Operation Overlord 6 June to 6 July, 1944

[MikeJ19]

With the successes in the peninsula and around Caen, the Allied Forces are steadily moving forward.

[MikeJ19]

Progress around St. Lo remains slow

[MikeJ19]

The commonwealth forces are starting to move South

[MikeJ19]

Things are going well and my forces are moving South quickly. That being said, the Germans just got a double turn. I think this is because they just got some new units - two SS Pz Divs. Too little too late...

[MikeJ19]

The game is almost over - only about 3 turns left.

[MikeJ19]

It is over. I kept waiting for it the last turn to come up. In the end we fought for a couple of extra days

[MikeJ19]

AAR

What did I do right

I found ways to get around the main German defences. This dislocated the German defences and gave me more favourable battles.

I used the rounds very well. In most turns I was able to conduct 3-4 rounds of attacks a turn.

Hitting Caen from the South and West made that battle so much easier. Keeping the brigdehead over Pegasus Bridge was very important and helped me win – it kept the Germans occupied and threatened their supply lines on numerous days, thus keeping the Germans off balance and disrupted.

I think I found a good balance between pushing hard and not getting forces too far forward. The 2nd Armd Divs attack toward St. Lo was successful, but it took them a long time to recover – luckily I had the 83rd coming up behind them. Otherwise, the Germans would have likely recaptured St. Lo.

The breakout by the Brits was the key to the game and pushing them hard into Caen. If I had waited to long to exploit this opening, the German reinforcements would have punished me.

What could I improve

Use of my air force. I sort of forgot to check in after June 16th – not sure why.

Keeping formations together. There were many instances were my formations got tangled up with other ones.

Supply route management. It is great to bypass enemy units, but then I need to push them out of the way to ensure that the supply routes are clear. I had lots of problems with that around Caen. I should have been checking the road network more frequently to plan where I should be attacking.

I missed some opportunities to rest units/divisions.

Turning Point

[MikeJ19]

This was a lot of fun. It was really challenging and it was not until I had fully secured Caen and started destroying the Germans North of the city that I was confident of victory.

I like that I had a lot of options throughout the battle. It was nice to have overwhelming air support – even if the supply issues seemed wrong for my Air Force.

The power of some of the German units was challenging and I did not want to take them on. It is a good thing that Hitler kept the SS Pz Divs out of the battle for so long.

Not sure what battle to do now. I'm going to look at the Falaise, Market Garden and Battle of the bulge scenarios - after I download a new map mod....

For those who have been following my AAR, I have enjoyed your comments.

Have a good day!

[Nicholas Bell]

Well thank you, Mike for taking the time to post your detailed reports. I look forward to seeing what you decide to play. I think you need more of a challenge than this offered. [;)]

[MikeJ19]

Nicholas,

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've decided to take a stab at the Falaise Pocket. I have never tried this scenario (in any version of this game or any other game). It looks like fun.

[gwgardner]

Thanks for a great read, Mike. What's your opinion of the PO?

[MikeJ19]

gwgardner,

I'm glad you enjoyed it. The PO was okay. I gave them a handicap cheat of +1, which I regretted early on.

I think that the PO was doing fine early on. The reaction to my threats around Caen was very good - and very frustrating. The counterattack North of Caen was also well thought out.

However, both in the peninsula and in front of Caen, the PO did not react well when I got an opening and started to exploit it. I had expected the Germans to pull back towards Cherbourg and Caen, but that did not happen at all. In fact, most of the time the Germans were encircled, they did not try to breakout at all.

If they had pulled back around Caen, it would have taken me a lot longer, with a lot more losses, to take the city. This might have meant that the SS Divisions that arrived near the end would have turned the tide against me.

So, final thoughts. The PO needs a tweak on what to do when cut off or encircled. I think I'm going to give the PO a boost in Intelligence for the next game I play.

Have a good day,

[gwgardner]

I wonder if the AI is capable of retreating from a possible encirclement. It never did in my Barbarossa game. Perhaps in those situations it is better to temporarily take control, insert a new PO objective that would cause it to try to break out, then give back control. I have had to do that in situations where the PO has gotten itself stuck on a penninsula, for instance, because that's the direct path to the next objective.

[MikeJ19]

That is a good solution. In this battle, I could have waited a turn and then started pulling the units back. I'm not sure when I would have pulled back if I was the German player.

[devoncop]

Hi Mike

I was going to ask you....as well as complementing you on a great AAR....do you think this would make a good MP game as once my North African and Italian campaigns are nearly finished I fancy an MP game on the western front as the Axis and chronologically it would sort of fit....do you think the VP objectives are too easy for the allies given the air dominance or not ?I

Thanks again for the AAR. Top job.

[MikeJ19]

Devoncop,

I think it would like me a good MP game. I was lucky, if I had been slower in getting into Caen, the German reinforcements would have made it difficult to get enough VPs for a win. The German player has some strong units that will give the Allied player fits.

As for the air dominance, it is not as good as it likely should be. I think that there is something off with the supply of the airfields in England. My Air Force was hampered for many turns as they ran out of supplies. That being said, the Air Force did tons of damage to the Germans.

I may try this one late this year from the German side.

I'm glad you enjoyed the AAR - it was fun writing it.

All the best,