Overlord 44 - Mike1984 vs. Parzival

[mike1984]

This scenario is on a night-day turn cycle. As a result, most of the major action happens during the day. Unless there is a major engagement or movement during a night turn, I'll post my AAR turns on the daylight turns only. Just a heads up...

5 June 44 - AM - Utah Beach Sector

Airborne operations begin, with the landings suffering from only moderate scattering. The 82nd Airborne was able to secure the only major bridgehead over the Merderet River, while the 101st Airborne is moving south towards Carentan. The Utah Beach shock force of mostly DD tanks was able to gain a foothold on the beach, which will allow the full assault force to land with less resistance. As dark falls, the rest of the 4th Division will land and advance west towards the drop zones.

[mike1984]

On Omaha Beach, only two sectors were taken by the initial shock force--DDs and Rangers--but it will still allow for the rest of the infantry to wade ashore with much less resistance than against the rest of the beach sectors. The 1st and 29th Divisions are waiting off shore.

[mike1984]

The British have had similar success with the first waves of shock troops and armor, gaining three sectors on Gold and Juno Beaches. With the main force of British and Canadians just off shore, there should be little trouble securing the beachheads.

[mike1984]

Airborne operations along the Orne River have secured Pegasus Bridge, while the landings on Sword Beach are going as planned. This is probably the most vulnerable part of the Allied Landings, as the British Airborne is backstopped against the Orne until the bulk of the infantry and armor arrive in a few days.

[parzival]

Overlord 44 is a battallion level simulation of the Allied Normandy campaign. It lasts 200 turns so when the scenario ends it will be early September. The historical result of this battle was complete Allied victory and almost complete annihilation of the German army. (Paris, not on the scenario map, was liberated 26.8. 1944). If I can achieve anything better than complete annihilation, I have to be satisfied. But we'll see how this goes.....

In this picture u can see the overall German position in France.


As u can see, the only panzer divisions in the immediate vicinity of the Normandy beaches is the 21. Pz. Div. Then a bit further away they are 12. SS and Panzer Lehr but it will take a couple of days until they are gonna arrive. In the TOAW map the overall initial position looks like this:

[parzival]

The most serious difficulty during these first turns is the complete allied air superiority. It is very difficult to move anything during the day turn. This means that I cant move my reserves to the front line as fast as I would like to. But some kind of line is gradually formíng. At the turn 3 the situation looks as in the picture. As u can see, the position of 352. Inf Div is seriously overextended. More troops are urgently needeed here. On the other hand, 709. Infantry Div. is starting to fortify into a very good defense position that should block the way to Cherbourg. 243. Inf Div is still on it's way towards the front and the 12. SS Panzer ("Hitlerjugend") has just arrived.

[parzival]

The British paratroopers took this important bridge immediately when the overlord began and they have hold it since then. Here is an authentic picture of the bridge in 1944 and u can see British soldiers standing there.



My position there is as in the picture. The elimination of this bulge would be nice but at the moment I dont have enough troops to do it. It poses a serious threat to the city of Caen.

[mike1984]

The night was relatively uneventful. The Germans were still suffering from shock effects, many unable to get moving. Good progress is being made today, as most of the 4th Division, and the lead elements of the 90th Division, are landed on Utah. The Airborne Divisions haven't had trouble forming good defensive lines across the Merderet River and north of Carentan. German Paratroopers are forming up to the west. I fully expect offensives from them against the 82nd Airborne, as well as to the south against the 101st. Panzers are spotted in Carentan.

[mike1984]

Progress has been much slower in the Omaha Sector, but the 29th and 1st Divisions are moving progressively inland. The big key here is to link up with the British, near Port-en-Bessin. The British have more tanks and artillery to support concerted efforts to capture Bayeux.

[mike1984]

The British beachheads are expanding by the hour. However, the connection between Gold and Juno remains incomplete. There is only inland nests and fixed positions, supplemented by the occasional battalion of irregular infantry, defending the roads south. The 50th Division will concentrate on moving south and west, while the Canadians on Juno will move in the same direction, hopefully meeting with the British Armor heading towards Creully. North and east of Caen, the British infantry and Airborne are preparing for a major counteroffensive by the German 21st Panzer, which is advancing up the Orne River.

[mike1984]

The Gold-Juno slide...

[parzival]

12th SS moves by rail to the front at night turn. It gets under heavy allied air interdiction and in the following morning it needs to reorganize. There are still lot's of holes and weak points in my front but fortunately allied progress is rather slow and they are still in the middle of process of securing the beachheads and clearing up my coastal defences. In the Contentin Peninsula front line is rather stable and there is no immediate danger there.

[parzival]

The 12th SS takes it's position west of the 21st panzer. The Allies have a dangerous bridghead around Pegasus bridge on the east bank of Orne and they move more troops there [:@]. However, I have decided not to try any kind of large scale counterattack because I am not sure it could succeed and the losses would perhaps be too high. 346th Inf. Div. arrived and I tried to move it at day turn. That was a . It became immediately under such a heavy air attack that now it is also in need of reorganizing. From this point on I have decided to limit all my longer movement to night turns. Moving at daytime is just impossible. Perhaps my best division, Panzer Lehr , is gonna arrive soon and Ive planned to locate it west of 12th Panzer to strengthen that long weak point in my front and give some help to 352nd inf divs difficult position.