Gazala, how to decisively win it properly?

[Hochmeister]

Guys, I am not there yet, but I want to know it in advance.

Last time, I did this mission in my first campaign, it was total cluster ♥♥♥♥, partially due to not being able to have army in 100 % ( I simply didn't have enough prestige to do replenishment and also increase size of the army) partially due to not great and not terrible commanding of my divisions.

And the only way I won the mission was by total clutching it. I had to buy new tactical bombers or convert fighters into them and give those british tanks hell from the sky. then hit hard the northern tank corp with tanks, then I tried to lure the southern group tanks with my infantry and then I somehow managed with some my tanks to hit hard the tank in the southern town and capture the town. It was total clutch. I had to repeat every turn to make the win happen.
The another problem there was, that I had just five or six maybe seven turns left to get those bonus objective.

So my question is, how to win Gazala properly and decisively?

[w.f.schepel]

Advance from turn one and (ab)use AT capacity to the max. It is tempting to try and force air superiority by buying a lot of air power, but you get a lot more out of tracks on the ground. Use your fighters to cover your units and take the allied air strips ASAP. With some cheap AA with low altitude attack you can do a lot of damage to the allied air force and counter some fighters on the cheap. But really, the trick is to NOT hang back. I did that my first go and that made the fight really hard at the end. You just need to keep going.

[Hochmeister]

I know, but for example, when I made the attack on the northen tank army with my tanks, and I have already using wedge formation there ( 3 tanks in front of one anti tank), they simply didn't dare to attack and they had anti tank behind them in the bonus objective. So I did not have choice, but to eliminate anti air canon and then anti tank by aircraft.

[Hochmeister]

and another problem was the insane capability to replenish faster than I could inflict casualties, so that is other reason why I used a lot of tactical bombers

[Magni]

1. If you have prestige problems, you're already doing something wrong.
2. Encircle and suppress. Always works.
3. The few cases they're up against the map border, don't try to bomb AA then AT or similar. Just bomb and arty the AT and then throw in the attacks when its supressed. Also, bring up the Pioneers.
4. AA is best solved with like 2 fighters and 2-3 88mm FlaKs. Keep your units in distinct strike groups with the AA gun close by.
5. Me-410s are stupendously good in North Africa. Good enough ground attack to make a dent in things, and they can help finish off low-strength enemy air.

[eskuche]

You can bait out with Panzer II's or infantry with hidden AT

[Accolon]

I don't think Gazala is that hard. They always come out and fight if you just 2 Steps away or in there Sight. I did this mission 3 times now on Generalissmus and never had a problem with it. I take both Camps one by one and even capture the best tanks for prestige. I believe your setup must be wrong at that point. Having not enough prestige can only happen if you don't take War Trophy AND don't try to suppress and encircle/capture units since day 1 of the Poland Campaign.
I only buy Elite Replacements ALL TIME and still end with 50k in the last mission. If its Berlin or East Coast US.

[w.f.schepel]

Originally posted by Hochmeister:

I know, but for example, when I made the attack on the northen tank army with my tanks, and I have already using wedge formation there ( 3 tanks in front of one anti tank), they simply didn't dare to attack and they had anti tank behind them in the bonus objective. So I did not have choice, but to eliminate anti air canon and then anti tank by aircraft.

Encircle and use strategic bombing rather than tactical bombing. Tactical bombing seems stronger, but the synergy between strategic bombing, artillery and encirclement is just too sweet not to use.

I went through it on general, FM and generalissimus: trust me when I say it is very, very much feasible and once you get the hang of it, you will honestly wonder why you once thought it a hard job. :-)

[Lamp Cord 훏훠]

The key for me is to advance full speed towards the southern city first then move north. Tanks supported by AT. You can use AA as AT as well if you finish off enemy air force.

The rest of the map is pretty easy so focus on the bonus objectives first and you can just take your time on the main objectives with a few pioneriers, 1 arty and 1 AA with a little armor support.

But I agree with the above posts, if you get this far and don't have enough prestige, I would focus on squeezing the earlier scenarios for more prestige. Doing a lot of encircle and capture. By the time you get here, you should be able to buy everything you need at 100% and have at least 2k-3k left over, IMO.

[Hochmeister]

My mistake, I forgot to mention, that this was in my first campaign, where I was learning the mechanics, traits, and so on. And Gazala was actually first mission, where I started to understand mechanics, traits, mainly your units supported. So that's the reason why I was in bad shape at the start of this mission. In missions after Africa I turned the tides and was able to properly kick allies' asses. In my second campaign (main+eastern front+ nonhistorical path) I did fine without trouble, I could afford elite replacements.