Sudden Carnage
Chapter XXXIX – The fall of Empires
Countries played by humans: UK, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan and USA.
Recap: German is fighting a two front war, defeating Soviet in the East but losing to the Brits in the West. The outcome is uncertain. However, German reinforcements from the East have reached the West and Wehrmacht prepare to launch a counter-offensive against invading Brits. United Kingdom rules the Med but has retreated from India. Consequently, Japan has launched operations into Oman, Iraq and other parts of the Arab world.
March 9, 1941
The British siege of Bordeaux is well into its second week and even though their 2nd Armoured Division has taken significant losses, more and more Brits are joining the fray. The German and Japanese troopers (paras) are surrounded and attacked from all directions. They can still match the enemy but while the Brits have reinforcements closing in, the Axis forces had none. They could just bite their jaws together and keep making as hard resistance as possible – hoping for miracles. Walther von Reichenau, born into a Preussen military family, was determined to fight to his death.
Being surrounded was not all. The Royal Navy have sailed a task force close to the shores of the province, shelling the closest German companies with their huge naval guns.
March 12th, 1941
When the German counter-strike came, the Brits simply fell apart. They had treaded a little too far into France with far too small reserves. They could not resist the powerful panzer-thrust that was thrown against them.
Still, the German troops in Bordeaux suffered…
Authors note: Do to intense situation, I forgot to take screendump during the initial part of the counter-attack.
March 13th, 1941
Several British veteran units were blitzed through and left behind with little chance of being saved. The famous leader, Bernard Law Montgomery, was one of them. With all the other British divisions fleeing for the harbors, the soldiers could only fight with the hope of creating a small chapter in the books of history.
March 16th, 1941
It is three weeks into the siege of Bordeaux. Being attacked from all sides, the Germans is failing to protect their army corps HQ and the brave von Reichenau is losing his staff personal fast as the Brits is infiltrating the lines and pick the poorly combat trained soldiers out. The 94th Infantry, who tiredly stumbled into Bordeaux after heavy fighting outside the city, are taking heavy casualties too. They are simply not in a state to keep the eagerly approaching Brits away. But the Brits are bleeding too. Even though supported with the naval guns, it is blood work pushing the Germans back. Especially the dug in 5th Infantry and the veteran Japanese paras are proving hard and costly to dislodge. It has become a bloody close combat in the ruins of Bordeaux.
16th March, 1941
As the battle of Bordeaux continued, the Wehrmacht swept through northern France like a scythe. Three British divisions, and one Russian, were caught and the rest fled to Cherbourg.
March 21st, 1941
Close to four weeks into the siege of Bordeaux and the spearhead of the German counter-attack have reached the British circle. Will it be in time? Will von Reichenau’s valiant defense pay off?
March 22nd, 1941
Von Reichenau and his staff fought bravely – but they were no front line troopers. The HQ chattered and with the loss of their leadership, the tired soldiers of the 94th soon gave up. The 5th infantry and the Japanese paras had dug in the north of the city and the British tide broke against their defenses. The Brits just could not flush them out of the districts the Axis brothers had claimed in the beginning of the battle. Many Brits fell to prove that point.
With German panzers reaching and engaging the British siege-force the pressure eased up on the warriors of Bordeaux.
March 23rd, 1941
French freedom-fighters, led by the famous Charles de Gaulle, have come ashore on French soil. Can they free their country?
March 26th, 1941
Charles de Gaulle was too late to make any difference in Bordeaux. With German reinforcements pouring down from northern France, the besiegers had to break up their month-long attack on the city. Counted in dead, the Brits stood for the most casualties by far. The wrecked city was full of bodies in varying state of decay. However, the Brits had captured some 5000 German soldiers, including von Reichenau himself, so they would not return to their island without a price.
Still, losing the battle of Bordeaux meant the British adventure in France was more or less over. It had succeeded in pulling German forces away from Italy and Soviet, but the Red Army was so badly crippled that the somewhat diminished German East Front would not have to halt their offensive – but perhaps slow down a little.
For the Jap paras and the Germans in the 5th Infantry, this was not about politics or long time strategies. They were just damn happy to be alive. Their supply situation had been good throughout the entire siege due to good stock and occasional air-supply drops. Still, this was the first time the tired and dirty soldiers could climb out of their ruin rat holes and enjoy the cold but fresh wind and the bleak sun in their faces while they had a meal in peace.
March 17th, 1941
While the battle still raged in Bordeaux, Wehrmacht had moved on Leningrad. Three Soviet divisions defended the big city and they were well dug in in the heavy fortified city. The Germans were prepared and came in huge numbers. Still, the Russian positions were difficult overwhelm and a battalion led by an eager officer ended up in a trap, losing many good men. Part of the city was also protected by the cold river, making it even more difficult for the attackers. On the other hand, the majority of the defenders were badly trained militias who had little of skill and gear compared to the veteran infantry of the Wehrmacht.
March 23rd-April 1st, 1941
Leningrad fell within a week and the defending militias did not manage do deal the veteran German regulars any substantial damage. Consequently, the Germans could continue the Leningrad operation without any delay and the Leningrad pocket was mopped up within another week. With this, the Red Army had lost the little bite they still had in the north.
Authors note: With Vladivostok, Moscow and Leningrad captured, the Germans only have to take Stalingrad and then the Soviet player must trigger bitter peace. Not surprisingly, it is in the south where the Red Army has massed its remaining forces.
March 27th, 1941
During the German attack on the Leningrad pocket, the Japanese forces captured Baghdad which resulted in the Iraqis losing all their will to fight. The Brits were still around, but not in any number to really threat the Japanese onslaught. The Japs could almost feel the smell of the Mediterranean Sea. The question was, however, how quick the Brits could re-deploy forces from the European theatre where their liberation operation obviously was over.
April 5th, 1941
With the Brits driven out of France, Charles de Gaulle and his free French Forces was the last obstacle in the German west. The battle of Brest was, in this sense, quite epic. The French, however, had no chance what so ever and died in heaps as German panzers tore them appart. With this – the second battle of France was over.
March 27th, 1941
As the battle of the Leningrad pocket draw to an end, German-Italian forces started a joint operation against the remaining part of the Red Army in the south of the eastern front – just north of the Azov Sea. Even though the eastern front had lost an army corps of Panzers to the West, the majority of the remaining panzers and mechanized forces were focused on the south-east front. The Red Army had huge difficulties in resisting them.
April 1st-5th, 1941
Just as before, the remaining Red Army could not resist a powerful panzer-blitz and another 10 division got caught in Luhansk. They stood pretty strong, with the river behind their back, but they had no hope of being rescued. The pace of the losses for the Red Army was devastating.
April 7th, 1941
With another 100 000 men captured in a pocket, the Soviet leadership wavered. Their population could take no more losses. Rumors that doom would come anyway spread like wildfire over the Russian steppes and several riots erupted. Stalin was badly wounded in an assassination attempt and internal struggles amongst the high ranking officers came out in the open – sometime leading to armed conflicts. The Red Army still held firm, but their whole structure were about to break. Some factions of officers started negotiations with the Fascists. Soviet, as previously known, would soon end.
April 15th-16th, 1941
Trying to put some extra pressure on the stubborn Brits, Kriegsmarine sailed out in force to once again challenge the British Task Force guarding the door to the Baltic Sea – the Norwegian Trench. The fleets spotted each other early morning during the 15th. A terrible battle started and went on during the day.
The British light cruiser Danae was sunk early on by a salvo from the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer. Then Scheer was targeted by several British ships and was hit. A couple of German screens hurried to aid the heavy cruiser who already had hero-status from previous battles. Consequently, several German first world war destroyers were sunk – being far to outdated to match the Brits. As a terrible storm hit during the next morning and the fleet lost sight and reconnected several times. The storm made it difficult for damaged ships to pull away and things became chaotic and random. The outcome was still unclear even if the balance tipped in the favor of the Kriegsmarine.
April 17th, 1941
During the morning the 17th of April, the epic battle of the Norwegian Trench was finally over. It was yet another victory for the Kriegsmarine and even if the Brits had not lost any capital ships this time, this guardian Task Force had lost a majority of its screen and had to limp back to the British Isles. Bismarck, who saw battle for the first time, had scored a major hit on the light cruiser HMS Emerald, sinking it, and could return to port with pride.
Though the Royal Navy had plenty of ships to fill up with, this was a serious blow to their pride and morale. As the Soviet Union had crumbled and surrendered the day before, the United Kingdom initiated peace talks with the Third Reich.
The Second World War was over and the Axis stood victorious.
The Bear is broken and United Kingdom is all alone with United States uninterested in the war and its agonies. UK is still strong in the Med, the Regia Marina crippled, but they have lost all their Asian holdings and now the Arabic puppets fall, one after the other – Oman, Iraq and Yemen. Africa and even the Suez are next. There is no rescue. USA will be too late.
Authors note: Allies and Commies have really tried to hold on to the game even though they have had a very slim hope for quite some time. Cred for that. The British attack on Greece was perhaps their last really big chance. Had the Greeks become puppets (with all their GEF in Italy) Italy would have been extremely hard pressed if UK (as I know they planned) followed up with a swift attack on southern Italy. As things turned out, the Brits had to attack Italy without the Greeks – even worse so – they got to fight the Greeks in the GEF who remained in Italy after Greece was lost. After this, the game was basically over – even though it’s never really over until the fat lady sings.
And how about the original plan as such – to not do the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact and take on them all…? Well, it’s mainly possible due to Japan’s unbalanced starting-position. If China was harder to beat (like in reality) or Japan due to diplomatic reason could not fall in Soviets back – then it had been close to impossible – which we will address in coming game with stricter House Rules for Japanese entry (Japan must break all trades with US when declaring war on a major – At the same time, Allies can put a player on the US – no Jap planes or paras in Europe, and the same the other way around).
Mistakes? Yes, we did some initially. I should have traded much more Rares before the war. I just forgot about it. It was really close (1 day) to give me a substancial decrease in factory output. Sloppy planning. Also, we didn’t know that an event made it possible for Allies to DoW Italy when Japan entered the war. Consequently, Italy’s troop was in disarray for a war against Allies. Also, with the Med closed, Italy’s trade routes were cancelled which led to quite rapid drain on resources. The last half year or so, Italy did not have full production capacity which of course would have been costly had the war been longer. After this, I feel Axis played a rather tight game without any great misshaps. Perhaps Italy played a little to reckless with his navy, losing perhaps 2/3 of it before the end of the war. But he didn’t lose it for nothing. He gave the Brits a lot to do for a while – but couldn’t threaten the Royal Navy during the British attack on Greece and Sicily.
Soviet then? Tricky to judge others but I think it was quite significant that more than half of their East Asian Army Group got trapped by the coast due to a Japanese landing. This meant the Japs had a fairly easy way into the Far East and I think that Daphne had to place new troops in the Far East which he otherwise could have deployed against Germany in the west. And then he built a lot of forts which he didn’t get to use. Forts are tricky things. Had things gone differently I might have praised him afterwards – but as the conqueror dictates history - I say it was a mistake
Otherwise I think Daphne played a brilliant defensive war during Operation Storm. When Operation Barbarossa came – he was simply outgunned. Playing defensive war against a faster and more powerful enemy is damn difficult.
France built too many offensive units pre Hammer-Sickle. I know they thought the light armor divisions that the French built plenty of would be perfect for breaking the retreating Wehrmacht. But as it turned out, they were deployed during or after Hammer-Sickle and then used as defensive units. They gave my medium panzers hardly no resistance what so ever, I noticed. All that IC could have been used better, I think. Also, the French forces did not go north and support Belgium and consequently, I could more or less blitz through that deadly defensive terrain and then face the French on grounds less suitable for defense.
And how about Britain? I think Maxyboy played a tight and clever game with very few mistakes. Maybe it was just a little bit too tight. The IJN was hardly challenged at all and could sail unchecked on various missions (I know Zid was very sad about never getting to use his beautiful super heavy battleships in combat) and it was similar on land. This gave the Japs the possibility to capture huge areas quite fast. Still, the Brits pulled back some units he got to use on other theatres and the Royal Navy was strong all the way to the end. Also, the British attack on France was far too late to make a difference. It would have really bothered me if it just had been coming a few weeks earlier - before Operation Kirov – which I think was the final blow to the Bear. Before that, the Red Army was still a force to reckon with.
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Well, boys and girls, thanks a lot for following this AAR. Hope you have enjoyed
Feel free to make some comments now the game is over. What was the main turning points? Capital mistakes? Suggestions?
Cheers - I'll go and get myself a drink now...