Hitler's Final Year?

 The Allies have targeted 1943 as the year to conquer Germany. Hitler defiantly dreams of halting the Bolshevik hordes and throwing the AngloAmericans back into the Channel. He deploys subs and two infantry corps on the West and Ost fronts and minor axis reinforcements. The Japanese recruit local forces across their empire including Manchuoko to thwart the Soviets and a new fighter and excellent naval aircraft- a Nazgul of their own. In North America the Bradley HQ plus armoured and mechanised corps (both US & Canadian) await deployment across the Atlantic along with two heavy bombers and one medium bomber. The Commonwealth launch a new carrier with an actually decent carrier fighter - the Fulmar Fairey - and train up South African spitfires. The Soviets release two mechanised corps and two fighters. The Chinese complete a nationalist artillery division. 

The Japanese use their intelligence point to bolster the initiative roll and the Axis retain initiative! The weather is slightly better but Stormy in northern Europe and South Monsoon but fine in the Med and rainy in the North Monsoon zone. Hitler chooses a no-cost combined and sends u-boats to the Faroes Gap, North Atlantic and Caribbean. The Kriegsmarine takes advantage of the stormy weather and lack of airpower to sail into the North Atlantic. Sadly for Hitler no convoys are found to sink. A u-boat in the Bay of Biscay does not search, preferring to potentially ambush any Allied ships sailing into the area. A panzer corps is railroaded from Ukraine to Aachen. Mussolini chooses a no-cost combined impulse and moves its mini sub into a West Med port ready to attack Gibraltar next Turn and floods both halves of the Mediterranean with aircraft. Only convoys in the West Med but the planes there fail to find any. Japan chooses a Naval impulse. Convoys and tankers move out to reconnect supply lines to resources and escorts move to protect them. The superb 'Kate' naval aircraft moves into a position where it can move to several sea zones close to Japan if needed to sink any threatening subs. More transports move to India in case needed to evacuate the troops there. Both big Japanese fleets stay in base not wanting to commit too early. with the Advance fleet moving into the Bay of Bengal to protect them if needed. Subs move out into the sea zones around Australia threatening to cut Australia off from American supplies to US units there. All the subs search but only those in the New Zealand coastal seas find their targets and sink the convoy. 

Stalin chooses a Land impulse and starts moving the newly arrived mechanised corps to the south of the Polish front along with the Konev HQ. Other units move westwards to the Polish and Ukrainian fronts. Commonwealth chooses a naval impulse. Escorts are sent out to guard convoys. It sends a newly built Indefatigable carrier with two escorts which sends the u-boat attempting to intercept back to base and continues round the tip of Africa. Some transports in India sail towards South Africa whilst others and amphibious landers head for Australia. The Med is not contested. The Commonwealth Home Fleet sails out to find the Kriegsmarine in the North Atlantic. U-boats in the Faroes Gap try to intercept but only send one clight cruiser back to Scapa Flow whilst both u-boats get damaged. In the North Atlantic the Royal Navy finds the Kriegsmarine and gains tactical advantage and use that to avoid sub combat for a straight surface action instead. As the u-boats join in the Commonwealth light cruisers use their ASW factors too. The Americans send a heavy cruiser and light cruiser to join the combat. The Tirpitz is damaged and teo old Royal Navy battleships are sent back to port along with some damaged light and heavy cruisers. A German heavy cruiser is sunk and another returns to port. Both fleets lose contact with each other. Both fleets stay in the sea zone but Tirpitz heads back to port. US heavy bombers cross the Atlantic and the medium bomber rebases to Greenland. The presence of the Kriegsmarine and u-boats in the North Atlantic means transports carrying the new armoured Bradley HQ and armoured and mechanised corps have to move to bases on a roundabout route to France. Marines are landed at Port Moresby and various infantry units are being transported to Australia using cruisers and the Queens fast transport and a carrier is transporting a good fighter CVP unit from the US. Hirohito notes the beginning of mass transport of units to the Pacific theatre but due to a lack of transports it will take several Turns before they all get in a position to threaten Japan. France moves its escorts to protect convoys and sends more subs to the South China seas. US subs move out to attack convoys in several sea zones. Some Allied subs move to Bay of Bengal to try and intercept any Japanese transports if they move troops out of India. Subs search for Japanese convoys but fail except in the Solomons sea zone where they damage a Japanese convoy point. China moves its partisans to grab a resources hex held by the Japanese. 

Italy chooses a no-cost combined and moves a convoy with escorts to the East Med to pick up resources from Cyprus. Troops are rail moved to France. Germany chooses a Land impulse. He rail moves Manstein HQ  and a panzer corps into the Ardennes. Is another Ardennes offensive on the cards? Armoured and motorised troops in Ukraine are moved closer to the Soviet bulge in South Poland. Hitler is going out swinging. Japan chooses a Land impulse. It moves cavalry to attack the partisans with air support and with warlords joining in - the partisans are destroyed but the warlord is flipped over. The new territorial forces in Manchuria move into a position where next Turn they can move to a hex where it threatens the Trans-Siberian railways combined with the garrison unit there. Rainy weather in India means the withdrawal of Japanese forces in India proceeds slowly.

All Allies choose a Land impulse except China which passes.. He shuffles units around Siberia. He forms a continuous front in North Poland. He concentrates forces on Katowice - as half of them are winterised units he gets no penalties for attacking in the snow and two ski divisions also get bonuses along with the HQ bonus from Rokossovsky HQ. Hitler throws in the Hungarian fighter and a Bf109 and two medium bombers. Stalin sends in lend lease P39s and Hurricanes and bombers. His fighters shoot down the Hungarian fighter (the pilot survives) and Hitler fearing the lend lease fighters sends his planes homes. Stalin rolls well and gets the maximum r result. Both German militia units are destroyed for no Soviet losses and the Soviets take Katowice city and its resources. Hitler congratulates the martyrs of Katowice. In the West the US and France move forces east to face the Germans and South to start enveloping Bordeaux from 3 sides. The US moves its new P40 to France, its medium bomber to the UK from Greenland and its air transport to Hawaii. The Commonwealth moves its and forces to face the Germans and starts moving forces to close with the Japanese in India. A Sunderland from Canada flies to the North Atlantic. 

The weather worsens in the northern hemisphere has snow spreading to the Med but fine in the Northern Monsoon zone. All Axis chooses a Land impulse. The Japanese begin a staged withdrawal of land forces in India. They shift units around Manchuria and rebase a fighter unit to Korea. Italy withdraws two infantry corps from Bordeaux towards the more easily defended mountainous city of Toulouse. Hitler moves forces to close his lines in Poland and around the Soviet salient in Poland , moving his armoured forces in particular to close in for his counter offensive. Rumanian forces along with a motorised panzer grenadier corps spread out along the Dnestr river line. Hitler notes his oil reserves are dwindling. The Turn continues.

Stalin chooses a Land impulse. Soviet forces in Ukraine have reached the end of their logistical chain reduced to 2 hexes by the weather. Air units in Ukraine move closer to the front and a mechanised army moves from Kharkov to Poland via rail. Churchill chooses a combined impulse. he sends a carrier into the North Atlantic but regrets it as in the first round of combat as the Kriegsmarine finds his convoys and sinks a light cruiser and damages a second as well as damaging 3 tanker points and sending 3 tanker points back to base along with a light cruiser. In the second round of combat his Sunderland and carrier plane damage a German heavy cruiser and send the two u boats back home. British war production will be heavily compromised this Turn and reinforcements to France from the US & Canada will be delayed  as well as loss of Allied cruisers so Hitler will be satisfied. Churchill comforts himself that the surface Kriegsmarine is halved in size with only one battleship left active. The US chooses a no -cost combined and transports some an armoured corps and Bradley HQ to France and moving troops to occupy Bordeaux. Bombers are rebased to France and the US Air Force is looking massive there. France takes a Land impulse and moves infantry south. China passes. The Turn ends. 

Two partisans turn up in China. In the return to Base stage armoured/ mechanised corps from US & Canada land on France's Atlantic coast. Commonwealth transports head for Caribbean and New Zealand. America. South African spitfires land on the east coast of India. The new carrier Indefatigable with a new carrier fighter Firefly joins the Task force H to help it challenge Japanese domination of the Bay of Bengal.

Thanks to transferring forces from Ukraine and his rapid infantry building Hitler has achieved parity of ground forces on both the Ukraine Front and around Poland and rough parity of air forces. On his Western Front the ground forces were roughly equal but the Allies have advantage in armoured/ mechanised forces and in bombers. 

The Commonwealth has had all their oil  supply disrupted so use some oil reserves to maintain full production.  They begin building three upgraded carriers and planes for them. The US gets an increase in productivity modifiers. It then uses the extra resources to spend 15 build points to complete 3 Essex class heavy cruisers and 6 carrier planes for them one Turn early. This is about half the build points that Japan produces in a Turn. The US produces lots of other military units as well as helping repair some Commonwealth tankers, convoys and a light cruiser. Yamamoto telegrams Hirohito that he fears the balance of carrier power is swinging towards the Allies. The US forms up a a paratrooper corps and infantry corps out of divisions in the Pacific. The Soviets also get a boost to their Productivity Modifier and combined with regaining access to their Productivity modifier produce a shade more than Germany and Italy combined. Stalin starts investing in the Red Air Force along with two mechanised corps and lots of infantry - but good quality infantry too. Hitler is happy the Commonwealth and US are shifting towards favouring the Pacific theatre but he is losing the material war badly nonetheless. France starts building two mechanised corps. Mussolini focusses on building up his land forces. Hitler bullies Mussolini into giving him 2 oil next Turn. Hitler pumps out fighters using up his reserves of trained pilots and keeps building infantry. China also has a bump to its production and builds a Communist mountain corps. Japan manages to transport large amounts of resources so gets to store oil - still its industrial capacity is dwarfed by the combined Allies. Japan repairs 5 damaged warships, builds some land and air units including the Kwantung motorised corps for Manchuria as well as some carrier planes. 

France gets 2 intelligence points. The Soviets realise they made a mistake with their treaty with the Japanese - they can't attack for three Turns after its signed and the Japanese Garrison Value is doubled for several Turns after this. Stalin sends apologies to Churchill & Stalin. Stalin probably has enough units and value of chits to overcome the Japanese doubled garrison value but he doubts his units are strong enough to overcome Japanese resistance without reinforcements. The year begins and promises more bloodshed.