Thank you guys!
I really enjoy having time again to play HOI and write this AAR!
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I really enjoy having time again to play HOI and write this AAR!
subbing, been a while since I read some HoI3 vanilla AAR. and been even longer since I played the vanilla like half a decade ago. 
Thanks a lot!subbing, been a while since I read some HoI3 vanilla AAR. and been even longer since I played the vanilla like half a decade ago.
I hope you will enjoy it. I think I will, after this and a private Japan play-through, try out some mods or even look into modding the game on my own (got to have some challenge in your live
).And once again I'm very sorry for the delay in updates. I have already played the invasion of Poland and the end of 1939 but I haven't been able to write the corresponding updates. The reason is as follows: I'm currently in the country that is going to be my next target for invasion and am scouting the way for my glorious Panzer-Divisions
. As soon as I find the time to sit down and write, I will but I fear the weather is far to good down in the south and this will have to wait for my return to Germany.
2. The War
Fall Weiss
Berlin, 10. 9. 1939
It started with a bang and was quickly over like a lighting bolt. Yesterday, the Führer had accepted the capitulation of the Polish forces and with that ended our first strike in the war.
It had been completely different from what I had expected. I had witnessed the first act in the war. It had been completely dark there on the hill overlooking the Polish positions outside of Danzig, when our artillery started to shell their positions. We were standing in the headquarters with the political leaders accompanying Hitler and the rest of the commanding officers, including the responsible corps commander Johannes Blaskowitz, a very stern but able man. I stayed there until midday and looked in terror and aw how our men left their positions and overran the enemy. From where I was standing, the progress seemed swift and I couldn't make out to many losses scattered across the field.
After General Beck had seen enough, the command was given to return to the headquarters to Berlin and await the first reports to prove our good impressions of the front.
Slowly they began to trickle in. We hadn’t even reached the Reichshauptstadt and the first battles had been won, most of them being mere skirmishes. Only a couple of men lost here and there whilst killing or capturing ten times as many poles or more.
The next day wasn’t all to different. Once again the whole staff met in the headquarters near the Reichskanzlei and analyzed the received data from the day and the one before.
The situation on the 2nd
The situation on the 3rd
After everybody had gone through my summary and the files I and the other adjutants had prepared, von Rundstedt, commander of Heeresgruppe I, jokingly noted that it looked like the Poles wouldn’t hold dear to their country. And he was partially right with this analysis. The Poles hadn’t really covered their front with their divisions but had rather feared the Bolsheviks in their east more than us. Now reports had reached us that their commander in Chief had ordered a complete reorganization of the defense and hoped on their Western Allies.
But even though those had honored the alliance shortly after our surprise attack had begun, the whole Common Wealth had joined one by one against us, they weren’t doing anything to help their eastern partners. After having called back the Handelsmarine to friendly or neutral ports and having cancelled every intercontinental trade agreement, the Brits didn’t even have the chance to really fight us on their most advanced theater of war, the seas. Our Schlachtflotte was well stationed in Wilhelmshaven and covered by the Luftwaffe. Only the Reserveflotte had been sent out to blockade the port of Danzig.
Our materials situation wasn’t the best but we were able to go through some time without enough supply until we had captured the polish stockpiles.
The mighty french army on the other hand was standing there, on the other side of the Rhine, completely in line with their doctrine and waiting for us to launch ourselves on their Maginot line. They themselves were to afraid to go on the offensive and meet our troops head on.
The Luftwaffe didn’t register any hostile activity over Germany as well at that time. The first strategic bombing raid would follow though: On the 4th a squadron of bombers would try to bomb Leipzig and would get completely annihilated at that attempt. Until today, the Brits have flown 3 sorties in total and over this timespan our fighters had managed to disrupt or destroy them. Still Leipzig is in ruins and there have been plenty of civilian casualties. And once again the foul manner of the West has been shown.
At that time the first major objective of the campaign had been met. We had established the lost connection between the Reich and the enclave in Eastprussia. Everybody in the room, including the older officers, were in the best mood when the news arrived that the polish garrison in Danzig had surrendered. It had taken longer than expected (we were originally planning to bomb them into submission before they would have been able to mount any resistance), but the whole 9000 men were now either dead or in our hands.
In the earliest hours of the following day, 11. Panzer-Division under von Hubicki had finally reached the outskirts of Warsaw. Even though only lightly defended, his men were not in any shape to attack, still exhausted from the march and the not-so-bloody fight over the fortress Modlin. This gave the Poles the needed time to organize a defense and get the sought reinforcements, even if only one division. On the following day, the battle began and another two days later, an impressive 5 Panzer-Divisions were engaged.
Adding on top of that was the support by Luftflotte II, that had continuously bombed the polish capital since the beginning of the war and had caused massive military and also civilian casualties. In total, the Luftwaffe was having total air superiority over Poland. From the first day, the polish planes were outmatched and outnumbered by their german counterparts. As a result, our massive bomber fleets and rained hell down on their ground forces without a way for them to defend against that.
The enemy were simply overwhelmed and lacked the capability to defend against our armor. As a result on the same day Warsaw fell and the defenders retreated into the open south. In the tumults of victory, I accidentally poured some champaign over the report and it was thus lost to our archives. Nobody in the staff will ever know how many brave soldiers had lost their lives in this battle.
The rest of the front had advanced pretty swiftly in the meantime. By the time Warsaw fell, a big part of the polish forces had been trapped west of their capital, sandwiched by 2. and 5. Armee. After putting up a valiant fight, by the 9th everybody had surrendered or had been scattered over the woods and plains of the ever getting smaller pocket.
Two days before, on the 7th, our most southern push had reached its objective: Krakow.
The attack was successfully attempted by the overwhelming force, lead by the Gebirgstruppe, and by the 9th the city was in our hands.
With every major western city of Poland in our hands and a big part of the polish army annihilated, this only meant one thing: Yesterday the Polish Commander in Chief had surrendered together with his remaining troops, whilst some parts of the polish air force had managed to pull away to Great Britain together with their government, now in exile.
The situation shortly before the Polish capitulation - a beaten army
Before they had escaped though, the Reserveflotte had managed to sink the meager polish Submarine force. Those will not continue to fight.
After the victory, I will have a busy couple of days before me. We will be completely be occupied by managing the redeployment of the majority of the forces from the east to the west. After that, over the winter there will be a planning phase, beginning with a post analysis of Fall Weiss, looking at the performance of the branches of the Wehrmacht and being followed by the phase to set up a plan how to overcome the Western Allies and not getting stuck in a trench war like in the Great War. We would hope to get some valuable practice experience from this to have an easier time, finding the best way to beat our enemies in the west.
Everybody in the Wehrmacht would prefer this war to be later called the Short War rather than the 2. Great War, not only because we had lost the first one.
Fall Weiss
Berlin, 10. 9. 1939
It started with a bang and was quickly over like a lighting bolt. Yesterday, the Führer had accepted the capitulation of the Polish forces and with that ended our first strike in the war.
It had been completely different from what I had expected. I had witnessed the first act in the war. It had been completely dark there on the hill overlooking the Polish positions outside of Danzig, when our artillery started to shell their positions. We were standing in the headquarters with the political leaders accompanying Hitler and the rest of the commanding officers, including the responsible corps commander Johannes Blaskowitz, a very stern but able man. I stayed there until midday and looked in terror and aw how our men left their positions and overran the enemy. From where I was standing, the progress seemed swift and I couldn't make out to many losses scattered across the field.
After General Beck had seen enough, the command was given to return to the headquarters to Berlin and await the first reports to prove our good impressions of the front.
Slowly they began to trickle in. We hadn’t even reached the Reichshauptstadt and the first battles had been won, most of them being mere skirmishes. Only a couple of men lost here and there whilst killing or capturing ten times as many poles or more.
The next day wasn’t all to different. Once again the whole staff met in the headquarters near the Reichskanzlei and analyzed the received data from the day and the one before.
The situation on the 2nd
The situation on the 3rd
After everybody had gone through my summary and the files I and the other adjutants had prepared, von Rundstedt, commander of Heeresgruppe I, jokingly noted that it looked like the Poles wouldn’t hold dear to their country. And he was partially right with this analysis. The Poles hadn’t really covered their front with their divisions but had rather feared the Bolsheviks in their east more than us. Now reports had reached us that their commander in Chief had ordered a complete reorganization of the defense and hoped on their Western Allies.
But even though those had honored the alliance shortly after our surprise attack had begun, the whole Common Wealth had joined one by one against us, they weren’t doing anything to help their eastern partners. After having called back the Handelsmarine to friendly or neutral ports and having cancelled every intercontinental trade agreement, the Brits didn’t even have the chance to really fight us on their most advanced theater of war, the seas. Our Schlachtflotte was well stationed in Wilhelmshaven and covered by the Luftwaffe. Only the Reserveflotte had been sent out to blockade the port of Danzig.
Our materials situation wasn’t the best but we were able to go through some time without enough supply until we had captured the polish stockpiles.
The mighty french army on the other hand was standing there, on the other side of the Rhine, completely in line with their doctrine and waiting for us to launch ourselves on their Maginot line. They themselves were to afraid to go on the offensive and meet our troops head on.
The Luftwaffe didn’t register any hostile activity over Germany as well at that time. The first strategic bombing raid would follow though: On the 4th a squadron of bombers would try to bomb Leipzig and would get completely annihilated at that attempt. Until today, the Brits have flown 3 sorties in total and over this timespan our fighters had managed to disrupt or destroy them. Still Leipzig is in ruins and there have been plenty of civilian casualties. And once again the foul manner of the West has been shown.
At that time the first major objective of the campaign had been met. We had established the lost connection between the Reich and the enclave in Eastprussia. Everybody in the room, including the older officers, were in the best mood when the news arrived that the polish garrison in Danzig had surrendered. It had taken longer than expected (we were originally planning to bomb them into submission before they would have been able to mount any resistance), but the whole 9000 men were now either dead or in our hands.
In the earliest hours of the following day, 11. Panzer-Division under von Hubicki had finally reached the outskirts of Warsaw. Even though only lightly defended, his men were not in any shape to attack, still exhausted from the march and the not-so-bloody fight over the fortress Modlin. This gave the Poles the needed time to organize a defense and get the sought reinforcements, even if only one division. On the following day, the battle began and another two days later, an impressive 5 Panzer-Divisions were engaged.
Adding on top of that was the support by Luftflotte II, that had continuously bombed the polish capital since the beginning of the war and had caused massive military and also civilian casualties. In total, the Luftwaffe was having total air superiority over Poland. From the first day, the polish planes were outmatched and outnumbered by their german counterparts. As a result, our massive bomber fleets and rained hell down on their ground forces without a way for them to defend against that.
The enemy were simply overwhelmed and lacked the capability to defend against our armor. As a result on the same day Warsaw fell and the defenders retreated into the open south. In the tumults of victory, I accidentally poured some champaign over the report and it was thus lost to our archives. Nobody in the staff will ever know how many brave soldiers had lost their lives in this battle.
The rest of the front had advanced pretty swiftly in the meantime. By the time Warsaw fell, a big part of the polish forces had been trapped west of their capital, sandwiched by 2. and 5. Armee. After putting up a valiant fight, by the 9th everybody had surrendered or had been scattered over the woods and plains of the ever getting smaller pocket.
Two days before, on the 7th, our most southern push had reached its objective: Krakow.
The attack was successfully attempted by the overwhelming force, lead by the Gebirgstruppe, and by the 9th the city was in our hands.
With every major western city of Poland in our hands and a big part of the polish army annihilated, this only meant one thing: Yesterday the Polish Commander in Chief had surrendered together with his remaining troops, whilst some parts of the polish air force had managed to pull away to Great Britain together with their government, now in exile.
The situation shortly before the Polish capitulation - a beaten army
Before they had escaped though, the Reserveflotte had managed to sink the meager polish Submarine force. Those will not continue to fight.
After the victory, I will have a busy couple of days before me. We will be completely be occupied by managing the redeployment of the majority of the forces from the east to the west. After that, over the winter there will be a planning phase, beginning with a post analysis of Fall Weiss, looking at the performance of the branches of the Wehrmacht and being followed by the phase to set up a plan how to overcome the Western Allies and not getting stuck in a trench war like in the Great War. We would hope to get some valuable practice experience from this to have an easier time, finding the best way to beat our enemies in the west.
Everybody in the Wehrmacht would prefer this war to be later called the Short War rather than the 2. Great War, not only because we had lost the first one.
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Hello readers,
I will have to make some excuses to you today.
Firstly, I have been absent for too long. Some busy weeks are behind me and I'm slowly getting into normal mode again. Additionally I have been on holidays in France which was quite nice.
Secondly, I must excuse the quality of the pictures in todays post. On my desktop they look actually pretty well, but as soon as I upload them, they get blurry and you can't read a thing nor make out any details which is a shame.
So can you give me any tips with that. I'd appreciate it.
Additionally I'd like to now what you think of my style of telling you about the war. I am still not sure if I will keep this writing-style.
Thank you in advance.
I will have to make some excuses to you today.
Firstly, I have been absent for too long. Some busy weeks are behind me and I'm slowly getting into normal mode again. Additionally I have been on holidays in France which was quite nice.
Secondly, I must excuse the quality of the pictures in todays post. On my desktop they look actually pretty well, but as soon as I upload them, they get blurry and you can't read a thing nor make out any details which is a shame.
So can you give me any tips with that. I'd appreciate it.
Additionally I'd like to now what you think of my style of telling you about the war. I am still not sure if I will keep this writing-style.
Thank you in advance.
Thank you. I must warn you though. As the new semester approaches, I will have a busy time ahead until october, so don't expect to many updates.
Fast and comfy campaign in Polen.
December in Paris?
I will take the more or less historical route to victory or defeat, so you will have to sit(z) through the winter (pun intended).
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Fall Weiss: Analyis
Berlin, 11. 9. 1939
There will be a big parade tomorrow, but the more important event for me personally had already happened today.
It was early in the morning, when General Beck had ordered all officers in higher commands of the Wehrmacht to meet in the Kriegsministerium: It was time to look at the performance of our armed forces in the past operation.
The general consense in the room was that the operation was naturally a complete success on all fronts. This should not be diminished by the desolate performance of our enemy. The polish forces, though being warned of our surprise attack, didn’t seem to have prepared for this event. The operation went as planned and took significantly shorter to finish. Losses in men and equipment were low and the western Allies didn’t have a chance to intervene in the conflict.
To evaluate the performances of the different branches, General Beck had ordered reports on them by men of his staff and insiders of the Heer, Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine.
First off, the performance of the involved naval forces was observed.
Even though the big guns of the Schlachtflotte hadn’t been involved in the operation, Reserveflotte with its small and outdated vessels had partaken.
Its objective was to block of the port of Danzig and destroy any polish naval assets. It was partially successful. Even though it had sunk the small submarine flotilla, the polish destroyers were able to escape through the darkness.
The reason behind this was surely the inexperience of the navy and the outdated technology on board of the ships. Currently, the Reserveflotte wouldn’t survive a collision with an allied fleet. It was too outdated and lacked firepower, as there were no capital ships part of this fleet. Its role of hunting enemy ships that would disrupt our trade fleet would not be tested until we would clear the seas from allied presence.
Next up was the performance of the Luftwaffe.
It seems like the heavy investments in this branch had already partially been repaid. During the battle of Poland, the Luftwaffe managed to gain complete air supremacy and allowed our bombers to bombard the enemy without being disrupted once. The modern fighter force was able to deal with the small and outdated polish fighters swiftly and our modern bombers, also numerous in the sky, were able to land precise strikes on fortified positions. Yet their commanders assured us to improve a lot by development of better aircrafts, training and doctrines. It was clear to see that Feldmarshall Goering was pretty leased by the performance of his „child“, as he regarded the Luftwaffe.
Finally we came to the analysis of the Heer, the biggest and most important branch of the Wehrmacht. Everyone knows that you don’t win a war without boots on the ground. And the Wehrmacht has some pretty fine boots. Boots with chains and fueled with diesel.
I could see the cockiness in the eyes of the generals and could feel their pride. This was undoubtedly their victory. Even though the Marine and the Luftwaffe had contributed a lot, the Heer had executed the plan and won the battles on the ground. The few that were fought. This was the first thing noted. After an achieved break through, most of the time our tank force was able to move deeply into open territory. It was no wonder that Warsaw had been captured by tanks.
Our new idea in using our Panzerwaffe was completely different from the ideas of the great war. Back then the tank was to support and give cover to the infantry. In Poland our tanks operated together with small motorized regiments and often lost contact with the following line infantry. Their performance though needed to be mentioned as well. In almost every battle they managed to quickly overpower the enemy by superior firepower on every level. It was not clear however how the units would perform under defense and being heavily outnumbered. It was also noted that the casualties had been very low and that we had lost less men in every single battle than the enemy.
Now it was time to think about possible advances and lessons drawn from the operation.
Generally our plan and doctrines worked very well, but also partially because of the inferior enemy. In the west we would not enjoy such an advantage and if it would come to operations there, we would need to see if the same worked against a numerical even or superior enemy.
Secondly it was essential that we would improve the coherence of our frontline and attacks. Currently, the few elements of mobile infantry was to low and or main line was not able to keep up with the tanks. As a result more motorized divisions would be needed. This would already be partially fulfilled in some time, as the second fully motorized corps will be formed.
The long session was closed by the announcement that the planning phase for operations in the west would shortly begin and the generals were advised to think about possible ways to engage the given problems. There was no way to begin with operations until the spring of next year, so there would be plenty of time to refine a plan and execute it with perfection once again.
One military operation would take place this year though. Securing the baltic sea and the trade routes to Scandinavia are key to our war effort and it should be accomplished as soon as possible.
Berlin, 11. 9. 1939
There will be a big parade tomorrow, but the more important event for me personally had already happened today.
It was early in the morning, when General Beck had ordered all officers in higher commands of the Wehrmacht to meet in the Kriegsministerium: It was time to look at the performance of our armed forces in the past operation.
The general consense in the room was that the operation was naturally a complete success on all fronts. This should not be diminished by the desolate performance of our enemy. The polish forces, though being warned of our surprise attack, didn’t seem to have prepared for this event. The operation went as planned and took significantly shorter to finish. Losses in men and equipment were low and the western Allies didn’t have a chance to intervene in the conflict.
To evaluate the performances of the different branches, General Beck had ordered reports on them by men of his staff and insiders of the Heer, Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine.
First off, the performance of the involved naval forces was observed.
Even though the big guns of the Schlachtflotte hadn’t been involved in the operation, Reserveflotte with its small and outdated vessels had partaken.
Its objective was to block of the port of Danzig and destroy any polish naval assets. It was partially successful. Even though it had sunk the small submarine flotilla, the polish destroyers were able to escape through the darkness.
The reason behind this was surely the inexperience of the navy and the outdated technology on board of the ships. Currently, the Reserveflotte wouldn’t survive a collision with an allied fleet. It was too outdated and lacked firepower, as there were no capital ships part of this fleet. Its role of hunting enemy ships that would disrupt our trade fleet would not be tested until we would clear the seas from allied presence.
Next up was the performance of the Luftwaffe.
It seems like the heavy investments in this branch had already partially been repaid. During the battle of Poland, the Luftwaffe managed to gain complete air supremacy and allowed our bombers to bombard the enemy without being disrupted once. The modern fighter force was able to deal with the small and outdated polish fighters swiftly and our modern bombers, also numerous in the sky, were able to land precise strikes on fortified positions. Yet their commanders assured us to improve a lot by development of better aircrafts, training and doctrines. It was clear to see that Feldmarshall Goering was pretty leased by the performance of his „child“, as he regarded the Luftwaffe.
Finally we came to the analysis of the Heer, the biggest and most important branch of the Wehrmacht. Everyone knows that you don’t win a war without boots on the ground. And the Wehrmacht has some pretty fine boots. Boots with chains and fueled with diesel.
I could see the cockiness in the eyes of the generals and could feel their pride. This was undoubtedly their victory. Even though the Marine and the Luftwaffe had contributed a lot, the Heer had executed the plan and won the battles on the ground. The few that were fought. This was the first thing noted. After an achieved break through, most of the time our tank force was able to move deeply into open territory. It was no wonder that Warsaw had been captured by tanks.
Our new idea in using our Panzerwaffe was completely different from the ideas of the great war. Back then the tank was to support and give cover to the infantry. In Poland our tanks operated together with small motorized regiments and often lost contact with the following line infantry. Their performance though needed to be mentioned as well. In almost every battle they managed to quickly overpower the enemy by superior firepower on every level. It was not clear however how the units would perform under defense and being heavily outnumbered. It was also noted that the casualties had been very low and that we had lost less men in every single battle than the enemy.
Now it was time to think about possible advances and lessons drawn from the operation.
Generally our plan and doctrines worked very well, but also partially because of the inferior enemy. In the west we would not enjoy such an advantage and if it would come to operations there, we would need to see if the same worked against a numerical even or superior enemy.
Secondly it was essential that we would improve the coherence of our frontline and attacks. Currently, the few elements of mobile infantry was to low and or main line was not able to keep up with the tanks. As a result more motorized divisions would be needed. This would already be partially fulfilled in some time, as the second fully motorized corps will be formed.
The long session was closed by the announcement that the planning phase for operations in the west would shortly begin and the generals were advised to think about possible ways to engage the given problems. There was no way to begin with operations until the spring of next year, so there would be plenty of time to refine a plan and execute it with perfection once again.
One military operation would take place this year though. Securing the baltic sea and the trade routes to Scandinavia are key to our war effort and it should be accomplished as soon as possible.
Thank you!
I must warn you to not expect many updates, though I will try to upload more frequently.
Next up some planning and the Operation Weserübung light
Operation Weserübung
Berlin, 30.11.1939
Today, news of a new front have reached the capital. But this time we weren’t the aggressor, nor the defender. This new front was north, far north, as northern as you could get. In the cold, the bear had begun to unleash its power upon a young country, Finland. Some weeks ago, Stalin and his communists had posed an ultimatum on the Finns. The border between the two countries was very close to Leningrad, the capital of the revolution, so Stalin, in his paranoia, had decided that the Finns could take it in a surprise attack. Or he had just made up a justification to take back former russian territory. Reports haven’t reached us yet, but it is estimated that the Finns wouldn’t stand for long. The Red Army is considered to be one of the best fighting forces in the world.
The staff shortly thought about intervening but it is actually us who made it possible for the communists to act like this. Our pact we had signed in the late days of August had granted such expansions to the Russians. It had also granted them half of Poland, which they had occupied only days after their surrender.
On the same day, it was time for our big guns to leave the safe harbor of Wilhelmshaven behind and engage the enemy. In the morning of the 12th of September, a british fleet had been spotted at the Broken Bank. Quickly our pride of the fleet took action and attacked.
The Schlachtflotte in action - Victory is ours
The battle was short and successful. The British had lost most of their force, only a very critically damaged HMS Rodney managed to limp back to port. On our side the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper was hit critically and thus prevented the fleet to chase the enemy or even engage the nearing reinforcements.
When the news came in that the fleet was back in port, cheers broke out amongst the present Generals and the first real naval victory was ours. To repair the damage the fleet wouldn’t leave port for almost a month. The next time it did, it was time to begin our next step in the plan: Operation Weserübung.
Under this name a not very sophisticated plan to take Denmark had been quickly formed after the swift success of Fall Weiss. From everyone it was expected that the danish wouldn’t take us on, because of their incredible inferiority, but apparently the Allies had made promises to come to their aid in the case of an attack. A promise they would once again not be able to fulfill.
Our forces weren’t formed in a chain of command, only our motorized divisions and the SS troops were sent to deal with the small northern neighbor. The Reserveflotte and the Schlachtflotte would stand by to hinder the danish fleet from fleeing and secure an easy crossing for our troops on the way to Copenhagen.
On the 1st of October the war was declared and once again the Kriegsmarine made fools of themselves and let the danish fleet including the royal family and the government to slip between their fingers.
The rest of the operation went smoothly at first. The Waffen-SS began to seize the danish mainland whilst the motorized units crossed the straights towards Copenhagen. The battle there was an easy one and won quickly. But when our troops had everything under control and expected the Danish to surrender every hour from then, the Angelis, normally a good commander, left the city unguarded.
During this time, Waffen-SS units were searching the place of enemy headquarters in Arhus with no success. This lack of coordination between the units was so severe, that after leaving Copenhagen alone, danish troops reoccupied it. In Berlin nobody was informed about the situation because of the lacking chain of command and it took us sometime to realize what had happened.
When we had realized, the disaster was already going and there was no way of us stopping it. On the same day, it was the first time that I had General Beck shouting out angrily and wishing the worst things to some officers in the Heer and at the same time being completely subdued by the Führer himself when he repeated Beck’s earlier actions. And he was right, it had been our fault. We should have coordinated and organized this attack and not left it to some lesser officers in the Heer. This would not happen again, we swore.
At first the situation got worse though. Even though the SS had been successful in seizing the commander in chief of the danish forces in Arhus, their way across to Copenhagen was now obstructed by some reoccupied coastal forts and a small danish flotilla that had been left behind. As a result, Schlachtflotte could now not support the attack as it had begun to chase the escaped danish ships with no avail.
To solve this situation, General Beck took over command and ordered the SS to board our transport fleet. In his mind, we would now see of those fanatics would truly prove to be the elite that Himmler and Hitler had promised. On the 31st of October, a whole month after the begin of this operation, the danish capital was once more under attack. Dietrich, one of the divisional commanders, began the assault after landing unopposed in Guldborgsund, a peninsular south of the city. The advance was rough but soon after the other Waffen-SS divisions managed to reinforce th units and street after street of the city was conquered.
The battle was bloody and for the first time in this war we had lost more men than the opposition, even double their men, but what counted was, that this time we occupied the city for good and after ten days of fighting and another 9 days of clearing the rest of Denmark, their last men surrendered and the campaign was at an end.
Five days later, the Schlachtflotte left the port again. This time a french squadron had shown up. It was bigger, as a result the battle was fiercer. After several hours of engagement, when the darkness fell upon the sea, the french retreated. Smoking shipwrecks littered the sea, as it became clear that we had lost the first ship in the war. The cruiser Admiral Hipper, already heavily damaged the last time, was beyond repair this time. When our ships left the scene, it wasn’t the only sinking ship, it wasn’t clear how many the french had lost because of the fog, the smoke and the setting darkness, but it was said that almost half of the squadron had been sunk and the rest heavily damaged. Additionally it was confirmed from aerial reconnaissance that one french battlecruiser was amongst the sunk ships. Still this victory felt more like a defeat than a victory and it would eb a long time until the Schlachtflotte would next leave port. To bring the fleet back up to full strength, a new cruiser was at once laid down and was ordered to be finished as quickly as possible no matter the cost.
The Tirpitz fires at the beginning of the battle - Hopefully a hit!
On the western front nothing had happened the whole time. Winter had fallen quicker than expected and the Allies were continuing their bombing campaign, yet it seemed like they would pay a high price for the effects. Dozens of bombers had been shot down by our Jagdgeschwader and especially General Milch was happy about the performance of his 1. Jagdgeschwader.
The redeployment of the troops which had partaken in Fall Weiss had been finished and now were awaiting new orders to positions themselves against the western front. Those ordered will be given as soon the planning of our next operation was finalized. Tomorrow there will be a first assessment of the available plans and the quality of our troops. So far there are two probable candidates for the attack. We will know more tomorrow.
Berlin, 30.11.1939
Today, news of a new front have reached the capital. But this time we weren’t the aggressor, nor the defender. This new front was north, far north, as northern as you could get. In the cold, the bear had begun to unleash its power upon a young country, Finland. Some weeks ago, Stalin and his communists had posed an ultimatum on the Finns. The border between the two countries was very close to Leningrad, the capital of the revolution, so Stalin, in his paranoia, had decided that the Finns could take it in a surprise attack. Or he had just made up a justification to take back former russian territory. Reports haven’t reached us yet, but it is estimated that the Finns wouldn’t stand for long. The Red Army is considered to be one of the best fighting forces in the world.
The staff shortly thought about intervening but it is actually us who made it possible for the communists to act like this. Our pact we had signed in the late days of August had granted such expansions to the Russians. It had also granted them half of Poland, which they had occupied only days after their surrender.
On the same day, it was time for our big guns to leave the safe harbor of Wilhelmshaven behind and engage the enemy. In the morning of the 12th of September, a british fleet had been spotted at the Broken Bank. Quickly our pride of the fleet took action and attacked.
The Schlachtflotte in action - Victory is ours
The battle was short and successful. The British had lost most of their force, only a very critically damaged HMS Rodney managed to limp back to port. On our side the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper was hit critically and thus prevented the fleet to chase the enemy or even engage the nearing reinforcements.
When the news came in that the fleet was back in port, cheers broke out amongst the present Generals and the first real naval victory was ours. To repair the damage the fleet wouldn’t leave port for almost a month. The next time it did, it was time to begin our next step in the plan: Operation Weserübung.
Under this name a not very sophisticated plan to take Denmark had been quickly formed after the swift success of Fall Weiss. From everyone it was expected that the danish wouldn’t take us on, because of their incredible inferiority, but apparently the Allies had made promises to come to their aid in the case of an attack. A promise they would once again not be able to fulfill.
Our forces weren’t formed in a chain of command, only our motorized divisions and the SS troops were sent to deal with the small northern neighbor. The Reserveflotte and the Schlachtflotte would stand by to hinder the danish fleet from fleeing and secure an easy crossing for our troops on the way to Copenhagen.
On the 1st of October the war was declared and once again the Kriegsmarine made fools of themselves and let the danish fleet including the royal family and the government to slip between their fingers.
The rest of the operation went smoothly at first. The Waffen-SS began to seize the danish mainland whilst the motorized units crossed the straights towards Copenhagen. The battle there was an easy one and won quickly. But when our troops had everything under control and expected the Danish to surrender every hour from then, the Angelis, normally a good commander, left the city unguarded.
During this time, Waffen-SS units were searching the place of enemy headquarters in Arhus with no success. This lack of coordination between the units was so severe, that after leaving Copenhagen alone, danish troops reoccupied it. In Berlin nobody was informed about the situation because of the lacking chain of command and it took us sometime to realize what had happened.
When we had realized, the disaster was already going and there was no way of us stopping it. On the same day, it was the first time that I had General Beck shouting out angrily and wishing the worst things to some officers in the Heer and at the same time being completely subdued by the Führer himself when he repeated Beck’s earlier actions. And he was right, it had been our fault. We should have coordinated and organized this attack and not left it to some lesser officers in the Heer. This would not happen again, we swore.
At first the situation got worse though. Even though the SS had been successful in seizing the commander in chief of the danish forces in Arhus, their way across to Copenhagen was now obstructed by some reoccupied coastal forts and a small danish flotilla that had been left behind. As a result, Schlachtflotte could now not support the attack as it had begun to chase the escaped danish ships with no avail.
To solve this situation, General Beck took over command and ordered the SS to board our transport fleet. In his mind, we would now see of those fanatics would truly prove to be the elite that Himmler and Hitler had promised. On the 31st of October, a whole month after the begin of this operation, the danish capital was once more under attack. Dietrich, one of the divisional commanders, began the assault after landing unopposed in Guldborgsund, a peninsular south of the city. The advance was rough but soon after the other Waffen-SS divisions managed to reinforce th units and street after street of the city was conquered.
The battle was bloody and for the first time in this war we had lost more men than the opposition, even double their men, but what counted was, that this time we occupied the city for good and after ten days of fighting and another 9 days of clearing the rest of Denmark, their last men surrendered and the campaign was at an end.
Five days later, the Schlachtflotte left the port again. This time a french squadron had shown up. It was bigger, as a result the battle was fiercer. After several hours of engagement, when the darkness fell upon the sea, the french retreated. Smoking shipwrecks littered the sea, as it became clear that we had lost the first ship in the war. The cruiser Admiral Hipper, already heavily damaged the last time, was beyond repair this time. When our ships left the scene, it wasn’t the only sinking ship, it wasn’t clear how many the french had lost because of the fog, the smoke and the setting darkness, but it was said that almost half of the squadron had been sunk and the rest heavily damaged. Additionally it was confirmed from aerial reconnaissance that one french battlecruiser was amongst the sunk ships. Still this victory felt more like a defeat than a victory and it would eb a long time until the Schlachtflotte would next leave port. To bring the fleet back up to full strength, a new cruiser was at once laid down and was ordered to be finished as quickly as possible no matter the cost.
The Tirpitz fires at the beginning of the battle - Hopefully a hit!
On the western front nothing had happened the whole time. Winter had fallen quicker than expected and the Allies were continuing their bombing campaign, yet it seemed like they would pay a high price for the effects. Dozens of bombers had been shot down by our Jagdgeschwader and especially General Milch was happy about the performance of his 1. Jagdgeschwader.
The redeployment of the troops which had partaken in Fall Weiss had been finished and now were awaiting new orders to positions themselves against the western front. Those ordered will be given as soon the planning of our next operation was finalized. Tomorrow there will be a first assessment of the available plans and the quality of our troops. So far there are two probable candidates for the attack. We will know more tomorrow.
- 1
Yup, I'm back big time! Second update in such a short time. I can't even belief myself!
So yes I'm back and I've now managed to improve the quality of my pics. It was a problem with the image hosting service so I just changed it and re-uploaded.
I hope you can now enjoy the pics concerning Fall Weiss!
I will also try to re-upload other pics that are pretty blurry, but I think those have another problem I might not be able to fix in retrospect.
Thanks.
For the last couple of weeks I didn't really have the motivation to write a lot and rather wanted to play so I privately played a game of Japan, which was very interesting and is not yet finished.
But now the motivation has come back and I really have new ideas on how to progress this AAR. It will be quite exciting, that's what I can tell you for sure.
There are some rather interesting political decisions and a rather big turn of events coming in the next update. This also makes planning for the Westfeldzug quite hard. This is actually one of the first play-throughs were not everything goes to plan and I have to change strategy all the time.
Sitzkrieg
Berlin, 1.5.1940
The first Christmas at war has passed. What a strange thing. Now I think I know what our fathers had felt when they experienced it 20 years ago. A day to celebrate the coming of the messiah spent killing others.
Though it wasn’t at all terrifying. I spent the time in Berlin together with other men I have come to know over the past 4 years. For one evening, the war was forgotten. The whole city didn’t feel like we are at war. You could only notice it by the few men that were actually seen on the streets, and most of those in uniforms.
That’s the Sitzkrieg for me. You don’t notice that the country is at war until you enter the rooms of the Kriegsministerium. There the reality hits you.
The Phony War in the Allied...
...and the German lines
But this is now almost over. For the weeks until Christmas there was almost nothing going on. Most of the world’s attention was on the Fino-Russian war. We didn’t have a plan how to move against the Allies and they didn’t want to take a move against us.
In January all this was over. The war was coming back. As a result the Finnish surrender was just a mere marginal note. Our own planning phase had begun.
The central question was: How will we tackle the Allied problem. How will we be able to beat an opponent that we weren’t able to beat the first time.
Our own position was notably better. We wouldn’t be involved in a two-front-war. That was it though. The French had totally fortified the border with a un-impregnable structure: The Maginot-line. Our best chance was to go around. The best way around was through Belgium. The problem was we had already tried this and had failed some time ago. There was the need of a new plan and after a short assessment, 2 plans evolved as having the smallest failure chance.
Plan A was fairly simple: Repeat 1914. Invade Belgium and Luxembourg and try to go as fast as possible. As soon as reaching the border with France, turn left and conquer Paris. The last time, we were actually very close in doing so.
The men that had come up with the plan were sure that this time we would be able to pull it off. Our formations had shown their speed and skill in battle. Our tanks were the surprising and decisive factor in Poland. Additionally, this time we would not have the Russians in our backs, so our troops would be concentrated on the Western Front.
The problem here was that the French would exactly expect this attack. And their formations had become faster as well. They had more men and probably more tanks than we did. As a result they would be able to enter their prepared positions and once again bog us down in a bloody war to exhaustion.
Different versions of the plans
Plan B was not at all more sophisticated: It was actually the exact same plan, but with the Netherlands involved. Since 1936, the Abwehr, our secret service, has established a wide network in the Netherlands. They were able to boost the popularity of the dutch Nationalists quite substantially. They would in return enter into an alliance with us, giving us access to overseas resources and the border to northern Belgium. As a result this would open a completely new possibility to us. Invade the neutral Belgium form the east and the north and traverse it before the Allies would be able to react. This would mean that the important left hook of our troops would have already been performed naturally and would save us vital time. With this opportunity it was clear what plan the OKW chose.
The Allies however would not play along idly. In February, when our troops were already preparing for the invasion and were upgrading their equipment with the latest technological advances, the British caught the scent of our plans. Quickly a secret task force had been put together to begin a mission to counter our efforts. Shortly before the election, they also used diplomatic pressure to work against us. When our men noticed it, it had already been to late. Our mission was canceled and a meeting of the Staff was seen up on the 25th of February.
Additionally to this, the situation in Spain had changed drastically as well. Since the Nationalist’s defeat, a struggle of power between the Anarcho-Communists and the democratic forces in the country had been going on. This struggle was now finally decided. With a lot of help from the western Allies, the democratic forces in Spain took over once more. And since then, talks dave been started for them to join the war against us. This was very concerning for us, as it meant a stronger Western Front against us. We would need to deal with this new issue as quickly as possible as soon as we would be able to. For that reason we needed a fast victory in France.
As a result, it was quickly concluded that the plan would have to be altered. There was no time anymore to completely form a new one. Many alternatives were discussed when the leader of the 1. Armee, General von Manstein, put forward a new variation. He meant to quickly overrun the Netherlands and install a loyal government. This would provoke the Allies to mover North to counter our advances. This would give us room and time to cut them off with a maneuver form the south. This Sichelschnitt though the dense and difficult terrain of the Ardennes was firstly deemed too risky. And a simple advance similar to the Schlieffenplan was developed. After some days, General Beck had ordered me to once again bring him the documents that von Manstein had presented. Together with me, he went through the plan once again and in the afternoon of the same day, a meeting with the Führer was set. After some time, Hitler agreed on using this new plan. He and Beck valued the now given possible element of surprise greater than the risk involved with the maneuver. The plan was given its detail and our troops got orders to move into their initial position.
The available troops in the West (two Armee-Korps were left in the east to secure Poland) were organized in 2 Armygroups , Heeresgruppe II and Heeresgruppe III.
Heeresgruppe III was tasked with the southern part of the front. It was commanded by General von Bock and had under its command 3 Armies, 1. Armee under von Manstein, the author of the plan himself, 7. Armee under Paulus and 3. Armee under von Reichenau.
1. Armee was by far the most powerful of all the armies in the Heer. It had most of the tank forces concentrated under its command. They would perform the Sichelschnitt, like von Manstein had it envisioned.
7. Armee was its Infantry in reserve. Their main task was to cover the flanks of our tanks and secure the land captured by them.
3. Armee was for now stationary. Its task was to occupy as many allied troops as possible on their static line on the Rhine.
Heeresgruppe II was responsible for the northern flank, for the faint. It was strong and capable of opposing and beating the enemy it faced with its 3 armies, 4. Arme, 5. Armee and 6. Armee, commanded by von Kluge.
4. Armee, commanded by von Weichs, was very weak on its own. But it also only faced the weakest point of the enemy and would only function as a connector between the other armies of the army group.
6. Armee under von Brauchitsch was stronger. With its II. Panzer-Korps, it would be tasked with securing northern Belgium and would put pressure on the Allies to rush north. Additionally it was hoped that with a fast strike against Brussels, a quick Belgium surrender could be forced.
5. Armee of Model had been heavily stripped down. Regarded as the strongest army in Poland it now was only commanding 3 corps. Their task was to make the dutch surrender and install a loyal government.
The Luftwaffe would partake in this operation in all of its force. It was important for us to secure arial superiority and use our bombers properly. This would be hard against the huge combined western air fleet.
The Kriegsmarine would sit idly during this operation. Its use was deemed unnecessary and too risky.
A plan for what would happen after a successful execution of the Sichelschnitt was not set. This was not the most assuring signal to the all that were present.
Today, I’m sitting here waiting for the set starting date of the campaign. Until then our troops still need lots of new equipment. Though our tanks would need to go into the campaign without their new beasts as they still weren’t mass produced. The Infantry was in the most part ready to go at least. On the 10th of May, the Wehrmacht in all its force would fight a battle against a foe superior in every part. If the plan would succeed, it would be a glorious day for all of us, if not we will fall.
Berlin, 1.5.1940
The first Christmas at war has passed. What a strange thing. Now I think I know what our fathers had felt when they experienced it 20 years ago. A day to celebrate the coming of the messiah spent killing others.
Though it wasn’t at all terrifying. I spent the time in Berlin together with other men I have come to know over the past 4 years. For one evening, the war was forgotten. The whole city didn’t feel like we are at war. You could only notice it by the few men that were actually seen on the streets, and most of those in uniforms.
That’s the Sitzkrieg for me. You don’t notice that the country is at war until you enter the rooms of the Kriegsministerium. There the reality hits you.
The Phony War in the Allied...
...and the German lines
But this is now almost over. For the weeks until Christmas there was almost nothing going on. Most of the world’s attention was on the Fino-Russian war. We didn’t have a plan how to move against the Allies and they didn’t want to take a move against us.
In January all this was over. The war was coming back. As a result the Finnish surrender was just a mere marginal note. Our own planning phase had begun.
The central question was: How will we tackle the Allied problem. How will we be able to beat an opponent that we weren’t able to beat the first time.
Our own position was notably better. We wouldn’t be involved in a two-front-war. That was it though. The French had totally fortified the border with a un-impregnable structure: The Maginot-line. Our best chance was to go around. The best way around was through Belgium. The problem was we had already tried this and had failed some time ago. There was the need of a new plan and after a short assessment, 2 plans evolved as having the smallest failure chance.
Plan A was fairly simple: Repeat 1914. Invade Belgium and Luxembourg and try to go as fast as possible. As soon as reaching the border with France, turn left and conquer Paris. The last time, we were actually very close in doing so.
The men that had come up with the plan were sure that this time we would be able to pull it off. Our formations had shown their speed and skill in battle. Our tanks were the surprising and decisive factor in Poland. Additionally, this time we would not have the Russians in our backs, so our troops would be concentrated on the Western Front.
The problem here was that the French would exactly expect this attack. And their formations had become faster as well. They had more men and probably more tanks than we did. As a result they would be able to enter their prepared positions and once again bog us down in a bloody war to exhaustion.
Different versions of the plans
Plan B was not at all more sophisticated: It was actually the exact same plan, but with the Netherlands involved. Since 1936, the Abwehr, our secret service, has established a wide network in the Netherlands. They were able to boost the popularity of the dutch Nationalists quite substantially. They would in return enter into an alliance with us, giving us access to overseas resources and the border to northern Belgium. As a result this would open a completely new possibility to us. Invade the neutral Belgium form the east and the north and traverse it before the Allies would be able to react. This would mean that the important left hook of our troops would have already been performed naturally and would save us vital time. With this opportunity it was clear what plan the OKW chose.
The Allies however would not play along idly. In February, when our troops were already preparing for the invasion and were upgrading their equipment with the latest technological advances, the British caught the scent of our plans. Quickly a secret task force had been put together to begin a mission to counter our efforts. Shortly before the election, they also used diplomatic pressure to work against us. When our men noticed it, it had already been to late. Our mission was canceled and a meeting of the Staff was seen up on the 25th of February.
As a result, it was quickly concluded that the plan would have to be altered. There was no time anymore to completely form a new one. Many alternatives were discussed when the leader of the 1. Armee, General von Manstein, put forward a new variation. He meant to quickly overrun the Netherlands and install a loyal government. This would provoke the Allies to mover North to counter our advances. This would give us room and time to cut them off with a maneuver form the south. This Sichelschnitt though the dense and difficult terrain of the Ardennes was firstly deemed too risky. And a simple advance similar to the Schlieffenplan was developed. After some days, General Beck had ordered me to once again bring him the documents that von Manstein had presented. Together with me, he went through the plan once again and in the afternoon of the same day, a meeting with the Führer was set. After some time, Hitler agreed on using this new plan. He and Beck valued the now given possible element of surprise greater than the risk involved with the maneuver. The plan was given its detail and our troops got orders to move into their initial position.
The available troops in the West (two Armee-Korps were left in the east to secure Poland) were organized in 2 Armygroups , Heeresgruppe II and Heeresgruppe III.
Heeresgruppe III was tasked with the southern part of the front. It was commanded by General von Bock and had under its command 3 Armies, 1. Armee under von Manstein, the author of the plan himself, 7. Armee under Paulus and 3. Armee under von Reichenau.
1. Armee was by far the most powerful of all the armies in the Heer. It had most of the tank forces concentrated under its command. They would perform the Sichelschnitt, like von Manstein had it envisioned.
7. Armee was its Infantry in reserve. Their main task was to cover the flanks of our tanks and secure the land captured by them.
3. Armee was for now stationary. Its task was to occupy as many allied troops as possible on their static line on the Rhine.
Heeresgruppe II was responsible for the northern flank, for the faint. It was strong and capable of opposing and beating the enemy it faced with its 3 armies, 4. Arme, 5. Armee and 6. Armee, commanded by von Kluge.
4. Armee, commanded by von Weichs, was very weak on its own. But it also only faced the weakest point of the enemy and would only function as a connector between the other armies of the army group.
6. Armee under von Brauchitsch was stronger. With its II. Panzer-Korps, it would be tasked with securing northern Belgium and would put pressure on the Allies to rush north. Additionally it was hoped that with a fast strike against Brussels, a quick Belgium surrender could be forced.
5. Armee of Model had been heavily stripped down. Regarded as the strongest army in Poland it now was only commanding 3 corps. Their task was to make the dutch surrender and install a loyal government.
The Luftwaffe would partake in this operation in all of its force. It was important for us to secure arial superiority and use our bombers properly. This would be hard against the huge combined western air fleet.
The Kriegsmarine would sit idly during this operation. Its use was deemed unnecessary and too risky.
A plan for what would happen after a successful execution of the Sichelschnitt was not set. This was not the most assuring signal to the all that were present.
Today, I’m sitting here waiting for the set starting date of the campaign. Until then our troops still need lots of new equipment. Though our tanks would need to go into the campaign without their new beasts as they still weren’t mass produced. The Infantry was in the most part ready to go at least. On the 10th of May, the Wehrmacht in all its force would fight a battle against a foe superior in every part. If the plan would succeed, it would be a glorious day for all of us, if not we will fall.
Fall Gelb is usually the juiciest and most satisfying campaigns German player gets to fight. Which usually keeps me returning to HoI series year after year.
It is definitely a very nice campaign and I also love it. But I really prefer Barbarossa as it involves so many units. I hope that I will be able to have enough of them because I'm really running low on troops and will need even more to garrison the west this time.Fall Gelb is usually the juiciest and most satisfying campaigns German player gets to fight. Which usually keeps me returning to HoI series year after year.
I love the OOB in HOI3 and I couldn't even imagine to fight a war without it... *cough* HOI4 *cough*... I understand that it sometimes is a bit clunky but if you look over that it is definitely one of the best elements in the game.