Switzerland and Case Christmas Tree

[gwgardner]

I was just reading in Weinberg, in A World At Arms that immediately after the armistice with France, the Germans began preparations for taking out Switzerland. First I read about that. Anyway, since the 10 PPs in Zurich looked enticing, I decided to carry out the operation. Hasn't gone too well so far, as I had already transferred two air armies to Sweden for an invasion of Norway. My remaining air army has taken some heavy losses striking the Swiss corps in Lauzanne (66 PPs losses), with nary a dent in the Swiss defense, thus making a ground assault unfeasible as yet. The Italians have moved up from the southeast, but are unlikely to make much of a dent either, being more interested in a Greek adventure.

[cpdeyoung]

Very cool, I have never even thought of trying it. They seem a tough nut. I have read speculation that currently they may have tactical nuclear weapons. What kind of ground stength do you have?

Chuck

[doomtrader]

AFAIK Switzerland is the only country in Europe able to field over 1 milion soldiers army in one week.

[gwgardner]

All level 2:  2 infantry corps and 2 divisions at Zurich
                1 infantry division screening the three Swiss divisions between Zurich and Lausanne
                1 infantry corps in contact at Lausanne, 1 mech corps and a couple of infantry divisions available, will maneuver the infantry into the mountains
 
A couple of Italian divisions at the southern passes.
 
I had thought to hammer the defenses in both cities from the air, to reduce them and then waltz in with an infantry punch, but on the Swiss turn they have so far been able to reinforce back up to full strength.  I will now wait till the other two air armies currently in Sweden can be brought back down after the Norway invasion, before resuming the attack.  This 10 PP in Zurich is going to cost me.
 
It seems to me that the air defenses of the Swiss cities and forces are much more powerful than the Polish or French, but I have found nothing in the manual or tooltips (when hovering the cursor over the Swiss cities) that would explain that.  Perhaps just the luck of the die roll?
                

[cpdeyoung]

The rebuilding of the unit, before you can exploit the losses, is one of the things that makes me always seek a seige. I was interested to find a rule that a unit never retreats from a city. This can make any non seige city battle really tough. With a seige, supported by air, you can hope to wear the enemy down.

I am going to have to take on the Swiss, just to see.

I am also ordering "A World at Arms" which I was not familiar with. Thanks for the pointer. I mentioned one I enjoyed "Hitler and the Middle Sea" by Walter Ansel, and while I was ordering a copy for myself I saw another by him, "Hitler Confronts England" which I ordered also. HatMS made me grab "Third Reich" and try some of his ideas out.

Chuck

[gwgardner]

So a siege is defined as surrounding a city?  I didn't find anyting on sieges in the manual.

Weinberg, in A World at Arms, offers info I've never found in other books on the war, like details on negotiations, war plans, treaties, incidents, etc. that get glossed over normally.  Examples: details on the Poland partition agreement between Germany and the USSR, and the way the ultimate partition was affected by circumstances; an acount of a German raider ship that the USSR helped on its way on the northern route around the USSR, for raiding in the North Pacific;  what was going on in Italian-controlled Ethiopia while Rommel was dashing across the desert.  Lots of stuff like that.

[James Ward]

To seige a city you must occupy all adjacent land hexes.

[Severian]

Siege has been added later

[Samichlaus]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

I was just reading in Weinberg, in A World At Arms that immediately after the armistice with France, the Germans began preparations for taking out Switzerland.

For an indepth view on this view this link (in english): http://www.schweiz1940.ch/tannen40-en/
A site with lot of information on operation "Tannenbaum" = x-mas tree. The germans developed around 5 battle plans for the invasion of Switzerland in 1940. They were never carried out for several reasons, one being that they needed the divisions for the intended invasion of England (sea lion).
Samichlaus
PS: There are even 2 very detailed TOAW scenarios covering the operation for download!