Breakout and Pursuit - Seminole vs AI

[Seminole]

No turns back for a while in my ongoing server games, so after seeing ultradave's crack at the Breakout and Pursuit scenario I decided to give it a whirl myself.

I do some re-organization of my Air Force to squeeze more missions out of them. Recon assets are put under the direction of British and American transport commands. This allows them to pair up squadrons for strategic recon over the French rail system, while still providing interdiction recon over the Normandy area.




This is my first run through this scenario, but as a scenario it doesn't have VP strategic bombing targets, so my LBs will be assisting the ground pounders like they did in Battleground Italy.

The first turn you start off with some (all?) of 8th Air Force available to assist Bradley in Operation Cobra.
I do some more re-organization, putting the US P-38s and P-51s into 8th Air Force so they can provide escorts while the P-47s are put on CAS duty under 9th Air Force.
8th Air Force will be assigned railyard targets across northeastern France and the low countries in order to help starve the German front lines in Normandy. This will have more lasting impact than a week of carpet bombing the front lines.














The results of this railyard wrecking are satisfactory.




9th Air Force provides ground support to 12th US Army Group while 2nd RAF Tactical provides ground support to 21st BR Army Group. Both Air HQs create Ground Attack directives in front of their respective armies in Normandy.
In all cases 'auto' assigning is used in order for air groups to be available to all ground attack and ground support directives.
Air groups available to Ground Support can also lend escorts to para drops for units under their umbrella.




Ground Interdiction values look pretty good, especially where we intend to push on the axis toward Avranches.

[Seminole]

Ike is frustrated with Monty's lack of progress.
Accordingly he has tagged Bradley's 12th US Army Group with the responsibility of making the breakout.

Bradley's plan calls for the already detailed destruction of the rail network sustaining German operations on the front line.
Patton's 3rd Army is newly arrived, and Bradley intends to give him everything he asks for in order to carry out the operation.

"Give me all the tanks you've got."

II CA Corps, with all the British Armored formation already ashore, is transferred to the 3rd Army, along with V (Gen. Gerow) and XII (General Wood) US Corps.
Even the US Cavalry Groups, typically retained by US Corps HQs for recon, are assigned directly to 3rd Army.

[Seminole]

Before Patton gets to go rampaging through wine country we need the infantry to clear the way.
In this scenario the 21st Army Group begins the game exhausted. Basically all the British units are at 3 MP, so they won't be contributing this week.
The exception to this is the II CA Corps. Patton asks that our North American brethren open the assault with an attack to begin peeling open the German line.

The attack includes American infantry support, but General Simonds does not rise to the occasion, an ominous beginning:




A follow up attack is ordered, with Canadian infantry participation, but this time the effort includes more American infantry divisions and is carried out under the overall command of Gen. Collins VII US Corps.
This attack achieves the desired result:




General Collins VII US Corps continues to carry the attack with infantry formations. The high tank numbers are derived from the numerous tank battalions assigned to American infantry divisions in support:




XIX US Corps takes the bit, under the leadership of Gen. Corlett the Americans continue pushing through the bocage.




General Collins again resumes point, this time with several armored divisions under VII and VII US Corps. These armored divisions are responsible for clearing and securing the route to Avranches.
The 3rd Army re-organization detailed above is mostly settled after this initial phase of combat.












7th US Arm Div and 4th CA Arm Div are both sailed across the Channel to join Patton's 3rd Army after unloading next week.
The American advance has trapped several German units and secured the port at Granville.
6th FJ Rgt
91st Airlanding Div
243rd Inf Div
2nd SS Pzr Div
17th SS PzG Div

[Seminole]

Heads up to those looking to play this scenario. For some reason the level 3 airfields at the 5 invasion beaches in Normandy have their max TOE set to 1 at the start of the scenario. They're actually overstocked with planes and Air Support to start the game, so this setting will cause them to shed all their Air Support and eventually ground your planes.
I checked they were priority 4, and the airbase at Cherbourg has max TOE set to auto, so I guess I didn't pay attention on the others. It is now turn 6 and they have no Air Support. I've put them back to auto, and didn't really need them after the first two turns when I got the break out, but that seems like odd scenario design.

[Seminole]

Weather turns ugly





8th Air Force returns to strategic bombing, so we lose our hordes of B-17s and B-24s.

Recon is adjusted for the Normandy front line, and some squadrons are shuffled to continue strategic railyard observation in light of units rested for low morale.




B-26s from 9th Air Force are divvied up to continue the railyard wrecking campaign.




Ground attack directives are adjusted, and with the withdrawal of 8th Air Force P-47s, the max TOE support setting problem, and morale loss from damage several crews sit this week out.




XIX US Corps works to widen the breach. The are initially successful, but then stopped at Mortain. Patton doesn't worry about helping 1st Army with this task. He concentrates his forces on pouring through the breech.
TFs off the coast help pummel and eventually rout 21st Pzr Div and the 77th Inf Div in Brittany. 2nd Pzr Div routed east with the 353rd near Alecon.

[Seminole]

On map units in 3rd Army
Including off map support units 3rd Army strength is 306k men, 2500 guns and 5600 AFVs.




Allied Generals:




Air Losses:




Ground Losses:




Destroyed Units:




Current Theater Map:

[Fallschirmjager]

When I played this, it was actually the British who had an easier time breaking out. Neat to see that you can shift your effort one way or another and it pays off.
And I actually broke out right along the coast and drove to the Seine before the Americans could finally grind down the Germans and push south.

[Great_Ajax]

The Max TOE 1 was not an intended design. I edited the scenario to bump them back to Max 100.

Trey

ORIGINAL: Seminole

Heads up to those looking to play this scenario. For some reason the level 3 airfields at the 5 invasion beaches in Normandy have their max TOE set to 1 at the start of the scenario. They're actually overstocked with planes and Air Support to start the game, so this setting will cause them to shed all their Air Support and eventually ground your planes.
I checked they were priority 4, and the airbase at Cherbourg has max TOE set to auto, so I guess I didn't pay attention on the others. It is now turn 6 and they have no Air Support. I've put them back to auto, and didn't really need them after the first two turns when I got the break out, but that seems like odd scenario design.

[Seminole]

The Max TOE 1 was not an intended design. I edited the scenario to bump them back to Max 100.
Trey

Since you're reading, a few other oddities [;)]:

A couple of airbases in England appear on map, but if you click on them you get a blank box on the right hand pane and looking at the unit detail is says the TOE is 100/100, max TOE 100, but the unit is depleted with nothing in it:



I noticed 4 of these:

Witchford 83,170
Oakington 82,171
Graveley 81,171
Lympne 85,180


Edited to add: What's up with the railyard damage in England in summer of '44, btw?
I noticed my engineers fixing things in England and there are several hexes that have railyard damage:
Dalmouth, Ilfracombe, Poole, Cambridge, Bury St. Edmunds, and Lowestoft appear to all start with 100% railyard damage.

[Seminole]

Turn 3

Rain over the eastern part of France, but little changed with the air directives. Tactical ground support is shifted east to stay with the German center of gravity. I also keep the B-26s and Mitchells bombing railyards. German supply situation is bad if my soft factor recon is valid at all.

The Germans are pulling back some, trying to avoid a repeat of the Falaise Pocket. I have my own plans.
This is the situation prior to WA moves:



Not much fighting this week. The British launch a major attack east along the coast:



With plenty of naval guns in the Gulf of St. Malo it is little trouble for 3 US Inf Divs to overwhelm the garrison at St. Malo



Patton exhorts the men of 3rd Army to avoid engagement and seek to get around and beyond the enemy. They overrun a number of depots, and by the week's end have pocketed quite a few more German formations and put even more at risk.



The air interdiction situation at the Normandy front lines:

[Seminole]

Losses and strategic overview:

[ultradave]

Better job than me. You were able to end run the south of the German line and bag a lot in a number of pockets where against me I just needed a few more movement points here and there and that allowed them to escape in reasonable good order to set up a line along the Seine. Good job. It's a fun scenario because it's a challenge - you have to hit hard and move fast or you will run out of time, and it's short enough you can play it over again a number of times to try different things.

[Seminole]

Turn 4

The weather clears up. No more rain, no mud, and no threatening weather fronts according to our meteorologists.

Germans have pulled back to stop me from flanking Le Harve to the coast and bagging another huge lot. I think tactically a more local withdraw behind the Seine would have better served them as armored formations are the only thing I have this far forward and the MP costs of bridging opposed major rivers is quite high. They've also pulled back behind Paris. I don't expect a human to be this kind. I surmise the tactical AI doesn't 'see' the VP objectives and is really fighting the broader campaign. Still, better to build your line behind the river and through the city than several hexes behind either.

Plenty of troops to capture this week, and several more serve as low hanging fruit south of Le Harve.

Before WA moves:

[Seminole]

Good job. It's a fun scenario because it's a challenge - you have to hit hard and move fast or you will run out of time, and it's short enough you can play it over again a number of times to try different things.

Thanks, it is fun - certainly more fun than when I first tried it as the Germans!

A few tips on the movement issue. I will often pull an armored unit back to let more infantry get in for the first blow, instead of burning up tanker gas in an assault. This lets them get more into the exploitation role that Patton envisioned.
Also, check your HQs for multi-role units and convert them to on map so they can help you cover more ground. All those armored regiments you see out and about are US Cav Groups, and the British have some armored brigades you can extract as well. When the front stabilizes it will make more sense to return them to SUs, but you want to have them out and on the ground before you need them because the turn you convert them they only have 1 MP.

[Seminole]

After WA moves:




Apparently this save was before I finished my turn, I know I shifted XIX Corps farther west and grouped them together to assault Brest (visible at the start of turn 5), and in the east I moved the HQs closer and made some adjustments so that all units were in command range with unbroken chain of command to SHAEF (problems with that visible below).

Ground Losses:




Air Losses:




Destroyed Units:




Allied Generals




3rd Army (with off map units included they number 309k men and just over 6000 AFVs. Command requirements are well overburdened at this point because of the unit breakdowns. I think 3rd Army was sitting at 43/33 on command points, or whatever you call it.




Overall view at the end of turn 4:

[Erik Rutins]

Well played, Seminole.

[Harrybanana]

Great AAR Seminole. It inspired me to post my own results with this scenario which I found very tough. Thanks for all the tips, especially with the air war that I am still struggling with.

But I gotta tell you as a Canadian that when I saw you had assigned Canadian II corps to 3rd Army it stunned me. My poor old man would be rolling over in his grave:). Bad enough we had to fight under Monty, but under Patton... Good Lord!

Guy Simonds was Canadas best general so sorry to see he let you down in that first battle. He started off as the commander of 1st division and wisely took a pass on Dieppe. Even Monty liked him. Personally I think his attributes should be a bit better as he was more than just a competent general. But I suppose I am biased.

[Seminole]

But I gotta tell you as a Canadian that when I saw you had assigned Canadian II corps to 3rd Army it stunned me. My poor old man would be rolling over in his grave:). Bad enough we had to fight under Monty, but under Patton... Good Lord!

I find myself tweaking Monty by (temporarily) re-assigning his best assets to the Americans in more than one scenario.

Guy Simonds was Canadas best general so sorry to see he let you down in that first battle.

I think I let him down. I only made the first attack with 3 infantry divisions (2 CA, 1 US). On paper they had the strength to carry the day, but I didn't help matters by having the US support under an entirely different chain of command. The follow up attack by VII US Corps included the 2 CA infantry divisions, but I added 4 US infantry divisions to make sure it wasn't stopped. Should have done that the first time.

[Seminole]

Turn 5

Weather is still good, with no threatening systems on the map.

Air Directives revised since we've run over some of the targeted railyards already. Don't expect much in returns at this point as the Germans are going to be falling back on depots that I haven't touched yet, but I do continue the anti-railyard campaign in NE France.

Recon is shifted to provide a better picture along the front line and some Ground Attack directives are created with low priority to aid mopping up the pockets.

[Seminole]

My 'end of turn 4' map wasn't complete, because I had made a few more final moves before ending the turn, just forgot to create the save for screenshots later.

This is the beginning of the ground phase on turn 5:




As I mentioned above, XIX Corps was grouped to begin the assault on Brest, and I shifted some HQs farther east to support their subordinates. I also placed the American TFs along the coast between Le Harve and Dieppe to shell German coastal positions in preparation for week 5. Consequently the Germans wisely decided to vacate this area (they had already allowed me over the Seine by way of their defensive arrangement, so anything west of Dieppe was going to get trapped anyway).



A few weeks ago (when 3rd Army broke through Avranches) plans were prepared for a massive airborne assault behind Paris. The intention was to secure a stretch behind the city while 3rd Army devoted corps north and south to break through German lines and link up, trapping the units trying to defend the city. German withdrawal from Paris has made this plan unnecessary, and the stretching of Allied supply lines put the break through plan in doubt, so it is also cancelled.
Focus this week will be on seizing Dieppe, capturing the pocketed Germans, and allowing supplies to catch up. Patton isn't content with this, and orders Gerow's V US Corps to conduct a 'reconnaissance in force' south of Paris to explore gaps in the German lines.

If I was really smart I would have thought to put some engineer SUs in XIX Corps before ordering them to assault a fortress (SUs are just something I've never gotten into the habit of micromanaging, I need to pay more attention to this part of the game). Consequently even with TF support we don't eliminate the enemy will to resist with successive attacks.




Dieppe falls and the pocket is cleaned up. Gerow is successful in turning the German flank south of Paris, and is able to seize the objective Troyes without a fight. With the success V US Corps has outflanking the Paris defenders Patton orders attacks against the northern wing as well, despite the fact the airborne assault has been cancelled. Some weak units are pushed back, but nothing of consequence is accomplished.



One American TF enters Dieppe to initiate repairs and is joined by the 29th Sep. US Inf Rgt to begin prepping for an invasion of the Low Countries at Middleburg. The other American TF ends the turn in Cardiff with the 119th Sep. US Inf Rgt to prep for an invasion due south of Middleburg, across the ferry route. The intention is not for these to be full fledged invasions, but instead to create fresh supply sources as soon as the WA get close enough to link up immediately.

The pace required to encircle and then reduce the pockets has stunted my rail repair from Normandy to Paris. I hope over the next two weeks to get these rail lines repaired and some intermediary depots established to save trucks and supplies.




Ground losses:




Air Losses:




Destroyed Units:




Front lines at end of turn:




Strategic Overview: