Normandy '44 AAR

[CountryBoy]

I've always enjoyed reading AARs and thought I would finally try one myself. The scenario is the campaign game in Normandy '44, which is a scary 750 turns long! 

I am playing as the Axis, with my opponent Iley fighting to liberate France. 

The optional rules we are using are shown below:



Unfortunately it only occurred to me to start an AAR once we were already underway, so I only have images from Turn 14 onwards. The previous 13 turns covered the Allied landings and saw me trying to form a defensive line. The Allies were able to get off the beaches fairly easily.

So Turn 14, it is 10:00 am on the 7th of June 1944. The situation around Caen is as below:



The British have covered a fair bit of ground over the past 24 hours or so, with just a few fortified positions holding out near the beaches. The 21st Panzer Division is forming a defensive line some 7km north of Caen. It's not a bad unit although they are only B morale, but much better than 716th Infantry Division, which is also in this area, all morale E.

The grey units are the 12th SS, which are moving to take up position to the west of 21st Panzer. This is the strongest unit I have at the moment, being A morale.

Further west is Bayeux, where Allied progress has been slower, as shown below. You can see the 12th SS on the right of this image, with the 352nd Infantry on their left flank (a C morale unit), who are digging in around Bayeux.




Further west again, around Omaha Beach, the Allies have made the least progress. The 352nd makes up the bulk of German resistance here, although they are thinly stretched.



Further west again, around Utah Beach and the Allies have gained a lot of ground. I had to pull back in order to try and form a defensive line. Plus the paras of the 82nd and 101st simply chew up the low-quality German units. Carentan is still in German hands although the US 4th Infantry Division is there in force. There is a bridge immediately north of Carentan which I have not been able to blow, which will become a problem later on. German defenders here are the 709th and 243rd Infantry and the 91st Luftlande. All pretty poor units, although there are some higher quality fallschirmjager around Carentan.




The jump map below shows the overall situation. The German defensive line is taking shape, although it is pretty thin in parts. I have units digging in furiously all over the map and reinforcements on the way, but I'm very short of quality troops at this stage.



In terms of VPs, the position as at the end of Turn 14 is as below. Allied losses are high, given the damage they took storming the beaches.