Thanks for the list of sources; perhaps I will find it useful in my dissertation research (although battlefield.ru looks to be more about army stuff, not navy stuff).
If you find War and Peace too jolly, read his "Life and Fate", a semi-fictional treatment of the Stalingrad campaign (which, given he was there, is surprisingly sympathetic to the plight of the German soldiers in Sixth Army).
Thanks for the list of links, I'll have to delve into them some.
Nice coda to the story. I note the irony of the missile talks, the Irish Missile Crisis, the highly aggressive John F. Kennedy and your version of the Maastricht Treaty. I'm sure I'm missing quite a few still.
By the way, that's one scary UAR... The British will have to reinvent the electric car, if they want to keep people driving, I think.
Thanks for the list of sources; perhaps I will find it useful in my dissertation research (although battlefield.ru looks to be more about army stuff, not navy stuff).
Very nice AAR.
Although your history is very sketchy. Beria was not much involved in the repressions of 37-38. In fact, he was brought in as a deputy narkom of NKVD in august 38 to clamp down on the repressions. Thus, it was obviously a lie, that he was hated by the army for those actions.
One wonders how well Europe would be able to rebuild itself without Marshall aid. The US pumped $25 billion into Europe after the war, and I'm not sure that the Soviets would have the capacity to match a transfer on that scale.
As to the US, it seems they're unable to put a foot right in the new post-war reality that confronts them. Using a nuclear bomb in the Congo of all places (where there seems to be insufficient infrastructure to be worth bombing, nor to support troop concentration sizeable enough to be a viable target themselves) does seem to be an act of desparation (if deliberate) or unsurpassed incompetence (if accidental).
On the Irish missile crisis, August's English Historical Review had an article on anti-communism in mid-twentieth century Ireland, which concluded that communists were sufficiently remote a threat to draw the sting from any anti-communist overreaction. Again, the very much more successful example of the Soviets here would likely engender a major shift in Irish politics.
That said, it would have been much funnier to put the missiles on the Isle of Wight.
A fascinating ending post for a thoroughly excellent AAR. I do like the explanation given for the Irish missile crisis, I was rather shocked with the American use of a nuclear bomb in the circumstances, even if accidental.
Again, Thanks Loki for this impressive AAR. I will miss it. I hope you start a new project soon.
Attero Dominatus.
Bad Latin, but an awesome read. Thank you for an excellent AAR, and for the bibliography at the end.
The best AAR! Brilliantly written and finished with grace!
Блестяще написано и красиво завершено!
Great and innovative AAR, Loki100! It was fun to follow.
One of the best AAR's out there IMO. Nice job Loki!
This has been a really impressive AAR. Highly detailed, plausible, and brilliantly illustrated with photos posters, etc. There will be a big gap in the HOI3 forum without it.
I think there was a BBC Radio 4 adaption of this recently is you would like to hear it rather than read it.
Took me almost a whole day to read this entire AAR, well done! I thoroughly enjoyed it, almost seemed like an alternate history book.
You made my decision much easier to purchase the two expansions for HOI 3 (SF and FTM). Right now I am playing Iron Cross (HOI2) as Germany and it turned into a nail biter just like your AAR, at some points it seems the tide is going to turn against me, but in the last moments, with the last reserves I am able to save the day. Seems you had a lot of these types of scenarios, many times being pushed back after a successful offensive. Looks like the AI is much, much better that what I remember in vanilla HOI 3 or previous titles. It still does have its quarks, but it's much less of a problem than it used to be. At least it seems that way to me.
Also thank you for the book recommendations, I haven't bought a WWII book in about a year or so, a couple of the ones you suggested I already have, but I don't have "The Soviet Home Front" for example, and it sounds like a fascinating read. As far as I am aware there is not much out there in the form of books to provide accounts of the Soviet Home front, how people lived, survived, etc.
Anyway, just wanted to say my thanks. I am definitely going to read more of your AARs.
Its taken me around 4 months to read through.
A monumental work Loki. I will miss it.
Very interesting AAR much more interesting then my HoI series experiences. Also maybe its just me ,but the ending scenario reminds me an awful lot about the opening part of the movie Red Dawn.