Fatherland - Deutschland über alles

[Kanitatlan]

08:00 June 2nd 1939

Bloch MB 210

Another raid from one of the minor allied powers. For some reason the game seems to have them listed as using French aircraft (in this case this Block MB 210 bomber). All the aircraft I have seen from Canada, Australia and New Zealand are obsolete models with the TACs being 2 steps behind me.

In this case I have a raid further east than previous operations but I have a good selection of fighter groups spread across France. Org levels remain low due to rebasing and the damaged status of these airfields. It will be impossible to run a proper full strength campaign for a good few days yet.

Another success for von Rauschend-Tod

 

[Kanitatlan]

21:00 June 3rd 1939

The main fleet is at sea again, now with 10 CVs of my total of 12. The new CAGs are still upgrading to CAG IV standard so I have 4 carriers with CAG III. This is a minor issue when all we are faced with is a single light cruiser.

HMS Gloucester

This should be a very similar ship to the Carlisle (but may very well not be). There is little a single cruiser can do in the face of several hundred carrier aircraft and this is an easy victory.

 

[Kanitatlan]

06:00 June 4th 1939

With the Mouth of the Thames sea zone undisputed and well defended I am moving forward my transport fleet to Ghent. I have selected this port as the location for my build up and base for transport operations since it is easier to move to than the rather swampy Rotterdam. There is already a major build up of troops ready to invade. The build up includes one large panzer group and the entire mountain corps which is in the process of receiving its full set of artillery brigades.

 

[Kanitatlan]

16:00 June 4th 1939

Submarine

Another lone enemy unit. The submarines in this flotilla are converted to match the cut away view above. It turns out that having the sides removed (forcibly) makes them rather unseaworthy.

 

[Kanitatlan]

18:00 June 5th 1939

Late next day further allied ships begin to appear but too late to interfere with the transport fleets transfer. The battle continues overnight with the main British carrier fleet arriving. By morning land based German air power is able to intervene but most of the aircraft committed decide that supporting the sea battle in progress (they can hardly have no idea where it is) is much less important than flying to the other end of the channel.

Carriers

The British carrier fleet contains many fairly modern carriers but some of their aircraft remain rather “quaint”. Under the circumstances they really need to get something better than the Fairey Swordfish.

Ju88

Our bombers on the other hand are the very latest model and very advanced for 1939.

 

[Kanitatlan]

06:00 June 6th 1939

The naval battle reduces in scale and ends with a very disappointing single loss.

 

[Kanitatlan]

09:00 June 6th 1939

At the other end of the channel a huge mob of CAS set about protecting the Channel from enemy ships. The Dutch navy is their only remaining fighting force of any significance and if it hangs around here it is likely to be destroyed.

Air General Casper is taking general command of naval raids in the channel and accumulating some experience form these attacks.

 

[Kanitatlan]

16:00 June 6th 1939

The main battle resumes but the British have little chance with my massive superiority in Carriers. None of these battles have shown any signs of the British being able to close so I am getting confident enough to not pay constant attention to them (so, who is suspicious of events to come after that warning )

HMS Renown

In this version of WW2 the renown has been sunk (IRL Decommissioned 1948). This is a very nice picture without the usual fuzziness but only because this is really a model (very nicely done though).

 

[Kanitatlan]

03:00 June 7th 1939

The main French fleet has turned up. I suspect it is reasonable to assume this is the whole free French fleet led by a small group of rather obsolete capital ships. The combination of rain and night guarantee this attack will have no effect whatsoever but it does tell me they are there.

Air General Weise

Béarn

This is the French aircraft carrier, rather old and unsuited to modern warfare but fairly safe from night bombing.

 

[Kanitatlan]

05:00 June 7th 1939

Another short battle against a mixed fleet takes out a couple of destroyer flotillas. Unfortunately nobody gets credit for seriously damaging ships. Most of the battles so far have been 4 hours long indicating that the AI is breaking off as soon as it can. This is probably resulting in a lot of damaged ships rather than sinkings so success so far is probably better than indicated.

 

[Kanitatlan]

07:00 June 7th 1939

Another raid of Cherbourg against a new well buried target. Finally slightly more modern aircraft are being fielded but still outclassed. They suffer almost complete org loss like previous raids which will result in them being grounded for the next 10 days. A group of CAS have got embroiled in this an decided they should join in rather than continue their naval bombing mission in the channel. This is rather weird aircraft behaviour that I have mentioned before. No harm done here.

Air General GrimReaper

 

[Kanitatlan]

14:00 June 7th 1939

The main British fleet has turned up again but starts the battle in poor condition. Accumulated damage causes the lost of two major capital ships, both quite famous.

HMS Royal Oak

It isn’t really on fire in this image but it is close enough. HMS Royal Oak was really sunk by U47 (Type VIIB u-boat or SS III in game terms). At 0116hrs on 14 October 1939 the British Battleship Royal Oak was torpedoed whilst in the "protected" anchorage at Scapa Flow. She took 15 minutes to sink. In the game this sort of ‘exploit’ is not possible but I am quite happy to have sunk it via other means.

Ark Royal under attack

The Royal Oak was always a very popular target of German newspaper reports claiming it had been sunk (yet again). On this occasion it really has (I hope). One assumes the intelligence system doesn’t include lying about ship losses.

 

[Kanitatlan]

14:00 June 7th 1939 b

The entrance to the channel remains an unhealthy location for the French fleet. Day attack, even in rain, by this many CAS cannot help to have an effect. The entire CAS force have upgraded to model II which has a significant impact on naval attack capability (goes from 2 to 5).

Air General Casper

 

[Kanitatlan]

04:00 June 8th 1939

Another minor battle results in total loss for the British despite starting at night. There is sufficient time to eliminate the enemy ships after dawn.

 

[Kanitatlan]

08:00 June 8th 1939

Another allied raid on the bait at Cherbourg. These raids are having no effect on the status of my defending fighters but the lack of reappearance of the same enemy force shows they are being badly affected.

Air General GrimReaper – the shield of Cherbourg

 

[Kanitatlan]

11:00 June 8th 1939

Canadian hurricanes (I bet the game says they are not but IRL they would have been) intercept Casper’s latest naval raid. This is a constant worry with naval air attack in the Channel. I will let one intercept go (it doesn’t seem to do much damage) but must be on my guard as this could be very damaging for the German air force.

Air General Casper

 

[Kanitatlan]

13:00 June 8th 1939

The British main fleet returns for more punishment losing on the same scale as last time (1 CV and 1 BB). The damaged state of these ships indicates that these battles are doing far more damage than the sinkings suggest. If they keep coming out there should come a point where their losses ramp up significantly due to accumulated widespread damage. Because the damage shown is at the start of the battle it is reasonable to estimate that the last big battle probably did damage equal to 3½ capital ships rather than just the 2 that sank. At this rate this fleet will be completely out of it in another 10 days or so.

 

[Kanitatlan]

17:00 June 8th 1939

Attacks at the Channel approaches continue with damage inflicted on the French fleet and then on a newly arrived British reinforcement. The reinforcements implicit in the ships seen here are enough to neutralise the losses taken in the battles further to the east.

Air General Casper is heading for a medal

 

[Kanitatlan]

11:00 June 9th 1939

GrimReaper is beginning to get an easy time of it here. The allies are scrapping the barrel for air units to through (pointlessly) at my buried tanks. They are now so dug in that they really aren’t taking any losses at all.

 

[Kanitatlan]

11:00 June 9th 1939 b

The British fleet returns for another go and clearly still has not received any reinforcement. This time they lose no carriers but the fashion of destroying to capital ships per battle continues. A number of my carriers have taken light damage but not sufficient to undermine their combat readiness. For the time being at least the fleet is staying at sea.