D-Day to the Ruhr

[sPzAbt653]

Halle-f'n-llujah !
I don't know how many turns its been since the north-south eastern line formed, but its been many turns of defensive shuffling and line patching while Elmer hits and hits every turn. Now that Brest is partially repaired the supply will increase but as you see it still isn't close to being good. Even at the rail head [green circle] its still only at acceptable levels for defense.
I still haven't decided on any plans for a breakout offensive. The cleanup behind the front lines is almost complete and that frees up five Inf Div's and one Armored Div. That's a sizable force but for now I am going to wait as supply continues to increase and then bring in some more divisions. One of the issues with a breakout is that the front expands quite a bit with the addition of the Normandy area, as several divisions will have to be sent north to clear that area and take Cherbourg. For now I am going to use the 'take what Elmer gives me' approach and see what develops.

[sPzAbt653]

The reward you get for capturing a U-Boat Base is the B-17 unit that has been bombing it. There is one other U-Boat base at St. Nazaire, and capturing that one will get you another B-17 unit.

[sPzAbt653]

A unit named the '59th Disband' has arrived [top part]. Further explanation in the briefing, but take a look at one of the Br Inf units [middle part]. We can see that it is down to less than 50% of its squads, and this isn't the only unit like this. Looking at the I&R [bottom part] we can see that the replacement rate can't keep up with the casualty rate. Therefore, I will Disband the '59th Disband' unit, which will in turn disband all three brigades of the 59th Inf Div thus returning all of its equipment to the force pool in order to provide replacements for other units. In return I will get the 59th AGRA artillery unit.
This and other similar events are a choice for the player. If you feel that you need to disband these units you may, if not you don't have to. And um, make sure you have units to replace your disbanded ones if they are currently in the front line [:)]

[sPzAbt653]

Ever wonder why the Options are in the View Drop down and the View is in the Options Drop Down ?

[sPzAbt653]

Elmer's vicious attacks in the center and north have finally petered out and now is only bombarding me each turn. My supply won't greatly improve until Sept. 15th when Brest goes to 80% capacity, so I'm not going to try any great breakout offensive. Instead I have a plan to capture St. Nazaire and eliminate the Germans in the area thus straightening my line. In the Red Circle the Germans are chock full of nine high stacks, so I will leave that alone. At the Orange Circle the Br will continue to take what they get from ELmer while moving in on Rennes [an important rail junction]. The Blue Circle is where the main effort will fall, as the Br continue to put pressure, several US Div's will move in behind them and force open a gap thru which the US 2nd and 3rd AD's will move south. There will be a link up with Para's dropped into the Gold Circles. The Para's don't happen until seven turns after the TO is taken for them, so I will click that now. I also have the other Carpet Bombing TO, so I will take that at the same time that the para's drop and use the Heavies to hit those nine stacks on the south flank.
That's the plan, we'll see what happens.

[sPzAbt653]

Port Capacity increases a little more, so I will bring in two more divisions. There are several to choose from, I'll send in the US 4th AD to join the 2nd and 3rd AD's in the move to link up with the Airborne troops when they drop, and the Br 53rd ID will come in to help the BR push on the German lines. Remember that each division brought in reduces the Supply Capacity. Note also the Supply Enhancement due to Force Transport Asset Sharing, which is attributed mostly to the one Supply Unit and two Army HQ's not moving. The TO Release list changes frequently, as more units are brought in, more take their place on the list.

[lubecknj]

At the beaches northeast. Had the Americans clear west and south to clear Brest and then moved on to Lorient. British moved east to hold off any German reinforcements and cleared out to St Malo. Had the big battle around Rennes and was able to break out and encircle the main German army, since then it's been a bit of a mop up as I moved east at a measured pace to not break my supply.

Brest was fully repaired and my supply situation was fine, then the moment when the breakout event triggered and Bradley was promoted where I had once had consistent supply to all my frontline units the frontlines no longer even had any supply and even a lot of the rear areas are hurting. I've got two rail repair units but don't have the rail transport capacity to move more than one a turn so one is always left not doing anything. And even if neither is being transported the 12th Army and 2nd Army Supply Depot units weigh too much to move by rail. I can't even really advance anymore at this point because if I do I lose supply on the unit and it recuperates at such a low amount by the time I get to Germany or Antwerp at the least they'll be combat ineffective.

[MikeJ19]

Steve,

This is awesome. I really like the impact of bringing new units into theatre has on supply. Hats off to the scenario designers.

All the best,

[sPzAbt653]

the frontlines no longer even had any supply ...

I am approaching that period myself and will see what happens. If you save games every turn or have auto-save on, there are probably saves for every turn, so you might send me a before and an after save file to be investigated, but that isn't necessary right now as I want to see what happens in my game. This one has been playtested extensively by three players, so the scenario is pretty tight. Thanks for the details, and:

Rail Transport increases 24 turns after the breakout [#14 in the doc].
Depots can't move by rail [#10 in the doc].

[sPzAbt653]

Airdrops are possible, the Heavy Bombers are available [only two are pictured but eleven in total], and the US 17th Airborne Div has arrived. The Supply Level drops by 5 due to the shifting of transport from supply missions to para transport missions.

[lubecknj]

Sorry I don't save that often, trying to stop myself from going back in time if things don't turn out how I'd like.

Didn't spot that note about the supply depots not being rail transportable. Guess it's just slowly moving 1 spot a turn towards the front?

I am really really enjoying this scenario, don't think my issues with the supply diminish that. I've probably started over a dozen times now trying different opening strategies to give me the best chance at making it to Germany and this one has been my most successful so far, thanks for all the work!

[MikeJ19]

Drew,

Good luck with your battle. Hopefully, you will make it to Germany!

[sPzAbt653]

The WAllies have been pushing in the intended breakthru area and have made some gains, including the capture of Rennes, but the Germans have also reinforced the area so there is no clear weak spot to focus an attack on. [This is something I often do in my games, I start moving too soon before everything is ready and tip off what is going on. I often get away with doing this against Elmer, but a human would be a different story].
The intention is still to use the Heavies to bomb the German concentrations in the Red area, but I will first use them to assist in the initial ground attacks in the Br zone. US AD's will jump thru any gap and head towards the Gold areas where the US 82nd and 101st will drop.

[sPzAbt653]

D+1 dawns and it looks like the German line might be crumbling, although the 116th Pz Div has shown up [Black Circle]. All of the AB units went into reorg when they landed, so they couldn't move, but two units have gathered their wits are available for orders. I have enough Air Transport for another drop so the US 17th AB will drop in from England. They will hit the Gold zone, which should prevent the Germans from interfering in the southern area.

[sPzAbt653]

It looks like there is nothing Elmer can do to prevent a link-up between the Para's and the ground troops this turn. This will cut off the German units from full supply, but they still have some minor supply points in the St. Nazaire festung [Red Circle]. The 116th Pz Div is making some noise trying to retake Rennes or cut the rail line heading south [Black Circle]. Elmer has only moved a few of the units away from the western flank, I guess he is obeying one of those 'no retreat' orders from Hitler!

[sPzAbt653]

Hooraah! I think its safe to say the encirclement is complete. Its a large pocket to reduce and I'd like to do it fairly quickly in order to get on with the rest of the campaign. The Germans have minor supply points at each of the Purple Circles, so his pocket isn't completely out of supply. I'll try to drive a wedge from the east into the Green Circled area in order to cut off the bulk of the German units [which for the most part still haven't moved], but I probably don't have enough units to pull it off.
The German counterattack at Rennes with the 116th Pz Div has petered out, and the Br Guards Arm Div is arriving this turn, which might cut off the 116th if it doesn't fall back.

[sPzAbt653]

Like all other nations, the WAllies had AA units protecting their airfields. Therefore, as the scenario progresses some AA units will arrive for the WAllies. They are intended to protect airfields from German Air Attacks, they aren't intended to be front line units, So they have a movement allowance of 1, but can be air transported. They are best used by breaking them into two's or three's and placing them on airfields [as seen below]. As the WAllies gain airfields on the continent, these AA units can be 'flown' over to them to provide protection.

[sPzAbt653]

Back in mid-August General Devers US 6th Army Group landed in southern France and made quick progress north. Now that we are at the beginning of September, units of Devers force will begin at the southern map edge. Devers has his own supply and rules, see the briefing for details, although I will probably be compelled to spill some info as we progress.
You may wonder why some of the southern map area is blacked out. This is because no military operations took place there and there was nothing of value there, and in playtesting those areas became black holes that sucked up resources and changed the game. Therefore, they are blacked out and unplayable.

[sPzAbt653]

10. Forward Depots
... they are meant to represent when roads, rails, airfields and supply dumps have been repaired and established to the forward areas of the advance.
So yes, they 'move' slooowly.

So far I haven't hit the breakout triggers, which I think you indicated after which supply plummeted, but I'm still waiting to see what happens. At this point there are a few things that could reduce supply - bringing in more units, taking a paradrop option [-5] and a storm that happens around Sep. 1st [-12].

[MikeJ19]

Steve,

One of these days I think I would enjoy the challenge of developing a scenario. I find your descriptions of the decisions made in making this one very interesting.

Good luck with reducing the Germans in the pocket above!

All the best