Historical Setting
As a quick primer on history, the year is 1940. The Germans have carved up Poland with their very temporary friend, the USSR. Now they've set their sights on their old enemy in France. But in January, something known as the Mechelen incident happened, and the German plans to invade the Low Countries fell into Allied hands. Perhaps as a result of this, a new German plan had to be drafted: a daring Panzer attack through the dense Ardennes Forest. But to properly snare French reinforcements and the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium with this daring attack, they had to be baited.
Enter the revised Manstein Plan for Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). Turning the original plan into a diversion to lure out dozens of Allied Divisions and trap them in the Low Countries.
In the Panzer Corps 2 mission Belgium, you have chosen to take direct command the forces leading this diversionary strike. Check out this quick preview of Panzer Corps 2's new and improved briefing and map marker system!
CORE Set Up and Briefing
So to take on this scenario, I've decided to make a highly unusual CORE force. Because of the flexibility of the game and the units at play, I'm going for a something no one has ever done, to prove it can be done. I have a CORE with absolutely zero aircraft. Not a single Bf 109 nor Ju-87 Stuka!
In fact, due to some special Commander traits chosen at the start of my campaign, this isn't just an arbitrary and self enforced rule. I literally cannot upgrade or buy any aircraft in this campaign playthrough!
My army, as I've decided to set it up, is as follows:
OS means Overstrength, and in this game, the base strength of all infantry is 15, while all other units such as tanks and artillery are base 10 strength units.
1x Grenadier infantry OS 20 with attached halftrack transports.
2x Wehrmacht standard infantry OS 17 with no transports.
1x Bridge engineer infantry, with transport.
2x 10.5cm artillery pieces OS 11, with transports.
1x Sturmpanzer artillery piece
1x Panzer 38(t) OS 12.
1x Panzer IIIF OS 12.
1x Panzer Flammpanzer II (prototype)
2x SdKfz 232 8Rad Recon OS 13.
1x SdKfz 10/4 Anti-Aircraft halftracks OS 11.
1x SdKfz 7/1 Anti-Aircraft halftrack OS 13.
1x 8.8cm FlaK 36 with transport OS 12
As you can see, without the ability to purchasing any aircraft at all, I've instead got a significant ground force with AA halftracks to protect them from Allied aircraft. At least, that's the plan!
Execution
So I had never played this map before, so I was going in blind and having to play this legitimately as any player would: without advance knowledge. I did read the briefing, and its warning me about having to perform a direct frontal assault against prepared Allied positions...
But you know what, I scouted this river crossing with only a few defenders, and I like what it's showing me. Right away as I marshal my forces for the crossing, some Allied aircraft are trying to disrupt me, so I give them a good blast from one of my air defense units.
What happens if, instead of splitting my force and trying to engage the Allied across the front... what if I just said no. I have an all ground force, I don't need to secure airfields for my bombers. I can keep all my forces together in a concentrated force... I think I've heard of that concept before, I think it's called blitzkrieg!
So that's what I did, I used scout cars to find the weakest point in the Allied line, and then sent my entire army through it. Note how on the minimap you can see I'm totally ignoring the southern half of the map and just concentrated all my forces here.
First few turns, Allied aircraft are harassing my advance, but it's nothing my AA halftracks can't handle, and pretty soon the Allied aircraft are being chopped up nicely, their threat diminishing quite rapidly.
I did run into this dirty little ambush... but hey that's what my recon vanguard is for. So my expensive artillery transports don't get ambushed like this!
But it's nothing my Panzer III and prototype Flammpanzer II can't handle.
By turn 4, (yup turn 4) I've basically crossed the length of the whole map! With this huge concentration of force... anywhere I hit instantly crumbles. I punch right through the top left Victory Hex at Antwerp with a triple barrage of artillery and my lead 20 OS Grenadier.
So now I have my entire army behind the enemy's defensive lines. Once again my Bridge Engineer is doing work, giving me a fast cross south across one of the many rivers of the Low Countries. And I use it to completely overrun the defense of Brussels from the rear!
And I'm thinking, I can't believe this is working. Actual blitzkrieg. Ball up all my forces together, crash them into the thinnest, weakest point I can find in the Allied line, and breakthrough to their rear. Now every defensive river line is a working in my favor instead of against me, because I'm coming at the Allies from behind instead of head on.
Getting overconfident, I start to split my force to strike multiple Allied cities simultaneously...
But remember the whole historical point of this operation, to lure the French into the region? So after a few turns of wrecking utter havoc, I run into a French tank. And then two French tanks. And then FIVE French tanks. There is a whole squadron of French tanks around Charleroi, and I've blundered right into them.
And this is just disastrous, utter disaster. My light mobile force is massively lacking in Panzers, has no anti-tank guns of any sort, and completely devoid of Stuka air support... And there's a Char B staring me down and there's literally no gun in my army big enough to punch through its armor...
Just like the stories I've read of light Panzers in history coming across heavier Allied tanks, I found myself in their shoes. My little Pz 38(t) rounds are just bouncing off the French tanks like it's nothing. It's poor 37mm gun just can't get the job done. And I've only got a single Panzer IIIF, and he's got his hands full tussling with other French light tanks and a Somua S35.
So... as a desperate measure, I mode swap all of my AA halftracks and 88mm FlaK and order them to bring their guns down. Engage anti-tank swap mode, everyone!
While my trio of overworked Panzers and AA turned emergency AT Halftracks try and deal with the French tanks, my infantry and artillery are mopping up Victory Hexes without breaking a sweat. Who cares about Eban Emael defending the banks of the Meuse River when I can just take Liege completely from behind?
After a few bloody and desperate turns, I've cleared out all the light French tanks. But that Char B is still fighting. Almost nothing I have can even come close to damaging it's thick armor, only my painfully slow towed 88mm can hurt it. It's kind of embarrassing...
So like the Panzers of history, I do the only thing I can do. Outflank and neutralize. I pin down the Char B with my recon cars and AD halftracks, taking some major losses in the process though. Note my two units down to 5 and 6 strength. But it lets the bulk of my forces give the French behemoth a wide berth and I can now send my infantry and artillery to crush the last of the Allied victory hexes.
But before the final victory hex falls, my 88mm pummels that obstinate Char B to scrap!
And what an incredible battle it was. I looked at the map, looked at my unit options, and came up with my own way to play it out. And when my force was lacking in power, I made up for it with tactics and maneuver rather than just killing enemy in sight.
It's probably not so ironic that real blitzkrieg tactics worked in a WW2 German game, but somehow it's extremely satisfying at the same time.
Of course next scenario... I bought two brand new freshly overstrengthed PanzerJager IBs to deal with heavier Allied armor, and I'm glad I did because there are British Matilda IIs coming up! But that's a story for another time.
Hope you enjoyed this exciting and extremely fun AAR, and look forward to getting your own hands on Panzer Corps 2 and experiencing the game for yourself. What unusual strategies will you come up with?
Now I really wait for PC2