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thanks for reading!

Thanks for all the nice feedback guys! It is great to hear from readers what they think of the AAR so far. If you have questions or thoughts (or warnings :p) feel free to post them here, but please bear in mind that I am playing this game to get a feel for lots of different things so I probably won't always do that which pays off best or makes most sense. Part of the reason for writing is to explore the consequences of (foolish) ahistorical actions. ;)

Nice so far. I like the format you are using - analysis of actions and why things may hapen the way they do.

Looking forward to more.

Glad to hear it and welcome onboard!

Denmark feels more threaten by France then by Germany? wow...

Yup. I read somewhere that it was easier to manipulate the threat of a small nation (make it rise quickly) and a gamey exploit (as Germany) was to increase the threat of Denmark :rofl: to make potential allies in Europe seek out the Axis more willingly. My AAR seems to show that it is indeed possible to make the UK and France so threatening that it will make many European countries hesitant to align closer with them, but at the same time making Hungary threatening does very little to warm up Romania's feelings towards Germany - damn that neutrality! :D

I read in the minister roster that Joachim von Ribbentrop has a "+5% Threat Impact" and I am wondering if it is a more viable tactic to bully states into the Axis? (i.e. having a threat that is great enough to overcome their neutrality). Only problem is - threat will make nations move away from you, so you have to combine the threats with Diplomatic Influence to draw them in - and THAT costs a lot of Leadership. :(

If I had the patience, I would like to see if simply waiting until 1940 while continuously increasing the threat of France, USSR and the UK and not annexing Austria etc. could make Germany seem so friendly and not threatening that countries would voluntarily flock to the Axis banner? Oh well, another game another time ;)

I'm enjoying the AAR, since it explains HOI3. I am subscribing.

Glad to have you with us - thanks for reading!

Very readable and informative so far, thanks for all the effort - Joe

You are most welcome - thanks for commenting and keeping my enthusiasm up!

Ah, seems there's so many Ger 1936 ones around, are we lacking imagination :rofl:
Anyways, will be good to compare how differently people do things in the end.

Aye, the AAR section does seem to be full of those German stories :D
I like it because it gives you a chance to change history (win) but I guess that with the hindsight of history avoiding the military mistakes of Germany of winning in a computer game isn't really that hard. Recent developments in my game may prove me wrong on that one, though, but time will tell ;)


Up next: The Treaty of Munich and preparations for something... bigger
 
Episode 6

The Treaty of Munich and early military planning

January 1 - May 28, 1938


Research completed in early 1938:
Mobile Warfare 3 (opens up for Spearhead Doctrine research to reduce frontage of armour units = more firepower along a narrow front)
Armoured Car Gun 2 (added some firepower to the brigade-type before I started a production of two of them for my 7. Panzer-Division ("Ghost Division")) ;)
Light Tank Engine 3
Airborne infantry (oh boy, Fallschirmjäger - here I come!!)
Light Tank Reliability 3
Light Tank Armour 3
Light Tank Gun 3 (opens up the research path to Self-Propelled Artillery, which I have decided to make for my most elite units (Waffen SS, Panzer Lehr-Division and a few others)
Logistical Strike Tactics 3
Installation Strike Tactics 3
TAC Pilot Training 3
Fighter Pilot Training 3 (at this point I started researching the difficulty 10 doctrine "Schwerpunkt")
Tactical Air Command 3
CAS Pilot Training 3
Interception Tactics 3
Fighter Targeting Focus 3
Bomber Targeting Focus 3
Infantry Warfare 3 (nice +15 bonus to organisation)
Ground Attack Tactics 3
Radar (research completed on May 27th. This allows me to construct radars, which also function as intelligence gathering "listening posts" - something I am very keen to experiment with :D)


Units produced in early 1938:
7 interceptors (bringing the total up to 20)
6 infantry divisions (3x inf brigades each)
1 guard division (2x gar, 2x art)
2 armoured car brigades
7 motorised infantry divisions (2x mot inf each)
2 police divisions (1x gar, 1x military police each)
1 light armour brigade (completing my 9. Panzer-Division)

Airbases in Stuttgart, Wilhelmshafen and Bitburg reach level 9


1938 - Change comes to Europe
On January 1, I complete my research into Mobile Warfare 3, which opens up the path to Spearhead Doctrine - a 1940 doctrine. I had not really planned to rush much research but at the dawn of this new year I can already sense war on the horizon and I know in my heart that I need to have the doctrines in place to practice "proper armoured warfare" as soon as possible. So, with a sense of destiny guiding my hand I click the screen and begin the spearhead research.

I go through the minister screen but can't find any I'd like to change (I made Werner von Blomberg new Chief of the Army on January 1 1937 to get the -10 % supply consumption, which seemed more valuable than a reduction in practicals that my production was keeping up anyway).

With the coming of the new year, I now have the opportunity to go for the Treaty of Munich event, which will give me the Sudetenland (borderlands of Czechoslovakia becomes German cores and are handed over). It will also give me a +15 threat on everybody, but since my current threat towards e.g. France and Hungary is only 34, and France’s threat towards the rest of Europe is above 65, I feel that I can handle it. What worries me is that it will lower France’s and the United Kingdom’s neutrality by -5 each, and that will help them declare war on me eventually…

1938 brings a lot of new interesting leaders including Model, von Arnim, Student, Schörner and Dietl, so I spend a few minutes replacing some commanders for my favourite units.

The Treaty of Munich
On January 3, 1938, I initiate the event and immediately get the Sudetenland. I also gain 300 manpower, which boosts my "stockpile of men" nicely and will help build more divisions. I do not get any resource stockpiles like I did with Austria but one of the new provinces generate some resources and IC, which will help in the future.

AAR046.jpg


The event gives me a 5 point dissent hit because some of the "doves" are afraid my policies will lead Germany to war, so I start a campaign to win the hearts of the German people with more Volkswagens and candy. :D

AAR047.jpg

Czechoslovakian forces before they withdraw from the new German territories


The 7. Panzer-Division - the "Ghost Division"
I am a big sucker for "neatness" and generally prefer my OOB to be made up of long lines of identically composed units. I am, however, also a huge Rommel fan (who isn't :p) so I could not resist a little flavour when I was creating my nine armoured divisions.

I have always been fascinated by Rommel's rapid and reckless advance during the Battle of France in 1940, which earned the division its nickname. I therefore could not resist the temptation to create a particularly fast, light armoured division and naming it after its historical counterpart. Experimenting with different compositions, I found out that adding 2 armoured car brigades instead of 1 motorised infantry brigade to my standard set-up in light armoured divisions (2 light armour, 1 mot inf) would give the division almost the same firepower and defence but a speed of 9 KPH instead of the regular 8 KPH (because armoured cars at this level are faster than motorised infantry). Because of this I only researched the Armoured Car Gun tech and not the armour, which would have made it slower.

pzdiv-7-rommel-staff.jpg

Rommel with his staff during the campaign in May/June 1940

The result is a light, highly mobile division with combined arms bonus. And, as a bonus, if I need to I can split the unit at a moment's notice into two even lighter divisions of 1 light armour + 1 armoured car brigade each if I need to cover more ground, race to VP provinces or things like that. The unit won't have the power to punch through tough, prepared defences but it isn't meant to either.


Growing ambitions
On January 30, the dissent hit from annexing the Sudetenland is finally gone. By this time I have done some thinking on how I want the game to progress. If I wait for the Vienna Conference (I think it is called) event, I will get the Czech half of Czechoslovakia as cores and Slovakia as a puppet. But that event probably won't fire for another 8-10 months. Besides, I am not sure that even if I at that time declared war on Hungary (and got Italy to stay with me in the Axis) that Hungary would be aggressive enough to invade and annex Slovakia, allowing me to swallow and annex both Hungary and Slovakia afterwards. In fact, I am not even sure that Slovakia and Hungary would end up in a war just because I DoW Hungary.

So, if I really want to avoid getting Slovakia as a puppet (because I fear they will be as useless in Hoi3 as they were in Hoi2 :p) I see few alternatives to commencing with Fall Grün - the invasion of Czechoslovakia. I have never seen the AI refuse Germany's demands at the Vienna Conference (though I did mod that myself once in Hoi2) so I have little faith that I will be able to orchestrate a refusal in Hoi3. Thus, I decided that I may as well just get things going and begin making plans for invading Czechoslovakia as soon as possible. Afterwards I will have to estimate if I think I can get away with invading Hungary as well or whether that will ruin too much with either the Allies or Romania.


Weakening the foe
I launch a campaign of espionage and subversion against the Czechoslovakians and Hungarians. I make both countries my top intelligence priority and I place my agents on missions to Disrupt their national unity, which should help me make them surrender faster. At this moment, Hungary has a national unity (according to my spies) of just 66.2 percent. Czechoslovakia’s unity is at 63.9 percent but since I only have two active spies there right now, I am not so sure I trust that number.

AAR048.jpg


Intelligence missions in Germany, UK and France are all temporarily put on step 2 importance. I can see that a handful of nations in Europe now sees me as the greater threat (due to the annexation of the Sudetenland I suppose) but these nations were the ones who before feared the USSR – before I stopped increasing the threat of the Soviets (in late 1937 I think it was). So perhaps I will need to start doing that again also.

When I examine a VP province map of Czechoslovakia, I see they have got 4 victory provinces; Louny, Praha, Bratislava and Kosice. The first three are close to my borders and vulnerable to a forceful thrust by my forces. Kosice, however, is far away and I would hate to have to slug my way across Slovakia to grab it. That is why I am counting on that Louny, Praha and Bratislava will get me 11 out of 13 victory points and that that – combined with the lowered national unity – will be enough to win a swift victory.

AAR049.jpg


Once I feel that I have the situation in Czechoslovakia under control, I will have to once again make sure that neither Italy nor the Allies will intervene when I proceed to invade Hungary. If the coast looks clear, then I plan to do a sweeping motion from the north into Hungary. Hopefully (most likely) they will not have had time to redeploy a lot of their forces away from the German border and so I hope I can thrust past their western forests and come in from the north right into the heartland of Hungary, grab Budapest and then split my forces in two spearheads towards Pecs and Debrecen.

AAR050.jpg


A week into February, I discover that the Danes, Poles and Hungarians are all active in supporting Bolsjeviks and worse in Germany, so I switch back to Counterintelligence missions in Germany. My neutrality is so far lowered to 34 anyway.

Two days later, on the 9th, I finally complete the research into Airborne Infantry and thus get the ability to produce paratrooper divisions - one of my favourites in the game! I immediately order 3 such divisions (3 brigades each) even though I know that they sadly won't be ready in time for Fall Grün.

fallschirmjger1940.jpg



"Damaged Forts at the Sudeten Line of Defence"
On February 21 I get the event, which give me the option to either keep the forts or dismantle them. But either the tooltip is broken or the event is broken, because both options say the same: a lot of forts will loose 4 levels. I don't need the forts anyway, so I just go with the option “No need for repairs, they are useless now”.

AAR051.jpg



It's a question of trust
The next day a thought strikes me for the first time: I have absolutely no troops to lessen partisans once I conquer Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Knowing from Hoi2 how important stuff like that is - particularly now that I wont be getting cores in the Czech half of Czechoslovakia, I look into division combinations that will give me mobility and suppression.

I decide to build a combination of 1 garrison brigade and 1 Military Police (MP) brigade, which, when I research the Improved Security Units tech, will have a suppression value of 7. I considered putting MP brigades on HQs but that will slow the HQs down and I need them fast. I then considered combining MP with cavalry but that seems like a waste to combine the suppression of one with the mobility of the other and end up getting too little of both. I also considered MPs combined with militia, because those divisions are more mobile and require fewer officers than garrisons but the suppression value of such a unit is too low to be worth it. So I go with the production of 10 new police divisions with a combination of 1x gar + 1x MP even though I am aware that this combination has such poor mobility in case of uprisings that I will need a mobile force as well to deal with such situations. However, I decide that I can wait a while and estimate the size of the problem before I start doing anything rash - like making cavalry!


Setting up a new Army
On February 28 I complete the production of six infantry divisions. Since I am worried that General von Kluge cannot stretch the command range of his 3. Armee from Hungary to the Baltic Coast, I decide it is time to create a 5. Armee and place von Kluge in charge of it somewhere along the Hungarian / Czech border, while another general takes over the 3. Armee and the responsibility for the Polish border and Baltic Coast.

These six new infantry divisions, together with the XIV. Armeekorps from the 3. Armee, will get the honour of forming the first three corps of the brand new 5. Armee. I choose Lieutenant General von Brauchitsch to be promoted to full general and take over the 3. Armee. The other generals available were simply too old school and too low skill. :)

The transfer of a corps from the 3. Armee to the 5. Armee means that von Witzleben’s XIV. Armeekorps becomes the new XXI. Armeekorps, renaming his three divisions the 101.-103. Infanterie-Division respectively. It is a weakening of the Polish border but I hope I can get away with this gamble. All in all, the new 5. Armee gets 3 infantry corps under von Witzleben, von Küchler and von Weichs and the Gebirgsjäger corps under Böhme – a total of more than 86,000 men. In addition to this, the 4. Panzerarmee under von Rundstedt, which now consists of 3 armoured corps and a motorised corps, will of course also take part in Fall Grün.


Thoughts that give you pause
A rather disturbing message reaches me on March 16. Ireland has given up her neutrality and joined the Allies!!

AAR052.jpg


This is most upsetting and Hitler almost chokes on his würst when he reads the Abwehr report. Ireland, you see, has never been influenced by the Allies and where moving away from them towards the Axis corner. If the Allies can get the neutrality-loving Irish (I have never seen them fight in Hoi2) into their evil alliance even before the shooting starts I may have to rethink a thing or two...

But then Göring argues that the Irish are so drunk most of the time that they wouldn't know which way to point a riffle and Hitler is calmed and decides that the planning of Fall Grün will continue.


Final steps
Two more months follow. I produce more units and go over the plan for Fall Grün again and again trying to apply what I have learned about Hoi3 warfare so far. My espionage against Hungary and Czechoslovakia seems to have the opposite effect - their national unity is going up instead of down! Perhaps they are doing domestic spy missions to raise their own national unity? I can't really tell.

On May 27, I complete my research into Radar technology, which allows me to construct radar sites. I need those (I suspect) for the air war against Britain, but I also want to build a few major sites because I have read that in Hoi3 they act as listening posts gathering intelligence across borders in enemy territory, which is wicked cool. :cool:

I order a production line of 15 parallel radar stations that will be complete by December 1938. I can then use some spread out and some concentrated together in a single province somewhere on the border with Belgium/Luxemburg.

In the past 2 months I have been positioning my forces 2 provinces away from the border with Czechoslovakia, counting on their Intelligence level only being sufficient (like mine) to spy into the first province across the border. But my forces are marshalled, ready for the assault, and just after midnight on May 28 1938 I start moving 23 divisions into position for the attack.

Fall Grün is underway!


Up next: Fall Grün OOB, maps and strategy
 
thanks for reading!

i wish aar makers would only make the AAR when they were done, so i didn't have to wait for the updates xD

Thanks for reading!

On the other hand, IMHO writing updates while my memory of specific events are still fresh makes for a much more interesting and detailed read. And I don't risk giving away information too soon because I never play too far ahead of the storyline in the AAR. And finally, the interaction with readers is great for my motivation to keep posting updates - it would be a crying shame to play a game, write a 200 post AAR, post it and then find out that nobody liked it ;)
 
I agree with that so much, it's rather hard to write stuff to an AAR just a week or two later like I had to do with the multiplayer ones...
....(though now the need to write on this SP one is kinda slowing my playing down, darn)
 
How many divisions do you have to man the Siegfried line?
I would be a tad careful. Once you go ahistorical, you should take into account an early DOW from France and/or the UK. With a weakened Siegfried line, it will take some manpower to hold that line.
And with your panzers still rolling through Central Europe, it's not so easy to just roll over Belgium and attack the French in the rear...
 
Yup. I read somewhere that it was easier to manipulate the threat of a small nation (make it rise quickly) and a gamey exploit (as Germany) was to increase the threat of Denmark :rofl: to make potential allies in Europe seek out the Axis more willingly. My AAR seems to show that it is indeed possible to make the UK and France so threatening that it will make many European countries hesitant to align closer with them, but at the same time making Hungary threatening does very little to warm up Romania's feelings towards Germany - damn that neutrality! :D

I read in the minister roster that Joachim von Ribbentrop has a "+5% Threat Impact" and I am wondering if it is a more viable tactic to bully states into the Axis? (i.e. having a threat that is great enough to overcome their neutrality). Only problem is - threat will make nations move away from you, so you have to combine the threats with Diplomatic Influence to draw them in - and THAT costs a lot of Leadership. :(

If I had the patience, I would like to see if simply waiting until 1940 while continuously increasing the threat of France, USSR and the UK and not annexing Austria etc. could make Germany seem so friendly and not threatening that countries would voluntarily flock to the Axis banner? Oh well, another game another time ;)

Yah it was a Intelligence guide somewhere on the forums.

Then, later, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland will join the Axis and even more ironic, Poland. :)
 
thanks for reading!

I agree with that so much, it's rather hard to write stuff to an AAR just a week or two later like I had to do with the multiplayer ones...
....(though now the need to write on this SP one is kinda slowing my playing down, darn)

Lol - I know the feeling. Gotta get back to the gaming part! ;)

How many divisions do you have to man the Siegfried line?
I would be a tad careful. Once you go ahistorical, you should take into account an early DOW from France and/or the UK. With a weakened Siegfried line, it will take some manpower to hold that line.
And with your panzers still rolling through Central Europe, it's not so easy to just roll over Belgium and attack the French in the rear...

I have a total of 22 division in five corps on the French border. 15 are regular infantry and 7 are guard divisions (2x gar, 2x art). Most of the commanders all the way to Army level have defensive traits, so I am thinking this ought to be enough. France should be nowhere near as strong by now as they will be later.

My decision to invade Czechoslovakia is a gamble, I admit, but I am counting on a quick war that will only increase my threat by a small amount. And, as I wrote, I won't proceed into Hungary if I don't think I can get away with it.

Thanks for commenting!

Yah it was a Intelligence guide somewhere on the forums.

Then, later, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland will join the Axis and even more ironic, Poland. :)

Yup, it was "Propaganda and You: A Strategy Guide" by GreenMarine - an excellent read.


Expect the next update in a couple of hours!
 
Episode 7

Fall Grün - OOB, maps and strategy


Composition of the army and airforce on May 31, 1938
Since 1936 I have doubled the Wehrmacht in size from 118 brigades to 242 brigades but my forces still seem rather small - at least of the defensive side.

Germany now has a total of:
3 armour brigades
2 armoured car brigades
16 artillery brigades
9 mountain brigades
18 garrison brigades
147 infantry brigades
12 light armour brigades
2 militia brigades
31 motorised brigades
2 police brigades

242 brigades total

The Luftwaffe is greatly strengthened:
6 CAS
20 interceptors
8 TAC
3 transports

37 air wings in all


The Western Theatre
OB West under von Böhm-Ermolli is in charge of the western theatre. Under his command are the Heeresgruppe West, OB Luftwaffe West and Kriegsmarine (all Army Group HQs). The Heeresgruppe West commands General von Kaupisch’s 1. Armee and General von Fritsch’s 2. Armee.

The 1. Armee, headquartered in Hannover, consists of 4 corps, each with 3 infantry divisions, for a total of 12 divisions totalling 92,932 men.

The 2. Armee, headquartered in Stuttgart, consists of 5 corps. The VI.-VIII. Armeekorps are made up of 5 regular infantry divisions each, while the IX. Armeekorps consists of 5 guard divisions and the incomplete X. Armeekorps is made up of only 2 guard divisions so far.

All in all the 2. Armee commands 158,000 men and the Heeresgruppe West thus has 257,000 men including all the HQ’s at various command levels.

The OB Luftwaffe West contains the Jagdfliegerkommando Nord and Jagdfliegerkommando West, who are responsible for defending Germany against enemy airpower. Jagdfliegerkommand Nord, located in Wilhelmshafen, commands a total of 4 wings of interceptors in the Jagdgeschwadergruppe I and II.

Jagdfliegerkommando West commands twice as many – 8 wings of interceptors – in the Jagdgeschwadergruppe III-VI, stationed in Bitburg and Stuttgart.


The Eastern Theatre
The HQ in charge of the eastern theatre and thereby also Fall Grün is OKW – Oberkommando der Wehrmacht under field marshal von Blomberg. He commands Heeresgruppe Ost, OB Luftwaffe Ost and Baltische Flotte (all Army Group level commands).

Heeresgruppe Ost commands the 3. Armee, 4. Panzerarmee and 5. Armee.

General von Brauchitsch’s 3. Armee has been somewhat stripped for the operation against Czechoslovakia and Hungary and therefore only consists of 3 corps and a total of 11 divisions. Five are stationed in the Königsberg enclave and 2x3 along the Polish border in the north and center. All in all, the 3. Armee has 83,227 men.

General von Rundstedt’s 4. Panzerarmee is the mobile arm of the Wehrmacht and the primary force in Fall Grün. All the commanders are handpicked for their skill and traits.

The army has 5 corps – 3 panzer corps and 2 motorised infantry corps. However, the last motorised infantry corps was deployed only a few days before Fall Grün and has close to zero organisation so far. It is therefore held in reserve.

The 3 armoured corps has a total of 9 armoured divisions – 6 light and 3 medium. The three corps are: Kampfgruppe Hausser (under Lt. gen. Hausser), Kampfgruppe Hoth (under Lt. gen. Hoth) and Kampfgruppe von Kleist (under Lt. gen. von Kleist). Hausser commands the 1. Panzer-Division (under von Manstein), 2. Panzer-Division (under Guderian) and 3. Panzer-Division (under Geyr von Schweppenburg). All three divisions consist of 2 light armour brigades and 1 motorised infantry brigade.

Kampfgruppe von Kleist has a similar setup and commands the 7. Panzer-Division (under Nehring), 8. Panzer-Division (under von Mackensen) and 9. Panzer-Division (under von Hubicki). The only difference compared to Kampfgruppe Hausser’s setup is that the 7. Panzer-Division contains 2 armoured car brigades instead of a motorised infantry brigade.

Kampfgruppe Hoth is the medium armoured corp, containing three identical divisions made up of 1 medium armour brigade and 2 motorised infantry brigades each. The three divisions are the 4. Panzer-Division (under von Arnim), the 5. Panzer-Division (under Model) and the 6. Panzer-Division (under Dietrich).

The 2 motorised corps of the 4. Panzerarmee are the XVI. Armeekorps under von Leeb and the XVII. Armeekorps under von Bock. They have 5 motorised infantry divisions each, bringing the total number of divisions in 4. Panzerarmee up to 19 – a total of 125,000 men.

The 5. Armee is von Kluge’s new command and it is made up of 3 corps of infantry and 1 corps of gebirgsjäger troops. Lt. gen. von Witzleben and Lt. gen. von Küchler each have command of 4 infantry divisions to participate in the attack on Czechoslovakia. Lt. gen.von Weichs’ XXIII. Armeekorps only has 3 infantry divisions. He is charged with defending the three provinces on the Hungarian border against counterattacks when and if an invasion of Hungary follows. Lastly, Lt. gen. Böhme commands the 1.-3. Gebirgsjäger-Division, who will also take part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. All in all, General von Kluge’s 5. Armee commands 109,000 men.

OB Luftwaffe Ost commands 8 wings of tactical bombers, 8 wings of interceptors and 6 wings of Stuka dive bombers for the invasion of Czechoslovakia.


Fall Grün - the Strategy
I have already touched upon this subject in my previous post but I will elaborate a little bit more.

The objective of the campaign is to quickly seize three of Czechoslovakia's four Victory Point (VP) provinces and thereby force them to surrender, so I can annex them. I have been using espionage to lower their national unity but I am not sure how much it has worked.

Two of the victory provinces - Bratislava and Louny - are just across the border from Germany and therefore vulnerable to a swift thrust by my mobile forces. The third, however - Praha - is behind a river. It is also a province with urban territory and these two factors combined make an armoured assault impossible. I therefore decide to attack Praha from the Northeast, sweeping down from Vrchlabi through Mlada Boleslav.

My Luftwaffe will play a vital supporting role. 8 wings of interceptors will circle above the airfields in Praha and Bratislava and try to engage the Czechoslovakian airforce. My spies tell me they don't have one, but I can't be certain of that. Meanwhile, Stukas stationed in Wien and Tactical bombers stationed in Breslau and Munich will bomb enemy troops when they engage mine and thereby try to force a quicker collapse of the enemy defense.


The Plan of Attack
From Gänserndorf east of Wien my three Gebirgsjäger-Divisions attack Bratislava supported by their HQ. This ensures the attack a 10 frontage total width. If the Czechoslovakians counterattack, I have the 3 light armoured divisions of Kampfgruppe von Kleist in reserve. Their job, once the gebirgsjäger troops have routed the defense of Bratislava, is to blitz through the city and east towards the Hungarian border (and Kosice if I find I need to take it to force a Czechoslovakian surrender).

My interceptors in Jagdgeschwadergruppe IX and X fly over Bratislava looking for any enemy airplanes. Jagdgeschwadergruppe VII and VIII do the same over Praha.

In Pisek, 2 infantry divisions and 1 medium armoured division attack Dobris. This is a 10 frontage width combination, which is important because I am not 100 percent sure how strong a defence I am up against. A motorised infantry divisions is ready in reserve to charge in. An infantry division in Klatovy adds a flanking support attack against Dobris.

In Munich, KG 53 prepares to Ground Strike Dobris while KG 1 is ordered in reserve.

From Usti nad Labem a motorised infantry division charges into Louny in an attempt to quickly capture the victory province and provide another angle to attack Praha from.

In Hradec Kralove a medium armour division and two infantry divisions attack Kutna Hora, trying to force the Czechoslovakians away and secure the flank of the German thrust towards Praha. This is also a 10 frontage width attack.
The same manoeuvre is repeated from Vrchlabi into Mlada Boleslav.

From Breslau I send two tactical bomber wings on ground attack against each of these two provinces, while another two wings are held in reserve – just in case.

In Zwetti, von Manstein and Guderian charge into Moravske Budejovice, while von Schweppenburg’s 3. Panzer-Division hangs back as a reserve.

AAR053.jpg

Map colour explaination:
Yellow arrows designate attacks by 2 infantry divisions and 1 medium armour division, with a motorised infantry division ready to race past them once the road is clear of enemy troops.
Orange arrows designate infantry divisions on support attack
Red arrow designates the attack by 3 Gebirgsjäger divisions into Bratislava
Purple arrow designates a motorised division speeding into undefended VP province Louny
Light green circle designates a single newly deployed motorised division held in reserve because of low organisation
Dark green circle designates a corps of newly deployed motorised divisions held in reserve because of low organisation
Dark blue circle designates Kampfgruppe von Kleist - ready to blitz east once Bratislava is cleared
Light blue arrow designates Kampfgruppe Hausser's thrust north to cut Czechoslovakia in half


Attack Delay and Leapfrog Tactics
Because I still do not have the doctrines necessary to sufficiently reduce the attack delay penalty - and I don't have a high enough officer ration to negate it - I have had to come up with an alternative tactic to ensure that my attack towards Praha does not loose momentum. For lack of a better term, I call it "leapfrog tactics". It simply means that I don't attack with all my forces at once but only what I think is necessary to make the enemy retreat. Once the way forward is clear, I start up my mobile reserve forces and rush them quickly into the empty province and beyond. The danger is, of course, that reinforcements may arrive and block me, forcing me to engage them and then suffer the attack penalty afterwards.


Up Next: Fall Grün commences
 
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Finally caught up! More than a little curious to find out how Fall Grun turns out. happy hunting!

edit: now, to find that propaganda guide...
 
Episode 8

Fall Grün - Invasion of Czechoslovakia


Declaration of War
When I started moving my troops on May 28, I failed to consider that some of the units were mobile and some where infantry. Consequently, it takes 2½ days to move my slow assets to the Czechoslovakian border, while the fast ones get there in half that time. Fortunately, Czechoslovakia does not seem to register it - at least they are not shifting any of their forces around. When everything is ready, it is late on May 30, so I decide to wait a few hours and declare war on Czechoslovakia at 04:00 am on May 31, 1938!

My espionage mission does not seem to have had any effect – I have actually lost a couple of spies in Czechoslovakia and their unity has gone up by 14… It is on purpose that I have not mobilized my army yet. I am not sure how threatening it would seem to all my neighbours, so for now I will fight understrength and under-organised. I am feeling fairly confident that even an un-mobilised Wehrmacht can beat Czechoslovakia. Before I send my declaration of war, I check the weather one last time. Sunny skies all around. Good.

When I go to the Diplomacy interface to declare war on Czechoslovakia, it warns me that doing so will earn me "+40 threat in Praha". I figure that it is without consequence because I never really expected the Czechoslovakians to love me for what I am about to do to their country. :p

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I decide to declare a limited war on Czechoslovakia, meaning that my Axis ally Italy is not required to assist me. Immediately I am offered the chance to pass 3 new sets of laws, but I decide not to change any laws because I am unsure what happens when I go back to peace again after Czechoslovakia and Hungary are defeated? (some of the new laws require me to be at war to be in effect).

Unlike Hoi2, in Hoi3 I can't really tell when the sun is up or down. I want to attack at dawn to avoid night penalty, so just to be on the safe side I set the attacks to begin at 06:00 hrs. At that time my armies engage the enemy’s 2 armoured divisions, 1 mtn, 2 HQ and 1 inf in a total of 4 different engagements. Initial surprise seems good with a lot of progress everywhere.

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In Bratislava, my forces suffer a -58 % because of a fort, I did not see, and the terrain (urban). But still the attack is 96% underway. To my surprise, the Czechoslovakian division facing me is horribly under-strength and under org – I wonder if it is from a lack of mobilisation?

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In Dobris it is the same – the mountain division facing me is at 10 org and 25% strength!?! Of course, being bombed by the Condor Legion does not help… :D I am glad to see that Sperrle has a +25% mission and radio bonus thanks to my research.

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A Czechoslovakian division seems to be moving from Plzen to Louny to keep me from taking the VP province. My motorised infantry is already racing there and I expect that the Czechoslovakians will arrive too late.

In Kutna Hora we are also filling the frontage beautifully and the weak armoured division should really be no match for us.

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In Mlada Boleslav the situation is the same – perfect frontage and a ridiculously weak armoured division in front of me.

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Everything seems to proceed according to plan except that two of my tactical bombers are bombing the wrong province (all 4 out of Breslau are targeting the same province, thereby suffering a stacking penalty).

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07:00 hrs:
Everything is going like clockwork, so I send my two Stuka squadrons out to hunt some moving prey behind the lines – just for the training.

08:00 hrs:
An hour later Keller is bombing a motorised infantry division in Hlinsko and Udet is attacking Bratislava. None of them found the moving targets that I can see on the map. Oh well…

09:00 hrs:
The fighting continues but from my aerial reconnaissance I get the feeling that the Czechoslovakians are pulling back to the east??

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11:00 hrs:
First round of bombing is over. Too bad my airfields are so far away.

12:00 hrs:
The first diplomatic response to the war: An embargo by Czechoslovakia against my ally Italy. Sorry Mussolini! :p

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The tactical bombers are back, but once again two of them bomb the wrong province! :mad:

15:00 hrs:
Something strange happens: The enemy disengages us east of Praha but we are not informed of it as a victory?

17:00 hrs:
We win the battle of Dobris. Enemy casualties are more than ten times ours.

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At the same time that damn infantry division arrives in Louny to block me! It took me a while to figure out but I now suspect that the AI uses strategic redeployment to quickly shift forces around. I have no other explanation.

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I move (leapfrog) von Falkenhorst’s motorised division into Dobris to attack Praha!

Because the capital appears abandoned but about to become occupied by fleeing Czechoslovakians, I order the engineer major general Behlendorff’s 107. Infanterie-Division to cross the river south and take the city as soon as he can. It will take him three days, which is probably too much.

18:00 hrs:
We win the battle of Kutna Hora after 13 hours. Enemy losses are again 10 times higher than ours.

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19:00 hrs:
Von Manstein and Guderian’s panzers engage an enemy that came across their path. Their attack modifier is +251% :D

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22:00 hrs:
Cursing myself, I discover that I forgot to send motorised infantry into Mlade Boleslav when the enemy retreated. Now I send in two motorised divisions heading straight for Praha!

In the battle of Lourny, Busch has managed to pull off a breakthrough against the enemy!


Second Day of the War
On June 1 three new police divisions are deployed. I place them a few provinces away, so they can get their organisation up before I need to move them into the newly conquered territories.

I start the day by going to the production screen, where I can see that the need for consumer goods has plummeted, while the need for reinforcements has exploded. This is sort of weird. Checking in the Politics screen, I find out that I have auto-mobilised once I declared war. That is why all my forces are currently screaming for more manpower. :rolleyes:

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01:00 hrs:
I set my bombers in Breslau to do Interdiction runs today and hope that today they will split up 2x2 as they are supposed to. I also switch KG 53 in Munich to Ground attack in Louny to weaken the Czechoslovakian defence there.

I check the Diplomacy screen. Apart from Nationalist Spain and Italy there is not a single nation in Europe now that does not think I am the highest threat. Most think of my threat as being in the 90ies. :eek:

This is definetly a setback and an important learning point: when I DoW'ed Czechoslovakia my threat went up +40 against everyone - not just the people I decided to attack!! Had I know this, I would have thought twice about attacking. It is too late now and nothing much I can do except salvage the situation and end the war quickly. :rofl:

03:00 hrs:
KG 53 starts bombing Louny’s single infantry division. Elsewhere my Stukas are also spreading death from the sky.

06:00 hrs:
In Louny, the Czechoslovakians appear to be moving away, but the fighting continues?

07:00 hrs:
I am having new problems with the Luftwaffe. My tactical bombers operating out of Breslau are not much good at interdiction. Twice they have returned to the front and found nothing to bomb, even though I can clearly see retreating units on the map. I am wondering if it is my doctrine research that is causing this - mission efficiency and all that - but my Stukas however, all seem quite good at interdiction missions and they use the same mission modifier as far as I know. :confused:

09:00 hrs:
The enemy appears to be pulling out of Bratislava? At least the fighting has ended in the city and my gebirgsjägere are slowly moving into the city. It will take them 5½ days, however, so I decide the moment has come to smash through with my panzer corps. I send in all units of Kampfgruppe von Kleist with the fast 7. Panzer-Division in the lead. Stukas over Bratislava continue to harrash the fleeing Czechoslovakians…

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10:00 hrs:
Imagine my surprise when it is von Arnim’s armoured 4. Panzer-Division that captures Mlada Boleslav instead of the advancing motorised infantry. I guess attack delay does not mean that a unit cannot move forward into a captured province? I try to test that by asking von Arnim to move into Praha. Now I see that the attack delay does indeed inhibit further movement forward, because von Arnim cannot attack until June 5th and cannot reach Praha before June 6th at the earliest.

Important lesson in understanding attack delay: the attacking unit will be able to move into the captured province on normal speed and only after that will suffer the attack delay penalty when moving on from there.

11:00 hrs:
My tactical bombers on Interdiction keep on finding no targets. Tomorrow I must try ground attack again to see if one level difference in doctrines really makes that much of a difference.

15:00 hrs:
Model’s 5. Panzer-Division captures Kutna Hora!

My frontline troops on the Hungarian border reports a partial withdrawal of Hungarian troops towards northeast. I may not be able to sweep into Hungary from the north like I had hoped. On the other hand, if Hungary fails to mobilise…

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Von Manstein and Guderian are still fighting in Moravske Budejovice

16:00 hrs:
My two motorised infantry divisions arrive in Mlada Boleslav and are ready to move into Praha. I send them on their way. They can reach the city by 12:00 am the next day, but will 20 hours be enough before fleeing Czechoslovakians reach the city from the other side?

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I look at the Czechoslovakian unity: 73.5. They are 0.0% towards surrender…


Up Next: An Unexpected Turn of Events
 
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Episode 9

An Unexpected Turn of Events


June 1, 1938, 4 p.m.


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THIS IS LONDON. YOU WILL NOW HEAR A STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER:


"I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street.
This morning, the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German
government a final note, stating that unless we heard from them by
11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops
from Czechoslovakia a state of war would exist between us.


I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been
received, and that consequently
this country is at war with Germany"








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Up next: Oh, bugger!
 
Hmm - this is what should've happened IRL. Interesting.
 
What makes this aar so great is that I can go fishing for a few hours, and when I come back, there is a slew of new updates :D. I'm loving it so far!
 
Episode 10

Oh, bugger!


The declaration of war by the Allies means that now Germany, Italy and Ethiopia are at war with the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Iraq, Yemen, Bhutan, Nepal and Oman. Fortunately, thanks to my espionage campaign, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia don't appear to be on the verge of joining the alliance as well.

At the moment, I am confident that I will be alright. The Siegfried Line is manned by plenty of divisions, the Luftwaffe is strong enough to blow the RAF out of the sky and I am not alone - Italy's navy, army and airforce will be a great help tying up Allied forces in the Mediteranean. In 3-4 weeks my submarine force will be ready and I also have 6 more infantry divisions that will be ready within a week, if I need to improve my defences.


Italy goes to War
As soon as World War II begins, the Italians, French and Swiss all start moving troops around on their borders. The Italians are also shifting troops in East Africa and apparently invading French North Africa. Accidentally I spot what looks like a British Rocket Test Site in northern Egypt of all places?

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18:00 hrs:
Von Falkenhorst’s motorised division arrives to capture Dobris and I immediately set it to continue into Praha.

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20:00 hrs:
6. Panzer-Division arrives in Dobris. At the same time, France demonstrates world class diplomacy when they impose an embargo on poor Hungary (for having an alliance with Italy?) and try in vain to get Yugoslavia to join their military alliance. :D

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22:00 hrs:
Von Manstein wins the battle of Moravske Budejovice. I set Geyr von Schweppenburg’s 3. Panzer-Division to speed past von Manstein and Guderian to capture the province and hopefully Jihlava beyond it. In the battle we killed over ten times as many enemies as we lost troops.

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Meanwhile, an enemy division appears to have taken station in Praha.

23:00 hrs:
Von Manstein and Guderian capture the province of Moravske Budejovice. I therefore send Geyr von Schweppenburg's 3. Panzer-Division onwards.

At the same time a three-pronged assault by 4 divisions upon the city of Praha begins.

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I switch the mission for my spies in France to Military Espionage to find out more about their strength. In the UK I only have four spies left, so I set them to counterespionage to kill some of the MI5 and hopefully get a better foothold for more mischief later. Domestically, I set my mission to Raise National Unity because I am worried that the effects of Strategic Warfare might soon lower it.

I look at the new laws that can be enacted:
Service by requirement – it will increase my manpower and officers, so I see no reason not to enact it.

Total Economic Mobilisation – will increase IC but lessen money produced. Since I have plenty of money I am not really worried about that at the moment

Heavy Industry Emphasis – increases IC efficiency and supply throughput.

I enact all three of them and hope my flow of resources can keep up!

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I look at my cabinet: no changes are made. I guess it is not until 1939 I get Jodl as Chief of Staff (he gives organisation regain).

Finally, I guess I am about to lose my trade with Venezuela for crude oil, so I see if I can buy some from the USSR to make up for the loss. Interestingly, I find out I can get 18 crude from USSR for the money I gave for 12 from Venezuela. I guess good old Stalin likes our 200 relations that much. :D


Third Day of the War
June 2 brings good news: Good old Stalin pulls through for me!! I get a massive crude oil deal that will more than make up for what I lose when I have to cancel the deal with Venezuela.

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2 infantry divisions arrive in Mlada Boleslav but they can’t attack Praha for another 3 days.

My Leadership score has gone up to 32.11 – I adjust the new surplus to create more officers, because falling below 100 percent officer ratio is one of my biggest concerns now that I have to crank out a large number of troops to fight the Allies.

I order 10 infantry divisions, 5 motorised infantry divisions and 3 gebirgsjäger divisions constructed. Even with my new IC, I do not have enough to produce them all – but it will look better when my 8 submarine flotillas are ready in 3 more weeks.

03:00 hrs:
When I switch the TACs to ground attack over Praha they immediately again begin to find targets and rain death over the enemy!

05:00 hrs:
The battle for Praha is over. The German losses were 6 men, while the Czechoslovakians lost 42, so I would hardly call it a skirmish. My forces continue towards the city.

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The War at Sea Begins
At 06 am the French navy sinks one of my transports carrying metal from Halifax in Canada. I decide to cancel that metal deal and try to find 4.49 metal daily elsewhere. I also cancel a trade which brings in 0.25 metal from El Salvador and another which ships 1.13 energy to Brazil and another which brings in 1.00 metal from Peru. Now my only liability is the crude coming in from Venezuela. I am guessing that will have to stop soon too. It is too bad, but I can’t afford the hit to national unity from strategic warfare.

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07:00 hrs:
2 infantry divisions arrive in Kutna Hora.

Lithuania, my cute little neighbour, is mobilizing. I suspect she is only the first of many to come… :)

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10:00 hrs:
Bratislava falls to my advancing panzer divisions! Just as expected, the 7. Panzer-Division is first through and already rolling east. My air recon above the 7. Panzer-Division shows a puny line of Hungarians intent on blocking my coming attack.

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The fall of Bratislava is is a good event because now the Czechoslovakian surrender progress is at 44% and their unity has dropped to 70%.

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It would appear that Italy is already fighting the French northwest of Torino, but it is hard to see who is attacking who…

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The Italians are also making way into Egypt from the west.

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The Fall of Praha
At 15 pm my motorised infantry under von Falkenhorst capture the Czechoslovakian capital Praha. I go to the diplomacy screen and find that while I have 77% of the Czechoslovakian cities (which is enough to break their national unity), I need to wait for 5 more days before I can send another diplomat!! :rolleyes:

At the same time two infantry divisions move up into Dobris.

16:00 hrs:
My glory is short lived, however, as one hour later the RAF is bombing Hannover. I really hope that they felt the lead from below as they passed over my carpet of AA guns on the way in. :D I scramble 4 interceptors from Wilhelmshafen to intercept them.

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17:00 hrs:
More motorised infantry arrives in Praha.

Over Hannover, an air battle begins… In the first hour of the air battle the RAF loses 7 out of 300 bombers.

18:00 hrs:
My interceptors continue to shoot down the RAF, who has now lost 17.1 aircraft.

19:00 hrs:
Geyr von Schweppenburg engages the enemy in Jihlava. The forces opposing him are weak as always.

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The air battle continues and the RAF has lost a total of 22.3 aircraft.

20:00 hrs:
I find out that air intercepts only last four hours and my interceptors had to spend an hour getting from Wilhelmshafen to Hannover. After three hours of fighting the air battle ends without my seeing the final damage toll to the RAF.

21:00 hrs:
Somehow, the RAF is back over Hannover, like they never left. I watch to see if my intercept order automatically scrambles my interceptors again as it should…

22:00 hrs:
My interceptors appear to be returning to Hannover…

My Gebirgsjäger divisions enter Bratislava. At the same time, the 7. Panzer-Division is happily blitzing on through Samorin to Nove Zamky. :D

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23:00 hrs:
We intercept the RAF bombers again. Now their losses appear to be 32.6 aircraft. That is more than ten percent in a single raid. I like that.


The Surrender of Czechoslovakia
On June 3 at midnight I get the news that Czechoslovakia surrenders to me. I guess I did not have to wait for a new diplomatic mission to become available - just for the next day. I decide to annex them.

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The bombing over Hannover continues. Just after midnight the strength of the RAF goes back up, which greatly upsets me at first. I later discover by asking in the forum that this is working as designed. All forces receive reinforcements at midnight - even the ones hanging in mid air over enemy territory :D

03:00 hrs:
I can tell Hungary has not let her guard down. She has troops all along the border with the new Germany.

I deploy my new police divisions to the provinces Bratislava, Praha, Brno, Ostrava and Kosice. The HQ in charge of them becomes the Kommandantur Slovakia in Banska Bystrica.

I strategically redeploy my latest motorised troops to the Hungarian border in Rimavska Sobota.

I redeploy Jagdgeschwadergruppe VII and VIII to Hannover, hoping the strategic bombers of the RAF will come back for more punishment.


Plans for the Invasion of Hungary
At 06 am on June 3, 1938 I start moving or strategically redeploying all my armour and motorised infantry to the Hungarian border. I feel that if I can act quickly while France and Britain are still mobilising, I can snatch up Hungary and then focus my attention towards the west.

Hungary has not yet mobilised, which means that any troops they have on their border or in Budapest will probably be as weak as the ones in Czechoslovakia, and...

Oh, wait - what's that? :eek:












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Hell.



Up Next: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
 
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thanks for reading!

What makes this aar so great is that I can go fishing for a few hours, and when I come back, there is a slew of new updates :D. I'm loving it so far!

Hi TKFS! Thanks for reading and commenting - I am glad you like it so far!

Sad to say I won't be able to keep up today's pace of updates. Today is the last day of my summer vacation and so when I have to go back to work, I will only have part of the evenings for writing and playing. But don't worry - I will keep the updates coming as quickly as possible! :)
 
good work

i am really enjoying your AAR keep up th good work

Are you planing on lots of allies or as few as possible or do you intend to release some puppets later in the game?
 
Enjoying this AAR and interested to see how this ahistorical timeline plays out. Engaged in Czechoslovakia and Poland at the rear seems a daunting but a plausible prospect if the Wehrmacht had encated Fall Grun for real!