The Art of War - A German Short AAR

1936-1937

Berlin, 1936-1-1
Staff and Government meeting.

It had now gone three years since the NSDAP had gained power in Germany. Back then a meeting had been held to decide the future of Germany. Lots had changed since then. Many of the goals set up then had been met, the Army had been rearmed and the economy was back on feet. This meeting would decide the next three years of Germany’s future.

- Gentlemen, Welcome! Said the little man with the mustache that ambitiously had become Führer of Germany. If you didn’t know it you would never have guessed he was the Head of State. Not in this room, not surrounded by these men. They were all highly ranked military leaders and politicians, most of them with a known history in their respective fields. The little man, who’s last name had become the salute in Germany after only three years in office, had never achieved a rank higher than corporal in the Army, nor had he any experience in politics.


- We have a lot to plan, and little time to plan in it he continued. These last three years will be revolutionizing for all of Europe, if not the entire World! And we must be prepared for war. Other nations are plotting against us as we speak and we cannot show a moment of weakness. My vision of the Reich in the coming three years are to unite the entire German people under one banner and retake what was stolen from us after the last war. My visions for the future are to annex Austria into the German Reich, liberate the German peoples of Czechoslovakia and retake our eastern provinces.

- But, Mein Führer, the World will not stand by and let us rearm and invade country after country said the Foreign minister, Constantin von Neurath.

- That is why we must act fast my dear Constantin said Hitler. Gentlemen, let’s not forget we are here to decide the future of the German Reich, and this is the Future. There is no other way for Germany. That is why I have asked the army to prepare plans and reports on what way the Heer must take. Will the gentlemen representing the armed forces please give us their report?

Four gentlemen approached the board in the small conference room.
- We have, after many discussions and debates, decided that if war comes we must be able to strike swiftly and not let the enemy take the initiative. The failure from the last war was that we weren’t fast enough and so the enemy had time to mobilize and we couldn’t win a long, drawn out war of attrition.
That is why we want to look into the possibility of motorized infantry and paratroopers. We also recommend that we research armored units. What we recommend is that if a war against the western powers comes we must have won within three or four months. The French have the heavily defended Maginot Line, but if we attack them through Belgium and the Ardennes we might get them by surprise. UK will probably surrender after France has, but we must be prepared to invade the British Isles. The Kriegsmarine will be no match for the Royal Navy so that is why we must attack quickly and take control of the ports, forcing the Royal Navy to retreat and seek refuge in Canadian ports. If the landings are successful we expect to be in London within a week, and the British to have surrender within a month.



- Great! I will send out orders to respective departments immediately said Hitler.
Our first steps towards reaching our goals are to show the enemy that we are not weak. I have sent out orders to division commanders to march into the Rhineland and drive out the French and Belgian occupational forces. I have also given marching to orders to the Berlin garrisons to march towards the Czech border to take up defensive positions along the border.
A few sporadic protests were heard into the meeting room, but no one dared to go against the Führer’s will.


Hitler smiled for himself. He now had the politicians and the army where he wanted them. He could whatever he wanted, and they couldn’t stop him. But what about the Western powers? He still had to see how far he could go…

Maj. von Mauser said:

Looks good.

Ambitious, but I think you can do it, the FJ will dominate.

Click to expand...

FJ?

@Brad1: I think I can do it As long as I can take the AI by surprise (Shouldn't be that hard ) I will succeed

@Enewald: Thx

@humancalculator: It sure is of the Essence

Berlin, 1939-1-1
Staff and Government meeting.

It had now gone three years since the last meeting and the Führer had now summoned all his ministers and commanders for their three year briefing.


The man who was sin charge of the Abwehr, the German intelligence, approached the board, holding a piece of paper with some numbers jotted down.

- Well, our intelligence reports that the British and French seem to be rearming again. What we can guess from this numbers is that they seem to be focusing on a much more defensive strategy. The French are focusing on building an Airforce, especially focusing on fighters and the British are expanding their navy. The French army is currently larger than the British, with 59 infantry divisions and 4 armored, against 45 British infantry divisions and 2 armored.
It seems that the French and British are also testing our new medium tanks, to counter our expansion of panzers. The British are also trying out the idea of paratroopers.
The conclusion of this intelligence is that the German Army is currently larger and more advanced than its western counterparts. When it comes to the army though, I would like to hand over to those in charge of that particular area said Canaris and sat down with a small smile.


The five men representing the different branches of the army stood up and approached the board.

- Our army is still under expansion and thanks to the Anslusch it got a lot of reserves. Due to the Austrian troops being in bad shape we had to cut down on expansion and rearm, and retrain these troops. We also had to reorganize it into corps.
This minor setback let us though develop new tanks for the army and we are now expanding rapidly.
The Führer asked us to prepare plans in case of war over Poland. If the West attacks us to intervene with armed force we must strike fast. If we wait to long they will be able to mobilize and counterattack. That is why we must have a Polish surrender within two weeks after any German invasion. Our paratroopers can currently reach Warsaw from their German bases, this is however risky, and we do not know what the defense of Warsaw would consist of or how fast it could mobilize.
What we recommend are instead fast attacks from East Prussia and Germany with our motorized infantry and tanks and hurry towards Warsaw, without letting the Polish army get any time to regroup.
We must also be prepared to counter any French or British attacks from the West. As speed is of the essence in the East we have decided to send most of our infantry to the western borders. We currently have a lot of reserves in Austria, guarding our borders against Yugoslavia and Italy. We don’t consider these nations threats against the Reich. And hence our Austrian forces can be sent west.
As soon Poland has surrendered we must send our fast units to the west to regroup and prepare for the invasion of France. We cannot attack directly into the French mainland because of the Maginot Line, instead we must move around it going through Belgium or Switzerland. We do recommend Belgium as the mountains of Switzerland are not suited for mobile warfare.
To summarize: If we are to win the war we must have defeated the French within a month after the declarations of war.
That’s all from us I think, any questions? Ludwig Beck, the chief of Staff, said.

Olaus Petrus said:

Sounds interesting. Only difficulty is conquest of Britain. Both Poland and France can be easily defeated before November. If you have enough resources you should strike to Britain after you have destroyed French main army even if Vichy haven't launched yet.

Click to expand...

I think the Western campaign will be alot easier in this game, 'cuz now I can throw in the entire Wehrmacht, usually I leave some forces behind to guard my borders. The haredst part, and the part i'm mostly worried about is moving my invasion fleet from German ports to French ports... I'm afraid that the Royal Navy might intercept it. Once i'm on shore though, nothing can stop me

@Maj. von Mauser: So does Hitler too

@Enewald: It's not size that matters. It's how you use it


----

I won't be able to update until atleast friday. I have alot of school work to do, had a latin test today, history assignment that was due to last week , alot of German homework that's been piling up, a bunch of papers in philosophy and religon + I have to work on my project assignment.
So I guess the next update will come either on Friday or Saturday.

Berlin, 1939-30-09
Meeting in the High Command of the Armed Forces

- Gentlemen! As of 30 minutes ago we are now at war with the Western Powers Ludwig Beck, the chief of Staff, said. Our forces have, under orders from the supreme commander, Adolf Hitler, marched into our eastern neighbor Poland. Protests came from France and the United Kingdom and soon Herr Ribbentrop, the foreign minister, had the declarations of war in his hands. There has, as of now, been no reported fighting between us and the Polish army. Reports from the front state that the attack is going smooth and according to plans. Our paratroopers have soon reached their targets in Bydgoszcz and the Danzig group has started unloading from the sea into the ports of Danzig and Gotthafen. No reported resistance as of yet. We expect to be in Warsaw within two weeks if all go well.

stefanmg said:

4 months do go. You must be really quick if you want to win this. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Well, the game is finished so I know the results

I will be posting more updates soon

Somewhere in Warsaw, 1939-10-09
A letter from a German Panzer officer

The last Polish pockets of resistance surrendered at 9 pm after almost 20 hours of heavy fighting.
My respects to the Polish soldiers who fought died here, not only here, but everywhere in Poland. We must have taken them by surprise. First contact with the enemy that I had was in the north as we advanced towards Bydgoszcz. Out of nowhere a company of Polish soldiers attacked us and we suffered heavy casualties. As we kept on advancing we found that the Polish were dug in deep and had it not been for the courage of panzers we might still be stuck there. Within three days of we had reached Warsaw. We were happy. The war will be over within two days we said. Our panzers will win the day.
The third of September did we reached the outskirts of Warsaw. The Poles must have been taken by surprise as our panzers met refugees on their way to Warsaw, and this surprise must have been the reason behind the heavy defenses of Warsaw. It seemed like small, independent groups of Polish soldiers set up their own defenses. It didn’t seem like any real, organized command existed. As our Panzers kept advancing through the suburbs of Warsaw they kept running into Boobie traps and ambushes. The lack of infantry support was noticed in the tanks inability to search through buildings and their lack of mobility in the small streets of Warsaw. But still our Panzers were confident in victory and kept advancing towards the city centre and the government buildings. We hoped that we could capture the Polish government and high command intact, or atleast most of it. Also, the lack of air support was noticed. The enemy could transport troops and supplies from the frontlines and back and we couldn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t until the early morning of the fifth of September; two days after the battle had begun, that the first Luftwaffe planes could be spotted over Warsaw. This was also the day when the Poles began to push us back. It seemed like they were everywhere. They attacked from the buildings, in the streets and even through the sewers! We could do nothing and on the sixth had we been pushed out of Warsaw.
Immediately our commanders started planning for a renewed assault on the Polish capitol. We kept resting and waited for infantry that was being transferred from other sectors in Poland. All we could see in the sky were bombers that kept destroying the city. It all seemed so pointless to actually fight for it now. It was just a pile of rubbish and debris.
This morning though, came the assault. And this time had we learned our lesson. The initial attack through the suburbs were led by the Panzers but as we reached the tighter quarters of Warsaw and the battle turned into close combat we let the infantry take over. Just a few hours ago the battle of Warsaw ended. But it seems that the government and high command has been able to flee Poland during the first battle. The last thing we heard was that the Soviets had taken control of the eastern parts and we had started negotiations with the armies trapped in the north.

Give my love to the children and tell them I will be home soon!
Kisses
Your Christian