"Naval doctrines are not much of a priority now, and even if we completed this field of research, we'd still have a penalty against the more talented British doctrines. We chose to focus on submarine warfare, but that's not really the way we're going to sink their fleets in a distant future."
"Our land doctrines are up-to-date at the moment. Our generals think that they could, in the future, devise a completely revised model of Blitzkrieg, but at the moment we lack the experience to do so. They think they will be able to conduct research of this kind in a couple of years from now. For now, von Manstein is halfway through researching an improved Field Hospital system, so to minimize casualties and improve safety of the wounded. Needless to say, expertising in this field will be imperative in the manpower-costly campaign of Soviet Russia."
"I.G. Farben has recently completed work on improving Agricultural production, which will result in more men being raised daily. I.G. Farben is now working on a better refining system for Synthetic Oil. We do not think this will ease our Oil problem by much, but that's not our main aim: experts say that through research on Synthetic oil we might expertize enough to create Synthetic materials that go under the name of 'Plastics', which would greatly help our Industrial Efficiency as a whole.
Werner Heisenberg is trying to shorten the huge gap between us and the United States about Nuclear Research. We have no spare production to build a Nuclear Reactor at the moment, so his research will be somewhat handicapped, but we will try to build one in the future."
"Our Secret Weapons panel displays total completion of Rocket Interceptor, and a fair knowledge on Strategic Rockets. We might want to build some V2 to keep England busy with rebuilding their Industry, given their cost effectiveness. I have always loved those fireworks. Anyways, Zuse is working on Advanced Electronic Computers so to speed up our research, which is fundamental.
That is all from me."
"A very well detailed report you have Ernst. We will surely all benefit from this. I too would like to keep the UK under pressure with a limited production of V2 - perhaps Speer might enlighten us a bit regarding this matter?"
"Good morning Martin. We could afford a small chain production of V2 at the moment, if we want to keep the English industry at a certain level. Our industrial capacity has reached an historical high with 316 base factories and 333 in Industrial Efficiency. With nothing being produced at the moment and reinforcements being very low, we can afford a surplus being spent in Consumer Goods and Supplies. The only relevant expense is that of Upgrades, a chapter that by the end of May I think it may be well completed. That is without counting the possible upgrades on our Armored Divisions however."
"Our stockpiles look a bit better than two months ago, but that's still far from safety. Energy and Metal are good. Rare materials show a steady deficit we might want to correct in the future, but nothing I'm too much worried about. The conquest of Sweden might help a bit. Oil is our constant problem and we need to stockpile a lot of it before Summer comes. Supplies are growing fast and it will go that way, as we are planning to buy several Fighter squadrons - and oil - from our Allies. Money is also no longer an issue and we can afford espionage and diplomatic missions. Manpower is also slowly growing; we will not build divisions at the moment, as we'll need every drop of it for Reinforcements in the upcoming Summer Offensive.
Transport capacity is a bit overloaded but keep in mind there are several divisions being redeployed. This will still be a problem this Summer however. If time permits, I will allow a small serial run of V2 to be built shortly, as they are manpower and cost effective and we can keep the English busy with them. I'm finished."
"Good to hear. We already know how our Armed Forces look like and what our plans against the Soviet Union are, so Heinz has nothing to say this time. I'd like to hear Julius, however."
"Thank you Martin. Our first preliminary step for the forthcoming Summer offensive has been completed: we hoped to take Sweden in mid or late February, and we are just right on schedule. Casualties have been very light, though the Kriegsmarine did take a bit of damage, and we advanced quickly through the Swedish mainland. We have had, *cough* some arguing with the Finnish government over the control of Stockholm, but besides that we subdued the Country quickly. The Luftwaffe has proven once again to be an invaluable and highly-trained instrument.
Our next step is now linking our troops with those of Hausser, and then push the Soviets out of the peninsula, preferably through encirclement. we estimate there are more than thirty Soviet divisions in Finland, and knocking them out of the war wouldn't be bad. Now that we have forty-fifty divisions in this region, it shouldn't be too hard hopefully. Our greatest aim would be to arrive in Leningrad before snow falls again."
"I hope you will be able to do that. Once the Northern Front is secure, we will be able to mount a three-pronged attack on the hearth of the Soviet Union. Joachim, diplomacy please."
Joachim von Ribbentrop had a sad facial expression which could not conceal. "Gentlemen, the news I bring you are many and almost not a single one of them are good."
Some of them knew what he was about to say, but many didn't.
"I will now exhibit such news in a climax order: from the least worrying to the biggest ones. First, Venezuela decided the Allies were far better than us. They declared war upon us, which is really the smallest of our nuisances. Apart from the diplomatic issues, here goes a status report of our Ally, Japan."
"First goes the Sunk ships report. From the start of January to today March 1st, the Japanese have lost eleven ships and two smaller ships flotillas, among which lie the Carrier IJN Hiyo and the Light Carrier IJN Chitose. The Allies have also lost a handful of ships but no significant loss. We have also lost two U-boot flotillas to the Swedish, while sinking three of their outdated Battleships."
Poeple started to mumble as they thought that, if that was the least worrying thing, they wondered what could've been the worst.
"On a slightly worrying note, but that was easily predictable, the British are advancing in Siam. They have captured Bangkok and are marching forward against virtual opposition. Phnom Penh is being targetd also. The Japanese puppet may well switch sides very soon. British troops have also landed in the Vietnamese region."
"The only brighter note is in China. Fourteen Chinese divisions have been pocketed and have been starving for weeks. No attack has been attempted from the Japanese Forces yet but the pocket seems a safe one, that is there is little chance that the Chinese will be able to link up with their pocketed troops. I don't know how this front will become, however, once the southwestern front becomes threatened with British troops after the total conquest of the Indochinese region."
"The Philippines, the first Japanese conquest at the expense of the Americans, are suffering US revenge as eighteen divisions have landed there. The Japanese only possess six divisions and the remainder of their fleets, now scrap metal.
Now that's not worrying at all. The most disturbing this is another news."
"Is there an end to this trail of negative news?"
"There is Martin, but you won't like this end."
"The Americans have recently invaded the Japanese mainland. Important industrial centers such as Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Kagoshima have been captured, two Japanese divisions have been surrounded, and an American divisions is already at the outskirts of Tokio. The bulk of the American invasion is in Hiroshima however, with seven divisions in total. That might not be a huge number, but one has to consider that the IJN is no longer able to protect her shores, and that Japan only possesses six divisions scattered through her mainland. It is unlikely that the Japanese will ever see Tokyo once again in a few weeks, months at best. That is all, alas, from me."