Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France

[SaS TrooP]

OK, defence goes way better for me than retreats :P
Nothing to say here, I replenished most of 1 Cie and used 2 & 3 Cie combined in the centre. British shove off Germans quite easily and I could shift their armoured vehicles when Germans came in my sector. It was quite stressful at some point and they were close to break, but after all situation got back in my control. As of ending turn, most remaining Germans are pinned and engaged from several directions.

Let me know when you are planning to end France '40 sector. Before we proceed to actual Africa, Free French forces first tried to establish themselves in west african colonies. I would be glad to have battle of Dakar and Invasion of Gabon first, best 2 battles each. When time comes I may explain you how - in my opinion - it should look like.

[Ts4EVER]

This will probably be the last France battle before the evacuation. That being said, it would be nice if you could send me some material or ideas for the next battles, since I know very little about them.

While the first German assault has been held up, our position grows weaker, as the British gradually withdraw to Dunkirk. For one thing, they already moved their gun batteries to the rear. Ours are still in position, but low on ammunition, since the British use different calibres. On top of that, it seems like the Germans are preparing for a new push. Their horrible wailing planes are back as well.
- Defend your position
- If the German assault proves overwhelming, withdraw your forces

[SaS TrooP]

OK, so about these 2 engagements:
Battle of Dakar occurred in September 1940 and was mainly naval engagement. In short, Franco-british navy conducted show of power near the shores of Dakar, Senegal. Its purpose was to persuade French West Africa to join the struggle for De Gaulle. But Vichy authorities were not amused and sent in their own naval batteries, aircraft and nearby task force (with battleship in it). The battle went extremely unfavourably for the Allies and humiliated them, after entire task force (including aircraft carrier and battleship) were damaged and out of war for several months.
As of land engagements, there was just one: FF forces tried to conduct a beach landing near Dakar in order to advance on foot, but it failed under heavy fog and generally bad weather conditions. If FF forces set ashore is unclear to me. They could not even land or eventually land and leave before making a contact.
So in this case - if you want to handle this one - we could assume landing has occurred and then it was revoked, after light combat. I would have to be very careful with casualties, but Vichy forces should not be powerful.

The other battle, Gabon, is much more important from our point of view.
In Gabon it went fair better. That was November 1940. French forces blocked weak Vichy navy in the vicinity of Port Gabon and landed its forces there. Main area of the fighting was airport at Libreville (I call it airport, but historians use "aerodome" what probably indicates its small size). There were heavy fighting for it for 2 days, but with british light aircraft help French managed to capture it. Then, after brief combat Libreville was captured and this turned French Equatorial Africa and Chad into de Gaulle's men.

Later, French forces will be reorganized in Eritrea into 1st Brigade of the Orient and will take part in battle of Keren against Italy. This - I believe - should be depicted quite carefully as fighting there was extremely bloody. And then Operation Exporter, an invasion of Vichy Syrian and Lebanon, that finally provided de Gaulle with resources and manpower to create first Free French Division.
Rest of the story will follow up.

[SaS TrooP]

OK, got this one ready.
It was quiute tough, German attack seemed to be well planned and I disposed less units (my 1 & 2 Cie were downed to about 30% fighting strenght). For this reason I had to evacuate my sector and by the end scenario british are ready to do as well. But I made a good stand against them and caused them numerous casualties while limiting those of my own (but I sadly lost few very experienced men). British did rather easy for most part except very end, when Germans started to push them away.
Finally, German tanks conducted very dangerous flanking maneuver on me, but I was able to shift some AT weapons to that sector and prepare nice ambush. German tanks at this farm deep on my flank are mostly damaged and 2 AT guns are overseeing them by the end of the scenario.

[Ts4EVER]

OK, so we will be doing Libreville next. I guess you will have to reequip your units with British weapons?

[SaS TrooP]

I am actually not that sure. At this point French forces may still relay on their own weaponry. So it is up to your call.
I hope I can though finally resupply myself. At this point de Gaulle could only afford weak forces (thats why he rushed for Gabon). But I believe it should be enough to make a strong battalion or two for this operation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gabon

Here goes the link for this one.

[Ts4EVER]

Off to africa then. You can use as many repair points as you like to get your army up to snuff.

Deploy your forces north of the indicated line. Our objective for today is the Libreville airport. It is held by strong Vichy forces. Luckily, British air support is on its way.

[SaS TrooP]

All right, I must say... it did not go that well, given the task...
As of turn 28, I have captured just 1 objective cluster and nearly got to the second one. I hope I understood my deployment positions correctly, but it took me a while to make that rush. I was breaking through Vichy's positions one by one, but I just did not have enough time. Also, 1 Cie got pretty badly beaten on the way, but otherwise my battalion is well combat capable.
Question is what now? I was in combat for about an hour and still did not capture that bloody airfield...

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, next one.

We managed to gain a foothold near the airfield, but Vichy resistance is fiercer than expected. We will try another assault, this time under the cover of darkness.

[SaS TrooP]

Got his one, ****ing finally.
It took me 14 turns to finish my manoeuvres. Vichy forces got completely destroyed with about 30 men surviving and entire airstrip is taken. Their stupid counterattack allowed me to finish the job quicker, but I somehow understand them. I launched flanking maneuver though the south and I was ready to cut the airstrip. Then they rushed.
Their defence was however extremely powerful. I did not expect that just 2 Coys will provide such hard fight. My casualties are enormous as for this kind of difficulty level. My battalion will soon need replenishment quite soon.
Historically that airstrip was key defence point, so from now on it SHOULD do rather easy.
So, what now?