The German Reich and the Second World War

United Nations January Offensive (29 December 1948 – 1 February 1949)

For a third year in a row, the midst of winter brought no reprieve for either side on the Western Front. In what appeared to be an attack in support of the Soviets, the United Nation, in northern France, launched a heavy attack on Arras coinciding with the Soviet liberation of Taganrog. As the first shots were fired, the order was given for the reserve forces (several infantry divisions, three airborne divisions, and numerous engineer battalions) to proceed to the area and help repulse the attack. Previous experience had shown that this influx of reinforcements would be enough to rotate troops in and out of battle, hold the line, and stop the UN's long hoped for breakthrough into the Pas de Calais. The usual stratagem worked.

On 29 December, American infantry and tanks advanced across the snow covered fields of northern France, backed by heavy artillery support and thousands of aircraft above, and moved atowards our line at Boulogne. The weight of the American attack ploughed through the outpost line and struck deep into the mainline of resistance. With all local reinforcements tied down in the battle at Arras, the Americans seemed destined to finally punch through our line. Local Volksgrenadier divisions, made up of second rate troops and used only for security roles, were thrown into the battle as the call went out for additional reinforcements. OKW Reserve, three recently raised infantry divisions based in northwest Germany to deter any further landings, was ordered to board trains and head for the front. Likewise, three infantry divisions from Twelfth Army (holding the line in Italy) were ordered to the front. Despite six divisions being rushed westwards, OB West believed it would not be enough and pressured for the release of First Panzer Army (stationed in the Soviet Union following the successful outcome of Operation Seydlitz) for action on the Western Front. This motion was granted.


Over the coming days, the Volksgrenadier troops distinguished themselves helping to buy vital time for the reinforcements to arrive. As the frontline infantry appeared to be on the verge of breaking, the Allied attack on Arras was thrown back freeing up additional units to be fed into the battle. On 8 January, the first troops from Germany and Italy arrived and were thrown into the fray. The situation appeared to be in hand. However, the following day saw Mussolini's fascist party overthrown in a coup in northern Italy. Italian partisans rose up to engage the forces still loyal to Mussolini and attacked German rear area troops. This appeared to be a UN-coordinated event, as within hours tens of thousands of American troops struck the line from Trento to Venice.


The line in Italy, well forward of the 'South Wall' (the recently completed fortification line along the German-Italian border), was not capable of sustaining this sort of attack especially since the only reserves available had already been dispatched to France. With it quite clear that the line would not be able to hold, static divisions from the 'West Wall' were rushed to man the recently built southern fortifications to allow the Twelfth Army to conduct a fighting retreat to better defensive positions. By the 10th, Mussolini was firmly back in control of his rump state, but the line was still under heavy attack. The following day, UN forces – under British command – launched a second assault on Arras. A day later, American troops attacked Aucher, resulting in the entire northern section of the front, in France, being under heavy sustained attack. With the UN forces appearing ready to breakthrough in France and on the verge of doing so in Italy, the Second and Third Panzer armies were recalled from the Eastern Front to help stabilize the situation. In Italy, two mountain divisions launched a counterattack to attempt to halt the American assault, but were rebuffed. On the 15th, American infantry breached the Italian front at Treviso and soon took Venice. This forced a general retreat across the Italian front, to defensive positions just inside Italy and in front of the 'South Wall'. On 22 January, the Americans breached the line at Arras and Canadian troops poured through the gap created. The collapse of the French and Italian fronts appeared imminent.

On 28 January, the First Panzer Army arrived on the front near Arras. The same day, the infantry managed to repulse the American attacks on Boulogne and Aucher. The fighting had been a close run thing, with our own troops on the verge of breaking point. However, the UN forces had been sapped by the month long battle to breach the lines and had nothing left in them. The faltering of the assault in the north may explain why, on the verge of victory in Italy, the American pressure eased. It is assumed, the troops there were redirected back to France to support the foundering assault. Our own troops counterattacked, retaking the lost positions over the coming days with little to no fighting taking place. At Arras, the lead panzer and motorized infantry divisions launched themselves upon the Canadians. For three days the Canadians resisted, losing heavily in the process, before they fled. On 1 February, after much bloodshed, the frontline in both France and Italy had returned to where it stood in December 1948.


During the course of the UN offensive, close to 600 Allied fighters had been shot down along with 750 bombers. Over 73,000 Allied personnel had been killed in France and a further 9,000 in Italy. The offensive had been a complete disaster for the United Nation's armies. They had achieved neither a breakthrough nor a change in the frontline. However, they had brought about an amazing strategic success. They had forced three panzer armies off the Eastern Front and removed the tool needed to deal further heavy blows to the Soviets. In addition, the attack resulted in more effort being made to expand and reinforce the 'West Wall'. In fending off the offensive, 55,000 Germans had been killed in France and Italy and 171 heavy fighter jets had been shot down.

guillec87 said:

A pitty you have to call 3 Panzerarmeen from the East, but you are still holding the line!

Click to expand...

I honestly thought the line was going to get breeched. By the time my tanks arrived, the situation had largely rectified itself and by then events had already been put into motion on the Eastern Front. The AI had me

Surt said:

Under pressure on all fronts! Keep a security police in the Italian capital in case they get ideas again.

Click to expand...

I have just released a large number of troops, who had been on security detail and I was wondering what to do with them ... off to Italy!

I know ... I had to double check the date when I saw that I was in 1949!

Everyone is in factions (except the Japanese) so no peace deals are possible (which makes me wonder why the Japanese are going down the suicidal path too).

As the next update will show, the removal of my panzers from the east resulted in quite some changes. Yet they are changes I think I can take advantage of.

My manpower is now around the 550k mark. If the losses sustained between Jan and Feb continued, the war would be over in a matter of months. Thus far, each time a big offensive has happened, there are few months of "relaxation" where my manpower is able to recoup since I am getting about 20k per month.

As for the creation of 12 new motorized divisions, I think that is a little out of my way at the moment. I have my IC split between reinforcements, updates, and the expansion of my defensive lines. But, with the change on the Eastern Front (as the next update will detail) I am thinking of upgrading my cavalry divisions into either motorized or mechanized units (while this will be expensive, I do believe it will be quicker than raising new units as I noted when I upgraded several brigades earlier in the game) and I if I have the IC to spare add in some tank destroyers.

Thirteen. Six of which are comprised of three brigades, the rest just two.

Yes, I was using my cav as mobile partisan killers and have not had any such division on the frontline since the attack on Poland (well for a recent moment when I had to plug a gap with a few, but they didn't see combat).

I think I may have just buggered myself too ingame, so discussion of what to turn these 'useless' divisions into may be moot. Another gaming session will find that one out (I am about two updates behind atm).

As for what I can do with them, a little test shows that it will cost 9.78 IC and until Jan 1950 to produce a new tank brigade and 11.28 IC and until Nov 49 to produce a new mech brigade. However, if I upgrade my cav it is 8.12 until Nov and 9.62 until Sept, respectfully.

Due to ongoing game changes, I can turn several of my cavalry divisions into 4 armoured divisions (1x arm bde, 2x mech bde), but they wont be ready until November. Of course, such a move would be an IC investment I cannot make at the moment. I am planning to make a strike in the west, utilizing all my armour to attempt to deal a major blow before focusing on the east. I guess the easiest approach at the moment would just be to send these cav divisions in behind the tanks and infantry to hold captured ground and try to stay out the way.

I shall bare that in mind, although the SP support brigade (as HPP removes the arty and at brigades and lumps them together) will probably not happen. It would have to be built from scratch, meaning it would be ready (and at great cost) well after the other brigades have been upgraded.

Case Büffel Bewegung (31 December – 21 February)

As the UN offensive in France and Italy forced the withdrawal of three panzer armies from the Eastern Front to stabilize the west, the offensive power in the east was lost. This resulted in the decision to initiate Case Büffel Bewegung, the complete withdrawal of the eastern armies from the frontier and their current positions to a shorter and hopefully more defensible line.


Having already prepared for the evacuation, the retreat largely went off without any problems. A few skirmishes took place, but for the most part it was quiet. The Red Army appeared not to be willing to repeat the events of the previous two months, thus they advanced with caution and long after the frontline had been abandoned. The fallback position – the Dnieper River and the refurbished "Stalin Line", now known as the 'East Wall' – was quickly reached and the infantry began taking up their new positions and preparing themselves. Static divisions, equipped with artillery, were placed along the northern sector of the line and in other key sectors to free up infantry divisions. In total, due to the shorter frontline, Hungarian troops in the south, and the use of static divisions, thirty-four infantry divisions were freed up for operations elsewhere. However, the East Wall was far from perfect. While most of it was positioned behind river lines and thus, theoretically as strong as the previous frontline, quite a number of the fortifications were in front of the rivers. In some places there fortifications were expected to be near impenetrable, but this was not universal along the line and in sectors there was no fortifications at all. Much work would be needed to make the line strong across its length.

During the height of Case Seydlitz, it had been envisioned that the combined panzer arm would spring a similar trap around Kharkov. Despite the loss of three armies to OB West, it was decided to go ahead with the plan with just the two that remained. With hundreds of thousands of troops moving west and the terrible weather conditions of winter, the remaining two panzer armies had trouble moving north across busy overcrowded roads that were barely holding together. By 20 January, Fourth Panzer Army was in position west of Kursk and Sixth SS Panzer Army west of Kharkov.


From these positions, the two armies advanced east (while the rest of the military moved west). Their aim was to cut off the advancing Soviet divisions that were becoming increasingly isolated and inflict as much damage as possible. The initial advance went well, the divisions of the Waffen-SS were able to slice through the Red Army to a point north of Kharkov and check the Soviet advance elsewhere. The Fourth Panzer Army had a more difficult time advancing towards Kursk and was faced by much armored and mechanized resistance. By the end of January, the attempt to encircle Kharkov had failed as more Soviet troops arrived to block the path of the southern pincer. While the Red Army had been counterattacking the SS, west of Kharkov, by the end of the month their attacks had become unbearable resulting in the possibility of the SS spearhead becoming cut off. Still, the Fourth Panzer Army had begun to push southeast and the opportunity still existed to encircle some Soviet troops in the area southwest of Kursk.


Over the coming days, the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions (II SS Panzer Korps) were forced back from their positions west and southwest of Kharkov isolating the I SS Panzer Korps (1st and 12th SS Panzer Divisions). While this presented the Soviets with a golden opportunity to eliminate two armored divisions, the Fourth Panzer Army soon broke the encirclement to relieve the SS troops who were under increasing attack. The Fourth Panzer and the arrival of Rasputitsa were the saviors of these two trapped divisions. The mud practically halted the Soviets attacks, allowing much needed breathing space. With the north end of the corridor under attack, the I SS Panzer Korps and the lead divisions of the Fourth Panzer Army had no alternative but to fight their way out of the pocket. Despite the terrible conditions impeding movement, the almost trapped forces managed to get to safety by the 20th. The following day, the two exhausted and almost crippled armies were ordered behind the East Wall to rest.


The attempt to encircle Soviet divisions near Kharkov and Kursk had been a miserable failure. No divisions had been trapped, and the only opportunity that arose would have only destroyed four and in the process nearly cost several of our own. At the end of the month, to free up the bloated security and anti-partisan forces for other tasks and to relieve the Reich of such tasks, large tracts of territory were handed over to Ukrainian and Belarussian anti-communists (with the exception of the ex-Soviet atomic research sites that had been captured during the 1941-45 fighting). A strip of territory, containing the majority of the East Wall, and the area around and to the south of Leningrad was retained for future use by the Reich.

During the course of Case Büffel Bewegung, over 25,000 men had been killed. The casualties among the retreating infantry were minor, and these losses were primarily from the Waffen-SS divisions due to their reckless nature in combat. The Slovakian high command informed OKH that 500 of their troops had been reported missing during the withdrawal in the Crimea, presumably captured, and ten Hungarians were killed during a skirmish with the Red Army when they reached the Dnieper. Soviet losses were estimated to be around 20,000: a further sign of the maturing tactical skill of the Soviet ground forces. In the air, it had been a different story. One-hundred and forty jets had been lost, but the Red Air Force had lost close to 300 bombers and around 350 fighters.

At one point, I thought I was going to be. Alas, if I only I hadn't sent my other tanks packing westwards. As the updates show, the move was a little hasty. I think with those additional units, I might have been able to make a successful Zitadelle-lite operation happen (even for just a few Sov divisions).