Objective: Warsaw (Quick and dirty demo AAR)

[unmerged(83496)]

Wow what an onslaught in the Baltic. 20 ships/flotillas sunk in the first week of the war. Better rename it iron-bottom sound. Maybe rust-bottom sound would be better since so many old ships were sunk!

Well done in your aar, not only in your gameplay but also in the way you explain things to n00bies. Great, entertaining, informative tool for finding my way through the game.

 

[Lordban]

That storm is more worrying than all the Allied actions in your AAR combined. Let's hope the game survives intact!

And it won!

I did have to cut the power (and I'm glad I did too, my neighbours got a few pieces of equipment fried). So much for my preparations for the Netherlands, Belgium, and France - they were, as one may have guessed, the next targets.

I know how that is! Hopefully everything goes well. Quite interesting still, I'm thinking of trying out some of these strategies tomorrow.

Thank you! Let's just hope my advice won't be too bad

Wow, the brits are sneaky. O.O
Gotta watch that in HoI3 too!

They are, and I suspect they won't be the only ones who are sneaky in this game.

Ouch! I'd really hate to be Poland there. Nice breakthroughs

And get the brits!

Yub, the Poles are in a sort of delicate position.

And I won't be getting the Brits, unfortunately - rather, the AI did not have time to get rid of them.

You really did an amazing job with this AAR!

Thenk you!

Wow what an onslaught in the Baltic. 20 ships/flotillas sunk in the first week of the war. Better rename it iron-bottom sound. Maybe rust-bottom sound would be better since so many old ships were sunk!

Well done in your aar, not only in your gameplay but also in the way you explain things to n00bies. Great, entertaining, informative tool for finding my way through the game.

Rust-bottom-sound indeed. I won't be making the mistake of taking the Baltic for my own private pond again!


Everyone, unfortunately, this game was over before I hoped it would be. However, all was not in vain:

I've taken a hundred-odd screens on the way there, and will use them to wrap this AAR up while waiting for and downloading the full game

 

[Lordban]

XVII. The Trap Closes

Battles continue raging through Western Poland. A lot of them look like this one, pitting routed Polish forces which have only begun regrouping against our comparatively fresh forces.

At the rate our divisions lose ORG, offensive operations of the intensity of ours in Poland would go out of steam after roughly two months - that's an interesting projection to make for the bigger campaigns.

Needless to say, this time the Poles no longer have what it takes to make this kind of engagement last for days.

One small pocket is closed in the North, trapping several Polish divisions.

Worse still for the Poles: the battle for Lódz is almost won, and it is the last province through which their forces in the West are supplied, and the one through which they can hope to escape.

The defenders of Lódz make valiant attempts at buying time for their comrades. Even when most of their battalions aren't fit to fight any longer, they still manage to mount cunning ambushes in the streets of the city.

However brave they may have been, the defenders of Lódz could not hold forever. Most of their tanks lie in wrecks, and what positions their dismounted cavalry could take have become untenable. They finally break, and at 17:00 on Sept. 10, after nearly ten days of fighting in Poland, most of the army which stood on their Western border has been encircled and forced to fight for their survival, with very little hopes of relief coming to them.

The French ARE trying to come, but the Rhine isn't easy to cross. A single division had been able to considerably delay their advance and prevent the establishment of significative beachheads; a second one has now entered the fray, and another two are expected to bring their own arms to bear against the French attackers within a matter of days. Clearly, the trapped Polish forces cannot expect the French to arrive in time to save them.

Can they place their hopes in the British?

That remains to be seen. With a good number of their transports now lying at the bottom of the Danish straits, the already cautious British have ordered their forces in Kiel to lie still and wait until a superior task force could be sent to reinforce them. Maybe, just maybe, this will draw the attention of enough German troops to lessen the plight of those encircled armies; or if it does not, at least, it might be the seed from which a rapid liberation of Poland might blossom, if the British manage to act decisively. But they have to act soon...

... as time is running out for them too...

 

[Myth]

Looks like Poland is folding quicker and quicker, and the Allies are powerless to stop it! That...sounds familiar from somewhere...

 

[unmerged(22283)]

Looking at the patch notes and a comment by Johan (don't ask me where, the forum is swamped) I get the impression that "attacking without resting" was unintended and won't be possible with v1.1 anymore. The resting period seems to be modified by several factors now, though.
Which means that in your case your troops would pause after each attack.
Anyone had a chance to try that out yet?

 

[Lordban]

Myth, this reads familiar? How come?

Todd Hawks, I missed that one Will have to give it a try as soon as the game is installed (DL is 83% done).

If it is the case, it doesn't make lots of sense: efficient offensives in-depth have to be planned without pauses, because each pause gives the defender opportunities to rush reserves and establish a new frontline. Step-by-step offensives are the way the belligerants proceeded in late WWI and consistently failed to produce an exploitable breakthrough - Guderian explains this marvelously in 'Achtung-Panzer!'

If the game engine forces your divisions to stop even when on a planned offensive, it basically becomes a WWI game: if the defender has reserves on the second line, even in the form of a single brigade, he can always reform a frontline since the presence of the brigade gives him time to do so, and even if he's gradually pushed back, there will hardly be breakthroughs to exploit, only break-ins.

Doesn't make sense either when you read a history of Rommel's or Guderian's Panzer-Divisions in the campaign of France - they never would have reached the sea in 12 days if they had actually been forced to stop for a day or so (an optimistic estimate) every time they encountered new enemies on the way.


**


XVIII. Objective: Warsaw


The battle for Western Poland draws to a close; now we only have one real objective in mind: to break the Poles' resistance and force a capitulation. This can only have one meaning: we need to seize Warsaw.

Remember how we said Eastern Prussia was ligthly defended and threatened? Well, a lot of things have changed since the beginning of the campaign. We have achieved an operational breakthrough in the south, and there is virtually nothing standing between us and all of Eastern Poland. The Poles aren't keen on letting us overrun the rest of their country effortlessly, which means they will try and establish a new frontline to the east of our axis of advance.

This suits our purposes perfectly well: the only significant forces the Poles can employ to establish that new frontline are those which threatened Eastern Prussia. Those forces have begun redeploying, and this means what few troops we have in the region are now free to launch our first strike in the direction of Warsaw.

It is also the first time we effectively make use of the Support-Attack order (you can give that order by CTRL+Right clicking a province adjacent to one of your divisions): we need all the strength we can get to quickly get rid of the light screen of troops between our forces and Warsaw, but we don't want to leave Eastern Prussia completely devoid of troops either. Just in case the Poles change their minds and decide to strike at unprotected Königsberg.

Thus, at one o'clock in the morning on September 10th, the first shots of the Battle of Warsaw are fired.

Of course, we are going to provide our forces with some air-support - no matter what the cost may be, like Churchill would have said. We aren't interested in the whole Warsaw region, though, so we will use the "Province selection" mode and Shift-Right click the targets we are really interested in.

Note that we have picked a province which isn't in the axis of advance of our attacking divisions. This is because we intend to strike there soon.

This, too, is a consequence of our planning: forces dropped along the axis of advance after participating in the initial breakthrough started regrouping early on. Those two INF helped open the way to Lódz; they will be ready for action before that battle is over.

The forces standing between them and Warsaw only consist in one Cavalry brigade which had been involved in the attacks on Eastern Prussia. It has rested, but it has to face a 6:1 attacker advantage. And it is known since WWI that Cavalry means little versus armaments like the machine-gun.

By dawn on Sept. 11th the Battle for Warsaw is already in full swing, and it won't be long until there is fighting in Warsaw itself.

 

[unmerged(22283)]

Like I said, it was just my impression, I might be wrong (still downloading from GG).

I have a question for you (if you don't mind): What is the purpose of a support attack? Or rather, how does it work with regards to the new features like front width, tactical reserves etc.?

 

[Lordban]

I have a question for you (if you don't mind): What is the purpose of a support attack? Or rather, how does it work with regards to the new features like front width, tactical reserves etc.?

I certainly don't mind


1. The point of a support-attack is you're using the firepower from a division without actually moving it on the map; after the attack, they are still in position to defend their province or to perform regular movements. In this particular case I have two INF attacking from the same province; I want one of them to move forward and the other to stay put, in case the Poles get ideas, but I want the firepower of both for the initial attack.

2. Like attacks, support-attacks from adjacent provinces add 5 to the frontage for each additionnal province from which you attack. They can also be used to get an envelopment bonus. The only real difference between support-attack and attack is still that your supporting divisions won't actually move on the map.

3. Support-attack is best used at the start of an attack, so that your supporting forces are committed from the start and don't have to spend time in the reinforcement pool. They can be remarkably useful on your flanks at the start of a planned operation, contributing additionnal divisions to your attempt at breakthrough without stretching your lines.

4. It can be counter-productive to order forces to support an attack which has already started: just like regular attackers, they will first appear as reinforcements. If they don't actually join the fight before it is over, you have divisions which are now immobile, which did not achieve anything useful and which need time to regroup. You'd be wise to assign forces to support an ongoing attack only if the attack is going badly in an unanticipated way, or if you know you won't be needing them for anything else while they regroup.

 

[Enewald]

Btw, how faster is the movement speed of the troops redeploying compared to normal infantry marching?
And is it faster to drive with motorised troops than to have them redeploying?

 

[Myth]

Warsaw is bound to be a slightly difficult fight if it's defended at all, the urban landscape will just mess with you.

 

[Lordban]

1. Btw, how faster is the movement speed of the troops redeploying compared to normal infantry marching?
2.And is it faster to drive with motorised troops than to have them redeploying?

1. No specific idea, didn't measure the difference, but it is several times faster.

2. No.

Warsaw is bound to be a slightly difficult fight if it's defended at all, the urban landscape will just mess with you.

Actually INF brigades don't get a penalty for attacking in urban landscape now

 

[Lordban]

**


XIX. Taking care of "details"


Just because we're already on the road to Warsaw doesn't mean we aren't paying attention to what happens elsewhere.

One prime example is our continued attempt at achieving Air Superiority: if we want our bombers to participate in the battle for Warsaw, we want the Poles to be hardly capable of mounting an effective response.

And we want to do that now, while we still don't need to bomb the city itself: once the attack begins, we would get a huge stacking penalty for both our bombers and the fighters clearing the skies, so we want the latter out of the way so that the former can perform their job.

Fortunately, the Poles have decided to "lend us a hand": Warsaw has the only airbase which is not (directly) threatened left to Poland, and both their bombers and fighters have to operate out of Warsaw. By "blockading" the skies of the city, we are able to hit large masses of aircraft trying to get out to perform their missions, and inflict them considerable damage.

We're getting hurt too, but in the mean time our bombers are getting rested. The Polish INTs aren't.

We're also busy cleaning up pockets, though admittedly it will be quite a job for our troops when this involves fresh enemies. Once pocketed, divisions generally have enough supplies to last them 30 days. If, for some reason, one of our armies was later encircled in the vicinity of a random city, let's say Stalingrad, they would have some time to try for an offensive to get out of the pocket before their situation becomes desperate.

That process is going on across the whole of Western Poland.

Note that all the attacks which are currently being performed by our divisions to clean up the pockets were ordered on Sept. 1. They aren't proceeding well because we had great insight, but because:

1. We took particular care in making sure we'd sweep the whole of the territory between our start point and our intended new line

2. Only a small proportion of the troops in the pockets haven't already been disorganized by previous attacks

3. As pockets close, our INF become more and more concentrated: their attack started from a large base and takes them to a shorter frontline; this part was intentional


Of course, the orders we gave ahead of time weren't perfect, and in some locations there are greater delays than in others. We could decide to wait and see how the enemy were deployed once they were in the pockets and finish them by November, or we could give orders for a general advance and finish them by Sept. 20.

Since this is modern warfare and not World War I with its outdated operational principles, we chose the latter.

And it works.

The only reason a pocket is left is because we didn't order sufficient forces there, and it can be corrected by Sept. 25 by ordering a small number of troops to assist in cleaning up. At this point, all the rest of Western Poland has been cleaned up, and if Poland was a larger country, we'd be busy redeploying our forces on our new frontlines another large encirclement, starting between 0ct. 1 and Oct. 5.

 

[Enewald]

I hate the polish airforce.
They are just like annoying flies.
They don't kill you, just do some minor harm.

 

[Lordban]

Enewald, that was a pretty accurate description


**


XX. Battle of the Bälts


While the Battle of Poland draws to a close, Kiel is still occupied. It has yet to be reinforced: we are currently blockading the port.

Under Rear-Admiral Dönitz, pocketbattleships Graf Spee and Deutschland, heavy cruiser Blücher, and light cruiser Nürnberg are standing vigilant, while the rest of the Kriegsmarine's operational units wait at Rostock.

At 22:00 on Sept. 17, Blücher spots several French Destroyers fanned out in attack formation. She calls for reinforcement and engages the Destroyers, driving them away and inflicting some damage on one of the ships.

The Destroyers begin to withdraw, but they were only the point of a much larger formation. Already three French heavy cruisers position themselves to open fire, and behind them looms the silhouette of battlecruiser Strasbourg, one of the technologically most advanced ships of the time.

Graf Spee and Deutschland lose no time and open fire on Suffren and Tourville, both scoring hits on their second volley.

Dönitz's intentions for this battle are already made clear: inflict some damage on the French ships to make them more cautious, and escape at the first opportunity.

Fortunately for the Germans, Strasbourg's commander shows excessive care after seeing the hits scored on Suffren and Tourville, and as a result the battlecruiser finds herself badly out of position.

Hitler has been advised of the battle, and transmits orders that Deutschland should be protected at all costs during the withdrawal - obviously, he is afraid of the propaganda value of someone sinking a ship bearing the name "Deutschland". She has little choice but to comply, and both Graf Spee and Nürnberg position themselves between her and the enemy, drawing heavy fire on them.

They fire back. At 23:15, a volley from Graf Spee hits Suffren's ammunition storages. The resulting explosion splits the heavy cruiser in two, and she goes under in less than three minutes, dragging with her several hundred French crewmen and officers.


However the sinking of Suffren is not what decides the outcome of the Battle of the Bälts. A RAF sortie from Kiel informed Vice-Admiral Richard of the presence of Böhm's fleet rapidly coming through the straits, and pursuing Dönitz ships long enough to sink Graf Spee and Nürnberg would mean running headlong into the main body of Germany's fleet, with Scharnhorst, a battlecruiser more than capable of handling Strasbourg on her own, among the oncoming ships.

Richard regretfully issues his fleet the order to disengage, and at 23:35 Graf Spee fires the last volley of the battle, narrowly missing Duquesne.

The defenders of Warsaw will learn about the Battle of the Bälts the next day, and it will play its own part in determining the fate of Poland.

 

[Enewald]

Sometimes ships sink.
Sometimes your whole navy sinks.
Count yourself lucky.

 

[unmerged(105596)]

Subscribed, will read this through when I have some more time...

 

[brisduv]

So you lost the Sheer and Hipper, ouch! I didn't see them in the initial force? Not a good trade off.

A question? I assume because Denmark, Norway and Sweden are neutral any combatant fleets can sail through the straits into the Baltic? What territories control that access? I'd say you need those Stukas more in Northern Germany sinking enemy fleets than in Poland at the moment.
Great AAR!

 

[Lordban]

Subscribed, will read this through when I have some more time...

Thanks, and welcome on board... Though this is soon over

Sometimes ships sink.
Sometimes your whole navy sinks.
Count yourself lucky.

Sometimes you make blunders Pursuing that navy above was one

So you lost the Sheer and Hipper, ouch! I didn't see them in the initial force? Not a good trade off.

Thanks, that was from the follow-up battle
I'll fix that screenshot now.

A question? I assume because Denmark, Norway and Sweden are neutral any combatant fleets can sail through the straits into the Baltic? What territories control that access? I'd say you need those Stukas more in Northern Germany sinking enemy fleets than in Poland at the moment.
Great AAR!

Copenhague controls the Baltic straits.
Also, the first sea battle happened during the climax of the battle of Warsaw, as you are about to see. The second happened while I was waiting for the surrender event

 

[Lordban]

XXI. End game

The Poles are now desperate. This is the kind of attack they are reduced to launching against the Wehrmacht. The only good thing going for them: the forces in Lódz were still regrouping, and this attack is going to pin down 6 divisions, delaying the moment when they threaten the Polish capital.

Another counterattack seems to be going better for them to the south-west of Lódz, but actually there are two corps who have already received orders to attack the offending Poles' own positions, the HQ only arrived first. This whole force has received orders to swing north and attack Warsaw afterwards.

You will also note that we have won the battle at Mlawa, to the north-west of Warsaw. Only 20 kilometres of empty terrain lay between our divisions and the outskirts of Warsaw.

At 15:00 on Sept. 14, almost two weeks after the battle of Poland began, the Wehrmacht fires its first shots on the defenders of Warsaw.

The city is virtually empty; only one Infantry division defends the city. It doesn't come as a surprise after a close study of our intelligence reports estimated Poland's unit count, not including those units identified and trapped in pockets, was of only 19 to cover a front extending over several hundred kilometres.

To be entirely honest, it wasn't much of a frontline...


The counterattack at Lódz faltered, as we knew it must.

There were still many units around Warsaw, and if they regrouped in the city, a gruesome fight could ensue.

Thus, OKW decided to take no chances. No less than 21 divisions were sent against the 7 divisions defending Warsaw and its surroundings, with the instructions to break the defenders manning the outer perimeter of defence and then joining the main attack against the city.


It was only a matter of when Warsaw would fall. The only hope of Poland was if the British managed to reinforce their beachhead at Kiel and then break through North Germany.

But there was now something which really resembled a frontline, and enough troops to launch a counter-offensive at Kiel. And, as we already know, the Baltic Sea was defended, even if all the Kriegsmarine could do was delay the Royal Navy once it got serious...

... but the only ones who were getting reinforced at Warsaw were the Germans. As the battles of the outer perimeter turned in favor of the Wehrmacht, reinforcements started to trickle...

...and then became a river...

...then a torrent. There was simply no way the defenders could hope to hold in such a desperate situation, and every hour brought reports of a new German unit entering Warsaw.

A Cavalry brigade did arrive to lend their support to the beleaguered defenders, but all they could do was cover their retreat across the Vistula river. The final shots of the Battle of Warsaw were fired at 18:00 on Sept. 18, nearly eighteen days after the beginning of the battle of Poland.

At the same time, in Eastern Poland, the Red Army crossed the border "to ensure protection of national minorities against abuse by Poland". There was no option left for the Poles but to capitulate, and they did on Sept. 19.

To the Allies' horror, Poland had not lasted all Autumn as they had hoped they would; they had lasted less than three weeks. Precautions were taken to cover the magnitude of the disaster, but in the USA, TIME magazine published a coverage of the campaign, introducing the word "Blitzkrieg" to describe the new way the Germans waged war.

Perspectives looked grim for the Allies, and for France in particular, who would soon feel quite alone against the Germans, as it was only a matter of time before the Wehrmacht retook Kiel.

The British, on the other hand, could feel quite safe: half of the Kriegsmarine now lay on the bottom of the Baltic sea.


**


... and this is where this AAR ends.

The troops I was building were intended to be used in an attack against France in late November. It was a repetition of the Schlieffen plan, swinging through Belgium and aiming straight at Paris, with the Panzer and Motorized divisions exploiting the breakthrough and seizing various important French cities. I was going to declare a limited war to avoid the ridicule of Italy steamrollering France while I was just out of Belgium.

It was not to be, the laptop ran out of juice before that.


Thanks to all of you who have read and replied! I hope it was a good and mildly instructive read!

 

[CCA]

Wow! Just amazing! Good work!