strategy against "fortress britain"?

[unmerged(104087)]

okay so as germany i finished off france, and it's been several months or a year already staring across britain. i've got the tech for sealion, but the stacks they have there are enormous (seeing as america also helped in fortifying). any strategy against this "superdefense" britain? or am i left to having to have a long wait til i develop my nukes? (it's 1941)

*using kaiserreich mod. though i'm assuming it's not really different with vanilla when it comes to seelowe-ing, other than the fact that here britain does not have any colonies to rely on?

 

[unmerged(105989)]

OK, this is only for vanilla, but it should work.

1) neutralize the RN. Your AF will be very useful in this regard, as in 41 your navy is probably worthless. use small surface fleets to draw the RN out, then pound them with naval strike with TAC and CAS. when they retreat to port, blow them up with port strike. This process might take a while, but it will be worth the effort when you try and cross the channel.

2) The landing prep. Use your AF to conduct log strike on your chosen strike area. wait till infra is reduced to as low as it will go. You might also throw some aircraft on interdiction / ground attack once infra is well reduced, but only against small stacks. Also, after infra is reduced, use installation strike to remove fortifications from the area.

3) The landing. A gamey way to attack is to launch some paras into Cardiff, which the AI often doesn't defend as there isn't a beach, then simply sea transport troops to reinforce. If you don't want to do that, you're going to need marines, especially if they have lots of defenders. Set up a couple invasion waves, and set it up so that you have 3 (max for sea invasions until MUCH later) divisions attacking per wave. Then as one wave gives out, send in the other. You're also going to want the AF on interdiction during this time, as well as any surface ships (your starting BCs and CAs especially) on shore bombardment. Have a lot (at least 6-9 divisions) in transports ready to reinforcethe beach head once seized.

4) lodgment. After you get the message that the enemy has been defeated, try shifiting your AF to ground attack to destroy the retreating enemy. If this doesn't work, and they attack other forces, don't worry, just shift them to interdiction, that's useful too. As soon as the invaders seize the province, land those reinforcements. I also choose to take this time to drop paras (2 corps / 6 divisions) behind the lines to cut enemy supply lines and interdict reinforcements. At least one corps should be dropped around Edinburough to prevent the island gambit that the AI often uses.

5) exploitation. I assuming you know how to fight once across the water. Remember to prioritize mobile units and HQs across the channel.

 

[unmerged(136147)]

In Kaiserreich the German Navy is stronger than the British so that'll make the first part easier.
However due to the lack of Colonies the AI uses all its troops in Britin so the rest should be harder than Vanilla. But ecnan02 tips should still work.

 

[unmerged(104087)]

ok thanks guys!

but yeah i agree they have too many troops on the island! that's why i'm wondering, about the waves you mentioned, will 3 divisions at a time work against a province defended by 20+ divisions? or do i send marines like 6 divisions per wave?

 

[unmerged(105989)]

Until you research the tech allowing 6 division amphib assaults, anything more than three gets a serious malus in the attack. This is why you need to seriously prep your assault area. You could also do a vertical envelopment with paratroopers too. I'd also recommend attacking with the most up to date doctrines and division types you can manage. In vanilla, in 41 you should be able to have blitzkreig easily, and if you pushed, the one after that. Also, with your marines, try and attack with only MAR II or III. Honestly, this sounds like a pain in the butt, but just keep pecking away and you should be ok. Never played kaiserreich, but it sounds challenging.

 

[Talquin]

There is one province at the South West of the Island . Cardiff ( not to sure what it is called) there is no beach there but it won't matter. They usually don't garrison this province or there will be a single unit. Load up all of your units on your transports and wait at the sea zone outside this province.. Have your larger ships do a shore bombardment if there are any other units there to help out your paratroopers. .

Land a single suicidal paratrooper at the unoccupied province or use multiple paratroopers but keep in mind you will most likely lose these units. They will be attacked immediately but that doesn't matter if you lose him because the province is yours. Just move your troops that are on the transports into the province you own and march eastward to London.

 

[Slavick3000]

The main weakness of UoB is that they lack any sort of colonies outside of the British Isles. As such, you can probably just carpet bomb their industry to pieces using STR and TAC. Then, you just wait for them to run out of supplies and oil.

 

[unmerged(136147)]

Seeing how there are also American (CSA or USA?) troops, it maybe would be a good idea to take America out first. At the same time you can do the suggested industrie bombing. As Kaiserreich Germany you should have shitloads of IC anyway.

 

[unmerged(174699)]

o Build 1 para, park transport/cruizerg fleet full with troops in Irish channel. Drop para in Cadiff, unload troops. That is the easy way. RN? Screw zem. AI rarely patrols in Irish channel and it's usually already too late before he does.