User Guide

battlefield and the number of units present. The map covers Belgorod in the
south, and extends north to Prokhorovka. This area saw one of the largest tank
battles of World War II.
Invasion Salerno
When the Allies started landing troops at Salerno, they expected to find little
or no opposition. Instead they faced a potent counterattack force led by the
tough and experienced 16th Panzer Division, reinforced by the famous
Hermann Goering Panzer Division.
The war proved that a properly planned amphibious assault, supported by mas-
sive naval gunfire, was difficult if not impossible to repel. At Salerno the
Germans, who didn’t know this, almost crushed the beachhead and might have
done so with just slightly better luck.
Drive To The Sea
For well over two years, the German high command had known that the Allies
would eventually try to land somewhere in France. The so-called “Atlantic Wall”
of fortified beaches existed mostly in German propaganda. The Germans did put
up concrete pillboxes and steel obstacles at obvious landing points all around
Europe. These were backed by German infantry divisions, usually made up of
overaged conscripts, young boys and even whole battalions of drafted foreign-
ers including former Soviet soldiers. These men were either unable or unwilling
to put up much resistance, and many deserted at the first opportunity.
Knowing the fragile nature of his beach defenses, the famous German Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel insisted that powerful panzer divisions be placed
behind the beaches to counterattack Allied landings. When the Normandy land-
ings came, the high command took many hours to release the panzers, and only
one panzer division launched an attack on the Allied beaches. The 21st Panzer
Division had a proud combat record from North Africa, but most of its men were
new recruits and its tank battalions contained a bizarre array of captured
enemy equipment, including French tanks left over from the First World War.
The 21st, incidentally the only German panzer division in France considered
unfit for front line service, actually managed to penetrate very close to the
beaches. However, the player must do better than this, and inflict a severe
enough defeat that the Allies begin evacuating the beaches.
Nordwind
It did not take long for German leaders to realize that the Ardennes offensive
(known in the West as the “Battle of the Bulge”) had failed. The Germans
immediately launched another attack slightly to the south of the Ardennes.
CAMPAIGN DESIGN NOTES: Defending the Reich 76
Defending the Reich
While Germany was on the strategic defensive from the summer of 1943 until
the Soviet conquest of Berlin two years later, German troops conducted many
operational offensives during this period. Usually, these attacks were designed
to repel Allied attacks, or to restore defensive lines. This is the toughest of the
PANZER GENERAL II campaigns.
Winter Storm
The Winter Storm operation was designed to force its way through the Soviet
forces ringing Stalingrad and re-supply the troops there.
German doctrine called for attacking an enemy penetration at the base, where
they had broken through the defensive lines. This scenario is based on the
attempt to do just this, in an area where Soviet tank forces had shredded the
Romanian infantry divisions guarding the area. The best Axis units present
were actually Romanian cavalry and armored divisions.
Zitadelle
Operation Citadel (Zitadelle), was compromised before it began by the wait for
new tank types and Soviet knowledge of the details of the German offensive.
This scenario is one of the largest in PANZER GENERAL II, both in the size of the
75 CAMPAIGN DESIGN NOTES: Defending the Reich