Hearts of Iron 2; Axis Ardennes Offensive AAR

[Krauter]

December 16th 1944,

Weather: Heavy storms over Ardennes Forest area, and Northern Holland

Initial offensive set to begin on the morning of the 17th of December. Hoping to maximize use of the weather to avoid being blasted by the allies air power.

Army Group North, set in Northern Holland has as its objective the capture of the town of Antwerp and a subsequent Motorized push on to Dunkirk to relieve our encircled forces there.



Army Group Center, focused in Northern Germany and the town of Essen and Cologne are to reinforce the southern flank of Army Group North. This force comprises all of my Panzer units, and because of this I plan to use them, once clear of the front lines to push all the way to Paris.

I am also hoping to capture a few allied divisions during the capture of Antwerp. The problem I see with utilizing this force is, because of its mechanized nature (and the wooded terrain thats crisscrossed by rivers that it needs to operate in) supply and speed are going to be critical.



Army Group South I am mainly going to be using to tie up as many Allied divisions as I can. Because it is primarily Infantry divisions, I don't think they'll be able to keep an effective speed of advance.


Few gripes: I've got three elite Fallschirmjager divisions available for use, however due to the weather and a lack of transport planes, they will be unavailable for an air drop. Because of this, and their lack of heavy equipment in comparison to regular infantry divisions, I plan to use them to hold strategic locations or attack surrounded provinces (Bastogne) while the line is pushed further by my panzers and motorized infantry.

Also, because the 6th SS Panzerkorps, being the greedy buggers they are, have the "best equipment in the German arsenals (ie: Koenigstiger heavy tank brigades) attached to them, their speed of advance is going to be a lot slower than that of the 5th. Thus, I plan on using them to blast a hole open in allied lines to push the 5th, and hopefully the 9th Panzer Korps through.


Offensives begin tomorrow! See you all then!

Edit: Once I find out how to take pics in the game you'll have em'

Edit2: Red Marks delineate desired attack routes

Black marks the boundaries between Army groups.

[Penguin]

Viel Glück with the offensive!
Looking forward to read further!

You can take screenshots by pressing F11 - they are stored in the game folder

[Krauter]

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein + 7



Well. Good news and bad news as is the case with most military operations.

Initial offensive manoeuvres were terrible. Three days into the offensive our units hadn't advanced past their original positions. My initial tactic of splitting 5th Panzerkorps and 6th SS Panzerkorps failed miserably. Coupled with the fact that the 9th Panzerkorps was still arriving in Essen at the time of the attack meant I had a lack of firepower.

After a little bit of frustration I figured I would just push the SS Panzerkorps through the weakest area of the line (Liege) supported by Kampfgruppe Obstfelder and the 5th Panzerkorps pushing in right behind. At the +4 mark we were through!.

After the initial outbreak I quickly pushed the 6th SS Panzerkorps across the Meuse river and into Namur

[Krauter]

Double Post

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein +14



Once again good news and bad news.

The Good news first I suppose.

Elements of Kampfgruppe Student (1 Mech. Div and 3 Infantry Divisions) managed to capture Ghent thus linking up with MOKW and relieving them (after being pummelled by the allies for two weeks).

I've also managed to push the 5th Panzerkorps into a shaky encirclement enompassing Eidnhoven, Antwerp and Brussels. Also, 9th Panzerkorps, now fully formed is on its way up the line, currently located in Cologne (Nearly in Liege!). Hopefully with the encirclement in place I can now push Kampfgruppe Obstfelder into Luxembourge or Bastone to flesh out the salient.

Bad news? Much of Army Group Center (66% of my Armored units) was used to secure this salient and encirclement. Something I suppose isn't so bad since their original mission was to secure the southern flank of Army Group North, but it still detracts from their mission to advance onto Paris.

Also, Luxembourge, Bastogne and Metz all refuse to give up, which is giving me trouble supporting my Southern units. However if I can eventually capture Antwerp that'll free up a lot of units to push south with as well.

All in all, I suppose I'm heading in the right direction, but things are still shaky, for example if the allies are quick they can save their units by breaking through Liege or Namur which are both lightly held. However hopefully we can crush the pocket before then.