An ongoing debate among Second Front players regards the proper strategy for the Axis air forces in Italy in the first turns of the game. Some favor a forward defense of Sicily, others the maintenance of an "airfleet in being." Alan Tibbetts has long argued against the former position as a recipe for disaster and here sets out to show it, in the first of several articles in which he examines some of the details of Second Front play - FW

Situation: It is Jul I 1943, the start of a Crusade in Europe Grand Campaign Scenario. The weather is clear, sea conditions are calm.

The Axis player has decided to play an aggressive defense on his South Front. That means holding Sicily for as long as possible, and preventing the Allies from landing on the Italian mainland in the mean time.

To do this he will need to base his air forces close enough to potential landing sites. They will fly DAS over the invasion hexes, and naval patrols against the invasion force. Additionally, they will protect the Sicilian rail net long enough to get significant forces onto the island.

Using the available air forces, a deployment based on the South and West Air OB gives the Axis 20 fighters of all types in the South and a total of 8 in the West and Greater Germany.

Day: 5 German and 7 Italian Fighters, 4 German and 1 Italian HF.

Night: 1 German and 1 Italian NHF, along with 1 Italian NF.

In addition to his fighter force, the Axis player has 8 antiship bombers, 10 other bombers, 1 dive bomber, and 5 attack bombers. A total of 24 A, D, and B types.

During his set-up the Axis built 12 air bases in Sicily and southern Italy at 26:3730, 3630, 3927, 4026, 3926, 3825, 3824, 3823, 3822, 3923, 3720, and 3418. Seventeen of the available Axis fighters are placed in, or adjacent to, Sicily. The other three guard Axis anti-ship units in Napoli and Cosneza. The Axis start the game with only two 0-1-6 Cons and two 1-8 AA units on Sicily to help build and defend airbases. Significant numbers of engineers and flak are placed close to Sicily.

The 44 Axis air units in the South face 88 Allied air units. Allied MTO air forces consist of 59 fighters, 4 NF/NHF, 16 bombers, and 9 attack bombers. The Allies have an initial basing problem, with only 18 air units able to base on Malta/Gozo and 3 on Pantelleria. The Allied player will also have to garrison Malta and North Africa with 5 air units or suffer the penalties.

The Allies spend RPs to build airbases at 27:3407 and 27:3111 (the closest hexes in Tunisia to Sicily and Sardinia), Gozo, Pantelleria, and the north hex of Malta. He also places two engineer units and 3 resource points at the last three locations, so quick construction can help augment the airfields, beginning on Jul 1. The Allied player satisfies the garrison requirement of North Africa with one each H75A-4, P-39L and Am.143M. The garrison at Malta is satisfied with one each Amarle and C-47. By using 3 transport units the Allies have minimized the impact of the garrison rule.

The shorter-ranged Allied fighters, along with three A types, are stationed on Malta, Gozo and Pantelleria.

Pre-game Allied movement phase:

Allied planes begin the air assault on Sicily. Three Spit 5's, escorting a like number of A-types, head for Palermo from N. Africa. Using Rule 23.1.1 the Allied air units, which began the turn in the off- map box, take off from 27:3407. The Axis intercept with 4 Germans and 2 Italians. The resulting air combat sees 1 Spitfire killed and another aborted. The Axis lose 1 Me 109G6 killed; 2 Me110G and a CR.42 aborted. All the Allied bombers were returned. In the only other air to air battle of the pre-game "turn" the Axis kill two more Spit 5 and a B-25, in exchange for an Ro57 aborted. Unfortunately, the Axis player is running low on fighters, having used 12 to intercept two Allied missions so far. Others were posted in Napoli, to protect some anti-ship bombers. The need to maintain an interception threat will keep the remaining Axis fighters on the ground for the remainder of the pre-game "turn."

The Allies launch a further 20 raids, varying in size from 1 to 6 air units each. They concentrate on bombing Italian air units, but perform a variety of missions. The total effects for the Allies are 3 marshaling yard hits (reduce Sicily rail net to 4 RE capacity), 3 rail line hits in southern Sicily, and 12 airbase hits. Flak costs the Allies 3 aborted units. Airbase hits put SM.84(Bv), MC.202(F), CR.42(NF), Ju 87(D), Ca.314(B), 2x SM.79(Bv), C014-RA(Blv), Ju 88A4(B), Me 109G6(F) and 2x Fw 190(A) in the aborted box. Due to the lack of any opposition in France, Allied air forces in the ETO score 12 rail hits at no cost.

Total: 10 Italians aborted; 1 German killed and 6 aborted for the cost of 4 Allied air units killed and 4 aborted. The Axis will need to use 18 Air Replacement Points (ARPs) if they want to cover all their losses the Allies will need 12 of their more plentiful ARPs.

Axis July / Player- turn:

In the Axis initial phase of Jul I the Germans receive 27 ARPs, the Italians 11 (per Combined TAC OB, as revised schedule in TEM #50). The Germans spend 8 ARP to repair 6 and replace 1. The Italians spend 3 to repair 1 fighter and 2 torpedo bombers. Several of the aborted Axis planes remain that way.

There are 14 Axis fighters, 9 bombers, 8 anti-ship bombers, and 6 attack bombers in, or within range of, Sicily. All Axis air reinforcements went to the South Theater.

The Allied player decides to fly harassment, and sends 5 P-38s escorting 4 bombers and a P-40 from Malta to Messina. The Axis take to the air with 4 German and 6 Italian fighters. This effort leaves only 2 more Axis fighters within intercept range of Messina.

In the ensuing air combat all 4 Germans are aborted. The Allies have 3 killed and 3 aborted. A CR.42 kills a B-26, while two Fw 190s and two P-38s abort each other. Two B-25s survive to harass Messina, but that isn't enough for the Allies.

Two P-39Ns and a P-38 stage to Malta, along with a P-39D, a LeO.451 and a B-26. From there it's off to Messina for a follow-up raid (don't you just love the way this works?). The two remaining Axis fighters intercept, and attempt to bypass. An Re.2005 is aborted at no cost to the Allies. Messina now has a level 3 harassment hit, making any Axis units going to Sicily pay a high price in movement points. The effective Sicilian rail capacity, reduced to 4, doesn't help much.

The Axis player transfers more air units in from the West and Greater Germany, but no longer has enough airbase capacity for his Strategic Air Force. He sends engineers and flak to Sicily, but can repair only 2 airbase hits this turn. The 5 aborted Axis fighters will make the Allied player-turn a bit harder to play. At least Messina now has more than the 5 measly AA points it had to face the harassment missions with.

Allied July I Player Turn:

After repairing some of his airbases, and suffering losses in the last player turn, the German now has room for his Strategic Air Force. He calls up the maximum allowable, choosing 5 Fw 190A2, 2 Me 109G2, 3 Me 109G6, and 3 Me110G NHF. The Me110s are placed in Napoli to protect or escort Naval Patrol aircraft located there. The others are placed on Sicily or in Southern Italy within intercept range of Messina. There are now 19 Axis fighters on or near Sicily. This event causes the Allied player to postpone his invasion of Sardinia, and concentrate on killing more Axis air units. The Allied player calls up both of his MTO Strat Air Forces.

The Allies use 9 US and 4 British ARPs to repair all of their aborted air units and leave 4 US in the eliminated box. There are 20 US, 36 British and 4 French ARPs for future turns. The Allies will be more careful to spread out losses from now on.

Both Strat AF bomb the airbase at 26:3630. The 6 British TBF, escorted by a P-400, miss. US A/FB assets get a hit, aborting a Fw 190A2 which never gets to respond. The Allied player has no naval movement, but in the ground movement sub-phase he augments the airfields on Gozo, Pantelleria, and Malta to a capacity of 6 each.

The Allies now conducts a series of heavily escorted raids that draw up Axis interceptors. The additional airbase capacity on the forward fields is of great value in getting short ranged planes like Hurr 2C and additional Spitfires into action around Messina. Under SF rules aborted air units go off-map, so every air unit from Malta or Gozo that gets aborted can be replaced by another unit staged from North Africa. Once again, the Axis has to "use or lose" his fighters. If they sit on the ground they get bombed, but there are not enough to challenge every Allied raid.

Spitfires take the brunt of the Axis firepower with 2 units killed; 9 more Allied air units are aborted. The Allies kill no Axis, but abort 11, mostly with bombs. They also put one more rail cut on the board in southern Sicily, and 8 in France. At the end of Jul I the Axis have to withdraw the 13 Strat Air Force units, 5 of which are in the aborted box. This costs 5 more German ARPs, leaving 16 German and 8 Italian ARPs. There are 17 German and 9 Italian air units in the aborted box, and 5 Italians in the eliminated box. One turn into the air cycle and both Axis Air Forces have more casualties than they can replace.

Axis July II Player-Turn:

The Germans get 5 fighters, I bomber and I attack unit out of the aborted box by spending 3 ARPs and regrouping 4 pairs of units, leaving 11 ARPs for August. The Italians repair 2 fighters and a torpedo bomber with 3 ARPs, leaving them with 5 ARPs. This activity leaves 6 German and 6 Italians in the aborted box; 4 Germans and 5 Italians in the eliminated box.

The Axis place all their repaired units east of the xx26 hex column. Axis fighters will not be able to intercept over westernmost Sicily, but only the longest ranged Allied fighters will be able to reach Axis airbases from North Africa. Nearly all the Axis airbases on Sicily have hits, and some have been bombed to zero capacity. German Strategic Air Forces are not deployed, because of a shortage of base capacity, and the shortage of ARPs to replace losses such as occurred the last time they were used.

Air units available for the player-turn, not include Allied antishipping and garrison units, are:

Axis: 13 Fighter, 2 Heavy Fighter, 19 Bomber, 5 Attack
Allied: 49 Fighters, 4 Heavy Fighter, 12 Bomber 9 Attack.

The Allies fly a large harassment mission to 26:3824, but the Axis refuse to take the bait. The Allies score a level 3 harassment hit, but no air combat.

Allied July II Player-Turn:

The Allies spend 9 British and 6 US ARPs, leaving 27 British, 14 US, and 4 French ARPs for August. They repair all their aborted units and replace all but 2 Spit 5 and a B-26 (all US) in the eliminated box. This gives the Allies an even more overwhelming number than they had in the Axis player-turn. Airbases on Pantelleria, Gozo, and Malta are augmented to a capacity of 9 each, allowing another 9 Allied units to base closer to their targets.

Allied planes begin by visiting Napoli with a single B-25, escorted by a Bftr 6. An Me I I OG intercepts, but only returns the escort. The B-25 gets a hit, aborting a MC.202, the only other Axis fighter in intercept range of Napoli. Further Allied bombers get three hits, aborting the just repaired SM.79, a Do 217, and an SM.84. Flak aborts a B-25 and Bftr 6.

During the rest of the turn Allied planes run a series of bombing raids on Axis airbases. This kills a Fw 190A2 and aborts 4 more Axis planes on the ground. In addition, the Allies put 5 more rail breaks in Sicily, and 7 in France. A total of 5 Italian and 3 German ARPs will be needed to repair and replace Axis casualties in a turn which saw poor Allied bombing dice. Axis flak accounts for another three Allied fighters aborted, bringing Allied casualties for the turn to 5 aborted.

Axis August I Player-Turn:

Italy uses 2 ARPs to repair 2 MC.202, Germany uses 4 ARPs to raise a Fw 190A2 from the dead, and repair 2 Me 109G6. This leaves 7 German and 3 Italian ARPs. There are now 7 German and 8 Italians in the aborted box; 4 German and 5 Italians in the eliminated box. The Axis have 13 Fighters, 8 Bombers, 7 code V and S Naval Bombers, 3 Attack, and 3 Heavy/Night Fighters on the board. A majority of the fighters are Italian, many of dubious quality, having survived only by avoiding air-to- air battles with Allied fighters.

The Allies have 56 Fighters (all types), 15 Bombers and 10 Attack Bombers, plus their anti-ship and garrison units, along with 6 Fighters and 2 Bombers which they will repair/replace in their player- turn.

Axis planes are now concentrated in northeastern Sicily. It is obvious that Napoli is no longer a safe haven, and Allied fighters have complete air superiority over southern and western Sicily. Rail movement in Sicily has broken down, and Allied harassment will make any further movement between Sicily and Italy a time consuming process.

Allied forces are now in a position to invade Sicily with little threat from Axis aircraft, so long as they do so within intercept range of North Africa and Malta. Before any naval movement takes place Allied bombers will hit the Axis naval patrols at their bases in Napoli and Sicily. The Allies should be safely landing in Sicily this turn, accompanied by further Axis air losses.