Ground War Part 6: The Critical Juncture
Nov. 16: We lost the battle at Karlsruhe, which wasn’t really an attempt to take the province, It was an attempt to relieve the pressure at Rastatt.
We are again attacked at Baden-Baden.
We begin our assault on Stuttgart, primarily to get around the attackers of Baden-Baden. It should be a quick victory as the only defender of Stuttgart is an exhausted infantry division (led by the "Desert Fox" himself, Rommel).
We are also trying to extend our encirclement in the north attack Monchengladbach. The attack there goes well.
Nov. 17: We’re attacked at Morbach. This attack won’t last long, as we’re only attacked by one division – the 2nd Panzers. I send our infantry division blocking at Tuttlingen into an empty province at Stockach. Rommel's infantry division has retreated. The airfield and industrial centres at Stuttgart are almost ours!
Nov. 18: We’re attacked at Tubingen. This is pinning our divisions trying to enter Stuttgart in place.
To counter, we attack with 3 divisions of Marines from Balingen to Reutlingen. This causes the Germans to break off their attack of Tubingen.
However, this has given the Germans enough time to reinforce at Stuttgart. We attack Karlsruhe and that convinces the Germans to break off their attack of Baden-Baden.
Nov. 20: Canada Joins the Allies, and we win the battle at Monchengladbach
Nov. 23: The Germans break off their attack of Stockach, and we try to assault Reutlingen. We’re attacked at Monchengladbach, but fortunately, it’s by divisions inside the ring we’re trying to set up. We’ll attack from outside the ring on all sides in order to get this attack to cease.
Nov. 24: We're attacked by a single Panzer division at Morbach.... this is a pinning attempt rather than one actually intended to defeat us.
Nov. 25: We attack Koln after Germany ceases fire on Monchengladbach, and we’re also trying to take Karlsruhe from 3 sides. We get attacked at Neuenkirchen.
Nov. 26: We lose at Friedrichshafen and get attacked at Stockach, Morbach, Konstanz and St. Wendel.
The Germans are really bringing their reinforcements now, and I don’t know how much longer we can maintain this offensive. However, the Germans break off their attacks of Morbach and Konstanz.
Nov. 27: At 1am, we win Koln. Is this the Germans pulling back so they can hit us harder when we arrive? We attack from Mondbach to Hennef to try to complete the encirclement.
Nov. 28: It doesn’t look good at Hennef. We’re attacked again at Mondbach. We do win Duren, making the circle a little smaller. We call off the attack of Hennef and concentrate on defending at Mondbach. A new infantry divisions is ready for deployment in 22 Corps.
Nov. 29: We get attacked at Koln by at least 6 German and Slovakian divisions.
This is what we were afraid of. The German reinforcements are now here. We’re going to plan a staged withdrawal back to the Maginot Line.
Retreat is not always a loss. As mentioned before, we knew that this offensive was risky to say the least, and we learned several things not only about our troops, but about the game.
It seems that the British will not support us either on the ground or from the air unless we’re attacked, making a long push deep into German territory completely unsustainable. When playing as France, the goal has been to hold off the Germans until either a) they open a second front with the USSR, or b) there’s enough critical mass in terms of manpower in France and the Low Countries to stage a breakout.
Our troops performed extremely well, more than holding their own with the Germans. Unfortunately, with no reserves, or ability to penetrate behind their lines (with more and more German reinforcements coming from the east), we have no way of making this offensive more than a little sting. Without any significant air cover (we’ve lost all of our interceptors by now), our troops are particularly vulnerable on the ground.
There is a particular art to a tactical withdrawal, and in the south, we are in a good position to do it fairly cleanly. We can move our non-engaged troops back, and slowly disengage and move back units while others fight on to cover them. In the North, we have another story. With our failed encirclement, we can’t pull directly back.
We’re going to need to smash through the mostly encircled divisions, and as soon as those battles are won, the most westerly divisions pull back, covered by the ones further east. Hopefully we’ll be able to get enough rested troops settled at the Maginot Line ready to absorb the German push so that our weakened ones don’t get overwhelmed.