Gotterdammerung, GC 43-45 Xhoel (Axis) vs Hghx-0 (WA)

[xhoel]

Game settings: Full FOW, Locked HQ Support, No Beachhead VP Penalty.

T2, July 10th 1943.
Situation report [Northern Europe].

Following a break in their Bombing campaign against the Reich the RAF Bomber Command launched several night raids against the Ruhr. Their attacks were directed against the coal mines (Resources), synthetic fuel and fuel refineries, heavy industry and truck factories. Their losses were small compared to the damage that their raids did.
To make things worse, The 2nd RAF Tactical Air Command launched raids against our airfields in northern France. While the raids themselves were not very successful the British managed to lure our LW Fighter groups in a trap, forcing them to fight over the channel where they have undisputed air superiority, causing our formations heavy losses.

To the north the 8th US Air Force hit Fuel refineries and Oilfields located around Hamburg with their high altitude Bombers. They suffered small losses, almost on par with our intercepting fighters.

Due to the poor performance of our fighter wings and AA defences a new plan is being put in place to fully reorganize the Luftflotte Reich, optimize AA defences in the cities, improve C&C, eliminate communication problems and improve radar capabilities. This is a huge undertaking and it will take some time to make to make it work smoothly but the OKW is certain that it will be successful.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Subscribed.
When seeing those 88s firing shots more or less blind into the Skype, I always wonder if that was an efficient use of ressources. They probably had no other choice given the lack of fuel for fighters.

[LiquidSky]

Uhg...you do not want to lose Luftwaffe planes over water (or enemy territory). Much greater loss of pilots that way.

oh..first turn.

Yeah..my first turn as the Germans usually takes a couple hours in order to get everything squared away.

[xhoel]

@EwaldvonKleist:
Can't really say if it was an efficient use of resources but remember I remember reading that in 1944 27% of the Wehrmacht budget went into AA guns and that is a huge ammount if you ask me. Goes to show that the strategic bombing had quite an effect on the war effort.

@LiquidSky:
It was in the first turn and the losses were quite heavy. It took me a lot of time to reorganize things a bit. It's my first time playing the GC so we will see how I do.

[xhoel]

T2, July 10th 1943.
Situation report [Italy].

The WA have landed in Sicily. American troops came ashore after intense naval bombing and under the cover of their Air Force. The landing force consisting of 3 US Infantry Divisions (the 1st, 3rd and 45th) and of the 6615 Ranger Force Regiment have managed to establish a 40 mile beachhead around the small port of Gela. The landings went in almost unopposed and the only fighting took place east of Gela where the 45th US Infantry Division routed the XVIII Italian Costal Brigade.
The British have not been part of the landing and both intelligence and recon reports indicate that there is a considerable British force at the port of Tunis.

Seeing how the American landing force is composed of ''green'' divisions and is lacking support (especially armored formations) Generalfeldmarschall Kesserling has ordered a counterattack to drive the Americans out of Gela, splitting the landing force in two and denying the WA a port to support their operations on the ground. The counterattack is conducted by units of Hubes XIV Panzer Corps and is a success. The 3rd US Infantry division retreats to the east and the 54th Italian Infantry Division reoccupies Gela. The attack takes a toll on our formations and Hube orders the units to form a ''screen'' around the beachhead by occupying the high ground.



The biggest worry at this time is where the British will choose to land. Kesserling believes that the landing will be in the area between Napoli and Salerno and the sighting of recon planes in this area has reinforced his belief. He has ordered the 16th Panzer Division to move near Salerno and the XIX Italian Corps to take defensive positions near Napoli.
The 3rd Panzergrenadier Division that was beeing held north of Rome has been moved to Frosinone to act as a Reserve for any possible invasion of the mainland. Moreover the OKW has transfered the 2nd Fallschirmjager Division under Kesserlings command and the Feldmarschall wasted no time to order the division to move to Rome immediately, and the division entered the city yesterday on the 9th of July.

There is also a possibility that the British attempt a landing at Messina or Reggio Calabria. To avoid that the Schmalz PzGren has moved to Messina and the 29th Panzergrenadier Division has moved to Reggio Calabria securing the ferry crossing.

The 90th PzGren Division and the 16th SS Sturm Brigade are preparing to ecavuate Sardinia and Corsica. Army Group C is still contemplating if the islands should be garrisoned at all, since Allied air cover and naval patrols are coming closer and closer to the beaches of Sardinia and there is a real threat that the island will get cut off pretty soon.

However till the British land there is not much we can do but hope that our preparations are enough to contain the landing. The arrival of new formations is becoming a headache too, as the Italian High Command is expressing their disapproval of the movement of German formations into Italy.

[xhoel]

The positions in mainland Italy at the end of this week:
Notice the formations circled in red.

[xhoel]

The Battle of Gela and Ground and Air Losses so far:

[xhoel]

T3, July 17th 1943.
Situation report [Northern Europe].

The RAF Bomber Command continues its night raids on the Ruhr region, its targets unchanged from last week (coal, fuel refineries, oil fields, synthetic fuel plants, heavy industry and truck factories). This week however the unscrupulous British deliberately target civilian living quarters with Incendiary bombs. Moenchen-Gladbach and Muenster are hit the hardest and reports coming from the cities indicate that the number of civilian casualties is high and that hospitals are filled with burn victims. Many other have become homeless and seek shelter were they can. The Fuhrer is furious with Weise (Commander of Luftflotte Reich) and the OKW cannot help it but share the same opinion.

The 8th US Air Force hit Brussels and Leipzig this week. The skies over Brussels prove to be deadly for our fighter pilots. In their attempts to engage American bomber groups (well escorted by fighters) they suffer around 70 losses. Luftflotte Reich immediately orders our fighter groups to rebase further east so as to avoid a head to head clash with American and British fighters. In the raids over Leipzig the Americans fly massive bomber formations (more than 600 planes) which prove to be quite a challenge for our pilots. Yet they manage to earn a bitter victory over the enemy causing him to lose around 60 heavy bombers and damaging many more.

The RAF Fighter Command was also active this week, hitting our air bases in France without success as the air groups and ground crews were all transferred to safer regions last week.

Air losses over Europe are high 146 Axis to 334 WA (88 pilots to 328) but our air defense plan is slowly coming together. It calls for heavy AA defenses in key cities (Ruhr region, Hamburg) and screening AA defenses in the Netherlands and Belgium. On the disposition of fighter groups more information will be known at a later time however we can report that the I Jagd Corps has taken over the defense of the northern part of the Reich. Night Fighter groups operating over the Ruhr region have also been transferred under its command. Everything else is under the command of Luftflotte Reich. In the next few weeks, more fighter groups are expected to arrive from Italy and the Eastern Front to boost the air defenses.

Meterologists predict heavy rains over Northern Europe next week, giving us a chance to recover from the losses and consolidate our forces.

[xhoel]

And losses over Northern Europe:

[xhoel]

T3, July 17th 1943.
Situation report [Italy].

After an intensive air campaign over Sicily and heavy bombing of the ferry crossing at Messina the British finally land north of Reggio Calabria with 2 different beachheads, one at Palmi and one at Locri effectively cutting off the 6th Italian Army and with it the XIV Panzer Corps. The landings were coordinated with heavy air and naval patrols of the waters near the ports, to ensure that the island gets cut off not only overland but oversea too. Army Group C is facing a serious crisis.




After much thought the decision is made to evacuate the cut off troops in two ways, one way is going to be the naval evacuation (HG Panzer Division and the 15th PzGren Division) and the other one is going to be a land evacuation, with our units trying to break through the British line and fight their way north (Shmalz PzGren Brigade and the 29th PzGren Division). For the plan to succeed we must first gain control of the shipping lanes. Richthoffens Luftflotte 2 is to be given all resources it needs to make sure that the shipping lanes stay open. Considering the proximity of British Air Bases in the Mediterrenean von Richthoffen orders low flying raids to be carried by bomber groups to escape detection. Luftflotte 2 achieves it goal but pays a high price for it: 83 planes are lost and 74 pilots killed.

Nevertheless the sea lanes are open and the evacuations begin. The HG Panzer Division is safely evacuated to Taranto. The 15th PzGren Division is split in 3 regiments and will be evacuated next week from 3 different ports: Siracusa, Palermo and Catania. Italian units are securing the ports. They are to be evacuated by air next week. All Air Groups have been evacuated from the island. Reggio Calabria is resupplied by air in preparation for the XIV Panzer Corps breakthrough north. The 1st Regiment of the 2nd Fallschirmjager division is transported by air to the air base of Vibo Valentia and the 104th Italian Division moves south creating a front line of sorts in the toe. The XIV Panzer Corps manages to break through north and open a corridor for supplies to move in. Meanwhile more reinforcements move south. Next week we expect the PzGren Division Feldherrnhalle to be transfered to Rome.

[xhoel]

Situation in Sicily in the evening of 17th of July:
Marked in green: Ports that will be used for the evacuation next week.

[xhoel]

Air Losses from opening of the sea lanes during this week:

[xhoel]

Battle east of Palmi:

[John B.]

Interesting AAR!

[xhoel]

Thanks for the encouraging words John!

[xhoel]

T4, July 24th 1943.
Situation report [Northern Europe].

The weather over northern Europe has not been very suitable for air operations due to scattered showers that have been present all week. The 8th US Air Force has not conducted any raids, a news that was more than welcomed by the OKW. This break in the fighting has allowed our fighter wings time to rest and replenish their losses.

Ruhr remains RAF Bomber Commands target for the 3rd week since the bombing campaign has resumed. Their night raids continue despite the poor weather. The deliberate targeting of civilian living quarters also continues.

The RAF Fighter Command continues the bombing of our air bases, their target for this week was Belgium. No success is achieved since these airbases only exist as ground structures and no air wings or ground crews are stationed in Belgium at the time except for one Strategic Recon wing at Brugges.

Our losses over Northern Europe are very low, only 6 Fighters lost.

CONFIDENTIAL
Disposition of Night Fighter Wings

As far as we can tell the main objective of the WA night bombing campaign is the Ruhr industrial region. To help deliver a blow to the enemy bomber formations, additional night fighter wings have been transferred to Kassel and Frankfurt. In this area alone we are able to concentrate 275 airframes.

Night Fighter wings present in the Ruhr sector:
-All air groups of NJG 1 (Stab, I, II, III, IV),
-All air groups of NJG 2 (Stab, I, III),
-2 air groups from NJG 4 (I, III),
-3 air groups from NJG 3 (Stab, I, III),
-1 air group from NJG 6 (I).
Two other sectors are also covered by our night fighter wings:

-The Hamburg sector in the north covered by 2 groups of NJG 5 (I, II) ~ 30 planes.
-The Stuttgart sector in the south covered by 1 group of NJG 5 (III) ~25 planes.

The rest of our night fighter wings are long range interceptors and have been based at Fuerstenwalde (east of Berlin) and at Ruzyn (west of Prague). ~140 planes.

Map of the positions of our night fighters and their interception range:

[xhoel]

T4, July 24th 1943.
Situation report [Italy].

The enemy has regained control of the naval lanes in Sicily, resulting in the island being cut off from supply. The British also managed to cut off the land corridor opened by the XIV Panzer Corps. The 46th British Infantry division has taken Reggio Calabria after destroying the 211th Italian Costal division. The Shmalz PzGren Brigade finds itself in a very peculiar situation. Its only choice now is to cross the straits of Messina and hope that it can be evacuated in time. Most of the Italian units that have come into contact with the enemy have been destroyed in quick fashion leaving big gaps in the makeshift defense of the island. An honorable mention goes to the 202nd Italian Costal Division defending Sciacca that was able to push back 3 attacks of the US 2nd Armored division costing the Americans dearly.

However the American advance has been swift and they have managed to cut Sicily in 3 parts:
1) Palermo area defended by the 6th Italian Army and the 3rd Regiment of the 15th PzGren Division.
2) The Messina area defended by elements of the XVI Italian Corps and the 2nd Regiment of the Livorno Motorized Division.
3) The ports of Siracusa and Catania defended by regiments of the Livorno Motorized Division and regiments of the 15th PzGren Division which are to be evacuated this week.

The Plan is as follows: Luftflotte 2 will reopen the shipping lanes that lead in and out of the ports of Palermo, Siracusa and Catania to enable safe passage for the regiments of the 15th PzGren Division. The Schmalz PzGren Brigade will cross the straits and enter Messina where it will try to fortify its position till it’s evacuated. The 6th Italian Army is to hold on for as long as possible, ensuring that the ports remain in our hands so that their evacuation can soon follow. Meanwhile our units will reinforce the gap at Vibo Vallentia to ensure that our air bases are close to the shipping lanes. Reinforcements are to arrive around Rome soon and at this time the evacuation of mechanized units from Sardinia and Corsica has been put on hold.

Situation in Sicily, morning of the 24th of July:
In Red: the enemy advance Axis
In Green: evacuation routes for the 15th PzGren Division and the planned movement of the Schmalz PzGren Brigade.

[xhoel]

Air Losses, morning of the 24th of July:

[xhoel]

Ground losses till the morning of the 24th of July:

[xhoel]

The evacuation of the 15th PzGren Division is completed. 2 troop ships are lost, torpedoed by British patrol aircraft . 1000 men are killed and around 1400 are wounded. Luftflotte 2 manages to open shipping lanes to Palermo but fails to do so at Catania and Siracusa. Both ports are abandoned and the regiments of the Livorno Motorized division move to Messina. The Schmalz PzGren Brigade completes a night crossing at the Straits of Messina under light artillery fire by the British. The 6th Italian Army takes defensive positions around the port of Palermo. The Palermo Air Field and the Barecllona Air Field are used to transport supplies by the air to the beleaguered troops. Further up the toe our units reinforce the gap at Vito Vallentia. The biggest worry right now involves the Schmalz PzGren Brigade whose strength is severly diluted and whose supplies are running low and the remnant of the 6th Italian Army. A disaster at Sicily could make the Italians sue for peace and make us commit more troops to hold on to Italy. The PzGren Division Feldherrnhalle arrived at Rome earlier this week together with the headquarters of the LXIV Corps. The 157th Mountain Division is also expected to arrive next week.