Part XLI: August 1939
Upon loading the game, the British decide to abandon their plans for Operation Wilfred that would have threatened our supply with Swedish iron ore. The Führer is pleased, it becomes more probable that we won't have to deal with an additional Scandinavian theatre in the future. Scandinavia will be a question that will be addressed after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The
pro forma capture of Paris is delayed, again, because the French start immediately after the arrival of my forces in Paris a counter-attack on the city -- with one infantry division. The French should use more divisions for their counter-attacks if they wish to occupy us with battles that last longer than six or seven hours.
The spearhead in Bruges progresses now, after the initial obstacles have been succesfully circumvented, with lightning speed. The battle of Dunkirk is concluded with a victory (the province, though, is again not awarded to me for some reasons, DH has obviously some serious problems to decide when the control over a province needs to be transfered) and preparations for an assault against Amiens are already underway; in the case that the French divisions from Dunkirk all retreat to Amiens, it could become an unnecessary long battle against 17 divisions, so I order the infantry corps in Laon, Chateau Thierry and Lille to support the upcoming offensive against Amiens.
EDIT: ^_AC_^
provided an explanation for the behaviour of the game engine.
The Soviets try to influence the global opinion against us. Because of our investments in our intelligence network the Soviet operation fails and our belligerence remains unchanged. At the end of this update, our belligerence is on 12, still 27 points away before a country like Poland could outright declare war on us without joining the Allies.
The counter-attack on Paris has been repelled and, finally, the game engine has some mercy and gives us control over the French capital. The French government has fled to Chartres (a stupid decision, if you ask me -- by placing their new capital so close to the front, I can continuously rob them off their resources) and we receive a nice boost to our resource stockpiles by plundering the central French depot in Paris.
The opportunity for a pocket should never be forfeited. As I've stated before, only Le Havre needs to be taken in order to trap and destroy a dozen of French divisions. The French strength around Paris is so ludicrous that I just move my HQ in Paris to Le Havre. Within hours, the city is taken and the pocket (Calais, Amiens, Dieppe) is closed.
Just a moment later, the game engine is generous again and turns over the control of Dunkirk to us, while at the same time the battle of Amiens is concluded with a victory. The British answer this with a strategical bombardment of Dunkirk; some province constructions are damaged. I'm sure that the French population is very thankful for this helpful support by their most charitable allies, although German tank production hasn't started in Dunkirk yet.
A side note: The French have opened another offensive against Eicke's infantry corps in Arlon, the battle of Liege is still ongoing and the French government still believes that it is not necessary to mobilise.
Amiens is taken, which splits the pocket into two. The situation is a little bit confusing now and the initial orders from the start of Stage II are still in force, although some of them became obsolete with the new situation at the Atlantic Coast, so I issue a general stop command to all units in the area. After reevaluating the situation, I give the following orders:
The Luftwaffe will be rebased from Essen to Brussels. The airport in Brussels is damaged, but currently, the Luftwaffe contributes virtually nothing to the operations in France, which could unnecessarily prolong Case Yellow for some days. As soon as they become operational again, I will continue with ground support and air superiority missions in France.
We won't destroy the pocket in Calais yet, because the French divisions in Amiens are still retreating to the province. We will wait until all French divisions are in Calais before we start such an undertaking.
The Dieppe pocket contains only one division. They know that they're doomed, thus they try to break out of the pocket by attacking my HQ in Le Havre.
Although some of our units need to stop for a while, the key to every productive Blitzkrieg strategy is constant offensive mobility. With the Atlantic Coast area quite for now, we have to open major offensives on other parts of the front to prevent any opportunities for the French to recover from our attacks.
General von Leeb's infantry corps in Lille will be tasked with the capture of Hirson. Hirson is defended by four French divisions. Von Leeb will receive additional support from Mons, which added together results in an assault of twelve German infantry divisions and one HQ. After the French in Hirson are beaten, the units in Mons will start to put pressure on the divisions in Sedan that currently participate in the French counter-attack against Arlon. Eicke's infantry corps in Arlon must stand its ground until the battle of Hirson is concluded; and as the battle progresses very slowly in favour of the French, I have no doubts that the relief troops from Mons will intervene timely.
General von Witzleben will penetrate the French front at the same time in Reims with the support of von Reichenau's infantry corps in Chateau Thierry. The French have six divisions in Reims, and we attack without the support of an HQ, but nevertheless, everything else than a swift victory would be surprising. The French are losing everywhere; they have currently only a say in the question how
long it will take until France capitulates, not in the question
if France capitulates.
Von Rundstedt's HQ in Le Havre that presently is in a battle against the lone French division from Dieppe will be protected by the intervention of von Manstein's panzer forces in Paris. The armor corps will attack Dieppe, and as soon as the battle is over, the French division will be destroyed due to the encirclement of the province. However, I won't take the province yet, as it would be necessary to leave or weaken the defenses of Paris; so after the division is destroyed, I will order von Manstein to remain in Paris.
According to German intelligence, the French army is down to 97 infantry, two armor and two HQ divisions. The downfall of France is almost sealed, so I start to make the first preparations for the attack against the Soviet Union by starting a diplomatic offensive in Finland, Romania and Bulgaria. Our diplomatic influence mission results in Bulgaria in a policy change towards central planning.
After some hours, the Luftwaffe has finished its redeployment to Brussels and my units start to carry out the new orders.
As a reaction to von Manstein's attack on Dieppe, the trapped French division decides to leave von Rundstedt's HQ in Le Havre alone. The other battles also start in no time; it's very cool, just look how many red arrows the German counters display.
The battle of Dieppe ends first; the French division in Dieppe is destroyed and Manstein's orders to take Dieppe are aborted. While the other battles are still going on, the French decide to reinforce their positions in the still ongoing battle of Liege by sending additional divisions there; our twelve infantry divisions in Eupen now face eleven French divisions in Liege. However, as most of the divisions in Liege are hopelessly exhausted and disorganised, this is just another method of the French to delay the inevitable.
Usually, this update would end at this point as I've posted five pictures and said everything, but shortly before I saved the game, something happened ...
That's it. I want South Tyrol back!
In the best case, the Balkans will become a mess and the British will gain uncontested control over North Africa; in the worst case, Operation Avalanche will be launched in 1943 while my divisions are deep in Russia. Of course, as the leader of the Axis, I have not the slightest right to veto the entry of
Italians into my alliance -- I mean, who am I to disagree with the most serene and illustrious Mussolini, who, after all, crushed the mighty super power of Ethiopia in a lightning attack that lasted just two years?!
