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DvD-IT said:
The only thing that could swing things in the Axis' way was the presence of Fighters and CAS swarming uninterruptedly over the skies of Stryj. This, however, Model could only dream for the moment.

I´m suprised that the western Allies seemed to be unable to seriously challenge your air superiourity over western France. And good luck with Stryj, fighting in mountains will cost a lot of blood so I hope you´ll win this one as well. Oh and how are you going to garrison the beaches of France once the Allies are pushed back to the sea?
 
Karelian said:
I´m suprised that the western Allies seemed to be unable to seriously challenge your air superiourity over western France. And good luck with Stryj, fighting in mountains will cost a lot of blood so I hope you´ll win this one as well. Oh and how are you going to garrison the beaches of France once the Allies are pushed back to the sea?
Stryj? Mountains? I don't see the connection.
 
Where are the nukes when you need them :D Few bombs against the soviet troop concentrations followed by quick breakthroughs and the game would be over ;)
 
dublish - As stated in my last update, I would retreat some of the most understrenght Hungarian divisions soon, as I realized my mistake after some hours of combat. So yes, the number drops from 130ish divisions to something more than 100.

Karelian - Air superiority was mostly uncontested in France, but to do this I had to transfer my whole Lufwaffe to the West. And even then it still wasn't always a one-sided fight. Unless I was battling against a human player, but then I'd have lost by the end of August already! A few divisions will be sufficient to garrison the French beaches. Their number will surely grow once things will be much more stable than now.

Winner - I prefer good old war made by bayonets, sweat and blood and having to gain your darn land inch by inch :)

With that said, an update.
 
Cabinet Meeting Mid-August 1944

0000 August 16th 1944
Reichstag Building, Berlin, Germany

"Gentlemen, we couldn't call a cabinet meeting in early August as everyone was pretty much busy. Not that now it's that much different, but with the West front almost closed we can afford a cabinet meeting. Julius, let's start with you."

"Thanks Martin. Things are indeed rather busy, and I'd start with the busiest one: the Eastern front. Von Rundstedt and von Manstein have provided me with detailed, up-to-date information about the front, as there are some new, interesting facts."​

024-1-EasternFront.jpg

"What was a thrice-divided front - led by Heeresgruppen Nord, Mitte and Sud - has now become 'Nord' and 'Sud', with Heeresgruppe Mitte helping both, especially the latter. von Rundstedt leads the calmer Nord, Guderian is in charge of Mitte and von Manstein's Heeresgruppe Sud has most of his troops in Romania. We can clearly see, however, that most of our troops are concentrated in the southern region. We have recently abandoned Brest Litovsk and the marshes of Bielsk are soon going to be occupied by Soviet troops, further threatening not only the outskirts of Warsaw, but also another serious breaktrhough - after that of Stryj.

Talking about Stryj, von Manstein and von von Rundstedt have authorized to divert a large quantity of divisions to the South to launch a counter-offensive in Stryj. The aim is to close the gap made by the Soviet thrust in the region, so to free troops that can be used to close the hole left by Heeresgruppe Mitte that is currently, almost all of it, attacking Stryj."

"What do we fear, Julius? A Soviet breakthrough?"

"The matter is that we have no more space to trade for time. We've shortened the line at its maximum without threatening any important site - say, the oilfields of Ploesti - but our numerical and qualitative inferiority is still noticeable. Heeresgruppe Nord can hold his theatre for now, but with the loss of Stryj things in the South are deteriorating. That is why Heeresgruppe Mitte is aiding Heeresgruppe Sud, even if it means taking the risk of yet another Soviet breakthrough in Lublin-Warsaw."

"Alas, that's too clear. Western front, please."

"Here comes the good news."​

024-2-WestFront.jpg

"What once was the glorious Operation Overlord has turned to a disaster for the Allies. Simply put, we've captured eight of their divisions, though nine have escaped their fate. We're capturing nine more divisions in the Le Mans pocket, and we're soon capturing Brest and Lorient guarded by five divisions. We can expect this front to be closed in a week."

"Things start to be slightly brighter again, then."

"That's not all. Hausser's forty-seven divisions can be redeployed in the Eastern front - leaving five-six for coastal defense - but most importantly perhaps, the whole Luftwaffe can be used once again against the Soviets. This will help us immensely in Heeresgruppen Sud and Mitte combined thrust in Stryj."

"When can we expect the Luftwaffe to be operational again?"

"The Luftwaffe did not pay its duel with the US Airforce lightly. We had to divert every plane to the West to achieve air superiority, and our Luftwaffe did suffer a certain degree of damage. I think, however, that we still have a fairly good amount of strenght to achieve local air superiority - at least that's what we need in Stryj."

"Italian theatre"

"Things are worsening a bit. No breakthrough, but the British did bolster their lines with some more divisions. Perhaps we'll want to transfer some divisions from the victorious ones in France to Italy, just to be sure."​

024-3-ItalianFront.jpg

"Good enough, I'm sure Hausser wouldn't mind if we ferry some of his divisions to your command in Italy. Now on with production and supplies. Albert?"

"Yes, indeed. I have a few good news here. First it's a report from von Ribbentrop, who has recently acquired enough funding to arrange a new deal, this time with the Romanians."​

024-4-Oil-1.jpg

"It is not much, but it will keep the Luftwaffe running at full speed for some days."​

024-5-Production.jpg

"Our Industrial base has dropped by forty-seven factories since July 20th. That's mostly because of territory losses in France and Russia. Recent gains in France however make me expect this number to grow a bit soon. Our stockpiles look fairly good, with Oil being the biggest problem. Our manpower pool has dropped a lot as a consequence of the huge production percentage allocated to reinforcements. The numbers shown here are wrong, as it doesn't count the fact many of our divisions are in combat. We still expect to use another 200,000 of our reservists to reinforce our divisions. Dissent is being slowly reduced and it will stay that way. Talking about Transport Capacity, there's little we can do about it at present. It's over the top even with the loss of many partisan-riddled territories to the Soviets, but our limited industrial capacity cannot do wonders at the moment. "

"When can we expect to start upgrading our units, Albert?"

"Alas we'll still need time. It's still August and we need to wait until October before Winter starts giving us some relief and time. If we can hold our current lines till October-November, I think it's safe to assume that we'll be able to mount a decent counter-offensive for the next year, now that we've almost closed the French front."

"Good to hear that things are going better and we can even expect to react against the Soviets! Now Joachim, I hear you have a handful of reports to show us."

"You are right Martin. I have some handed by our Finnish allies too." Von Ribbentrop had several reports concerning the status of Germany's allies.​

024-6-UpdateFinland.jpg

"As you can see, they are surprisingly holding ground against the far superior Soviets. They did lose some ground but their situation does not look critical at the moment. We have seven divisions helping them and we'll use them in case their situation starts to become dire."​

024-7-JapanChina.jpg

"Our Japanese ally is seeing no progress in China, but no loss either. We can see however that their forces are spread too thin and it is unlikely that they'll ever make a breakthrough."

"Well, at least they're not losing."

"No, not for now Julius. Not much has changed, and that's a positive thing for us, in such times. But there's another interesting event."​

024-8-JapanAustralia.jpg

"The Japanese have attempted to secure a beachead in Australia. Now, we don't know how long they'll manage to hold that divisions alive there, but it's still a pleasure to see the IJN alive and kicking... or perhaps it's just the Americans who haven't pursued their hunting too hard. Either way, such events can only make us smile with hope. Elsewhere, the Japanese haven't lost so much ground to the Americans either, so that can be seen as a good thing too. The more they hold the Allies, the more we can concentrate against the Bear the next year."

"I agree Joachim. Our allies are doing a great job and we'll show our gratitude one day by defeating the Soviets. Julius, I know you have some other things to say."

"Indeed, Martin. It's still of the 'no news, good news' mood, and I personally like it too.​

024-9-SunkShips.jpg

"As you can see, the Japanese did lose some ships but fortunately it's mainly transport ships and only one Carrier. We've managed to keep the Kriegsmarine almost intact with the loss of two Destroyer flotillas and some submarines damaged. The USN and the British Royal Navy lost only transport flotillas, but with the few means at our disposal that can be considered a success. Let me remember that they were trying to establish another beachead in France, and our U-boote had been immensely important to prevent this."

"Gentlemen, that's all good to hear. Even if the Eastern front isn't, to say the least, in a really good shape, we can clearly see it's still possible to turn the tide. Now let's see if it's possible to do the same against the Soviets. I will see you all in September, and let's hope this Winter comes early." Martin Bormann ended the meeting.​
 
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The Soviet breakthrough looks dangerous though. Don't let them move more divisions through your lines or you'll be in trouble.
 
Impressive how you've dealt with the Normandy pocket....
 
twcAxeman - Thanks!

Winner - That's what I'm trying to avoid. It seems like a paradox, but I think I need to create another hole to fill the 'Stryj' hole, as Heeresgruppe Sud alone cannot break the Soviet defenses.

Kurt_Steiner - Thanks, but I think that the Luftwaffe has done most of the impressive work. Without them in France, that'd be another story.

This is the 25th update, and the 25th update - purely coincidentally - marks an important event. One that could change the fate of this AAR.
 
The Front Thickens

0100 August 16th 1944
15. Armee, Rennes, France

General Blaskowitz could have sworn his enemy was on the brink of defeat. Now it seemed like he was fighting against two different divisions; this, anyways, made little difference to him.​

025-1-Brest.jpg

The battle would still take some time before coming to an end.​

025-2-RebaseAirEast.jpg

With the last American troops trapped in their last French bulwark of Brest and Lorient, Luftwaffe pilots were lately spending their days polishing their aircraft; as Hausser did no longer need air support, he decided to let them reorganize instead of ordering them to chase an ever growing number of Allied aircraft when he did not need to clear the French skies anymore.

Lufwaffe pilots would have to thank him, as they were called once again to serve, this time, in the Eastern front. Model would greet them with a grin that linked both his ears; such was his joy to have this powerful instrument at his disposal for the battle of Stryj.​

1300 August 16th 1944
III. Panzerkorps, Zamosc, Poland

Model was indeed going to need the Luftwaffe. It was curious to see some of the top-ranked and most famous generals of the Wehrmacht all in one single province: not only was Model there, but also Guderian, Von Manstein and Rommel.​

025-3-Stryj.jpg

Together they were assaulting several Soviet positions in Stryj. While it would've not been a short and easy battle, it seemed like the seventy-five Soviet divisions were paying higher rates of casualties and organization losses compared to the Germans.​

0000 August 17th 1944
Foreign Ministry, Berlin, Germany

Von Ribbentrop was busy again looking for deals that suited to Germans' taste. For some reason, the Germans liked Oil a lot, and he couldn't do better but try to satisfy their hunger with some Bulgarian purchase.​

025-4-Oil.jpg

Such purchases were quite expensive, however.​

1700 August 17th 1944
1. Armee Headquarters, Le Mans, France

After bitter fight, without supplies and without any hope of being rescued by a relief force, the nine Allied divisions in Le Mans surrendered to their new captors.​

025-5-LeMansWin.jpg

General Burgdorf would be the first to enter Le Mans and deal with the new prisoners.​

2000 August 17th 1944
19. Armee Headquarters, Angers, France

With the battle of Brest getting longer than expected, Hausser ordered General Fromm to attack Lorient with the forces present in the area.​

025-6-Lorient.jpg

As Fromm attacked Lorient, Blaskowitz would know why Brest was taking so long to fall: the Americans had 'swapped' the divisions in Lorient with those in Brest. As a consequence, those in Lorient were far low in organization, as they had been already attacked by Blaskowitz while they were in Brest.​

025-7-BrestWin.jpg

Surprisingly enough, the Allies reacted swiftly and decided to retreat from Brest to support their fellows in Lorient, although they could still fight Blaskowitz. It was not a really wise choise, as Brest was a much better place to defend than Lorient, but there was not much else they could do, and Hausser was for sure not going to tell his enemy how to avoid a mistake.​

025-8-LorientEisenhower.jpg

As the dawn of a new day arose, General Fromm was quite delighted to have thirty divisions now attacking the last remnants of the Allies in France. Nine hours later, Eisenhower and his five divisions would face their last humiliation.​

025-9-LorientWin.jpg

At 1400 on August 18th, Eisenhower surrendered and his five divisions disbanded, his troops made prisoners. One of the finest American commanders would have to say farewell to pretty much everything that concerned 'freedom'.​

1900 August 18th 1944
LXXXVII. Armeekorps, Lorient, France

As Major General Hähnle was the first to enter the last Allied-occupied territory in France - apart from the partisan-owned Grénoble - Hausser put an end to the troublesome invasion, started July 6th, lasted two months and twelve days, that involved almost fifty among the best German divisions against the much better equipped Allied divisions.​

025-10-FranceFree.jpg

August 18th 1944 marked the end of Operation Overlord.​
 
DvD-IT said:
The Front Thickens

August 18th 1944 marked the end of Operation Overlord.

The beaches must be held against new Allied invasion attempts or German war effort will be doomed. Don´t neglet the garrisoning of France despite this stunning victory.

The situation in Poland looks alarming as well, but hopefully the reinforcements from France can stabilize the situation until winter.
 
Nice AAR....enjoyed reading it over the last few days. Glad to see France back in the Wehrmacht grip....hold the beaches, but don't forget to leave some Interceptors to defend the troops and the Industrial base of the Reich....Pound the Russkies with the rest of the CAS and TAC Squadrons, with a few Interceptors for Air Supremacy in the East....

Looking forward to the next update as the Wehrmacht goes back east...."Panzers East" as they use to say in the old days.....hahahaha

KLorberau
 
So Allies were drowned in the sea or taken POW. And you can divert the troops nessesary to the east. Reinforced experienced troops will make a difference on that front.

Show us what's youre made of DVD-IT. :)
 
I'm impresssed by your success. France cleaned of enemy invaders in just two months!

What the... France cleaned of Allied troops, no matter the time! :rofl:
 
Great success on the western front DVD-IT.
Now hurry to find a way to stop those Ruskies from marching toward Berlin.. and don't forget to bolster your Italian defensive line.. maybe you could try with some forts (even though I don't know if you'll have the IC for those)
 
Karelian - French beaches will be garrisoned indeed, even in lightly. Redeployment will take a lot of time, so I mustn't take that lightly when handling the Eastern front.

KLorberau - Thanks, unfortunately I have few squadrons to spare for the West. There are three defending the OKW Reserve (those three paper armored divisions), but I will need every single plane against Russia. I know this will make my industry suffer, but I haven't got the spare force to handle with both. If I did, both 'Luftwaffen' would get mauled badly, perhaps - which they already are.

Fernando Torres - Thanks :)

Lord Finnish - Alas I don't think I can do anything in Italy till the next year. Poland and Romania are in great danger of suffering a Soviet breakthrough.

Deus - I will try to turn the tide with them :)

Kurt_Steiner - Thanks, indeed the good thing is that the Allies are now away from the French coasts and that the Soviets aren't waving their flags on the Reichstag yet. I mean, yet.

Folgore80 - Thanks, the Ruskies will be dealt in time hopefully; some divisions are being transferred in Italy too, although no forts will be built. Every drop of available resource is assigned to reinforcements and it will probably stay that way for many months to come.

Update.