Wildfires - Multiplayer AAR

[CptEasy]

Type - Multiplayer AAR with 6 players
Nation - Japan
Starting year –1938
Mods - No
Game version - 1.4
Title - Wildfires


We are six mates and long time strategy lovers who have chosen HoI III to be the platform for our life long battles as we for geographical reasons can’t meet IRL anymore. This said, we are all experienced strategy players but not really experienced HoI-players. This means that we are very interested in any constructive comments of chosen strategies or any other thoughts you have.

In our first MP game I played Germany from the perspective of annoying the US as little as possible and keep them out of the war. It worked fairly well. In this game however the axis strategy was formed around a very offensive Germany. Well, we got a little more than we bargained for which lead to a drastic decision and a complete change of plans.

As this is my first AAR in this forum there might be some editorial mistakes. All friendly pointers are appreciated

[CptEasy]

Human players at the start of the game

Allies
Great Britain
France
Comintern
Russia
Axis
Germany
Italy
Japan

----

WILDFIRES - Part one. In this part we will follow Japan as she battles agains nations (non-player nations) in Asia. In Europe, the storm is buidling and in the end - is released...

Japan, not caring very much for the politics of Europe, has already conducted an aggressive politic in their own backwater for some time. In September 1938 they started to get problems with the supply lines as they tried to venture deeper into Nationalist China. This led to some changes in tactics and a more frequent exchange of communications and diplomats with the brothers in arms in Europe. The rulers of Italy, Germany and Japan started to draw plans to conquer and dominate the world. Japan should start with the weaker nations in Asia and Germany and Italy should do the same in their part of the world. The next few years were likely to be interesting indeed. And why fear? How can the superior people of Japan ever lose a war? It is simple not possible… or?





Early September - 38

With lack of supply being a serious problem on some parts of the frontline, the japanese forces made a strategic retreat in the center to get the troops in better defensive position and closer to the ports and airports. The Chinese forces did not wait. They followed in pursuit but few battles actually took place.






Early September -38

Instead, they japanese forces pushed forwards in Guangxi Clique, who was allied with Nationalist China. The Chinese support troops here were not enough to hold the Japanese expansion at bay. The militia simple was to poor soldiers to stop the regular Japanese infantry even though they had advantageous positions in the mountains.

However, another problem presented itself as the Japanese forces got problem to fill the expanding frontline. This was solved by almost emptying the Russian frontline in the far north and ship those troopers southwards from the frosty Russian steppes to jungles and mountains in the south. They landed in or around all the ports in Guangxi Clique, secured them and continued inland.

Here, the Japanese soldiers could be satisfactory supplied and the forces of Guangxi Clique and China stood no real chance.







October 6th, 1938

After roughly a month of battles, Guangxi Clique fell. The rulers fell in Japanese captivity. However, Japan was not interested in annexing this nation. Instead, they wanted a secure supply-platform for further attacks into China. Thus, they created a new ruling party with Japan-friendly local politicians.








By the same time Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany. The weak allies had nothing to do against it. Strange how they cannot see the fires that have been lit, but it all falls into our strategy. Soon enough we will bring the fire too their doorstep.







November 20th, 1939.

The Chinese forces are pressing forwards in the north and the Japanese troops falls back in a orderly fashion. However, the Chinese succeeds to reach the ocean (pink arrows) and as the japanese unified front is broken, a huge pocket is created around Shanghai.

The Japanese leadership is not worried. It all fits the greater plan. A great winter offensive is launched from Guanxi Clique, starting with a small western thrust (green) in order to bind up Chinese forces. In the east a similar push (blue) started simultanious with the same objective. A few days later, the main taskforce crosses the border and thrust northwards meeting only week resistance initially.

The main objective for this force was to connect to the Shanghai pocket in the north and seal off a significant part of the Chinese forces in a great pocket and then crush them.




December 9th, 1938

20 days later, the taskforce have almost sealed the pocket. Some smaller pockets have been created along the way and in the east the Royal Guard division, with the only existing armor in the army, managed to capture a regular Chinese infantry division who surrendered.






In the mountains of Jingdenzhen the Chinese forces made a desperate stand. For a long time the managed to fend of fairly well in the harsh environment. They had the numbers on their side and at times the Japanese had supply problems. Also, the Japanese could not support the battle with either fighters or bombers – only the cargo planes with their precious supply drops. Luckily, the Chinese air force made only a few runs during the long battle.The Japanese leadership was well aware of how tactically bad this province was for such a grand battle, but they felt they had no choice since this was the last province that needed to be captured to seal of the huge pocket.

After about ten days of hard battle among steep rocky slopes, patches of snow and cold winds Japan gained ground in Jingdenzhen. Progress, however, was slow and every won yard was slick of blood. Though some party functionaries claimed it was mostly Chinese blood the grunts on the ground knew the truth for what it was. It was just as much Japanese blood as it was Chinese. After some time, though, several Chinese divisions fled and the tide turned to Japans favor.

At the same time, as all supply was directed to the battle of Jingdenzhen, Japanese soldiers on other parts of the frontline got lesser and lesser rations, loosing organization in the process.




December 20th, 1938.

After two full weeks of battles, Jingdezhen finally fell to the Japanese forces. It had been a hard battle with similar amount of casualties on both sides – and the Japanese casualties were all regulars while Nationalist China mostly lost mostly militia. The dead-tired Japanese solders could only celebrate the victory with a bowl of cold rice on those freezing cliffs. Strategically, it was an important victory. A huge part of the Chinese army was now captured in the pocket.





December 25th, 1938

After finalizing the pocket the Japanese forces started to push from all direction. The supply coming from Shanghai harbours and Guanxi Clique was not enough by far and the transport planes flew supply missions constantly but it was still imposible to keep all the troops supplied. Thus, shrinking the pocket went slower than during optimal conditions.

At the same time the Chinese launched several attackes towards the parts where the pocket was thinnest. In Tongling (red ring) the Japanese infantry divisions were attacked from two fronts and did not get any supply. With minimal rations and limitied amount of ammunition they put up a desperate fight. The Japanese supply flights managed a few drops but was intercepted by Chinese fighters and had to abort.





The Japanese leadership was worried by the bonds of friendship that clearly was formed between Nationalist China and Russia. A war with Russia this early was not at all part of the Japanese plan.





January 25th, 1939

In the European arena, axis envied the success of the Japanese war plans. They still feared the allied response should they attack Poland but there were lesser bounties to start with. By replacing that darn anglo-loving Tito with a fascist sympathizing group Germany and Italy hoped to gain an important ally in Jugoslavia in the wars to come. They doubted the allies and the US would really care about Yugoslavia. As axis had Hungary at their side, Yugoslavia would be attacked from three directions. Even though Japan also was at war with Yugoslavia they did not plan to get involved at all. This was an all European affair, and hopefully a quick and swift one.

[Traceur]

Ah! There can never be too many multiplayer AARs!

Just wondering: What happens to the player playing France if it falls? Will he swap to USA? Then Japan might actually have some kind of challenge in the Pacific war...

[CptEasy]

Ah! There can never be too many multiplayer AARs!

Just wondering: What happens to the player playing France if it falls? Will he swap to USA? Then Japan might actually have some kind of challenge in the Pacific war...

Yes, exactly. Players are free to swap countries within their political side - and the Russian player can pick an allied country should he be destroyed. So naturally, the player playing France is quite prepared to play USA later on.

And yes - there can never be too many multiplayer AARs so I thought I'd better add one...

[bryanrows]

This AAR looks superb so far. I'm eagerly awaiting the next update! I always enjoy Japanese gameplay, and i'm sure having the US and Japan controlled by humans will make for some exciting action.

[CptEasy]

This AAR looks superb so far. I'm eagerly awaiting the next update! I always enjoy Japanese gameplay, and i'm sure having the US and Japan controlled by humans will make for some exciting action.

Time will tell, bryanrows Thanks for you comment.

[CptEasy]

WILDFIRES Part II. In this part we will see two nations fall and the birth of the WILDFIRES







February 4th, 1939

Roughly a month after the creation of the Jingdenzhen-pocket half of the Chinese forces within it had already perished but the rest of their divisions were pressed tighter and tighter together. Strangely though, even when the Japanese forces had to struggle with severe lack of supply, these trapped Chinese infantrymen seemed to always have food and ammunition. Even though things at times were desperate Japan managed to keep the pocket intact so far, even though it was only one province broad over a significant stretch of the full pocket-length. The Japanese leadership was fearful of a breach in the pocket through which the worn down Chinese divisions could escape.



February 5th, 1939

The invasion of Yugoslavia is 11 days old. Italy has done small but important conquests along the coast, capturing important cities. Hungary (AI) did not have troops by the boarder during the declaration of war but have now reached their own border and have started to tie down Yugoslavian divisions. Germany launched a blitz right into the heart of Yugoslavia. Since Yugoslavia was to be an ally, they had to attack carefully to not kill more Yugoslavians than necessary. But speed was paramount and the motorized and mechanized spearhead did what they could to pass through the weak defensive line and continue towards the last big cities. Here, Erwing Rommels panzerdivision has just thrown back a Yugoslavian HQ. The little country seemed chanceless as the three nations jumped at it like a hungry wolf-pack.




February 19th, 1939

Less than a month after the declaration of war the Yugoslavian government surrendered the country. But not until Tito* had left the country through Greece. Hitler could place loyal puppet government into the parliament, supported by the Wehrmacht.

The German ironfist (see picture ) had been striking quick, hard and effective, and comparatively small amounts of blood had been shed. The Führer had got his first price. It was peace in Europe again… for a while.
What the Axis did not know was that Tito reached Britain and then USA where he started to agitate strongly against The Führer and his fascists which he hated with outmost strength. And Josip Tito had his ways with words…

* Truth to be told, Tito was not head of government in Yugoslavia before the second world war, but he is in this story.




February 20th, 1939

One and a half month after the creation of the Jingzhen-pocket the last Chinese division was routed. This was a great victory for Japan and the ministers knew that Nationalist China only had token defenses left. They were no longer any real threat. On the other hand, the Japanese forces that had been fighting through the Jingdenzhen-campaign were a battered and sorry bunch. Several divisions with zero organization had been shipped out of Shanghai and send to Korea for long leaves. As the Japanese strength lessened due to these leaves there was no immediate push. However, detailed plans for precision strikes towards the last big Chinese cities were drawn and chosen divisions started to move into position. This led to Japan actually losing some ground back to China, including the famous province Jingdenzhen, but it was just jungles and mountains and not of great importance.





April 17th, 1939

In Asia the war continued. Since the heavy losses in the Jingdenzhen-pocket the Chinese forces was not able to mount an efficient defence as Japan launched attacks towards several key cities. Alas, in early April the Japanese forces knocked on the door to the Chinese capital, Chongqing.

The push towards Chongqing had been so quick that the surprised Chinese command only was able to mount a defense using staff personnel from two army HQs. Even though the Chinese troops were desperately undergunned they still had the benefit of the mountainous terrain. It was hard fighting from the regular Japanese infantry, marines and cavalry to gain any ground. But as a matter of fact, the Japanese losses were quite marginal, but it took long time to clear out every valley and rocky stronghold. The Japanese leadership feared Chinese reinforcement but several of the potential divisions were already tied down in other battles and the low infrastructure made other divisions movement painfully slow. This time, though, it served Japan well and no reinforcement showed up.

The Chinese capital fell in the end of April and their leaders fled the country to continue the struggle from elsewhere. When the leaders fled, the Chinese army threw down their weapons. Nationalist China was annexed and is no more.




April 18th, 1939.

Just before Nationalist China surrendered, a Japanese army, mostly consisting of cavalry, attacked Chinas ally in the north, Xibei San Ma. Troops from Xibei San Ma had been supporting China all along and it was time for them to pay the price. The country consisted mostly of desert and Japan had not bothered with researching special desert equipment, but the leaders concluded that the resistance would probably be so weak that a little extra equipment or not would not really matter. And they did not see any rush either. With China gone, Japan was almost at peace… but only almost.




May 1st, 1939

After a diplomatic conflict concerning the Danzig corridor, Germany declared a limited war versus Poland. Not surprising, the allied finally got their act together and supported Poland and thus declared war against Germany. What also happened, which was very surprising and worrying, was the fact that USA suddenly woke up, joined the allies, and declared war on Germany - though intelligence had said they would not. It was the darn Tito who had managed to turn the heads of the Americans.

--Question: This screendump is very shortly after USA declared war on Germany (by joining the allies). Even though Germany have a rather high threat for being in May -39 I don’t see how the Americans are capable of joining the allies with their 100% neutrality. Anybody have an explanation?--

Stalin, feeling bored in his cold part of the world, thought this was a good time to join the party of the Valkyries. But either he was overly confident or it was a diplomatic laps, but he declared war on the entire Axis.
With USA already in the war, Japan immediately declared war on Yunan which in turn led to Communist China knocking on Axis doors, asking to join the family – out of fear of ending up in front of their machinery of war. They were accepted.

So, as the sun went down the first of May, a major part of the world had suddenly been thrown into war. The small contained and planned fires had spread by accident. Now, there were WILDFIRES all over the world. No country was prepared for these events. No country had a plan for it. All of them had to quickly assemble their ministers and generals and quickly form new plans.

When the diplomats from the three Axis powers met, the mood was low. The early entry of both USA and Russia was a disaster and they even mouthed the possibility of entering into peace negotiations. As they talked and calculated, they realized that it would take some time before USA could mount any proper offensive. They also realized that Russia had made a mistake of entering into war so soon. Their army was, according to intelligence, in a lousy state. Japan made a bold statement that together they could crush the Russian bear before New Year. With Moscow down, they could build a fortress Europe, and Japan could fend off their coast. Ribbentrop was not as optimistic as his Japanese counterpart but agreed on the course. Italy got the sad task of evacuating all troops in Africa to Europe before declaring war on the Allies.

Now everything was about capturing Moscow before the fall of Berlin. It would be a race against the clock – and the time was ticking.

[Viking_Manstein]

Following with interest

[nightraid3r]

looks fun I will be following this AAR, hope you continue the updates!

[Maxyboy]

I can't agree more, there can't be enough MP AAR.

I'm the German player from this MP game and as you can see our plan backfired pretty bad. Although we knew we would get an early US entry, I'd expected it to be after Vichy.

From my piont of view US didn't join the Allies until Yunnan was declared war by the Japanese (it all happened within minutes). But I can't see how that would matter as Germany still is the highest threat to US... unless the German threat was raised when US joined the allies (as they were already at war with Germany).

[ohdear]

Joining the allies automatically puts them into the war if it has started. The mechanics are something like a mutual guarantee extended to all allies. It does not work like the axis where a call to arms is required.

Never read a MP AAR before. Looking forward to it.

[CptEasy]

Joining the allies automatically puts them into the war if it has started. The mechanics are something like a mutual guarantee extended to all allies. It does not work like the axis where a call to arms is required.

Never read a MP AAR before. Looking forward to it.

Thanks for the coment ohdear. But they still should need a lower neutrality to even be able to join the allies, right (or a higher threat)?

looks fun I will be following this AAR, hope you continue the updates!

Be sure about that, nightraid3r. I aint the quitter...

--working on the update right now--

[CptEasy]

WILDFIRES Part III – Major nations clashes for the first time and a minor is crushed. Britain launches a motorized sneak attack…






As Japan did not have many troops close to the Russian border, it was Manchukuo forces which conquered the first province is this new conflict. Manchukou militia gained some ground close to Vladivostok but was counterattacked by Russian regular infantry. The Russians hade tactical bombers supporting the attack and the Manchukians soon lost ground. Japan sent fleets to lay siege to the port of Vladivostok and fighters to back up their allies until their own forces reached the borders. The zeros made short work of the Russian bombers which aborted their missions after heavy losses. Still, the Russians retook the provinces that Manchokou forces had conquered. It was a stalemate. Japanese forces, however, was strategically redeploying and using trains to reach the far north of their empire.





But as the Japanese forces were still on their way, the Russians marched forwards into Manchukou and grabbed the land Japan had left virtually defenseless when they brought all their men to China. They had some easy gains but ran into some Japanese garrisons. Eager for blood they charged the poorly equipped defenders thinking them easy prey for regular infantry. But they were over-confident. The garrisons were placed in hilly terrain and had well crafted networks of trenches that used the rivers strategically to the fullest. Every time the Russians made company-sized probing attacks they were met by a steady flow of bullets. Maybe the Japanese aim was not too good but it made it difficult enough to cross the wild and cold river – especially since the Russian mortars and light artillery made nothing too shake the well entrenched militias.

The Russians had to back down after a while and lost valuable time.


June 3rd, 1939.

It took just a little bit more than a month for Wehrmacht to conquer the Poles, and the 3rd of June, Poland surrendered. This, however, gave the Germans no break. As no pact was earlier made with Russia, entire Poland became German. Germany now came to border to Russia, and while the Russians had troops at their border, Germany did not.

So the German groundforce now rushed forward to clash with the big bear.

On the west front however, the allies did nothing worth noting. Everything was quiet on the west front.




June 17th, 1939.

As the first clashes between German and Russian forces took place, a Japanese diplomat meeting his European colleges in Berlin noted drily that the Yugoslavians had left their country wide open. I high ranking German officer became slightly annoyed by this and said that “Moscow was everything”. The Japanese diplomat had other problems and left it at that.

But intelligence had told the Allies the same thing and there were always that darn Tito. He had returned to London since American politicians did nothing but talk (USA still under AI command since Allied players choosed to stay with France and Britain) and influenced Churchill to focus on Yugoslavia. Tito said “My name is good. Just get me to Beograd and the army will listen to me and not the nazi puppets”. Churchill liked that.

So the Brits landed a strong motorized force in the undefended port of Split and blitzed into Yugoslavia – aiming for the big cities. Luckily for the Axis, Italy quickly observed the attack but panic still struck the Axis leaders.

Authors note: It would have been good fun if somebody had recorded that Skype-conversation…

The Yugoslavian troops started to march home while Germany redeployed some forces, just heading for Russia, towards Beograd. Italy, not actually at war with the Allies yet, also started to march towards Beograd. They were still busy transporting their Africa Corps from various African theaters over the Mediterranean and did not want to start the war with the mighty Allied fleet until the transportations where done.

The axis had their nerves outside their skin. If Tito got hold of his forces again, with Germany tied up in the east and west, things would surely take a tumble for the worst.






At the same time, Japanese regular forces had reached the Russian front, in the same area where the Russian advance had got stuck against the garrisons. The militia, who knew the area very well, could tell the newly arrived general that there were a gap in the Russian defenses. That knowledge was immediately used and the Japanese general launched a surprise attack with a motorized spearhead. The Russian border troops tried to seal the gap but they could not push the Japanese forces away – and instead they lost the possibility to quickly regroup. As things developed, the southern peninsula ending in Vladivostok was cut off from the Russian mainland.




June 18th, 1939

When the Russians realized that Vladivostok was cut off, their navy thought it best to bail out. As we already know, the Japanese fleet were awaiting them – and eagerly so – and it was Yamamoto himself who commanded this task force.

The Russians sailed into a hailstorm of grenades and marine airplanes. They were chanceless and realized it quickly too, but not quickly enough. Several destroyers were sunk as well as the battleship Revoluciya. The Russian retreated to Vladivostok - badly shaken.




July 2nd, 1939.

The Brittish push through Yugoslavia was successful and fast. A German division of mountaineers was surrounded and destroyed. Soon enough, they lay siege on Beograd. Two German divisions barely made it there in time together with some Yugoslavian HQs. It was a losing fight, however. The Brits, under command of Viscount Gort, fought savagely and gained ground as Beograd was torn apart around them. It was no question. The Brits would win. And Tito was there amongst them.

But then came the Italians – still not in war with the allies. They claimed to be merely observers and entered Beograd only to declare war on the allies and throw themselves into the battle. This was too much for the battered brits who pulled back out of Beograd.

Beograd was saved and the Brits had lost their strongest weapon – the surprise. With the Yugoslavian army back and the Italians entering the war – they simply stood no chance of success in an offensive war. Now, the only way was backwards.

The Italians had successfully got all their troops in Africa, except a few militia divisions, safely back to Italy where they would be more than needed…

Authors Note: Sorry for short input. A few busy IRL-days ahead (including a HoI SF-multiplayer session). New input after the weekend.

[Cybvep]

That was good, although I don't know what the Allies wanted to achieve in Yugoslavia. The best they could have hoped for was to annex the country and hold some Axis forces there by digging-in in harsh terrain. That would leave them more vulnerable in Africa, tough, because they would have to keep some forces in Yugoslavia, too. Now they will simply lose some units.

If anything, I would've gone for a full-blown invasion of Italy with French and British forces. Even if Italians conquered Suez the Allies could knock them out of war by a single strong push and naval blockade, preventing the Italian transports from getting the troops back home.

[daphne]

The Yugoslavia blitz was preferred over Italy attack as Italy was not yet at war. The aim was to hurt Germany by stressing him to make mistakes on the Russian front. And annexation was never intended - we could never have held such a territory in Germany's backyard.

Unfortenately, they didn't make it to Beograd in time.

[Warspite_TW]

Thanks for the coment ohdear. But they still should need a lower neutrality to even be able to join the allies, right (or a higher threat)?

The diference betwen the highest threat and their neutrality needs to be below 50 in 1.4 as I recall. In the screenshot you've posted they have 100% neutrality and they see Germany as their highest threat with 58.5. Thus the diference betwen the two is 41.5, below the 50 required. USA also starts very close to the Allies in the diplomatic triangle. This combined are the reason for joining the Allies (the invasion of Yugo backfired - Germany ganied +40 threat to all).

[CptEasy]

That was good, although I don't know what the Allies wanted to achieve in Yugoslavia. The best they could have hoped for was to annex the country and hold some Axis forces there by digging-in in harsh terrain. That would leave them more vulnerable in Africa, tough, because they would have to keep some forces in Yugoslavia, too. Now they will simply lose some units.

What we on the Axis side feared the most was not annexation, which would have been bad enough, but Britain making Yugoslavia their puppets. German forces was already spread thin.

The diference betwen the highest threat and their neutrality needs to be below 50 in 1.4 as I recall. In the screenshot you've posted they have 100% neutrality and they see Germany as their highest threat with 58.5. Thus the diference betwen the two is 41.5, below the 50 required. USA also starts very close to the Allies in the diplomatic triangle. This combined are the reason for joining the Allies (the invasion of Yugo backfired - Germany ganied +40 threat to all).

Oh... That would explain it. I believe we all though that the difference needed for US to become Allied was a lot less. Thanks for spreading some light on the issue, Warspite_TW.

[CptEasy]

WILDFIRES Part IV - Germany vs Russia

Summer of -39. It was hot and dry in Europe. The Brittish surprise-blitz in Yugoslavia was stopped. France did nothing. Now, Germany could focus on Russia – and focus they did.




July 7th, 1939

The northern German army bashed their way into the numerous enemy. Even though superior in numbers, the Russians could not resist the ferocity of the German attack. With the help of a paradrop, the northern army created a small pocket and trapped several Russian infantry divisions. They would soon surrender while the rest of the Russians tried to create a new defensive line – now trying to use the costly knowledge of the German strength.





In the south, the Russian generals made the same mistake but had to pay a much higher price. Totally surprised by the strength of the German blitz, and perhaps equally surprised by their own weakness, they failed to hold the line and a huge chunk of the entire southern defense got trapped and later destroyed. For several weeks, Russian PoWs marsched westwards as an seemingless endless winding worm.

The Axis were right. Russia did not seem to be prepared for war.



July 18th, 1939

It is clear that the southern part of the Russian defense is more or less annihilated and the land open. In the northern parts, however, they have managed to create a new defensive line, using the rivers best as possible. Apparently, they focus on defending Leningrad and Moscow.



July 29th, 1939

The stomach of the Russian bear is unprotected. Rommel takes his armor division deep into Russia, heading for the city of Kharkov. Von Hubickis armordivision is covering his rear and Diedrichs light armor division is throwing back some Russian armor to later charge deeper into the open country. The Russians, however, brought an army group of infantry and threatened Rommels supply roads.



August 10th, 1939.

Von Hubicki and Diedrich could break up the Russian maneuver with their panzerblitz and soon the entire Russian army group was destroyed. With that, the Russian south was totally open. Rommel could take Kharkov without resistance. Russia not only lost a lot of their men but they started to lose important cities as well, with important industries. However, a Russian tactical bomber squadron started to harass Rommels division even before Kharkov and continued to do so for more than a week. Finally, after a blitz that made him the easternmost German groundforce, Rommel had to enter a big forest with his division, dig in and reorganize for a couple of days. When the troops were sufficiently dug in and camouflaged, the bomber squadron lost interest and continued elsewhere.

---

The German summer-blitz went just as fast as the Japanese leader had calculated, and the German leader started to really enjoy his war. It was so easy and the victories came in such amounts that the people in Berlin started to go blasé. Could it really continue like this? What did the allies do? Well, read it in the following chapters. Firstly, we will follow Japan's attack on the Bears tail in the far east.

[Cybvep]

Wow, USRR player got owned in the south... Not bad for a 1939 Barbarossa. Well played.

If I were playing the Allies, I would focus on securing Africa and attacking Italy. I still think that Italy could be knocked out of war by a single strong push and blitz for VP provinces. In fact, going straight for Italy with massive combined forces of the Allies wouldn't be a bad move IMO. Sth like synchronized amphibious invasions on 4-5 port provinces (and/or surrounding ones, which should make the invasion easier) and determined bombing campaign should do it. Germany would have to devote some divisions to protect its southern flank and there are plenty of possible manoeuvres, given the fact that Yugoslavia is under Axis control.

Also, is Benelux still neutral? Should they join the Allies or got invaded by them, Germany would have to fight a two-front war. The situation looks dire for the Axis in the west. The Far Eastern theatre is a different matter, though, but IMO Allies should go for Europe-first policy, devoting minimal forces against Japan (just enough to delay them a bit in harsh terrain).

[Khazorath]

Wow, USRR player got owned in the south... Not bad for a 1939 Barbarossa. Well played.

If I were playing the Allies, I would focus on securing Africa and attacking Italy. I still think that Italy could be knocked out of war by a single strong push and blitz for VP provinces. In fact, going straight for Italy with massive combined forces of the Allies wouldn't be a bad move IMO. Sth like synchronized amphibious invasions on 4-5 port provinces (and/or surrounding ones, which should make the invasion easier) and determined bombing campaign should do it. Germany would have to devote some divisions to protect its southern flank and there are plenty of possible manoeuvres, given the fact that Yugoslavia is under Axis control.

Also, is Benelux still neutral? Should they join the Allies or got invaded by them, Germany would have to fight a two-front war. The situation looks dire for the Axis in the west. The Far Eastern theatre is a different matter, though, but IMO Allies should go for Europe-first policy, devoting minimal forces against Japan (just enough to delay them a bit in harsh terrain).

So basically what you're saying is just repeat WW2