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East AND West

The decision was on my plate. Should I take Spain, I could take Gibraltar and close off the Mediterranean. Should I decide to take Turkey, when war began with the Allies, Italy could sweep down the Levant into Lebanon and Palestine to take the Suez without having to challenge the powerful British Navy in a naval landing.

After examining my forces and resources, I decided in the end that both campaigns could be possible, but I would need to raise a large army specifically for the invasion of Spain. Fortunately, given Italy’s enthusiastic and patriotic base of young men (thanks to our Catholics and their large families), manpower would not be a problem. What would be a challenge would be making sure to have enough time to train the men, and factory space to build enough arms to equip our brave soldiers. Additionally, our Navy would be called on to ferry these men and protect them as they landed on Spanish shores as well as protecting our convoys.

Italy launched its invasion of Turkey on April 16, 1939. Using the veteran Balkan Theatre forces, I authorized a headlong rush into Istanbul and naval landings at Izmir using the VI Corpo d’Armata from Salonica, XI Corpo d'Armata awaited the transport fleet at Athens, as they would follow with a second landing, this one at Trabazon as soon as could be managed.

19390422Turkey.jpg
(the capture of Istanbul)

Marshall Abruzzi’s skillful use of envelopment tactics on a large scale using the naval forces under his command, which by now included RN Aquila, the first of our aircraft carriers, plunged the defending Turks into total confusion in a matter of no time. The Turkish government surrendered on April 25th, after only 9 days!

19390425Turkey.jpg
(Turkey has surrendered)

The armies were redeployed, with Guzzoni's 2nd Army watching the border with the USSR in Anatolia, and available for further action in the Levant. Vercellino's 3rd Army would have the job of holding the border with the USSR in Romania. With the eastern front secure, and poised to defend against any Soviet aggression and plunge southward toward the Sinai desert, I could turn my attention westwards to Spain.
 
hey mankle30 :)
nice start so far. and my preferable country since Myth's AAR came out.
by the way: did you think of reorganising your line infantry (at least 3-6 divs) to motorized one? it is what i'm doing in my game now, and i'll tell you the consequences.
 
Thanks pkawol . . . . no, I haven't. First, because Italy has so little IC, it's tough to dedicate even more to upgrading the infantry to motorised(especially after upgrading the cavalry to light armour at the beginning). Also, as you will soon see, issues of supply are going to become important, and I'm trying to keep my infantry divisions really low on their supply needs. Another reason is that I'm keeping my mobile divisions and my "static" divisions separate. My armour divisions are usually ARMx2,MOBx1,SPARTx1. Substitute light armour for armour on some of them. Also, the divisions travel at the speed of the slowest division, if I was going to motorise the infantry, I would also need to upgrade the artillery attached to them if I want to be able to take advantage of the motorised divisions' speed!

But let me know how it works for you!
 
The Iberian Invasion

After conferring with my generals, we concluded that invading Spain presented several challenges which we would have to overcome. The first was that Spain had the potential to become a logistical quagmire. All supplies and fuel for our forces would have to be shipped in through the varying quality of ports in Spain. It would also have to be assumed that these ports could sustain damage during the initial assault.

In order to minimize the demand for these supplies, it was decided that the forces used to assault the Iberian peninsula would consist only of infantry. Italy had spent a great deal of time and energy bringing their infantry training and equipment up to the highest level possible, and this campaign would test their ability against a much more capable foe than any of the Balkan nations or Turks.

Indeed, one theoretical simulation run by the Chief of Staff of the armed forces had us landing a large force at Valencia and Barcelona only to get stalled due to lack of supplies and have the campaign stretch well into the following spring and summer.

As a result, several steps were taken back in February in order to achieve success.
1. To ensure enough convoys to transport supplies, an immediate order of merchant marine vessels was placed to stock up and maintain a steady flow of important equipment, food, and ammunition in order to keep up the assault.
2. 24 infantry divisions were ordered to be raised (only 15-18 would be fully operational at the start of the campaign, the rest would be used to reinforce). As mentioned previously, these divisions were triangular with three brigades of infantry in each.
3. Extra troop transports were ordered to help ferry these soldiers into combat.

The plan was complex and involved all of the branches of the armed forces. A single large front would be impossible to maintain, therefore, multiple landings would be made. Indeed, a landing would be made at EVERY port in Iberia, as well as the ports on the southern side of Gibraltar, in order to minimize the strain on the supply chain. Each landing group would consist of 4 infantry divisions and their corps HQ (for a total of 39,000 men in each corps, including the HQ brigade). These would then hold their landing positions until almost all of the landings were made. Once a significant force was landed, they would push forward, spreading out and linking up and begin to converge on Madrid, eventually forming a (mostly) coherent front, and effectively surrounding the Spanish forces. This plan would test the mettle of our army, navy and air force as well as our merchant marines.

Just before our invasion began, our forces were as follows:
Pintor’s 1a Armata would be the spearhead force of 143,000 men. Pintor commanded Zingales’s II Corpo d’Armata, which had previously been attached to defend western Italy and had been filled out with new troops. Stationed with them at Olbia at Sardinia was Gambara’s newly formed 3rd Corps. Waiting at Viterbo for the signal to commence the invasion were Ambrosio’s III Corpo d’Armata (also formerly defending western Italy and filled out with fresh troops) and di Benedetto’s newly formed 4th Corps which consisted of 3 infantry divisions, and our 1st Marine division. Also standing by were 3 divisons of garrison troops to be used to hold the islands once the invasion was under way. Waiting for the second wave in Nasi’s newly commissioned 4th Army were the 5th and 6th Corps, which, on the eve of the Declaration of war stood by with 5 divisions between them. Another 6 divisions would be ready for deployment (although not for battle) on October 18th. Finally, our next carrier, RN Europa was nearing its completion and would join the fleet in November.

193910254thArmyreinforcements.jpg
(4th Army's reinforcements on October 25)

On October 14, 1939, the Declaration of War was presented to the Republican Spanish government. The entire power of the Italian Navy was thrown into the battle, effectively enveloping the Spanish Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and Elvissa), which were assaulted as a staging point for the invasions of Iberia proper.

19391014SpanishIslands.jpg
(Our navy surrounding the Spanish Islands)

Using Sardinia as our initial launch point for our Spanish operation, the first group on the Iberian Peninsula landed at Barcelona, with the second at Valencia. Of the corps involved in the landings, these two would have the most difficult task in linking up as they were the farthest apart.

193910254thCorps.jpg
(4th Corps at Barcelona)

19391025IICorpo.jpg
(II Corpo lans at Valencia)

193910255thCorps.jpg
(5th Corps at Cartagena)

Subsequently, a landing was made on Spanish North Africa, landing at Melilla, then racing to take the port of Tanger. This was crucial as it would allow us to quickly take Gibraltar when the time came. The eastern landings continued at Cartagena, Almeria, and Malaga, and another followed west of Gibraltar at Cadiz. By November more divisions were ready to be thrown into battle, and three divisions were sent all the way around to take the northern part of the peninsula, near the French border at Bilbao. Troops had to be borrowed from Italy’s mainland defense forces in order to ensure that these troops at Bilbao did not get cut off from their supply line while pushing south toward Madrid. After gaining their beachheads and taking provinces with airfields, the Italian Air Force also joined the fight to provide air support.

19391111Aquila.jpg
(the RN Aquila Task Force. You can also see the extent of our landings in southern Spain)

19391122ForcesLinking.jpg
(forces linking up to create a cohesive front)

In the end, the gambit worked. I lauded my generals for their bold plan which achieved both operational surprise and the minimal strain on supply lines. On January 24th, 1940, Spain surrendered, calling a successful end to the most ambitious operation the Italian Armed Forces had attempted.

19400124SpainSurrender.jpg


Next Chapter: War with the West!
 
Well, from my point of view, the lack of French response was most welcome! However, I did play one game as Germany (probably with ICE) and I invaded Spain after the Republicans won (before Poland), and the UK immediately doW'ed on me.... It seems that as Italy, you're not inciting as much fear. In this game, nothing I did up to this point did anything to provoke the Allies.
 
That may be because the game seems to be geared towards the player chosing Germany. As long as you're not a member of the Axis, you're pretty much free to do what you want.
 
By this time, however, I am a member of the axis, although, unfortunately, I didn't keep track of the date that i joined, I'll look this up and see if I can find it an old game save . . . . I'm pretty sure I was in the axis before Poland though, because I remember getting the "Limited War" message when Germany doW'ed Poland.
 
I know you already are past this point, but you might consider using the event-mod cooperative. AFAIK, it will be part of the next patch and includes a generic version of the HPP Vichy event, which rewards other nations who participate in invading France. For example, if Italy takes over the entire southern portion, they'll get to keep what they took and Vichy forms somewhere else.
 
That's def. a good idea . . . I just started a game in HPP to check it out, and it looks cool, and the different Surrender variations are definitely much appreciated! As you'll see, the Semper Fi vanilla surrender issues come into play.....
 
That's def. a good idea . . . I just started a game in HPP to check it out, and it looks cool, and the different Surrender variations are definitely much appreciated! As you'll see, the Semper Fi vanilla surrender issues come into play.....

Good to here that. I would be glad to hear any feedback, good or bad, in the HPP subforum.
 
Preparing to take on the West

The period following our Iberian campaign was one to evaluate and enjoy a respite from the intermittent fighting of the previous 4 years. We had defeated Ethiopia and expanded our power base in Africa. We had expanded our interests in the Balkans by asserting Italy’s right to the land along the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia, and took the rest of Yugoslavia. We proceeded south to eliminate any threat that Greece might present to us. We captured the Black Sea ports in Bulgaria, and took the oil fields and more Black Sea coastline in Romania. We positioned ourselves as dominating the eastern Mediterranean as well as the southern Black Sea coast by bringing the Turks to submission in only 9 days. Finally, our 100 (or so) day campaign in Iberia had given us a better position in Northern Africa, and, of course allowed us to straddle Gibraltar.

Our research and development teams were working along the same lines as earlier, with advances in January and February in several industrial areas improving our resource processing as well as naval doctrines. We were also expecting advances in our medium tanks which would serve us in good stead in the upcoming hostilities.

19400124tech1.jpg

19400124tech2.jpg


February and March would also see the delivery of new vessels for our Merchant Marine, transport ships to ferry our troops, and April would see the completion of a new armoured division, the 3rd CCNN division.

19400124prod1.jpg

19400124prod2.jpg


In May, June and July, we were expecting research advances in the fields of Radar and ASW warfare for our light cruisers, and developments for a new generation of aircraft carriers.

In the period leading up to August, we would also have ready three more armoured divisions as well as an infantry division. We had also made arrangements to construct 4 new Agano class light cruisers on license from Japan, the first two of which would be finished early in 1941.

19400525prod2.jpg


Our Axis leaders in Berlin (apologies for not mentioning this much earlier, but it was always assured on our end that we would ally ourselves with Germany that our acceptance into the axis in September of 1937 was not reported) had made their plans in Europe clear. After taking Poland (or at least the western half), they were setting their sights on the west. We were told that their plan would go through the Low Countries of Netherlands and Belgium (and Luxembourg, let’s not forget that tiny spot of a country) and push south to avoid the Maginot line defences. It was fundamentally the same plan, the Schlieffen Plan, that Germany enacted in 1914 as they attacked the west. However, this time, the Germans would assign adequate numbers to the plan, and use their motorised and armoured divisions to steamroll the Dutch, Belgians and French, even if the British decide to intervene.
Germany had started their offensive in May and we were biding our time preparing for the fight.

The German war in the Low Countries was going well. By May 25th, they had penetrated to Amsterdam and were in the process of surrounding the city.

19400525Lowcountriesprogress.jpg
(German progress in Netherlands and Belgium on May 25)

19400525surroundingAmsterdam.jpg
(surrounding Amsterdam)

When the time came, our plan would be simple. Fight a defensive battle along our borders with France. Pintor’s 1a Armata had elements defending the our border in Iberia, and our West Army Group with approximately 68,000 men were defending the few provinces that border France in the Alps.

19400313Iberia.jpg
(Pintor's 1a Armata in northern Iberia)

If attacked, we would defend, but our main goal there was to make sure the French did not have anywhere to escape.

Field Marshall Enrico Caviglia, commander of our forces in Africa, drew up his plans. He was to use his forces to both push west into French territory, as well as pushing east towards Egypt and the western wide of the Suez Canal. General Alfredo Guzzoni, commander of the 2nd Army, massed on the borders with the French lands in the Levant as well as Iraq, had orders to push south and southeast, through Beirut, Palestine and the Sinai to take the east side of the Suez Canal.

194005252ndarmyturkey.jpg
(Guzzoni's 2nd Army in Anatolia)

The 2nd Army also had orders to take Baghdad as Iraq is a puppet of the British and thus are to be considered a threat.

Now, we wait for the communique from Berlin.
 
You should try to encircle the French forces near your borders. Personally, I would perform amphibious assault behind the enemy lines near Spain and near French-Italian border. You could use the troops from Spain and Italian homeland for the task at hand, since you only need forces to defend, not to attack there. Even if the British performed an attack in northern Spain, you would be able to pull back and form a defensive line on the rivers and in the mountains. In case of French-Italian border, you could use both terrain and close proximity of potential reinforcements (forces stationed in the Balkans) to your advantage.
 
Thanks Totalise! Hope you keep reading!

all good advice, Cybvep, but please keep in mind that I've played far beyond what i've posted in the AAR. I'm actually at late 1943 right now. But stay tuned, the next chapter is coming soon!
 
War with the West

On July 19, 1940, Germany issued a call to arms to its allies, and Italy went to war with the west.

My first moves were to take Malta and Gibraltar from the British in order to effectively close off the western Mediterranean. Once the Germans had begun their offensive in northwest Europe, I had taken steps to prepare my assaults. I had surrounded Gibraltar with 3 infantry divisions, and one cavalry brigade (these outdated units had nonetheless proven their value in quelling partisan resistance behind the lines), with another infantry division closing in. Commendably the British held out for quite some time, but even their Garrision and HQ brigades could not withstand the consistent pressure of hardened infantry divisions with Tactical bomber support and Interceptors providing air superiority.

19400817Gibraltar.jpg
(the assault of Gibraltar)

In the landings at Malta, the full power of the British Navy was on display. While they could not dislodge our attack (supported by 2 carrier task forces, of 3 carriers and screens as well as a battleship fleet), they did a great deal of damage to our outdated fleet, and many destroyers were sunk.

19400719defendingMaltalanding.jpg
(our fleet holding off the British)

Eventually, both Gibraltar and Malta fell to our attacks, and the western Med was in Italy’s hands by August 17th.

In North Africa and the Levant, our troops were making steady progress. While our first attack on Beirut was unsuccessful, it was in reality Guzzoni’s testing of the Allied defences and we had only committed General Magli’s 136a Division, an armoured division to that attack. Our real goal was to encircle Beirut and destroy the divisions holed up there entirely. The rest of the 2nd army was swinging widely to the east to come around Beirut to complete the encirclement.

19400817movementinLevant.jpg
(encircling Beirut)

By September, Guzzoni had 7 French and Canadian infantry and 2 HQ divisions surrounded in Beirut, and from there it would be over a month until their eventual surrender.

19400904Beirut2.jpg
(the Battle of Beirut)

Also around the same time, Iraq had surrendered, and I installed a loyal, puppet government in Baghdad.

19401010IraqPuppet.jpg
(Baghdad is now Italy's puppet)

We were also making gains in North Africa, with Tobruk HQ’s troops pushing both west and east several hundred kilometres into French and British held territories. By October, we held both Tunis in the West and Al’Alamein in the east as our forces approached Suez.

19401011northafeast.jpg


Also around this time, we landed troops in Casablanca, on the northwest coast of Africa in order to widen our hold in this portion of the world.

19401010Casablanca.jpg


Additionally, France had begun to attack our forces along the former Spanish border, but not in the Alps. The French forces were easily repelled and troops from the newly renamed Iberian Army Group, particularly, Pintor’s 1st Army, slowly and gently pushed the French north. This was just a way of discouraging the French from getting too ambitions, and to prevent them from going anywhere as the German army pushed south.

19400804France.jpg


By September, We had taken territory up to and including the city of Toulouse, and we approached Bordeaux by the middle of October.

19401010Francewide.jpg


On December 12, France surrendered, and our German allies installed a puppet government as the Vichy French regime. I called for a meeting with the German leader to protest his division of the now conquered France, which cost us thousands of square kilometres of territory in the south, as the Germans claimed the entire Atlantic coast for themselves.

19401215VIchyFrance.jpg
(border's of German controlled and Vichy controlled France)

The only place where Italian troops were being defeated was in East Africa. Cut off from the rest of their mates on the African continent, these soldiers were losing ground slowly but surely to the British and French forces in the theatre.

19401229EastAf.jpg


By December 12, our goals had been attained: Italy now completely owned the Mediterranean, except for one place – Cyprus. This would be our next operation, and while the British were wounded, they were not beaten and were sure to fight like a cornered animal.
 
Looking pretty good in North Africa, but around Somalia you'll be struggling for a while. it is notoriously difficult to fight there as i am finding out in one of my games. Those british colonial posessions there are a nightmare for supplies, not to mention (in my game at least) motorised British Infantry that are running circles around my Spanish Infantry. Oh and whats with the Vichy event taking away all your French gains? I thought in Semper Fi you kept anything you took in France with the Vichy state forming around those holdings?
 
Yes, East Africa is particularly troublesome. Grr. The issues with Vichy are still with us in SF. I think it's in the HPP that they have been reworked to a large degree.
 
Oh and whats with the Vichy event taking away all your French gains? I thought in Semper Fi you kept anything you took in France with the Vichy state forming around those holdings?

Only if you use the event-mod cooperative, which I believe will be part of the official patch. It includes a watered-down version of the HPP Vichy event.