How to attack strong defenders

[Gizmo-12]

Hello all,

the question:
Can someone tell me what I have done wrong that an attack with even 3:1 more troops doesn't work? Can I weaken entrenched enemys via artillery from range, to attack them without losing units or make them at least move?

the details:
I played Germany and launched a political coup in france after a while of pushing facist partys up. The coup worked and the Maginot line (Elsas-Lothringen) fell among other parts of the country into civil war. Unfortunately, to that time, I didn't know that I cannot simply start a war with someone, but have to find reasons first... so the democratic French troops pushed the facists back until only the maginot line was left. After a while my facist buddy finnaly called me to war.

The remaining french troops were already stationed infront of the maginot line for a while, but had no bunkers build. When I arrived with my troops I tryed to push them back while I was outnumbering them 2:1. It didn't work, all attempts got pushed back and even when Italy joined the war, his troops got pushed back too.

This end up into a WWI trenched position holding. I rearmed all my troops, and trained them to the max level training can give. I gave it another try and attacked one province that held 13 troops with 40 of mine. It still didn't work and I lost the fight.

Regards,
Gizmo-12

 

[BeauNiddle]

Air Superiority, Close Air Support, Armour, Hardness, Soft attack. All of these things decide battles, it's very hard to tell what's at fault without more details - screenshots preferably.

Do you have a full cabinet of ministers? What division template are you using? Do you have a full stockpile of weapons? Do you have enough fuel? Do you have max planning bonus? What is the terrain like? Are you units suffering supply penalties? Did you send your forces in in waves or just throw them at the forces?


A useful template is 7 infantry, 2 artillery with support artillery & engineers. It's not the best but it's a useful all rounder that allow you to work out the details of the game.
For tanks I think it's 4 motorised and then medium tanks up to 20 width. You can also use 26/27 width or preferably 40 width (although some people refuse to use that since the AI can't handle it). If you're going up against infantry possibly take SPGs

HOI battles have a limited front line (80 width + 40 width for every extra province) Any units past that sit in reserve. If the frontline ever breaks the battle is over REGARDLESS of what is in reserve. Reinforce chance or manually attacking in waves is important.

 

[Bunnytob]

In no particular order:
1) Air Superiority + CAS
2) Heavy tanks
3) Full-strength divisions with decent templates
4) Attacking over and over until you bust through
5) Go around if possible (which evidently isn't this time)
6) Planning
7) Seriously, make sure your divisions have decent templates and high strength

 

[him_15]

A screenshot is better than a thousand words.

 

[Gizmo-12]

Ok, I understand, I just need more hours of gameplay and need to findout more about battle mechanics. Thanks.