Coincidence? I think not. Quite simply, snowy Hoth cannot be defended!
As for the surrender of Italy, is that coded in vanilla? I've never seen it happen in my games, so I'm not sure. Is there now both a Kingdom and the original fascist state?
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Coincidence? I think not. Quite simply, snowy Hoth cannot be defended!
As for the surrender of Italy, is that coded in vanilla? I've never seen it happen in my games, so I'm not sure. Is there now both a Kingdom and the original fascist state?
I think Kingdom of Italy is now Allied puppet and Italian Social Republic ruled by Duce. I think vanilla (at least the scenarios) portay beginning of ISR as the end of KoI
Bulgaria does have a pretty sizeable army in the region, although it seems they just got their asses handed to them. The Greeks pushed north and cut a few units off destroying them before the lines appeared to stabilize with the Greeks just inside the Bulgarian border.
Time for the Memel-Odessa line?
Would make Ostfront much smaller and give you the needed reserves to fill the Alpine gaps.
The Soviets left me a nice line of fortifications (the Stalin Line i think), which they built up during the years of non-movement. For the moment, that is going to be my fall back position. So not as drastic as Memel to Odessa, but a vast withdrawal. One that, iirc, should free up many many divisions.
:rofl:
I think it is reference to the IRL events that took place December 1942.
I think Kingdom of Italy is now Allied puppet and Italian Social Republic ruled by Duce. I think vanilla (at least the scenarios) portay beginning of ISR as the end of KoI
The HPP Mod has an event for Italy to surrender and for the historical turn of events to unfold. However, it did not fire. Looking at the event, I don't quite understand how it is suppose to fire. At any rate, I did not use it.
As Enewald put it, referencing what happened in real life I applied that criteria to my game. In real life, the Italian politicians/people/army could not rally around the Government following the defeats of North Africa and the invasion of Italy. With that in mind, once the in game pocket was collapsing and Allied troops were swarming over Italy ... I initiated the armistice.
The ISR (randomly permute the chars to get the right value) was set up in north Italy, but that is overrun by Amies right now.
I didn't fire the armistice event, I tried that but did not like the outcome considering what had happened thus far in the game. So I just messed around hopping between countries and making some quick changes to the save game to get the desired outcome.
I am loving this AAR.
It will be hard to resist now.
I like the touch of reality in Italy events.
It will be hard to resist now.
I like the touch of reality in Italy events.
I thought you held South Tyrol? Why didn't you incorporate South Tyrol in your country?
Thanks for the comments
Yep, with the main things are developing it maybe more harder. But, I think I may have just stabilized my lines. A little more playing, and an AAR update should let us know.Hmm ... I had overlooked that troubled area. It would seem, as you said, I should have annexed the region rather than prop up a corrupted useless fascist Italian government ... damn Italians, always getting me into bother!
As I have started to build a defensive wall along the border, I did intend to give up this region. Once my southern wall is complete, I will have to reevaluate the situation ... maybe annex the region to liberate my oppressed Germans, and build a forward bastion?
Paulus Offensive (1 January - 19 February)
At midafternoon on New Year’s Day 1948, Field Marshal Paulus launched an offensive aimed at destroying a sizeable contingent of United Nation's forces. While all German references to this battle simply called it the "Paulus Offensive", later American historians would call it the "Battle of the Burgundy Bulge".
As the offensive to breakthrough to the Italians wound down in failure, American attacks increased near the start line around Vesoul. Using overwhelming numbers, the Americans pushed north capturing several positions. It appeared that their intent was to smash through to the French, on the other side of the salient that had been carved out, and trap the bulk of three German armies within a pocket. Rather than immediately react to this threat, Field Marshal Paulus, commanding officer of OB West, conceived a plan to take advantage of the developing situation. Rather than counterattacking the Americans to regain the lost territory, the Seventeenth Army was ordered to mask the American positions and prevent a breakthrough thereby retaining the Americans in this exposed position. The infantry of Sixteenth Army was instructed to spread out and thinly cover the new frontline thus relieving the First and Second Panzer armies from frontline duty. In turn, they were redeployed to the southern face of the salient. Their orders: to make a near sixty-mile advance to the frontier of Switzerland and cut off the Americans and as many other troops as possible. Once this advance (no easy feat considering recent developments, resistance, and weather) had been made, the two panzer armies in conjunction with the Seventeenth Army, and additional forces, would destroy the trapped United Nations forces. These moves also involved giving up some territory, over which much blood had been spilt in efforts to reach the Italians.
The frontline at the beginning of the month, with the planned route of attack of the panzers.
Insert: Mechanized troops move forward
Due to the weather, the ground still covered in snow, these movements took some time to conduct. The First and Second Panzer armies were no longer acting as cohesive separate formations. Rather, as the divisions arrived in the staging area they were paired up and ordered forward despite previous army or corps allotment. With the first units in place, they were ordered to immediately attack. On 1 January, at 12:00 hours, columns of panzers and halftracks began a steady move south through the white blanketed terrain of Bourgogne (Burgundy) towards the old Free County of Burgundy. Chalon-sur-Saône was soon seized along with a bridgehead across the Saône River. The lead two panzer divisions halted here, to protect the crossing and to defend the northern and southern approaches to the town. The attack carried on, as two more panzer divisions moved forward in their place. The whole attack was designed to act just like the caterpillar tracks that were propelling it: as soon as one division stopped moving forward, another took its place propelling the frontline ever forward.
Captured propaganda photo depicting French troops
in action, fighting against our offensive.
On 5 January, the 2nd and 25th Panzer Divisions captured Louhans: around 25 miles from the Swiss border. Here the tanks and panzergrenadiers struck a blow to the Allied war effort. They ran into the headquarter staff and support personal for the First Canadian Army and numerous French Corps. Their attack put the entire chain of command, for these units, into disarray. The day, for the Canadians and French, was saved when French combat troops arrived on the scene allowing their non-combat brethren to flee. Regardless, the attack was a success and the bridgehead secured.
While the advance thus far had been rapid, the remaining distance (25 miles) would take a further nine days. On the 14th, the frontier was finally reached. Troops had been positioned along all major road networks, between the start line and the border, cutting off a substantial – if unknown – number of Allied troops. While the main force had managed to cover the required sixty miles, a secondary offensive, to offer flank protection and depth to the corridor, had only managed to cover 15 miles in the same period. The corridor was vulnerable and not exactly strongly held. As the Seventeenth Army struck south into the pocket, American, British, Canadian, and French troops launched attacks from both sides of the corridor desperate to both get in and get out.
The Burgundy pocket
In the coming days, the United Nations troops revived a practice from the Great War. An overall command structure was established for the trapped troops, with the French assuming command as they had once done 30 years previously. A mixture of American, British, Canadian, New Zealand, and French troops were known to be trapped and all now were responsible to the French chain of command. A dubious command structure if there ever was one. The Vichy regime and its troops had been unable to hold off the smallest and weakest Soviet formations, they had come to within a hair’s length of being overrun by the Italians, were the weak link in the United Nation’s frontline that allowed the recent rapid breakthrough, yet they had been placed in command.
The 1st and 23rd Panzer Divisions, at the far end of the corridor and closest to the Swiss border, became isolated due to the Allied counterattacks. For six days they fended off one assault after the other, as desperate United Nation troops tried to lift the siege or break out. By dominating the road network and conducting a semi-mobile defense, they ensured the Americans were unable to escape. After six days of fighting and the loss of much equipment, the two divisions requested permission to withdraw. It was granted, but only due to Allied attacks near Louhans being driven off and replacements being able to be brought forward.
On 23 January, a clear picture finally emerged of what the offensive had achieved. Just shy of half a million Allied troops had been pocketed: 16 French, 13 American, nine British, two Canadian and a New Zealand division. Such a haul of potential prisoners explained the ferocity of the attacks being launched on our perimeter. Despite reinforcements being pushed down the corridor, the area near the Swiss border remained the weakest link in our line. Further heavy fighting took place, and finally on the 26th American troops broke the ring of the pocket. Over the coming days, the panzers carved out a new corridor to Switzerland, again cutting off the vast majority of the Allied troops in the area. However, the time taken was a valuable asset to the Americans, who were able to withdraw four divisions out of potential harm’s way. These four divisions, rather than being moved into reserve, promptly turned around and began launching attacks on the new frontline to break their comrades out.
The revised pocket, following the American advance.
Inserts: German troops advance through a burning village during the fight to reclose the pocket.
Snow covered fields of the battlefield pockmarked by American artillery.
These attacks once again made it impossible to send relief to the end of the corridor, and it was the sector that came under the heaviest attacks by United Nation forces. On the 2nd, the Seventeenth Army captured Grey splitting the pocket into two. This, to a degree, reduced the pressure on the frontline as troops now had a second route into the corridor although the positions near Switzerland were still isolated. Over the coming days, the 9th Panzer and 97th Motorized divisions were temporarily surrounded in Poligny as the Americans attempted to frantically push forward. The entire battle was becoming a close run thing, it seemed that we were close to destroying the two pockets yet on the other hand the United Nations appeared to be close to breaking through to their trapped comrades.
The pocket, split in two.
Inserts: German infantry in combat.
Medics tend to wounded during an assault
On the 6th, reinforcements raced from Grey down into the corridor lifting the siege on the 9th and 97th divisions, who had managed to stall the American troops. This sector of the frontline was now secure. The same could not be said of the sector held by the 14th and 15th Panzer divisions near Switzerland. Repeated heavy attacks had inflicted heavy losses in men and equipment on these two divisions. The Americans, having eroded the ability of these two divisions to resist, advanced into Pontarlier while the panzers fled back towards Poligny. The ring of the pocket, once again, had been broken.
While a lifeline had been opened up for the eastern pocket, the same could not be said for the western pocket centered on Genlis. On the 7th, having exhausted their ammunition and supplies, the United Nation troops based there surrendered. The following day, a counterattack was launched to retake Pontarlier. British troops led the attempted breakout effort and put up a day long defense allowing four French divisions to escape. By 01:00 10 February, the gap had been closed and the British forced north. To ensure a third escape attempt would not be possible, Champagnole was captured adding the much needed depth in front of the pocket. During the day, organized resistance within the pocket collapsed. British troops carried on fighting into the evening, but by nightfall all United Nation troops that were the pocket had surrendered.
Prisoners file past our tanks.
Having inflicted a huge defeat upon the United Nation forces, Field Marshal Paulus ordered his troops to what was the northern face of the salient. A second battle of encirclement would be fought, this time to wipe out a huge congregation of French troops that were sitting in a bulge in the line to the south of Paris. The infantry of Seventeenth Army moved forward to reinforce the frontlines, while the battered First and Second Panzer armies moved north to prepare for the next battle.
The next phase of the offensive.
Insert: Paratroopers under attack.
As if the United Nation troops sensed what was happening, an Anglo-American attack fell upon the airborne corps to the south of Paris. OB West saw only two possibilities to this action: either it was a prelude to an effort to take the city or a tactical adjustment of the line to remove a bulge and prevent another encirclement battle. At midday on 17 February, several panzer divisions rolled forward into the northwestern portion of Burgundy. Rather than smashing through French lines, our troops were ambushed by well concealed and trained British troops. A major intelligence blunder. For two days, our tanks and panzergrenadiers tried to rout the British out of their defenses to no avail. In the same time, the airborne troopers were forced to retreat after heavy losses. To their south, the 15th and 231st Infantry divisions now looked isolated. With the panzer attack unable to breach the lines to link up with these two formations, the infantry were given the orders to pull back and the panzers the order to end the offensive.
Between mid-December and end of fighting in Burgundy, over 100,000 German troops had been killed. The Western Front had now surpassed the deadly nature of the Eastern Front at the height of the fighting there. Losses on the latter were roughly 300,000 per annum. On the Western Front, a third of that figure had been achieved in less than three months. The United Nations had suffered a massive, but not irreparable, blow. Over 320,000 men had been captured and over 170,000 killed*. Furthermore, the Allied troops had been pushed back buying the Reich some breathing space and delaying any UN efforts to advance towards the West Wall and the Reich.
*American: 88,567 killed and 91,679 captured. Australian: 1,531 killed. British: 39,839 killed and 72,536 captured. Canadian: 10,417 killed and 19,863 captured. French: 23,614 killed and 130,564 captured. New Zealand: 8,874 killed and 10,092 captured.
At midafternoon on New Year’s Day 1948, Field Marshal Paulus launched an offensive aimed at destroying a sizeable contingent of United Nation's forces. While all German references to this battle simply called it the "Paulus Offensive", later American historians would call it the "Battle of the Burgundy Bulge".
As the offensive to breakthrough to the Italians wound down in failure, American attacks increased near the start line around Vesoul. Using overwhelming numbers, the Americans pushed north capturing several positions. It appeared that their intent was to smash through to the French, on the other side of the salient that had been carved out, and trap the bulk of three German armies within a pocket. Rather than immediately react to this threat, Field Marshal Paulus, commanding officer of OB West, conceived a plan to take advantage of the developing situation. Rather than counterattacking the Americans to regain the lost territory, the Seventeenth Army was ordered to mask the American positions and prevent a breakthrough thereby retaining the Americans in this exposed position. The infantry of Sixteenth Army was instructed to spread out and thinly cover the new frontline thus relieving the First and Second Panzer armies from frontline duty. In turn, they were redeployed to the southern face of the salient. Their orders: to make a near sixty-mile advance to the frontier of Switzerland and cut off the Americans and as many other troops as possible. Once this advance (no easy feat considering recent developments, resistance, and weather) had been made, the two panzer armies in conjunction with the Seventeenth Army, and additional forces, would destroy the trapped United Nations forces. These moves also involved giving up some territory, over which much blood had been spilt in efforts to reach the Italians.
The frontline at the beginning of the month, with the planned route of attack of the panzers.
Insert: Mechanized troops move forward
Due to the weather, the ground still covered in snow, these movements took some time to conduct. The First and Second Panzer armies were no longer acting as cohesive separate formations. Rather, as the divisions arrived in the staging area they were paired up and ordered forward despite previous army or corps allotment. With the first units in place, they were ordered to immediately attack. On 1 January, at 12:00 hours, columns of panzers and halftracks began a steady move south through the white blanketed terrain of Bourgogne (Burgundy) towards the old Free County of Burgundy. Chalon-sur-Saône was soon seized along with a bridgehead across the Saône River. The lead two panzer divisions halted here, to protect the crossing and to defend the northern and southern approaches to the town. The attack carried on, as two more panzer divisions moved forward in their place. The whole attack was designed to act just like the caterpillar tracks that were propelling it: as soon as one division stopped moving forward, another took its place propelling the frontline ever forward.
Captured propaganda photo depicting French troops
in action, fighting against our offensive.
On 5 January, the 2nd and 25th Panzer Divisions captured Louhans: around 25 miles from the Swiss border. Here the tanks and panzergrenadiers struck a blow to the Allied war effort. They ran into the headquarter staff and support personal for the First Canadian Army and numerous French Corps. Their attack put the entire chain of command, for these units, into disarray. The day, for the Canadians and French, was saved when French combat troops arrived on the scene allowing their non-combat brethren to flee. Regardless, the attack was a success and the bridgehead secured.
While the advance thus far had been rapid, the remaining distance (25 miles) would take a further nine days. On the 14th, the frontier was finally reached. Troops had been positioned along all major road networks, between the start line and the border, cutting off a substantial – if unknown – number of Allied troops. While the main force had managed to cover the required sixty miles, a secondary offensive, to offer flank protection and depth to the corridor, had only managed to cover 15 miles in the same period. The corridor was vulnerable and not exactly strongly held. As the Seventeenth Army struck south into the pocket, American, British, Canadian, and French troops launched attacks from both sides of the corridor desperate to both get in and get out.
The Burgundy pocket
In the coming days, the United Nations troops revived a practice from the Great War. An overall command structure was established for the trapped troops, with the French assuming command as they had once done 30 years previously. A mixture of American, British, Canadian, New Zealand, and French troops were known to be trapped and all now were responsible to the French chain of command. A dubious command structure if there ever was one. The Vichy regime and its troops had been unable to hold off the smallest and weakest Soviet formations, they had come to within a hair’s length of being overrun by the Italians, were the weak link in the United Nation’s frontline that allowed the recent rapid breakthrough, yet they had been placed in command.
The 1st and 23rd Panzer Divisions, at the far end of the corridor and closest to the Swiss border, became isolated due to the Allied counterattacks. For six days they fended off one assault after the other, as desperate United Nation troops tried to lift the siege or break out. By dominating the road network and conducting a semi-mobile defense, they ensured the Americans were unable to escape. After six days of fighting and the loss of much equipment, the two divisions requested permission to withdraw. It was granted, but only due to Allied attacks near Louhans being driven off and replacements being able to be brought forward.
On 23 January, a clear picture finally emerged of what the offensive had achieved. Just shy of half a million Allied troops had been pocketed: 16 French, 13 American, nine British, two Canadian and a New Zealand division. Such a haul of potential prisoners explained the ferocity of the attacks being launched on our perimeter. Despite reinforcements being pushed down the corridor, the area near the Swiss border remained the weakest link in our line. Further heavy fighting took place, and finally on the 26th American troops broke the ring of the pocket. Over the coming days, the panzers carved out a new corridor to Switzerland, again cutting off the vast majority of the Allied troops in the area. However, the time taken was a valuable asset to the Americans, who were able to withdraw four divisions out of potential harm’s way. These four divisions, rather than being moved into reserve, promptly turned around and began launching attacks on the new frontline to break their comrades out.
The revised pocket, following the American advance.
Inserts: German troops advance through a burning village during the fight to reclose the pocket.
Snow covered fields of the battlefield pockmarked by American artillery.
These attacks once again made it impossible to send relief to the end of the corridor, and it was the sector that came under the heaviest attacks by United Nation forces. On the 2nd, the Seventeenth Army captured Grey splitting the pocket into two. This, to a degree, reduced the pressure on the frontline as troops now had a second route into the corridor although the positions near Switzerland were still isolated. Over the coming days, the 9th Panzer and 97th Motorized divisions were temporarily surrounded in Poligny as the Americans attempted to frantically push forward. The entire battle was becoming a close run thing, it seemed that we were close to destroying the two pockets yet on the other hand the United Nations appeared to be close to breaking through to their trapped comrades.
The pocket, split in two.
Inserts: German infantry in combat.
Medics tend to wounded during an assault
On the 6th, reinforcements raced from Grey down into the corridor lifting the siege on the 9th and 97th divisions, who had managed to stall the American troops. This sector of the frontline was now secure. The same could not be said of the sector held by the 14th and 15th Panzer divisions near Switzerland. Repeated heavy attacks had inflicted heavy losses in men and equipment on these two divisions. The Americans, having eroded the ability of these two divisions to resist, advanced into Pontarlier while the panzers fled back towards Poligny. The ring of the pocket, once again, had been broken.
While a lifeline had been opened up for the eastern pocket, the same could not be said for the western pocket centered on Genlis. On the 7th, having exhausted their ammunition and supplies, the United Nation troops based there surrendered. The following day, a counterattack was launched to retake Pontarlier. British troops led the attempted breakout effort and put up a day long defense allowing four French divisions to escape. By 01:00 10 February, the gap had been closed and the British forced north. To ensure a third escape attempt would not be possible, Champagnole was captured adding the much needed depth in front of the pocket. During the day, organized resistance within the pocket collapsed. British troops carried on fighting into the evening, but by nightfall all United Nation troops that were the pocket had surrendered.
Prisoners file past our tanks.
Having inflicted a huge defeat upon the United Nation forces, Field Marshal Paulus ordered his troops to what was the northern face of the salient. A second battle of encirclement would be fought, this time to wipe out a huge congregation of French troops that were sitting in a bulge in the line to the south of Paris. The infantry of Seventeenth Army moved forward to reinforce the frontlines, while the battered First and Second Panzer armies moved north to prepare for the next battle.
The next phase of the offensive.
Insert: Paratroopers under attack.
As if the United Nation troops sensed what was happening, an Anglo-American attack fell upon the airborne corps to the south of Paris. OB West saw only two possibilities to this action: either it was a prelude to an effort to take the city or a tactical adjustment of the line to remove a bulge and prevent another encirclement battle. At midday on 17 February, several panzer divisions rolled forward into the northwestern portion of Burgundy. Rather than smashing through French lines, our troops were ambushed by well concealed and trained British troops. A major intelligence blunder. For two days, our tanks and panzergrenadiers tried to rout the British out of their defenses to no avail. In the same time, the airborne troopers were forced to retreat after heavy losses. To their south, the 15th and 231st Infantry divisions now looked isolated. With the panzer attack unable to breach the lines to link up with these two formations, the infantry were given the orders to pull back and the panzers the order to end the offensive.
Between mid-December and end of fighting in Burgundy, over 100,000 German troops had been killed. The Western Front had now surpassed the deadly nature of the Eastern Front at the height of the fighting there. Losses on the latter were roughly 300,000 per annum. On the Western Front, a third of that figure had been achieved in less than three months. The United Nations had suffered a massive, but not irreparable, blow. Over 320,000 men had been captured and over 170,000 killed*. Furthermore, the Allied troops had been pushed back buying the Reich some breathing space and delaying any UN efforts to advance towards the West Wall and the Reich.
*American: 88,567 killed and 91,679 captured. Australian: 1,531 killed. British: 39,839 killed and 72,536 captured. Canadian: 10,417 killed and 19,863 captured. French: 23,614 killed and 130,564 captured. New Zealand: 8,874 killed and 10,092 captured.
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i don't generally comment on AARs but i wanted to let you know that this aar is absolutely excellent, one of the best ive ever read
cheers
cheers
Getting even better!
How could the AI put so many troops into such a little area! Then again it has been quite long since I last played HoI3.
How could the AI put so many troops into such a little area! Then again it has been quite long since I last played HoI3.
Defeating that part of their army was absolutely needed as the allied troops freed from the Italian encirclement could be decisive.
Just finished reading this AAR and boy, oh boy, it's been a great ride! Took me two days but well worth it. I've been curious about your tank techs, as your air force was fairly obsolete when the war started. Were you behind in tanks as well? Anyway, good entertainment, thanks for doing this.
One final question, is there some photo library you're getting the pictures from? I've been planning on doing a history book AAR with the DWI-mod for quite some time now, and having a convenient picture site would make things easier, instead of just randomly googling and saving stuff.
One final question, is there some photo library you're getting the pictures from? I've been planning on doing a history book AAR with the DWI-mod for quite some time now, and having a convenient picture site would make things easier, instead of just randomly googling and saving stuff.
Thanks very one for their comments!
Thanks for the comments
Light tank tech started a little advanced, while the medium tech needed to be researched straight away to be up to date. As my armor and mobile forces have been such an important part in my battle plans I have kept them as up to date as possible. Although I abandoned the light tech unless it was required for something and I never even bothered to research the heavy tank techs.
As for photos, it has involved largely searching key terms to try and find something. Although I do end up returning to the following two sources quite often (despite the latter's comments about being apolitical, the links, captions, comments, "research", cherrypicking sources, utilization of discredited historians such as Irving to make their points, all point to the contrary. I tolerate their propaganda bullshit, that is spread all over their site, due to extensive photograph collection of German forces that can be accessed): ww2incolor and incredibleimages4u
Thanks for the comments
Light tank tech started a little advanced, while the medium tech needed to be researched straight away to be up to date. As my armor and mobile forces have been such an important part in my battle plans I have kept them as up to date as possible. Although I abandoned the light tech unless it was required for something and I never even bothered to research the heavy tank techs.
As for photos, it has involved largely searching key terms to try and find something. Although I do end up returning to the following two sources quite often (despite the latter's comments about being apolitical, the links, captions, comments, "research", cherrypicking sources, utilization of discredited historians such as Irving to make their points, all point to the contrary. I tolerate their propaganda bullshit, that is spread all over their site, due to extensive photograph collection of German forces that can be accessed): ww2incolor and incredibleimages4u
