It is the end of March 1944 in a Grand Campaign game of Second Front. Although southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica have been liberated, the Axis still dominates Europe. The advance through the winter mud has been painfully slow, and now the Allies face the formidable defenses of the GUSTAV LINE north of Naples. Fighting has been hard, but both sides have been cautious, avoiding operations that could turn into expensive defeats. The Allies have kept amphibious and airborne operations to a minimum, since this is the fastest way to lose VPs. The Axis, likewise, have only attacked when they had a sure thing. Consequently, the VP total at the end of March is +8 for the Allies. The Allies also have a huge stockpile of replacement points: 82 US Inf, 49 US Arm, 39 Brit Inf, 7 Brit Arm, 5 Can Inf, and about 16 Inf for everyone else. There are no units of any consequence in the replacement pool, and there has been no shortage of air replacements. Most importantly, the Allied naval forces and landing craft are at full strength with three NRPs saved.

Where? (Allies)

PR: The Allies need to find a faster way to Berlin than the hex-by-hex crawl up the spine of Italy. Staff HQ lists the following options:

1. Brittany 5. The Riviera
2. Normandy 6. North-west Italy
3. Pas de Calais 7. North-east Italy
4. West-Mediterranean coast of France

The Pas de Calais is the nearest to the Rhine, but is also the most heavily defended, with all kinds of mines and port fortifications. Northeast Italy is the furthest away from my airfields, and the West-Med coast of France is in the naval danger zone. I seriously consider the Riviera and Northwest Italy: both are within Spitfire range of my airfields on Corsica. I even send my portion of the Italian navy to sweep the mines in Nice and Cannes, but this turns out to be (in retrospect) a feint. The Riviera is just too far from Germany to be decisive. The same is true of Brittany: while the defenses are light, it is just too far from the Rhine, which is where I want the Allied armies to be by the end of the year. The best option is Normandy, just as it was in 1944.

Where? (Axis)

RCV: The Axis player in Second Front must make every effort to restrict the "where" of the invasion as much as possible. While it is impossible to prevent all possible landings, it is certainly possible to prevent some landings. My set up was designed to force the Allies into either a very risky landing, where the Axis would win based. on disastrous victory point losses, or a safer landing, further away from Germany and its all-important VP cities. I won't accept any possibility of a landing between Denmark and Le Havre, and closing off those beaches is not too difficult a task. Really, the choice for the Allies comes down to Brittany or Normandy and I am going to expect the landing in one or both of those sites.

When? (Allies)

PR:. When should OVERLORD take place? As early as possible, so that the Allied armies have the longest possible campaigning season. The weather in France is guaranteed to be clear from May I to September II, with only a 1/6 chance of rough seas. This is important for the emplacement of the Mulberry artificial harbors, probably the most important die rolls of the game. For April I, there is a 2/3 chance of mud weather (March II was "mud") and a 1/2 chance of rough seas. If April I is mud, April II has a 1/3 chance of remaining so. If spring comes early, and April I is clear, April II will be clear as well. The chance of rough seas drops to 1/3 in April II, and is only 1/6 thereafter. As it turned out, April I was clear, so the invasion plan was written up for April 11, and I took the opportunity offered by the clear weather to call up the Strategic Air forces and pound the French railways. The reduction in Axis rail capacity turned out to have a crucial effect on the battle for the beaches.

When? (Axis)

RCV. The Axis player has no control over the timing of the invasion and simply has to be ready at all times, while playing a shell game with panzer reserves. If you move them around each turn, you might confound the Allies and even delay a planned invasion. However, my defense is based upon those panzer troops being in the front lines, so I can't afford to have them cavorting all over the map. The Axis can really only wait for clear weather and calm seas and expect the invasion on that turn.

D-Day, April 11 1944.

PR: The first order of business was to neutralize the Luftwaffe, especially the bombers on anti-shipping patrol. This meant flying airbase bombing missions against heavy flak concentrations, usually with the longer-ranged Allied fighters (fighters add one to their bombing strength when bombing airbases). The Luftwaffe gave as good as it got, but the Allies have lots more planes. Enough bombers were hit on the ground to ensure that only a handful survived to attempt to intercept the Allied invasion. Those that did ran into enough CAP (most of the shorter-range Allied fighters were used for this) and flak to drive them away. Result: there was not a single air attack on the invasion fleet.

The next step was to suppress the coastal artillery defenses and sweep some mines, Mines? Yes, one of the invasion beaches (Deauville) had a single mine point. I didn't sweep this earlier since it may have made the invasion plan too obvious. Deauville also has three levels of coast defense artillery (CD), and is adjacent to Le Havre, which has another four levels, halved in adjacent hexes. This means that I have to inflict six hits on Deauville, plus another six hits on Le Havre in order to make Deauville safe for my transports and landing craft. Bombing is a highly inefficient way of obtaining hits on CDs (tactical bombing factors are halved), so this is a job for the naval task forces. Since the mines "attack" each naval factor that enters or starts a naval phase in its hex, I sent a single, small TF in alone in the first phase. The 4-point Free French TF is a good choice for this hazardous duty. In the second naval phase, the rest of the fleet entered the Deauville hex, endured one round of mine attacks while the TF that started the phase there swept the mines, and then proceeded to shoot up the CDs in both Deauville and Le Havre. At the other end of the beachhead, hex 0711 is adjacent to Cherbourg's five levels of CD. This requires eight hits to make 0711 safe for my transports, but at least there were no mines to deal with there. The results? A total of seven hits on the TFs from mines and CDs, plus one LC and an American engineer brigade sunk by mines.

The table shows a complete breakdown of the invasion hexes.

Other Europa players have noted that what counts in an amphibious invasion is not the number of attack factors that your ground troops are worth, but how many factors of NGS and GS your ships and planes can add to the attack. For every RE, another 4 factors of NGS and four factors of GS (only a few air units have tactical bombing factors of 5 at this point) can be added to the attack. This means a possible contribution of up to 48 factors of bombing and shelling compared to less than 7 ground factors for each beach hex. Supporting the landing is therefore the single most important job for the Allied navies and air forces.

The job of the airborne is to protect the beach landings. They accomplish this by forming (I hope!) non-overrunable stacks one hex inland from the beaches. NGS can support them in such hexes, but some units will end up disrupted on the drop, and this will cut down the possible NGS (and DAS) that they can receive. Note that airborne units should always make their drop before any amphibious landing takes place. We don't want any Axis reaction roll sliding a German division onto one of my landing hexes!

As you can see, the American and British beaches are reversed from their historical locations. This is a deliberate choice, taken for two reasons: (1) The British and Canadians have superior artillery at this point in the war, while the Americans have superior armored forces. Since the taking of Cherbourg will require a massing of artillery, that is a job for the British Canadians. The Americans, meanwhile, should land on the beaches closest to the open country where their armored forces can operate most effectively. (2) Also, I think that the Germ are going to defend the eastern end of the beachhead more tenaciously, so whoever lands there will take more casualties. The Americans have a lot more replacement points saved.

Notes: Attacking strength assumes sufficient NGS is available to make all units fully supported Attacking strength (*This unit requires two LCs to make the landing, and has its attack strength halved again, as described in the SF Amphibious Recap.) Attacking strength of airborne units assume that none land disrupted.

German reaction. RCV. The Axis luck here was simply atrocious. Only one unit was able to react, and I was hoping for at least two. But, I try to make my plans based on the assumption that my luck will be horrible, and my opponent's will be stupendous. The 2"' Panzer Division rumbles onto 0910 to support a lone 5-7-6 Infantry Division, but to no avail, since the die comes up "EX". It was a near run thing, however.

Combat losses. All three regiments of the US 5' Inf XX, an Eng X, a USN Amph Aslt Eng II, and a British Marine Cdo X (another US Eng X was lost to mines). The Germans lost four 5-7-6 Inf XX's and a 17- 10 Panzer XX cadred, plus a 1-5 (French) Static X eliminated.

The bridgehead. Once the follow-up wave has landed in the exploitation phase, the Allies are ashore in the following hexes:

0711 Guards Armoured XX, Canadian 3rd Inf XX, 2nd Amph Arm X, Eng X, 2x SAS IIs.
0810 British 3rd Inf XX, 1 Can Art X, 1 RE Aslt Eng Tank X.
0811 British 51st Highland Inf XX, 2nd and 4th RM Cdo X, Inf X, Eng X, 10th A Cdo II.
0910 US 2nd Inf XX, 3x Ranger IIs, 3x Amph Tank IIs, French 2nd Choc Marine Cdo.
0911 3x US Para IIIs, Glider III, Polish Para III, British 27th Amph Arm X.
St. Lo 3x British Para Xs, 2x AL Xs.
1009 US 9th Inf XX, Arm X, Eng X, Ranger II.
Deauville US 1st Inf XX, Arm X, Eng X, 1st SSF Cdo, Ranger II, USN Aslt Eng II.
Liseux 4x US Para IIIs, Glider III.

D + 1 (May I) the German counterattack.

PR: There are two more reasons for selecting Normandy for the invasion: (1) The bocage slows the movement and halves the attacking strength of all those great big Panzer divisions; and (2) movement into Normandy can be severely hampered by flying harassment raids on only three hexes. Accordingly, I flew "maximum plus" harassment raids with most of the Allied 3point bombers in the May I turn. The Germans were able to break up only one of these raids with interception and flak,

RCV: One thing this game teaches an Axis player is that naval gunfire is king: it is almost impossible to make any headway against Allied stacks with both full DAS and maximum NGS. Bocage doesn't help either. (A possible overrun against the American paratroopers in Liseux is not possible, due to a lack of rail capacity, of all things. Remember those marshalling yard raids?) I decide that I have to hit someone though and set up two attacks against the airborne forces. These are the weakest hexes, have no ATEC to add to my problems, and offer the possibility of generating some VPs from eliminating elite units while isolated. Both attacks ended up at about 3:1, -1, after halving for bocage and adding up all of the supporting fire (remember that NGS can fire into adjacent hexes). One attack succeeds, and the other is AS, which is to be expected, I guess. Any kind of an exchange here is a victory, since his losses generate VPs while mine do not. Besides, the chance of getting any other even passable attacks in the next few turns is extremely remote.

Allied losses in the Axis turn. All of the British airborne in St. Lo (two air landing, three parachute brigades).

D + 1: the Allied build-up.

PR: Die rolls for the Mulberries: one is successfully emplaced (in 0811), the other is wrecked. Arrrggg!

Shipping priority went to the Americans this turn. In an effort to consolidate the bridgehead around Deauville, I made attacks using carpet bombing on, Caen and 1108. Short bombing occurred in both, and both 'attacks resulted in DRs, with no German losses. Since attackers cannot advance into hexes that are carpet bombed, I can only exploit into Caen with one American armored division and the three amphibious armored battalions. I can only get a handful of unsupported c/m units into 1108, and those will be highly vulnerable in the Axis turn.

I begin to pull some of my marines and paratroops out of the front this turn. These units will be more valuable back in England or in the MTO, threatening another invasion. Note that NTs and LCs can carry cargo while returning to England.

D + 2 (May II), Axis turn:

RCV: Accepting it as a given that the Allies will get ashore somewhere, one can almost see this as the real beginning of the game. Everything that has gone before is simply a prelude to the decisive Battle of the Breakout. There are not enough VPs in the Med to gain Allied victory, and that campaign is just a warm-up for the campaign from beachhead to Germany. The flavor of the game changes now as well, as the Axis player has to abandon carefully calculated static positions and attempt to stop, or at least slow down, an advance by a stronger, more mobile enemy with total air supremacy. Unlike Peter, I don't believe that the Axis will lose if I retreat to the Rhine. I will lose if I don't have an army left when I get there. The VPs available in France are not enough for an Allied victory, and the Allies will have to advance to and into the Reich itself if they want to win. As long as I have the forces available to defend the Westwall and the Rhine, the issue is very much undecided.

D + 2, Allied turn: Cherbourg is liberated.

PR: The British-Canadian attack on Cherbourg goes in at 5:1, -1. I use engineers and the "funnies" to get the engineering modifier, plus most of the naval TFs. The port falls without Allied losses. British armor cuts through the neck of the Cotentin peninsula to Granville, isolating two German infantry cadres. The Americans drive the Germans out of Caen for the second time, with an EX. No carpet bombing necessary this time. The first French division (2nd Armored) to return to France lands in Deauville.

By the end of May II I have called up the Strategic Air Forces three times - only two to go. Short bombing has occurred twice: only three chances left. Most of the Allied TFs have used NGS four times: two left to go. I will need NGS for clearing the Schelde, and perhaps another invasion. I may need the strategic air for cracking the Westwall, so you can see that I have very little in the way of discretionary assets.

The invasion has succeeded. Whatever the outcome of the campaign through the summer and fall, the Allies will not be driven back into the sea. The Luftwaffe has been severely depleted, and the Wehrmacht is starting to run short of armored replacements. If the Germans try to hold on in a war of attrition west of Paris, they will lose. If they retreat to the Rhine, they will lose. I love this game!