Nach Frankreich 1940(t) - Axis

[Olorin]

These overview maps with the Army names and Army Group lines are glorious!

[tverse]

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback.

[tverse]

May 17, 1940 (T10)
Next Phase – the breakout of Army Group A has basically three options: go south towards Nancy, go west towards Paris, or go north towards Lille. Going north toward Lille is probably the best option because it will help surround the Allied forces in Belgium which will aide in forcing Belgium to surrender which in turn will remove those forces, both Belgium and British units. It will also work to bringing two key objectives, Lille and Brussels, into axis control.
Before developing the plan let’s look at the status of the Panzer units and troop losses in the following posts.

[tverse]

May 17, 1940 (T10)
6th Army – Three days ago (May 14) Panzer units in this area took a beating from attacks by Allies. After stabilizing the lines on May 15, I started pulling these units off the frontlines in order to rest and re-supply. The 3rd PZD (shown below) is an example of the formation outlook of all the PZDs in this army. As you can see by the unit report for IV/KG 3.PZ the “red” health status is result of readiness (fatigue) and supply (red arrows) and not loss of units (yellow arrow). This is typical for all the 6th Army Panzer divisions.

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May 17, 1940 (T10)
PZGRP Kleist– The Panzer units associated with organization are not in as bad of shape as those in the 6th Army. But like the Panzer units in the 6th Army, when a unit has “red” health status is the result of low readiness and low supply (red arrows) and not the loss of units or equipment (yellow arrow). The example below is typical of the Panzer units in the PZGRP Kleist.

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May 17, 1940 (T10)
PZGRP Kleist– This example shows the “red” health status of the divisional armor and like the Panzer units the health status is the result of low readiness and low supply (red arrows) and not the loss of units or equipment (yellow arrow).
In all the army groups, the artillery (both IDs and PZDs) was used quite extensively and many units have a lower health status.

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May 17, 1940 (T10)
Here is a look at the overall losses for the first 10 turns (which is turn 8 really since the first two turns your units are frozen).
Infantry & Engineering Units- This is the area of highest loss. Infantry squad’s losses are running in the 12-14% range.
Vehicles – Tanks, Recon – Losses in the tank units have been very low, 5% or less. Armored car units are higher, about 8% in total. Trucks have the high losses at 17%.
Artillery, Antitank, Mortars – The only artillery that shows any significant loss is armor that is embedded in the regiments, some the 75mm and 105mm. Also mortars and AT guns are also mostly embedded in the regiments so their losses are comparable to the infantry squad losses.
Air Units – I always had some units on air superiority duty. In the first few days the remaining units were assigned to airfield attacks and interdiction. The last 4-5 days those units were assigned extensively to combat support. As you can see I rode the air units pretty hard, 12-30% losses.

[tverse]

May 17, 1940 (T10)
Phase 2– Overall concept for the attack plan is fairly simple.
Army Group A
Panzer Divisions – Push forward towards Lille and the coast.
4th Army – Sweep around the “corner” and provide northern flank defense for the PZD drive to the coast.
16th Army – disengage from current position and provide southern flank defense for the PZD drive to the coast.
12th Army – provide southern flank defense and infantry division support for the PZD drive to the coast.
Army Group B
18th Army – continue movement towards Brussels.
6th Army – Maintain contact and push on the forces in Belgium.

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May 17, 1940 (T10)
Army Group A – Close up look at the Phase 2. The flanking support by the 16th, 12th, and 4th Armies is critical to maintain a supply corridor for the PZDs push to the coast.
A few areas of concern:
1) Can the infantry divisions keep up with the Panzer divisions?
2) 16th Army need to pull out of its current engagements – will the allies follow? (human opponent probably would)
3) There are two areas of weakness (see red arrows) will the Allies exploit these areas? (a human opponent would)

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May 17, 1940 (T10)
Army Group C – the 1st Army has two divisions in reserve. Plan to move these toward the current 16th Army position to help keep the Allies in check as the 16th Army pulls out also in case the Allies try to exploit the current weak spots (red arrows).

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May 10, 1940 (T10)
Army Group B – If a breakout cannot be established for the 6th Army PZD’s to move toward Brussels, I may move these divisions 125-140 km through the 4th Army area and add them to the Panzer divisions push towards the coast.

[Nicholas Bell]

Excellent reporting, Tim! Really enjoying it. You're probably spending almost as much time preparing the AAR as playing. Thank you!

[tverse]

ORIGINAL: Nicholas Bell

Excellent reporting, Tim! Really enjoying it. You're probably spending almost as much time preparing the AAR as playing. Thank you!

Thanks for comment. I enjoy playing the game but I also enjoy telling the story which is something very new for me.

By the way I use to live in Anchorage, AK. Moved out about 5 years ago to be closer to kids and grand kids

[tverse]

May 18, 1940 (T11)
High level view at start of turn 11.
Army Group B – Continue to push to Brussels. No break outs to exploit by resting PZDs.
Army Group A – PZDs continue drive to north west towards Lille and the coast.
Army Group C – 257th &262nd IDs still moving northwest end of the 1st Army front.

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May 18, 1940 (T11)
Army Group B
6th Army – Infantry units are up against strong enemy position. The unit Icon numbers are showing “stacked” anti-personal & defense numbers. No “break outs” occurred last turn in which the PZDs could exploit. One possible weak spot (red arrow) but infantry units in this area have been weaken and are reorganizing.
PZDs – Shown are the formation outlook for the Panzer divisions in this area. For the most the past few days rest has improved their overall health. If a break out does not occur this turn I will send them south to link up with PZGRP Kleist push to the coast.

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May 18, 1940 (T11)
Army Group A
PZGRP Kleist – Panzer continue to push northwest towards coast. Still concerned these units may outpace the follow-on infantry divisions.
4th Army – Infantry units are working their way around the “corner” to provide northern flank defense.
5th &6th PZD of 4th Army – these units have rounded the “corner” and are pushing north.
12th Army – Some infantry units are moving into position to provide southerly flank defense. Other units are following the may PZGRP drive in order to provide support as needed.
16th Army – Units have started pulling out contact with the enemy in order to move into flank defense position for the PZGRP drive. Disengagement has not been without issues, several units (yellow circle) are now reorganizing as a result of pulling out.

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May 19, 1940 (T12)
High level view of progress
Army Group A – Lead Panzer units are about 50 km from Lille.
Army Group B – the 18th Army has arrived from Holland and are engaging units on the way to Antwerp.
Army Group C – no significant change.

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May 19, 1940 (T12)
Supply – this is a look at the supply. Generally it has not been an issue. However, the 2nd Panzer Div. became cut off during the allied turn (yellow circle).

[tverse]

May 19, 1940 (T12)
PZGRP Kleist– Lead Panzer units are about 50 km from Lille. 2nd PZD got surrounded during the Allies turn.
12th Army– both PZDs and IDs have pushed through the southern flank of the Allied position (blue arrows). Several divisions are also moving around the “corner” to support PZGRP Kleist northern flank.
6th Army– I decided to commit the PZDs (yellow arrows) to forcing a way through the western flank of the Allied position instead of swinging them down and around as proposed before.

[tverse]

May 19, 1940 (T12)
Army Group A – A look at how the southern flank of PZGRP Kleist is shaping up.
12th Army – divisions are spread all over supporting the drive to Lille, providing defense for southern flank, as well as keeping the supply corridor open.
16th Army– units are slowly moving into southern flanking position.