ORIGINAL: brian brian
You don't want to attack the CW in Antwerp or Rotterdam; if the Defensive Shore Bombardment optional is in play you might as well not bother ever attacking them on any coastal hex. Those hexes are under RAF cover from England, are cities that you can't use your armor against very well, and are partially covered by river lines on some hexsides. You just don't let them in there in the first place. There are a number of solutions. 1 if by sea, 2 if by Fallschirmjaeger. And always wait for good weather.
When you crack the French line, try and get from the breakthrough point and to the north-east if possible, over an impulse or two, to try and block the Brits from retreating back across the Seine. They may hold their enclave at the coast + Lille for an impulse too long before they realize it, or need to do something on the naval side right then. Let them. Then ground-strike them in Lille, or even better, bring up your ARTillery for some strikes and don't even fight the RAF, and attack when you eventually have four hexes on it.
The campaign in France is a classic hex-based wargame struggle of 2 hexes or 3 hexes. To get to having 3 hexes to attack from, the Germans have to crack a line from only 2 hexes first. When the Germans have 3 hexes to attack from, they will generally win. When the Germans have 3 hexes, the Allies should retreat before they get smashed, but they frequently don't.
The Germans should kill as many units as they can whenever the French don't have a solid line that must be cracked; give that a priority in May/Jun over driving on Paris exclusively and in Jul/Aug the French will start running out of units to make a solid line, particularly at the south end. A good Allied player will just retreat into a solid line first. If the French stay in the Maginot too long, they must retreat across open country which is perfect for the panzers. Attacking in that direction is not on the way to Paris, but it might let you cross the Seine to the south, helping to keep the BEF from so calmly setting up new lines behind Paris.
Aircraft (from any major power) can’t:
(a) fly a defensive ground support mission to a hex where the only land units there are surprised; or
(b) fly a naval air interception mission to a sea area where the only friendly units there are either neutral or surprised.
And Beware of Option 38
Option 38: Surprised naval units can’t provide defensive shore bombardment nor can naval units provide defensive shore bombardment to a hex containing only surprised units.
