Germany - The War Against Italy (II) - 05 Apr to 05 May 1943

05 Apr 1943: I order forces from 6th Army to advance down the Dalmatian Coast.

07 Apr 1943: I start my offensive to capture Sardinia. I also increase Truck production.

08 Apr 1943: Italy has already suffered 199K casualties compared to Germany's 18K.

10 Apr 1943: A couple of Naval Bombers were shot down by Merchants!

I place a new Bohemian division in training.

I assign the 2. horská divize to 9th Army.

The Italians have Air Superiority over the Western Balkans.

11 Apr 1943: We are way outnumbered so I repeat what I did with the Alpine Region. There are a dozen Fighter Wings not yet committed.

12 Apr 1943: 7th Army has returned home in Hinterpommern.

I add the 10 divisions to 9th Army.

Resistance levels are increasing again in Russia and Belgium.

An Italian Submarine Squadron has sunk 5 of our Merchants in the Central Mediterranean.

We are making great progress in Sardinia.

13 Apr 1943: I order an all-out attack for 4th Army. That should keep the Italians busy. There are no Victory Points in the Balkans. They are all in Italy.

21 Apr 1943: In NE Italy we have successfully broken through the enemy defences with 6 of their divisions encircled.

23 Apr 1943: I select the Air Doctrine Ground Support Integration.

The 2. Panzerarmee is quickly defeating the remaining Italian defenders.

01 May 1943: Rome and many other cities have fallen to our advancing forces. Also we have completed research on MG 45 & 12 cm Granatwerfer 42.

I select the MP 43 next.

02 May 1943: Italy is now 86% towards capitulation.

Milano is about to fall and more cities can be captured in the next few days.

05 May 1943: Italy has capitulated and look at all that captured material.

German forces took five weeks to overrun the Italian Army whereas the Hungarian forces were mediocre at the best. In the next post the spoils of war will be divided up.