@Meadow: I know, the Italian's have done very well in this war. It helps that their army is pretty huge too, with about 120 divisions IIRC.
Oh, and good suggestion on Canada and the UK. However, I want the British to also remember who is calling the shots.
@Issac Wolfe: Those 62 divisions are only the start. I have my industries working around the clock on mobilizing more soldiers, building more weapons, launching more ships, and rolling out more armoured vehicles and soon, tanks. Those syndie bastards are going to feel the full might of the arsenal of democracy!
@The_Frozen_1: That is very close to what I will be doing.
@MarshalThorpe: Thank you, and welcome aboard!
@Zhuge Liang: Its about time too. I was worried for a while that the Germans would simply squash them at the beginning, but thanks to their large army (and some AI and IC modding by me) they are actually proving to be a worthy opponent.
@History_Buff: I would love to land on Italy, but there are some problems. First of all, the logistics of an invasion are rather negative at that point, with Gibraltar in French hands, and the fact that the Italians have stacked their beaches with LOTS of troops. (about 7 - 10 divs per beach at the point I am in the game) Therefore I will have to choose a different target.
@Austria Hungary: Dont worry, I didn't forget about the Germans. I helped them out by giving them some more manpower, manually ending the German-Japanese war, getting their AI to focus more on their army rather than their airforce and U boats, as well as getting them some more allies.
But as you will see later, even that doesn't really help them very much....
Here is another update for tonight.
Ottoman troops launch a number of amphibious landing operations throughout the Mediterranean sea, taking control of Corsica, Sardinia, and Iberia's Mediterranean islands.
In China, Japanese troops sweep into the "Legation cities": European controlled ports on the coast of China. With little means to stop the Japanese attack, the European leaders of these cities surrender, giving the Japanese a massive propaganda victory.
The Iberian navy attempts to break out into the Atlantic ocean through the straits of Gibraltar, running headlong into Nimitz's blockading task force. The US carriers strike the old Iberian ships, this time making their first major surface kill of the war, the old ex-Spanish navy flagship
Espana, which is destroyed by dive and torpedo bombers from the
USS Yorktown.
The situation in Europe by January 1st, 1943. The French and German armies are still stuck fighting in places like Alsace Lorraine, the Ardennes, former Belgium, and Holland. In the south however, the Italian army has started to lose some ground, being driven largely out of Austria and Munich, as well as parts of Croatia by the now arriving Hungarian army. Their positions in the south are still very strong however, and the fighting is far from over for these regions.
German troops, heading for the western front.
Italian forces, with the support of French tanks, finally break through the last lines of Croatian defense in front of the city of Dubrovnik, the last stronghold still in Croatian hands. After this defeat, the Croatian regime flees for Hungary, which is now taking a much more active role in the Balkan front. (BTW, I am not even going to try and pronounce the name of the Hungarian head of government!)
With the Germans still heavily resisting their attacks, the French Premier decides to make a radio address to his nation, as well as to all Syndicalist forces on the frontlines. In his address, the French Premier asked all the people of France to give him one final effort, famously asking over the radio: "Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even yet imagine?" The result was the mobilization of all of the Commune of France's remaining manpower and industrial resources, to make one last push to not only defeat the German Empire and its allies, but the forces of the United States and the Entente, massing in North America and the islands of the Atlantic. (In other words, I gave the French some manpower and about 50 offmap IC. I also gave the Iberians some extra IC and the Italians some more manpower.)
Another 6 aircraft carriers come out of the shipyards in the United States, forming the core of the 2nd US navy carrier task force under the command of Admiral Kinkaid.
The government now orders the construction of another 6 aircraft carriers, this time of the more modern Essex class, which will form the core of a 3rd carrier task force.
Finally, in southeast Asia, the government of Siam enters a full military and political alliance with the Japanese Empire.