 7 mod 8, a 1/3
russia rolls 8 mod 7, a 1/2

all german defense ground support fended off

J41, defense 12 attacked by two 5o6, a 3-3, a 4o6, 7 AAF=24:12=2:1 rolls a 4, no losses to Russia

A second attack is made on the armor unit at L40, at 2:1. An air battle rages overhead as 6 Red AAF engage 4 German AAF

Germans at +1 roll 7 mod 8, a 2/2 result
Russians roll 9 mod 8, a 3/4 result

the ground attack rolls 6! again the resurgent and revenge-orientated Russians overwhelm the still disordered Germans

Combined these attacks have demolished the German defenses west of Smolensk, while the bulk of the Wehrmacht remains far to the south, and the Russians are poised to enter Poland

[joegrundman]

Darwin is assaulted at 2:1

The Japanese put up a stout defense, inflicting about as many losses as they suffered, but the Darwin beachhead is now closed

The attack was a huge effort of US, and Australian troops, and also an irregular unit of Nepali ghurkas, Burmese dacoits and bearded Englishmen produced startling results through unorthodox methods. The Chindits are here!

[joegrundman]

Allies slog through Spain


The allies have separated the German defenders in Spain from the supply chain in the pyrnees. German armour has run out of oil since it is in limited supply

The allies attrition the Germans in Spain with 48 factors and +1 mod and roll a 2. , a 5c/2 h result

The German defense is reduced to Madrid and the environs

The allies also attrition the Germans along the pyrnees, rolling a 6 with 11+ factors, but these losses are absorbed by replacements

[joegrundman]

US submarines in the pacific

The US has finally sorted out the problems with the Mk14

torps result +1

3 subs
+1 torps, +2 Air range=+3
Japan has -2 ASW, -1 air range, -1 Noumea=4

Net mod for US:-1

US rolls 8 mod 7, 0/2
Japan 4 ASW rolls 9 mod 10 1/2

the Fleet Boats still having problems finding their groove, no real damage done and several fleet boats sunk

British bomb Cologne again

An even heavier raid this time, 9 AAF, 6 bombers and 1 interceptor bomb Cologne

+1 mod for bombing, -1 for air defense

first 2 interceptors engage

germany rolls 11! a 1/3 result, 1 AAF shot down, 1 escort AAF, 1 bombing AAF, 1 bomber, aborted
Britain rolls 7! a 1/1 result

7 bombers vs air defense level 5, even mod

britain 3! 1/2, 5 brps damage
germany8! 1/2, 1 bomber shot down, 2 aborted

4 bombers get through and inflict an additional 12 brps damage

total damage 17 brps to cologne