Not that the allies could do alot with the breeches, except in Denmark.Originally Posted by friget234
Not that the allies could do alot with the breeches, except in Denmark.
There is no functional Fortress Europe with the current naval invasion rules. Except maybe having dozens of NAVs ready to pound into oblivion any approaching fleet.
Chapter XV - Operation Overlord
Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Soviet, Canada
Recap: Japan and USA are struggling in and around the Philipines, with Japan losing ground. Italy is more or less pasified but are still helping Germany against the Bear. Germany, well, they are driving the Red Army back at a frighful pace. United Kingdom have just finished three small Operation, giving them Denmark and full domination in Africa. Operation Archer managed to cripple Kriegsmarine but the price was high in British warships. Now, however, it is time for United Kingdom to go big. Operation Overlord have been under planning and preparation for almost a year. The time is deemed to be right...
May, 1941
During the last year, the British army has done massive investment in armor. The models have been upgraded from the 1936 Cruiser Tank to the 1940 Cromwell (next lvl upgrades in armor and reliability as well as the doctrines soon ready). The five new divisions which rolled out of the factories in mid-March had been organized into divisions with motorized units and in some cases powerful Archer tank-destroyers. This would be the powerful spearhead, together with the original armor divisions, in the attack against Europe which was about to be launched.
Troops available for Operation Overlord
United Kingdom had three army corps consisting of 15 divisions, either armor or motorized, and another two army corps with about 10 divisions of regular infantry, mostly strengthened with AT or AA brigades. To this, the three marine divisions were held back as reserve in UK.
United States of America had used their remaining infantry divisions in the European Army Group to free up veteran British units in Yugoslavia. Thus, the US would only contribute with four divisions of light armor.
Canada had moved basically all of their units to UK and now had a mish-mash of units counting up to roughly 10 divisions of fairly low quality troops.
These 40 divisions would now strike at the Third Reich.
The Plan
The attack on Denmark was only to force Germany to cover up. Needless to say, the blow would therefore fall elsewhere. The mighty blow from UK would fall on St Malo and Caen, with the port of Cherbourg as an obvious target to secure supply, while the tank spearhead would rush forwards and claim land. The Americans would land in Brest with their light armor and claim land in the rear, since they did not have the quality to face any serious German opposition. The Canadians would land in the south of France with Bordeaux as their objective. The Germans had some troops here, reconnaissance had said, and the weak Canadians would need rather powerful superiority in numbers to stand any chance against the Germans.
In large, the British troops would rush forwards while the Americans and the Canadians firstly would secure the back and later fill up the ranks when, which was inevitable, the Allied push would stuck in a German front line. The British leadership hoped to at least retake Paris before ending up in trench-war. Nevertheless, the Germans would have to direct a fair amount of troops to the west and their pressure on the Rus would have to falter. That is at least the plan.
.
Operation Overlord
Initiated May 17st, 1941
The small port of St-Malo was undefended and could be taken after a quick amphibious assault. Then the big transport ships could dock directly at the port and the mighty armor divisions could roll off from the cargo bays directly to the concrete of the docks. Soon, Cromwell tanks, Archer tank destroyers and motorized infantry spilled out in the French hedgerows. Most of the tank crews were fresh boys while the infantrymen had seen battle in Europe, Africa and in some cases even Asia. These veterans had been fighting in France just little more than a year ago and they were eyeing the surroundings suspiciously.
An Archer Tank Destroyer in the outskirts of St-Malo.
May 21st, 1941
The attack, however, unfolded according to plan. The brand new British Cromwell tanks blitzed into central France unopposed, supported by motorized and with regular infantry backing up. In the north infantry moved in to position by the Seine River to ensure that sneaky Germans would not be able to flank them.
The Canadians had secured their port and was marching southwards. As they had so few transports and the longest route to their landing area, it would take some time before they could put real pressure on the Germans in the south.
It was actually the Americans who bumped into serious German resistance in the west. The three German divisions quickly got surrounded but bravely attacked the Americans in all directions, trying to tie down as many of the fast light armors as possible.
So far, the huge Allied landing did not meet anything threatening their plan
The morale of the Italian leadership had been broken after the loss of the Regia Marina and their Capital. They had also lost rather great amount of troops. The situation for the Japanese leadership was similar. They had lost their pride of the navy and later also their unsinkable super heavy battleship. US Navy recently sunk a few Japanese carriers as well and after kicking the Japs out of the Philippines they started targeting smaller islands. Neither of these two Axis leaders saw any bright future and they could not give Germany much help. Germany could handle Soviet, that much was obvious, but the mighty Allied attack was apparently far above anything they felt they could match.
Instead of meeting the same painful fate as Italy and Japan, the German leadership chose to go to the negotiation table when they still had something to negotiate with, and before their heartland was destroyed.
The war stopped in May 21st, 1941 with an Allied victory!
In the Med, little had changed the latest months.
Between Sicily and the Italian boot, no shots were exchanged. The Italians did not even guard their side of the sound, but the Americans were too few to make any advances.
The situation was similar in the Greek peninsula. The most powerful and most experienced of the British units here had been shipped out to take part in Operation Overlord while the remnants of the American Med Army Group have moved in to fill the holes (which is hard to see on this pic). The Italians did, however, not try to make any pushes here. They seemed as happy as the Allies to have a stand-still along this mountainous and ill-supplied line. The Allied troops here had not seen much battle in the last six months but had endured a lot of hunger and thirst.
The Axis had also chosen not to push for Turkey but focus on the frontline north of the Black Sea.
Authors note: As seen in this full screen shot, Great Britain had no lack of resources nor manpower.
The Axis offensive in Soviet had been relentless the latest months as they desperately needed a break-through. Although unable to hold the Axis back, the Red Army succeeded in keeping its battle-line intact which, in the face of the long border and inferior troop-quality, is a major achievement. The firm and skillful leadership of the defending Red Army is an important cornerstone in the progress that led to the fall of Fascism (Cred to Maxyboy).
After an initially brisk offensive pace, the Axis press eased off by the end of 1940. This was probably due to the fact that Japan needed its forces elsewhere, like Indonesia, Taiwan and Philippines, and left the attack on the Bear to its puppets. Japan had many puppets and their forces were numerous, but as they lacked skill and coordination, the Red Army could much better handle them than the Japanese veteran soldiers.
South East Asia is firmly back in Allied hands for the most part. While the Brits have leeched its lands on troops, being needed for Operation Overlord, the Americans have kept their pace up and after resisting the Japanese attack on the Philippines, they now targeted smaller islands.
A war has its winner and its losers its villains and its heroes. In the United Kingdom, the Royal Navy probably got the most glorious hero-status after the war. Three ships stood out as furious killers. The HMS Formidable had sunk the highest number of enemy ships while the HMS Ark Royal had made an epic achievement in the final battles against the Kriegsmarine. The Pride of the Royal Navy the famous HMS Nelson stood out as the only ship which had sunk ships from all the three Axis majors. Also, HMS Nelson had sunk the Pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Nagato, during a magnificent duel.
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Epilogue
I think this game can be summed up fairly easy. Allies managed to put a rather impressive press on Germany initially which delayed their progress substantially. This was hardly conclusive however. Italy gambled with an aggressive opening which, fortunately for the Allies, brought America to the war already in early 1940 (although Italy made impressive land-gains). I would say the winning probability suddenly turned to 80-20 to the Allied advantage right here (but I am open for counter-arguments). With USA and Soviet in the war this early, the United Kingdom got an extremely beneficial strategic situation which was only made better by the fact that I had invested heavily in naval science which rewarded me with a fast destruction of the Regia Marina and some powerful victories against Japan. This gave me a spatial flexibility which was almost limitless. The ONLY thing that could make Allies lose at this point was a mistake by Soviet. As the Maxyboy/Red Army held firm, although screaming as if in great pain, he successfully soaked up the last bit of Axis initiative. When the Allied joint attack of France came, Germany simply could not cope being more or less alone.
Although I eagerly wanted to play a little bit more with my new armors I fully understand the Axis surrender. They had lost too much and it was not even mid 1941 yet with USA already 1 year into the conflict.
A big thanks to all of you who have followed this tale of carnage and especially to those of you who so eagerly take part with comments and thoughts. Without you, there would be no more carnage...
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Prologue...
Well... Nedless to say, we have already started a new game with FtM. I'm playing a country that I have not played before as AAR-writer so for veteran readers, I hope to give you something quite new. The Carnage will continue...
Cpt Easy's multiplayer AARs
Blitz Carnage (FtM 3.05) (Ongoing) .. Sudden Patriotic Carnage (FtM 3.05) (Finished) .. Carnage Al Dente (FtM 3.05) (Finished) .. Royal Carnage (HoI SF 2.04f) (Finished) .. Sudden Carnage (HoI SF 2.04b) (Finished) .. Years of Jolly Carnage (SF) (Finished) .. Wildfires (HoI III) (Finished)
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● AARland Choice AwAARds Winner (Round 1, 2011) (Round 3, 2011) (Round 1, 2012) (Round 2, 2012)
● WritAAR of the Week: Feb. 13, 2011 ● Weekly AAR Showcase 25th Dec 2011 and 27th May 2012
● Iron HeAARt 2011
Congrats to the Allies and the USSR for winning, nicely done. Looking forward to the next instalment in the Carnage series
MEIOU cookie From Gigau.
great job! Hope to see your next episode soon
Great AAR can't wait for the next one. Would love to see a soviet one next, the ultimant challenge!
"Never has so much been surrendered by so many to so few"
-British opinion of the Italian army in North Africa during WW2
This was really exceptional, as always, and of course I'm eager to see where you go next!
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Great stuff as always. There are far too few people who make multiplayer AARs. So much more interesting than yet another player smashing the AI.
May I humbly suggest that you reduce the number of house rules. If your AARs prove anything than that there are always gaps to exploit.
Another thing your "Carnage" series has made me realize is just how important the UK is. If controlled by a daring player it can affect the balance of power in surprising ways.
I am looking forward to the next installment of this series.
Oh well, it ended too soon
Was Germany out of manpower? Otherwise it should have kept going, damnit!
So it ended? that's bad , i wanted an epic finish!
i'll wait for the comments of all players
Um... So the best way to solve the problem is to get back to the old exploits? Come on...May I humbly suggest that you reduce the number of house rules. If your AARs prove anything than that there are always gaps to exploit.
Good AAR as always, Cpt. I am eagerly waiting for the next instalment. Since you won't be playing the UK, Germany or Japan, that leaves France, Italy or the Soviet Union. All interesting choices
I'm also saddened to see things end so fast, but I can understand how a side that feels it is clearly losing doesn't want to go to the bitter end.
Germany must have really felt over-committed in the east... if you had done that invasion in a SP game I would have expected a flood of German troops to arrive and boot you out of there.
Goo Goo G'Joob!
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Fan of the Week, Oct 3rd, 2011
AARland Choice AwAARds, Q.3 2011: 'Kneel Before Zog!' Tied for Best HOI3 Gameplay AAR
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WritAAR of the Week, April 1, 2012
Character Writer of the Week, April 23, 2012
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Link to my Ink Well post
yet another superb AAR. I agree that the relatively early US entry was decisive but the twists and turns on the way to victory made this one compelling reading
Great AAR, but I would have really liked to have seen this through to the finish
I was really not sure if you were joking and then i got sad, was expecting a little more fighting...Instead of meeting the same painful fate as Italy and Japan, the German leadership chose to go to the negotiation table when they still had something to negotiate with, and before their heartland was destroyed.
The war stopped in May 21st, 1941 with an Allied victory!
Good game anyways, always a good quality on the AAR.
Soviet next?
Awesome AAR this one! Great combination of forces and very good planning in Operation Overlord. Can't wait to read your new AAR.
Sorry to see it end so fast! Good to see the Allies chalk one up in the win column.
Good job as the Allies. I feel a bit of a let down though, the Axis threw in the towel so early, and it seems the main action was hidden behind the Iron Curtain...
Edit: I mean the grinding down of the Wehrmacht happened beyond our sight.
Last edited by anweRU; 01-12-2011 at 12:50.
Thanks for another excellent MP AAR CptEasy. I really enjoy reading them. I would have liked to see who picked up the Axis 'scraps' to position themselves for a 'cold' war. Can you tell us who won on victory condition points?
Please let me know if you there is anything you or your fellow players would like modded and I will see what I can do.
As predicted, the Axis lost. I do hope this AAR will lead to a few amendments in your house rules so the Axis will benefit from those. Would be an awesome change. Although FtM improves a few minor issues, there's still too much which would go the same way and basically ensure a Allied / Commi victory. As it was, this particular round stopped to be a challenge for the Allies about two months ago.
Last edited by Baltasar; 01-12-2011 at 15:01.
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