Permanently Operating Factors - A Soviet LAN AAR

[Myth]

grayghost: well, it wasn't supposed to be amusing, but it wasn't really supposed to garner much sympathy either, I don't think. it was just a presentation on the deterioration of his mind

General Jac: tinfoil had indeed! I saw your post, you had posted at 16:29 but when I read it my computer clock showed the current time at 16:26

VILenin: yeah,auto promote is pretty hit and miss but, well, I'll mention that my Zhukov was a field marshal by 1937 or 1938

Discomb:

VILenin: I used to have that problem too, but recently I figured out what's more important between these two: Lt. General Zhukov, skill 6 experience 54 or General Zhukov, skill 5 experience 0

comment day again, update will come tomorrow

[VILenin]

Yeah, one thing I try and do, if I'm going to promote, is wait until they've just advanced a skill level so that the exp loss is minimal. Of course, that waiting can be pretty inconvenient sometimes. Prodigious use of HQs also helps.

[Myth]

VILenin: yes, I know exactly how you feel. though HQs are only good if you have the generals to command them...

update coming up!

[Myth]

5 Kilometers southwest of Opochka
May 7, 1936

Three men stood about the table in the room, they were awaiting the dismemberment of yet another nation on the Soviet Union’s slowly decreasing list. These three men were: Georgij Zhukov, Lieutenant General and commander of the 2nd Tank Army and of the 2nd Tank Corps of that army; Alesandr Vasilevskij, Lieutenant General and commander of the 1st Tank Army and the 1st Tank Corps of that unit; the final man was Mikhail Kazakov, the sole representative of the 3rd Baltic Front and commander of the 40th Rifle Corps of this Front. There was no representative for the 2nd Baltic Front.

As with all formations in the Soviet Red Army, these too were under their regulation manpower. The 2nd Baltic Front consisted of seven divisions, including a motorized rifle division, in seven corps and the 3rd Baltic was in a similar state. Both Tank Armies comprised only one of their regulation four corps. This total force, which comprised twelve Rifle Divisions, four Motorized Rifle Divisions and four Armored Divisions, was more than enough for the task at hand despite the inevitable and inevitably grotesque command and control difficulties. They were going to invade the Baltic republics, of which the first to fall would be the strongest: Latvia.

Zhukov and Vasilevskij were both masters of mobile warfare and were expecting to overrun the small country in a week even if resistance was heavy, which it was expected to be. Five Latvian divisions and four brigades had been identified on the border with the Soviet Union. However, of these, three infantry divisions, with three attached brigades, were at Dvinsk and only two divisions and one brigade at Gulbene, and those at Gulbene were greatly under strength. Thus their plan was to conduct a rapid mass breakthrough operation to force a great rupture in the Latvian front from the Estonian border southward to the Polish border. The main fighting would be borne by the 3rd Baltic Front though the 2nd Baltic Front would support the attack toward Gulbene. The two Tank Armies would provide the necessary mobility.

They did not anticipate that there would be any difficulty during the invasion. The Latvian commanders were utterly outclassed and their defenders massively outnumbered. The three men simply stood waiting; there was little conversation amongst them as they contemplated the approaching fighting. As the artillery bombardment began they moved almost in unison to leave the room and stand upon the bare hilltop that was well placed to survey the southernmost thrust toward Gulbene and the northernmost attack toward Dvinsk.

To the south, several of the many lakes of eastern Latvia glittered in the sun before being blanketed by the shells of the artillery. Zhukov raised his binoculars to watch as streams of infantry sallied forth across the border. On a parallel road slightly beyond the first he could barely make out light armor and truck-borne infantry advancing as well. The Latvian resistance seemed sparse, though where it existed, it was strong. He could see Soviet sappers already moving forward to deal with a minefield and could feel Latvian counter-battery fire as it attempted to pinpoint and destroy the massed Soviet guns to the best of its meager ability.


Zhukov’s assault on Dvinsk with six divisions.

At the same time, Vasilevskij had looked north, toward his own attack as it developed. There, too, the Soviet artillery was laying down a murderous fire. It was, in fact, far more deadly than that which subjected the defenders of Dvinsk as twelve Soviet divisions either pushed forward or supported the advance, against an enemy force that was not even half the size of that at Dvinsk. Vasilevskij’s sharp eyes made out Latvian armored cars careening from their advance positions as Soviet light armor recklessly chased them, leaving their accompanying infantry in the dust. He frowned; that was not within the established doctrine. Fortunately the rumored Latvian battalion of motorized anti-tank guns had not been discovered in the region, else such a headlong chase would have ended in flames. An aide came out of the building behind with a slip of paper; the assault toward Gulbene was already nearly over. Given another hour or two, the Latvian front would be utterly rent in the northern half of the country and Riga would lay wide open.


Under Vasilevskij, the Soviets brought massive force to bear against Gulbene.

Putting down his binoculars, Zhukov looked over to Vasilevskij. “Where do you think we’ll go after this? Estonia, or Lithuania?”

Vasilevskij nodded southward. “Lithuania. The Germans declared war and invaded yesterday, eager to press their claims on Memel and perhaps take even more. Fortunately, STAVKA intelligence reports that they have little or no transports and thus their attack will be conducted merely by the one infantry corps already in the area, at Konigsberg.”

Zhukov frowned. “So we’ll have to turn southward as quickly as possible.”

“Yes. Your forces will drive southward from Dvinsk while mine will go through Riga before turning. Thus, Latvia will fall and we will be in position in southeastern Latvia for a wide push into Lithuania to claim Vilnius before the Germans do.”

Grimacing, Zhukov sighed. “All about Dvinsk are lakes, lakes and more lakes, and a river or two. It’ll be difficult for my armor to advance.”

“Do the best you can. Lithuania is a good jump off area for both us and the Germans. If they get it, they’ll have an excellent platform from which to push further into the Baltic. If we can get it, Konigsberg will be very vulnerable to our forces.”

“You know how hard I drive my subordinates.”

“Yes.” Satisfied, Vasilevskij changed the topic. “I think we’ll be clean through Latvian lines in an hour or two at most, given how the advances have gone so far. Shall we go inside and drink a toast to our near future success?”

At this, Kazakov spoke up. “Yes, I have a bottle of vodka within for that very purpose!”

Zhukov looked at Kazakov, having almost forgotten he was there. “Very well. I am thirsty, and vodka will have to satisfy me until I can get that which I truly want. Victory.”

[canonized]

I wonder if this was an emotional chapter for you XD . Would love to hear your behind the scenes thoughts about this chapter .

[Myth]

canonized: it was actually kind of hard to write. but once I finally got the ball rolling, it became easier. by and large, I don't think there was any judgment within the update that wasn't (generally) true, at least within the game, so it wasn't all too hard.

comment day again, folks!

[Edzako]

Great chapter, although.. Oh well. Did you mod Latvian army?

[Myth]

Edzako: yeah, that was one of the first things I ever modded about HoI2. they got a light cruiser (Virsaitis), a cavalry division (strength capped, the Latvians had a cavalry regiment), a garrison division (strength capped, the border guard), a tank destroyer brigade (to represent a motorized anti-tank battalion), an engineer brigade (to represent a sapper unit), an armored car brigade (to represent their armor) and finally an anti-air brigade. given their neighbors, it doesn't really affect balance at all as they're still always quashed in the end.

update coming up!

[Myth]

12 Kilometers south of Konya
May 7, 1936

Kuznetsov groaned. His head was pounding awfully and when he tentatively opened his eyes, they were greatly offended by an inordinate amount of light streaming through the broken window. As he closed his eyes he moaned again, but it quickly turned into a slightly ragged cough. He rolled from his side onto his back sighed heavily before opening his eyes once again. He was staring at a ceiling that was violently shuddering into focus, which did not surprise him. It bothered him, however, that he realized it didn’t surprise him. He could not remember what had happened the evening before, but supposed that this had something to do with the empty vodka bottle that was apparently his bedfellow. He looked doubtfully at it before rolling back onto his side, misjudging, and instead ended up throwing himself onto the floor.

He landed heavily, driving all the breath from his body. As he scrabbled about on the floor getting up, someone knocked on the door before opening it and stepping it. Kuznetsov quickly picked himself up before turning around to see who it was. Much to his relief, it was only one of his staff, with a sheaf of papers. He looked at Kuznetsov, who was swaying somewhat dangerously, with eyes wide with some shock before getting a hold of himself. “Kuznetsov, sir! Here is the latest batch of reports from Berman. He is going ahead with the attack on Istanbul, sir.”

Waving his hand for the papers, his other massaging his temples, Kuznetsov wondered what the date was. Surely the attack on Istanbul had already occurred, in mid March. That had been over a month ago. He wondered if that was why he felt so rough, because he had dreamed of over a month’s worth of awful things in a single night. Finally grabbing a hold of the papers, he smiled unsteadily at the man. “Thank you, you may go.”

As the man left, closing the door behind him, Kuznetsov sat heavily on the bed. He looked out the window first, seeing a full moon shining into his room. He smiled at the sight before frowning with consternation and wondered how long he had been asleep. Sighing, he looked down at the reports in his hand. They were dated May 7, the 2200 hour. He felt the vodka bottle poking into his back. His mind still working slowly, the pieces of the puzzle were meandering into focus. He had not dreamed of a month and a half in a night. He had gotten very, very drunk. Someone from Moscow had sent him two bottles of vodka on the 5th and he had emptied them both by the morning of the seventh and then promptly fell asleep, only to awake in the evening of the same day. Kuznetsov smiled triumphantly, feeling pleased with his efforts.

However, the papers in his hand stubbornly refused to remain forgotten and Kuznetsov unwillingly looked down at them again. He frowned as he read the message from Berman.

TO: Front HQ near Konya, Lieutenant-General Kuznetsov

The Greeks have taken the damn city. They’re holding it in strength, three divisions of infantry. A full corps! Am assaulting from Izmit, Deev from Bursa. Marchenkov marching up from Izmir to Bursa to aid with assault. Would appreciate another corps to hold flank against Greek forces on the Dardanelles. Would also appreciate fire support from Panteleiev, apparently can’t request such support on my own. Intel reports Bulgarians moving from Varna toward Plovdiv; unsure if this move constitutes a retreat or a redeployment.

Greek general Pangalos not that good, certainly no more skillful than any of us. But he holds rank. He got the staff power to defend well.

Lieutenant-General Berman

Setting that piece of paper down, Kuznetsov stared at the map beneath it and the note attached to it. Apparently Berman was fighting against a Lieutenant General Pangalos. He scratched his chin, the Greeks had more divisions on the Dardanelles than they did in Istanbul, which he found strange. Seeing indications of the Bulgarian move, all his worries from the 5th that he had resolutely pushed away returned. The Germans would push southward toward Istanbul, he knew it. It was Greek at the moment, and Greece was at war with Germany. One short hop was all that the Germans required to make the entire Turkish campaign worthless.


Berman was assaulting Istanbul again, though this time it was held by the Greeks.

Kuznetsov sighed, he should contact Panteleiev and arrange for fire support, it would certainly cause at least a small amount of havoc in the Greek defenses and aid Berman’s assault. He also wondered how the push toward Gazientep was progressing; he had heard little of it. Perhaps it was going so well that nothing important enough for him had yet occurred and his staff was taking care of everything. He hoped so, or Stalin would have his head. Kuznetsov grimaced, no matter what seemed to happen it seemed that Stalin would have his head one way or another. Unless he achieved victory. Kuznetsov needed a victory, the vodka had comforted him temporarily but a victory would assure that all his worries would be laid to rest once and for all.

Standing up too quickly, Kuznetsov had to lean against the wall until his vision cleared before striding resolutely, or as resolutely as his terrible hangover permitted him, toward the door. He had a Rear Admiral to radio and an advance to inquire about. Kuznetsov knew that he had been remiss the past two days about his duties, and he knew that he needed to regain his own confidence in his abilities before he could go about impressing anyone else. The major step was the conquest of Turkey and, having exhausted his very final, surprise supply of vodka he was determined to do it right at last.

[VILenin]

I don't see any feldgrau creeping into the edge of the map so I wouldn't worry too much; Kuznetsov should have enough time to retake Istanbul. Just don't go and lose it again!

[Myth]

VILenin: he better not lose it again, for his sake

comment day again, but tomorrow we have something special. Discomb should be posting another of his own updates!

[Edzako]

but tomorrow we have something special. Discomb should be posting another of his own updates!

Wiiii, I can't wait.

[Myth]

Edzako:

right, so discomb should be posting, well, some time today

[grayghost]

Well, Latvia didn't take that long. Istanbul is surely becoming quite the sticky wicket for Kutzenov. Stubborn Greeks, stubborn Bulgarians, and Germans out there somewhere. Something tells me he is going to need some more vodka.

[Discomb]

Discomb’s Update 2: Myth Sucks (and I don't mean the cruiser)

So the game began… quickly. I didn’t hesitate to declare war on Denmark right away. I mean, they had no soldiers on my border, and I had plenty. Why waste time? I had completely annexed them as quickly as was physically possible, and there really isn’t any more to say on that. The troops used in this assault were moved to the Belgian border for general usefulness later. I had no plans to cross into Sweden or Norway. That would be stupid at this point.

Naturally, all the other troops marched head first into Czechoslovakia. The armor raced down the spine to get to Romania as faster than they could say “Hey! Guys! We have a border with the Czechoslovakians! I didn’t even realize!” Infantry crushed them in the mountains for hard earned combat stars. The long and difficult mountain battles were generally useful, since I was still winning, but prolonged combat adds to troop experience. However, once I had reached Romania, the near total lack of infantry, and the furious distance from my only HQ unit did not come in handy. More on that later.

My brother, meanwhile, took his time getting his army together. He decided it would be stupid to attack Spain with what he had at the moment, after trimming off the useless militia and whatever else he didn’t need. Frankly, I would have done the same thing, but given that it’s my brother playing, one must be extra careful with how much of an advantage they should have when attacking another country. Especially a not so entirely worthless one such as Spain.

To accurately assess my brother's playstyle, imagine being the leader of a nation who's chief of the army graduated from the Savannah Art School with a degree in epic failure. Imagine your own experience in leading a nation can be charitably described as a profound waste of time, and your head of state is a shredded orange sock puppet. I’m overstating of course, but to say fewer words is to ignore a perfect opportunity to poke fun at the man who DELETED HIS ENTIRE ARMY at the start of the game, prompting a restart. See the 4th post in this AAR if you’ve already forgotten.

Relying on myself alone, I finished the war with Czechoslovakia (or should I say Germany) and soon enough was rolling into Romania to find that the Romanians were pretty unhappy about that. They threw people and machinery at my tanks in the hopes of slowing them down. Soon enough I ran out of steam, and spent more time defending than attacking. However, my infantry arrived to hold the line, and the campaign continued after a little reorganization. The main annoyance was that one victory province on the soviet border, which I tried to take quickly in a jab manoeuvre with my armor. This ended in miserable failure, as I was continuously pushed back by the seemingly endless hordes of Romanian cavalry. In fact, the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Romania aided my situation immensely. I was able to dedicate all forces towards a straight push down to the capitol, while using the tired and/or slower elements to crush opposition on the western flank against international borders. Soon enough Romania was mine, though Myth took one province more than I expected him to. Not that it bothered me that he took a province only marginally better than the sand sea territory, but it might make him cocky later, and nobody likes that.

By the way, I wasn’t paying much attention to Myth’s campaign in Turkey at this point, but I certainly made sure to notify him in not so friendly recompense that he is a remarkable failure for letting the GREEKS, of ALL PEOPLE take Istanbul, the capitol city of the nation he was trying to conquer. I wouldn’t be surprised if his description of the front commander is actually a fictional autobiography of sorts, and yet, this wasn’t the end of the shockers for that hour. The Greeks, and yes I still have a bit of trouble with this, but the Greeks declared war on me! Why? Do they like death? Do they profoundly enjoy turning into a bloody mess at the expense of a few tons’ worth of explosive material and lead being fired at them? Here’s my reaction to their DOW, complete with realistic caption:


Double Yuu Tee Eff?!?!?!?!

You will notice that it’s still light outside. How odd. And while we’re on the subject of reactions, here’s what Myth’s face looked like when I attacked Lithuania, or would look like if you were tripping some really heavy acid that day. My brother really needs to learn to wield a camera as powerful as mine.


Oh my god Anton is so smart he is attacking Lithuania and he’s going to get it before I can oh noes I will ask him where he keeps the razor blades now!

I take no responsibility for the non-accuracy of the caption, given that it’s nearly impossible to identify the man in the picture as Myth anyway. That said, let’s spend a few moments talking about why I attacked Lithuania. Firstly, I had troops doing nothing on its’ border. Troops that could definitely and easily defeat any resistance they could possibly put up. Secondly, despite Myth’s completely wrong (though not historically inaccurate) assessment of why I may have done that, I simply needed a jabbing territory into our border. Given that it’s the closest land I would have to Moscow, he was most likely to mass troops there in an attempt to take it back first, and prevent an insane push straight for Moscow and/or Leningrad. That I did in the end get all of Lithuania proved very important later, but that will be explained later, as the word later implies, obviously.

Last but not least, my Future plans at this point, were pretty simple. Since Greece was at war with me already, I could drive down and smash them, opening up new opportunities for borders with Myth, and general usefulness. I’d have to smash through Bulgaria first, but most of my troops were on their border already anyway, so that seemed easier done than said. Then I would be preparing for the invasion of Yugoslavia, by then with an armored force 4 times the size of the one I had now. Of course, neither would I say no to snatching Istanbul, should the opportunity present itself. My industry was geared towards production of only tanks and more industry, so the only thing I would be making for the next while is war, not pretzels and sausages.


This is a picture of me taking notes. That is amazing! I should have learned to do that while I was still in school.

And if you’re wondering why I’m so dirty and bummed out, it’s because I’ve been gaming for a few weeks with very little regard for hygiene and nutrition.

In the summertime, when the weather is fine,
You can stretch right up and touch the sky.
When the weather’s fine,
You’ve got women you’ve got women
On your mind.
Have a drink, have a drive,
Go out and see what you can find.

Jerry Mungo – In The Summertime. Look it up.

[VILenin]

Very good stuff Discomb! I look forward to seeing what role your brother will play in your crusade against Bolshevism now that he's successfully managed to keep his army in existence.

[Discomb]

You will be disappointed.

[Erkki1]

You will be disappointed.

[GeneralHannibal]

I feel stupid, but what country is he again (your brother)?

[VILenin]

I feel stupid, but what country is he again (your brother)?

Britain.

And that's ok Discomb, I'm secretly rooting for the Soviets anyway!