“FRANCE 1944 D-DAY” DETAILED ALLIED FIRST TURN

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the third attack results. Note that the last Utah Beach defense has been destroyed. The depleted regiment that attacked Bayeux was eliminated without dis-entrenching the artillery unit there. The other attacked hexes have been greatly weakened but held. Only one combat round was expended, as shown in the info panel. 60% of the turn remains.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the exploitation of the third attack results. The Utah Beach victories have finally been exploited with the best units moved into the two hexes. None of those units can attack this combat phase, so the support assets in the area will be used to bombard an enemy artillery stack. Another stack of naval units will bombard the hex west of Bayeux. With the loss of the infantry regiment in the Omaha Beach hex, no unit can attack Bayeux this phase, so it will be bombarded as well. The defenders in hex 38,47 and hex 40,48 have been RBC’d out of them. The defenders in hex 39,48 have held, however, and will have to be assaulted again. Note that the planned combats don’t have any late units as shown in the info panel.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the Attack Planner for the second attack on hex 39,48. The attack set up is probably overkill, with two armor brigades supported by seventeen naval units and three artillery brigades. The last combat support air unit went into reorganization in the last attack round.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the Attack Planner for the bombardment of hex 32,44. Four naval units are all that will participate. Again, note the “minimize losses” settings.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the Attack Planner for the bombardment of hex 36,47. Seven naval units are all that will participate.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the Attack Planner for the bombardment of Bayeux. Nine naval units are all that will participate.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the fourth attack results. Although I didn’t bring it to the top, one of the artillery units in the 32,44 hex was knocked out of support mode, as was the artillery unit in Bayeux. The defenders in hex 39,48 were destroyed as expected. Again, only one combat round was expended. 50% of the turn remains.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the exploitation of the fourth attack results. There is now a regiment ready to attack in the Utah Beach hex, and that has been set up. The Canadian armored brigade is now ready to attack Bayeux and that has been set up. Clearing hex 39,48 has allowed full exploitation into the hexes inland from the Gold/Juno and Sword Beaches. I’m trying to keep a minimum number of units in the beach hexes themselves, anticipating the need for space for the next turn’s reinforcements. With the clearing of hex 39,48, most of the naval units that were supporting its attack were left with nothing to do, so they’ve been re-deployed into the Utah Beach area, where I’m expecting a real need for support. A few of those naval units are still able to bombard an inland hex and have been tasked to that. There are still no units in the Omaha Beach hex able to attack, and won’t be until only 30% of the turn is left, so I’ve set up a bombardment of hex 36,47. Note that none of the attacks use late units as shown in the info panel. (The “planned combat” figure should always match the “turn used” figure – that’s how you know there are no late units in any attacks).

[Curtis Lemay]

By now, you should not need to see the Attack Planning Dialog for each attack, so I’ll skip those steps. Attached is a screenshot of the fifth attack results. The attack from Utah Beach failed to clear its target, but it was reduced. As we know too well now, that target has a lot of support. The bombardment of hex 36,47 has dis-entrenched most of that target, while the bombardment east of Caen had little effect. Bayeux held out but was weakened. Again, only one combat round was expended. 40% of the turn remains.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the exploitation of the fifth attack results. Note that the defenders in Bayeux were RBC’d by the Canadian armored brigade. This opened up an exploitation path that I’ve packed with the best available units. The defense west of Utah Beach has to be attacked again, and I’m getting short on fresh infantry regiments to use. But now I’ve got lots of naval units in the area for support. And I’ve set up an attack to try to dis-entrench the last of the artillery in the hex north of it. There is still nothing that can attack the defenders west of Omaha Beach, so another bombardment has been set up. The bombardment east of Caen was so ineffective, I’ll not repeat it and those naval units have been moved to more promising deployments. Again, as the info panel shows, no late units have been used.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the sixth attack results. Note that the last of the artillery north of the Utah Beach target has been dis-entrenched, as hoped. The other two targets have only been weakened. Again, only one combat round was expended. 30% of the turn remains.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the exploitation of the sixth attack results. The defense northwest of Utah Beach must be attacked once more. This is my last fresh infantry regiment there. This time, I’m using some of the longer ranged naval units to bombard one of its remaining support stacks. At this point, the units in the Omaha Beach hex have finally caught up with the combat round and could be used in attacks. Unfortunately, they no longer have enough MPs to do so. So I just dug them in. Fortunately, the Canadian armored brigade (boy has it been useful!) is just ready to march on. I’ve set it up to clear the defense south west of Omaha Beach. Meanwhile, an attack has been set up against the mechanized regiment next to Caen. If it can be cleared, we’ll have a real breach of the German lines to exploit. Again, from the info panel, we see that no late units have been used.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the seventh attack results. Note that the defense northwest of Utah has barely held out while one more of its support stacks has been knocked out of support. Elsewhere, there is now a four-hex wide breach in the German defenses west of Caen. That’s a hole even I can exploit! Note that only one combat round was expended again. There is 20% of the turn remaining. Note that that means the turn will automatically end after the next combat execution. We now have to include defensive preparations in our next moves.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the exploitation of the seventh attack results. What’s left of the defense northwest of Utah Beach gets a maximum effort attack in hopes that, not only will it destroy the last defender, but will advance significant forces into the hex, since we won’t have the opportunity to exploit any success this time. One more of its support stacks has been targeted for a bombardment. Since no further rounds can be scheduled, both the assault and the bombardment have been set up using “Ignore Losses”. This is the one exception I mentioned at the start. It gives the possibility of two rounds of combat taking place in both cases. Elsewhere, Commonwealth units have advanced as far into the huge hole in the German lines as they can. There they have been dug in, awaiting any German counterattack. From the info panel, note that no late units have been used.

[Curtis Lemay]

Attached is a screenshot of the eighth attack results, shown from the German player turn. Note that the assault on the last defender northwest of Utah Beach was successful and two units advanced into the hex. The bombardment failed to dis-entrench its target artillery stack. That’s the end of the Allied player-turn. Now the German player gets to react. The final loss totals were 20 for the Allies and 22 for the Germans.

Clearly, I’ve established a strong lodgment, especially in the Omaha/Gold/Juno/Sword area. Utah is still in some danger, since it lost a lot of strength getting itself established, and there is a lot of German strength still in the area. The defense next to Caen may be badly over-stacked and vulnerable to German artillery counterattack, but the Germans don’t have much artillery available just yet. Even if they can pull some of that off, the Allies have lots of replacements. The important thing is that the reinforcement hexes are safe, and there is a huge gap in the German defenses that they will have a very hard time closing. In fact, that gap will tend to help the situation in Utah since much of the German strength in that area that otherwise might have been used against it will have to be re-deployed to set up a defense in the gap. The gap is so serious, that the German player will be hard pressed to find any margin for counterattack purposes.

And note that even though I got lucky with the initial attack on Omaha Beach, I never got to exploit it any better than if it had held out for several rounds. I really don’t think the final end result was anything out of the ordinary. Something similar should be achievable just about every time.

Note that I managed to get a total of eight combat phases*. The max possible is nine. These results show what good round management gives you. And, what I did here can be applied to almost any other scenario. Make use of what you’ve learned here and you’ll be able to play with anyone.

*and 31 combats.

Happy operational wargaming!



Edit: Continue following the AAR in this follow-up thread:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1726673

[PaladinSix]

Now that is a quality AAR! Thanks Curtis for taking the time to explain some of the thought process behind your moves. Even on a first reading I can see some things that I was doing wrong in my own game. A closer examination and some experimentation will certainly help me even more.

PaladinSix

[sPzAbt653]

That was GREAT!! Thanks so much for putting it all together. Are these pages from your upcoming book release 'The Operational Art of TOAW' ???

[B/snafu]

Thanks for this ARR. Good nuts & bolts for us newbies.

Another point learned for me---my understanding with art & HQ's was their movement allowances affected the turn whether in tac, entrenched, or direct---didn't realize leaving them in tac could save you from the movement risk.

[quote]ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay
.........Note that one artillery unit was moved into support range. I’ve left it on “Tactical Reserve” for indirect support. If I added it directly to the attack it could cost me a combat round because it’s been moved. Similarly, the Chemical Mortar unit has been put into the same mode. It’s only one-hex ranged, so that’s the only way it can provide support without suffering losses........./quote]

[erwinbona]

How can you see the planed combats and the turn used in the botton of the interface?

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: erwinbona

How can you see the planed combats and the turn used in the botton of the interface?

By resting the mouse cursor over the bolted panel area (where the star circlet is) on the right.