The Germans advancing? That has been a while. But what the [censure] are Luxemburgians doing in Finland? Looks like HoI3 even more fond of absurdities than HoI2.
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Well, the Allied AI (at least of puppets) often goes around to support your wars.
Seeing as Luxembourg and Slovakia are both land-locked puppets of Germany, I'm not surprised that they go to fight. Even if its in one of the smaller theatres within the big picture...
It isn't too unbelievable to see minor axis forces on a subsidiary front. Just hard to believe them doing so well.
FlyingDutchie: Well in the first place, the Germans decided to puppet them for some reason. God knows why. Secondly, I take it that it's the 1.4 AI improvements at work. 
IFD123: Yep.
Jemisi: Precisely. They're doing better than the Germans, almost!
Update tonight!
IFD123: Yep.
Jemisi: Precisely. They're doing better than the Germans, almost!
Update tonight!
Yay, Germans are liberating Finns from the Bolshevists!
I like optimism. Sometimes.
I like optimism. Sometimes.
Enewald: Actually Finland is part of the Allies. I dunno how the Soviets got military access.
Update coming up!
Update coming up!
The Year of the Masters of War
Part 3: Distraction in Palestine, March 20 – May 31, 1944
As mentioned previously, there were two barometers which for Mussolini had to be correct before he could willingly risk another massive gamble. The first was the German pressure in Finland, which was sufficiently high for him. The second barometer concerned British pressure in Palestine, which he preferred to keep to a minimum. Unfortunately for him, Britain took the spring of 1944 as the perfect opportunity to launch a minor invasion of Palestine, with the avowed goal of relieving Tel Aviv and opening a corridor of supplies to the British fleet units trapped there. Since the removal of Vercellino’s 7a Armata a year previously Palestine had been undefended; ironically, before its departure, the 7a Armata had been specifically placed to counter threats from the approach that Britain was now taking: the Palestine-Iraq border.
1944 seemed to be the year that inactive belligerents became more active: already Luxembourg, especially Slovakia and even Germany were being more active, even if only in the subsidiary theater of Finland and the Kola Peninsula. Possibly for the same reason, the British were becoming more active as well, and their allies too. The South Africans sent a significant number of divisions northward and essentially precluded any Italian offensive action in Africa for the entire year. In Palestine, as already noted, this activity was manifested by an invasion. It was not a strong invasion: by any other standards it was paltry. When the British crossed the border between Palestine and Iraq on late March, they fielded only a single marine division of two brigades: merely six thousand men. However, with no Italian formations to stand in its way, it was blatantly a danger as, after relieving Tel Aviv, it could simply march further and retake control of the Suez and even Alexandria!
The British invasion of Palestine!
The Italians had to act quickly to preclude even the relief of Tel Aviv and troops were thundering ashore by April 2. Mussolini had been building up another army in Italy’s southern provinces, the 11a Armata under command of General Baistrocchi. It consisted of three corps, and was thus a fairly sizeable army of ninety thousand as compared to others: it was larger than Vercellino’s army of eighty-two thousand, which also contained three corps, and almost as large as Bastico’s 1a Armata of ninety-six thousand, which was the single largest Italian army! By comparison, Pintor’s famous and experienced 7a Armata remained at a low fifty-four thousand. Biastrocchi was obliged to send off one of his corps to Palestine to counter the British foray—for to call it an invasion is perhaps grandiose—in part because his forces were available and still being organized and in part because, as the new army, it could do with some experience. Thus thirty thousand Italians hit the beaches north of Tel Aviv in a classical amphibious operation—albeit without an enemy firing back. This may seem bizarre at first, that the corps would land across a beach rather than in a port, but the closest Italian-held port was at Alexandria, which was significantly distant from Palestine to make it impractical as a destination. The only port within Palestine itself was Tel Aviv, which was, of course, still under British occupation. Furthermore, placing one’s forces between the enemy and the objective is generally the first requirement to mounting a successful defense, thus making any landing south of Tel Aviv something of a nonsense anyway.
The Italian amphibious landing north of Tel Aviv.
The Italians immediately deployed in a net-like fashion. One division would each go to Nablus and Jerusalem, thus preventing the British, currently at Az Zarqa and pushing south as if to reach Tel Aviv through Jerusalem, from outflanking the Italian defenses. If the British moved significantly southward of Amman, they would become incredibly vulnerable to a very easy outflanking and encirclement operation. Finally, the third Italian division was deployed northward to Irbid, from where it would be able to cut the British lines of supply north of Amman, and indeed particularly at Az Zarqa, which the British were vacating. The British plan was in fact exactly divined by the Italian commanders, as from Amman the British immediately turned west toward Jerusalem. The Italians managed to block the way, fortunately, and the outflanking Italian division occupied Az Zarqa. Thus the battle of Amman came to pass on April 12, when three Italian divisions descended upon the trapped British marine division in Amman and destroyed it. By this point the British were beginning to reinforce their success—or rather, their failure—by sending another division into Palestine. The battle for Amman ended by the evening of April 14 with one hundred and seventeen Italian casualties and seven hundred sixty three British dead, plus a British division destroyed.
The first battle of the new Palestinian campaign.
By April 23 the Italians had reached north-eastern Palestine and were hitting the newcomer British infantry division, a formation of three brigades, at Al Hamad on the Palestinian-Iraqi border. A victory in which four hundred and twenty Italians and eight hundred and forty British died, Mussolini hoped that this was enough to put the British on their heels even though this second division merely retreated onto the neutral sands of Iraq. May was fast approaching and Mussolini was getting edgy about launching his offensive so he proceeded to call the corps to Alexandria to prepare. The British, however, would not oblige Mussolini and immediately used their infantry division to launch another invasion of Palestine. By the 21st of May it had reached Nablus and relieved Tel Aviv, but at the same time the Italian corps opposing it had returned to the scene of operations and had cut off British supplies further to the north. The battle of Nablus ended with two hundred and thirty five Italian deaths and one hundred and forty three British dead. While not a favorable ratio by any standards, the British retreated to As Salt to the northeast rather than into Tel Aviv and were forced to surrender when it turned out that the Italians had reached As Salt before them.
The third battle of the Palestinian campaign.
Thus ended the Palestinian campaign. The British threat consisted of only two divisions, five brigades, and these formations were entirely destroyed. While the effect of this defeat on the British was negligible, for the British Isles teemed with a myriad of formations, it was merely ever a stopgap measure for the Italians. They wished to render Palestine safe again so that they could throw the dice in a large way elsewhere. Thus the Italians achieved exactly what they meant to, and soon the great gamble would begin.
Part 3: Distraction in Palestine, March 20 – May 31, 1944
As mentioned previously, there were two barometers which for Mussolini had to be correct before he could willingly risk another massive gamble. The first was the German pressure in Finland, which was sufficiently high for him. The second barometer concerned British pressure in Palestine, which he preferred to keep to a minimum. Unfortunately for him, Britain took the spring of 1944 as the perfect opportunity to launch a minor invasion of Palestine, with the avowed goal of relieving Tel Aviv and opening a corridor of supplies to the British fleet units trapped there. Since the removal of Vercellino’s 7a Armata a year previously Palestine had been undefended; ironically, before its departure, the 7a Armata had been specifically placed to counter threats from the approach that Britain was now taking: the Palestine-Iraq border.
1944 seemed to be the year that inactive belligerents became more active: already Luxembourg, especially Slovakia and even Germany were being more active, even if only in the subsidiary theater of Finland and the Kola Peninsula. Possibly for the same reason, the British were becoming more active as well, and their allies too. The South Africans sent a significant number of divisions northward and essentially precluded any Italian offensive action in Africa for the entire year. In Palestine, as already noted, this activity was manifested by an invasion. It was not a strong invasion: by any other standards it was paltry. When the British crossed the border between Palestine and Iraq on late March, they fielded only a single marine division of two brigades: merely six thousand men. However, with no Italian formations to stand in its way, it was blatantly a danger as, after relieving Tel Aviv, it could simply march further and retake control of the Suez and even Alexandria!
The British invasion of Palestine!
The Italians had to act quickly to preclude even the relief of Tel Aviv and troops were thundering ashore by April 2. Mussolini had been building up another army in Italy’s southern provinces, the 11a Armata under command of General Baistrocchi. It consisted of three corps, and was thus a fairly sizeable army of ninety thousand as compared to others: it was larger than Vercellino’s army of eighty-two thousand, which also contained three corps, and almost as large as Bastico’s 1a Armata of ninety-six thousand, which was the single largest Italian army! By comparison, Pintor’s famous and experienced 7a Armata remained at a low fifty-four thousand. Biastrocchi was obliged to send off one of his corps to Palestine to counter the British foray—for to call it an invasion is perhaps grandiose—in part because his forces were available and still being organized and in part because, as the new army, it could do with some experience. Thus thirty thousand Italians hit the beaches north of Tel Aviv in a classical amphibious operation—albeit without an enemy firing back. This may seem bizarre at first, that the corps would land across a beach rather than in a port, but the closest Italian-held port was at Alexandria, which was significantly distant from Palestine to make it impractical as a destination. The only port within Palestine itself was Tel Aviv, which was, of course, still under British occupation. Furthermore, placing one’s forces between the enemy and the objective is generally the first requirement to mounting a successful defense, thus making any landing south of Tel Aviv something of a nonsense anyway.
The Italian amphibious landing north of Tel Aviv.
The Italians immediately deployed in a net-like fashion. One division would each go to Nablus and Jerusalem, thus preventing the British, currently at Az Zarqa and pushing south as if to reach Tel Aviv through Jerusalem, from outflanking the Italian defenses. If the British moved significantly southward of Amman, they would become incredibly vulnerable to a very easy outflanking and encirclement operation. Finally, the third Italian division was deployed northward to Irbid, from where it would be able to cut the British lines of supply north of Amman, and indeed particularly at Az Zarqa, which the British were vacating. The British plan was in fact exactly divined by the Italian commanders, as from Amman the British immediately turned west toward Jerusalem. The Italians managed to block the way, fortunately, and the outflanking Italian division occupied Az Zarqa. Thus the battle of Amman came to pass on April 12, when three Italian divisions descended upon the trapped British marine division in Amman and destroyed it. By this point the British were beginning to reinforce their success—or rather, their failure—by sending another division into Palestine. The battle for Amman ended by the evening of April 14 with one hundred and seventeen Italian casualties and seven hundred sixty three British dead, plus a British division destroyed.
The first battle of the new Palestinian campaign.
By April 23 the Italians had reached north-eastern Palestine and were hitting the newcomer British infantry division, a formation of three brigades, at Al Hamad on the Palestinian-Iraqi border. A victory in which four hundred and twenty Italians and eight hundred and forty British died, Mussolini hoped that this was enough to put the British on their heels even though this second division merely retreated onto the neutral sands of Iraq. May was fast approaching and Mussolini was getting edgy about launching his offensive so he proceeded to call the corps to Alexandria to prepare. The British, however, would not oblige Mussolini and immediately used their infantry division to launch another invasion of Palestine. By the 21st of May it had reached Nablus and relieved Tel Aviv, but at the same time the Italian corps opposing it had returned to the scene of operations and had cut off British supplies further to the north. The battle of Nablus ended with two hundred and thirty five Italian deaths and one hundred and forty three British dead. While not a favorable ratio by any standards, the British retreated to As Salt to the northeast rather than into Tel Aviv and were forced to surrender when it turned out that the Italians had reached As Salt before them.
The third battle of the Palestinian campaign.
Thus ended the Palestinian campaign. The British threat consisted of only two divisions, five brigades, and these formations were entirely destroyed. While the effect of this defeat on the British was negligible, for the British Isles teemed with a myriad of formations, it was merely ever a stopgap measure for the Italians. They wished to render Palestine safe again so that they could throw the dice in a large way elsewhere. Thus the Italians achieved exactly what they meant to, and soon the great gamble would begin.
Good job at encircling them at Amman. Also, were your controlling this front or was it done by AI?
What about a few distraction landings in Anatolia and Greece?
Confuse the Soviets as much as possible.
Confuse the Soviets as much as possible.
What about not distracting US from the real show anymore? ..out with it! How did the real campaign in the Balkans go????
..out with it! How did the real campaign in the Balkans go????
nice job giving us absolutely no hints about your new offensive the suspense is killing me!
the suspense is killing me!
nice job giving us absolutely no hints about your new offensive
And another one bites the dust!
..maybe he sees this as another way to improve his kill statistics!
soulking: This was me. I haven't used the AI since Abyssinia.
Enewald: Whoa Nelly, we ain't at that point yet.
BlitzMartinDK: I don't know what you're talking about!
Duke of Awesome: Hopefully you won't die before next week.
BlitzMartinDK: Kill statistics?
Enewald: Whoa Nelly, we ain't at that point yet.
BlitzMartinDK: I don't know what you're talking about!
Duke of Awesome: Hopefully you won't die before next week.
BlitzMartinDK: Kill statistics?
Congrats on the internship Myth, will this at all affect the speed of these marvellous updates however?
I'm still wondering where this new offensive of yours is going to come though, perhaps the same as last year or maybe something new. I just have to wait =(
I'm still wondering where this new offensive of yours is going to come though, perhaps the same as last year or maybe something new. I just have to wait =(
[BlitzMartinDK: Kill statistics?
Sorry, been playing too many Shooters lately
Maybe bodycount would be more precise? :rofl:
I am enjoying the buildup. Hopefully this sideshow will not end as a Greece and Crete distraction pre-Barbarossa.
And so Tel Aviv remains the largest Italian POW-camp. Any plans to deal with that navy anytime soon? It won't furfill any grand strategic goals, being already removed from battle, yet naval battles are just cool .
.
And so Tel Aviv remains the largest Italian POW-camp. Any plans to deal with that navy anytime soon? It won't furfill any grand strategic goals, being already removed from battle, yet naval battles are just cool
true, is there any practical reason why it remains unoccupied?
If it's occupied, the fleet there gets forced out into the Med. Out of Supply, it may be, but with strait control being so uncertain, it might manage to escape and return to haunt the RM.