Fascists on the Move - an Italy WiF AAR

1938 to war

The japanese fearlessly push into China.




They would have Italy join them and conquer China side by side. Tempting..


Meanwhile the Spanish Civil War draws to a close.


The chinese weep for the republican loss.. in a dramatic gesture they destroy the their dams. The whole world can see how the Chinese nation mourns.


The formitable Euskadi state Franco annexes by will alone.


And our boys return home with some blueprints.. that go strait to the museum. Thanks.


After a year of fierce fighting Japan finally decides that enough blood has been spilt. They stop advancing any deeper into the mountains and even get the communists to sing an armistice.


The French try to scare us by bringing tank divisions and naval forces to the border. We get the message.


And prepare.


The day to finish Albanias independent existence finally arrives. They go out without a fight.


But while looting the place Italian are shocked to find... cash everywhere!! These muslim weirdos were fast becoming the next Switzerland. Good thing we were able to stop them in time.


The Regina Marina gets only the bare minimum. The Chief of the Navy tries to protest but Mussolini never listens to him:
"Cavagnari, we have nothing to fear. Our sole objective is to take land from the enemy.
"But Il Duce, the british-"
"Enough!"


Italy can not join the war since we are busy modernizing the army.


Two weeks later Poland is done.


Meanwhile Germani cancel and disagrees on trade agreements. They had been doing it since '36. Mussolini had never understood what was the problem. They had coal, we needed coal. They needed supplies, we could get them supplies. Why disagree, disagree, then agree, then cancel, then disagree, then cancel... what were they getting from this?


But by '40 it is evident.. those bastards are blackmailing us! They know we cant get any coal from the allies.. and they want us to join their war.


"Push the button Benito, just push it, PUSH IT!!!"
Mussolini wakes, covered in sweat.


Stalin learns not to mess with the finns. His collosal red army wasnt able to take an inch of land from the brave northerners.


Our army has been equipped with state of the art weaponry and more young men are mobilized for war.

Invasion of France


The germans start with a pincer attack into belgium.


As the allies mop up the northern front, the wehrmacht is allready launcing a ninja strike south.


Then north, where the allied armies have lost their nerve during the wait.


Flanking Paris


And flanking even more.


And Italy is ready to join the war.




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Sorry for the disgusting picture quality, they get wrecked sometimes for some unknown reason.

Fernando Torres: I need all the luck I can get! Its 1940 and the allies are allready giving me a hard time.

Tarsus540: Ive seen Euskadi make peace with Nationalist Spain, but after the republicans are defeated.. everyone forgets about the basques and they just get annexed. Sucks for them!

BritishImperial: heh, the subs are a more silly feature of the mod. Mussolini thought it was a german prank, I myself cant bother with babysitting those things.

The Beginning of the End

The Axis alliance turns out to be a brutal one.


There is no friendship, no charity. You get only if you have something to give back, Right Away.


But common hatred for the enemy unites us. Mussolini wants back the provinces, that were pawned long ago just to unite Italy.


The french are who they are.. goateed, barrette wearing, soldiers using walking sticks to walk.. problably baguette eating too - when suddenly thousands of alpini troops storm up the alps.


The first combined italo-german offensive is so devastating


That the french loose their will to live.


A highly accurate artists rendition of what happened.

Some believe it is wrong for italy to content with only the provinces we managed to grab (and had claims to).

"No way, no way in hell!" Ciano protests.
But Mussolini pays him no heed:
"Relax, my young foreign minister."
"How can I relax when we only get two provinces, when they got the whole of northern france! It isnt fair, we couldve just as easily.."
"Ah, but as they say: we scratch their back, they scratch ours."
"It wasnt to my knowledge we have an itch."
"Oh, but we most certainly do..."



Meanwhile Graziani is all ready dreaming


"Alexander, Napoloen and now.. Rodolfo Graziani, Marchese di Neghelli!"
Even though his adversary outperforms him at every step.


And the nefarious british are up to their usual.. giving promises they dont intend to keep, just to get others to do their fighting for them.
"So the british declare Greece will not stand alone? Well I declare Greece will not stand at all!" Mussolini boasts.

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Turns out Paint ruined the quality of the old screens - Paint!! I feel so betrayed.. Id always thought this was a crude, but a reliable tool. Shows how you cant trust anything.

But glad you are enjoying it!

germanpeon: I never bothered reading the event descriptions, but yeah ridiculous stuff, looks like they used some program to translane.

The Real War

War is declared upon Switzerland and the swiss show their true colours.


Only seconds after receiving the dow theyve signed an alliance with the allies. Clearly they had the papers waiting in the drawer.

The Italian army pushes into Chur, through mountains, fortresses and some swiss.


We attack from three sides, not letting the enemy get a hang of it.


Even though General Pintor is commanding the hq and 8 divisions, the overall offensive is headed by Vercellino. It is not like Pintor to let others sit on him.. something most be going on.

But Mussolini is not troubled, the competition keeps his officers on the edge.


It is not a good day for Pintor as swiss planes swoosh from the skies and hamper his move.


Interceptors are ordered to clear the skies, but air general Pricolo and his goofy gang of aviators do no consider Turin part of North Italy!


After receiving more punctual ordres ("TURIN, TURIN, I want to fly over Turin, where were being bombed, you bumbling fools!!) they make short work of the swiss.

As Chur is taken the final order is given..


The men race up the mountains for the prized city of Bern.


When the ruthless field marshal Rundstedt shows up. And Mussolini becomes nervous. Rundstedt has become famous for his hunger for cities. He was the one to take Rotterdam, Antwerp and Luxembourg. He wishes to add Bern to the list, that much is obvious.


But our brave soldiers show their worth by arriving on foot before german tanks and trucks!

And the southern half of Switzerland is part of Italy, as shouldve always been.



Meanwhile our offensive in Egypt is bogging down.


While outnumbering the british we should be able to push through.


But they are disciplined warriors.. we are forced to quit.


Before being able to regroup the they decide to pay back. And while at first we try to hold on


and bring motorised divisions to help


It is too much.


Relentlessly they keep pushing forward.

Westwards the enemy tries an amphibious landing.


Intelligence reports they have an army in Malta.. should they land that thing in Libya our strategic position in Africa would be destroyed! But we are not shaken. The airforce is brought in to fix it.


Too late...


They do what they can do stop any more divisions from getting through, but the damn skies arent even ours!


Interceptors are ordered to take off Pronto, Mussolini himself flies to Palermo.
"Anyone who is not in the air fighting the allies in five minutes.. must wrestle ME!" and he rips his shirt off in a single motion.

And theyre off!

But in all the chaos, excitement and fear.. they fly in the wrong direction..


And our brave bombers get hammered.


When the pilots get their cardinal points figured out they do pretty well.


But the general public is more concerned about Ethiopa.

Tarsus540: At the rate my game is going.. a last stand it Switzerland seems probable.

DvD-IT: If I can get my own fronts secured, then sure, well bleed together on the eastern front. But I wont jump central asia, even WiF AI cant handle that.

Carlito Gambino: I needed all the industry I could get and the swiss were so near. Couldve been a mistake though.. Switzerland or Egypt 1940? Damn..

A Strange Week

The mystique of our beloved Il Duce rises even more, when Balbo, the only man in the whole state, who had the balls to talk back


dies in a freak accident.


His soul however is not allowed to pass to the underworld. He must complete his duties first.


Another messenger arrives to Mussolini
"Sir, the production of was disrupted."
"The production of... ?"
"Yes, the production of."
"... good."


Our racist friends on the other hand, thinking that the US 13th infantry division is to be composed of african americans, do what they can do sabotage it.


The war in Egypt has cooled down. There is no point in wasting lives. We cant take Egypt without reinforcements, they cant push us out. Live and let live (until the reinforcements arrive).


A motorized corps is sent to save Tripoli.

Yes, all is well, as Il Duce is sitting on a comfy chair on the balcony, enjoying a class of cool lemonade.. when a messenger..

the boy hasnt the courage to say it, he drops the papers and flees in tears..

Mussolini gets up to take a look at at..






...



RRRAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!!

The chair goes flying, hits the wall, smashed to pieces.


Grazianis troops storm the british positions without orders.


Tank divisions are built.


And no briton is left alive in Tripoli.

Whewh.

Well to be honest, the brits in Tripoli wanted water instead of action, looks like the airforce did its job.

Just as we are are regaining our cool:

Australians show up on the beaches of Cyrenaica. We have really overestimated our garrisons.

Airplanes are once again called in, but just as before they cannot find the invasion fleet. So Cavagnari is asked to help.
Admiral Campioni to his troops:
"Yes, we have been severely underbudgeted, yes our main firepower comes from ww1 vintage battleships. But we are the Regia Marina! We make do with what we have and we do it well!"


Immediately they interject a transport fleet.


And the Aussies are stopped!

Oh, what a proud day for the Regia Maria! Champagne flows like rivers (if youre an officer, otherwise its mopping the floor as usual), a lot of ammo is wasted to celebrate the victory.

Cavagnari is allready aroused: "Ooh, we showed them, showed them good! They hadnt given us Anything yet we save the day! Now they regret, oh, how they will apologize, and I will finally get my sweet Littorio and the mighty Vittorio Veneto."


But the australians have not taken a lesson..


And Italian soil itself is in danger!!

Campioni: "Oh theyre at it again? Well.. we'll just sink them this time!"

And our fleet sails again, this time full of pride and confidence,



but...


ITS A TRAP!


It was all a ruse, the aussies were bait to get at our ships... luckily we are able to escape.


And the stern Campioni pushes forward: "We have a duty! No amount of modern aircraft carriers will stop it!"


But some cross eyed pilots that have made it to the coast of Italy, instead of Cyrenaica warn us in time. And Cavagnari orders his admiral back.. we cannot risk losing our main fleet, its not worth it.


Bengazi is lost.


And so is Sardinia.

Things are not looking good.



but cool?


Germans and britons race from their ships and fight melee on top of an aircraft carrier.