Hitler is dead but Germany refuses to surrender

 Spring brings hope for the Allies that they can finish off the Axis before year's end. Germany is stubbornly clinging on.  Japan launches a heavy carrier with an excellent and an adequate plane. Japan raises Chinese militia in Kweihans to protect it against further Chinese Nationalist attacks. China has no units to deploy. The French have 2 convoy points to launch. Italy produces a garrison corps, an infantry corps and a repaired modern battleship. Germany deploys the blitzed Manstein HQ and infantry corps and  flak gun in or near Stettin. A garrison corps and Kiel militia deploy in Kiel. An infantry corps is formed southwest of Vienna. 2 fighters deploy in Prague and Vienna. The Commonwealth launch a new aircraft carrier and a new carrier plane. Repaired battleships relaunch in London and across the Med. An Indian paratrooper corps is placed in Calcutta. A Polish armoured corps is produced in Birmingham.  The US deploys its usual horde of units including a Brazilian and US armoured corps, lots of cruisers and planes. The USSR produces a fighter in Siberia and 5 militia units scattered around the country.  Two Soviet air units move from Reserve to Siberia including a medium strategic bomber in Vladivostok. A Soviet medium bomber moves into Reserve to redeploy to Siberia later. The US, Commonwealth and USSR get 35, 20 and 25 Offensive points respectively. The Commonwealth agrees to lend any spare resources - including oil - to France and the US agrees to lend 1 resource to France.  China lends all its 3 intelligence points to get a bonus to win Initiative. However the Allies roll 1 and the Axis 5 so the Axis get initiative. Hitler's cheeriness takes a nosedive as the Weather is Fine everywhere except the Arctic zone. Still it does mean he can put some counterattacks in before the end.

Japan chooses a Naval impulse. Hirohito has marine forces in Netherlands East Indies. He decides to evacuate them by first establishing a line of supply to them (the Allies regret returning their subs to base as they would have had a small chance of intercepting the convoys and transports). He ponders transporting his strong armour army to Manchuouko to thwart the Soviet slow moving encirclement. He worries he won't be able to keep them in supply despite all the naval aircraft he has in Japan. He can keep the army in Japan to defend it against invasion. He moves a convoy in to the South China Seas and the convoys and tanker in port in that sea region flee to Japan. Marine divisions are landed at Iwo Jima and Bonin Islands protecting the borders of the Japan sea area. A marine corps is naval transported to the northern point of the Philippines. A marine corps is naval transported to join the garrison corps defending the resource hex in the Philippines. MacArthur who was lining up an overwhelming attack on that hex is not impressed. An air transport flies out to join Yamashita in case he needs evacuating from Phnomh Penh. A naval aircraft moves into the highest 4 box in the Sea of Japan to hunt any subs that show up in the area. Escorts move out. Subs move out to try and cause problems for Allied supply lines to the Philippines. Italy chooses a no-cost combined. It transports marines from Taranto to Cagliari the capital of Sardinia. The Territorials there move into the mountains to block the path of the Royal Marines from grabbing the resource hex in Sardinia. An infantry corps moves into minor port of Leghorn and the militia corps there moves to the major port of La Speziacin mountainous terrain. A garrison corps in Naples is rail moved to replace the marine corps that left Taranto. Italy is making sure there are no easy port targets for the US paratroopers to seize. 

Germany chooses a no-cost Combined impulse. The Allies have no air units protecting convoys so he sends a solitary u-boat into the Bay of Biscay accompanied by a Kondor naval aircraft to disrupt the convoys transporting German resources to the UK. They fail to find any convoys. Hitler moves Manstein HQ southwest to coordinate an attack on the northern part of the Commonwealth semi circle around Berlin. Stukas and medium bombers launch a ground strike on Commonwealth armoured corps. Spitfires fly to intercept and a Bf110 from Stettin engages it in a dogfight. The Spitfires are brushed past. The British AA opens up and aborts the medium bomber. The Stuka disorganises one armour corps. The attack goes in and Manstein flips over. The British armour is forced to retreat along wth the flak. Half the German units flip over but none in Berlin. German infantry move to close the gap between Prague and Vienna. A successful impulse in that the Commonwealth siege of Berlin is unlikely to be able to generate enough power to attack Berlin but it used up half an Oil point leaving Germany with 3. 

The Commonwealth choose a Land impulse. In the Burma front the new paratroopers move to Dacca to join up with the US transport planes. Commonwealth forces move east to meet the Japanese forces. Mountbatten HQ flips over to reorganise three infantry corps. In Europe the Manstein attack has angered Montgomery. He reinforces the sole Canadian motorised corps with the Gort HQ.  With US fighter cover he plays 1 offensive point to use all his medium bombers to ground strike Berlin. The Luftwaffe sends one figher unit to intercept against 3 Allied fighters. One fighter on each side gets aborted and the medium bombers get through. The 88mm flak division opens up and sends one medium bomber back. The remaining two bombers disorganise the remaining HQs in Berlin. Now Monty uses 11 Offensive points to double 3 attacking units and 3 more to send 2 fighter bombers and a fighter to join the attack. The Luftwaffe use their last fighter and a tank buster with the US sending a fighter to join. In the ensuing mass dogfight a sole RAF fighterbomber gets through- doubled as a tankbuster against armour and the German planes are sent home.  The Germans choose the Assault table. The brutal meatgrinder assault - aided by Engineers - leads to Rommel and the 88s being destroyed and Guderian is shattered whilst the Commonwealth loses the engineer division and a gallant Canadian mechanised corps (an extra loss for fighting in the city). Berlin is taken and a figher unit is lost. Hitler shoots himself in his bunker. Germany fights on its remaining factory cities (in reality it would surrender but the rules allow this). Stalin is fuming that the British got there first. With Berlin lost the Oil in North Germany is lost which will mean only one German oil requiring unit will be able to move and/or fight each Impulse in N Germany. Yugoslav cavalry start swinging wide to outflank the Albanian militia with French units keeping the Albanian territorials occupied. The Union Jack flies over Berlin!

British and French engineers move west away from Prague to create room for Soviet units. The US chooses Land, Air and Naval impulses. A cruiser and light cruiser set sail from the US eastwards intending to reach the Med fleet by the end of the Turn. Three cruisers set sail from the US to Pearl Harbour. Nimitz flips over so they can reorganise and move again later that Turn. Liberators fail to disorganise the Japanese defenders of the resource hex in the Philippines. Medium bomber units  and a fighter unit are flown into the area. The US send their heavy air presence into the South China seas and other naval aircraft into various sea zones of the Pacific. One sub joins Brazilian naval vessels in the Marshall Sea area. The sub is sent away but damages the convoy. The sub is reorganised by Nimitz. Subs in the Marianas are damaged and sent back to base by Japanese naval planes. A paratrooper unit is air transported from Rabaul to halfway to the Philippines. 

 In the Italian front Clark HQ joins the front line and launches a combined attack with the French on an Italian corps in the mountains. Two medium bombers attack the Italians near the border with France. The Italians try and intercept and the US sends a P40 in to defend the bombers. The bombers get through and disorganise the Italians. Clark spends Offensive points to double two units. The Italians are destroyed and the US advances into the gap. After a period of quiet the Italian/ French border sees action. Bradley flips over to reorganise three US fighters. US units mass around the southern end of the German defensive line protecting Vienna from the West.

Stalin chooses a Land impulse. Militia from the European parts of Soviet Union are rail moved to Bulgaria and Rumania. Eastern Soviet militia are rail moved to closer to the Siberian front. Koniev flips over and uses Offensive points to double the attack and expands the bridgehead to the south of Stettin despite German flak putting off some of the Soviet ground attack planes. The German defenders are annihilated.  A large Soviet attack destroys the infantry guarding the north east of Prague but all the Soviet attackers are flipped over. Soviet units move west of Prague across the Elbe. Soviet forces gather round Budapest. Rokossovksy HQ uses Offensive points to double 2 units and there is bloody street fighting with the Axis being supported by 3 air units in Budapest. Two Soviet militia units are destroyed along with the Hungarian defenders but Budapest is now in Soviet hands with half the attackers flipped over. There is a potential weak point between Vienna and Prague for a bold German counter attack. In Siberia a heavy Soviet mechanised attack with Vatutin HQ support destroys the Manchuoko militia. The Soviets also advance on the Manchouko capital from the east. On the Vladivostok side of the front a Siberian corps approaches the Manchouko city of Changchun. Other forces in Siberia advance to the front including the Vasilevsky HQ. Zhukov flips over so that the units to the north and east of Prague can reorganise. Stalin then spends his remaining Offensive Points to reorganise Zhukov. China chooses a Land impulse. Mao boldly pushes his mechanised corps east to outflank the northern part of the Japanese semi circular front in China. 

The weather is stormy in Northern Temperate but rainy in the Med weather zone and South Monsoon but fine in the North Monsoon. Japan has to choose a Land impulse.Yamamoto HQ and a Japanese militia unit are rail moved to defemd the south of Manchuoko and the Kwantung motorised infantry corps is retreated south to be near them. Japanese units in the north of their line in China retreat eastwards to the mountains.The excellent Emily naval aircraft rebases back to Japan and the best Zero fighter unit rebases from South China to Mukden in Manchuoko. Italy chooses a naval impulse and sends out escorts and subs into both Med sea zones and the Bay of Biscay. Hitler chooses a no-cost Combined impulse. He moves a panzer corps into Prague to make the garrison stronger. He moves infantry to block the gap east of Hamburg so the Western allies can't further surround it. The u-boats fail to find any convoys in the Bay of Biscay.

Stalin chooses a combined impulse. He sends three subs into the Sea of Japan. Because of the stormy weather the Japanese naval aircraft cannot fly to protect the convoys. The subs find the convoys. 3 convoy points are sunk but the plentiful escorts sink one sub in revenge. Some units move into better positions in Germany to launch attacks when the weather is better. Air units move closer to Prague and Vienna to join in future assaults. Churchill  and De Gaulle choose a Naval impulse. Escorts sail out. French subs sail to the South China Seas. The US chooses a no-cost Combined impulse.  They fail to find convoys in the South China Seas.  Two supply units board Transports and move to the Pacific from San Diego. Cruisers move from Pearl Harbour to Rabaul. US subs in the China Seas get sent back to base but damage a Japanese light cruiser and send the convoy back to base. A US sub in the Marianas sea damages a Japanese light cruiser and sends the convoy point back to base. Allied subs have taken some casualties and been sent back to base but they've cut off Japanese forces in Asia and the Philippines. Two US bombers disorganise the two Japanese units defending the Philippine resource hex and as they are out of supply their defence value drops sharply.MacArthur uses 11 Offensive points to double the ground attack and flips over to provide support. The Japanese choose Assault but are wiped out and the Marines advance to take the resource hex. The transport ship flees to Japan. China chooses a Land impulse and moves units to close up to retreating Japanese units in the northern front. The Turn continues. 

This impulse the weather becomes rainy in the northern temperate and monsoon zones but fine in the Med weather zone. Japan chooses a no-cost combined impulse. Japan moves 3 convoy points into the Sea of Japan. Hirohito files the excellent Emily naval aircraft into the 4 box of that sea to provide additional air cover. Bombers leave Indochina for China. Units in North China retreat into the mountains. Italy and Germany both pass. The Turn ends. 

No partisans appear. In the return to base segment the u-boats stay out to sea in case they don't get a chance to go out to sea next Turn so drop to the 2 box in Bay of Biscay. Other Axis air and sea units return to base apart from escorts dropping from the 1 box to the 0 box. Allied escorts are replaced. Two supply units arrive in the Philippines. Manstein HQ and accompanying mechanised corp can't be reorganised as they are completely surrounded by Allied units. The Commonwealth get 2 Intelligence points. China completes a mechanised corps, keeps building a fighter and saves 2 Build points for next Turn so it can build some more Offensive points. Mussolini uses some of his stored Oil to double his industrial production and start repairing 2 modern Battleships, rushing the completion of a naval aircraft, starting a flak gun and a fighter. Germany uses the iron ore from Sweden to rebuild the Hamburg militia and begins 2 fighter units for Stettin. Prague begins an infantry division. The USSR captured 4 resources including 1 oil this Turn but haven't hooked them into their rail network yet. It stores 2 oil and produces 48 Build points plus 2 from destroyed militia corps  (Hitler's corpse sheds a tear). A tactical bomber is finished and subs are being churned out in Vladivostok. 5 build points. A Guards cavalry corps is produced in Siberia. A marine corps is begun and railways are extended in Europe and the Pacific. 40 Offensive points are produced. France has 12 Build points and 1 Oil point. It uses 10 to make 10 Offensive points and start completing an HQ and an artillery division. The Commonwealth with lots of Berlin factories and European resources produces 48 Build points and 2 Oil points. It finishes a cruiser and light cruiser, Burmese Territorials, an Indian Tempest II fighter, a Chindit and Indian division as well as completing other units , 4 tanker points and 40 Offensive Points.  Japan has 15 build points and stores 2 Oil. It finishes off a mighty battleship, 2 carriers and a carrier plane, a sub, two anti submarine warfare ships and a tanker point. It begins 5 Offensive points and begins a fighter and couple each of garrison corps and infantry corps. The US with a massive 82 Build points finishes off several huge aircraft carrriers each carrying at least one new carrier plane and several naval and air units. The last of the single and twin engined fighters and last medium bomber are begun. A monster 50 Offensive points are produced. Hungary is conquered. It's sole remaining unit - a cavalry corps- leaves the board. The Turn ends.