Once Upon a Time (somewhere) in the West

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky



Actually, I believe you can invade north of Amsterdam and use the major river to hold your flank while you take Don Heldar and the other hexes of the peninsula. That will easily give you your 10 hexes. And there is no way the axis will be able to prevent it...although you will not be able to break out as crossing a major river into a major city is probably impossible.

Aye thats a good slot too, really its a case of making trade offs. In PBEM how can I secure the 10 hexes against the risk of being completely boxed in? One advantage of a secondary 1944 landing in the Netherlands is that you can grab a decent block of land (and airbases) but it is likely to be fairly secure, hopefully leaving your other landing as the place where you can make gains ... thats the theory anyway [;)]

[loki100]

Turns 71-72: 11-24 November 1944

Finally found the time to play a couple of turns ...

One wider issue in this phase of the game is that the front has stalled where some of the final battles of the Great War were fought. Seems somehow very appropriate that British units are pushing onto the Albert Canal 26 years after the armistice of 11 November 1918.

I'll concentrate on the ground war for this report. The strategic air campaign carries on, I'm more and more hitting named factories (both AFV and planes) as well as HI and Fuel. Each of the strategic air groups is flying 3-4 days a week and generating 3-4 missions each time. I'm keeping the intensity as high as possible on the assumption that bad weather will soon reduce the effectiveness of any missions. I also want the Germans to be unable to recover any losses inflicted on their front line armies.

On T71, I opted to rest and let the supply position recover a little. Although this looks like the depots are empty, most units in British 2 Army have about 80% supply and US 1 Army is at about 70%.



However, I've decided I need to secure Antwerp before moving on. I doubt in the timeframe left that it will produce much supply but more importantly I need to eliminate the threat to my flank and try to allow US 3 Army to break out.

Every FB and Tac Bomber of 9 Air and Tac Air hit the German units between Brussels and Dordrecht. The Level Bombers that have been attacking the various port garrisons also pound the stronger German formations.

The opening attack is by US 1 Army, allowing the armoured units to reach the Albert Canal. However, to the west, 2 British is stalled but other units of 2 British Army force the Germans back across the Meuse near Liege, helping to ease resupply to the Canadians in Maastricht.



Finally US 3 Army attacks just south of Dordrecht, forcing the Germans out of their well prepared defensive positions but lacking the means to exploit their hard won gains.



Still, key parts of the German defensive line are now disrupted, but the next phase will be little other than direct combat till the Germans are forced back.

The VP situation reflects those bruising battles:



The Germans responded by trying to drive back VII Corps but were just held off, leading them losing even more hard to replace (I hope) tanks.

[loki100]

Turns 73-74: 18 November – 1 December 1944

Should note, I've been very lucky with weather this autumn/winter. Few turns of heavy rain so have managed to keep some sort of pressure on the Germans.

I'll concentrate on the ground war as the air campaign is really now a background event. My pattern of strategic bombing is that both 8 Air and Bomber Command hit the Ruhr (and surrounding region) and then do something else. On T73 this included Bomber Command hitting Berlin, on T74 8 Air went for the V-weapon sites in the Baltic. 15 Air is short of targets so this turn hit the fuel plants around Vienna.

The Soviets don't seem to be making much progress.



Tactical air power is hitting the German positions in Flanders and the western Netherlands, with a lot of hexes having interdiction >6. In addition, some of the more powerful units are being targetted for individual bombing attacks.

By the end of T73, US 3 Army has managed to follow up its small gains, 2 British managed to punch a gap towards Eindhoven and US 1 Army has secured the rear of last week's offensive towards the Albert Canal.



T74 saw the German position on the Albert Canal fall apart. Not only do they have no reserves, they are having to shuffle their front line units to try and cover my attacks, leaving gaps.

First, infantry from VII Corps forces the Albert Canal as the German defenders fall apart after the sustained air assault of the last 4 weeks.



Then VIII British Corps (which just happens to be almost all American) broke out of its bridgehead over the Albert to the east.



Allied armour then broke out of the narrow gaps opened up as a result.

By the end of the week, the lead tanks of 2 British Army are only 20 miles from US 3 Army, threatening all the German units in the Antwerp region with encirclement.



All that fighting is costing a lot of VP, but I am now gaining enough for liberated cities to give me a small gain each turn.



I still think this will end in a draw but it depends how fast the Germans collapse in 1945.

[jwolf]

I wonder if the Germans can pull some of their armor from the pocket area to attack one or both of your northern two armored divisions. But I don't know how effective the air interdiction is. In any case your move should (I think!) finally break that German line and either they withdraw or get trapped. Nice work!

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

I wonder if the Germans can pull some of their armor from the pocket area to attack one or both of your northern two armored divisions. But I don't know how effective the air interdiction is. In any case your move should (I think!) finally break that German line and either they withdraw or get trapped. Nice work!

at this stage I thought I had an air killing zone equivalent to Falaise as I was going to plaster that narrow corridor ... unfortunately the weather finally turned against me ... which leads to the next two turns

[loki100]

Turns 75-76: 2 – 15 December 1944

These turns were a bit frustrating. Having trapped the equivalent of one German army in Flanders with only a narrow corridor they could use to escape, my plan was to pound that gap with airpower. This would cut supply and wreck any unit that did manage to escape.

Instead I got two turns of blizzards.

Again. I'll ignore the strategic airwar. I'm really doing that now for the VP gain and to ensure the Germans have a hard time replacing their combat losses.

On T75 I tried to reduce the exit route and clear up behind my spearheads. The only attack I managed was 3 Army forcing the Maas and then being able to exploit with its only tank division.



At the end of T75, I'd squeezed the gap into a long single hex corridor. Even if I couldn't manage high levels of interdiction I doubt that much supply will be moving in to the units left around Antwerp.

T75 also saw the start of a campaign to reduce the Atlantic ports. I have some spare units so reinforced 2 Canadian Army and most German garrisons are really suffering for lack of suppl.

Also allows me to dust down the death star ...



T76 opened with bad news, the Germans had attacked 3 Army's spearheads and regained the east bank of the Maas. 6 US Armoured performance was pretty awful.



Anyway, as part of securing my flanks and releasing units for the next phase, the first attack was at Bruges.



Over on the Atlantic, Rochefort and St Nazaire were the next ports to be cleared.



Elements of 1 US Army then attacked towards Antwerp and, much to my surprise, 50 British Division forced the weakened defenders out of the city. Supporting armour was able to occupy the now undefended key port.



In turn other units of 1 US forced open the gap and then elements of 3 US Army struck south and by the end of the week, the German units in Flanders (around 15 divisions) were cut off.

With this, I started to re-organise. Basically the Airborne army will hold the south flank of the bulge, 1 US Army is tasked with clearing out the pocket as quickly as possible. 3 US is to try and break out in the Netherlands (or at least pin the Germans in that area). 2 British is reorganising for a massive attempt to break out from the Maastricht bridgehead. If the weather improves, the full might of the allied airforce will fall on the German units around Aachen.

If 2 British can break out, then it should be feasible to reach the Rhine by early 1945.



VP situation is ok. Despite pretty heavy losses I'm gaining 5-7 per turn mainly now driven by the City VP score.

[jwolf]

That looks pretty good, in spite of the bad weather. Definitely a successful campaign in the low countries.

Edit: BTW is that Italian chick happy yet?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

That looks pretty good, in spite of the bad weather. Definitely a successful campaign in the low countries.

Edit: BTW is that Italian chick happy yet?

as in the next post, its really shifted things in my favour but its clear the Germans haven't decided just to give up.

Anna is back in her regular commentary role ...

[loki100]

Turns 77-78: 16-29 December 1944

At least on T77 the weather improved enough to allow intensive air interdiction. I structured this around 2 campaigns. In particular the Typhoons and Tempests were concentrated at the point where I wanted to break out towards the Rhine while US 9 Air hit the German formations around Antwerp.



The point to this is I've worked out over this game (and my PBEM with smokindave) that the concentrated application of tactical airpower is critical. By that I mean you can get away with 1-1/1.5-1 attacks if you wreck the target beforehand. This doesn't show in the actual visible CV but you can see it in the detailed battle report if you do attack (lots of enemy elements disrupted).

I think in terms of WiTW allied gameplay its the equivalent of the importance of mass and artillery with the Soviets in WiTE. There if you apply quantity (say about 3-1 in actual manpower) and artillery a 1-1 attack is pretty safe (it'll win about 80% of the time).

The outcome was a grim week for Bomber Command (I'm running out of night escorts despite disbanding some squadrons to free up planes) and almost 2000 planes damaged (mostly those on ground attack missions).

Moving on to the land attacks, the opening attack set the scene .... it failed



So did the first in Flanders ... as did others as the Germans put up rather fierce resistance.



The good news was that VIII British corps broke the German line south of Eindhoven reaching the Maas and threatening the German defences in the southern Netherlands.



to the south elements of XII British Corps forced the Maas, expanding the Maastricht bridgehead.

T78 started rather better.



And it was clear that lack of supply was wrecking the combat capability of the German units trapped in Flanders.



A series of attacks reduced the German defences in Flanders but more importantly the 4th Canadian armoured division became the first allied unit to enter Germany proper



And to the north, elements of 3 Army crossed the Maas

The number of German units that surrendered started to escalate



VP situation became negative due to heavy losses ...but at this stage I have no choice but to attack to try and destroy the German army



However, the Germans are clearly not finished as my two spearheads were both thrown back by German counterattacks



Anna seems to find my setbacks rather funny ...

[loki100]

Turns 79-80: 30 December 1944 – 12 January 1945

Rather frustrating pair of turns. T79 was snow but T80 saw a return of the blizzards.

On T79 the bulk of the tactical air was in support of US 3 and Br 2 Armies, with the strategic attacks more or less just trying to ensure I gain as many VP as I can. No sign yet that the Red Army is going to help out.

My basic strategy is for US 3 Army to clear the Netherlands, British 2 Army to push towards the Rhine and US 1 Army is to attack south along the German border. This will either pocket the German units in Eastern France or force them to retreat. First of course, they have to finish the campaign in Flanders.



US 1 Army had problems in Flanders. The final areas of German resistance were much more determined than I wanted.



Better news was 2 British again crossing the German border



And this time managing to hold onto the gains. This left me very optimistic that T80 would see a breakout towards the Ruhr.



So instead T80 brings blizzards and grounds most of my tactical airpower. However the Death Star can still fly (no, sail) which is bad news for the Germans at Brest.



That frees up the equivalent of 2 Corps for the drive into Germany.

Which drive makes little progress. Another defeat in Flanders.



But US 3 Army makes some useful gains



However 2 British suffers for the lack of air support, failing to make much progress.



VP situation reflects two turns of heavy fighting. Still think this is heading for a draw but it may depend how quickly I can start to capture cities in Germany.



... and Anna demands to know why I am making such slow progress ...

[jwolf]

Seems realistic: without air power the Allies get stalled or at least slowed down a lot.

In some of the failed attacks there is a line "Halt Range N" where N is some number. What does this mean?

[Seminole]

In some of the failed attacks there is a line "Halt Range N" where N is some number. What does this mean?

Longer range elements take turns engaging as the attacker gets closer and closer.
Basically the defense went so well the enemy stopped advancing at that range (I think it could be due to disruption/loss suffered so far, relative strength, etc).

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Seminole

In some of the failed attacks there is a line "Halt Range N" where N is some number. What does this mean?

Longer range elements take turns engaging as the attacker gets closer and closer.
Basically the defense went so well the enemy stopped advancing at that range (I think it could be due to disruption/loss suffered so far, relative strength, etc).

think it does reinforce just how dependent the allies are on airpower to really make progress.

this 'stop distance' routine seems to be a more sophisticated version of the option in WiTE were a badly failing attack is suspended if the troops have high experience and are well led

[loki100]

Turns 81-82: 13 January – 26 January 1945

The weather remained awful for these two weeks but I managed to make some progress. Its clear that the Luftwaffe is finished as an effective threat – it is losing more in operational losses than I am shooting down – but it seems as if the average German unit is also falling apart.

For T81, I finally finished off that cluster of units that have been tieing down US 1 Army.



However, more generally US 3 Army made decent progress in the Maas-Rijn area. My goal here is to see if I can repeat the Antwerp encirclement and pocket a German army in the Netherlands – if so, this time I'll be content just to screen it.



But the real gains were by British 2 Army. Although air power is limited, I think a lot of German units have already been wrecked by earlier bombing



Well not all, Krefeld was the first German city to fall to the Allies and the Germans quickly took it back



Bigger picture ... The Soviets really are not putting in any effort



T82 saw 2 British actually reach the Rhine on a relatively broad front, US 3 Army was mostly stalled but 1 Army released one corp for the drive into Germany as the Flanders pocket finally collapsed. Not obvious in the image but all the armour from the Brittany battles has now arrived and will be added to US 1 Army for its drive south down the Rhine.



VP is ok, I'm taking a lot of casualties but for the moment I just want to destroy the Wehrmacht as a functioning force.

[jwolf]

I can't comment on the overall VP situation, but for those two turns that looks like good progress. With the Germans (nearly) eliminated from the coast, I assume your supply pipeline is very good?

The state of the German army here seems similar to what we see in WITE as one side or the other faces ultimate defeat: either they cede a LOT of territory or the army gets destroyed as a functional force, or both. Many months of bombing and fighting are paying off.

[carlkay58]

With historic Soviet advance you have until May 8, 1945 before Berlin falls.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

I can't comment on the overall VP situation, but for those two turns that looks like good progress. With the Germans (nearly) eliminated from the coast, I assume your supply pipeline is very good?

The state of the German army here seems similar to what we see in WITE as one side or the other faces ultimate defeat: either they cede a LOT of territory or the army gets destroyed as a functional force, or both. Many months of bombing and fighting are paying off.

Supply is ok, but I have every army apart from the 3 doing the main fighting at either 1 or 0 for supply receipt so its a case of prioritising as much as you can. I've now got Antwerp pretty much repaired and finally (next post) cleared the Germans from the Scheldt estuary so that should help a lot.

German army is now very mixed quality. A lot is now weak but there are some exceptionally strong units still available. I can mostly attack around these but I think a human player would do a much better job. Up to recently I think the AI has done a decent job at the strategic level (& remains effective at the operational level). But a player would strip Italy and the front from the Ardennes to Belfort down to a regimental defence (in Italy its even pre-built a massive Gothic Line but is not falling back to it). That would free up around 10-15 divisions including a lot of PzGr and Pzr and would be enough to stop any gains for now.

I guess that bringing any unit into the reach of my airpower now means it will be badly cut up over time, but given the focus of the game time is what the Germans have and I don't.

ORIGINAL: carlkay58

With historic Soviet advance you have until May 8, 1945 before Berlin falls.

I've noticed that the notional Soviet front line has not moved since October 1944 ... presume in the context of play with the Germans as AI this really doesn't matter? But even so it should be moving westward to deny the AI access to factories and manpower?

[loki100]

Turns 83-84: 27 January 1945 – 9 February 1945

First of these turns was a blizzard (but at least the big rivers were frozen), second heavy rain and mud (and the rivers unfroze). All this had an impact on what I could do.

... not very much.

RAF hit Berlin and US 8 Air bombed in the Hamburg region



on T83 I reduced the Germans in Flanders to a single hex while 2 British Army broadened its front on the Rhine. I'm letting US 1 Army and 1 Canadian Army rest and refit and allocating quiet sectors to freshly arrived US units. I still intend to use these 2 armies for an offensive south in the Rhineland towards Bonn and Koblenz as well as to allow 2 British to concentrate its striking force for a Rhine crossing.



T84 brought little change apart from the final destruction of the Germans encircled at Antwerp. The supply situation is not too bad and Antwerp is repairing fairly quickly.





VP situation remains much as before. Less fighting means less losses but also means I am making little progress in terms of capturing city VP.

[jwolf]

Loki, you have a minor typo as the year is 45 and not 44. [;)]

Presumably the weather will be mostly crummy the rest of the way? That may be your largest problem.

In the East isn't it true that the Soviets didn't move very much, if at all, during the last 3 months or so of 1944? So the static front line sounds about right but should change very soon.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

Loki, you have a minor typo as the year is 45 and not 44. [;)]

Presumably the weather will be mostly crummy the rest of the way? That may be your largest problem.

In the East isn't it true that the Soviets didn't move very much, if at all, during the last 3 months or so of 1944? So the static front line sounds about right but should change very soon.

you are ... of course ... absolutely right about the date - one of the nice things about WiTW is it is much shorter than WiTE, a full campaign shouldn't take much more than 4-5 months

I think you are right about the weather, looking back over the feb-march 1944 posts, about half the turns were too bad for much bombing, so its going to be a case of luck and making the most of the gaps in the weather to see what I can manage

I'm not sure whats going on in the east. In one sense it really doesn't matter, either I take Berlin by 10 May or Uncle Joe does the deed. Equally I think I've pretty much wrecked the German economy but it would be nice to see them lose all that capacity in western Poland and Hungary. In my PBEM with smokindave we have the east front box off and he reckons the front is moving more or less historically - must admit I've not really paid much attention.