Mhn, on that note, would attack into Burma have diverted those troops, or were you already committed to european invasion?
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I wouldn't have diverted more troops, as I already had some 15-20 divisions in the area and Europe was top priority. I wasn't expecting to hold Burma if Japan and China attacked, instead I would make a fighting retreat and strike with the air force. The Royal Navy would try and prevent landings behind my lines, as I felt it was big enough to engage in combat with IJN.
*SPOILER*
(The situation described above happened later)
Chapter Thirteen, time for bad luck.
Foreword, sorry about the break in writing got very lazy, but need to finish this as the next game has started, so let's get on with it.
Chapter Thirteen
August 30th 1941
Things in west were going faster then expected, and americans decided to declare war on Vichy, then quickly ran over the meager forces they had been allowed to keep, this forced us to abandon Paris, which had so far stood, even while they broke over Seine in north, having yet again made ambhibious assault north of it. Italians were covering southern end of the fort line, mainly in Switzerland waiting for german troops arrival to relieve them. For first time, I had the reserve to repel attempted British landing behind the line, this time in Netherlands, they did manage to take 4-5 provinces before being forced back to this situation.
But surely maginot Line would hold, weak point would be the Belgium/Holland area, thus requiring more forces...
In the east, soviets too took offensive, and beat back the attempted encirclement of Kiev, created room around Moscow beat back Romanians with british/american air support. Yet the Fort buster divisions managed to take Leningrad, and brave Brazilian division under de Assis chose to come for skiing vacation in Murmansk, having finished the summer vacation in caribians.
Partially the soviet success was thanks to German withdrawal, it had become obvious that we had yet again overextented the lines and chance of soviet breaktrough was rather high, so allowing them to manuever a bit and possibly move forces away from moscow area might later help us, not to mention , this was starting to look like war of attrition, and attacked tends to take higher losses, thus we were happy to let them do some of it instead of us. Oh, and yes, some divisions had to be send to west, it was becoming even more clear that only new production would not be enough to deter the british.
In far east, Japanese were ever advancing;
Foreword, sorry about the break in writing got very lazy, but need to finish this as the next game has started, so let's get on with it.
Chapter Thirteen
August 30th 1941
Things in west were going faster then expected, and americans decided to declare war on Vichy, then quickly ran over the meager forces they had been allowed to keep, this forced us to abandon Paris, which had so far stood, even while they broke over Seine in north, having yet again made ambhibious assault north of it. Italians were covering southern end of the fort line, mainly in Switzerland waiting for german troops arrival to relieve them. For first time, I had the reserve to repel attempted British landing behind the line, this time in Netherlands, they did manage to take 4-5 provinces before being forced back to this situation.
But surely maginot Line would hold, weak point would be the Belgium/Holland area, thus requiring more forces...
In the east, soviets too took offensive, and beat back the attempted encirclement of Kiev, created room around Moscow beat back Romanians with british/american air support. Yet the Fort buster divisions managed to take Leningrad, and brave Brazilian division under de Assis chose to come for skiing vacation in Murmansk, having finished the summer vacation in caribians.
Partially the soviet success was thanks to German withdrawal, it had become obvious that we had yet again overextented the lines and chance of soviet breaktrough was rather high, so allowing them to manuever a bit and possibly move forces away from moscow area might later help us, not to mention , this was starting to look like war of attrition, and attacked tends to take higher losses, thus we were happy to let them do some of it instead of us. Oh, and yes, some divisions had to be send to west, it was becoming even more clear that only new production would not be enough to deter the british.
In far east, Japanese were ever advancing;
Oh, time for statistics.
Chapter Fourteen
August 30th of 1941
So while we are falling back in west, and barely hanging on in east, what's the balance of forces?
German army has grown by ~90 brigades, and quite a few divisions were lost during the year, but very little of that growth is seen in armor's, it's actual reduction, if you don't count the light armors (of which 9 divisions were already lost in the previous 10 months). This is however explained with the fact that 10 panzer divisions are expedited to Hungary and Romania...
Italian army has grown by 10 brigades, Japanese have lost 1 brigade somewhere.
Let's then have a look on the eastern bear's situation;
They've lost about 100 infantry brigades, gained about 100 armor brigades, and the pocket that was destroyed earlier did include quite a few armors, so this has indeed been rapid armor production campaing, with minimal training. Makes one wonder if Germany could have copied this and if it would have been a good option, would not have helped taking fortified cities though, so who knows. So in essense they now have twice the armor as axis in the front, minimum.
Allied armies, on the other hand, despite expectations otherwise (I even sent AT brigades to maginot line) are not all that heavy, and indeed include quite a few infantry divisions.
Perhaps most confusing it the total lack of armored troops in american army, then again, they are fighting italians who have very little armor of their own.
In total, one could say things are quite balanced, 1408 axis brigades vs 1467 allied+commie brigades. Armored is, 55 to 189 though, which is not very optimistic situation.
Production wise, Axis is naturally way behind at this point;
Germany might equal Soviets, Japan is close to Uk, but Italy has very little in common with the US.
And yes, soviets have 0 manpower left with 450 needed to reinforce, building that much does not come cheap, Germany lost some 670 mp during the year, but we still have some left.
Chapter Fourteen
August 30th of 1941
So while we are falling back in west, and barely hanging on in east, what's the balance of forces?
German army has grown by ~90 brigades, and quite a few divisions were lost during the year, but very little of that growth is seen in armor's, it's actual reduction, if you don't count the light armors (of which 9 divisions were already lost in the previous 10 months). This is however explained with the fact that 10 panzer divisions are expedited to Hungary and Romania...
Italian army has grown by 10 brigades, Japanese have lost 1 brigade somewhere.
Let's then have a look on the eastern bear's situation;
They've lost about 100 infantry brigades, gained about 100 armor brigades, and the pocket that was destroyed earlier did include quite a few armors, so this has indeed been rapid armor production campaing, with minimal training. Makes one wonder if Germany could have copied this and if it would have been a good option, would not have helped taking fortified cities though, so who knows. So in essense they now have twice the armor as axis in the front, minimum.
Allied armies, on the other hand, despite expectations otherwise (I even sent AT brigades to maginot line) are not all that heavy, and indeed include quite a few infantry divisions.
Perhaps most confusing it the total lack of armored troops in american army, then again, they are fighting italians who have very little armor of their own.
In total, one could say things are quite balanced, 1408 axis brigades vs 1467 allied+commie brigades. Armored is, 55 to 189 though, which is not very optimistic situation.
Production wise, Axis is naturally way behind at this point;
Code:
30thAUG41
Nation IC Energy Metal Rares Oil Supplies Fuel Money Manpower Leadership Officers
Germany 241/433 99999+193 99999+25 64854-86 28710 75829 57451 16398 389+23,8 37,68 176%
changes +13/+23 0-175 0-6 -28000-12 +380 +20000 -9000 +9600 -670-3,3 -1,12 -16%
Italy 78/136 6350-66 17957-17 6713-13 6677 78754 13758 637 627+9,9 15,36 109%
changes 0/0 -18650-154 +5000-8 +4000-9 +370 +27000 +1100 -7 -202+0 0 -6%
Japan 149/271 83045-298,3 46641-179 17285-101 2223 49149 6345 43 1833+34,1 27,06 126%
changes +4/+35 +23000-50 +22000-25 +10000-41 +2223 +22000 +1900 -1 +200+0,9 +0,24 +10%
Hungary 49/80 2207+47 7345+8 4424+5 2906 5512 5852 500 98+5,1 5,30 110%
changes +5/+9 -4400+3 +1900+4 +1400+4 +500 -300 +1000 -242 -87+1,3 +,60 -1%
Romania 41/63 28588+52 12557+11 10082+7 15492 39473 24040 2784 0+5,1 5,37 143%
changes 0/0 +11000-10 +4500+5 +3000-4 +4800 +25000 +8200 +1580 0+0,9 +,47 +45%
Soviet Union 267/427 30523+20 93059-26 20155-23 26856 85764 54116 1117 -450+23,8 16,94 135%
changes -7/-4 +1500+131 +9000-98 -4000-30 -2000 +73000 -3000 -700 -682-9,7 -5,04 +38%
United Kingdom 176/290 12576-80 7712-170 99999-137 1869 5727 16336 9928 66+30 31,34 118%
changes +6/+10 +6000+23 +1300+39 +43000-21 +12700 +2300 +13000 +9700 +47+4,1 +4,04 +11%
USA 309/509 99999+52 99999+354 89099+26 99999 94201 99380 25837 162+29,2 33,75 200%
changes +4/+6 0-490 0-180 +34000-64 0 +65000 +370 +2000 +162+0,8 0 +12%
Canada 32/51 683/+23 39514-42 1327+0 2555 4217 5707 172 16+2,9 4,2 125%Germany might equal Soviets, Japan is close to Uk, but Italy has very little in common with the US.
And yes, soviets have 0 manpower left with 450 needed to reinforce, building that much does not come cheap, Germany lost some 670 mp during the year, but we still have some left.
Nothing new from the east front.
Chapter Fifteen
5th of Octorber 1941
We're back to what is essentially a sitzkrieg on maginot line, although, this time, it's not the french holding the line. Germany now has positions it can hold, and enough troops to cover it, this is really first time it has been so after those initial landings took place. In the north, troops were in staggered two deep line, to stop any breakthroughs, as this was the most likely sector for them.
On Maginot line, and it's extention by swizz, much lighter troops were used, in least threatened sectors, down to just 2 infantry brigades.
In south, Italy chose to withdraw, with very little pressure having been put on them, from the french forts, this completely baffled the German highcommand, and even more so their sudden withdrawal from Swizz forts, forcing our troops to take position in the mountainsides behind the river Aare to cover the hole in our line. But as you may notice, the lot shorter frontier between Italy and US has created much heavier concentration of force here, than what's between UK and Germany.
After over a month of stalemate, the British resumed their attempts of landing behind german lines, this time in netherlands, by 3rd of december, the landing west of Amsterdam had been driven to sea, but the a british corp still remained to east. Some very fresh new divisions were sent to block it, they were barely organized, but their appearance was enough to deter british advances while they got themselves ready to push back.
Also, the Kriegsmarine was finally back in existence again, with 4 new BB's having been put together based on experiences of building Bismark and Tirpitz, they were now on training cruise in the Baltic sea, while waiting for their escorts to be finished.
In the east, gates of Moscow were again in sight, while there and been some probes and little movement in south as well, on both sides, the main front remained mostly where it had been.
Next time, on to year 1942? maybe.
Chapter Fifteen
5th of Octorber 1941
We're back to what is essentially a sitzkrieg on maginot line, although, this time, it's not the french holding the line. Germany now has positions it can hold, and enough troops to cover it, this is really first time it has been so after those initial landings took place. In the north, troops were in staggered two deep line, to stop any breakthroughs, as this was the most likely sector for them.
On Maginot line, and it's extention by swizz, much lighter troops were used, in least threatened sectors, down to just 2 infantry brigades.
In south, Italy chose to withdraw, with very little pressure having been put on them, from the french forts, this completely baffled the German highcommand, and even more so their sudden withdrawal from Swizz forts, forcing our troops to take position in the mountainsides behind the river Aare to cover the hole in our line. But as you may notice, the lot shorter frontier between Italy and US has created much heavier concentration of force here, than what's between UK and Germany.
After over a month of stalemate, the British resumed their attempts of landing behind german lines, this time in netherlands, by 3rd of december, the landing west of Amsterdam had been driven to sea, but the a british corp still remained to east. Some very fresh new divisions were sent to block it, they were barely organized, but their appearance was enough to deter british advances while they got themselves ready to push back.
Also, the Kriegsmarine was finally back in existence again, with 4 new BB's having been put together based on experiences of building Bismark and Tirpitz, they were now on training cruise in the Baltic sea, while waiting for their escorts to be finished.
In the east, gates of Moscow were again in sight, while there and been some probes and little movement in south as well, on both sides, the main front remained mostly where it had been.
Next time, on to year 1942? maybe.
Chapter Sixteen
16th of December 1941
Despair, I still cannot block their fleets from landing, despite attempts to bomb them out of water, well, that was not likely to work anyways, but it is something I did worry about when I started those BB's 2 years ago, with no naval power, one cannot defend a coast from a landing, if you show up with too much strenght, he will just evactuate, you can react, you can not defeat.
Thus, when the british yet again tried to create new front for me to fight at, this time landing in the tip of Denmark, it was time to utilize those pretty ships I had recently finished. Interceptors spotted the British transports off the coast of Fredrikshavn, with one measly escort, one could hope for bigger ducks to shoot in the pond, but then again they might be too big, so let us take this opportunity to scare them a bit, make them at least guard those transports of theirs, and perhaps catch this force in Denmark before it can retreat.
Yes, it was sunk.
Alas, we must confess that this diversion worked just as well for brits as my landings in Scotland earlier in the war did, and they managed to break through in southern Netherlands.
16th of December 1941
Despair, I still cannot block their fleets from landing, despite attempts to bomb them out of water, well, that was not likely to work anyways, but it is something I did worry about when I started those BB's 2 years ago, with no naval power, one cannot defend a coast from a landing, if you show up with too much strenght, he will just evactuate, you can react, you can not defeat.
Thus, when the british yet again tried to create new front for me to fight at, this time landing in the tip of Denmark, it was time to utilize those pretty ships I had recently finished. Interceptors spotted the British transports off the coast of Fredrikshavn, with one measly escort, one could hope for bigger ducks to shoot in the pond, but then again they might be too big, so let us take this opportunity to scare them a bit, make them at least guard those transports of theirs, and perhaps catch this force in Denmark before it can retreat.
Yes, it was sunk.
Alas, we must confess that this diversion worked just as well for brits as my landings in Scotland earlier in the war did, and they managed to break through in southern Netherlands.
If I were you I would pull back behind the Rhine in the north. But whatever you do you cannot let the isolated British beach head link up with the rest of the units.
Fall back!
Chapter Seventeen
16th of January 1942
Behind the Rhein, certainly, bit too much behind, alas.
Small success in withdrawing from the almost sprung encirclement, managed to save some of the divisions, 2-3 infantry divisions were left behind the lines and eventually surrendered. While the previous shot obviously did not show it, my divisions in the area were hardly at top shape, most were infact at near zero organization, both from defending and pushing the landing to sea, which did indeed fail.
In south, Canadians had landed in and conquered Sardinia during december, and now moved on to land in Sicily, with some assistance from US paratroopers.
1st of February 1942
2 weeks later, Not all that much has changed, few more provinces lost, but counterattack is going to be a success, encircling few brits who strayed too fast...
In Sicily alas, Allies are quickly progressing up the unprotected boot, while few Italian divisions race to meet them halfway.
In east, Moscow was now target of 3 pronged probe, too much armor in it ofcourse, but just to keep the defenders occupied, while the actual assault divisions were refreshing, having had hard time reaching so close to Moscow. Especially with the bombing campaign targetting their supply trucks and roads, if you can call soviet roads actual roads.
Chapter Seventeen
16th of January 1942
Behind the Rhein, certainly, bit too much behind, alas.
Small success in withdrawing from the almost sprung encirclement, managed to save some of the divisions, 2-3 infantry divisions were left behind the lines and eventually surrendered. While the previous shot obviously did not show it, my divisions in the area were hardly at top shape, most were infact at near zero organization, both from defending and pushing the landing to sea, which did indeed fail.
In south, Canadians had landed in and conquered Sardinia during december, and now moved on to land in Sicily, with some assistance from US paratroopers.
1st of February 1942
2 weeks later, Not all that much has changed, few more provinces lost, but counterattack is going to be a success, encircling few brits who strayed too fast...
In Sicily alas, Allies are quickly progressing up the unprotected boot, while few Italian divisions race to meet them halfway.
In east, Moscow was now target of 3 pronged probe, too much armor in it ofcourse, but just to keep the defenders occupied, while the actual assault divisions were refreshing, having had hard time reaching so close to Moscow. Especially with the bombing campaign targetting their supply trucks and roads, if you can call soviet roads actual roads.
Flashbacks!
Browsing through my screenshots I found few things that somehow slipped first show in this AAR;
First, A battle of Colmar, in the maginot line, raged from early october to mid december, the eventual retreat came as a suprice, but Siegfried line behind held enough to stop breakthrough in sector, and acknowledging how expensive the combined attack on Maginot line had been, the Brits chose other means after this;
Secondly, a shot showing the landings of Netherlands on 5th of November
Third, end result of Kriegsmarine's first combat mission in a year.
Browsing through my screenshots I found few things that somehow slipped first show in this AAR;
First, A battle of Colmar, in the maginot line, raged from early october to mid december, the eventual retreat came as a suprice, but Siegfried line behind held enough to stop breakthrough in sector, and acknowledging how expensive the combined attack on Maginot line had been, the Brits chose other means after this;
Secondly, a shot showing the landings of Netherlands on 5th of November
Third, end result of Kriegsmarine's first combat mission in a year.
The support and the number of US divisions seems to be a true amazing mass, like soviets one !
Be fierce and they'll never pass !
Be fierce and they'll never pass !
It's about to get worse...
Nukeitall: In the air? Perhaps, but I have been falling back quite a while now.
Papa Schultz: Fierce I can promise, bit later.
Cyrus_The_Great: Cheers, I'm looking to finish this fast, the currently ongoing mp is looking like it might be even better.
Nukeitall: In the air? Perhaps, but I have been falling back quite a while now.
Papa Schultz: Fierce I can promise, bit later.
Cyrus_The_Great: Cheers, I'm looking to finish this fast, the currently ongoing mp is looking like it might be even better.
And, there was ... a landing.
Chapter Eighteen
February 1942
There's lot happening in February, among other things, there was a reapriaciation of situation around Moscow, current division formations would not make it. Thus following changes would be made;
4 x 3ArmEng divisions would be merged with Arm2Mot to create 2Armmot and release the engineers.
4 x larm2mec divisions would be split to release the larm for 'behind the line' operations, and would circle from north to strike to meet Japanese and go back to Stalingrad, see if they can catch 11,5 kph rabbits.
The remainder would be merged with 8 AT pieces to create 4x 2mec-2AT-Eng for assaulting Moscow.
Meanwhile, in Romania, the expeditionary corps had been returned to Germany as Romanians were no longer able to take care of their maintenance.
And to make things worse, Soviets copied a chapter from British tactical trickbook, landing around Constanta. You may note to north that withdrawal to this riverline failed a bit and soviets have a breach on the other side.
And eventually taking it, but ending somewhat contained.
6th of March 1942 , First Battle of Kattegat
As the fresh Hochseeflotte 'steamed' out to sea again in hopes of sinking the British landing fleet near Wilhelmshaven, it ran straight into a Huge british fleet clearly determined to keep Kriegsmarine out of North Sea;
This was destinied to end badly.
Chapter Eighteen
February 1942
There's lot happening in February, among other things, there was a reapriaciation of situation around Moscow, current division formations would not make it. Thus following changes would be made;
4 x 3ArmEng divisions would be merged with Arm2Mot to create 2Armmot and release the engineers.
4 x larm2mec divisions would be split to release the larm for 'behind the line' operations, and would circle from north to strike to meet Japanese and go back to Stalingrad, see if they can catch 11,5 kph rabbits.
The remainder would be merged with 8 AT pieces to create 4x 2mec-2AT-Eng for assaulting Moscow.
Meanwhile, in Romania, the expeditionary corps had been returned to Germany as Romanians were no longer able to take care of their maintenance.
And to make things worse, Soviets copied a chapter from British tactical trickbook, landing around Constanta. You may note to north that withdrawal to this riverline failed a bit and soviets have a breach on the other side.
And eventually taking it, but ending somewhat contained.
6th of March 1942 , First Battle of Kattegat
As the fresh Hochseeflotte 'steamed' out to sea again in hopes of sinking the British landing fleet near Wilhelmshaven, it ran straight into a Huge british fleet clearly determined to keep Kriegsmarine out of North Sea;
This was destinied to end badly.
Score one for the Royal Navy :wacko:
Looks like a tense but pretty interesting game.
Looks like a tense but pretty interesting game.
Beware the ..
Chapter Nineteen
Late March 1942
March, was not a good month, getting a fleet sunk, and then the British rush in to steal first provices of german heartland, and yes, I'm out of Manpower finally, cannibalizing infantry;
But, alas, this was not the worst, true desperation was around Moscow, where despite our best efforts, the Soviets managed to encircle us. Leaving 15 of our divisions, some of our best, if not the newest, trapped, and destroyed.
11th of April 1942
In the boot, North American's advance had been slowed down, and 2nd defence line was in force at Rome.
In Romania, Soviets were pushing forth, slowly, but surely.
In East, loss of the 15 divisions, was deemed catastrophic, any chance of taking Moscow for foreseeable future is now lost, and indeed, the lines are so thinned, keeping soviets from completely overrunning us is doubtful. Full on retreat behind rivers is ordered, let's hope we can at least hold there. As we are no longer pushing forth for Moscow, we now release few panzer corps from east in hopes we can reach some resolution in west instead. After all, if we could drive the allies back to sea, we could once again concentrate on east front, the fact that our allies excluding hungary are also crumpling is very worrysome, but we'll see if we can still patch this up.
Chapter Nineteen
Late March 1942
March, was not a good month, getting a fleet sunk, and then the British rush in to steal first provices of german heartland, and yes, I'm out of Manpower finally, cannibalizing infantry;
But, alas, this was not the worst, true desperation was around Moscow, where despite our best efforts, the Soviets managed to encircle us. Leaving 15 of our divisions, some of our best, if not the newest, trapped, and destroyed.
11th of April 1942
In the boot, North American's advance had been slowed down, and 2nd defence line was in force at Rome.
In Romania, Soviets were pushing forth, slowly, but surely.
In East, loss of the 15 divisions, was deemed catastrophic, any chance of taking Moscow for foreseeable future is now lost, and indeed, the lines are so thinned, keeping soviets from completely overrunning us is doubtful. Full on retreat behind rivers is ordered, let's hope we can at least hold there. As we are no longer pushing forth for Moscow, we now release few panzer corps from east in hopes we can reach some resolution in west instead. After all, if we could drive the allies back to sea, we could once again concentrate on east front, the fact that our allies excluding hungary are also crumpling is very worrysome, but we'll see if we can still patch this up.
It looks really bad for the Axis. If something doesn't change, then they will be screwed sometime in 1943.
Empire strikes back...
Chapter Twenty
2nd of May 1942
It was suprisingly quiet in west for April, so we hop over...
...to east, where withdrawal has gone one river futher, since north front had to be formed somehow, I chose to wholly abandon Leningrad, all it would have been was lost divisions defending it, even if would have been long defence.
Two weeks later, one river down was the target for retreat.
In west, things were actually happening, my divisions had arrived (oh and the british may have gotten few provinces more up north), breaking over maginot line (I was still holding the line after all) without much trouble.
And enabling at least temporary british redeployment to plug the line, however, goal was just to get them bit off balance and recover the Maginot province of Colmar, weak spots are not my favorite. Thus recall and regroup was ordered.
8th of June 1942
Counteroffensives, I love them. Slice and dice results cutting off decent sized british force in the north, of course, they can always run for their boats, but let's hope they forget some...
Alas, one front going well, rest not so well, while the German front in north against soviets is now holding (in good part because they stopped attacking...), Romania is crumpling fast, German panzers were pulled out to avoid getting stranted in hostile territory. As desperate measure, they released Bulgaria who fast recruited some infantry regiments.
In Italy, Americans tried to surround Rome by landing another force behind the defence line.
Chapter Twenty
2nd of May 1942
It was suprisingly quiet in west for April, so we hop over...
...to east, where withdrawal has gone one river futher, since north front had to be formed somehow, I chose to wholly abandon Leningrad, all it would have been was lost divisions defending it, even if would have been long defence.
Two weeks later, one river down was the target for retreat.
In west, things were actually happening, my divisions had arrived (oh and the british may have gotten few provinces more up north), breaking over maginot line (I was still holding the line after all) without much trouble.
And enabling at least temporary british redeployment to plug the line, however, goal was just to get them bit off balance and recover the Maginot province of Colmar, weak spots are not my favorite. Thus recall and regroup was ordered.
8th of June 1942
Counteroffensives, I love them. Slice and dice results cutting off decent sized british force in the north, of course, they can always run for their boats, but let's hope they forget some...
Alas, one front going well, rest not so well, while the German front in north against soviets is now holding (in good part because they stopped attacking...), Romania is crumpling fast, German panzers were pulled out to avoid getting stranted in hostile territory. As desperate measure, they released Bulgaria who fast recruited some infantry regiments.
In Italy, Americans tried to surround Rome by landing another force behind the defence line.