German HOI 3 AAR

You should update us with pictures 'from the front' showing the gains you have made!

 

I was thinking about last time I was playing, So I will do that later tonight Matt.

I am not concerned with the losses since from the outset (1936) I knew that Germany would face a manpower issue if not properly looked after, so I advanced the techs which increase manpower early in preparation for a long war.

I am simply happy that such a small force could hold out against such a large one with the few losses that they did receive.

The Navy is also still under heavy construction, getting ready for the invasion of America in around the 50's I'd say.

in production at the moment, I have 1 Super Heavy BB, 2 escort carriers, 2 more Fleet Carriers, 4 CL's, 3 CA's, and 2 more BC's, plus the standard screening forces of Destroyers and Submarines.

I think my biggest problem with the game, or I should say the biggest problem with my strategy is a lack of air power, I have many interceptors and Medium bombers, but lack the CAS wings, the Strategic Bombers, and the Naval bombers. I do however have 4x transport planes, which are great since I have two full Divisions of Paratroopers, yet to commit to the battle.

 

I will up load the screenshots later, but during the battle with Russia, which is going to take forever at the rate it is going, I have realised a few things with this campaign.

My strengths against the Russians are technology and not numbers, for this reason I feel the North Russian Invasion will be a failure, the peninsular in the are is too small for the amount of troops I have put into the field there, If any gains will be able to be made it will be a slow process.

The second is to win against the Russians I need to stretch there forces thiner to win, in the screenshots I will show later you will see that the fronts with few Russian troops, I just run through them, while the others is a slow paced advance.

Thirdly I think the Russians are suffering from serious manpower issues. Very few of there forces that have been involved in battle are being reinforced, and the organisation of them also isn't increasing. So I think over time the advance will increase in speed.

 

The borders of Germany controlled Persian and British Controlled India


The soft underbelly of Russia.




The Caucasus front. You can clearly see the lack of troops on both sides. You can also see my flanking attack up the left flank in an attempt to encircle the defensive line, the leading troops are 2 divisions of Mountain troops.




The Hungarian Front with Russia



The planned attacks lead by armoured units. These attacks were mostly beaten back, with of course some exceptions



The Flanking of the Soft Underbelly of Russia.



A whole Russian Army being surrounded, and with the help from a few Hungarian units, a complete encirclement, to this post they are still holding that ground, but quickly losing the battle.



The few gains made on the North Eastern Front, you can see two other areas about to fall, but due to resistance and lack of troops to continue in strength, The Providences were taken and then defended only.



You can also see Militia troops moving in from the West through Germany, these are troops from Slovakia moving in to assist, in the end it worked out to be around 20 mixed divisions of varying sized. Not much, but they are doing wonders at filling holes in my line.

 

Nice work!

 

The Americans have finally decided to show there forces. I first met them in a naval engagement, involving the Bismarck, the Prinz Eugen, 2 Light Cruisers, 2 Destroyers the Graf Spee Aircraft Carrier, and 18 Transport vessels. The enemy comprised, of only 4 Light Cruisers, 5 Destroyers and 7 Submarines.

I am guess due to the American superiority at sea, there cruisers were able to damage the Bismarck quite badly in the beginning of the battle, knocking here efficiency down to only 37%, her first battle damage. My Carrier was able to destory 1 destroyer, but severely damage three of the enemy cruisers and the other destroyers.

What I did not notice at first was the Americans had landed a force of some 50,000 men at wilhemshalven taking the town. They were quickly destroyed by the panzer units and Garrison units in the area, but this alone has forced me to return some of the units that I stripped from those areas for the Eastern Front.

With the Eastern Front, not much has happened as of yet. The Russians gained a little ground in the center of the line, but I was able to cut the advancing troops off from there reserves and I am currently destroying those divisions, around a total of 15 in 3 pockets, not a lot, but enough that he can not replace.

The North Front stalled with the push to Finland, so I changed tactics, and decided to go around that initital barrier. The Russians appeared to have amassed something like 140,000 men in one providence, standing right in my way, so I am attempting to cut them off.

South of Russia is progressing ok, the South Western front or (the soft underbelly of Russia) has been going well, with there entire line being flanked and over run with few loses to myself.

The Caucasus campaign is fairing ok, the mountains are causing issues, but I feel with another couple of divisions moving into place will deal with that in due time.

More screenshots later.

 

Ok I need to update with some screenshots when I get time, but first the rest of the battle.

The North Front with Russia is a massive mess, an entire army, nearly 250,000 men, hold four provedences, they were pushed away from the port in the area and now must rely on air supply transport planes to deliver supplies, and without a doubt not enough to allow any type of push, they are merely waiting for help, they do have a carrier off shore supporting them but nothing else.

Further north, I landed the relief force, there job was simply to link up with the surrounded forces south of them still next to Finland. This force was a mixed and rather rushed unit, with the initial size only being a corp of three divisions, all infantry, and most Italian. More troops were rushed in including an entire Corp pulled from the Poland-Russian border, to add with the link up. These units have also stalled under the sheer amount of Russia forces, and in 6 months have barely moved.

The Entire Polish front, originally intended to be the main front, has all but stopped, there are a few skirmishes here and there, but overall the whole front has gone quite, with only a few Providences being taken.

The South is fairing much better, and looks to be the salvation of the war.

The Causaus front, is slowly pushing forward, but too slow to be of any real help to the other fronts, the mountains there simply are too difficult to take, and there is no available men of ships to attempt another seaborne attack further north.

Now the "Soft Underbelly" Of Russia is the most successful front, with the original line no longer existing, and the Russians needed to bring up 2 more armies to continue some kind of a defence. At one stage there were no forces that I could see, and even now the only troops are ones north of my men. The whole North Eastern section of the front is empty, and the faster mechanized units continually need to stop to wait for the infantry.

The American attack on German Soil has been beaten back with all forces being captured, as well as around 15 submarines destroyed in the Wilhelmshaven docks.

A few months after that attack by the western allies, there came another. The Canadians alone with only 20000 men decided to attack Loirent in the NOrth West of France. This attack was completely destroyed in no time.

 

A good 35% of the time after the Winter war ends, the Russians keep Petsamo for whatever reason. There you go, land connection to Norway.

 

Normally perhaps yes, but in my game Russia never did the "winter war" event and therefore never went to war with Finland, so it has to be all done by the sea. I have contemplated invading Finland too but my numbers a too few to attempt that any time now.

 

The beginning of the counter Attack and flanking maneuvers in the Caucasus, take 2. After the failed 1st attack on the left flank, the right has become the target. The Attack went very well, with my army surrounding quite a few Russian Divisions.

The initial Attack.



The successful breakthrough



The Failed Canadian attack on France, the Canadians have all been captured and the landings have failed. Two Canadian Transport ships, 2 destroyers and a light Cruiser were destroyed in the battle, with no loss to my own ships.

Most of the units in the area were either Police Brigades, or Garrison troops with only a few thousand men in each with no support equipment. The Saving troops was a spare Armoured Divisions brought from the units being prepared to reinforce the units in North Russia.



The Polish - Russia front, still you can see nothing has really happened, and much of the front has now stopped being actively participating in the war, I am thinking of pulling a few corps and putting more men into the South of Russia, and taking the war from there.



My "Soft UnderBelly of Russia" didn't seem to be taken as a proper screen shot so I will have to retake that sometime, and then you can all see the advances made there by such small amounts of units.

The Attack on North Russia, you can see where the Failed landings hit in the south of the picture. Due to the enemy resistance the port was not captured fast enough and therefore those troops are effectively blocked off from all supply routes and retreat.

You can also see the more Northern Russia attack, with the attempt at breaking through to the stranded units. Initial success was good, with my forces being able to push from the Port of Murmansk to the small corridor squeezed between Finland and the Ocean. This area is full of units and has now become a diffuclt task to take.

The other units in the area are also taking heavy losses due to troubling supply issues as you can see in the supply map. The Russians possess a lot of tanks and many men in the North, I think this battle will probably fail and the cut of units will be lost to me, a big hit to take.

 

It has been a while since I have played me campaign but took to it the other day again and with some surprisingly good results for me.

Caucasus Front:

This section of the front has surpassed all expectations with the entire destruction of the Soviet defenders. Using the Blitzkrieg tactic of mobile armour and Close Air Support, with the infantry to deal with both the enemy left behind in encircled pockets and to fill in gaps I was able to push straight through the right flank and continue to encircle the enemy, there units numbers estimated to be around 15 divisions. Once those units were dealt with the advance continued, with one of my more forward infantry units on the left flank racing across the top of the Border of Turkey towards the Red Sea and the port there, this will increase supplies to my troops and allow more reinforcements to flow easier then having to ship the troops to Persian and then march them north for 2 months.

The Forward units of the Panzer armies have no opposition and have almost reached the Volga and once the infantry catch up will push for Stalingrad.

A positive outlook for this.
My Numbers: around 150,000

Soft Underbelly:

This part of the war was at one stage almost lost, my units were close to breaking, there were holes all through my lines due to the sheer size of the Russian territories( in some cases single artillery units are holding sections of the front).

However this area has now stabilized and the two panzer units have regrouped and are again pushing forward, the enemy is few but organised, and my troops lack the numbers to continue an advance for long.

Numbers: 100,000

Poland - Russo Front:

This front is still virtually the same since the beginning of the Campaign, with few troops of either side gaining any ground, there however many troops from both sides in these areas, and neither of us would dare to move any otherwise the other would surely capitalize on this weakness.

Numbers : 1,000,000 ( and this is not enough)
North Front - Murmansk

The First invasion near Leningrad but on the other side of the peninsular, is still stopped with my men simply waiting for relief. The Russians have weakened the area and simply are holding my men in place, but due to my men not having access to a port are unable to get supplies except by air.

The second invasion doubling up as a relief force landed near Murmansk and quickly took the port, (see above screenshot), however the sheer amount of Russian troops I expect were pulled from the other invasion section stopped my troops in there tracks, then the unthinkable happened, Murmansk was taken.

Murmansk is the only deep water port in the area capable of supplying my troops and the only port capable of being used to retreat. Now that the port was taken and my forces were pushed East away from the port, supplies are growing less as well as organization of the troops. The Last count I did was around 320,000men trapped behind Russian lines with no hope of retreat, the only option is another relief force, directly hit Murmansk in a long and lengthy amphibious battle or a separate invasion south of the First Invasion North of Moscow.

I had one panzer Division in Norway awaiting deployment to Russia, but with the loss of Murmansk this had stopped, and seeing as it was only a single division it was not enough to put into the field, there were also 2 infantry divisions (newly formed) but who's organization was too low to be of any help and were currently in France and would take around a week to get to Russia.

When all looked bleak the unthinkable happened. My forces were beginning to fall back East away from Murmansk except for mt three Parachute Regiments who alone with the help of a river held 2 panzer Divisions. My planes were grounded due to lack of supplies and the only air support came from to CAG's from the nearby Zeppelin of the coast.

This is where I saw the opening I was hoping for, Murmansk was undefended!

Seeing this chance I loaded the Panzer units in Norway and immediately sent them into capture the unoccupied Murmansk from the Russians, without any support the Panzer Units arrived, and took the port, the unit was split into two with 2 regiments holding the port and the other pushing south past the Finnish border to surround the Russians pushing East. I then took the two Infantry Divisions from France and sent them to Murmansk to support the encirement, not much but it was enough to surprise the Russians and I was able to grab quite a bit of land. Seeing this invasion and relief, the falling back Germans even seemed to get hope, whether there air supplied had simply increased by the now flying air support missions from Murmansk Airfield, or the Russians simply lost there advantage's my men began to push back and took ground. I am now about the cut the Russian forces through the centre (Near the airfield in the south in the last screenshot) and link up with the second invasion force, and then I can push south as well as using the port of Murmansk to launch another Sea Invasion North of Moscow and take the final port there, thus opening up North Russia and freeing the First Invasion force.

All in all an excellent turn around with the battle.

Numbers: 375,000
First Invasion - 200,000
Second Invasion - 150,00
Murmansk Assualt Force - 25,000


Screen shots to follow.

 

This shot is dated as the 1st of Feburary 1942, 5 months after the start of the war, and about 4 months since the seaborne invasion of North Russia.

This is the Relief force for the 1st invasion. In this shot you can see the lost port of Murmansk and how much land the Russians regained.

Although it may seem like I have plenty off troops but due to the loss of the port supplies are dwindling down.

In the centre of the line you can see the single Fallshirmjaeger unit holding the line.



The 1st, failed sea invasion of North Russia, clearly you can see the forces have not moved since there failed attack and are merely trying to hold the line. You can not see it but the south western most panzer unit is attempting to cut off the Russian forces to the west.

You can also see the troop numbers for this 1st invasion being 211k.


This is the third and final screenshot of the North campaign dated the 27th of Feburary. In this one you can see the port of Murmansk has fallen and the Panzer units have rushed south behind the Russian forces and almost cut off the North most Russians. It may not look it by the forces just beyond the small gap the Russians control, at one point only managed to hold that line, and it was only because of the air support from the Murmansk air supply drops feeding the Mechanized units in that area.

The Paratroopers still held their line, in true paratrooper style.




Overall North Campaign Victories.



Main Front 1st Feburary.

The Main front line south of Poland and Russia, this is the site of some of the only advances made on the front.



North Section of the Main Front, you can see Memel, begin the only German land lost to an opposing nation. The River you can see was the site of many long battles, and was hard won.



Overall Front, here you can the 1 million strong army numbers for the Eastern Front HQ.

 

These shots will now be of the Caucasus and the soft underbelly of Russia.


This shot is of the Caucasus also dated the 1st of Feburary, you can see the surrounded forces still remaining as well as the lack of Russian units in the area, as well as the rush up the right flank by the panzer divisions.




The latest pictures from the caucasus front with the Panzer units halting at the far right waiting on the Infantry to catch up. You can also see the port on the Red sea is about to fall to my HQ unit, with the infantry in close support, but unable to catch up.



This is the Soft Underbelly of Russia 1st of Feburary, you can see the lack of forces in the area on both sides, as a few Providences don't even have troops in them. This was a diffuclt and backward and forward battle, there simply isn't enough troops in the area. However 2 divisions are moving up from the British controlled Indian front to support the attack.





The continuing weakening Russian forces have almost disappeared out of site, he pulled many of his troops back, perhaps to the North Campaign? I don't know, but he has opened the door and the tanks are coming in.

 

These are some overall screenshots of the entire south of Russia and the advances from the 1st to the 27th of Feburary.

1st of Feburary,




27th of Feburary.

 

But a few of the units in production planned this year.

Not seen here is my V1 Rockets now in constant production ready to fire at Moscow.

 

Impressive! I cant build a military anywhere near that size as the US. If I could make a small suggestion though, In my game intensive bombing of railways and supplies (tactical strikes? or is it logistical?) has caused on several occasions the enemy to retreat, leaving the line undefended. I simply keep a transport plane or two to airlift supplies as you will not gain any either once taking that province. Perhaps that can help with your stalled main front?

 

Not a bad idea mike, but My main focus has changed from the Poland front and I am concentrating on the south now, the breakthrough's are going very well and with a few more troops currently being produced added to the South forces, it should force him to move the troops anyway, well that is the idea.

 

Just an update as I will post Screenshots later.

Coming up to March 10th the outlook for the overall campaign was looking bleak. The North of Russia Front, had completely stalled at both invasion points and with the cut off troops themselves being cut in half, the Main Front was a solid wall of troops on both sides of the line, and the only good news coming from the south front with Stalingrad falling, but having to few troops to Continue to push forward.

At Stalingrad the enemy was non existent, except for a depleted armour division and an infantry divisions still retreating from when the front line was near Turkey. The armour captured Stalingrad quickly with no problem but had to halt to wait for the infantry to catch up and by the 20th of March had taken the entire Volga river West of Stalingrad. The East side of Stalingrad was also simply waiting for the infantry to catch up with supply problems being the main issue, but with a new port captured supplies began to raise higher.

Now that Stalingrad has fallen the next Target is Sevastopol and then the final link up with the other German units at the main front.

The Soft Underbelly remains much the same.

This was the way the war went, looking overall quite bleak, until March 22nd, this is the date the entire campaign changed and victory looked closer then ever before.

March 22nd was the day that Finland the long standing Neutral country of Scandinavia declared war on the Russia empire and asked to join the Axis forces.

By April 8th the entire Front line near Poland was almost stripped by the Russians, and the great push was on, quickly I encircled 20 divisions in two different movements, the line quickly opened up.

In the North the Finnish of all people were the ones to link up with my cut of invasion force, and being allied a new supply line was established from a Finnish port, finally bringing those troops back into play, the area around Murmansk has simply became a mopping up tactic and this part of the North Russian campaign is now almost over, with the bulk of the Russian forces retreating to Leningrad, with the Finnish in close Pursuit.

Screenshots later.

 

heh, and to think, you were considering conquering Finland

 

Ok now for some screenshots, as you may notice the dates are some time off the last ones, this was due to a saving error by fraps and all my screenshots were lost, but these will do fine.

I will start with the main front.

This section of the front has come alive with combat and battle, I have encircled three different groups of Russians, only one which is left in play at this time, and the numbers are estimated to be as high as 40 divisions of mixed units.





The middle of April say another unit surrounded numbering some 10 divisions. Even with all these losses you can still see the sheer size of the enemy army. You can however also see the weakened centre of the Russian line, and how the Russians are scrambling to fill the gaps, it is unfortunate that all my reserves were committed to the encirclements and I am unable to capitalize on the weak spot in force.



North Russia

IN this one you can see the one providence the Finnish have taken up north, but it is also clear the effects the Finnish had on the Russians as they have pulled most of there troops out of the north. Due to terrible supply lines, mainly due to the Eastern Front taking all the supplies, my troops in the area struggle to find enough supplies to finish off the Russian forces, lucky for me the Russians are out as well.

Due to this development in the North I have even removed an entire army numbering almost 120,000 men from the port of Murmansk and shipped them back to the Konigsberg and into the breach of the weakened lines.





Here you can see the Finnish's successful breakthrough to my cut of troops and how my newly supplied forces have responded in turn. The North Russians have also began to surrender except for 2 divisions of tanks. It is also very clear who my forces have dwindled in the north. Even the great paratroopers that held the line near Murmansk have been moved back to Germany in preparation for the continued attack on Russia.




The Caucasus front, now going to be Known as the Stalingrad Front as per the pre-defined theaters.

I have taken Stalingrad, the entire Volga moving East towards the Caspian Sea and as far West as the Red Sea, not visible in this picture, I even have forces crossing the land bridge to the Port of Sevastopol. The Three Russian Divisions here are still the same ones from the beginning who I just can't seem to surround, and have even now evaded my forces.




The Soft Underbelly.

This Front has been come very iffy at the moment, my troops have been pushed back somewhat, but the link up with the Stalingrad front above the Caspian sea and the Arals(?) sea has meant the Russians have began to pull back in fear of encirclement.
That lone infantry unit you see in the middle is a partisan unit that showed up, you can see a lone panzer Regiment has been sent to deal with it, and as of this date is currently battling with them but will win soon.




This picture although about 15 days out of date, is still very much accurate except for the battle near Sevastopol and a few Providences in Poland.