The French will always lose in the end and Sea Lion will always fail. The reason for such historical shenanigans is because the military career path story arc is set in stone and can not be deviated from. Churchill swore this action saved at least 100,000 of the British rescued at Dunkirk**. House to house fighting and counterattacks, one bagging 253d Infanterie Division commander Fritz Khune as a POW, so impressed German Generalleutnant Alfred Wagner that he allowed French General Molinie’s 40,000 soldiers the honors of war at surrender (the French parading under arms, flags flying with German bands and soldiers saluting got Wagner reprimanded when Hitler threw a hissy fit). It also means that the player will be at the siege of Lille with his division, supported only by the 7th Panzer Division led by loose cannon Erwin Rommel (cue Ghost Division by Sabaton), and investing the town in AO40 isn’t difficult.īut the reality is it took three Panzer divisions and four Infanterie divisions, 160,000 men, to take the town which held for four days until ammunition ran out. It means he will have under his control units such as He-111 bombers and German Fallschirmjaeger (parachute) infantry, something that would not have happened in reality. In AO40 this means, for example, that our intrepid Wehrmacht Generalleutnant will be running the Italian invasion of Greece as leader of a heavily armed observation corps. This is due to what is likely the game’s biggest selling point putting the player into the shoes of a division commander through his entire military career participating in historical battles from the beginning of the war to the end. AO40, falls into the ‘inspired’ category IMHO.

Some are damn near documentaries ( Tora, Tora, Tora!), some are historically based on actual events ( John Wayne’s Alamo) and some are historically inspired ( Epix/Sky’s Britannia). I kinda liken it to Hollywood war movies. However, the details are not quite so… did I mention how good the ambience was? Axis Operations 1940, or AO40, gives you an excellent intro to the military principals of war with accurate movement and casualty rates, and competitive contests conveying a solid World War II ambiance overall.

Panzer corps grand campaign review