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 In the Spring of 1941, the battles for the Balkans continue.  In the first stage of the battle, we made advances in Yugoslavia. We've taken over most of Serbia, and now our forces are positioned just north of Greece and poised to attack. We're going to push directly south. The Italian Navy has done its job in the Adriatic, which should allow them to give us support. They'll also be supporting their own attacks; with the seas cleared they can land troops in Greece itself. Up in Yugoslavia, we've captured Belgrade but still have plenty of fighting to do. A line has formed from Novigrad on the coast inland to Kutina. We'll simply push forward and take the objectives; there isn't much worry of a counterattack. Axis Turn 6: April 11, 1941 Clear(dry)  The Italian Bersaglieri overconfidently assault Bar, and pay the price for it. While there are few enemy forces around, they are entrenched. It's going to take the Italians awhile to wear down the city.  Fighting at Novigrad continues to be fierce. The Italians send in more of their bombers.  Eventually a few German tanks are sent to support the attack, and they break the Yugoslav flank. Other units scout the rest of the country.  The same day, Kutina surrenders to our troops. The second line of Yugoslavian resistance has been broken.  With the Adriatic Sea cleared of enemy ships, the Italians send out troops from their home ports to land in Greece. Allied Turn 6: April 11, 1941  Some of the Italian troops lose their way in the mountains, and the Yugoslavians eliminate them.  At Bar, the Yugoslav forces continue the battle with the Bersaglieri. Axis Turn 7: April 12, 1941 Clear(dry)  Our forces in the north advance on Banja Luka. The detachment of infantry that had probed the town retreats, as the unexpected enemy troop levels are too high for them to handle on their own.  Our tanks have no problem handling the British Challenger tanks. Even the experienced enemy crews cannot survive our best Panzer III's.  The rest of our tanks move in and in one day, the best of the British troops in northern Greece are wiped out.  Scouts and spies have indicated that the Peloponnesian coast is undefended. The Italians believe that with naval support they can capture Patrai undefended and from there move on to Kalamai. Allied Turn 7: April 12, 1941  Again, the troops at Bar attack the Italian infantry while ignoring the tanks.  The remaining British troops do their worst, but have very little that can hurt our armored vehicles.  Allied AT guns prove fairly effective fighting infantry at Novigrad. Axis Turn 8: April 13, 1941 Clear(dry)  The Focke-Wulfs catch the Mosquitos returning from a mission. The British bombers are out of ammunition, and our fighters gain revenge for their earlier engagement.  Air raids weaken the AT guns at Thessaloniki, and the 5th show up to finish them off.  With the large main force we push over the Pinaros river.  As more and more Italian troops join the fight, the battle of Bar ends and the city's forces surrender.  The day goes very well for the Italians, as they are also victorious at Novigrad.  With those objectives out of the way, the battle for Yugoslavia will be decided in the center. Allied Turn 8: April 13, 1941  The Greek forces have a good deal more artillery than any side we've faced so far. The guns at Larissa open up and the 28th is lost.  A few attacks are made by Yugoslav forces, but for the most part they are ineffectual. Axis Turn 9: April 14, 1941 Clear(dry)  To support the attack into Greece, we plan to drop our paratroops to seize control of the narrow approach through Lavadnia before the Allies can reinforce it. The FW190's dog the Mosquito bombers all the way back to their base, and shoot the rest of them down.  In a particularly bloody one-day battle, the Pioniere eliminate a unit of Greek infantry at Thessaloniki.  Today the armor leads the charge across the river. They push back the first line of troops with ease, and the Bridging Engineers move in behind to make the crossing even easier.  Once the 4th Engineers seized control of the local bridges and built up some pontoons to get more troops across, they decided to go after the air defense guns in the city. While they met with much initial success, they realized that some of the soldiers abandoned the flak guns in order to cut off the path back to the river. The engineers, desperate to get back to friendly lines, continue the fight home all day. In the end, the entire enemy unit is destroyed, but the casualties for the German side have been far too high. Allied Turn 9: April 14, 1941  Yugoslav forces take out an auxiliary infantry unit, but their casualties are similarly heavy.  Fighting between the Greek and Italian forces remains intense, with another unit of Italian infantry nearly lost.  Unfortunately the Greeks are able to locate the positions of the 4th Engineers, and they direct the one remaining British cruiser to shell them. The unit is shattered. Axis Turn 10: April 15, 1941 (dry)  Larissa is captured after a brief fight. Both our core and the Italians spend most of the day recovering from the recent battles.  The main target of our attacks in Yugoslavia is the enemy artillery; if that is destroyed, the cities will fall soon after. Allied Turn 10: April 15, 1941  The last of the British air units spots our undefended artillery and destroys it.  The Greeks gather all the anti-tank guns they have at hand to try to break the Italian line of armor, but even then, they don't inflict many casualties. Axis Turn 11: April 16, 1941 Overcast(dry)  Once they move to attack, the Italian landing force meets with heavy resistance down at Kalamai. The paratroopers complete the first part of their mission flawlessly as they drive the Greeks out of Levadnia.  The SdKfz continues the trend of being in exactly the right place at the right time. As revenge for the loss of our artillery, they shot down every last Spitfire.  The rest of the main force follow up on the success of the paradrop and quickly seize control of the road to Athens.  The guns at Sarajevo are continually firing on our forces, but we press the attack regardless. Allied Turn 11: April 16, 1941  Despite being mostly cut off from the rest of Greece, the soldiers there charge the Bulgarians. Another unit of infantry is lost.  At Mostar, Yugoslavian forces cause the Italians to retreat.  The Greek artillery at Kalamai is deadly accurate. We've now made our way into the thick of it in Greece, and are finding them to be quite a formidable foe, especially for our weaker allies. Yugoslavia is still hanging on, but we are fairly sure of a victory there before too long. 
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| ← # ? Sep 10, 2015 06:42 |
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