Solo Historical Axis Warplans AAR

[gwgardner]

March 1, '41

Italian forces continue to achieve success in Egypt and Greece.

recon shows that the UK has kept fully half of its army at home, leaving insufficient forces to keep the Italians from taking Cairo and closing in on Alexandria.

[gwgardner]

In Greece, Thesallonika holds out, but central Greece is wide open. Only the mountainous terrain and the weather has slowed the advance.

[gwgardner]

Historically, of course, the Germans had to come to the aid of the Italians in both Africa and Greece, and then there was the Yugoslavian distraction. I'll have to see how things play out. I'm not going to attack Yugo, unless it aligns itself with the Western Allies.

Without that distraction, I'll start Barbarossa in late June. I want to see how the Russian AI has prepared itself, given the historical time.

As for the German army, I'll employ the historical number of armored corps. 2 in the North. 6 in the Center. And 3 in the South. Currently the Wermacht has more armored corps than that, and typically in ToW players send everything they have into Russia, stripping France bare, knowing that the Allied AI is not going to do anything. I'll refrain from doing that, again, to see how the Russian AI can do when things aren't stacked up against it. Haven't done any research on the number of Infantry corps the Wermacht used. Anyone know?

[cpdeyoung]

A quick scan of "Slaughterhouse" looks like 14+1.

1 I : Northern
2 II : Northern
3 V : Southern
4 VIII : Southern
5 IX : South & Center
6 X : Northern
7 XI : Southern
8 XX : Centra
9 XXVI : North
10 XXVII : Central
11 XXVIII : Northern
12 XXXIV : Central
13 XXXV : Central
14 XXXVI : "Arctic"
15 LI (Mountain) : Southern

Chuck

[gwgardner]

Then I'm going to have to pull a ton of infantry out of the jumping off points. I have 14 already north of the Pripets.

[later]
the RGW OOB, for infantry, is way off from Slaughterhouse. Not even close.

For AGN, for instance, RGW shows:

[gwgardner]

AGN

101st and 23rd Corps, and two infantry armies, each with multiple corps.

[gwgardner]

example, 16th Army, in AGN, had

[gwgardner]

Here's another website with an OOB, which accords with the one in RGW.

http://www.ordersofbattle.darkscape.net ... ssaOB.html

So I'll go with
AGN 8 infantry corps
AGC 12
AGS 10

AGN 2 armored corps
AGC 5
AGS 3

with miscellaneous divisions. And I havent even looked into what would be a realistic reinforcement rate. Hopefully ToW devs did their homework on that, with regard to strat moves available, although I don't think I should reinforce with any more corps until '42, unless I find in the RGW reinforcement schedule or elsewhere which units and when were brought in earlier.

[gwgardner]

Whoa! After regrouping AGN in ToW, more than half of what I had committed has to be taken away. What remains, the 2 armored and 8 infantry corps, look very thin!

It's going to be essential that I do a little research on those miscellaneous divisions. They're going to be needed.

[gwgardner]

Looking at that website, just at AGN miscellaneous detached battalions, regiments, divisions, I come with a VERY VERY rough figure of maybe 8 divisions that I could add to the AGN OOB for ToW. (by 'detached' I mean directly attached to the Army Group or Army HQs, as opposed to incorporated into a corps.)

[gwgardner]

It's mid-March '41 and Yugoslavia has just gone pro-allied. Two armored corps will have to be pulled out of Poland, where they were preparing for war against the USSR. So Yugoslavia must be taken by early June, to keep from hindering the summer campaign.

I read (in Pleshkov's Stalin's Folly, althought I think he got it from Churchill's memoirs) that it was the movement of those armored corps, out of Poland towards Yugo, and then back very quickly - all picked up in Ultra intercepts - that clued Churchill in to the imminent invasion of Russia. When he passed the info on to the Russkies, Stalin considered it as misinformation by the British, to sew discord between him and Hitler, so he discounted it.

[gwgardner]

late April '41

The Italian crawl through the mountains of Greece continues. Attempts to close off the Pelopennesus turned into an ambush, as the lead element of the thrust has been cut off by British forces.

Meanwhile, the Italian navy has complete control of the Med, and has put a real damper on the UK ability to supply its army in Greece.

[gwgardner]

July 9, '41

Barbarossa launched on June 24, with Army Group Center still minus the two armored corps sent south to take Yugoslavia. Those two corps have now been returned and are enroute from Warsaw to the front.

By limiting the German OOB to somewhat historically, the invasion of the USSR is not an easy walkover, notwithstanding the weakness of the Soviet forces, and their concentration in forward positions. The German forces are superior for sure, but the farther into the USSR, the more the lines get stretched.

True to his reputation, Genl Guderian is leading from the front.

[Im using level 1 motorized units as HQs]

[gwgardner]

Army Group Center advances well too. Genl Von Bock is a bit more cautious than Guderian however, and of course two of his armored corps are still not deep into the fray. Hrodna and Brest hold out.

Minsk is in the crosshairs of the lead AGC armor.

[gwgardner]

Von Rundstedt's three armored corps are on the hunt for Kiev, while the polyglot AGS infantry forces mop up pockets of bypassed Soviets.

[gwgardner]

AGS forces based in Romania moving to pocket the large concentration of Soviet forces around Odessa. However, the German lines here are incredibly thin.

The Germans have an inordinately huge mobile reserve, but still trying to keep this somewhat historical, I won't be releasing elements from that reserve quickly. I'll release infantry divisions piecemeal on a regular basis, but the additional armor will have to wait till the historical date. I'm using RGWs reinforcement schedule to determine when to bring in more armor to the east.

[gwgardner]

July 17

From North to South armored advances have come up against the Soviets' second line of defense. Since the infantry for the most part is still involved in mopping up pockets of enemy troops nearer the front, the spearheads will have to start looking to their flanks. The Soviet AI is very aggressive, and could easily encircle the advanced German units if care is not taken.

In the north, the biggest Soviet mistake so far is leaving Riga open.

[gwgardner]

AGC is dangerously over extended near Minsk. There simply are not enough available followup units to ensure that the lead armor can hold its ground.

By restricting the German OOB fairly closely to the historical limits, its no longer possible for the Germans to just roam freely into Russia.

[gwgardner]

The situation is worse near Kiev. Not to say that the German overall situation is poor, but it won't be an quick overrun.

After doing recon and finding all those Soviet units, AGS has ordered the lead armored units to pull back.

Partisans are threatening the over-eager Luftwaffe, which has perhaps advanced too closely along with the armor.

[gwgardner]

It's going to be a slow slog investing Odessa.