Vengeance: A Global War AAR (DQ2004 AAR#3)

[DQ2004]

The Axis planes find and sink the Dutch CONV in the Eastern Med in the first round (not shown).
In the second round, the British find the Italians, and decide to shoot down some of these pesky aircraft.
They abort the Erone Z.506B flying boats.

[DQ2004]

In the third round, the Italians find the British, and decide to try to use their surprise points to sink some of these pesky carriers -but it will be difficult, as there are plenty of Gladiator fighters on board the carriers.

[DQ2004]

The air battle does not go particularly well for the Axis, but it is a costly victory for the Royal Navy too.
The Gabbianos are shot down as is one Gladiator, and the Condors are sent packing.
In the fourth round, the British find the Italians again, but they have just one fighter left in the 2 box.
The British decide to shoot that down too (not screenshotted), and successfully do so, but they also lose their remaining Gladiator.
They have cleared the zone of Axis planes, but at a high cost - and the Axis can reorganise the aborted planes.

[DQ2004]

In the Faeroes Gap the Germans also have a couple of warships hunting enemy merchant ships.
The Gneisenau and the Mainz find their targets, but these are escorted by a few of the dregs of the RN.
They shouldn't be too much trouble.

[DQ2004]

But it turns out that the Danish ships are much tougher than you'd expect.
They take all the damage that the Gneisenau & Mainz can throw at them, and they buy their convoys enough time to escape (check out those damage rolls!).

[DQ2004]

The Romanians also sortied their small destroyer flotilla in the first Axis impulse. They successfully found the Soviet's convoys in the Black Sea, and sank them. Far too busy with the land war, the comparatively powerful Red Banner Fleet never received orders to set sail.
In return however, the Russians bombed Bucharest the following turn, and caused heavy damage (1 production point). Not sure why they didn't bomb Ploesti.

[DQ2004]

The weather improved somewhat for the Allies' second impulse, and the Russians moved their armies again.
They had now had two turns in a row. Damnit.

[DQ2004]

Around Moscow they made a few more adjustments to their lines.
The rain hindered these manoeuvres, of course. The Germans could only wait for their chance.

[DQ2004]

With the weather clear in the south, Koniev decided it was time to counter-attack.
The Romanians were out of supply and vulnerable. Bombers swooped down to disorganize them. But their strikes were a failure.
Angry, Koniev rang Moscow and demanded to speak to Stalin, wanting heads to roll at the Red Air Force.
But Stalin was having none of it. "We're just a little bit busy up here right now, what with pretty much the entire German army on our #$%*ing doorstep!" he yelled at Koniev, "In fact, what the f#*% are you doing attacking down there, when you could be up here saving Moscow?!?"
Dismayed at this abrupt rebuttal, Koniev hung up the phone. The attack went in, and sure enough the Romanian 1st INF was destroyed.
Koniev was wise enough not to try to push for a medal on this one.

[DQ2004]

In the Axis' second impulse, (Italians took a Combined, Germans a Land impulse), a large force of Macchi Saettas and Bf-110s attacked Malta. For some reason my opponent chose not to send another convoy into the Med to try and get Malta back into supply.
But then again the only available CONV was at Gibraltar, and it could have been intercepted by an Italian NAV placed precisely for that purpose in the Western Med.
Nonetheless, with Malta OOS, the forces there were vulnerable. The enemy had flown another fighter in from Gibraltar (the Beaufighters), but with no supplies the aircraft were useless. The horde of Axis planes swooped down on the island.

[DQ2004]

There's no doubt I've had a lot of luck with ground strikes in this game.
This one is certainly going to be one that goes down in history.
Both the Macchis and the Messerschmitts played their part. Absolutely incredible.
Well, you can see it.
Operation Herkules is a GO

[DQ2004]

We shall continue the story of Malta when we get to the right moment. We'll go through things in order!
On the Moscow Front, the rain held up proceedings for the German armies, moving for the first time this turn.
The odds just weren't quite good enough for an assault on the Red Army lines, and they contented themselves with threatening to outflank the defenders (again).
As you can see, newly arrived Manstein was quickly railed in to provide more supply to the units near Ryazan.

[DQ2004]

On the Don front, Guderian was finally able to move forward, and some powerful new corps were railed to assist him.
Other armies moved south from near Ryazan, and the Romanian motorized corps retreated to safety.
Koniev's counterattack should prove to be a minor discrepancy.

[DQ2004]

The overall view of the Eastern Theatre at the end of the Axis' second impulse.

[DQ2004]

Back to the Mediterranean!
In their second impulse the Italian fleet sortied from La Spezia, going via Albania to pick up the 1st INF division, then headed south. Operazione C3 was on!!
Meanwhile for the Germans part in the operation, dozens of Junkers Ju-52 planes took off from bases at Syracuse. Those Paras had been having a fantastic time in Sicily, but now they were going to have to earn their keep!
The locals at Syracuse were pretty glad to see the back of them, we hear.

[DQ2004]

(Disclaimer: This is a composite image - not real)

[DQ2004]

In Berlin and Rome, anticipation is high as the command staff await word of the action.
Even though the odds are in their favour, nothing is ever certain in war, and nothing like this operation has been attempted before.
Breathless, they await with trepidation. Could they have done more? This is after all their second attempt. The defenders have much greater numbers than last time. Mouths are dry at HQ. Sweat drips from anxious brows.

[DQ2004]

The radio crackles into life -
"KHHHK - we've taken the first airfield. Enemy fire is light. Our reinforcements landing now. Pushing forwardKHHK"
And then from the Italians; "Beach-head secure. Casualties light. Moving inland. Our battleships are pounding the defences. Some enemy troops surrendering already!"

A massive cheer goes up at OKW. In Rome it is the same. Within three days they are sure. The enemy resistance collapses.
The Axis powers have won a fabulous victory. Malta has fallen.

[DQ2004]

With nothing else to do other than shift units around (painfully slowly), the Japanese finally deal with the troublemakers at Hanoi.

[DQ2004]

The Allies got clear weather in the Arctic zone (and elsewhere) for their third impulse, and with the fear of a German impulse to follow (obviously also in clear weather), the Soviets decided to abandon Moscow.