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vonik -> Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns (3/15/2017 2:36:46 PM)
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Fall Gelb, codename for invasion of France and the Low Countries
1. Strategical considerations
In this spring 1940 Germany is at war with France and UK and in an uneasy non agression pact with the USSR .
France and UK outrageously dominate the seas and Italy watches from the side lines not wishing to be caught between the hammer and the anvil .
After its Blitzkrieg Campaign in Poland won in 2 weeks to the surprise of the Allied, Germany could refit, reinforce and transport its armies to the Western Front .
As Germany cannot and will not relive a second WWI, there is no other choice than to unleash the Blitzkrieg on France and UK and to utterly anihilate the Allied armies before they even know what hit them .
Time is of paramount importance and the most important commodity for Germany .
Germany cannot afford to fool around lest the Soviets come with dangerous ideas prompted by the lack of defence on the Soviet – German border .
Second important reason for speed is Italy . The Italian Navy is decent and Italy holds an important strategical position in Libya .
Germany cannot afford that Italy starts foolish plans of its own and blunders unwittingly into a war with France because in this latter case it could loose both its navy and its African possession before Germany can do anything about it .
Third important reason for speed is an invasion of England . Indeed if the French Campaign is decided fast, Germany has enough time to work on weakening of the RN via a submarine war which is a prerequisite to an invasion AND to transport the Wehrmacht to the eastern border to nip in the bud any Soviet dreams about an agression on Germany .
2. Need for speed
Speed being the most important factor, we will see what tactical measures must be taken so that the Blitzkrieg in France lasts a minimum of time .
The strategy is simple : capture Paris AND bring the French moral low enough that it surrenders .
Achieving only the former could only have for result that the French government moves to Bordeaux and we'd have to slug it out across the whole France loosing many valuable weeks .
That's why the only parameter that will govern all our actions will be the French moral . Our losses are irrelevant, we must strike in such a way that the French moral gets the biggest possible hits and when the time comes to deliver the killing blow in Paris, the French moral must crash to 0 so that France surrenders .
3. Initial forces and target definition
The forces at our disposal are not optimal what will give a hint of what should have been produced/done when starting with the 1939 Campaign .
we have 6 armies (noted with A) but only half of them is upgraded infantry (noted A+) and none of them are mechanized . Obviously all of them would have been upgraded and some perhaps mechanized if we had started playing the 1939 Campaign .
we have no mechanized infantry . Yet it is the best unit to capture towns and capturing towns is what we want to do because it is what lowers the French moral most . One mechanized infantry would have been produced when playing the 1939 Campaign .
Luftwaffe is a bit of an overkill . It will partly compensate the handicaps above but we'd be better off with one fighter less but one mechanized infantry more .
The French moral at the start of the turn 1 on 6 May 1940 is at 20 000 / 22 500 (88%) .
We do not want to be bothered by Belgians and Dutch later on, so the priority for the turn 1 is to crush them both .
For that we'll need to use paras on La Hague and to destroy the Belgians in Liège and Eben Emael in order to attack Brussels from the north or the south where we don't attack across a river .
Infantry (the A and A+ armies) will attack first, the Panzers second where needed and the Luftwaffe will be kept in reserve to attack last only if a Dutch or Belgian units needs to be finished off .
As a desirable option we would also ideally like to punch a hole in the French front already in
Turn 1.
The only feasible place is Briay which has also the bonus to lower the French moral because it is a ressources place .
Depending on whether still some Luftwaffe/Panzers are available when La Hague and Brussels are taken, Briay will be attacked .
[img]http://i.imgur.com/JzOg1Em.png[/img]
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