Panzer39's Plan-Z AAR Part TWO -- Panzer (Axis) vs JerseyJohn (Allies)

[JerseyJohn]

"This AAR is based on what should be one of the final test runs of my version of the scenario currently being played in the PBEM tournament. John and myself are using house rules that he came up with. They include:

1) Amphibious Landings = Only during May, June, July, August & Sept; except for Mediterranean and Baltic* [should read Black Sea], where they can be carried out year round.

2) Barbarossa can only be launched from May thru August.

3) Axis units within Russian Borders cannot attack or launch airstrikes during the first winter in Russia; the winter being defined as all of December - January - February.

My scenario is similar to his, except I have allowed Admiral Doenitz to get his way over Admiral Raeder. Germany starts off with large U-boat fleet with a modest Surface fleet in August 1941. In addition to their regular minors, Yugoslavia, Denmark and Sweden start off as Axis while Ireland, Iraq, Greece and the Low Countries start off as Allied. Since the game starts in 1941 SC time the Axis has little time to conquer Spain and Vichy before USSR war readiness forces Barbarossa."

-- Panzer39 from Part One.

< Left Click here to go Part One of this AAR. >

And the action will begin again with Panzer's next move.

[ August 02, 2003, 01:28 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]

[Panzer39]

HQ Manstien:

German forces punch a hole in the Soviet lines and cross the Dvina river. Although Riga is cut off, stiff resistance is encountered during the assault on the city. German advances are halted in order to bring in the support of the heavy guns of the Kriegsmarine.

HQ Model:

Units from Model's army group link up with a detachment from Manstien's in order to take the city of Minsk. A Soviet corps is destroyed on the approach to the city from the North.

HQ Rommel:

A fierce battle erupts in the city of Kiev. House to house fighting ensues. As of now it is unclear who controls the city. Rommel disengages a smaller force to bridge the Dnieper before Soviet defenses can be made to prevent an easy crossing.

The Med.

A large Royal Navy task force is spotted heading through the Med. The Regina Marina is pulled back from shelling Malta in order to engage and destroy this new threat.

Spain:

Both Bilbao and Madrid are captured by Italian troops. While Bilbao was deserted, fierce resistance was encountered in Madrid. Although the Spanish lost most of their fighting ability they did not surrender.

Berlin:

The United States entering the war had been expected since the fall of France and the failure to come to terms with England. The Japanese intervention with their strike on Pearl harbor came as a surprise to Doenitz. For months Germany had been offering the former holdings of France to Japan as an incentive to join the Axis, but Japan had openly refused to go to war with the Soviets. Instead they choose to travel their own path without a real alliance. The only question now was to what threat the USA would respond to first. To Doenitz, popular opinion in the USA would certainly drive America's war effort into the Pacific.

[JerseyJohn]

With the Great Powers of Europe unable to oppose them and the United States committed to the European War, Japan sends it Naval and Marine forces in a wide expansion, seemingly seeking to put as much water between the Home Islands and Mainland America as possible.

In the Ukraine Soviet troops counterattack and regain uncontested occupation of Kiev.

On the Baltic, an entire army of defenders are successfully evacuated from Riga to offload at Leningrad, where they join other units in forming a defensive line between that city and Minsk. The evacuation, which was totally successful and took place despite the presence of large German naval formations, is -- in the eased religious climate of the USSR -- being called the "Miracle of Riga!"

The Spanish Moroccan garrison, which had ill-advisedly attempted to invade Algeria (believed to be undefended) was destroyed by two Axis Armies east of the Atlas Mountains. Other Spanish units regroup northwest of fallen Madrid, but the fate of Spain appears to be sealed.

A series of naval battles have developed in the Central Mediterrannean in which several British and Italian cruisers along with an Italian Battleship and smaller vessels have been sunk. Details are sketchy at present.

The United States Navy has scored it first success in sinking the U-boat squadron that had, of late been menacing the Gulf of Mexico. It appeared the submarines were heading toward the open sea and probably trying for the distant Bay of Biscay.

Meanwhile, at #10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Winston Churchill discusses the situation with Chief of Staff, General Alan Brooke.

The examine a series of airial reconnaisance photographs of the mysteriously frozen North Sea area. Examining the photographs carefully, they move from what appears to be a flat sheet of ice against a far mountainous background with a black speck to a later photos which not only reveal the German Battlecruiser, but also flak explosions upon the flying boat's approach.

"That's Scharnhorst -- might be Gneisenau, of course, but it's got one of those new antenna arrangements which we know Scharnhorst was equiped with when it was last seen at Bergen."

"And what do you make of these --?"

The Prime Minister hands him a series of photographs which at first follow the progress of several men wearing skis leaving the ship, then settle on a solitary figure kneeling on the ice, seemingly praying or invoking a magical spell, then, incredibly, a torso-like figure begins rising from the ice. As it expands the kneeling man rises as his comrades run, seemingly panicked striken, back to the distand ice-logged warship. The ice torso continues rising, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred feet and more, till finally halting. Then it remains perfectly still. In a last wide observation circle, the flying boat, moving only a few feet above the icy surface, snaps a clear color photograph of the object -- to go with it's dozens of black and whites -- showing the solitary figure still attempting an invocation.

"What the deuce?"

"Intelligence believes the kneeling man to be Heinrich Himmler."

"Incredible. Some sort of sorcery!"

"It appears so. If the idea was to raise a giant from out of the ice it appears to have failed."

"Reminds me of that passage, 'And in those days there were Giants in the Earth.' Something like that -- don't happen to recall where it -- the Bible?"

"We'll have to find out."

"Yes, and in a hurry I should say."

"What's more, some odd mystic has been sparing no exertion to get a warning to me. He says we must, under no circumstances, allow Germany to possess either Southern England, or Scotland, or Egypt."

"Now there's advice we definitely needed!"

"Yes, it appears a Mr. Alistair Crowley feels Himmler has plans to release all the demons of hell, provided, of course, he gains access to those three places."

"I should think half those demons would do the trick. Well, Winston, it seems our only play is to see to it he is deprived of those playgrounds, hey what?"

"Yes, our only play indeed."

"Perhaps we should save this Mr. Crowley some trouble and have him sent for."

"With all possible speed, General. With all possible speed!"

[ August 02, 2003, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]

[Panzer39]

HQ Manstien:

German troops move into the ruins of Riga. The Soviets burned the city on their way out leaving nothing of value. A corps is left behind to guard the empty husk as the rest of the Army group moves toward Leningrad.

HQ Kleist:

Model is relieved by Kleist and under new leadership army group center surrounds the city of Minsk. Before heading for his new command Model warns his replacement to keep an eye on the large gap forming in the German lines around the Pripet marshes.

HQ Rommel.

Once again Kiev is assaulted and after another bloody week of fighting the city falls. Fearing that his forward units might be cut off from supply, Rommel orders a halt to the river crossing in order to regroup.

Channel coast:

Rocket attacks are carried out on London once again, destroying what was left of the docks. The Luftwaffe is grounded because of poor weather.

Spain:

Mussolini rides through the streets of Madrid in conquest. Returning to Italy, a victory celebration is called for. Rome once again becomes an empire, and El Duce becomes a Ceaser.

The Med:

The large naval battle continues with losses mounting on both sides. Italian bombers from Sicily join in on the action sinking a Royal Navy Battleship. Italian commandos land near the Suez with the goal of closing the passage.

North Sea:

He was going to kill that weasel. Instead of being freed, the Scharnhorst now had a huge pillar of ice blocking its path as well. To make matters worse, the ship had been spotted by the RAF. While Luftwaffe cover was being supplied from bases in Norway, the pride of the Kriegsmarine was a sitting duck in its current situation. Langsdorff had recieved word that ice breakers were making progress but at a very slow rate. It would be days before his ship would be out of this mess. At least he would be getting rid of Himmler. A dispatch from the Fuehrer's office had come in with the order to bring the nut job back to the main land via one of the Scharnhorst's sea planes. While the Admiral would have opted to put a bullet in Himmler's head, the fact that he somehow shaped the current situation had to be taken into account.

[JerseyJohn]

Vowing to return to his homeland in Triumph*, Generalisimo Francisco Franco makes his way to Lisbon where he boards ship for London to form a Government in Exile.

Lord Stanley Baldwin, speaking on behalf of the British Government, said "It is a shame when peaceful people are not permitted to conduct their daily affairs without threat of conquest and the actual invasion of their nation by greedy neighbors. Generalisimo Franco joins our other peace loving allies and the Empire is proud to extend it's friendship and support to this warrior who vows to defend all the liberties, freedoms and ideals held so dear to the British and American peoples."

* An unofficial translation of the Generalisimo's parting speach at Lisbon Harbor: "Fear not my brave soldiers and officers, for God is on Our Side. That fat, bald, greedy, ignorant, treacherous son of a bitch may be galloping his horses through Madrid today, but I swear to you that before all of this has ended his bullet riddled corpse will lie at our feet and we shall each take our turn urinating on his head!" The official translation reads as follows, "Fear not my brave soldiers and officers, for God is on Our Side. In the end we shall return to Madrid in Triumph." The newsreels show both, full and edited, end with deafening applause.

On the Russian Front, Kiev and Riga have fallen as the Soviets conduct an orderly retreat after sustaining significant casualties along the entire line.

An Italian corps has landed near the Sainai Penninsula and is now pinned against the Red Sea by superior British and Free French forces.

Attacking in unexpectedly great stength, the Italian Navy and Air Force have combined to inflict a terrible loss upon the British Mediteranean Squadron. Among the missing is Admiral in Command Cunningham.

In other news, an identified aide to the Prime Minister was seen recently observing a mystical ceremony near Stonehenge and is said to have engaged in a long meeting with the cult's leader afterwards, one Alistair Crowley, pictured below with his followers.

[ August 03, 2003, 11:54 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]

[Panzer39]

HQ Manstein:

German forces run into a red wall off Soviet troops extending south from Leningrad. More forces are diverted south to aid in the capture of Minsk.

HQ Kliest:

Slow progress is made through the marshes in the southern approach to Minsk. The Luftwaffe bombs the city in preparation for an all out attack. Model's advice to Kliest proved vital. A Soviet advance had indeed broke through the gap in the center of the German lines. The red corps had made good progress until running into a armored company. Like a bug on the canopy of a Me-109, they were crushed on impact.

HQ Rommel:

With his forces stretched far to thin in the South of Russia, Rommel moves his HQ reserves to the front in order to form a line west of Dnipier. Any advance would have to wait until reinforcements were brought in from Germany.

France:

For some reason the Italians had taken it upon themselves to continue the air battle over Britain alone. While peeved that they took the initiative without out his order (and the fact that they were now flying better planes), Goering was delighted in the results. The RAF, who had up until this point avoided battle with the Luftwaffe must have thought the Italians easy prey. As suspected the flying roman legion took a beating, however this presented the Luftwaffe with targets. Four German Airfleets and a bomber squadron took to the skies. The RAF was engaged and given a sound beating over the skies of Southern England.

The Med:

The Regina Marina pursued the fleeing ships of the Royal Navy back towards Egypt. A submarine flotilla was destroyed but a carrier managed to escape. Troubling reports of American warships off the coast of Portugal made further pursuit impossible.

Spain:

Italian forces cross into Portugal only to spot a large American fleet complete with landing ships along the coast.