Awaking from the Nightmare Years - USA '45 AAR

[rich-love]

Oval Office, The White House, Washington DC
5 September 1945

Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States, put down his pen and glanced at the clock. 6:57am. He had three minutes before his advisors arrived for their daily status meeting. He snorted, quietly. Status meeting - that implied order, and a plan. Men with their backs to the wall, struggling to control their panic - now that would be a better description. Truman had a headache that no aspirin could touch. No surprise there - quite literally, the fate of the free world would be decided in this room. And what had they - him, and the handful of men due to arrive in three - no, two minutes - accomplished? Nothing. Not a damn thing, unless doubling the headstone count of Arlington National Cemetary qualified.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. The head of a nameless staffer appeared. "Mr. President, they're here".

"Very well. Send them in".

[rich-love]

Truman watched as the seven men entered the office. James Byrnes, the Secretary of State, was prematurely grey, and slumped forward as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. Perhaps it was. J. Edgar Hoover (Director, FBI) strode in, purposeful and alert. MacArthur followed, his eyes fixed on a faraway place. Truman blinked as he noticed Charles Edison (Chief of Naval Operations) already in his seat. Was he so beaten as to be nearly invisible? Henry Morgenthau (Secretary of Treasury) and Henry Kaiser (advisor, Intelligence) followed; both able administrators. George Marshall closed out the group; another able man, but with responsibilities both to the Pentagon and to Foggy Bottom. Lindbergh, Truman knew, was sick at home. He doubted he'd return, frankly. As the men took their seats Truman opened up the meeting.


Advisory staff to President Truman, 5 Sept 1945

"Good morning gentlemen. I'll make this quick, as time is short."

Ears perked up at that comment, and at the tone in his voice.

"James, I'm going to ask for your resignation, effective immediately. I still don't understand how you have not told our Allies that, with the British government in exile here, the United States is the de facto lead of this alliance."

Byrnes sighed, and the relief showed in his eyes. "I understand, Mr. President. It'll be on your desk in an hour".

"Thank you. General MacArthur, I'm re-assigning you to the Phillipines; it's clear that your interests are smaller than the well-being of the Army in general."

MacArthur nodded. He made no secret of his obsession with the island nation.

"Charles, I want your resignation on my desk too. Immediately. I don't think I need to tell you why. George, I want you to focus on your duties to the State Department. Lucky Lindy isn't here, and I don't think he'll be back anytime soon; he's quite ill, and I'm asking that he step down as well. Gentlemen, you are dismissed."

An awkward silence followed as all eyes in the room watched the four men leave the room. Truman continued. "Now, let's get down to business..."

"Sir, if I may?" interrupted Henry Morgenthau. "With your leave, Mr. President, I'd like to offer my resignation as well."

Truman blinked, paused, and nodded. "Accepted. If I may continue..."

[rich-love]

The Oval Office door opened again, and Thomas Connally, Dwight Eisenhower, Ernest King, and Henry Arnold entered.

"Thomas, you're SecState, effective immediately. Dwight, Secretary of War. Ernest, CNO. Hap, Air Force. Henry, I'd like you to take SecTreas in addition to your other duties."


The new advisory staff

"Gentleman, let me be frank with you. This is the moment of fate, the last chance I think we have of salvaging something from this terrible war. Be back here at noon. I want presentations on the state of each of your departments."

[Kanitatlan]

How about a save game so I can reverse the situation in this one.

Oh, have I come in a bit early on this one?

[rich-love]

Hey, quit jumping ahead!

[Kanitatlan]

Hey, quit jumping ahead!

But you must admit it's nice to get the instant attention when you have only just started.

If you want a bit of a challenge then try editing me in as a substitute for Stalin.

[rich-love]

Welcome to "Awaking from the Nightmare Years". This AAR will be of a similar nature to my first (see .sig below). I'm taking the save game from dag231's "The Rise and Fall of Generaloberst Heinz Wilhelm Guderian" AAR, hyperlinked here. I strongly recommend you read it; it's incredible.

I'll play as the US, starting on September 5, 1945, hoping to save the world (I will admit to something of an obsession). DD 1.2, DAIM installed, Normal / Agressive. I will edit the save game to make the US the leader of the Allies (instead of Australia), and to improve the AI when possible. Additonally, I'll cheat to max out Hawk and Interventionalism sliders. If it gets TOO easy, I'll start bumping up the difficulty levels. I do not intend to follow dag231's Guderian plot and character - I don't think I could do justice to his idea. Nonetheless, I do intend to write in more of a narrative style and less of a history book / analysis style. We'll see how well it goes...

Administrative note: progess will be slow, but hopefully well documented.

[lifeless]

i guess its too early for guderian to turn traitor..good luck!

[GeneralHannibal]

Interesting, I wonder how well you'll be able to fight the Germans compared to the Soviets.

[stnylan]

I am getting the most curious sense of deja vu - though on first blush it looks as though this will be more narrative than your previous.

[AOK. 11]

Since the first was excellent, I do not mind a similar premise at all. Good luck.

[rich-love]

Kanitatlan: you can be Stalin if you want to, but I don't think the Red Army is that scary this time around...

lifeless: Well, the game picks up right after the assassination of Hitler and the purge of German leaders. In this timeline, Guderian is sitting in some forgotten prison cell.

GeneralHannibal: We shall see. I've been thinking about playing this ever since I saw the original AAR.

stnylan: Yup. I consider these games much more 'epic', and therefore more fun (for me).

AOK. 11: Thank you! I'm going w/ a different style this time; we'll see how it works.

To ALL: If anyone wants to take part in creating custom AIs for me to fight, please let me know. I know that India (for example) has a big stack of infantry in its capital.

Additionally: I've decided to give the AI a bit more help. Germany and Japan each get 1000 free manpower, Italy 800. I'm also going to remove the German dissent following the assassination - I don't think the AI can handle 35% (!) dissent.

Posts to follow shortly!

[rich-love]

Oval Office, The White House, Washington DC
5 September 1945
Noon

Truman watched his advisors return to their seats. Each was accompanied by an aide carrying a stack of overhead slides. Secretary of State Connally approached the head of the conference table as the lights were dimmed.

"First slide, please."



"Thank you. My apologies, Mr. President, for the ... underpolished nature of these slides."

"No time for that sort of crap, Tom."

"Right. I've spoken to the ambassadors of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. They've all agreed that we should take leadership of the United Nations alliance. I'd like to point out the size of the Axis alliance. Europe, Africa, and most of Asia are all firmly in the Axis camp; the majority of those countries are merely German puppets. Next slide."



"Same info, different format. Red countries are those with which we're at war. Next slide."



"Note that China is at war with Japan, but in its own alliance. Next slide."



"The Soviet Union, or what's left of it. The Comintern countries are at peace, but are dead husks of countries. The 'Bitter Peace' was aptly named, in my opinion. Next slide."



"Unaligned countries, all in the Western Hemisphere. I suggest that we focus our diplomatic efforts on getting them into the United Nations as soon as possible. Mr. Kaiser? The floor is yours."

[rich-love]

Henry Kaiser cleared his throat as approached the head of the table. "Mr. President, with your permission I'd like to begin with my intelligence brief. United Nations spy networks are in shambles after the German leader purges. Put simply, we have no spies in any enemy country, and are pretty sure of the existence of several German and Japanese spy rings operating in ours."

Hoover glanced up from his notes. "That's a ... bold statement to make, Kaiser."

Kaiser held Hoover's gaze for a moment before continuing. "The evidence is there, if you bother to put the pieces together. The disaster of Agadir. The mauling of the 2nd Fleet off the Azores. How else can you explain how captured Japanese rocket interceptors are nearly identical to ours?"

"John, stuff your hole. Henry, your point is made. Continue."

"Yessir. Our best estimates are as follows: Germany: 350 Infantry divisions, 70 Armored divisons. Japan, 300 Infantry divisions. Italy, 160. At sea: Japan, 10 carriers, 10 battleships, 150 total. Italy, 80, mixed types. Germany, 60, mixed types. In the air: Germany, 40 fighter wings, 70 bomber. Italy, 20 and 30. Japan, 4 and 25. We have no information or estimates on the other Axis powers."

Henry Arnold paled as he scribbled notes. "Kaiser, how confident are you in those numbers?"

"Not very. As I mentioned, our networks are blown. But, I can assure you, those bombers do exist, and in bulk; Admiral King can tell you all about how his ships fared against them."

[Earth's Savior]

Time to get crackin'.

[rich-love]

"I have good news to report on from our industrial efforts. First slide."



We are currently self-sufficient in all critical war-fighting materials. I am concerned about our money levels, but I think that is managable."

"Mr. Kaiser, what of our military build programs?"

"I'm glad you asked, General Eisenhower. They're a mess, to be honest. I have no idea what my predecessor was thinking. Next slide."



"Here's a sample. I'm not sure what the goal was here, but it is certainly not aligned with our national objectives."

"Recommendations, Henry?"

"Mr. President, I will do my best to build whatever these good gentlemen at this table tell me is necessary to win this war."

"Thank you, Henry. John?"

[rich-love]

Hoover glanced around the table. "Mr. President, I'll be quick. First slide."



"Our military defeats, and the recent cabinet shifts, have done quite a number on the willingness of our population to keep at the struggle. We're going to need to fix this, and fast. A few more significant defeats and those peaceful protestors turn violent."

[rich-love]

"General Eisenhower - your turn."

"Thank you, Mr. President. First slide."



"Our armed forces, and those of our allies. The majority of our forces are in a defensive posture, deployed along both coasts. There are small detachments in Iceland, various Pacific Islands, and Alaska. Hawaii is particularly well defended, thankfully. I can live with the size of the Army right now; I don't forsee any major land combat until '46. I am unhappy with the composition and organization of the Army; you'll have my recommendations as to how to reorganize on your desk tomorrow."

"Ike, I don't care about your recommendations. You're the West Pointer, not me. Just do it."

"Yes sir. Next slide."



"Indochina. 48 divisions deployed. Sir, if the Japanese start sinking our supply convoys, we lose 500,000 good men. And I'm not sure how we get them out."

"Thank you, Ike. Admiral King, can you comment?"

[chefportnen]

wow, an interesting premise. Im subscribed!

[lifeless]

i guess the ai wanted some transportation..