Thirty six divisions to hell...
Good Lord... to avoid Dunkirk just to do a bigger mistake! :rofl:
Good Lord... to avoid Dunkirk just to do a bigger mistake! :rofl:
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Winner, will you mod the game files in order to make the invasion of the USA a real challenge or you will just let them be till '48(I don't know how good the AI in the compendium mod is, but I really don't think the vanilla AI USA being capable of prevent an hostile landing...I may be wrong but I've seen so many AARs where people are invading the USA without a problem, even in the '44 scenario).
More! And let me guess, despite not warning Hitler of that development Italy will join the Axis a month later. Derp.
Kurt_Steiner said:
Well, the British Expeditionary Force didn't even have a time to move to France in 1939. The British reinforced it and (you know Churchill) decided to go on offensive. It wasn't a bad plan though, I left Yugoslavia almost undefended and their invasion there was totally unexpected. If only had they waited a bit longer, until I invaded the USSR, they would have suceeded.
Amallric said:
American AI is not garrisoning the beaches or building coastal defences, and I think it's realistic. Firstly it would be impossible to fortify the whole Eastern Seaboard, secondly the Americans feel safe because they're protected by their powerful navy. My puny Kriegsmarine is no match for their advanced super-mega-hyper (whatever) carriers and their hi-tech CAGs.
But, for the sake of this AAR, I will limit myself to about 30 divisions for the initial landing and I'll give the AI some time to organize resistance.
Maj. von Mauser said:
What do you mean?
Introduction, part 2: how the East was won (1)
Unternehmen Barbarossa begun on May 16, 1941 as planned. It was feared that bad weather conditions could delay the invasion for weeks, perhaps even months. Fortunately for the Germans, the weather was good and the "muddy season" ended sooner than usual.
Despite many warnings from the Allied secret services, Stalin refused to believe that the Germans were actually planning an invasion. Historians are still struggling to uncover his real motives, it has been suggested that he believed that if he had fully mobilized the Red Army he would have provoked a pre-emptive strike, which is essentially what happened in summer 1914. He was wrong: the pre-emptive strike had already been prepared.
There was a lot of discussion on the German side about how to defeat the Soviets, however. Germans knew, that according to their intelligence estimates, the Soviet Red Army vastly outnumbers their Wehrmacht. It fielded 168 infantry divisions against 68 German, 37 motorized infantry divisions against 39 German, 19 mountaineer divisions against 9 German Gebirgsjäger divisions. Red Army was reported to have at least 269 divisions compared to the 191 Wehrmacht divisions, out of which 37 were garrison units deployed in the occupied countries. A considerable force (including several armored divisions) was also left in France as a reserve in case of another British landing in continental Europe.
It was soon clear that if the German forces fail to destroy most of the well-trained and well-equipped Red Army divisions in the opening phase of the operation Barbarossa, it could prolong the war for years. This is why the Manstein-Guderian plan was finally approved during winter 1940. Made by Germany's most competent generals it called for a grand encirclement of the majority of Soviet forces in Belarus and Ukraine in Pripyat swamps by a coordinated and deep strike by two army groups. This would be the main strategic objective. Secondary offensives in the Baltic states in the North and Southern Ukraine would protect the flanks of this operation. Guderian would take command of the Army group Center, Manstein would lead the Army group South and the Army group North would be commanded by field marshal von Bock.
Another thing that was a subject of heated discussions was how to administer the soon-to-be-occupied territories in the East. While hardcore Nazis like Himmler or Heydrich demanded a "war of annihilation" against the "eastern subhumans", the moderates led by Ribbentropp, von Schulenburg and Hjalmar Schacht argued that such a thing would not only be immoral, but also very ineffective as it would further alienate the non-Russian population, which could otherwise be persuaded to help the Germans by promises of their national independence. Von Schuleburg argued that the Stalinist regime, as far as he knew, was extremely unpopular in Ukraine and Belarus, and that the population of the Baltic states, which were annexed only a year ago, had never accepted the Soviet rule. "We only need to show them that we're better than Stalin and they'll gladly follow our lead," he said to Hitler during one of the meetings. Hitler hesitated, he certainly didn't like the idea of treating the Eastern Slavic population in the same way he treated the occupied population of the Western countries, on the other hand nothing was more important to him than victory. In the end he reluctantly approved the Ribbentrop-Schulenburg plan.
Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg
In the morning on May 16, 1941 some of the Soviet radiomen picked up a German transmission containing a single word: Morgenstern. For many of them it would be the last thing they would ever hear before their posts would be swept by the rain of German artillery shells. Operation Barbarossa began, 137 German divisions were on the move.
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This is getting longer than I expected
Introduction, part 3: how the East was won (2)
When the German attack began the Soviets were paralyzed from the top to the last private. Stalin locked himself in his office and didn’t leave for 3 days. Generals in the field panicked: they hadn’t been trained for defensive combat; everything they had ever practiced, all the staff rehearsals and field exercises had only prepared them for offensive operations. Without any defensive plans in their safes and no orders from Stavka, they didn’t know what to do. They either did nothing or they attempted to implement their offensive plans, both options being equally disastrous. After just two days of fighting, 10 Soviet divisions surrendered near Alytus, Lithuania after being cut off by the advancing German panzers. On May 20 Guderian’s panzers captured Minsk. In the south the Manstein’s armies quickly advanced through the vast plains of Western Ukraine. Manstein himself turned right and liberated Bessarabia, cutting off 12 divisions in Bukovina. General Hausser’s 1st Waffen-SS Panzerarmee advanced from Zhitomir to Vyshgorod – he was about to complete the southern part of the pincer movement. He would then wait for Panzergruppe ‘Guderian’ to finish the move from the north.
Meanwhile things had finally begun to get moving in the north. Riga was captured on May 24 and during the operation more than 5 Red Army divisions were taken prisoner. 9 German Gebirgsjäger divisions led by general Dietl were transported to Finland to reinforce the Finish army attempting to re-conquer the territories lost after the bloody Winter War. In the south the general Rommel’s panzergruppe managed to cut off another 5 divisions west of Kiev. On May 25 generals Guderian and Hausser shook hands near Zhlobin. The grand encirclement was completed and estimated 50 Soviet divisions were caught in the trap. Together with another 65 divisions captured or destroyed during the fighting, the Red Army lost about one third of its divisions in just two weeks of fighting. The first part of the operation Barbarossa ended with an astounding success.
Usually introductions took longer than expected -trust me, I know a bit about this -, but you're doing fine, don't worry.
-, but you're doing fine, don't worry.
Wow. Though it looks like you might be able to, you couldn't possibly have wrapped up the east in 1941 if you're just now invading America in 1948. .. Right?
For the colors I mean't where'd did you get the custom colors. I especially like Hungary's.
Nice job with the encirclment in the east, I too am wondering what will take you until 1948, although you do still have to take out Britain.
Nice job with the encirclment in the east, I too am wondering what will take you until 1948, although you do still have to take out Britain.
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I planned to get it over with in 2 updates, but it seems itis going to be a bit longer. Thank Gods I didn't make more screenshots, otherwise I'd have to write at least 15 updatesKurt_Steiner said:Usually introductions took longer than expected -trust me, I know a bit about this
HKslan said:
I must say that the Soviet campaign was very entertaining. The good thing about this mod is that the speed of certain land units have been substantially increased. If you do it right, you can wage real blitzkrieg. BTW, when I launched Barbarossa, I knew I had enough oil for about 2 years of armored warfare.Force Change said:What a pocket! A few more of those and this war wont last long
ThanksLord Finnish said:
Jawohl!likk9922 said:Wow, that is one massive encirclement.
On to Moscow!
I use default Compendium colorsMaj. von Mauser said:
The colors may seem different because of the aging effect I applied to the screenshots.
Precisely.
Great job!
I thoroughly enjoyed your Czechoslovakia AAR you had going, due to the country choice of course and your writing style. This AAR has already got my attention, keep it up and update soon!
I thoroughly enjoyed your Czechoslovakia AAR you had going, due to the country choice of course
and your writing style. This AAR has already got my attention, keep it up and update soon!
Well, if I figure out how to continue, I'll complete it. I still have the saves and the modded version of the game.
Could you tell what exactly is your problem? Perhaps someone knows how to resolve it?
Introduction, part 4: how the East was won (3)
After a short break needed to reorganize and reinforce the German forces after the grand encirclement the advance into the heart of Russia continued. This time the greatest victories were scored in the North. On its way to Leningrad, von Bock’s army group North encircled and destroyed another 5 soviet divisions and liberated the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. The Soviet armies in the north desperate attempt to establish a defensive line on Narwa river was forestalled by the German seizure of Luga. Leningrad was now cut off, because at the same time, Dietl’s arctic troops in Finland reached the lake Ladoga from the north. All Soviet troops which survived the escape from the Baltic republics as well as the troops stationed in Karelian Isthmus were now trapped in Leningrad. A long siege of this unfortunate city had begun.
Despite the heroic effort, the defences didn't hold
Hitler pressured Guderian to take the city right away, but Guderian wisely chose to wait until the lack of supplies and ammunition would take its toll on the morale of the Moscow garrison – 31 soviet divisions were trapped in the city. Stalin and other top ranking Soviet leaders had left the city a week ago, but he ordered Field Marshal Kulik (Timoshenko had been executed by the NKVD) to defend the city to the last man. On August 20, Guderian offered Kulik and his men an honorable surrender. He would allow the officers to keep their sidearms and provide his men with food and medical care if he surrendered the city without a fight. Kulik refused, knowing he would have been executed by the NKVD had he surrendered.
On August 15, the German final assault was launched. It took the German 34 divisions ten days of heavy urban fighting to subdue the defenders. Moscow finally surrendered on August 25, 1941. Neither of the commanders who led their armies into the battle saw the day: Kulik was shot alongside his staff as a traitor of the Motherland two days earlier when he attempted to send the capitulation order to his troops and Field Marshal Heinz Guderian was killed by a ricocheted bullet when he was talking to his frontline troops in the eastern part of Moscow on August 21. After his passing, which caused a considerable drop in morale of the German soldiers for whom Guderian was a hero, Field Marshal von Manstein took command and led the German armies to victory. It was a great day for Germany, but the victory in Moscow was overshadowed by the death of one of the most popular and competent German generals.
Heinz Guderian
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I seriously wanted to reload the game when he died, but then I decided to just accept it. Bad things and freak accidents happen sometimes.
