AAR Allies May 1944

[CaptBeefheart]

Well done. Thanks for the AAR. And Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
CC

[emeg]

Great AAR and a nice Western Allied victory before 1945. Where is the Red Army? Being good news for the outcome of the Jalta conference, having in your history the border between West and East Germany probably located along the Oder-Neisse line [;)] Have a merry Christmas!

[Szilard]

ORIGINAL: emeg

.Hi Shernanny. Thank you for your reaction.

Your opponent made the choice to withdraw Thus ignoring the historical fact, a personal order from Hitler, to defend Fortress Holland at all costs.

I know (I am Dutch) about the German attack against the Rotterdam area in May 1940 from North Brabant (the Breda direction). To take Rotterdam from the south the attack was supported by a successful German airborne action against the Moerdijk Bridges, built across The Hollands Diep, being the 1,5 to 2 km wide water body between Breda and Dordrecht. At the same time other German airborne actions took place in Rotterdam and the The Hague area, resulting in heavy fights with Dutch marine troops near the William (Willem) Bridge in the center of Rotterdam. In fact the Germans used in 1940 against Rotterdam the same assault method as the allied forces did during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.

But there were huge differences between May 1940 and the 1944-1945 period. The defending forces in 1940 were much weaker, and in 1940 the Dutch were defending their own population. The German's were defending enemy territory and after a lot of German civil victims too (by example due continuous bombing rains against German cities) there was not much mercy left for the fate of the population, also resulting in a huge scale famine in the western Netherlands during the last five months of the war.

As you advocated, the terrain in the western Netherlands (but also in other parts as between the major rivers) needs i.m.o. somewhat more attention. As Normandy have its bocage hexes, the map needs i.m.o. polder landscape hexes too. Polderland, being protected against a (temporary) higher than land water level of rivers, lakes or the sea, can be deliberately flooded (inundated).

Examples during World War 2 of inundated (by water overwhelmend) polderland are Men's Island between the Waal and Lower Rhine Rivers at the front between Nijmegen and Arnhem after Operation Market Garden, or the Walcheren Island after RAF Bomber Command breached there the sea dikes at several places (in that case to hamper the German defense) during the Battle of the Scheldt.

Flooding should surely be a part of this game.

Apart from the examples you mention - the Roer dams!

[Devonport]

Shermanny

Like to add my thanks for this well written and instructive AAR. Well done.

[IslandInland]

This is an excellent AAR. It's the first one I read after purchasing the game and really gives a full flavour of the gameplay.

[Zecke]

Hay; just one question about the GERMAN AI

Does the AI build units (non historical) as in war in the East (Russia AI); or are only the Historical UNITS of the German armys; i mean you just fight against the German historical units and no other units created randomly by the AI so the AI cant not created new units as much as they can.