Slitherine

Hi all! I’m about to start an AAR story for the superb Battlefield Europe 1.9 mod of PC.
If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to try it here:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 47&t=47985

It will surely blow your mind.

For this AAR, I will use the 1941, December save to spice things up.
So, without further ado, I give you the first pages of the diary of Sebastian Toth…

Diary of ReichMarshall Sebastian Toth

Christmas day, 1945.
War is over. Millions of lives lost. Cities and towns burnt to the ground while men killed men with a degree of hate not seen in the past. What was it for? Honor, glory and patriotism? Or was it race, ideology and Lebensraum?
I have lived my whole life in the military. My father was a captain in the Kaiser's armies and my grandfather fought at Sedan. But my involvement in the war came unexpectedly in December 1941. I'm publishing my personal diaries from those years to shed some light for future historians.
For me, the first years of the war were spent on the Army High command as a General sit in Berlin in charge of the Heer office for supplies.
Over and over most of the army high command objected Hitler's attacks on Germany's neighbors. I was part of this group and presented to Hitler himself charts and statistics that clearly showed we couldn't won the war. He never listened. And, between 1938 and 1941, he was right. Poland, Norway, French and the Balkans all fell under the might of German armies.
So, once dictator Adolf Hitler decided to launch Operation Barbarossa, very few opposed his plans. During the first months, things seemed to go well while at the same time we struggled to make sure the front-line soldiers received their share of petrol, food and ammunition.
By November some of us knew things were moving to disaster. The mud season and the sharp drop of the temperature stalled our advance just outside of Moscow.
With our armies freezing in the east, dictator Hitler decided to declare war on the United States in early December. That was too much. The military leaders took decisive action and the Nazi leadership was removed from every single aspect of the government and the military. The SS didn't put much of a fight.
In one of the strangest political maneuvers I've seen in my life, the leaders of the nation appointed me as supreme leader of the war effort. I have authority over the Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. My mandate is simple, save Germany from disaster in the east in order to buy time for a peace settlement with our enemies. My diary starts here.


December 10th, 1941. Berlin.
Today I received command over the armed forces. All units have been notified and, while we expected some generals to openly defy the order and ignite a civil war, the situation in the eastern front is so critical that no word of dissent is heard. The diplomatic corps have already opened channels with England, France and the Soviet Union to agree to a ceasefire.
I have summoned all field marshals for an urgent meeting in an undisclosed location near Warsaw. The meeting is in 6 days. I hope the Foreign office will have signed the ceasefire by then. But first, I have to assess the military situation.

West front
In the west, the war by land is over but the war in the air and sea continues to rage on. Although Admiral Raeder is a fervent believer of raiding the convoy routes, I believe this to be a waste of resources. Intelligence reports the Brits will launch an invasion of Europe in '42 and I expect the U-boats to wreak havoc on the invasion fleet.
I gave orders for all capital ships and submarines to return to German soil. With the Americans on the other side, it's a matter of time than the north Atlantic is a cemetery of German sailors. Raeder and Donitz complained vehemently over 2 hours and I know they didn't leave happy with my decision. I should be cautious about then. Did I already gain 2 enemies on my first day in office?



The air war will not be won with the current resources. More planes need to be transferred from the Mediterranean theater and the Eastern front to defeat the RAF before the Americans arrive. The new Focke Wulf promises to be a better plane than the Messerschmitt BF 109 so production needs to be increased.

Mediterranean theatre

General Rommel has proved to be a very capable commander. His army was the only one fighting Britain armies till a few weeks ago, when the Japanese attacked the British colonies. He needs more support from us and he will get it. I've given orders to start an attack the Malta fortress immediately. The Italians will have to do their share and the Regia Marina will have to bet its future in one gamble against that island. Once that's cleared, Rommel should get enough supplies to keep the British busy in the desert and not planning to invade France.



For the time being, I have approved his plan to stop the enemy tanks once for all. The Italian infantry will hold the ground near the coast while the German and Italian tanks will move through the desert in order to outflank the enemy. If this plan fails, it will be the last gamble of the Afrika Korps.



Ostfront

The mother of all battles. Most of the soldiers of our army are currently freezing on the steppes of this damned country. The Russian soldier has proved to be a fierce fighter and refuses to surrender long after his western counterparts would have done so. The Russian tanks, specially the new ones, have proved to be superior to our own panzers. Only in the air we maintain superiority.
For the time being, I have ordered all units to retreat 100 kilometers to the west to better defensive positions. I hope we will be able to move to winter quarters for the next months. All offensives stop immediately.
Here’s the proposed lines in the south. If line #1 fails, we will retreat to the Dnieper. There will be no more talk of taking Rostov:


Near Moscow our situation is more critical. Our divisions are exposed and understrength. Line #1 will be our first fallback position but if it doesn’t hold, we will retreat to #2 and avoid all hope of taking Moscow in ’42.


The only exception to this strategy is Leningrad. The city is about to fall and is completely encircled while the bulk of the soviet army is near Moscow. We can fend their attacks and slowly build momentum for a final push into the city in 1942. With it conquered, we will be able to link with the Finns who are more used to fight in the crude winter than ourselves.




December 15th, undisclosed location near Warsaw.

The Foreign Office sued for a ceasefire to no gain. The list of requests from the Allies is outrageous. They demanded unconditional surrender, millions of US dollars in reparation and a retreat to pre-1938 borders, including the evacuation of Prussia. Of Prussia!!! They see our coup not as a sign of military strength but as a sign of weakness. They are wrong.
We will never surrender. Germany will never surrender. Prussia will continue to be part of Germany.
The decision has been made. War will go on. God help us all.

December 16th, undisclosed location near Warsaw.
Notes for the meeting with the Field Marshalls:
My strategy in the east will surely shock many people in the audience so I will say it bluntly... I want to Retreat.
Retreat from our current positions back to where we can defend ourselves. If the statistics we have are accurate, the Russians will continue to launch men and tanks into our armies making it impossible to advance. The war will not be won in the east, but in the west.
We will transfer artillery, planes and the best of our army from Russia to France to prepare for an invasion of England in late 1942. The logic behind this plan is simple. We have to knock Britain out of the war before the Americans can start unloading infantry and tanks in the British Isles. Intelligence expects this to happen in the second semester of 1943 so we have to own those islands by then.
Therefore, I command that a quarter of all fighters in the east shall be transferred to France immediately. In addition to that, all Strategic bombers units will do the same. They will be needed to sunk the Royal Navy when they attack our invasion fleet.
The Italian navy will bomb Malta into submission to allow supplies to reach Rommel properly. He will entertain the brits in the desert without much support from our mainland army.
In the Ostfront we will build anti-tank trenches, bunkers and minefields to multiply our defensive power. The Russians leaders have proved to be careless of the suffering of their units when attacking so we will give them the pleasure of taking the initiative for the foreseeable future. If things go as planned, once Britain is out of the equation and counting their casualties by the millions, they will sue for peace.
There’s always the possibility than the military leaders overthrown Stalin for the good of their country.
We will gamble Germany future on that possibility. They don’t want to discuss a honorable ceasefire so we will continue to make our enemies pay each square meter gained with blood and tears. The German army will never surrender. There will not be a repetition of 1918.
Dismiss!


 
December 31st, undisclosed location near Smolensk.
Cold. The cold is everywhere. It hurts when I breath. It hurts when I walk. It hurts. I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like out there in the frontlines.
I moved to Smolensk as the situation in this sector is the most critical of all. Unfortunately, the Soviets have launched an offensive towards Smolensk and although our divisions have been reinforced with new recruits, we continue to fight for our lives.
I have ordered the units in the sector to fall back to the Rhezv, Viazma Bryanks line that was the second line of retreat. Some units to the north will have to be sacrificed in order to gain time for the rest of the front to stabilize. Poor souls.

To the south, situation is more stable and we continue to defend Stalino. However, the 9th Panzer division is paying a heavy price for this feat. It will consume itself in that city while the rest of the army retreats to the west. The soviets prepared a nasty surprise and are using their black fleet to bombard our positions in Mariupol. God damned them.

I’ve been informed by the Luftwaffe that the first air divisions are moving west as planned. The Brandenburg unit will also be part of the invasion of England. Their specific skills will be much more useful there than in the endless landscape of Ukraine.


February 21stt, undisclosed location near Warsaw.
Over the last two months I hardly slept. I imagine that every single German home is going through some kind of similar hell than mine so I have to keep going.
Against all odds the situation in all frontlines have been stabilized.

Mediterranean theatre

Rommel did it again! The british army is losing many tanks against Rommel’s defense near El Agheila. His use of the ’88 flak units against tanks is a masterpiece. The enemy is running short of supplies being so far away from his bases while our soldiers stockpile ammo and petrol for the upcoming offensive.

To the north, the Italians are bombarding Malta every day. The fortress seems impregnatable but the air war is almost won by our fighters. Transferring al German planes to this sector has proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle and we currently bombard Malta from the air as well.
It is estimated that it will fall by June unless the Royal Navy makes a surprise attack. We must remain vigilant.


Ostfront

Near Moscow the situation has been finally stabilized. Our armies have lost thousands of lives but the line holds firm. In fact, I have made orders to reoccupy the defenses north of Kaluga if possible. Maybe Moscow is still within our reach?
Some Siberian units have tried to outflank our army to the north but we managed to fend off their attacks and provoke heavy losses. I have commended Von Bock for his exploits in this sector.


In Leningrad the situation is more critical than I would have expected. Our units are not getting the necessary ammunition and the line is barely holding. Fortunately, the T-34 units we captured is causing havoc against its former masters. The question remains, will we keep Leningrad encircled? We heard reports that the soviets managed to bypass our blockade to the north and have delivered goods to the city via the lake. Does this mean than the city will not fall?

To the south the sacrifice of 9th Panzer division allowed us to place our infantry in better combat readiness. However, the soviets keep attacking with their medium tanks and we just simple don’t have the armor to stop them. The defensive line we prepared the last months will have to hold for the time being. After all, how many tanks do the soviet possess? When will they stop attacking?



March 1stt, undisclosed location near Warsaw.

Ostfront, Moscow sector.
Impossible to advance to Kaluga. New tank units keep appearing and our units will retreat to the pre-defined defense line. Moscow will not fall in 1942.


Westfront
I have received word from the Kriegsmarine than the “dash through the channel” is a going on as planned. Our artillery and air units are already bombarding the enemy defenses across the Dover straits while the Luftwaffe provides close support to our battleships. We can only hope for the best.



March 5th, undisclosed location near Warsaw.
I’ve been with fever for the last couple of days. I can’t believe what I’ve witnessed. High command briefed me on the concentration camp sites that the Nazis have been creating across the nation. War is no picnic, but this is beyond that. How can man believe himself superior to others? How can I get rid of this guilt that I feel as a German? How can we fight on when we now know what were the Nazis been doing under our very noses?
High Command has decided to open the camps to the Red Cross and over the last months we have been hunting the SS guards and all the collaborators. We will bring them to justice. I hope this will clean some of our guilt. I’ve been informed there were plans to create more of these monstrous facilities in the future.
I pray for the souls of everyone that died in these camps.
Unfortunately, this has strengthened the resolve of our enemies and they continue to demand unconditional surrender. I’m a soldier and I have to obey the orders of my superiors. War, with all its consequences, will go on. God have mercy on my soul.

May 1stt, undisclosed location near Paris.
The last couple of months have seen great activity in my office and I hardly had time to write on this diary. Fortunately, we managed to save our armies from disaster in the east and we can only expect good weather for the following months. Snow have melted and our tanks can finally advance as they please.
I’ve been particularly busy ensuring our soldiers have plenty of supplies for the upcoming months. Here’s the current situation:

Westfront
American industry capacity is being felt in the air as brattish air crews start to bombard our cities across the Rhine. Transferring fighter pilots to this are proved to be the right decision and we are making them pay for every bomb they drop.
We keep bombing their defenses across the shoreline for an expected invasion by early September.



To the north the Kriegsmarine is ready for a fight against the Royal Navy. Our shipyards have been working non-stop to solve any damage to our surface fleet and the brits don’t know what is coming. The question remains if we do. How many thousand German sailors will drown in the North Sea this year? Can we avoid it?


Mediterranean theatre

The plan finally worked. Malta is ours and the British pose no threat on the mainland. I have ordered Rommel to advance immediately to Tobruk. With that port in our hands, we will be able to supply the Afrika Korps properly and make a dash for the Suez Channel. Benghazi will fall shortly. Is this the end of the brits in Egypt?


Ostfront
Situation in the entire front can’t be better. Our armies are ready for a continuation of the offensive but I don’t see the point of it. The plan set up last year will be carried on. We will transfer our best units to the west for a preparation for the invasion of England. Russia will have to wait a couple of years.
I keep thinking about that decision. Is it the right one to gamble our chances on a sea invasion? Why can’t we exploit the losses of the soviets and take Moscow and the oil fields to the south? Are we strong enough to do that? Will this mark the decision that brings us victory or defeat?


To the south our defense line runs through the Mius river. I’ve met with Von Rundstedt and he has grandiose plans to advance to Stalingrad and Grozny. He says it’s the only way to win the war. Is he right? I dismiss him and told him to transfer his best infantry to the west. There will be no more talk of a drive in the Caucasus.



Near Moscow the situation is similar. We are so close and yet so far…. Army Group Centre will have to move its Panzer divisions to Caen in France. We will hold the line near Kaluga with infantry.




To the north we have finally started to see the result of our blockade. Now that the soviets can’t use the lake for transporting supplies, the defenders are starting to starve and it is starting to show on their units. Leningrad is proving to be a hard nut to crack and I’m not sure it will fall this year. If we only had enough artillery to make a difference here….
To sum up, all generals in the east hate me for my decisions.

July 1stt, undisclosed location near Paris.

Mediterranean theatre
With Malta in our hands the Regia Marina is preparing a blockade west of Sicily for any British attempt to attack Rommel’s supply system. Meanwhile the Afrika Korps managed to break through Tobruk defenses and have taken the airfield. We are extremely close to achieve our objectives!





Ostfront

Deploying our panzers west proved to be a logistical nightmare and our front near Moscow is undermanned and underequipped. Intelligence reports that the soviets are In no position to mount and offensive so I ordered the Kaluga line to be defended only by light units.


East of Kursk our armies made the impossible and advanced our line of defense to the Don River! We will protect this line with light units and Romanian tanks as we don’t expect much activity from the soviets in this sector during 1942. I keep wondering if the Soviet bear is on his knees and I’m the only one not realizing it….

No news from Leningrad.

Westfront
The day of reckoning has arrived!
The Luftwaffe managed to destroy the bunkers south of London and we are now ready for the invasion of England. Today I signed order 44 to commence the invasion by 4:00 am tomorrow.
Our first landing party will be the tanks of the 4th Panzer division from Dunkirk. We expect the brits to attack them as soon as they land. In the meantime, the 10th Panzer division will embark in Le Havre and land west of the 4th. Our soldiers have trained for the last months on invasion techniques and our logistic experts are ready to dump as many tanks, artillery and soldiers into England soil.
I will say a prayer for every German soldier about to embark and for his family back home.

I am enjoying your AAR so far. It makes it more entertaining that you write it "in person".

Good luck with Sealion. I invaded slightly further west when i did it, but that was on the Barbarossa start. Remember that capturing the UK doesn't knock Britain out of the war. To do that you have to capture all of N'Africa/Middle East.

Unless you can capture Leningrad and Moscow relatively soon i think you will have trouble to hold back the Russians later in the war.

Good luck!

Thank you, very nice AAR! It has literary quality.
Just one remark: concentration camps didn't exist in 1941 as in the sense of death camps. Circumstances were of course no luxury, but they were only collection/forced labor camps. Making extermination camps started only after the Wannsee-Conference after 20. Jan., 1942. Because of the coup, the "normal' concentration camps should be also disbanded bi this time, so no need for the excuses and your soul is saved.
I hope, some day I will write my own. Problem is, it is not my native language, so it will be a little harder...but the World needs to know about history!

I look forward to read the next chapter of your AAR.

Thanks all for the kind feedback. Things have been difficult on the Home Front so I had to put this on hold. But I promise I'll continue with the AAR. The game is now over and it was a fun one.

August 1stt, undisclosed location near Paris.
I received word from Afrika that Tobruk is about to fall. Only a handful of units are left between Rommel and this important prize.



October 1stt, undisclosed location near Paris.

Westfront
All my attention has been spent on the war in the west for the last months. The amount of supplies, manpower and effort invested on the England invasion is something never seen on this part of the world.
There are good things to report. The good thing is that the invasion phase was a success and that the Brittish army has been driven away from the beaches. Our Panzers are fighting on the suburbs of London as I write these words and it seems they can’t replenish their tanks as fast as we destroy them.
It is imperative that we defeat the Brittish before the Americans are able to turn the tide in the west. The first American planes have been spotted in the sky and their numbers will surely increase in the coming months.



I must say that the lack of reaction of the Royal Navy left Admiral Reader speechless. Our ships and planes are raining fire upon them and they are not reacting as we would have expected. One can say that we may even win the sea fight!
On a second thought, the last paragraph sends shivers through my spine. What can the enemy navy be up to? Where is the remaining fleet?


Ostfront
On the east things have been quite for the last months. The soviet tried to probe our defenses outside Moscow but they have no chances. Our soldiers are holding the line despite most of our tanks are fighting the brits near London.



With Tobruk now taken, we are starting to see an increase in the supply of Rommel’s army so I have instructed High Command planners to start preparing the campaign for Egypt. Once we take London, they will move east into the pyramids.

November 1st, undisclosed location near Kiev.

What a pack of fools we have been….
We have been falling into a Soviet trap that is now changeling our defensive position along the entire front.
Luckily our Panzers broke through the London defenses and we are about to cut England in half. Bristol is about to fall beneath the foot of the men of the 10th Panzer division that have proved to be superb soldiers.
Our intelligence officers confirmed last night that we are seeing the last remnants of the Royal Army and that an enemy retreat is imminent.



Ostfront
Things have not been so good on the East Front. Stalin managed to conceal his moves and have launched thousands of tanks and men into the entire line.
The main push seems to be north of Voronezh and we believe Kursk is the reds main target. We just don’t have enough tanks to face the onslaught.


In 1941 Russia made an impressive feat by moving dozens of factories east of the Urals and out of reach of the Lufftwaffe. We knew this but underestimated what those factories could produce and how quick they could do that.
Less than a year they are already shielding massive amounts of T34 tanks that are a better than most of what we have.
Further south the situation is no different. In fact, the Soviet Marines managed to capture the rail connection in Zaporozhye which is threatening our whole sector. One of my officers is already talking of retreating to the Dnieper. He’s insane.



I have commanded Von Manstein only to retreat west if he seems it necessary. I am sure that, once we are sure that Britain will concede defeat, we will be able to transfer the Panzer divisions east and turn back the tide.
The Armament minister also confirmed that the first batch of a new type of heavy tank will leave our factories in a matter of weeks. This new tank, codenamed “Tiger”, will bring hell to our enemies.
Let’s hope things cool down this winter. Luckily for our soldiers we are better prepared to deal with the sub-zero temperatures that we have been last year.

January 1st, 1943 undisclosed location near Kiev.

Afrika Front
Finally, the western Powers have shown their cards. Several armies landed in North Africa last month and have taken all cities along the coastline. The cowards of Vichy surrendered almost without a fight. The Americans are advancing east at an astonishing speed and have forced Rommel to forget about the attack on Egypt. All his units have moved west and occupied Tunis.


He is setting up defensive positions as we speak on the Kasserine Pass.

Meanwhile, General Montgomery landed an army in Egypt and is now heading towards Tobruk. Rommel was instructed to make a last stand in Afrika as we cannot let the Americans attack Sicily.
The Reggia Marina is already engaging the enemy fleet in the western Mediterranean. It’s imperative that we win this battle to keep our supplies lines intact.

Both of these attacks explain why the presence of the Royal Navy was not as powerful as expected. We have won the battle against the enemy's navy and our ships are already being use to bombard their positions inland.

England Front
Montgomery forces should have been used on the defense of England mainland. That’s what I would have done. Seems like they didn’t expect us to change our focus and enemy’s gamble will prove fatal to them.
On the next week London will fall and we can move west and north to finish England as a threat.

Ostfront
The soviets continue to push west around Kursk. Our defenses on the Don have been overrun and this has led to a sharp increase of casualties through the cold weather. On the Don our soldiers have been preparing bunkers and accommodations to pass the winter properly, however the Reds have forced us to leave those positions and we are now fighting in the open.
I misjudged the strategic situation and didn’t expect this outcome.
Our lines have fallen back to Kursk and the Donets river. The Russian tanks have proved superior to our own but a new generation of anti-tank units will arrive to the front in a matter of days.

Las month I made fun of an officer that suggested we retreat to the Dnieper. He proved to be right. Manstein is setting up defensive positions behind this mighty river as I write these lines.
I have commanded that Dnepropetovsk and Zaporozhye to be declared “Fortress Cities”. They hold the key to much of the electrical supply of the Ukraine and cannot fall to the enemy. We need Ukranian wheat, coal and ore to keep our home front well supplied.

I have been promised that a new generation of weapons will shortly arrive. This, together with an increase in our armament output, will stop our enemies on their tracks!

January 10th, 1943 undisclosed location near Kiev.
I have signed the order to call into action the class of ’27. Our manpower situation is getting worse as we speak and these soldiers (boys?) will serve mostly on anti-air units, making room for fitter men to march to the eastern front.
We just need more time till England falls.