Campaign '39-'40 - the Allies

[gwgardner]

Sept 7-8

Heavy action all along the front, as Polish forces continue the fighting withdrawal to natural defensive lines. The counterattack northeast of Katowice, against the lightly defended neck of the 2nd and 5th Panzer's thrust, has succeeded in retaking the vital RR supply lines. Warsaw is hopeful that this will put at least a temporary halt to the Panzers' advance.

In a risky, desperate attempt to block the advance of the Panzers across the river Warta, Warsaw released three brigades of infantry from positions within Lodz, to advance to the river.

[gwgardner]

It is perhaps unlikely that the RR that was linking the German Panzers to their supply sources can be held for long, but all Warsaw is hoping for now is a bit more time to dig in before the Panzers start moving again.

[gwgardner]

Lodz is wide open if the Germans can breakthrough the Warta line. In the confusion of battle, Lodz Army inexplicably failed to order anti-tank and armored units into the city, as the 29th left. Supreme HQ is screaming bloody murder.

[gwgardner]

As of Sept 8, the pace of the German advance has been devastating everywhere the Panzers can reach. However, their advance out of Prussia has been less than spectacular. Smigly-Ridz' HQ sees the invasion developing along the lines it had predicted, but it is concerned that its reserve has already been committed. There's just nothing left, beyond the possibility of scraping up some untrained garrison forces here and there.

[gwgardner]

Sept 13

The enemy has succeeded in bypassing the Poznan and Krakow pockets, leaving those garrisons as minor irritations in the advance on Warsaw. Indeed, the speed of the German advance from the southwest has caught the Polish Army completely by surprise. The Warta defensive line has collapsed, as the Panzers simply rolled up from the south, flanking the river positions. Lodz has fallen, and the remnants of Lodz Army are fleeing eastward.

Any hope that a defeated Poland can seek refuge in the Baltic States is fast fading, as Narew Army also undergoes relentless pressure.

[gwgardner]

The RR to the south and a Hungarian refuge is also threatened, with the 2nd and 4th Panzers slicing through the defenses west and north of Rzeszew. It seems a foregone conclusion that Karpathian Army just does not have enough assets to stop those Panzers. And no hope of reinforcements from Warsaw.

[gwgardner]

With the focus of the remaining battle for Poland centering on Warsaw, Smigly-Ridz is throwing every miscellaneous militia unit and bedraggled remnants of the frontier armies into a desperate attempt to form a new defensive barrier in the south.

[I'm beginning to suspect that either Chocolino is a master of the offense, or I'm a complete incompetent on the defense. Maybe both. Right now it looks like Warsaw is going to fall by about the 20th.]

[gwgardner]

Turn 19

Since last report the Panzers have sliced and diced Polish territory. Poznan and Krakow fell. Seeing the writing on the wall, Smygly Rydz finally abandoned any further attempt to hold off the German assault at the shrinking perimeters, and decided to shrink the perimeter himself by pulling everything back to Warsaw.

[gwgardner]

The northern exit route has been closed, but Narew Army is fighting to repopen it.

[gwgardner]

The southern route is still open but vulnerable to any kind of German flanking move against the Karpathian Army.

[gwgardner]

The Germans actually cut off my southern exit route also, by blitzing across Poland way to the north and cutting off Warsaw from the Carpathian district.

The game has now devolved into a fight for Warsaw. The Axis could win however without Warsaw.

[gwgardner]

Surprise! Surprise! The Axis won. There is to be sure some surprise at least to me about how hapless I am as a commander! However, that takes nothing away from the illustrious commander Chocolino, who's actions all across the map successfully achieved every one of his goals.

Post mortem:

1) I did not follow sage advice, and failed to fall back in order consistently. This allowed the Germans to hit me harder than would have been the case if I had traded territory for continued existence in the field.

2) The 'festungs' of Poznan and Krakow were ineffectual, doing nothing to hinder the advance of German armor. There are too many other rail and road paths for supply.

3) I never used my 'alternative supply source' card.

4) I should have found more opportunities to attack and cause German casualties. Especially with the air force.

5) While holding tenaciously to some areas, I pretty much let some German units run wild in undefended territory

6) I'll probably think of more.

Again, I am NOT trying to take away from Chocolino's victory. Just trying to learn from my mistakes.

[gwgardner]

Turns out I was able to get 30,000 Polish soldiers into Hungary. Even now they are headed south and east, using whatever path available to make their way back into a fighting force, either in the East or the West. The Germans will face them again!

[RocketMan]

gwgardner,

Overall I thought you did pretty well. If you had held out one more turn you would have won a normal scenario, or a campaign where your opponent didn't play the "more time" card. It usually comes down to small things. If you had garrisoned Brest-Litowsk and Lwow it might have bought an additional turn, which wouldn't have helped in this battle, but would have won you the game if you had been playing Case White as a stand alone scenario where the "more time" card isn't available. Of course pulling units from the front to garrison those cities might have caused even more problems elsewhere, so who really knows.

Thanks for doing this AAR. I followed the whole thing as I'm sure many other people did as well even if we didn't post anything to keep the thread from becoming cluttered. The descriptions were well written and the pictures really made the action easy to follow.

I look forward to seeing your defense of France and the low countries!

[gwgardner]

Thanks.

Why would the German player ever NOT use the extra time card? Use of PPs? Does that detract from PPs available in the next scenario of the campaign?

[gwgardner]

May 10, '40

Status report on Polish volunteers

[gwgardner]

Backchannel intelligence reports [email from Chocolino - does that make him a traitor to his own cause, or merely a purveyor of false intelligence?]: reports are that the Germans have gamed the invasion of France, and have decided that it would indeed be impossible to successfully push south through the Ardennes, assuming that the Allies would stoutly defend against it.

Can I then expect that the Germans will simply reprise some version of the Schlieffen Plan?

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

Thanks.

Why would the German player ever NOT use the extra time card? Use of PPs? Does that detract from PPs available in the next scenario of the campaign?

Playing the "more time" card costs PPs that won't be available in later scenarios if you use them in earlier scenarios.

[gwgardner]

So I'm committed to the Dyle Plan, and the schedule has me moving my entire left wing, including the BEF, into Belgium at a rapid pace. However slight the chance that the Germans WILL NOT follow a modified Schleiffen Plan, common sense says that I need to pay close attention to the hinge of my massive left-wing swing to the northeast.

As I examine the requirements of the Dyle movement, it looks like the Namur-Liege line is the hinge. I have to have substantial forces north of that line. But I plan to guard that area in force too, and be ready for a move south from there if the Germans surprise me.

As the screenshot shows, hexes are rated by 'Dyle Plan Points,' with the more critical hexes being 5's.
Having not played this scenario yet, I'm hoping if I put most of my Dyle move into the 4s and maybe 3s, it will be sufficient to satisfy the Plan.

[Barthheart]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner
....
As the screenshot shows, hexes are rated by 'Dyle Plan Points,' with the more critical hexes being 5's.
Having not played this scenario yet, I'm hoping if I put most of my Dyle move into the 4s and maybe 3s, it will be sufficient to satisfy the Plan.

You will do OK if you do that. It's actually no that hard to mee teh Dyle Plan requirements, but id does keep you from just moving everything into the centrral French plain.

Just remember the when the Dutch and Belgians fold that you'll have Germans pouring down on your Namur-Liege line from the north. So don't over do your stay there. [;)] If you are good at delaying the Germans up north then the Dyle Plan will probalby expire, allowing you to move your units more freely, before this becomes a problem.