A young man’s war at a desk - Germany 1936

[Animum24]

Berlin, 16.5.1940


What a tense week lies behind me. Fall Gelb is a go and we are in the decisive phase of the operation. If we fail now, the plan will fail.
But so far everything went well from the beginning. On the 10th in the morning, orders were given to execute the first stage of the operation. All over the northern front, infantry divisions attacked the enemy positions. Without a warning, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg were invaded.

Elements of the 4. and 5. Armee began their frontal assault. Resistance in the middle of their frontage was tougher than expected but in the north and in the south the break-through was achieved very quickly. Especially the north made very good progress as the Waffen-SS has advanced up to Amsterdam and Rotterdam until today and is in the process of taking the two very important cities. We expect the Dutch to throw down their weapons in a matter of days by now.

In Belgium the battles are bloody as expected. So far mainly our infantry is fighting them. The tank force is still the ace up our sleeve. So far they have been following the motorized units and will be let loose as soon as we reach open and more friendly terrain on the french border.
The first major battle in the operation was the initial one on the Belgian border at the province of Velwisch. Most of their forces had entrenched themselves there and were dislodged by a heavy assault by our formidable infantry. The battle lasted a bit over a day and as the note of the surprisingly quick victory arrived at the staff, we also got to see the major casualties. We had lost more than 1.000 men whilst killing almost 3.000 men. The positions were also attacked multiple times by Luftflotte II, each time killing between 300 and 600 men. This massive support was quite impressive and a deciding factor in the win. But it also came at a cost.

Whilst our bombers were able to defend themselves quite well, the battles in the air between the fighter forces are bloody. Already on the next day, we had to commit all our fighter reserves to the struggle. Additionally a command that inexplicably didn’t reach the fighter wings, caused many of our groups to not leave the ground to help their comrades in the air. This was only noticed days later. Until today our losses remain heavy but we have now managed to control the air, as enemy losses are even higher. Strafing runs and interception bombings are hindering the enemy massively and our huge Luftflotten are bombing enemy positions non-stop.

The struggle for air-superiority comes at a cost​

The next two big battles in Belgium were for the heavily guarded province of Bastnach, assaulted by a motorized infantry group, and the fortress of Lüttich, only defended by the local garrison. Even this one turned into a bloody battle that is till now not decided. To force the victory, the 6. Panzer-Division was ordered to attack from the north. This division was part of a quick striking force of the 6. and 1. Armee to outflank the Belgians and take Brussels. They are currently fighting for the province Turnhout and are close to a decisive victory.

The 6. Panzer-Division rests before the attack​

The battle of Bastnach is won. We have just received the notice. Once again it was bloody, but we were victorious. After this victory, the Belgian army is shattered and if we play our cards well, we could eliminate them before they regroup. Their losses have been to high and divided between the battle, skirmishes and our bombing runs, they must have lost more than 10.000 men in a week. A quick victory in Brussels would finish them off.

Currently our motorized and armored columns are on their way to Dinant and Sedan. When they reach the place of the famous Prussian victory, they would be the first Germans to step onto French terrain. From there we expect to let our tanks loose and shatter the enemy’s lines. If we manage to do that, a quick victory could be possible. This is now a critical phase and I hope that everything will go as planned.
I will finish this entry now because there is work to do. I hope that ,when I find the time to write again, our troops are a whole lot closer to Paris than they have ever been.

 

[Animum24]

Hello everybody,

I have chosen, for this campaign, to update you on the progress in weekly increments. Additionally, I've also limited myself in not playing to far ahead, so that I can write 'in the moment'. I think this is better than writing about operations in hindsight.
My current situation in the game is pretty good and everything is going as planned, but I'm worrying for the future with Barbarossa coming around the corner.
I fear that my army is too small. I will be able to increase it, but this is limited. In addition to that all the other branches of the Wehrmacht are fairly small for my standards.
What do you think about my current situation? I will surely write about it in character after the completion of Fall Gelb and the Westfeldzug.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all of you readers; the commenters and the lurkers. This AAR is so much fun and especially your comments are always a joy to read.

Thank you so much

 

[guillec87]

this plan can not fail

 

[Animum24]

this plan can not fail

It can't and it won't... at least in the game.
In real life that was a very risky plan, and if the french and the brits hadn't been that incompetent at the time, it could have failed badly.
There was for example a very bad traffic jam in the first few days, where basically the whole german mobile force sat their for the allies to bomb them.
They could have done nothing against it.
But it didn't happen and the germans rofl-stomped them. So I guess I will do the same.

 

[Animum24]

Berlin, 28.5.1940


In the early morning today (at 3 am to be precise), the long-awaited dispatch finally had arrived. General von Vietinghoff-Scheel reported, that elements of his 5. Panzer-Division have reached the channel at the harbor city of Brügge. With this, the Benelux-Countries are now under our control and the first part of the Westfeldzug is completed. We had accomplished in 3 weeks what our fathers weren’t able to do in over 4 years: Cross the low lands and circumnavigate the heavily fortified border to France. Now the vast plains of northern France lie before us.

At the same time, our assault from the south is progressing nicely aswell. After the difficult first days of the campaign, things were becoming smoother as we went from victory to victory. On the 17th of May, several important battles were won. In the morning, Amsterdam, as well as Rotterdam surrendered. 2 hours later, the battle over the fortified city of Lüttich was won. Once again the heavily outnumbered Belgian defenders suffered badly, loosing almost 10% of their force. The following evening brought more good news. After a short and decisive battle, the belgian defenders of Sedan were routed and the city as well as the bridges over the river Maas were ours. The French hadn’t been able to move in reinforcements from the Maginot line and thus our break through was perfect. It was the first time that our main tank-force had been into battle in France and it was an astonishing display. They inflicted 20 times as many casualties than they took. General Schmidt, who led the attack, is surely considered to be promoted after the operation.

After the fall of Sedan, our troops in the south focused primarily on enlarging and securing the gained bridgeheads over the multiple small and large rivers in the area. By doing this they were playing out their large numerical advantage in the sector, as the french strength of forces was concentrated on the Maginot line or the northern part of Belgium, whilst in this sector there were only single divisions on the run before our tanks that had come out of nowhere.

Our focus went back north, where on the 20th, with the fall of Antwerpen, our troops ever came closer to Brussel. Namur and Löwen in the east had already fallen and now, with a flank form the north under our control, everything was ready for an assault on Brussel.
At the same time, the dutch were still fighting. When Amsterdam fell, every man at the staff and the Heer had expected them to surrender within 24 hours, but despite their desperate situation, they would not give up. The feeling about this was mixed. Some men in the situation room, including me, were rather impressed by this display of morale, others, including the Führer himself, were raging. This unexpected turn of events meant a significant delay in bringing the not insignificant amount of infantry form the north in the Netherlands to the belgian or french border, as they would still be needed fighting the dutch. It was decided that our troops in the south of Holland would be ordered to cut off the open corridor of retreat and would surround the dutch forces, that were left after the initial battles at the border and the ensuing pursuit, south of Amsterdam. The above-mentioned corridor was shut on the 22nd with the fall of Betuwe and most of their forces had surrendered by the 25th.

In the meantime the assault on Brussel had begun. The city was surround from 2 out of 3 sides and units from the south and the east were rushing to cut the city off completely. Still the attack was ordered as the city’s defense was deemed weak. It consisted of disorganized divisions that had fought on the outskirts of the city and the remaining HQ’s of the Belgian army. And even though the attackers were outnumbered 2 to 1, the city fell in less than 2 days.

The situation on 25.5.1940 - We are advancing on the whole front​

At the same time, two harder battles were fought in the north and one in the south. It was the most critical phase of the operation in the last 2 weeks. British reinforcements under french and belgian command had landed to stop our advance on the cannel at Kortrijk and Gent. Both times they were assaulted by Panzer-Divisions and both times they gave us a tough fight. Whilst Kortrijk fell relatively quickly, Gent wasn’t decided until yesterday. In the end the British and their french support suffered heavily and had to pull back to where they had come from. It was the first time that we had encountered the British on land and it was the same as in the air and on the seas, as General Beck worded it: a furious beginning, a mediocre middle and a disastrous retreat.

During this, the French almost brought us to our first defeat in the campaign. During the afternoon of the 25th, a strong french force attacked our flanks from the south at St. Menehould. After we had stormed through their initial defense and had taken the area some days ago, most of our troops were either sent north or west to keep up the pressure, whilst de Angelis’ motorized division was left behind to guard the flanks until the arrival of infantry. Our commanders in the area, von Mannstein and Paulus, were in the fatal misbelieve that the forces available to the French were only weak infantry elements, disorganized by our break-through and only barely capable of holding the line. They completely ignored the reinforcements coming form the Maginot line. And those forces then engaged. De Angelis managed to barely hold the line himself now, heavily outnumbered. Immediately all available forces were sent to the battle. Additionally counterattacks to threaten their flanks were started, but the attackers could only be thrown back on the 27th, when the badly needed reinforcements arrived and the numbers were evened out. After the end of the battle, reports reached the staff, that de Angelis’ men had hold out against more than 6 times their numbers for almost 2 days. For that they payed a heavy toll: almost 1000 lost comrades.

After today, this loss of men is almost forgotten again. Now we can focus on pushing west and exploit the huge gaps in the allied lines. I’m confident that we will be able to march on Paris in a matter of weeks and that, even though the Allies are still fighting, their defeat is concluded already. Still, in 1914, we were very close to Paris and the French were able to push us back, which no-one would have thought. The situation is similar currently, but I think that the French will not be able to pull it off a second time.

 

[guillec87]

Panzer rollen vor!

 

[Animum24]

Dear Readers,

Today I must announce, what most of you would have assumed for a long time.
For the past half of the year, I didn't have time to write an update for two different reasons

First of all, Paglia's Downfall mod completely captured my attention and I have been playing it instead of the Vanilla game.. Additionally, I'm not really interested in the scenario anymore that I played here. I realised that I made some rookie mistakes and I don't like the organisation and build up of troops in this save.

Secondly, I didn't have time to play at all, nor did I have the chance to do so, because I haven't been home for some time, and during the period I was, I didn't feel like playing this scenario or even the game at all.

This period of time is over soon though and I would really like to return to the game again if I got time for it.
Not with this save game however.

This means that this AAR is sadly OVER.

I want to thank all of you, who have followed this AAR passively, but my special thanks are to those who were actively part of it. And the lurkers I want to tell: Start engaging with the authors of the stories. It is always a good feeling to see that people really like the story and want to engage in it. This is a huge motivational boost for an author.

Thank you so much again.

Regards,
Animum

PS: I want to be a more active part of this forum again, so you will see me around more often in the future again. I'm looking forward to great discussions!