Oct II 40

During October, Italy builds up forces in northeast Italy around Trieste, in the ports in southeast mainland Italy, and in Albania along the Albania-Yugoslavia border. However, Yugoslavia detects the preparations and orders mobilization. Due to internal dissension, the results vary from region to region. In Serbia, three divisions mobilize and march south into Kosovo, where they block the road from eastern Albania. In Montenegro, mobilized units block the road into northern Albania. At the same time, mobilized units in Bosnia-Hercegovina (B-H) garrison ports along the Adriatic coast. In all other regions, the mobilization doesn't yield any immediate results.

Nov I 40 (Clear Weather)

Italy: On the Albanian front the Centauro Division together with two artillery regiments overruns a regiment at the border and forces an infantry division holding the Pec-Pristina railroad to retreat. An infantry corps attacks Bar, but is stopped by small Yugoslavian forces outside the town. At the same time, strong Italian forces attack and smash a Yugoslavian division at Padgorica, but due to the failed attack at Bar the survivors manage to escape to the northeast.

The Zara garrison is reinforced with an artillery regiment and attacks and eliminates an infantry regiment.

South of Zara, an infantry division, supported by artillery and air, makes an amphibious landing at the illdefended port of Ploce, taking the port and cutting the railroad between Sarajevo and Dubrovnik.

In northern Yugoslavia, the infantry regiments at the border are overrun by strong Italian forces. These forces reach Zagreb, which falls at the price of a mountain brigade and an inoperative bomber unit. Along the highvolume railroad, the armored Littorio Division, three motorcycle regiments, and an artillery regiment smash Celj and thereafter the Littorio Division and an M/C regiment exploit the breakthrough down to Sisak.

Yugoslavia: Mobilization continues and is completed in Serbia, B-H, and Montenegro. In the other regions it is only half finished. In Kosovo, the mobilized units prepare the defense of Skoplje and the railroad leading to the town.

In Croatia and Slovenia, units which have been cut off retreat slowly eastwards.

Yugoslavia has no good opportunities for counterattack, so instead the army prepares new lines of defense. East of the Sava River a line is created to stop the Littorio group and the infantry following it. The air force gives air support to the troops in the area. Behind this line engineers move into position to fortify the road to Beograd between the Sava and the Danube rivers.

In the Backa region a line of defense is created along the Hungarian border and in the eastern territory along the Bulgarian border, as the Yugoslavian government fears that Italy's initial success may encourage other Balkan opportunists to join Italy in the war.

Nov II 40 (Poor Weather)

Italy: Good fortune is not with Italy. The onset of bad weather severely restricts the Italian force's ability to move and attack.

At the Albanian front, two corps attack Cetinje which falls, but at the cost of an Italian infantry division. In the east, two corps supported by air create a gap in the line north of Skoplje, but the Centauro Division only manages to exploit 30 miles.

The forces at Zara, reinforced with a new infantry division, take the port of Sibenik and at the same time cut off the enemy forces in Split. If Split falls, the navy will no longer have to ship supply to the troops in Ploce.

In the north, the Yugoslavian line behind the Sava River is strong, but the Littorio group tries to find a weak point along its northern flank. Although the Yugoslavs are forced to retreat and an infantry regiment is overrun in the exploitation phase, no real gap is created.

Yugoslavia: Mobilization is now finished and in Croatia infantry supported by artillery march north from Bihac to threaten the Italian left flank and force a withdrawal to meet this new threat.

The Yugoslavian player is rather satisfied with the situation and makes only small changes. He reinforces the line in Croatia and starts to fortify the railroad to Beograd. The air force flies air support missions in this sector and is intercepted by Italian fighters now based in Zagreb. Neither side takes any significant losses.

The Yugoslavian leaders are sure that Bulgaria and Hungary will enter the war and therefore continue the buildup along their borders, utilizing troops from the quiet Sarajevo sector. 

Dec I 40 (Poor Weather)

Italian envoys in Sofiya and Budapest point out Italy's impressive gains, 16 cities so far, and urge these countries to stake their claims in Yugoslavia. Both the Bulgarian and the Hungarian governments agree and declare war on Yugoslavia.

Italy: Italian units attack Dubrovnik from two sides and take control of the port without difficulty.

In the north, the Italians make a frenetic attack on the Croatian line of defense and a gap of 75 miles is created by knocking out three enemy divisions for the price of one infantry division. The Littorio group, reinforced with a tank battalion and artillery, exploits through the gap 50 miles in the direction of Beograd.

From its jump-off point in eastern Albania the Centauro group slowly advances towards the road between Skoplje and Nis. The 131st Armored Division succeeds in temporarily cutting the road, bottling up all Yugoslavian forces in the southern part of the country.

Hungary: Hungarian forces attack the Backa region and smash a cavalry division and an artillery regiment. Bulgaria: An attack by two corps along the Sofiya-Nis road eliminates an infantry division, but the Yugoslavian AA battalion is successful and forces the Bulgarian bomber force to abort its planned operations. In southern Bulgaria, two infantry divisions advance in the general direction of Skoplje.

Yugoslavia: The situation has become critical at more than one front. The Yugoslavian forces patch up their lines as best they can, plugging the holes in Croatia and the Backa region, but there are not many reserves left. In the south, Yugoslavian forces manage to open the road to Skoplje again. At the same time three divisions supported by air and artillery counterattack north of Skoplje to cut off the Centauro group. All Albanian forces and an artillery regiment are eliminated. Yugoslavia loses an infantry division, but the Centauro group is out of supply.

Dec II 40 (Poor/Winter Weather)

Italy: The Italian SM.79-I is now repaired and combat ready.

The Centauro group breaks out from it's encirclement and once again threatens the road to Skoplje. In Croatia: new Italian attacks and new Yugoslavian losses, this time two divisions and four regiments. The advance is slow but steady.

Bulgaria: The infantry divisions are getting closer to Skoplje and there is not enough forces to create a steady defense both north and south of the city.

North of Sofiya another 30 miles of road are cleared, together with the mountains north of the road to forestall a counterattack against this flank.

Hungary: 3rd Army continues its operations in the Backa region and clears two hexes of enemy units.

Yugoslavia: The situation is now critical in many locations and the Yugoslavian player decides to abandon the Skoplje region, regroup (withdraw) some troops in the Backa region and concentrate the defense in the triangle Beograd - Nis - Sarajevo. The air force flies air support missions in this area. The engineers regroup to fortify the road in Croatia and west of Beograd.

Jan I (Poor weather)

Italy: A new attack at the northern line of defense supported with a lot of air finally crushes it, there is only one division left in the line. In the sky the Yugoslavian Fury intercepts, but without losses to either side. When its base in Osijek falls this turn, the Fury doesn't have any base to land and is destroyed.

At the Albanian front the Italian forces slowly regroup to attack in the direction of Nis.

Bulgaria: The Mxd bomber is now repaired but the presence of the Me 109E in Nis deters its use.

Hungary: The Hungarians mop up in Backa.

Yugoslavia: With only two undamaged divisions left to defend Beograd, Yugoslavian forces have to abandon the Backa region, and withdraw troops from the south to defend the capital. Only small forces are left to delay the advance of the enemy. A new thin line of defense is created at the east bank of the Drina River.

Jan II 41 (Poor Weather)

Italy: The Yugoslavian division left in front of the Drina River delays the Italian advance, but is eliminated. Supported by air and assault engineers, the first fortified road hex to Beograd is cleared. South of the line of defense the Littorio Group crosses the Drina without meeting any resistance.

In an Italian-Bulgarian attack, the Axis forces clear the woods north of Skoplje. The Italian forces in this region are now at the end of their supply lines. The Centauro Group starts a withdrawal to the coast from where they will use administrative movement to reach the battle for Beograd.

Bulgaria: The Bulgarian advance along the road towards Nis continues.

Hungary: The Hungarian forces take up positions along the border between Backa and Serbia. The Hungarian government declares that the Backa region has been incorporated into Hungary. Their forces will now halt operations unless they are attacked.

Yugoslavia: A new line of defense is created, but it is thin-not more than 5 defense points of ground units per hex, plus DAS. All air units are based around Beograd. 

Feb I 41 (Poor/Winter Weather)

Italy: Yugoslavian forces are forced to retreat from the last fortified road hexes, but avoid any serious damage to their dwindling units. In the air, large air battles are fought and one Yugoslavian Me 109E and one Z. 1007b become inoperative.

Bulgaria: The Bulgarian forces are now only 25 miles from Nis and will probably take the city within two weeks.

Yugoslavia: The Yugoslavian forces now have one goal only: delaying the inevitable Axis takeover of Beograd for as long as possible. With that in mind they regroup their thin line of defense.

Feb II 41 (Poor/Winter Weather)

Bulgaria: Bulgarian forces take Nis easily and can now march against Beograd from the south, but they are probably too late to affect the battle there.

Italy: The Centauro Division now reaches Split from where it moves by rail to the Battle of Beograd where it supports a successful attack against Indija. A 50 mile wide gap in the defense is created between Indija and Sabac and the Centauro Division exploits to the outskirts of Beograd.

An Infantry division cuts off the railroad between Sarajevo and Beograd. Therefore, there are no connected cities in Yugoslavia and all Yugoslavian forces are out of supply.

Yugoslavia: Yugoslavia garrisons Beograd with what they have, but most of their troops are in enemy ZOC and cannot reach the capital.

Mar I 41 (Poor Weather)

Bulgaria: The Bulgarian forces smash a division at Krusevac and can now probably reach Beograd in time for the final battle.

Italy: The Italian goal is now to conquer Beograd this month and win a marginal victory. Therefore, he must get as many troops as possible to Beograd, especially artillery.

The Littorio Group begins to move around the line of defense instead of being tied in enemy ZOCs in an attack.

The Yugoslavian air force is holding back for the defense of the capital next turn, and therefore there are no air battles despite multiple Italian air operations.

Attacks between Sabac and Kragujevac knock out two divisions. The Littorio and Centauro Divisions take up positions to prevent the few surviving Yugoslavian troops from reaching Beograd.

In the south, there is nothing more to do, now that Sarajevo is cut off and the Italian troops are at the end of their supply lines.

Yugoslavia: All that can be done is to move an artillery regiment into Beograd and put two cadres and an artillery regiment west of the town to prevent an attack against the capital from this area. The air force is flying defensive air support missions.

Mar II 41 (Poor Weather)

Bulgaria: The 1st Corps, including strong artillery and engineer forces, moves by railroad to the outskirts of Beograd and takes part in the attack.

Italy: The Italians attack together with Bulgarian forces. Everything they have in the way of artillery, engineers, and air support joins an attack by six divisions, including two armored. The capital is easily captured and the game ends.

Analysis

The Axis won a marginal victory. To get a major victory they would have had to win the game a month earlier. According to the Axis player, this would have been achieved if Yugoslavia had not detected the Italian preparations and mobilized in October. He is probably right about this.

Without the mobilization, Italian forces would have poured across the border, overrun the border regiments, smashed the mountain regiment in Slovenia, taken Zagreb and knocked out the remaining border regiments in Slovenia in the combat phase. He would then have exploited at least to the area on and north of the line Karlovac-Sisak-Bjelovar. This would have given him ten cities in northern Yugoslavia.

The port in Split would had fallen to reinforced forces from Zara.

The forces in Albania would easily have taken at least six cities.

Altogether, at least 17 cities would have been seized in the first turn, enough to ensure that Hungary and Bulgaria would intervene during the next turn. These two nations would then have attacked into the half mobilized Backa region and unmobilized Macedonia, and so on...

Certainly this would have shortened the war at least one month, and maybe two, but... this will be the topic of another game, another night.