INVADE? Need advice....

[Baelfiin]

Absolutely!

I have not yet seen your plan for the south, you get 3 tfs and 9 airborne brigades. Plus the Canadians. And all the special forces.

[Baelfiin]

Air Plan for turn 30

Bad weather continues to mess with me in the north.

I had some bombers get slaughtered because their escorts couldn't find them in the soup.

[Balou]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin

Seems to be divided opinion on invading Brest area.

Still don't understand what makes Brittany that attractive ?

1) As stated in other posts, interdiction is paramount. Given the distance from GB to Brittany, Allied AC will spend a lot more miles just traveling than to any other invasion area.

2) Sure, Brest is a large port, but Brittany is the western-most starting point for the reconquest of France. What's more: to me it seems that an Allied drive eastward out of Brittany can be delayed between St.Brieuc and Vannes (see picture, modified from Q-Ball), just 6 hxs wide, with 3 towns and 1 rough

[Baelfiin]

Lots of Luftwaffe over Italy

[marion61]

I'm a bit under the weather, so you may have to plan this part alone, or wait till I'm better.

[gmsitton]

I'm using the Brittany Gambit against the AI and am stalled out approximately where you placed your blue line.

I expect to take Vannes this turn, but recon reveals a number of German units placed between Vannes and St. Nazaire. I took St. Brieuc last turn. I'm considering a reorientation and push towards Rennes, instead of creeping along the coasts.

I landed my Operation Dragoon the week after Overlord. I'm reasonably certain the German line facing off against me in Brittany is everything the Germans can scrape together including the proverbial kitchen sink. Once I achieve a breakthrough, the only thing stopping me will be supply limits.

[marion61]

You may want to watch your troop transports. Having that many divisions to supply, your going to run into a problem with a lack of lift capacity to the beaches. Both will stall if you lack sufficient troop transports.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 31 Very Little Action

Finished off the pocket, trying to build up supply.

Shuffling air force.

[Baelfiin]

End of Allied Turn 32

It is time to take the fight to the Germans again.
Those German units on the East coast are too much of a temptation.
First the basic plan for Operation GRAPEVINE (in blue)
Looks like a lot of nasty forts and rivers in the way.

[MrLongleg]

I'd seriously look into a left hook. There is only one single rail line on the East coast which has to supply most of the German forces there. If you can cross the Arno to Pistoia and then aim for the coast North of Rimini he will ahve to abandon all those Positions or get trapped again.

Just my 2 cents

[MrLongleg]

And just to make his life more difficult, take Arezzo just in case he still has a depot there....

[Baelfiin]

Taking baby steps trying to stay out of the mountains

Consolidating 7th and 8th armies, practicing economy of force with 5th.
Air force getting busy over the ops area.
Smashing airfields and rail yards.
Making sure to pound the ports on the west coast and put naval control out there.

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Haudrauf1962

I'd seriously look into a left hook. There is only one single rail line on the East coast which has to supply most of the German forces there. If you can cross the Arno to Pistoia and then aim for the coast North of Rimini he will ahve to abandon all those Positions or get trapped again.

Just my 2 cents

Yeah I thought about going that way, but I really wanted to bite off a few more counters. Going left I didn't feel I could trap anyone .
West side I just have to go three hexes and can trap 4 or 5 guys depending on how fast they move out.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 32 Interdiction levels

My belief is that you need to start the process several turns before you start an attack.

[Fallschirmjager]

Livorno is a great port if you can manage to move up and capture it. But I realize you may not want to slide that left flank forward 20 miles.
But it could alleviate some supply difficulty if you can capture it and get it working again. I believe it is the 3rd or 4th largest port in southern Italy.

[marion61]

Once he crosses into northern Italy garrison zone he will free up axis units too.

[whoofe]

ORIGINAL: meklore61

Once he crosses into northern Italy garrison zone he will free up axis units too.

is that what the yellow line is?

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: whoofe

ORIGINAL: meklore61

Once he crosses into northern Italy garrison zone he will free up axis units too.

is that what the yellow line is?

Yep 8)

[Baelfiin]

Turn 33 Air interdiction and Air battles.

I noticed this turn some German recon over my invasion prep sites. This caused some serious consternation in the Allied high command and forced me to redeploy a bunch of fighters and AA guns.

I got a bunch of troops killed on transports transiting to England as well this turn.

I can see the Germans starting to degrade supply and CV under the Allied Air Quake.

[Baelfiin]

I just HAD to roll the dice . . . .

I got a little impatient, plus seeing the Germans flying recon over my invasion prep areas made me want to get something going on the ground.
Probably should have waited