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Hmm, it looks like one of those scenes from a comedy movie when the hero and the villain push through the secret revolving wall at once and miss each other... ;)
 
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Pwn*Star, you should definitely read Beevor's book. He is a very good historian in that the tells a compelling story whilst not dumming it down. In essence, he writes a very good case for the Republicans being essentially doomed from the moment Franco landed in Spain with his Moroccans. Although who knows who will win the sh*tfight in this timeline given France & USSR v Germany, Italy and UK. This could do some real damage to the West's coherence in resisting a resurgent Germany.
 
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Karelian - The Basque are pretty much in their own pocket and I don't think they'll be disparately keen to join up with the Republican; They get to be pro-Church and pro-Independence as long as they're separate from Valencia so don't expect any big efforts from them to 'link up', but equally they'll fight hard to keep the Monarchists out so don't discount them.

Meanwhile the Catalan 'homeland' is under Monarchist control so they're getting suppressed and forced to 'be more Spanish' but are allowed to go to church. Is that better than being offered autonomy but watching your church burn down with the priest locked inside? Tough question, till that is decided it could go either way.

DonnieBaseball - No Italians in Spain this time round. Il Duce is far too busy staring greedily at Yugoslavia and making crazily shouty speeches about Dalmatia. "Imperialism you can believe in" was the phrase I think. :D

The Ms probably could get together first, but they don't have the inclination to do so. Once someone is 'supreme generalissimo of the army' that person can probably dictate the post-war political settlement, not something you want to give to a rival.

Pwn*Star - Not heard of that one, I must confess the SCW somewhat passed me by in my recent book purchases (not enough battleships by a long chalk). However I'll bear it in mind.

Bafflegab - Both sides are more than capable of getting things wrong. They will then have the chance to pick the wrong set foreign advisers to listen to who, in turn, can then apply inappropriate, out-dated doctrines and make even bigger mistakes. :eek:

TheHyphenated1 - It's good to be back in the saddle. Even better to have people still reading and enjoying it. :)

Duritz - Closer than you think in some ways...

I will say that both sides have quite spectacularly failed to allow for the other side doing anything, with interesting consequences.

Davout - The same Germany that's had the last few diplomatic moves rebuffed and just got slapped down by France over the Rhineland?

With French troops still loafing around in German territory I don't think the fear of the West is 'Resurgent Germany', even though behind the scenes re-armament and plotting continues apace. I think even a united Allies would end up ignoring Germany and worrying about someone else, after all that Hitler chap backs down if you challenge him........

Nathan Madien - Come to Spain! Try out your doctrines, sell some arms and above all don't worry about the casualties. A motto that a worrying number of countries involved are signing up to.
 
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not enough battleships by a long chalk
What about the Jaime I and Alfonso XIII? Ok, the Spanish seemed not to have much luck with battleships between them running aground, exploding and catching fire..
jaby2.gif
 
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How come you are commenting on your own AAR but not mine? :mad:




Seriously though, take your time. The next update won't be finished quite yet, as I still have to decided the direction this is going in.
 
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not enough battleships by a long chalk

Gods no! Keep the boat-porn away and focus on the interesting stuff: Politics!
 
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I was thinking along the lines that France was getting overstretched between 2 diplomatic fronts in opposite directions in the Rhineland and Spain at a time when they were becoming more and more alienated from their "natural" ally, Great Britain. In those circumstances, somethings got to give, which would create opportunities for those with the willingness to take them.
 
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I will say that both sides have quite spectacularly failed to allow for the other side doing anything, with interesting consequences.

Well, the War in Spain is infamous in the HOI games for sometimes turning into a complete deadlock where one soldier will not shoot the other soldier as long as the other soldier does not shoot him.
 
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Well, the War in Spain is infamous in the HOI games for sometimes turning into a complete deadlock where one soldier will not shoot the other soldier as long as the other soldier does not shoot him.


Maybe its more like Talavera where the spaniards ran from the retort of their own firearms... Nobody dies, and yet they still lose...
 
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Sir Humphrey - You forgot to mention hitting mines laid by their own navy. Truly the biggest threat to Spanish dreadnoughts was their own crew.

trekaddict - Still a good few dozen pages to catch up on I'm afraid.

Arilou - You, sir, are a heathen. :p

Davout - If anything Britain is France's 'natural' enemy, historically at least. It could be that the Entente Cordial ends up being viewed as a temporary aberration and a distraction from France's other allies.

That said I agree France is getting somewhat isolated and are risking over-stretch, but rest assured the French government are on top of the matter as we shall see at the Amsterdam conference.

Nathan Madien - True enough and for that reason I'm taking care to load up as both factions and occasionally prod things into life. Just to make sure something does happen.

Bafflegab - The Spanish at Talavera may have ran away from their own rifles but they did win the record for biggest single volley of the Napoleonic Wars. And isn't an entry in the book of Guinness World Records more important than a mere battle? :D
 
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Chapter LXXI: Revolving Doors Part I - The North.
Chapter LXXI: Revolving Doors Part I - The North.

In the battle of nerves that was campaign timing the first side to blink were the Republicans, specifically the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and the Partido Comunista de España (PCE, Communist Party of Spain) militias keen to recapture Madrid and assert themselves as the dominant faction. Quite aside from the large, and strengthening, forces garrisoning the capital the PSOE/PCE commanders faced the formidable barrier of the River Tagus; the second largest river in Iberia. Having diligently destroyed most of the bridges across the river during the retreat from Madrid, a vital move to give their battered troops time to rally and hold the line, the Republicans were left with no obvious way back across, save for the handful of exceptionally well guarded surviving crossings. Lacking heavy artillery and tanks (there were only ten tanks in the whole of Spain at the time and all under Monarchist control, though the aid pouring in from across Europe would soon change that) a direct assault on the strong points was out. Equally as the Spanish Army's engineering battalions, along with most of the country's professional civil engineers, had rallied to the Monarchist cause a bridging operation was also discarded. Thus the PSOE/PCE force had but one option left; if they couldn't go through or over the river they would have to go around it.

Forming up in the town of Cuenca the armies of the left marched north, through passes in the Albarracin mountains to ford the Tagus near it's source while it was still slow and shallow. Emerging from the mountains they occupied the sparsely populated plains of Soria province and wheeled round to attack the city of Sigüenza. Sigüenza was the guardian of the North Eastern approaches to Madrid, controlling the valley between the peaks of the Albarracin mountains and the imposing Sierra de Guadarrama. Despite achieving a measure of surprise, the local Monarchist commander had arrogantly assumed amateur militias couldn't possibly be ready faster than his professional troops, the attack failed to take the town when the hoped for 'rising of the oppressed' failed to occur. Short on men, supplies and over-stretched the offensive fizzled out as the commanders tried to plot a way forward.

xIpK8sD.jpg

The Mancheguian Flag, banner of those who rallied to La Mancha regionalism. Primarily a reaction against pan-Castilian sentiments they represented a sub-faction of a faction, too large to ignore but too small to deserve the diplomatic efforts needed for effective co-ordination. The Mancheguian militias were tightly grouped around Albacete, Cuenca and Toledo and were more interested in protecting kith and kin than fighting for the Republic. During the Madrid offensives the Mancheguian battalions participated in the opening attacks in the mountains, but refused to advance into Soria, unwilling to stray too far from La Mancha. Arguably those few extra battalions would have made the difference at Sigüenza, turning stalemate into victory.

As the PSOE/PCE force hurled itself at Sigüenza the Eusko Gudarostea (Basque Army) began it's part of the Border Offensive, marching from Bilbao to attack Vitoria. In stark contrast to their hard left comrades experiences a rising did occur, the population attacking the Monarchist garrison and assisting the assaulting troops, though in fairness Vitoria had the largest Basque population outside of Bilbao so the ground for a rising was ripe. Having taken Vitoria, and much of the surrounding country, the traditional Basque country was all but liberated, an achievement that prompted the Eusko's commanders to slow their advance, less willing to risk their forces for non-Basques. This decision, a significant change to the agreed plan for the campaign, was not communicated to Ejército Magnífico de la República (Grand Army of the Republic) command in Valencia, an omission conveniently blamed on 'communication problems'.

The Monarchist reaction to these attacks was forceful and immediate, from the perspective of Madrid the Republican operations appeared to be two prongs of a pincer movement to separate Catalonia from the rest of Monarchist territory. Recognising that such a pocket would be vulnerable to destruction and almost impossible to re-supply, particularly as France would doubtless aid the Republican blockade, preventing such a pocket forming was considered a top priority. General Mola, commander of the Monarchist Northern Army, reacted by calling up his reserve forces from the strategic river town of Plasencia on his 'southern' border and launching an attack towards Catalonia. Somewhat amusingly by the time the Monarchist's advance unit, the 1a Division Calaberia (1st Cavalry Division), reached Soria both Republican attacks had already faltered for the reasons discussed above. While it's certainly true the arrival of Major-General Cabanillas' horsemen did help convince the PSOE/PCE and Basque commanders not to restart their offensives, it was not the vital intervention Mola presented it as. Indeed as we shall see in the next chapter, Mola's commitment of his reserves and drawing of forces towards the east would have dramatic consequences for Franco's campaigns in the south.
 
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Welcome back Pippy, glad to see you've lost none of your finesse.

Interesting updates there, i have a feeling this could drag on for years, longer than OTL.

later, Caff
 
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Karelian - Wise words. At present the French are getting ready for the Amsterdam Conference while trying to work out what to do with the Rhineland, how much support to give to Spain and wondering what a humbled Italy is plotting. How much of that equates into actual action is a different question though. ;)

caffran - Not sure myself I must confess (I don't play that far ahead, which I fully admit is not always helpful for the history book style).

However between the equality of the supporting powers and the big stakes said powers have in 'their' side winning it will certainly be hard fought and contain large quantities of hardware from across Europe.
 
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Revolving Doors eh? ;)

Not exactly an exaulted start from the forces of good and light but at least the 'professional' monarchist generals appear to be as incompetant as ever...

Can you remind me, is the USSR offering aid?

Dury.
 
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Wow! Sometimes ineptitude in overwhelming amounts is spectacle to behold!

It is also very clear that each general's or respective leader's agenda threatens to undermine the success of each side. What makes this completely amusing is none of the combatants is immune...:rofl:
 
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