Bob Flemin' Fall Gelb AARse.....

[warspite1]

Polish Theatre (North)

12th, 33rd, 35th and 37th Infantry Corps
He-111B and HS-123

- the TRS, AMPH and 3 convoys are in Memel, the rest of the convoys are in Konigsberg. Two infantry corps are in East Prussia and a third will be available to screen Gdynia. Poznan is screened by a fourth infantry corps.

Task: screen Gdynia or ideally take the port (depending upon Polish set-up).

[warspite1]

Polish Theatre (South)

Army Group von Leeb
40th Mechanised Corps with 1st and 4th Motorised Divisions attached
10th and 17th Infantry Corps
49th Mountain Corps
Bf-109 E-2 and He-111H

Task: All units are placed to attack Katowice - or divert to the resource to the north if Katowice is strongly defended.

[warspite1]

Western Front (North)

11th Motorised Corps with PzJag Division attached
Follow-up Garrison troops: 86th Garrison Corps (in Saarbrucken)

Task: Weserubung Sud. The capture of Denmark

[warspite1]

Western Front (Netherlands)

Kriegsmarine based at Kiel
Invasion covering force
BC: Gneisenau (Flagship of Admiral Marschall) and Scharnhorst
PB: Deutschland and Graf Spee
CA: Hipper and Blucher
CL: Karlsruhe, Koln and Konigsberg

Invasion Flotilla
CL: Leipzig and Nurnberg

Units based at Kiel but not earmarked for this operation:
Pre-Dreadnoughts: Schliesen and Schleswig-Holstein
CL: Emden

Army Group Holland (von Rundstedt)
47th and DAK Panzer Corps with 150mm Division attached
43rd and 45th Infantry Corps with 1st Engineer Division attached
3rd and 14th (SS) Infantry Divisions
He-115C, He-111 H-3, Ju-87B and Bf-110C

Task: Nurnberg and Leipzig to carry the infantry divisions to Rotterdam as part of a pincer attack on this key port in conjunction with one unit (tbd) from Arnhem. Remaining forces to attack Amsterdam from the north and south. The Invasion covering force (sounds like an IJN plan [8|]) are unlikely to sail unless the CW make a total hash of things.

[warspite1]

Western Front (Belgium)

The above mentioned forces to be available for follow-up operations in Belgium (and France) together with:

Army Group von Bock
30th Infantry Corps and 50mm AT Division attached
Bf-109 E-1, Bf-109 E-2, Bf-109 E-4 and Ju-52

Siegfried Line Garrison Troops (Germany)
63rd Infantry Corps
83rd and 87th Garrison Corps

[warspite1]

The Germans declare war on Poland - shocker [X(]

The Polish defence is first and foremost about making no mistakes and not letting the Germans attack Lodz or Warsaw without two units defending.
The Polish Airforce needs to be preserved - either for internment or for use in Poland (tbd).

The German set up allows the Poles to keep Gdynia free for this impulse by placement of the 1st Division as a blocking force - thus meaning the Polish Flotilla can take to the Baltic.

The Modlin Army in Katowice will be destroyed, which is annoying, but the Karpaty Army in forest to the north is needed to ensure there is no lucky surprise attack against Lodz. The Tarnow Cavalry Corps is deployed to guard Poznan.

Army Group Lodz:
Pommorze and Krakow Armies

Army Group Warsaw:
Smigly-Rydz HQ and the Poznan Army

Polish Airforce:
PZL P-11 and P.23
Task: To be decided

[warspite1]

Scenario A+B
Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The Germans need to make best use of this guaranteed Fine weather for this impulse.

They choose a combined action with the objective of getting one of the two Polish resource hexes (by taking Katowice) and putting the first element of the Netherlands Invasion Flotilla to sea.

The light cruiser Nurnberg transports the men of the 14th (SS) Infantry Division. The cruiser, and attendant destroyers, minesweepers and E-Boats hug the Dutch coast in order to avoid the watchful eye of the Royal Navy - but not too close to raise the suspicions of the Dutch....

[Jagdtiger14]

A couple notes:
1. No invasion attempt(s) on Rotterdam?
2. ENG might be better on Dutch border with sp ARTY on Danish border.
3. Alpine unit better off in west

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Jagdtiger14

A couple notes:
1. No invasion attempt(s) on Rotterdam?
2. ENG might be better on Dutch border with sp ARTY on Danish border.
3. Alpine unit better off in west

warspite1

1. Yes - see post 84 This is central to the whole thing!
2. The ART gives me more points and I should not need the ENG initially at any rate
3. Why? I want to ensure Katowice falls - I cannot leave this very first attack to the vaguries of the dice.

[warspite1]

Great start - I cannot get either division to load [8|] - didn't tick SCS Transport...

... oh well - just have to set up again..

[Jagdtiger14]

The ENG can be used against the CW in Rotterdam in case the invasions go wrong.

[Barbuesque]

ORIGINAL: Jagdtiger14

Warspite: As I mentioned before a couple times, none of my face to face gamers do a Fall Gelb...however I choose to never do anything else. I have to say its always worked out for me, although I know that it can fail depending on bad outcomes on die rolls. The biggest drawback for me is what Orm mentioned about US entry chits.

If you make a list of all the things that can go wrong...and according to Murphy's Law will go wrong...then this is not the strategy for you. In reality some things might go wrong, while others do not. So long as the prime objectives are accomplished, the average costs involved are acceptable to me. Personally, I do not consider it "high" risk...but we all have our own definition of that, and that is another reason we all like this game.

It's a really interesting strategy, but here is my summary so far:

The benefits: Crossing the dyle line before the good weather starts again in spring or summer 1940, potentially gaining 1 turn

The cost:
+Higher US entry
+Plus 2 pilots to the CW even without playing with internment)
+Polish war dragging on with potentially higher casualties
+More vichy chits early on with Poland staying alive

As long as the polish resources are seized though, I think this is acceptable.


The risks:

+Bad weather (10% chance of storm)
+Invasion of Rotterdam failing and British reinforcing (25% chance if sending the cruiser out on the first impulse). The British could easily set up 2 motorized, an infantry division and 2 fighters in Rotterdam. It will most likely be hard to take, but will eventually fall if only to attrition.

So it's a 75% chance of significantly improving the axis position, vs 25% chance of making it worse, at the costs listed above.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Jagdtiger14

The ENG can be used against the CW in Rotterdam in case the invasions go wrong.

warspite1

As I had to start all over again I have amended this.

The British get the 3-strength Blenheim this time but the German units are generally better too...

%^%&^* sake. The US get THREE chits for Polish entry.... [:@] Seen this bug reported before but never suffered it myself... until now. Not starting again but will try and stop the next chit from being drawn to compensate...

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The Germans must choose what to ground strike. Because of the troop numbers employed in the south there is no need to strike against Katowice; a pop at Warsaw with the double surprise bonus makes sense. The He-111H is ordered into the sky...

The Luftwaffe achieve one hit, although fail to strike the HQ.

[composer99]

+More vichy chits early on with Poland staying alive

Just a quick note that MWiF doesn't implement LoC Vichy, so that's not a concern.

[Jagdtiger14]

Well, you don't need to take this experiment beyond the fall of France anyway...so no big deal on the US entry bug.

On your cost factors above, I assume the +2 pilots the CW gets are from the Polish air?...this happens Fall Gelb or not...so I wouldn't include that as a "cost"...but that's just the way I'm looking at it.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The six land moves and two attacks are all about taking Katowice and clearing the Polish Corridor. These six work out perfectly. The 1st Polish Division finds itself assailed from the south and the east by lead elements of the 35th and 37th Infantry Corps.

Meanwhile in the south, mechanised and motorised forces spearhead the move west toward Krakow, while the Infantry hem in the Modlin Army from three sides.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

The Poles in the north are facing an automatic, while the Germans need 5 points to guarantee an automatic victory. A He-111B can provide 4 of these - and with Fractional Odds in play, the Germans would be incredibly unlucky not to get the 10:1 they need.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

Good job as well as once again the computer "throws" a 1....

von Leeb and the 49th Mountain Corps occupy Katowice and southwestern Poland is cleared. Next stop, Krakow and the resource to the northwest of the city.

[warspite1]

Sep/Oct 1939
Impulse: 1

With the south now under control, the Luftwaffe order their fighter unit north in case the Poles bring their aircraft into play.

And that brings the impulse to a close.