Briefing
1944 1945 - Gotterdammerung - Festung Deutschland variant The last months of the Third Reich Original ACOW scenario by Thomas Kolley & Bill Wilson PBEM, Axis and Allied PO 1. Changes to the original scenario In this variant of Gtd44-45 the PO and deployment have been altered to model some "what-if?" situations: In the West there is "Unternehmen Herbstnebel" (Operation Autumn Mist), an offensive planned by Field Marshal Walter Model and his Army Group B operational staff in late 1944. It envisages a limited attack targeting the Allied forces. In the East Guderian's "Operation Schlittenfahrt" (Sleigh Ride) has been implemented, a sane pull-back from the main defenses along the Vistula, out of range of the opening Russian barrage, an operation historically nixed by Hitler.(this should make the Vistula-Oder operation a tougher nut to crack for the Red Army) During the Vistula-Oder operation Zhukov wants to advance directly on Berlin, as the German defences had largely collapsed. Historically the exposed northern flank of the 1st Belorussian Front, along with an attempted German counter-attack -Operation Sonnenwende- against its spearheads, convinced the Soviet command that it was essential to clear German forces from Pomerania before the Berlin offensive could proceed. 2. Background In Mid-December 1944, the Third Reich found itself besieged on almost every front. Hitler realized he must strike a decisive blow -- and opted to try to seize the vital supply port of Antwerpen. The Ardennes Offensive was Germany's last massive blow, but by no means its last offensive. Bitter fighting raged on the Eastern Front and in Italy as well. In the end, Hitler and his Third Reich fought a fanatical last stand, destroying vast areas of Germany in the process -- Gotterdammerung 1945! Gotterdammerung 1945 represents the final five months of the war in Europe on a division and independent brigade / battalion level. Unit types range from Soviet Tank Corps to German Volkssturm battalions to US strategic bombardment groups. Economic objectives are marked on the map and have a significant impact on Germany's ability to wage war. Capture of these will reduce German supply and replacements. 3. General Extended from 150 to 260 turns, the campaign can last through the summer of '45 Map corrections Weather modelling PO upgraded... As the Axis player you won't be able to use hindsight anymore. This time the Western Allies won't stop at the Elbe! The German OOB and TO&E has been given an overhaul... In the original scenario -and my first mod- many German formations were quite large, with an Armee and several Korps HQ's attached to them. I have split them into smaller formations. This allowed me to insert more objectives. I spent a lot of time researching arrival dates and sites for last-ditch reinforcements. Reinforcements are set in the Wehrkreis system. During those confusing last weeks of the war German units often merged with others and were renamed only a few days after them being formed. For the sake of playability some rationalizing was necessary, but you'll find exotic units like the Kampfgruppe 1001 Nacht, SS 30 Januar, PzDiv Clausewitz and Inf Div Muncheberg modelled better. Where a unit was renamed I chose to keep or use the best sounding one... Division Radeke sounds more flashy than the dull Division Nr 471 aye In case Feldherrnhalle 1 is destroyed, it's successor Feldherrnhalle 2 will come in play after a while. The Fuhrerbegeleit and Fuhrer Grenadier Bde's will be upgraded to divisions. Additional info on the Schwere Panzerjager Abteilungen, thanks to Steve aka "sPzAbt653" for input There now are more units in the German OOB, but a lot of them are ad-hoc reinforcements. German replacement rates are low so the German player has to count on these reinforcements to make a good show. Small what-if? added... in case the scenario goes past May 8 1945... Limited production of the Maus Panzer and a JagdGruppe with HJ members flying He-162's Hungarian units do not reconstitute Activation of formations set close to the actual historic dates, but may activate sooner when approached or attacked. Automatic rail repair of 3 hexes per turn for the Allies, 1 for the Axis. Maxiumum rounds per battle: 3 The German player should avoid attacking, except in the Ardennes (see below) Allied formations are set on delay orders to activate on specific turns. 4. Events 4.1. Allied Shock The Allies receive a small shock bonus on various turns. These are the historical opening dates of Allied and Soviet offensives like Operation Veritable, Vistula-Oder etc . 4.2. Axis Shock The Allies will almost always have the iniative. In order to unhinge the balance a bit -as historically happened, albeit very briefly- the Germans receive timeframes of positive but rapidly declining shock values (and strategic bias for the PO) to undertake tactical counter attacks. These time frames are named after and set on the historic dates of German counter offensives (Note: for the TOAW 3.4 version Allied shock will be replaced by front-specific supply boosts) 5. Herbstnebel succesfull! For the German offensive in the West there are permanent bonus VPs up for grabs! This reflects the Allies' failure to effectively contain the offensive and will force them to occupy Germany completely before the Germans surrender. But beware! You'll have to advance on a narrow front cuz else you'll open a can of worms... Allied formations are set on delay and their tracks are set to counter attack. Furthermore, there are 4 tripwire units placed right in front of the Meuse river, which will activate the British 30th Corps. This was necessary to model the historic redeployment of British units. Permanent VPs are awarded to the Axis side for capturing these locations: Antwerpen Port +10 Antwerpen +10 Gent +5 Brussel +5 Leuven +2 Hasselt +2 Maastricht +2 Bastogne +2 Liege +1 Aachen +1 Furthermore the Allied supply will suffer when Antwerpen Port is captured and the supply point in there will be removed permanently. 6. Victory Points There are 255 normal VPs on the map, of which 245 are in German held territory at the start of the scenario. As already mentioned the Axis side can gain a potential total of 50 permanent VPs along the way to Antwerpen if they decide to conduct the Ardennes offensive. 7. Victory The fall of Berlin will trigger the end of the scenario, set on a variable turn range... the last chance to fight for VP's as it does not constitute an automatic Allied victory. 8. Supply/Replacements 8.1. Axis The entire Axis supply stockpile (S) of 25 is represented on the map by industry and resources. Supply values will drop after the loss of such a location. Minor Axis partners and Allied units have lower priority to receive replacements so they don't eat up what's needed for the major armies in the scenario As the Axis don't count too much on the replacement pool, there's not much hardware left. You'll have to rely on your reinforcements. Axis replacements (R) are already low and will drop to a percentage of the previous value when certain locations are captured. Thanks to Doug Hensley for advice on the rates Hindenburg: R 50% / S -2 Ostrau: S -2 Zistersdorf: S -1 Leipzig: Provisional R 50% / S -2 Munchen: R 95% / S -2 Saarbrucken: S -2 Ruhr: R 75% / S -2 Hamburg: R 95% / S -1 Frankfurt: R 95% / S -2 Milano: S -2 Nagykanisza: S -1 Komarno: S -1 Wien: S -2 Berlin: S -3 8.2. Allies The Allied supply point in Antwerpen is lost if the Germans succeed in capturing the city. The port is considered to be so severely damaged that immediate repair is impossible. The Allied supply radius will increase from the default 4 to 6 when when the weather improves. 8.3. Reinforcements Keep an eye on your reinforcements/withdrawals to avoid nasty surprises. Some reinforcements are subject to events. Some units disband instead of being withdrawn as it happened that men and equipment got transferred to other units. Many Axis units are set to reconsttute in Berlin but with the low replacement inventory not that many may do so. There's still manpower but the amount of heavy equipment will be inadequate to rebuild large units. Count on your reinforcements like the Clauzewitz panzer division among other obscure units. If the scenario goes past the historic end date of May 8 1945, some panzer units may become eligible to receive a handful of Maus tanks and a Hitlerjugend Volksjager air unit will appear. 9. Houserule guidelines Bridge destruction only in hexes where a road physically crosses a river No manual disbanding of units except those which come in as reinforcements! Disband them during their turn of entry, do not move them or use them to dig in first The German units in Kurland and Norway may not be disbanded but are allowed to be evacuated by sea when they become mobile. Units in the off-map areas cannot be disbanded. Yugoslav units can only advance as far as the Trieste, Villach, Klagenfurt and Maribor axis Allied/Soviet demarcation line. Western Allied and Soviet units cannot stack together. Wherever Western Allied and Soviet units meet, they must remain adjacent and establish a line. In combined attacks on an Axis occupied hex, only one allied partner -Soviet or Western- can set up attacks to advance into the hex. The other partner units are allowed to use the limited attack set-up. Silvanski

Briefing

1944 1945 - Gotterdammerung - Festung Deutschland variant

The last months of the Third Reich

Original ACOW scenario by Thomas Kolley & Bill Wilson
PBEM, Axis and Allied PO

1. Changes to the original scenario

In this variant of Gtd44-45 the PO and deployment have been altered to model some "what-if?" situations:

In the West there is "Unternehmen Herbstnebel" (Operation Autumn Mist), an offensive planned by Field Marshal Walter Model and his Army Group B operational staff in late 1944. It envisages a limited attack targeting the Allied forces.

In the East Guderian's "Operation Schlittenfahrt" (Sleigh Ride) has been implemented, a sane pull-back from the main defenses along the Vistula, out of range of the opening Russian barrage, an operation historically nixed by Hitler.(this should make the Vistula-Oder operation a tougher nut to crack for the Red Army)

During the Vistula-Oder operation Zhukov wants to advance directly on Berlin, as the German defences had largely collapsed.
Historically the exposed northern flank of the 1st Belorussian Front, along with an attempted German counter-attack -Operation Sonnenwende- against its spearheads, convinced the Soviet command that it was essential to clear German forces from Pomerania before the Berlin offensive could proceed.

2. Background

In Mid-December 1944, the Third Reich found itself besieged on almost every front. Hitler realized he must strike a decisive blow -- and opted to try to seize the vital supply port of Antwerpen.

The Ardennes Offensive was Germany's last massive blow, but by no means its last offensive. Bitter fighting raged on the Eastern Front and in Italy as well. In the end, Hitler and his Third Reich fought a fanatical last stand, destroying vast areas of Germany in the process -- Gotterdammerung 1945!

Gotterdammerung 1945 represents the final five months of the war in Europe on a division and independent brigade / battalion level. Unit types range from Soviet Tank Corps to German Volkssturm battalions to US strategic bombardment groups. Economic objectives are marked on the map and have a significant impact on Germany's ability to wage war. Capture of these will reduce German supply and replacements.

3. General

Extended from 150 to 260 turns, the campaign can last through the summer of '45
Map corrections
Weather modelling
PO upgraded...
As the Axis player you won't be able to use hindsight anymore.
This time the Western Allies won't stop at the Elbe!
The German OOB and TO&E has been given an overhaul...
In the original scenario -and my first mod- many German formations were quite large,
with an Armee and several Korps HQ's attached to them. I have split them into smaller formations.
This allowed me to insert more objectives.
I spent a lot of time researching arrival dates and sites for last-ditch reinforcements. Reinforcements are set in the Wehrkreis system. During those confusing last weeks of the war German units often merged with others and were renamed only a few days after them being formed.
For the sake of playability some rationalizing was necessary, but you'll find exotic units like the Kampfgruppe 1001 Nacht, SS 30 Januar,
PzDiv Clausewitz and Inf Div Muncheberg modelled better.
Where a unit was renamed I chose to keep or use the best sounding one... Division Radeke sounds more flashy than the dull Division Nr 471 aye
In case Feldherrnhalle 1 is destroyed, it's successor Feldherrnhalle 2 will come in play after a while.
The Fuhrerbegeleit and Fuhrer Grenadier Bde's will be upgraded to divisions.
Additional info on the Schwere Panzerjager Abteilungen, thanks to Steve aka "sPzAbt653" for input
There now are more units in the German OOB, but a lot of them are ad-hoc reinforcements. German replacement rates are low so the German player has to count on these reinforcements to make a good show.
Small what-if? added... in case the scenario goes past May 8 1945... Limited production of the Maus Panzer and a JagdGruppe with HJ members flying He-162's
Hungarian units do not reconstitute
Activation of formations set close to the actual historic dates, but may activate sooner when approached or attacked.
Automatic rail repair of 3 hexes per turn for the Allies, 1 for the Axis.
Maxiumum rounds per battle: 3
The German player should avoid attacking, except in the Ardennes (see below)
Allied formations are set on delay orders to activate on specific turns.

4. Events

4.1. Allied Shock

The Allies receive a small shock bonus on various turns. These are the historical opening dates of Allied and Soviet offensives like Operation Veritable, Vistula-Oder etc .

4.2. Axis Shock

The Allies will almost always have the iniative.
In order to unhinge the balance a bit -as historically happened, albeit very briefly- the Germans receive timeframes of positive but rapidly declining shock values (and strategic bias for the PO) to undertake tactical counter attacks.
These time frames are named after and set on the historic dates of German counter offensives

(Note: for the TOAW 3.4 version Allied shock will be replaced by front-specific supply boosts)

5. Herbstnebel succesfull!

For the German offensive in the West there are permanent bonus VPs up for grabs!
This reflects the Allies' failure to effectively contain the offensive and will force them to occupy Germany completely before the Germans surrender.

But beware! You'll have to advance on a narrow front cuz else you'll open a can of worms...
Allied formations are set on delay and their tracks are set to counter attack.
Furthermore, there are 4 tripwire units placed right in front of the Meuse river, which will activate the British 30th Corps. This was necessary to model the historic redeployment of British units.

Permanent VPs are awarded to the Axis side for capturing these locations:

Antwerpen Port +10
Antwerpen +10
Gent +5
Brussel +5
Leuven +2
Hasselt +2
Maastricht +2
Bastogne +2
Liege +1
Aachen +1

Furthermore the Allied supply will suffer when Antwerpen Port is captured and the supply point in there will be removed permanently.

6. Victory Points

There are 255 normal VPs on the map, of which 245 are in German held territory at the start of the scenario.
As already mentioned the Axis side can gain a potential total of 50 permanent VPs along the way to Antwerpen if they decide to conduct the Ardennes offensive.

7. Victory

The fall of Berlin will trigger the end of the scenario, set on a variable turn range... the last chance to fight for VP's as it does not constitute an automatic Allied victory.

8. Supply/Replacements

8.1. Axis

The entire Axis supply stockpile (S) of 25 is represented on the map by industry and resources. Supply values will drop after the loss of such a location.

Minor Axis partners and Allied units have lower priority to receive replacements so they don't eat up what's needed for the major armies in the scenario

As the Axis don't count too much on the replacement pool, there's not much hardware left. You'll have to rely on your reinforcements.

Axis replacements (R) are already low and will drop to a percentage of the previous value when certain locations are captured.

Thanks to Doug Hensley for advice on the rates

Hindenburg: R 50% / S -2
Ostrau: S -2
Zistersdorf: S -1
Leipzig: Provisional R 50% / S -2
Munchen: R 95% / S -2
Saarbrucken: S -2
Ruhr: R 75% / S -2
Hamburg: R 95% / S -1
Frankfurt: R 95% / S -2
Milano: S -2
Nagykanisza: S -1
Komarno: S -1
Wien: S -2
Berlin: S -3

8.2. Allies

The Allied supply point in Antwerpen is lost if the Germans succeed in capturing the city. The port is considered to be so severely damaged that immediate repair is impossible.

The Allied supply radius will increase from the default 4 to 6 when when the weather improves.

8.3. Reinforcements

Keep an eye on your reinforcements/withdrawals to avoid nasty surprises.
Some reinforcements are subject to events.
Some units disband instead of being withdrawn as it happened that men and equipment got transferred to other units.

Many Axis units are set to reconsttute in Berlin but with the low replacement inventory not that many may do so. There's still manpower but the amount of heavy equipment will be inadequate to rebuild large units. Count on your reinforcements like the Clauzewitz panzer division among other obscure units.
If the scenario goes past the historic end date of May 8 1945, some panzer units may become eligible to receive a handful of Maus tanks and a Hitlerjugend Volksjager air unit will appear.

9. Houserule guidelines

Bridge destruction only in hexes where a road physically crosses a river
No manual disbanding of units except those which come in as reinforcements! Disband them during their turn of entry, do not move them or use them to dig in first
The German units in Kurland and Norway may not be disbanded but are allowed to be evacuated by sea when they become mobile.
Units in the off-map areas cannot be disbanded.
Yugoslav units can only advance as far as the Trieste, Villach, Klagenfurt and Maribor axis
Allied/Soviet demarcation line. Western Allied and Soviet units cannot stack together. Wherever Western Allied and Soviet units meet, they must remain adjacent and establish a line. In combined attacks on an Axis occupied hex, only one allied partner -Soviet or Western- can set up attacks to advance into the hex. The other partner units are allowed to use the limited attack set-up.

Silvanski