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Sadly the Belgians resist our assault and the somewhat weakened
2nd Light Panzer is pulled back while the infantry moves up.

The ball is now in French hands.

Should've waited, imo. Panzers did not have enough movement to do Belgium and the Dutch in one go. Now you are going to have to root the French out of Belgium.

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Should've waited, imo. Panzers did not have enough movement to do Belgium and the Dutch in one go. Now you are going to have to root the French out of Belgium.

Yes, I know. It was a mistake. At the same time the more the French move, the less they are dug in. I'm excited to see what he will do.

Turn 20: May 24, 1940

Rain comes to the western front, we have been really unlucky with the weather.

Germany gets 40 armor and 41 warship techs.
The 3rd Panzer and a large corps deploy.

Now the dilemma is, do we attack in pouring rain?

We decide that Belgium must fall. It does so remarkably easily, mainly thanks to the Luftwaffe who brave the downpours.
Losses are light, but some units are quite tired.

Note the 2nd Panzer that just upgraded to 40 and now sits at 19 strength! This is why we want heavy armor.

You're lucky Sillyflower just sat in his foxholes, lol. A French corps in Brussels might've been too much in this rain.

When Napoleon Bonaparte was criticised for winning battles simply because of luck, he famously retorted: “I'd rather have lucky generals than good ones.” More than a hundred years later, Eisenhower reaffirmed this point by saying: “I'd rather have a lucky general than a smart general. They win battles.”

Although I am just a lowery AI player, I might concentrate my armor. Yes, a good French corps in Brussels and your out of time, as they retreat with the French, even a Belgian corps fortified may take 3 turns. Can the PBEM French opt to move their capital if Paris falls ?

Glad your getting good results from the AI air units, they stink in the AI game with losses running 3:1 against us. I rarely build/research them.

Turn 21: June 7, 1940

The French do... nothing. They are clearly content in their defensive positions,
so this can only mean one thing: We have infantry battles ahead!

Our submarines are upgraded, repaired and ready for more raiding.

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

You're lucky Sillyflower just sat in his foxholes, lol. A French corps in Brussels might've been too much in this rain.

I think he is weary from our previous game. He knows I like to counter-move if he is aggressive. If he'd moved the French
to Brussels I might have ignored it and looked for a weakness in the French lines...

Also, not moving makes me use 3 OP to get close. Something I love exploiting when playing the Soviets.

We begin by sending the fresh 2nd Panzer (it takes no losses) to help liberate Luxembourg.
The attack goes well.

At this point we notice that many French corps have low mobility (garrison mode).
We may be able to exploit this. Orders are given not to attack any garrisoned French units.

Panzer units are then brought up to make a dent in the French lines, then pulled back and given extra supply (trucks).
All interceptors are also given extra supply, as the air battles are intense.

We get our 2nd paratrooper, originally intended for use against the UK, but in the circumstances we place both our paratroopers for
use against France.

We pack our units tight, ready for next turns offensive. Usually a bad idea, but I don't think he'll be able to shatter any
of our units, and if so it will only be an infantry unit.

Turn 22: June 21, 1940

Again the French are passive. Metz is left open, it is tempting
the take it with a paratrooper.

Italy gets submarine tech.

Nasty air battles ensue as we bomb most of the French lines. While we mostly
come out on top it is a drain on our resources and many of our bombers are understrength.

The 1st Panzer w/engineers help clear the Ardennes, next the 2nd Panzer sees our first real
success as we shatter the French 19th corps.

I was going to wait one more turn, but instead it's full steam ahead.
Both paratroopers are dropped, and we aim to shatter as many French corps
as possible.

We end up making substantial progress towards the south, but I'm not too happy with it.
Casualties are high and the 3rd panzer is effectively out of the fight for the French campaign.
I should have waited one more turn. No further French units are shattered.
The only positive is capturing Metz, I don't think the French have enough mobile forces to counter-attack.

The odds against Lille were 2 to 1, I want at least 3 to 1.

Very nicely done. I like what you did with the paras.

You're being too hard on yourself here imo.

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Very nicely done. I like what you did with the paras.

You're being too hard on yourself here imo.

Always strive to do better!

Turn 23: Jul 5, 1940

U-138 is sunk by the combined might of 3 British carriers, taking 5 merchants with it.

The rest of the wolfpack head to port. Our next raid will be further from the UK.

French forces do little. We resupply Metz and get ready for our next offensive.

Our troops are quite tired by now. We'll have to bring up some reserves, so we set
Reinf. to 150.

Lille holds out another turn, which is rather unfortunate. Our panzers will have to rest up
a bit before a final push on Paris.