The Final Curtain refuses to fall for Hitler.
Italy places mechanised corps in Naples and Rome and a weak infantry corps in Milan. A good flak battery also gets placed in Rome and an antique battleship is repaired in Taranto. The Commonwealth deploys a variety of land, sea and air units including a battleship, an escort anti submarine aircraft carrier, a Croatian mechanised corps in Zagreb and a fighter in Sydney and 10 Offensive Points. Hitler puts new fighters in Berlin, Vienna and Stettin. Land units are placed near Stettin and in or around Vienna. Times are desperate so Hitler deploys two obsolete biplane fighters and one poor quality medium bomber around Vienna and Czechoslovakia. France mobilises all its militia and deploys two engineers to help with Germany and Italy. The Japanese place a mechanised division, a sub and 5 Offensive points. The USSR gains 20 Offensive points. Newly produced fighters and bombers are placed in the Reserve pool. In a later Turn they can be placed in any Soviet city such as Siberia to surprise the Japanese. Other Soviet planes also go into the Reserve pool including heavy bombers. An engineer and 2 supply units are produced in the East Urals near Siberia. The US has a cornucopia of units to place. A fighter is placed in Belfast for the last time as the US is returning Northern Ireland to the UK from this Turn. Lots of plane units are launched and a medium bomber intended for Europe will fly to the Pacific instead. The last infantry corps available are produced and ready to take part in the Pacific campaign. A special transporter unit that can boost minor port capacity from 3 ship units to 23 ship units is launched. 20 Offensive points get added to the US total. The US built a Canadian artillery division and repaired a Royal Navy transport. China gets 5 Offensive Points and a Chinese Nationalist infantry army in ChungKing.
The Commonwealth agrees to give France one oil if the US doesn't give them an Oil and any spare resources it doesn't use for themselves. The Axis win Initiative. Hitler is delighted by the bad weather - Snow in North Temperate zones and Rain in the Mediterranean and South Monsoon. He then remembers the Soviets have a lot of units that fight well in the Snow.
The difficulties that Hitler faces in in filling the gaps in his troops surrounding Berlin are shown in the picture below. German and Soviet planes in the front line are removed to make the problem more obvious.
Stalin chooses a Land impulse. He rail moves a mechanised army to Siberia north of Mongolia. He uses Konev to organise an expansion of the bridgehead south of Manstein and to flip over to support the attack. Manstein doesn't support. The Soviets also attack the Slovakian corps defending Bratislava. Soviet artillery disorganise the defenders and Soviet armour rolls over them. The Soviets also take Bratislava with no casualties and can cross the Danube if the Germans do not rush troops to close the gap. The Vatutin HQ flips over to reorganise the recently rail moved mechanised army near Mongolia.. The Western Allies all choose a Naval Impulse. Escorts sail out. The US spends an Offensive point as does the Commonwealth to move a US unit and Yugoslav unit to make a supply path for Western allied units to reach Yugoslavia. Royal Navy Amphibious ships and a French Transport carry French troops to Yugoslavia accompanied by US, French and Royal Navy Fleet. The Senegalese motorised infantry land in Trieste whilst North Africans including Mountain troops land in Dubrovnik to threaten Albania. The Western Allied vessels slip past Italian subs and planes that fail to find them. Minsubs attack the fleet in Italian fleet in Taranto but only damage some tankers. The combined Western Allied fleet sits in the Italian coast sea zone daring the Regia Marina to come out and fight them. An amphibious ship carries the Royal Marines to Gibraltar escorted by a battleship and an aircraft carrier. The Queens fast transports carries the 1st British corps round the Cape of Good Hope ready to land in Asia or the Pacific at the end of the Turn. Transports in the American East coast move across the Panama Canal taking specialist divisions towards the Pacific theatre. Planes and infantry units set sail on transports from the US west coast towards the Pacific. An offensive point is spent for a Medium bomber to fly from the East coast to the West coast. Transports move from Australia to begin the journey towards the US. A marine corps and MacArthur HQ get in landing ships in the Coral Sea accompanied by the Pacific Fleet. Subs go to the Bismarck Seas to interrupt the Japanese supply convoys to Rabaul. Two US fighters and a naval aircraft go into the South China Seas along with two French subs to attack the convoys there. The US miss the convoys in the Bismarck Seas. They fluff their search roll in the South China Seas but the Commonwealth spend 4 intelligence points to get them to re roll. The Japanese fighters try to intercept but are outnumbered and outmatched. The naval aircraft damage the antisubmarine warfare ship and send all the convoys and tankers back to base along with a light and heavy cruiser. They do not search again preferring to wait for prey. The Japanese have a decision - do they commit resources to force the US planes out of the sea zone in order to get convoys back in the sea zone and also aid the supply to ground forces in Siam? Chinese forces move to get into better positions for next Turn.
The weather is Stormy in Europe and Rain in the Med, Fine in North Monsoon and Rainy in the South Monsoon. Italy chooses a no-cost combined impulse. Mussolini girds his loins and sends out his Regia Marina to fight the combined Western Allied fleet. He hopes to cause some damage to them to help the Japanese out as they will sail East after Italy is despatched. An armoured corps is rail moved to Venice from the western border with France. The border with Yugoslavia is strengthened with the garrison corps in Venice. Two fighter units can only reach the 2 box in the Italian sea zone and cautious Mussolini will only place his large fleet of battleships and cruisers and light cruisers under their cover in the 2 box. He has 2 captured French battleships too. Fortune favours the brave and he gets a 2 whilst the Allies using all their remaining Intelligence points get an 8. Mussolini uses 4 points to choose his combat and he wants surface combat with battleship broadsides! Mussolini decides to max out on the damage to help the Japanese. They focus on the US who lose all 3 battleships and 1 heavy cruiser sunk and 4 heavy cruisers damaged with only the aircraft carrier untouched; the Royal Navy has Renown battleship damaged and one sent back to base along with two heavy cruisers. The Allies only damage three modern and one antique battleship and two light cruisers What a result for the Italians! Mussolini raises a glass of chianti to his brave fleet. This is the worse result of the war for the entire US armed forces so far and Roosevelt faces searching questions from Congress. Hitler chooses a no-cost combined. Hitler likes stormy weather as it hinders movement and reduces attacks greatly but the Soviets don't get combat bonuses as they do in Snow or Blizzard weather. He moves forces from Vienna and Budapest to close the gap protecting the south bank of the Danube. Hitler is optimistic and sends out escorts to protect the Baltic convoys next Turn. He sends his two u-boat units into the Faroes Gap but fails to find convoys. Hitler thinks he will survive into 44. Japan sees that there is a small amount of coastal territory that will allow the Commonwealth to sneak past the southern part of their line in Siam. Japan chooses a Land impulse and begins the withdrawal of troops in Siam to Malaysia, Vietnam and China. Units in Korea move towards the border with the Soviet Union and those in Manchuoko move behind rivers.
The US chooses a no-cost Combined Impulse. In the Pacific a massive air attack by 3 air units eventually flips over the Rabaul garrison. Naval aircraft fly out into the Bismarck Seas and Coral Seas. In the Bismarck sea the Japanese convoy and its escorts are driven away to Guam. They shuffle units so that MacArthur HQ lands next to Rabaul then spend 2 offensive points to be able to have a combined marine and paratrooper invasion then 11 Offensive points to double the attack. Rabaul is taken without loss. They spend 3 Offensive points to rebase air units from US west coast to the Pacific. The Commonwealth chooses a no-cost Combined impulse. It moves the Home fleet in Gibraltar into the Italian Coast seas zone. They find the Regia Marina and manage to get enough surprise points to choose surface action. The Royal and French navies move in for revenge. The French have a new battleship damaged and an old battleship sunk. The Royal Navy have their two modern battleships damaged. Two heavy cruisers are scattered back to Malta. The Italians have their two remaining modern battleships damaged and an older battleship and 2 heavy cruisers damaged as well. An older battleship and three cruisers are sent back to port. The fleets remain at sea but miss each other. The carrier Ark Royal sails from UK to Africa. France chooses a no-cost Combined Impulse. De Gaulle moves two engineering divisions by rail to Germany. The colonial mountain corps moves to cut off the Albanian territorial unit from Albania. The Syrian cavalry moves to Sudan. Stalin chooses a Land impulse. He rail moves the best Siberian infantry army towards Vladivostok. Two air units rebase back to the USSR from Poland whereas a good short range fighter moves closer to the frontline near Berlin. The mechanised corps in Siberia near Mongolia move towards the border with Manchuoko. In the stormy weather Stalin is reluctant to attack but he fires his Katyusha division at the stack containing Manstein to the north of his bridgehead and manages to disorganise Manstein HQ. If the weather becomes Snow next Turn then Stalin will attack. The Turn doesn't end.
The weather this Impulse is Stormy in the Arctic and Snow in most of Europe and Fine everywhere else. Japan worries the Commonwealth will make advances into Siam and that the Soviets will keep moving more troops into Siberia. Germany worries that the Soviets will make attacks with only the -2 modifier with Rain and make more progress. Mussolini agrees that they will all pass to get a 60% chance of ending the Turn and they succeed on a roll of 4! Hitler and Germany survive into 1944 when all seemed hopeless! They celebrate probably their last Christmas. As the Axis had the first and last Impulse this Turn the Initiative moves to no bonus for either side from +1 to the Axis.
No partisans arrive. Japan now has 12 Objectives having lost Rabaul to the US this Turn. Axis vessels return to base. The Italians leave the convoys in the East Med unprotected. The Germans leave their u-boats at sea in case their Baltic ports get attacked- their milchow u-boat acts as a base for the other u-boat. The Royal Navy sends its Home and Med Fleet to Tripoli. Its Beaufort and two Beaufighter units fly to Malta as a base so that they can fly into the Italian coastal sea zone easily next Turn. Many US units base in the Pacific both Land and Air units as well as the Canadian artillery division. Japan looks perturbed at all this North American military might. The British 1st infantry corps lands in Rangoon and Ark Royal berths in the Seychelles.
Germany saves as much Oil as it can and uses its paltry 8 Build points to finish one garrison corps and start another one whilst building and completing as much fighters as it can. Italy has 6 Build points. It finishes a fighter and starts a naval aircraft and begins the repair of Impero modern battleship. They begin the construction of a garrison and infantry corps. Japan has 18 Build points after the US cut off the convoys and transports in the South China Seas and saves 1 Oil. They can't afford to build any more Offensive points but complete several units including rush building 3 armoured and mechanised corps in total and an armoured HQ to finish next Turn. They intend to make a surprise armoured offensive in mainland Asia next Turn.
The Commonwealth has 36 Build points including its Yugoslav allies and saves 4 Oil points. It's producing as much as the entire Axis by itself! It continues to build a mix of air, land and sea units including repairing the 4 damaged battleships in a range of major ports such as Alexandria, Tripoli and in the UK. 20 Offensive points are added to the bank. France is gifted by the Commonwealth the German oil and one resource from Germany. It saves 1 oil from Germany and one from Iraq. It has 10 Build points. France repairs its modern battleship and starts building an artillery division and a new infantry HQ and a Moroccan mountain corps. It completes a carrier plane. China with only 4 Build points starts a mechanised corps and slowly building a P40 fighter - both Nationalist. The Soviet Union has 40 Build points and saves two Oil points. It completes a sub and Vasilevsky armoured HQ, motorised infantry army and a fighter and begins another fighter, the final cycle of a sub and 30 Offensive points. Japan looks likely to get it this Turn or next. The US has 69 Build Points after giving Northern Ireland back to the Commonwealth and gets to store 4 Oil points. The US starts building its mix of air, land and sea units and repairing 4 cruisers, a sub and convoy points. It starts its last fighter and heavy bomber and a Brazilian P47 to expand its aircraft numbers and a Brazilian mechanised corps. They make 35 Offensive Points - more than the entire total Axis Build points this Turn.
The Japanese draw a high value entry marker but the Soviets also draw an entry marker. The Soviets have enough units and entry marker points to declare war on Japan if they wish.
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