bremen-or-not-bremen-question-turn-13-1941-spring

Initial Thoughts
1941 Starts with the Axis having conquered France and with a foothold in Great Britain. The Germans now go. For Germany to conquer Great Britain, Germany needs, at a minimum, to take a hex next to London, then survive any counter-attack by the British. If Germany can survive the counter-attack, then on Germany’s next turn she will be able to launch sufficient forces against London to get at least a 2:1. Germany then needs to survive another counter-attack by the British.

As the board sits now, Germany will likely be able to conquer Great Britain in Fall 1941. But, Russia can enter the war then and so even though Germany is ahead, the Russian threat is a serious one.

Start
DoW: none

Options: Germany: west offensive; pass in east and west. 15 BRPs. 198 remaining.

Italy attritions in the med and passes elsewhere.

Voluntary Destruction of Units: none

Movement
Germany moves all four fleets from Wilhelmshaven to Kiel, which the British ignore.

Italy moves a fleet from Tobruk to Port Said. As the Suez canal repairs are underway, Italy will be able to join the Germans in the west eventually.

Great Britain cannot afford to risk losing fleet factors with her fleet on Gibraltar. So she ignores the Italians.

The 8 fleet on Kiel is designated for supply. The units getting supply from Scapa Flow have not been connected by land yet with the units getting supply through Rosyth. So, the fleet factors are split in order to provide supply to all the German units in Great Britain.

The infantry north of Rosyth move south and end with a 2-3 and 3-3 just south of Rosyth. The 4-6 armor on Rosyth captures some territory (including Glasgow) as it moves south and ends east of Manchester.

The 4-6 on Manchester captures Liverpool, moves west one hex to capture some more land, and then moves back to end on Manchester.

In France, the German infantry move up to the beaches. Italy finishes conquest of Morocco and in Lebanon-Syria the Italian infantry move east towards Persia.

The German air do a little shuffle in order to put the partial factors back in Germany to be rebuilt into full airwings.

The entire board looks like this after movement:

*Note: There is 1 RC on Great Yarmouth that is obscured by the stack on Calais.
*Note 2: The stack on Dieppe was moved one hex west into the English channel so I could expand it and not cover the stack on Calais.
*Note 3: There are two 3-4 infantry and a 4-5 tank on London for a total of 10 power. This is sufficient to deter any sort of airborne drop onto London.

Here’s GB after movement:

*Note: There is 1 RC on Great Yarmouth that is obscured by the stack on Calais.
*Note 2: The stack on Dieppe was moved one hex west into the English channel so I could expand it and not cover the stack on Calais.
*Note 3: There are two 3-4 infantry and a 4-5 tank on London for a total of 10 power. This is sufficient to deter any sort of airborne drop onto London.

Missions
The German navy sea transports the 4-6 from Kiel, the 3-3 from Antwerp, both 3-3 from Calais and move to Rosyth to disembark all the units there.

The 3-4 lent Italian air provides GS on the lone 1-3 british infantry at hex I23.

At this point the British only have two fleets. The 6 is in the USA box and the 9 is on Gibraltar. If GB successfully intercepted it would be 4:1 odds and GB would lose. Then, Italy or Germany could invade Gibraltar and make GB lose 25 BRPs. So, there really is no option for GB to even attempt to intercept.

The sea transport mission concludes with two of the 3-3 infantry moving to H24, one of the tanks moving to Manchester, and one of the 3-3 moving to H25. The Germans now have three lines between the front of the German line and Rosyth. There’s really no hope the British will push the Germans out of GB.

Here’s GB after sea transport concludes:

*Note: There is 1 RC on Great Yarmouth that is obscured by the stack on Calais.
*Note 2: The stack on Manchester is covering up a 3-3 infantry NE of Manchester.
*Note 3: There are two 3-4 infantry and a 4-5 tank on London for a total of 10 power.

Combat
I23: 3-3 x 2 (H24), 4-6 (I24) and 3 pts GS vs 1-3. Odds 13-3 (4-1) Die Roll 1. EX. 3-4 removed. That was a costly battle as the Germans lost 3 air on the exchange. But, both 3-3 infantry advance after combat. This creates a breakthrough hex and the unused German tanks exploit.

But, their exploitation movement simply puts them back on the hexes where they started. One tank on I24, the other on I25.

No other battles this turn.

Construction and SR
Italy rebuilds the lost air for 9 BRPs, a 3-3 and a 2-3 infantry. Total 14. 91 remaining.

Germany spends 65 BRPs to build four tanks, 6 infantry, 2 air, and 4 RCs, as well as attempting to activate Vichy (which costs 5 BRPs). Germany has 133 BRPs remaining.

Most of the new units get built in the east. The vichy activation attempt is successful. The 2 RC counters, but more importantly, the fleets are added to Germany’s units.

Italy’s SR consists of sending units to the border of Persia, but interestingly, Italy also sent 2 air down to Morocco. I’m not sure what that was for.

Germany’s SR consists of moving a couple of units to the eastern front and sending more air into GB.

Here’s the whole map after SR:

*Note: There is an RC on Great Yarmouth that is obscured by the stack on Calais.
*Note2: There are two 3-4 infantry and one 4-5 tank on London for 10 power there.
*Note3: There is a 3-3 German infantry NE of Manchester that is obscured by the stack on Manchester.

Final Thoughts
Germany has quite the force in GB, with plenty of air to back them up. The takeover of GB is going well for the Germans, but I was surprised that the only hex Paul took this past turn was the 1-3 infantry on I23. I was also perplexed by the air sent to Morocco. Not sure why he did that.

Part of Great Britain’s strategy on defense is hoping that the Germans make a mistake that can be exploited. So far, there do not appear to be any openings for Great Britain.