Slitherine

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov’s worries – Moscow – 22. February 1944

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, Marshal of the Soviet Union, is sitting in his office in Moscow and feels somehow unwell. Stalin das told him clearly that if the Germans capture Moscow Zhukov will find himself in front of a firing squad.

And the chances for an inglorious end of his brilliant military career grow day by day. The Germans are standing near Kalinin and in the Kremlin they can hear already the sound of the distant firing. With begin of the winter Zhukov has started a heavy counterattack against the army Group North but the Germans have learned in the last two winters. By slowly retreating and luring Red Army tank troops in the forests they fight successfully Zhukov’s tank battalions. And there are new fearsome antitank weapons named Nashorn and a Tiger battalion in the area. The battle of Kalinin is the hardest fighting in the whole war. The Germans loose troops but the Soviet loose much more. 80% of the Soviet tank forces Zhukov has sent to battle are already destroyed.

The airdropping campaign in Leningrad and Sevastopol were successful and both cities were recaptured. But in the meantime the German counterattack has defeated the Soviet parachute troopers and the cities are in German hands again. The only benefit in the north was that the railroad connection to Army Group North was interrupted and the reinforcement troops from Stalingrad (including the huge mortar and another Tiger battalion) are delayed. How they should protect Moscow if these troops intervene in the battle, Zhukov does not know.

The partisans failed. The Germans are protecting their railroad connections well.

In the center around Kharkov the strong Soviet winter attack was stopped by well hidden and deeply entrenched German infantry and antitank weapons. And then from the flanks German tanks are coming attacking and retreating immediately. That is Manstein’s dreadful new strategy.

The south is the real disaster. The whole Caucasus with all its oil fields is gone and Stalingrad lost. The Germans are already sending scout units from Stalingrad to the north east to check the chances for the next attack in summer 1944. Stalin has executed more the two dozens officers from the Stalingrad front and the Don front after the city was lost.
The great hope are the allies in the west.

But in Italy the Germans hold since month the Gustav line against the Canadians and even Montgomery’s troops. And now there are rumors about Axis troops from Croatia and Greece landing in south Italy and recapturing Taranto.

Stalin has insisted against Roosevelt and Churchill that the allied invasion in France has to come this year. If it is successful the Germans have to send troops to the west and that will be the chance to attack and destroy Army Group Center and win the war in the east.

Zhukov is again listening to the far thunder of the artillery in the northwest. Does it become louder? Will he live to see the allied invasion this year are will the Germans capture Moscow in the next three month?

It sounds like you are doing very well again. Good to hear.

Again I compliment you on the quality of your storytelling. Please keep it up!

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov’s duty – Moscow – 08. April 1944

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, Marshal of the Soviet Union, is sitting in his office in Moscow and … suddenly he is realizing that the thunder of the artillery has stopped. It is silent. What does this mean?

Then he hears excited voices in the building and people running. Major Romanov is throwing open the door and shouts: “They retreat! They retreat! We get messages from our Partisans in Belarus. The Germans transport many of their troops via train to the west. And they stopped their attack near Kalinin and also in Kharkov. It is over!”

Zhukov is standing up. Finally! After two and a half years of heavy fighting and endless casualties the German campaign in the east seems to crush: ”Romanov, it is not over yet. Give order to the all Partisan groups. They have to destroy the railroads where ever they can. And mobilize all our reserves. We attack on the whole front from Leningrad down to Stalingrad. Let’s overwhelm the weakened German defense now.”

Romanov is turning around to leave but when he reaches the door suddenly her turns back, pale in the face: “Stalin is coming!”

Zhukov stands in front of his desk and swallows. Suddenly his throat feels dry.

Josef Stalin is entering the room. He seems to hold something behind his back: “Towarischtsch Zhukov, I want to congratulate you. Your defense of the Russian motherland was successful. The Germans got intelligence messages about the upcoming invasion of our western allies in France. They have to fight soon on two bloody battlefields. They will not stand this. And that is our chance to rule Eastern Europe and Central Europe for the next 100 years. Your duty, Towarischtsch, is now to push the Germans back and to reach Berlin before the British and Americans do it.”

“Da, Towarischtsch Stalin!”

Stalin smiles: “Now it is time to celebrate, Marshal”. He pulls a bottle from behind his back. Vodka, the Russian Soul.

Oh wow, i dont envy you having to deal with both the Russians on the East and the Allies in the West! Did you manage to stamp out the Allied forces in Italy, or are they still there?

You are now about 1.5 years ahead of me i guess. I need to try and catch up. But it is hard to find the time.

Berlin – April 23 1944 – Former Führerbunker below the Reichstag, now named as the Reichsfeldmarschallbunker.

Reichsfeldmarschall Werner is sitting at his desk (indeed it was Hitler’s desk but Werner never found the time to replace it) drinking a huge pot of hot black coffee … and is smoking again. He looks very tired. Werner is missing a window to stand at. But here in the bunker deep under the Reichstag the air is only coming from ventilation and has a sort of “rusty” smell. Again Berlin is bombed and from time to time even here in the bunker cement dust drizzles from the ceiling. The last six month have seen so many dramatic events that Werner did not have a single day free. If he could he would have made a short holiday. Maybe visiting one of this famous Spa’s in the south of France. The Reichsfeldmarschall sighs.

Two months ago he had a pathbreaking meeting with Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein and Generalfeldmarschall Rommel about a combined strategy for the eastern and the western front. That was the official title but in truth it was about taking away the tanks from Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein. Rommel and von Manstein argued the whole day. Von Manstein even called Rommel to a duel. After Werner has ordered both to calm down and after he made his decisions and gave his orders, von Manstein left the meeting in anger, threatening Rommel that there will be serious consequences if his (von Mainstein’s) tanks would get a single scratch in France.

Werner moves his lamp and starts to read the OKW reports.

Heeresgruppe West and the Kriegsmarine
With the end of winter 43/44 and better weather the British and the Americans showed all their might and started heaviest bomber raids on the coastal areas of France, French cities and even German cities. The Luftwaffe was fighting back but had to retreat. Only the flak is protecting our cities now.

One of our U-Boot-Flottillen is still fighting Churchill’s and Roosevelt’s merchant ships in the Atlantic. Five Flottillen are built or repaired. We keep them secret near the English Channel for day X.

Preparation for day X: Generalfeldmarschall Rommel has finished the Atlantikwall (more or less). The German Gneisenau fleet is waiting at the western entrance of the English channel in the Atlantic. The German Tirpitz fleet has left its hidings in the Skagerrak and moved to the North Sea. The carrier Graf Zeppelin and fighters will protect this fleet from Anglo-American bombers.

Infantry and artillery were brought from the eastern front to the French west coast.

All our strategic bombers and fighters of the western front are ready for attack currently waiting around Paris.

Tiger and Panther battalions are waiting in more distance to the coast around Paris.
The invasion of France will clearly start in the next few days (due to weather and tiding conditions). If the invasion is coming in the west (Normandy) we will stop it mainly with infantry and artillery because the Bocage area is difficult for our battle tanks. If the invasion is coming near the Pas-de-Calais we can quickly send our tanks there. OKW would prefer to fight the invasion in Pas-de-Calais because it is better area for our heavy battle tanks and our stronger Tirpitz fleet contains 4 U-Boot-Flottillen and will send many of the invasion ships to the bottom of the English channel.
We expect to lose both our naval fleets in the upcoming battle. The main strike against the British fleets will come from our bomber forces. We also expect a heavy loss of fighters and bombers. But there is no alternative.

For the next six month: Stop the Anglo-American invasion of France by all means. After success the heavy battle tanks will be sent back to the eastern front.

Germany, Das Reich
Cities in whole Germany are bombed again and again. The flak is disturbing the bombers but can’t prevent them from bombing.
As a consequence especially to the Berlin bombing the OKW has decided to put London on the list of targets. A new weapon is nearly finished that will allow to strike against London without risking our valuable planes. The first Marschflugkörper (cruise missile) the world has seen: the V1.

For the next six month: Hopefully after repelling the invasion in France the Luftwaffe can install again a protection against Anglo-American bomber raids with our fighters.

Italy
The Anglo-Americans are fended off south of Rome at the Gustav line by Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring.

Operation Neptun (a heavy blow of our strategic bomber fleet against the complete Anglo-American fleet in the Tyrhennian Sea) was not as successful as expected. Exactly when the bombers wanted to strike against the enemy fleet in fall 43 the weather turned bad and the Luftwaffe could not weaken the enemy fleet until spring 44. Thus the bombarding of the Gustav line was going on the whole winter what made the defense tricky. In spring 44 the Anglo-American battleships were damaged but not sunk. All Axis planes now have left Italy to counter the invasion in France.

A small landing operation in the south of Italy by a German and a Croatian division failed. The Germans were intercepted and sunk by British cruisers. The Croatians landed, captured Taranto and the air field. But a British counter attack defeated them. Nevertheless this operation decreased the Anglo-American pressure on the Gustav line for some days and helped to stabilize the line in a critical situation.

The Axis infantry divisions, tanks and artillery units were able to hold the line and even to push back the enemy by destroying his tanks and artillery.
For the next six month: Hold the line or if applicable slowly advance to the south.

Balkan
More and more Partisans. More and more difficult to get rid of them because many Axis divisions were sent to the east for railroad protection or to Italy to strengthen the Gustav line.

Nothing special planned for the next six month.

Afrika Korps
Resolved.

Heeresgruppe Nord and Finnish Allies
Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein’s new strategy for the eastern front was working well but due to a surprising Soviet airdrop in Leningrad the time ran out.

We had planned to push with our strong Panzer forces over the River Volga near Kalinin before the winter ends. From the south side an attack to Moscow would have had good chances for success. But the Red Army had cut off the railroad connection by recapturing Leningrad for some days. Thus heavy artillery and Tiger tanks were delayed and arrived on the battlefield far too late. Also some infantry and tanks had to be send back to recapture Leningrad. After this was done the winter 43/44 was over and the German troops still were on the (wrong) northern river bank.

With this brilliant move the Soviet Marschall Schukov has stopped our attack long enough and definitely has saved Moscow.

The invasion of France is upcoming and thus Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein had to hand over nearly all his heavy battle tanks and a lot of his artillery to Generalfeldmarschall Rommel. Thus the Heeresgruppe Nord stopped attacking in the direction of Moscow and retreated to defendable positions. One third of the troops is sent to the west, the second third is building a line of defence south of the Neman River. The last third is entrenching in Leningrad to defend the city.

The communication to the Finnish troops in the far north seems to be disrupted and the Finnish did not get the order to retreat. They still slowly move east in difficult terrain to Archangelsk.

The plan for the next six month is to defend Leningrad and to hold the Neman defense line.

Heeresgruppe Mitte
Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein‘s huge trap (operation “Schlag aus der Nachhand”) in the area west and south of Kharkov was working well and many Soviet troops were destroyed. But more and more enemy troops arrived on the battlefield. An attack to Kursk now is illusory because also here the Panther battle tanks were removed and sent to the west.

Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein has ordered his troops to retreat back to the Dnieper defense line.

The plan for the next six month is to hold the Dnieper defense line.

Heeresgruppe Süd, Romanian&Hungarian Allies
Also in the south an airdrop attack by Soviet parachute soldiers was successful and we had to send three infantry divisions back to recapture Sevastopol.

The rest of the Caucasus is in our hand and some scout units already went far south and have spotted British troops near the border to Irak.

The plan for the next six month: General Paulus and the sixth’s army will hold Stalingrad and will prevent the Red Army to recapture the city and after that the Caucasus region. The Tiger battalion and the Karl mortar have left Stalingrad some month ago with the direction Leningrad but are now stationed in France. Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein is calling the OKW every day and demands more heavy tanks for the Stalingrad defense.
Global summary

OKW has lost the initiative at the western and the eastern front.

The Gustav line is stable but critical.

Air superiority is lost in Italy, France, Germany and Russia.

The invasion in the northern part of France will come soon. We are prepared. But OKW fears a second smaller landing of Anglo-American troops in the weakly defended area of Greece, north Italy or south of France.

New plans will be made after the Anglo-American invasion and our counter attack has started.

Surrender is no alternative!

Southern French spa towns are where its at! I always recommend my Generals to have some R&R there to ensure they have a relaxed mind and body. Haha!

It looks like you are doing it really tough. I am much farther behind you (only in April of ’43 now), but from the look of your forces, it looks like you have a good plan and sufficient forces for beating back Overlord. I certainly don’t envy your troops in the East though. How are you going with prestige? It might be worth buying up on cheaper units like towed AT to help counter the Russian armour. From looking at the stats, the 8.8cm Pak 43/41 looks good value for money for 270 prestige. Initiative of 11 and hard attack of 24 means that it will likely hit first and hit hard!

Ah, yeah the Pak 43 was a nice peace of metal for its price, but without a tractor it lacked any kind of serious mobility and since it was quite heavy it required the SdKfz 7 to move it. And the SdKfz 7 had a nice price tag as well at some 36,000 Reichsmarks, approximately the same price as a Panzer II light tank. So it might worth considering a Hetzer instead when it becomes available, which has less impressive stats, but comes with full mobility at a lower price. In my opinion the Pak 43 is only good if it is used at a very important choke point which the enemy cannot avoid and where it can make a last stand.

Hello,
I am currently in round 80. So around round 84 the next OKW report will come and I guess Oberst Steiner will tell a story again about his (last?) fight in the Bocage against American tanks.

Prestige is low (around 600 per round) and I spend it mainly every round for reinforcements and sometimes to buy a new cheap unit (infantry 43 or artillery) to close a hole somewhere.

I have currently approx. 45 open core slots, so I have a lack of units. As I expected the losses in the east in the first two winters now count very negatively. Every unit McGuba is giving me for free in the next rounds will be highly welcomed. Hopefully some powerful prototypes of a heavy tank, anti tank or jet fighter. We will see.

I bought a 12,8 flak in the Normandy (I was curious). But it is a waste of money. It can't move and I see no better result as with the 8,8er against planes.

I try to hit London with V1s to earn more prestige.

Holding of the allies in the Normandy with bombers and battleships works well. If only I had more submarines in the area.

But now with the landing of the Americans in south France they can fall me in the back in the Normandy or they could cut off my successful troops in the Gustav line. So another nasty decision is coming up.

Steiner’s fight – France, Bocage area near Rennes – September 1944

Oberst Steiner, hero of the Caucasus and decorated with the Iron Cross is ducking with some of his men behind a hedgerow. This Bocage area is a good hiding area for infantry troops but it is difficult to keep the overview where the enemy troops are and where the own troops are. Steiner knows that heavy artillery and flak in Rennes is covering him. More to the west a Grenadier division is entrenched. And in the east he can hear the sound of Rommel’s heavy Panzertruppen with Tigers and Panthers.

Since the summer the Heeresgruppe West is defending the Normandy against landing strong Anglo-American troops and Steiner’s men were always at the front. There is no rest anymore because there is no replacement any more. The Fallschirmjäger have to hold this position by all means.

Yesterday a battalion of Tigers nearly has overrun Steiner’s men by accident. The Panzer rushed back from the beaches. They had to retreat because of heavy bombardment by enemy ship artillery and more and more landing American troops.

Suddenly the sound of many tanks can be heard and the explosions of German artillery directly north of Steiner’s position. And then British Churchill tanks are breaking through the hedges attacking from the north, firing their cannons and MGs in Steiner’s division. Like in Grosny in spring 42 Steiner has to fight approaching superior tanks forces and he is targeting with his Panzerfaust on the leading tank.

Suddenly Steiner is falling to the ground. He was hit by a bullet in the chest. Steiner is staring in the blue French sky and is seeing the shadows of British tanks that overrun his men. Then he is closing his eyes and the great war is over for Oberst Steiner…

Berlin – December 4 1944 – Reichsfeldmarschallbunker.

Reichsfeldmarschall Werner is sitting at his desk and stares at the maps that proof the disaster of his strategies and the German Wehrmacht.

Still Rommel is fighting the allied invasion in the Normandy and he can hold the lines but in the east with the remaining forces, von Manstein can’t hold the Dnieper defense line in winter. The Germans retreated in time before the Red Army tanks could overrun them. That means that in the east everything is lost that was captured in the last years. And soon Stalin’s hordes will cross the German border.

The Reich is attacked from all sides now.

The door is opening and von Manstein is coming in. Werner is looking up: “Ah Erich. I am ready to leave. You take over here the defense of East Germany and Berlin. I will go to Budapest and Vienna to build up a new army with Hungarian troops and our troops retreating from Italy. When the Red Army is crashing in our eastern defense lines we need a counter attack in the south.”

“The bombarding by the British bombers stopped. A good time to leave now. Good luck!”, says von Manstein and is sitting down to read the OKW reports.


Heeresgruppe West and the Kriegsmarine
Operation Overlord started and the Allied landed on the beaches of the Normandy. The Atlantikwall was slowing them down. The German Gneisenau fleet attacked the approaching enemy fleets together with all our bombers and fighters in the west. We had clear air superiority in the Normandy until the weather changed.

Eisenhower suffered catastrophic casualties and only strongly weakened troops reached the beaches. In the first days of the invasion our Tigers and Panthers even approached to the beaches but as more and more American troops were landing and due to heaviest bombardment by the enemy ship artillery we took them back.

Though the invasion in the Normandy is a disaster for the Anglo-Americans they could reverse the situation. A second smaller invasion was done in the south of France near Marseille and Nice. We try to stop these troops near Lyon. But if the enemy could break through the Normandy has to be evacuated or our Panzer troops will be encircled.

The German Tirpitz fleet has moved to the North Sea and fought a heavy battle with the British fleet coming down from Scapa Flow. The carrier Graf Zeppelin was sunk together with many other of our ships. Only the Tirpitz and some submarines still fight the British fleet that has also lost all battleships except some destroyers and submarines.

The Anglo-Americans made a foolhardy airdrop landing near Arnheim and Eindhoven to save the bridges over the Rhine. We repelled this attack and defeated the enemy troops.

Many V1s were successfully shot on London.

For the next six month: Stop the Anglo-American invasions in the Normandy and southern France by all means. In case this fails retreat to Paris and keep open the roads to the Rhine River.


Germany, Das Reich
Rommel has set up some tank and infantry forces at the Rhine River as our defense in the west if the Allied could not be stopped in France.

The Heeresgruppe Manstein (former Heeresgruppe Mitte) has taken its defense positions in eastern Germany waiting for the upcoming Russian winter offensive.

Cities in whole Germany are bombed again and again. The flak is disturbing the bombers but can’t prevent them from bombing.

For the next six month: Hold the lines in the west and in the east.


Italy
The Anglo-Americans troops were fended off south of Rome at the Gustav line by Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring.

The Axis infantry divisions, tanks and artillery units were able to hold the line for a long time and even to push back the enemy to recapture Naples. But after fresh American infantry troops approached from the south and the invasion in southern France happened the OKW gave the order to leave the Gustav line. A part of the troops will try to attack the American beach head near Nice. The other part will be transferred to Vienna to build a new army with the Hungarian troops.

For the next six month: Italy is lost.


Balkan
Heavy activities of Partisans and British commandos. We transferred troops in the area to fight back.

For the next six month: Hold the Balkan. We prepare a counter attack with new Hungarian troops from Budapest and Vienna in direction south east to Romania. This should stop the Red Army advance on the Balkan.


Afrika Korps
Resolved.


Heeresgruppe Nord and Finnish Allies
The Heeresgruppe Nord is resolved. The remaining Kampfgruppe Leonhard is cut off in Leningrad. The rest of the troops was handed over to Heeresgruppe Manstein.

The Finnish slowly moved east in difficult terrain and finally have captured Archangelsk.

The plan for the next six month is to defend Leningrad and Archangelsk.


Heeresgruppe Mitte
The Heeresgruppe Mitte is renamed to Heeresgruppe Manstein.

Without the heavy battle tanks the Dnieper defense line could not be hold in winter. The troops retreated in time and saved a lot of equipment and men for our defense of the Reich.

The plan for the next six month is to hold the defense line in East Germany.


Heeresgruppe Süd, Romanian&Hungarian Allies
Stalingrad is lost. General Paulus defended the city as long as possible. When the defeat was inevitable he sent back vulnerable equipment like tanks and artillery to the west while he stayed with the infantry troops in Stalingrad to fight on. The General was killed in action and posthumously promoted to a Generalfeldmarschall.

The Heeresgruppe Süd is resolved. The troops were handed over to Heeresgruppe Manstein.


Global summary
Surrender is no alternative!

Kapitän Fischer’s freight – France, Bordeaux – July 1945

Kapitän zur See, Rudolf Fischer, is waiting with his submarine U 575 at a small pier in the harbor of Bordeaux.

It is 4.30 am in a dark moonless night.

He was ordered four days ago to leave his Flottille in the English Channel and take over a freight and new orders in Bordeaux. Highest security level! Except from British planes the travel was safe. The Anglo-American fleet in the area was completely destroyed and the German battleships Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen even started to bombard British positions in south west England. Nuts! They will soon be destroyed by the countless allied bombers.

A car is arriving slowly without light and stops at the pier. Kapitän Fischer is a stoic man but even he swallows when he recognizes his new freight.

After Fischer has seen his new orders the submarine is silently leaving France and disappears in the dark Atlantic Ocean...

Berlin – July 02 1945 – Reichsfeldmarschallbunker.

Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein is sitting at his desk and starts to write a proclamation to the German public while 30 meters above his head the Reichstag building is pulverized by British bombers. He is thinking about the right words to explain the Germans why the Reich will surrender unconditionally tomorrow 03 July 1945.

Rommel has completely withstand the Anglo-American invasion in the Normandy and in southern France and inflicted Eisenhower a decisive defeat. But even that can’t prevent the Wehrmacht from losing the war. Nearly all Anglo-American ground forces in Europe were destroyed but the Allied have the total air superiority and bomb the cities and the remaining troops to pieces. The German Luftwaffe is defeated and only some few outnumbered German jet fighter squads try to fight back.

Doom is approaching from the east. The Red Army has reached Warsaw and will attack soon the defense line at the Oder River. And if they break through they reach Berlin. The exhausted forces of the Wehrmacht may hold the Oder line for some time but intelligence tells that there are huge armies of the Russians in the east near Kursk and Moscow that will start to move west and will overrun any defense line in Europe.

Reichsfeldmarschall Werner’s counter offensive in Romania to recapture the Romanian oil fields was stopped in the Carpathian Mountains by Russian and Romanian forces. And even worse, the Reichsfeldmarschall was killed when his car was destroyed by an American (!) fighter near Budapest.

The Americans, shocked and embittered about their defeat in the Normandy, have threatened to bomb Berlin with an American Wunderwaffe named Atomic Bomb. The famous scientist Heisenberg told von Manstein personally that this weapon really could exist. Nevertheless the Anglo-Americans have still a lot of troops in England and North Africa to invade Western Europe again.

And Stalin is sending his hordes from the east. There is only one solution.

Erich von Manstein starts to write: “An das Deutsche Volk, …“


Last entries in the OKW diary of World War II

Heeresgruppe West and the Kriegsmarine
The Atlantikwall, the Gneisenau fleet, the bombers and our strongest tank battalions were used by Generalfeldmarschall Rommel to defeat the Anglo-Americans in the Normandy and in southern France.

For the next month there is no chance for the Anglo-Americans to attack Germany from the west or even to free France. But the German troops suffer daily great casualties due to the total air superiority of the enemy.

Some V2s were successfully shot on London.


Germany, Das Reich
The Heeresgruppe Manstein had taken its defense positions in eastern Germany in fall 44 waiting for the upcoming Russian winter offensive. But this offensive did not happen. It seems the retreat of the German Army was too efficient and quick and the Red Army could not follow in the same speed. In spring 45 OKW decided to move the main defense line back to Poland and to keep a weaker defense line at the German border. In late spring 45 the Red Army started to invade Poland.
Cities in whole Germany are bombed again and again. The flak is disturbing the bombers but can’t prevent them from bombing.


Italy
Venice was recaptured by German troops that were cut off in Italy.


Balkan
The counter attack with new Hungarian troops from Budapest and Vienna in direction south east to Romania to recapture the Romanian oil fields and to stop the Red Army on the Balkan stucked in the Carpathian Mountains.

Reichsfeldmarschall Werner was killed in action near Budapest when his car was bombed by an Allied fighter.


Kampfgruppe Leonhard and Finnish Allies
The Kampfgruppe Leonhard in Leningrad is defeated.

The Finnish still hold Archangelsk.


Heeresgruppe Manstein
The Heeresgruppe Manstein is defending the Reich in the east but suffered lethal damage.


Global summary
The German Reich surrenders July 03 1945 11:00 pm.

Oh wow, that sounds really tough. Good for you for sticking at it, even though it must have been quite painful with the Allied air supremacy. You did well to drive them off the continent though.

So what was the final result - loss or draw?

One thing that surprised me is that it took you so long to take Arkhangelsk. I captured it early ’43 I think. I used the Finnish artillery piece and all Finnish infantry, plus I brought along 1 old German artillery piece (the WW1 vintage with 3 range). I almost always used experienced replacements on the infantry, so it cost a bit – but as a result I didn’t find it too hard.

It seems that it must be very difficult to recover from the surrender of Italy and Romania. The reduction to your troops (even though they are not such great units), must be hard to recover from. At least you held the borders of Germany throughout. Well done!

Unfortunately I have no free time to play atm, so am still mid ’43. Hopefully I can find some time this week and make it up to end of ’43. I sure am glad now that I decided to go for Sea Lion though. It was less hard than expected, apart from me choosing the wrong landing location initially. And from reading your post, it must be a nightmare dealing with the Allied air late in the war.

Addendum:
As a result of World War II, Josef Stalin was able to extend his range of power to the Rhine River. No German defense line (and due to Rommel’s victory in the Normandy no Anglo-American defense line) could hold the Red Army rushing to the English Channel and the Atlantic coast of France. Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s diplomatic skills (and the thread to use atomic bombs against the Red Army – in the meantime the bombs were fallen on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) led to an agreement and the Red Army retreated to the Rhine River.

The Red Army captured important weapon technology of the German army including the plans for the V2 rocket. This allowed the USSR not only to transport the first man in space but also to land the first men on the moon in 1968.

Participants:

Oberst Steiner (German officer): He was captured by American troops after he was wounded in the Bocage in France 1944. He recovered from his injuries and was brought in a POW camp in Nevada. He stayed in the US and started a movie carrier. For the next decades he was THE actor to play Nazi roles (like Colonel Steiner, Rommel the desert fox, von Manstein and many more) in US movies.

Alexandru Vasilesku (Romanian radio operator): He was killed when his observation tower in Rostov was collapsing during the very successful counter offensive of the Red Army begin of 1943.

Mario DiPioli (Italian fighter pilot): He was captured in Tunis begin of 1943 and brought to an American POW camp near Casablanca. He was releases after Italy changed the sides but did not fly anymore. He survived the war.

Ike McCollin (American fighter pilot): He was rescued by American ships after his plane was shot down in summer 1943 in the Tyrhennian Sea. With his new Mustang fighter he was detecting in summer 1945 near Budapest a German command car guarded by motorized infantry and a weakened 109 fighter squad. He avoided the fighters pushed down and shot the car that immediately started to burn. After the war he realized that he was the man to kill the German military leader Ludwig Werner. This made him the most famous American soldier in the US and a very rich man.

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (Marshal of the Soviet Union): He became the greatest commander in WW2. He defeated the Wehrmacht near Moscow and led the Red Army in 1945 to the beaches of France.

Erwin Rommel (German Generalfeldmarschall): He became the most famous German commander in WW2. He stopped the Allied invasion in the Normandy. He was sentenced to 15 years prison by a Russian military court but was released after five years. He was asked to become a General in the new German Volksarmee but he decided to retire.

Erich von Manstein (German Generalfeldmarschall): He was sentenced to 25 years prison by a Russian military court but was released after seven years. He was asked to become a General in the new German Volksarmee and agreed.

Ludwig Werner (German Reichsfeldmarschall): Hacienda Sol Sirena near the Argentinian city San Miguel de Tucuman. A man is sitting under a parasol. He is drinking a huge cup of coffee and is smoking. On his knees he has a map of a part of a country showing many military symbols. The man is mumbling: “The delay at the Kiev pocket ... that was the fault …”

Review

Here I want to give some feedback about this mod to McGuba.

First I want to say that my impression is very positive. I liked to play this huge map and for this long time. Something that I always missed in Panzer General and Panzer Corps.

I liked especially the story windows popping up very often at the begin of the Axis rounds. I had the feeling that there are much more in the first half than in the second half of the play time. I would wish to have more of them also in the second half.

AAs seems to be much weaker than in the main game. It is frustrating not beeing able to shoot down an enemy unit with 4 Flaks firing one after the other.

The allied airdrop mission (Market Garden) in 44 is overpowered. The overstrengthed parachute soldiers appear on the map and can immediately attack. If they catch a railroad transport in a city they destroy it immediately. I wished that they could not attack in the round they landed like the Axis parachute soldiers. Then the Axis has at least one round to prepare for the upcoming attack of the Allies.

AA often can’t fire at planes even in range. You have to move the AA first. Seems to be a bug.

While the invasions are ongoing all Axis units at the beaches get strong damage (3 per turn) due to battleship bombardment. I understand this mechanism to keep the Axis units away from the beaches and keep room for the Allied units to disembark (even if all Anglo-American battleships were already sunk). I would prefer to have a mark on the map where this effect will happen. First I thought it can only happen to hex fields adjacent to a sea hex field. But I also had hex fields in the “second row” that were bombarded, too.

In the last winter there should be a real strong and quick Russian attack to the west. The Russians have so many units in Kursk and Moscow but attack only with some few troops that were even not able to reach Berlin before round 99 even without resistance.


Summary of the play through:

Around round 40 I realized that my initial strategy will never work. I wanted to capture very quickly the Caucasus and from there the oil fields near Bagdad as safe prestige sources. Holding northern Africa, the Near East and the Caucasus would be a safe position in the southeast corner of the map for the years 44 and 45.

But I was too slow in the Caucasus and the Afrika Korps was defeated near Kairo. I didn’t use the railroads effectively in the first years and did not upgrade consequently my units in time. The first two winters I was not preparing a good defense for the Russian winter offensives.

Now in round 99 it is clearly a loss for the Axis even if huge parts of Europe are still under German control. The Anglo-Americans and Red Army would only need some more rounds to finish the Wehrmacht with their planes and the Red Army tanks.

Reading from JimmyC’s report, being active in the west seems to be the better alternative as to focus all activities only in the east. If I would do a Sea Lion operation I would also try to land in the western part of England far away from the strong forces in the east. So the mod should have some counter measures against this strategy and not make it too easy to land in the west. I expected that JimmyC’s troops would heavily be attacked by ships and bombers if he tries to land in England. But this did not happen.

For sure I will play this mod again and try a different strategy.

GeneralWerner wrote: AA often can’t fire at planes even in range. You have to move the AA first. Seems to be a bug.

It's just a bug with the crosshair not appearing sometimes. But you can fire anyway, just right-click on the target. Btw, I would recommend upgrading all your AA to 88Flak right at the start. It's relatively cheap and worth the investment.

GeneralWerner wrote:Reading from JimmyC’s report, being active in the west seems to be the better alternative as to focus all activities only in the east. If I would do a Sea Lion operation I would also try to land in the western part of England far away from the strong forces in the east. So the mod should have some counter measures against this strategy and not make it too easy to land in the west. I expected that JimmyC’s troops would heavily be attacked by ships and bombers if he tries to land in England. But this did not happen.

It sounds easier than it actually is. There are mines in the way, the RN will dispatch ships from Scapa Flow, and Bombers in range will attack your ships, too. I lost 4 of my 11 units before I could land, and in addition I had to land some of my troops in the SW and some others in Wales to prevent further losses. In consequence my corps was scattered, and lost a good bit of punch, which ultimately lead to the failure of the operation.
Next time I'll try a more conservative approach and use the area south of London. Shorter ways, easier to provide air cover, longer ways for RN Capital Ships to sour the milk. Just requires the 2 Heavy Cruisers in the ports of Plymouth and London to be taken care of, but that isn' too hard to achieve with submarines.

I'm glad to hear that most of the main characters from your AAR went on to have happy lives!

GeneralWerner wrote: AA often can’t fire at planes even in range. You have to move the AA first. Seems to be a bug.

Its the same with the main game (not just this mod). You have to toggle between air and land view. Then it will let you shoot.

Regarding invading UK (Sea Lion) i think the key is to gain air superiority and to destroy all nearby British vessels. You concentrate your own vessels and use them to bombard the enemy ground units in the area you land. I landed in South West England and Wales. It was easier than i thought, as very limited counterattack by British forces (almost no counterattack) and your naval bombardment clears the way for the ground units. Mines are massively annoying though. So, so annoying! But that will change in the next version Make sure you have enough fighters to protect your forces too.

My other tip (apart from rushing Moscow) is to adopt an appropriate defensive stance in the East for the Russian winter counterattacks. In that case you can mostly keep your units alive, whilst containing the enemy.

I will try to update my progress, but i have little time to play recently. I am only in June '43...

By the way, what was the official result that the game told you? Minor victory or defeat?

Many thanks for your comprehensive feedback and a most entertaining AAR!

It has been a great pleasure and a lot of fun to read it. I imagine that writers who has the chance to see their novels making it to the big screen has a similar feeling.

JimmyC wrote:So what was the final result - loss or draw?

Seeing the last screenshot of the map I am afraid it has to be a loss. Maybe I am wrong, but it looks as though there is an allied unit in Wien (Vienna), which, after the Anschluss of 1938 became part of Germany together with all of Austria. Thus the minimum condition for a draw, i.e. to keep all victory objective cities in Germany in the last turn, was not met. However, I am not 100% sure due to the reduced size of that screenshot.

Also, I am not sure if it was intentional to neglect the defense of Vienna in favour of an attempted counter offensive towards Romania. Maybe it is not obvious that Vienna is regarded as part of Germany in the time of the mod? Maybe I should add some additional markers to the German cities that the player has to hold for a draw to make it more explicit? Probably.

Reading throught this AAR I found the following possible mistakes which could had an effect on the outcome:
- I still think the original strategy to take the Caucasus and Leningrad first is not necessarily a bad idea, however it has the clear drawback that it creates a very long frontline which is very hard to defend. Even then, if the Kiev pocket was closed on time and the losses during the first two winters were lower it could have been possible to beat the USSR by early/mid 1944. It is possible that at some later time I will attempt to beat the mod in this way.
- Also, as GeneralWerner wrote, a more effective use of the railroad system and more thought over unit upgrades could have resulted in a better concentration of the available assets for a more favourable outcome. For example, I think the purchase of a second Tiger I tank unit was not a very good idea as in this mod for the price of one Tiger I (1230pp) the player could purchase 2-3 Pz.IVGs (498-521pp each) or 3-4 StuGIIIGs (410-353pp each) instead. And indeed, while historically a Tiger I cost some 250,000 Reichsmarks, a late Panzer IV was about 100,000 RM and a StuGIIIG was only 82,000 RM. These prices are well represented in this mod, which mostly uses deducter's prices in this regard. Also, in the next version I plan to further reduce the price of Panther tanks as historically they were only 10-15% more expensive than a Pz.IVH. Historically a lot more Panthers were made than Tigers so I would like to make it a more tempting option for the players. Another change would be a slightly lower ground defense value for the Tiger I as although it had more overall armour than the Panther, the latter was better protected from the front thanks to its sloped armour. But, to keep the balance of the mod the "gift" Tiger will come with Otto Carius, a +2 defense hero, so it will only affect any further Tigers possibly purchased by the players. Anyway, I already wanted to add a hero to that Tiger as historically Tigers were crewed by veteran tankers so it was a bit weird to get it almost "green".

GeneralWerner wrote:I liked especially the story windows popping up very often at the begin of the Axis rounds. I had the feeling that there are much more in the first half than in the second half of the play time. I would wish to have more of them also in the second half.

I keep adding these, but most of the time I concentrate on other, more important aspects of the mod, like balancing and AI scripting and stuff like that. My time is also somewhat limited so I have to prioritize things and I mostly regard these "flavour" or immersion things secondary to playability and historical accuracy. And yet still, in each new version of the mod there is a few new in game messages, but it is true that there is more in the beginning than in the final stage. The reason for it is quite simple: it is much easier to predict what can happen in the first turns than in the last ones. The more turns we make the higher the number of the possible "paralel universes" will be. As players come up with seemingly unlimited strategies it is impossible to predict what the situation will be in anyone's game in let's say turn 72. Thus it is harder and harder to create meaningful and reasonable messages for the later stages of the mod.

AAs seems to be much weaker than in the main game. It is frustrating not beeing able to shoot down an enemy unit with 4 Flaks firing one after the other.

It is intentional, and I especially like this change that I borrowed from deducter's equipment mod. I seriously do not like the idea to defend an objective or a whole country with land based AA guns only. Historical account of the 20th century wars show that it was never fully successful. Anti aircraft guns alone could rarely stop a determined bombing force from releasing their bombs over the target, moreso to totally destroy a bomber formation. In order to achieve air superiority over an area you need fighters. So I was kind of pleased to read in your AAR several times that German AA can only "disturb" the allied bombers but not destroy them. I think it is well in accordance with the historical events. Especially the American heavy bombers flew at very high altitudes, almost as high as today's commercial airliners. It is very hard to hit an aircraft which flies that high as by the time the shell reaches that altitude the plane moves away. So obviously you need to get correct aiming data first (altitude, speed, direction) which is not easy without sophisitcated radars, and then you have to aim in front of the plane, but what if it changes its altitude, speed or direction in the meantime? Basically that's why armies decided to use surface to air missiles after WW2 instead of heavy AA guns.

The allied airdrop mission (Market Garden) in 44 is overpowered. The overstrengthed parachute soldiers appear on the map and can immediately attack. If they catch a railroad transport in a city they destroy it immediately. I wished that they could not attack in the round they landed like the Axis parachute soldiers. Then the Axis has at least one round to prepare for the upcoming attack of the Allies.

For some reason I could not make it happen in the "traditional" way, maybe later I will give it another try.

AA often can’t fire at planes even in range. You have to move the AA first. Seems to be a bug.

As it was said earlier you have to change the air/ground view with the button on the UI or by pressing the TAB. It comes from the base game and not a "bug" in the mod. It is just not very well communicated.

While the invasions are ongoing all Axis units at the beaches get strong damage (3 per turn) due to battleship bombardment. I understand this mechanism to keep the Axis units away from the beaches and keep room for the Allied units to disembark (even if all Anglo-American battleships were already sunk). I would prefer to have a mark on the map where this effect will happen. First I thought it can only happen to hex fields adjacent to a sea hex field. But I also had hex fields in the “second row” that were bombarded, too.

It should only happen on hexes next to the sea. I will check it again, maybe I added some more erroneously. Unfortunately currently I cannot add a mark to these hexes as the same AI zone is used for other things as well, so if I mark those hexes some other hexes on the map would get the mark as well, which have nothing to do with the allied landings. There are only 32 available AI zones in the game engine and I had to use these to simulate all the various events and objectives of the whole war between 1941-45. I can only say is not enough.

In the last winter there should be a real strong and quick Russian attack to the west. The Russians have so many units in Kursk and Moscow but attack only with some few troops that were even not able to reach Berlin before round 99 even without resistance.

In some cases the AI units can get stuck: slower moving units close the way in front of the faster ones and the AI is just not smart enough to overcome this traffic jam as it moves the different unit types in sequence. Also, in the mod the Soviet units first build up in those areas and then they are supposed to start offensives at certain turns all together for more effect. However, in v1.5 it seems to be a bit bugged as it not always happens as it should. Hopefully in the next version it will be better (and even more harder for people being on the losing path). In an earlier testgame of mine the Soviets and the Americans met exactly where they should in 1945 if I played historically. So probably your playing strategy, e.g. holding Leningrad and the Caucasus for so long, messed up things a bit, so the Red Army first went for those objectives before going for Berlin. If you play unhistorically you cannot expect a historical result.

Reading from JimmyC’s report, being active in the west seems to be the better alternative as to focus all activities only in the east.

I believe that the biggest German strategic mistake in WW2 was to invade the USSR before finishing off the British. One of the main causes for the failure of the Battle of Britian in 1940 was the limited range of the Bf-109E. These fighters could only spend like 10-15 minutes at best fighting the Spitfires over enemy territory before they had to turn back home as they were running out of fuel. However, in 1941 the Bf-190F had started to replace the earlier E model, and it had a much increased range which could have made it a more useful fighter plane in a possible invasion. Also, the Fw-190 was introduced in the same year and it was superior to the best British fighter of the time, the Spitfire V. With these planes the Germans could have achieved a better result in 1941-42, the only problem was that the bulk of the Luftwaffe was commited to the East with only a few fighter units defending in France and Germany. Even these limited forces were able to hold the British at bay and force them to resort to night bombing to avoid excessive losses.

If I would do a Sea Lion operation I would also try to land in the western part of England far away from the strong forces in the east. So the mod should have some counter measures against this strategy and not make it too easy to land in the west. I expected that JimmyC’s troops would heavily be attacked by ships and bombers if he tries to land in England. But this did not happen.

Actually I did not expect it as a possible landing area mainly due to the limited space to land the units and also due to its relative distance from the European mainland. I agree that it should be made a bit harder, and I will see if I can do something about it. Also, currently I happen to live in the South West and there are indeed some WW2 bunkers here and there down the seaside, meaning that the British might have actually expected something in the area, at least.

McGuba wrote: Seeing the last screenshot of the map I am afraid it has to be a loss. Maybe I am wrong, but it looks as though there is an allied unit in Wien (Vienna), which, after the Anschluss of 1938 became part of Germany together with all of Austria. Thus the minimum condition for a draw, i.e. to keep all victory objective cities in Germany in the last turn, was not met. However, I am not 100% sure due to the reduced size of that screenshot.

The scenario isn't very clear on this, I agree. Maybe write "Keep all objectives in Germany as it was in 1939" for the draw condition. Otherwise I consider 1936 as the benchmak date, Austria to be Austria, Northern Poland to be Poland etc.

McGuba wrote:

GeneralWerner wrote:I liked especially the story windows popping up very often at the begin of the Axis rounds. I had the feeling that there are much more in the first half than in the second half of the play time. I would wish to have more of them also in the second half.

I keep adding these, but most of the time I concentrate on other, more important aspects of the mod, like balancing and AI scripting and stuff like that. My time is also somewhat limited so I have to prioritize things and I mostly regard these "flavour" or immersion things secondary to playability and historical accuracy. And yet still, in each new version of the mod there is a few new in game messages, but it is true that there is more in the beginning than in the final stage. The reason for it is quite simple: it is much easier to predict what can happen in the first turns than in the last ones. The more turns we make the higher the number of the possible "paralel universes" will be. As players come up with seemingly unlimited strategies it is impossible to predict what the situation will be in anyone's game in let's say turn 72. Thus it is harder and harder to create meaningful and reasonable messages for the later stages of the mod.

You could add some events about what's happening in the Pacific though (like in 1942 "We have heard that our Japanese friends have had a devastating failure at Midway") - those will be able to fill up all but the first 10 turns, as the Pacific War goes on until just after BE ends... or perhaps you need to make Battlefield Pacific!

General Werner: Great job on not completely dying!

- BNC