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The offensive with the black around was a direct attack in order to gain a river as a defensive position against the Soviet Union.
Hey, you're doing a good job here. Just wonder how you're holding up still. Every time I start '43 campaign as Germany I face Soviets onslaught everywhere, and the odds are 85-95 up to them.
One thing: did you consider taking out Leningrad to lessen your front line at first? It is a loose-end since 1941, after all.
One thing: did you consider taking out Leningrad to lessen your front line at first? It is a loose-end since 1941, after all.
im trying my best without knowing how the game is playing, so fair enough. good luck nonetheless!
those who tried the 1943 , and even more the 1944 scenario know about the wall of red divisions that is pushing forward unrelented... encircling is feasible. mopping up is another story when you're being constantly pushed back. One must choose his encirclements VERY carefully or his pincers will be turned into traps. On the strategic level you just don't have enough boots to make it happen (unless I'm so much of a noob that it's just me )
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Even I am surprised that such a victory was possible in Tunisia.That was a sharp rap on the knuckles for the Allies! Impressive, considering how hopeless your position seemed in the beginning.
What are you facing in Algeria, what have the Americans brought to the party?
According to the Abwehr, the Americans have around half of their divisions on the eastern seaboard and there are no reports on American divisions in the African theater. However, that alone is reason enough to worry that the Americans may soon be flooding Africa with their superior production capacity.
I disagree, but I will have a OOB post for the African theater soon enough to mull over this point.great move in Tunisia but you still have too few troops to even think about an offensive there.
Kesselschlacht is the way to continue. Let's hope that the western allies will continue not to learn from their mistakes
Hopefully my opponents will continue to give me ample opportunities for similar operations.
Thank-you. The trick of holding on is both a solid defensive line with mechanized units as elite reserve units that can be deployed in crucial battles to hold the front and well-timed counterattacks. It is also important to note I have lost a lot of territory and much to the Fuehrer's displeasure have been fighting a war with a lot of backwards mobility.Hey, you're doing a good job here. Just wonder how you're holding up still. Every time I start '43 campaign as Germany I face Soviets onslaught everywhere, and the odds are 85-95 up to them.
One thing: did you consider taking out Leningrad to lessen your front line at first? It is a loose-end since 1941, after all.
I never really considered a siege on Leningrad, not only is the city in supply (I do want to cut off its supplies before attempting storming it), but it is also full of Red Army divisions. The Soviets have been waging a rather efficient campaign against the Finns in this sector to the north, but Heeresgruppe Nord has yet to be attacked and I'd like to keep Nord in one piece til summer by not inciting a Soviet offensive there. It may be a loose end, but it will remain so until I am capable of launching an offensive of true magnitude in Nord's area of operation.
Well, the 1944 scenario I played with August Storm, as Germany as well, does not have a Soviet Union that has the ferocity and strength as what I'm playing in 1943. In 1944, the AI only took the initiative a few times on a purely operational scale allowing the German Wehrmacht full command of the strategic situation. However, that is simply not the case in this game.those who tried the 1943 , and even more the 1944 scenario know about the wall of red divisions that is pushing forward unrelented... encircling is feasible. mopping up is another story when you're being constantly pushed back. One must choose his encirclements VERY carefully or his pincers will be turned into traps. On the strategic level you just don't have enough boots to make it happen (unless I'm so much of a noob that it's just me
Nevertheless, you are correct in that my offensives in this game do have to be very well chosen. However, after considering Schwarzhelm's plan more (I must retract my comment about the terrain being unsuitable for mechanized warfare ), I have decided that I'm going to be basing my counterattack against the Reds on it. It is simply superior to my own plan, which is essentially merely an attack with little objectives other than to push against the Soviet lines, and could provide quite a victory in the north if it goes well.
In addition, I will have a new update on Wednesday (and hopefully another one on Friday).
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looking forward to that.
I'm still skeptical about huge thrusts. Where will you find the divisions to enact both them and hold the line? I fear a gamble for the initiative in the north will result in loss of possibly Romania, Hungary as an operational army in the south?
Why not start by ending the siege of Leningrad. That would free up some troop for other operations, such as thoe you are envisaging.
And about your 1944 scenario I wish that my game would go the same as yours. In mine as soon as I attack I find myself countered by entire guards armies.
I'm still skeptical about huge thrusts. Where will you find the divisions to enact both them and hold the line? I fear a gamble for the initiative in the north will result in loss of possibly Romania, Hungary as an operational army in the south?
Why not start by ending the siege of Leningrad. That would free up some troop for other operations, such as thoe you are envisaging.
And about your 1944 scenario I wish that my game would go the same as yours. In mine as soon as I attack I find myself countered by entire guards armies.
terrain doesn't count for much in hoi3/sf...technology kinda cancels it out. ive never been defeated by the soviet union.
Die Wolfsschanze
As Albert Speer departed from his Ju-52 on a runway surrounded by forest, he was reminded by how much he hated to come here. There were S.S. Soldiers not only patrolling the perimeter of the airfield, but also formed up in a line outside of his plane. The entire place felt like a war-zone even though the front was hundreds, if not thousands, kilometers from where he was and he far preferred even the bombed-out factories of the Ruhr to a place like this. It just did not seem like a place where the man responsible for much of Germany's economic production and war-readiness would go. When faced with a place like this he longed for the majestic halls of his Chancellery.
As he departed from his place, there where an S.S. Officer waiting for him. “You are scheduled for a meeting in thirty minutes, Herr Reichsminister, so a chauffeur shall drive you to the main compound as we take your luggage to where you will be staying overnight,” said the Schutzstaffel officer after saluting in a half-ordering, half-courteous manner that only a few could manage.
“Lead the way, then,” Speer replied. The officer proceeded to lead him to a black, open-top car that was idling at the side of the runway. He opened the door for Speer and once Speer had sat down, closed it and saluted.
The car left the runway and proceeded down a dirt road surrounded by a thin forest of oaks. Sitting in the backseat , Speer took the time to enjoy the passing scenery, a luxury he rarely had time for when not looking out the window of a Ju-52. It was now the intermediate period between winter and spring; though the snow had melted, the ground the car was driving over had yet to dry and the trees were still naked branches. It had also warmed a bit, but the temperature was at the point of barely being comfortable without a coat and Speer had left his coat with his luggage in protest, though vain, against the waning cold. He might have actually regretted his rebellion if the car had not already reached a sentry-post where the chauffeur showed a pass and had a quick word with the young sentry dressed in a leather coat with a Mauser over his shoulder. As the car continued on, Speer was reminded once again by the passing flora that this was the unsullied Germany that he was working for and that was at stake at the front. If the war were to be lost, and Speer was a member of Hitler's inner circle knew the knife's edge upon which the Eastern Front lay upon, then all of this would be overtaken by the Bolshevik horde from the east. It was a difficult thought to grapple with and Speer quickly forced it to the back of his head for there would be no defeat, it was simply not an option.
The next thing he realized was the car stopping before a concrete bunker surrounded by other such structures and wooden huts. Two S.S. guards, as always imposing, were stationed at the entrance of the bunker. Another officer was at the side of the road, ready to open the door of the car once it stopped. He saluted when Speer got out of the car and then said: “Herr Minister, I shall be escorting you to the situation room.”
Speer nodded and the two entered the bunker and after walking through a couple of plain halls came to a room with a table in the middle with a map of the North Atlantic and Western Europe across it. There were already people sitting around the table; Speer recognized Großadmiral Dönitz, Generaladmiral Canaris, head of the Abwehr, and Generalfeldmarshall Keitel of the OKW, but he did not recognize a Wehrmacht officer in his thirties with auburn hair to the right of Keitel and a dark-headed man in a robins-egg blue Luftwaffe uniform to the left of Dönitz and he was surprised that Reichsführer Himmler was not yet here. The room was dead quiet, one was either reviewing papers for last-minute preparations or Before the S.S. Officer left the room, he said, “The Führer shall be with you in fifteen minutes” into Speer's ear. After he left the room, Speer took a seat to the right of Canaris and took out of the folio he was carrying a document labeled: “Oil Production at Ploeşti.”
After around fourteen minutes, the door to the situation room once again opened and they all rose and saluted as “Achtung!” was heard and their Führer walk into the room. Speer was surprised to see Göbbels following behind him, but quickly decided it was probably best not to bring the issue up of why he was here. Hitler reciprocated the salutes with an informal one and took his place at the head of the table where he remained standing as everyone sat down, Göbbels took an empty chair to Hitler's right.
Standing with both his hands behind his back, he began to speak: “Good evening generals, as you all know we all know, the Soviet horde has hit us hard, but our German soldiers have endured the winter, fighting for every inch of ground that was lost, and so we are gearing up to deliver a killing blow to Khan Stalin and his Mongols. Because of this Generalfeldmarshall von Manstein will not be with us this even, he is now at the front helping to coordinate a counterattack that will devastate the Red Army. An aide of his, Generalmajor von Wietz, has attended the conference in his place,” he said this while pointing to the officer to the right of Keitel and with an uncanny warmth continued: “Though he has never commanded a division in the field, I have heard good things of him from the Generalfeldmarshall and I'm sure that he is an example of what a German officer should be. However, this is not a meeting about the East, so Großadmiral Dönitz would you give us your report?”
“Yes, mein Führer,” Dönitz said as he stood up from his chair and then laid out a couple of papers in front of himself. “For the past three months the Kriegsmarine has increasingly been transitioning resources from the conventional navy to the U-Boats and the only surface ships that have been put out to sea beyond the Baltic are a couple of destroyer flotillas in the Arctic. This strategic shift has proved to be successful and it should be noted that we have sunk an estimated two hundred Allied convoys since the New Year and if this trend continues then this will be the most successful year to date – note that we sunk an estimated one thousand and three hundred ships in 1941 and one thousand and seven hundred in 1942. Another statistic of importance is that we have been loosing far fewer submarines this year than we have the last thus the costs of each Allied convoy sunk has decreased.
“However, it should be noted that the hunting grounds in the Atlantic have been patrolled below optimal levels for much of this year as many flotillas have bent sent between sectors for a couple weeks in order to test the grounds there. What this has enabled us to do is to gather statistics as to what sectors of the Atlantic are most conductive to submarine-warfare and so the coming months will probably result in higher number of ships to be counted on the bottom. The three most patrolled sectors will be the waters between Ireland and Biscay, to the north of the Azores, and to the east of Portugal with secondary waters of operation including the Bay of Biscay and outside of Gibraltar,” he said this while making violent swipes across a map of the North Atlantic corresponding to the state area. “Due to Generalfeldmarshall Rommel's success in Tunisia, a new flotilla shall be organized from U-Boats that can be spared from other flotillas in order to try and patrol the waters surrounding the Allied holdings in Morocco.
“This brings me to a last matter of concern: closing the Atlantic is a matter of utmost important to winning the war against the Western Allies...” Speer remembered when he had visited Dönitz earlier this year to discuss the construction of new U-Boats and what he said to him was that if the Atlantic was not closed, then the war in the west was lost But, there is always a need for tact when giving a report of the Führer. A more blunt evaluation can always be provided in written memos. “So I end with the evaluation that the start of this year has given reason for hope, especially after our heavy casualties last year, and that we must look at victory in the Atlantic as being just as crucial for victory.”
With that the Großadmiral sat back down. It was surprising that Hitler did not interrupt Dönitz, whenever Speer had attended meetings in the Wolfsschanze, it was rare that a general could speak more than a couple sentences before he would prod them with questions and berate them counterarguments. However, Dönitz was an admiral, not a general, so that might have something to do with that.
“Generalfeldmarshall Keitel,” Hitler then said “do you have anything to add to the Großadmiral's own opinions?”
Keitel rose from his chair saying, “Not much, mein Führer, all that I can say is that after the success of Afrikakorps at Gabès, we can be confident that the tide is turning in the Mediterranean and that by the summer, we will see the Allies crushed.” He sat back down.
“Soon we will be able to force the conflict in Africa to a conclusion and I trust that Herr Rommel will not turn his back this time as he did at El Alamein. Herr Speer I also trust that you have a report from your visit to Ploeşti?'
“I do, mein Führer,” Speer replied also standing up. “I hope that it is an obvious given that the Heer, Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine, all three branches of our valiant Wehrmacht, cannot function without a supply of oil. It is also equally clear that foreign trade is simply not an option and that the totality of our oil must come from the continent. I have recently paid visit to the oil fields of our ally, Romania, in Ploeşti in order to survey their oil-production capacity. I have determined that we will receive enough oil from Ploeşti to last us until 1945, by which the war in the east will have hopefully reached a conclusion. I would like to also add that as part of my portfolio as Reichsminister, I am also involved with recruitment for the Wehrmacht and it is my opinion that we will run out of soldiers before we run out of oil.”
“There is no need to worry about that,” Keitel interjected. “We shall achieve a decisive victory over the Soviets this summer and Generalfeldmarshall von Manstein's operations already look promising,”
“I agree,” Hitler responded. “With Herr Göbbel's transformation of Germany into a nation singularly united in the war effort, there is no reason to doubt that we will always have enough recruits.”
The meeting went on for another four hours as details of both the Battle of the Atlantic and the strategic goals of Afrikakorps were hammered out with the input from Speer on what was economically possible. As always and like everyone else in the room, Speer was exhausted by the time that the meeting had adjurned and quickly found his way to the hut where he would be staying the night. The next morning he would have breakfast with the Führer and after taking Blondi for a walk would leave, there was always some crisis that the Reichsminister had to attend to.
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A nice portrait of Hitler, and by reflection, the people surrounding him. Good overview of what's going on and what you're planning to achieve. Now, let's see if the counterblow in the East is all that it is cracked up to be, or if Der Führer will have to do some mental acrobatics to fit a messy reality to his preferred world view.
So if I get this right all of the Kreigsmarine's surface fleet is in the baltic. I would try to destroy the Soviet Baltic Fleet with them since they are both more modern and faster than the rustbuckets the Russians call battleships. After that is completed I would conduct shore bombardment against Leningrad
Unternehmen Zitadelle
Preparations
Preparations
The day after Generalfeldmarshall von Kluge arrived back to his headquarters in Smolensk, his superior Erich von Manstein also arrived in order to better coordinate preparations for the coming operation. Although a rough plan had been drafted during their meeting in East Prussia, most of the details left to von Kluge's discretion, von Manstein came with a new plan he had created with command staff named “Zitadelle”. Rather than merely thrusting forward, hoping that the German offensive is powerful enough to attract STAVKA's attention and delay Soviet operations in the South, von Manstein put forward a new plan that would involve an armored breakthrough in the north to surround the Red Army in the salient between Heeresgruppen Mitte and Nord. One of the most important changes that came with Zitadelle was the tabling of a planned attack to retake Brjansk, a city of critical importance for Wehrmacht-operations in the Ukraine because of the rail-road junction located in it, would be tabled in order to concentrate all of Mitte's armor along its northern front. Along the same lines, von Manstein ordered Generaloberst Guderian of Heeresgruppe Don to immediately redeploy all but essential panzer-divisions to Mitte in preparation for the attack. All of this was done in accordance with Guderian's own motto of “klotzen nicht kleckern” was decided that the Wehrmacht must concentrate its armored strength here in hope of achieving a breakthrough that have consequences capable of reverberating throughout a titanic front stretching from the entrapped city of Leningrad, across a land united in its devastation to the broken seawalls of Sevastapol upon the Black Sea.
Generalfeldmarshall von Manstein and other staff officers taking a break from a conference planning Zitadelle
Due to the fact that there would only be two weeks of preparation and because the terrain around Nord's portion of the front was heavily forested and therefore not good ground for armored-operations, von Manstein decided that the panzer-divisions from Don would be integrated von Kluge's Heeresgruppe. Nord would have the motorized S.S. Troops that were stationed there along and its primary thrust would be fought primarily with infantry. As a result, the bulk of the responsibility for the success of this operation fell upon Mitte and especially the 3. Panzerarmee. Within 3. Panzerarmee two new Panzerkorps were created, Panzerkorps von Manteuffel and Panzerkorps von Bollenstern, each taking the surname of their commanding officers. Both Panzerkorps were provided with five panzer-divisions each and would be supported not only by elements of the armies holding the front, but also by the Luftwaffe squadron Kampfgeschwader 27, commanded by Generalfeldmarshall Sperrle. Although there was planned to be another Panzerkorps involved in Zitadelle, it could not be redeployed from Mitte's southern flank because to a renewed Red Army assault on that sector. Due to concerns about both keeping the attack a secret and because waiting would entail letting precious armored divisions sit idle behind the front-lines during a time of what could only be described as crisis, it was decided that two Panzerkorps would be sufficient for the Zitadelle.
Panzerkorps von Manteuffel
Panzerkorps von Bollenstern
Unternehmen Zitadelle; Heeresgruppe Nord is in blue while Mitte is yellow.
Zitadelle involved a joint operation by Mitte and Nord in which a pincer from the north and a pincer from the south would encircle the Mitte-Nord Salient, as staff officers had come to know the Soviet position. The command for the elements of Nord involved is to attack the Soviet positions at Zaluchje and once a breakthrough is achieved, to head due east until they meet the spearhead of Mitte. Mitte would attack the positions around Grishino and Peno, and would head north after breaking through. The panzer-commanders of Mitte on the front-lines would be given operational independence once they are behind enemy-lines, and it would also be their responsibility to join the two pincers together. Furthermore, the elements of Nord are subordinated to the Panzerkorps of Mitte. The planned date for commencing the attack was April 12th and as the last few days passed all that Mitte and Nord could do is hope and pray that the operation would be a success. Zitadelle may very well be an operation rapidly thrown together without the luxury of war-games and the involvement of the entire general staff of OKH. But it was still Germany's best hope for delivering a blow to the Soviet juggernaut and war, like politics, is the art of the possible, and an endeavor that requires its participants to have discipline to know when to take a risk
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Although that is a small encirclement it could perhaps be the break out you need right now. Especially if the AI panics
I can’t find any sense in this slightly modified quote. Please enlighten me.
