WIE noob AAR: reaching the "find out" point of the FAFO cycle

[FOARP]

Leningrad has fallen! A heavy bombardment from tactical and strategic bombers (in one of my less-wise decisions I decided to invest in these) and medium and long-range artillery, combined with a relentless attack by the Finns from the north and the Wehrmacht from the south, has overwhelmed the defenders. The possibility of redeploying the forces thus liberated against Murmansk and Moscow is now a reality! But will they be in time...

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Pressure on the Moscow salient has been partly relieved by the re-taking of Vyazma, but the troops in the kessel are still very much in danger.

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In the south the German forces continue to hold out in the ruins of Stalingrad. An unwise redeployment by the Soviets out of Kharkov has left the city exposed to a counter-attack.

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In Tunisia the American tank division based in Phillipville destroyed the Italian Littorio division, but was itself destroyed in a counter-attack by German heavy tanks. The US airfields thus exposed were then heavily attacked by Italian and German infantry units.

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[FOARP]

My options for deploying the Leningrad forces - probably two Infantry corps, a tank division, and a mechanised corps backed up by artillery under the command of Manstein - are limited. The target has to be Moscow so as to relieve the forces in the Moscow kessel, take the city, and hopefully bring about the collapse of the Bolshevist regime.

I could reinforce the forces currently battling around Kharkov, and hope to blitz northwards to Kursk and then approach Moscow from the south. However, whilst this is open terrain, we are talking a very long advance sweeping more than half the width of the Eastern Front. Whilst the Manstein's forces would be joined by a heavy panzer unit and additional infantry around Kharkov, the force would be a slender one for such an advance.

Alternatively these forces could advance directly south-east from Leningrad towards Kalinin. Indeed a Panzergrenadier unit is already on this path. The main problem with this is it is through low-infrastructure wooded terrain in which supply will be a problem. It is, however the much quicker path if the drive can get ahead of any Soviet blocking forces.

It is now 5 August 1943, there are only a few months more until the Russian winter strikes again at my forces. This militates in favour of the more direct strategy.

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[FOARP]

19 August 1943: In Normandy Graziani and Model's men appear to be containing the Allied invasion. A costly Axis air offensive, combined with accurate Italian gunfire, destroyed a Canadian amphibious taskforce off the coast near Rouen. An offensive by three German corps destroyed a British infantry unit and cut off the British 7th Armoured division from the main landing force. Whilst Allied airpower is taking a toll on the Axis, a complete destruction of the Allied landing force now appears possible.

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In North Africa a large-scaled Axis breakthrough is taking place with little resistance in their way, as the American corps defending Constantine was overwhelmed by an attack from all directions. Here too, a liquidation of the front now appears possible. The Americans are missing the forces destroyed in the Atlantic!

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In Northern Iran fighting has been somewhat inconclusive, though costly for the Soviets. The planned storming of the Caucasus oilfields is still blocked!

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[FOARP]

Mid-August also saw intense fighting on the Eastern Front. In the Moscow kessel an advance by the Soviet III Mechanised Corp cut off the pocket before the corps was in turn surrounded and destroyed. Meanwhile, Von Manstein's forces advancing to relieve the pocket captured Vyshny Volochyok, scattering the weak corps of poorly-motivated Soviet infantry defending it.

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Meanwhile on the Stalingrad front the Hungarian infantry had taken Kantemirovka whilst the Werhmacht, backed up by a Hunagrian tank division, has retaken Kharkov. It seems the attack on Moscow genuinely has led to the withdrawal of some of the Soviets on this front. Stalingrad is still endangered by Soviet heavy tanks, thought the first Panther tanks have arrived to bolster forces there.

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[FOARP]

Early September 1943, and the Axis is now advancing in Algeria practically unopposed, sweeping through the Allied airfields established there to bombard Italy and southern France. Algiers is sure to fall in the next turn, allowing the Axis forces to be returned to Europe where they are now desperately needed.

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In Normandy the Allies put on a simply stunning air-offensive, destroying one German corps and damaging another. The containment and destruction of the Allies hoped for in August now seems like a distant dream - reinforcements are desperately needed here. Axis troops now pray for bad weather!

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[FOARP]

In Russia everything now centres on the battle for Moscow. The advance of Manstein's men from the north has relieved pressure on the kessel, though the forces fighting in the Moscow suburbs are really being worn down by repeated attacks from Soviet infantry and armour, backed up by the dreaded "Stalin's Organ" rocket artillery. The race is on for Manstein to capture Kalinin and assault the Soviet capital from the north before the bad weather sets in!

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[FOARP]

16 September 1943 and Allied pressure is increasing, sustained by massive, overwhelming airpower. I've withdrawn my exhausted forces from the immediate vicinity of Caen as advancing just seemed to expose my forces to enemy aerial bombardment. Reinforcements are needed - and will arrive soon as Algiers has now fallen.

Axis bombers did successfully destroy a British amphibious unit crossing the channel, but with serious losses in escorting fighters.

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On the Moscow front Kalinin has fallen to Manstein's men, Rundstedt's men in the pocket are now relieved but the Soviets are preparing an attack to turf the weakened Germans out of the western suburbs of Moscow - something that would greatly complicate the German supply situation with winter coming on.

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Faced with no Soviet opposition, Hungarian forces have advanced in spread-out formation towards Voronezh. The hope here is that either the city is taken or that at least Soviet forces have to move to stop them. Meanwhile in Stalingrad the Soviets continue to press against the German and Romanian defenders, as yet without a decisive result.

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[FOARP]

4 October 1943. In Normandy the Allied position continues to strengthen though poor supply is their Achilles heel. German mechanised forces have just arrived at the front and are intended to be used in an attack on Caen soon, which should split the Allied front.

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In Moscow the battered German forces defending the western suburbs of the city held - just. The German 11th army had been reduced to a fraction of its strength under a powerful Soviet attack by mechanised infantry and paratroopers, backed up by artillery. Manstein's army has made contact with Rundstedt's and is now firmly established on the plains to the north of the city. In a couple of turns at most the city should be brought under the bombardment of the German heavy artillery. Though we are in October, the weather remains fine - we'll see how long that lasts.

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The Iranian situation has finally seen a break-through as the poorly-supplied Soviet defenders around Astara on the Caspian sea have fallen back, allowing the Afrika Korps to cut of the Soviets in Rasht.

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Finally, the USS Montana blundered in to the Kriegsmarine ship Bismarck, which had been damaged during the initial fighting off Newfoundland and sank it with a lucky hit from its 16" guns. A vengeful squadron of dive bombers from the German carrier Deutschland in turn sank the Montana. This is Germany's first major naval loss of the war, but the ratio is still very much in Germany's favour.

[FOARP]

26 October 1943. The planned attack against Caen turned into a counter-attack into Rennes as the British temporarily forced the garrison there to retreat and took the city before the German 10th Panzergrenadiers smashed them and retook the city. An attempted British amphibious attack across the English Channel turned into a disaster when German S-boats together with German and Italian naval bombers pummelled them into submission.

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On the Moscow front the guns have finally got into range of central Moscow. The weather has turned against the attackers but the city is now well within reach. A big turn-around from the desperate fighting of the summer!

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[FOARP]

17 November 1943. Moscow Front. A Soviet counter-attack to the south-west of the city destroyed a German infantry corps. Back when the Germans were surrounded this would have been fatal as it would have allowed an attack on the vulnerable artillery and HQ units in the centre of the Moscow kessel, but now forces there is room to manoeuvre and reinforcements available it simply resulted in the Soviet shock-army that carried out the counter-attack being destroyed. Moscow itself is under heavy bombardment and German armoured forces to the north of the city are sweeping around it to cut it off. Only heavy Soviet reinforcements and bad weather can save the city now.

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On the Stalingrad front the Soviets, having assaulted the city ceaselessly for months, have finally retreated. My panzers have seized the opportunity and are advancing to cut the railways linking forces in the Caucasus to the main part of the USSR.

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In Normandy, my forces assaulted Caen, but the British have so far prevented them taking the city. The bad weather is greatly assisting my forces by keeping the Allied air forces from attacking decisively.

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Finally, in the Caucasus my forces are now advancing on the Baku oilfields. It is hard to see how the Soviet Union can stay in business without both these and their capital city at Moscow!

Baku.png (1.37 MiB) Viewed 1847 times

[FOARP]

9 December 1943. Normandy Front. Caen holds out, and the Allies have been heavily reinforced by tank units. On the plus side for the Axis, units armed with the latest Panther tanks have arrived on this front, and the Luftwaffe, though still outnumbered, are taking to skies in the all-new ME262 jet fighters!

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On the Moscow front a determined attack on the southern flank of the army cost the Wehrmacht two infantry corps. Meanwhile German armoured forces sweeping around the north of the city heavily damaged the mechanised forces holding the city as well as an armoured formation.

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In the Caucasus German panzers are advancing into the Baku oilfields, having destroyed the Baku garrison in intense fighting. However, powerful Soviet formations have arrived on their eastern flanks.

Baku perhaps.png (1.21 MiB) Viewed 1841 times

Finally, poor supply and a determined Soviet counter-attack have prompted both the Hungarians to retreat from Voronezh, and the German-Romanian forces to retreat from their attempt to cut the north-south railway at Verkhny Baskunchak.

north south no.png (1.25 MiB) Viewed 1841 times

[FOARP]

31 December 1943. A remarkable end to a momentous year!

In the west, Caen fell after a heavy bombardment from the guns freshly arrived from Algeria. Sighting Royal Navy battleships in the channel, Axis naval bombers hit them repeatedly, in the process spotting a formation of landing-ships that were then hit heavily by the Luftwaffe. With Caen in Axis hands, the Allied front here is now split!

Front split.png (1.39 MiB) Viewed 1834 times

Even more significantly, after more than six months of heavy fighting where at points it looked like the Axis army in this sector would be destroyed, central Moscow fell to the Axis on the very last day of the year!

Moscow captured.png (1.69 MiB) Viewed 1834 times

On the Stalingrad front, the disastrous advance eastwards from Stalingrad has ended with the German panzers retreating back to the city. The fifth panzer was ambushed and destroyed in this advance, and is now being reconstituted at great cost within the Reich. I was surprised by the ferocity of the Soviet counter-attack in this sector given their troubles around Moscow, but the AI does not always prioritise well (even the well-programmed AI in this game). New armies are forming under Kluge near Kharkov and Kesselring south of Rostov, with the idea of widening the salient in this sector.

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On the Caucasus front Axis forces are scrambling to keep open the supply route to the forces around Baku, endangered by a heavy Soviet counter-attack by infantry formations. Hopefully Soviet problems elsewhere will draw off these forces, but we shall see.

Afrika korps trouble.png (1.15 MiB) Viewed 1834 times

[FOARP]

11 February 1944. Moscow, Stalingrad, and Baku all hold. The main action this turn was in the west, where Axis forces tightened their grip on the Allied forces encircled at Le Havre, and battered the Royal Navy battleships sighted of the coast of East Anglia.

East Anglia.png (998.57 KiB) Viewed 1830 times

[FOARP]

Well, this was unexpected... but the answer is no.

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[FOARP]

24 March 1944. whilst there is little movement on other fronts, German light naval forces spotted two amphibious formations in the English channel and destroyed them, whilst naval bombers again struck Royal Navy battleships off East Anglia.

In Normandy, the bad weather was perfect cover for the destruction of the pocket at Le Havre and and advance up the Cotentin Peninsula towards Cherbourg where the last British tank division on the continent of Europe is presently surrounded. British morale presently sits at 40%, so a victory may yet be won on this front.

Landing defeated.png (1013.08 KiB) Viewed 1810 times

[Platoonist]

So, what is ArmeeGruppe Kanada up to these days? Haven't heard much about the Brandenburgers lately.

[FOARP]

So, what is ArmeeGruppe Kanada up to these days? Haven't heard much about the Brandenburgers lately.

I'm vacillating between returning them to Europe or going on to occupy PEI and Nova Scotia.

[FOARP]

7 May 1944. Saudi Arabia unwisely made the decision in 1943 to supply the Americans with oil. The Axis leadership was intent that the House of Saud would live to regret this.

An assault by Italian special forces was put together in secret - the plan involved a parachute landing by the Italian Folgore division behind Tabuk combined with an overland-drive from the Jordanian border and an amphibious assault by the Decima Mas at Yanbu, with both attacks converging on the Saudi capital at Medina. The Italian carrier Aquila would provide air cover.

The initial assault has gone well. Folgore smashed the garrison at Tabuk and should soon link up with the small forces advancing from Aquaba to start their advance on Medina. The Decima Mas successfully landed at Yanbu and should soon reach Medina. The only point of caution is that Riyadh appears to be protected by a full army corps - not something that was expected! An Italian army corps is en route from Algeria (where the advance continues sluggishly due to supply issues) to provide back-up.

punishment!.png (1.12 MiB) Viewed 1757 times

[FOARP]

In Normandy, a fresh wave of British reinforcements arrived and drove the Axis on the Contentin peninsula into retreat. However, this is not 1943 and there are heavy Axis forces on hand, including ever-increasing air power, that should smash them once and for all. British morale is now at 36% so this level of losses does not seem sustainable for them.

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[FOARP]

In the far north, having spent a long time defending Petsamo against repeated attack throughout 1942-43, the Suomusalmi corps has gone on the counter-offensive combined with Mannerheim's Isthmus army recently arrived from Leningrad. Murmansk seems unlikely to hold, and with its capture this would leave Volkov near Leningrad as the only national morale objective left.

Murmansk.png (827.92 KiB) Viewed 1752 times