I was wondering if Rommel was already in Africa too.


Wheels

If you've got some units to spare, why not sweep the Mediterranean for more Axis ships and then blockade the Bosphorus and the SoG to plug it tightly?

It should buy you enough time to sweep northern Africa clean of any opposition.





Heh. I wish Switzerland does this in my game, too as I'm really worried about how to conduct Fall Gelb after foolishly having declared a guarantee for Belgium (in triyng to turn them to the Axis' cause). Using the momentum from an invasion of Switzerland, I could push straight into mid-France.
Maybe the Italians will let me use their territory for an invasion...?

Out of curiosity, I cheated a little bit and reloaded by saved game as Germany. I did not nose around too much as I did not want to spoil any surprised, but let me say that Rommel is most certainly not in Africa - at least, not yet. In fact, he's stuck commanding a garrison division in central Poland. Der Wüstenfuchs must have been on the Führer's naughty list this year

I have three or four carrier/battleship task groups patrolling all over the Med for now. Occasionally, they might find a lone cruiser or a few destroyers, but this is rare. For the moment, I think a very significant portion of enemy naval forces in the Med are either damaged beyond use, or are bottled up in port. Still getting hounded by submarines, however. Many of my resource convoys are in really dire shape; some coming from the Middle East have stopped completely. But no supply problems for my units so far, thank goodness. I've ordered a slew of convoys to be build to replace my losses, and still keeping task groups floating around to hunt for subs.

Operation Compass

4 Surface Group and the transport flotilla carrying 4th and 6th Corps depart England on 25 June, and arrive in Alexandria in the early morning hours of 1 July. The trip is relatively uneventful; I had opted to combine the fleets (temporarily called 1 Combined Group) to better defend against any attacks along the way, but no hostile naval or air units are spotted throughout the journey.

On the evening of 6 July, Operation Compass begins as flights of Handley Page Hampden bombers of 3 and 4 Tactical Commands hit Tobruk. Half of the bombers target the city garrison, and the other half is tasked with runway cratering to put the detachment of fighters stationed at Tobruk out of action. After a few brief air battles, the fighters are grounded for the duration of the operation.

The bombing persists day and night for the next four days, when the transports with 6th Corps embarked arrive off the coast of Tobruk. The big guns of 4 Surface Group, led by HM battleships Anson and Duke of York pound the defenders from offshore, and the amphibious attack against a defended urban area that follows makes the Faroe Islands look like a cakewalk. The first units hit the beaches on the early morning hours of 10 July. Surrounding territory is quickly taken, but the city is a tough nut to crack.



After continued bombardment from air and sea, defenders finally give up the city and retreat on the evening of 12 July. Of the sizeable numbers of troops involved, casualties are surprisingly quite light on both sides: We lost 64 men to their 147. Nevertheless, Tobruk is ours.

Once the city is captured, the transports dock in the harbour and offload the rest of 6th Corps’ units. 6th Corps wastes no time and begins spreading to nearby areas. The race is on to capture Ad Diffah and form a north-south wall to fence in the Italians. Any Italian units in the pocket will then be blocked to the south by impassable desert, to the north by the Mediterranean, and to the east and west by my forces.



Most resistance is defeated easily by the new Cruiser Mk I tanks I deployed back in June. Within a few days of fighting, the first phase of Operation Compass is complete, with the ‘anvil’ firmly in place.

Phase two commences at daybreak on 14 July. 1st Armoured Divison, out for redemption after their embarrassing retreat from France, leads the spearhead as 4th Corps crosses the line of departure from El Alamein into Abu Haggag. With the landings at Tobruk, many Italian divisions in this sector have abandoned their fortifications and are moving westward, presumably to try to re-take Tobruk. At this point, however, my tactical bombers are now shifting to hit targets in this area, and the retreating units are bogged down by air attacks. The fighting on the ground is brief.



By 21 July, 4th Corps’ advances towards the west have shrunk the Italian pocket dramatically. Retreating Italian units are encircled in set of four provinces sandwiched in between 6th and 4th Corps.



The noose tightens even further. By 31 July, the pocket is reduced to a small strip of land at Sidi Barrani. With the guns of the naval task group still pounding away, 3rd Infantry and 9th Armoured divisions press the attack.



That evening, the Italian forces collapse and nearly 45,000 prisoners are taken. Given our miniscule losses during the operation – around 500 men – this is an incredible victory. In just three weeks, we have recaptured all territory lost in North Africa and destroyed a significant chunk of Italian fighting power.

4th Corps takes full advantage of the momentum, passing through Tobruk and attacking the port of Bengasi. 1st Armoured rolls through the city sometime on 6 September. I learn a little bit of appreciation in commanding armoured units; like Rommel’s ‘Ghost Division’ in France, my armoured divisions in ‘blitzing’ stance roll hundreds of miles beyond the corps HQ and gain ground at an incredible rate. You can see this in the screenshot below - the AI is entirely handling the manoeuvres of individual divisions, I simply set the overall combat stance for the corps and assign territorial objectives. In the future, some restraint will be necessary to prevent spearhead units like these from being exposed to flanking or encirclement attacks.



My intent from here is to continue exploiting the momentum in North Africa. There is a real chance, I think, of flushing the Italians out of the region in one swipe. Based on the rate of our current advance, I estimate Tripoli could be ours by Christmas.

Other Developments

Greece fell on 2 August. Their government has gone into exile, and their forces continue to fight at sea. Once North Africa is secure, it could be used to springboard attacks into the Balkan peninsula. We’ll see what the Axis does next.

With support for his government eroding after the military disaster in France, Prime Minister Chamberlain steps down on 20 August. Winston Churchill is appointed as his successor.





Onwards and upwards!

Congratulations, fatty!

Compared to the real offensive performed by Britisch forces end of 1940 in to 1941 your victory is even more complete. I wonder when you will encounter grey counters on the map in Libya or even Tunisia, but given the state of the Axis navies I don't know if that currently is a feasible option for the Axis.



Blasphemy! You dare to question the wisdom of the Gröfaz? Zat is clearly verboten!

Congrats on the victory. Will you invade Italy once N.Af. is secure?



AI army handling is a very nice feature. With the whole theatre set to "attacking" and declaring war to the respective countries beforehand (I sadly had to), the AI took care of Fall Gelb...with less resources than the real Wehrmacht had. No skile cut though, but a Den Helder equivalent of Dunkirk!

Well played fatty.

Thanks guys. I played it safe with the huge number of divisions I brought in. The real guys had cojones I can't even comprehend - they did the same with much fewer men.

Italy will have to come sooner or later. Given the amount of infantry they threw at Yugoslavia and Greece, the home peninsula is probably open to attack. But I want to be sure that any gains I make can be kept; I would expect I could hold out for a few weeks before the might of the Wehrmacht came down on my head and booted me back to Africa. Once Axis resources are tied up elsewhere - perhaps in Barbarossa - the invasion of Italy will most likely be a go.

Looking good fatty.


Wheels