Return to Glory: A Germania AAR

[HKslan]

There will be a point when the SU dows you if you dont dow them first. They always do.

Absolutely. Doing it as early as you can is your best bet, the earlier the less ground defence efficiency they've got going for them. And by that I don't mean do it this coming winter Hardraade! By winter 1941, I think, it gets even. My last game as Germany I decided to ignore them and focus on England and Africa, they DoWed in late summer 1942 and if they hadn't been fighting Japan for years, I'd have gotten crushed. Thankfully because I had beaten Britain, the BP came easily.

[Hardraade]

HKslan: Remember that we must add two certain unsuspecting democracies to Germany's north to the list. As to Otto, he is a career officer.

trekaddict: Damn Soviets, can't trust anyone these days can you? Glad you enjoyed the update.

HKslan: An advanced timetable may be necessary in regards to the Soviets. We shall see...

[Commander-DK]

More female entanglements for our heroes? This is becomming like reading a romance novel or watching War and Remembrance

Let's see those new Panzer IV's and Rommel in action! We demand blitzkrieg, heroism and über-clever strategies for defeating hordes of enemies!

Thanks for an interesting read this year and a merry christmas to you Hardraade and to all of your readers!

:-) Jesper

[trekaddict]

More female entanglements for our heroes? This is becomming like reading a romance novel or watching War and Remembrance

Let's see those new Panzer IV's and Rommel in action! We demand blitzkrieg, heroism and über-clever strategies for defeating hordes of enemies!

Thanks for an interesting read this year and a merry christmas to you Hardraade and to all of your readers!

:-) Jesper

Yay! I so second that! Überstartegies, clever but reckless tactics and Blitzkrieg!

[HKslan]

I'm all for the Rommel and the PzIVs but I'm actually OK with the balance he's struck.

[Hardraade]

Commander-DK & trekaddict: I'm sorry that there isn't any heavy action going on right now, but rest assured it will come again. Right now Germany is sort of bracing itself. The Luftwaffe isn't in any shape to challenge the RAF, and the Heer is stretched thin between defending conq... er... liberated territory and making ready for possible operations in the Balkans, Britain, and Scandinavia(or all of the above.) Much heavier and longer fighting is ahead. Can't Helmut, Otto, and Co. enjoy the peace and quiet?

HKslan: Thanks, I appreciate it.

The apparent feelings about the change of pace mean that I have some good news, some bad news, and then more good news:
Good news(1): Update tomorrow
Bad news: It is a Helmut and Max update(no panzers or fighting)
Good news(2):The update after that will feature...wait for it... Panzers & Fighting!


Happy Holidays everyone!

[trekaddict]

Commander-DK & trekaddict: I'm sorry that there isn't any heavy action going on right now, but rest assured it will come again. Right now Germany is sort of bracing itself. The Luftwaffe isn't in any shape to challenge the RAF, and the Heer is stretched thin between defending conq... er... liberated territory and making ready for possible operations in the Balkans, Britain, and Scandinavia(or all of the above.) Much heavier and longer fighting is ahead. Can't Helmut, Otto, and Co. enjoy the peace and quiet?

HKslan: Thanks, I appreciate it.

The apparent feelings about the change of pace mean that I have some good news, some bad news, and then more good news:
Good news(1): Update tomorrow
Bad news: It is a Helmut and Max update(no panzers or fighting)
Good news(2):The update after that will feature...wait for it... Panzers & Fighting!


Happy Holidays everyone!

Huzaaa



You can never have enough panzers!

[KLorberau]

Hardraade,

Just wanted to thank you for a great year of reading. This story is still as strong as ever, and just keeps evolving into more and more story lines. I like the relationship between the officer and his senior NCO.....all good commanders have a great friend, usually of lesser rank, to keep them in touch with the common soldier...

Im looking forward for more glories for the Wehrmacht in the coming campaigns. Always helps me get through those long overtime shifts...hahaha

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

KLorberau

[Commander-DK]

Commander-DK & trekaddict: I'm sorry

Oh, don't be

Think of my comments as creative input, not criticism. It is a great story and one of the few AAR's in here that I manage to read regularly. Just keep up the good work and I am sure we will all be quite happy.

A suggestion though: if you were to include one or two new characters outside the Wolf family, consider making them belong to the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine to allow you to describe a wider range of actions on the battlefield.

Merry Christmas!

:-) Jesper

[trekaddict]

Oh, don't be

Think of my comments as creative input, not criticism. It is a great story and one of the few AAR's in here that I manage to read regularly. Just keep up the good work and I am sure we will all be quite happy.

A suggestion though: if you were to include one or two new characters outside the Wolf family, consider making them belong to the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine to allow you to describe a wider range of actions on the battlefield.

Merry Christmas!

:-) Jesper

Again seconded, as my comments too are to be seen as creative input. If you want a Luftwaffe character I recommend Joseph Priller, a historical figure who led the only German Air sortie on D-day in 1944. He was something of a maverik, but shot down more than 130 enemy planes and that saved him from court martial.

[Hardraade]

trekaddict(1): You can not indeed.

KLorberau: Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas to you as well.

Commander-DK: I took the comments with good nature, I assure you. New characters showcasing the various branches are actually planned for the future. In fact, they should have appeared already, but I was never happy enough with what I tried to write for them. I just wasn't confident enough in being able to convincingly portray aerial combat or naval operations, I suppose. Anyway though, the character pool will expand soon enough. Some new characters will come up and others who have only been seen once or twice will get more prominent roles. It will actually be a bit of a relief to take a break from the Wolf brothers.

trekaddict(2): I always take everything constructively, so go ahead with anything you have to say.

[Hardraade]

Lucky guy that I am, I've been called into work. I wasn't able to finish tweaking the update yet, so I'm sorry to say that there will be no update today. As I'm already down for a double shift tomorrow, I suppose the update will have to wait until Wednesday. I'm sorry about that everyone, I hate not being able to come through on promised updates.

Happy Holidays.

[Hardraade]

Jan. 16, 1940
Deuil, France

Helmut Wolf sat near his host at the head of a long table, sampling the local cuisine and casting glances around the table. Apart from his officers, the Mayor had also gathered all of the leaders of the local community. Helmut had met the village council, the local magistrate, and the only person other than to the Mayor to appear friendly, the head of the local parish, Father Durand. Despite the smiles and polite conversation, Helmut judged himself to be in very unfriendly territory. They had all shaken his hand and smiled, said what a pleasure it was to meet him, but Helmut had seen past all of that. Their voices had been flat and their false smiles had not reached their eyes. These people, and this village, would have to be watched very closely. So much for the nice, tranquil posting, he thought. Or, maybe I'm just too suspicious.

Helmut looked over to Max, who was seated next to him, and noticed that his attention was being divided between the large piece of meat that he was enthusiastically eating and the table's female occupants, especially the Mayor's young daughter, Corinne who was every bit as lovely as rumor had made her out to be. He seemed to have recovered nicely from having been introduced to her as Helmut's driver, a little joke that Max didn't think was as funny as Helmut did, and was continuously attempting to engage her in conversation. As Max didn't have a very good command of the French language, it was not going all that well. He was even now asking, in rather broken French, what exactly was the dish that he was currently enjoying. Once he had made himself understood, Corinne smiled and replied, "La viande chevaline. It is one of my father's favorites."

Max smiled widely and said, "It's wonderful." Turning from her, he nudged Helmut and asked, "What did she say this is?"

"Horse meat."

Max frowned, "Very funny. What is it really?"

"I told you, it's horse."

"Seriously? My God, what's wrong with these people?"

"What? You've never had sauerbraten?", asked Helmut.

"Sauerbraten is made with venison, Helmut."

"Not always. Come on, you said that you were enjoying it."

"That's before I knew what it was!"

"Eat it and smile. We must be diplomatic, after all."

"Fine, I'll eat it. Just to be safe though, I think we should warn the artillery battalion to keep a close watch on their horses."

Helmut shook his head and smiled, glad to have his mind taken from his earlier, more serious thoughts. The rest of the dinner passed very pleasantly for Helmut, it even seemed as if everyone was more friendly and the conversation less forced. After the conclusion of the dinner, everyone moved into a surprisingly elegant ballroom type area where they were served wine as music began to play. Coming to stand by Helmut, Max whistled softly and said, "This guy has got to be loaded. Look at this place."

As Helmut turned to answer, Corinne glided over and asked with a smile, "Would you care to dance with me?"

Helmut regarded her silently for some time before realizing that she was speaking to him. He coughed nervously and replied, "I'm afraid that I would not be a very good partner. Sharfuhrer Baer, however, is a very accomplished
dancer. I'm sure that he would be delighted to accompany you."

Max, who had only managed to discern a few of the words that were spoken, was looking at them in confusion. When Corinne took his hand and led him away, however, he shot a grateful look to Helmut. Waving in reply, Helmut crossed the room to stand by Mayor Lefevre. He was deep in a conversation with the man about local history when the music stopped and he felt a tug at his arm. Turning around, he found Corinne standing behind him. She smiled up at him and held out her hand saying, "To refuse me twice would hurt my feelings badly, Monsieur Wolf."

Helmut nodded and let himself be led out onto to the dance floor. As they twirled around the floor to the music, she laughed slightly and said, "You are a far better dancer that you led me to believe, Helmut. Do you mind me calling you Helmut?"

"Not at all."

As they danced, Helmut found himself praying that the song would end quickly and trying very hard not to look into her eyes. When the music finally died away, Helmut stepped back and offered her a bow. As the band began to the next tune, he turned to leave the floor. Before he could, she slipped her hand back into his and pulled him back toward her. He tried to beg off of another dance, but her smile and the feel of her so close to him stole his voice. Her eyes locked onto his and he could not tear his gaze away. They danced all night.
************************************************** ********

OK, sorry about the update being a day late everybody. The next update will post tomorrow(I swear) and will deal with the Balkan situation.

[trekaddict]

Nice.... And he cannot be suspicious enough, this is occu...liberated France after all, not to speek of the emotional turmoil I see coming.

[HKslan]

Oh no, don't tell me he falls for the Mayor's daughter when he's got wonderful Sophie back home. On the subject of new characters, Eric should be eligible for volunteering in the next couple of years. He's 13-14 now, isn't he?

[Hannibal Barca2]

Max' love is flirting with Helmuth?
Nothing good can come out of this

[Hardraade]

trekaddict: Suspicion is good, it keeps complacency away.

HKslan: Hey, he's just dancing. No harm in that right? Eric is 13 at this point in the story.

Hannibal Barca2: I'm not sure what you mean.

[Hardraade]

Though Germany's attention was naturally dominated by their war with Britain and her allies, the German Foreign Ministry was actively involved in monitoring the world situation and trying to discern how events elsewhere could be turned to the Reich's advantage.

There had been heavy interest in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union, some had even gone so far as to advocate a direct intervention in the conflict after the defeat of France. However, on January 13, Finland had signed a peace with the Soviets that had cost them their border provinces.


Soviet-Finnish border after the so-called Winter War

Though there was no longer any question of coming to the aid of the Finns, that didn't mean that nothing could be taken from the situation. A diplomatic delegation was immediately sent to Helsinki which concluded that the Finns would be favorably disposed toward an alliance in the event of a future war between Germany and the Soviet Union. In addition, the intelligence provided by Finland's War Ministry was illuminating. It painted a picture of a dysfunctional Soviet military, much hampered by Stalin's brutal purges of his officer corps. This information was circulated through the OKW and filed away for future reference.

In addition to the Baltic, Germany was closely watching the Asian theater. Germany had for years enjoyed good relations with the Empire of Japan which had culminated with the signing of the Tripartite Pact along with Italy. Japanese progress in it's war with China was greatly admired by the German military, and eagerly watched by the German diplomatic corps. Once China was defeated and an alliance signed, Japan would be free to turn it's attention to India and the Allies' Pacific colonies. This pressure would ease Germany's burden in the European theater, not to mention give the Soviets a two front war to think about. Alliance proposals were carefully being drafted.


The war in China

By far, it was the Balkans that most held Germany's interest. Yugoslavia and Greece were engaged in a war with Italy, causing some consternation among The Reich's Foreign Ministry. Both Italy and Yugoslavia were considered friends of the Reich and there was great division in whom to support in the war, if anyone at all.


The Balkan War



Joachim von Ribbentrop, Head of the Reich Foreign Ministry

In the end, the only real choice was, of course, to back Italy. Her navy could wreak havoc on British shipping in the Mediterranean, and her army could engage the British in Africa, thereby lessening the threat of an invasion of occupied France. Even if the Italians could not defeat the British, they could at least keep them on the ropes long enough for Seelowe to be put together. As an alliance with the Italians had far more to offer to Germany than one with Yugoslavia, the head of the Reich's Foreign Ministry, Joachim von Ribbentrop, flew to Rome to meet with Mussolini and discuss the possibility of joining the two fascist nations together in alliance. Von Ribbentrop, the architect of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939, was successful in his aims and Germany entered an alliance with Italy on January 17, 1940. The cementing of the Rome-Berlin Axis was announced to the world via German troops and aircraft crossing the Yugoslav border on the very same morning.

************************************************** ********
OK, so that's part one of the update. Part two to follow later today.

[Hardraade]

Jan. 17, 1940
German-Yugoslav Border
Early morning

Major Otto Wolf looked skyward as a flight of Stuka dive bombers thundered by overhead. At this early hour, hundreds like them had already passed by overhead as well as the larger Heinkel He-111s. Otto was not entirely sure that he had seen so much air support even in France. Surely, he thought, there will be little standing in our way by the time they are finished. While that would be most favorable, he had to admit that he was hoping for some resistance. After all, he had these nice, new Panzer IV's to try out.

His battalion had reached their starting positions for the coming offensive the night before and there was little else to do but wait until the clock struck eight, the starting time of the attack. Having had one last quick conference with his officers, he was now approaching his command panzer where it overlooked the border position. As he arrived, he could see his crew scrambling over the vehicle under Hoff's supervision. In fact, as he looked around, he could see that all of the tank crews around him were doing something to their turrets that he could not see. Stepping up to Hoff, he gestured toward the panzer and asked, "What's going on?"

Hoff replied, "Lorenz is just finishing a minor alteration, sir. Sort of a surprise."

Otto stepped closer as Lorenz hopped down from the panzer and asked, "Well sir, what do you think?"

Otto rubbed at his chin thoughtfully before responding, "Very nice artwork, but a tad immodest don't you think?"

Lorenz shrugged, "Not at all. Just taking a little pride, sir."

"That's what immodest means, Lorenz.", laughed Otto.

"Yeah well, all of the boys think it's a fine idea. See?", replied Lorenz pointing to the panzers that were arranged around them.

Looking around, Otto could now see that everyone was painting their turrets in a similar fashion to Lorenz. Otto threw up his hands and said, "I suppose I'll have to get used to it. Too late to do anything about it anyway, the attack starts in an hour. Mount up."

Hertz walked over and said with a smile, "First Panzer rides into battle again. You remember how to work that radio, Riegler?"

Riegler gestured rudely in response as Hoff grunted and said, "Hardly the First Panzer anymore if you ask me. I look around and all I see is new faces."

Otto sighed, it was still painful to think about just how many of First Panzer Division's men had fallen in Poland and France. Hoff had the right of it, not very many of the Division's original servicemen were still here with them today. Despite the youth and inexperience of the replacements, however, Otto had a high opinion of his men and was convinced that they would do the name of the First Panzer Division proud. When he said as much to his crew, the other crews in earshot let out a little cheer and Hoff just grumbled, "I hope you're right."

An hour later, Otto and his men crossed the border and began the assault into Yugoslavia. All around them lay the evidence of the aerial assault that the Yugoslav Army had been subjected to throughout the morning. He was stunned by the scale of it all. The roads that his panzers were rolling along on without opposition were lined with shattered and burning vehicles and dead men.


German troops pass by the remains of a Yugoslavian Army column destroyed from the air on the way to Maribor


Otto was perhaps most stunned by the sight of an officer's staff car continuously weaving in and out of the lead column, and sometimes racing far ahead of the column as if this wasn't enemy territory they were traveling through. When the staff car raced ahead of him for the fifth time, he fixed his field glass on the car and believed he recognized the commanding officer of I. Panzerarmee as it's occupant. He was standing up in the car and alternately looking through a field glass and consulting a map. Otto shook his head and thought, He must be crazy. Still though, Otto's opinion of the man went up quite a few points. Not everyone of his rank would be on the front lines like that.

It was not until two hours after the beginning of the attack that any resistance was offered by the Yugoslav Army. As Otto's column approached the city of Maribor, it was confronted by Yugoslav armored vehicles. Otto deployed his battalion in an attack formation and studied the enemy through his field glass. Scanning the vehicles that were arrayed against him, Otto's first thought was that this was some kind of joke. The enemy proved that they were very serious by opening fire on him, though their shells fell woefully short. He ordered his panzers to hold position and fire at range. The battle was terribly mismatched. Otto's panzers were killing the enemy from a far greater range than they could match with their outdated machines. The enemy really had no choice but to either retreat or come closer to the German panzers. To their credit, they charged. Inevitably, they were slaughtered. Not a single enemy armored vehicle escaped the battle. Otto's only loss was a panzer that blew it's transmission shortly after he ordered the advance to continue.


The Yugoslavian armored units proved to be ineffective at stopping the German advance


As the German armored column reached the outskirts of Maribor, they found the city to have been abandoned by all but a small group of militia who wisely decided to surrender rather than face the German forces arrayed against them. Leaving a small group to hold the city, Rommel raced to occupy the rest of the province and continue the advance deeper into a reeling Yugoslavia that was now being crushed between the armed forces of the fascist allies.

[trekaddict]

Very nice. Allthough I would love to see what the boys painted on their turret.