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Aug 15, 2008
312
2
The Shattered Eagle


Hello everyone this will be my first attempt at an AAR, playing as Germany in 1944 after five years of tough fighting against the world. This story of the Reich's apparent final hours will be told by the civilians, soldiers and generals who fought and died in their dreams of saving the reich from the Communists and the Allied Forces.

This will be more of a "narrative" AAR but will have many pics as well guiding you all through the progress of the Germany's attempt to save the empire from utter destruction, hopefully I do well in this scenario. Never played as Germany before, so this might be a challenge for me.
Playing on Normal/Furious to start
if alive by 1945 and doing well it will change to Hard/Furious.

I invite all readers to leave their comments, and I will be open to many suggestions for gameplay.

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Table of Contents:
Book One - A Return to Normandy

-Fall of Paris: Francis Ludwig
-The Air Front: "Screaching Phoenix" Peter von Ruth
-June 28th Diary: Raines Constantine after Battle of Angers
-The Western Gamble: Leopold and the Panzergrenadiers
-A Calm in the Vise: Francis Ludwig
-A Waltz in Brest: German Army on leave
-Somewhere in German Belgium: Peter von Ruth and "Scr.Pho." Squadron
-Memoirs From Answarn: Elizabeth-Michelle Hendriks
-The Holiday Leave: Klaus von Richtmann and Paul Sweinstamm
-The Dove in the Sky: The Dutch Farmer
Book Two - A City Too Far
-The Panic: Dutch Underground and Field Marshal Rommel
-OKW Headquarters. Essen, Germany: Erwin Rommel
-The Eindhoven Hawk: Peter Koornhardt and British Intelligence Officers
-The Beginning: Rommel, Hausser and British Colonel Martin
-Crossing the Rhine: Field Marshals Rommel, Model and British Army at Essen
-First Contact: Battle at Essen Bridge, Colonel Schneider and Major Krafft
-From out of the Brush: Field Marshal Model and Field Marshal Hausser
-Plan of Action: Current Western Front Situation
-The Essen Circle: The Encirclement of Essen Begins
-Intermission: Looking Back on 1944 and Looking Forward to the Invasion of Russia
-Closing In: British Major Harolds and German SS General Decker
-The Essen Serpent: Major Harolds, Cpt. Thomas, Dr. Raab and Colonel Schneider
-Forging Destiny: Colonel Martin, Captain Miller (US) and SS-General Decker; Battle for Dusseldorf Bridge
-The Dash for Essen: Field Marshal Rommel, Captain Miller, British Tank Major, British General Alanbrooke and Dr. Raab
-The End: Cast of Credits, A City Too Far
Book Three: All Quiet on the Eastern Front
-Operation Bagration: Kristoph Scneider and Field Marshal von Rundstedt
-Message From God: Erik Hoftmann
-Rolling Thunder: Hans Kristoph Kuptmann and Andrew Shearer
-The Fields of Red: The German Soldier
-Chronicles of the Vaterland: Battle of Lodz
-The Ebony Eagle: When You Were Young: Wilhelm Pelzer
-The Ebony Eagle: Change in the Wind: Peter Strause
-The Ebony Eagle: The New Dawn: Peter Strause
-The Ebony Eagle: The Red Winter: Peter Strause and Wilhelm Pelzer
-The Ebony Eagle: The Lion's Thunder: The Battle of Warsaw
-And So It Begins: Aftermath of the Battle of Stryj: soldiers Stephan and Franz
-The Ebony Eagle: The Battle of Warsaw: Wilhelm Pelzer and Peter Strause
 
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June 24, 1944

June 24, 1944.

The war entering June 24, 1944

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The Allied advance into Normandy, German Forces are reorganizing and preparing to shatter the Allies quickly and turn to face the armies of Communism.

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The German and Romanian Counter-offensives in the south. Crucial for victory in the East, we much bring Soviet northern forces south until the reserves and new units reach the Eastern Front.

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The German reorganization movement in the north and central fronts. Field Marshal von Manstein has mastermined the movement despite Hitler's orders to hold every inch of the Russian held-ground.
 
A Return to Normandy

Book One: A Return to Normandy

The Fall of Paris

Francis Ludwig was born into a fifth-generation German Military family, in 1941 he joined the Wehrmacht and was wounded during the First Battle of Smolensk soon after his deployment, since then he was transfered to the Western Front where he sat in France for nearly three years awaiting the much-vaunted and anticipated Allied Invasion of France. On June 6, 1944 the Allies invaded Normandy in Operation Overlord which was successfull at establishing an Allied Beachhead in France, a few weeks later the French and Brazilians launched Operation Dragoon catching the Germans offguard and the British and Canadians invaded the Netherlands soon after Operation Dragoon, the Allies were ready to push out into the Greater German Reich.

German soldiers were soon fleeing Normandy for Orleans and Paris as Field Marshal Montgomery drove for Paris in his race to beat Patton there, the German Armies were reluctant too move from the current positions in fear of further Allied advances into France, the Germans were preparing to make a final stand in Paris to stop the British advance, along with Eisenhower directing forces under US General Mark Clarke the allies drove for Paris, on June 29 the Allies assaulted Paris itself and the battle for the former French capital was a deadly but short battle.

"There are the British mein commandant! Panzers coming in at a quick pace, looks like Sherman's."

"Prepare the gun Franzi! Load aim, fire!"

"Miss herr commandant! Aim high, six-o'clock, turn left."

"Load, aim! Fire!"

"Direct hit! There finished, five-o'clock, load now!"

"Franz get down!"

A shell from the British Sherman whistled passed the heads of the Pak 88 team and exploded behind them when it struck the Lore-Saliant Hotel only 100 feet from their backs causing the gun team to lose balance and collapse to the streets. The men peared up and through the smoke saw an American Sherman steamrolling right for them, the tank was aiming directly at the gun, the men stayed down and acted to be dead. The American gunner looked down at the Germans on the ground, no movement. "Go ahead captain, these Krouts are dead!"

The tank moved deeper into Poland and the German soldiers got up and rushed into a shattered French caffe where several other German soldiers were hiding, "We have to make a brake out of here, the Americanas are coming strait in here, we can't stop them."

"Look to your right! Panthers."

The attempt by the German armour of the OKH Reserves was fruitless, completely under-manned as none of the original three divisions of tanks had more than 7% of their original numbers. The tanks were standing their ground against overwhelming Allied odds, the German infantry began to flee deeper into Paris to find a way out as the Tank Crews boldly sacrificed themselves so the soldiers could get out with their lives. Franz and his companions rushed out of the caffee and ran down to a small Parisian Bridge and jumped into the creek rather than run across the bridge under heavy Allied fire, the men looked for other comrades, none. Allied forces were everywhere. By nightfall the city was in complete Allied hands and Franz was still inside the city looking for a way out along with several thousand trapped soldiers fleeing Allied patrols and searching for a place to leave the shelled-French city. The skies turned red and the sun was set, in the East the Germans were in full retreat to form new battle lines and in the west the Allies appear ready for a brake out towards Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine which is completely unguarded by German forces, the war was going to be decided in the next few weeks and months.

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Allied forces entering a street in Paris after two days of hard fighting where the Germans were forced to retreat across the Marne River.
 
A Return to Normandy

The Air Front


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Berwartstein Castle, the Rhineland.

The Rhineland, the industrial heartland of Germany was under massive a massive strategic bombing campaign by the Allies, the glorious Luftwaffe is virtually no more, the heroic pilots sent to scave off the Allied bombers were rewarded only in death, so many pilots have been lost in two weeks defending the skies of the Fatherland from Allied bombers, split between air protection for the German Army in Normandy and protecting the industrial heart lands of the Rhine, the German Luftwaffe is being destroyed faster than the Industry can produce out planes? When will the skies be German again?

"Peter! Peter get up! Alarm, Allied bombers are headed towards Cologne."

Peter von Ruth and his comrade pilots knew this drill so too well, of the crews and pilots going up to save the Rhineland 30% of them never make it back to their bases, 30% of the pilots going to war will never see their homes again.

"Peter the plane is set, the engine is running. Good luck and god-speed."

"Thanks Dan. Dan? If I don't come back tell my wife and children I love them so much. And I hate myself for not being able to see my son and daughter grow up in my eyes and arms."

"Peter, your an ace with eleven kills. You'll be coming back like you have so many other times. Good luck and god-speed. The lord is with you."

"At times I wonder what side god is truly on."

The Pilots of the "Screaching Phoenix" air squadron are among some of the last elite pilots of the Luftwaffe, all members have five or more kills and of a squad of 83 planes and 62 pilots in 1943, only 18 planes and 13 pilots remain in June 1944. The Oberst-commandant Manfred Whittle searches the skies and for aircraft and radios with the rest of the squadron for updates. The "Ernst Udet" Battalion is four miles to their left with 53 planes searching for the American bombers heading for their daily bombing runs over the Fatherland.

"Herr oberst! B-17's at six-o'clock low."

"Drop in mein gut men and give them a taste of Duetsch steel!" The colonel drops the nose of his Me-109 and does a side flip and his plane screams down at the American bombers, the rest of the squadron follows. The "Udet" Unit follows suit and the skies of Bastogne have turned into a bloodbath in the skies.

"Look steady Leslie! Me-109 coming in at eleven-o'clock high!"

Peter pulls the trigger and his 109 lets rip a devestating barage of bullets at the American B-17. The top gunner grows silent, the window is tainted red and Peter pulls up into the clouds after his pass and the sight he sees is even more deadly. The "Udet" Unit is in a life-and-death battle with American Mustangs and B-24's.

"Peter pull up, form with me. We need not to worry about those fighters, the main targets are those bombers below us."

"Ja! Herr Oberst."

"Follow me," says Whittle, a holder of twenty-seven kills. He and Peter pull side by side and wing to wing and look into each others eyes and give one another a good-luck salute and dive into the B-17 formation. Whittle's radio is erupting into screams as the colonel is letting rip a massive scream of excitement and riddles a B-17 with bullets. Peter follows behind and the tail of the B-17 tears off and the massive bomber slowly descends for earth, the Americans flee out of there plane and their shutes open in the skies. The colonel looks for another victim.

"Herr Oberst, three-o'clock low, lone bomber. Sitting duck."

"She's all yours Petey, I'm jammed."

"Cover my tail."

"Ofcourse Petey. Let those Americans know that they just ran into the greatest squadron in the German Luftwaffe."

Peter flies in close and opens fire with his massive guns, his 20mm cannon tears a hole directly in the front of the B-17 cockpit and he tries to pull his plane up. His wing shatters in the pass and he screams out in terror as he slowly losses control of his plane. From above Whittle looks down and see's Peter's plane spiral out of control.

"Peter! Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!"
 
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sweet. dont get many air battles written about.
 
Not to get too far carried away with this AAR and game, as I'm playing very slowly and more carefully then with other games since my state of survival is at stake the first book: A Return to Normandy will focus on the battle for France and the air war over Germany against the Allies. If still up and doing well we'll shift to another with the dealing of the British and Americans who have landed at my totally exposed beaches up in the Netherlands. With the West secure I hope, then we'll go after those Russians, who as of right now are just marching into unoccupied territory since I've withdrawn to new lines and begun a counter-offensive in the south through Romania.

I will not cheat nor reload the game if something goes wrong.
I will only take control of my allies armies if I feel its necessary to survive as the AI will do nothing with their armies especially the Hungarians and Romanians who I must save and not allow to switch sides during the course of the war. I hope you enjoy this AAR and hopefully I survive the chaos in Normandy, Holland, Italy, Norway and the East.
 
BritishImperial said:
sweet. dont get many air battles written about.

Well, sometimes the airwar is just to interesting to overlook. Sadly the Rhineland is being pounded by the Allied unstopable Airforce, every time I look over there I see hundreds of American, British, Canadian and Australian airplanes bombing me, and I've gotten desperate and using CAS and TAC's as interceptors to aid my battered fighters and interceptors and then there's France where they rule the air as well as one of my units of 3 divs has only 37 total strength of 300.
 
A Return to Normandy

June 28, 1944

Private Diary of Cpl. Raines Constantine

The American forces attacked us yesterday at dawn and then the American Armoured roled in from the west and began to pound our positions along the French town of Angers. I speak for most of the other soldiers when I though we were safe behind the massive hedgerows, those Yanks were never supposed to get their armoured units through those twisted leaves and grass. We were wrong, that American nut-shell George Patton the butcher of Sicily was leading the attack, how do we know? Those Americanish panzers are under his grip, "To the Fatherland by the end of July" he says to his troops. Well we will show him who rules the French country-side.

The American and British planes overhead are getting more and more annoying, they constantly bomb us and even with the best efforts of our courageous pilots, god-bless them I'd still rather be on the ground than in the air due to some of the stories we've heard about whole squadrons vanishing during combat. The Americans seem unstopable at this time, Generalfeldmarshcall Rommel orders a counter-offensive in the Normandy Pocket. He see's what no one else does. According to General Heissymeyer if we brake the Allies at Avranches then the British in Paris will be cut-off and taking them out will just about even up the numbers. Ofcourse I have no idea how we're going to do this, our forces are battered and disorganized at the moment and Generalfeldmarshcall Himmler will not be able to achieve the brakeout with only 9 divisions will he? There's 10 divisions of Americans and Canadians sitting there preparing to advance deeper into France, we're not fighting Russians anymore, we're fighting the Allies.

I can't understand how we're supposed to achieve victory with Paris in Allied hands, Americans seizing Brittany and now the French and Brazilians landings in Toulon and Marseilles. It looks like the days of the glorious reich are numbered, I must certainly hope not. That idiot in the Reichstag is making more fool-proof plans with divisions that don't even exist and with fully-strenghted divisions when in reality we're half strengthed or worse. This war is growing more tiring by the minute. The Allies in the west, the Russians in the East. Hell, a year ago we loved it here in France rather than, 'Zit, to the Russian Front!' Now I'd rather be on that front since the current reports are just reorganization with little Russian attacks and airial assaults. The phrase 'hell on earth,' well Normandy is truly "Hell on Earth."

-Raines Constantine, 4th Fallschirmjagers. In Normandy.

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American soldiers look at destroyed German vehicles after the brakethrough at Angers. The Battle claimed 32,000 lives and another 50,000 were injured on both sides. When will the war end?

-German organization in France as of June 29, 1944.
-No unit over 55% of 99%, majority of units at mid 40's.
-Allies, not faring much better but have control of the skies.
 
clifton said:
Nice aar. Can you but a screen shot of the map of France?

Glad you think so, I plan to have a screenshot of France in the next update, I'm taking big gambles in the west to knock out the Allies and transfer to the East where the real game will be won.
 
A Return to Normandy

The Western Gamble

"Leopold get down!"

American motor and artillery shells pounded the advancing German Armoured Collumn heading for their positions across the fields. The German infantry were jumping for cover in the ditches and behind their tanks as they moved forward to attack American positions. To his left Leopold looks over and watches in horror as a Stug III, is shattered to pieces when struck by an American artillery shell. The explosion leaves the formidable armoured piece in ruins and the soldiers taking cover around it were now un-seeable.

He looked forward into the rivene to see small flashing lights coming from the plant life and a bullet struck his helmet causing him to fall back and surcome into a state of shock.

"You're one lucky son of..." a bullet nailed the soldier speaking to Leopold in the chest and he fell back with into the muddy terrain behind him and Leopold looked up to see an American bazooka team advance from the revine and take aim at a Panzer IV advancing over a small hill. The Americans let rip three shots before the tank was stopped and when the crew abadoned the tank they were cut to pieces by American fire, the black dressed panzermen fell in slow moution towards the ground, covered in black tar and smoke and their uniforms turning a darker shade of black.

"Herr commandant! Amerikans in direct view of the gun! Load aim! Fire!"

The German panther let go a mighty roar from her 88mm gun that shock the grounds and displaced any nearby soldiers. The explosion was even more mighty and American soldiers fled from that position in shock and awe from the mighty German tank. It pressed forward with Leo and several other soldiers advancing with it firing their weapons blindly into the brush hoping to displace or kill any unfortunate American soldiers in the process.

"Get out now! Run! The panzers are closing in!"

"Captain, hold up, I'm going out to take one with us." The American soldier ran out into the open field alone with his Thompson and grenade and rushed forth towards a German tank. The Germans were in shock including Leopold who didn't fire at the charging American, from his position atop the tank the panzer commandant ordered the men inside to kill the charging American soldier to no success. The commandant slumped over the hatch and the American climbed on top of the tank and threw the dead officer from his position and tossed the grenade inside and fired a small burst inside and jumped off the tank and took cover in a ditch as the tank rolled forth and suddenly exploded from within and the tank was stopped in its track. He ran back towards the collapsing American lines when Leopold took steady aim with his rifle and led the American perfectly, ready to pull the trigger he held his breath and clutched the trigger tighty.

He was knocked from his feet by an American Mustang filling the fields with bullets causing the soldiers of the reich to hit the grounds in panic. Two more appeared from the skies and dropped small payloads of bombs at the advancing panzergrenadiers. They could only look up at the American planes.

"Herr Major!" exclaimed Leopold from his ditch, "we can't move with those planes overhead."

"Nonsense, press forward! Gott rettet uns alle!" The soldiers of the reich charge forward from their ground positions towards the retreating American soldiers, stunned that so many soldiers are about to throw away their lives by the muzzle of Mustangs. The American lines collapse and the tanks punch through the weeds and trees and reach open ground where the American artillery seen from a ridge several miles away prepare to leave the ridge and search for a new line. The Mustangs continue to riddle the Panzergrenadiers and their tanks. Leopold looks up and sees two Me-109's flash in from the east and begin to engage the American pilots. An SS-Panzercommandant looks up as he hears an engine of a plane failing, one of the American Mustangs crashes into the ground with a thunderous explosion, the soldies and tanks saddle up and continue to push inland despite the Allied Air cover hampering the Armoured and motorized units pushing inlands towards the beaches of Normandy.

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The pocket at Paris after the successful German counter-attack. Good-bye Monty and Eisenhower.
 
A Return to Normandy

A Calm in the Vise

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German Panzers advance in the Hedgerows in Normandy spearheaded by the brand new Heavy Panzers the Konig Tigers.

The city of Paris was in total chaos. Those trapped from the earlier engagement found there hearts ripped out when American and British forces took control of the city. Now the opposite had happened, when the Panzergrenadiers in Normandy brokeout and moved to the beaches the Allies in Paris found themselves trapped, British General Montgomery and Eisenhower in their new homes in Paris were evacuated and the German forces began to assault the city again, the civilians ran and the trapped Germans rose up.

"Franz, look! The Americans are pulling back into that hotel."

"Where?"

"There," points a soldier at a hotel being entrenched by American soldiers.

"Wait, listen. A storm is coming in."

"That's no storm Franz, that's... get down!"

A King Tiger tears through the house where the German soldiers were awaiting either rescue or capture. The house collapsed under the emmense pressure from the monsterous German tank and still inside the home it paused and turned its gun at the hotel where the Americans were no leaping out of the windows and doors before the King Tiger would utterly destroy the building. The thunder of the gun couldn't be any louder and the hotel fell into ruins in a single shot. Suddenly the street was filled with advancing German armoured and infantry forces pushing into the battered and beseiged French capital.

The former trapped soldiers looked out of the rubble and took up their arms with their advancing comrades and began to retake the city of Paris one block and one street at a time. The Allies fought desperatley to hold on as the forces in Normandy launched their counter-attacks to free up a route for the trapped Yanks and Brits in Paris. The battle littered the streets of Paris with bricks, rifles, bombs, and the dead.

Franz looked up and saw that he was once again beneth the Eiffel Tower and skies were bright blue and the sun shining down upon the victors at Paris, 5 divisions (3 British and 2 American) were captured during the battle, a momentous victory for the Germans in France, with the landings in the south the war in Normandy was becoming more important to win every day so they could redirect to the south and then back to the east where the Soviets were slowly creeping up on the new battle lines, in the city of Minsk a massive Soviet strike was coordinated and rather than fight to the death as Hitler ordered the German Armee of 37 divisions pulled back towards Latvia.

"Welcome back to Paris," said Franz to his former comrades that escaped several days previous.

"Well Franz," said Henry, "it's good to be back." The two soldiers looked up and began to drink a nice cup of French coffee. The scene in Paris was one of joy and happiness, the soldiers were playing football and making jokes, laughing, drinking and smoking. But the war was far from over.

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With Paris back in German hands, the mop up of Normandy can begin, but the German soldiers in Normandy itself are still so disorganized the High Command orders a halt of offensives in the Normandy region until the troops from Paris arrive at the front.

"Goal! Goal!"

"Now its three to two panzergrenadiers over the Heer Infantry."

"Oh you guys think you're so good since you work with the preety panzers."

"I just think the foot soldiers can't play sports as well as the men in tanks and cars," laughs an officer keeping score.

This moment of happiness will be one of the last moments during the war, with the Soviets closing in and with the Industrial Base which started at 320 now down to 230 thanks to Allied Bombings, there seems to be no end to this tragic and deadly war which has already claimed over 60 million lives to date. Can the Allies save Normandy with Operation Dragoon and newly opened front in the Netherlands?
 
A Return to Normandy

A Waltz in Brest

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The last major Allied holding in Normandy, soon the Allies were thrown into the waters and the captured Allied forces admitted defeated.


"July 19, 1944! Gentlemen this day will be remembered as the day the reich defeated the British and Americans yet again, and now the Allies are no longer a threat to our survival." - Erwin Rommel on the radio in Normandy after the German victory in Cherbourge

Franz Ludwig and Henry Pack looked at the beautiful site infront of them, the war in Normandy was now all but over, the Allies thrown out and with only a small ammount of troops in the south and in Holland the rest of the western front will be moped up in the next few weeks. The Germans were looking proudly at their accomplishments while Churchill and Eisenhower just witnessed the fall and surrender of 25 Allied divisions with 5 more sitting in Brittany ready to be gombled up by the unstoppable German Army of France, the British were looking for a peace option realizing that they must rebuild their army.

"Look at the skies Franz, isn't the sunset just wonderful."

"God smiles upon us, today the lord is back with the Germans, this is his sign."

"The Americans in Brittany are the last to go, just think." Henry pauses, "In a few weeks we can return to our families before being shipped off to the Russian Front."

"I don't want to think about the Russian Front, I want to think about my family and the end of the war Henry."

"As do I, as do I."

Inside a small hotel, totally untouched by war the officers and generals dance in the ball room with the Military band playing for their waltz. The smiles are large on the faces of the men that have beaten the Americans and the British in Normandy. Though the war in the west is not completely over as Operation Dragoon and Market Garden have put troops in Southern France, not a problem but the men in Holland are a problem. The closest German forces are in Denmark and Oslo and the British are posed to strike at the heart of the German Fatherland, the Rhine which is still covered by Allied bombers and fighters.

The waltz in the hotel was a marry one indeed, the officers smile while dressed in their parade uniforms while the soldiers enjoy the time off of war and enjoy the end of the fighting in Normandy, hell on earth is no longer that, it has become a little slice of heaven for most of these men who have been fighting unstop and demoralized every second since the Allied landings on June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord has failed but the Americans are preparing to make a second landing as the battles in Normandy and France are coming to a close.

The soldiers smile and drink, the officers dance and laugh and the Kreigsmarine sailors have joined the Heer in Brest for the celebration. In London a disappointed Churchill sighs with Eisenhower planning a second landing to aid Operation Dragoon and Market Garden. In the Kremlin Stalin laughs at the pathetic attempt by the Allies in France and in the Reichstag Hitler smiles as the Allies are defeated and hopes that the British may finally conclude a peace deal with him after twice being thrown into the water while in France. Ofcourse there's Churchill who will never see a peace until the unconditional surrender of Germany right?

The three night stay in Cherbourge was over and the German soldiers advanced into Brittany where fighting was virtually non-exsistance and the rest of the American forces surrendered at Brest, the last hope for an Allied victory in France was gone until the second Overlord would commence.

The soldiers in Brittany and Brest finally got a much deserved rest as the Croatian and Italian soldiers began to move into Southern France. The British launched a landing in Bordeaux after the surrender at Brest, are the Allies really trying to beat the Germans in France?

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The death of the Allies in France.

Meanwhile...

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Holland and Operation Market Garden, they're so close to the Holy Fatherland :(
 
Good work in France! Now garrison those beaches before they try again. :D
 
理想的中国 said:
VERY nice move in Paris! That, in the real world, would cause so much uproar :p

Very true, it was a nice setup. :D Not really just saw it and took the opportunity. :rofl:


@ germanpeon. well they've landed all over the place so they'll probably try again but I simply don't have the numbers to protect the French coast. I hope to destroy them in the south and in Holland and press my luck with either an invasion of England or hope they accept a peace. Since I'm not cheating those chances are very slim.
 
TheEnlighted1 said:
Very true, it was a nice setup. :D Not really just saw it and took the opportunity. :rofl:


@ germanpeon. well they've landed all over the place so they'll probably try again but I simply don't have the numbers to protect the French coast. I hope to destroy them in the south and in Holland and press my luck with either an invasion of England or hope they accept a peace. Since I'm not cheating those chances are very slim.

A recommendation if I may: Keep a small, mobile reserve of ten to fifteen Divisions in Northern France and another five in the south. Then use what puppet troops you can spare ( if you mil-con them anyhow, if not use their exp-forces and some of your own ) to guard some of the beaches. That way you can pretty much secure france with less than 40 Divisions.
 
A Return to Normandy

Somewhere in German Belgium

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Peter von Ruth is cought and dangling high up around 120 feet in some tree in German-controlled Belgium. He makes few movements not wanting to brake the thin branches his chute is hanging on. He searches for his pocket knife and can hear the carnage still raging in the air above. He hears the branches begin to crack, he freezes and his eyes grow wide and has a panic-stricken face as he realizes he's about to drop over 100 feet to his imending death. His body sways in the wind and a branch falls and lands on his head, he closes his eyes and prays, the chute falls from the branches and the pilot falls down to the ground.

He screams in pain as he lands, his leg is bent back over 50 degrees, its broken. He sits in the forest and begins to crawl towards the Rhine, he hopes to find a road and a home to stay before the night, the last thing he wants is to be stuck in the insect infested Ardennes with a broken leg laying helplessly waiting for the misquitos to get him. He slowly crawls onto a small, old brick road and takes a deep breathe and his head goes back and his eyes begin to close, nightfall has come early for this German ace.

~Screaching Phoenix Air Base, somewhere in the Rhineland. Near Cologne.

"We have all planes accounted for but one general."

"Who's the missing pilot?"

"We don't know sir."

Out in the fields Dan looks helplessly for his friend, there is no sign. He begins to panic and looks for him again, no luck. Dan turns to find Whittle and asks him where Peter is, the colonel looks at him and continues to walk towards the barracks. Dan now knows his friend was shot down during the battle, he pulls out a letter from his uniform and opens it. He begins to read it and begins to cry, he folds the paper and seals it, the adress is destined for Lubeck, 7831 Conner Street the home of Peter von Ruth and his family. Dan looks to the skies, dusk is falling over the Rhineland and he looks to the barracks and slowly walks over.

"He's gone, he's gone. And he never got too see his newborn son."

Colonel Whittle comes over to Dan who is about to give the letter off to the mail officer. He puts his hand over Dan's shoulder, "He's was a good man, and probably a good father. He died a Hero of the Third Reich."

The sun began to set over their base and the officer took the letter and nodded at the men beside him. "I don't like this job," commented the officer as he began to walk away towards his car and slowly drove off into the sunset.

Miles away the American bombs fell over the industrial complexes in Cologne, the people fled to their basements and the Flak opened up at the Strategic bombers overhead. Thunder and fire engulfed the countryside.

~Ardennes passed midnight.

"Father, father come quickly!" exclaimed a young Belgian boy. His father ran to his son with a his car headlights and a liter and looked at his son.

"What is it?"

"Look there daddy, a pilot. I don't know if he's German or American."

The Belgian father looked over the fallen pilot and realized he was German and had the markings of an ace, he saw a broken leg and looked at the pilots face. He picked up the pilot and placed him in the back of the car and the two Belgian civilians drove off towards the farmhouse home not knowing if they're going to burry the him or nurse him...
 
trekaddict said:
A recommendation if I may: Keep a small, mobile reserve of ten to fifteen Divisions in Northern France and another five in the south. Then use what puppet troops you can spare ( if you mil-con them anyhow, if not use their exp-forces and some of your own ) to guard some of the beaches. That way you can pretty much secure france with less than 40 Divisions.

That's a good idea and what I hoped in having. Sadly my infantry is still a way off before I can deploy and the industry is busy trying to pump out interceptors 3 by 3 series of Lvl. 5 so I can secure the skies to some degree and the rest of the industry is preparing armour and mechs for the inevitable Battles against the Russians.

I've moved 5 Croatian divs to the RSI and French border along with 3 RSI divs while the rest of the Italian front is secure (RSI has militia).

At the same time the Brits in Holland can't make it to the Rhine or it will cripple my economy and the rest of my allies: Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are in the Eastern Front where I have a massive gap of between North Poland, Warsaw and Central Poland unguarded and then Ukraine and Romania heavily guarded. Need to kill of the Allies before Russians reach my new front lines.

By the way all suggestions are welcome though I may or may not use them depending on the course of the game and my decisions to handle the problems.
 
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A Return to Normandy

Memoirs From Answarn

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Elizabeth-Michelle Hendriks, Regensburg Germany. July 5, 1944.

The wife of five children sat out in the sun looking at her children play outside on a rare moment of clear skies and no Allied aircraft bombing the nearby air defenses and industry in Greater Regensburg. She sighed at the beautiful sight outside, the sun was bright, the sky was blue, the grass was green, her husband missing.

The wife looked depressed, her husband was listed as missing in action since February 1944, and she knew that he had the worst of the possible outcomes. A black Volkswagen pulls up to her home and a man in a dark gray suit and hat walks out with a cigarette in his mouth with a letter in his hand. He casually acts like he hasn't seen her begin to walk up to him, he continues to the home and stops when she is face to face with him. He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and exhales a deep breathe.

She looks at the man and nods and begins to sob when he hands her the letter. "The Black Package" is the bad one, she recieves the Black Package and opens it and walks back to her home, the man in the suit says from behind, "Maam, please understand I don't like to make these types of visits. It hurts me to see people have a good day ruined because of me."

She looks back with tears in her eyes and is speechless she only nods in respect and walks into her house. From behind the man in the suit takes off his hat and places on his chest and then she closes the door and watches her children playing ball outside. She sets the letter on the table and walks away from it. The man in the suit walks around the house from the side and takes a knee on the deck where the poor wife sobs, "I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do just say."

"Please sir, I need to be alone."

"Sorry." The man leaves and drives off and Elizabeth-Michelle walks to her son.

"Who was that man, when is daddy coming home."

She only looks at her son and says nothing and looks up to the heavens where she see's only the bright blue skies and birds flying overhead. She turns back to her son, "Daddy is never coming back." She hugs her son and the son begins to cry, the rest of the children soon join in and from the view from the clouds a German family has just recieved the news no one ever wants to here.