Battlefield Europe v1.9 – France (Manstein)

[PeteMitchell]

Turn 14 – 18 June 1940
Weather: clear and dry

Belgium and Northern France:
The situation in Abbeville is under control. The trick question now is how quickly can German holding forces be withdrawn from this area and redeployed to somewhere else (e.g. to Brittany to help capture Brest)…

BE_Turn_14_048_Abbeville.jpg (295.74 KiB) Viewed 4136 times

Western France:
As without infantry, we are not making enough progress around Rennes and may not even reach Brest (for sure not on time)…

BE_Turn_14_049_Rennes.jpg (294.65 KiB) Viewed 4136 times

[PeteMitchell]

Southwest France:
New attempt at Bordeaux!

BE_Turn_14_050_Bordeaux.jpg (255.27 KiB) Viewed 4135 times

Southeast France:
Well, all I can say: it’s not as easy as expected in Southeast France although it’s only a short way/distance from the French-Italian border to Nice… OKW seems puzzled about this strong French resistance or have they just overestimated the strength of their Italian partners?

BE_Turn_14_051_Nice.jpg (285.29 KiB) Viewed 4135 times

[PeteMitchell]

Turn 15 – 21 June 1940
Weather: clear and dry

Netherlands:
As Allied forces are being evacuated and therefore withdrawn from the Low Countries, German units started to occupy the rest of the Netherlands, i.e. Rotterdam and Eindhoven.

BE_Turn_15_052_Rotterdam.jpg (285.2 KiB) Viewed 4129 times

Belgium and Northern France:
The Allies continue their evacuation. However, a French tank unit is now also heading south towards the Paris/Reims area. Is this a new counterattack? Have we withdrawn troops too early?

BE_Turn_15_053_Abbeville.jpg (293.86 KiB) Viewed 4129 times

Western France:
Breakthrough at Rennes… again thanks to the continued efforts of the Luftwaffe!

BE_Turn_15_054_Rennes.jpg (284.78 KiB) Viewed 4129 times

[PeteMitchell]

Southwest France:
Also the French artillery unit in Bordeaux could be weakened while the French infantry unit is still cut off on the other side of the Garonne River. Nonetheless, Luftwaffe support might be required here very soon as well…

BE_Turn_15_055_Bordeaux.jpg (259.18 KiB) Viewed 4128 times

Southeast France:
Maybe OKW was wrong about their first impression of their Italian partners, they actually managed to break through to Nice!

BE_Turn_15_056_Nice.jpg (286.98 KiB) Viewed 4128 times

(However please note, we also got this fairly disappointing note once we captured Nice, i.e. any additional victory objective/city in addition to Paris I think, not sure about the exact trigger though…)

BE_Turn_15_057_Nice Message.jpg (27.79 KiB) Viewed 4128 times

[goose_2]

This is all so very interesting I like this difficulty level for you Pete it makes the outcome and playthrough a lot more tenuous, exciting, and unpredictable.

[PeteMitchell]

This is all so very interesting I like this difficulty level for you Pete it makes the outcome and playthrough a lot more tenuous, exciting, and unpredictable.

Thanks goose_2, I agree... by the way, at General difficulty, you can actually capture (almost) all of France by turn 18, at least including the Rhone River valley, maybe you are only one turn short on Toulouse/Montpellier in the south... At Manstein (or even beyond), well... you know it much better!

[PeteMitchell]

Turn 16 – 24 June 1940
Weather: clear and dry

Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France:
Antwerp has been seized and the rest of Belgium and Northern France are being cleared as well step by step now.
(Please note regarding the date, historically France had already signed an armistice/cease-fire on 22 June 1940 which only came into effect after midnight on 25 June 1940. However, the terms and conditions of the armistice were equivalent to a capitulation of France as it lost most [if not all] of its sovereignty.)

BE_Turn_16_058_Abbeville.jpg (288.08 KiB) Viewed 4119 times

Central France:
Central France, south of the Loire River is quiet so far. Maybe there are just not that many French units left?

BE_Turn_16_059_Bourges.jpg (283.46 KiB) Viewed 4119 times

Western France:
We almost reached Brest… but the Luftwaffe is already there!
(Just by the way, in case you ever wondered... yes, there is another Brest at the Bug River in Belarus formerly known as Brest-Litovsk but we are not there yet…)

BE_Turn_16_060_Brest.jpg (286.92 KiB) Viewed 4119 times

[PeteMitchell]

Southwest France:
German Fallschirmjäger captured Bordeaux airport and also here Luftwaffe support is on its way. It seems the Fallschirmjäger are almost running out of supplies though while other troops are still too far away to help…

BE_Turn_16_061_Bordeaux.jpg (270.62 KiB) Viewed 4117 times

Southeast France:
OKW believes that the Italians are pulling their weight in Southeast France… but maybe they should also just gain some more weight for future endeavors?

BE_Turn_16_062_Nice.jpg (278.22 KiB) Viewed 4117 times

[PeteMitchell]

Turn 17 – 27 June 1940
Weather: clear and dry

Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France:
We are almost done in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France…

BE_Turn_17_063_Abbeville.jpg (285.12 KiB) Viewed 4115 times

Western France:
…and are making progress at Brest but time is not our best friend!

BE_Turn_17_064_Brest.jpg (277.61 KiB) Viewed 4115 times

[PeteMitchell]

Southwest France:
Bordeaux will be a close call for sure as we have to expect a counterattack by the French infantry unit adjacent to it once we seize the city!

BE_Turn_17_065_Bordeaux.jpg (278.74 KiB) Viewed 4113 times

Southeast France:
The Italians are holding out in and around Nice but they had quite some casualties until now as well.

BE_Turn_17_066_Nice.jpg (279.02 KiB) Viewed 4113 times

[PeteMitchell]

Turn 18 – 30 June 1940
Weather: clear and dry

Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France:
Finally, seized Dunkirk and Lille as well! Not sure what the Somua S35 tank next to Le Havre is still up to…

BE_Turn_18_067_Dunkirk.jpg (282.79 KiB) Viewed 4110 times

Western France:
The last days have been tough but we managed to seize Brest on time!

BE_Turn_18_068_Brest.jpg (277.93 KiB) Viewed 4110 times

[PeteMitchell]

Southwest France:
We also seized Bordeaux but will we be able to hold it (during the upcoming AI turn)?

BE_Turn_18_069_Bordeaux.jpg (274.53 KiB) Viewed 4109 times

Southeast France:
Nice is under control, no major counterattack from Marseille, only the Chasseurs Alpins come back all the time…

BE_Turn_18_070_Nice.jpg (279.25 KiB) Viewed 4109 times

[PeteMitchell]

Southwest France (after AI turn 18):
We are still in… (but real reinforcements would be urgently needed if this wasn’t the end!)

BE_Turn_18_071_Bordeaux_after AI turn.jpg (271.79 KiB) Viewed 4106 times

Casualties (after AI turn 18):
This has been costly… (not only in casualties but also in prestige)

BE_Turn_18_072_Casualties.jpg (47.01 KiB) Viewed 4106 times

Incoming casualties prior to turn 1 (reposted for easier comparison):

BE_Turn_01_007_Incoming Casualties.jpg (47.92 KiB) Viewed 4106 times

[PeteMitchell]

Strategic maps (after AI turn 18 with fog of war off):

BE_Turn_18_073_Strategic Map.jpg (228.2 KiB) Viewed 4104 times

BE_Turn_18_074_Strategic Map Air.jpg (226.23 KiB) Viewed 4104 times

This is the end (maybe only for now)! The Mediterranean scenario (incl. the Balkans and North Africa) follows after France… let’s see if we can do this as well, not sure yet!

BE_Turn_18_075_The End.jpg (69.84 KiB) Viewed 4104 times

[PeteMitchell]

That’s the Mediterranean map… well, maybe even besides others, the Battle of Crete/Operation Mercury could be impossible at Manstein…

Mediterranean.jpg (104.39 KiB) Viewed 4103 times

[goose_2]

That’s the Mediterranean map… well, maybe even besides others, the Battle of Crete/Operation Mercury could be impossible at Manstein…
Mediterranean.jpg

I suspect you to handle it just fine
Man I would love to play this mod...maybe someday

Congratulations! and Merry Christmas!

[PeteMitchell]

That’s the Mediterranean map… well, maybe even besides others, the Battle of Crete/Operation Mercury could be impossible at Manstein…
Mediterranean.jpg

I suspect you to handle it just fine
Man I would love to play this mod...maybe someday

Congratulations! and Merry Christmas!

Thanks, well, I can give it a try at least... Merry Christmas!

[PeteMitchell]

Do. Or do not. There is no try...
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 45&t=89646

[Intenso82]

Thanks for AARs. It is very interesting to read them.
Maybe someday you will make AAR about the Barbarossa scenario at the Manstein level.

[PeteMitchell]

Thanks for AARs. It is very interesting to read them.

Thanks a lot Intenso82, glad you find them interesting to read! Any suggestions are very welcome. I just like the BE mod and I am also a bit interested in history and military geography, that's all...

Maybe someday you will make AAR about the Barbarossa scenario at the Manstein level.

Yeah, maybe... well, it's always good to have big goals as well as dreams to aspire to but this might be way beyond my league/current capabilities (at least at "realistic" settings).

A DV at the Mediterranean scenario seems already very difficult or even impossible (for me at least)... and then I was still pondering over the Kursk save as well...