Not Another German AAR!

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Part 10.
October 1940
GREAT Britain
​

After Operation Schildkröte and the conquest of Scotland, the Germans began “Operation Wildschwein” (Boar)
It was very simple, the plan to conquer the rest of the British island. Not very well planned, but simple and easy. That was the plan!
The German army should be divided into two parts. One would attack through Wales, and one through the Eastern side of the island. In the meantime, Austrian troops were stationed around on the island to defend from British counterattacks.

Back home in Germany, the scientists created a new improved tank, called Panzer Mark IV.
And that lead to a huge job, on rebuilding the older models.
The new tanks were driven to the harbours, where they later would be transported to the conquest of Britain, which so far went good.

The foreign politic also went good.
The connection to Italy, Romania and Finland kept improving, as well as the connection to the far Japan.
Everything went good as you can see.
A little too good!
The Germans didn’t thought that the minor British islands would do any harm, and as long as Operation Wildschwein went good, there were no needs to move the armies around.
But they soon discovered their failure…

The Austrian and Scottish soldiers, secretly allied together in the North and via the western sea, between Ireland and Britain, British tanks and materiel arrived.
In a matter of days, Germany lost their possessions in Scotland. Three Panzer Divisions were destroyed, before the Germans managed to make a line of defenders, near Glasgow.
Reinforcements arrived, including the newly built Panzer Mark IV’s.
After some fierce fighting, the Germans won back some land in Scotland. But in the meantime, the Southern troops stopped their advancing.
The supply line was a bit stretched and there where not enough men to continue further into the Southern Britain, which the defenders knew much better.
Something had to be done, but the German staff didn’t have a clue what!

 

[Mike von Bek]

Oh man, right on the outskirts of London. Back, you devilish Krauts! Back, I say! Good to see the AI putting up such a fight!

 

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Great Britain must not be that great if they got beaten by a bunch of wimpy Germans.

Feh, even Ethiopia annexed the Germans one time!

 

[Henry v. Keiper]

I'm predicting a British Ardennes offensive, maybe?

 

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Part 11.
March 1941
Jodl makes the Difference
​

The Führer could see, that if Britain should be defeated, Germany had to use a different tactic. Great Britain had probably found out, how to avoid the Blitz and how the German army functioned.
He asked the Chief of staff, Ludwig Beck, to change the tactics. But Beck would not change anything. He, and many others, had used so much time on planning the tactics for this war, and it would be suicide to start learning the army other plans.
He refused to follow The Führers orders, and therefore he was removed as Chief of staff. Hitler wanted discipline and obedience. Not that type of commanders that would walk their own ways.
That was also something, which many generals and commanders secretly hated. They thought that Hitler was mad, and they had started to negotiate a peace with those Brits who also sought to end the war fast. If they could end the war, and remove Hitler from the power, they could find a way to live in harmony. But these plans were soon ruined…
Many powerful British politicians did not want to sign a peace with Germany. They wanted to fight to the end. And Hitler didn’t want to look weak and stupid, so he stopped offering them peace.
He appointed Alfred Jodl to Chief of staff.

He, unlike Ludwig Beck, focused on a well-functionable army, which should work together and in good discipline and order. No fast and wild egoistic raids into enemy territory.
He then managed to get order on the German troops in Britain and equipped them with the newest weapons. He gave the generals order to attack around London, and cut of their supply-lines. Then, they would in good order, attack London from different sides.
It worked… In the middle of November, London was in German hands.
Alfred Jodl ordered the army, not to follow the retreating British army, but instead regain the order and discipline and slowly work their way to Portsmouth.
From there, the army was split up, and took the remaining parts of Britain. The British soldiers surrendered and after reorganizing, the German army continued northwards, to Scotland.

When the German army arrived to Scotland, the British and South-African forces had already dug in. The Germans held the line, and received fresh troops from Germany a couple of times a month.
It was not easy to push back Brits, but it had to be done…
After a failed attempt, Jodl ordered the army to regain its former strength. Planes were sent to Glasgow and new equipment delivered to the soldiers.
It had been a long campaign against the Brits, but the borders had been moved. One question remained… Would the exhausted German troops hold out, or would the Brits run them over?

 

[Henry v. Keiper]

Dang. At least it wasn't an easy annex like it usually seems to be in HoI

 

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Part 12.
June 1941
The new Front
​

The remaining resistance in the Highlands was a difficult part of the campaign against the British isle. The many hills, mountains, swamps and rivers, were indeed a dangerous terrain to advance in, for the German forces.
Though they were many, the Brits and Scots were much more known in the landscape. So, the fact that the Germans came with a huge force, was only a disadvantage as the large groups of tanks and infantry, was an easy target for the lonely defenders who laid in cover.

After much struggle, the German army finally pushed the British forces back, and forced them to surrender in the last days of May 1941.

At last, Hitler had eliminated the threat from Britain.
He knew that the British people should be handled with respect, and instead of using his huge propaganda-machine, he left them be, with only few German soldiers to defend the island.

The exhausted German troops were thereafter shipped to the Eastern front, where they would regroup and gather their lost strength.
Alfred Jodl ordered new equipment and materiel to the soldiers, and all in all, it looked like the German staff was preparing a major strike…

Rudolf Hess, who had been one of Hitler’s first supporters, felt that he had not been informed about much lately. He feared that his Führer and old friend, had given him the cold shoulder, and preferred to listen to his other commanders.
On the 30th of May, Hess spent an hour in a conversation with Hitler.
Nobody knew what they talked about, or how the meeting ended, but only a few days after, Hess flied to Moscow, where he was captured and killed.

Many speculated about what there had made Hess to take on that wild journey.
Some thought that Hitler had given him orders to assassin Stalin; others thought that Hess had done this of own free will, to regain his lost respect. There were also thoughts about, that Hess had broke with Hitler and instead tried to seek alliance with the communists or warn them of a upcoming attack…
But nothing was certain, and Hitler never talked about the episode.

 

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Part 13.
August 1941
Week 1.
When Diplomacy fails
​

After Rudolf Hess’ flight to Moscow, the Communists and Nazis had laid in conflict. From July, Germany signed an alliance-pact with both Japan and Italy. This made the Soviets even angrier, and they quickly found new alliances in other Asian nations, like Communist China.
Though nobody could prove it, it was certain that the Soviets had paid the Philippines to declare Germany war. That was the only logical explanation!
So, Hitler and his staff now feared that the Soviets would declare Germany war, with the alibi of helping the Philippines.
Furthermore, Hitler’s scientists had helped Japan in a rapid attack against the American Pacific Fleet on Pearl Harbour. USA declared Germany and Japan war, and all suddenly, it was a big puzzle, which there were at war with who!
But after the conquest of Britain, Germany had cleared all Western enemies and made it a bit safer, to live in Germany…

However, the Soviets pressed on...
This was a threat for all, and Hitler also took this serious.
He pretended that the war against USA was the most important, and while the Soviets used their forces in good faith in a different war in Asia, Germany reinforced the last gabs on the Eastern Front.
On the 1st of August 1941, German troops crossed the border to The Soviet Union…

Instead of the many plans, that Hitler and his staff had laid before the attacks in France and Britain, they this time acted instantly and improvised their way.
They had experienced that it was the best, as unknown things could happen and change the plans completely.
So, the plans were currently looked at, once a week.

First of all, it was important to shock the Soviet troops and confuse them.
Germany had for this trained parachutes, but Jodl and Göring refused to use them. Instead, German tanks cleared the opens, while the infantry took towns and forests.
It worked fine.
The resistance from the Red Army was not much for the battle-experienced German soldiers.

It did not take long time, before the Red Army was on the run, and the Germans advancing through the landscape. Stuka’s and bombers followed after the retreating Soviet army and destroyed all they could. Supply lines, HQ’s, infantry, vehicles or camps, you name it!
In the meantime, the German Fighters fought the few Soviet airplanes that dared to take off.
All in all, it was a well-functioned warmarchine the Germans advanced with, with good coordination and order.

After the first week, the Germans were still in good shape and with a high morale.
There were not taken any wild “one-man-trips” over the border, and all advances happened in a ordered way. Much land had been taken, and the Soviets were in a wild escape.
It was time for the second wave…

 

[Henry v. Keiper]

Forward to the East!

So is there a third wave, or is that top secret...?

 

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Forward to the East!

So is there a third wave, or is that top secret...?

Nah, not really a secret...
I wanted to strike hard and lower the Soviets morale, so that I after some "waves" could split my armies more up!

 

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Part 14.
August 1941
Week 2.
The Pursuit
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The second German wave went without much trouble.
The Red Army continued their retreat, and it seemed that Moscow soon would fall in the Nazis hands, if it kept going that way…

However, the Germans were an aggressive people, and the previous victories only made them more aggressive. They had lost the Great War in 1918, and now they finally could show the World that they were back in full strength.
That gave Alfred Jodl problems with the organization, as the Germans wouldn’t hold their positions.
It was already difficult enough to keep the staff orientated about the progress to the East, but when they now received news of the advances, they were already old news.

The German army would simply not wait, to get new orders. They stormed after the retreating troops, and that was really not a problem in the open areas. But in the forested areas near Minsk, it lead to huge losses, as the German tanks got lost, and was attacked from covered possessions inside the forests. A whole Panzer-division had to retreat, and wait for the infantry to support them.

On the open areas, as mentioned before, the Germans were in their right element. The Soviets could only try to match the great Panzer IV, with their own BT-5’s.

And in the meantime, German Tigers were produced back home, to support the lighter tanks.
Hitler thought that this process was too slow, and he fired Werner von Blomberg and appointed Hjalmar Schacht to minister of armaments.
He was not so interested in the army, but had sense of improving the industrialisation in Germany.

Diplomatically, Hitler had gained new supporters in Asia.
Siam had joined the wars, though they couldn’t do much difference. However, they could raise the morale, and lay a mentally pressure on Germany and its allies enemies.

 

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Part 15.
October 1941
Stuck
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The rest of August was used to complete the last advances…
To the North, the attacks went as they should, but to the South, the resistance was too heavy.
In the end of August, the Northern troops were stuck in their advances. The soldiers were exhausted and the tanks and vehicles were breaking down. Also, the supply-lines were stretched and it was difficult to receive ammunition, fuel, food, and clothing as the Russian airforce had started to operate behind the German lines.
The result, was that Hitler ordered his troops to move on, and the commanders of the army ordered them to hold. They followed their logically sense and disobeyed The Führer’s orders.
The army stopped.

September was then used to reinforce and re-strengthen the troops on the front.
New tanks and new men were sent eastwards, but they were far from enough to make a difference.

The Southern troops were starting to advance again, as well as a few loyal commanders like Guderian, to the North. But these commanders were defeated and forced to retreat. The Southern troops however, had easier to cut through the Soviet lines.
By the end of September, the Germans were on the outskirts of Kiev.

The whole situation was stuck… The weather was starting to change, and Hitler feared that his troops would be defeated, during the winter.
The Red Army had also reinforced their own lines, so it would be difficult to advance further into Stalin’s Soviet Union. However, they had to try!
They could not stand still now… Alfred Jodl didn’t agree… He thought it was more important to have a fully functionable army, than gambling men and material on a wild attack…
It seemed that Hitler had to think this over…

Mexico had joined the Allied and it was perhaps not so wise to use all the men on the advance to the east. He wanted to have some troops in reserve, which could aid the defences if the Allied tried anything on the Western front.
Perhaps the solution was that Hitler had to be a tougher leader! He had to demand certain things from his own allies… Such as the full control of the military!

 

[Henry v. Keiper]

Uh oh. This may not be so good.

 

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good AAR. Interesting to see the ai putting up such a good fight- Best of luck against the red peril.

At first, i thought for sure you'd liberate ireland. You even talked of scottish soldiers..oh well. It'd be cool if'n you did ^_^

 

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Great AAR!!! I really like it! Did you do something with the game so that Hitler and all the other bigger leaders in Gremany are not called Hiller for exp.? Because in the German version the most names of German leaders are changed and ther aint no pictures of them!
I know, it sounds silly, but that's the German censurship! In Germany it's difficult to talk about WWII and/or the NS-time. You know, so many people have bad memorys of that time period.

 

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Great AAR!!! I really like it! Did you do something with the game so that Hitler and all the other bigger leaders in Gremany are not called Hiller for exp.? Because in the German version the most names of German leaders are changed and ther aint no pictures of them!
I know, it sounds silly, but that's the German censurship! In Germany it's difficult to talk about WWII and/or the NS-time. You know, so many people have bad memorys of that time period.

Thanks...
The savegame is lost, so I cant go on with the story...
Perhaps some day I write a new one!
I actually dont understand your question, but it sounds like the english and german version are different... I havent installed any mods, just the recent patches, so I guess the German censurship is to be blamed!

Well, I arent German´, but if I was, I would never have felt that shame the Germans actually fell...
Every nation have had their glory and era... It's just because it happened so recently, that the Germans are ashamed of it... I at least think!
I think the nazi-times were great, and it's ashame Hitler ended up in that war...
I admire the dicsipline, prestige and order, which he gained Germany.
But times heals all wounds... I hope that one day, the Germans can talk freely of the National-Socialist days, and be proud of it...
No matter how bad the things are, it's always wrong to be ashamed over who you are!