Slitherine

From what I could find the heaviest Atlantic wall fortifications were in France and partly in Belgium. The most heavily fortified area was the Walcheren peninsula im southern Holland. It controlled the entry to Antwerp. This is represented in GS v2.0 with Antwerp becoming a fortress.

North and east of this area the fortifcations were much weaker.

In GS you have to remember that the area from Holland to Denmark can be defended by the Luftwaffe without Allied fighter air cover until very late in the war. So the Allies need to use CV's to protect the transports there. So if you place the Luftwaffe in northern Germany you can bombard the Allied transports and inflict so much damage that these transport won't be effective when they land their units. If you place a few reserve units (mechs and armor in the area near Hamburg then it would be really risky for the Allies to land there. The Allied tactical bombers can't reach these units and they can crush the invaders easily.

So the main reason to land in Holland or further north is because you know the Luftwaffe is crippled. This is a reason to not sacrifice the Luftwaffe too early.

The real Germans could have faced an Allied landing in coastal Germany or Denmark, but subs could help keeping the coast clear of transports. So if you save the German subs and send them to protect the coast line you can delay an Allied landing far north. The Kriegsmarine can also sail and cause some damage to the Allies.

I can't find any big fortresses north of the Hague. So I believe this area was less guarded in the real war too. The distance to the supply lines in Britain was probably the main reason the Allies didn't dare to land there. The Germans can put an SS mech unit with a +1 defense leader in Wilhelmhaven and then this city will be really hard to capture for the Allies. That's the only city at the coast north of Hague.

If we should change anything we could add the Dutch city of Groningen to the area (not with a port) in the hex 74,21. The city won't have any production and will mainly function as a rail hub. That will make it slightly easier for the Germans to rail new units to the area if it comes under threat.

Stauffenberg wrote:
So the main reason to land in Holland or further north is because you know the Luftwaffe is crippled. This is a reason to not sacrifice the Luftwaffe too early.

I agree. The only reason my landing op on North Sea coast would've worked here is the overall weakness of Axis situation. Usually it's relatively easy to defeat the North Sea landings, or at least make them not worth it, if there are some reserves left. I've done it couple times myself.

AFAIK the reason North Sea coast wasn't a viable option in reality was the lack of aircover and the fact that reserves could be easily concentrated on what was integral German territory as opposed to occupied land. Certainly the fortifications weren't on par with those on the Channel coast, although I suppose every coastal city was fortified to a degree as they were considered impossible to take directly...

I remember that someone in the forums brought here this question (I don´t exactly remember but may be was Plaid) since it is really a long coast line between Hague and Wilhemshaven suitable for a landing thus bypassing at all Sigfried line fortifications. So my concern about this question is to see more and more people trying such a direct landing in Germany mainland. I don´t know about northern Germany but seeing this web page (http://home.zonnet.nl/atlanticwall/start.htm) I tend to think that Atlantic Wall in Holland was rather strong. In this page it is mentioned about Walcheren island but also to many other strongpoints and bunkers along the dutch coast. Furthermore, if the real allies did not even try a landing operation in this area might be because it was strongly defended with bunkers and all type of defenses.

Allied fighters use to have 11-hexes range of attack/interdiction by late game so I think the allied amphibious units can be widely escorted the same way that they are escorted in English Channel. Allied DD´s, with high ASW tech levels, can effectively launch massive minesweeping operations against german uboats in Helgoland Bight so they can decimate them with the help of strategic bombers that can in many cases finish off the subs. Even more, in English Channel there are many sea ports where the german subs cannot be attacked by DD´s but the subs can attack the allied landing ships from safe ports which is an advantage that the germans don´t have in Helgoland coast line. Furthermore, allied tactical bombers use to have 15-hexes range of attack: this is pretty enough for reaching Holland and Northern Germany. Strategic bombings have high shock factors by the end of the war so they can lower the effectiveness and even take steps to the german counterattacking units. So I don´t see a fair disadvantage in directly disembarking in Holland and northern Germany.

The fact is that there isn´t any city between Hague and Wilhemshaven so to include Groningen would make sense. Let´s think that Holland has only 2 cities whilst Belgium has 3 but they are both countries of a similar strength. So including Groningen Holland would have three cities as Belgium has. Adding Groningen would help a little the germans to defend this uncovered coast line.

I think that particular stretch in Holland is adequately represented with Antwerp being a fort and Hague a capital. With narrow 2-hex front between them, other places are much more desirable landing areas. Once on continent though, they are good follow up landing points if desired.

Another city for railing units on North Sea area would probably be a good idea, although it could also provide an easy source of supply for a landing force. To me Wilhelmshaven seems a tough target since fighters can't reach it and other cities are far inland. Hague is quite hard to take as well without previous landings to France.

Btw, I would very much like to see a map of the German part of Atlantic Wall. Those seem to be hard to come by. If there were sizable fortifications then problems could be solved by lobbing a fort hex or two on the coast (a'la Pas de Calais hex)

EDIT: Should've paid attention to proper beta section. So ignore these.

I have already moved to beta section about this question. Thanks anyway!