Eighty years on. 21st July 1940

Historical

Overnight, fifteen Handley Page Hampden bombers attacked the German battleships Admiral Scheer and Tirpitz in dock at Wilhelmshaven.  Neither battleship was damaged but three Hampdens were shot down.  With fine weather again, the Germans focussed on attacking convoys in the English Channel instead of bombing raids over land targets.  Göring’s strategy was to bring British fighters into the air over the Channel, while exposing his aircraft to minimal danger.  The RAF lost a Hurricane and a Spitfire while Luftwaffe lost three fighters and one Dornier Do17 bomber.  British losses since 10^th July were about 45 fighters destroyed, but production of new aircraft has kept pace.  More worrying was the loss of trained pilots who were not so easily replaced. 

After being bombed near Dover yesterday, HMS Brazen sank the while under tow.  The Destroyer HMS Boreas took off the crew but one sailor was killed.

U-30 sank the British SS Ellaroy 180 miles west of Cape Finisterre.  The crew abandoned the ship in lifeboats.  All sixteen crew were rescued by the Spanish trawler Felix Montenegro and landed at Vigo, Spain.

The Soviet Union annexed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as Soviet Republics, following the elections held on 14^th July which, officially, resulted in an overwhelming majority voting for union with the USSR. 

Hitler directed Walther von Brauchitsch to advise him on the feasibility of an attack on the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1940.

Game day 235. Japan

Japan continued the assault on Chinese forces.  In Manchukuo armoured forces moved south-west towards Kwangtung.  In Kwangtung ten infantry units supported by three bomber units from Manchukuo attacked six Chinese infantry units.  Four Chinese units were destroyed and the remainder fell back.  The Japanese lost one bomber unit and three infantry units in the attack.

In China three infantry units continued west towards Singkiang while four more headed south to the relief of their comrades who were about to come under attack from Chinese forces.

Five empty troopships sailed from Shanghai with an escort of three warships, returning to Japan to pick up reinforcements.  In Japan six armoured units were loaded for shipment to Shanghai.

Game note.  It is clear that resources cannot match real production levels as required for the game.  I have been restricting production to groups of six fighting units, but of necessity, particularly in the case of naval units, they have been split up for operational reasons. Henceforth the production costs will be per individual unit, as follows:

Infantry: was 3 points for 6 units. New cost 1 point per 2 units.

Armoured: was 5 points for 6 units. New cost 1 point per unit.

Fighter Aircraft: was 10 points for 6. New cost 2 points per unit.

Bomber/Transport aircraft: was 15 points for 6. New cost 3 points per unit.

Submarines and Cargo ships: was 8 points for 6. New cost 1 point per unit.

Aircraft Carrier: was 18 points for 6. New cost 3 points per unit.

Battleship: was 24 points for 6. New cost 4 points per unit.

Anti-aircraft guns: was 5 points for 6. New cost 1 point each.                         

Factory: was 15 points for 1. New cost 3 points per unit of production (according to resource level of territory).            

A new naval unit is introduced. The destroyer (available in later versions of “Axis and Allies”) Cost is 2 points each, Attack at 3, defend at 3, move 10. Neutralises the “first strike” capability of Submarines.