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Buy Strike Fighters 2 from here, then buy Strike Fighters 2 Europe. Then go here and dl the mod, install it and have fun.
 
A quick and dirty self-edit of the RAF Low-viz Grey decals:


 
hello readers of this awesome AAR,

i would like to advertise my AAR, the Lebensraum Pact here. The main reason is that it is half gameplay half narrative, so it has a storyline. its still in its infancy so i would like some of the readers of this AAR (or the author himself. that means you trek) to come and read it. The story updates can be found on page 2 atm, only 2 of them right now. but i would be honored if you followed it and didnt just read the written ones.

Warning: it is screenshot heavy. like extremely heavy. Beware for your eyes.

Thank You everyone (and sorry trek if you dont like ads here)
 
an inkwell post has been made as well. i just came here specifically to get some advice on the narrative part of it.
 
an inkwell post has been made as well. i just came here specifically to get some advice on the narrative part of it.

Oh, I see, sorry! :D Perhaps you should open a new thread and we will help you, then. I didn't got it in the first reading... :(
 
German. World. Conquest. AAR. Aren't there adorably cute kittens with serious brain damage that can do that? Indeed I believe several have done so with three legs tied behind their back and a really exciting ball of string nearby?

In any event I fear I will be forced to steer clear of this in order to express my dislike for naked begging. More seriously the rank taste of desperation is in danger of putting me off my port and that would never do.
joenods8fpyw6.gif
 
how do you know its world conquest? maybe i fail:rofl:
 
I hereby proudly anounce that a very near-term Update for this AAR was not written by me, but rather Guest-Written by Le Jones of "TKFM" fame. Thank you, and again belated congrats for your Birthday.
 
DISCLAIMER: Now this was originally supposed to be fixing or at least partially explaining the Water problems at Singapore, but I decided to dig deeper with the help of an old acquaintance of mine so you get the next step in the Ireland Saga instead.


Chapter 219

On the 20th of April 1942 two things of note happened. Firstly the Führer celebrated his birthday without the party crashers from the Royal Air Force dropping in, and secondly in the Western Approaches The City of Limerick, a 1359 ton Steamer was making her way towards Ireland after taking on a cargo mainly consisting of whale oil in barrels and and several hundred more barrels with lubrication oil. She was making the run from Liverpool to Dublin and in the opinion of her Captain that short hop didn't make a convoy more than a hindrance, after all a huge British ASW flotilla was banging away with their ASDICs to the south. (not that anyone on the ship was aware of how ASDIC worked) The Captain was no big friend of the British, but he hated the Communists even more, and because of that he found himself in the strange position of wishing good luck to the Royal Navy for the first time since his father had been killed during the Easter Rising of 1916. When he had seen the damage done by the Air attack he had begun to understand why the British were so determined to fight it out, because he knew that similar things had been visiting the UK since 1939. Convoy or not, that had convinced him to use the full neutrality lights and markings just as he had been directed by the Coast Guard. Lights on every mast, a huge Irish Flag painted on the side and the ship travelling at no more than 15 knots. Not that her old coal-fired plant could make her move much faster than ten anyway if she was fully loaded. The ship had already had a close call when she had carried bushels of peas and lampoil from New York to Ireland two years ago, being mistaken for a Canadian Freighter trying to reach Canadian waters instead of an Irish one taking the northern route home. The fish had barely missed them and no second one had followed, implying that the German or Soviet sub skipper had realized what he was shooting at. If that were to happen today, the Captain was frighteningly aware that a second one was far more likely. Over the last few days the Irish foreign Policy had made the biggest somersault since the Anglo-Irish treaty, because the Irish Government was now openly buying large quantities of British war material after the Poles had acted as middlemen on the deal, using a large number of the money that the sale of foodstuffs and things that could not be bought directly from the Americans for political reasons.

Her lookouts were not yet so tired that they would almost fall asleep on their posts, several big pots of Coffee saw to that, but the darkness prevented them from seeing the periscope that was sticking through the water less than a mile away. It belonged to a German Type VIIc U-Boat that had been on the way from the Yards in Kiel to the German bases on the western coast of France when it's orders had come in that she was to proceed into this narrow stretch of ocean. The Lieutenant in command was young, experienced and devoted to the Führer enough to ignore the obvious danger and singlemindedly concentrate on his mission, but much of his crew consisted of old hands that had somehow survived the battle of the Atlantic which the British had all but won. ASDIC, Depth Charges and since early last month the Hedgehog (of which the Kriegsmarine and the Red Navy wouldn't be aware until December that year) had taken their toll. Still, the U-Boats were still fighting and would as long as the yards churned out the hulls and the training schools the Officers and men. This particular Type VIIc was a brand-new boat and that was enough to make the men grumble even more than they would have if they had only been saddled with this sort of commander. Still he had proven himself to be a reasonably effective U-Boat skipper and that they were still alive was a good sign.

The Captain was hunched over his periscope and had the Irish Freighter in his sights. He did not question his orders, 'attack any and all shipping while passing' and that had explicitly included Neutral shipping. The Boat was centred on the ship and thanks to the neutrality markings and lights he could both see it perfectly and had an excellent aiming point. “Open doors on Tubes one and four.”

The men on the corresponding controls did what they were told.

“Set for two metres depth, full speed.”

Again his orders were obeyed.

The Boat was running at an angle and if he had calculated correctly he would have to fire soon so that the tracks of the ship and the eels converged at the right time.

“Fire one and four!”

The eels were pushed out of their tubes by pressured air and raced towards the unsuspecting Irish Freighter.

They ran for less than a minute and soon two explosions broke the back of The City of Limerick when the first impacted forward of the flag and set the lubrication oil aflame, sending a massive pillar of fire, flame and debris into the air. This alone would have sunk the freighter, but the second fish was what did her in completely when it penetrated one of the now empty coal bunkers, the explosion shattering the internal beams all along the hull section, blowing open the seams and bulkheads to the engine room. The ship instantly lost power and began to list heavily. By this point most of the crew including the Captain were dead already and the remainder abandoned ship on the orders of the First Mate even as she began to go under. Only two of the lifeboats had survived in a usable condition, and the men were now crowding around them and in the light of dawn they were treated to the sight of the German U-Boat surfacing. They never found out if it was to machine gun them or to pick up survivors, because then suddenly the U-Boat was peppered with .303 calibre rounds and the Irish Merchant Sailors cheered when they saw one of Ireland's six British-made MTBs come racing around the sinking wreck of The City of Limerick. The Boat had been out on a normal routine neutrality patrol when it's commander had seen the lit up freighter and decided to do a dummy torpedo run on the ship, after all training never hurt. They had just 'fired' when the first fish from the U-Boat had hit and after collecting their wits they had raced closer and then around the sinking wreck. Much to their surprise the boat had surfaced and instead of rescuing survivours, they attacked, hoping to force them underground before they remembered to use the 88mm deck gun up forward. All the machine guns that could bear fired and sure enough the U-Boat began to dive before they realized that their enemy had no weapon to actually sink them with, because the Irish torpedo tubes were loaded but not ready to fire. The inexperience of the Captain of the U-Boat had given the Warparty in Ireland a boost though, because he had been backlit by the sun rising in the east, making identification very easy, even though the presence of the Irish MTB had been a coincidence. By the time the MTB had teed[1] for help and finished picking up survivors the U-Boat was long gone, but the damage both to live and limb (only six were rescued) and the diplomatic one to the reputation of the Reich were done.

The results of the tales of the survivors and the crew of the MTB sent another fit of rage through Ireland that did not rival the one after the bombing, but it was enough to force a very, very, very reluctant De Valera to make a speech which was broadcast over the Irish Radio first and later repeated by the BBC, who just happened to have transmitters aimed at Germany and by some strange coincidence someone was broadcasting it with a German and Russian translation following up on it immediately.[2]

Thus when the special Emissaries of the Reich and the Soviet Union met that day in Berlin, they did have the text in front of them and official instructions from their leaders. Both were experienced enough in the trades of statecraft, diplomacy and most of all politics to know that it was ever more likely that something pushed one side or another over the edge. They had been working together for years, met at least twice every month and by now knew the other's habits well. Their job was to keep the Alliance going when the two leaders were unable or unwilling to meet person to person, and most of the day-to-day running was done by them and their staffs.

“Listen to this: 'Any further encroachment on Irish lives, territory, waters and airspace by any of the belligerent powers without the approval of the Irish Government will be seen as an act of war.'” The German crumpled up the paper and threw it into the litter basket at the side of the room. “Just who do they think they are? Idiocy like this is to be expected from the British because they have the might to back it up, but Ireland?

His Soviet counterpart was ironically far less of a believer even though he was classified as 'very politically reliable' by the NKVD thanks to being expert at paying lip service to the party, and his experience from being older and consciously experiencing the waning days of the Civil War had made him less sure of anything. True he was convinced that in the end the Axis powers would win, simply because sooner or later the weak western powers would succumb to the failings of their democratic systems and be forced to sue for peace, but his German counterpart was convinced that sooner or later German Jackboots would be marching through London.

If Alien Space Bats made the Royal Navy disappear then perhaps. What had one of their First Sea Lords said during the Napoleonic Wars when talking to the House of Commons? 'I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea.' This most certainly applied to any enemy the British had fought since the Battle of Trafalgar. The Royal Navy reigned supreme in and around Europe, and in the near-term future the Red Navy and the Kriegsmarine had no hopes of challenging them, given that they were down to a whooping four working Captial ships, and not one of them a Carrier.

“That is not our concern. Remember, we are a form of communication between our superiors that cannot be intercepted. So what should I tell Comrade Stalin? And do you want to know what to tell the Führer?”

The German snorted in disgust at the Irish and took a sip from the Vodka his counterpart always provided for these meetings.

“Our Foreign Ministry thinks that the Irish won't go to war if push comes to shove.” The Soviet nodded in agreement, at least officially. “Ours estimates the same. We also propose that the Irish be reminded who is ruling Europe.”

“More air attacks?”

“No, that would be too costly in terms of Public Opinion.”

Not that public opinion mattered much in Germany and even less so in the Soviet Union, but considerations had to be made even so. But both of the envoys knew that they were talking about Public opinion in Ireland. The biggest failing of democracy was that the Governments were needed to cater the whims and wants of the mob on the streets, and if this mob could be steered or influenced one could steer or influence what the Government did. In Britain that was hardly possible since they had on the whole had more success than failure in the war, especially after the fall of France, but Ireland was not so, and if even half of the background files in the halls of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs were true, then even this deeply catholic Country was divided right down the middle. Some hated the British even more than the Germans and Soviets, no matter the political systems, some hated the Communists but liked the Germans as a counterweight to the British and yet another group thought they had a moral duty to help in the fight against the 'atheist darkness' on the continent.

If the first or even those groups that were simply against the war as such could be brought to the fore of public opinion in Ireland, then they would stay neutral.

“We need to remind them of the cost of going to war.”

Surprisingly enough the German was making sense there.

“Agreed. Comrade Stalin has tasked me with proposing that we begin to blockade some Irish ports on the east coast with mines and begin to use your U-Boats and our Submarines........”


They talked for hours more and by the end of the day the orders began to be issued. The combined submarine force on the coast of France was strong[3] and sure enough some Soviet and German boats left their bases that night and made their way to the western coast of Ireland where they would strive to intercept Irish and other merchant shipping heading for the Atlantic, and another group was laden not with torpedoes, even though each carried some for defence, but rather with mines. German magnetic mines, Soviet floating mines, together more than enough to seal the two or three major Irish ports. The Irish would soon learn the price of being insolent towards the Axis powers.















[Notes: And so the wardrum is being beaten on the Emerald Isle.]


[1] I refer to the dictionary for this.

[2] :D

[3] By the standards of AAO at least, they are weak compared to the same timeperiod in OTL.
 
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trekaddict

Good to see an update to the story. A few comments:

a) "the Führer celebrated his birthday without the party crashers from the Royal Air Force dropping in". The RAF missing a party.:eek: What is the world coming to.:rofl:

b) The Easter Uprising was actually in 1916.:p

c) Actually, depending on the calibre of the machine guns it could have been nasty for the U boat. Not going to penetrate the pressure hull but could cause damage elsewhere. Also I wouldn't like to be firing a 88mm open mount while a load of extremely unhappy people were point machine guns at me. Could easily see a serious loss of crew until the German commander realises the pointlessness of the operation. Alternatively, even without torpedoes, there's one way the MTB boat could probably sink/cripple the sub and if the Irish captain was mad enough he might go for it. [You do know HMS Dreadnought's one war-time kill don't you;)] Hence it was probably a wise move for the U boat captain to get his boat down ASAP. [But an unwise move by his superiors to deliberately target a neutral:mad:].

d) Glad you got the Barham quote in. Always loved that.:)

e) "who just happened to have transmitters aimed at Germany and by some strange coincidence someone was broadcasting it with a German and Russian translation following up on it immediately." - I wonder why they would do that.:p

f) Considering 'Any further encroachment on Irish lives, territory, waters and airspace by any of the belligerent powers without the approval of the Irish Government will be seen as an act of war.' - I wonder what the Nazi & Soviet commanders think mining and torpedoing Irish merchant shipping is? Chalk up another 'victory' for the supreme stupidity of totalitarian states.

Anyway, good chapter, in literally content if not a pleasant story.

Steve
 
Those nazis tugs... all muscles, no brain.
 
stevep

a) It's sort of a game within the RAF, each year they promise to crash the party but haven't done it yet. Yet is the operative word here.....

b) Has been corrected. Damn Typos.

c) The Irish MTB opened fire not even a quarter minute after the Germans had surfaced, so probably the CO hadn't even opened the hatch yet, so they went down again as soon as they heard the impacts, not much time to do damage. The Captain of the MTB was unaware of what you correctly stated, but hoped to frighten the Germans into diving again. Yes, the Axis are stupid, but remember, they think they can strongarm the Irish into staying neutral by showing them the cost of war.

d) So do I.

e) Someone at the BBC was pragmatic enough to do it. Let the conspiracy theories about the involvement of No.10 ensue!

f) I refer to the last sentence of c)


Kurt_Steiner They have brains, just improperly applied.

Hardraade Not quite yet. ;)
 
Hmm the Type VIIIC? There appears to be an extra 'I' sneaking in there both times the class is mentioned. Interesting.

While I wouldn't expect to see an OTL Type IX, (why bother with a long ranged u-boat if the US is not a target?), surely things aren't so bad the aborted VIII was rushed into production? Or am I just reading too much into a copied mistype? ;)

As has been said this isn't going to go well. On the plus side Ireland's entire defence 'strategy' was (and indeed still is) 'Neutrality then hide behind Britain' so they're not exactly fearsome. But the down side is they are proud, they can't back down in the face of threats without losing all credibility and after these attacks their dependence on Britain will be even more obvious.

When even the most pig headed realises that if Britain loses the war Ireland will be under the Axis thumb I think long term strategy and political expediency will combine. Somewhat ironic really as without that I think Ireland would be even less likely than OTL to join in, after all Britain is doing better so there's less reason to worry about the consequences of a German victory.
 
Actually, the Type IX exists, a small number is operating in the maritimes (a lot of sensitive stuff is being made in Canada, out of way of Axis bombing) and Africa. But yes, it's a Typo.

You've got the situation nailed down pretty accurately, because the Irish can't afford to be SEEN following that policy. Even so, their contribution will hardly be a war winner, the biggest one will be the opening of Irish ports to the RN and others and their export of agriculture to the UK.
 
Those nasty Nazis!

The Irish will fight, and fight well! :mad: