After succesfull annexion of Austria and Czechoslovakia, Germany now aims to reconstitute the great WW1 alliance from Baltic to Middle East by conquering and allying with Balkan countries and Turkey.
- Rules as per december 2019 official errata .
- Italy can't be Allied
- Historical setup
09/1939 (P/F/P)
Poland is quickly conquered
10/1939 (P/F/P)
Hungary joins the alliance by conquest
12/1939 ( S/P/S)
Denmark is captured by air assault on Copenhagen ( probable rule error : no Air unit should be available to support the airdrop)
01/1940 ( S/P/S)
General situation : Germany has now conquered Hungary and Denmark while Yugoslavia and Rumania have joined the great alliance . Bulgaria is under serious menace.
But allied powers now politically react and send a large number of military advisors in Turkey .
France and Great Britain will fight for Istanbul !
Germany protests against this threat over their natural expansion goals.
05/1940 ( F/F/F)
weather is clear all over Europe . Werhmacht launches general offensives.
Bulgaria is invaded
Norway falls under a naval action
And French lines are broken. Even Dijon falls in German hands, despite lack of supply.
In an attempt to decrease pressure, Maginot garrison attacks German troops east of Rhine and enters Germany.
06/1940 (P/P/P)
Due to new weather rules, Weather turns Poor everywhere ...
German armies enter empty Maginot forts and Dijon is evacuated. Elsewhere, French front is calm.
07/1940 (F/F/F)
Return of nice weather in Europe. Bulgaria surrenders.
In France, 2Pz Gruppe frontally assaults Paris, storms the city and continues a Blitz assault that crushes all French resistance.
By the end of July , France is about to surrender : no more frontline, no more available troops. The invader has only to finish its success.
08/1940 (F/F/F)
In front of fall of France and of Bulgaria , Turkey joins Axis alliance .
In less than one year , German politic goals are achieved, and Great Britain remains alone , with Axis threatening him from channel sea to Middle East
From a political point of view, 14 Pro Axis chits have become available after the conquest of 8 countries and USSR aggression on Finland.
Turkey, Yugoslavia and Rumania are already Axis.
Italy, Greece, Finland and Sweden are ProAxis, and 3 Axis Chits are still available ...
But political successes are continuing on Axis side : Italy and then Sweden now join the Great Axis Empire !! ( Political success+Political Failure chits are pulled ) ...
11/1940 (S/F/P)
Things are going very bad in middle East . British troops are heavily outnumbered and are forced to abandon Jerusalem and Haifa. Italian assaults are easily repulsed but Turks are gathering to attack Irak and probably going to Koweit ...
01/1941 (S/P/F)
Irak is attacked by Turkey. The last available British troops positionned in Kuweit are immediately railed on Euphrate's river banks to defend Baghdad
In Palestine and Egypt, in december , German and Italian assaults were repulsed with heavy Axis losses.
02/1941 (S/S/P)
February is a tough month for British troops : In Iraq , Turkish assault finally succeed in crossing Euphrate . Baghdad will have to be abandonned , otherwise British garrison would fall in limited supply which would mean its destruction ...
In Egypt, arrival of DAK has immediately given strong results, crossing the defensive position of El-Alamein.
Royal Navy's carrier force is the last available weapon to try to save Middle East.
It is sent in Malta in order to sink Italian Navy and Italian convoys in central Med.
Arrival of British carriers is immediately engaged by Italian forces and huge air-naval combats are fought.
British navy is superior in every aspects, but here also, is heavily outnumbered. Exposed in La Valette harbour, UK carriers risk to be easy targets for Reggia Aeronautica.
03/04/05 1941
In Middle East, Iraq falls and British troops fortify Kuwait zone.
Another political success , Axis draw a proAxis Chit and Greece joins the alliance
May weather is Rainy , Axis Army is gathered at USSR frontiers, Barbarossa will robably begin by the beginning of June .
On Med Front, Axis forces have reache the Nile while Turk Army is in charge of Middle East effort.
Politically and economically , Europe is dominated by the new Axis Empire.
06/1941 (F/F/P)
A wonderfull "triple 6" is rolled for weather !!!!
But with the new weather rule, sun comes back in Northern and Middle Europe !
And Barbarossa is immediately launched !
Success are great in Ukrainia, while avance is slowed in Belarus, due to heavy Soviet resistance.
But Soviet armies are crushed and new line of resistance is very thin.
OKH's general chart of supply used on eastern front is as follow :
Around 25% of the war effort in the East will be provided by Germany's allies.
07/1941 (F/F/F)
By the beginning of August , Kharkov is taken , Smolensk is reached and Leningrad is surrounded
08/1941 (F/F/F)
Another month of Blitzkrieg in Russia with the fall of Orel, Tula and Ryazan and the crossing of Volkhov river.
09/1941 (F/F/F)
In Karelia 4PzGruppe opens the way for Finish forces , hoping that Swedish allied will soon be railed in this region to help Axis effort .
Tula that were temporarly retaken by USSR in order to isolate AfrikaKorps is retaken and 2 Pzgruppe surrender Moscow .
Voronej is surrounded and taken while Greeks take Rjhev and Yugo take Briansk.
Situation after October reinforcements :
10/1941 (S/S/F)
Weather suddenly turns to Storm all over Europe (6+1/6+1/1 on dice).
In Russia , operations are halted while in Egypt and Palestine , British forces are still resisting , despite low supply.
Barbarossa is now halted at the gates of Moscow, Leningrad ant Sebastopol.
Campaign was largely successfull, thanks to heavy commitment of Axis Allies, and maybe also to the indepth soviet defensive line that was maybe too easy to overcome.
Allocation of axis ressources during summer 41:
11/1941 (P/F/F)
Before winter, Axis try to reposition and soviet refit its troops .
Stalemate is continuing in Africa
12/1941 (S/P/F)
Suddenly, a disaster occurs in Egypt :
Reggia aeronautica sends its forces from sicily, strikes RAF in Suez and then go back home .
Germans take the opportunity to attack Cairo , take it, exploit through the Nile and enter Port Said ! Italian armies follow up and seize Cairo . British resistance is about to collapse ...
In a desperate reaction , WDF leaves Alexandria and counter attack against Cairo . Poorly supplied Italian garrison flee in the desert ...
Palestine is evacuated and supply situation is difficult . New US fleet arrives in Alexandria to support war effort , but tracing supply through central med is rather difficult.
03/1942 (S/S/F)
First Russian winter is finished . Soviet attacks were not very successfull and have just obtained some limited losses and a partial retreat of Axis units.
In Egypt, despite catastrophic supply situation and limited space, Egypt is still holding . In Central Med, Force H is still suppressed by dayly air assault from Italian forces.
05/1942 (F/F/F)
In May, weather turns fine everywhere ( A downside to the new weather rule is that june's weather is known one month in advance in this kind of situation )
OKH launches its great summer offensive : Objectiv Moscow and bring Russian bears on its knees.
And with a largely dominant Luftwaffe, things are turning very badly for Soviets.
Soviet Will to fight is now only 19 .
06/1942 (P/P/P)
Weather generally rainy all over Europe
Axis make slow progress and kill 3rdshock army that had cut rail supply line near Voronej .
07/1942 (F/F/F)
With sun coming back, this decisive summer campaign begins .
Berlin needs a large political success and urges OKH to assault Moscow.
OKH hesitate to do that and would prefer a more conventional open field campaign .
Instead , Kaluga is captured , while Vologda resists . Losses are huge on Soviet side .
But it now appear that Moscow is a crucial supply node . not possessing it will stop all Panzers adance in the north, and Soviet will probably be able to resit in the south untill the next winter .
Good news for soviets , first Tank armies are arriving , supply situation is not so bad , and tank chits will both be available in August ... If Moscow can resist , situation can still be saved .
08/1942 (F/F/F)
A surprise assault is launched , with 2 PzGruppe, Greek Army, Paratroopers on the Kremlin, Stukas and Heavy Artillery, which gives a +11/0 assault ... 79% of giving at least a DR ... It works !!!
Next assault made by 3 infantry armies at +6/-2 finally allows axis troops to enter in the heart of Soviet Union !!!
This success is followed by a general offensive in East Ukrainia . This brings Soviet will to fight to as low as 3 ... A collapse now seems inevitable .
During these battles, Germany suffers its first bombing campaign
In Egypt, the powerfull US fleet has arrived and allows a continuous flow of chip supply. British are now sufficiently powerfull to assault and retake Port Said , leaving the turks alone in the Sinai.
09/1942 (F/F/F)
The soviet hopes were relying on a defensive miracle in September ... but this miracle didn't arrive. Vologda falls , and USSR collapses .
Soviet Union has ceased to exist . Triumphant Axis empire has grown and absorbed Baltic states, Ukrainia and Belarus , leaving only a small independant Russia in the East .
With only a small Britain land force and some US ships facing them, Axis troops now have an easy war to finish.
( notes : after another political success , Spain should have reverted to axis side .For the interest of my campaign , I didn't apply this political victory , and stopped playing diplomatic phase )
12/1942 (S/P/F)
Air reinforcements were sent in West Germany and Sicily to give air superiority . But in Egypt, 8th British army has also arrived which changes totally the face of the battles .
In 2 months, 3 Italian armies are lost and Tobruk remains alone. Italian navy desperately tries to supply it while German land troops are called as emergency reinforcements.
02/1943 (P/S/F)
The entire US fleet in the the West is sent in Egypt. Italian counterpart succeeds in escaping the trap, but it has given time to 5th PzArmy to reinforce Tobruk front.
In March, a frontal assault against the Fortress is successful and British troops enter the port.
03/1943 (S/S/F)
Operation "Desert Tempest" begins. Objective is regain control of Middle East.
06/1943 (F/F/F)
German troops that fight OOS can't do anything to support Turkish army that is forced to abandon its territories.
But heavy AeroNaval fighting is continuing in CentralMed . 2 Luftflotte are assuring aerial superiorty in front of Western fleets . It results in heavy losses and a general stalemate.
11/1943 (F/S/F)
US troops are beginning to reach the front . Turkey is close to surrender .
And Turkey falls after US invasion in its south coast .
After the brilliant victories of 42 summer, Axis Empire is now in full confusion as Russia suddenly breaks Moscow treaty and restarts the war
05/1944 (F/F/F)
Winter season was mostly stalemate over all the fronts : Russian assaults were easily contained, stalemate in central med is continuing and turkish front is established on the Bosphore.
But arrival of good weather allows the British troops to renew an naval invasion against Dardanelles, which ,30 years after the first one, succeeds !
German front is suddenly in great disarray.
Russian offensives are mostly ineficient ( very very bad die rolls )
07/1944 (F/F/F)
In June US troops have dangerously advanced and isolated 1Pz Army on the blacksea coast . German 20th army launches an offensive to support them , but it is repulsed with terrible casualties !
Allied armies immediately see the opportunity to gain major advantages and launch a general offensive.
This offensive turns into a major Strategic success : allied troops destroy 2 German armies, blitz along Blacksea coast and British tanks roll in Bucharest !
Even more brilliant : Gods of war are suddenly favorables to Russian armies ( several lucky die rolls) , and Ukrainian German front is surrounded, close to surrender !
Situation by the begining of August 44 :
08/1944 (F/F/F)
But Axis empire's forces are not finished yet. Overconfident British and Soviet troops are heavily counterattacked . Bucharest is retaken while a surprise attack in Ukraine pocket leads to a successfull escape of Axis troops.
09/1944 (F/F/F)
Soviet advance is now renewed : In Baltic states, German and Yugo troops lose several armies while most of Ukrainia is now retaken.
In the balkans, Allied troops suffer from their lack of troops and difficult defensive terrain.
10/1944 (P/S/F)
Weather suddenly turns bad . Offensive are all stopped, excepted in Greece . Salonika falls and Greece surrenders.
10/1944 (S/F/P)
Soviet and allied take advantage of this nice weather in central Europe to push their advantage.
Yugoslavia surrenders while Poland is now invaded by Soviet forces.
With the fall of Belgrad, the Hungarian plains are open for future combats
04/1945 (P/S/S)
Europe is still under bad weather, but at last, Africa is about to be liberated from Axis domination
05/1945 (F/F/F)
A full month of good weather allows huge attacks
These offensives are everywhere successfull, but some strong German resistance points are enough to prevent a total disintegration of the front.
And meteorologists are now certain that June will be a poor month ( new weather rule )
06/1945 (P/P/P)
After an awfully rainy month, situation didn't evolve a lot.
Allied and Soviet opinions are tired of this so long war .
An armistice is proposed : Germany, Italy, Scandinavian countries and half of France and Poland will remain united in a new Axis Empire. A great victory for Axis powers.
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