Slitherine

Hello,
as I read you are doing very well.

The front in the east looks stable.

Your are still active in North Africa and you have even tanks there. You will need them

I am really surprised about your landing in England. I expected that the British fleet and the bombers will weaken your landing troops so strongly that you can't get a stable position on the island. But now it looks that you may even prevent operation Overlord. And that would be a big big advantage in the end game of 45. Even British bomber command seems to be so confused about this brave landing that they have forgotten to order the bombers back

I look forward to read what happens in the next six month. I guess this will be the deciding 6 month in your campaign.

I will also send my Reichsmarschall to the Spa. This seems to have extremely positive effects

JimmyC wrote:Surprisingly, given that we are invading their homeland, the British are still maintaining a strong bomber presence over mainland Europe, supported by fighters.

GeneralWerner wrote: Even British bomber command seems to be so confused about this brave landing that they have forgotten to order the bombers back

Actually, I do not really think that the British would have ordered their heavy bombers to bomb their own lands occupied by the Germans, had Operation Sea Lion happened. Truly, from 1941 British Bomber Command was set up for an area bombing campaign at night against large enemy cities aiming to make as much destruction as possible. Had Sea Lion happened any time after that, I think it is more realistic to see those bombers continue their campaign to disrupt enemy production and attempt to reduce the morale of the Germans than to swiftly chage their role and try to make precision attacks against Wehrmacht forces standing on English soil which would have certainly resulted in a large number of civilian losses. Also, I think the loss of mainland England would not have meant the end of stubborn British resistance, they would have continued to fight from North Africa and the colonies at least for a while, and at least until the US and the USSR would have supported them. So the continued bomber offensive can be a sign of this stubborn resistance.

Or, with other words:


And also:

For the moment we are ignoring these, apart from our Flak defences, with the Luftwaffe instead focusing on the invasion.

means that the British bombers will occasionally successfully attack German cities (end their turn over those objective cities) giving a 50-150 prestige penalty to the player in a turn. And this prestige loss might be more serious than possible strategic bomber attacks against those German units in England.

A possible paralel event could be the large scale use of V1/V2 rockets by the Germans late in the war. Even when enemy forces were closing on Germany from all sides, they insisted on spending huge amounts of money and resources on these V weapons so to have at least some means of 'striking back', than to give up the whole project and concentrate on producing more hand weapons or AT guns or whatever.

For example:

Wikipedia wrote:The V-2 consumed a third of Germany's fuel alcohol production and major portions of other critical technologies: to distil the fuel alcohol for one V-2 launch required 30 tonnes of potatoes at a time when food was becoming scarce.

Hello McGuba,
I understand your arguments.

But bombers are a very strong weapon against ships. So bombing an approaching fleet and even bombing troops that are currently entering the beach and of course bombing German batteleships that bombard England makes sense.

I did not go with the German fleet to the marchant routes because there is no protection against bombers as long as you have no carrier. And only with one carrier it is very risky.

Concerning V1/V2 the V is standing for "Vergeltung" (retribution). That tells everything about the idea behind this weapon as a terror weapon without real military usage. In Panzer Corps it is possible to use V1/V2 against military targets and it has a strong impact. An interesting game design idea.

GeneralWerner wrote: But bombers are a very strong weapon against ships. So bombing an approaching fleet and even bombing troops that are currently entering the beach and of course bombing German batteleships that bombard England makes sense.

I absolutely agree on this, but unfortunately it is not possible to tell the AI to only attack ships with the heavies, but not enemy ground units on UK soil. Even then, I think if someone would attack from the more predictable East/South East/South coast of England those heavies would definitely attack any spotted German warships or transports en route to their targets in Germany. The "problem" is that JimmyC came up with the very original idea of attacking the UK from the less obvious West/South West, and the AI should be somehow "taught" how to deal with this as currently the heavies do not really active in this area. There are some air units though, who are tasked to attack the French coast and under the right circumstancies these would also attack the invasion fleet at times. Given that they are not shot down by the German fighters covering the invasion...

I did not go with the German fleet to the marchant routes because there is no protection against bombers as long as you have no carrier. And only with one carrier it is very risky.

And probably that is exactly why the Graf Zeppelin was not finished historically... If it is lost, the whole fleet might be lost. Which bears some resemblance with the Midway battle, in which the otherwise intact and powerful Japanese fleet had to withdraw after the loss of the carriers.

Concerning V1/V2 the V is standing for "Vergeltung" (retribution). That tells everything about the idea behind this weapon as a terror weapon without real military usage.

Actually, especially the V1 flying bomb was regarded to be a cost-effective weapon as long as it forced the Allies to commit huge resources and take extensive measures to counter it. So, while it did not have a direct military use, the Allies had to organize lots of bombing missions against their factories and launch sites. Those bombing missions could have been flown against other military targets. And there were those reconnaisance missions aimed at locating the launch sites. And the fighters employed to intercept them. And the money and efforts spent on intel and science. And so on, and so on. Also, the V weapons were thought to have a kind of morale booster effect on German population (which may had been true) and a morale destroying effect on British population (which was almost certainly not true). Additionally, in the final stage of the war, it was only the promise of a range of new wonder weapons which helped to keep the faith in the less and less likely final victory. And the few remaining allies of Germany needed some evidence that the wonder weapons are not just and empty phrase, they are really existing, and when it comes to the V2 it really was a wonder weapon at its age and was copied by the Allies to make their first strategic ballistic missiles after the war.

In Panzer Corps it is possible to use V1/V2 against military targets and it has a strong impact. An interesting game design idea.

Interesting, but not accurate historically. As far as I know the only known use of V weapons against military targets was when they tried to hit the Remagen bridge with a couple of V2s, unsuccessfully. Their aiming system was rahter crude and they could hardly even hit large cities like London, so using them agains tactical targets is a bit unrealistic IMO.

I think the real problem is that the AI is not and cannot be situationally aware. If the roles were reversed, i would have redirected those bombers to attack the invasion fleet that was in the water (targeting both transports and capital ships).

However, the AI did react a bit unexpectedly by doing a suicide run with 2 destroyers and a 12 strength battleship from Scapa Flow down the channel. The battleship destroyed my 17cm artillery that i was using to bombard the UK from France. That was about 700 prestige destroyed!! But more about that in my next update.

Generalfeldmarschall : “Hurry with your briefing. I must be on the train for Italy within the hour and then to depart to North Africa. High command have informed me of a strategic shift of our troops. Now if only the Russians would let up from their counterattacks, I would be able to transfer some of the armour that has been so urgently requested.”

The representative from high command was displeased at the brusqueness of the Generalfeldmarschall’s greeting. Yet he understood his mood well. There was activity on every front and it had pushed the Axis forces to the limit. It was for this reason that the Generalfeldmarschall had requested a quarterly strategic briefing, instead of the usual half-yearly one.

The briefing commenced…

Sea Lion
As you know Generalfeldmarschall, our forces have been highly successful in Britain. London is now ours and our troops are advancing towards the North. It will only be a matter of time before Britain is entirely in our hands. This has not stopped the British heavy bombers attacking our cities, however they are paying a heavy price with our well positioned AA limiting the damage and our fighter forces finishing them off. This is more a nuisance than a threat and is preferable to them engaging our capital ships. With the south of England taken, it has resulted in Southern France being beyond the reach of the British bombers. We have therefore been able to commence redeploying some of the AA unit to the Eastern Front and North Africa.

The East
There has been a significant pickup in Russian air activity in the new year, especially around Karkov. The Russian fighters have adopted the strategy of swarming our weaker Italian fighters and any unsupported bombers before overwhelming them with sheer numbers. A major air battle has ensued and it is only our more experienced pilots that have managed to maintain a slim air superiority. Our tactical and strategic bombers have therefore been less active than hoped, as they dare not engage ground forces without close fighter support.



Meanwhile, the Russian counteroffensive centered around Kursk has only increased in intensity. There is now a wall of Russian armour, supported by Russian SMG infantry. We are using the cities in the area as bastions, with armour and AT units, backed up by artillery holding the areas in between. The Russian armour crashes against this wall of steel in unrelenting waves. However we are holding firm and inflicting significant damage. As our own units are gradually worn down, they are pulled back from the line for rest and refit, to be replaced by fresher units. In this way we are managing to hold. Thankfully, the Russian artillery, in the form of Stalin’s organs, have been slow in arriving and are particularly susceptible to air attack. Unsupported by AA, our tactical bombers have limited the ability of the enemy artillery to inflict damage on our city bastions.


2 opposing walls of steel.

The Russians have enlarged their counterattack against the Moscow region by sending in heavy KV1’s and T31’s, supported by Guard infantry. However we have a significant infantry presence in this area which have entrenched in the rough terrain. We are therefore able to hold them off for the moment.

Our Finnish forces to the extreme North have met the last defensive positions around Arkhangelsk and are now overwhelming the Russian defenders. It will surely fall before the end of winter, further restricting the flow of supplies from the Americans to the Russians.


Our Finnish Jaeger unit was able to outflank the defending infantry and engage the Russian artillery directly. With increased range compared to its Finnish counterpart, the supporting German artillery has proven a valuable asset in breaching the Russian defences. Apart from this unit, all attacking forces are Finnish.

North Africa
From El Alamein, huge numbers of Commonwealth units issued forth, most of them overstrengthed. We were able to overcome their numerical superiority by funneling them into Halfaya Pass and the coastal road around Tobruk. There, the Italian surface fleet and air arm were able to bombard them before they could launch any significant offensive against the defenders. However, some of the Allied tanks have attempted to outflank us by circling to the south and have caused significant damage, almost obliterating several Italian units and threatening to make our defensive positions untenable.


Monty has executed a clever outflanking move to the South. However, using all available forces and supported by the Regia Aeronautica, Rommel is able to plug the gap.

Our forces have made first contact with the American troops from Operation Neptune. Our air units were able to inflict significant damage before American AA was brought up to drive them away. We have now established a tentative defensive line in the hills, with infantry, AA and some German armour. However a significant weakness of our position is the fact that we have no artillery in the area. Until artillery arrives, the Luftwaffe will have to fill this role.

The Generalfeldmarschall looked up at the glaring sun which beat down relentlessly upon him. It was at times like this in mid-Summer standing out in the desert that he regretted the decision to prioritise the African front. In fact, he could almost envy Manstein and the other generals on the Eastern front. It was in early April, when the days were comparatively more pleasant in North of Africa, that high command made the decision to place higher priority on the African sector. With the success of Sea Lion seeming certain, yet no indication of the British colonies laying down their arms, high command had decided to crush all Commonwealth resistance in Africa and the Middle East to drive them out of the war once and for all. They had therefore asked the Generalfeldmarschall to assist Rommel by coordinating the transfer of troops and supplies to the sector. And so here he stood, in late June in the middle of the desert, coordinating the movement of troops and armour around the harsh terrain to the South of the heavily entrenched defenders at El Alamein so as to surprise them from behind.

Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica were pounding the American war vessels that were congregating around Malta. The Americans had been stalled in their advance on Tunis by our Italian allies, however the quality and quantity of the American units had pushed the Italians to breaking point and they were forced to give ground mile by bloody mile. Just as things were looking desperate, German reinforcements in the form of armour and artillery entered the fray and halted the American advance, although at significant cost to our own armour. Rommel was now busy leading preparations for a counterattack to destroy the remaining US forces and capture all of North Africa for the Axis.

However the Generalfeldmarschall was worried. They had drawn down on large reserves of armour and infantry from the Eastern front in order to reinforce North Africa. Yet as experienced in the prior 2 years, as each winter had come the Russians had counterattacked with significant forces. Speed was therefore of the essence – they had to complete the invasion of the UK before winter so as to allow the forces engaged in Sea Lion to reinforce the currently stretched lines of the Eastern Front. And even those reinforcements might not be enough to stop the Russian juggernaut.

The Generalfeldmarschall shivered despite the heat. No, he was happy to be in the scorching desert if it meant that he could avoid the Eastern front this winter…

You seem to be on a good way. Congratulation.

If you can kick out the British and prevent operation Overlord then you have a lot of troops available for the eastern front.

As you wrote: Speed is really the essence. If you bring in your troops in time it is ok. If you come too late time will run out to clear the situation. And that will lead to the next problem somewhere else and so on ...

I am now in the middle of Overlord and yes, I can stop the allies at the beaches and sink a lot of their ships but ...

Still in October 44 the landings do not end and thus I can not send my heavy tanks back to the east before the winter starts. And as I can see at the Dnieper defense line how much armour is waiting on the other side to cross in winter ... it is clear the Axis can not hold this line in the east. But retreating from the Dnieper defense line will also mean to lose the contact to the Caucasus, the area that was conquered in hard fights. Hard decisions are coming for Reichsfeldmarschall Werner

If you can avoid this you may have found the right way to win this scenario.

Thanks for your comments.

I found that invading England is not so hard if you can deal with the British naval and air. Their land forces in Britain are not so many. So once i got a sufficiently sized force landed, i just rolled over the defenders. By far the hardest point of invading is dealing with the naval mines. They are really, really frustrating! I can't wait for McGuba's next patch which will change these.

I decided to now prioritise North Africa/Middle East, as i want to knock the British Commonwealth forces out of the war. So i am transferring a lot of armour to this front. I suspect though that i cannot hold the line against the Russians as i did last winter - unless i can bring my UK invading force back in time to reinforce the Eastern Front. I have much prestige though, so will upgrade all my panzer III's to Panthers. I'm thinking to also upgrade all my AA that was in France to 88's and use that to help stem the Russian tide. I think that should work.

Invasion of the UK
Only the very North of England and Scotland remains in British hand. Our conquest of the British isles would have been quicker if not for substantial American reinforcements in the form of bombers and fighters. These have seriously harassed our invasion forces and forced the retreat of the Kriegsmarine, whilst highlighting the deficiency in planning by not allocating any AA guns to the invasion forces. However there are only 2 airports left in British hands and we have now transported some AA from the mainland, which are relatively effective in protecting our ground forces. Therefore it is only a matter of time before Britain falls.

Eastern Front
After one final push by the Russians which caused our lines to bend backwards, we have finally defeated the counterattack. The Russians seemed to throw everything they had at us, but our strong defensive positions and strategy of rotating weakened units out of the front line has paid off. This has now freed up our troops to consolidate their positions and has also allowed us to transfer much needed armour and artillery to the North Africa/Middle East front.

North Africa
El Alamein – artillery and infantry were congregating just West of the British defences and had started pounding the front line British troops with long range bombardments. Meanwhile, a predominantly infanty and tank force was making the long and slow trek South to skirt around and behind the defenders so as to surprise them. The 2 veteran Fallschirmjaeger units were being flown from the UK to assist in this effort.

Tripoli – the situation is currently critical. Just when we thought the American attack was defeated, a new wave of both ground and air forces arrived. Our fleet of veteran Italian tactical bombers were destroyed to the last plane by enemy fighter squadrons, whilst our own Italian and Bf109 fighters have proven unable to attack the Allied fighters directly, but are instead providing a covering roll for our ground forces and strategic bombers based in the area. Even worse, our ground forces have been mostly annihilated. Whilst this consisted mostly of inferior Italian forces, it also included several Grenadiers and a Panzer III unit completed wiped out. The combination of the Sherman Tanks anti-infantry abilities, combined with the armour piercing power of the American bazookas, have proven too much for our troops to withstand. In this regard, the lack of friendly artillery has been clearly felt. Now, all that stands between the Americans and Tripoli are 2 Italian infantry regiments (including the famed Saharan regiment), an Italian AA unit, a division of 88’s, and Rommel, personally leading a squadron of Panzer III’s.

Whilst we have vast reinforcements to call on, they have been unable to reach Tripoli in a timely manner and intact. There is still an American surface fleet presence around Malta (albeit a reduced one due to our air campaign). More serious, however, are the Allied submarines lurking in the waters. 3 enemy submarine flotillas are known to be in the area. These act as invisible spotters for the American surface fleet and have resulted in reinforcements having to take a circuitous route to Tunis after which they have had to proceed by foot. We are currently rushing reinforcements of all types to the area, however our current forces will have to hold out for several weeks before they arrive. One positive is that the recent arrival of FW 190’s (diverted from the invasion of Britain) should hopefully lead to air superiority being achieved.

I think you have a small typing error in the headline. It is July 43.

And what do we learn about this situation?

Trying to defeat England as quickly as possible seems to be a good idea (for the next play). So starting Sea Lion not in Dec 42 but already in 41 or begin of 42 (of course slowing down the approach in the east) could be the clue to avoid these dangerous American reinforcements?

Sure, invading the UK as early as possible helps a lot. American reinforcements start to arrive from mid/late 42 if I remember well, and they will send more and more during '43 and '44 as the American war economy slowly runs up to full speed in the wake of Pearl Harbour. Once the UK is taken obviously there will be no more American planes appearing there and there is no need to worry about the D-day. However, capturing the UK would not stop Operation Torch from happening as those troops can come from the US directly and there is Gibraltar as an allied support base nearby. Historically most of the Torch invasion fleet came from the UK, but some came directly from the US, so I cannot see why they could not come all from there.

By the way, some players earlier tried to take Gibraltar: although it is not a victory objective, if the player can block the Gibraltar Strait there will be less allied units attacking in North Africa as they can only land in the West African coasts which is still open to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Generalfeldmarschall was interrupted from his sleep by banging on his bedroom door. It took him a moment to get his bearings. He was in a commandeered building in Tobruk, waiting for his troops to assemble before attacking the British at El Alamein. He checked the clock beside the bed. It read 3:34am.

“Enter”

A young adjunct breathlessly entered the room. “Sorry to interrupt you from your sleep, but I have urgent news from Generalfeldmarschall Rommel. The American counterattack to Tunis is relentless and have pushed our forces, along with those of our Italian allies, back from Kasserine Pass. They have also outflanked our forces by taking the coastal route to the North. Our defenses are failing and the reinforcements sent for have not yet arrived.”


The American forces drive the Italian and German defenders back during Operation Torch

Generalfeldmarschall: “This is completely unacceptable. It is almost 2 months since the reinforcements left the Eastern Front to assist Rommel. Why have they not arrived?”

Adjunct: “As you know, there was a significant American surface fleet that accompanied Operation Torch. This fleet is now congregating around Malta and is forcing us to transport our reinforcements via Tripoli, greatly increasing the time required. There are also many Allied submarines lurking in the area, which have already sunk some of our transports. Due to our lack of destroyers and the Allied air superiority restricting our tactical bombers in the area, we are unable to effectively hunt these subs.”

Generalfeldmarschall: “Instruct the Regia Marina to divert all available vessels to assist in stopping the Americans from reaching Tunis. Regardless of the obvious risk they will face from enemy submarines, this front must be given full priority. Also instruct the Luftwaffe to divert all their forces from El Alamein to Tunisia. We must regain air superiority. Tunis must be held at all costs!”


Reinforcements are required to take a circuitous route to avoid the US surface fleet. But even then, Allied submarines are constant threat

The Generalfeldmarschall sighed deeply as the adjunct left the room. The war was generally going well and yet there was always something. Just as Britain looked like collapsing, the arrival of significant American air power had caused great loss to the Kriegsmarine and land forces participating in the invasion. Britain would still be taken, but at a much greater loss of life than previously estimated. It would also take some time (and considerable cost) to rebuild and repair the German surface fleet – at least those of the vessels that weren’t sitting at the bottom of the ocean.

And just yesterday he had been informed that the planned outflanking of the Allied defences at El Alamein could not proceed with any armoured support, as only infantry could negotiate the sand dunes that saw all heavy vehicles bogged down and unable to proceed. No, they would just have to assault the Allied defenders directly. And without the planned support of the Kriegsmarine, as the surface fleet was even now being sent to assist Rommel.


Strategic situation July/Aug ’43. Our defences in the East remain relatively unchanged (blue line), although now that we have defeated the Russian counterattack, we may start advancing, depending on the resistance shown. In Britain, the English have made a final stand at Glasgow (yellow star). Meanwhile the Americans advance on Tunis (red star). Our forces will assault the defenders at El Alamein from 2 sides, although the outflanking movement to the South (green line/arrow) can only be performed by infantry.

As the general was musing on these points, the adjunct who had left but moments earlier suddenly burst into his room - without even knocking! Just as the general was about to reprimand him, he noticed the huge grin on the adjuncts face.

“Herr Generalfeldmarschall, Britain has fallen!”

GeneralWerner wrote: Trying to defeat England as quickly as possible seems to be a good idea (for the next play). So starting Sea Lion not in Dec 42 but already in 41 or begin of 42 (of course slowing down the approach in the east) could be the clue to avoid these dangerous American reinforcements?

Although Britain was on its knees, the arrival of significant American air forces really cost me a lot. They destroyed one of my Fw's, one of by Junker strategic bombers, sunk a heavy cruiser and badly mauled the rest of my surface fleet. They also continuously bombed my ground forces. I guess it cost me almost about 2,000 prestige in losses and repairs. If i had picked the correct landing location for Sea Lion initially, i would have avoided all of that!

JimmyC wrote: As the general was musing on these points, the adjunct who had left but moments earlier suddenly burst into his room - without even knocking! Just as the general was about to reprimand him, he noticed the huge grin on the adjuncts face.

“Herr Generalfeldmarschall, Britain has fallen!”

Good job!

Would it be possible that you write one of these for WWI once I get the final update out (prob. June 1)? This AAR really deserves a worship emote, but unfortunately we don't have one yet

- BNC

BiteNibbleChomp wrote: Would it be possible that you write one of these for WWI once I get the final update out (prob. June 1)? This AAR really deserves a worship emote, but unfortunately we don't have one yet

- BNC

You should ask GeneralWerner, as he has a much better writing style i feel!

Your WW1 mod is next on my list BNC, however i think i will play through McGuba's mod one more time first (once he releases v1.6), as i am eager to try different tactics - specifically i want to leave the UK and North Africa alone next time and just go after Russia.

JimmyC wrote:

BiteNibbleChomp wrote: Would it be possible that you write one of these for WWI once I get the final update out (prob. June 1)? This AAR really deserves a worship emote, but unfortunately we don't have one yet

- BNC

You should ask GeneralWerner, as he has a much better writing style i feel!

Your WW1 mod is next on my list BNC, however i think i will play through McGuba's mod one more time first (once he releases v1.6), as i am eager to try different tactics - specifically i want to leave the UK and North Africa alone next time and just go after Russia.

Gen. Werner does a very good job as well, but focusses less on the gameplay and more on the backstory! I have no problems with you playing Battlefield another time first, it gives a a bit more time to get the final update together!

- BNC

United Kingdom
The war in the West is over, although partisan groups have already formed in an attempt to disrupt our control of Britain. We have therefore garrisoned several infantry units and some obsolete tanks to deal with this threat, as and when it appears. The remaining American Fighters and Bombers have fallen from the sky from lack of fuel, as we have captured all airports, however there is some limited nuisance from long ranged bombers operating out of Iceland. Having achieved total control, it has allowed us to divert all air resources, as well as the AA that was based in France and Germany to the Eastern Front. Many of these AA have been upgraded to 88’s, so that they can also adopt an anti tank role if required.

Our surface fleet, after undergoing significant costly repairs, is now steaming for Gibraltar and will assist Rommel to recapture North Africa from the Americans.

North Africa
An incredibly bitter fight saw our forces pushed back from the hills to the plains directly outside Tunis. Many of our forces were annihilated. Rommel himself was almost killed when his Panther unit was attacked by American Rangers in the hilly terrain. The combination of the American infantry’s strong anti armour weaponry in the hilly terrain, combined with the Sherman Tanks strong anti infantry guns have decimated our forces. If it weren’t for the support of both the Regia Marina and Luftwaffe, Tunis would have fallen long ago. We have achieved total air supremacy, which has allowed us to finally halt the American advance. This has been an incredibly costly front in terms of resources expended and lives lost. However we are now confident that the main assault has been stopped and we will soon adopt an offensive posture.

The Allied drive on Tunis has decimated many of our units. Notice Rommel’s Panther tank brigade just South of Tunis on 1 strength, after being almost annihilated in the battles around the hills. The blue defensive line around the hills was broken in the South, resulting in the last defensive line being hastily formed in the plains around Tunis by the remaining tanks and AA units.

In the West, our artillery bombards the British defences at El Alamein, with little effect. However we have taken advantage of the bad winter weather to fly Paratroopers behind the British defences. Combined with 2 infantry units that have flanked around from the South, we are hopeful of catching the British artillery unprepared. In front of the defences, we have positioned several fast armoured units, ready to take advantage of any breakthrough once we have punched a hole through. However, without air or naval assistance, it will be difficult nut to crack.

Eastern Front
After fighting off sporadic attacks in Summer and Autumn, our forces concentrated for a limited counterattack. In a reverse of the prior two winters, it was the Germans and not the Russians who launched an offensive as the snows fell. Taking advantage of the iced over rivers, our forces were able to avoid the Russian defences at each bridge crossing and instead attack them from the side or behind. Surprisingly, apart from the defences at each bridge crossing, there were relatively few other Russian units in the area. We have come to the conclusion that the Russians have been bled dry of troops and have now ordered a full offensive across the entire Eastern Front.


Army Group Centre pushes towards the Volga, whilst Army Group South is attacking Stalingrad. Further South, our forces have taken Novogrod and will circle round to attack Stalingrad from the South, as well as advancing towards the oilfields.

War Economy
All Panzer III units were upgraded to the new Panther variant in the Autumn of 1943. Combined with the significant costs of repairing our surface fleet and the desperate effort of reinforcing our units around Tunis, this led to our reserves being bled almost dry for the first time during the war. In a cost saving effort we have recruited local green reinforcements for many of our units, as well as forgoing some of the more expensive upgrades. As the surface fleet is now fully repaired, we expect to again start accruing surplus funds (at the lowest point in late ’43, my prestige was less than 200!).

Outlook
Russia looks on the brink of collapsing, although there is sure to be significant resistance at major cities, such as Stalingrad. Also, given the vast distances involved, it will take time to move our troops up to the ever expanding front lines. We therefore don’t expect Russia to be finally defeated until the end of ’44.

Once the German surface fleet arrives in North Africa, we should be able to easily defeat the Americans there and claim it for Germany. We estimate this will be achieved by the summer of ’44. Of more concern are the strong defences at El Alamein, which are seriously hindering our efforts to break through. And if we break through, there is still a long way to reach the oil fields in the Middle East. We will therefore divert the air forces currently at Tunis to assist in this effort. However we consider that we will not be able to reach the oil fields in the Middle East until the end of ’44 (and that’s assuming we are able to crack the defences at El Alamein).


Our forces will advance on all fronts with the aim of winning the war by the end of ’44. It is hoped that the arrival of the German surface fleet in the Mediterranean will add significant impetus to the efforts to retake North Africa and advance towards the Middle East.

Sounds very good. Congratulations.

Let's see whether the Russian bear is realy already exhausted.

WIth my Redux play I am in round 11 now. Guess I will send my first war report in the next days.

BiteNibbleChomp wrote:

JimmyC wrote:

BiteNibbleChomp wrote: Would it be possible that you write one of these for WWI once I get the final update out (prob. June 1)? This AAR really deserves a worship emote, but unfortunately we don't have one yet

- BNC

You should ask GeneralWerner, as he has a much better writing style i feel!

Your WW1 mod is next on my list BNC, however i think i will play through McGuba's mod one more time first (once he releases v1.6), as i am eager to try different tactics - specifically i want to leave the UK and North Africa alone next time and just go after Russia.

Gen. Werner does a very good job as well, but focusses less on the gameplay and more on the backstory! I have no problems with you playing Battlefield another time first, it gives a a bit more time to get the final update together!

- BNC

If you want we could do a similar action with your mod. JimmyC and me playing it in parallel, everybody following it's own strategy? It is a WW1 mod? So no Blitzkrieg but Sitzkrieg?