Amerika in Flames---The War is over and Peace treaty signed!

[supermax]

Intro: This will be an AAR between me and Panzer General

A little history about me. My full name is Max Lamirande, im 35. I have been playing wargame since i remember. My first one was Axis and allies, and my first computer-love was Panzer-General. I played games like World in Flames, Pacific War, Empire in Arms etc.

Since i discovered CEAW, i cannot believe how fun this game is. It simple, but at the same time so fun and full of possibilities!

Anyway, i could describe myself as a bold player that favor speed over meticoulous advance. I believe in the power of having the initiative and keeping it to win.

Like the saying goes, luck favors the bold...

During this AAR, i will of course talk about the event themselves, but i will also try to share a little bit of my planning and strategies. But most importantly i will try to Romance the AAR with little stories and pictures. This should be fun.

SO HERE WE GO

TURN 1:

Bergoff mansion, bavarian mountains, september 1939.
General Walther Von Brauchitsch was waiting for Hitler to finish playing with his dog on the front balcony of the big mansion.
Brauchitsch should have been happy that day, but the look on his face was one of worry. The news from Poland were excellent, the army was doing very good and advancing rapidly. The end could been seen fairly soon and the losses light. Being commander-in-chief of the army, he was at the pinnacle of his carreer and should have been solidly at the helm of the Wermarcht. But there was one problem, and that problem was Adolf Hitler... Brauchitsch did not believe in the overflowing optimism of the dictator when thinking of the western campaign, and in return, Hitler obviously did not believe in him, having trashed him on several occasion on grand strategy meetings in Berlin and here at the Bergoff...

Sweating lightly, Brauchitsch decided that he should talk even if risking the wrath of Hitler, since he was in a hurry. He did, after all, oversee the important operations on the polish front...

"My fuhrer, we have to talk about this little diner that you had recently with General Von Manstein...". Hitler, stopped his arm in midair,occupied as he was in throwing a stick to his dog to play catch... Then resumed his throw without responding to Brauchitsch.

The commander in chief of the army started again " Mein fuhrer i should say that Mansiten's view on the Western campaign should not..." he stopped in mid sentence as Hitler turned directly to face him, looking at him in the eyes.

" Von Brauchitsch, general Manstein expressed his view of how i should play my first moves in the west and i agree with him that we should send the war as soon as possible to french soil", Hitler started to talk very loudly now, " And We need to drive thru the Low countries as soon as possible and then be as far as we can before winter sets in..."

Brauchitsch tried to start talking again, but got interrupted by Hitler: " There will be no more discussions... Start railing all available troops to the western front immediatly"...


Hitler at the bergoff, september 1939


Walter Von Brauchitsch

[supermax]

Strategy overview, 1939-1940 and Grand Strategy for the world war

Well, i will start this AAR by telling you how i want this game to play out:

The Axis power live on borrowed time as we all know, so we will be making good time in attacking our ennemies. I intend to make sure the Allies never catch their breath and attack as hard as possible.

General guideline for the early conduct of the war:

1- Do the preliminaries (Poland, Low Countries, France) as FAST as possible, to set the stage for a summer 1940 invasion of England.
2- Produce necessary units for a successeful campaign agaisnt Britain (2 TAC, 1 BB, 1 SUB)
3- Invade England and / or seriously degrading its strenght (fleet, ground and air force) while putting the priority on preparing for Barbarossa
4- Consider secondary option strategy if allied player too skillfull in defending british isles, that is driving thru Vichy France and thru Spain to takle Gibraltar
5- If option 4, send troops and prepare a mediterranean campaign.
6- Invest research in Armor (2), industry(3) and a little Infantry (2)and air (2).


Overview of 1939 strategy


Overview of 1940 strategy

[supermax]

Skies over Holland, september 1939

The time was 04.30 on May 10, 1940. From Cologne's two airfields, Ostheim on the right bank of the Rhine, Butzweilerhof on the left, sections of three Ju 52s were taking off at thirty second intervals, each towing a glider. Becoming airborne, they steered for a point above the green belt to the south of the city, there to thread themselves to a string of lights that stretched towards Aachen. Within a few minutes forty-one Ju 52s and forty-one gliders were on their way.

The die had been cast for one of the most audacious enterprises in the annals of war: the assault on the Belgian frontier fortress of Eben Emael, and the three bridges to the north-west leading over the deep Albert Canal-the keypoints of the Belgian defence system to the east.

The fortress seemed all but impregnable. On its long north-eastern flank was an almost sheer drop of 120 feet down to the Canal. The same applied to the north-west, with a similar drop to a canal cut. To the south it was protected artificially-by wide anti-tank ditches and a twenty-foot-high wall. On all sides it was additionally protected by concrete pillboxes let into the sides of the walls or cuttings, which bristled with searchlights, 60-mm anti- tank guns and heavy machine-guns. Any enemy attempt to get into the place seemed doomed to failure.

LATER THAT MORNING...

Suddenly from the east great silent phantoms were swooping down. Low already, they seemed to be about to land: three, six, nine of them. Lowering the barrels of their guns, the Belgians let fly. But next moment one of the "great bats" was immediately over them-no, right amongst them!

One Corporal named Lange set his glider down right on the enemy position, severing a machine-gun with one wing and dragging it along. With a tearing crunch the glider came to rest. As the door flew open, Sergeant Haug, in command of Section 5, loosed off a burst from his machine-pistol, and hand-grenades pelted into the position. The Belgians held up their hands.

Three men of another caporal, named Haug's section scampered across the intervening hundred yards towards a position, an armoured gun turret. Within one minute all the remaining nine gliders had landed at their appointed spots in the face of machine-gun fire from every quarter, and the men had sprung out to fulfill their appointed duties.

Section 4's glider struck the ground hard about 100 yards from an anti-tank and machine-gun emplacement with embrasures facing north and south. Noting that the latter were closed, Sergeant Wenzel ran directly up to them and flung a 2-lb. charge through the periscope aperture in the turret. The Belgian machine-guns chattered blindly into the void. Thereupon Wenzel's men fixed their secret weapon, a 100-lb. hollow charge, on the observation turret and ignited it. But the armour was too thick for the charge to penetrate: the turret merely became seamed with small cracks, as in dry earth. Finally they blew an entry through the embrasures, finding all weapons destroyed and the gunners dead.

Sections 1 and 3, under a certain N.C.O.s Niedermeier and and a late Arent, put out of action six guns of artillery emplacements. Within ten minutes of the detachment's landing ten positions had been destroyed or badly crippled. But though the fortress had lost most of its artillery, it had not yet fallen. The pillboxes set deep in the boundary walls and cuttings could not be got at from above. Observing correctly that there were only some seventy Germans on the whole plateau, the Belgian commander, Major Jottrand, ordered adjoining artillery batteries to open fire on his own fort.

As a result the Germans had themselves to seek cover in the positions they had already subdued. Going over to defence, they had to hold on till the German Army arrived. There was still plenty to do...



TURN 2 Itself:

Poland has surrendered. We are going thru the motion there. The germans also started a major offensive in the West, reaching holland's capital. The country will not get thru next turn... The goal is to go as fast as possible in the West, hope for good weather so we can jump on England as fast as possible... No we produce a TAC next turn. It will also be time to rail as much troops as possible....

[MrPlow]

Looking forward to this AAR! Keep up the good Work!

Cheers,
MrPlow

[supermax]

thanks man!

[rkr1958]

supermax,

I'd like to ask a favor. I'd like to include stats from your game in the fall of France stats that I've been collecting.

Reference: viewtopic.php?p=117495#117495


If it's not too much trouble would you mind providing me with the fall date, German losses and UK (only) losses when France falls?

[supermax]

Turn 3: To my great surprise, the British fleet sortied in the North Atlantic to support the endangered netherlands...

It could have been an unpleasant surprise if i had not my 3 u-Boats in the vicinity and most of the german air force...

I almost sunk a CV, but i didnt spot it right away, so i only attacked it with 2 subs... Damn! The other sub went to try to finish off the other ship in port that was only 5 steps.

Anyway to make a long story short, the british Cv is out of action for a while and its going to cost a ton to britain to repair. The french MED fleet is coming i am sure, but not yet we are only on turn 3...

I also transferred the german BB and DD prematurely in the Atlantic so i can really take advantage of the relatively weak state of the british naval forces, especially if Panzergeneral gets stubborn... Too bad they werent in the Atlantic already...

Ah and in the meantime Holland surrendered. Next turn i attack Belgium with alla available forces, lets hope for clear weather. I railed more troops, even if i invested over 10 pp, its well worth it i recoup it over the winter with the PP given to me by the occupation of Belgium proper.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

You can pursue the CV with subs and attack it in port. 1 sub attack per port per turn is allowed. With luck you can sink it before it repairs.

I don't understand why Panzergeneral is risking his navy to protect Holland. You've depleted several Royal Navy units and that means Sealion will have a better chance of success. I think it's better for the Allies to save the navy for the critical time when Sealion is about to launch.

I wonder if it's actually a better idea for the Allies to not try to intercept Sealion with naval units, only to get entangled with subs and bombarded by tac bombers. Remember that Germany can only invade 2 hexes without paying 35 PP's per extra hex. Stopping the invasion is not easy because there will always be hexes you can't defend. And you allow your units to be bombarded by the Luftwaffe. Maybe it's smarter to defend inland with the land units out of Luftwaffe reach. As soon as the Germans land then you strike the invaders with all you have. The cities must be defended, of course so Germany don't get supply level 3.

A sneaky way for the Germans to land with 4 units instead of 2 is to attack coastal garrisons not in cities with Luftwaffe units and land adjacent to it and then attack. Hopefully you will force a retreat and another German unit can land in the vacated invasion hex without spending an invasion point. If you do think with both invasion hexes you can double the units you get ashore on the critical first turn. This is one reason an inland defense could be better. Then it's not possible to dislodge any defenders on turn 1 of the invasion to get more units ashore.

I think the Germans should pay 35 PP's to get a third invader ashore on turn 1.

[supermax]

Most definitly. Its totally worth it to invest 35PP to have a maximum effect on turn 1.

My goal is to go for Sealion, i planned a way to do it on a hotseat game. It worked very well agaisnt myself (LOL) and i had a full navy to contend with. Now that the allied player so boldly uses his fleet, i can rest assured that i'll have naval superiority, since i was already planning the production of another BB and SUB.

Now lets hope he stays on the offensive with his ships... Those subs might prove tempting targets...

As to Sealion, there is a very simple way to avert any german landings. Cover all the beaches with troops. It of course involve early production of land units and the pp could be best used elsewhere, but then you have almost a 100% chance of keeping the island.

I think that in the event of a german sealion invasion the fleet has to intervene on the first turn BEFORE the landings takes place, if only to divert the german planes from attacking on land... Once the germans get a city and land they are not dislodgable...

[Peter Stauffenberg]

You can certainly try to stop the transports, but the Germans will usually screen these with subs so all you do is to get a lot of naval losses from sub surprise attacks. Next turn 4 tac bombers and 4 fighters bombard your naval units. With maximum effort you might get to the transports and spoil Sealion, but you lose the Royal Navy in the process. That means Britain will be starved of convoys for a long long time. You can't risk sending troops from Britain to the Med due to the sub menace. So you need for wait for the Americans.

The most successful way I sea the Germans can do Sealion is to prepare for it and launch it if the British player doesn't sacrifice the Royal Navy. If he does then you shift your target into killing the Royal Navy and maybe even the Royal Airforce. Then you build lots of subs to stop all convoys and launch a major offensive towards Egypt and Iraq. Britain can't stop it due to losing most of his navy.

[Clark]

You can certainly try to stop the transports, but the Germans will usually screen these with subs so all you do is to get a lot of naval losses from sub surprise attacks. Next turn 4 tac bombers and 4 fighters bombard your naval units. With maximum effort you might get to the transports and spoil Sealion, but you lose the Royal Navy in the process. That means Britain will be starved of convoys for a long long time. You can't risk sending troops from Britain to the Med due to the sub menace. So you need for wait for the Americans.

The most successful way I sea the Germans can do Sealion is to prepare for it and launch it if the British player doesn't sacrifice the Royal Navy. If he does then you shift your target into killing the Royal Navy and maybe even the Royal Airforce. Then you build lots of subs to stop all convoys and launch a major offensive towards Egypt and Iraq. Britain can't stop it due to losing most of his navy.

One way to attempt to stop Sealion (that I've never tried) is to build some British subs, then use them as minefields along the Channel coast. I doubt you could build more than two in time to get them in place, but you'd damage the transports trying to position themselves for landing and keep at least two units from landing on turn one. It's possible that U-boots might run into one of your subs when slipping through the channel, but you'd do some damage to them, cause them to surface and expose them to attack from the Royal Navy, and possibly even deny another landing hex to the Sealion transports, depending on where the U-boat caught your sub.

[rkr1958]

As to Sealion, there is a very simple way to avert any german landings. Cover all the beaches with troops. It of course involve early production of land units and the pp could be best used elsewhere, but then you have almost a 100% chance of keeping the island.

Also, the UK has three air units that they can rush to danger areas to help block an invasion. I recommend if you do this then you need to put your fighters on sentry; especially if they're in range of German fighters. The cost for loading 6 to 8 transports that the Allied player can block from landing for one or more turns is not trivial.

Assume 6 German transports. Load cost is 6 x 8 = 48 PPs. Assume the Allied player successfully blocks a landing for two turns. Assuming a German transport capacity of 3 then this costs 3 turns x 3 transports over x 4 PPs / transport = 36 PPs. Add in an extra 35 PPs to land three German corps then the total invasion cost is 48 + 36 + 35 = 12= 119 PPs. Not insignificant.

[rkr1958]

It's possible that U-boots might run into one of your subs when slipping through the channel, but you'd do some damage to them, cause them to surface and expose them to attack from the Royal Navy

In GS, subs move under the water and will not run into other subs or ships except in their destination hex. If their destination hex is occupied by an enemy naval unit the sub is displaced to the nearest empty hex. If this enemy naval unit happens to be a hidden sub the moving sub is still displace and both subs are NOT revealed. However; this displacement from an apparently "empty" destination hex is an indication that that hex contains a hidden enemy sub.

[supermax]

Mmm i long to see the day when a German player is going to do a successeful Sealion agaisnt my cover-the-beaches strategy.

Its quite simple for the UK player... Enough troops and that should do it. You can let the allied navy stay clear of any potential troubles and let the germans transport run into full beaches...

[Blathergut]

Could you detail your turn 1 attacks in Poland? I assume you shifted one fighter and 1 tac that turn to the west. Am curious to see how you managed to move/destroy so many Polish units with 2 less air!! (and 1 armour shifted west as well and a mech corps!!)

[supermax]

i didnt move the german armor on the first turn, only on the second. Its quite simple, you use your tanks and sweep thru the middle and then attack with infantry.

[supermax]

German forces at the belgian borders... 2 weeks later it was all over



German soldier poised for another assault on Brussel



Stukas were an important part of the Wermarcht success in Belgium and the low countries. Here you can see them in action



German elite troops parading thru Brussel

TURN 4 ITSELF:

[supermax]

The French are on the run... unbelievably, the clear weather continued last turn, so i was able to take Lille easily and severely deplete the french tank...

This will be a very short campaign. The fact that the British navy is depleted, an early fall of France makes me totally committed to Sealion and even beyond... I will soon post my plans for the 40-41 operational campaign against the western allies...

So anyway now the coast is almost clear to get clear to hexes next to Paris by next turn. Do i need to comment any more?

[supermax]

(extract of Manstein's book, Lost Vitories , with modifications to suit the event in this game)


(...)Not until after the war did anything become generally known about the background of the plan which replaced O.K.H. original "operation order Yellow" of 1st and second september as the basis of our offensive in the west - the plan by which so swift a victory was scored over the french armies and the forces of Belgium and Holland(...) Since i may be considered to have been the prime mover in this matter, it seems right that i should now expose the matter in full details.

If asked to define, in the light of the operation orders issued by O. H. H. , the basic strategy which that body (and Hitler) planned to adopt in the west, i would put it this way: O.K.H. proposed - in accordance with Hitler's directive of 9th september -to send a strong right wing of the german armies through Holland into Northern Belgium to defeat the French forces it expected to encounter there together with the Belgians and Dutch. I other words, the decision was primarily to be sought by a strong thrust on the right wing(...) Army groub B had 3 armies under its command. altogether it was envisionned that the bulk of that army would encompass thirty divisions and most of its mobile forces, and that all would be ready by the spring of 1940, after careful planning, rail moves and considerations on making sure all was ready. It was also discussed to have 2 side-show operations in denmark and Norway while preparing for the main thrust in the Low Countries and Belgium. In this i generally agreed on the form of the attack, but not on the timing and agressiveness of it...

I got a chance meeting with adolf Hitler on the eve of the polish campaign, where it was pretty obvious that contingency plans had to be made ready because of Franco-british announcements of support to Poland... Hitler, always being the adventurer, would have loved to atack everywhere at once, but the cautios general, headed by Brauchitch and Rundstdt, convinced him that the german army did not have the capability to to a swift polish and a right wing attack in Belgium, Netherland and northern France...

So we sat down at the same dinner together, with on my right side the boasting Hermann Goering and Herr Goebels on the other isde of the table... No high-raking generals were present, so i resummably assumed that i would be able to get the upper hand on any discussion on Grand Strategy and tactcal planning...

Hitler opened the conversation with me on my opinion for the upcoming campaign in Poland (i was, after all, posted in the armies going to attack Poland), and i surprised him by telling him that i tought the decision battle should occur as fast as possible in the west, while atacking Poland, but with more limited forces... "But Herr Manstein", interrupted Hitler, " Von Rundstedt has been very clear on the matter of the impossibility at the moment for germany to have a 2 front war", Goering adding "And my Luftwaffe is totally committed in the East and already in their airfields, ready to go..."

Calmly, i started ot expose my ideas on how weak the french deployment were (in face of the intelligence report i had read at the time) and how we should surprise the anglo-french by attacking Poland, by rushing forces by train and air to the West, since they "Would never expect this mein Fuhrer, we would crush them rapidly and hit them hard on the start of the campaign"... Now all eyes were on me and 20 minutes later, i concluded to a very open-minded audience on the feasability of the project and most importantly on the economy of scale for the german forces if we were to catch our opponents wrong footed in Belgium and the Netherlands...

So the operationnal plan would be as follow:

1- On the start of the polish campaign, quietly railing 4 infantry corps to the west and rebase 2 airfleets (along with the strategic bomber airfleet already deployed there)
2- Attack Holland and destroy it by the end of september, while the western armies were still mobilizing
3- Drive thru Belgium in early october so to get as far as possible before the muddy season start
4- Position the german armies (by now reinforced by all available mobiles forces) south of Lille and close to Paris.
5- Spend the winter season with softening the french defenses with our planes and tanks
6- Launch the final offensive as soon as the nice weater starts again and make the french capitulates by early april, thus giving germany the option of launching an invasion of Britain, possibly ending the war in the west as soon as it started...
7- Overlook Norway until further notice
8- Invade Denmark whenever possible, but not at the expanse of the french campaign preparation


2 days later we were overlooking a western europe operational map and planning the details of my idea... And i was named personnal chief of Staff of the Fuhrer... There would be a lot of work ahead of me until the successeful conclusion of the war... And many battle to be fought...

[supermax]

The german offensive in France continued without any hinderance except for the weather... With great difficulty the troops moved in position for an attack. the french tank, dangerously exposed and not retreated in the rear line, was too good a target to miss, so we attacked it with 2 TAC, a tank, a mechanized and an infantry corps. Obviously, it was destroyed...

Also advanced along the northern sector of the front, encircling a garrison and punchin thru the line with mechanized and inf corps... I dont think that Panzergeneral will be able to fill the widening gap there, his losses are too massive and too early in the campaign for him to do anything about it...



At sea, looks like he wants another showdown with the germans... all the better , since if he continues to waste his naval units, i might be tempted in doing something VERY bold with the continuation of the western campaign after the successeful completion of Sealion in 1940...