Battlefield Europe v1.9 – The Race to Berlin!

[PeteMitchell]

France:
At the same time, American and Free French troops are disembarking/landing at the undefended cities of Marseille and Nice in southern France.

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La Rochelle, the German submarine base at the Atlantic coast, has also been reached by an US infantry unit.

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England:
While the V1 attacks on London are being intensified (despite all the difficulties to launch these rockets).

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 81 – 5 October 1944
Weather: clear and dry
Open core slots: 61 (+4)

Ostfront:
Minsk has been lost but the Neman River crossing still remains blocked by a German tank unit. Furthermore, a new defense line/pocket has been established north-east of Vilnius.

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Italy/Slovene Lands:
Venice has been seized by the US army while Axis forces have established a new artillery-backed defense line from Ljubljana to Zagreb south of the Drava River.

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France:
Spearheading US recon units have reached the outskirts of Lyon in the Rhone valley and for now were stopped by a recently prepared minefield south-east of the city. Von Rundstedt himself took over the command for the defense of the city while Rommel remained in Normandy. When von Rundstedt left Normandy, he advised Rommel to watch out for Allied fighter planes strafing unarmored vehicles…

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[PeteMitchell]

The Luftwaffe attacks on Allied naval transport vessels have helped stabilize the situation in Normandy. Somehow, Rommel also organized some additional tank forces.

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Netherlands:
Very strong British and US paratrooper units have landed in the Netherlands! It seems that Operation Market Garden, one of the largest airborne operations in history, with the objective to establish access corridors into the industrial Ruhr area in Germany, has started.

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North Atlantic:
Several remaining vessels of the Kriegsmarine reached the North Atlantic north-west of the Faroe Islands waiting for their order to attack the Allied convey routes.

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 82 – 20 October 1944
Weather: clear and dry
Open core slots: 65 (+4)

Ostfront:
Riga is expected to be attacked very soon and Dvinsk is under Russian control already.

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Surprisingly, the city of Minsk could be recaptured and the situation stabilized again.

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South of the Pripet Marshes, von Manstein conducted a large counterattack at strong Russian tank units. Again, he wanted to take the opportunity and make use of the Luftwaffe support prior to the onset of winter.

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[PeteMitchell]

East of Odessa, a Russian tank unit was able to cross the Southern Bug River.

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Italy/Slovene Lands:
Allied forces, supported by Allied naval gunfire from nearby light cruisers, have reached the Alpine Line east of Venice and south of the Drava River.

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France:
Now suddenly von Rundstedt is getting some heat around Lyon…

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[PeteMitchell]

Bordeaux airport, situated at the Atlantic coast, has been seized through an US amphibious landing.

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Allied tank forces could be stopped at Rennes in Brittany.

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Benelux:
The US paras seized Liege in Belgium while the British paras are heading towards the northern Ruhr area, threatening the shipment of V1 rockets to northern France.

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 83 – 4 November 1944
Weather: clear and dry
Open core slots: 69 (+4)

Ostfront:
Russian tanks crossed the Dvina River at Dvinsk and the risk of encirclement at Minsk increases as additional Russian troops are pushing towards Vilnius.

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Wave after wave of heavy Russian tank or AT units are crossing the Southern Bug River east of Odessa, by now even backed up with artillery around Nikolayev.

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Hungary:
Budapest, the Hungarian capital, is experiencing US air raids mainly targeting Hungarian oil refineries and storage facilities.

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[PeteMitchell]

Italy/Slovene Lands:
The Alpine Line next to Ljubljana seems to work. Nonetheless, Zagreb in Croatia has been bombed by the US Air Force.

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France:
Given its relative proximity to Strasbourg, the situation in the Rhone valley around Lyon will require some attention and shouldn’t be underestimated at all…

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La Rochelle and Nantes could be recaptured and the situation around Tours has been cleared as well.

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[PeteMitchell]

Further north, the Luftwaffe continues to attack Allied landing crafts in the English Channel with severe fighting going on around Caen. In addition, another heavy Allied offensive is expected to come from Brittany soon.

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Germany:
The US paras reached the Hürtgen Forest, however short on ammo already. The British paras were defeated with heavy 8.8 fire in open terrain north of Essen.

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A new heavy AT unit, called the Jagdpanther, is ready for action in Berlin. It will be sent to the Ostfront immediately. Furthermore, new V2 rockets, the world's first long-range guided ballistic missiles, became available.

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 84 – 19 November 1944
Weather: cloudy and dry
Open core slots: 72 (+3)

Ostfront:
Riga airport is under Russian control with a Katyusha unit heading south towards the Neman River.

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The situation around Minsk is deteriorating by the hour… and the encirclement of the heavy Tiger II tank unit has to be avoided, its withdrawal from Minsk airport was the first step, hopefully not too late already…

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Von Manstein moved his armored units behind the Southern Bug River again while the Luftwaffe is trying to weaken the advancing Russian tanks.

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[PeteMitchell]

Italy/Slovene Lands:
Also in Italy, heavy British Churchill tanks appeared at the Alpine Line supporting the Allied infantry units.

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France:
Caen has fallen… and additional heavy American tanks are coming from Brittany.

BE_Turn_84_089_Caen.jpg (299.73 KiB) Viewed 4606 times

Germany:
Very weakened US paras occupied Cologne… but the objective to form a foothold over the Rhine will not be achieved this year anymore…

BE_Turn_84_090_Cologne.jpg (311.95 KiB) Viewed 4606 times

[PeteMitchell]

Turn 85 – 4 December 1944
Weather: snow and dry
Open core slots: 80 (+8)

Ostfront:
The first snow is setting in… while in Riga the German light cruiser is still trying to block the city, other German units are considering to move behind the Neman River.

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Devastating situation around Minsk… the Tiger II unit has been lost, eyewitnesses report that a flanking maneuver was used against it! Guderian now ordered to prepare minefields around Bialystok in the desperate hope to be able to hold the Neman River line through spring…

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Rowno has been seized by heavy Russian tanks and von Manstein is expecting further Russian winter offensives against his lines.

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[PeteMitchell]

On the other hand, the situation around Odessa is still quiet…

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Italy/Slovene Lands:
While an Axis counterattack has started at the Alpine Line.

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France:
Also von Rundstedt ordered small-scale offensive measures around Lyon.

BE_Turn_85_096_Lyon.jpg (277.58 KiB) Viewed 4602 times

[PeteMitchell]

Whereas Rommel is now under pressure in Normandy. He reckons that very soon a new (actual) defense line will need to be stablished close to Paris.

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Germany:
Breslau is being attacked by Polish Partisans.

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North Atlantic:
The remaining Kriegsmarine is heading south towards the Allied convey routes.

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 86 – 19 December 1944
Weather: snow and frozen
Open core slots: 78 (-2)

Ostfront:
The German light cruiser Nürnberg had left Riga and ran into a Russian submarine in the Baltic Sea, this might be its fate… at the same time Russian troops are pushing the German withdrawal further south towards Kaunas in Lithuania.

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Axis troops are holding out in Vilnius and the forests south of it.

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Russian tanks are attacking Vinnitsa again, trying to break through towards the Carpathian Mountains. At the same time, a Russian truck sneaked through the German lines by crossing an unguarded bridge over the Southern Bug River, luckily a Hungarian tank unit ran into it on its way towards Vinnitsa.

BE_Turn_86_102_Vinnitsa.jpg (301.84 KiB) Viewed 4597 times

[PeteMitchell]

France:
Despite all odds, Rommel managed to stabilize the front line again in Normandy, well for the moment at least…

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England:
V1 and also V2 rockets reached London!

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 87 – 3 January 1945
Weather: snow and frozen
Open core slots: 67 (-11)

Ostfront:
With Russian troops all around Kaunas, Guderian placed some ATs to repel looming Russian attacks.

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Similar situation towards Bialystok, just a bit more severe…

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In comparison to the places further north as well as to previous weeks, the situation south-east of Vinnitsa seems manageable.

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[PeteMitchell]

Italy/Slovene Lands:
In Southern Europe, Ljubljana seems well guarded and the Allied advance towards Austria has been stopped for the moment.

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France:
Also around Lyon, von Rundstedt seems in control of the situation.

BE_Turn_87_109_Lyon.jpg (300.12 KiB) Viewed 4586 times

However, “nothing quiet on the Western Front”… another Panther tank unit has been lost. Rommel ordered to prepare several minefields west of Paris. Unfortunately, overall prestige is not sufficient to establish a more extensive or even continuous mine barrage.

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[PeteMitchell]

England:
The V1 attacks on London continue.

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Germany:
Germany doesn’t have enough men to resist the Allied onslaught. Therefore, several Volkssturm (national militia) units have been mobilized across Germany.

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North Atlantic:
The fleet of the German Kriegsmarine has almost reached the Allied convey routes.

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[PeteMitchell]

Turn 88 – 18 January 1945
Weather: snow and frozen
Open core slots: 69 (+2)

Ostfront:
Guderian is hoping for warmer temperatures so Kaunas could be protected by the Neman River!

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A massive ISU-122 is on its way to Bialystok, other Russian tank/AT units might have run out of fuel for the moment?

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Odessa is still under Romanian control and so is Romania’s oilfield near Bucharest…

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