Post by oldpop2000 on Jun 12, 2019 8:11:33 GMT -6
First, the British are an island and depend on trade for many supplies from the US and other nations. France does not depend on those supplies. That gives her the advantage.
Don’t be overwhelmed by the British numbers, they can’t be everywhere at once. The ships that are in Gravelines and Dunkirk could be light cruisers and destroyers plus submarines. The British cannot neglect protecting the Thames, if the game is programmed correctly.
The Mediterranean is a good area; However, it is an enclosed sea and they have control of Gibraltar and Alexandria plus Malta. A small fleet should be able to keep those ships in Gibraltar in place to protect the straits. For France, it is not that important. The problem is you don’t know who owns North Africa. The French should have the western portion of North Africa and this means the British must maintain force in Gibraltar.
Do you see the concept of operations? Use the French fleet to pick away at small British forces. When you are at a numerical disadvantage, avoid fixed battles and decisive engagements. Use the idea of He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. I use this for Italy and Japan and never lose. We tend to think Mahanian, decisive battles. This idea got the Japanese into a lot of trouble in the War in the Pacific. It never bothered the US Navy.
Think outside the box. Don’t allow your fleet to be drawn into major engagements. Avoid decisive battles like the plague. Hit and run is the best policy. Wear the British down.
You are completely right, I use this strategy in RTW quite often and it is succesfull, slowly destroying their light forces which are quite important in fleet engagement as they are eyes, protecters and even hammers.
However it seems to me that in RTW2 there are much higher % of fleet battles than in RTW2.
Relating to resources, French is dependent too but it is more likely how Italy and Germany will trade with France.
Do you think that main British trade goes through North Sea and not as historically from Western Approaches?
If we look at period of WW1 than I think French vs. Germany has advantage that they have better access to open Ocean so surface raiders are more viable option and submarines has better access to approaches to Isles.
North Afrika will mainly depend on army and supplies comming there. UK has issue to supply North Africa as going around Africa does not help as it gets France a lot of opportunities to attack such convoy. Going through the Mediterranean means that large part of Royal Navy needs to protect such convoy. On opposite distance helps French to get supplies to North Africa.
In the two world wars, Britain was at war with Germany so almost all supplies had to move through the Western Approaches. In WW1, the German High Seas fleet did attack the British cities on the eastern coast and attempt to draw some of the British fleet like the scouting force under Admiral David Beatty and also the channel force at Dover, I believe. So the strategy I am proposing, is in fact the same concept of operations used by the Germans. It was quite effective.
Remember that the British will be deployed at Gibraltar, Portsmouth and possibly Rosyth or Scapa Flow. You, however, are between them. You have interior lines. Your forces can move north from Brest, and the other western ports, or turn back and head south. The distance is far less and you can intercept any British forces trying to move from the north or south to reinforce.