Pitaman
Posts: 286
Joined: 7/29/2014 Status: offline
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A German Perspective on Operation Barbarossa This AAR will be a fictional story told through the eyes of a real German intelligence officer. Georg Hansen actually rose to the rank of Colonel and was a key participant in the July 1944 plot to assinate Adolf Hitler. He was executed shortly after the plot failed. It will be my best guess on how Hansen might have reacted to the future events which will occur in this game between M60 and I. . The AAR Story begins at the Military Compound near Wunsdorf,Germany, (combined German HQs for both the OKW and OKH), late on the evening of June 20, 1941 My name is Major Georg Hansen, I am the group leader for Division I of Amt Ausland/ Abwehr ,Office of Foreign Intelligence, for the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, (OKW) (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) My boss is Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Chief of Foreign Intelligence. We were first briefed on the plans to invade the Soviet Union by General Erich Marcks of the Oberkommando des Heeres, (OKH) (Supreme High Command of the German Army) on 5 August 1940. The Marcks Plan called for the invasion of the Soviet Union as a surprise pre-emptive strike with the objective of establishing a final defensive line from Arkhangelsk in the north to Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga River in the south. This goal would secure the Lebensraum ("living space") needed by the German people to secure their survival as Adolf Hitler's declared in his Mein Kampf manifesto. Since our original 1940 briefing, the invasion plan has been renamed Operation Barbarossa and the Fuhrer has given the German Army, (OKH), total responsibility for the invasion of the Soviet Union, subject to his own personal guidance and supervision. In fact, Wilhelm Keitel, OKW Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and his Chief of Staff, Alfred Jodl, must first obtain the Fuhrer's approval before issuing any orders to the Army. Thus, the German Army is effectively in charge of the Soviet Union invasion. There has been many revisions to the original plan by the OKH Army staff and the invasion start date has been delayed from May 15 to June 22, 1941 as a result of our recent April 1941 invasions of the Balkans and Greece. While OKH, German Army, will be in control of the invasion, we (OKW) will continue to provide Naval, Luftwaffe, Logistics and Intelligence support to the Army. So tomorrow morning I will be attending the last OKH briefing before the invasion begins. I will be giving the Army the latest OKW intelligence estimates. Admiral Canaris has shared his personal doubts about this invasion with me. His concerns cause me to start having my own doubts about the ultimate success of this invasion. However, I must put my doubts aside as the invasion will begin in less than 48 hours. I must trust our better staff planning, military leadership and proven blitzkrieg tactics will be enough to defeat Russia. They have already worked in Poland, Norway, France and the Balkans. I have no reason to believe they will not work in Russia. As I have heard the Fuhrer often say " We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down!"
< Message edited by Pitaman -- 9/29/2016 2:51:58 AM >
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