AAR - "1939 Storm Over Europe" (Axis) - Return of the newbies!

[Will95]

We're back! (Although, we were never really away, because this game is too damn moreish )

My esteemed friend AshFall and I fought a good 1914-1917 Call to Arms campaign, but ultimately he took victory with the Central Powers thanks to some great play on the Eastern Front (mixed with a bit of my fail!). However, we're back once again, and this time we've switched sides for something a little more modern- the Second World War. I will be taking on the role of Hitler in his bunker, commanding the Axis powers against AshFall who will be leading the Allies. It's worth noting that although we learnt a lot during our 1914 campaign, we're probably still going to mess up quite a bit here, especially as we adjust to the new mechanics of WW2. In the spirit of competition, all we ask is that any commenters don't give too much in the way of explicit advice, but please feel free to comment on our many, many failures as they unfold

Let battle commence!!

Turn 1

Eastern Front

On September 1st, 1939, we ordered the immediate advance into Poland. Human bodies do make such great target practise after all, far better than any cardboard cut-outs.

Our Panzers crushed more Polish units than I care to count, including two special forces units, and we advanced far enough to knock on the door at Lodz, damaging the Polish Headquarters stationed there. Minimal casualties were taken and we expect to be sitting in the seat of Warsaw any day now, if the Polish will to fight doesn't collapse before then.

Western Front

The French presence along the Maginot line is significant, but not worrisome. The pesky French, always willing to dive in with the British, declared war on the Fatherland this turn, but I am skeptical about any real capabilities to launch an offensive. We are filling our Siegfried Line with garrisons and corps just in case, though.

War Plans

The aim is to deviate somewhat from history, in order to rectify some of the problems faced by the Germans. For one, it's clear that although Barbarossa had traction, fighting a protracted two-front war was ultimately unproductive. Therefore, the aim will be to pacify Russia for as long as possible; war may be inevitable, but if we can keep them in a low state of deployment then we can also dictate the pace of the war. My opponent's objective will likely be to aggravate Stalin to the extent where he has no choice but to mobilize fully; we will do everything to delay this. This will also mean that we are more comfortably able to divert a large amount of resources into the conquest of Western Europe. Setting up Fortress Europe will be the priority, and from there we can be in a position to launch more audacious attacks onto the British mainland. We have a good chunk of time before the USA enters the war and makes things difficult, so we will strike while the iron is hot.

[Will95]

Turn 2

Eastern Front

Our tanks continue to roll towards Warsaw over the corpses of the Polish troops. The losses are simply too numerous to count, but sufficed to say the German war machine is enjoying the rifle practise. The only Polish HQ was destroyed and we are now but a mere few thousand metres from Warsaw.

Western Front

Nothing to report here, we just shore up the Siegfried Line a little more. I should clarify, I have no intention of smashing my head against the Maginot Line as the arrow in the War Plan might suggest- I will sweep through Belgium in a sort of updated Schlieffen Plan and power towards Paris. We may even be able to begin the offensive before Christmas, which would be a great knock to the Allies morale.

War of the Channel

War might be something of a grandiose term for the reality- I am moving the German Navy through the English Channel as the fastest way to the Atlantic on the advice of the head of the Kriegsmarine. Assuming we do not meet too much resistance, we will then disperse towards the trade line between Canada and the UK, aiming to blockade the Canadian ports and raid everything along the way. Subsequent naval reinforcements will be tasked with defending our trade from Norway who, as a matter of fact, were rather irritated by the Allies horrific violation of international sea boundaries and lurched closer towards joining the Third Reich.

General Staff

With our spare MPP, we purchased another upgraded Army to be brought into action at the start of 1940, and will be joined by a paratrooper unit currently in training. Together with the armoured force which we will operate to the West after the crushing of Poland, they will be tasked with capturing Paris.

[Will95]

Turn 3

Eastern Front

Warsaw is mine! The last of the Polish army was virtually destroyed, and anything that is left is of little consequence; Poland will now surrender.

Western Front

Zero movement here, but after the fall of Warsaw we were able to start operating a few of the veterans over to the front in preparation for the offensive to come either at the end of this year or the beginning of the next. At the very least, we should be able to take the Netherlands before the year is out to get ahead of the curve.

War of the Atlantic

Well, I suppose it was a little naive to expect to be left to sail blissfully out to sea unmolested. Our cruisers and subs met sudden resistance in the form of a pack of British cruisers and some French battleships, and they sunk one of our cruiser groups. They have quite a force here and no doubt more on the way, so we will do whatever damage we can before continuing on our way.

General Staff

No major developments here, but in anticipation of Poland's surrender we began using our spare MPP to operate our troops to the West. The fighter and bomber groups are flying over too.

[Will95]

Turn 4

Eastern Front

As expected, Poland could no longer carry the fight. However, they could still carry the white flag....zing! We now begin the tedious process of assigning garrisons and corps to guard the key centres of Warsaw, Koeningsberg and a few other important towns. We honored the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to keep Stalin smiling, and we will take precautions not to present too much of a show of force on this front. Their mobilization is only at 20% right now- I would like to keep it that way. By honoring the pact I saw little downside- although we no longer have the formidable fortress at Brest-Litovsk to fall back on, we took plenty of plunder and have a smaller and more defensible front line, and prevented Stalin from mobilizing too much too soon.

Western Front

We have now operated enough troops and HQ's to facilitate an invasion of the Low Countries. Next turn, weather permitting, we will blitz as much territory as possible (white arrows are directions of attack, the red line is where we want to be by the beginning of 1940). This will be beneficial for two reasons- it will give us important naval ports closer to the Atlantic, and it will allow us to totally bypass the Maginot Line. By not waiting until 1940 , and then doing a huge invasion encompassing both Belgium, Netherlands and France, we are losing out slightly on the element of surprise, but in return we should recieve some early plunder which will allow us to grow our armies in the meantime. Regardless of what the Allies are expecting, I doubt the French will be able to muster much of a resistance to what I have coming.

War of the Atlantic

Things got rather tasty here this turn, as more Allied naval reinforcements arrived and did heavy damage to another of our cruisers. However, in return we sunk a British cruiser, took another to 1 strength and gave a French battleship quite a scare too. I don't however much fancy sticking around to find out how much I can kill- that was not the objective. After 1 strike each, the fleet was sent on its way and is now dispersing into the Atlantic where they should be difficult to follow accurately. My forward submarine and cruiser are closing on the Canadian ports and will enact the blockade next turn.

[Will95]

Turn 5

Eastern Front

No activity here besides moving my tanks to the train lines to participate in the coming battle for France, so I'm going to shelve this section until further notice.

Western Front

Not wanting to wait until 1940 to begin the invasion, Germany declared war on Belgium and the Netherlands before launching an invasion immediately. The freshly formed Allied reserves that appeared in defense of their beloved Benelux were so hastily readied that they did not even have time to properly arm themselves from the supply trains, and the German divisions swept them away to the cheers of the kommandants. We took Antwerp and wiped out several defending corps, as well as a Belgian HQ. Next turn, we should have the capitals.

War of the Atlantic

British destroyers from the rear did some damage to the German u-boats that were not yet into open sea, but achieved relatively little compared to the French battleship that we sunk. The rest of the fleet is now away and safe, although 1 cruiser at 2 strength has a perilous journey to make back to friendly ports. If I can get away with just that single initial cruiser loss in exchange for mining the Canadian ports, that will have been worth it.

General Staff

We invested early in Industrial technology as an insurance for the many years of fighting still to come. We considered dabbling in a little diplomacy, but for now we will focus our attentions primarily on the most important conquest of all- France. Given her relatively low-tech and small army, brute force and a little elbow grease should be all that is required, rather than any complex maneuvers.

[Will95]

Turn 6

Western Front

Knock, knock. Who's there? Many Panzer divisions are here, and next turn we will have Holland.

War of the Atlantic

No big naval clashes, just a sub sunk as we attempt to get through the pack of wolves that is the Allied navy. Next turn we should be able to break free, but we keep running into fresh cruisers and battleships.

[Will95]

Turn 7

Western Front

The Hague is now ours! We kicked down the doors of the Headquarters and the staff inside promptly surrendered. The French, poor buggers, have been sent to assist the Belgians and now reinforce the line around Brussels. However, they are relatively low in number, poorly equipped and low on morale. The Blitzkrieg will hiccup in its progress, but we will not allow ourselves to stall.

War of the Atlantic

With Denmark accepting the German offer of protectorate, we now have access to the ports in Iceland. This is a major blow to the Allies and a huge boon to us- my wounded cruisers and subs, previously destined for a suicidal journey through the North Sea to reach friendly territory, now just have a short trip across the North Atlantic to friendlier waters where we can repair and refit.

General Staff

We plundered 140MPPs from Holland, and used it to invest in some more armies to assist in the great offensives to come later in 1940. Russia remains pleasantly inactive, and despite my warmongering remains at just 21% mobilization, with no hint of movement to come.

[Will95]

Turn 8

Western Front

We're making good headway here, with the Brussels HQ cleared we should be in a prime position to force a Belgian surrender next turn. The plan, then, will be to charge down the coast before swinging in from the north. This will do a few useful things; primarily, it will prevent the British from an easy landing at Le Havre or Calais. They will be forced to go around to the West of France to disembark, much further away from my forces. Once we have captured these key ports, we will then thrust south directly towards Paris. If the French want to do anything to prevent this, they will have to thin out their Maginot Line. Paratroopers are ready to jump to seize key strategic locations in the back lines.

War of the Atlantic

Besides our damaged U-boats continuing to make their way north to Iceland and our badly hurt cruiser going into port to repair, there's no activity here. Once the 2 subs and 1 cruiser are all in fighting shape, I will send the cruiser to Canada to assist in the naval blockade, while the subs carry out hit and run attacks in the Atlantic. In particular, if we can force the British to 'take the long way around' France to disembark, then we can put them in a position where our subs will have a much better chance of inflicting damage.

General Staff

We have purchased another submarine to replace the one that was lost, and we refitted a cruiser for deployment shortly. We invested in some additional infantry technology and invested 1 chit into Spanish diplomacy. It would be rather nice to have Franco on our side.

[Sapare]

Pretty much the only game I have ever seen where both players decided to just leave poor Luxemburg alone. Not sure exactly why though.

[Will95]

Turn 9

Western Front

There was method to the Luxembourg madness! It provided a neutral roadblock in the earlier turns to prevent the French surging forward in any kind of cutoff move. Now that I have enough units for it not to be a problem, we declared war on Luxembourg and conquered it in a 'bloodless takeover'. Brussels was taken and Belgium surrendered. Pushing forward with the tanks, we brought another French corps near to destruction and pressed onwards. We're going a little further south than originally planned as our tactical bombers were met with fighter support from the allies, and there appears to be a defense at Calais. Although we could probably just blitz through any allied defense, I would prefer to take the path of least resistance. Elite paratroopers landed at Nancy hoping that all allied reserves would be in the north, and for now they appear to be correct. Once the Maginot Line is isolated it we'll have effectively halved the amount of units we need to go through.

General Staff

We recieved some lovely plunder from the taking of Belgium and Luxembourg, but all spare MPP this turn went into reinforcing our tanks and ships. Italy is now on the verge of joining the war and they're pressing against the seams of the French border in the south with an HQ, artillery, army group and tank corps ready to sweep in from the south.

The Soviets increased its mobilization mildly in response to our warmongering in the West, but they remain in a low state of readiness. Our in the Atlantic our surface fleets and subs continue to wreak havoc with Allied supply lines unmolested, and a fresh sub joined the fleet in the North Sea.

[Will95]

Turn 10

Western Front (German-French)

The German Blitzkrieg tactics are proving most effective. The paratroopers at Nancy clearly destabilized the French commanders, who bizarrely chose to evacuate the Maginot Line. As a result, we moved in, destroyed the majority of the fortresses and the escaping Allied soldiers. Heavy bombing strikes at key Allied supply centres revealed a not-insiginicant force of British soldiers at Amiens, and we also discovered the first allied armour- a British tank corps recently disembarked from Calais. We let our tanks, having been on the move and fighting constantly since 1939, take a breather to recover their strength and upgrade. The next objective is to punch through directly towards Paris, thereby splitting what is left of the Allied forces into the south and north of France.

Western Front (Italian-French)

Italy joined the Axis this turn to sighs from the French population along the border who quickly found themselves occupied. While not a large force, they met no resistance, as we expected, as the allies seem to be attempting a fortification of the coast and the capital. We will aim to take Marsailles next turn while the tank and army group move north to assist with the mopping up of isolated French troops, allowing the Germans to advance.

War of the Med

We had our first major naval clash, as the Italian navy was intercepted by a French fleet. We sunk a destroyer but took casualties. Our aim will be to take naval supremacy over the Med, and then choke the allied trade at the Straits of Gibraltar.

General Staff

Industry was upgraded for Germany, and the sight of the first British tanks led to us producing our first special forces unit, due to arrive in the Autumn. The Soviets remain fairly unmoved by recent developments.

[Will95]

Turn 11

Western Front

The smell of fresh bread in the morning, baked by the Paris bakers...there's nothing quite like it, is there? Hitler was reported to have been left in an uncontrollable fit of giggles after paratroopers landed in the French capital and hoisted the Iron Cross from the Eiffel Tower. Although isolated, any attempts to dislodge them would mean no forward momentum against my advancing Panzer divisions; an impossible situation. The Italians advance, capturing Marseilles and will now redirect to Bordeaux, where an emergency French defence counsel has assembled at some attempt at organized government. Once we take their secondary capital, the country will hopefully surrender and we can redirect all firepower towards the British, who will no doubt take considerable losses before they are able to evacuate. A major win may be scored if I can capture the ports further along the coast.

War of the Med

Naval battles here are vicious, but the Entente appears to be greater in number. We are going to head back to the Italian ports to repair our warships but we expect to take further losses.

General Staff

Germany upgraded its infrastructure, and we invested into tank technology for our Panzer divisions, one of whom is now eligible for elite reinforcements. In other news, although not worthy of a picture- British warships arrived on the other side of the Atlantic to contest my blockade. We did heavy damage to a destroyer and my sub will probably escape- I wish I could say the same for the surface fleet of a cruiser and destroyer.

[Will95]

Turn 12

Western Front

Our Paris paratroopers were destroyed, as expected, but fought fiercely and brought several elements of the Allied army with them. The capital is back in French hands but the damage was done- French morale crumbles at a meager 30%. The whole Allied line has pulled back, some in defense of Paris and others have moved further back to Bordeaux, presumably to stop my Italian tanks just waltzing in. We pushed up our line and are now on the Paris doorstep with the troops proper, and an army group in the north advances down the coast. Unless the British pull back to the west coast immediately, this will be disasterous for them- France will soon surrender, leaving just the BEF, but if I can take Cherbourg they will have no easy way to escape.

War of the Med

We pulled back the wounded Italian navy to repair in port after a sizeable allied navy showed up. It may be prudent to lay low for the time being, at least until France surrenders.

General Staff

We started production of another tank corps and invested further into submarine technology. All but one of our submarines have survived so far, so once they are in fighting shape, level 2 sub warfare will make them truly terrifying to the Allied navies.

[Will95]

Turn 13

Western Front

The Allies finally gathered themselves for long enough to launch a counter-offensive; nothing to be worried about however. We lost our weakest and least upgraded tank corps to the British tank battalion, and we took some damage on a mainline army close to Paris. However, every action has a reaction, and Hitler, furious to hear of his first Panzer divisions being destroyed, ordered an immediate advance; the British tank corps, a French tank corps and a French bomber were all destroyed, and another French tank group and the French HQ at Paris were mauled. For all intents and purposes, the French are out of the war- their NM continues to tumble beneath 20%. Even better, we sneaked a corps through the lines through to Cherbourg, and the British will not be able to do much to prevent us taking it next turn. Combined with a paratroop drop to the west of Paris to take the port at St Nazaire, the BEF will be almost totally without an exit back to the British mainland.

War of the Med

The Allied navies gave chase to our wounded ships in port but did little- in fact, an enemy cruiser caught out of position, combined with a subsequent counter-attack, left us 1 up by turn end.

General Staff

No interesting news to report here. Hitler is pleased with the progress in France and accepts that although it might not be as quick as was hoped for due to unexpected British support, it will be worth it if we can indeed encircle the near-entire British army.

[Will95]

I have a question about the event formation of Vichy France for anyone watching; will the French fleet disappear if I say no? I would quite like to have Spain join the Axis, as I fancy their tank corps and the extra income, and the control over Gibraltar. However, if the French navy doesn't surrender then it may not be worth it- anyone know?

[Will95]

Turn 14

Western Front

Our lines roll over Paris, but French tank activity was enough to take down another Panzer division- most disappointing. The Cherbourg operation also failed to secure the port, as a British unit landed there just in time. However, we still stand to make great gains here- the paratroopers landed to cut off access to the port at St Nazaire and the British army are now falling over themselves to get to the coast. I am not too overly concerned with the tow tank losses though; regrettable, but the plunder and territorial gains should be worthwhile. I never expected to take France with zero losses, so it was to be expected that they would go after high value targets. Bordeaux now also stands without an immediate defense- we should be able to reach it next turn and force the French surrender.

[Will95]

Turn 15

Western Front

The Allies are really on the run now! We chased them to the ports that they are hiding in, but were unable to destroy any units. However, a unit attempting to extract in the north of the country hasn't yet reached the coast and may yet be destroyed. Rather than moving to destroy what is left of the French, we have decided to first isolate them- a nice boost to morale next turn to appease Hitler, who yet mourns the loss of the two panzer divisions.

War of the Med

We sunk a destroyer in the Med, otherwise no other activity.

General Staff

We began production of another U-boat, and began upgrading one in port in Europe. We also began production of an engineer- Fortress Europe will be the plan for 1941!

[Will95]

Turn 16

Western Front

Well, sufficed to say, it took a little longer than expected. But nevertheless, Vichy France has now been created, the French surrendered and the North African colonies have become independent states under VF. We plundered over 800MPPs from the country....and I have to say, the enormous plunder has given Hitler something of a taste for conquest. We are now into September and have roughly 4-5 turns left before snow hampers offensives across Europe. Therefore, we will make some minor, but easy gains, in Greece. Using a combined Italian and German force, we will transport the army to Albania and then invade. We will aim to conquer Greece before 1941, giving us the plunder necessary for Operation Barbarossa.

War of the North Sea

We stationed a destroyer, two cruisers and a submarine in the ports in the Netherlands with no real aim- it was insurance for our Norwegian trade line and a base for a potential attack on the harassing English navy. However, the British found us and destroyed a cruiser. We struck back, using an extra upgraded sub, and destroyed an enemy cruiser and a battleship while remaining relatively safe in our ports. We have another battleship just arrived in port which we will use next turn, permitting

War of the Med

The Italian fleet has been pulled back for repairs. We will then use them to protect our transports to Albania.

General Staff

We began operating the French invasion armies to the south of Italy. We will aim for one Italian and one German HQ, 3-4 mainline infantry units from each side and the Italian tank corps. To save on MPP, the rest of the army that isn't being employed in the direct defense of the French coast will make its way to the east on foot.

[Will95]

Turn 17

With the British gone and the French surrendered, it's all quiet- for now. The invasion of Greece is being prepared. Using our excess MPPs from the plunder of France, we invested heavily into Spanish diplomacy to give us better control of the Straits of Gibraltar and hurt the trade there. My subs in the Atlantic, finally in working condition once again, have resumed active raider duties. Hopefully, the Allied fleet, now hopefully just consisting of the British Royal Navy, will have split into fragments to deal with the threat from the Italians, the u-boats in the Channel and now the piracy in the Atlantic. This may also give us time to launch Operation Sealion in early 1941- but more on that later, and it will require additional reinforcements. If we decide to execute Sealion I will go into more detail. For now our bombers trade blows with the fighters on the British mainland.

[Strategiclayabout]

I have a question about the event formation of Vichy France for anyone watching; will the French fleet disappear if I say no? I would quite like to have Spain join the Axis, as I fancy their tank corps and the extra income, and the control over Gibraltar. However, if the French navy doesn't surrender then it may not be worth it- anyone know?

I'm a bit late on that one but page 4 of SoE manual for WWI Break says:

"However, if the Axis player decides not to form Vichy France then the French will continue the fight from Algeria and their reinvigorated resistance will provide a small but significant boost to France’s National Morale to enable them to fight on.

Should France manage to survive through to October 1940, then her National Morale will improve. Thus the Axis have a significant imperative to invade and conquer France in the spring and summer of 1940.

French National Morale will receive further boosts if she is still in the war in March 1941, and also if she is still in the war when the USSR join the Allies."

So french navy will continue to fight but you should have an event helping Hitler to get Franco on his side if you refuse Vichy .

[Will95]

Yeah I found that bit before I made the decision and decided that having to keep dealing with the French navy, not to mention having to spend all my lovely plunder just to get Franco onside, wasn't worth it.

[Strategiclayabout]

- Catching up a bit after being busy, I see you made good use of those paratroopers . But don't forget Allies will have them too at some point.

- Most Axis players usually avoid combat with french navy if they intend to accept the Vichy event. Can still be interesting to be agressive and push Allies to invest more in naval tech/repairs while ransacking UK convoys.

- Seems you're whipping those Italians big time, anything to do with their poor performance in the last war ? Just keep in mind their industry and research suck, you'll have to give up on some areas if you want to be strong (or at least not weak) somewhere.

- From your moves I think you've already understood that initiative is a big advantage in this campaign (more than for WWI). You have less time to react given the speed of offensives/range of units so surprise can be truly devastating ^^ .

[Will95]

Turns 18 + 19

I condensed the last 2 turns as there was nothing really happening in turn 18, just reinforcing and recovering after the French blitz. However, things got heated again pretty quickly.

Greece

Praying for the good Greek weather to hold out, the German and Italian combined force invaded Greece. Paratroopers behind the lines revealed an army and a few corps, but no sign of enemy armour which would have been the only thing to slow us down. We operated another German corps over in lieu of the Italians, who are busy munching on a Bratwurst as they walk through Germany and aren't expected for some time. Hitler has made a bet with Mussolini; whoever reaches Athens first can have the plunder. Somehow, I feel this isn't really fair.

War of the Atlantic

Things stirred a little once again- after refitting the fleet in turn 17, we were finally ready (after a rather length pause) to begin raiding once again. Our tactics are simple- an 'on/off' system where we raid for one turn, then move off the convoy line as far as possible away from the previous location, then raid again the next turn. Although perhaps not maximizing damage to British trade, it also means less chance of our subs being spotted, as the convoy lines are narrow and easy to patrol. Our cruisers ran into a destroyer patrolling the convoy route and was damaged. Hopefully there aren't any battleships in the vicinity. The Italian subs also began moving out towards the Atlantic to join in on the raiding, but on the Middle Eastern convoy routes instead.

War of the Channel

Our bombers have been plugging away at various targets for the last few turns without much success, but this time we struck gold- a bomber flying over the ports at Southampton discovered a cruiser and battleship in port. Divebombers took care of the cruiser and the battleship has been badly wounded following a u-boat attack. Special forces units that were previously destined for Barbarossa were redirected to France...

General Staff

We've had several major breakthroughs in the last few turns- infantry level 2 for Germany, a boost to advanced subs and an industrial boost. We have a very solid economy and we do not expect to have to spend much in reinforcement on the Greek operation. With the British fleet stretched to cover all our activities, Operation Sealion for 1941 is definitely a possibility.

Spain also slid a little our way after we hit them with a diplomatic blitz. Getting them onside would allow us even more raiding power in the Atlantic, and a possible springboard for activities in Gibraltar. An attack on London may yet see them joining the Axis...

[Will95]

Turn 20

Greece

The Greek invasion is going as well as could be expected. Our armies demolished a low strength Greek force and have captured a valuable supply source. The paratroopers were hit by bad weather and accomplished little, but next turn we should be able to break through to them. Bombers have arrived from Italy to assist, and an Italian HQ is ready to depart next turn to get the Italian troops back in fighting shape.

War of the Channel

The sub that was blocking the battleship in port was forced to dive and the battleship managed to escape. We checked the other nearby ports but it was nowhere to be found, so the battleship, cruiser and destroyer are now on their way to the Atlantic.

War of the Atlantic

Suddenly, destroyers, thousands of them. Our subs were badly wounded from mass destroyer tactics but managed to escape in the direction of friendly ports. The battleship Bismark should have plenty of lovely targets when it arrives next turn.

General Staff

Next turn we will begin upgrading our subs to level 2. the British apparently still lack level 1 naval warfare, so they will have a problem doing damage to us even with a deluge of destroyers. The tactical bombers in Belgium began upgrading their own naval and ground attack to facilitate Sealion. The plan is to invade in March/April of 1941, using whatever is left of the Bismark and some subs to protect the amphibious transports. Romania joined the Axis this turn, along with Hungary who joined last turn.

[Will95]

Turn 21

It's 1941! The year of the many great offensives are finally here. Next turn I'll cap the warmap and explain my plans for this year. For now though, let's look at what's been happening...

Greece

We continue to make reasonable progress, destroying another Greek army group and damaging the corps holding Larissa. The paratroopers were finally relived and we have a good supply chain moving through our commanders. The Italian HQ finally arrived, so they may be able to serve a purpose besides rearguard. However, Italian bombers flying over Athens revealed a British army and HQ, freshly landed. We're not sure how much more British resistance to expect, but certainly it won't just be the Greeks we fight here. Next turn I will operate the Italian tank corps over to ensure that things run smoothly, whether the tea drinkers are here or not.

War of the Atlantic

Our subs managed to get away and were not pursued, or were lost in the vastness of the ocean. Our battleship and destroyer continue to make their way through to where we expect destroyer resistance, while our subs in the channel re-arm with a tasty level 2 in submarine warfare, ready for action in the Atlantic.

General Staff

Our troops in France continue to move closer to the coast. We now have several armies, two tank corps, a special forces unit and numerous corps ready for an invasion. With the British shipping a reasonable army group to Greece, now may very well be a good time to strike.