Rank and File: A clerk's war Germany 1936 (Semper Fi)

[lazygun78]

Wilhelm Keitel
22.Infanterie Division
Slagelse”

What a fall from grace for poor Wilhelm. And all because of those damn Patch1.4 conspirators around Himmler. I had a feeling he could have become head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht one day...

Well at least that will save him from the Nuremberg Trials, i guess.

ps: Of course winning the war will save all of your generals from the trials

On a serious note, once again a very fine update. I can only imagine how much work you put into these. Keep it up! (despite the concerns 1 x FRAU, 3 x TÖCH, 2 x HÜND might have)

[Krogzar]

Very good update again...

I never could be arsed to swap leaders as soon as they were assigned either but then I don't play the game at a very high level.

Personally I'd like you to see you make changes to max skill level, in my eyes, more experience would make you a better leader, and correct me if I'm wrong, exp itself does nothing for combat does it? And an extra leader level or two wouldn't make that much of a difference either... imo very experienced leaders should be better than unexperienced ones, hence the skill level of your supersub-commanders should be higher than those who command the surface fleet which barely sees action.

btw, did you concider moving your north sea fleet into action, when the brittish attacked your subs? It would have been a good fight for you. Trapping them with your "poor" subs and then killing them with ze bismark!

/Krog

[Enewald]

What a fall from grace for poor Wilhelm. And all because of those damn Patch1.4 conspirators around Himmler. I had a feeling he could have become head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht one day...

Well at least that will save him from the Nuremberg Trials, i guess.

ps: Of course winning the war will save all of your generals from the trials

On a serious note, once again a very fine update. I can only imagine how much work you put into these. Keep it up! (despite the concerns 1 x FRAU, 3 x TÖCH, 2 x HÜND might have)

Poor 'treuer Lakeitel'.
the game is not enough historic in a few areas.

[BoemsiBoemsie]

Smart move to expand infra in the east! It will surely help a lot.

[Vonk]

As always very detailed AAR. My favourite

[Surt]

I really hate the AI for not attacking in cases like Denmark, your stack might easily defeat the 2 Scandinavian stacks.
You also might get the show started if you control one of the special units and make a probing attack, all the noobs ehh allies might charge too followed by Keitel and company. You already got as many troops as can be defended there. Else give the Nordsee army some bombers, short ranged so they don't fly too far off to, to soften the resistance a bit.

[Forster]

Very good update again...

I never could be arsed to swap leaders as soon as they were assigned either but then I don't play the game at a very high level.

Personally I'd like you to see you make changes to max skill level, in my eyes, more experience would make you a better leader, and correct me if I'm wrong, exp itself does nothing for combat does it? And an extra leader level or two wouldn't make that much of a difference either... imo very experienced leaders should be better than unexperienced ones, hence the skill level of your supersub-commanders should be higher than those who command the surface fleet which barely sees action.

/Krog

I always check to see who gets assigned as a leader. To many times leaders with panzer leader trait are assigned to militia, garrison or infantry units. Drives me crazy. Same with aircraft commanders. Why do fighters or interceptors need a leader with the carpet bomber trait? Sometimes I think a dart board might be better.

As for editing the upper level, if your leader has reached his max by mid 40, what is the logic for not being able to improve further? The old guard trait would seem to cover the leaders that have trouble reaching their potential. Of course, maybe the developers ascribe to the peter principle.

[Surt]

I always check to see who gets assigned as a leader. To many times leaders with panzer leader trait are assigned to militia, garrison or infantry units. Drives me crazy. Same with aircraft commanders. Why do fighters or interceptors need a leader with the carpet bomber trait? Sometimes I think a dart board might be better.

As for editing the upper level, if your leader has reached his max by mid 40, what is the logic for not being able to improve further? The old guard trait would seem to cover the leaders that have trouble reaching their potential. Of course, maybe the developers ascribe to the peter principle.

Sometimes people don't get better, else all would be world champions if you just needed some brain surgery Give him a better sub instead or a more dangerous posting.

[Uriah]

Rank and File
A Clerk’s War

1st February to 7th February 1940

Wednesday 1st February I had my radio on as I prepared for work, waiting for the daily Wehrmachtbericht to tell me of the start of Unternehmen Eisenfaust: the attack on Yugoslavia. Nothing. The papers in the past few days have been full of stories of Yugoslavia’s refusal to enter into trade deals and yesterday there had been an explosive editorial in the “Völkischer Beobachter” denouncing the Yugoslav refusal to allow our military to transit their territory. The “Beobachter” faithfully follows the Party line, and it looked to me as though it was building up to a demand that the Yugoslavs be taught a lesson, but the radio bulletins were silent.

All became clear when I got to work. The intention had been to launch the attack before dawn, but General Guderian, commander of the Balkans Army had postponed giving the order to move. Meteorological reports prepared by our best analysts predicted stormy weather over the Balkans for the 1st of February, and Guderian wanted his initial assault to be as overwhelming as possible. He is still concerned about lack of troops and wants the Luftwaffe to be fully operational.

Weather over the Balkans on 1st February 1940

With no activity in the Balkans, the day passed very slowly. I found it hard to concentrate, wondering what was happening on the border. A few reports did come in, messages from divisions of 1st leichte Panzerkorps about their progress. I suppose the delay does give Guderian a little more time to get his men into position.

Thursday morning Unternehmen Eisenfaust led the new bulletin. The Führer is no longer able to tolerate the provocative behaviour of the Yugoslav government and, desperate to assist our Italian allies in their dispute with Greece, has decided to gain access to Yugoslavian territory by force. Well, that is the way it was portrayed both on the radio broadcasts and the daily newspapers. Those of us in the know are aware that this attack has been planned for months, and was going to occur as soon as Italy attacked Greece. (I was interested to hear a few days later, from a contact in the Foreign Ministry, that there had been last minute talks with the Yugoslav Regent, Prince Paul. The Regent had been on the verge of declaring that Yugoslavia would not only bow to our demands, but would join the Axis. Unfortunately for us, he was unable to guarantee that the King, Peter II, would agree to this. Von Neurath felt that the King, with the assistance of the Army, might reverse such a decision).

Already documents are arriving from Guderian’s headquarters, evidence that he has set up an efficient administration. The initial objectives for the Balkan Army are Ljubljana and Zagreb, and our divisions began the attack before dawn (only hours after our embassy in Beograd handed the official declaration of war to the Yugoslavs). Three battles are already raging, and the Luftwaffe is in action, helping to blast the Yugoslav defenders out of their mountain strongholds.

General von Fritsch was first off the blocks, attacking from Leibnitz on the border with Hungary. 5.Infanterie is already making good progress into the hills of Maribor, a province that is defended by a single regiment. Von Fritsch is hopeful of clearing the lightly wooded area quickly: he has a concern that if caught in a prolonged battle the state of the roads in Leibnitz could hamper his supply columns.

Battle of Maribor



The beautiful northern hills of Yugoslavia: General von Fritsch hopes the clear weather lasts long enough for him to take control of Maribor

In Jesenice, 3rd Gebirgsjäger Division at last has an opportunity to use its skills. The area is mainly mountains, and if it were heavily defended we would have real difficulty in storming the defences. Brand’s men are at least 40% more effective in mountain terrain than standard infantry, and although the opposing 26th Infantry Brigade is reputedly formed from troops with mountaineer backgrounds, General Guderian predicts that with the assistance of the Pioniere regiment, the Gebirgsägers will reach the Sava River with a day or so.

Battle of Jesenice



View of Jesenice on the Sava Dolinka River. The mountainous terrain should suit our Gebirgsjägers.

The final battle of the morning of 2nd February was in Bovec, another mountainous region. Apparently no Gebirgsjägers were available for this attack, so General von Berendt is using two full divisions, 25 and 46.Infanterie. The Yugoslavs see this as an important area and have assigned one of their regular army units, 32 Triglavska Infantry Division, to defend it. Although outnumbered three to one, the Yugoslav General Lukic could be difficult to dislodge.

Battle of Bovec

The Luftwaffe was not as well organised as Guderian would have liked, carrying out only 9 missions on the first day. Nevertheless, approximately 2,000 casualties were inflicted that day alone, and the land commanders report that the unopposed air attacks had a significant impact on the morale both of the defenders and our troops: there is nothing a soldier likes to see more than someone making his job a bit easier and less dangerous.

The 3rd saw very little news from the Balkan Front (as it has been called in Berlin). Guderian reported that progress was being made, but that the mountains were proving to be just as difficult as expected. He asked for patience: as soon as his men reached better terrain they would increase the speed of the advance. I for one am not surprised: a well armed and motivated group of men in terrain like the Julian Alps can hold of many times their number indefinitely: look at the desperate defence of the Swiss in Zürich, outnumbered twenty to one. The Luftwaffe will be the key to breaking the will to resist of the Royal Yugoslav Army.

In other developments, Commander Aßmann has been allowed to conclude his patrols off the coast of Ireland. Very few convoys have been detected and it is considered unlikely that the Royal Navy will reroute any convoys through the area. He has been ordered to rebase to Lisboa, where our Portuguese allies have agreed to allow his submarines to berth and to also allow our supply ships to deliver replacement torpedoes and other equipment. Fuel, food etc can be obtained locally. From this advance base his boats will be able to reach far down the coast of Africa.

One of Commander Aßmann’s U-boats salutes the Portuguese authorities as it heads into Lisboa harbour

It was early in the afternoon that the telephones started to ring constantly, and concerned Wehrmacht officers began to run, rather than their usual saunter, along the corridors. Apparently as soon as our Italian and Hungarian allies were informed of the commencement of Unternehmen Eisenfaust, they ordered their troops in Danemark to head south. We had expected this, but not so rapidly. By noon on 3rd February there was not a single Italian or Hungarian soldier on the island of Zealand. I can understand why there was some urgency, as we have reports of Yugoslav units advancing into Hungary, as well as rumours that the Italians have been attacked in Albania. But surely some transitional arrangements could have been made?

Although some parts of Zealand are now mud patches, there are still areas with heavy snow, and these Norwegians are not about to discard their skis.

Obviously the civilian population of Slagelse is in radio contact with the Scandinavian armed forces, because only hours after the last of our allies left, the assault began. Over 168,000 men were thrown at our lines in Slagelse, now held by only two German divisions and 5 Slovakian militia units, a total of 42,000 men. While the weather was clear, a recent thaw has helped us as some of the ground has turned to mud. The combination of mud and heavy snow drifts is slowing the advance of the enemy. Regardless of this, assistance is needed, as we are under attack from both Copenhagen and Helsingor, and the Scandinavians are using their best troops.

Battle of Slagelse: most of our allies have left us without much warning, only the Slovakian militia have stuck to their posts.

OKH was reluctant to send more troops, as it is preparing for Unternehmen Polarlicht, the invasion of Norway, and does not want units earmarked for the invasion to be disrupted. What it has done is to remove all troopships from the command of the Nordseeflotte (1st Truppentransporterflotte is to remain safe in Kiel) and order the main fleet to get up steam and move to Öresund to use its guns in defence of the ground troops and to ensure that, should retreat become necessary, the straits are open.

Von Fritsch claimed victory in Maribor during the night, having lost only 53 men (I had been asked to work over the weekend – having just had a long vacation I didn’t see how I could refuse, and in any case, I didn’t want to miss anything). Enemy losses were put at 136, which is not bad considering that they were so badly outnumbered and facing an opponent with vastly superior equipment. Von Fritsch’s fellow generals are probably envious; they are still struggling though the mountain passes.

The Swedes are determined to throw everything they have at us: during the night Kiel suffered an air attack from Örnberg’s 1st Marinbombflygrupp. Nordseeflotte was still preparing to leave port and there was some confusion, but the bombing raid was ineffective. It did prompt senior Kriegsmarine officers to demand air protection from their Luftwaffe counterparts. Far more serious was the intervention of Swedish bombers over Slagelse. We lost 123 men to Friis’s 1st Taktiska Bombflygrupp, and the Slovakians in particular were unsettled by the air attack. In response, General Dennerlein has agreed that the defence of Slagelse will be part of the responsibility of the Österreich Army. That will allow his attached air geschwader to take part in the conflict. Within minutes 1st and 3rd Kampffliegerkorps and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Schlachtfliegerkorps were in the air, heading north to bases closer to Danemark. Late that afternoon our troops were further encouraged when Friis’s bombers were surprised by Waber’s 6th Jagdfliegerkorps. Generals Hartmann and Kleist both commented on their men cheering as out Messerschmitts chased off the bombers. It is not known how many Swedish aircraft were shot down, but they did not return.

Bombing of Kiel



Air Battle of Slagelse

Further good news came soon after: Jesenice is ours. The Gebirgsjägers made short work of the Yugoslav mountain troops, killing or capturing 235 for a loss of 88 men. The Upper Slava Valley is now under our control, and the road south is open.

Just after dark, General Zaiser ordered his men into Dravograd. Zaiser is best known for his dogged defence of the Rhineland in May and June last year, where his 35.Infanterie took heavy losses fighting against the cream of the French Army. His division is now fully reinforced, and Zaiser has an opportunity to attack rather than defend. He is a good officer, but it is well known in Berlin that his skills are more attuned to defence, and he is not one to adapt quickly to new ideas. General Guderian had no choice but to take whatever units were available for his Balkan Army, so I suppose he is giving Zaiser a chance to show what he can do. It will not be easy: he too must advance into the mountains, and he is facing General Mihajlovic with the Triglavska Alpine Squad, one of the Royal Yugoslav Army’s crack units. Zaiser had the advantage in numbers, 10,000 to 5,500, but it will be true test of his (and his men’s) ability.

Battle of Dravograd

General Bernedt has shown Zaiser that our regular soldiers can fight and win in the mountains, though he admits he had nearly five to one superiority. Bovec cost him the lives of 129 of his men, compared to 417 of the enemy. Other than Dravgorad the Yugoslav front line has now been completely broken, and we will see how they respond over the next few days. Some analysts believe they will collapse, but I think they are made of sterner stuff. It is a long way to Beograd, and I suspect they will make us fight most of the way.

Yugoslav prisoners surrender their weapons

The unfortunate General Lukic and his 32 Triglavska are to have no rest. Our intelligence tells us that in past few days the strength 32 Triglavska has dropped from 6,500 to 3,500 men, mainly the result of bombing by the Luftwaffe. Having been defeated in Bovec, Lukic ordered a retreat to Solkan, only to hit by Friedrich-Willich’s 2nd Gebirgsjägers who had advanced through Italy to Trieste to take him on the flank. Completely disorganised, Lukic’s men put up only a token resistance before fleeing, leaving behind 15 men. We lost only 6 Gebirgsjägers.

Battle of Solkan

On Tuesday Aßmann informed the Kriegsmarine that 1st Unterseebootsflotte was ready for active duty, having spent a few days in Lisboa replenishing stocks and resting the crews. He was ordered far to the south, to carry our convoy raiding in the South Cape St Verde Terrace area. Needless to say, he was warned not be too aggressive. Our policy of being strictly defensive and not seeking conflict has worked well to date, with submarine losses very light.

We may have all misjudged General Zaiser: he may be “old school” but his men know how to fight. He has driven Mihajlovic from the heights of Dravograd, and did so with only 102 casualties in less than three days. The Triglasvska Alpine troops only lost 145 men, but they were unable to hold their positions under the pressure that Zaiser applied, and now we hold all the border regions, with their semi-prepared defensive works.

The first week of Unternehmen Eisenfaust is nearly over, and all is going well. We have the nagging problem in Danemark, but surely we can hold against the Scandinavians?

Bombing summary

Luftwaffe

Bovec: Grauert with 4th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 276, 258, 150, 147, 221, 335
Maribor: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 161, 208, 149, 124, 240, 229
Jesenice: Schwartzkopff with 2nd Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 182, 86
Jesenice: Müller-Michiels with 5th Kampffliegerkorps (2 x Ju 88): 251
Jesenice: Schwartzkopff with 2nd and 5th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 4 x Ju 88): 274, 121, 349, 313, 279, 131
Jesenice: Grauert with 4th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 205
Bovec: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 141, 371, 116
Bovec: : Dörstling with 5th and 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 4 x Ju 88): 195
Dravograd: Schwartzkopff with 2ndKampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 140, 269, 164, 215
Dravograd: Schwartzkopff with 2nd and 6th Kampffliegerkorps (2 x Bf 109E, 4 x Ju 88): 358, 201

Swedish Air Force

Slagelse: Friis with 1 Taktiska Bombflygrupp (1 x TAC): 123


Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report

Coast of Galicia: 1 transport (UK): Plymouth – Ascension Island (Wolf)
Cape Finisterre: 1 transport (UK): Dubai – Plymouth (Wolf)
Western English Channel: 2 transports (Norwegian): Bergen – Boston (von Nordeck)
Breton Coast: 2 transports (UK): Plymouth – Kuching (von Nordeck)
Cape Finisterre: 1 transport (UK): Colombo – Plymouth (Wolf)
Channel Approach: 1 transport (UK): Plymouth – Banjul (von Nordeck)
Western Channel Approach: 1 transport (UK): Plymouth – Boston (von Nordeck)

Unternehmen Eisenfaust at end of 7th February



Zealand at end of 7th February: losses are beginning to mount



Italian and Hungarian troops stream across Germany



Sud-Frankreich Army: General Rommel is keeping his troops away from the border, but the Spanish are reinforcing anyway. General Model is still trying to extricate 5th Panzer from Vichy territory.



Siam: for some reason the Siamese government have allowed Great Britain military access. The presence of British and Japanese units in close proximity could lead to conflict



Greece at end of 7th February: many Italian units must return to Albania to face the threat from the north



Long columns of Italian troops trudge north through the snow, pulled out of Greece to meet the advancing Royal Yugoslav Army

[Uriah]

Those pesky Scandinavians, you should teach them a lesson.
And that Italian presence in Danemark is indeed a bit weird, considering the events in Greece.

I have been overtaken by events: see today's update.

What a fall from grace for poor Wilhelm. And all because of those damn Patch1.4 conspirators around Himmler. I had a feeling he could have become head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht one day...

Well at least that will save him from the Nuremberg Trials, i guess.

ps: Of course winning the war will save all of your generals from the trials

On a serious note, once again a very fine update. I can only imagine how much work you put into these. Keep it up! (despite the concerns 1 x FRAU, 3 x TÖCH, 2 x HÜND might have)

In AAR world, Keitel has a chance to make amends for the acts he carried out in this. He could still go far, but as you can see, Hartmann must outrank him: he always seems to lead the battles.

They do take a lot of work: after the last couple I need to do a few other things, they were exhausting. The writing is OK, it is checking to make sure everything is accurate. And I spend time duringthe day thinking of the story lines. If I added it all up, I would probably be shocked.

Very good update again...

I never could be arsed to swap leaders as soon as they were assigned either but then I don't play the game at a very high level.

Personally I'd like you to see you make changes to max skill level, in my eyes, more experience would make you a better leader, and correct me if I'm wrong, exp itself does nothing for combat does it? And an extra leader level or two wouldn't make that much of a difference either... imo very experienced leaders should be better than unexperienced ones, hence the skill level of your supersub-commanders should be higher than those who command the surface fleet which barely sees action.

btw, did you concider moving your north sea fleet into action, when the brittish attacked your subs? It would have been a good fight for you. Trapping them with your "poor" subs and then killing them with ze bismark!

/Krog

I always assign leaders (I think the AI is hopeless), but really you should rotate them around. At very least put your defensives in an army that isn't going to attack. So you would need to swap the German leaders from East to West and back East again.

I may alter the caps - just need to think it through.

I need the Nordseeflotte for the invasion of Norway: I'm not going to risk it for an old BB. And some of the ships were not fully repared. I only have one CA left, I don't want to risk more losses.

Poor 'treuer Lakeitel'.
the game is not enough historic in a few areas.

I could have given him a higher position, but to me he seemed best suited as a divsional commander. He will have to prove himself at the front: no room for "loyal lackeys" there (I am pretty sure that is the meaning isn't it?)

Smart move to expand infra in the east! It will surely help a lot.

It will help, but one of the main reasons for som much building is to get my skills up a shihg as possible by Barbarossa: I want to start infra building as I take provinces: a sort of rail guage conversion. I have infra building down to about 200 days now, and hope to get it below 6 months. 2 levels a year would be good.

As always very detailed AAR. My favourite

Thank you. As I have said a few times, I do worry about getting too detailed.

I really hate the AI for not attacking in cases like Denmark, your stack might easily defeat the 2 Scandinavian stacks.
You also might get the show started if you control one of the special units and make a probing attack, all the noobs ehh allies might charge too followed by Keitel and company. You already got as many troops as can be defended there. Else give the Nordsee army some bombers, short ranged so they don't fly too far off to, to soften the resistance a bit.

I did try to push the Swedes out of Copenhagen once, and was just bled dry. They can stay there until I cut them off from supply by invading their homelands. And see today's update.

I always check to see who gets assigned as a leader. To many times leaders with panzer leader trait are assigned to militia, garrison or infantry units. Drives me crazy. Same with aircraft commanders. Why do fighters or interceptors need a leader with the carpet bomber trait? Sometimes I think a dart board might be better.

As for editing the upper level, if your leader has reached his max by mid 40, what is the logic for not being able to improve further? The old guard trait would seem to cover the leaders that have trouble reaching their potential. Of course, maybe the developers ascribe to the peter principle.

Sometimes people don't get better, else all would be world champions if you just needed some brain surgery Give him a better sub instead or a more dangerous posting.

See above re leaders. I am bending towards removing the caps (or at least putting them all at a possible nine - in reality very few will make 5!)

[Karaiskandar]

I have been overtaken by events: see today's update.

Indeed, you have now to manage two very distant fronts.
Hopefully Yugoslavia should surrender quicky, the Luftwaffe is performing well there.

[Modo]

I'd hardly call that a "front". Unless they get help from the UK, one panzer division added to the mix should stop them cold.

[Enewald]

I could have given him a higher position, but to me he seemed best suited as a divsional commander. He will have to prove himself at the front: no room for "loyal lackeys" there (I am pretty sure that is the meaning isn't it?)

Yes, a poor old historical joke, Lakai being lackey and Keitel doing always what his little Führer wanted, he was called behind his back by a few people Lakeitel.
I keep learning all kind of unimportant stuff from history books.

[Mortu]

Uriah! Great to see that you are still kicking arsch. Even gladder to see that no one is messing with the mighty USSR (yet). Btw (apologize if this was asked before), what are your Semper Fi plans for this AAR?

[thebigj_a]

I'm so glad you're using German script now. I like to think of myself as a mature adult, but every time I read 'Commander Assmann' I sniggered like a kindergartener!

[Neomann]

NIce update, keep the goodwork, you AAR is the best I ever read !

[Forster]

Good update as usual. I try to attack Yugo before bringing in Italy, but that does create problems with Italy later.

[Viking_Manstein]

Your AAR is simply inspiering, i have finally read the whole thing, i discovered it about a week ago, been reading ever since
_________________________________________________

Check out my AAR, The Fuhrer's war

[thebigj_a]

I felt the same way, Viking. I'm not even playing HOI3 anymore, and yet I check this thread every day for updates.

(The reason I'm not playing is I want to play as Japan. Since there is a bug preventing the U.S. from building and assigning CAGs, there's no point. (I know there's a fix that makes them build them, but no fix that makes them assign them properly. The last thing I want to do is keep loading as the enemy to fix their OOB.) So I'm waiting for the expansion.)

That's the quality of your writing, Uriah. I wonder, does writing factor into your profession? If not, that's a travesty you should correct.

[Forster]

Believe he said he was an accountant. They aren't supposed to use creative writing skills in that field. Tend to cause problems.