Iron hearts - Phase II

[Nighthawk419]

Wilno reinforced yet again. A large group of lightly defended American artillary hiding out east of Belgrade have been mostly destroyed. The German defenses hold strong and opportunistically take out Russian divisions as presented. Great victories for the Fock Wolfs!

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

After the last week, the RAF did not dare to face the Luftwaffe again.

It was a very quiet week. It almost seemed like peace time.

 

[Tigranes]

Really? What is going on in Italy then?

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

Italy decided to take a a strawl in the south of France. However, it seems that they did not enjoy the scenary as they did not stay long and decided to retire home too soon. As a revenge for the ugly view, the Italians have hired a some Luftwafee top guns and are quicking the RAF's butt!

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

STAVKA and Stalin are failing to understand the German moves. This week a Panzer Regiment and a SS batallion which moved to a forest North of Kinishev were defeated, after being heavy pounded by the Russian artillery and the Red Air Force. A brave Soviet infantary unit was lost in the fight.



In the air the Red Air force resumed their astonish rate of success. After losing the first air combat, the brave pilots of the La-7 were able to win the next three dogfights against the Fw190, despite suffering heavy damages. (Really Impressive!)

 

[Nighthawk419]

More heavily injured LA-7, more shot down, and my scouts tell me the numbers of LA-7 in the back lines are shrinking... meanwhile German bombers are free to roam the skies above Russia. Minimal fighting on the ground this turn, however a machine gun regiment in Cluj was destroyed.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

The Allied have paid a substantial amount to the Mafia for them to find a scheme to avoid the interference of the Luftwaffe. With the successfull completion of the task, the RAF was able to easily dispatch the scarce Italian pilots brave enough to challenge the Spitfires.

After the skies were cleared from all threats, the bombers did their job and spent all week pounding the Italian troops. At the end of the week, the Allied made a direct attack on the city and conquered it. However, due to the lack of experience of the British and CAnadian troops involved, the Allied suffered a relevant number of losses. Not bigger than the poorly equiped Italian soldiers, but bigger than what was hoped for by the HQ in London.

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

More destruction of German units near Cluj and two more squadrons of Fw190 shoot down. Stalin is already looking at Berlin.

 

[Nighthawk419]

Palermo was quickly retaken by the Italian infantry marching south, as it was only lightly defended by Allied machine gun regiments who had not yet been fully deployed (no fortify bonus).

However Hitler has spoken to Mussolini and offered his support in defending the Italian peninsula.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

The Allied forces decided to attack the Italian forces carrying out the siege of Marseilles. The battle started in the worst possible manner as, once again, the Luftwaffe showed it's superiority over the RAF. After incurring in heavy losses in men and equipment, the allied pilots were finally able to secure superiority in that area of the conflict. The bombers were given the "Green Code" and flew out of the airports to continuously bomb the enemy positions.

Fortunately the land attack was more favourable to the Allies, as the Axis lost 6 times the number of men that the British and Canadian lost. This success was partly due to a brand new weapon in the conflict: the american lend-leased Sherman!

By the end of the week Marseilles was again a free city and it's inhabitants rejoiced!

Despite the overall success of the operation, the High Command was worried about the airlosses and summoned the famoust squadron leader Arnold Edgar "Blondie" Walker (in the photo) to discuss the issue. He made a shocking proposal to the HQ: "to replace all Spitfires with LA-7's!"


The request made by the famous pilot shocked the Allied High Commanders. They did what they could to hide this occurence from the press but, alas, it was not possible.



.

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

The Red Army have retaken Budapest! The German garrison, after heavily bombed, was destryoed without major casualties for the Russians. A Nazi counter-attack is expected.

 

[Nighthawk419]

It's like Stalin is taunting me... bragging about his victories and then leaving the cities undefended... then this time he expects a Nazi counter attack when he knows full well I don't have enough units to take it back. I can see why Tigranes was frustrated with this game! The Germans just don't have enough firepower to keep up.

Heavy bombings of the Russian forces in Budapest and some were killed by small guerilla invasions, however Russians still hold the city, with a medium sized Nazi force waiting in the forests outside the city. More LA-7's were shot down, but so were another round of Fock Wolfs...

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

The German forces entrenched in a forest outside Budapest are destroyed after being heavily bombed by the Red Air Force. Once destroyed, Zhukov ordered his motorized divisions to advance into Austria and Yoguslavia. After defeating the local garrison, the Red Army occupies Vienna. Belgrad was also taken and only Zagreb resisted. In the airfiels of Vienna and Zagreb,two Fw190 squadrons were also destroyed in the ground.



In the Ukrainian front, the Red Army advances towards Wilno with a powerful armored army.

 

[Nighthawk419]

Unfortunately the German army just cannot keep up with the Soviet war machine at this point. We have retaken Vienna, but it will fall again.

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

The Red Army dare not to attack Vienna again, due to the deployement of newly arrived German reinforcements in the strong defenses of the city. Instead, Zhukov drove his troops to Zagreb, left defendeless by the Nazis.



Wilno was also conquered, but at significant cost for the Russians. All the artillery pieces deployed around the city missed their targets, which complicated the mission of the assault troops. The German defenders were able to inflict unexpected losses in the Russian Shock Infantry.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

For the first time in a long time, the allies are able to win the air round, by losing (slightly) less planes than the Axis did! It seems that the conversations of HQ with certain key pilots worked!

 

[Nighthawk419]

To say that the Germans are running out of men to fight this war would be an understatement...

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

Some skirmishes around Zagreb and Wilno. The Red Army lost a Tank Battalion in the surroundings of Zagreb and an AT Infantry regiment near Wilno. The Germans lost an AT unit near Wilno. In the air, advantage for the La-7s, despite some heavy damages in the last dogfight (2 Fw 190 vs 1 La-7).



Zagreb reinforced with more units.


Stalin praises the Allied disembark in the Balkans!

 

[Nighthawk419]

...and more units in Zagreb destroyed by Nazis as the skirmishes continue

 

[Rodrigo Costa]

Zhukov ordered his divisions to withdraw from Zagreb. The casualties inflicted by the German attacks were unsustainable.


The Red Air Force suffered their major defeat in the skies, as 3 squadrons of La-7 were shoot down by the Fw190. No losses for the Luftwaffe.

In the Wilno front, the Red Army resumed the offensive operations and launched a successful attack on Konigsberg, with the help of the Russian Navy. The city has fallen, but at the cost of the most veteran Russian tank brigade.