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General Popeliucka’s headquarters
October 4, 1940


- Wake up, General! We’ve got a Ruthenia to conquer! – yelled General Skucas to still sleeping Popeliucka.
- What? Already?
- Yes! Our troops have already crossed the border at Swieceany and Lida and are currently thrashing the Ruthenians.

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The initial order of battle. Ground forces would be supported by the brand new ANBO CAS aircraft, deployed in the number of three squadrons.

Popeliucka rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was in his command headquarters, at the border with Ukraine. It was decided that as soon as Ruthenia surrenders, the forces at the Ukrainan border will have to charge the enemy straight away, without any expectations of reinforcements until the victorious divisions regroup and move south.
He looked at his watch, lying on the bedside table.
- It’s only five o’clock and I really don’t think I can influence the situation in any way, General.
Skucas shook his head.
- On the contrary, my friend! We’ve finally received new tanks! The whole army corps is celebrating.
- Ooooh?

It took General Popeliucka three and a half minutes to get himself dressed and combed properly. He then quickly lowered some snack and hurried to the technical hangars.

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The new LT-38 tanks were comparable to the best armour of the time - German Panzer II and French Renault R-35. While being weaker armoured than the other two, LTs were faster and had a much longer operational range. The chassis of LTs was particularly reliable.

- Lord Allmighty! – he exclaimed, taking a look at the new tanks.
- These are the Bohemian LT-38 we’ve obtained a license for. A year later, these magnificent tanks, produced in Lithuania, are now at our disposal! The first party went to the guys at the Ruthenian border, we’ve received only ten tanks, but by the New Year they promised to supply enough LT-s to confer with the program. This way, by 1941, 80% of our tanks will be modern LTs and the remaining – modernized, gunned Vickers.

Popeliucka observed the tanks crank up and roll.
- LT-38 just scream “Lithuania!”, don’t they? – he smiled.
- Oh yes. We finally have the most modern tanks at our command, these lovelies could easily siege a French or British position, Ukrainians will surely fold in a few weeks or so.

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Lithuanian infantry shooting at a Ruthenian border post.

By October 6, the Lithuanian troops, supported by three squadrons of assault aircraft, have managed to capture the northernmost provinces of Lida, Molodezno and Swieceany. They also occupied the southern cities of Rowne and Pinsk, left strangely undefended by the Ruthenians. It seemed as if the Ruthenian army decided to fall back deeper in the country and organize a heavier defence around Minsk.

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Weather situation at the Ruthenian front, expected to get much worse in but a few days.


However, on October 8th, completely unexpected snow fell down in most of White Ruthenia and the meteorologists reported more snow to cover the landscape by the end of October. The advance of Lithuanian troops slowed noticeably, due to infantry lacking any all-terrain transportation possibilities. Will Ruthenians have enough time to regroup and counterattack?
 
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I'll bring up a spoiler: they're all hiding in Mogilev and Zhlobin, around 10 divisions.
...they're all probably crowding at eastern border posts, begging the Russians to let them in and yelling "Bastards!" after being refused.
 
I love the look of the world on October 1st, 1940! Any chance you could upload the save game somewhere? It would be a great 'alternate starting scenario' for avid Kaiserreich players like myself - I particularly like the beefed-up Internationale. With Syndicalism in Asia and the Germans very much still in China the war could be much more of a 'world war' than it usually is in Kaiserreich!

Great AAR, btw, and an inspired idea. For Lithuania!
 
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Despite their manoeuvrability, even the LT-38s couldn't be of much use in White Ruthenian country - deep snow covering a semi-frozen swamp was living Hell for mechanized units.


On October 6th, Lithuanian forces finally reached Minsk. The city, heavily shelled by Lithuanian and German air forces, turned out to be weakly defended. Lt-38 tanks rolled into the city, the resistance caused was minimal. Where the hell was the Ruthenian Army?

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By October 9, Minsk was in complete Lithuanian control and the recon troops finally located the Ruthenians - almost the whole White Ruthenian Army was deployed as close to the Russian border as possible, in the town of Orsha. It seems they have been trying to escape into Russia, but Russians, following the previously struck agreements, did not let a single White Ruthenian in.

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First Lithuanian discovery that wasn't, actually, a rip-off from the German tech, new ANBO support aircraft were first tested against the Ruthenians at Orsha, but the war was already over by the time they were deployed in large numbers.

Colonel Popeliucka couldn't care less about Slavs betraying Slavs. He was wondering when it would be his time to charge into Ukraine. Each morning he stood up with the sunrise, had the communications turned on and listened.

Vilnius was silent.

On November 23, the last Ruthenian forces surrendered to the Mitteleuropean armies. White Ruthenia would become a part of Lithuanian Kingdom, as decided in Warsaw. By the time Ruthenia fell, about a dozen German divisions crossed the border, Germans probably being overprotective. Lithuanians could butcher anything in Ruthenia themselves, Popeliucka thought, stuffing his pipe.

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He looked out of the window. Snow. Snow all over, this is way too strange. As soon as it began snowing in October, it never ceased snowing for a single day. Charging on reinforced Ukrainian positions in such weather would be madness, but so is waiting till Ukraine joins Internationale and French send them help. Bloody Reds.

aar1.jpg

White Ruthenians attempted a daring counter-attack at Bobraisk, and ultimately managed to push Lithuanians in that area back, but it was too late for them to make proper use of this success. Encircled, under constant aerial bombardment and never truly loyal to King Sigismund, the White Ruthenians gave up.

Did Germans move in to make sure Lithuania doesn't get too expansionist?
The general pondered that thought for a moment, and decided that outcome would only be logical. After all, Lithuania only rose to existance for Germany to have a bunch of buffer states between them and Russia, noone could have predicted the current situation or expected it. Lithuanians just got lucky.

- Mail? - asked Popeliucka to the soldier who was standing at the entrance to his quarters, unwilling to bother.
- Mail, sir. All the way from Vilnius, sir!
- Then why the hell are you standing there like a pagan idol?! Gimme that! - roared the general, grabbing the envelope.

to General K. Popeliucka,
said the letter.
It seems that this winter will be one of the coldest in the recorded history, and we already had our share with victories. The operations at your front are to start as soon as the snow clears, id est, spring 1941.

General Sikorski, Head of Staff


Prakeikimas!
- cursed Popeliucka. Do they want me to go native here?!
 
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general sikorski fullfilling his duties like this seems really cool. i hope after ukraine you go after the german occupied polish lands or else you'll get yourself a civil war lithuanians vs the poles ;)
 
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April 12, 1941
Vilnius, Ministry of Defence


- I need to know exactly how many Ukrainian divisions we will have to fight! - General Sikorski slammed his fist on the table.
- Sir, we're doing what we can at the moment, it's not very easy to develop a net of agents. So far, our sources in Ukraine claim they have over 60 divisions, 20 of them being stationed at the Lithuanian and Romanian borders, in the west. Most of their bomber aircraft is in Kiev, four squadrons. - explained the intellegence officer.
- And we got?
- 25 divisions, 4 of which are armoured. One in Popeliucka's corps in the south, three in the north, in Mozyr. We're also in command of three combat support air squadrons.
- That's not a good ratio, although, if Russians and Cossacks don't hesitate with their own offensives, Ukrainians will drain their reserves quickly. What about our reserve possibilities?
- Two more tank divisions could be deployed in a month, and the same for another interceptor squadron.

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Not included in the construction queue are a few air bases under construction in southern and eastern Lithuania.

- Right, how's the equipment?

One of the specialists handed Sikorski a heap of slides. General looked at them.
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- Looks pretty good, but how good is the Ukrainian Airforce?
The intellegence agent scratched the back of his head.
- It will be a nuisance, unless Germans move in with the legendary Luftwaffe and stop them. We don't have enough interceptors.

Sikorski checked his papers again.
- Well, then send the two squadrons we have at the moment on patrol duty along the border. What we need least is some Ukrainian bomber dropping destruction on Warsaw. How's the weather?
- Warm, but the western plains of Ukraine are still very muddy. The tanks will have to stick to the roads, if we are planning a quick operation.
- Getting rid of all this dirt will be the first thing we'll do once we hang Khrushev. It's decided, gentlemen. We can wait no longer. Get me Popeliucka on the line - Sikorski gestured to the radioman.

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- Listening, General? - Popeliucka's voice sounded bold and enthuisiastic.
- Get your troops ready. We start the offensive on May 1, when those goddamned Reds will be marching in lines praising Marx and whoever else they're praising. This will make the initial fighting a little easier, I hope.
- Understood, General!
- And also, you're on your own there, Klemensas. Dragging Germans along in this mess will mean we haven't learned anything over these years. I want this war to be a war won by Lithuania. Well, Lithuania with a little help of Russians and Cossacks, but that doesn't matter.
- Yes, General.
- In fact, we don't have any idea when the other guys will strike at Ukraine, and we can't tell them either, it'll be a guaranteed leak to Ukrainians. Just hope they'll join in soon enough, or you'll have to deal with an enemy thrice your size...

General Popeliucka lay down the receiver.
- Finally. - he grinned.
 
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Well considering that Kiev is not that far away from the Lithuanian lines, it will be more than enough, I think.
 
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May 14, 1941
Lithuanian Mobile Headquarters, Vinnitsa


In the command tent, dozens of deskbound soldiers were running around, buzzing like bees, dicussing things, arguing with each other and simply making noise. Phones were ringing, papers were exchanged, orders were given and executed. Due to the new directive that prohibited single-nation units, both Lithuanian and Polish were spoken, yelled and cursed in. It was a miniature Babylon.
In the middle of this chaos sat a static General Popeliucka. The only thing moving in him was the smoke of his trademark pipe. He was deep in thought.

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The first victories of Ukrainian War, Lithuania charging Ukraine proudly alone.

In front of him lay the strategic map. Green arrows were penetrating blue lines, pushing them back, encircling and crossing them, twisting them to make way...Zhitomir, Cherkassy, Korosten, Ostrog were highlighted with green. Ostrog...the first East Slavic printed literature was made in this town, back in the 16th century. Well, now it's all debris, and a green circle on his map. The blue line was gone.

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Lithuanian troops breaking down the barrier on the Ukrainian border in Vyshgorod. (Take note of a gentleman in the middle terribly resembling the Polish President Lech Kaczyński holding the barrier for the lads to saw at. I knew he was an Immortal! I knew it!)

The General tried not to think how many people died to push the blue line in Vinnitsa, where Ukrainian Air Force, exploiting the weather conditions, went on a vile rampage, completely halting the offensive in the area and inflicting the worst losses Lithuania ever suffered - over 15,000 people and 200 tanks were lost in the battle for the city. He had no choice but to call for the German Luftwaffe, who now dominated the sky above Ukraine.

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Quick enough to stay out of Ukrainian artillery's reach, LT-38 fell prey to the enemy bombers, so massively used in the battle for Vinnitsa. Interestingly, noone was found guilty of the first major screwup in Lithuanian modern military history. The only paper that arrived from Vilnius promised to supply the new tanks in a month.

The Ukrainian infantry was no match for the Lithuanians, though. Sikorski made a good call having lobbied all those engineer brigades attached to every single division in the Army, Popeliucka thought. There are no roads in this country, only impassable swamp and disgusting dirt, quickly nicknamed "Khrushev Highways" by the lads from Engineer Corps.

On May 4, a day after the bloodbath in Vinnitsa, Russians entered the war, taking Kursk in a single night, Russian population of the city overthrowing the Ukrainian garrison.

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Today, Lithuanian forces reached Kiev. The order to siege the city was given, and following a combined artillery shelling and air bombing, the tanks rolled into the suburbs. How many of the original number of defenders managed to survive the bombing? Will the ruptured walls and barriers and minefields hold against the LT-38s? Is there any aviation left around the city? Another shellacking like in Vinnitsa could render Lithuanian Panzer troops unexistant, a year after their creation.

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Not wishing to follow White Ruthenian fate,Ukrainians had five months to make use of the time and prepare to defend the country. Every citizen able to hold a gun was handed one, as well as a gas mask and a chemical suit, Ukrainian military staff being paranoid of Germans using poison gas once again, twenty-five years later.

General opened the intellegence reports of the city defences. Unbelievable, it looks like the Syndicalists have turned Kiev into a huge fortress on the western bank of the Dnieper. As for the the smaller eastern bank, it was evacuated and left deserted. Miles of barbed wire and anti-tank obstacles covering the approach routes must make the city look like a huge, gargantual hedgehog of steel. General's mind was unable to imagine the picture soldiers will have to see.

Popeliucka looked at the postcard enclosed to the file.
- Anyone here knows Russian? - he suddenly asked.
Everyone around him froze. A moment later, one of the younger soldiers came up.
- I do, sir. Studied Russian at school in Lublin.
- Translate it, please. - Popeliucka pointed at the postcard.
- "Киев - мать городов русских" - read the translator aloud. Uh, "Kiev is the mother of Russian cities", sir. I know it makes no sense, but that's what it says. Weird, though...
- Dismissed, corporal - nodded Popeliucka. - And read some history books when the war is over...

The Mother of Russian cities, soon to be in Mitteleuropean hands. General Popeliucka couldn't stop worrying that all the treaties with Russians were just farce, like two guests in a restaraunt splitting a two-person appetizer before fighting each other for the single cake left.

And what would this cake be...
 
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(Take note of a gentleman in the middle terribly resembling the Polish President Lech Kaczyński holding the barrier for the lads to saw at. I knew he was an Immortal! I knew it!)
yeah, he kinda does. do you know is it in reality? what is this picture of in our timeline :?:

and kiev indeed has a huge history of belonging to different states. the most important issue is to make the inhabitants to be good commonwealth citizens ;) is the whole ukrainian part after the war going to be core ??
 
To gooy:
The picture with Kaczyński in our real timeline is the picture of Lithuanians entering Vilnius/Wilno in 1939.
And no, only Western Ukraine will go over to Lithuanians, the rest - to Cossacks and Russians, just as in the Warsaw Treaty posted a page or two ago.

Any comments on what else would you like to see in this AAR, dear public? :D
 
Taking Kiev, won't be that difficult, considering your last screenshot you have more than enough divisions to do it.