France 1940 Mod B - No peeking Marshall Antoni :)

[cillmhor]

Turns 5,6 & 7:

These next three turns prove crucial in the battle for France as towns (and crucially towns with 'V' or event points) continue to fall, meaning that the morale of the Allies plummets and their desertions increase.



On turn 5 and 6 I am able to surround the French 16th Corps and 7th Army Reserves and X Corps and 2nd Army Reserves to the north east of Reims, they are subsequently destroyed. Likewise elements of French 6th Corps and 51st Highland Division to the west of Verdun, no St Valery for the brave Scots this time.

At the end of turn 6 I have made a mini break up the north coast towards Dunkirk and the other channel ports, and I have panzers poised to throw a ring of steel around what I now call the Soissons line north east of Paris.

However, at the beginning of turn 7, my limited recon seems to indicate that little in the way of French troops occupy the capital, and I decide to push my tiring panzers once more and make an audacious bid for Paris. To my surprise all I find are French air force units which quickly scarper and the French capital falls without a bullet being fired! I also am able to place a ring of steel around the Soissons line, which I squeeze over a couple of combat rounds. I took a gamble with Paris, as there might have been French troops which my recon had not picked up. The final hint which made me follow my hunch was that in Antoni's turn replay I saw him moving troops up from the west coast towards Paris, leading me to believe that he felt the need to reinforce Paris.



Meanwhile further north, I push recon cavalry and motorized units along the coastal route and take Calais and Boulogne. I also try to push German units through the weaker parts of the Allied line north of Paris in the hope of forcing encirclements, to the south of Dunkirk, two combat rounds push back the Anglo-French forces.



I have to say that the campaign is playing out historically in many ways, apart from the fact that Paris has fallen on 31st May this time. I have not used all of my panzers in the classical fashion of sending them far into the rear of the enemy, nor concentrated them quite as much as was historically the case as a Panzerwaffe. But the general principles have been the same, look for gaps and then plunge my faster troops into them to hold until the infantry can catch up. Antoni has acted very much as the Allies did, looking to offer a strong, static line of defence. His biggest problem has been a lack of defence in depth in several key areas, around the northern Channel ports, and crucially now, behind the Soissons line to the east of Paris.

Antoni may have been expecting me to engage in a war of annihilation (Kesselshlacht) with his front line troops before advancing, but I have opted for victory locations and sowing confusion in the rear areas of the Allies. The option to shift my Ardennes forces north to encircle the Allies against the Channel coast was cut off by Antoni placing the BEF in the way along with a strong line east of Paris. I knew that he must have a weakness further south somewhere, and I found out that this weak spot was around Verdun and Chalons, and so pushed my reserves and panzers through here and finally on to Paris. It's early yet, but the capture of so many 'V' locations is triggering multiple desertions events for the Allies, and the capture of Calais will trigger a shock event next turn, and the fall of Paris reduces Antoni's production and replacements. So the gamble of push exposed motorised and armoured units into the Allied rear areas had paid off so far as it is limiting the effectiveness of the defenders. I now, optimistically perhaps, hope to have the north of France sown up before there is a risk of my two Panzer Korps being withdrawn between turn 18 and 25 (75% risk).