S! WHIPS

As not all of us participated in the event and a lot of us were split up in different groups, I’d be interested in a few AARs to get different point of views of the whole OP.

I was member of Kampfgruppe Raider (Panzer GRP2) with DM79 as CO and no  XO. With me from WHIPS was Mosizlak, Mwittman and NY75.

Both were not on Discord though, which gave Dm79 a bit of trouble as he could not relay quick and direct orders without having to type. So I sometimes jumped in and relayed his orders via text. In general, DM did a very good job leading the Panzer Gruppe 2. It was important to him that we arrive save at the target and slowly can build up pressure.

Unfortunately in a lot of cases the Infantry Kampfgruppen were a lot faster than our Armor but more about that later.

Namur

First target for the night and the Operation FALL GELB and our Panzer Gruppe 2 was Namur! Everything seemed to be uncoordinated though. So I jumped to the HC discord channel letting Germany know that he’s not talking to all of his leaders. With so many players on Discord it was a nightmare to find the leadership elements for that operation. I pulled a few up the channel but at least as long as I was there, Germany did not interact with them directly. 

So I think most elements were clueless in the beginning. At least DM did not receive any orders but to go to Namur. He did not know who’s there and who’s doing what.

So his idea was to flank around and come in from the west, being able to support both ABs. SAB was already under cap once we crossed the last bridge, trying to get into position west of town.

We slowly moved towards NAB while NY75 and Ian77 dealed with some enemy tanks coming from Gembloux all the way down to Namur!

It was just a matter of time when NAB would have been fully overwhelmed by Axis forces. I myself ended up with only 2 inf kills. Not sure how those 2 EI made it past the hundreds of Axis infantry :p

Antwerp FBs

Once Namur was safe and sound we were ordered to support Shager’s Infantry Kampfgruppe in order to take down Antwerp FBs. I though did not know that we were attached to an Infantry Gruppe as I missed the first minutes. Anyway, DM asked me to get a 232 for recon. I heard a Beddy north of Boom which I was following but never found him.

I then went for the bridge east of Temse  / Antwerp FB, which was our first target. Soon enough I was engaged by an ATG or ET. But our tanks just rolled in as well.

As the bridge itself was down and we had no Engineers with us I thought I’m going to bring an Opel and Engineer in order to repair the bridge. But I had to find out that all Engineers were gone. Found one Bluetag in the Boom AB as Engineer and picked him up. We went back to the bridge were our Panzers had the FB already locked down. When I arrived at the bridge I as well met Shager’s Infantry Kampfgruppe. Well, he had to deal with a lot of low ranks. They repaired the bridge and we rushed to Temse / Antwerp FB which was undefended by then.

Do to inexperience and low ranks of the players it did take quite some time to blow the FB. One of the few Engineers blew himself up at the VEH spawn.

Once done we moved out to the next Antwerp FB, St. Niklaas FB.

I was still in my Opel and I thought I would go ahead to see if it is defended. There was nothing but a Beddy. I was suprised that he did not see me.

Panzer Gruppe 2 moved in quickly, followed by Shager’s Opel and troops.

Suddenly EI spawns and finds my truck. I killed him, soon enough 2nd and 3rd ei popped up. I ended up with 5 or 6 kills but died before the force arrived. So I went buzzard to view the rest:

After that I was driving Suppo to the St. Niklaas FB in order to finish it. Other than that, no highlights. GJ mate!

Oh wait, NY75 flipped his 232.

Vireaux

Once the FB was Axis as well, we moved out for Vireaux. I can make that one short 😛

We left Givet as a column but just did not make it in time to target. Town was capped before we even reached Vireaux. I think we still were 1.5 km out.

Mariemburg

That AO was kinda short, too. We moved out as soon as DM got the info for the new target. The AO itself was initiated by Paras, I think.

We had a short engagement NE and SE of town but by the time we got closer to town it was Axis already. Mwittman and I took care of a lost S76 but that was about it. Too slow, too late again. Mariemburg was flooded with Axis infantry. It was incredible to see on the map.

Gembloux

Again we had a good column going and a plan. DM wanted to strike from east of town.

He already noticed that we had to move quicker in order to be in time so we were less careful but still watched our flanks.

We got into  town when it was already down to AB. So DM split us up, one group for N gate and one group for S gate. We not only covered the gates but we as well covered the murderholes along the AB walls.

Not a lot was getting out though. The infantry did a really good job. So the Tigers moved in to seal the deal. Shortly after Gembloux AB was Axis, followed by Wavre CP seconds later. Again a job nicely done!

Wavre

Here I was late again for the start as I was going afk for a few minutes. I as well disobeyed orders and stayed on the road to kill anything the main Panzer force would not kill from south hill.

They though quickly experienced enemy tanks from the south as the Wavre / Gembloux FB was still Allied.

I had 2-3 sorties I think with a few kills but called it a night shortly after. I was just getting tired. I do think it was the first town we did not cap that evening.

Resumee

First of all, DM79 did a hell of a job. He was a great leader. For those who were not on Discord, you should consider it next time, at least to listen in.

He felt very sorry for us for the lack of targets. It is clear that he would not lead his group blind into an ambush therefore I fully understand and fully respect his decisions. It was the right thing to do. So I will not blame him for having so few engagements.

We have seen a lot of action today! And I enjoyed sitting in my little bubble and not having to care about anything else! I’m not sure how the communication was upwards DM but at least he always had a target. Maybe Shagher or Majes99 can let us know about the communication as both had a CO and XO spot.

What I found fascinating was that we were underpopped most of the time but Axis did the caps!

I’ve talked to a few Allies and they found lack of communications and wrong choice of AOs. They decided to hit Antwerp hard just to find no Axis there. Axis were capping in Namur and Brussels. Brussels btw looked like it would be changing ownership, too. It was down to 1 AB and 2 CPs I remember once I checked the map. We did not get it though.

Anyway, I liked the event today!

It shows what potential WW2 Online has! We should see those kind of operations more often, hopefully organized by the CinCs!