Updated Normandy'44_Alt (third time, 13 AUG)

[Liquid_Sky]

The 300+ engineer battalions will almost always blow a bridge. The 120-160 man companies will fail most of the time. I have never been able to blow every bridge between UTAH and OMAHA, but I do get pretty close. I suspect this game I caught my opponent by surprise, because my engineers remained untouched the first turn....but he sure punished them afterwards.

Normandy is really two games in one. Pre-Storm and Post-Storm. Before the Storm, the Allies come ashore and can really put some pressure on the Germans. Especially the British, who have a multitude of tanks. The arrival of the 12th SS division and 21st Panzer division are not enough to stretch and hold the British back near the beaches.

What I do is use the ants...(anything with E or F morale) and spread them out. Retreat them one hex a turn, and try to have them every second hex with an extra unit behind them. If the allies are slow, I use the SS to try to hold the fields in front of Caen. If they are super aggressive, I fill Caen with the SS, (which has a 50 supply source), and use 21st Panzer to fight a slow retreat. The allies cannot surround Caen, and push inland at the same time.

Even so...it is a tough fight in the early game for the Germans....As for digging in, the percentage is 5% in the parameter file. That means it is 15% for a battalion...even more for engineers. Single companies only dig in by fluke. I usually use the many useless small units to dig in while my main units shoot. I don't try and dig in a line ala Russia.

The interdiction is a pain. I find that any unit with 4 guns/afv's in it (or less) is prone to instant vaporization sooner or later while it moves along the road. I do try to group my units into battalions to avoid this, but some of them don't allow it. A unit will move over 100 hexes from the bottom of the map to reach the front....that is 100 checks for interdiction. With the percentage set at 45%, modified by amount of movement spent/size of unit...or however he does it.....it probably means that units will be hit a fair number of times before they reach the front. I have had units get hit multiple times in one move.

THE STORM. Somewhere around 120 turns, the storm hits. It pretty much puts an end to all combat. Units will still maneuver (one hex a turn) and wherever they meet the enemy, will define the front line. For the next 30-40 turns, there will be no air interdiction, and 20 turns of storm (at least, probably more). During this time, German reinforcements will race up the highways (untouched by weather and interdiction) while the front line digs in. As well, all units recover up to 90% (or more) strength, regardless of how beaten up they were.

After the storm, the Germans and Allies will be completely dug in to TRENCH level.....perhaps with some bunkers too (that rule didn't exist last time I played). That is when the tide turns...

Most of my observations/complaints about German supremacy come from viewing the game after the Storm. When my Germans are dug in bocage to 90% defence. When assaulting and mass fire from tanks/artillery ruled the battlefield.

Oh...the Flak thing was kind of annoying, but I just parked them in Caen in my last game, and waited for Army Group B to enter the map. (Early July, I believe). In my current game, I am spreading them around to slow his armour car incursions behind my lines, so they probably wont live that long.

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I just had a wild thought...perhaps the allies should have some fatigue when they hit the beaches? (say 100?) Maybe for the first couple of days? Seems somewhat strange that after all that time in the ships that they are fresh for combat...and this may encourage the allies to hold from pushing to far while they recover fatigue...especially during the second night.

Maybe not for the americans on Omaha...as they will gain a fair bit of fatigue just trying to get off the beach.