Our Fall of France game ended during the recent posting hiatus. Here’s a screen shot of situation when I conceded. Ugly.
Tim did a great job of applying unrelenting pressure on a broad front. He might argue this pressure was too dispersed, but, in the end, his operational approach worked. Yes, I held out longer than my historical counterpart(s), but the end result was still the same; a French defeat.
This broad, sustained pressure precluded any concentration for a decisive counterattack, given the Allies’ slender armor and tactical air resources. Every unit was needed to plug the recurring holes in a shallow defensive line. The combination of tactical air, armor and strong infantry divisions capable of absorbing punishment was just too great.
A strategic withdrawal in the south would have been an option. But, a passive surrender of French territory would be politically unthinkable, even though not a real game consideration in terms of victory points lost.
On second thought, maybe the end result wasn’t “the same”. The British Army is still on the Continent. No Dunkirk, no evacuation to fight another day. With this outcome, the entire course of the war changes. Negotiated settlement? An interesting “what if” that has started a soft and gentle Siren’s Call to start up a session of A World At War or Blitz.
Now is a good time to replace those entryway lights…………
German armor sweeps past the weak ad-hoc French defenses and advances towards the Marne. Also, the German commander turns loose “Ants” to disrupt the Allied rear areas. To the north, German forces grind up the Dutch and Belgians, advancing to the Dyle Line.
The Allies rush armored/mechanized units to contain the Ardennes penetration, while withdrawing from the Dyle line, using Belgian forces in support. The Dutch attempt to consolidate their defense in order to tie down German forces for as long as possible.
I’ve bitched about my Fall of France (FoF) game with Tim, but I am now compelled to report it.
As usual with this site, the graphics will be less than ideal, a condition due in equal parts to my ambivalence towards pushing the boundaries of computer literacy and reliving a wargaming hell.
I was able to figure out how to get screenshots on my ancient Dell Windows 8 machine. However, the screen shots of the JET board are just that; a shot of what is on the screen. The JET mapboard takes up more than the screen, so the graphic evidence of this debacle will be from north of Frankfurt. That’s OK, because that it is where most of the carnage occured and is continuing to occur. We are now in the Allies Jun II turn, and things are looking very grim for the Allies. But….. we must start at the beginning.
The Germans have extremely powerful air and ground units. The screenshots show only the top unit in the hex. But, below that scary surface, lies even more panzer divisions, supported by motorized units, lots of motorized flak and artillery.
One revelation was how tough the German infantry stacks were. Three 8-8 infantry, paired with artillery represents a lot of combat power.
Allied units are solid, but lack mobility, flak and supporting units.I shudder when I think about the German’s powerful ground attack air assets used to support these armored and infantry forces.
Then, there are the historically based operational rules. They create a difficult framework for the Allies to work within.
The Germans start off with an invasion turn, which includes all normal Europa turn phases except the exploitation phase.
The Allies do have a reaction phase. However, this is scripted because most northern French units and those of the BEF must enter Belgium to occupy the Dyle River Line, setting up the historical “Sickle Cut”.
While Dutch and Belgian units can move during this Allied reaction phase, they cannot enter enemy zones of control.
With the Allies sucked into Belgium, the Germans start the regular May I turn.During the Allied player May I turn, no unit in an enemy ZOC (Zone of Control) can move, and all British or French units have their movement factors halved.
The Allies are further hampered by the inability of their combat / motorized units to attack a full-strength or move using full movement during their exploitation phase until the beginning of the June I turn. This reflects a lack of mechanized doctrine.
To make things even worse, during the May I turn any French non-mech/motorized unit has to retreat two hexes rather than one if it has fought an attacking German force with at least one panzer division.
One other note about the graphics. As I mentioned, JET is a real marvel. However, it cannot do several things within the rules as written Europa framework. The result is that you have to tweak things, and the file you forward may have a heading (found in the upper left hand corner of the screen) that isn’t quite accurate. An example: You cannot fly CAP (Combat Air Patrol) during the Initial Phase. You have to cheat, and “fool” the machine by forwarding to your Movement Phase, where it is allowed. So, on the files shown, the heading on the screen may show “German Movement Phase”, when in fact the file really reflects the Allied Initial Phase. Confused….good…..misery needs company…..and the weight of Tim’s advance has had me in a daze since early May.
Allied Setup
Allied Exploit – Move To The Dyle Line
You can see the German penetration through the Ardennes. Now, the Allies must avoid being enveloped. Will post up later with more carnage….after I do a better job of figuring out the screen shot sequence.
