The German Reich and the Second World War

Thanks very much for the comment! I hope i can keep it going. As i said yesterday, if everything goes according to plan i shall be moving and thereafter i will be replacing this laptop. But i have everything backed up so i should be able to finish the game off, i realy want to either way: victory or defeat.

As for my posting an update later, i obviously meant today

Black September

September 1941, saw the fighting on the Eastern Front step up a gear, and also saw the bloodiest month of the war so far. Over 75,000 German soldiers were killed, the largest loss thus far, bringing the total wartime losses to over half a million men. In addition an entire division was captured. Meanwhile, the estimates for Soviet losses, in terms of killed, topped 300,000 by the end of this bloody month although the Soviet casualty figure was closer to 450,000 due to the number of men taken prisoner including a haul of nearly 30,000 during September.

The month, however, did start off well. By the 5th, most of the undefended rear area of the Soviet northern army group had been overrun pushing the Soviet troops into a small pocket mostly within the old borders of Lithuania. As a result, while not entirely geographically accurate, the pocket took on the name of that old country: the 'Lithuania pocket'. The Red Army troops in Riga, laying outside the pocket, had repulsed the initial attacks by the panzer divisions, but the Soviets were not able to put this bastion of hope to good use. Besieged on all sides by the panzergrenadier regiments of five divisions, the city – the only pocket of resistance outside the main Lithuanian pocket - fell on 8 September netting 12,000 prisoners. Unfortunately, the Soviet fleet was able to leave port before they could be boarded. Supported by level-bombers, the fleet was able to break through the Kriegsmarine blockade of the city sinking a destroyer, damaging another, and destroying the KMS Karlsruhe in the process resulting in the loss of 1,500 sailors. Regardless, the panzer attack was pressed home fragmenting the 'Lithuanian pocket' into several smaller ones. Yet the spirit of these trapped Soviet troops – at least 100 miles, at the narrowest point, from the frontline and reinforcements – did not dwindle and they launched a number of counterattacks to weave the pockets back together. Resistance intensified resulting in bloody battles to push the communist troops south mile by mile. With the southern flank mostly open, or weakly held, Soviet troops were able to run amok. The only reserve left, several divisions still forming within the Reich, were rushed forward to halt the marauding Soviets and to help crush the pocket. By months end the Soviets had been halted from expanding their position and several bloody assaults had been launched that had reduced the size of the pocket, but it was far from defeated.


Throughout the month, the main frontline, stretching from positions north of Riga to the west of Smolensk were subjected to continuous attacks. After heavy fighting, the bridgeheads over the Daugava River had to be given up although Soviet positions along its western bank were finally eliminated. The centre line was forced to pull back close to 100 miles. The infantry of Army Group Centre were now completely exhausted and subjected to daily attacks, they were unable to hold their positions. By the end of the month the most battered formations were ordered to pull further back and establish themselves amongst the Stalin Line and ready it for defence from attacks from the east. The rest of the frontline forces were ordered to hold the Soviets at bay for as long as possible before also retreating.


Late on the 5th, the Battle of Stanislawow came to an end cracking the final stronghold of the Dniester pocket. Over 6,000 landser were killed during the battle, but estimates suggested that the equivalent of an entire Soviet division had been wiped out. Army Group South redeployed around the pocket and prepared itself for the final assault. Due a number of reasons it had to be delayed for several days. But on the 18th, under the cover of over 1,000 bombers attacking and an almighty artillery barrage, the final attack was launched. An estimated 200,000 Soviet soldiers had been trapped, and at least 100,000 killed during the previous battles. By the end of the month, the final position of the pocket was still holding out, but coming under intense pressure. Additional troops were ordered into the battle, and it was of such ferocity that an entire engineer unit was shattered and had to be reformed, in Berlin, from a cadre of men already wounded and on sick leave.


The rest of the southern front was not passive, the panzer divisions had to relinquish the ground they had captured as Soviet numbers mounted in that area while across the front numerous attacks were launched. In several areas the Soviets were able to push back our forces as after months of none-stop fighting their ability to resist was wearing thin. Local counterattacks were launched to retake every position lost, but on the whole this proved to be in vain. On the border of Army Groups Centre and South, an extremely thinly held sector of the line, the Soviets launched a number of attacks and breached the line with little in the way of stopping them pouring more men through. Every garrison division in Poland was ordered forward to reinforce the various weak points of the line. Thankfully, by the end of the month the Soviets had not took advantage of this breakthrough.

The end of September thus saw the entire frontline under heavy pressure, and the possibility of it cracking in many places. The infantry had been worn down through heavy combat and constant fighting. With so many troops committed to destroying the Dniester and Lithuanian pockets, there was little in the way of reserves other than a few garrison divisions protecting ports and the army in France and these were desperately needed to keep the British at bay. The strategic picture at the end of September was bleak. The prospect of launching a decisive battle to capture Kiev and eliminate the bulge in the frontline, before the onset of winter, now looked like a pipedream. Eliminating the two pockets and then being forced to sit on the defensive now looked to be the best possible outcome. Muttering amongst the officer corps, by this point, proclaimed Operation Barbarossa to be a complete failure. The only real success saw during the month was the sinking over 165,000 tonnes of Allied shipping for the loss of just four boats (previously over the course of several months, less than 130,000 tonnes had been sunk and for the loss of 11 boats).


Our Italian allies were also experiencing mixed results. During August, they had reached the outskirts of Athens and throughout September launched repeated assaults on the city. All failed. The Greeks, also holding a pocket to the northwest, were making their final stand. Intel reports suggested the Greeks had at least one armour brigade operating in and around the city leading to the assumption that the British had reinforced the Greeks. In East Africa, the Italian positions were steadily being taken one by one, resulting in the opinion that the 300,000 strong East African Army was a complete write off. In North Africa, however, the Italians had launched a counterattack. The Italians had stemmed the tide of the British advance, and were slowly pushing them back towards Egypt. As long as the Italians keep the British busy, it seems our southern and western flanks will be secure.

That was my initial thought! I was pushing them in from the north and they started running away in the south. Thankfully by the end of the month i was able to shove 12 divisions into the area that have completeled the encirclement.

The most worrying sector, is the small Soviet gains into the Reich in the centre of the picture. The troops they have pushed back and a few garrison divisions is all that surround the bulge, but those troops have little organisation left. There is practically nothing there, and nothing left if the AI makes a big push there.

While the war against France was costly, i had been able to recover my manpower losses by the time i launched my attack on the Soviets. When i launched my Barbarossa all my frontline divisions were at full strength. I think the main problem has been, throughout my game, a lack of infantry due to my pre-war focus on building up a bulky garrison force. I wrongly assumed i would be able to defeat France fast, even aware of the upped up difficulty of the rivers in Belgium and their OOB, so i carried on building garrison divisions till i had a number i was satisfied with before turning my attention to my infantry force. My rapid defeat of Poland, with armoured spearheads and a relatively small infantry force, reinforced this false believe of a fast victory over France was possible (ironically somewhat like real life).

Although with that said, i don’t think i have helped myself much either with my conduct of the campaign. The initial progress in the centre was good, but i think rather than pushing forward into nothingness i should have swung north sooner. I am studying to be a historian, ww2 is my fascination and i should have really applied what i know to the game - the capture of territory is meaningless if you still have an opposing force to deal with (of course slightly different in game with VPs, but the basic jist is the same). In the south i reinforced failure and only realised afterwards what i did. In retrospect, i think i should have used that extra army to expand my corridor which would have relieved the pressure on my troops already committed in it or drove it straight into the attack on the pocket: either option would have been better than what i did. And finally, sending my panzers gallivanting off south when they could have been employed in cracking the pocket was a pretty idiotic move on my behalf.

I agree, the bulge needs to be destroyed to return the initiative back to me and to provide the opportunity to win the war. But doing so is another problem. If I can quickly knock out that southern pocket I should have in the region of 25 divisions to launch the southern arm of the pincer, spearheaded by five or six panzer divisions. However, once I take out the northern pocket I am going to need those infantry divisions to man the already shaky line. My panzers, I have no doubt, will punch through the AI frontline. But the problem I think I will end up facing is not having enough infantry to support those thrusts and eliminate the bulge. We shall see. It has also been a long since I have fought in the Ukraine, how bad is the mud on fighting? Should I wait for the frost?

Also, today I received the excellent news I have been waiting on. So this AAR will be going on a hiatus for a while since I am moving continents!!!

Well, it would seem i have time to do another update or two before i leave.

National propaganda newspaper, 17 October, 1941

Friday 17 October, 1941​

Week of victory!​

While the High Command has recently admitted that the campaign in Russia has been slower than expected, today a communique was issued detailing the string of defeats that our glorious armies have inflicted upon the Bolshevik horde. The tide has turned, and there is talk of being in Moscow by New Year!

Evidence of the pre-war Soviet massacres of their officer corps has been well presented in Lithuania, as the amateur handling of divisions by the proletariat generals resulted in the Baltic Pocket being easily split in two. Under constant artillery fire, and with close support provided by the flying pencils of the Luftwaffe, the western Baltic pocket collapsed last Friday with over 70,000 prisoners being taken.

Just some of the prisoners taken following the fall of the pocket.​

The 'Dniester Pocket', a thorn in the side of our southern armies, has been a holdout of Ivan’s since July. Over the last three months, a blood bath has been waged along the course of the river and the Hungarian border as our forces corralled the Russian cannon fodder into a smaller and smaller area. Army estimates have suggested upwards of 50,000 Soviets soldiers were killed before the main Soviet force was able to flee to the heights of the nearby mountain range. As punishment for holding out, these sheep herders and farmers were subjected to daily one-thousand bomber air raids pulverising the mountains. Over 30,000 tons of bombs have recently been dropped, and artillery fire has amplified the destruction inflicted. War correspondents surveying the battlefield, earlier this week, described the area looking like the battlefields of the Western Front from the last war. Last week our brave men launched the final assault on Ivan’s last remaining positions. On the 10th, the Soviet general commanded his men to lay down their arms after losing over 15,000 men during the assault. Marching out of the mountains, alongside our victorious soldiers was 151,000 Russian prisoners.

The final victory of the week arrived two days ago on the 15th. After smashing the outer defensive lines, our panzers rolled forth rapidly overrunning the remnants of the Baltic pocket. The untrained communist conscripts were no match for our professional forces and resistance disintegrated. The High Command has stated that the last victory was that rapid, that prisoners are still being taken and a final tally has yet to be made but they believe he figure to be in the region of 125,000 men. Thus, within the space of a week, close to 350,000 prisoners have been taken and all rear areas cleared of the Bolshevik menace.

October: initiative shifts

During the first two weeks of the month, Army Group Centre conducted its withdrawal to the eastern facing defensive positions of the Stalin Line. For the most part these withdrawals were conducted without much fighting, but in sectors of the front heavy attacks were made by Soviet infantry. These assaults overran the 4.Infantry-Division resulting in the loss of over 10,000 men, most presumably captured. This withdrawal however reduced the pressure on the frontline and the Soviets did not launch any follow-ups to breach the new positions.

During the long battles to destroy the Dniester and Lithuania Pockets, a new plan of attack was drawn up during a meeting between the army group commanders and OKH. The plan, codenamed Operation William (after the emperor who oversaw the unification of Germany), intended to throw all four panzer armies in a two prong drive for Kiev. Then the giant "Ukrainian Pocket" would then be assaulted from all sides, destroyed, and the initiative on the Eastern Front regained. However, as the battles to destroy the current pockets became prolonged and sucked up all reinforcements, the prospect of the Eastern Front collapsing, due to the lack of available units, became a real possibility. But thanks to the 'week of victory', the initiative swung back in favour of our attack on the Soviet Union.

With the collapse of the Dniester Pocket, a large number of divisions were freed up. Army Group South’s commanding officer, Field Marshal Blaskowitz, quickly appreciated the vulnerable position the Red Army was in. Soviet units were slowly beating back the thin frontline that stretched around the bulge. OKH had managed to gather just enough force, from stripping all security units from Poland and Bohemia, to mask the penetrations and halt any breakthrough. As the Red Army exerted itself pushing westwards and northwards, it was leaving its southern positions weakly held. Since OKH had not yet ordered the Luftwaffe JU88 bomber squadrons – thus far supporting Army Group South’s efforts to destroy the Dniester Pocket - to support other efforts, Blaskowitz demanded his Luftwaffe liaison officers to order these bombers to start hitting the frontline at the southern end of his front. All available divisions, now freed from masking and attacking the Dniester Pocket, were then ordered across the river into the only bridgehead remaining. This hodgepodge force, lacking any reorganisation into their old or new Corps structure, of worn out troops were ordered to attack directly northwards into the rear of the Red Army cutting them off west of the Bug River. The attack plan abandoned the ideas of the 'Operation William', and aimed to create a much smaller and more manageable pocket to avoid further prolonged fighting. Just seven days after the Dniester Pocket had collapsed, Blaskowitz launched his new offensive.


While the Lithuania Pocket started to fall apart first, numerous mopping up missions had to be undertaken to fully clear the area of the Red Army. Furthermore the front needed to be rebuilt, and panzer divisions relieved from frontline duty. In an effort to construct a solid front and prepare for Operation William, Eleventh Army was transferred to Army Group North while in return the latter relinquished the panzer armies to Army Group Centre. However the process of re-establishing a strong frontline was a time consuming process, as was the transfer of the panzer divisions to the northern end of the bulge. By the 20th, days after Army Group South launched its attack, Field Marshal von Kluge had to admit he would not be able to launch similar operations until at least the end of the month.

In the meantime, Soviet troops were able to recapture the nuclear research facility at Sarny. Our own scientists, also conducting atomic research although without dedicated facilities to test out their theories, warned that atomic research could lead – at some point – to some form of weapon but at the moment that was a very remote possibility. Regardless, they suggested to OKH that the recapture of the facility should be a top priority.

By the end of the month, von Kluge had gathered his 19 panzer divisions north of Blaskowitz’s forces. His divisions were still not ready for combat, having only just finished their approach marches, but at any rate would appear to have arrived too late to play an important role. In line with the original plan, von Kluge was slowly concentrating Second Army due north of Kiev. Meanwhile Army Group South had cut off at least 20,000 men at Lwów, and had little in the way of stopping them from driving further north into Soviet territory.


The fighting may have been more conclusive during October, although it was also the second most bloody month of the campaign with the loss of over 50,000 dead and 10,000 captured. The collapse of all major pockets and the subsequent mopping up operations had resulted in 389,700 Red Army soldiers being taken prisoner, bringing the total thus far to over 530,000. The Red Air Force also returned in force during the month, and through dogfights around 250 fighters on both sides were lost.

Thanks very much for the kind words!

I should be able to get one more update in, before next Tuesday, and then that is it for a while. But i am determined to fight this out to whatever conclusion it may reach. So it will return!

November

The arrival of November brought about a drop in temperature across the front, but also the intensification of the air war. Every available light and medium bomber struck targets around the bulge in the frontline on a daily basis. The fighters of both sides once more fought for control of the air, although the number of German fighters able to take part was limited due to the number of pilots and machines lost so far in the campaign. The Soviets on the other hand launched every plane they had into the battle. Within the first week over 100 planes had been shot down. By the end of the month our losses had nearly reached 200, mostly bombers, while 350 Soviet machines were shot down over our lines.

With dogfights going on overhead, Army Group South continued to push north. Lvov was captured, along with the entire garrison after a brief fight. On 5 November, Army Group Centre finally launched its offensive. Sixteen panzer divisions struck south in a massive armoured wedge smashing open the northern Soviet defences. Within days they had linked up with Army Group South and cut off numerous Soviet units west of the River Bug. As infantry and several panzer divisions moved in to undertake this new encirclement battle, the majority of the panzer divisions pivoted eastwards and launched into the exposed Soviet flank.

While the fighting wore on in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the mundane task of rebuilding the frontline carried on in the north. On 14 November, after nearly 30 days of effort, the process was finally completed. Army Group North now manned the length of the frontline, north of the bulge, freeing up the remaining units of Army Group Centre. As infantry manned the frontline, garrison units were able to return to their security duties within the Greater Reich. This process allowed von Kluge, Army Group Centre’s commanding officer, to assemble Second Army, due north of Kiev, with Sixth Army on its western flank. Von Kluge’s battle plan was to launch these two armies across the Pripet River, to facilitate the panzer attack and add to the troubles already facing the Soviets. If successful, these two armies would then be able to pivot and take up positions along the Dnieper River, in the centre of the front, and prepare winter positions; Army Group South would then be able to push forward and take up positions south of them along the bend in the river.

The fighting around the Bug River pocket sucked up more forces then at first thought, and the advance east started to slow down. Fighting also broke out along the length of Army Group South’s front. With Second Army ready, and the majority of Sixth Army also, von Kluge launched his attack on 20 November. Five days of heavy fighting followed as both armies fought to create a useable bridgehead across the Pripet River. In the end the assault had to be called off after around 10,000 casualties: nearly a third of the month’s losses. No gains were made and the Soviet line held. The attack was, simply put, a bloody failure.

While Army Group Centre launched several bloody unsuccessful assaults, Army Group South was slowly squashing the Bug River pocket. After two weeks of fighting, on 27 November, the Soviet holdouts – numbering nearly 60,000 men – surrendered at Krasnystaw. The collapse of the pocket freed up quite a number of divisions at a critical moment. The panzer wedge had stalled, and Soviet attacks in the middle of Army Group South’s frontline were slowly overwhelming our men. However, while the panzer attack had stalled it had cut off a number of Soviet divisions – with estimates suggesting 40,000 troops trapped - in the Pripet marshes, in the Pinsk-Sarny region, who were unable to retreat eastwards: the next target before further pushes eastwards.


The Abwehr published a report at the end of November informing OKW and OKH that all sources indicated that over one million Soviet soldiers had now been killed or captured during the course of the campaign. The best estimates also suggested that only 100 Soviet divisions were left in the field, and frontline reconnaissance had highlighted an increase of Asian and Mongolian troops manning the frontline indicating that the Soviet Union was now drawing upon her final resources.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the kind words!

I am going to start playing through December in the coming days and i am at a loss at what to do over the USA. Should i leave it to the game to make a decission, or play somewhat historically?

Here are some ingame facts:

The USA relations with Germany is at 62. Since the start of the game there has been major trade between both countries with there currently being a major oil deal (i get 50 oil, they get about 8 cash).

The USA is at the tip of the Democrat/Allied pyramid. Their highest threat is Japan at 22 per cent and they have -25 relations with Japan. The USA appears to not have gotten involved in the Japanese-Chinese war.

Japan's highest threat is the Soviet Union at 8 per cent. They are part of the anti-comintern pact, but are not part of the Axis. I have had very little dealings with them. Japan is still at war with China, but i dont know what progress they are making.

I dont know if i should let the game just run it and see what happens or if i should manually fire the Pearly Harbour event and DOW on the USA. Any thoughts?