Universal Binary

Game Media

By Brad Cook

June 6, 1944. Your Allied destroyers and battleships reach the coast of France, bombarding German positions that your fighters and bombers further soften. Under cover of those attacks, you bring in transport ships to unload their troops. A lengthy ground war lies ahead.

Commander: Europe at War

As the summer progresses, you put additional forces into production, including fabled general Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose prowess on the battlefield bolsters your troops’ effectiveness. Other prominent commanders — including Omar Bradley, George Patton, and Bernard Montgomery — wait in the wings for you to summon their services. Of course, the Germans will counter your improvements with strong military leaders of their own.

You also set the Allied laboratories to work, developing better methods of ground, air, and naval combat that could help turn the tide in the coming months. As fall turns to winter, you feel a change in the air as your units sweep across Europe and advance on Berlin. But will the Soviets arrive in time to help your British and American troops deliver the fatal blow to Germany’s forces?

Play the War in Europe

The June 6, 1944 Normandy attack, also known as D Day, is one of six key scenarios, such as the struggle for Stalingrad and the Battle for France, that you can undertake in Commander: Europe at War. Or, if you prefer, start with the invasion of Poland in 1939 and play through the end of World War II, with historically accurate technological advances and world events, such as the U.S. entering the conflict in December 1941. You can also opt to go beyond 1945 and create an alternate version of history.

The game map covers a large section of the world, from the United States’ Eastern seaboard to the Soviet Union’s Ural Mountains, with Scandinavia and Africa bracketing the geography in the north and south, respectively. Twelve types of units, from infantry and tanks to destroyers and subs, await your commands each turn. Before you engage a battle, you can survey the odds, which are based on not only unit strength but also terrain, morale, training, equipment, and other realistic factors.

Specific units gain strength as they win battles, allowing you to assemble your favorite ones into a formidable army. In addition, you can upgrade your units by directing your countries’ research in five different areas, with 15 inventions, such as better ground attacks and enhanced strategic operations, to discover.

Go For a Major Victory

Opposing nations must surrender when the other side occupies their capitals, except the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, which each have two capitals. At the conclusion of the war, the winner is the side that controls the most capitals — to earn a Major Victory, you must conquer all of the opposition’s capitals before then.

Whether playing against the computer or a friend, you can change the difficulty by giving a larger advantage to one side, or by activating the fog of war, which conceals enemy positions until your units become aware of them. You can also implement random research, which introduces unpredictability to technology development, and the need for your units to consume oil when they move.

And if you really want to tweak your gameplay, right-click on the Commander: Europe at War application and select Show Package Contents. Open the Contents folder and navigate to the Resources folder and then the Java folder, where you’ll find the Data folder. In there, you can modify the documents that control units, military leaders, technology, and terrain. Visit The Modder’s Corner on Slitherine’s forums to learn more about modding the game.

Now we’ll excuse you to turn your attention to the Battle of the Bulge. The German military has proven to be a fierce opponent, but we advise putting General Patton into action. He’ll inspire your troops to overcome the opposition.

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Map overview.

Deployment. Fortify your positions and then prepare to attack.

Units overview.

Get Out of My Way. Patton is one of many leaders you can call on to lead your troops.

Battlefied overview.

Not-So-Quiet on the Eastern Front. Germany prepares for its assault on the Soviets.

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World War II in Europe: A Brief Overview

Map overview.

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, prompting France, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to declare war in the following days. The Soviet Union and America remained neutral at that time, although the former took over part of Poland by the end of September. Very few important events happened until April 1940, when Germany brought its blitzkrieg, or “lightning war,” to Denmark and Norway. British, French and Polish troops joined the fight, but Denmark surrendered almost immediately, with Norway continuing its defense until forced to capitulate in May.

The following month, Germany invaded France, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg. The latter three fell quickly while France held out until June, when it was forced to surrender. (In Commander : Europe at War, as in real life, France then splits into the German-occupied northern half and the Vichy French southern area.) Germany then set its sights on invading England, a plan that was eventually discarded, although they repeatedly bombed London and the surrounding countryside. In retaliation, the British launched squads of planes to attack Berlin and other German cities.

During the rest of 1940 and most of 1941, Allied forces fought Germany and Italy in northern Africa, Greece, and other areas. German U-boats (submarines) saw increasing success in the Atlantic Ocean, harassing Allied shipping and disrupting supply lines. In March 1941, America passed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the country to sell military equipment to the Allies, with payments deferred until the end of the war. You’ll notice a period of Lend-Lease movement at the end of each turn in Commander: Europe at War; make sure you keep your supply lines intact, or your units will quickly lose their effectiveness.

The Conflict Grows

As the war intensified during 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June. That same month, German and Italian assets in the United States were frozen, and their U.S. consulates were closed. In July, Britain and the Soviet Union agreed to a mutual defense pact, while August saw the signing of the Atlantic Charter between the United States and Britain — among its points of agreement was the defeat of the Axis powers.

Those events set the stage for Germany’s siege on Stalingrad, as well as President Franklin Roosevelt’s order that the U.S. Navy retaliate immediately if ships in the Atlantic Ocean were attacked. On December 7, Japan pulled America into the war by striking Pearl Harbor; four days later, Italy and Germany declared war on the U.S.

With the major players now part of the conflict, Germany stepped up its offensive in the Soviet Union while the Allies, including America, fought Axis forces in Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, and other areas. On September 3, 1943, the Allies invaded Italy; the country surrendered later that month, but the Germans held Rome until the following June.

The day after Rome fell to the Allies in 1944, the invasion of Normandy occurred. The largest amphibious military landing in history, D Day saw 155,000 troops flood the coast of France, with Paris liberated in August. By winter, it was clear that Germany was headed for defeat, despite the last gasp offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. The following May, the country surrendered and the war in Europe ended.

 
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