Victor (axis) vs Pion Urpo (allies).

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:09 pm

This will be my second AAR. As free time is very expensive I would not post a turn by turn AAR but a simplified AAR focussing only in the more interesting campaigns and scenarios. It all will be played with large counters. I will be using zoom 3 if possible. If not possible, I would be using zoom 1 with some zooms in determined areas where engagements or important battles require it.

Turn 1. September 1, 1939.

Germany invades Poland.

German infantry forces remove a barrier in a border post

In septermber 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland without a previous declaration of war. German ground troops crossed the frontier and the first engagements with polish army patrols and polish border police occurred. Third german Army was supposed to rapidly progress to Warsaw because of its nearness to the polish capital but soon the germans encountered the first serious polish resistance.

As you can see in the map below that shows the dispositions of both german and polish forces at the eve of Case White, Third german Army was stationed in East Prussia whilst Fourth german Army was in Pomerania. Third Army main forces had Warsaw as their main objective but some other forces of this army would join Fourth Army from Pomerania to secure the occupation of Danzig Corridor. Both Third and Fourth german Armies formed Army Group North.

Army Group South forces were far stronger than the ones in the north: it was integrated by 3 german Armies: 8th, 10th and 14th. Particularly strong was the Tenth german Army that would be the Army to directly strike against Warsaw.

Many other wargames out there include accurate and historical OOB´s. Right now it can be said that CEAW GS includes an accurate Case White OOB. You can see in the image above that the initial disposition of forces in CEAW GS match with the showed in the map above.

Now it is time to play!

I played a rather normal 1st axis turn with the main advance to Warsaw from the units of 10th german Army. Lodz was seized and the losses were reasonably low.

I bought 1st german navy lab focussed in submarines and Von Rundstedt took command of Western front forces HQ in Essen.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:48 am

Turn 2. September 21, 1939.

Warsaw still holds.

History tell us that the final german assault to Warsaw started on september 26 and hostilities finally ceased on 27 at 14:00. Warsaw offered a though resistance to the assaulting german forces and losses were high.

German 150mm howitzer firing on Warsaw

On the first allies turn, polish army made some counterattacks to german attacking forces but without important losses. Second turn started and I was expecting to get the usual polish surrender on this turn. But it wasn´t so. The fact is that I did all as always use to do in Poland campaign but I really got bad results when attacking Warsaw no matter the city was attacked from 5 sides. Warsaw defenders hold at 1 step. Anyway the rests of the polish army were almost wiped out so no chance for more polish counterattacks.

The fact is that now that Low Countries dispositions and conditions have changed it does not mind much if you get Poland in 2 or 3 turns. That´s why I even rebase V Fliegerkorps (german strat) from the west.

2 more labs bought: infantry and air (focussed in dog fight). Submarine fleet is now at sea ready to hunt...

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:02 pm

Turn 3. October 11, 1939.

In the real war, Warsaw surrenders to the germans on 27 september but fighting still goes on in many polish cities and villages. It was on 1 october at 17:00 when all resistance ceased after the polish accepted the german terms of the unconditional surrender.

Polish soldiers marching out of the city after the surrender of Warsaw

Back to our game, the weather turns to mud on this third turn which was not obstacle at all for the germans to defeat the last polish resistance in the capital.

1st industry german lab was bought as well as the first strategic redeployments to the west were made.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:40 pm

Turn 11. March 19, 1940.

Nothing relevant happens between october 1939 and march 1940. Only to mention that a british DD was ambushed by a german uboat which had not major consequences.

In the real WW2, Germany invaded both Belgium and Holland in may 10, 1940 and, as in Poland, without a previous declaration of war. Both countries fell into german hands pretty soon but specially Holland that surrenders to Germany on 15 may. Belgium surrenders later on 28 may.

In CEAW-GS, the starting date for Case Yelow uses to be on february-april 1940. As you can see this date is similar to the historical one unless the axis player has choosen to invade both countries in autumn 1939. In this last case, there are more risks of not achieving to conquer both countries on the same turn which is a prerequisite for the effectiveness penalty to be applied to allied units.

Anyway, I have choosen in this game to start it on spring 1940 so here we go. In the image below, it is showed the initial dispositions of the german army for the campaign. Red arrows shows the infantry attacks that are going to be made firstly and without any air support. Both Belgium and Holland get a effectiveness penalty of 20 once DOWed so infantry gets really favourable odds in these assaults.

This time all happens as expected and the troops reached their objectives without any problems. Only some fighters opposition of french and british air forces. The combat results of these air engagements scored a stalemate: 3:3 with the RAF and 1:1 with the Armee de l´Air.

Pion Urpo has built a double defensive line and his french garrisons will likely occupy the west bank of Schelde river. He surely wants to cause a bottleneck of the geman mech and armoured units so they hardly can maneuver. We´ll see how this goes.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:32 pm

Turn 12. April 8, 1940.

As expected french army took positions in Schelde river. I railed two german garrisons to Antwerp since that way seems to be closed! So I decided to focus instead in destroying offensive capabilities of french army. The result was a combined attack of panzers and Ju 87´s that destroyed 1 french mech and 1 french corps near Reims. Only french fighter opposition; probably RAF forces in France used this turn for repairs so I also took the chance for repairing german fighter at 7 steps. This is the other main objective for this campaign: to keep Luftwaffe losses low.

Also, I railed a corps close to a Maginot line hole made by french forces last turn. Fallschirmjager division will be railed next turn to Brussels to get range for future airborne operations.

I will post an image of axis current lab situation.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:25 pm

Turn 13. April 28, 1940.

Urpo railed 2 french garrisons to cover the hole in his lines. As you can see one of them has its effectiveness very low (red).

I decided to attack those units recently deployed with concentrated firepower from both the panzers and Luftwaffe so they resulted heavily decimated or destroyed. German infantry had only to advance or finish off those units.

Allied units probably aren´t still ready for an effective counterattack but who knows. Anyway, I will be glad if in the following turn I can achieve a breakthrough in the forests.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:52 pm

Turn 14. May 18, 1940.

Still no allied counterattacks. Urpo is only deploying garrison units in front of the germans to delay their advance. Since many of these garrisons are railed from other sectors of the front their effectiveness is low so they are a rather easy target for the germans.

Progress is slow because of the many garrison units deployed so we go for a late fall of France but this is intended since I want to avoid losses.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:00 pm

Turn 15. June 7, 1940.

Forget to take screenshots of this turn but no need to since it was more of the same. Only to mention that it was dropped a Fallschirmjager division to interfere in french retreats and hoping to accelerate the advance of the german army units. Also, it is time to rebase some Luftwaffe wings to Belgium since they are actually out of range of enemy units.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 10:49 am

Turn 16. June 27, 1940

No screenshots again since I was a little bit in a hurry. Only to mention that german paratroopers division was destroyed by the allies and the germans in the very following turn destroyed a french HQ mech and seized Reims. Italy joins the axis.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:34 pm

Turn 17. July 17, 1940

German troops with the help of the Luftwaffe overrun french defenses in Yonne river and now the panzers are seriously threatening the french capital from the south. Schelde river line was abandoned by the french so the germans followed these retreating forces and harassed them.

As promised, these are current german tech levels.

France should reasonably falls in 2-3 turns. The fact is that german units are in a good position for occupying southern France: this would mean to reject french armistice.

Blunder · Post by **Blunder** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:55 pm

Very interesting AAR!

I notice that you have constructed a second STR rather than a fourth TAC. Interesting choice.
I am assuming you are planning to bomb London/Moscow. I am wondering if this is worth the
effort. Sure, the loss of British income will add up over time. However, the Axis will also be forced to
spend PP's on keeping the STRs up to strength.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:55 pm

Turn 18. August 6, 1940.

May be France will fall slightly sooner than planned since Urpo likely will evacuate BEF back to UK. Wehrmacht has now the chance of attacking Paris from 4 sides and with complete air superiority since Urpo has withdrawn RAF forces in France.

In the Med, I rebased Regia Aeronautica Squadras to Sicily and the italian aircrafts spotted that AHQ Malta was reinforced to 10 steps. Italian light tanks were sent to Africa where, on the previous turn, Graziani took command of the Regio Esercito in Africa.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:12 pm

Blunder wrote:Very interesting AAR!

I notice that you have constructed a second STR rather than a fourth TAC. Interesting choice.
I am assuming you are planning to bomb London/Moscow. I am wondering if this is worth the
effort. Sure, the loss of British income will add up over time. However, the Axis will also be forced to
spend PP's on keeping the STRs up to strength.

Thanks!

I usually build a second strat for the germans. As you have mentioned strats have mainly a strategic bombing role but they also are good long range bombers when units are out of range of tacs so they become very useful for finishing off units at 1 or 2 steps. Not sure about starting a blitz against London and other english cities. My strategy in France has been to keep german air units losses low and, on the other hand, when I finished off France it will be almost autumn so I probably will not attack UK.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 10:52 pm

Turns 19 and 20. August 26 to September 15, 1940.

France surrenders.

France falls on september 1940 (turn 20). This is pretty late for trying anything else in western Europe. Anyway, objective of keeping german losses low was rather accomplished. Air losses still can be reduced but they are fine enough. Take a look at Fall of France stats:

My opponent is a tough one. I have played against him before and he does not waste/sacrifice his troops without a cause. That´s why british suffered no losses in infantry. In the image above it is showed the situation of the front on the turn that France falls:

I am getting used to this strategy of pushing through the forests instead of the more classical of pushing in the center. Advantage is that your troops are always supported by air attacks and, on the other hand, german air units almost don´t need to be rebased until the very last turns when the germans assault the french capital. Paris is reached from the south and the garrisons north of the capital become almost useless. Urpo withdrew its french fighter since I look for this unit without finding it. He might have believed that I was going to reject french armistice and probably I would have thought twice about that if Italy would not have entered at war so late.

Now it is time to look to the Med. Bad weather will make operations tougher and costly so probably no action will be made in Europe until 1941. So italians began to prepare to face the brits. A reconnaissance submarine flotilla in eastern Mediterranean waters discovered an increasing number of british naval units deployed there.

If we add to this that Malta fighter was inmediately reinforced to 10 steps we can conclude that my opponent is going to give this scenario a considerable importance.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:20 pm

Turn 26. January 13, 1941.

France fell 6 turns ago but little things have happened during this period. Only to mention that Denmark was invaded and surrendered to Germany in october 1940. Also, italian and germans were busy in building their respective african armies that were finally deployed after minimal harassment from RN subs.

A 44-strength central convoy was finally sunk after being spotted close to USA coasts. Anyway, since then, german U-boats were not lucky in spotting some more "preys".

Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe actually are busy building a strong army that will likely invade USSR in the current year. I will post an image with the available axis forces for this huge campaign.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:22 pm

Turn 32. May 13, 1941

Operation Barbarossa.

Some historical background. Hitler issued Directive 21 (Operation Barbarossa) on 18 December 1940: this is 6 months before the invasion effectively started. So the Führer had planned to attack the USSR "even before the conclusion of the war against England" as it exactly reads in the document which also included a date for the preparations to be completed: 15 May 1941. This date was to be delayed because of the campaign in the Balkans so Operation Barbarossa finally started in 22 june 1941.

Back to our game and, as promised, in the image below are showed the initial dispositions of german forces and allys for Barbarossa. Red arrows show initial attacks that are going to be made without or minimal air support. The goal is that ALL the deployed german units have the chance to target a single objective so the units move from rearguard to front line: rearguard units move first and make the initial assaults so front line units exploit the breakthroughs and/or finish off attacked units. Paratroops will be dropped in soviet rearguard to interfere in its retreats. Urpo has deployed a soviet garrison north of Vinnitsa that makes impossible for the panzers to make a surprise attack in this sector because of ZOC.

Germans attacks went as expected and the Wehrmacht helped by its allys completely overrun soviet border forces. Kaunas, Vilnius and Lvov were captured by the germans and a number of soviet garrisons were pocketed in western Ukraine. Airborne operations in Vinnitsa went reasonably well and the paratroopers even achieved to force a soviet mech corps to retreat to Pripet Marshes.

Model will take soon command of the forces of Army Group North since Center and South Army Groups already have their generals: Manstein and Rundstedt respectively.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:18 pm

Turn 33. June 2, 1941

Red Army performed a delaying action in Vinnitsa.

So weaker axis forces in this sector of the front could not completely overrun these forces. Further north, Wehrmacht captured Riga, Minsk and Brest-Litovsk whilst first armoured reconnaissance vehicles reached Dnepr river.

I bought Model HQ that will take command of german forces in northern USSR. First finland attacks to soviet positions near Leningrad.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:13 pm

Turn 34. June 22, 1941

Wehrmacht advance is a little bit slow in the south because of this is the sector of the front where are mainly deployed minor axis allies units which have weaker combat factors than the german ones. Anyway, Vinnitsa was captured by the italians. Since I have not launched Yugoslavia invasion, all the italian that supposed to be fighting against the partisans are deployed in USSR. I have planned to deploy in USSR a significant italian army of 10 infantry corps units.

German infantry forces started attacking Pskov that will likely fall on the next turn. Reinforcements will be quickly railed to this city and (hopefully) to Vitebesk to start the decisive assault to Novgorod-Kalinin line.

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:17 pm

Turn 35. July 12, 1941.

Great territorial gains of axis forces this turn: Pskov, Vitebesk, Smolensk, Bryansk, Kiev and Krivoy Rog were captured. There were also combats in Gomel, Kherson and Chisinau. Lonely russian steppes are the ideal terrain for the german panzers to progress so it would be a great sucess if the german armoured forces supported by a siginificant infantry force from minor allies can achieve to seize both Kursk and Kharkov. Anyway, if they fail to conquer those mentioned cities, Dnepropetrovsk is a MUST HAVE for the axis forces in the south.

The capture of Smolensk in the center surely will force Urpo to care a little bit more about Moscow since I only have spotted a depleted garrison close to soviet capital.

Leningrad front will see an intense activity next turn: assault to the city of Novgorod is going to be made inmediately and finnish army reaching outskirts of Leningrad makes me also think in more things...

gerones · Post by **gerones** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:12 pm

Turn 36. August 1, 1941.

Soviet main defensive line was spotted: it forms a continued line from Leningrad to Orel and from here to Rostov is more discontinuous. It was also spotted soviet organization of the different sectors of the front with their respective HQ´s: Leningrad Front in the north, Moscow Front in the center and Southern Front in the south. They are respectively opposed to german North, Center and South Army Groups. As you can see, Moscow Front is the strongest one whilst the Southern is the weakest the same way that it happens with the axis forces.

As planned, Whermacht started the attack in Leningrad front with heavy air support from Luftwaffe units that were rebased to Vitebesk-Smolensk area. Initial soviet positions were overrun so first german reconnaissance patrols reached the outskirts of Leningrad. There were also attacks in the defensive line between Novgorod and Kalinin where that line is a little bit thinner than around Leningrad. Advances in the south were far more spectacular: panzer formations moving fast through russian steppes reached the vicinities of Kursk and Kharkov where the weak soviet defenses there couldn´t do almost nothing to stop the tanks. Highlighted areas in the image below are zoomed for better seeing main Eastern front engagements.

Leningrad Front

Southern Front

Also to mention that Talllin was seized by german infantry forces.