A Thousand Year Reich - 1936 Germany

Khoukharev said:

awesome AAR.
subscribed =)

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You're welcome

Federkiel said:

OK but how did the units get out of France? When playing GER i sometimes find Belgians and stuff in the Maginot lines.

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Teleportation I guess Really, even the British units that were encircled in the Maginot line reappeared in Britain... I could have added some storyline like Hitler returning those prisioners in exchange for a peace agreement

Federkiel said:

Any major use of support brigades worth mentioning?

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I have posted it some posts above, its #53.

Federkiel said:

how would you judge the effects of combat length and manpower losses? I am asking because i am used to attach ART to INFs when playing GER. Not only for ingame purposes but to reflect the historical Gerry divs which consisted of 3 INF regiments and 1 arty regiment.

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So far I haven't lost much MP in battles. But I'm investing in having officers close to 200%, and its remarkable increase in units organization means I can do more with less. Although the AI with AIIP also tries to get officers as high as it can.

As for the arty reg for inf divs, I don't know. I agree that adding them is historically accurate. I'm planning to have 8 inf armies x 12 = 96 inf divs on eastern front (which unintentionally is, short by one, what the Germans did have). Adding arty to them means a cost of 127 MP and 220 IC x 76 days. I have 516 MP as of Feb 41, which I consider low as a strategic reserve. Also, I'm short of IC since Kriegsmarine projects are now restarted. But given that, right now, SOV has an army roughly the double of the entire Wehrmacht, I can put the ships on backburner to ensure either I have sufficient troops = build more divs, or that my troops have sufficient strength = add support brigades.

Federkiel said:

Apparently you modded the Vichy event to show occupied Metropolitan France being occupied proper. Very good. Is there an easy quickfix how to get it that way?

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Sure, since I can't attach files in this forum, I made a thread on Mod forum:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?p=10663831

How did you make ITA DoW on YUG? A result of AIIP?

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I was so much surprised as you... but upon looking their files, yes.

volksmarschall said:

So France goes down in a heartbeat, should we be surprised by this? Your writing on the invasion phases were quite excellent if I may say so myself, plus, some of those pictures (real world) were incredible, haven't really seen them in a era when a lot of the same pictures are seen in many different AARs.

Keep up the great work, I'm eagerly awaiting for more... and for Hitler's next move.

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You are being nice I'll insert more ww2 color pics to fit with the storyline. Seeing those in color give a different feeling of those times, for sure! I have not heard about Frank Brown lately, have you?

Mussolini's exploits

July 13 - December 25, 1940


On July 13, in a surprising move for the German High Command, Mussolini
declared war on Yugoslavia.



The High Command didn't concerned for the safety of German provinces
in the area, since Paulus 6th Army has been garrisoning the border since
the fall of Poland. They were concerned, however, about the safety of
Italian territory, since upon the declaration of war, its borders with
Yugoslavia, Albania included, were pretty much undefended.



Hitler initially was furious about the Duce not communicating his
intentions to him, even though Hitler has kept him out of several German
plans. However, a meeting between the two leaders clarified the situation.
Mussolini had reacted to intelligence concerning an imminent British-
supported coup d'état in Yugoslavia. Hitler agreed and decided to support
him politically. Mussolini assured that he would not need military support,
but nevertheless von Manstein's Panzergruppe was ordered to redeploy
from southeastern France as a contingency measure.

Yugoslavia didn't reacted in the north. Only on July 22 the bulk of the
continental Italian forces, which were stationed in southern France,
reached the borders. However Albania was completely overrun by the
Serbs in few days.

By August 26, the northwest half of Yugoslavia had been occupied by the
Italians, which trapped most of the opposing divisions there.


August 26

From then on, they encountered little opposition in their drive southwards.


September 7

Meanwhile, the Regia Marina managed to captured two British garrisons in
the Mediterranean: Cyprus and Malta.





Finally, on September 22, after a little more than two months, the Yugoslav
government fled and the armed forces surrendered to the Italians.



Hitler was particularly pleased with Mussolini's achievements, since it
secured a potential weak flank against Allied invasion, and saved German
troops for upcoming operations. However Mussolini's own troops would have
not much time to rest and refit. Mussolini grew in confidence and demanded
the surrender of Greece, which refused, thus declaring war on November 1st.



General Franco of Spain, conscious about the German and Italy expansion,
and in desire to retribute their help from the Spanish Civil War, joined the
Pact of Steel on the same day, and immediately attacked and took the
British fortress of Gibraltar.





During these happenings, news broke out that, in the Far East, Japan managed
to subdue the Communist China enclave, after years of fighting.



On the Greek front, the Greeks advanced several kilometers into Epirus, but
the Region Esercito punched a hole into the Hellenic defenses, while
simultaneously launching an amphibious assault against Crete.


November 17



The Greek army could not hold his territory, and after a last stand in Athens,
by December 20 they surrendered to the Italians.





Meanwhile, on December 25, Japan achieved another great victory by defeating
the Guanxi faction in the Far East.

volksmarschall said:

Wait... Italy is doing something productive for the Axis for a change! :rofl: What kind of crazy timeline is this! And the Japanese are on cruise control over in Asia, but that, well, that's not as big a surprise as the amazing success that the Italians are having. And the addition of Spain should be interesting to see, looks like we'll see more than the Spanish Blue Division.

(I think you should smack Mussolini back into line - he's the minor)

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For a moment I've thought about taking advantage of DOW on Yugo and cutting off Italy advance, but... I've felt sorry for the AI:

"The only time we actually do something intelligent, the human player blows it!"

Update come tomorrow, this was a tough week

Battle of Britain

May - November, 1940

Right after the fall of France to the German mighty, Hitler and his Generals put
forward a plan to increase the pressure over Great Britain. The terms of the
French surrender included the German occupation of the coastal zone, which
included several important port facilities and airfields. With Britain now within
reach of the Luftwaffe, and closer to the Atlantic shipping routes, Hitler
unleashed a new series of attacks against the UK.

The most significant move was the increase on convoy raiding missions by the
German submarine fleet. The following table summarizes the number of
transport and escort ships sunk:


However, this didn't came without a cost. In June, one sub wolfpack was lost.
In August, another two. In September, one, and in October, one. A total of 5
subs packs were lost, but thanks to the industrial effort these losses were
replenished as soon as they occurred.

Despite these numbers, the UK didn't crumbled as Hitler expected. They
shifted convoys to more important resource routes, albeit at the cost of
supplying troops overseas. Also, they mantained the shipbuilding programs.
Although not capable of surpassing or even equalling the losses, the new
convoys at least signalled the end was not so near.

Other than that, no significant engagements occurred between the Royal
Navy and the Kriegsmarine, and apart from a botched invasion of Narvik by
the Canadians, and some British subs sunk in the Jutland, the surface fleet
didn't saw much action throughout the year.

Air war

But Hitler's plans involved not only the sea, but the air also. Mustering 2800
aircrafts (1000 fighters and 1800 bombers), the largest sustained aerial
bombardment to date commenced on August.



The goals of the Luftwaffe were diverse: ports, airports, industries, resource
and supply depots. The RAF could not withstand the mass waves of German
Messerchmitts and Heinkels. They inflicted heavy losses into the attackers,
however, and at the lowest point the serviceable strength of the Luftwaffe
was 60%. The losses to the Royal Navy were light, consisting largely of
foreign Allied ships in exile, or light cruisers.

But as the days and months passed, the hardness of the British people
became apparent as there was no visible signs of weakness. Churchill rallied
the population to resist the aggressions, and the US began to redirect its
resources to support the British war effort.

It became clear to Hitler that an easy victory in the West was not so quickly
attainable, so the decision was made to keep the pressure as long as it was
possible to not interfere with Operation Barbarossa.

Destroyed, no. I don't know what I do wrong, but I never was able to "destroy" an enemy air unit. The air war is basically attrition for both sides. But the continuous bombings on ther industrial centers (London, Birmingham and Sheffield which have 10 IC) have been able to deny them those precious IC for several months. Unfortunately Barbarossa is coming and I'll have to redeploy those bombers to the east, but will try to raise replacements to France.

The convoy war is more promising - I believe that in a year, UK will have its convoys depleted. No convoys = no energy, rares and metal. Energy for UK is around 24k and declining, the others are 99k, so even after they run out of convoys, will be long before zeroing those stockpiles.

Rommel lands on Africa

December 1940 - April 1941

Despite the successful victories at the Balkans, the Regio Esercito was not
faring well on North Africa. The lack of armored vehicles and transports to cross
the long distances, and even the lack of maritime transport ships, dictated that
the few Italian divisions on Libya were not up to the task of defending against
the British.

For the most part of the war until now, the British also refrained in launch any
kind of attack, perhaps still uncertain about the definite direction Mussolini would
take. But after seeing the surprising Italian advance accross the Balkans, the
British decided to try seize the region for themselves. After crossing the border,
on December 20 they laid siege and, some days later, captured the city of
Tobruk.


The siege of Tobruk

The next target of the British was the coastal city of Benghazi. The goal was
clear: to over-extend the Italian supply lines. The next port was as far as the
city of Tarabulus, close to the Vichy French colony of Tunisia. Seeing as it
could potentially loose the control over Libya, Mussolini appealed to Hitler,
which, also with the goal of eradicating British presence on North Africa and
the Middle East, agreed to send one armored corps.


British troops threathen Benghazi

The selected corps was the XXXII, possessing 4 divisions: the 7. Panzer, 8.
Panzer, 13. Infanterie (mot) and 16. Infanterie (mot). Rommel commanded the 7.
Panzer in France, but has been promoted since then to the Corps command.
Thus, on 1 January, Rommel was on his way to North Africa through the port of
Venezia, which housed several German transport ships slipped there before
the war.




Unloading equipment in North Africa

Rommel arrived in Benghazi on January 20, and soon set up a mobile defense
which turned almost immediately offensive.



The combined British-Iraqi forces were thrown back easily, and on Februart 1st,
in his best style, Rommel even used his HQ assets to encircle and capture
6000 men in the Battle of Suluntah.



From then on, the road to Tobruk was clear, and it was freed from British control
on February 16. However, a British counterattack from the south, this time with
armored units, threatened to stall the advance.



Rommel took his divisions around the British rear, and with the threat of being
cut off, they were forced to retreat east. They would fight a tactical withdrawal
for the next two months, until reaching the Suez. In April 10, Rommel crossed into
the Sinai peninsula. At this time, Italian reinforcements had landed on Alexandria.
The last British elements were forced to surrender on April 16, with their backs
forced against the Red Sea.



From then on, Rommel drove east completely unopposed. The last British naval
base, in Tel-Aviv, fell on April 27. From the Levant and Jordania, Rommel drove
into Iraq, which surrendered on May 23. With the capture of Kuwait, the
British access to the Middle East oil had been cut off, along with its access to the
Mediterranean through Suez.



Rommel was ordered then to R&R, until relieved by Italian forces and sent back
to Western Europe.

Meanwhile, the Italians landed and captured Yemen, whilst kicking off the British
from the Eastern Africa.



Also, in Europe, invasion attempts at Narvik by the Canadians, and at Cherbourg
by the British, were spoiled by the Kriegsmarine with severe losses for the Allies.

The Road to Moscow

February 15, 1941



Franz Halder, Head of the General Staff, has been incumbed with the task of
planning Operation Barbarossa, some 7 months ago. Since then, he coordinated
efforts from the Intelligence services, to gather information about the Soviet
strength; with the Armament Ministry, to give feedback about the amount of
equipment and manpower would be needed; with the OKH and Army Generals, to
assure the plan would be tactically sound; and with Hitler himself, to assure the
strategic goals would be achieved.

Yet this effort wasn't all perfect. It was difficult to gather hard intelligence
about a so vast and secretive nation as the Soviet Union. Internally, conflicts
between the many Army and Police branches threatened to dillute the armament
efforts. Besides that, the vast majority of Generals was against invading the
Soviet Union in 1941 - the thing that obviously Hitler most wanted.

Even sparse and unreliable, the intelligence reports gave account of a large
Army. Sure, it had to defend a vast territory, but that was also their advantage
- they could afford loosing vast swathes of land, in exchange of time. It was
very unlikely that Japan would attack them, given that it was now concentrated
in his conquests in South and Central Asia. Finland could barely field enough
divisions to garrison its border. Turkey was neutral. Thus the only front that
really presented any danger to Stalin was its borders with Germany, Hungary and
Romania.

This was the biggest concern amongst the Generals minds - what if the Soviet
Union doesn't surrender as easily as France? What kind of war would be following
the initial attack, and was Germany prepared to sustain it? Hitler repeatedly said
he was aware of the stakes involved, but his Generals didn't believed so.

On the other hand, some pro-attack justifications solidified over time:

- Stalin may attack at any moment, thus is better to achieve initiative early.
- Soviet Union was the chief exporter of raw materials to Germany, but for how
long was a question mark. Depriving Germany from its exports may very well be
the same as defeating the Wehrmacht in the field.
- The Wehrmacht had more experience in the field than the Soviets, and could
use this to nullify their numerical superiority.

Thus a plan was devised to attack in June 1941.

Overall strengths



Intelligence indicated that the Soviets possessed 287 divisions, with more
than half stationed along Eastern Europe. Together, the Axis Powers of
Germany, Hungary, Romania and Finland mustered 242 divisions, therefore
having local superiority. However, Romania and Finland were unlikely to join
the war at its outbreak. Hungary, of the Germany allies, had the better troops
at its disposal, thus the immediate Axis strength was more like 190 divisions.

Halder organises the German troops in three Army Groups: Nord, Mitte and
Sud. The initial orders for all the Army Groups reflected the OKW desire: to
destroy as much as possible of the Red Army in the field. The HG Nord task was
to capture Riga, and encircle Soviet troops against the Baltic. The HG Mitte task
was to drive to Moscow through Minsk and Smolensk, while HG Sud was to
encircle the Soviet units in the Hungary border against the Karpat Army Group.
The follow-on attacks would be an encirclement of the Pripet Marshes, a region
that was to be avoided by the faster units; and a drive south to Crimea, to cut
off reminiscent Red Army units against the Black Sea.



Alongside that, a massive air bombardment would follow the breakthroughs and
critical areas.

From then on, no orders were explicitely given. It would be up to the
commanders in the field to decide how to progress further.

Operation Barbarossa Order Of Battle

Heer


One and a half million men were in command of Von Brauchitsch



Units composition

Infantry Division:



Panzer Division:



Motorized Infantry Division (first in a corps):



Light Motorized Infantry Division (second in a corps):



Luftwaffe



Air units stats:



Kriegsmarine

Naval units stats:

The Reich in Review

Infantry Techs



Armor Techs



Escorts Techs



Capital Ship Techs



Bomber Techs



Fighter Techs



Industry Techs



Secret Techs



Theory Techs



Land Doctrines



Naval Doctrines



Air Doctrines



Theoretical and Practical knowledge



Diplomacy



Resources Overview



Axis land forces



Axis naval forces



Axis air forces