Paris falls, Tehran falls and France declares war on Italy claiming control of the Mediterranean.
1940 S/O – PARIS FALLS
Update - Deferred US entry from EOT J/A was 26 'Relocate the fleet to Pearl Harbour' - the clock is ticking - tik tock.
With the GERMs having won the initiative (rolled 10), electing to go first AND rolling clear weather (6) Paris was not going to survive - the French gave it a go though. The GERM went land and despite marginal GS – with one bomber being shot down and the other aborted his 4 factor Arty bombarded the hapless capital. The attack went in with the French HQ Georges and the GERM attacking HQ Rundstedt supporting their armies, the GERM did not commit any acft but the French flew their only Land Bomber, the GERM AA was superbly efficient, driving all 3 pts away. The GERM assault committed, and he rolled well enough a 10 on a +12.5 to capture the French Capital with only a Div lost and a ½ invert (22). Paris has fallen albeit a turn or two late, the GERM will almost certainly declare Vichy as there are too many French land and acft units and he has already taken too many casualties in this hard-fought campaign. The GERM Arty outside Rouen were successful in inverting GEN Wavell and his HQ staff as well as his defending MOT Corps, with Paris captured and little else to do they could be in trouble. Interestingly the GERM flipped all his remaining HQs to reinvert his ½ inverted Army, his Arty and a FTR and Stuka – looks like he might go after the BEF! Von Leeb was transferred to Sicily – possibly to support the Egyptian Campaign or perhaps Greece – time will tell. Italy took a Naval and sailed its Primo fleet out to the WE Med to continue supporting Axis land Ops in Egypt while the CMWLTH is distracted trying to extricate his BEF from France. Their submarines finally have some success finding the convoys outside Gibraltar sinking, 3 conv and aborting 3 others to Portsmouth, surprisingly the Sub on patrol in the N Sea does not elect to search for the BEF supply convoy, if it had the found it, the BEF would have been OOS and very, very vulnerable, especially as both the Corps in Rouen were to be inverted, the BEF Commander wiped his brow. The Italian air-force bomb the British HQ Gort and its 7 Mech Corps hoping to invert and fix them on the Rouen peninsula, Unescorted (again – the GERM just simply refuses to waste it’s FTRs to escort the Italian Bomber) it is intercepted by the RAF Hurricane’s, but they botch the intercept (again) and clear it through. Luckily, the Italians aim is put off by the RAF and the harmlessly dump their bombs outside the port. Japan took a combined and flew multiple GS, again with little success other than and importantly rolling high on the A2A table and destroying the Chinese ACFT AND its pilot – no more Chinese acft for a while. He landed another load of reinforcements to bolster his land campaign but with no inversions on the Chinese line, he elected not to attack and risked a poor weather roll on the next impulse.
Allied 1st Impulse, the CMWLTH takes a Combined and sails a substantial fleet, covered by air into the North Sea, CV’s BS’s and tpts, two tpts pick up the valuable ENG and the 7.6 MECH and safely disembark them in blighty – oh what stories they have to tell. The RAF ground strike GERM elements with mixed success, inverting the GERM 8.6 Mech that had crossed over to the Southern bank of the River Seine but at the cost of a 3 Land Bomber that gets shot down with its pilot – the GERM is rolling well. The RAF help reinvert the MOT in Rouen forcing the GERM to further GS if he wants to have a go at the BEF. France takes a land and drives to the GERM/French front line to ensure there is no breakthrough into central France. The French Arty in Metz fires its last rounds at an SS Corps attempting to outflank the Maginot line and has success, flipping the black shirts. In a surprise to all, the French Army launch their second only counter attack, led by their 7 ARMD Corps Char B’s and Mech Corps against the inverted GERM 8.6 Mech – rolling a disappointing (for the Allies) but average roll they do luckily get a 1/1 sacrificing their 6.6 Mech for the loss of the GERM 8.6 Mech – Stalin is well pleased. Speaking of Stalin – Finally the Russian Bear lumbers into action taking a paid Comb. GS the hapless defenders of Tehran they invert both and assault the city at a +16.1 led by Zhukov, the city is taken with no loss and they can now start walking back to a rail head to get back to their designated positions on the GERM/Polish border. This campaign was launched in the summer of 40, early March and has taken 4 turns to persecute. Interestingly Stalin, reports that there were no survivors of the Tehran garrison?
Axis second impulse and a 1 is rolled – clear everywhere, advance by one! The GERM in a surprise move takes a combined rather than land, sails its subs and flies air into the N Sea to hunt the British Tpts – but they are well protected with Ftrs, CVP and solid AA ratings. The GERM Subs, like the RN escorts fail all their searches but the predators in the N Sea become the hunted with a marginal surprise to the British – one shift. In an inconclusive air battle the GERM escorting FTR is aborted, one NAV bomber gets through and aborts one of the escorting CVs, but not before GERM rolls another 18 and shoots down a CVP and its pilot. With the loss of its FTR Cover the GERM NAVs (2) decide to abort the sea area as they are too valuable to lose for little probable gain. The GERM GS the BEF with FTRs and Arty, the Arty fail, but Luftwaffe bomber is intercepted by Spitfires from Dover which are promptly blown out of the sky with a 19 by escorting GERM FTR, but in reply, a 20 by the Spits destroy another 3 factor Land Bomber and its pilot – this air war is becoming very expensive for both the British and GERM. The British lost 2 Planes AND their Pilots last turn, and they have now lost 3 Planes AND 3 pilots this turn – it seems that the GERM is confidently rolling high in the A2A combat, or the British are not issuing parachutes to their pilots. The Luftwaffe losses have also been expensive, the loss of bombers during the French campaign has been persistent and will impact significantly when they go to war with Russia. It is starting to look like a 41 Barbarossa may be stalled, how long is the question, two months, or a year. Japan takes a land and again attempts to GS the Chinese line, 1 Corps in Sian is inverted, but it is not enough to tempt the Japanese as he has more planes and Infantry arriving and moving to the front. But the clock is ticking and the weather in S/O can become bad, just takes one die roll, no attacks again for the Japanese in a clear weather turn – where is the Bushido spirit. Better news in Egypt for the Axis, as the Italian air-force, needing 2’s successfully GS both Corps defending Alexandria – really – it happens, worse the S African TER is now OOS as the GERM moved forward and supported by the Italian Navy assault the city at a +17, it falls, no loss, no inversion and Cairo/Egypt is now in dire straits. The British were indeed distracted by the BEF trapped in Rouen and did not withdraw the Alexander garrison behind the eastern river defences. Not expecting both corps to be inverted they took a risk and paid the penalty – lesson learned - focus on what is important.
Allied 2nd Impulse and France DOW against Italy and takes a Naval, sailing its fleet into the E Med against the Italian fleet (now in the zero box) and the Italian Tpt which is protected by CA’s and Nav air. They also search the Italian Coast and W Med. The French search rolls are ordinary and contrast to the Italian’s rolls which were exceptional – multiple 1’s and 3’s BUT on the surprise turn that only helps you find the enemy. End result, two Italian CA’s and 1 Conv are sunk with 3 other CA’s sent to the repair pool. The New Italian BS or the Tpt were not found and it is arguable that the DOW and Italian losses were not worth the US chit loss – but probably it was. The bonus is that the Med and Italian Sea’s are now devoid of Italian shipping and conv, the GERM/Italian Exped force in Egypt is OOS which will force the Italians to sail a Conv at least into the E Med which will trigger a French search. The Italians do have several Navs available, and without aircover the French ships are vulnerable BUT the RN still has 4 Cvs in Gibraltar and they may get to play with the Italian Nav’s if the EOT is not rolled by the Axis (1). It was decided by the Allies to sail the French fleet against the Italians as it about to be interned/Vichy and any Italian loss will be helpful to the British who are struggling to find anything! Russia starts the long trek from Persia, along hot and dusty mountain roads towards Mother Russia and rail heads to be redeployed West. China does what China does – moved a unit. The CMWTH takes a Comb and ships desperate reinforcements to Egypt from Australia (DIV) and India (Corps) – will it be enough? They fly their SA Spitfire into another sea area, it has taken three turns to get from SA to Aden, one sea area per turn as shipping (Tpt) is too sparse and valuable – they are still stuck in Europe trying to extricate the BEF from Rouen. A couple of CVs in Gibraltar have their Air Gps rearranged – ship-ship trfr.
Axis 3rd Impulse next week – whether rolled 5 – clear weather again in the temperate – where is the S/O bad weather, it appears to be replicating the excellent weather that the Axis had in 1939 S/O – just as well the GERM has not elected to go after the destruction of French units and a complete conquest. The Axis can roll an EOT on a 1, but they still have some things to do – getting the Axis Egyptian Exped Force back in supply is one of them. Overall an interesting turn, Paris falling – it wasn’t guaranteed, but likely, France DOW against Italy, cost a US chit but may have saved Egypt. The air war continues to be horrendous for all, lots of high rolls and pilot deaths, makes air losses doubly expensive. Oh and Tehran has fallen.
Killer die rolls.
