Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber - Round 2

[sealclubber]

March 31, 1940

German forces continue to attack fairly broadly around the perimter prior to Case Yellow shock. French forces reshuffle but generally just dig in and hope for the best:

[sealclubber]

April 7, 1940

French Front:

German forces launch Case Yellow and successfully cut supply to Paris from Dieppe and Orleans in addition to making contact with Paris from two directions. The German forces that have reached Paris are, however, badly mauled and ripe for counter-attack.





French colonial forces are recalled to the mainland and 4-5 divisions reach France proper with more to come, assuming France is still in the fight at that time.

The French have lost supply to the main bulk of its forces, so re-establishing a supply line is the top prioroity. Cut off troops will also counter-attack to regain communications. Finally, attempts will be made to push the Germans away from Paris.

[sealclubber]

The counter-attacks are a mixed bag. The two more critical (and thusly strongest counter-attacks) succeed. These re-establish supply lines to French forces via Dieppe as well as enable a group of pocketed French forces regain access to supply. The other counter-attacks to buy Paris some breathing room mostly fail. The French suffer a number of corps and division level evaporations in these counter-attacks, but there is nothing to lose at this point. Paris will be lucky to survive through next week:

[sealclubber]

April 14, 1940

The US, concerned by German advances towards Paris, releases Lend-Lease aid to the western Allies.

French Front:

The Germans launch major assaults across the front. German forces have successfully isolated supply depots in Dieppe with Paris and two southern pockets of French forces. The forces separating these pockets are strong and the French have little hope of restoring communications. As such, the French bunker down for the final battle in Paris. Case Yellow ends next week which will be followed by a German resupply period. Allied GHQ plans to counter-attack should the Germans decide to starve Paris out.

[sealclubber]

Still, some counter-attacks are launched. Clearly lost forces in southern pockets attack with suicidal abandon to inflict as many losses as possible on German forces. Allied forces in the supplied Dieppe salient are again reinforced by several North African divisions and attack southwards towards Paris:

[sealclubber]

April 21, 1940

French Front:

The Germans seize Paris this turn.. barely. Fresh French reserves continue to arrive from the colonies and enter the fray in the Dieppe pocket. It is these fresh reserves that support the attack southwards to re-establish communications with the Paris pocket and ultimately, the recapture of Paris itself. It is hanging by a thread and Paris will be lost for good next week, but it is one more week the Germans must continue the fight:

[sealclubber]

April 28, 1940

Case Yellow shock holds for an unexpected fourth week...

French Front:

The Germans retake Paris and hold it strongly. French forces counter-attack wherever possible, but are unable to retake Paris. The French are finished.

[sealclubber]

Persian Front:

Stalin takes advantage of the conflagration in the West to pursue claims against Persia. Soviet forces cross the frontier:

[sealclubber]

May 5, 1940

France sues for peace and Vichy France, headed by Marshal Petain, takes its place. France's surrender has brought Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania into the Axis fold as well as caused the Baltic States to accede to Stalin's demands to disarm.

The Red Army occupies the Baltic states and seizes Besserabia from the Romanians...

Persian Front:

Red Army forces advance into Persia proper and overrun frontier Persian units.

[sealclubber]

Casablanca Front:

British forces seized the port of Casablanca from the disarming French North African units befoire Vichy French forces can garrison them. For now, Commonwealth forces simply defend the port...

[sealclubber]

I've been a bit MIA on the AARs (but the games are still going at full steam)... life is also catching up to me so AAR updates will be a bit slow until the holidays but they shall be done...

May 12, 1940 to May 26, 1940

The Battle of Britain begins as the Luftwaffe conducts raids on RAF bases. Meanwhile the Axis forces declare war on Yugoslavia!

Persian Front:

Red Army forces advance to the gates of Tehran....

[sealclubber]

Yugoslavian Front:

The Yugoslavian position is hopeless, particularly since the Axis has had the time to preposition their forces. Yugoslav forces converge on Belgrade in an attempt to delay the inevitable....

[sealclubber]

June 02, 1940

Persian Front:

The Red Army is at the gates of Tehran and the war with Persia will be over shortly...

[sealclubber]

Yugoslavian Front:

Axis forces strongly seize Belgrade and the Yugoslav forces are in no position to counter-attack. Allied GHQ writes off the Yugoslavian affair...

[sealclubber]

June 09, 1940

Yugoslavia surrenders and Axis forces begin forming up on the Greek border.

Persian Front:

Tehran is finally seized and this will bring about an end to the brief war with Persia.

[sealclubber]

June 16, 1940 to July 7, 1940

Plenty of house keeping as the Axis cleans up in France and Yugoslavia (not to mention rounding up partisans). On July 7, 1940 the Luftwaffe emerges victorious in the Battle of Britain... logically, the Axis then invades Greece. An amphibious operation is launched by a German and Bulgarian corps along with the remaining German airborne division, 7 Flieger. The assault clears out Athens, but fails to actually take the city.

The Allies initiate immediate counter-measures bringing forward naval, air and land assets. Crete is secured by Commonwealth forces. Force H and the carrier group Indefatigable launch air strikes against the Axis transports outside of Athens, sinking them and all the soldiers on board. One Greek corp leaves its defensive position to attack the remnants of 7 Flieger division, taking all surviving paratroopers prisoner.

[sealclubber]

July 14, 1940

The Axis try to seize Athens again with another combined airborne and seaborne assault. This time the Axis use the freshly arrived FJ Support division constituted for the invasion of Britain and almost two corps of infantry/mountain troops. The attack once again fails. Commonwealth naval and air assets decimate Axis troops aboard transport ships while Greek ground forces leverage the support to take all airborne forces prisoner.

The loss of 7 Flieger and the FJ Support Division deprives the Axis of all airborne capability at this point in time.

[sealclubber]

July 21, 1940

Axis forces attempt a third amphibious assault on Greece, this time landing in the Peloponnese and pushing towards Athens from that front. The Axis have no hope of supply in this region and a move here was unexpected. Commonewealth forces once again move to parry this move, primarily by bringing significant air and naval assets directly into play in the Greek theater (as opposed to in and out as in prior weeks) and await the next Axis move:

[sealclubber]

The Axis assault through the Peloponnese was ultimately successful, resulting in Axis forces at the gates of Athens. They would go on to seize the city shortly thereafter.

[sealclubber]

The winter of 1940 came and went mostly uneventfully. The one bit of news is that the US entered the war in January of 1941.

February 23, 1941

Axis forces launch Operation Barbaroussa! The Red Army defensive deployment is focused on the Dneister in the south and follows the Stalin Line all the way to the Baltic. The frontline is thin - single hex depth with the exception of a few key points. various border guard and NKVD units have setup road blocks in front of the main line. All remaining Red Army troops, including all of the motorized, mechanized, armoured and cavalry units are concentrated around Moscow, on the rail net. They will be deployed once the main threat axis are identified.