Vokt (axis) vs Plaid (allies) 3.10 AAR

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:38 pm

Turn 80. December 29, 1943.

Eastern front Axis turn. Axis abandoned Minsk, Kherson and Vinnitsa:

Eastern front Allies turn. Soviets kept on advancing and killing German units, 1 corps this time. More and more USSR territory is being liberated. German units in southern front of which trace was lost, were spotted:

Med Axis turn. As you might expect, Italian made no attacks in Sicily. In Calabria, mud weather much hampered Italian offensive actions:

Med Allies turn. Recently landed Australian corps reached Messina. More units are ready to land in Sicily whilst in Calabria a support unit was landed:

Western front. Allies advanced to find Wehrmacht defensive line along the Somme and Yonne rivers:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:18 pm

Turn 81. January 18, 1944.

Western front Axis turn. Winter weather. Wehrmacht retreated from the Somme-Oise-Seine-Yonne rivers:

Western front Allies turn. British crossed the Somme in an attempt to chase retreating German units:

Eastern front. Axis general withdrawal seems endless:

Med Axis turn. Ineffective Italian army attacks in Calabria:

Med Allies turn. Allied progress permitted to reach both Sicilian cities that will start to be attacked on the next turn:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Fri Jul 03, 2015 5:39 pm

Turn 82. February 7, 1944.

Eastern front. In the north, retreating German corps units reached Niemen river. In the south, axis retreated to Bessarabia stablishing a defensive line along Dniester river. Soviets followed closely retreating Axis forces:. Riga and Vilna were taken:

Western front Axis turn. Fair weather. Wehrmacht withdraws further:

Western front Allies turn. Allies took Dijon destroying the couple of German garrisons there. Reims was seized too:

Med Axis turn. British units in Calabria are getting more and more weakened due to Italian army attacks:

Med Allies turn. Palermo was heavily attacked but held. Messina was strategically bombed, its supply level downed to 1:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 5:47 pm

Turn 83. February 27, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. More retreats in the north, holding in the south:

Eastern front Allies turn. Tallin and Kaunas were taken. In the south, attack on Odessa started. Sevastopol holds for now:

Western front Axis turn. Weathern turned to muddy. A sizable Wehrmacht infantry force is being deployed in the Low Countries:

Western front Allies turn. US reinforcements arrived to French ports. Strategic bombings turned to 0 PP's several German cities and resources:

Med Axis turn. Mud weather made Italian attacks in Calabria mostly ineffective. Isolated Italian sub attack on French BB:

Med Allies turn. Both Palermo and Messina were heavily attacked and both held. Linking of Allied landed forces in Calabria:

Current lab situation.

UK

USA

USSR

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 5:41 pm

Turn 84. March 18, 1944.

Eastern front axis turn. Wehrmacht units left Baltic Countries territory and they all retreated to Eastern Prussia and central Poland. In the south, things didn't change:

Eastern front Allies turn. It was still severe Winter (normal Winter in Eastern Poland) in USSR this turn. Anyway, forwarded Red Army infantry units in Lithuania and Eastern Poland were within 1 hex of central Europe weather zone so they moved and got as close to Wehrmacht retreating units as to spot them. In Carpathian front, a Romanian corps was killed and a German corps was halved. Odessa was heavily attacked but held:

Northern sector:

Southern sector:

Western front Axis turn. Now that fair weather means a widened spotting range, it's possible to check out Wehrmacht defensive dispositions in this scenario:

Western front Allies turn. Allied advance in France continued to be slow. Lorraine resource was taken and vicinities of Strasbourg were reached. Spotted the entire Siegfried Line. Intense activity by Allied tactical and strategical air forces:

Med axis turn. Italians got finally killed British garrison in Calabria. Indian corps was further attacked either:

Med Allies turn. Both Palermo and Messina were taken, thus forcing Italian surrender:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 9:23 pm

Turn 85. April 7, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. In the northern sector, Wehrmacht retreated to Wisla river. In the south, Axis forces intend to hold:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red army followed the Germans and got close to Warsaw. In the south a Hungarian corps was destroyed:

Poland:

Romania:

Western front. Allies took Strasbourg , thus reaching Siegfried Line. Intense air bombings to German units in Belgium:

Med. Other than a Luftwaffe tac, no Axis units were spotted in Italy. Transports were sent for a landing south of Naples:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Tue Jul 07, 2015 5:26 pm

Turn 86. April 27, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. Massive Luftwaffe tacs hits on Guards Soviet armoured 1xN of Warsaw, left this unit so depleted that was finished off by German corps units attacking from the other side of the river:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red army entered Brest-Litovsk and killed German corps 2xS of Danzig:

Western and Italy fronts Axis turn. No offensive actions at all. Reinforcements rushed to Italy:

Western front Allies turn. Allies started offensive in Belgium that destroyed 2 German units (1 mech and 1 corps). Several other units ended depleted due to intense Allied attacks:

Med Allies turn. Canadian and Free French units landed south of Naples. Transport sent for a landing near Rome:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:25 pm

Turn 87. May 17, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. No counterattacks at all:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red Army started an offensive SE of Lvov killing an Hungarian corps and battering many other units. In Finland, a combined amphibious-airborne operation is aimed at knocking Finland out of the war. For the moment, several Finnish army units have been left without supply. In Poland, no attacks but upgrades to units.

Poland and Carpathian fronts:

Finland:

Western front Axis turn. Germany retreated to Albert Canal defensive line. It was left only a corps in Liege:

Western front Allies turn. This turn, Allies successfully breached Siegfried line, 3xNW of Stuttgart. Mentioned operation involved a paratrooper dropping. In Belgium, the cities of Ghent, Brussels and Liege were all liberated. Calais held:

Med Axis turn. German garrison railed to Rome:

Med Allies turn. French landed south of Rome, forcing German garrison to retreat. Naples taken:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:35 pm

Turn 88. June 6, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. Finnish counterattacks didn't succeed in relieving the pocketed units. No changes in Poland not in Romania:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red Army offensive in Carpathian front, destroyed 4 Axis units (3 German corps and 1 Bulgarian corps) and retook Lvov. Cernauti was heavily attacked but defending German corps held. Finns nearly done:

Polish-Carpathian front:

Finland:

Western front Axis turn. Repairing of units:

Western front Allies turn. Western Allies continued with its attacks in the Low Countries killing a German corps and badly damaging another. Further south, a Siegfried Line fortress 2xS of Cologne was removed whilst another one 2xNW of Stuttgart was halved:

Italy. In Axis turn, only repairing of units. In Allies turn, German defending garrisons are becoming more and more depleted due to Allied attacks:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:20 pm

Turn 89. June 26, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. Finnish had no luck with their attacks In Karelia which didn't succeed to relieve pocketed units. Inn the rest, repairs and defensive preparations:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red Army offensives are causing more and more Axis units to be destroyed or depleted. Breakthrough in Hungarian front is complete and now Soviet units have free ride to Budapest:

Western front Axis turn. Germans formed a defensive line along the Rhine river near Frankfurt:

Western front Allies turn. Allies breached Albert Canal defensive line killing a corps and a paratrooper unit. Meanwhile, in the Rhine, defending Germans units were routed:

Italy. Progress is slow:

Atlantic Axis turn. After a long time, Kriegsmarine surface fleet appeared north of Ireland, and along with u-boats, made a massive naval attack to a northern convoy:

Atlantic Allies turn. Lots of Allied naval units moved to the are and heavily engaged German fleet. Attacked German BB and DD will have hard to survive to next turn:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:59 pm

Turn 90. July 16, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. Soviet armoured destroyed in the Wisla. Again, massive hits from tacs much helped:

Eastern front Allies turn. Almost no attacks from Red Army. Instead, units were regrouped for the upcoming offensives that will target the Wisla and Budapest:

Western front Axis turn. US paratrooper unit in Holland was destroyed due to German counterattack:

Western front Allies turn. British expanded their bridgehead in the Rhine near Frankfurt. There were also river crossings in Arhem and 2xNW of Stuttgart:

Italy. Gustav Line fortress removed by the attack of Canadian corps. Free French advanced to central Italy threatening with cutting supply to the remaining German units manning the fortresses. Taranto was taken. Landings in Florence finally occurred:

Atlantic Axis turn. Kriegsmarine didn't give up before the strong Allied fleet sent to the Atlantic. This way, 2 RN units (a BB and a sub) were destroyed. Furthermore, attacking convoys activity didn't stop:

Atlantic Allies turn. Allied navy sunk 1 BB, 1 DD and 1 sub and badly damaged a BB and a sub:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 5:03 pm

Turn 91. August 5, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. The Axis partially abandoned its positions along Dniester river and retreated to Romania:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red Army was set in full offensive mode in all fronts. A total of 7 Wehrmacht units (6 corps and 1 garrison) were detroyed in the different Soviet offensives. In the Wisla, south of Danzig, a complete breakthrough was achieved whilst 1xSE of Warsaw, a bridgehead was formed. Meanwhile, Hungarian army couldn't stand the strong Red Army thrust and surrendered to the Soviets:

Western front Axis turn. South of Arhem, a Wehrmacht counterattack killed HQ US armoured unit. Offensive operation meant leaving without supply a US mech. Paratroopers were also targeted:

Western front Allies turn. Axis forces in Frankfurt and Stuttgart were completely defeated, the Allies having now free way to central Germany. US pocketed mech was relieved after regaining the hex lost 1xS of Arhem:

Italy Axis turn. Werhmacht abandoned Gustav line and retreated north:

Italy Allies turn. Florence was taken. Rome held:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:36 pm

Turn 92. August 25, 1944.

Eastern front Axis turn. Southwest of Danzig, a strong Wehrmacht counterattack, killed 2 Soviet armoured units. Another German counterattack removed the other brideghead 1xSE of Warsaw. Futhermore, a Soviet armoured was destroyed 1xNE of Warsaw, in another cross river attack supported by Luftwaffe:

Eastern front Allies turn. The Wisla river ceased to be a strong Wehrmacht defensive position after a total of 10 German units (8 corps and 2 armoured), were killed due to major Red Army offensive. South of Danzig, there is no front anymore and around Warsaw situation is quickly deteriorating. Further south, Vienna was taken and Belgrade was liberated. In Romania, attack on its capital will start on the next turn:

Wisla front:

Romania front:

Western front Axis turn. Isolated US paratrooper held German attacks:

Western front Allies turn. Lots of German cities captured. Around Arhem Axis resistance is still rather stiff:

Italy. Several turns ago, a British-only amphibious operation went uncontested in Nice, France. Allied units have been slowly progressing through hard terrain after reaching the river Po bassin where they were able to much increase their pace. British armoured unit even took Venice, this cutting main supply for remaining German units in central Italy where resistance is stubborn with Rome still holding:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:37 pm

Turn 93. September 15, 1944.

Eastern, western and Italy fronts Axis turn. In Poland, Wehrmacht abandoned the Wisla. Axis units on their way to Lodz killed Soviet paratrooper unit. In western front, US paratroopers again withstood German attacks. In Italy, Wehrmacht regrouped around Ancona:

Western front Allies turn. Allies moved fast in Germany reaching Hamburg in the north (garrison there held at low strength), Leipzig in the center (German corps unit there was halved) and Linz in the south. In Holland-Ruhr sector, German resistance finally crumbled. Allies took Arhem, Cologne (thus leaving unsupplied a German corps and a SS garrison located within adjacent fortresses), Ruhr resource and Scholven oil plant. Hague was attacked too but garrison held:

Eastern front Allies turn. Red Army completely caught Wehrmacht retreating forces in central Poland killing 7 units (5 corps, 1 mech and 1 armoured). Warsaw and Krakov were liberated but Lodz held. In Romania, Soviets entered Bucharest:

Poland-Eastern Germany front:

End of scenario in Romania:

Italy Allies turn. Rome was finally taken. Furthermore, 2 German garrisons were destroyed:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 2:14 pm

Turn 94. October 5, 1944.

Early Winter weather in central Europe.

Western and eastern fronts. Wehrmacht strength has been much reduced after last turns massive Allied offensive operations. It's a matter of 3-4 turns to get Berlin and Hamburg. Anyway, the latter still holds Western Allies attacks:

Med. With the seizure of Ancona, all German resistance in Italy, ceased:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:11 pm

Turn 95. October 25, 1944.

Mud weather.

Hamburg was taken. Advancing Soviets entered Prague:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:43 pm

Turn 96. November 13, 1944.

Axis turn. Wehrmacht launched counterattack in the Elbe, killing British armoured. in the Elba. In the Oder, Soviet bridgehead was severely mauled after another German counterattack:

Allies turn. Western Allies started to assault Berlin itself that held. Soviets, overran the Germans in the Oder:

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:59 pm

Turn 97. December 3, 1944.

Berlin ws taken by De Gaulle's Free French armoured:

This accounted for an allied major victory. Victory screen:

Casualties screen:

Forces screen:

Labs screens:

UK:

USA:

USSR:

Thanks to all that have followed and make comments on this AAR. I will make comments about the game in separate post. Feel free of making comments too.

Vokt · Post by **Vokt** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 6:51 pm

I will make now some comments. First of all, thanks to Plaid for this game. This was also a test for the upcoming 3.20 update and I think that doing this AAR has been good.

If you take a look to the first post of this AAR where I stated which would be main objectives for the game, you will see that most of them have been accomplished. Only 8th army in Africa couldn't take the necessary air support for making an offensive in Tobruk. But this wasn't needed anyway because of the Italian evacuation of Africa, once Torch was launched. About Eastern front, Soviet winter offensives were just overwhelming and one of the keys of allies victory. The other might be the devastating effects of strategic allied campaign for Germany's war economy. Finally, let's not forget the importance of 1943 Overlord that was launched on the right time.

Just a look at the number of German units destroyed showed in the casualties screen, is enough to see that by no means axis could win this game. Anyway, it would have to be mentioned the axis capacity to recover from the very high losses suffered in the east. Without that recovering, allies would have been in Berlin and Hamburg much earlier.

Cybvep · Post by **Cybvep** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:00 pm

Good job, Vokt. You were so effective in 1941-1942 that the outcome of the game was a foregone conclusion. Actually, I think that considering the circumstances, Plaid gave you a good fight in 1943-1944. He definitely lasted longer than I thought he would.

IMO this game demonstrated the importance of air power. Plaid lost air superiority very early on and paid the price for it. Lack of air superiority and Soviet winter campaigns in 1941 and in 1942 were the major causes of your victory IMO. However, this game also shows that even when you suffer high losses in 1941-1942 when playing the Axis, you still can last quite long if you manage your resources properly.