The German Reich and the Second World War

An anthology of OB West communications

From: Intelligence section, OB West
To: the Reich Ministry, OKH, Army Group D headquarters, Abwehr
Date: 1 February 1947
Re: Strength of Allied forces on Western Front

Our section has compiled numerous sources (interrogation of captured prisoners of war, identifying what Allied divisions have engaged our forces, and intercepted Allied radio communications) and assessed the strength of the Allied force that has landed in Brittany and Normandy.

The British military is clearly the backbone of this Allied endeavor, although American, Canadian, Chinese, and New Zealand divisions have also been identified on the frontlines. The majority of the available information suggests that the Allied beachhead contains 65 divisions. However, some sources point to an Allied force that is perhaps 100 divisions strong. This indicates that between 800,000 and one million Allied soldiers have been landed in France. In addition to this force, based off information collected by the Abwehr, sizeable American, British, Canadian, and Chinese forces are still based within the United Kingdom.

In comparison, between OB West and Army Group D, 96 divisions are available on the Western Front. However, this force is less than one million strong and is spread out from the Pyrénées to Germany, including numerous formations on garrison and anti-partisan duties. Of this force, 73 divisions are 1st-class fighting units, but only 52 of them (with a handful of 2nd rate units) are manning the frontline attempting to hold back the Allied forces. The remaining are in various positions to deter or counter any further Anglo-Canadian landings.

The conclusion that has been reached is thus
a) On the frontline, the Allied force greatly outnumbers our own.
b) The strength of the Allied force, on the Western Front, will most likely continue to increase with time as Allied forces are transferred from the United Kingdom to the frontline and as the situation in Asia changes in favor of the Allies.
c) It is only a matter of time before the Allied forces break through.

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From: Abwehr
To: OB West, the Reich Ministry
Date: 2 February 1947
Re: Worrying French behavior

Since the establishment of a permanent Allied beachhead in France, there has been a detectable increase in the level of unrest amongst the French population. Pro-Allied and anti-German graffiti has become more frequent. The French railroad workers have gone on strike and numerous other strikes have broken out amongst the major industrial areas. The gendarme from various communes have reported Allied air drops outside of areas it is safe for them to patrol, while various German units have reported convoys and armories having been attacked. On the street, the population is openly talking about the possibility of “liberation” being soon at hand.

Somewhat more alarmingly is the widespread rumor suggesting high ranking Vichy officials have met with Allied representatives to discuss the return of France to the Allied fold. The rumors state that in past meetings, an anonymous Vichy official informed the Allies “If you come with three divisions we will fight you”, making reference to the combat that took place across Africa, “but if you come with twenty we will join you!” Considering the Allied beachhead has yet to be destroyed, and the number of Allied forces involved, the rumor states the time is soon at hand for the French to help liberate themselves. The French ambassador and other officials within the French State have been probed about this rumor and all firmly deny it. Furthermore, at present no French division has moved towards the armistice line that divides German-occupied France and the Vichy state, rather the French military is concentrated on the Franco-Spanish border.

An example of, the audacious, French vandalism amongst the capital.
A hastily created banner was quickly hung below
to twist this vandalizing act into a propaganda coup.​

True.

The vast majority of my military is, as always, sitting on the Eastern Front although now I have a much larger frontline to defend than prior to Barbarossa. Supplies are consuming so much of my IC, I am wary of creating any new divisions. But on a positive note, my manpower situation is slowly recovering. While I had less than a years worth of reinforcements in 1945 (meaning I had to defeat the USSR or face the risk of not being able to replace my losses) I have now - iirc - about two years worth of reinforcements based on Eastern Front scale fighting.

All my units, thanks to end of fighting on the Eastern Front and low keyfighting that took place afterwards, are up to strength and fully rested. However, with so many AI units concentrated I am having quite a bit of trouble breaking through.

Stalemate (2 February – 30 April)

The opening days of February saw the British infantry bridge the River Seine and seize Le Havre. While the city contained one of France’s largest ports, the heavy fighting that had took place around the area had completely wrecked its capacity rendering it largely useless until repaired. With their flank secure, the British now looked southwards. Minutes before 0100 hours on the 10th, a heavy British barrage landed on the frontline south of Caen. Confusion reigned for hours as the British utilized the dark, smokescreens and the dust kicked up by wheeled and tracked vehicles to bypass our frontline strongpoints and push for the tactical high ground beyond. This ingenious attack, which was later found out to be codenamed Operation Totalize, was attempting to take Falaise and to halt our attack on Carentan (which, in turn was our own attempt to distract the British drive on St. Malo). With little in the way of reserves to throw into this latest battle, and with British infantry slowly working their way through the main line of resistance in front of Falaise, the prospect of halting this operation seemed remote. To make matters worse, new reports from the Abwehr were received at the headquarters of OB West. This information stated that a joint American-British-Canadian headquarters had been located in Scotland. That in itself was nothing new, however our spy network in the United Kingdom had identified its commander and that information was of concern. One General Li Tao, a Chinese officer, was commanding this formation providing a strong hint that Chinese troops had at last been deployed to the United Kingdom as feared.


While the British pushed south, on the eastern flank our forces were reorganized for a counterstrike. As dawn approached, panzergrenadiers pushed forward into Le Havre finding the city lightly defended. By evening, the city had been retaken and the British pontoon bridges across the Seine captured. This move freed up a handful of divisions, which were swiftly relocated to Falaise to bolster the waning frontline units, and allowed for a strike to be made towards Caen across largely open ground and cornfields. The added resistance on the front, coupled with several hundred tanks and several thousand men charging into the British flank brought a swift end to Totalize. While the attack was a success, it was not followed up to avoid a protracted urban battle for Caen for the time being. At the same time, on the other end of the front, the ruins of Granville had once more changed hands. However, it was not all good news. Our attack on Carentan had made little progress due to well prepared and dug-in British infantry and numerous tanks were lost against well sited anti-tank guns. With Granville retaken and Totalize defeated, the British offensive had finally been halted. Anyone suggesting that Paris would soon be liberated from our rule, were sadly mistaken.

Other than the occasional mortaring and platoon-sized raiding party, peace settled across the front for the next few days. When major fighting resumed, Granville was again in the center. The British launched a major assault to retake the ruins and also launched another to recapture Le Havre. Around Granville our troops were exhausted, even after the short respite, and the only reserve on the entire front was fed into the battle. Three panzer divisions and a panzergrenadier division were given the orders to halt, what seemed like, half the British army from capturing Granville and its surrounding areas. On the western end of the front, it was a different story. Here, our troops were fresh. Despite this, much fighting took place for the Seine bridgeheads and the port before the British acknowledged their effort was a failure. Sensing the time was right, due to the British infantry appearing weary, the follow-up attack on Caen was launched. The British were routed after not much of a fight, fleeing further west as our troops occupied the city once more. The success was short lived. The same day, February 23rd, the British defeated our panzer and panzergrenadier divisions and once more retook Granville. With Granville secured, they launched yet another attempt to take St. Malo. Adding to the pressure, the following day British infantry and tanks pushed into Caen and swept through on towards Le Havre eventually taking the port on the 27th.


Throughout March and April, constant British attacks ensured that they held the initiative. Attempts to relieve worn down units and form a reserve were short-lived, as these troops were rapidly needed back on the frontline to prevent a breakthrough at one point or another. By mid-April, the ability of our forces to hold the line was fast fading. Exhausted, unable to be relieved and being ground down via wave after wave of British attacks, the line finally cracked around St. Malo. On 26 April, for the first time in the campaign, the British linked up their Brittany and Normandy beachheads. The only positive news, during this period, came the following day when the Kriegsmarine announced the sinking of the 250th British cargo ship of the year.

Meanwhile, the Abwehr had been keeping up to date with the unfolding events in Asia via all available media and intercepted communications. By April, Soviet forces had penetrated deep into Manchuria and were roughly 100-miles from Chinese lines. In the process, they had announced the destruction of the 900,000 strong Manchukuo army. Far from being victory in Asia, between the Red Army and the Chinese military was the massive well trained Japanese Kwantung Army. On 13 April, the Soviets announced the liberation of Korea from Japanese imperialism and installed a puppet regime in the northern section of the country. Intercepted Japanese military communications revealed another story, indicating they had retaken large tracts of Korea especially in the north. By 30 April, the situation had become clear: the Soviets had achieved total victory on the peninsula. The defeat of Japan in northern China appeared to be fast approaching, and when it happens – the intelligence community warned – the Soviets would more than likely turn their attention towards the Reich. However, the overall picture was not so cozy for the Allied war effort. In southern China, the Japanese military (based out of Hainan) had assaulted and quickly announced the defeat of the Guangxi Clique. Reports suggested Japanese troops were advancing into other parts of southern China and had conducted an offensive into Indochina. The Chinese Unified Front, it appeared, had backfired. Rather than providing the Chinese with additional manpower to defeat Japan, it provided the Japanese with a weak point to focus a devastating attack upon and raise the specter once more of defeating China.

Am looking forward to it! Although, am not really prepared. The border with the USSR is cram packed with troops on both sides. I believe they have an edge over my Eastern armies, but probably just about in numbers. I am behind river lines and fortresses, so that easily makes up for any discrepancy not to mention my troops are just better than the AI's.

I will soon have my first bomb, and that is something I have been wondering about. From my experience with the V-1, I found if used in enough numbers they will devastate wherever they hit. I no longer have them, but have built up a respectable stockpile of V-2s.

Would it be gamey to nuke London once I have the bomb? Or reserve London for my V-2s and nuke another VP location?

Ha! I suppose. Well I only have one at the moment (I am a few months ahead in game then I am here), but my production is now at 0.20 per month and that should soon raise to 0.30.

I guess once I seize control of the air, I will destroy London and launch by rockets at the other major industrial centers to land a - hopefully - crippling blow. With there supplies gone and their IC devastated I guess their military forces will be a walkover.

Construction plans

From: Organisation Todt
To: the Reich Ministry
Date: 13 April 1947
Re: Update on various construction projects that are currently underway

After 22 months of work, the initial phase of the Imperial Highway Project has been completed (please see attached). A central road and rail network now connects Germany to Moscow, and then from Moscow to Arkhangelsk and Rostov. Two additional routes, per your orders, have also been completed – or are very near completed – linking Germany to the captured Romanian oilfields and to St Petersburg. The second phase (to improve the general infrastructure along the border to better facilitate troops movements) and the third phase (to create a major road and rail network linking Kiev to the central branch and another from Kiev to the Crimea) await resources to be allocated and your instruction to proceed.

The expansion of the aerodromes in northeast France, to accommodate the Luftwaffe following the loss of bases in France at the conclusion of the war when the 1944 Treaty of Versailles is enacted, has been completed. The ongoing fighting, which has resulted in the loss of a number of airfields in Western France, has forced the Luftwaffe to deploy to airfields across Belgium, the Netherlands and parts of France that will be returned at the end of the war. This has indicated that additional bases need to be constructed and ones within the Reich expanded.

A brief progress report has also been assembled on the long term plan of industrializing the west (in part to offset the loss of French factories at the end of the war, to maximize the industrial potential of the nation, and to provide full employment following the end of hostilities) of the Reich and ruralizing the east. Several industrial centers have been completed around Western Germany maximizing the potential of the cities involved. Work is coming along on several other major cities from Kiel to the Ruhr and Breslau (on the border of the industrialized west and what will be the rural east). However, the completion date of these projects is estimated at five years. Following which, the final phase of the industrialization plan (estimated at another five years) can come into effect working on areas such as Alsace-Lorraine and the remaining major cities in the west.

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Attached document: Imperial Highway Project Update​

dodedo said:

Sounds like a plan! Good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks!