An excerpt from the desk of the Axis Commander-in-Chief: What a difference a new campaign makes in the fight against the Allied forces.  There have been some great gains this week and more importantly better communication on the chat channels during attacks and defenses.  Axis soldiers have been doing the important work of checking the CPs and attacking in a more coordinated fashion.  The battles in the villages, towns and cities have been impressive, but not as spectacular as the hard fights on the country side and at the firebases.  The fights in these areas really make or break the movement for the map!

This week we welcome aboard two new Commanders in Chief – Shad0w64 for the Allies and Alphie for the Axis.  Both are quality people who have great respect for the community and a good fighting spirit.  We would also like to formally thank Trekman and Westwild for their service and welcome them to the Old CinC’s Home. 

This week also marks the start of campaign 53.  Axis came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and has already turned the corner in the south and is approaching the Meuse.  Allied forces, not to be taken lightly, have offered stiff resistance and are punching back.   We have some good reports and AAR’s this week so enjoy.

FROM THE DESK OF THE AXIS COMMANDER IN CHIEF:

S! Axis Forces,
 
What a difference a new campaign makes in the fight against the Allied forces.  There have been some great gains this week and more importantly better communication on the chat channels during attacks and defenses.  Axis soldiers have been doing the important work of checking the CPs and attacking in a more coordinated fashion.  The battles in the villages, towns and cities have been impressive, but not as spectacular as the hard fights on the country side and at the firebases.  The fights in these areas really make or break the movement for the map!
 
We are seeing a better educated and smarter officer core on each side that provides great battles for everyone.  Each side is looking for the other to make a mistake and capitalize on it; our goal is to make the other guy make the first mistake. 
 
The Axis soldiers are fighting smart and attacking with proven tactics in a majority of the battles with the Axis squads doing the lion's share of coordinating their units with great efficiency.  I would like to personally thank the dedicated Axis squads and players for stepping up and taking the fight to the Allies this week.  I would also like to thank all the squad CO's who have contacted me personally.  Working together we can achieve anything. 
 
I would like to point out that the OKW officer core is currently 75% staffed.  That is a remarkable achievement and I would like to personally thank each and every cadet who has applied to Officers Candidate School (OCS) and made it through to their command.  There have been so many applications recently, our IKW training staff has had to work overtime to ensure these cadets are taken care of, so I tip my hat to the trainers for stepping up and doing whats needed.  Just so you know, OCS training is just the beginning for these individuals as more advanced training in maneuver warfare, game mechanics and attack/defense tactics are offered to OKW officers.  It truly is an eye opening experience be an OKW officer and to see how the game actually works.  If you haven't tried it and have been curious, I suggest you apply and see what its all about.  Besides, lets hit that 100% staffed mark!
 
I want to emphasize that the OKW is here for the Axis players.  We work for you, the Axis players!

AAR:
Proud to be Kriegsmarine (and 3FJR!)

Last night 3FJR, in co-ordination with OKM branch commandand many other brave souls were tasked with an almight mission. The securing of the Maginot line and NE France. We had no idea how long this would take, nor what sort of resistance we would face. And so it began.
 
Eight brave souls (maybe nine, maybe seven) boarded a Junkers 52 Transport Aircraft within moments of the commencement of the battle and less than two minutes after the map went live they were on their way... their success to be decided by the gods. Their mission was top secret, only three men on board knew their target, nerves were high.

Fiften long minutes later, target number one was in sight... Bouzonville. The red light came on, they stood up and said their final prayers. They knew this town would be undefended, but for how long? Green light, jump, chutes deploy. A long and eerie drop followed. Within 4 minutes the radios were capped and the wait began. The time came to pass without event, the bunkers were secured and the town was ours. A sense of relief was felt by the committed members of the expedition, if only for a brief moment. The revelation that a brother was lost to enemy automated anti-infantry fire soon reached the troops. The war just became a lot more real.
 
The adventure was to continue sooner than some thought. "Don't despawn" was shouted across the town. "Head north". Their plane, their beautiful plane was waiting for them. They boarded and sooner than they could gather their thoughts they were off again. Orders had already gone out on the next objective, but again those on board were kept in the dark - some showed more signs of nerves than others.
 
Within 5 minutes the plane had landed just metres from the next objective. Again, no resistance but with ther loss of one marine already on their minds they were sure to be more careful this time. Sadly, before the town was secured another marine was lost to automated defense systems put in place before the last Allied brigades moved out. He would not be our last casualty of the night.
 
Meanwhile, kilometres out to our west our very own branch XO working on FB busts. A vital task in the effort of securing these unguarded towns. Each of them were just one link away from fully supplied Allied brigades, with access to spawn into these towns at will. The chance could not be taken.
 
These two forces, paras and fb busting marines, met in Sierck-Les-Baines. The paras boarded the Opel Blitz truck and travelled straight towards Metzervise. At the same time, paras were already jumping on Boulay and capping it as the next objective. The powers that be could not believe the sheer effectiveness of this operation. Swift, ruthless, efficiency... the German way. By the time Boulay was capped, the original paras were already in place in Metzervise, supported by a small para drop to take the place of those that had already fallen. The attack was ordered, and another Allied town was to fall. Next up, was the big one. Metz. This whole exercise was meaningless unless Metz was captured.

With only 2 paras remaining from the original drop, a fresh opel which had travelled tens of kilometres to get here picked them up along with a fresh supply of infantry from the brigade which had just rolled into town. Their objective, more FB busts. The first FBw as taken down with amazing skill and just 8 satchels. The second would prove a tougher adversary and would spawn an infantry with just one satchel required. It is with regret that in this engagment we lost the very last of our original paratroops.
 
With the FB being a 15 minute run from the river, the chance was taken... the town would be attacked with the FB still up. A fresh wave of paratroops dropped on town, One man in each depot would simul cap the entire town as soon as the radios went up, adn they did. But it wasn't long before an alarm was raised. A quick scan of the map showed the worst possible scenario... each depot had been capped except for the Allied spawnable. Voices were raised, orders were barked and the men came to action. Casualities were sustained and a further depot fell, the city CP.
 
"GET TO THAT DEPOT", "GUARD THE DEPOTS YOU'RE IN", "MARK ANY EI" but communications were down. Whilst the commanders were still on their original mission/target, it would seem that the men they were leading had started their own. Messages weren't getting across. This could be bad. EI were spawning and growing in numbers. Lucky for KM, they were distracted further north.
 
It took nearly ten minutes and a whole fresh wave of paras, luckily already inbound, to secure the CP and then eventually the town. Metz was Axis. HUZZAH!
 
At this point troops were called to defence of the Zeelands. These islands were not to fall, and so operations were put on a short hold. We weren't done yet.
 
With the Zeelands secure, the next objective was Longwy. With constant calls from the Heer for reinforcements in this almight attack, 3FJR redeployed. This was to be one of the most ferocious and almighty infantry battles that this game had ever seen. At least 3 hours of 100% dedication on both sides made it so. 2 Allied brigades cpmpletely attrited, hold at all costs issued and Allies pouring out of their spawnable CPs... this battle would not be one at the AB bunker, but at the radio tables in the depots. GUARD AT ALL COST! A couple of times the tables were lost to one of our spawnables but luckily never to all of them at once. With sustained reinforcements the town was eventually overrun - but the AB was still a fortress.

It took 20 smoke grenades, a load of armour and 30 infantry to all swarm the AB and bunker at once to make this happen. It did happen though, the town fell. Longwy was ours!

Over the next 3 hours towns down south continued to fall. Depsite being just a hop from Allied brigades they put up very little defense. Some member of the Axis forces were key to this advance, FB busting to ensure no defenders and flying constant JU missions up to 20 minutes in length! This is dedication we can all be proud of.
 
The following towns now fell:
Raville
Thiacourt
Evrange
Jarny
Fontoy
Fresnes
 
Thirteen towns in all. This was an epic day.
 
S!
Wemyss
1Ang 8ZF CO
 
Officer of the Week:
XoomXoom: XoomXoom is a dedicated Kriegsmarine officer who takes the map movements regularly.  But taking the map is not what makes XoomXoom special.  His communication with the officers and more importantly the playerbase is what makes him an exceptional officer.  While XoomXoom is on watch, Axis players know whats going on, where the attacks are, where the defenses are and what we all should be looking for over the course of a battle.  He deligates his authority wisely and gets all of the players involved.  Congratulations XoomXoom on a fine achievement.

Player of the Week:
Julesr: When randomly asking OKW officers in the game what player contributes time and again to the Axis side.  One name kept coming up and that was joulesr.  Julesr is always doing what is needed to acheive victory, either by guarding cps, capping tables or supplying his fellow soldiers.  Congratualtions Julesr and thank you for what you do for the Axis side.
 

Excellent job this first week of the campaign.  Keep it up and remember, teamwork and communication will ensure victory!!
 
S!
-Alphie, Axis CinC