Grey Alert: the German invasion of America

[Kurt_Steiner]

Oh shit!

Well... he had a soldier's death.

 

[Lord Finnish]

R.I.P. Guderian.

Well, there is still Rommel and v. Manstein!

 

[Winner]

Introduction, part 5: how the East was won (4)​

On September 12 the last divisions in the Pripyat pocket surrendered or just disappeared in the vast wilderness. Over 50 divisions, the precise number remains unknown, were captured there. German forces were finally free to be redeployed to the Eastern front to replace many of the mobile formations, which were then in turn redeployed to the North, where the Russians had finally decided to go on the offensive.

Pripyat Marshes​

Russian offensive caught Dietl, the supreme Axis commander in Finland, by surprise. His forces were fully focused on the siege of Leningrad, so they let the Finns hold the rest of the front. Soviets realized this fatal weakness and in a quick blow spearheaded by their mountaineer divisions, they managed to outmaneuver the Finns, cut off the Karelian Isthmus from the north and capture Helsinki. This was a shock, since 6 indispensable gebirgsjäger divisions were now in a very real danger of being captured by the Soviets. Hastily assembled force made of 3 light armored divisions formerly stationed in France supported by general Student’s 1st Fallshirmjäger division was transferred to Finland to relieve Dietl’s troops and Luftwaffe began to supply the trapped German forces. Hitler angrily refused Dietl’s request to be evacuated from Karelia and ordered him and his men to fight until they’re relieved or dead.

German paratroopers in Finland​

However von Manstein met with admiral Raeder and persuaded him to prepare his transport ships, “just in case the relief force don’t come in time”. Although von Manstein risked his job for interfering with Führer’s orders, he needed Dietl’s troops for the next large operation he was planning by that time. After a week of desperate fighting, Dietl ordered his men to evacuate Karelia. He didn’t leave with them and his fate remains unknown. It is probable that he took his life in order to protect his men, to save them from Hitler’s wrath.

In late September, once the relief force once again captured Karelian Isthmus, von Manstein launched a new offensive east of Leningrad. The goal was to finally cut off the last supply routes to Leningrad (Russians were shipping some supplies across Lake Ladoga). Despite the forested terrain a quick breakthrough was achieved. Manstein decided to exploit it and send one mechanized corps to capture Archangels. It arrived there on October 6. Only a week later Rommel encircled and destroyed 9 soviet divisions near Voronezh. A month later, the rest of the Soviet forces in Finland followed suit. By that time most of Wehrmacht divisions had already stopped their advance and dug in to prepare for the much feared Russian winter. Fortunately, due to Hjalmar Schacht’s forethought the Germans were well-equipped with winter clothing and other necessities that allowed them to survive the winter without suffering unacceptable losses.

German watch, winter 1941/1942​

The only significant “battle” that took place during the winter was the capture of Leningrad. In fact, the German high command didn’t plan on capturing the city, the attack they ordered on January 9, 1942 was only supposed to test the Russian defenses; however when the starved and desperate Russian soldiers saw the first German panzers in the outskirts of the city, they started throwing away their weapons and surrendered to the surprised Germans, who were expecting a tough, Moscow-like resistance. The “Battle of Leningrad” ended after only 3 hours of “fighting”. In fact, the only Russians shot that day were those unfortunate men killed by their political commissars when they put their hands in the air and started running to the Germans begging them for food; and the commissars themselves who were in turn shot by the men they were supposed to keep an eye on. The whole defense of Leningrad collapsed like a house of cards and the Germans captured the city almost undamaged, discounting the damage caused during the siege. It was a very unexpected but welcomed victory that helped to keep German morale high during the winter months.

 

[ROMANU]

frontline pictures, pls

 

[Winner]

I don't have many screenshots, as I said I did not plan on making this AAR when I started playing. Don't worry, the introduction won't be much longer (I hope).

 

[Rommel22]

Very nice updates, too bad Guderian died, but "War is hell".

 

[Lord Finnish]

Hehe, Germans sure couldn't expect the climate when they came to Finland

 

[Capibara]

Excellent strategy against the Soviets! I'm really liking the introduction so far!

 

[Minarchist]

I am loving every word

 

[likk9922]

Good descriptions along with a great game. I like it.

 

[unmerged(87183)]

So you lost both Guderian and Deitl?

Your best Panzer Leader and your supreme Winter Warrior?

That really sucks.

Good job with the offensive though.

 

[Amallric]

Did Dietl really die or you just removed him for flavor?

 

[Winner]

Thanks everyone

So you lost both Guderian and Deitl?

Your best Panzer Leader and your supreme Winter Warrior?

That really sucks.

Good job with the offensive though.

Did Dietl really die or you just removed him for flavor?

They both died. As far as I understand, the chance of a general being killed has not been altered in the mod, but the fact that the battles sometimes last for many days (usually weeks when the terrain is not suitable for blitzkrieg) causes higher mortality rate among the land commanders. I guess I was just unlucky

 

[unmerged(58737)]

Ahh, Dietl always ends up my best Commando, and Guderian, well enough said. That's really too bad. I'm too lazy to do the math, but the Soviets have got to have lost 100 divisions at least by then. They can't possibly reproduce anywhere near that during the winter.

 

[Winner]

Ahh, Dietl always ends up my best Commando, and Guderian, well enough said. That's really too bad. I'm too lazy to do the math, but the Soviets have got to have lost 100 divisions at least by then. They can't possibly reproduce anywhere near that during the winter.

They had 269 divisions total on May 16, 1941.
On November 1, 1941 they had 125 divisions total against 216 German.

In real life, 1942 was the most critical year for the Soviets. Had the Germans been a bit more clever, they'd have won the war.

In my AAR, Hitler is not nearly as powerful as he was in real life. The military often disobeys his (wrong) orders and he does not even have an absolute control over the Party. Don't ask me why, I can only speculate that his deteriorating health might have something to do with it

 

[Winner]

Introduction, part 6: how the East was won (5)

Southern Russia, April 1942​

The long winter calm had first been broken by the Soviet offensive which began on April 1, 1941. Soviet army group commanded by field marshal Budennij attacked the Germans in the vicinity of Tambov, east of Voronezh. Soviets believed that a successful re-capturing of Voronezh could throw the Germans off balance and eventually enable them to push them out of Eastern Ukraine. General Gerd von Runstedt commanding the German forces in this sector didn’t wait for another of Hitler’s crazy orders forbidding any tactical withdrawal and ordered his badly damaged division to retreat to Voronezh and Lipetsk.

Soviet soldiers charging the German lines, April 1, 1942​

This Soviet offensive, codenamed “Mars” by the Russians, was later dubbed “April Fools Offensive” or “Stalin’s Joke” by the German soldiers who took part in the subsequent Manstein’s counterattack against the Soviet left flank. What the Soviet generals didn’t know was that the Germans had amassed a whole army group Don including most of their armored divisions south of Tambov in preparations for the planned 1942 summer offensive. The Russians literally walked right into the lion’s mouth. Manstein was stunned by the incompetence of his Soviet counterparts. Not only had they attacked in the worst possible sector of the front, the one where he had plenty of reserves, they had also left their flanks very vulnerable to any armored counter-attack. He ordered von Rundstedt to launch a frontal attack against the advancing Russians in Tambov. Rundstedt was consternated at first; he would have expected such an order from Hitler, not from such a master of strategy as Manstein was. He soon realized that this was no mistake; Manstein only needed to keep the Russians busy and believing that their plan is working until he could strike against their rear. On April 3, the head of the attack, 12 soviet divisions including Budennij’s HQ and the elite 6th Guards division, was cut off. Aware of what his fate would have been had he fallen into the hands of NKVD, he promptly surrendered to the Germans.

Soviet prisoners captured during the German counterattack in Tambov​

Manstein then turned right and captured Penza from which the offensive was launched. The first major Soviet counterattack ended with disaster: Soviets “achieved” the loss of 12 divisions, one province and they made the planned German offensive even more likely to succeed.

Soviet advance and Manstein's counter-attack​

Now the Germans were just waiting until the weather gets better. On May 11, 1942, they were about to launch their last offensive in the East.

Eastern front at the beginning of the final German offensive​

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Sorry for prolonging the introduction, but I felt I needed to tell this story of colossal idiocy It’s even funnier when you realize that the Soviets actually did something similar in 1942 near Charkov.

I also had to made some maps showing the frontlines since I don't have any screenshots.

 

[Mico94]

It seem that the soviets wanna overwhelm in stupidity the French.
Another Stalin's paranoic idea?

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Sorry for prolonging the introduction, but I felt I needed to tell this story of colossal idiocy It’s even funnier when you realize that the Soviets actually did something similar in 1942 near Charkov..

My thoughts, exactly. Art imitating history?

Well done!

 

[Amallric]

Well in fact the AI is smarter than the real-life soviet command, who managed to lose more than 250.000 soldiers only as prisoners in the '42 spring offensive.

 

[Edzako]

I think that AI lost smaller proportion of forces available than Stavka at that time, nevertheless Soviet defense is quite disappointing.