F40 -- Why so many Allied withdrawals?

[Dog Soldier]

For those of you with VISTA.....:rolleyes:

Disappearing units in the Campaign? (Or where did the Dutch go?)

The Panzer Campaigns Series has had a feature to withdraw units since Normandy ’44 where it was required to remove the Allied Airborne Divisions at the appropriate time after the start of the campaign when these units were put into reserve. This feature was used again in Sicily ’43 to depict the melting of the lower quality Italian Coastal Divisions.

In France ’40 we use this feature for different purposes. First of all, the units of the Dutch Army, albeit few in number, are withdrawn – removed from the map and from play after the first day. This allows the German player to bypass these units rather than have to surround and defeat them all individually. Units withdrawn do not count toward victory but the point value of these units to the Germans is likely not worth the delay it might cause to stop and annihilate. Better to sweep them aside and move forward.

The very powerful assault troops of the German elite Sturmtroops (Sturm.Abt.Koch) carried out the glider landings that neutralized the Forts at Eban Emael using Hobllandung or shaped charged weapons. The Sturmtroops units also secured some bridges over the Albert Canal. So like the Allied Airborne in Normandy, these units too are withdrawn after they complete their part of the Operation and are not made available to march across France.

Finally, a number of French units have a chance of being withdrawn too. This removal affects a list of units, each with a very low percentage (1 to 2%) assigned to them so it will be difficult for either side to predict. The effect and the timing of this type of withdrawal are intended to simulate the panic that had occurred in key places around the 15th of May. Obviously simulating events such as panic by units is difficult to model, but when faced with references such as this one from Powaski, we felt that some consideration should be built into the game campaign for this. Powaski writes:

"Riding with the advancing Panzers, one Soldier, Karl von Stackelberg. Described the evidence of the French Rout: ‘All along the side of the road lay abandon baggage wagons, … rifles thrown away, steel helmets, saddles, and all kinds of other equipment. Later Stackelberg was astonished to meet a column of French soldiers marching, willingly and without guard into imprisonment."

Similarly, toward the later stages of the Campaign the Belgian Army will suffer from the same effect of some units just disappearing leading to the historically correct situation where these troops were no longer providing organized resistance against the Germans.

Note however, this unit withdrawal function is only used in the larger Campaign scenarios and is included to build in these sorts of historical events which help capture the feel and uncertainty for the unit’s reliability and stamina in the face of the German onslaught. It is not a part of any of the smaller shorter scenarios in the game.

Dog Soldier