Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Share your gameplay tips, secret tactics and fabulous strategies with fellow gamers here.
Post Reply
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

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 .

Image
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

4. Start of the Turn 2

Belgium and Holland capitulated as expected and we could also break the French front at Briay .
The French took a huge moral hit and are now at 13 909 / 22 500 (61 %) .
The French are still unsuspecting about what's coming and keep half of their forces sitting in the Maginot line where they will be useless .
The British moved to Belgium where we'll let them rot before they flee but they also moved to Lille what is more annoying because we'll need them out of Lille . More about it later .
In the meantime all of our attacks will focus on the French only because it is their moral we want to break and not the one of the British .

A very important major decision must be taken in the Turn 2 because we must always remember that the killing blow will come in Paris .
Yet there are 2 roads to Paris .

The Northern Road leading over Sedan and Reims . Advantage is that there is only one river
crossing, it is easily supplied by railroad and there is much clear terrian ideal for the Panzers . Disadvantage is that it is where most French units will defend and we will have our open left flank threatened from the Marais Saint Gond where the units are very difficult to destroy from the north and the possible ennemy units there will slow down the progress to Paris .

The Southern Road leading over Nancy/Verdun to Auxerre . Advantage is that there will be little resistance, the Marais Saint Gond are not a bother and as a side effect we will be able to capture Dijon which isolates all armies in the Maginot line so that they will become useless for the rest of the war . Disadvantage is that there are 3 river crossing, it is longer and it is (slightly) more difficult to supply.

In our case the ennemy seems to want to be strong in the North anchoring his front on the BEF in Lille and he didn't read our intent by staying sitting in the Maginot line . It is actually possible that Chalons is undefended .
Therefore we will crush the French army in Verdun and move to the Southern Road by capturing Chalons which is nicely supplied via Verdun .
The dies are rolling .
The Panzers too !

Image
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

5. Start of the Turn 3

The French moral is at 13 214 / 22 250 (58%) . They didn't take a big hit because we couldn't enter in Verdun and because the Turn 2 was more a turn of manoeuvering and regrouping the Panzers than fighting .
All that wil dramatically change in the Turn 3 .
Indeed we have rightly anticipated the ennemy's will to be strong in the North AND to stay put in the Maginot line .
We discover that the spine of the French army, its heavy tank unit, instead of staying in reserve has been engaged East of Reims where it ran into all our 3 Panzerdivisions regrouped !
This gives us an opportunity to precisely break this spine .
Beyond that we observe that the ennemy neglected to occupy the Marais Saint Gond .
And as it is impolite to interrupt the ennemy when he is making a grievous mistake, we will oblige .

High flexibility being a , if not the, major quality of the Wehrmacht, we will change our tactical plan .
The contemplated destruction of the ennemy's heavy tanks division followed by the control of the Marais Saint Gond makes the Northern Road an obviously better choice where only Reims defended by a pathetically weak French corps stands between us and Paris .

Therefore we decide to pulverize everything north and south of Reims and to move our Panzers west directly through the Marais Saint Gond .
Of course it is a quasi absolute rule for every Panzercommander to never ever fight with Panzers when they are in a marsh .
However in this particular case we do not intend to FIGHT in the Marais Saint Gond but to MOVE through it what makes the decision acceptable .
With this manoeuver, we will be able to capture Paris in Turn 4 with a very high probability if we so choose .

Image
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

6. Start of the Turn 4

The French moral crashed to 10 690 / 22 500 (47 %) .
The manoeuver has been executed as ordered and the Panzers have a possibility to break through to Paris and to take it with the help of Luftwaffe in Turn 4 as anticipated .

However it is time to remember our strategy . We want a French surrender and not a mere evacuation of the French governement to Bordeaux followed by weeks of pointless fighting .
Unfortunately the fall of Paris alone (and some other possible minor moral hits) will not be enough to decrease the French moral by more than 10 000 .
Also a capture of Paris will trigger the Italian entry in war because they'll see a cheap opportunity to reap rewards without risks and it is something we will absolutely avoid before the Franch capitulation .

Therefore the Turn 4 will be a "hygienic" turn with the target to hit the French moral as much as possible but NOT to take Paris yet .
The second most important moral hit beside capturing Paris is obtained by throwing the BEF far away from Paris . It is bad luck that Lille is defended by the BEF instead of a French army but we have to live with it .
So we have now no choice anymore, Lille has to fall and the BEF with it .
In addition we will capture Reims and the section of the Maginot line that the French just evacuated (much too late) as well as destroy/cripple anything standing between Reims and Paris .

Image
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

7. Start of the Turn 5

The French moral decreased to 9 688 / 22 500 (43%) , Lille is taken, the BEF subsists now only in far Antwerpen and the French gathered everything that is still able to hold a gun around Paris .
Alea jacta est .
The Panzers and the Luftwaffe are ready for the final assault on Paris .
In addition to increase the moral hits, as the French desperately moved everything towards Paris, we will capture all towns and sections of Maginot line that have been evacuated and that are in reach of our units .
Panzer vorwärts !

Image
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

8. Start of the Turn 6

Victory !
Paris is captured and the capitulation of France is on our desk .
I think that 5 turns are the minimum to obtain a French capitulation because it is probably impossible to get the French moral below 10 000 in less than 5 turns unless the Allied player plays so badly that he evacuates the BEF in the first 3 turns .

From it follows that a good German player paying attention to his strategical time line has interest to start the assault on France on the first clear weather spring turn of 1940 what enables to win the French Campaign confortably in July 1940 and have plenty of time to prepare efficiently either Sealion (preferably for Spring 1941) or Barbarossa .

Image
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

I have been asked whether the Allied player can hold in France much more than 5-6 turns even against a good German player (or AI) .
Yes he can but only with a "gamey" tactics which has a potential danger .

I hesitated to post the answer but finally decided to do it because it might trigger a few adjustments in the way the events impact the French morale in the present game version (1.01) .
The key is to do something which is totally unrealistic - defend Paris with the whole BEF (e.g NOT to flee to UK early on what the AI does) .
This "gamey" tactics is based on the present rule that the French morale drops by 10 000 if there is no BEF near Paris but by only 5 000 if there is still BEF .
So what you actually want is to goad the German player to take Paris too soon so that your capital moves to Bordeaux ...

Basically you mass your whole BEF between Lille and Paris and move the French Army on the line Le Mans-Orleans-Bourges . Y
You keep your heavy tanks in reserve in the Tours area and you really pay attention to keep your HQs out of harm's way .
The (small ?) risk you take is to loose your whole BEF in France what leaves UK quite empty .
However with the total control of the Channel by the RN, it is all but impossible for the German to stage an invasion immediately after the fall of France .
And if the German takes his time to build up his U boats and fight the RN, this time works for you to build a few infantery units to protect the Southern coast .
User avatar
MemoryLeak
Posts: 507
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2000 10:00 am
Location: Woodland, CA USA

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by MemoryLeak »

I have two questions for you,

How in the hell do you have 2771 MPP? I am lucky if I ever get 300 at the same time?

And do you execute operation Sealion as soon as France is taken or
do you skip invading England and send everything to The Eastern Front and invade Russia in the Summer of 1941?

I've done it both ways and Operation Sealion really slows done my timetable for Russia.
If you want to make GOD laugh, tell him your future plans

USS Long Beach CGN-9
RM2 1969-1973
vonik
Posts: 262
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:12 pm

RE: Fall Gelb for beginners or how to beat France in 5 turns

Post by vonik »

If you look at the first picture you see that I have 150 MPP what is what you start with in the 1940 Campaign .
I did this post only for the purpose to explain how the strategy for a fast Victory in France works and stopped the game after getting the french surrender .
Because of that, I did no research, purchased no units and didn't reinforce much . So as I was spending almost nothing, it cumulated and reached the 2700 in 6 turns (it includes the plunder after France's surrender) .

If you go Sealion you must be prepared for a 2 front war . This is not really an issue - you'll just have a smaller progress in Russia (f.ex aim a front Riga-Minsk-Kiev for end 41) . By then UK is beaten and you send your units to Russia without having to worry about an invasion from UK . With a single front war, there is no way Russia can be a big problem in 42/43 . The difficulty for Sealion is to beat the RN what needs a quite focused and carefull play .

Going for Barbarossa is simpler but a strategically worse solution . While you'll be slugging it in the East, UK and especially US will be building a massive army and a megaton of planes without opposition .
So even if you win in Russia around end 42, mid 43, you ll be facing a UK&US strength which makes an invasion of UK impossible (there will be a unit in every beach hex of UK) . So at best you can manage a draw or you loose .
Post Reply

Return to “The War Room”