France 1940 B8d

[Airluca]

Hi all
This is my first game in the last 3 year so i decided to write a small DAR, mostly a graphical one since my english is..well.. poor :whis:
I hope you enjoy it and please any comment or suggestion is welcome

I'll play the Axis while Antoni will take the Allies.

THE PLAN :
I split my forces in 3 Army group while i'll keep my armoured forces under direct OKW command to commit them for specific task, the plan is to go for an aggressive blitzkrieg tactics to encircle and smash Enemy corps without giving the enemy time to form a solid defensive line

AG North will take care of Holland and Belgium and then head toward Dunkerque facing the BEF

AG Center Infantries will take the bulk of france forces pinning them on the main line while the armoured unit will search for a breaktrought in his way to Paris

AG South will leave just a tiny screen in front of Maginot Line while it'll push hard to Verdun and try to get in the open south of France

[Airluca]

Turn 1 10/05/1940

-Army group North move four corps and the 18th reserve army with an armored division towards Holland , objective are Amsterdam and Rotterdam so the operation start with an assault over Nijmegen and Arnhem to secure river crossing
At the same time XI, IV and IX Corps will head to Antwerpen to cur Holland troops from Belgium and BEF.
The rest of the AGNc with the support of XIV PZ will encircle the forward elements of IV and VI Belgium Corps around Liege and then head to Bruxelles



-AGC has two main objective: Support AGN in the first phase of the encirclment of Bruxelles and move full speed to west to engage the France line defending Paris with XLI Pz Corps in forward position to support the effort

-AGS Is going to make a strong effort to break open in the south of France, to accomplish the task most of the defenisve line from Freibourg to Strasbourg will leave they're position and march west , this forces will give flank protection to the spear head of the AG rushing to Verdun and then splitting in two forces to get the two key position closing the path to France.

OKW committed the XIX Pz corps to support VII XIII and XXIII corps who will head to Chalons, while XII XXVIII and XXX will move to ST. DIziers.


p.s.i'll corrrect left popup as i get home

[Airluca]

Turn 2 13/10/1940

Some Major fight are on the horizon... Antoni put up some strong defensive point that i cannot ignore since i'll badly cripple my logistic ,i believe he has not enough unit to cover all the front with a solid defensive line, and most of the unit are frozen for the first rounds. So i'll take some risk moving forward troops full speed; in detail:

-AGN push North into Holland cutting enemy forces in two an getting closer to Enemy capital ; at he same time the main effort is directed against Bruxelles with 2 corps closing the gap from north and a Pz froum south trying to encircle the bulk of belgian defenders

-AGC Got a breaktrought in the PhilippeVille area just in the middle of the gap from Belgian and France Forces ; in the south on the other way enemy put up a stronghold in Sedan wich forward Corps are ordered to surround and crush.

-AGS Got all the reinforcement from the Sigfried line and started moving South leaving a screen to protect from eventual attack by Maginot defenders and Assaulting the heavily defended Verdun it's imperative to conquer this vital road and rail node!!

[Airluca]

Turn 3

Situation at the begin of the turn, 3 major pockets , one in the north with belgian troops
surrounded and two in the fortress of Sedan and Verdun



AGNorth started it's pnch movment around bruxelles and Mons , whil forward elements
of Pz corps wil geti in the gap and aim for gent and rear V location to force Belgium withdraw



AG Center will aim for Reims and Soissons facing the first French armored forces ,
the plan is to feint a direct attack on Paris causing a major treath and forcing them
in a static defensive position avoiding the chance to face mobile troops counter attack
under my exposed flank

AG South will leave some res. troops to cover the left flank while the rest of the corps
will continue it's push south,as usually Enemy strong holds as St. Diziers and Chalons
will be surrounded by armored forces and the assault will be driven by Infantry corps.

[Airluca]

Turn 4

Holland:

Time for a final push to force Holand surrender, Elemnts of two corps and some airborn regiment are employed to conquer The Hague & Amsterdam


WIth the fall of Beligum France will face the mighty of the 3 Army Group ;
AGN wil go straight for Lille and Dunkerque and will try to get Mons before BEF can react to the loss of belgium troops.
AGC will engage the enemy armored troops and push towards Paris and St Quentin but as espected lot of infantry division are deployed on this path and the Blitzkrieg as expected is stopped a solid line of defenders

AGS on the other hand proceed at a faster pace, St diziers is under siege and will soon fall, and more important as an unexpected gift the door of Chalons are open and a first key Bridge head with a supporting railroad is set over the Marne






End turn situation shows the strong French defensive position in the middle zone, while in the north Mons was far from undefended and will need a full scale siege to be taken
In the south the bridgehead expand further with a full Infantry Corps to secure it from a counter attack

[Airluca]

Trun 5

AGN finally got a nice gap in the north of the BEF line, while the bulk of the troops are setting up the encirclement of Lille and finishing off the Cambrai defenders.
two whole infantry corps will try to bypass the fight and head to Dunkerque


AGC is facing as expected the main defenders line on his direct path to Paris
forcing them in a static defensive position ,
a pinch movment is only possbile in the southern part but is slowed by Chalons pocket defenders
After the surrender of this troops the 4 corps involved will split in two
3 corps will move to the noth posing a treath to the French lines, the fourth will push directly
for Sens and the french open ground splitting to cover the widest possible space
simulating a greater force and hopefully diverting the defenders from the defence of Paris

AGS while guarding the whole left flank of the offensive has found a weak spot in
the enemy line beteween Troyes and Chaumont and will make for it, it's a risky move
since this will leave me with a tiny screen on the left,
but if i can get in the gap before French troops can get in position i can get a full scale
movement battle in the south

End turn situation shows the widening gap in the south and my push for it ,
AGC will help AGC in what seems the schwarzpunkt of the whole offensive


Whole front situation at the end of the round shows Holland figthing the last battle before the cease fire


Zoomed out situation (i'll try to get it animated for t1-5)

[Airluca]

Turn 6

AGN keep marching west on the coast to get the Port on the Channel before enemy reserves get in position

AGC is fighting two major encirclment battle in Cambrai and Chalons area, Pz corps are waiting for a gap to exploit , the plan is simple : hold the middle and close a huge Pocket trapping the best French armoured forces; in the south X corps is taking some risk running west without proper support until Chalons pocket is cleared and XV and XLI Pz corps can support it



AGS while initially aiming for a static shield for the rest of the troops is getting on the offensive, encircling a whole corps and a Res Army in two separate Battle, if it works the situation will change and AGS will get enough advantage to aim for Metz and Nancy ; Further advance to the south are slowed by these operation and only Totenkopt regiment disengaged from the battle heading to Djion



End of turn situation shows lot of good news for the OKW, 3 whole France Corps surrender after days of fight, in the Center this will greatly speed up the pinch movement against Paris forward defenders.

In the south Troyes fall without a fight and 2 corps and the 18 Army are trown in the gap getting Auxerrre and extabilishing the first bridgehead over the sens

[Airluca]

Turn 7 31/05/1940


AGN advance is stopped by Dunkerque defenders, the chance to get a breaktrought is wasted, we'll have to fight to keep advancing , south of the cty a tiny armored screen is forming and will soon be tested as the pocket are cleaned

AGC is closing the pocket around 1st 2nd and 9th French Army containing the core of the armored forces



AGS has crossed the sens and is now aiming for the rear, only Dijon is holding with a strong garrison




end Turn situation with projected line of advance for OKW

[Airluca]

Turn 8 03/06/1940

AGN main effort is in the coastal area :
I and XI Corps ,after the rest of army group has cleaned the Pocket of 2nd Army
and 3rd Corps, are now assaulting Dunkerque , supply situation is starting to give
trouble so some units will be given a full turn rest in a "decent" position to reorganize
after the last fight (got some unit in orange and aolso red status)

The rest of the AG corps are finishing off the Huge British pocket and will aim for Rouen
as soon as this fight are ended

AGC with the support of two PZ Corps is closing the trap around the bulk of the french forces,
the chain is very thin as lot of troops are still engaged in fight against trapped french
defenders in the north , if it can hold for one or two turn all this french men will have
no other choice than surrender, as the gap is filled some unit will be sent forward to
test Paris defences and the chance of a counter attack in this critical phase



AGS XII and XXX corps will drive full speed south-west trying to assicure all the brdige
and railroad for the second part of the operation, delaying french reserves ,18th Army
and XIX PZ corps will follow as the battle for Djion is won .





The rest of the army group is keeping it's pressure against Nancy and Metz , the fight
is turning in a WWI trench-like combat so OKW will have to decide either if stopping
the advance and fortify in the current position or divert some troops(expecially armored ones)
from the south and gain some numeric and mobility superiority

[silvanski]

Very nice AAR! What kind of paint program do you use for the arrows and on map notes?