An excerpt from the desk of the Allied Commander-in-Chief: Veterans have much to fear, but much experience to allow them to overcome the new players, and especially the newest players. Most veteran’s only fear the bullet engraved with their name on it. But in a real proof of bullets addressed "To Whom It May Concern", and a demonstration of why WWIIOL is "The World’s Most Dangerous Game", the Allies’ newest player DINOBOT posts his first kill with wonder and innocence.

Happy Friday everyone! The forward battle-lines have stabilized this past week. The northern front has been in neutral for quite some time and the Allied advance in the south seems to have stalled. The Allied forces fighting hard to turn the corner on the southern sector but the Axis armies have reinforced their lines with some careful maneuvering of the brigades in that area of operations. Something tells me that we will see some major movement this weekend but from which side will it come? Who will blink first?

I would like to thank Joker007, Fiambre, and their staffs for putting together some great reports these last few weeks. They are well worth the read.

FROM THE DESK OF THE ALLIED COMMANDER IN CHIEF:

WWIIOL is the World’s Most Dangerous Game! Newest Allied player DINOBOT gets his first kill ever! And the victim? ... Axis CinC Fiambre!!

Allies on the march and in the air all over the South!

Allied Navies retaking the Zeeland’s…and retaking Zeeland’s…and retaking Zeeland’s…

Veterans have much to fear, but much experience to allow them to overcome the new players, and especially the newest players. Most veteran’s only fear the bullet engraved with their name on it. But in a real proof of bullets addressed "To Whom It May Concern", and a demonstration of why WWIIOL is "The World’s Most Dangerous Game", the Allies’ newest player DINOBOT posts his first kill with wonder and innocence. You can read it all here on the Allied Open Forum.

Since my last dispatch from my Trier temporary headquarters, the Allies have had to dig in as the Axis used their Airfields and 3 Army Base towns to mount stalwart defenses and launch large attacks. Late in this Tier 2 cycle of equipment, the Allies began to worry about reports of Axis Factories gearing up Tiger tank assembly lines – and so a concerted allied effort began to launch an offensive that would tear open the Axis lines. As of this writing from my new temporary Allied Command headquarters in BITBURG AF Bunker, I can watch as allied pilots are conducting high-intensity sorties deep into Axis territory. HAHN AF is allied as well, but still on the front lines and not yet secure enough to place pilots in harm’s way…yet.

From ANHEE on the Meuse River, to HAHN in Germany, the Allies have secured a direct line east into the Axis homeland areas, liberating much of the territory seized in their initial Blitzkrieg.

When I get to feeling confident…and any night I fall asleep too soundly – I suddenly awake sweating with the memory of being outnumbered in Amiens far to the west just two weeks ago… There are still many battles left before the Allies can rest from War and think about home.

As if to underscore the fragility of any victory in WWIIOL, the Axis have threatened ANTWERP twice or more during the period of this report, capping and holding KALMTHOUT and placing attack orders upon ANTWERP for short periods… The Axis Kriegsmarine refuses to surrender; sortie’ing from DEN HAAG in the far north when the have to, or DORDRECHT and MOERDIJK from east to west in order to maintain their grip on WILLEMSTAD and CROMSTRIJEN, re-establishing their supply lines into the vital ZEELANS sector. No matter how often the Allied Navies shut that door, the Kriegsmarine have managed to blow it open again. IF we cannot conquer the KreigsMarine in that sector, we may have to force the entire Axis Heer into that pocket to gain Total Victory. The Allied Navies know the risks.

Can the Allies hold the northern flank? Can the Axis force the ‘Namur Gap’? Will the Allied morale and momentum hold long enough to pierce the Axis factory sector? Secret orders have been issued and the Allied forces are prepared for the much more deadly Tier 3 ‘first to see = first to shoot = first to kill’.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD:

"MAP OIC informed me that Gouvy was probably AXIS P1 attack. Oooooh great! I was OIC Defending. I immediately asked for guards to defend the CPs and for a defensive ring to go up around the town and all Axis contacts to be marked. All of a sudden it was as if we had painted the outside of the town in red as there were so many marks being put down.

I logged in as a sniper; found a quiet spot so I could concentrate on my HC duties. One CP near me went down and I ran straight there, no Axis defender so I retook it with the help of a couple of soldiers who covered me. I left a guard there and went back to my defensive spot. The marks were growing thick and fast and they were getting closer to the town.At this point, feeling under serious threat, I realized I had not looked at the surrounding FBs. Axis held only one from St.Vith where all these marks were coming from. SPORT20 volunteered to pull a Para mission together. He rallied Paras and set about his mission.

Another CP went down, so I ran straight there, shooting the Axis capper as he left the building and I ran in, covering the Allied soldier who capped. We regained control and I headed back to my spot. On the way back, I was injured by a stray mortar round but survived. We lost the City CP, which was quickly regained by our troops. AXIS Infantry and Tanks were now inside the town’s perimeter and it did not look good at all. SPORT20 informed me after first jump Inf was at 25% and Veh 76%. ‘Good job’ I cried ‘Keep it up and keep it fast!’ we needed it down. (Have you ever seen ‘The Matrix’ movie when the Sentinels were about to cut through the hull of the ship and kill all inside? That is how it felt to be in Gouvy)

All the time this was going on, I was appearing at my window and firing a couple of shots then hiding and typing. The City CP went down again, and again we retook it. I cried for people to Guard the CPs, but they were all under so much pressure from attack, we were being overwhelmed. SPORT20 and his Paras were in the air and approaching the FB, Axis tanks were now just outside the AB, Axis infantry were running all through the town. This was going to be close.

BOOM !!!!!!The FB was down! SPORT20 and 101ST Airborne, you guys saved the town. As the Axis forces were cut down the attack slowly ground to a halt - the exposed armor was destroyed and the town was saved. I have to thank everyone who took part in both the defense of Gouvy and all the guys who went after the FB. The defense and the FB going down was brilliantly coordinated, as was our subsequent FB defense.

My mission had taken me 111 minutes and I left the battlefield with 1 CAP, 1 assisted CAP and eleven kills with a RTB. AXIS was denied yet again, my defensive shift reads 6 full Defenses and 6 Allied wins, not on my shift!! Those who were in Gouvy, please stand up and pat yourselves on the back."

"Took the map - we were getting beat up pretty bad in Roosendaal and Trier. We held on and kept defending as hard as we could. At one point the units from Roos got bounced out - no Bunker guard. No point going crook at the players... Needed it back and still plenty of peeps in town and spawnables. I spawned in and a few players followed me into the Bunker where we disposed of that slippery individual. Soon as AB was ours again I moved 27e in. 15 min later in went the next brigade, still getting hit hard.

Down the other end of the map was Trier and that was also getting smacked about. Just then they also slammed into Hermeskeil. No chance of holding and 3rd Comm came back to Zerf. Things looking bleak…

Then the AO came down at Roos... Yay! Around the same time we libbed Trier...Yay!

Hannut got hit hard, camped up quick... we pulled out.... Good call in my mind... I was there in Bunker slaying EI trying to get in. Axis hitting Ramet hard. Looked like a break out attempt on my hands. Did what we could to hold until no longer worth it. Well, shame I couldn't hold them out more. It was one HELL OF A NIGHT"

"In the north we lost Willemstad to a strong Axis attack, however we fought off continued attacks on Cromstrijen, therefore maintaining our hold in the Zeeland’s. AO's on both Aarschot and Tienen were repelled. Aarschot took a few hard hits and 2AB was moved down to support

Centrally, AO on Liege worked well during the Axis overpop time shift.

Our southern double-edged attack on Bitburg and Prum forced the Axis to shuffle north (giving up Hermeskeil - now occupied by 3 Com) and shuffle south. Our supply remains strong; their supply is estimated as low [at the time of this report].

Axis has attempted to push on Aarschot and Tienen without joy and we should be mindful of this. The Axis decided to move on to the offensive towards the end of my Map OiC duty, and their skill was evident with the quick response in shuffling 1pz and 3pz Divisions."

Dispatch/Sunday: During an Axis KGW squad operation, an Axis assault force most likely originating from Grobbendonk was spotted near Lier, enroute to Antwerp to attrit Allied air forces present at that aerodrome. Eleven 232's, one halftrack, one Pak38, and 2 Bofors AA guns were destroyed with minimal damage to our forces.

"Great job Poker - after you left, I made a HUGE Fighter sweep and cleared St. Vith and we still own air in Bitburg. Lol. I love life. The peeps love large flights!"

THUMPER5’s transmission is added to General d’Aerianne KHSOLO’s more statistical report:

AIR STATS WEEK 3-16-2009

FIGHTERS 

1. Allied air efforts continue to dominate the axis but with a slimmer margin compared to last week

2. The Spit V’s weak ratio versus the 109f4 of 0,77 balances somewhat the Kill/Death ratio of 1.33 that the H87 has over the 109f4 giving the 109f4 versus all allied fighters a K/D ratio of almost dead even 1.01 in Tier 2.

3. Allied RAF and FAF combined fighters ‘Total Missions’ continue to be higher than the Luftwaffe by a very healthy 20% margin (19k vs. 15k in missions) and a whopping 40% more ‘Time on Mission (TOM) for allied air fighter use (224k minutes TOM vs. 155k overall). This translates into periods of allied superiority in fighter CAP over and around the target areas (possibly related to having close AFs to P1 areas like Wiltz + Bertrix + Antwerp + Brussels).

4. The fairly new Allied AIR SOP effectiveness has had an impact on these numbers as well, since the SOP is to use the Air HQ fighter supply on the frontline, giving more Tier2 fighters to our pilots.

BOMBERS

1. Allied bombing Kill/Death ratio has decreased by 0.42 or roughly 9%, which can be explained by again the introduction of the 109f4 and the better model He110 (better gun platform to shoot down DB7s and Havocs).

2. Axis (not allied) bombing (CAS) effectiveness has also decreased by 37%(!) Which is explained by the fact that Tier 2 allied planes are faster and have more firepower to bring down the He110s, He111s and Ju-87 Stukas with more regularity.

3. Overall Allied CAS effort has continue to pwn axis ground brigades by a margin of 3.24 enemy ground kills for every air casualty while decreasing the axis ground killing effectiveness and reducing it to a very short 2.05 allied ground death by every axis CAS + bomber plane

S! Allies,

-Joker007, Allied CinC