Tomorrow the World - A German AAR

1943-06-01
I visited our arms manufacturers in the Ruhr Valley today to see the new tank prototypes from Krupp and MAN for our light and medium Panzers. While the newest design for the lighter models is merely an improvement of the last one, MAN has gone into a new direction with their prototype for our new main battle tank: The Panzer V "Panther". Elegantly sloped armor is providing more protection without increasing the thickness and broader tracks allow this vehicle to travel at great speed over difficult terrain. Maybe we can adopt these new techniques also in the next design for our heavy tanks that are currently being developed by Porsche.


Impressed by the new Panther tank, I ordered to stop the production of its forerunner, the Panzer IV. All tank factories producing medium tanks should switch to producing this new tank in a few weeks. Hopefully we can build enough of theses vehicles to outfit our invasion forces in time for Operation Sea Lion.

1943-06-08
Ever since we've completed our two massive encirclements on the eastern front, the enemy is trying to break trough our narrow corridor to avoid total destruction in the ever shrinking pocket. In these last few days we've been able to reduce the southern pocket significantly and the entrapped Soviet forces are getting desperate.


1943-06-09
With the elimination of our two pockets in the south and center well under way, today we were able to achieve the first major success in the north: Our troops captured the city of Arkhangelsk and with it the last Soviet held harbor in the west. Lacking tank-support, we were unable to eliminate the forces in the north with a third encirclement. But the enemy lines are getting thinner as their losses are mounting and more and more troops are recalled from the front line to plug holes further south. Soon we should be able to advance at will into the boundless taiga of Siberia.


1943-06-21
Today the first operational Panther tanks left the assembly line and are now en route to General Rommel's 1st Panzer Corps in the Normandy.


1943-06-24
After some last ditch battles, the southern pocket is almost completely wiped out and we expect the remaining troops to surrender any day now. The loss of so many of their finest troops must have a huge impact on their overall morale, from here on out it should be nothing but easy going in the east.


1943-06-30
The southern pocket has been eliminated and the significantly larger northern pocket will follow shortly. Our ample experience with reducing pockets is paying off, it only took us another month after the encirclement to eliminate the enclosed forces, unlike in the past when these battles dragged on for far too long.


1943-07-03
The last troops in the central pocket surrendered today. With the elimination of almost 200 divisions we've dealt a heavy blow to our communist enemies, from which they won't be able to recover. The new front line is now largely unguarded and we can advance almost effortlessly all the way to the Urals. Unternehmen Zitadelle was a complete success and the war in the east is now as good as won.


After this huge victory we can finally transfer a big part of our forces to the west for operations against Britain and the US, while the remainder slowly, but steadily advances towards the Urals and from there into Siberia. The reduction of our forces in the east will also help to relive the pressure on our stretched supply lines, improving the situation for the smaller force that is remaining in the east. It would be however foolish to believe that we can achieve total victory in the east by simply advancing continuously into the empty and barren lands of Siberia. As soon as we have taken out England and possibly the US, we can use our now sizable Kriegsmarine to sail into the Pacific and attack the industrial centers of China, Japan and the other communist countries from the rear. With all their troops thrown into battle on the main front, such an invasion should be quite simple.

But before we can dream of attacking the enemy on the far side of the world, we will have to deal with the pesky British first. Luckily Operation Sea Lion is just around the corner...

KLorberau said:

(...) What however do you do about partisans? Are you set for collaboration policy with the eastern lands or what?

Time to head west again and take Britain. Maybe drop some Fallschirmjajer on #10 Downing Street and capture Churchill. I'm sure the Reichmarshall will enjoy his supply of liquor and cigars.

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Yes, I've implemented a collaboration governments type occupation policy in all countries (see here). I've created my own occupation policy "Reichskommissariat" though, combining the low industrial percentage of the collaboration government with the low manpower you get from the "full occupation" policy. The only benefit I'm getting from this is an even lower partisan chance (0.5% instead of 1.5%). The idea is that the manpower that you would normally get from the collaboration government is directly used for policing the country, making partisan hunting more abstract. Anything else would be way too complicated with such an huge amount of territory to cover.

And concerning the Reichsmarschall: He got sacked back in 1940 after Fall Gelb, so no spoils of war for him ;-)

dlmt3 said:

(...) I doubt peace will ever happen, just by the name of the AAR it seems not possible.

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Precisely.

shierholzer said:

Nope.
Siberia is simply too much wasteland, that any significant resistance could hold even through the winter, if Germany employs a bit of MP there.
Just remember: -50°C or colder in the winter, with no food, once your ammunition is gone.

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Yes, I agree. The major industrial- and population-centers were either in the now occupied west, on the pacific coast or further south in Mongolia and Kazakhstan. In Siberia itself was not much going on: No infrastructure, completely undeveloped and uninhabited land as well as harsh weather conditions in the winter. I doubt any organized resistance exceeding a couple of roaming bands would have been possible there. And I doubt that the Wehrmacht would not have had any scruples when it came to burning down any hut or shelter they came across in Russia...

I'll try to march slowly deeper into Siberia but when it takes me almost a month to get from one province to the next, it becomes clear that an invasion in the east is necessary to eliminate the remaining Soviet Republics.

1943-07-04
Unternehmen Seelöwe, the plan to invade Britain had been proposed as early as 1940 after the Fall of France, but until now we never had the necessary naval forces to attempt such an undertaking. With the completion of our newest three carriers and battleships, we now finally possess the capabilities to take on the Royal Navy in their own coastal waters. The operation is scheduled to start on the 2nd of August, with an invasion on a broad front from Bournemouth to Dover. But before we can start the invasion, we will have to secure the air superiority over the British Channel and southern England. The Luftwaffe has almost an entire month to eliminate all resistance from the Royal Air Force with an operation codenamed "Unternehmen Adler" (operation eagle), which aims at destroying the bases on the RAF on the ground and their fighters in the air.

After we have cleared the skies, the Kriegsmarine will blockade the channel and the invasion can begin. We've assembled two armies in northern France under the command of Field Marshal Ramcke's Army Group West: The 11th Army will ship out from Dieppe and attack the important port of Dover, while the 12th Army will attack Portsmouth and Bournemouth. Both invasion groups can unitize a corps of marines each as well as a total of five divisions of the new Panther tanks, four under the command of Rommel's 1st Panzer Corps and one under the command of the newly created 4th Panzer Corps, which currently has only divisional strength. The invasion itself will be supported by our paratroopers and a massive armada of close air support bombers. For operation eagle and the invasion we've stationed about 20 fighter and another 20 bomber wings along the channel coast on bases near Brest, Cherbourg, Lille, Antwerp and Amsterdam.

After the establishment of the initial beachhead and the capture of the harbor-installations in Dover and Portsmouth, the plan is to expand the bridgehead to the Thames river on a line from Bristol over Oxford to London. The scope of this operation is, once we have successfully established our foothold, to advance further north to a line from Liverpool to Hull. After we've occupy all of England and Wales, we will make new plans for the conquest of Scotland and Ireland, based on the situation as it presents itself then.

1943-07-05 "Adlertag"
Operation Eagle started today. An awesome armada of bomber aircrafts scrambled over the channel to knock out British airfields on the coast, while our best fighter aces engaged the enemy in deadly dogfights over enemy territory.


1943-07-08
The first results of operation eagle are promising. We've suffered some losses, but the enemy has almost been annihilated. Most of our losses were over British soil, but once the invasion starts we can liberate our captured pilots.
I also received an memo from my head of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Ritter von Greim, today in which he complained that his head of his fighter forces, Adolf Galland, was actively participating in the battle by flying combat missions himself. He was ordered to stay at his desk a while ago when he got the job, but I'm going to overlook this insubordination for now. Why not let him have some of the glory too?


1943-07-08
While we are preparing for the invasion of Britain in the west, our offensive in the east is continuing. We are advancing slower than we had hoped for, but we are making steady progress. After the destruction of the Red Army in Operation Citadel, the Russian troops we are now facing are mostly made up of poorly trained and equipped old men, women and young kids. The only real opposition is coming the recently transfered Japanese units that are now showing up on the eastern front in a few sectors. But our biggest problem is the lack of good roads and already considerable distance form our home country.


1943-07-23
Today the first troops from the eastern front arrived back home. These units were freed up by the successful completion of Operation Citadel and for most enlisted men this is the first time that they are back in Germany for almost two years. The enormous logistical problems we were facing while we were fighting in Russia meant that a transfer back home during leave was impossible. Just another good reason to honor the returning veterans with a big victory parade in Berlin.
These troops won't be available in time to participate in Operation Sea Lion, but huge parades and festivities will help us to lull the British into a sense of false security.


1943-07-31
The RAF is licking it's wounds, the festivities in Berlin and many other German cities are continuing, as more and more men are finally returning back home and our troops in the Normandy are standing by to cross the channel. Intelligence reports suggest that the enemy has suffered heavy losses in Africa and the Middle East, leaving their homeland dangerously ill defended, despite the presence of US expeditionary forces. After sorting through a small mountain of status reports form all of our involved units, I'm confident that the upcoming operation will be a success.


1943-08-02
Operation Sea Lion started today and I spent the entire day in the situation room of the OKW, excitedly listening to every new report that was announced by the staff of the telegraphy room. By the end of the day the fight for the three major harbors was still raging on, but we were able to land our forces in the area near East Sussex and Hampshire. Meanwhile the Royal Navy was trying to break through our blockade from both sides to disrupt our landing operations, but so far they have been successfully repelled.


1943-08-03
After some heavy fighting the British Home Guard had to retreat from their defenses in Dover, Portsmouth and Bournemouth this night, giving us access to three only slightly damaged harbors. Over the course of the day the Royal Navy continued their push into the channel and a small group of ships was able to slip trough the blockade near the mouth of the Thames. They were able to fire a few shots at fleet of transports, that was returning back to their harbors in France, damaging three freighters before being sunk themselves. At the end of the day we had successfully established our beachhead in Southern Britain and lost only one heavy cruiser, the Prinz Eugen. The British on the other hand had suffered some heavy losses: The carriers HMS Glory and HMS Colossus, the battleships HMS Revenge, HMS Temeraire, HMS Price of Wales, HMS Ramillies and eight smaller escort ships.