Operation Overlord - this time as the Germans

[MikeJ19]

I'm going to counter attack today from the West. The only hesitation I have is the worry that sending these forces in will change something and the Allies will get a back to back move, which could be devastating.

[MikeJ19]

Here is the situation near Tilly after the first round of combat

[MikeJ19]

Instead of showing an overview picture, here is the results of an allied attack - they took lots of losses.

The next few posts will highlight the situation in each of the sectors of the battlefield.

[MikeJ19]

Here is the situation in the peninsula

[MikeJ19]

In front of St. Lo

[MikeJ19]

Here is the situation near Caen.

[MikeJ19]

Another day of intense attacks has passed. I'm very happy that there was no back to back move for the Allies. In theory, this is the last day of the battle... we will see soon.

[MikeJ19]

The Americans are picking up VP locations in the peninsula

[MikeJ19]

The situation near St. Lo

[MikeJ19]

Finally, the heat is still high around Caen.

[MikeJ19]

It has ended and I got the victory. I'm still a little surprised that it ended on the expected turn, but relieved.

Although I was unable to drive them back into the sea, I did hold the Allies in check. It was a fun scenario and I felt that I had some interesting options available to me.

I will be adding some thoughts on my actions and the scenario soon.

[Szilard]

Thanks for the very enjoyable AAR.

It'd be good to see the obvious goofs with this scenario fixed: Allied supply in the UK, PzLehr experience.

[700851McCall]

Victory conditions seem a bit hard on the Allies. Historically they did not capture Caen until 21st July, despite it being a day 1 objective. The PO is not far off reaching where the Allies were by 6th July.

To achieve an 'overwhelming victory' the Germans should have to push the Allies back into the sea. I thought you might manage that at one point.

[MikeJ19]

Szilard and McCall,

Thanks for the comments. I agree, it would be nice to see some of the issues with the game fixed. It was a fun scenario and I wish that I had been able to push the Allies back farther!

I’ve played on both sides of this scenario and have the following thoughts on the problems with it:

Allied supply in England.

The Allied Air Force is really under supplied. I faced this as the Allies when many of my air units were in the red early in the game and the resupply was so low that they were out for long times. As the German, it was infrequent that the Allies were able to really affect the battle. This needs to be changed.

The supply sources.

The loss of a Mullberry harbour would have been devastating to the Allies. This should be reflected in the scenario.

Pz Lehr division.

The Pn Lehr arrives with all of its units have very low proficiency. This takes an important unit for the Germans and nullifies its strength.

American unit movement.

This not as big, but when playing as the Allied player there were a bunch of units that had only 1 movement point a turn for a long while. This might have been because historically their trucks did not come across, but I’m not sure this was the case.

Garrison units.

I get that some units did not respond right away and maybe they should be left in garrison mode for a while. However, I had units in garrison right up to the end of the battle. This really limited my response in a number of cases and gave the Allies openings that they should not have had.

Allied timidness.

There were many opportunities for the Americans to push the issue. From Carentan to Cerisy, the Allies were there early and did not progress far at all. If they had pushed harder, the game would have gone differently.

VP locations.

It would be nice for there to be more VP locations closer to the beaches. I got an overwhelming victory, but do not feel like I was that strong. It would be interesting if Bayeux and Carentan were objectives locations. It would force the German player to be more aggressive to get such a strong result.

[MikeJ19]

Some thoughts on the Supply Sources

[MikeJ19]

AAR

What did I do right?

Stuck to the plan.

I had determined that the area in front of Caen was key and I put my best units into that area from the start. That helped me hold Caen.

Also, it was important to keep the Allies West of Pegasus bridge. My early attacks on the paratroops that killed them off and let me hold the East bank of the river was very important.

Getting the Americans into the bocage also helped. They were making really good progress until they hit the bocage and then my forces were able to hold them.

Breaking the plan.

I had decided to abandon the peninsula in my plan, but in the game I did not really do that. This made it harder for the Allies to get Cherbourg and meant that they had lots of units stuck fighting in the peninsula which might have helped more elsewhere.

Counter attacks.

I launch two major counter attacks – the first one on June 19th and the second one near the end of the game. These two attacks were very important to my success. The first one lessened the stress on the defenders in Caen and really hurt the Canadian and British units. The second one helped draw the attention away from the drive South out of Tilly.

Recycling units in the line and using the Ignore losses option.

I did a better job of making sure that the right units were in the line, pulling out tired units and putting in new units. Also, in critical areas I used the Ignore Losses option to make sure that I did not get pushed back.

What could I improve on?

Movement of my reinforcements

There were too many times when I failed to move forces arriving in the South up to the front lines. I got lucky in that this did not affect the battle too much, but it was a risk I could have avoided.

Objectives for my counter attacks

When I planned the two major counter moves I should have set out what I was trying to achieve at the outset. The week long counter attack North of Caen, did not have a clear objective. This meant that it was harder for me to decide when to pull back. The objective could have been a piece of terrain, the destruction of a enemy unit or just to cause havoc.

Recognizing when to pull back

In the peninsula, I lost units because I was too slow to realize that it was time to pull my units back. I held them in place and they got cut off and finally destroyed. The decision to withdraw is one I always struggle with and the timing is often difficult, but I need to work on it. I did better after my main counter attack in the East. I decided to pull back just in time.

The back to back moves complicate this decision. It is one of the reasons I enjoy the uncertainty of the back to back moves. When defending, I would rather be going second every turn to prevent their occurrence.

[MikeJ19]

Turning Point

I’m not sure when the turning point happened. I have two options:

The destruction of 6 AB Div East of the river. This made my life easier for defending Caen as it removed a key threat to the city. It also meant that the Allies kept attempting to get across the river, which used up a lot of their resources.

The counter attack launch in mid June North of Caen. I drove the Allies back and did lots of damage to their units. Their supply situation was bad and this made it even worse. It relieved the pressure on Caen as well.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this scenario. Flicking back through the slides reminded me how close it felt at times. I really thought that the Allies were going to push through my defences early. Their initial plan was different than I expected and caused me some real moments of concern.

I really enjoyed, looking back, the panic when the Allies got back to back moves.

As the German player, I had lots of different approaches I could take to fight this battle and that makes it fun. I did not feel restricted. I could have sent some of my SS Pz Divs to the West and tried to attack along the Carentan Road to get behind the Allied lines. I thought about it. This makes the game more fun, in my opinion than being handcuffed by the game to the historical approach.

[MikeJ19]

Finally, thanks to those of you who made suggestions and comments during the game. I really appreciated them.

I'm moving on to Operation Market Garden - I am looking forward to being on the offence again.

Have a good day!