Battle in Normandy AAR

[Rob Gjessing]

German spies tell me that Roger's supply situation isnt the best.. (well actually I fed him full of wine last night and he told me )

Around Carentan - which is now in Allied hands.. Roger has advanced some of his units into some clear terrain infront of my units defending in the woods and bocage.. So Im onto them!



Heavy losses are taken on both sides (2 steps each) with Roger's Allied units retreating.. (notice anything different in the CRT/Odds in the image above?)

Overall, in front of Omaha I have pulled back yet again. I do note that whilst did end up taking my stranded Pnz Lehr regiment prisoner - they actually did put up a bit of a fight and Roger did take some losses in the process [of course the Allied propaganda failed to mention this during his Turn summary]



Around Villers Bocage, some UK Marines got a bit too excited and over extended - so I took to them also.. they wont be taking part in the battle any longer.. and there their friends next to them look ripe for the picking next turn unless Roger pulls them back or reinforces them.

[Rob Gjessing]

Another quiet turn. Now many could be wondering why the Allies, who have landed a large amount of material on the beaches aren't charging inland and causing havoc in the German ranks (and it has nothing to do with the fact that Patton hasn't arrived yet). Here is a picture showing the combined US/British supply net (reduced a bit).



Notice that the supplied area runs out well before my front line. Most actions are being conducted in out of supply areas. The good news is that the supply situation is getting better fast, so Rob, don't take this as a signal to launch a broad based attack to drive me back to England.



The fight for Carentan is important for the roads connecting the beaches. The supply state at Omaha gets a lot better than Utah and without connection the Utah beachhead could be overrun as any losses there could not be replaced. The thin green line shows the vital hexes to hold.

The big problem is that the Allies can be powerful in a local area but not everywhere. There are a lot of German units and although they are not necessarily quality men they can still surround and kill any adventurous Allied incursion. In one test game where the Allies cut the Cherbourg peninsula early in the game turned into a route as the out of supply units where cut down.

Now that the supply situation is getting better expect some breakouts shortly.

[Rob Gjessing]

Not much happened this turn.. the weather is bad and Im effected by it also.. probably not as bad as Roger's men though. But it has limited what I can do this turn.

Villers Bocage is still the hot spot..



You can see how close Roger has had to move his supply truck to hand around the rations.. I got some air interdiction this turn (1 man and a beat up me-109f probably) - so I sent him out to buzz that truck.

I fulfilled my promise of picking on the Brit Marines this turn and they took a loss and then retreated. Infact looking at that image.. I have some nice ARM there.. and there is some good ART arriving too..

[Rob Gjessing]

The weather is about to go fine again so I expect that I am going to have to do some attacking again



While the rest of the front has been quiet this turn, awaiting food, ammunition and other normal things the guys on the peninsula have been told to strike out for Cherbourg. It is not necessary to capture it as much as to get close enough to stop the supplies coming from it. Once that happens the whole area will quickly be in Allied hands. Cutting off the peninsula is not really an option but I doubt I will see a lot of Axis troops speeding up to Cherbourg.



The new operation screen lets you know how progress is going. In the eight completed turns up to now the honors are about even. On turn 4 I picked up 104 points but the gains since then have been modest. On turn 8 the Allies had 427 points, the Axis 331. The difference is +96 (the the Allied player) for those without arithmetic skills. This turn the Allies gained 2 points on last turn and the current KIA tallies are 6 to the Allies and 10 to the Axis.

This screen is very useful in seeing how you are catching up on a player and can give a good idea of how the battle is going.

[Rob Gjessing]

Not much to report this turn.. the Allies are finally making a move on Cherbourg.. for the last few turns I have been evacuating the area knowing full well that the advance was forthcoming..

I am going to give Cherbourg up.. thats not a wise thing to do given that Roger will get a heap of VP's for its capture.. and its even less wise because its against Hitlers express orders not to do so.. but Im going to live dangerously



Whilst I cant see all of Roger's units.. I know that they are on the move as I saw them advancing during the replay of his turn.. also the front line indicator gives an indication of where his units may be... looks like he is advancing up the east coast road..

[Rob Gjessing]

The sun is shining and it's firm underfoot so a few expeditionary maneuvers are on the cards. The advance on Cherbourg is going well, and I just read Rob's last post so I now expect a quick capture. I am still interdicting the whole peninsula just so there are no surprises and the advance goes as planned.



Supply will be at a premium for the Axis around here next turn. Also pushing out so that the North South roads get as much pressure as possible.

The only other area of action this turn is around Villiers Bocage where the British are pushing South using attrition tactics.



This is a much harder sector as there is a good amount of Axis armor around and reinforcements arrive a short distance away. I have to be careful not to allow any counter attacking possibilities here. My recon units in the front line give me a good view of the Axis supply truck and that seems a good place to put an interdiction marker.

[Rob Gjessing]

Rogers attacks are slowly hurting me... the units are getting thin on the ground where they are most needed and I now question the amount of units which I have guarding Caen.. but then again I can see all of the Brits and Canadians sitting outside the city limits playing football and it reminds me that I need those units where they are.. or do I?

Roger's advance on Cherbourg is going well for him.. his interdiction is really hurting me with it slowing and in some places closing my retreat down.. units out of supply are now a common sight for me Im affraid.

Villers Bocage is still a hot spot.. where I am on the defensive though and not really in control.

Here is a zoomed out view of the front.. look at all of that interdiction! From both air and sea!

[rrcop]

I'm new here so hello everyone [:)]

I just wanted to say thanks for these AARs (including the ones on run5). I've read them all several times. It's the best advertising these games could get...

Robert

[Rob Gjessing]

Thanks Rob! Glad you enjoy them.. here are the latest turns:

Cherbourg is now within sight of the advanced Allied forces. A few turns will be required to reduce the strong points but I have sent my barraging artillery up there to help out. The city is just out of range of the Battleships so that they are now sitting offshore listening to the progress reports.



The South of the peninsula is almost in Allied hands as the infantry plunges through the bocage. German units seem to be retreating rather than taking losses but that is just the roll of the dice.

Interdiction still manages to make Axis movement hard and I think the remaining Axis forces will be trying to escape a pocket...

The only other active area of the front is around Villiers Bocage.



British forces still finding the going tough as there are armored units entrenched in the vicinity. The boys around Caen are getting quite good at soccer as they await further orders but it is still a bit early to throw them into the fray. Their time will come ..

[Rob Gjessing]

German forces from the Peninsula of Cherbourg are doing their best to escape from being cut off in a pocket. In their haste they have left alot of equipment (ammo and guns) behind.. whilst I was expecting this to be a smooth retreat the allied planes have ensured that it is anything but!



You can see that some units are in the red and are being left behind in the mad rush south east! Im sure Roger will try and bag them as POW's.

Roger's movement on Cherbourg (further north west) and his attempt to cut my retreating units off (you can see a mass of Roger's units in the image above as they try and close the down by advancing towards Lessay) - has meant that his line is a little thin around Carentan.

Whilst he is in no danger of losing the town I did take the opportunity to probe his line. I caused minor losses and I retreat..

Looking towards the Villers Bocage area:



The battle is now taking place in the rugged hills that surround the area. Roger had advanced a Brit ARM Car Recon unit into the line.. so I took this as an opportunity attack. Roger got off lightly! Whilst I had good odds, I only managed to score a 1 step and retreat loss on him! His unit was only a 2 step unit.. so he was lucky!

Whilst I do have some strong ARM in the area here - Roger has the advantage of numbers.. and his battle of attrition is starting to be felt.. as I move units around to hold the line.

Caen:

Well I was getting sick of watching his units play soccer.. so I waited until it was towards the end of the 2nd half of a friendly between the Brits and the Canadians and I launched (what I would describe as an unexpected assault!). Again - Roger got off lightly!



I attack an ARM unit - which got away with a retreat only, and I then attacked an INF unit, which also only took 1 loss (I think) and a retreat. I was then able to retreat back to the safety of the city limits and the river. Having trouble seeing where the skirmish too place? Look for the 'craters' and attack residue in the hexes to the west of Cean.

I dont know if Roger has been expecting such a move for a few turns now.. but I think he will agree he got off lightly.

[Rob Gjessing]

The picture of Allied supply is now much different with green (good) supply over the whole area. Units can take replacements and the news the Cherbourg has fallen has raised moral. Seaborne reinforcements still can't arrive as the strongpoints in the vicinity are still giving attrition losses so the units will still arrive at Utah and trudge over the beaches. Now to work out how many units to leave up North to clear out the strong points and how many to send South.



Allied forces, lead by the redoubtable 101st, have effectively pocketed a group of Axis units including one supply trucks.



Units freed up from the Cherbourg assault along with several infantry divisions are now able to concentrate on the West of the Axis line which is looking a bit weak. The usual air interdiction has been spread to the South so that any reinforcements will find it hard to get to the front.

In Caen, the soccer match was interrupted by a bunch a Nazi Thugs, but they were quickly seen off by the ref and the game then resumed. This indiscretion will be dealt with shortly. I think we will have to do something about those guys in Caen... carpet bombing anyone...

[Rob Gjessing]

Me thinks that the Allies have stretched their lines a little bit now.. and whilst I have been quite reluctant to do so before, I was happy again this turn to allow my units around Caen to skirmish with the Allied Soccer players.. ermm soldiers.

This time launching an assault on the village to the north east of Caen..



I was able to destroy and take prisoner two Brit ARM Recon units.. I couldnt have really got much of a better result.. so that makes up for my poor luck last turn. Needless to say the village and bridges are back in German hands



Further west, many German units have been unable to escape as the Allies advance and now without supplies have routed and are about to surrender.



Around Carentan, I have had to pull my line back so that I can redistribute units elsewhere - trying to get some degree of divisional intregrity and make my line more solid..

[Rob Gjessing]

The small German cross indicates non-important towns that started the scenario under German control. Important towns have biggers icons. There is a choice in the system to see all objectives or just important ones.

The major action has once again occurred in the West. The German units that could not make it to their Southern lines have now surrendered and US forces are re-organizing themselves ready to continue the offensive. The KIA screen shows ...



Not a lot of good German units were taken but at least there are less units with which to hold the line. Cherbourg is now cleared of strong points and reinforcements can land there but it will be another 4 turns until supply can be drawn from the port as the supply dump there has to rebuild before it can operate.

The Western line now looks like ..



Attacks have taken place along the line and moral is high.

Now to the British sector....



I launched one good attack next to Villers this turn hoping for D2R result and got a '*'. The combat advisor reports very few opportunites along the line and any action around Caen could leave the British horribly exposed. Even the soccer games have been abandoned as the ref seems to have lost any ability to control the Axis thugs that keep disrupting the game.

One of the problems here is the lack of British artillery. The US can call upon a full array of artillery support but the British have to front up with real men. The Germans, on the other hand, completely outgun the British forces and can launch deadly counter attacks. They have several +2 and +3 artillery pieces which means that the line has to be keep solid or a breakthrough could occur. At least the forces here are tied down and can't help out in the West where the Axis forces are in trouble.

[Rob Gjessing]

At the start of each of my turn (and it has looked like this for this since the Brits decided to park themselves 'out of harms way' several days ago) this is what opportunities I have.



Previously I had been too scared to attack - but as you can see from the combat odds - I do have alot of fire power available to me around Caen. Combine this with the terrain that Roger has his men in (mostly Clear) then it can start to prove a bit of a disaster for the Allied player.

So I threw caution to the wind again and order the attack. Im being quite cautious though - I am only attack targets I can reach within withrawl distance of the Caen itself. This way I can attack and then run back into the city.

My first assault went like this:



A 2 step loss and retreat to Roger and no losses to me. I then scurried back to the city limits.

My following assault to the west of Caen - picking on some Brit Cromwells again (remember last time they got off lucky and just retreated out of harms way..) went like this..



Now thats what Im talking about! I almost destroyed them outright and I really couldnt have done much better - 3 losses to his Allied tanks and no losses to me!

In the next few turns I think I have the 1SS Panzer Division arriving in the area and I will be looking to place them in an attacking position out of Caen so I can really cause Roger some headaches. Although I note that Roger has now cleared the Cherbourg Pennisula and that frees up some valuable assets for him - like the 2nd ARM division. I guess he may be seeking to redirect those guys to help out Monty's Merry Men.

Could prove interesting..

[Rob Gjessing]

(The Cherbourg Port takes several turns to rebuild before the Allies can use it as a supply source after it is captured) It resembles the damage that Axis and Allied fighting has done around the harbor area. Also, if a storm hits the game during rebuilding then the prosess is postponed a turn. Otherwise, it acts as a normal supply source.


The West has quietened down a little as some Allied men are ordered to rest while others conduct probing attacks, forcing the German line back in a few places. The German line is hard to break and I will need units with full reserves to be able to exploit any breakthrough and at the moment there are very few of them



In the East the situation is tense. While Monty has cancelled the soccer games not a lot more has happened. A bit more Artillery has arrived and that will help but intelligence has the 1SS arriving in 2 turns, 2SS in 4 turns, 10SS in 7 turns and 9 SS in 8 turns. Any adventurous activity at the moment could turn into a real disaster and the thought of US units coming to help is never going to happen.



As you can see, the Battleships and Cruisers have arrived from the West and are putting down some serious interdiction. This may not stop the attacks but it will be difficult for Rob to get out there, attack, and then sneak off back to the city. Envoys are currently in England to convince Harris to release the Bombers and level Caen. I just hope that I can convince Rob that the Armored reinforcements are needed in the West.

[Rob Gjessing]

Turn 14 - almost the half way mark..

No attacks from me out of Caen this turn. Roger has moved his Brits back one hex (about 3 or 4 km's) and thrown down quite a bit of interdiction on the city and just outside of it. So my orders to my men were just to sit tight, take in some supplies and wait. For the time being. Next turn the 1SS (although slightly battle weary) arrives, to add some extra fire power.

Roger has an equaliser though. Whilst he says that he isnt going to send the 2nd ARM into the area, my recon tells me that they were spotted leaving Cherbourg at full speed.. I wonder how many turns it will take for them to get there? I predict 2 turns. So I have turn turns to play before things get nasty.

What I did do this turn though was attack Roger's units that were in the rugged hills around Villers Bocage.



I managed to force one of his Brit recon units back - again he was lucky I didnt get a 2d result which would have seen its destruction. I then also caused another of his units to retreat in the same area.. which enabled me to advance a little.

Overall, the front line looks like this:

[Rob Gjessing]

A bit quiet on the Western, and Eastern, front this turn. A couple of D2's means that Rob will have to rearrange the line a bit but otherwise the men are resting, getting ready for the next push.



In 6 turns another 3 of those 2 shift artillery units arrive. They have a 2 in 6 chance (they need at least a 5 on the die) of taking out a strong point step and are just lethal in the US arsenal. And, of course, there is the 3rd Amrored Division to supplement the 2nd.


The score is showing 400 points to the Allies and only on turn 12 did Rob manage to claw that back a bit.



Turn 13 was good for me as I cleaned up the pocket and took out 9 Axis units, generating the +226 point gap.

1SS arrives this turn so Rob has to decide whether to direct them to the British or take the long trek West.

[Rob Gjessing]

Im a man of my word. The 1ss goes into Caen - on a defensive role holding the city whilst I advance with my other ARM to assault the Brits out in the fields.

Two attacks - both went in quite successfully..



My ARM didnt not have the ability to scoot back into the city like they did on previous turns. Thanks to Roger's Naval and air interdiction - he knew the attack was coming. So my attacking forces have been ordered to defend north of the city.. trying to take advantage of some defensive terrain by way of villages.. apart from that they are vulnerable to counter attack in the open.

Roger's choices are going to be to pull his units further back - but to where? If he does this I then need to decide if I should chase him.. if I do then I dont know if I will have enough units extend much further without making my flank open to attack from his units around Villers Bocage.

Or he can go on the attack and attack my units there.. which means that he is then open to another attack sitting in the clear too.. but then again he has more units then I do.. but he will need to pull them from elsewhere..

Now where is the 2nd ARM?

[true_avatar47]

It appears the Axis have been dominating this game inspite of the greater VP total of the Allies. Good job Rob, your attacks, imo, are well-placed and well-executed. Having good luck helps too, but you did maximize your odds. I feel that Roger hasn't been setting the tempo for the campaign at all, that his advances are staggered, and his forces not concentrated enough (schwerpunkt . Rob, to his credit, has repeatedly put a solid line in front of the Allied armies. Save for Cherbourg, where he should have commited more garrison troops (like the ones that were sacked a few turns ago on the west coast), Axis forces, imo, will be holding up allied advances for quite a few turns to come. Albeit I don't know what reserves or reinforcements are coming for the allies, it seems that with the addition of more SS units will only add to the hardship right now.

If I were the Allies, I would immediately re-arrange my lines and put the hurt on the West Front. Rob can't re-align his forces (primarily due to interdiction) nearly as quickly as Roger can, so there's still hope. Shuffle those tanks from east -> west. All those tanks in front of Villers Bocage aren't doing much good. Anyways, nothing personal to you Roger, it's not your fault that Rob's is a regular Rommel

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[Rob Gjessing]

If only I thought I was going as well as you do.. [X(]