Operation Overlord - this time as the Germans

[MikeJ19]

It is early morning, June 6th and the Allied forces have landed on the beaches and paratroopers are inland across Normandy.
The Western front is being opened up, now I have to make sure that the Allies are pushed back into the sea! I’m up against Canadians, Brits and Americans.

I wish that I had convinced the High Command to push all the Panzer divisions closer to the front.

I'm pretty sure this is the real thing and not a decoy.

Here is a look at the terrain

[MikeJ19]

Here is a look at the situation just before the attack

[larryfulkerson]

Do you have any aircraft at all? Any fighters? Any Stukas? I like to go after the
troop transports, especially since my WITP-AE days against Brian ( General Patton ).
Brian taught me that the prize is in the troop transports and not necessarily the DD's and
CL's.

Do you have any CD guns? Got any AA to put on those guns or are you saving the AA for more
important facilities? Got any reserves you can move north? I suggest you retreat everybody
south out of range of the ship guns. Just a thought.

[MikeJ19]

Hi Larry,

This is going to be a challenge for sure.

I have absolutely no aircraft. Even if I did, in this scenario the Allied reinforcements arrive on the beaches, so I could not attack them anyway.

I do have a bunch of coastal artillery units, that are activated on turn 2, I think.

I have not looked at my AA yet, but that is a very good idea. I doubt that the Allies are going to go after bridges, but they may try to take out some on the rail network. I wish I had thought of that when I was the Allied player.

Thanks for the questions, this is my first time with rail capacity. I will hopefully remember to use it!

Have a good day,

[MikeJ19]

Expected Allied Plans

I expect the Allies to work at linking their bridgeheads early. This makes supply easier and more consistent.

The Allied Air Force is going to cause me lots of trouble. They will use lots of planes to support their attacks, while others will be in Interdiction mode and will make life difficult for me when I move my units.

I expect the American forces will aim for Cherbourg and St. Lo initially. The Brits and Canadians will head toward Caen.

The Allies will have supply issues initially as supplies will have to come over the beaches.

The Allies have lots of ground forces – over 8 divisions are involved in the initial landings - and more forces arriving almost daily.

Here is what I know of their forces

[MikeJ19]

Here is a look at the VP locations. It also gives you a chance to see the difference in the maps. I took this slide from my planning for the Allies in this scenario, since them I have switched to Telu IV's map mod.

[devoncop]

Great idea to reverse the sides Mike. I am very tempted to play this one soon as the Germans if I can get an MP opponent (I must have masochistic tendencies☺!)

You seemed to find Allies as quite easy so it will be interesting to see how hard you find the German side.
Rail capacity is good but if the Allies go to town on interdiction as I would expect it may be lethal using the rails.....

Following with great interest...

[700851McCall]

Me too.

[larryfulkerson]

...an MP opponent....

What in the world could MP mean in this context? Multi-player? Minimum-persistance? Massive Proficiency?

[MikeJ19]

Hi Guys,

When I did this scenario as the Allied player, I saw strikes against the German units moving into the AO - both on rails and roads. So, either way I think they will be hit. I had no idea if my strikes caused much damage to the German reinforcements.

I'm really enjoying thinking about the upcoming battle. I spent a bunch of time at work today thinking about the different options I had to defend.

As the battle unfolds, please give me ideas and I will try to incorporate them.

Have a good day,

[MikeJ19]

Thoughts

My initial deployment sees my forces spread across the AO – some are not able to move right away.

I will likely have to build a defence line with the units I have initially and plug holes. I have two Panzer Divisions available early on – the 21st Pz Div starts on the map and the 12th SS starts arriving on the 8th. I would love to be able to keep them back from the front line, so that I can use them to change the course of the battle and keep the Allies off balance. Not sure I will be able to do this.


Disrupt

I do not have any planes to give Interdiction missions, but I can blow up bridges across the front to deny them and make it more harder to attack and to resupply.

Hold the key network nodes. If I can keep some of these network nodes for a week or more, I will disrupt the Allied attack – again resupply and slower movement.

Trade space for time. Where possible, I want to delay the Allies movement, but I have to be careful not to get encircled. I can not afford to lose units, I need them all.

Dislocate

Where possible, I want to force the Allies into the bocage. It will slow them down and bolster my defence.

I need to take Pegasus bridge and destroy the paratroopers East of Caen. This will assist with the defence of Caen.

It would be nice if I can force the Allied forces in front of Caen to go West to break through – again this would force the Allies into the bocage, where I should be able to tie him up with less resources.

Pre-empt

Not sure I can do much for this, but if I can get some good counter attacks in, I should go for it.

[MikeJ19]

Here is my first option

[MikeJ19]

The second option

[MikeJ19]

The final option

[MikeJ19]

Decision

I’m going to go with Option 3, but I will be ready to give up the peninsula if it looks like a bunch of my units will get trapped there.

I like Option 3 because it should help me force the Allies away from Caen and towards the bocage. I keep saying this but those hedgerows are very difficult for the attacker.

I will also destroy bridges across the front as I move back. As only engineer units can repair bridges, this means that if I get a chance to destroy an engineer unit, I should take it.

I will look for opportunities to do some counter battery fire. The Allies have lots of artillery and if I could reduce their effectiveness it will help my defence.

My main effort will be around Caen. I would like to be able to push the para units back from Caen and cut them off from their supply over Pegasus Bridge.

I need to check the losses levels of all my troops. As I review my defence, I see some units are on minimize losses and others on ignore.

[gwgardner]

Perhaps you could combine 1 and 3, followed by 2 if the other options don't succeed.

[MikeJ19]

gwgardner,

That is a good idea. As I relook at my options, they are fairly similar. In any case, I want to defend forward to allow time for my reinforcements to arrive. I really hope that I can convince the High Command that this is the main invasion and get those Pz Divs early.

Have a good day,

[MikeJ19]

I'm going to post a series of slides showing my initial actions across the AO. There will be a bit of overlap in each of the slides, as I tried not to forget what was happening between the initial battle areas.

There are a fair number of German units in garrison mode to start, so that will slow down the creation of a defence line, which is realistic.

[MikeJ19]

A look a little to the East

[MikeJ19]

This will be an interesting area - the gap between the Americans and the Brits. I'm still surprised that the Brits were not able to get off the beach.