Normandy '44 AAR

[CountryBoy]

Next update: Turn 28, 18:00 8 June 1944

Skipped a few turns again, as not too much action. Due to poor weather, visibility is down to one hex, which is gratefully received by the German army, as all Allied planes are grounded.

In the Caen area, there is very little action. Despite the ground being quite open, the Allies are not making much of a push here. I would be willing to give up Caen, but there has been no need as a result of the lack of Allied pressure. The 21st Panzer and the 12th SS (in grey) continue to hold this region reasonably comfortably.




In the Bayeux area, the Panzer Lehr (red units) is taking up position on the left flank of the 12th SS, helping to stiffen the line here. The Panzer Lehr is the best German division on the field at the moment, all A Morale and with a fair few tanks. The only downside is that the HQ of the division has been delayed by nearly 24 hours. In fact, it's actually even worse for the 12th SS, whose HQ unit was meant to arrive over 36 hours ago but is still delayed.



South of Omaha, the elements of the Panzer Lehr have arrived to bolster the defensive line. This is just in time as the 352nd Infantry Division was too thinly stretched to provide much resistance to the US V Corps. My only concern is that Panzer Lehr has quite a large area to cover.



At Carentan, you can't see the US units in the image below, however they have crossed the La Douve in force and have captured Carentan and pushed the German defenders back towards Hill 30. You can see that bridge two hexes north of Carentan that is still intact - a big error on my part!



On the Cherbourg Peninsula, the 82nd and 101st continue to chew up the German defenders. The Allies main thrust here is definitely straight up along the coast, as opposed to trying to cut the peninsula in half by pushing westwards. My only option here is to delay, delay, delay, but ultimately I cannot stop the Allies here.



Here is the jump map, giving the bigger picture. You can see the German reinforcements heading north as quickly as they can.




And finally, the VP situation. Allied infantry losses are around 4,500 more than German at this stage.




Summary: Reinforcements over the past few turns have allowed me to strengthen my defensive lines, especially with the arrival of the Panzer Lehr. Everything east of Omaha beach is pretty much ok, the only areas I am really in trouble in are around Carentan and the Cherbourg Peninsula. Poor weather over the last few turns has been great, grounding Allied air support, although that will not last forever.