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Notice that the French are going to be quite exposed once the divisions in the Low Countries roll south. The lost battle of Bitburg might turn into a trap for the depleted French divisions. The German AI seems confident enough to be able to roll south, as we can see it is ordering the majority of divisions south already, leaving only Model's 5th LPz Div to deal with the remnants of the Dutch army and this division can catch up with the attack wings faster than an infantry unit. I wonder if this is cunning on the side of the AI or if the tanks were just the nearest unit to force the Dutch division to surrender.
Quite astonishing that the Italians actually managed to land on Corsica. It's even more depressing that they're apparently too occupied to transfer more divisons to either Greece or North Africa. Any news about the Italian transport ships? I wonder why the Italians are not attacking into Egypt, especially when there are no British forces present. Supplies should not be a problem yet, with Tobruk near the border and only three divisions to support.
Quite astonishing that the Italians actually managed to land on Corsica. It's even more depressing that they're apparently too occupied to transfer more divisons to either Greece or North Africa. Any news about the Italian transport ships? I wonder why the Italians are not attacking into Egypt, especially when there are no British forces present. Supplies should not be a problem yet, with Tobruk near the border and only three divisions to support.
The French are exposed: my problem was that I just couldn't slow down their taking province after province, while it looks as though it could take me a while to break the border: the eight fresh divisions are to speed things up. And I am pretty sure the 5th Pz was just close (BTW - it is one of my few non-leichte Pz).
The Italian unit on Corsica is only 2 regiments. But I was surprised too. The TRS took the 3 divs to N Africa: there was nobody there before. Any units in Africa were taken to Albania. (When the Greeks took 2 Albanian provinces the Italians marched 3 or four divs through Yugoslavia, but the reinforcements stopped when they retook the provinces.)
With the units on the Egyptian border, I did wonder if they were waiting for supply to get up to 100% before moving into enemy territory. They have only been there a day or two.
PS Thanks for the photo of the Berliner - but what is the black mark? Jam?
Yep, jam, looks like plum to me, but there are others, too.
BTW, the "Kuli" you refered to earlier is short for Kugelschreiber - ballpen, actually a very literal translation.
And yes, moving additional troops to the west looks good, without having lowered French national unity they will most likely continue to fight for quite some time.
CharonJr
BTW, the "Kuli" you refered to earlier is short for Kugelschreiber - ballpen, actually a very literal translation.
And yes, moving additional troops to the west looks good, without having lowered French national unity they will most likely continue to fight for quite some time.
CharonJr
So you've got the game set up for the generals to run the war, you run the generals and you're wife is Supreme Ruler over all. That sounds like a very efficient chain of command. I thought Paradox was on to something when they established the new C-in-C system!
If you do not DOW SU in '41 then the SU will DOW you anytime between Jan-Jun '42..my last game it was April '42. Set your internal timer to be at least prepared defensively by 12/31/41.
The left shoulder of your invasion looks too weak to sustain a major allied counter offensive. The French are already testing it (Bitburg).
Thanks - I get the impression they are not low-carb.:rofl: And I thought I was right about "der Kuli".
Everyone wants to fight on! I am beginning to regret putting all my effort into "increase threat" though it has a lot of countreis away from the Allies.
What you were unaware of is that between the Supreme Ruler ("She Who Must be Obeyed") and me there are three daughters. Otherwise seems pretty accurate.
OK - I am still hopeful of a mid-41 Barbarossa. But as I have been advised, I am short of men on the ground. I hope there isn't a major counter-offensive north of Luxembourg for a week or so (unitl the eight divsions arrive). I am actually setting up a skeleton force so that if necessary I can transfer the other 10 divisions west.
Surely the French and the BEF couldn't stop the whole Heer?
PS I was confused by your date order: but then saw that despite your flag you are in New England. When I was in the USA/Canada last year I had to constantly remember to mentally adjust dates - it is easy to identify if it is 31-12 but if it is 6-11 or 10-3 or similar it was eay to forget.
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I was beggining to think that their wasn't another Aussie that owned HoI3. Oh wait... your from perth. 
Again great update, good to see more units come to the front.
Isn't there a dutch "surrender" event anymore, which surrenders all but the colonies of holland to germany, with an invasion. Historically the dutch would have given up a long time ago.
Personally I would have focussed my attack on Amsterdam, and then go for Den Haag, because allthough Amsterdam is our capital, our government is seated in Den Haag (yep we're a weird bunch, it has to do with the fact that Den Haag never got city-rights)
Further I detected another mistake, you forgot a "/" here iirc. The image for the battle of Bruxelles isn't showing, cuz the tags are not entirely correct.
Krog
Isn't there a dutch "surrender" event anymore, which surrenders all but the colonies of holland to germany, with an invasion. Historically the dutch would have given up a long time ago.
Personally I would have focussed my attack on Amsterdam, and then go for Den Haag, because allthough Amsterdam is our capital, our government is seated in Den Haag (yep we're a weird bunch, it has to do with the fact that Den Haag never got city-rights)
Further I detected another mistake, you forgot a "/" here iirc. The image for the battle of Bruxelles isn't showing, cuz the tags are not entirely correct.
Krog
I was beggining to think that their wasn't another Aussie that owned HoI3. Oh wait... your from perth.
Maybe we should include copies of HOI3 in the food parcels we send to the impoverished Eastern States.:rofl:
I only know of one other person in WA who has HOI3, but there are heaps of Australian flags in the forums: but then many people pretend to be Australian.
I have had Holland surrender and go GIE, but this time it just wants to keep fighting. I didn't give nay of my Armies Den Haag as an objective: Amsterdam was the primary. The AI is just mopping up every Dutch unit I think.
Thaks for pointing out the error: I do proof read after I post but it must have been late for that one. I've fixed it now.
Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
A Clerk’s War
28th August to 31st August 1939
It seems that until the two Armeekorps arrive from the east that everything has been put on hold. From the Nordsee to the Swiss border, very little happened on the 28th – in the Kanzlei there was a sense that we were waiting to see what would happen. I think the loss of Bitburg has forced everyone to think seriously about the progress of the war. Up to now, there has been a steady advance, with a defeat here and there that could be shrugged off as incidental to the major purpose. But Bitburg was different – not only was it an important centre of population and industry, but the Wehrmacht had fought hard to retain it and has been beaten. Can we regain the lost momentum and recapture the confidence of a week ago?
There were a couple of slight alarms when Kesselring’s Stukas were attacked over Antwerp, but the more heavily armoured Ju 87Gs handled the French fighters much better than expected. After two missions were intercepted, we had lost less than 5% of the four geschwader involved, and all bombs were dropped on target.
Air Battle of Antwerp
There was some elation among our Luftwaffe representatives when a bombing report came in from 1st Taktischeluftflotte: the unit is back to full strength and operating normally. Our repair and maintenance crews should be complimented on such a fast turnaround, and obviously our pilot schools have been prepared for such losses. Having said that, I hope we never have to repeat the exercise.
1st Taktsicheluftflotte back in action as good as new
Only one report of a new engagement came in during the day, when General Hopner reported from Middelburg that van Voorst tot Voorst was attempting to attack the 4th Leichte Panzer. The General seemed a bit amused, and was back on the radio within an hour to announce he had successfully thrown back the assault. Apparently only one Dutch soldier was lost, so I doubt that it was serious attack, perhaps the Dutch just blundered into our unit while trying to retreat.
Battle of Middelburg
Our engineers and metallurgical scientists have solved some of the problems around manufacturing bigger guns for our proposed heavy tanks. The word is that we will start building some of these “Tigers” soon, but for now the emphasis is on increasing the performance of our interceptors and fighters. The Luftwaffe has been shaken by the ferocity of the RAF attack on our bombers, and alarmed at the inability of our admittedly outnumbered Messerschmitts to handle the Hurricanes and Spitfires. As a result, every available researcher has been transferred to a new project: Advanced Aircraft Design. We are to develop a whole new airframe for future light aircraft production.
The Kriegsmarine has been carefully monitoring the progress of our U-boats, as senior officers suspect that the active commanders are too keen to continue missions, even at the risk of losing boats by keeping damaged vessels at sea. A message has been sent to Admiral Doenitz to return 2nd Unterseebootsflotte to base, as it has been noticed that 10th Unterseebootsflottille has dropped to 69% performance. Even though the 11th flottille is still above 90%, no risks will be taken with these expensive investments. Commander Assman has been ordered to move his 1st Unterseebootsflotte to the Iberian Plains to continue the search for enemy convoys.
At 9AM on 29th August, General von Fritsch ordered his 5.Infanterie to attack the French in Saarlouis. I struggle to understand why he has done this: General Kieffer has 30,000 men under his command, while the 5th, even though it is at full strength, has only 10,000. Perhaps it is to give the French something to distract them from moving further east, perhaps it is to show our population that we are not going to allow the French to occupy our cities without making an attempt to evict them. Whatever the reason, I wish them luck, as I think they will need it.
Battle of Saarlouis
At noon Guderian personally sent the radio message to announce that the defenders of Bruxelles had either laid down their arms or were fleeing. The Belgian capital is in our hands. No sign as yet that this has had any effect on the Belgian Army: I hope they are not going to fight to the last man like the Dutch. Bruxelles was a fairly tough fight for 1st Leichte Panzer, despite our advantage in numbers and superiority in heavy weapons, losses were about equal: 207 to 249.
General List was not going to wait and see if Strydonck de Burkel was about to surrender: he led 18.Infanterie into Aalst as fast as he could, leaving the two infantry divisions and the General HQ of the Belgian Army in shock. The three units total less than 3,000 men, testament to the ferocity of the fighting in Belgium over the last fortnight.
Battle of Aalst
The urgency surrounding the transfer of IV and IX Armeekorps meant that little thought was giving to the changes needed in the east. OKH has now rearranged the hierarchy, and appropriate orders have been issued. Polen Army Sud has been renamed Polen Army of the Interior, and no longer has any responsibility for border protection. Its sole duty is to keep order in the occupied territories. To carry out this task, two new Armeekorps have been created and assigned to the P.A.I.. The first is the Ungarn Expeditionary Korps, to which have been attached the five Ungarn Expeditionary Divisions. The divisions are currently based in areas of significant economic importance. The second Armeekorps only has two divisions at the moment: 52nd and 201st Sicherungs based in Warsaw and Danzig respectively.
The French tried several times to disrupt our attack on Aalst by attacking Udet’s Stukas, but with a similar result to the earlier attacks over Amsterdam. The Ju 87Gs and accompanying He 111s have absolutely terrorised the defenders of Aalst, killing 332 men in the two daylight attacks. Our bombing analysts tell us the when the defenders lack the opportunity to dig in, they are especially vulnerable. In addition, HQ troops appear to suffer particularly high casualties to air attacks.
Air Battle of Aalst
Minister Goebbels (with, I am sure, the support of the Fuhrer and the whole cabinet) is starting to get to work on lifting civilian morale. At 11AM we received a brief report from General Ruoff that 2.ID (mot) “Vorwarts” was advancing on the port city of Brugge. There was little in the report other than mention that the city was held by 7e Divisie (General Voorst to Voorst) and that he estimated a day or so to clear the defenders. A fairly routine message and nothing to get excited about.
Battle of Brugge
For some reason on the evening of the 30th I dropped into the local Kino on my way home, thinking I would relax with a comedy (“Wer kusst Madeleine?” with the lovely Magda Schneider) and eat at a café before going home. Imagine my surprise when in the newsreel before the main feature, there were several minutes on the “Vorwarts” division, scenes of vehicles rushing along roads, soldiers leaping into and out of trucks, halftracks racing over fields: it was all there. Interviews with “ordinary soldiers”, officers and auxiliary staff, all talking of never-ending advances and victories. The grand finale was the start of the attack on Brugge, which was turned into a cinematic masterpiece. Rows of trucks and motor-cycles lined up, waiting the word to rush forward, and then a close-up of General Ruoff, standing in his staff car at the head of the column, one arm pointing at the enemy and yelling “Vorwarts!” You could feel the emotion in the Kino, as men and women stood and cheered our valiant troops. A few more of these shows and no-one will remember that Bitburg has a French flag flying over it.
A promotional photograph for the newsreel that I obtained through a contact: this was supposedly taken in Middelburg as 2.ID (mot) “Vorwarts” set off for Brugge. Surely I am not the only person to think that this does not look like a division heading into heavy fighting?
As I left the theatre after the show I wondered if I was the only person there who knew that rather than a heroic assault on a Belgian redoubt that Ruff’s men had found a virtually deserted city. The whole province was under control before I left the Kanzlei, and I had read Ruoff’s after action report in which he listed only seven casualties and 73 dead or captured Belgians. The mighty battle had in fact been a series of street skirmishes no more dangerous that the clashes between the Communists and the Brown-shirts less than ten years ago. Hardly the stuff of legends!
You may have noticed that I have not referred to the normal end of month rush for the Cabinet meeting. This is because the Cabinet agreed that in the present situation a quick briefing session rather than a formal meeting would be better: every ministry is groaning under the pressure and key decisions have to be made every hour. So there will only be a half hour session and a one page summary for August. (I may be wrong, but I think this is another indication of how serious the military situation in the west has become. Taken with the marked increase in propaganda, this suspension of normal procedures signifies a change in mood at the highest levels of the Reich.)
At least the day started well, though the defeat of the Belgians in Aalst was not really a surprise. The casualty figures perhaps show the Belgians are collapsing: they lost 345 men in a day of fighting, to our 13 casualties.
Many prisoners were taken after the battle of Aalst: a sign the Belgians are cracking?
The next news, however, caused voices to rise in the corridors of the Kanzlei. Somehow Eupen had been left ungarrisoned and the French have moved a division to take it, unopposed! General Petzel has been ordered to move immediately to regain the province, and I hope for some-one’s sake he does so before the Fuhrer hears of this. With the current sensitivity about Allied success, I imagine he would not be too pleased to hear we had given them, for nothing, ground for which we paid many lives. Petzel has clear instructions: I am sure he will move as quickly as possible to prevent the French preparing defensive postions.
Battle of Eupen
Better news from Holland where the last of the Dutch forces has been defeated in Den Halder. Some remnants are attempting to make it to small islands off the coast, but this should be the ond of organised Dutch resistance. The official 5th Panzer history shows that they fought like fanatics: of the 2,600 Dutch trapped on the peninsula, 1,269 were killed in the fighting. We lost 154, a high price when we had a six to one superiority. (Not to mention that we had Panzer IIIs against rifles!). It may have been the last stand of the Dutch Army, but they did not give up easily.
During the afternoon the Armee del’Air was intercepted trying to get a couple of bomber groups to the battlefields: a short fight over Metz saw them turn tail.
The August update was as promised, very brief.
On the economic and industrial front everything is going well: we have captured sufficient rare materials to more than offset out daily losses for the past few months. The only cloud on the horizon is the steadily reducing pool of available manpower. All branches of the Wehrmacht are crying for more men and equipment, and we are producing more than ever before, but the backlog is growing. This is due in part to the continuous drain caused by combat losses. On a brighter note, supply and fuel reserves are in excellent condition.
Diplomatically, Liberia is very close to the Allies, though this of little concern to us. Slightly more worrying is that Norway is keen on developing a closer relationship with the Allies. The rest of the international community is still firmly neutral, which is exactly where we would like them (particularly the USA). Unfortunately our overtures to Finland are making very slow progress, mainly because of efforts by the United Kingdom.
Disruption in research institutes is down to 6% (strangely Sweden and Tannu Tuva are the main culptits), and our anti-espionage bureaux have caught 31 spies this month. Industrial disruption is still a worry, with our friends the Soviet Union and supposedly neutral Swiss the offenders.
So the general state of the Reich is fine, the only issue is what we hope is a temporary setback in the prosecution of the war.
Bombing Summary
28th August
Bruxelles: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G: 50, 100,68
Namur: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111: 85
Namur: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111: 179, 104
The loss of the Bitburg airbase seems to have had a huge impact on the number of bombing missions.
29th August
Bruxelles: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G: 46, 81
Namur: Schwartzkopf with 2 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111: 60
Namur: Muller-Michiles with 4 x He 111: 114
Namur: Sperrle with 2 x Bf 109G, 8 x He 111: NIL
Namur: Kitzinger with 2 x He 111: 103
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 2 x Bf 109G, 8 x He 111: NIL
30th August
Aalst: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G: 39
Saarlouis: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111: 81
Namur: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111: 102
Aalst: Udet with 2 x Ju 87G, 2 x He 111: 171, 161, 29
Saarlouis: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111: 135, 146
Namur: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 4 x He 111: 205., 93
31st August
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111: 103
Saarlouis: Schwartzkopf with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111: 81, 115
Aalst: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111: 96
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 4 x He 111: 189
Saarlouis: Lohr with Bf 109G, 2 x He 111, 2 x Ju 87G: 104
Eupen: Muller-Michiels with 2 x He 111: 59
Namur: Kitzinger with 2 x He 111: 70
Namur: Muller-Michiels with 4 x He 111: 72
At least the issue of the missing reports has been fixed. Nobody has owned up so I suppose we will never what the cause was. I suspect laziness, but I’ll never get those Luftwaffe commanders to start a witch hunt as a result of missing paperwork, so I’ll let it go (for now at least).
Fall Gelb at end of August (note Doenitz leading his U-boats to safety at Wilhelmshaven)
West wall at end of August
North Africa at end of August: the Italians move into Egypt
Near Satawan in the Caroline Islands: Admiral Yamamoto with another large Japanese fleet (2 battleships, a battle-cruiser, 3 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers and 2 destroyer flotillas): what is going on?
I wonder why the AI has left Eupen ungarded? Is it running short in available units? Well, the French won't hold it for long with two divisions attacking against one defender. And there's still a number of troops rolling in from the Netherlands, so there shouldn't be too much to worry about.
Suprised to see that the Italians finally are moving in Africa, although they do not seem too concerned about the French in their backs.
The Japanese, for all we can tell, are burning fuel :/
Suprised to see that the Italians finally are moving in Africa, although they do not seem too concerned about the French in their backs.
The Japanese, for all we can tell, are burning fuel :/
Your problems in Bitburg are due to the Luxembourg trap. You don't really want to declare war on Luxembourg until the French are damaged, or they will have forces to pour through there and make you bleed. Or did they declare war on you?
(BTW: I highly recommend attaching engineers to your mobile units, especially medium armor and motorized infantry, to make such abuses by the AI less damaging.)
Hehe. Didn't know this one. I like the German generall Hell, a Winter Specialist no less.
That's the AI for you: Tanks in cities. Expect also to see them in marshes, jungles, and mountains.
(BTW: I highly recommend attaching engineers to your mobile units, especially medium armor and motorized infantry, to make such abuses by the AI less damaging.)
I was beggining to think that their wasn't another Aussie that owned HoI3. Oh wait... your from perth.
Good to see high national unity in Australia!
grinding forward across Belgium and France, its a hard slug. I believe I warned you for this somewhere early on in this AAR.
any way good luck, and hope the French do something stupid some place and you will get to destroy a few of their divisions.
Good AAR Uriah!
any way good luck, and hope the French do something stupid some place and you will get to destroy a few of their divisions.
Good AAR Uriah!
I think that it was a shortage. In past games I have seen the AI leave a province empty as a sort of trap, but that is definitely not the case here.
Your problems in Bitburg are due to the Luxembourg trap. You don't really want to declare war on Luxembourg until the French are damaged, or they will have forces to pour through there and make you bleed. Or did they declare war on you?
Hehe. Didn't know this one. I like the German generall Hell, a Winter Specialist no less.
That's the AI for you: Tanks in cities. Expect also to see them in marshes, jungles, and mountains.
I declared war on Luxembourg, mainly because I was already at war with Belgium and couldn't get into them. (Supply bottleneck).
The issue with tanks is that because they are faster they tend to be the units free first. So they end up leading every attack wherever they are present (unless it is Ruoff's motorised!).
Good to see high national unity in Australia!
We are very united: it's just that having several thousand kilometres of desert between us and the Eastern States is just the way we like it. :rofl: (Though the Victorians do play the right sort of football: not like NSW).
For those who don't know, Western Australia is the left hand third of the continent, all the other states are squashed into what's left. We are the biggest state in the world, much bigger than Texas or Alaska - about 2.6 million sqkm (1 million sq miles for people in the USA)..
. I think that's about the size of non-Russian Europe.grinding forward across Belgium and France, its a hard slug. I believe I warned you for this somewhere early on in this AAR.
any way good luck, and hope the French do something stupid some place and you will get to destroy a few of their divisions.
Good AAR Uriah!
I remember you (and others) warning of the French, but don't recall anyone telling me the Belgians would be so numerous. But we must persevere. Talking of doing something stupid, there is a major boo-boo inthe next update, and it wasn't the AI!
No, I think Imentioned somehere before that I kept them on Raise Threat to help stop more Allies joining (mainly the USA). I suppose this is the price I am paying.
At the moment I am trying to make sure that's all they get - I really need those reinforcments from the east. A lot of the norther Westwall Army is low on organisation from non-stop fighting.
No update today: several hundred kilometre visit to daughter.
That's what the Netherlands are for. That trap is a HoI classic. Everyone has to fall for it once to learn what not to do.
That's what the Netherlands are for. That trap is a HoI classic. Everyone has to fall for it once to learn what not to do.
In HOI2 I always hit Lux because of the treasure: heaps of cash, supplies etc.
In this game, I thought (correctly as it turned out) that it would take a while to clear a path through Holland. What I didn't realise was that France has been beefed up between 1.2 and 1.3, and that the AI is apparently a lot more aggressive. What is killing me is the trench warfare around Bitburg/Saarbrucken.
C'est la vie: my bombers are absolutely trashing them now they are out of their fortifications.