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mpk2

Second Lieutenant
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Aug 7, 2010
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This AAR is based on the ICE mod and will follow the lives of several young Americans in throughout the game as well as overviews of actions and decisions that affect the course of the game. I will be playing the game from 1936. This is my first attempt at this so any advice will be appreciated.

PART 1 Introduction and 1936

1 JAN 1936
President Roosevelt sat down with his cabinet, which was almost entirely the same as his previous administration except for replacing Claude Swanson with William Leahy as Chief of the Navy.



Admiral Leahy being promoted to Chief of the Navy

They began to lay out a plan for the future of the United States both economically as well as militarily. As far as they were concerned, at this time the United States is at peace and thus should focus on maintaining peace. But they did agree that the current building plans should be easily convertible to military purposes. Thus began one of the largest construction programs in US history. The project would be funded under the Industrial Act of 1936 which provided 26 major cities funding to begin construction over the next several years on huge industrial facilities.




Not to be ignored was the military, in particular the navy. While a huge amount of resources was being spent to increase the industrial base in the US, no few than 9 Destroyer squadrons of several classes, 7 light cruisers of the Brooklyn class, 3 Heavy Cruisers of the New Orleans Class, and 2 new Yorktown class Aircraft Carriers, the Yorktown and Enterprise and the air groups to accompany them.

The Army also began a reorganization of the National Guard from a 4 Regiment structure to 3 Regiment structure. While this would lower the manpower in each Division, it would provide the ability to include support brigades as they became available. They also decided to focus on increasing the amount of support regiments available to each Division as soon as possible.


National Guard Reorganization


Roosevelt also ordered the Chiefs to begin research that would allow the current military forces to be brought up to date since many of the tactics as well as equipment were from the Great War. The biggest focuses were on infantry and armor techs, as well as updating the escort fleet. Attention was also paid to the industry area, particularly leadership and efficiency.

15 May, 1936

Micheel Roberts sat in the cool summer breeze in Annapolis, Maryland. It was graduation for the class of 1936 at the United States Naval Academy and Micheel was wondering what his life had in store next for him. Roberts had excelled at Navy, both academically and in football. He had been a Wing end for the Football team that went 26-12 over his 4 years and went 2-2 in the all important Army-Navy game, including scoring the only touchdown in the 1936 Navy win. Ensign Roberts came from a large family in Boston that had for three generations worked as ship builders in Boston Harbor. After spending the weekends looking at the ships being built, Micheel decided he didnt just want to work on them he wanted to serve on them. Micheel had been able to secure a nomination to the Academy in 1932 which during the great depression was a major feat for someone with his families background. Ensign Roberts was to report to the USS Houston, a Heavy Cruiser of the Northampton class. Houston had in April been moved to San Francisco, which is where he would begin to serve as the Turret Officer of 2nd Division, being the #2 main Battery Forward.


Graduation at the Naval Academy, 1936

USS Houston

It was a warm afternoon when Jonny Bissle left home in Eugene, Oregon. Eugene had been having a tough time finding work in town and the surrounding area. His mother bugged him every morning that he should get off his lazy butt and go find a job. Jonny did not find the idea of working in a lumber mill or store appealing at all. He longed for adventure, and felt that at 18 years old their was so much he had left to do. As he a buddy walked down 12th Street later that day, they ran into a local Marine Corp recruiter that offered the the chance of adventure while making them into men. To Jonny, this was exactly what he was looking for, so he enlisted right then and there. Jonny went home and the moment he walked into the door, his mother began to hound him that he had wasted another day away when he could of been working. Jonny just tossed the papers that he had received for the recruiter onto the table and said, "Mom, I leave in the morning." His mother was in shock, and tried to put up a protest that this is not what she had meant when she said find a job. Jonny was already upstairs packing his bags. He was on the first train out and on his way to San Diego the next morning with his buddy Ryan at his side.




5 June, 1936

In Washington, President Roosevelt was speaking to Chief of the Navy about the importance of upgrading the battle fleet. Admiral Leahy agreed that more time had to be spent developing the technology to create Battleships that were more powerful than what we currently had. Thus one of the highest priorities at the moment became the development of new Battleships.


Advancing Battleship Tech


10 July 1936

Washington DC
The Army reported today to President Roosevelt that the reorganization of the National Guard was completed that day. After the Reorganization the National Guard still consisted of 15 divisions, but also now included 15 independent Brigades that would eventually after more upgrades and training become 5 new Regular Army Divisions.


Reorganized 29th Infantry Division (National Guard)

28 July 1936
San Diego
Jonny had just graduated from Marine Corp Boot Camp after the 7 weeks of training and he had loved every moment of it. While he wasnt to fond of being called maggot and worthless, he learned to appreciate the DI's and listened to every word they said. He loved learning to fire the Springfield 1903 and even enjoyed going on the forced marches and hours spent on the parade ground. Jonny spent 2 full weeks at the rifle range learning how to become a rifleman. Jonny scored a sharpshooter, the second highest ranking for marksmanship in the Marine Corp and received his sharpshooter Badge. Jonny received his first orders to report to the Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington across the Bay in San Diego. He would begin his time in the Corp as a part of the Fleet on the largest Ship in the United States Navy.


Marine Detachment, USS Lexington 1936


1 Sept 1936
The Summer of 1936 had been a rather quite one for the nation, and it was no different for William Ellisor. “Willy” as he was known was still 17 years old when he left for the A&M College of Texas in the fall of 1936. He planned on studying engineering and joining the Fighting Texas Aggie Band. Willy was following in the footsteps of both his father and his grandfather, who was part of the first graduating class at A&M. Willy also wanted to receive a commission into the Army, specifically the Infantry. He looked forward to the day he would lead men into combat. Little did he know of what was to come.


Fighting Texas Aggie Band at Kyle Field, Fall 1936


31 Dec 1936
In Washington, then end of the year was celebrated at the White House as President Roosevelt celebrated a successful year. He had continued to expand and improve the navy and had set about the largest construction plan in US history and the first facilities were coming online. There had been no major international incidents to worry about and the world seemed at peace. All is good in 1936 and 1937 is looking to be even better.

For Ensign Roberts and Private Bissle, New Years Eve consisted of drills as the Lexington accompanied by the Houston and USS Northampton and two flortillas of destroyers sailed back to San Diego after operations in Panama. Ensign Roberts had received high marks in his six month evals and seemed on the fast track to promotion. His 2nd Division had won the Ship's Company gunnery award for the year and Roberts had won the respect of the other officers on board. As for Bissle, it took some adjusting to life at sea, but he grew used to living aboard the carrier. He was impressed with the size of the ship and of the two escorting cruisers. But while he enjoyed seeing the world on the great warships, he wished he could serve in an actual infantry battalion.


USS Houston and Northampton escorting USS Lexington in the Pacific. 1936
 
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One can never fail to catch my attention if one is making an AmericAAR. Have time, Will follow.
 
Part 2 -1937

3 Jan 1937
After spending New Years Eve telling everyone how the economy was on a full recovery and was going to keep growing at a crazy President Roosevelt had to eat his words as the market crashed again and production plummeted. Production fell by almost 2/3rd and much of the construction in the major cities screeched to a halt. Things did not look good as there was not much work being done. The only Good news was that the two large Aircraft Carriers under construction were almost completed.

24 Feb 1937
Construction is complete on the two new Carriers Yorktown and Enterprise! The two new ships of the Yorktown class will provide the nation with a striking force that few other nations possess. Both Carriers will be stationed in the Atlantic for the time being to help the USS Ranger as there are already 3 carriers in the Pacific, but this could change if relations with Japan, who possess a large carrier force of her own, were to change. The other good news is that with the completion of the two carriers, it frees up resources to go back into the economy and jumpstart production of the industrial centers. President Roosevelt is hoping the more resources spent on the economy will finally bring the country out of the depression once and for all.


USS Yorktown off of Hampton Roads, 1937


25 Sept 1937
After a very quite summer construction is finally coming to an end for the 2nd wave of industrial plants that are being produced as part of the Industrial Act of 36. This will provide us with several new bases to continue to upgrade our military. President Roosevelt also was informed that quite of few of the army’s new tactics which focus on combined arms and infantry have been developed and are being put into use by the Army. Admiral Leahy also got approval to begin construction of a 3rd Yorktown Class Carrier, the USS Hornet along with several new destroyer flotillas of the new Benham class.


Construction workers working on industrial Centers in New York City, 1937


Picture of Production in Sept 37


13 Dec 1937
Today, Head of Intelligence William Friedman presented to President Roosevelt and the cabinet a report coming from China of a massive massacre of Chinese Civilians. The Nanking Massacre as it was being called looks to be a very serious event in Southeast Asia that could make international headlines and present a serious case that Japan is up to more than just expansion in China. The reports suggest several months of large massacres in the area that resulted in the deaths of anywhere between two to three hundred thousand deaths. As a result of the findings and reports, President Roosevelt ordered several measures to attempt to punish the Japanese, which resulted in a severe drop in relations with Japan. Foreign Minister Cordell Hull estimated that Japanese relations dropped by 20% on a 100 Point scale. As a result of the decrease in relations, the United States neutrality also dropped. President Roosevelt had showed the world just a glimpse of how he felt about the Japanese expansion into China and his actions that will follow were another indication that he felt the Japanese had gone too far.

14 Dec 1937
Just one day after the reports of the Nanking massacre in China, President Roosevelt approved the recommendation from Admiral Leahy and Chief of Staff Malin Craig to increase military production in the coming year. The first act was to approve the construction of 2 new St. Louis class light cruisers. The St. Louis class were an upgrade of the Brooklyn class that was already under construction on the slipways. At the same time, Armament Minister Henry Morgenthau approved the Army’s construction of a rocket research facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The new rocket facility was to look into military uses for the newly discovered rocket technology. The last immediate decision was to cut back the Industrial Act of 36 after the next wave of construction was completed in May of 37. The cut back was to reduce the amount of cities from 26 to 12 allowing more resources to be devoted to military upgrades and construction.


Rocket Research Facility


Brooklyn class Light Cruiser, the St. Louis class was an upgraded Brooklyn Cruiser

24 Dec 1937
Jonny Bissle, now a Private First Class, spent Christmas Eve on shore in Hawaii as the Lexington was taking a break at Pearl Harbor to let the men have a break from the endless training. Lexington and the rest of Task Force 16 which included 2 heavy cruisers and several Destroyers had recently returned from a sortie to Guam. While it was said that the sortie was just to visit, the Task Force had conveniently passed close to Japanese held Saipan to just see what was around. Nothing was felt out of the ordinary and Task Force 16 had returned the day before Christmas to Pearl without anything to report. PFC Bissle was by now used to his duties about the Lady Lex but was becoming more anxious to get into a Battalion. There was rumors that the Corp was considering expanding and adding more Battalions but there was as of yet nothing to prove it. All he could do was continue to do his duty onboard the ship and enjoy the many cruises and destinations Lexington was visiting.


USS Lexington at Pearl Harbor, Christmas 1937

31 Dec 1937
The end of year was spent by the cabinet and President with another celebration in DC after a brief Holiday Break. The Roosevelt administration had several important issues to tackle after they returned next week. The biggest issue was America must get out of the depression that was still gripping the country. Production was still down although not as bad as the beginning of the year. The military was also focused on expanding and modernizing to be able to meet any threat from the rising sun to the west. President Roosevelt laid down after a enjoyable night knowing there was a lot of work still to be done.


Industrial situation, End of year 1937
 
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Part 3 – 1938

3 Jan 38
Today, just barely into the new year, President Roosevelt and Head of State John Garner enacted the Agriculture Adjustment Act. The idea behind this new piece of law was to make it easier for farmers to get supplies for their land. One of the plus sides is that the enacting of this law means that there is fewer requirements from our industrial base leaving more room more military construction.

10 Mar 38
In the White House today, an emergency meeting was held among the cabinet and Chiefs of the military to discuss the alarming news of Germany annexing Austria. Hitler had been on the American chiefs radar for some time as a possible worrying point, but until this move he had not seriously drawn much attention or thought from the American bosses. From now on they decided that Germany would draw more resources from the State Department as well as foreign intelligence.


Annexation of Austria by Germany

25 may 38
Ensign Micheel Roberts was almost through two full years on the USS Houston and was enjoying his time on the ship. Although the Houston was an older ship, she was very capable and was also a very well built vessel. Ensign Roberts had done a top rate job with his Division and had received excellent reviews. Because of this, Micheel received new orders at the end of May that he was to report to the USS Tennessee. The Tennessee was one of the navy’s newer battleships. But even though she was one of the newer vessels she was still 18 years old. But regardless of age, Tennessee was one of the top Battleships in the World and could duke it out with anyone. Micheel was excited to report to one of the giant battleships, and even more excited that he was still in the Pacific Fleet at San Diego. Along with his transfer, Micheel passed before the promotion board and was promoted to lieutenant (Junior Grade). When Lieutenant Roberts arrived aboard the Tennessee, he was assigned as Assistant to dual-purpose battery control officer. While not commanding his own gun like he did on the Houston, LT (jg) Roberts was pleased with his new assignment because he was able to see more of the battlefield and learn from more experienced officers. He settled quickly into his role and began to soak in the knowledge the older men shared with him.


USS Tennessee underway off the coast of San Diego, 1938

4 July 38
As fireworks rang out across the country President Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act. Roosevelt promised that the new bill would make life easier for Americans hard pressed from the almost 8 year long depression and help pull the country out of the depression. The bill set up a minimum wage that employers had to pay as well as set a standard overtime pay of time and a half. The bill also made it illegal to use children in any oppressive sort of labor. The President, Cabinet and congress hoped that the bill would work quickly and turn the fortunes of the country around.

7 July 38
Almost as if on cue, the Nations suddenly left the depression behind just three short days after the Fair Labor act was passed into law. The economy roared to life bringing thousands of new jobs to the many that were out of work. As more and more work became available, the government began to wind down the work that was being done under the Industrial Act of 36.

15 Nov 38
It had been over two years since PFC Bissle had first stepped about the USS Lexington in San Diego and now he was finally get his chance to leave the ship and join a Marine ground Battalion. His excitement quickly died though once he discovered that he had been assigned to the Hawaii Ground defense Battalion. The Hawaiian Battalion was responsible for the Defense of the island of Oahu where Pearl Harbor was located. His Battalion would not be carrying the battle to any enemy held lands any time soon. But there was little to complain about other than that. Jonny was stationed in beautiful Hawaii with Hawaiian beauties and warm sunny beaches year round. He quickly learned that he loved Hawaii and that he would survive an assignment here.


Marine Defense Battalion Hawaii under inspection

4 Dec 38
Over the past year the Navy had been hard at work developing new technology for a new class of Battleships. These ships would be faster and more heavily armed than the older Tennessee and Colorado class ships. Admiral Leahy put down orders for 2 North Carolina class Battleships to be completed in early 1941. The two ships, the North Carolina and Washington would be at the forefront of Battleship Technology and also be able to keep up with the Carriers that were getting faster and faster. Or at least that is the plan.


Model of North Carolina Class Battleships under construction
 
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Part 4 – 1st half 1939

4 Feb 39
In early February Congress enacted the Neutrality Act that allowed the United States to pass arms to countries that it felt necessary. Congress felt that the law would keep America neutral should any conflict break out in Europe or in Asia.

1 Mar 39
After several years of research and testing, the Army finally felt confident enough that it had perfected radar technology enough to put it into practice. The first places to receive the new technology were Midway Island and Kaua’i, one of the Hawaiian Islands. If the system proves effective then other stations and bases might begin to receive radar sets. One worry among the chiefs though is that an island that is too far away to defend may fall into enemy hands with the new radar set intact and allow them to steal the technology. Thus it was decided that the policy for the time being would be to place radar stations in locations that could quickly reinforced in the event of attack.


Early radar station

28 mar 39
It has been just over a year since Germany annexed Austria and moved in to take control of the land. Today, the 28th of March, William Friedman, the Foreign Intelligence minister reported that Germany has made moves to annex Czechoslovakia. This move has caught the entire administration of guard and was not expected. No one predicted that the Germans would be so bold in expanding and Hitler and the Nazi Party appear to be planning to continue their expansion plans.



In response to the moves made today in Europe, President Roosevelt and Admiral Leahy have decided to reshuffle the US Atlantic and Pacific Fleet. After going over recent intelligence reports it appears that Germany at most has one carrier in the yard under construction and no fewer than 3 Battleships along with several Battlecruisers and Heavy Cruisers under construction or just entering the fleet. While Germany is focusing more on their surface fleet, Japan has developed several updated Carriers to add to their fleet. To counter this latest intel, the following orders have been sent out to the fleet.
1. The Aircraft Carriers USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise are to transit the Panama Canal and join the Pacific Fleet at San Diego.
2. The Battleships USS Tennessee and USS California as well as the carrier USS Langley are to transit the Panama Canal and join the Atlantic Fleet at Norfolk.

The idea behind the movement in the fleet is that the Pacific fleet will now possess 4 fleet carriers to counter any Japanese aggression against us, and the Atlantic receives two of our more powerful Battleships to counter any threats from German surface raiders.


USS Enterprise transiting the Panama canal

2 April 39
Head of Intelligence William Friedman today reported that France had begun to mobilize its forces. He gave no indication as to what was the reason but one can only assume that the continued aggression shown by Germany and the Japanese expansion in to Southeast Asia, where France has colonies, has to be the reason behind their mobilization. Many in the administration expect to see Great Britain and many other European nations and their colonies begin to mobilize as well. Only time will tell if things will boil over in Europe, and Roosevelt continues to hope for peace.


France is Mobilizing

5 April 39
In response to the recent German and Japanese aggression and France mobilizing the Joint Chiefs began to develop what will be called the Rainbow Plans. The Rainbow plan, ordered by the President to be developed will become a defensive plan of the western hemisphere from aggression from the two mentioned above. The war would be a defensive war that would have the goal of defending the United States and Western Hemisphere north of 10 degrees south Latitude. The Chiefs were also to assume that the US has no allies left in fighting this war.


Rainbow Plan

One of the first acts in preparation for executing Rainbow or any other military conflict was the upgrading of the 18 current National Guard Divisions. The National Guard would begin to train their units to become a full fledge infantry unit instead of the current militia style unit.


Kansas National Guard unit before heading to Training

3 July 39
Today, President Roosevelt announced that the United States was ending the 1911 US-Japan Trade Agreement. The President felt that Japan had gone too far with its military conquests and they needed to be checked. We are not alone in our efforts to curb Japanese expansion as many western European countries such as France and Great Britain are also actively trying to end Japanese expansion. Its our hope that by cutting the trade agreement, Japan will realize that their expansion is hurting their economy and will end its conquests.


Ending Trade Agreement with Japan
 
Part 5 – WAR!

7 Sept 39
At 3pm in Washington, President Roosevelt telephone rang waking him from a short nap. On the other side of the line was Head of Intelligence William Friedman. “Mr. President, Germany is mobilizing.” With this news the President called an emergency cabinet meeting with his head security team as well as the Joint Chiefs. “Gentlemen, what does this mean and what do we expect Germany to do?” the President wanted the opinions of his top advisers as to what Germany's intentions where for preparing their military. The President wanted his men and country to be ready for anything, but reminded everyone that the country was still neutral and would not openly pick a side.




15 Sept 39
WAR in Europe! That was the News paper Headlines when the American people woke up on the 15th of September. In the early morning hours the German army had begun an all out invasion of Poland, coming from the west and north all heading for Warsaw. Within a matter of hours Great Britain and France honored their Alliance with Poland and announced that they had declared war on Germany. Things where beginning to unravel in Europe once again and Americans wondered if they would be able to stay out of the war and maintain their neutrality. While there was a large amount of German descendants that were sympathetic to their fatherland, most Americans supported the Allies cause, although felt that they should remain out of the war directly.


Newspapers report Germany’s invasion of Poland

In partial response to the declarations of war in Europe, President Roosevelt announced that he was ending the New Deal to begin to prepare American industrial facilities for the possibility of war. By ending the New Deal, American resources would rapidly become available for military production and upgrades. While Roosevelt wanted to remain neutral, he also wanted to be ready and he had the full support of Congress and the American people. No one wanted to be caught unprepared.

24 Sept 39
In just a little over a week after Germany began its invasion of Poland, most of the rest of Europe hand announced that they too had mobilizes their military. It really did seem like Europe was heading towards another full scale war.

Congress today approved the construction of 6 new Aircraft Carriers of the newly designed Essex class. These new carriers would be bigger, faster and carrier more aircraft than the Yorktown class and would provide our fleet with even more offensive striking power.


Design of the new Essex class Carriers

29 Sept 39
Today, more bad news befell the allies when Italy announced that it had signed a treaty to join the Axis Powers. Earlier in the year Italy had annexed Albania and a couple years earlier had annexed Ethiopia so it was quickly obvious they intended to expand and conquer as well.


Italy joining axis

8 Oct 39
The past week has been very eventful in the United States. As war has raged in Poland it has become clear that France and Great Britain will not come to the aid of their ally. Poland is now bound to their fate and will collapse within a matter of days as German forces close in on the Capital. In Washington President Roosevelt has secretly ordered the Joint Chiefs to begin expanding the original Rainbow Plan into a broader war plan, Rainbow Plan II. This new plan is to assume that the United States is at war with several enemies across several theaters of Operations. The plan also assumes that the United States is at war accompanied by France, Great Britain and their Colonies.


Rainbow 2

The day after issuing the order to develop the new war plans, President Roosevelt presented before congress a plan to help aid the allies with supplies and raw materials. His plan, termed “Cash and Carry”, will replace the neutrality act of 36 by allowing belligerents to receive war materials and supplies as long as they paid up front for them as well as transported the materials using their own merchant fleet. Roosevelt was able to work this past the neutral learning congress by playing on the economy. He persuaded congress that the economy was still recovering from the Great Depression and needed manufacturing based jobs for people to earn a living.

Just two days after passing the “Cash and Carry” act, the President and congress decided to declare a mandatory 1 year draft as well as put the economy on full military mobilization. It was felt that with all of the armed conflicts going on around the world, the United States must be ready in the eventual case that they are drawn into war. These first two measures will allow the expansions and full scale modernization of American forces to increase American readiness.


Cash and Carry


Men lining up for the draft

25 Dec 39
William Ellisor was so close to finishing up at the A&M college of Texas and he couldn’t wait to receive his commission. Willy spent Christmas Day at his grandfather’s house just outside of Houston, Texas. The day was spent enjoying family and good times but as the sun set and then men sat around the table smoking and drinking whiskey the talk turned to the war in Europe. Willy was to graduate and receive a commission in the Army in May, and his cousin was following him the next year so there was great concern that they could find themselves in combat if the country joined the war. Both Willy’s father and uncle had served in the Great War and his grandfather had fought the Philippine guerillas so everyone understood what they young men where potentially facing. At the end of the night everyone bid farewell and prayed that they would be spared from the conflict that was beginning overseas.

In Hawaii, Jonny Bissle, now Lance Corporal Jonny Bissle spent Christmas with his buddies in the barracks of Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay. Jonny had been promised that he wouldn’t have to spend a whole lot longer at the airfield and would be transferred back stateside to join one of the infantry battalions in California. That was the best Christmas present that he could of received at that time. Jonny was sick of guard duty and wanted to get into a real unit. News of the events occurring in Europe arrived in trickles to Hawaii but Europe was so far away no one really cared. Europe was a world away and Hawaii was surrounded by massive oceans. What a perfect place to be if only you had a job you liked.
 
The Folly of Youth

". . . In Hawaii, Jonny Bissle, ... spent Christmas with his buddies ... . Jonny had been promised that he wouldn’t have to spend a whole lot longer at the airfield and would be transferred back stateside to join one of the infantry battalions in California."

Poor guy doesn't know when he's got it good. :rolleyes:
 
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