No finesse then. Steamroll on as...



...this isn't good news. You *will* need Germany if you want to take on the Reds.
Let's hope that the Oder will hold them back long enough.


(Ironic though, that your intervention in Italy, France and Denmark greatly helps the Red army on their way to Berlin...)

Vichy France finally enters the war at the beginning of May 1944. This has the potential to make life difficult for us, as the Western Alps have been left mostly undefended with all forces in that area committed to the thrust into Germany. Fortunately, Spain has taken a fairly substantial bite out of France since the Royal Marines were withdrawn. Our limited intelligence regarding the French disposition suggests most of their forces are deployed to cover their own western front against Spain. We end up losing a few miles of territory to the French 2e Division d'Infanterie, but it’s inconsequential and the attack continues.



The first sign of American help: the 101st Airborne arrives in Pisa on 8 May. It later parachutes in to capture the French airfields on Corsica. A slow start, but any help is certainly welcome.



Back in Germany, 4th Army gains an additional foothold with the capture of Neumünster. The gravity of their situation is beginning to sink in for the Germans, it seems.



While 10th and 5th Corps have been breaking through into Emden, German heavy armour and Panzergrenadier divisions have penetrated into Dutch territory. The Dutch are struggling to hold their lines (let alone make any headway with an offensive), so 5th Corps turns south, aiming to envelop the German attackers in a pocket centred on Enschede. The 11th and 42nd Armoured Divisions lead the race to try to close the loop on the Germans, while dive bombers from 5 Tactical Group attempt to paralyze any German movement with day-and-night ground attacks. Below is the situation as of 8 May.



Meanwhile, in the southern sector, the advance is picking up pace now that 1st and 2nd Army are clearing the mountain ranges. Munich falls to the 53rd Welsh Division on 15 May, providing us with another much-needed frontline airfield. Huge gaps are now opening in the German defences in the southern sector: several German corps, including 10th Corps retreating from Munich, now appear to exist only on paper…



Back up north, our attempt to catch the Germans in a kessel along the Dutch border has failed. Fast-moving German mechanized infantry from the 29th and 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Divisions have counter-attacked along 5th Corps’s main axis of advance, forcing a retreat back towards Emden on 20 May. The German mechanized infantry can really rapidly outpace our foot infantry, making it next to impossible to manoeuvre into a good encirclement posture without the Germans either slipping out or counter-attacking.



What we lack in manoeuvrability is made up in brute strength. A new 13th Corps (Allied), comprised of joint Dutch-Canadian expeditionary infantry arrives in theatre on 20 May, and, along with the 10th Corps (Australian), forms 5th Army. With a cohesive front formed between 4th and 5th Army, the northern sector gradually pushes south and east towards Hannover and Berlin.



Two German infantry divisions managed to penetrate deep into Dutch territory before we could bring reinforcements into position. With the gaps in the line now sealed, the 42nd and 11th Armoured Divisions close in for the kill. There’s nowhere to run, and these two divisions are eventually cornered and destroyed.



Below is the situation as of 10 June 1944. Berlin is now within spitting distance, but the Soviets are getting precariously close as well, capturing Stettin in early June and rallying on the banks of the Oder.

Damn Fatty, that is some fine generalship there, hitting the north south corridors in a pincer! On the other hand, this AAR has really made me want to get back into HOI3, and with classes starting up soon that is not a good thing...

Nonetheless those of us watching reports from the allied nations raise a glass to your continued success against the hun

Even the Jerry admires the proficiency of the english general staff.

Unless something bad happens, you're in a good position to get to Berlin first. Don't give up now!

Thanks Samwise and Heretic! Your comments have been keeping this a lot of fun for me to write.

Germany's end is at hand. I'm hoping to wrap up this part of the war over the next week or two as I'm moving overseas at the end of the month (coincidentally, to start work at NATO). So, I'll probably be out of touch for a little while towards the end of the month as all that's getting sorted out.

Aww.

I was looking forward to "Cigar vs Moustache - The Ultimate Duel"...well, maybe in September.

We will be waiting for you to set up in Europe...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Armoured units of 4th Army continue to push eastward on Berlin, while on the northern approaches, the 10th Royal Marines have captured as far as Neustrelitz. Though sandwiched between our attack and the Soviets, the Germans nevertheless launch a counterattack to relieve pressure on Berlin. Under the weight of a combined assault from the Großdeutschland and 15th Panzergrenadier Divisions, the 10th Royal Marines are defeated, overrun, and destroyed by 13 June. Simultaneous attacks out of Berlin itself force the 15th Scottish Division to fall back, yielding Pritzwalk back to the Germans.



These setbacks aside, the armoured divisions of 4th Army continue their push on Berlin. By 18 June, the German 4th and 5th Armies have abandoned their defensive positions on the city's western perimeter and begin withdrawing eastward. We also now have air superiority directly over the city, grounding the remnants of the Luftwaffe in this sector.



On 22 June, the northern and southern sectors link up. To the west, and especially to the east, the Germans are now divided into two massive kessels. Organized resistance is ceasing to exist all across the front. The Reich's days are numbered.



Our own mechanized and armoured divisions repel the German counterattack in the north, and the 3rd and 14th Royal Marines along with the 106th Armoured Division launch an assault on Berlin. The city itself is poorly defended, held only by the 141st Reserve Division and the 15th Panzergrenadier Division which had withdrawn from Neustrelitz. The rest of the German army east of the city, though still numerically strong, seems panic-stricken, redeploying frantically as the noose tightens. A minor counterattack by mechanized infantry out of the south does not save the city from capture by 26 June.





Though Berlin is seized and Hitler has presumably been killed or fled, the remaining German divisions offer resistant for another few weeks. What follows are many sweep-up actions, encircling and capturing huge swaths of troops all across Germany.





Secret rocket facilities are discovered and seized in occupied Czech territory. Intelligence missed these - there's not really any telling what turn the war might have taken if these German wonder-weapons were put into operation.



On 7 July 1944, the remnants of the Wehrmacht finally throw in the towel and surrender unconditionally. The Soviets have mostly been contained along the Oder river between Germany and Poland, though they move into south-eastern Europe to knock out Romania and the other Axis nations in that region. Over the next few months, the remaining Axis nations fall, and occupied nations are liberated.







The last Axis holdouts fall before the end of December 1944, and the war is over.

Great job. I'm impressed.