Glauben! Kämpfen! Siegen! (A DWI Germany AAR)

[guillec87]

Nicely done. Those 60+divisions gone will hurt the soviets. good job.

thanks! to be honest I was as surprised as you when I saw the total amount of troops actually captured

O'kay, now you properly destroyed that annoying Soviet first line which didn't seem to want to collapse at the beginning. But if you don't manage to force the Soviets out of the war before the onset of winter, will they be able to recover from the initial disaster? I mean, have you got any intelligence data in order to try and make a comparison between your IC and resources situation and theirs?

I'll check for next update, but my MP is quite good for the moment, I'll tag them and see... but my guess, from previous games, is that they would totally recover and even start offensives, only if USA or ENG lend-lease them

Good to see a large chunk of Soviet forces taken out, that massive pocket will hurt them.
And it's always good to see enemy battleships go down

thanks! and I hope I can advance as depth as you in your AAR now that I have arounf 650 thousand men (the almost total Heersgruppe Süd was used to put that Kessel down) free for further operations

 

[guillec87]

20th July 1941 - 10th August 1941

the situation in the East has been stabilized, none really important gains in the period, our troops have been resting or getting into position for our next great operation:

Unternehmen 'Schwarzer Sand'

it will consist of two independent phases:

Phase I: the Panzergruppen of Heersgruppen Nord and Mitte will work coordinated trying to form a great encirclement in the central section of the front. Additional infantry strikes will help to cut it into two pieces before start the cleaning operations. the Waffen SS will also strike in the north, trying to reach the outsides of Leningrad

Phase II: Once the battles have started in the North, and after the breakthrough has been achieved, 2. Panzergruppe followed by 7. Armee will strike southwards until they reach the coast of the Black Sea (hence the name of the operation, black sand). 8. Armee will cover the actual front while 1. Gebirgsarmee will attack the pocket from the north

It has been estimated that if both phases success in their goals, another half a million Russian soldiers will be out of our way to Moscow (the city will be 489 kms eastwards from the resulting new front)

meanwhile, the West was not quiet, battles raged on in the air, and in the sea, where our wolfpacks started a new happy time of hunting:

their deadly cargo never arrived target

at 02:00 10th August the operation began, Panzer had their motors ready for hours before the green light was given and so, the future of the Reich remains in their iron hands...

 

[sebas379]

The allies can't have many convoys left by now, or they are spending a lot of IC on replacing them.
Good luck closing those pockets.

 

[guillec87]

The allies can't have many convoys left by now, or they are spending a lot of IC on replacing them.
Good luck closing those pockets.

the Brits are constructing a lot! I believe around 800 convoys plus some escorts... the rest go for a few inf and 3 more BBs

 

[guillec87]

10th August 1941 - 1st September 1941

our operation began, and harsh and bloody battles were fought all over the front... the Luftwaffe did it's part, both bombing the Soviet troops and stopping the VVS from hammering our ground troops:

the Soviets fighters are no match for our Bf-109

Day after day those reports arrived in Berlin and the Soviets losses just grew by the hour

on the ground, things went not as smooth as planned: there were battles won without firing a single shot and other were the Russian defended their homeland with ferocity

Russian countryside will be filled up with crosses, both friend and foe

Nevertheless, the plan was working, Panzers were moving and though some divisions were able to escape, many were trapped, just in the North we had to call off operations

outnumbered, trying to cross a river and attacking a dug in foe, the Waffen SS could not perform miracles

Midst the operation we received notice from one of the bloodiest battles since the cleaning operations of the 'Grenzkessel' as the first encirclement of Russian troops was now called

the Luftwaffe was not idle either

Our convoys were under attack, sadly, we couldn't find the subs

Finally, this is the situation of the Eastern Front as the 1st September 1941 (two years after the war has started now)

Edited: the losses for this period were around 52.000 German soldiers and 137.000 Russian soldiers

 

[sebas379]

Excellent, you seem to have all but destroyed that massive border defence they like to throw up.
Any clue as to how many troops you have trapped in those 2 central pockets? I bet the upcoming Besarabia pocket will be fun too.

 

[Lanksta]

Loving the AAR, really interesting to see how you get on. A quick question, what is the mod you use that shows casualties and damage from aerial bombardments?

 

[sebas379]

Loving the AAR, really interesting to see how you get on. A quick question, what is the mod you use that shows casualties and damage from aerial bombardments?

That's not a mod, you can select which events you want to get as popups in the game settings. Just click the right icon there and you get it too

 

[guillec87]

10th September 1941 - 25th September 1941

While the Ostfront is our main concern, we can not let the English recover the upper hand in the West, that's why we have sent the Fleet in a patrol mission around the Azores and the Portuguese coast: the results were extremely good:

the destruction of this force allowed our wolves to keep the pressure over the convoy system in the North Atlantic

the Luftwaffe was boosted with the creation of 4. Zerstörergruppe, whose are of operations will cover the central and eastern parts of the Reich

the Soviet subs still attack our supply lines, and our ships are unable to find and hunt them down

finally, a great new from the South: Odessa has fallen!

this made the Soviets react and they declared this is a Great Patriotic War to expel the Fascist hordes from Mother Russia

After months of hard training in the Alps, our first SS-Gebirgsjäger-Divisionen are ready for duty, they were shipped in and sent to Finland at maximum speed

After the closure of the three pockets and nearly 190.000 Soviet soldiers have surrendered to our troops, this is the situation of the Eastern front at the morning of the 20th September

a close view of the zoomed area, shows a thin line of Infantry divisions guarding our way to Kiev, this bulge created can be exploited and a new operation has been developed in order to do it

'Unternehmen Scheune': the Conquest of Kyiv and the Ukraine

it is expected to start at October 10th after the Luftwaffe can resupply their newly bases, closer to the front, and allow our troops some resting time (and of course, relocation of the forces involved)
. Currently, we are 519 kms away from Moscow, if the operation success, the distance will be shorten to 350 kms and then we can think of an advance over the city, before General Winter makes its appearance

Losses for the period were 41.000 German soldiers and 67.000 + 190.000 Soviet casualties

 

[sethlee75]

Nice AAR. Looking forward to the next update!

 

[guillec87]

Excellent, you seem to have all but destroyed that massive border defence they like to throw up.
Any clue as to how many troops you have trapped in those 2 central pockets? I bet the upcoming Besarabia pocket will be fun too.

thanks Sebas! it was fun, sadly, not as profitable as the other pockets were... the STAVKA had more than enough time to retreat a lot of units from the area

Loving the AAR, really interesting to see how you get on. A quick question, what is the mod you use that shows casualties and damage from aerial bombardments?

That's not a mod, you can select which events you want to get as popups in the game settings. Just click the right icon there and you get it too

Welcome aboard Lanksta and sebas379 answered you better than myself could have had done

Nice AAR. Looking forward to the next update!

thank you sethlee75, I hope I can post another update today

 

[sebas379]

That Ukranian pocket sure looks tempting, and it looks like the Russians are having trouble filling the front with big stacks these days.
But October and 500 km from Moscow, keep an eye on the weather!

 

[guillec87]

That Ukranian pocket sure looks tempting, and it looks like the Russians are having trouble filling the front with big stacks these days.
But October and 500 km from Moscow, keep an eye on the weather!

the Soviets still have one million troops in other fronts (Finland, Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia) and I'm facing around 2 millions, if I success in this new operation, and the Soviets delay in bringing those extra men to the fight, then the road to Moscow will be open without any serious resistance and I don't want to start Typhoon without having my southern flank properly covered

 

[guillec87]

20th September 1941 - 10th October 1941

While the bulk of the German Armies in the East were moving into position, the wolves at sea continued their never ending raid against the British commerce, and with the virtual extinction of what once was the Leviathan of the Seas, the Royal Navy, the success is secured:

the RAF, carrying over its shoulders the defense of the British Islands, now faces the fact that only their Bombers are capable of doing some damage to the German War Machine and Effort, so they tried it time after time...

... and failed

Sinkiang troops, now in enough numbers, tried to test our defenses, with horrible results (for them)

The Luftwaffe started a massive bombing campaign on October 5th, to make the job of our ground troops a little more easier, but, thr results could only be seen on October 10th, when the offensive will be unleashed, in this five day the Soviets have suffered over 8.000 casualties only in air attacks

Once in position. the SS-Gebirgsjäger started their baptize of fire, attacking the well-defended city of Hanko:

not bad at all, but they received a lot of help from the Luftwaffe, softening the defenders

the Soviet fleet stationed in that port was forced to leave, only to face our Baltische Flotte:

though heavy damaged, they managed to escape to Leningrad

and finally, at 02:00 of the 10th day of October, the Wehrmacht set the Blitzkrieg in motion again... the fate of the war is in their hands

Casualties for the period: 4.900 German soldiers and 19.000 + 55.000 captured Soviet soldiers

 

[sebas379]

Good to see Hanko secure, that pile of troops could screw Finland badly.
Shame the October Revolution got away again, but she'll run out of ports to flee to soon...

 

[guillec87]

Good to see Hanko secure, that pile of troops could screw Finland badly.
Shame the October Revolution got away again, but she'll run out of ports to flee to soon...

the Finns did have some troops guarding Hanko, but I didn't want to risk... I think that I won't be calling my Allies... Japan will be at war with US and maube UK in a few months, and the Soviets didn't bring their Siberian Armies to Europe, so they won't be helping me at war with the SU right now... and the rest... useless mouth to feed in the Steppes

 

[unmerged(317325)]

Guess the Soviet AI has done an incredibly good job at building up the Red Army during the years before the war... it looks like it's going to be pretty hard for you to be victorious before the winter comes. But I think you should consider calling Japan to arms against the Soviets, at some point during the war: if I'm not wrong, the fall of Vladivostok is a relevant 10-victory-point blow to the Soviets' will to keep fighting. =p

 

[guillec87]

Guess the Soviet AI has done an incredibly good job at building up the Red Army during the years before the war... it looks like it's going to be pretty hard for you to be victorious before the winter comes. But I think you should consider calling Japan to arms against the Soviets, at some point during the war: if I'm not wrong, the fall of Vladivostok is a relevant 10-victory-point blow to the Soviets' will to keep fighting. =p

but the Soviet army in Siberia is over 500.000 well equiped soldiers, don't think Japan can do anything against the Soviets until they start bringing divisions to the West

 

[unmerged(317325)]

but the Soviet army in Siberia is over 500.000 well equiped soldiers, don't think Japan can do anything against the Soviets until they start bringing divisions to the West

But the Soviet army in the Far East usually faces heavy supply problems, whereas the Japanese can field a rather large well-supplied force in Manchuria, if they managed to finish off the Chinese. But yeah, you should wait for the Red Army to recall its divisions from the East, I agree.

 

[guillec87]

But the Soviet army in the Far East usually faces heavy supply problems, whereas the Japanese can field a rather large well-supplied force in Manchuria, if they managed to finish off the Chinese. But yeah, you should wait for the Red Army to recall its divisions from the East, I agree.

Problem is, if they bring those Divs to the European theater, I'm not quiet sure if this AAR would have then a happy ending with the Panzers parading in the Red Square... see next update