Episode 12
Fall Weiss - Race to the Front
June 3 - June 7, 1938
Although I never meant them no harm, on June 3, 1938, the treacherous Poles agree to an alliance with the Allies, led by the evil United Kingdom. Immediately, Poland declares war on Germany and start moving her forces in preparation for an attack on German soil. I, of course, seek a reasonable solution to this dastardly betrayal of our love and friendship for the Poles. I intend to crush them with 45 divisions.
More Good News
June 3 has been a long day. It started with the defeat and total annexation of Czechoslovakia. At 4 pm Poland declared war on us and just as Adolf Hitler is preparing to leave the office, another note is slipped under the door.
This new alliance does not, thank God, mean that Portugal is joining the Allies. But it is definetly a hint that they are moving in that direction. Oh well, I have always dreamt of conquering the Azores and using them as a base for V2 rockets targeting New York and Washington. Perhaps in this game, I will get my chance?
As night falls, finally some good news arrive from North Africa: my Italian allies have made their first land gain against the British in Egypt!
A New Day Dawns
It is June 4, the first day in my new, expanded Germany and I am pleased to see that even with the destruction of battle my new IC is 172/305. Unfortunately, all of my resource flows are negative. That is eased a little bit when Nationalist Spain and Yugoslavia agree to trade with me. That is good because at the moment I am loosing 11 $ a day!
I decide to start influencing Japan away from the USSR. If I need to annex Poland all the way up to the Soviet border then I need some kind of assurance that I can threaten Stalin with a two-front war. The two research projects that are put on hold are Improved Security Units 1 (resumed on June 6 when other research is completed) and Single Engine Airframe 1.
02:00 hrs:
France sinks another of my transports with crude oil from Venezuela. I shut the trade down to avoid impact from Strategic Warfare and to save money.
06:00 hrs:
My first police division arrives to take up residence in Praha
13:00 hrs:
All of a sudden, Luxemburg is mobilising their army
Interestingly, they appear to be more afraid of United Kingdom than of me. I suspect that the UK might also have gotten +40 globaly to their threat when they declared war on me. That, I believe, is poetic justice
17:00 hrs:
Poland also imposes an embargo on poor Hungary
21:00 hrs:
My joy at my Italian allies proved premature. The Italians look defeated in Al Bardi and fleeing towards Tobruk…
In the west, however, they are advancing into French Tunisia!
Europe Prepares for War
It is probably too little too late, but I try to send spies to Poland to Disrupt their national unity, which is 82.5
02:00 hrs:
Denmark is mobilising!
06:00 hrs:
A police garrison arrives in Brno
I order my 1. Truppentransporterflotille to Stettin and move the Baltische Flotte out into the Southern Baltic Sea to protect the transfer of more troops to the Königsberg enclave.
11:00 hrs:
The Netherlands is mobilising!
18:00 hrs:
My police garrison arrives in Ostrava.
Al Bardi has fallen to the British, who seem content and on the way home. I did not see if they attacked Tobruk also or not.
In the west, the advance into French North Africa continues. It also looks like the Italian subs are trying to put the squeeze on Malta.
Artillery + Speed =
On June 6 I finish researching Self-propelled Artillery brigade. This means that the research into police suppression goes active again. It also means I can produce sp-art brigades for my waffen ss-divisions and other future elite formations.
In Netherlands they executed one of our spies (I have adjusted message settings to keep an eye on stuff like this)
I complete 6 new infantry divisions. I immediately form 5 of them into the XIV. Armeekorps of the 3. Armee and prepare to ship them to Königsberg. The 6th division is added to the List’s XII. Armeekorps in charge of defending the northern border against Poland – a thinly manned sector to say the least. As soon as the XIV. Armeekorps is formed under Blaskowitz I ship the 5 divisions + HQ to Königsberg. I send the Baltische Flotte in ahead of them, just in case the Polish fleet decides to leave Danzig…
10:00 hrs:
Now Belgium is also mobilising!
12:00 hrs:
General Von Kluge makes Bratislava the new headquarters of the 5. Armee – I forgot to move him towards Poland
16:00 hrs:
A police garrison arrives in Bratislava. 2. Gebirgsjäger-Division takes up position in Samorin on the Hungarian border.
Getting Japan into the Axis May Prove Difficult
It is June 7. Japan is only drifting back towards me extremely slowly – because of my threat – but at least I have stopped their movement towards the USSR for the time being.
Romania is drifting towards the Axis with a value of 9.09. What does that mean? Is that daily? They are 92.94 away from me and need to be under 50 to come into the Axis. I guestimate that if I subtract their movement towards the Allies and Comintern, they are still moving towards me with a value of 5-6?
I check Hungary and see they are drifting towards the Comintern – Bolsjeviks the lot of them - I knew it!
07:00 hrs:
Poland is shifting armoured forces towards Krakow
10:00 hrs:
My troop transport has completed its mission of delivering the corps to Königsberg and has returned to Kiel. Looking at the map, I am amazed that Danzig appears to have been left completely empty? This is an unusual mistake by the AI but one that I am not above exploiting. I decide a quick seaborne invasion is in order. I load my division in Kiel - the 3. Infanterie-Division - onto the troop transports and send them to invade Danzig!
16:00 hrs:
My HQ in Slovakia for the police divisions arrives safely. I can see he is out of effective range of Praha so I must move him again later on.
21:00 hrs:
Il Duce pulls of yet another master stroke – he places an embargo on Portugal driving them towards the Allies and creates an alliance with Albania. Apparently he has forgotten his ambitions to annex them?
23:00 hrs:
Italy gets a historical battle event? It does not seem like they lost any ships however – but they have sunk a French troop transport.
I decide to send my two subs north around the UK to hunt convoys in the Atlantic.
Will an amphibious landing in Danzig succeed? Are there more Polish armour beyond my intelligence range? What will all the mobilised neighbours do next? Stay put and find out!!
Up Next: Fall Weiss - The First Battles