Grand Campaign West 39-41 Blind 42-45 Guderian

[goose_2]

Ok my work has ended for the day and frees me to type this up.
I am going to try a different style rather than the day by day playthrough that I have been doing, but something more creative that hopefully comes across more entertaining.
I still write down my day by day, but I will try to convey it in a more creative way. Let me know what you think.
Since I am doing it at Guderian level which means 5 less rounds to complete I am expecting to receive a lot more Marginal Victories.
I have acquired many ideas by watching Ulver Gaming's posting of his campaign. He has just started 1940 and posts a new video just about every day.
Let's see how I do.

All right Men General Guderian has required that we seize all objectives within 9 Battle Actions, within 3 days. I realize this seems impossible, but we are the Werhmacht and are ready to show the world our Awesome power. In order to make this rapid assault possible we are acquiring 4 Sturmpanzers teams to help us rush the enemy.
Battle Report:
First Battle operation was able to catch enemy fighters on the ground and destroy them before they can take off. We began our assault by seizing an airfield and already pressuring Nowy Tomysl. The Southern Battle group also encountered a cavalry sentry group that they walked right through to invade Polish territory in Glorious fashion.

For 2nd Battle operation Recon Rudel has flown in to assist our assault. We were able to decimate the 2nd enemy Fighter group while it was just taking off from their 2nd airfield, as well as seized Nowy Tomysl, Polish Checkpoint, and airfield in Forest area. We are enjoying this stroll through the Polish Countryside without any Polish counter attack.

3rd Battle operation assault continues as we took the Rail Station without any counter assault, it was after this Battle operation that the Polish defenses seemed to wake up as Polish Commander Wojceik's TKS Battle group came and Assaulted our Panzer 1a's group and was able to disable 4 Panzers, as well their Bombers have come out in full force attacking our unguarded Sturmpanzers for an additional 4 losses, the funniest action was when their infantry came out of their dug in defensive ground to assault our visible 3.7cm Pak's in trucks guarded by our artillery units that turned them all into Polish Sausages.

Because the enemy had now exposed itself we used the 4th Battle Operation to take out their Bombers for complete command of the air as well as to take out Wojceik's TKS Battle group which gave us command of the center of the Battle Map.

By Battle Operation 5 the Werhmacht is rolling through the polish Cavalry trying to stymie our tanks rolling across their fields. They are no match for match for German steel as we are able to easily roll up to Ostrow Wielkopolski.

Our boys are enjoying this easy roll through Polish forces as Battle Operation 6 finds The Wehrmacht seizing Ostrow Wielkopolski, Wrzesnia as well as pressuring Kalisz.

By Battle Operation 7 our boys need to build up for the final assault as we bring our damaged Sturmpanzers back into fighting strength, but the rest of our forces were still able to roll into the lower most airfield and beginning to even pressure Konin.

It is in Battle Operation 8 that we realize how quickly General Guderian's orders need to be carried out so we start doing some more aggressive assaults as we finally begin to pressure Poznan, as well as seize Kalisz and Konin. Our Engineers on the back end have alsoe been working hard to get our Pz 1a's team back up to fighting strength for the final assault on Poznan.

Thanks to our rule of the air and our strong overwhelming firepower from our many Sturmpanzers our forces were able to decimate the enemy's last TKS forces as well as seize remaining airfields and even march into Poznan with just enough time to receive the congratulations for a Decisive Victory form our Superiors.

Well boys there is no rest for the weary as we need to help our brothers in arms in assaulting Danzig Corridor from the South. Let's continue the assault to free our German brothers being oppressed in Danzig. Mach schnell!!!

Let me know what you think of this type up versus the old day by day.
I can go back to old way of laying it out or could even streamline this with only pertinent information like only include a summary of the 1 counter attack and with taking the final city.

I am trying boys. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I have to say playing at Guderian level is extremely exciting as it requires you to be more reckless which fits my style of playing and may require to play scenarios more than once in order to get the kind of result I want but I will not reload and replay certain days but instead restart from the beginning and will let you know when I do. This scenario however was on my first try.

[Omnius]

goose_2,
Interesting recap of the first battle I take it. It will be interesting to see the difference between this and your Manstein campaign to see how they play out differently for your core force.

[goose_2]

Taking some time to type up the next one of these scenarios as these are quite fun to do.

Danzig Corridor South 1300 prestige but after replacements, overstrength, new purchases and even upgrades only 509.

General Guderian, thankfully, sees the need for our forces to be sporting the best equipment to carry out his aggressive orders. For this reason he has dismissed both Pz1a's and instead replaced it with a Czech Pz38(t)a and has greatly improved our presence in the air with 2 new Ju87-B's and 2 new Bf110-c's. Our 7.5cm artillery has also received an upgrade to a 10.5cm unit.
We have been given 3 days and 9 Battle Actions to seize all of our objectives. (Based on this aggressive maneuvers we are bringing all units except for Recon Rudel, as we do not see using him until 1941 at this point.) Our plan is simple and bold, we are going to use our superiority in the air to damage all vulnerable unprotected units and seize all objectives with the help from our auxiliary brothers already stationed to the North around Kormovo. All right men our mission is to seize as many objectives in and around the Vistula centering around Bydgoszcz. Do this and Germany will once again be reunited with our East Prussian brothers in arms.

Battle Report:
First Battle Operation finds our airforce attacking key points along the Vistula to soften up any enemy units we find there, along with eliminating any enemy units located close to our army units and rushing forward to seize the cities of Czarnkow and Pila, as well as pressuring Gniezno, Koronowo, Wiecbork, and Wagrowiec.

2nd Battle Operation continues with the rolling through of the Polish forces as our superior forces and tactics are paying off in every area. We have continued the advance by rolling through the cities of Wiecbork, Koronowo, Wagrowiec, and Gniezno up to the footsteps of Walcz and Inowroclaw.

3rd Battle Operation has so many of the Polish units continuing to fall before the might of our army that it is absolutely glorious as we are now in control of the airfield near Bydgoszcz and even seized Walcz. I am starting to think that Guderian's orders were not bold enough and we shall continue the assault beyond the Vistula to seize the cities beyond as we should acquire total control for a Decisive Victory, as the enemy counter attack was immediately stymied by well placed artillery, except for a vulnerable Sturmpanzer which ran out of ammo to repel the Polish anti tanks moving into the area as they disabled 5 of them.

4th Battle Operation removed most of the counter attack from the battlefield including the Polish anti-tank units assaulting our Sturmpanzers so the Engineers could get busy bringing up the 5 damaged artillery pieces back online. Meanwhile in other parts of the battle we have seized the city of Inowroclaw as well as on the outskirts of Wloclawek. The enemies counter attack was mostly a floundering one with minimal losses to our forces.

It is on the 2nd day in our 5th Battle Operation where we start to already go beyond the Vistula and have begun even pressuring Torun and Bydgoszcz itself as we were able to eliminate the artillery defending the city itself along with various other enemy units including their sole 7TP on the battlefield. Their forces are surrendering by the thousands and this is all but over that we are assured to get at the very least a Marginal Victory, but this is not the time to settle for low lying fruit. It is the time for the strong and the bold to seize the day. Gird your loins boys were going for it all as their counter attacks continue to be stymied by our well placed artillery with minimal losses to our units.

It is during the 6th Battle Operation that we wipe the floor with what has to be all of their TKS tankettes, as their melted and burning metal litters the entire countryside and have begun to pressure Rypin and Skepe. The assaults continue into the 7th and 8th Battle Operations where we continue to wipe the floor with Polish forces and seize the rest of the Vistula Bridges intact along with the Southern Wloclawek and it's airfield, even was able to walk into Torun, but it is at this point that our reach exceeding our grasp as some unexpected TKS unit hit the 3rd Infantry pressuring Wabrzezno for serious damage.

For this insurrection on the final day and 9th Battle Operation we eliminated remaining forces surrounding our beleaguered forces and seized Skepe, Rytah, Bydgoszcz and even was able to infiltrate Wabrzezno.

This of course garnered our forces their 2nd Decisive Victory of this Campaign but it appears that their is no rest for the weary as we are now being called to help our Brothers in Arms in the 10th army around Lodz. Let's keep this going men, as the General says, "Achtung Panzer!"

Next Lodz with 2014 in prestige.
I am enjoying this and I actually have time to hopefully type up some more battle reports.

[goose_2]

Ok I have time again today to type up some more of these.
I needed to play this 3 separate times in order to get the results I desired, the first time I tried to do what I normally did the 2nd time was too bold in my attacks causing too many unnecessary hits on my units where as the 3rd time around was more well thought out and had the best results.
This is how I chose to represent this in my unique AAR style.

Gather round the table Commanders and let's discuss this next engagement around the key city of Lodz. I have seen the bold plan from Kluge but have found it's attempt to encircle the enemy solid and effective but unfeasible in light of General Guderian's tight time schedule. As well General Blaskowitz's plan is bold but also too careless as we may suffer unnecessary losses. So the consensus has been to adopt Brigade Commander's Kirchner's bold yet balanced approach of focusing on the South to rescue Reichenau's 10th army and swinging around the soft underbelly of the Lodz/Lowicz objectives. Let's see how this battle plan fairs in real time combat conditions.

Ok men we need to rescue Reichenau's beleaguered 10th army which finds itself under serious threat in and around Piotrkow Trynubalski and Tomaszaw Mazowiecki. Once we are linked up with this group we will then swing up to seize the key cities of Lodz and Lowicz. We need to do this all in 8 Battle Operations.
Battle Report:
1st Battle Operation found our forces rolling through the first forces opposing us and seizing Kalisz, Sieradz, and Zelow. 10th army is holding up just fine as they also were able to eliminate the forces holding the airfield around Piotrkow Trynubalski and Tomaszaw Mazowiecki. However the Kolbert Brigade has moved into attack the 10th army's recon.

With that said the 2nd Battle Operation still found the 10th army able to seize the airfield near Piotrkow Trynubalski and Tomaszaw Mazowiecki, as well as our forces seize Lask as we continue to boot stomp the opposing forces. Our boldness was too great as the Kolbert Brigade has decimated the 10th army's recon and reseized control of the airfield around Piotrkow Trynubalski and Tomaszaw Mazowiecki. But we now have the tremendous infantry forces led by the Oleh Dir who is able to show up where they are needed most almost upon command.

The battle momentum swung decisively in our favor as of the 3rd and 4th Battle Operation as we linked up with the 10th army and completely overran the Kolbert Brigade and their accompanying forces and now rest securely in German hands Piotrkow Trynubalski and Tomaszaw Mazowiecki as well as the nearby airfield.
That evening we slept secure and rested/refueled for the next days operation when combined with our 10th army's brethren we are eager to seize Lodz and Lowicz and secure the Bzura in German hands.

Battle Operation 5 and 6 saw this plan fully come to fruition as we are fully surrounding Lodz and eliminated all of their artillery support and even been able to seize Glowno and Brzeziny. Polish forces are bringing it on strong against the 10th Army's Pz1B which crippled their fighting strength however by the 7th and 8th Battle Operations we had eliminated all frontline opposing forces and seized Lodz and Lowicz including the airfields near these areas.

This was an incredible speedy operation with no need for the engineers to refit or restore any units on the field as we rushed forward to show the Polish who is the boss on the battlefield.

The men are eager to rest and refit before the next operation but word has surfaced among the men that our recon and probing forces have noticed an alarming amount of enemy units accumulating North of the Bzura. I am sure it is nothing more than bluff and bluster and something that will never amount too much, in the meantime pass the wine as I am due for a much earned break after yet another Decisive Victory.

Man this is fun to type up and to try and decipher my normal stats write up into something a little more exciting to read.

Next time shall be the Piatek Battle starting with 2580 in prestige.
At the point of this write up I have finished Piatek on both Manstein and Guderian, I am hoping to get time to type up a couple more AAR's to keep these as much real time as I can.

Looking forward to the feedback.

[goose_2]

Ok wanting to catch up to where I am at in real time in this playthrough so here goes time for one more write up today.

All right Brethren up and on your feet. It appears the rumors are true. Extinguish those cigarettes and button up your pants as our probing units across the Bzura have sent back word that the gathering Polish Forces are indeed mounting up for an imminent attack. Our goal is to hold all newly captured Bridge ports from enemy hands. We need to hold them until we are finally relieved by the remainder of the German Army. I am confident in the 4th and 8th armies ability to eliminate this threat with extreme prejudice, now let's rise up and through off these unexpected and disorganized forces. To assist us we have some of10th army's Anti-tank units and artillery Brigade. We also have been allowed to get the support of Luftlotte 1 and 4 deployed at our Southwestern and Northeatsern airfields. This should be no problem for our now dangerously experienced forces.

Battle Report:
The enemy starts with the initiative and destroyed our probing recon and are moving forward in the center and the South.
We were able to already counter and destroy a Polish unit in our first response.
We are no dummies though and see that maintaining our positions on the bridges is folly so moving to defend them as they are seized by our attackers.

By the 2nd Battle Operation they have already started to seize the first of our North Central Bridges. Wow, I am impressed with their boldness, but we shall make them pay for their brazenness. Our Counter led to the destruction of the probing TKS Tankettes and 2 infantry brigades. Our Force in the North was even able to walk into Bakow Gorny to extend our defenses.

It is in the 3rd Battle Operation where the weather really smiles on us as the enemies stumbled blindly into our waiting forces. All of their attacking forces, all of them, including General Boltuc, were devastated by our well placed artillery fire, the damage to some of our units was very minimal with extremely light casualties. This meant in our counter attack we were able to take out 7 Brigades of enemy units including the death of General Boltuc himself. (This was confirmed by the attacking forces.)

As the 1st day of the battle ended their attack had completely ran out of steam and were unable to even continue the attack and we ended the day by already pressing forward in the South to seize Leczyca with the 10th Army units as we completely roll through the opposing units standing in the way. At the end of the first day we took the opportunity to bring in reinforcements for our forces led by Oleh Dir and Engineers restore the Strength of our Recons to get them back up to Fighting strength as we prepare for the 2nd days expected assaults.

As predicted the start of the first day started with renewed assaults however our well placed artillery units immediately shut down all assaults and made many of the Polish forces going crying back for their Mama. Uh OH!!! Our 10th army units which were probing out in the Leczyca area. This is going to cost us for over reaching before we had complete control over the Battleground.

Enemy finished the morning strong by completely destroying the 10th army units in and around Leczyca and reseized this city. May we learn from this mistake boys and turn their deaths as motivation to beat them all back.

However as the Battle enters the afternoon on the 2nd day we are beginning to feel the effects of their continued assault as they continue to push forward and our units encounter the brazen assault of General Wlad and his groups of 7TP's and TKS Tankettes. We turned their rush into a rout as in our Counter attack we forced the surrender of genral Wlad and turned a majority of their tanks into scrap metal on the battlefield.

It was at the end of the day that the remaining TKS Tankettes trie dto rush onto the bridge only to have all of them completely destroyed by our well placed artillery, but unexpectedly they have been able to field a Fighter wing that tried attacking our unguarded Junkers, but thankfully the skilled pilots were able to avoid much of the assault and only lost a couple of planes. The probing units led by Oleh Dir also encountered an unexpected group of French made Renault's R35 but we found them not to be much of a problem and should not be too difficult when we take the war to France. Before the sky grew dark on the 2nd day we made sure their was not a single enemy plane left to land as Loftflotte 1 and 4 brought every single one of them to the ground. Our Ground units in the Southwestern have also begun going on the assault again as we ended the day in Daszyna.

By the start of the 3rd day we were all bracing for a renewed assault but the only attack that came was a single attack completely stymied by our artillery. We Counterattacked and continued our assault as we retook Leczyca and the airfield near Daszyna. We are continuing to litter the Battlefield with more Polish forces including the remaining Renault's. As the day progressed we kept bracing for a renewed assault as we continued to move forward with our own assault as the afternoon started with our Northern Observation post caught a Northern Assault being led by General Stanislaw, but we were still able to brace for this assault as we abandoned Bakow Gorny and still seize the town of Orlow.

The day ended with them seizing Bakow Gorny, but before the sun went down we were still able to take the force coming to pressure us and eliminate their organization as we forced the Surrender of General Stanislaw and the destruction of their 7TP and their probing 75mm arty. But what gave us much consternation and restless sleep was reports of the force General Kutrzeba has gathered around Wyszogrod.

On the start of the final day the forces near Wyszogrod led by General Kutrzeba brought all they could bear against us and the remainder of the disorganized forces that were led by General Stanislaw before we captured him tried to carry out their assault on our forces prepared to hold the North Western portion of the Bzura, before the rest of the German Werhmacht caught up to relieve us on that 4th day we were able to litter the battlefield with the remainder of the Polish tanks and many more surrendered forces as the army just fell apart.

we were unable to get General Kutrzeba before we were finally relieved but our complete control of the entire Bzura region guaranteed us another Decisive Victory.
This total dominance of our German forces has filled us with confidence that we could take over the world, but for now we will settle for Warsaw.
"Right Boys!"
Oh you should hear their screams and shouts of approval it is resounding.

Decisive Victory 1944
Next time Kampinoska Forest starting with 2044 in prestige.

Maybe I will get a chance to bust this out tonight? We shall see as tomorrow I will have more time to type these up.

[goose_2]

I was a busy boy last night.

This playthrough was just awesome and a total blast as I worked to get yet another Decisive Victory with 5 less rounds than normal. Let's see how I do:

Kampinsoka Forest Starting with 2044 but after Replacements and Overstrengthening and my new purchase 1438.
Purchased new Gerbisjager.

Brought 2 Fighters, Oleh Dir, Pz38(t)a, 88, 4 Sturmpanzers, 1 10.5cm arty, Recon, Experienced infantry in a truck, and experienced Gerbisjager, almost every single unit has at least 1 star of experience except for the green Gerbisjager which I also brought. Here is how I tried to capture this in my new type of report.

All right men I know that we have just gotten finished with throwing back the enemy from the Bzura but our military Commander Guderian has called us up again along with parts of the 10th Army, in fact we have been granted control of the newly deployed 6th Rifle Brigade, to take the initiative back to try and decimate the attempted retreat of the remnants of the Pomorze and Poznan Army as they try to retreat in the direction of Modlin and Warsaw. The strategic plan handed down from Rundstedt is nothing less than bold as we are called to seize the key cities of Kampinos, Gorki and even rush forward and seize Tushaw before the end of the 3rd day of action. (I know, I know, quit the grumbling.) It sounds daunting but there is a plan and we are going to do our best to carry it out. The Good News is the reports have come back with reports that many units have been found in their rail transport and as such should be easy to assault and eliminate. In fact we have been called to eliminate at minimum 12 Troop Trains to help ensure the complete rout of the enemy and to help ease the upcoming assault of Modlin and finally the siege of Warsaw itself. History favors the Bold! Now go forth and make the enemy regret leaving the battlefield before we were done destroying them.

Here is the plan:
Rushing forward to secure all points along the Bzura and then by the start of Day 2 to be deep in the Kampinsoka Forest and by the end of Day 2 to have seized Kampinos and Gorki which leaves the last 3 Battle Operations of the 3rd day to carry out the final assault on Tushaw for total Capitulation. Oh yeah and we need to destroy every Troop Train we come across. Blessings on your endeavors, boys.

Battle Report:
Start of the First day 9/18/39 8:00
We start our operation by rushing our units forward and start pressuring Wisla and even seizing Kuznocin along the Bzura. The enemy tries counterattacking by sending their TKS tankettes against our 10th army Cavalry Brigade. (It looks like they are going to not let us just roll over them, we shall see about that.)

Before the morning is over we have continued our seizure of Wisla and Guzow and are even pressuring Mlodzieszyn and Sochaczew along the Bzura. We made sure to destroy that bold but foolish Tankette along with a defending AT brigade and even took out our first Troop Train. (This is going to be easy pickings.) However before I speak too soon our 2nd group of 10th Army reserve cavalry has felt the wrath of another group of TKS Tankettes which was able to reduce the Briagade to half of it's strength.

In the afternoon we continue our rush forward as our boys were able to seize Mlodzieszyn, Blonie and Sochaczew, our boys are even pressuring Wyszogrod itself. Before the sun went down on the first day we have successfully secured all of Wyszogrod as well as airfield at Grodzisk Mazowiecki. So our first day has ended successfully with there only seems to be a delay in the North where our Southern push is exceeding all expectations. Our men were able to destroy the enemy's fighter as well as 2 more groups of those annoying TKS Tankettes, we even were able to get the surrender of 2 Infantry Brigades, 1 Anti tank Brigade, and an AA Brigade, with only a minor attack from enemy Cavalry that was thrown back by our well placed artillery.

Well in my assessment the first day went according to plan as we are firmly in Control of the Bzura. We may have trouble with 2nd days goals as we are far from Gorki which is deep in the Forest and Kampinos has quite a number of units guarding it.
Rest well men tomorrow we make our way deep into the Kampinsoka Forest.

Day 2's Start of the days morning offensive started with the destruction of 2 more Troop Trains, 2 more Polish Brigades, and another AA Brigade near Kampinos. Our boys even walked into Grodzisk Mazowiecki after the destruction of the Polish units protecting it. Our careful preparation of placing our auxiliary 10th army Cavalry Brigade within vision range of the enemy units paid off as well as their next TKS Tankettes tried to come out and destroy it were then surprised as we rained down heavy artillery which tore through those Tankettes stopping their assault cold before they could even reach our vulnerable Cavalry units.

The next 2 Battle Operations of the 2nd day found our men destroying another 2 groups of TKS Tankettes which keep popping up to harass our units. Another Troop Train has been destroyed as well as another Brigade of Antitank units. Our men have been able to secure Kampinos and are even beginning to pressure Gorki and Pruszkaw. With the enemy unable to call in a counter attack we have been able to call up replacements for our aux 10th Cavalry Brigade.

The end of the 2nd day Found our men marching into Pruszkow as we destroyed the Polish Brigade defending it as well as a whole 'nother infantry and Cavalry Brigade. The Poles ended the day by their probing TKS Tankettes being ambushed by our 10th Army bretheren in the Forest, but unfortunately this brought in another Cavalry Brigade which was able to assault our forces guarding our prescious 88's which found them losing over hald of them as they were unable to protect these big guns in the deep forest.

All right men let's rest up for the final push tomorrow.
We will have 3 Battle Movements to rush towards Turskaw and still destroy 6 more Troop Trains. I am confident we will be able to seize Gorki as we are already pressuring it, but our entire Northern Force has been bogged down for far too long and unfortunately I may regret having gone after those Southern Secondary Objectives.

Our 3rd Day starts off well with our men polishing up a withering force of 75mm arty's, mopping up the TKS Tankettes trapped in the Forest and 2 more Troop Trains. Of course our Boldness cost us as 4 fighters found the wrong end of a group of Anti Aircraft guns. Thankfully the pilots all ejected out safely and landed within our zone of control.

Oh no as the day is continuing on it looks as though a storm is brewing.
We need to rush forward even if it means we put our position in a vulnerable place. We used our recon to rush forward and pressure Turshaw as our men rush forward to destroy another Troop Train, Polish Inf, 4omm AA and even a lingering Mtn Inf trying to harass our units.
We take these last remaining moments to have our Engineers restore our Pz38(t)a back up to fighting Strength and even our remaining 10th Army Cavalry. Unfortunately we have one more opportunity to seize Gorky and they were able to move in another Brigade of cavalry units.

Our last Battle operation of the 3rd day finds our forces forced to fight in the rain.
C'mon Men Mach Schnell!!! we need to dig down deep for our final attempt to gain the Decisive Victory!

Final Battle operation in the Rain!

Our men dug down deep to destroy the Polish cavalry defending Gorki to seize it find and destroy 2 more Troop Trains, and make the final push to even eliminate the Cavalry Brigade holding Turskaw which allowed our Elite Pz38(t)a to rush in and destroy the last needed Troop Train. For Oleh Dir's monumental efforts to dislodge the enemy from Turskaw their troops have earned the Iron Cross 2nd Class.

Well Done Boys I am extremely proud of your effort which is supreme to secure the final Objective and even destroy the necessary Troop Trains in order to bolster our assault on Modlin. Light up and have a drink on me as you will be called up again very soon for the assault on Modlin Fortress. Be Prepared.

I have to say this was the most excited I have felt for achieving a Decisive Victory in this game in a while as it felt so good when I saw that I was able to seize Turskaw and use that unit to destroy the last needed Troop Train. in fact when that message popped up after doing that I jumped out of my seat and raised up my hands in Victory.

Great Feeling and Great time playing this Great Game.

I will probably not be able to give another update until maybe Friday but may be as late as Tuesday before I am able to come back online.
Looking forward to seeing any feedback you may have.

Blessings on the rest of your January!

[hurly]

We all know that General''Extraordinaire goose_2 is a brilliant military leader, but like most people with a beautiful mind he does not like the basic office duties

So I volunteered to do some of the paperwork

So here better a bit late than never a few replays from the Guderian Campaign

I will add more as they become available

[goose_2]

whoops it submitted twice for some reason

[goose_2]

Thanks Hurly your assistance is greatly appreciated.
I screwed up with the save of Kampinsoka as that was something I was super happy with. Oh well.

Now Modlin
Prestige after replacements, overstrength and new purchases 757.
Bought 2 HE111-H2's and 1 new 10.5cm arty.
I am going to go strong and fast on this one as overstrengthening as deep as I can go because who cares about prestige when you are going West.
Utilizing a strong Airforce by bringing 2 new Henkel's, 2 JU-87B's, and 2 Bf-110C's as I know they do not have any air force.
I also brought Oleh Dir, Recon, Pz38(t)a, 4 Sturmpanzer's, 2 10.5cm arty's, 1 Gerbisjager and 1 Wehrmacht in a truck.
Let's see if I can get a Decisive Victory in 12 rounds.

All right men. While we were mopping up the remains of the Pomorze Army in the Kampinos Forest our Brothers in Arms have been busy assaulting Modlin and it's impressive fortress. Word is they have just finished a counter punch with excellent utilization of their Armored Train known simply as "Death", Smierc in Polish. We have been called up and given just 3 full days of operation in order to pacify and capitulate the guns and forces defending Fortress Modlin. At that point if we do not pacify those forces, we will be redirected to assist in the final siege of Warsaw. In order to assist with this assault we have been given the awesome assistance of the many Bombers of the 1st and 4th Air Fleet. Yes, I can confirm the rumors that have come up through the ranks. Russian forces have now entered the fray and are "liberating" their brothers in the Eastern portions of Poland. We should not run into any of these "rescuers", but in case you do, you will not engage them. Three days men! Show me what you can do.

Battle Report:

Day 1 9/23/1939 8:00
The morning of the first day started gloriously with us rolling over all of the forces in and around Mlawa. Mlawa's seizure was expected, what was not expected, but a nice surprise was the forces led by Oleh Dir eliminating the forces holding Przasnysz. We have moved the 4th Army's artillery pieces along with their Infantry divisions South to begin pushing there.
By 11:00 Our men, led by the auspicious Albert Kerscher, had seized Przasnysz as well as the airfield next to Ostroleka which allowed our bombers to refuel and eliminate along with Oleh Dir's lightning fast forces eliminate the Polish Infantry holding Ostroleka. Our Southern forces were also able to seize Raciaz after the artillery and 12th Gerbisjager destroyed the defending troops. Our men are now positioned and poised to seize Ciechanow before the end of the First day's operations.
As of 14:00 the afternoon clouds started to come in we still were able to seize the now abandoned Ostroleka and begin to pressure Ciechanow as we eliminated their artillery and Anti-aircraft divisions guarding the city and airfield which made the remaining forces ripe targets for our boys in the air.
17:00 before the sun set for the first day our forces had indeed seized Ciechanow and it's airfield which gave our forces an opportunity to rearm and refuel for the next days assaults. Albert Kerscher and his Panzer reciments along with the rushing guns of our Sturmpanzer divisions were able to silence the anti-tank guns holding Pultusk and even have my Southern rushing units pressuring Plonsk. Men we are guaranteed to walk home with a Marginal Victory and we could rest right here and let the enemy burn itself out on our guns, but I want to you to dig down over the next 2 days and silence those guns firing from Modlin.
The day did not end without one of those pesky TKS Tankettes coming out and trying to unsuccessfully catch our Wehrmacht unprepared, however at this stage of the campaign our foot soldiers were already prepared to repulse such a futile attack. (this was the only attack tried by the Poles over the course of the whole day.)

2nd Day:
Our forces walked into Pultusk and Bombers finished off the remaining TKS Tankettes across the battlefield.
Later that morning we continued the walk through the waiting Polish defenses as our men seized Wyszkow and Nasielsk.
In the afternoon the bombers continue to do their awesome work of destroying the enemy's borrower Renault's R-35's, our forces facing the defensive line before Modlin took out both strongpoints defending this line. In the meantime our recon forces and Oleh Dir led infantry have sweeped around the Bug River to surprise the Polish forces from the East.
It is at this point that I realize that we will need to pull a full frontal assault because our units rushing around the East are not strong enough nor are they equipped enough to silence the Guns of the Main Fortress outside of Modlin.
It is by the end of this first day that my men start to push into that frontal assault as we seized Radzymin and pushed forward closer to the guns of Modlin and "Death".
It is at this time that The Poles did not miss their chance to counter attack strongly diminishing the forces of 12th Gerisjager, their AA guns finally found some of our Bombers, and our aggressive 1st recon Battalion in Radzymin was caught flat footed by a Cavalry Division as they were not ready to hold Radzymin.

3rd Day finds our forces before Modlin confronting it's most frontline forces and well within view of their massive guns. We have one more day to Silence those guns.
Let's do it, men!
The Morning starts with our units seizing Fort Debe and eliminating many of the forces on the outskirts of Modlin, yet Modlin forces are still holding out so we cannot directly assault Modlin itself. We called up some reserve forces to get 12th Gerbisjager back up to speed.
This next day finds Albert Kirscher and his collection of mostly Check tanks reeling from the rain of guns pouring forth from "Death" and Modlin itself. This made them extremely vulnerable to the Polish forces guarding Modlin.
It was in the waning moments of the morning that we called up the service engineers to get those crippled tanks back online and get them new forces to man them. While they were busy our striking forces forced the surrender of the pesky 40mm AA division pestering our fly boys, but their bombs continued to rain death on more of those TKS Tankettes coming to the frontline.
Modlin continued to rain down on our units but this time their guns were trained on our Sturmpanzers reducing the 7th division by half of it's guns.
It is with these casualties on our minds and as the clouds rushed in around 14:00 that bolstered our forces forward to start pressuring both Modlin Forces and to bring some of their guns down as we have been doing with our bombs as best as we can since the end of the first day.
It is with these wekened guns that the enemy tried one last time to pacify more of our Sturmpanzers but we are still around to finish the last hours of the day.

The end of the day found us forcing the surrender the remaining forces in the Armored Train and pacifying all Modlin guns. It is with their seizure that we rest in our Decisive Victory and now are eager to move onto Warsaw to help in the final assault there. For their Bravery and efforts the men manning the 2nd Panzer Regiment and the 1st Recon Battalion have been awarded their Iron Crosses 2nd Class.
We are choosing to swing around Warsaw from the South.

No time to rest boys as it has come the time that we finish this Fall Wiese Campaign with the full capitulation of Warsaw.

Ok! I will have 17 rounds and 2090 in prestige to win in Poland...No Problem.

Until next time...Stay Lutheran My Friends.

[goose_2]

Here is the fun one.
Warsaw in 15 rounds I incorrectly said 17 in previous post.
I now have a seasoned and very effective army I am using in Guderian and may expand my base of units from which I am working, but not in Warsaw. I wanted to own this map, and boy did I. But I am showing my hand a little too much.
What is a little disappointing is my lack of SE units being awarded.
I have yet to get a single SE awarded to me in this playthrough and I am now in the 8th mission. Bummer, but what are you going to do, reload and keep finishing the end turn until I am awarded an SE unit, nah, not my style. (But I have considered it. )
Manstein I have 1 but that is it only 1, but I am moving forward accordingly as it is no guarantee you will ever get awarded them.
That is enough of a rant, now onto the AAR.

Warsaw South starting prestige 2090 after replacements and overstrength 1461.
Brought 2 Fighter's, 2 infantry, 2 Gerbisjager's including Oleh Dir, 4 Sturmpanzer's, 2 10.5cm arty's, 88, recon, 2 Pz38(t)a's including Albert Kerscher.
I am concentrating 1 Battle Group around Mairianka, and the other Battle Group around Kampinos.

All right men, the Seige of Warsaw itself has come. The amount of defending forces the Poles have gathered around there capital is considerable and they will defend to the last man. We have been given 15 hours to get this done. We need to pacify the entirety of Warsaw. To assist in our endeavors we have been given the 10th Corps led by Wilhelm Ulex around Modlin. They will will help swing around Warsaw from the North to capture the cities to the East of Warsaw. (Rumor has it that these Eastern cities are loaded with Polish artillery and if captured can be used to assist in our assault.
We along with the Albert Kerscher linked to the "Kempf" Panzer Division and are linked up with 1st Corps led by Walter Petzel out of Kampinos. They are tasked with beginning the assault right away in the North West portion of Warsaw.
Adolph Straus is leading the 2nd Corps located around Marianka. They are hoping that with the lightning fast speed of Oleh Dir and his 3rd Infantry Division will be pushing swinging around Warsaw from the South to seize all cities located around the South East across the Vistula. Once we linked up with 10th corps we will rush forward with the captured Polish guns, to fully capitulate Warsaw.
We have been given 1st and 4th Air Fleet to assist us in the air.
Let's do this men and then we can indeed rest as we will have at last finished this Polish Campaign with record setting speed. Alexander the Great would be proud.

Day 1 9/28/39 8:00am:
A wing of od "Kempf's" Panzer Division rushed into Piaseczno, but was surprised by defenders located in the city, when recon came back that it was left empty. Somebody in the recon division must be held accountable.
With that said Oleh Dir led the 3rd Infantry Division to destroy defenders and seize the town.
We were also able to eliminate the Anti Tank division holding Blonie and were able to seize it.
ai CA:
The fools saw our perceived recon units and tried sending out their precious few 7TP tanks to try and destroy them. They were surprised by our glorious guns fielded by the 13th Sturmpanzer division as the highly skilled and experienced members of our 1st Recon Division were able to cut those attacking 7TP's numbers in half.

9:00am: Sunny
10th Corps seized Sulejowek and Northwestern airfield.
Our fly boys went ahead and finished off the scattered 7TP's and our men fighting with the 1st Corps also got our 1st Polish defenders around Northwestern Warsaw.
ai CA:
The Polish Fighters were caught by surprise by our defending fighters and we sent almost all of them to the ground.

10:00am
Even with clouds rolling in our boys manning the 88 guns took down the remaining enemy fighter's.
And our boys in 1st Corps were also able to remove another Northwestern defender.
10th Corps were able to eliminate the Alpini's holding Miase and walk right in finding the guns waiting for them there. (Our boys are being called up to help man them.)
ai CA:
Their air arm has come out with all brazenness but to no effect.

11:00am
Clouds passed and as such our fly boys have come out and taken our wrath out on the remainders of Polish airmen. The enemy air forces have been able to survive but their numbers are greatly diminished. Oleh Dir and the 3rd infantry division was able to eliminate the enemy Alpini holding Gadka and seizing the guns being held in this town. More boys being called up to man these to help with the continued assault.
The men and machines of 1st Corps have been able to eliminate another North Western infantry division and 75mm artillery defending the streets.
ai CA:
TKS hit 9th Wehrmacht for some damage and their AA guns have found some of our planes.

12:00 pm
Our overwhelming firepower from our guns and our tremendous efforts of our 1st Corps have been able to eliminate the first enemy Strongpoint in Northwestern Warsaw.
Our men marched into Otwock and seized the airfield near Minsk Mazowiecki and 10th Corps was able to overwhelm the Alpini with our numbers to seize Stanislaw and we have even more guns to start to bring to bear on Warsaw.
One more area, Minsk Mazowiecki, left to be captured and then all forces shall converge quickly on Warsaw.
ai CA:
The enemies guns continue to nick our boys in the air.

1:00 pm
2nd Corps has come through again as they eliminate the enemy holding Minsk Mazowiecki. This completes our effort to seize all suburban offshoots of Warsaw and were able to capture all of the Polish abandoned guns, and now have men called up to man these guns. We are looking forward to turning their guns on them.
The enemy is responding in what way they can by directing more of their AA at our boys in the air and bringing their last remaining bombs down on our boys manning the Sturmpanzers.

2:00 pm
Those bombers are lucky as the unexpected rain shower kept our fly boys from downing these last remaining enemies in the air.
This rain however did not prevent our 1st Corps Boys from moving forward in the Northwest as they continued to dig out even more defenders and even seizing that portion of Warsaw. 10th Corps and 2nd Corps have converged forward on the Southeastern and Central Eastern portion of Warsaw, surrendering the AA battery located in the Eastern airfield and even rushing forward to seize this nice landing strip for our fly boys. The rain seemed to bring out our enemy as their TKS Tankettes attacked our 10th Corps Panzer 1B but we gave as good as we got. We also had a Cavalry come out and try and but our boys in the 1st Recon Brigade guarded by unseen artillery batteries.
3:00 pm
As soon as the rain has come it has now gone away and now with the sun out our flyboys are raining down terror on the enemy all over the city. This has allowed our boys on the ground to start pressing on Central Warsaw. Our boys manning our 88’s found the last of the Poles trying to take off from their airfield and brought them down. Now if we could just find those pesky Bombers we would rule the sky. Now that our men with the 2nd Corps and 10th Corps have combined to press forward in the Southeastern Warsaw and caused much destruction to the enemy holding those positions as their guns have fallen, their strongpoint has been razed, and more infantry gets overwhelmed.
The Poles reacted by sending out their remaining Bombers to reign death on our Pz38(t)a’s.

4:00pm
Those remaining Bombers are now no more as our Fighters sent them to the ground with extreme prejudice. Our talented boys from the 12th and 8th Gerbisjagers Regiments brought down even more Polish Defenders. A combination of the 9th Wehrmacht Regiment and the Panzers led by the amazing Albert Kerscher brought down the last remaining 7TP’s still trying to make a difference in the defense of Warsaw. Our Engineer’s have been called up to repair the Panzer’s crippled by those last Bombers to get that division back up to fighting speed.
The enemy has responded to the continued pressure by pouring out as many of their guns as they can do and even brought out their Cavalry to rush an assault on the 10th Corps Infantry Regiment and damaged way too many of our boys. We shall make them pay for their brazenness.

6:00pm
With the sun setting our flyboys in the 1st fleet brought down another pocket of those TKS Tankettes that keep annoying our boys on the ground. Our pressure on much of Central Warsaw is forcing the Surrender of many enemy units including the forces manning the 105mm guns in the center of town and the Cavalry units attacking our 10th Corps boys. And even more Polish defenders are falling at the end of our guns as we continue to tighten the noose.
We shall easily finish all of these defenders tomorrow. Rest well boys.

Unfortunately some took that last order too seriously because in the night the enemies Cavalry pressured the 8th Gerbisjager and way too many of our boys are now resting with the fallen. They also sent out the Polish defenders in the Northeast to attack our weakened 10th Corps Pz1B’s, and as such they reduced their number by half.


New Day, New Morning, and time to finish this battle and raise the German Flag over the Warsaw City center.

8:00am
Our boys began the day by moving the pressure towards Southwestern Warsaw, as the entirety of our Army converges on Central Warsaw, pressuring Southwestern Warsaw, the City Center, and have even been able to seize parts all over the city including Downtown Warsaw and the Rail Station.
The last of their artillery guns have been silenced, and their last remaining TKS Tankettes have now been eliminated.
The Defenders in Northeastern Warsaw have become brazen as they almost eliminate all of the remaining boys manning the 10th Corps Pz1B’s. It is time for you all to retire and lick your wounds as the remaining forces are more than capable of finishing off these remaining defenders.

10:00am
It is at this time that the enemies back is completely broken and it now becomes a mop up of remaining units, as we were able to raze the remaining Strongpoints in the North and South and more and more of the enemy is surrendering or falling at the end of our guns.

Gentleman I will not bore you with remaining 2 hours of this battle other than to say the enemy had no strength left to attack and we were able to take over the entire city including the last remaining airfields and end with Total Victory.

For their bravery and zeal the members of the 4th Wehrmacht and 12th Gerbisjager were both awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class.

The war is over, now let’s rest and let the diplomats take over at the negotiating table.

I for one am ready for a nice smoke and brandy.


Decisive Victory with ending prestige of 3229
I was just kidding we of course will continue fighting in the Spoils of War with 3929 starting to play with.
I think I will buy a few new units while exercising some of our units to hopefully get them their first hero awarded.

Hope you are enjoying this as much as I am composing it.

[captainjack]

Nice style - seeing how others view priorities in missions is a good way to improve planning skills, and the style of the reports themselves is readable.

I do have one criticism - all these AARs give me another excuse to put off finishing my own modest project. I'm just reading them to see what works and what doesn't. It's essential research - really!

[hurly]

added Warsaw South and Modlin Replays on Feb 5 2017

[goose_2]

Ok let's start with an update on my more creative write ups.

I did use Spoils of War as an opportunity to buy new units, replacements, and overstrength to bring my starting prestige from 3929 down to 2305.
I bought a new 10.5cm arty w truck, 1 Sturmpanzer, 1 Gerbisjager, 1 new 88.
Brought 2 Pz38(t)a's including Albert Kerscher, 1 recon, 3 Gerbisjagers including Oleh Dir, 1 reg inf, 1 10.5cm arty, Polish arty, 3 Sturmpanzers, 2 JU-87B's, and 2 Fighters.
I have 16 turns or 8 days in the time scale that this scenario is set up.
Let's see how I do.

All right men gather round. The "diplomats" have given us the "opportunity" to test out our mettle versus our new Soviet "brothers" in a new test of wills. This is a completely voluntary operation and something we are looking forward to testing out some of our newer troops called up for war to give them a chance to test their might on the battlefield. This battle will not be going on the official record and is something of a hush, hush for the foreseeable future, but I will let you know that the "powers that be" are extremely eager to see what the Russians can field on the battlefield. With that said we will be "asking" the units associated with the Oleh Dir and Albert Kerscher to show their skills in this combat situation. We are being given 8 days to wipe the map of these Russian soldiers. I am sure we will have no problem with this. So men, I know you are all willing, but let's give the new boys a chance, let's get this done.

Day 1 10/1/39 8:00am Sunny:
Awww. The morning begins with a rush across the Battlefield for our men to seize the towns of Pilawa, Wyszkow, and Minsk Mazowlecki. Our flyboys doing a little recon spotted some of their Army, but unfortunately this included within our vision some of their antiaircraft guns which proceeded to take a few of our men flying our fighters out of the sky. But our bombers have started raining down death on their unguarded units.
2:00 pm:
Our rush forward continues by seizing Wegrow, Zelechow, and it's airfield. The mostly fire first flyboys in the Bf-110c's led by Helmut Lent has joined the fray, and the bombs continued to reign down and seal the fate on a Russian division as well as an artillery battery. Unfortunately our Rush forward has spread ourselves to thin as the 10th Corps Panzerjagers that have joined us in the fray were completely destroyed after their Cavalry initially ambushed a BA-10 and reduced their number by half.

Day 2 10/2/39 8:00 am:
The destruction of the Soviet forces continues as our boys in the air brought down their I-16, our boys on the ground decimated 2 divisions of their BA-10's as well as obliterated their resilient T-26s tanks. We even mopped up 2 of their infantry divisions. (This is proving to be a cake walk.) Oh wait here come their Bombers and their sights are on our boys manning the Sturmpanzers, that hurt. Oh no! Their guns and another BA-10 Division hit our 10th Corps Cavalry and left them reeling with only about a 3rd of their men left to lick their wounds.
2:00 pm:
The Clouds rolled in but this did not save their unfortunate unguarded boys flying Pe-2's. We can here the cheers of the boys cleaning up the mess around the Sturmpanzers. We also mopped up the floor with all units pressuring us on their front lines this included 3 infantry divisions, and that pesky BA-10 division, and even that 122mm artillery which softened up our 10th Corps Cavalry unit. We even moved in to Radzyn Podaski. Unfortunately this put our boys manning the 1st Recon Division out on the frontlines. Thank God these boys can take a little pressure as the enemy through everything it could to try and bring them to their knees as they were assaulted by an Engineer Division, Cavalry Division, and Regular Infantry Division, and even though they hurt our boys on the frontline they found our boys as more than prepared to handle being there as they repelled their assaults well and made the enemy hurt for each assault. Even our experienced boys flying the Junkers were able to handle an unexpected assault by their I-16 fighters and only had a couple of Bombers pay the price for flying unguarded.

Day 3 10/3/39 8:00am Sunny:
Day 3 begins with our boys continuing to rush forward as we were able to seize Ciechanowiec, Siedlce, and Mildzyrzec Podlaski. (This is almost too easy, almost.)
We were also able to take out another BA-10 division. (How many of these worthless recons are they fielding.) 2 more infantry divisions including the regular and Engineer divisions pressuring our boys in the 1st Recon Division. We were even able to push back the Cavalry division to give our Engineers time to move up replacements and fix broken down vehicles to get them back up to full strength for the final push. We even found a 40mm anti aircraft division and brought them to a forced surrender.
Their counter attack ended up being useless flailing dealing us nothing but more combat experience.
2:00pm
Our boys mopped up another couple divisions of infantry including those wily Cavalry that previously escaped our push. The 10th Corps brought up some more replacements for their men behind the Panzerjagers and Cavalry units.
Uh-Oh! These Russians can field a lot of units. (We might want to be wary of this.) This becomes apparent as their artillery and a T-26s division hit our 10th Corps Cavalry and another T-26s hit our green Gerbisjagers for some damage.

Day 4 10/4/39 8:00am:
We are starting to run into some resistance to our advance and as such our proceeding with a bit more caution, however we still were able to push forward into Siemiatycze.
We were able to bring to bear on 2 tank divisions 1 that were fielding the impressive, for their small size, T-26s's and the other less impressive BT-5's. We were also able to bring to bear on a division of Engineer's and a battery of 76.2mm artillery's. (In fact the defense of our 2nd Pz38(t)a were recognized for their +1 defensive posture.) We have called up more replacements for our boys in the 1st Recon and the 10th Corps Cavalry. Unfortunetly these replacements were all decimated as the Soviet Cavalry destroyed the 10th Corps Cavalry and their Fighter hit our 1st Air Fleet Strat Bomber but were only able to bring down 1 plane.
2:00 pm:
The Clouds rolled in again in the afternoon but it did not save the Soviet boys in their I-16's as we brought them all down with extreme prejudice. Our boys on the ground once again mopped up more of their Russian tank divisions, including a group of T-26s's, BT-5's, and even BT-7's. Just for good measure brought a division of regular infantry to destruction as we walked into Biala Podlaska. The enemy had nothing left to bring to bear against us for a counter attack, even into the next day.

Day 5 10/5/39 8:00am:
We begin the next day by seizing Kleszcz as we were able to destroy another group of Regular infantry and BT-5 tanks. By the afternoon we are crossing the Bug and finished off their flyboys in yet another I-16 and destroyed another battery of 76.2mm artillery's and another Cavalry Division. We unfortunately got too auspicious as they brought out their Lieutenant Mikhailovich armed in their KV-2 tanks, (man these are massive, I hope our boys in armaments can step up our Panzers that we are able to field in light of these Big Dogs), a division of BT-7's, and a division of Regular infantry units were able to reduce our boys fighting with Albert Kerscher to half strength, but we gave as good as we got.

Day 6 10/6/39 8:00 am:
We began Day 6 by freeing our beleaguered boys with Albert Kerscher by destroying 2 Tank divisions of Soviet Soldiers manning T-26s's, and BT-7's. This allowed our boys manning the Pz38(t)a's with Albert Kerscher to retreat and let other units to finish off the remaining Soviet units around Brest. Unfortunately we placed some of our flyboys at risk to free these tanks and their 40mm anti aircraft battery was able to bring down 4 of our green Tac Bomber's. Also our 10th Corps boys our feeling the heat in their Panzerjagers as they are continued to be attacked.
We finished the day by seizing the Northern Airfield near Brest and destroying another Cavalry Division, but they finished the day by continuing to damage our boys in the 10th Corps Panzerjagers and their damaged Anti aircraft battery still able to bring down 1 of our fighters.

Day 7 10/7/39 8:00am:
The clouds around the battlefield did not stop our boys from raining death on the rest of the remaining units especially after we were able to silence the rest of the guns in that pesky anti-aircraft battery. Our boys ended up removing more infantry divisions including 2 regular Infantry and 1 group of Conscripts, man those end up being a lot of men on the battlefield. We removed the last of their BT-7 Divisions and their last artillery battery guarding Brest as we now have this area pressured. This leaves nothing left to field except the infantry guarding Brest, a Cavalry Division, the last entrenched Conscript division, and of course the man manning the KV-2's headed by Lieutenant Mikhailovich, but they are without ammo.
However that pesky Cavalry Division was able to destroy our beleaguered 10th Corps Panzerjager, which we were able to bring to bear on that Cavalry division and remaining Conscript Division before the day was out seizing the last Southern Airfield.

The final day began with us wrapping up this little exercise as we unfortunately destroyed all of the units manning the KV-2's, we were hoping to force some of them to surrender so we could send at least 1 of these to our research department but or guns our too strong. We did finish off the remaining division in Brest and hoisted the Victory flag for Total Victory on the battlefield. Maybe our fearless leader was correct that we, "only have to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down." Maybe we will find out, but today is not the day.

Let's rest now as our work here is done, boys. Secretly our boys manning the Sturmpanzers and the men manning the JU-87B's who were able to repel the unexpected attack of those I-16's were adorned discretely with the Iron Cross 2nd Class.

Men this brings our operations in 1939 to a close, I know you were hoping to be transferred to the Front to start bringing the lessons we have learned in Poland to bear on the Battlefield in France to redeem the shame we have felt in the Great War of 1914 through 1918. We shall have our revenge but first let's see what preparations the Field Marshall's can come up with. For now enjoy the accolades of total Victory on all battlefields despite the rush in our orders and prepare for the next deployment.

Ok in all seriousness, based on the hero awarded to Pz38(t)a of +1 defense he will not be making the cut off and will force me to have to work on building up a new Pz3F to hopefully be awarded a more potent 1st hero. I will continue to keep that Pz38 in case I need it to fill a gap in a battle, but I will be concentrate my training elsewhere. I hope I am not "awarded" something so lackluster for my 2nd hero for Oleh Dir or Albert Kirscher.

I am hoping to finish up 1939 over the next week or two and hope to get enough time to continue typing these up over the course of this week. I am pleased with the progression of these battles and have been able to achieve Decisive Victories on my first playthrough with all except Lodz, Manstein has not been the same, a little harder.

Finished with Decisive Victory and 3518 in prestige.
Next will be Norway and Operation Weserubung in Oslo and rescuing Blucher starting with 4268 in prestige and 9 rounds to do it in.
9:? Whoa that is fast!

No problem, right?

[goose_2]

Guderian Oslo
Started with 4268 but after replacements, new purchases, and Overstrengthening 3499
Bought 2 Fallschimjagers.
Brought 2 Fallschmijagers, 3 Gerbisjagers including Oleh Dir, 4 Sturmpanzers, 1 10.5cm arty, 2 Fighters, Helmut Lent, JU-87B, Recon, Albert Kerscher, and 3.7cm Pak.

This one needs to be fast and quick. 9 Turns is Super quick which in timeline for Guderian is 2 days and the morning of the 3rd day.
Here is how I tried to capture it in my write up.

All right men! I hope you have enjoyed the Holidays with your families, but it is a new year and we have been called up to help secure Oslo in Operation Weserübung. You have all been briefed on your necessary actions and the expected timeline of this operation. We have been asked to secure all objectives within 2 days, but if we run into trouble I am sure that we could get some leeway to bleed into that 3rd day of Operations, however I am sure it will not be needed as the Garrisons holding these Norwegians cities and towns are minimal and no match for the forces about to be unleashed in them. Be prepared to support our new brothers in arms trained in flying those jumping out of those Junkers 52's. We have a landing already set up and ready to move out around Kragero. We will be sending our newest Fallschimjagers over to Notodden and it's nearby airfield so once secured can reload and take off for a surprise assault on Honefoss. With our other band of Fallschimjagers that have been assigned to us for this mission will be sent over to seize Askim and it's airfield. However once secured, we will be utilizing their uncanny skill at busting bunkers to help secure the Oscarsborg Fortress. We also have another assault force ready to float in and secure Fredrikstad and then immediately move up to help seize Oslo itself. You have your orders men! Now make it happen.

Battle Report:
4/9/1940 8:00am
It is no surprise to have the clouds greeting us in Norway on this first day of action, but let's not let this delay our over a months long preparation for the assault.
Our initial assault force around Kragero was able to finish off garrison holding Porsgrunn and moved our boys in the First Recon to seize the city, and begin to pressure Larvik. Our planes and ships located in the Oslofjord silenced the guns supporting Larvik after suppressing the pesky AA batteries guarding Larvik.
Oh No! Men orders have changed midstream. It appears our Naval brothers have become overzealous in their attempted assault on Oslo and now are being targeted by the guns of Oscarsborg. They now need us to silent those guns and keep them from sinking the KMS Blucher.

11:00am:
The sun has come out and it has eased our landing and seizure of Fredrikstad.
Our planes and ships have silenced and softened up the forces defending Larvik and made it easy for our ground troops to mop up and seize the town and even move onto pressuring Tonsberg. Our flyboys were also able to send the Norwegian flyboys to a watery grave who were assaulting our destroyers trapped near Oslo. After removing this threat around the 2nd 28cm Gun Emplacement of the Oscarsborg Fortress from our bombers after the guns of the Blucher softened them up first. this could not save our destroyers trapped in the fjord as the remaining guns found their target and quickly sank that ship.

2:00pm:
Our assault on the Western side of Oslofjord is going splendidly as we have seized Tonsberg after destroying the Garrison stationed there as well as in Notodden and even the battery of 40mm aa defending the airfield. We even removed garrison holding Horten but were unable to seize it yet.
Unfortunately our boys in the small PT Boats have had their ships targeted by Oscarsborg, but at least this helps protect the Blucher as less damage was taken by them.

5:00pm:
The day ends with our boys being able to walk into Askin and it's airfield as well as in Notodden and it's airfield. This means after a night's rest we will be able to take off and begin our surprise assault of Honefoss. We were able to also seize Horten.
Our flyboys and continued Navy guns were able to silence the 3rd 28cm Gun Emplacement as well as our assault force from Fredrikstad was able to move up and remove more Norwegian infantry as well as 1 Oscarsborg Strongpoint. (1 more Gun Battery and Strongpoint and Oscarsborg will be completely capitulated.)
Not a bad way to end the first day.
The remaining Oscarsborg guns turned their guns to nick our boys riding in the KMS Emden.

Day 2 4/10/40 8:00am:
The sun rose over the guns of Oscarsborg only to have them completely silenced by a combination of our ships, artillery, and our bunker busting flyboys to totally devastate the 1st Fort itself as well as the last Strongpoint. And with that the KMS Blucher is now safe and Oscarsborg Fort is now securely in German Hands.
We have also continued the destruction of another Norwegian garrison. And we no longer receive anymore grief from the Norwegians for the remainder of this operation.

11:00am:
Seized Drammen and Sandvika after destroying one last Garrison holding out.

2:00pm:
We destroyed Norwegian division in Lillestrom and forced out AA battery out of the airfield near Oslo so we could seize it for our boys to refuel.

5:00pm:
We will not need that extra day Commander as before the sun sets below the clouds now in the sky we forced the surrender of most of the rest of the remaining Norwegian forces or totally obliterated them and marched simultaneously into Honefoss, Oslo, and even Jessheim.

Decisive Victory

1 day early not bad men, not bad at all. The sailors aboard the KMS Blucher thank you for the relief of their mistake of getting trapped too early in the Fjord. can you believe they thought they would be welcomed as liberators.

This was an unexpectedly easy scenario and I finished with 4742 in prestige and starting Lillehammer with 5142 and 13 turns. I am halfway through as of this morning and may even get the opportunity to finish maybe tonight and may get time to type up tomorrow.

I am hoping to get some better heroes that may make the cut once I have to make the decision on who to take.

I am building up quite the effective little streamlined force. I still think the more broad approach is the way to go when planning on going East but it is quite fun dominating maps with these seriously experienced BA's I am fielding currently.

[goose_2]

I did find time to complete another mission last night and plan on completing the Narvik mission this weekend.
Which means another Steam Achievement down.

Lillehammer Guderian
Started with 5142 prestige but after New Purchase, Replacements, and Overstrength 4752.
Purchased Pz3F.

I tried looking up geographical stuff and research some stuff to try and help provide more context to this battle. we will see how that goes.
On the Left Side of Lake Stusjonen bringing 3 Gerbisjagers, 2 Sturmpanzers, Helmut Lent, Fighter, JU-87B.
On the Right Side of Lake Stusjonen bringing Oleh Dir, 2 artys, 88, 3.7cmpak, Pz3F, Albert Kerscher, Fighter, and 2 Fallschimjager's.
18 turns
Here is how I tried to represent this:

Well the reports are in. It is clear, we played the right hand in invading Norway as quickly as we did as the British were set to do the same, this has become clear with their ability and troops which have already set up to help in the fruitless defense of this Scandinavian Country. We have been called up to help in the continuous assault and further advance of our troops to help in the assault and seizure of the Area around Lillehammer. To that effect we have placed our crack Mt. Troops on the West side of Lake Stusjonen , and an equally weighted and strong force including our newest Pz3F Division and our amazing Fallschimjagers to help with the speed and complete overwhelming of the forces we face along this beautiful scenic but difficult to maneuver countryside.
We will have 3 days to get this done fellows. We want to get this done as soon as possible so we can be redeployed and participate in the expected start date of Fall Gelb.
Let's do this men so we can head home and let the rest of our brothers mop up these Nordic warriors.

Day 1 4/14/40 8:00 AM:
Ok we begin our assault again with clouds in the sky.
Our artillery's softened up the Garrison holding the Garrison holding Moelv which made way for our 3.7cm Pak to push out the Garrison and our newest Pz3F successfully secured it as well as finished their resistance. Our Bombers and Sturmpanzers softened up the same on the West side of the lake in order for our Green 31st Gerbisjager to eliminate the garrison holding Bristrand.
The enemies Gladiator was caught by surprise by our defensive fighters when they tried to hit our boys in the Junkers, but unfortunately we did not have enough flyboys to guard them also from the enemies Hurricanes. Too many Junkers along with our Brothers were brought to an untimely death.

10:00am:
The Sun is now out and has allowed our flyboys down every last one of those Brits in their fancy Hurricanes, this allowed the aggressive Helmut Lent and his buddies in the Bf-110c's to down the remainder of the Norwegians in their Gloucester Gladiators.
We were able to push out the Garrison holding up our advance in Elverum but unable to finish them off and unfortunately they will be able to fight another day, but Elverum is ours. Our Gerbisjagers were able to secure Annekstad and have even moved near Gjovik.

12:00pm:
Weakened 37th Fallschimjager's were still able to finish off the Garrison from Elverum. The artillery's, 3.7cm pak, and finally the masters of assault Oleh Dir and his 2nd Gerbisjagers were able to obliterate the Garrison holding Hamar. We allowed the green 31st Gerbisjager's to force the surrender of the 40mm battery defending Gjovik, of course this was after our helpful boys in the glorious Sturmpanzers softened them up and suppressed the men manning their artillery. 36th Fallschimjager were able to wipe the map of the Garrison holding Mesnali next to Lake Mesna, however they have an infantry Division ready to bolster it's defense.
However the enemies defense has not as of yet manifested itself.

2:00pm:
Ah, here is the expected snowfall we were expecting, let's pray this does not stay as this would stymie our advance and ground our flyboys.
The pressure on Gjovik is mounting as we were able to seize their airfield and eliminate their artillery battery defending the city.
We walked easily into Hamar, but our Oleh Dir Division met unexpected resistance when attempting to assault Norwegian town South of Lillehammer.
thankfully we were able to fly in replacements for the hurting 37th Fallschimjager's. In the far North around Mesnali we used the overwhelming force to finish off the Norwegian division trying to assist the defense of Mesnali. No response yet from anyone, this cannot be this easy.

4:00pm:
The Sun is now out which brings are flyboys out to rain death from above. With artillery assistance and Oleh Dir was able to finish off Garrison South of Lillehamer. This set the stage for the other artillery battery, Helmut Lent, Albert Kirscher, and Pz3F overwhelmed the 1st Strongpoint defending Lillehammer. Uh Oh!
Our 1st Recon Boys have spotted a large defense force around Vingrom, we will have to prepare well to assault this area.
We called up a couple of reserve forces to bolster the 36th Fallschimjager.
The day ends by the Norwegian defense to finally wake up as their 40mm guns brought down 1 of our planes flying with Helmut Lent. And the force near Vingrom swung around unexpectedly and hit our boys manning the Sturmpanzers and brought 3 of their number down.

Day 2:
4/15/40 8:00AM:
The 2nd day begins with snowfall, but this will not effect our assault.
Our 2 Gerbisjager Divisions overwhelmed the Norwegian Mtn. Division assaulting our boys in the Sturmpanzers. This allowed the 8th Gerbisjager to walk right into unguarded Vingrom. Engineers went right to work repairing the broken down Sturmpanzers. We have now mastered the art of bringing down these Strongpoints by using the artillery to suppress and our boys manning the Anti Tank strength of our 3.7cm paks as well as the Big Dogs manning the 88's, much to the enemies consternation. We used the snow cover to take the opportunity to repair our single broken down Pz3F. Our assault is going off faster than I ever expected as we have already began to start assaulting Lillehammer at the start of the 2nd day.
However our rush forward has awoken the enemies defense as the Brit's are not just sitting on their hands but have moved forward along with the Division defending Lillehammer itself unexpectedly abandoned Lillehammer to assault our Oleh Dir Division along with the Heavy Weapons of the British infantry. This almost completely overwhelmed and finished off our boys marching with Oleh Dir and the 2nd Gerbisjagers. One good thing the snow did was hide the newly repaired Sturmpanzers which were guarded by another batch of Sturmpanzers which reduced their number by a third, they were however able to eliminate 1 more machine form our number.

10:00am:
Sun is out and this allowed us to easily eliminate the remainder of the 1st Mtn Norwegian Division. We took this breather by bringing up our assaulted Sturmpanzers back up to full fighting strength. Our artillery obliterated and seized the Garrison holding Southern Lillehammer. All right we regrouped the beleaguered the 2nd Gerbisjagers Division, now if we could just get a moment to fully regroup we should be able to continue with our helping with the final assault. We just need a little time. To help we overwhelmed the last unit defending Lillehammer, the 40mm Bofors defending Lillehammer. We could seize it now but want it all.
The enemy however continued their assault on the disorganized 2nd Gerbisjagers reforming around Oleh Dir which eliminated an additional 1/3rd of their number. The Brit's also brought out their Matilda1's which do not look like much but are real tough to bring down to hit our 8th Gerbisjager on the river and also brought them down to 2/3rds of their normal Strength.

12:00pm:
This day continued with us being able to overwhelm the British heavy Weapons Infantry as well as the 25 Pounder defending Lillehammer. This allowed us to seize all of Lillehammer and it's airfield as well as begin the assault of Follebu. This attack was so overwhelming the enemy could not respond.

2:00Pm:
Snow is back which gave us time to reload and refit much of our forces on the front lines. We called up more reserves for various units to bring them back up to fighting strength. This "blindness" made the Norwegians come out unexpectedly which found them reducing the Oleh Dir Division who was attempting to reform yet again back down to 2/3rds Str. (They cannot seem to catch a break.)

4:00pm:
The day ends with the sun coming out allowing our flyboys to rain more death and soften up the entrenchment of various places especially on the remaining tanks on the Battlefield. This allowed our new boys manning the Pz3F's to finish off the Matilda 1's located precariously on the Logen River.
37th Fallschimjagers finished off Norwegian Mountain Division after artillery softened them up.
31st and 12th Gerbisjagers with Sturmpanzer support were able to finish off the British 1st Division.
We used the sun going down to once again regroup and reform this time Oleh Dir 2nd Gerbisjager Divison. 3rd time is the charm, right?
The enemy tried doing a night time assault by sending up their remaining Cruiser Mk 1 tanks to accost our 3.7cm Paks moving in their trucks, when they were unexpectedly stopped short by our boys manning our 2 batteries of Sturmpanzers.

3rd Day:
4/16/40 8:00am:
This 3rd Day starts with unexpected Sun. This allowed us to move up to pressure Segalstad. 36th Fallschimjagers were able to wipe out last remaining Norwegian Mtn Division. Our boys quickly dismounted from their trucks to use their 3.7cm paks to finish off the last remaining Cruisers. Our 22nd Panzer Division finished off our Infantry Division softened up by our JU-87B's Dive Bombers and again located foolishly on the Logen River.

10:00am:
The sun continues to shine on us as we use the 88s to force the surrender of another group of Norwegians next to Segalstad. The rest of my units are working on overwhelming and bringing even more units to their knees but I will say their resistance has been admirable.
Their last assault was carried out again against our 3.7cm paks but again was stopped short by our well placed Sturmpanzers.

12:00pm
Ok men! This ends Now!
I want it all now! I want them all stopped Now! Make it happen!
3.7cm paks overwhelmed last units on the Logen River. 12th Gerbisjager eliminated Garrison defending Segalstad which freed our 88's to seize the city.
37th Fallschimjagers eliminated infantry defending Follebu and were able to seize the city for complete control of the map after the 36th Fallschoimjagers brought down the last of the British Engineers.

Success men! Congratulations to the 16th Sturmpanzer battery who wwill be awarded the 2nd Class Iron Cross for their tremendous defense of vulnerable and beleaguered units. 2nd Gerbisjager well played, and I am super pleased to see that even with your nose bloodied you are a formidable foe.
Now let's go back to the mainland.

Decisive Victory: ending with 5460 in prestige.
Destroyed and seized it all! Yes!

Not going to the mainland yet, I hope to finish up 1939 this weekend as we will sink the Glorious and seize all objectives in 13 turns. Oh Yay!
I finally got awarded my first SE unit and it is a nice Pz3F. Better late than never.

5960 to play around with, this should be fun.

[hurly]

3 more Replays to finish the 39 Campaign

Oslo
Lillehammer
Narvik

[goose_2]

Thanks Hurly,

Here is the last battle of '39

Narvik Guderian
Starting with 5960 but after Replacements and overstrength 5245.
Brought in the North Vestvog Island to lead the assault into Austvog Island:
Sturmpanzer, 2 10.5cm arty's, Albert Kerscher, SE Pz3F, and 2 Gerbisjagers.
In the South around Bodo to lead the assault towards Ballangen: 2 Strat Bombers, 2 fighters, JU-87B, Helmut Lent, Fallschimjager, 2 Sturmpanzers, Recon, Oleh Dir and 31st Gerbisjager.

Here is how I chose to represent this battle:
I thought we were going home, but high command is all flustered around what is going on in the Far North near the Arctic Port of Narvik. It appears the brave men under Generaloberst Eduard Deitl are under severe strain and are on the cusp of losing this key city that helps secure the needed Swedish ore and is a large part of the reason we are in this Operation to begin with. After losing a large flotilla of German Destroyers in the First Day's Invasion Naval Battle of Narvik the remaining land troops have been under constant assault from the strengthening resistance in the area. They need our help to resupply, to bring our fly boys to sink their ships and to secure the rest of the land area in and around Narvik. In order to do this and still be able to participate in the upcoming Battle in France you will have just 3 days. We are deploying a small but effective force around the Island of Vestvog to lead the assault into Austvog Island and around the North of Narvik. Our strongest force will be in and around the town of Bodo to lead the assault into Ballengen and swing from the South to pressure and seize Narvik.
Let' get this done men so we can get out of this frigid cold and back to the Fatherland.
Viel Glück

Battle Report:
Day 1 4/19/40 8:00am:
The sun has arisen on this first day and allowed our fly boys spot the Devonshire and a French destroyer which were almost sent to the bottom of the sound by our experienced Henkel's. We used the first day to help rearm Generaloberst Eduard Deitl and the beleaguered 3rd Mountain Division. The 2nd Gerbisjager led by the amazing Oleh Dir destroyed the garrison defending Ballengen. The 31st Gerbisjager destroyed AA guarding Austvag Island and our newest 1st SE Pz Division forced the surrender of the Garrison holding the settlement on Austvag Island. This allowed the boys riding with Albert Kerscher to totally wipe out the 75mm arty guarding said settlement. This lead their Hurricanes to assault our boys manning the guns of the 10.5cm artys.

11:00am:
As the sun continues to shine on Dietl's men were able to destroy the Garrison of the town directly South of Narvik. Oleh Dir wiped out the infantry guarding the hills outside of Ballengen as well as the 40mm battery in the airfield for the town East of Ballengen. In the North we were able to walk into the settlement on Austvag Island. We then obliterated the Chasseurs that had moved to assault our 17th battery of 10.5cm arty's.
These assaults brought out their Whitley to assault our Sturmpanzer's and their Spitfire to hit our 6th battery of 10.5cm artillery units. The seas is roiling as well as the Hardy Destroyers reduced Dietl's Fallshimjager's down to help of their strength.

2:00pm Sunny:
27th Bf109E's and Helmut Lent started out in the sun and went to destroy the Hurricane. (For this feat they are sure to be awarded Iron Crosses 2nd Class.)
Oleh Dir with the help of our superb Sturmpanzers were able to eliminate Mtn Division defending the settlement East of Ballengen. This allowed us to seize Ballengen itself as well as this settlement and even the town South of Narvik. Dietl's men with a Herculean effort were able to eliminate the Mtn Troops in Bjerkvik and seized it. In the North we also were able to destroy the Garrison holding Bogen. KMS Hipper sank the 29th French Destroyer, while the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst sank 2 other British destroyers. This brought out the remaining British ships to assault our weaker German Naval units but no single ship was completely sunk. Unexpectedly the 52nd Seafire assaulted our boys flying our JU-87B's and sent 3 of them to the ground.

5:00pm:
5:00pm:
The sun continues to shine on our boys as the final hours of the first days assault continues. This did not mean we were able to remove all of the 52nd Spitfires known as "Seafires", but it was close. We were able to walk into Bogen as our Northern Forces overwhelmed the 7th Norwegian Mountain Division. Our Navy sank 3 more British ships and our pincers are coming together as we are now pressuring Straumanes and Beisfjord.
The British Naval counterattack is continuing to grow in strength, but still no sinking's. One of the tanks rolling with Albert was put out of commission by a battery of 75mm arty's. The combined assault on the 36th Fallschimjagers was stunning as the HMS Hardy, artillery battery, and Mountain Division pushed back our 36th Fallschimjagers and this only reduced us by 1/5th of the Divisions strength, but we were stunned by this combined response from our enemy.

Day 2 4/20/1940 8:00am:
The sun continues to shine on this 2nd day, but we can see clouds on the horizon. Stunningly the Brits chose to guard their Whitley with the single "Seafire". For this colossal blunder we sent the remaining Spitfire into the ground with our 88 to free our flyboys to send the Whitley into the sea. Our Henkel's sent another French destroyer to the bottom of the Norwegian Fjords. Even our boys flying the JU-87B's were able to sink another British destroyer. We took the morning to call up a couple of reserves for our 36th Fallschimjager. The counterattack consisted of continued sea battles and the Devonshire incapacitating 1 of our 1st recon boys. On the ground Dietl's men pressuring Beisfjord felt the counter pressure as they were able to hold their ground but lost 1/3 of their total men.


11:00am:
Clouds have settled in but it did not prevent our flyboys as well as our ground troops to send another 2 Destroyers down to the bottom. Our 36th Fallschimjager forced the surrender of the Norwegian inf near Narvik. We backed away from the pressure we were putting on Biesfjord to regroup, unfortunately the Devonshire is continuing to nick our recon boys and our weakened Fallschimjager's were hurt even more by an artillery volley.

2:00pm:
Clouds continue to hamper our vision for our boys in the air.
Our 36th Fallschimjager's again were able to force the surrender of yet another Mtn Division called up the defense of Narvik. Artillery and Albert Kerscher destroyed the French AA battery defending Straumsnes. This allowed our other arty and 8th Gerbisjager destroy their French 105mm artillery battery which was also defending Straumsnes. Dietl's men and our arty destroyed the 7.5cm artillery battery defending Beisfjord. The enemies ships continue to harass our boys in the 1st Recon by reducing us to 2/3rds our original strength. Unfortunately a couple of divisions associated with Dietl were wiped out.

5:00pm:
The clouds continue to hamper our assaults on this 2nd day of this battle, but this did not prevent us from using the remainder of Deitl’s men to force the surrender of most of the French manning the R/35’s Renault’s after our boys manning our artillery batteries had fully suppressed them. The Norwegian’s continue to call up more defenders which our men continue to force their surrender. The Norwegian counter attack was able to wipe out yet another division of Dietl’s men but you can bet they went down fighting.

3rd Day 4/21/1940 8:00am:
The sun is out and this allowed our flyboys to bring down the HMS Glorious, the HMS Truant, the HMS Hardy, and the HMS Devonshire, and even another British destroyer.
We used our artillery batteries along with 31st Gerbisjager and finally our new 1st SE Pz3f to finally destroy the Chasseurs defending Straumsnes. Oleh Dir and Pz3f destroyed newly formed Infantry division south of Narvik. Dietl's last men finished off another Mountain Division. 36th Fallschimjager and 8th Gerbisjager eliminated resistance in Beisfjord.
Their counterattack had no effect as they mostly spend the rest of their time rallying around each other.

11:00am:
The sun continues to shine as we forced the surrender of the 3inch AA battery and the Henkels sent the Warspite to the bottom of the Fjord. We used the new 1st SE Pz3F to destroy the Dingo and Oleh Dir destroyed 1st Norwegian Division and seized Beisfjord.
This freed up control over almost the whole map as we were even able to secure the airfield in Narvik.
2:00pm:
Our men and artillery batteries again were able to finish off the last of the British 2 pdr's and their Engineer's for total domination of the map and able to start evacuation as we need to get up to speed on the plans of Operation Fall Gelb.

For their skill in the air the 27th Bf109e's were awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. For their overwhelming suppression of the enemy and their skill to help suppress and force the surrender of various enemy units the 15th Sturmpanzer and 6th battery of 10.5cm arty's were awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. And finally the 8th Gerbisjager were also awarded with their Iron Cross 2nd Class based on their overall damage dealt to the enemy all throughout this Norwegian campaign.

This operation is now over now prepare as this war is just getting warmed up as we will need all our strength to reverse the shame endured for over 20 long years. Let's show these French the skill we have learned on these battlefields.
BERECHNEN!

These Norwegian battles were overall super easy and a nice break from the rush I felt, well in Kampinsoka Forest and Lodz.

Next time I will lay out the army I am importing into 1940.

Decisive Victory! Ending with 6325 in prestige.

[goose_2]

Guderian Army importing into 1940
38 units total (I am trying to build a very strong and experienced force)
6925 in prestige (I am extremely pleased with this as I am buying mostly Elite Replacements and Overstrengthening to my hearts delight because I want ideal units and I know that I will lose most units and prestige in First scenario of West 1942)

8 Infantry:
2 regular Inf both with 2 stars experience.
2 Fallschimjager 1 with 2 stars and the other with 1 star. (I see myself buying probably 2 more to build strong Fallschimjager Force to overwhelm the enemy with.)
4 Gerbisjager 3 with 2 Stars experience and 1 with 1 star but the only one with a hero is my Oleh Dir.
(I only see myself buying additional infantry units if one of my units get a lousy 1st hero otherwise this is what I will be working to build up.)

4 Tanks
2 Pz 38(t)a's 1 is Albert Kerscher that I will be upgrading to a Pz4 in 1940 the other earned a +1 Defensive Hero and I plan on keeping as a just in case back up unit.
1 SE Pz3F with 0 stars of experience that I finally earned on the last mission in 1939. (The only SE unit I was awarded the whole Campaign.)
1 Pz3F with 1 star of experience.
I will upgrade Albert Kerscher and buy another Pz4 to start building up but otherwise I will be utilizing the free tanks earned through the playthrough.

1 Recon
2 stars experience. Only keeping to try and get that +1 Spotting Hero, but have no plans to take it into the culling mission.

2 Pz 3.7cm Paks
2 stars of experience. I am actually unsure what else I will be doing with these, as I would love some nice anti tank units so I guess I will continue to build these up in hopes that I get some great heroes, but unsure when and if I am going to upgrade them. Any thoughts?

9 artys
All have 2 stars of experience 3 10.5cm artys, Polish Arty, 5 Sturmpanzers. (Trying for any +3 att, Range, or movement heroes)

2 AA's
1 with 2 stars 1 with 1 star.
Again trying for either +1 Range or +1 Movement, +3 Attack would be nice, but really want either movement or Range.

7 Tac Bombers
1 Recon Rudel with 1 star will not survive the culling just utilizing for Uber Rudel.
3 JU-87B's all with 2 stars
3 Bf-110c's all with 2 stars including Helmut Lent
Looking for +3 Att or +3 def

2 Strat Bombers
2 Henkels with 2 stars of Experience.


Well since I will already be taking Albert Kerscher, Helmut Lent, Oleh Dir, Heinrich Bar, Uber Rudel, Helmut Wirnsberger, Heinz Rondorf, and Otto Kittel, I think it will be extremely difficult to cull away any other super heroes I am able to create.

[TSPC37730]

I think you're in a difficult situation. On one hand, I think you should select a smaller group of units & deploy them in every scenario. Then work them like dogs. The more you use them, the more kills they will collect. This will in turn lead to more heroes. You could probably work most of these units up to a second and possibly even a third hero this way.

But on the other hand, this approach could backfire. It would be profoundly disappointing to have your favorite +3 attack tank unit be topped off with a +1 spotting hero. But, it's all too possible. So, perhaps you should deploy a wider corps. This would allow you to cast off the units with the less than optimal hero mix when the time comes. But then, I think you'd have difficulty working most of your units up to a third hero.

The challenge is how to possibly get the best mix of heroes that you can carry over in '42. But, no matter how you approach it, there's an element of luck that you can't control.

[goose_2]

Thanks for your thoughts TSPC they are greatly appreciated. I am working to get great first heroes. If I get great first heroes, I will be utilizing them exclusively from then on to hopefully get them their 2nd hero before 1942.
I have received a little pit of a spoiler/information about how deep the 1942 culling will be.
9 heroes
9
That is the total number I can take into 1942 in the West.
Based on this insane cutting back that will happen when I go West, and I start with 8 super heroes that the game will give me, it will take a super nice first 2 heroes for me to take before I take one of leave super heroes awarded.

With that said let's start the next post...I pray that this post and my other posts do not prick the consciences of anyone reading them.

Eben Emael 1st Time Guderian
Starting prestige 6925 after upgrade, replacements , and overstrength 6169.
Upgraded Albert Kerscher to Panzer 4D.
Placing small force of 88's and 36th Fallschimjager to assault Eben Emael itself.
The rest are all going around Voeren which consists of 2 10.5cm arty's, 2 Sturmpanzer's, Oleh Dir, Gerbisjager, Recon, 3.7 pak, Albert Kerscher, SE P23F, regular Pz3F, regular Inf in truck, 2 Fighters, Tac Bomber, and Strat Bomber.

Here is how I chose to represent this:
Walter Koch and his men have painstakingly been in preparation for the first part of our mission in Operation Fall Gelb. The seizure and submission of Eben Emael. (I am representing my 88’s as the historical shaped charges that in actuality helped to subdue the various Forts.) Even though we have been distracted by the Norway Campaign we have been brought up to speed and asked to participate in this ambitious operation. If we can bust this massive locked door leading into the heart of Belgium it will be key to helping the central front to push forward into Belgium proper to help swing the trap waiting the oncoming British and French forces. We will be given exactly 10 hours to completely subdue and silence the Fort of Eben Emael, then to rush forward to swing North around the fortification’s of Liege and Maastricht to seize them and kick this locked door in. Men, you are about to participate in the start of restoring our German Honor on the Western Battlefield. Segen auf Ihren Bemühungen!

Battle Report:
Day 1: May 10th 1940 Early in the morning:
Before the enemy even knows what is occurring we have all dropped in and around Eben Emaelto help catch the forts and Strongpoints by surprise. Our boys near Noorbeek and Maradorp overwhelmed the Garrison’s stationed there. Unfortunately the units with the Hollow Charges were counterattacked and damaged by 1/3rd of their Fighting Strength. This is unfortunate but nothing that we are not ready to roll with as they are not even ready to counterattack.

9:00 am:
With the sun now rising our Fallschimjager's and our special troops with Hollow charges destroy 20th and the 22nd Strongpoints, as well as the Koch's men being able to silence 15th Fort permanently, while my boys armed with Hollow Charges destroyed the 16th Fort. In the meantime our small force sent North to quickly seize the cities to the East of Maastricht our 4th Wehrmacht was able to destroy the Dutch Garrison holding Margraten and then seized it. Our Rush forward to seize those Northeastern 2ndary cities as the garrison defending Valken came out unexpectedly and found our 17th arty's being carried in trucks and were able to destroy almost half of their strength.
Some coordination between 2 Belgium Divisions caught our 1st Recon off guard as 4 of their number have been disabled.

10:00am
As the morning clouds roll in this diminished our air force’s attacks. This did not diminish our North eastern force from destroying that aggressive Dutch inf and seize Valkenburg. Our boys with Hollow Charges finally fully subdued Eban Emael itself this allowed our 36th Fallschimjager to seize the objective and destroy 18th Fort. We used our newly deployed 88 aas well as the 27th Messerschmitt to bring down the Belgian fighter group. Our armed forces worked together to eliminate the Belgian Divisions that pressured our 1st Recon. The clouds also hurt the enemies bombs which were only able to disable a couple of our 1st SE Pz3F. They tried to pull off a couple of other attacks but were stopped cold.

11:00am
Our 88’s partnered with Helmut Lent and our 2 Fighter wings to completely wipe out the 2 Blenheim divisions. Our ground forces combined with our boys flying our Junkers were able to eliminate 2 more Belgian Divisions, which allowed us to seize Bassenge. The pressure continues on our boys in the First Recon as 2 Dutch Divisions diminished our strength by 2 more units.

12:00pm
Sun continues to shine as we continue to rain down death from above. Our boys rallied around our boys in the 1st Recon and eliminated not only the 2 Divisions accosting them but also the Dutch Division defending Riemst and seized not only that city but also the airfield near Bilzen. In the South we are beginning to move as Our boys running with Albert Kerscher and the 8th Gerbisjager were able to eliminate the 25th Belgian Division. The enemies only retaliation was a failed attempt to assault our auxiliary recon that was backed by our boys manning the artillery guns.

1:00pm
Our fly boys with the help of Helmut Lent continue to use the sun to their advantage as they were able to completely silence the 7.5cm Vald guarding Bilzen. Our Southern Force is gaining steam as we were able to soften up some Belgian Divisions with our Sturmpanzers and then eliminated them with Albert Kerscher and the 8th Gerbisjager. 1st Recon took this time to call up some much needed reserves to get them back up to fighting Strength. Our men are now able to pressure Hoeselt, Tongren, Juprelle, and have even begun to harass Maastricht. All the enemy can do is a couple of failed assaults.

2:00pm
We used a couple of our Infantry Divisions to eliminate the 47mm AT battery holding Juprelle which allowed us to move and seize that important city. Our “Special Equipment” boys riding in the 1st Panzer 3F Division have switched their pressure of Maastricht to seize the airfield next to it. Our boys carrying the Hollow Charges eliminated the Garrison defending Hoeselt after being softened up by our artillery battery, which allowed us to seize this city as well. The enemy continues to try and pursue floundering attacks but is leaving us with no casualties.

3:00pm
Started the day by overwhelming the Garrison defending Tongren and seizing it. We used a Sturmpanzer battery along with Albert Kerscher to eliminate the 30th Belgian Division in order to begin pressuring Liege. The Henkels, Boys carrying the Hollow Charges, and the versatile Oleh Dir and the 2nd Gerbisjager eliminated the infantry holding Bilzen and seized it. We finally were able to eliminate the 7.5cm Vald defending Maastricht along with a Dutch Infantry so we can begin to pressure Central Maastricht itself.

4:00pm
Albert Kirscher fully eliminated the 155mm artillery battery defending Liege, this freed up our 2 Infantry Divisions to seize the airfield near Liege after the arty softened up the defenders and we eliminated the 75mm AA battery defending it. The most overwhelming attack was when we used the Henkels and Sturmpanzers to soften up the infantry defending Maastricht and then our 36th Fallschimjager wiped them out. They have another infantry division to move in but at this point there is no fear that we will not be able to seize it on the last hours of the first day of this operation. Our Hollow Charge boys were able to eliminate yet another Dutch inf after being softened up by our 2 Fighter wings. The Dutch defenders put a massive hurt on the auxiliary boys trained to eliminate Eben Emael but did not wipe them out.

5:00pm
In the last hours of this first day Our boys in the North eliminated the last Dutch Defender in Maastricht proper and even moved forward to eliminate one of the Strongpoints on the other side of the river. This caused the rest of the Defenders to surrender instead of throwing away their lives uselessly. Our boys in the South used the artillery to soften up and allowed our infantry to eliminate the last Belgian defender and able to seize all of Leige.

This was an extremely speedy battle and unfortunately this is only the beginning. Our boys near Maastricht can now rest easily into the night before we switch the attack to center around the Albert Canal. Unfortunately our boys near Leige will have to spend much of the evening hours on a forced march before they can rest for a few hours so they will be ready for the next day’s assignments. This is only getting started boys and already off to a smashing start.

Decisive Victory in 1 Day 7349 in prestige.
May 11th 1940 in Albert Canal with 8349 to play with.

Until then…Stay Lutheran My Friends.