• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
problem was you did not CIA / KIA that many Russians as IOTL... maybe you should start building a defense line along the Dnieper and the Baltics...
 
The Disaster in the East
The Disaster in the East
On 5 am on the 18th October, the 17th Army desperately radioed that 6 Divisions had been encircled by the red army. No rescue operation could be done since all other divisions and armies were tied up or too far away. Despite strict orders by Hitler to not surrender, they surrendered to the Soviets on the 22th October.

This was also the first time that any German division had capitulated since the start of Operation Barbarossa. It was all more apparent that the German steamroller had come to a grinding halt. Germany was now also losing ground in every single Army Group, including in Italy.

The encirclement of the 6 divisions were quickly overshadowed by the remarkable encirclement of Paulus 6th Army, including elements of the 3rd Romanian Army and Panzergruppe IV. A total of 24 Divisions, or 329k men was encircled. Hitler was at this point infuriated by the development and decided to fire Maximilian von Welchs and promoted Erich von Manstein to Field Marshal. This encirclement also prompted Germany to go to War Economy (I forgot to change earlier, and total mob. needs 80 ws).

MaH3rar.png

Stalingrad Encirclement
p3gz2cN.png

26th November, overview.

On 7th December, 10 more Axis divisions was encircled near Kursk. Practically the whole of Panzergruppe IV was now lost, with only the SS-Division ‘Totenkopf’ avoiding being encircled. No counterattack to relieve either the Kursk pocket or the 6th Army could now be organized…

Heeresgruppe A & B was merged and renamed to Heeresgruppe Don (Army Group Don). Panzergruppe IV was merged with Panzergruppe I and then subsequently renamed to Panzerarmee Kleist.

The Soviet might had been underestimated. Severely.

Goebbels would later hold the infamous Sportpalast Speech:

"I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even yet imagine?"

Germany now also had 2.86 million casualties compared to the Soviets 7.58 million.

xPw6Cze.png

After the disaster of the 6th Army.
 
Very very ouch
 
The Situation in the West
Erwin Rommel's forces in Normandy had managed to encircle some 5 British divisions and recaptured Brittany. The British were still holding of in Cherbourg and wouldn’t budge. This meant disaster if another Allied attack were to happen in France, since all of the divisions were tied up defending against the Brits.

On 14th March 1943, the British soldiers at Normandy was encircled and destroyed.

GGJ5C7d.png

The Normandy Situation

In Italy, the Allied attack turned out the be a complete success. Joint British-American forces had over half of Italy but were now bogged down near Florence.

UHTNO8K.png


To make matters worse, they had complete aerial superiority, just like the Soviets now also had.
 
Last edited:
Well the destruction of the Allied Western landings is good. Italy is, at least, defensive.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
oh my... let´s see if you get all the way up to 8th May 1945...
 
Will you try to destroy the landings first and then try to renew the assault in the east or make the USSR the priority and hope to deal with the western allies once resources become available?
 
Will you try to destroy the landings first and then try to renew the assault in the east or make the USSR the priority and hope to deal with the western allies once resources become available?

I would want to destroy the landings first and then divert my forces to the east, but unfortunately I don't have the manpower or resources to push back neither of them.
 
The Soviet Steamroller
The Soviet Steamroller
27 February. 1943
NkybQEa.png

Following the disastrous Kursk and Stalingrad pocket, the red army was now advancing ruthlessly and encircling a handful of divisions everywhere as they went. Many, many attempts were made at stabilising the front and preventing encirclements, but due to the speed of the Red Army’s advance it was near impossible. Army Group South would also be reinforced with 22 fresh infantry divisions. Army Group Center would also be reinforced, but with 14 infantry divisions. Hopefully that would slow down the Soviet advance.

On 22nd March, Soviet troops had reached Bessarabia, in Romania. All Romanian divisions were now deployed at the front. Hitler also ordered all Hungarian divisions to help defend against the Soviet Union. In total, 21 Hungarian divisions and 17 Romanian divisions would join the Eastern front.

It was absolutely imperative to defend the Romanian oil fields, as it was Germany’s only main source of oil. Since we were also confident on winning bringing down the Soviet beast, not many refineries had been built.

By 13th April, the oil field had been lost to the Soviets.

PHk2R0v.png

In other news, Germany had finally gone to Total Mobilization and consequently, Closed Economy. We still had a large manpower pool of 4.5 million recruitable manpower, so raising the conscription law was deemed unnecessary.

The military industrial capacity would be heavily increased. It was planned to have built 20 more military factories by the end of 1943, raising it from 267 Military Factories to 287. Not only that, forts would also be built in the heartland of Germany for a final line of total defense. Women would also have a bigger role in constructing equipment.
 
I´d hold the line in the East and destroy the Western Landings and then send all those divs to the East
 
Romania Capitulates
Romania Capitulates

k9kMthQ.png

After fierce close combat fighting in Bucharest, the city was eventually lost. Not many hours after, Romania capitulated. Hitler went out and called the Romanians ‘Treacherous dogs’ despite having 20 Romanian divisions under his command. The Russians were now also at the gates of Hungary and had entered deep into Bulgaria, moving southward towards German-occupied Yugoslavia.

Army Group South now also had to manage an unrealistically long front. To solve this crisis, Georg Hans Reinhardt had to abandon Bulgaria, completely leaving it to the Soviets. Also, at risk of being cut off by the Red Army, all German divisions in Greece were ordered to evacuate, leaving it with essentially no garrisons.

By now, all forces on the eastern front were stretched to the limit. All along the front there was a desperate need for reinforcements. The only problem now was how to distribute the reinforcements.

Not very much later, Bulgaria capitulated.
 
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
20th September, 1943.

3Sigc6m.png

A very determined Allied attack in Normandy was carried out today. It was a disastrous moment for us, and a huge surprise. Around 40 Allied divisions, the largest naval invasion in history stormed the beaches of Normandy and crushed the German resistance.

Now, with virtually no resistance from us, they advance in every direction. Erwin Rommel's army, just reinforced with 5 Tiger Divisions, rushed to the area.

In Vichy France, another Allied attack was carried out. Some 10 divisions stormed the beaches of Marseille and Toulon and was advancing without any resistance.

With the increasement of factories, some 48 divisions were rushed through training and deployed in Berlin, awaiting orders. 36 of the divisions was sent to the Western front, in a hope to counterattack the invading army.

On 27th September, they were only kilometers away from Paris. Later in October, 2 Divisions in Brest had been trapped. There was also trapped German divisions in La Rochelle and Toulon.

Vichy France capitulated not long after, leading to a total Allied control over Southern France. Jodl’s Army had to withdraw and prepare another defensive lines, linking up with Rommel’s troops.

qgpyRCa.png
 
The Collapse of Army Group Center
The Collapse of Army Group Center

Following our defeat in France, the Soviet Union launched an attack on Army Group North and Center.

CQMjcT8.png

The Red Army begun pushing Army Group North deep in to the Baltic States, cutting them of from Army Group Center in Riga. Army Group North was now completely cut off from the rest of Germany.

In Army Group Center, they aimed for the vital ports of Memel and Königsberg, potentially hoping for an encirclement.

f9PKuDn.png

On 15th December, The Red Army reached the ports, dividing Army Group Center in to two. The Divisions trapped in Lithuania would be assigned to the new “Army Group Baltic” (Heeresgruppe Baltisch), led by Field Marshal Wilhelm List.

With the encirclement of half of Army Group Center, Rundstedt was left with only two armies, or 26 Divisions to defend against the Soviet Union from Königsberg to Slovakia. Luckily, 21 new divisions had just been formed (16 regular Infantry, 4 Volkssturm, and 1 Heavy-panzer Division), so they were rushed to the front.

The divisions would be reforming the 6th Army, led by General Walter Krüger.

There was a total of (33) Divisions trapped in Lithuania, without any supplies, ports and only the ammo they carried with them, they had no other choice but fight to the last man.

The very extended frontline meant that the Red Army could now unstoppably march into core German states. Immediately, Volkssturm Divisions, a part of Goebbels “Total War” speech, was formed. The Volkssturm was comprised of men deemed to old or too young to fight.

Er4j7zO.png

In the middle of the Red Army’s advance, Italy surrendered. Heinz Guderian's army seemed to be trapped in Venice, but thankfully a successful rescue operation was launched and they all managed to land in Trieste, where they hurriedly established another frontline. The Allies were now only kilometers away from Austria.

On 21st November, Elements of the 20ya Tankovaya Korpus entered Budapest. Fierce city-wide fighting ensued, but the city was eventually lost. In response to this, Ewald von Kleist was ordered to commence a counterattack and attempt a recapture of the city.

The Waffen-SS Panzer-Division ‘Adolf Hitler’ and the 1. Panzer-Division, both at 50% strength, accompanied by various Romanian, Hungarian and German divisions, was involved. On the 24th November, they managed to reach and take control of Budapest. After that, Kampfgruppe Schulz, consisting of 9 Divisions was raised, specifically to defend Budapest.

Hungary was to be subjected to one of the last major fighting areas of the war, were brutal fighting ensued. All in all, an expected 1 million German troops were thought to be lost in the Battle of Hungary.

rkXDB9i.png

On the 25th November, High Command reported that the Axis losses was 6.4 million (German: 4.1 million), in comparison to the Soviets 13.63 million losses.

*Beware: due to the fast advancing Red Army, encirclements are bound to happen all the time. Therefore, I won't mention all, but only significant encirclements, or small, if it fits into the story.
 
Evacuation of Army Group North
Evacuation of Army Group North
7th December, 1943​

With the collapse of Army Group Center, an evacuation of Army Group North was deemed necessary. That meant that Army Group North would be dissolved, and the two armies would be assigned to Army Group Center.

eYiahmi.png

Despite the successful evacuation of Army Group North, there were still some 24 Divisions, or 300k men trapped in Latvia/Lithuania, known as the Courland Pocket. Engineers were hard at work constructing makeshift ports allowing for convoys to evacuate the troops.

VJttFkL.png

On 29th December, all 24 Divisions had capitulated. Morale was however raised slightly as the troops reached the news about 3 British Battleships that were sunk by German Wolfpacks. Joseph Goebbels took advantage of this and began spreading talk about ‘The end of the British Royal Navy’. This was however, far from the truth. Despite the fact that we still possessed 62 U-Boat (and that the number was rising), German convoys in the North Sea and Norwegian Coast were sunk daily. Also, two of our CA were just sunk. The Tirpitz, sinking convoys in the Arctic Sea had also sustained heavy damage.

With the loss of France, all of our Tungsten trade with Portugal was interrupted. Since virtually all of our equipment required Tungsten, the war industry would be significantly hampered.

By January 1, the Soviet Union had retaken all of their previously held land. The German Reich now desperately held on to the land they had taken in the beginning of the war.

On January 2, 6 American Divisions landed in Norway. They were met with no resistance whatsoever, and no Divisions were able to be sent to stop them at all.
 
in all my games I have never seen such a dramatic situation for a Player Controller Germany... and I kinda like it he
 
  • 2Like
Reactions:
'Germany Stands Defiant'
‘Germany Stands Defiant’

Since the capitulation of Romania in May 1943, Germany had surprisingly managed to hold on to vital areas, and in some parts, for almost over a year.

Hungary, despite being mostly controlled by the Soviet Union, were still alive and still controlled Budapest. Also, all along Eastern Poland and Hungary, the Soviet Union's attacks were failing miserably, for now.

The Allies plan to win the war by Christmas had failed.

In preparation of an attack in France, the Luftwaffe had completely stopped performing operations to ensure no planes are lost before it commences. All in all, some 2500 planes were grounded, except for 600 fighters intercepting bombers in the Ruhr area, since that’s were the majority of our factories are.

The operation was halted however when the High Command reached news about American and British troops breaking through between Italy and Croatia. Instantly, 24 Divisions, originally planned for the operation, were deployed and routed to halt the breakthrough.

Bgey8xE.png

Joint American-British Breakthrough​

On February 5, the Red Army captured Warsaw, and on February 15, the Red Army bypassed and encircled 15 Divisions, or 163k men in Budapest, including the Waffen-SS Division ‘Wiking’. On March 2nd, Hungary capitulated, almost a year after Romania.

With the British-American breakthrough, 25 German Divisions, or 308k men, were encircled in Croatia. In hopes of rescuing them, 4 Tiger Divisions and 5 other Mechanized or Panzer Divisions were deployed near the British-occupied harbour of Trieste, in an attempt of recapturing it and opening up a place where the encircled Divisions could evacuate to and rejoin the fight.

Under the command of Hermann Hoth, the hastily planned Operation Caesar would commence on 15th March. Kampfgruppe ‘Hoth’ was supported by 1000 Fighters and 600 CAS.

On 25th March, after reaching literally nowhere, the operation was halted. Sepp Dietrich’s army in Croatia had learnt their fate, and promptly surrendered.

EKaTFfw.png

Sepp Dietrich and his fate​

Not only was that Germany’s biggest defeat of March. In Stanislawow, a whopping 32 Divisions, or 500k men were encircled, much to the amuse of the Soviets, remembering their encircled troops in the beginning of Operation Barbarossa.

KvSz2lw.png

22nd March, 1944 Situation​

On 25th March, the German High Command reported a German loss of 5.61 million troops, in comparison to the Soviets 15.33 million casualties.

Deployed Divisions had now shrunk to 156 (excluding garrison Divisions), from 250.
 
in all my games I have never seen such a dramatic situation for a Player Controller Germany... and I kinda like it he

Same here actually. I came in here expecting to win, but it turns out I buffed the Soviets too much and ended up losing. Right now I am trying to hold on for my life.
 
The Battle of Germany is about to begin. Götterdämmerung
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: