The Longest Day AAR - The Hammer and the Anvil

[shogun]

I had just finished my ersatz coffee when my adjunct handed me a list of our disposition. At least the French cigarettes are good and in good supply. French wine and food certainly agrees with me and is much better than the military food served on the Oestfront and in Italy. Oh and the world renowned beauty of the French women!

It has been a year since we repelled the allied forces from southern Europe and the invasion from England is by all accounts imminent. So many men won’t be returning home to their farms and shops and the units within my charge are a combination of grizzled veterans and shockingly green bodies. It seems like just yesterday I pinned Iron Crosses on two of my best tankers Michael Whitman and Kurt Knispel, however they seemed to care more about the other metal I was able to provide them, the newest and finest tanks the world has ever seen the PanzerKampfwagen VI commonly referred to in Die Deutsche Wochenschau as the Tiger II, the King Tiger! I have known many of these men since the beginning of the war and reports are coming back from the Ostfront that the Russians have continued to advance at a torrid pace and have reached the pre-war borders. As much as I am not looking forward to facing the gauntlet of an allied invasion of fortress Europe our boys are anxious to protect the Germans in East Prussia, the Sudentland and Deutschland from the barbarous Bolsheviks so any Allied invasion must be quickly thwarted.

Panzergruppe West:
3 x Tiger II (Panzer Lehr, 10th Heavy SS, 2nd SS Panzer)
1 x Panther G (Barkmann)
1 x PZ IVJ
1 x JagdPanther AT (Peiper)
1 x sfkz32 Armored Recon
3 x Mechanized Heavy Artillery (2 x 10.5 cm, 1 x 21 cm)
2 x Mechanized HW
4 x Infantry (3 x Mechanized, 1 x Motorized)
1 x Airborne Infantry
1 x Flakveirling 2cm anti-air
1 x Sdkfz 7/2 anti-air
4 x F 190A
1 x Me 109g
1 x F190g
1 x Ju 87 D Stuka
1 x Me 410
1 x Ju 188a
1 x He 177

Garrison Forces:
2 x Infantry
1 x HW
4 x Forts

My army is the Panzergruppe West and we are many miles of French road and allied air power away from the predicted beachheads in Normandy or Pais de Calais. Since Italy we were able to completely mechanize our infantry and artillery which will be a great advantage. In addition, much of our airpower that decimated the allies in Italy is still under the command of one of my close allies, in the Luftwaffe, and will be ideal for countering American and British air interdiction. However we will be woefully outnumbered in the air and our airpower and pilots will be impossible to replace. It’s good to have friends in the Luftwaffe those gallant knights are like my panzer commanders, they don’t mind 10:1 odds but actually look forward to it!

I have decided on a 2 point mobile defense around the towns of Fougres and Alencon in combination with a fast moving armored corps that will run up the north side of the Seine from Paris and hit the flank of the invasion forces after their lines have been extended. I have no intention of Hitler to awake from his slumber, when the airborne units and gliders reports start coming in my troops are mobilized and prepared to move. An armored division from my flanking corps will have to ensure the allies don’t head down the Seine valley directly to Paris.

I have broken the Panzergruppe as follows:

I Corps will defend Fougres and will be our main line of defense. Panzer Lehr and the 10th SS Heavy have the most elite troops and finest equipment that the 3rd Reich can field. Half of my mechanized infantry, air-defense and a majority of my artillery will make this a formidable anvil indeed. Currently stationed in the SW near Nantes

II Corps will defend the area around Alencon which will protect the right flank of I corps and defend the West – East main highway in northern France. This unit will be anchored by the third Tiger 2 as well as the remainder of the mechanized infantry and artillery. This unit is woefully short on air defense but in Alencon my buddies in the Luftwaffe have promised to have an 88 flak group at the ready but the trip north will certainly be treacherous. Currently, II Corps is stationed in the South Central sector in the countryside between Le Mans and Tours.

III Corps will ideally move undetected down the Seine and provide the hammer to squeeze the allies against the anvil that is I & II Corps. III corps contains my fastest armor units in 3 tank divisions (Including the Das Reich with Ernst Barkmann and his Panthers and Joachim Peiper), my sole recon unit and a mobile air defense track. III Corps is in Paris, those lucky devils are under strict orders never to have more than 1 liter of Bordeaux per tank.

My para unit will guard the bocage on the left flank of I Corps near Rennes and I will immediately try and move the garrison forces into position on the anvil to get them away from the naval fire. To decisively win I will need to destroy all of the Allied land units, but more importantly I must hold Paris and several other French towns and bog down the invasion long enough for reinforcements to arrive. My plan is aimed at the latter and will be in position to execute the former should the battle go well.

This has been a long war, I am anxious to see my family in Frankfurt, and I know even though my men are Germans they cannot fight forever against a foe with such an advantage in material. I reviewed my troops in Paris and headed to my quarters with a glass of French red wine to ease my troubled mind to sleep, through another night full of the nightmares of war……Today was June 5th….

I awoke to a fierce pounding at the door as my adjunct, nearly out of breath, stuttered to me “The….invasion….h h h Herr General….h h has…. BEGUN! – In Normandy”.

Excellent, my men are prepared and we can be back on the East front by the end of the year. I told him “Stop stuttering man, I’ll have you back in Hamburg by the Fall! Inform the Corps commanders to execute Operation von Bulow, time to smash down the hammer against the anvil and end this Western front once and for all!”

And so it begins………

Hammer and Anvil Plan:


Initial Disposition
I Corps


II Corps with Fighters planes based at Le Mans


III Corps with Piper and Barkmann in Paris


To my Men:
Four months from now I will be back in the beer garden in Frankfurt celebrating Oktoberfest, Imagine where you will be and it will be so. Drive to the line fast and protect the flank of your brothers, throw these Angles and Americans back into the sea! If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled; for you are in Valhalla, and you're already dead! [The men of III Corps, roared with approval and lept to their running vehicles and I departed to join III Corps in it's race down the Seine Valley.]

III Corps (The Hammer) Departs Paris


Garrison forces moving back from the beaches to begin the defensive line

[shogun]

Ambush by III Corps...



I Corps in position left flank. Two Tiger II's with elite crews are quite formidable



II Corps in position but harassed by enemy airpower, FW190's intercept but pay the price..




Heavy combat taking place, we lost 2 FW 190's but shot down a half dozen allied bombers (fighters and AA).

[El_Condoro]

Very well written AAR. Loved the inspirational speech from Gladiator, too! I was originally confused because Operation 'Overlord' was originally Operation 'Hammer' to go with Operation 'Anvil', the invasion of southern France. Same concept anyway. Keep this up.

[Droop21]

Very nice AAR. I think you push the quality over quantity to the limit. It will be interesting to see. Veil glück General (my german is rusty at best)

[firefoxgs]

I have played "Overlord" numerous times, mostly at the sergeant level, where I am routinely able to destroy every Allied unit in the scenario without even requesting reinforcements. Playing the game last week, I destroyed the Allied naval units with a four engine, strategic bomber unit. However, at the lieutenant level, I have - until last night - been unable to score a victory as the Axis player. Last night, I was able to gain control of the air, thanks to FW-190 reinforcements, along with the usual complement of AA units. I eventually lost all of my units (except the air units), but stacked Paris with Wehrmacht infantry. That resulted in an Axis "victory". I put that in parentheses because in the actual war, just hanging on to Paris would have been considered a defeat. I agree with one commenter below another subject that the sergeant level is way to easy, regardles of the scenario, and the lieutenant level is too difficult.

[firefoxgs]

One more observation here: It seems that the scenario, at least when played at the lower levels of difficulty, favors Runstedt's or the real life compromise deployment over Rommel's. (The actual deployment was a compromise that neither Rommel or Runstedt approved of; most of the units were not at the beachhead, necessitating that they travel at night.) The naval gunfire makes it suicidal to keep units close to the beachhead. There is no possibility of "entrenching" units, to protect them from the gunfire. Also, there is no difficulty in moving German units, as there was in the actual battle, due to Allied air supremacy and French partisans. Therefore, why not keep the units out of range of the naval gunfire, until air supremacy is achieved by the Axis player - which isn't difficult at the easier levels?