Chapter Three
Audentes fortuna iuvat
Events of September
9 September 1939, Italy mobilizes
12 September 1939, Germany and Hungary declare was on Slovakia, Netherlands mobilizes
13 September 1939, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembur Mobilize, Ireland joins Allies
14 September 1939, Netherlands and Belgium join military alliance with France (not allies)
15 September 1939, Hungary Annexes Slovakia
16 September 1939, Germany declares war on Denmark, New Zealand joins Allies
17 September 1939, Canada joins Allies
24 September 1939, Luxemburg joins Military alliance with France
26 September 1939, Germany declares war on Poland, Soviet Union declares war on Finland, Italy declares war on Greece, Sweden Mobilizes
Not all that much to say about the Greek operation, done by the book, had troops prepared incase Allies minded Italian actions, but since they didn't, it was a fast job.
2 October 1939 Italy annexes Greece
Blackshirt corp Sud under Galbiati is shipped to occupy Crete. 9 Days later:
11 October 1939 Italy joins war Against Allies, Turkey Mobilizes
Distribution of troops in Africa at the start of hostilities, Army/Armygroup command posts are slightly expanded.
First and last Landing operation by Regia Marina, before withdrawing to cover Adriatic sea, done by First Squadron and First Transport Flotilla.
British resistance in Egypt was token at best, like intelligence estimates had said, most of their army was in Europe, there were about 3 divisions to cover whole Egypt.
Defenders of Alexandria hid behind the Nile and did good job, but with their low numbers, they could not prevent getting flanked.
In europe, French tested Italian defences at Savigliano, but gave up shortly after Italians launched counter offensive.
While succesful in Egypt, our spies had failed us in Tunis, the Italian troops had expected a march to Atlantic unopposed, French divisions were supposed to be in Poland after all, not Africa, they instead found that there was good sized French corp present.
21 October 1939 Soviet Union annexes Baltic states
22 October 1939 Soviet Union Annexes Finland, and demobilizes. Poland forms Goverment in Exile.
25 October 1939 Belgium joins Allies
Until November, Italian convoy raiding operations had gone mostly uninterrupted, but on 19th French fleet finally caught some of the raiders at the Narrows.
The French had done well, but on 26th of November, they were almost done in Africa.
British Empire had finally reacted, it's uncertain if these divisions had been meant to keep Italians out of Egypt, but by the time they arrived they were forced to land at Sinai.
French had also begun to raid our convoys, and the antisubmarine squadrons we dispatched to take care of these, and some successes were seen:
In Sinai, the British reinforcements were starting to bend against Italian panzers...
Wait, I must be forgetting something.... Oh right, there's war in europe too, not just this colonial war...
After Polish surrender, German forces had swept to drive out the French that had invaded from Luxemburg, Hungarians took over Fight with Netherlands and the BEF present there, and a large contigent of French troops, over 30 brigades by some reports, was trapped in Danzig. On 7th of December Germans declared war on Swizz, and with assitance of Italians, eventually Annexed Switzerland on Chrismas.
On 8th of January 1940, a rather suprising message reached Rome, Paris had fallen. Alas, while the German paratroopers managed to capture some minor ministers, most of the cabinet managed to escape and there was no surrender to take place. Few days later German Panzers were racing to secure Paris from south...
By 12th of January, Italy now controlled most of Algiers...
And had much of Middle-east under control too, Brits had made second attemp to relieve Tel Aviv, but withdrew shortly, probably after their supply situation turned sour with route to Iraq lost and port of Tel Aviv having been decimated.
In europe, by 28th, French had retaken Paris and the German sprearhead had been encircled aswell, Italian army however, had tempting opportunity to strike south towards Marseille, if only there were enough troops present.
Once again I have largely concentrated on Italy, so I think this map will help those interested in what happened up north...
Hmm, and I forget something else since I somehow missed a screenshot of this event; While guarding Adriatic, most of 3rd squadron was lost and 1st squadron was forced to flee after taking some heavy hits from the french fleet as well. 3rd Squadron lost Zara, Fiume and Pola and of the escorts only Alberico da Barbiano escaped, and all ships of both squadrons would be staying at docks for months.
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Originally Posted by Forgiven
