Those pesky French!

Loewefuchs · 20-02-2003, 17:16

I just started my first 1.3b game, VH/A, Germany.
Went quite historical but without alliances, doing everything as prescribed but letting Danzig apart. Instead, I DOWed the allies (France, UK & buddies, Poland, Netherlands and Belgium - wow, something new!) in may 1940, taking over Poland at the usual speed, declaring war to Hungary and annexing it in the process), while on the western front a detachment of mech/panzer groups, supported by infantry, swept through Belgium and the Netherlands, with other infantry detachments keeping the maginot defenders in place.
As a French army left Metz undefended to assist the Belgian, I placed there a Panzergrenadier group and started and "encircle & destroy" routine against the bulk of the French troops. And here it starts.
1) They defended very well, reinforcing the vital points, providing fighter cover and preventing encirclement. My troops won, but at a much higher price.
2) When I finally got all the northern coast and there were only what seemed to be the battered remnants of the French army, scattered in the south, I started to mop up (as you can guess, no Vichy for me), leaving some units to guard the coast. Well, those guys kept a line of resistence from St. Etienne to Toulon, with cavalry and infantry 1 division detachments running in every direction, outflanking my two or three larger groups. Meanwhile, french, south african, canadian and australian troops kept reinforcing the defenders. When I finally had to launch other troops in the battle, the allies (english, australian, canadian, kiwi and dutch) made several landing in different points of the channel coast, from Antwerpen to Brest, in some cases with 3 division groups. I finally managed to control the whole France but Toulon, were 15 division are entrenched in level 5 fortifications on the mountains, constantly supplied and reinforced from the sea. Well, I'll just keep them checked with my superior infantry, as I want to concentrate on the boundary with SU.

But consider that the show started on May 1st, 1940 and now it's Feb. 12, 1941: 9 months and I'm still not controlling the whole of continental France.

Dan Cook · 20-02-2003, 17:20

Yup..France can defend pretty good.

20-02-2003, 17:16	#1
Loewefuchs Captain Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Rome Posts: 318	Those pesky French! I just started my first 1.3b game, VH/A, Germany. Went quite historical but without alliances, doing everything as prescribed but letting Danzig apart. Instead, I DOWed the allies (France, UK & buddies, Poland, Netherlands and Belgium - wow, something new!) in may 1940, taking over Poland at the usual speed, declaring war to Hungary and annexing it in the process), while on the western front a detachment of mech/panzer groups, supported by infantry, swept through Belgium and the Netherlands, with other infantry detachments keeping the maginot defenders in place. As a French army left Metz undefended to assist the Belgian, I placed there a Panzergrenadier group and started and "encircle & destroy" routine against the bulk of the French troops. And here it starts. 1) They defended very well, reinforcing the vital points, providing fighter cover and preventing encirclement. My troops won, but at a much higher price. 2) When I finally got all the northern coast and there were only what seemed to be the battered remnants of the French army, scattered in the south, I started to mop up (as you can guess, no Vichy for me), leaving some units to guard the coast. Well, those guys kept a line of resistence from St. Etienne to Toulon, with cavalry and infantry 1 division detachments running in every direction, outflanking my two or three larger groups. Meanwhile, french, south african, canadian and australian troops kept reinforcing the defenders. When I finally had to launch other troops in the battle, the allies (english, australian, canadian, kiwi and dutch) made several landing in different points of the channel coast, from Antwerpen to Brest, in some cases with 3 division groups. I finally managed to control the whole France but Toulon, were 15 division are entrenched in level 5 fortifications on the mountains, constantly supplied and reinforced from the sea. Well, I'll just keep them checked with my superior infantry, as I want to concentrate on the boundary with SU. But consider that the show started on May 1st, 1940 and now it's Feb. 12, 1941: 9 months and I'm still not controlling the whole of continental France. __________________ Aldo dice 26 per uno

20-02-2003, 17:20	#2
Dan Cook Field Marshal Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Cornfields Posts: 3,374	Yup..France can defend pretty good. __________________ [size=1]Midwest Storm Chasing