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Interesting. We have vaguely discussed to bring a mod to our MP-campaigns so it'll be interesting to learn a little bit more.
 
@Slan: Thanks. Maybe we should mention in the description that you get a bonus to air doctrines. At least that would take the mystery out of it. Same thing with the "Technological Theft" event.

@Warspite_TW: While it's kind of late for Christmas (unless you're an Orthodox Christian), you're welcome! I hope you're enjoying the somewhat-boring buildup phase, but things are going to get much more interesting fast. While the Anschluss by diplomacy won't result in war, the Treaty of Munich is coming up which does have a chance to start a war.

@CptEasy: We haven't had any feedback from an HPP MP game yet. One thing that might throw some MP groups off is the random chance that AI countries will reject treaties that hurt them. The AI will follow the historical path more often than not, but you can never be sure that Germany won't get dragged into a war with Czechoslovakia. See Cybvep's Black Crusaders AAR for examples of the AI taking the ahistorical options.
 
IMO HPP is not well suited for MP. The mod is clearly focused on single-player experience. August Storm might be a better choice MP-wise.

I think you are doing fine with describing your build-up, but you should add more tables and overviews. Maybe once per a year or two?
 
I was definitely planning to do so, just not right now. I was going to add one before every major diplomatic event leading up to the war, so the first one would be in the next chapter. I already have a lot of pictures and little text, since not much happens during the buildup.

Now that you mention it though, what I will do is add a table in chapter 2 with the starting OOB for comparison to my later builds.

And yes, the HPP was made with single-player in mind. The random AI choices might throw off MP games too much, which could also be fun if you like the idea. ICE is popular for MP games because it is very strict anyway, so it's easy to come up with and enforce MP rules. I haven't tried August Storm, but I know that it started off as an MP mod to balance the Soviet Union. I would like to point out that August Storm uses a lot of HPP events and decisions. You'll need to check out the download thread to see which ones were used.
 
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Chapter 7: Building Up - July 30, 1937 to February 3, 1938

This time period saw several developments. On the military-side, armies 1 through 4 were at full strength, and army 5 was at half strength. III. Panzerkorps had completed training and was deployed to the newly-formed Panzerarmee 2. III. Panzerkorps was equipped with the new-model Panzer IIIb medium tank. As per Hitler's orders, training of the remaining two corps of Panzergrenadieren was placed on hold until armies 5 and 6 were up to full strength.


The Reich's armed forces in early February, 1938

Domestically, the German Reich was considered a major world power on November 6th, due to the large size of its combined air branches. The Reich's expertise in training pilots and handling aircraft was the best in the world, and became a symbol of pride amongst its citizen. The immediate result was an large influx of capable individuals joining the military as pilots and instructors, as well as joining the government itself.


The Reich's large, modern airforce has earned it the respect of the other major powers

On December 4th, 1937, the NSDAP expropriated 16 private businesses accused of being disloyal to the Reich. The business owners in question denied the allegations, but their protests fell of deaf ears.

nationalize.jpg


On the international stage, Poland became a regional power on August 2, 1937. While not unexpected, this development made the planned build up before the conflict become more urgent.


Poland becomes a regional power

Tragedy struck on September 25, 1937. China's leader, Chiang Kai-Shek, was kidnapped by his own generals, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng. According to a KMT press-release, the generals kidnapped Chiang in order to force him and the national government to cease its attacks on the communists. The KMT's interim leadership in Nanjing refused, and attempted to rescue Chiang, who, along with the traitors, died in the rescue attempt.

This was a huge setback for China, and the Reich's plans to use it as an ally in Asia to help fight the Soviets. Not only was China's best military leader dead, but it was still embroiled in a civil war. The Reich felt that Japan would take advantage of the situation soon, which would be prevent either nation from aiding the Reich's future struggle with the Soviet Union.


The Xi'an Incident

Chiang-Kai-shek-photo.JPG
150px-YangHucheng.jpg
225px-Zhang_Xueliang.jpg

Left to right: Chiang Kai-Shek, Yang Hucheng, and Zhang Xueliang. All were killed during the KMT's rescue operation, the latter two fighting against the KMT

On September 24, Intelligence Minister Frick reported that the conditions were ripe for the Reich to fund a coup in neighboring Czechoslovakia. Since a large number of German citizens lived in the Sudetenland near the German/Czech border and plans were being made to return this land, Hitler allowed Frick to conduct the coup.



Unfortunately for the Reich, the coup was a failure, but the Czechs were unable to determine the origin of the rebels finances. The result was a weakened Czech government, and at the time the operation was still deemed to be a strategic success, despite its tactical failure.



On January 9, 1938, Japan put another wrench in the Reich's planned anti-Soviet alliance. A series of border skirmishes between Japan and the USSR occurred that resulted in a non-aggression pact being signed between the two belligerents. While the terms of the pact weren't known to the Reich, the pact showed that Japan was not ready or willing to attack the Soviets, and would likely be an unreliable partner in war.

This event, coupled with the Xi'an Incident earlier, convinced the Reich that, at this point in time, it would not be able to find a reliable partner in Asia to fight against the Soviet Union.



Despite the setbacks, on February 3, Hitler was informed that the Austrian people were willing to openly join the Reich. Unsure of what France and the UK's response would be, he ordered that the Anschluss wait for a week until Armee 6 had finished training and was deployed along with Armee 5 along the French border. Armee 4 and Armee 3 were to be moved from the Polish border along the French border in the meantime, and all pilots were to be on standby. Hitler and the other NSDAP leaders were confident Austria wouldn't fight back, but they didn't know what Anthony Eden would do.


A graphic showing the anticipated results of the Anschluss decision, as well as the projected alignment of all unaligned nations
 
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Japan seems rather unwilling to attack China... Due to balance issues in the region, they might not be strong enough to make that step. What will you do if they don't attack? Will you force them? That might lead to a very short war and a strengthened China... Or maybe China will start to unify the nation sooner or later, if they can manage to beat the Commies ;)
 
Things are speeding up. It seems that you are focusing on quick buildup of all military branches without caring for IC too much. You already have several transports. Interesting. Have you thought about attacking the UK first? It could be an interesting turn of events. You could do it in several steps:

1. Continue building up and gain Austrian and Czech territories as quickly as possible. Build some Transport Planes and at least two PARA divs.
2. Monitor Belgium and Netherlands as long as you can in order to prevent them from joining the Allies prematurely.
3. Forget Poland for now and attack Denmark and Norway. You would therefore cut off the Allies from the Baltic Sea, secure Narvik, gain some nice ports and establish a foothold in Scandinavia at the same time.
4. Attack Netherlands without attacking Belgium.
5. Perform an early Sea Lion by landing near London (the route from Amsterdam to London is rather short) and in Scotland (use the Norwegian ports in order to reduce the chance of being attacked by the Royal Navy). Support the invasion by landing PARAs in crucial provinces.
6. When UK is conquered, attack France both through Belgium and amphibious assaults in northern France. Support the invasion by landing PARAs from English airbases into Paris.

There is a good chance that the AI will not be prepared for such endeavours. Therefore, by late 1939 the Allied threat might be effectively nullified. Therefore, you would be able to fully focus on the Soviets AND you would have plenty of strategic options. Scandinavia, Poland, the Balkans, even the Middle East - the world would be open to you in 1940.
 
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That's a rather dangerous approach... The question IMHO is: will you have enough of a Navy to hold off the Royal Navy until your troops get on the British Isles, or will your forces be cut to shreds before it could happen?

Actually, I saw the AI pull off a Sea Lion, so it should be possible I guess...
 
That's a rather dangerous approach... The question IMHO is: will you have enough of a Navy to hold off the Royal Navy until your troops get on the British Isles, or will your forces be cut to shreds before it could happen?

Actually, I saw the AI pull off a Sea Lion, so it should be possible I guess...
It can be done by good naval-air coordination. The AI is not very good with its navy.

I would be more worried about getting stuck somewhere in the middle of England or Scotland and giving the AI the chance to bring reinforcements from all over the world.
 
It can be done by good naval-air coordination. The AI is not very good with its navy.

I would be more worried about getting stuck somewhere in the middle of England or Scotland and giving the AI the chance to bring reinforcements from all over the world.

Nah, once you capture London, there's no way they can hold you back. Bringing more troops only makes things worse, because from then on, supplies will be brought from overseas, and I'm not even sure the UK can even produce any supplies if they lose their Home Islands...
 
Actually, the transports were initially made to move troops to East Prussia :D That said, I will definitely use them in the future. I'm not quite done taking pictures for the next chapter, but I have a transport plane in the build queue and 2 light carriers. Once a few more ground troops are done I'll convert Austria's infantry into 4 marines and 1 paratrooper division.

As far as the war goes, I have a lot of options, and aside from grabbing the Sudetenland, I haven't decided on any yet. Regardless of the plan I take, once things are set in motion I'm going to move really fast, with very little time in between.

One option would be to ignore the 1st Vienna Award and go to Poland next. Without the guarantee from the UK, Poland has a good chance to simply give up Danzig. In this situation, I would sign the M-R Pact. The danger here is that Czechoslovakia joins the Allies due to my threat, and the UK may declare war on me on its own.

The historic option is a pretty good one too, although I will give Slovakia to Hungary if presented with the option to do so. I hadn't thought about taking Denmark first though, although I've never had a problem with the RN sneaking into the Baltic.

In all cases, if I start the war early I won't have the navy ready in time, not even the "support" fleet with the 2 battleships and light carriers. But, they would be done sometime in early '40, so I could raid the UK for a bit. As I mentioned earlier, if I'm quick enough, the UK might offer a peace treaty. But that's the catch, the UK *might* offer, and it might decide to fight. Waiting it out only makes the Soviets much stronger, and doesn't allow the UK to offer peace.

In all cases, I'll probably ignore Norway, as there's no real reason to attack it aside from a desire to be historical. At this point in the AAR, the "Plan" exists only to take out Poland, the Baltic states, and the Soviets. The steps to get there are, at a minimum, to get Austria, Memel, and the Sudetenland. Anything beyond that depends on the situation... I should probably add that to the first chapter.

As far as Japan goes, it's probably doing the smart thing. I'll wait a while until one side or the other makes their move before deciding who to support. If no war starts by the time Japan wants me to recognize Manchukuo, then I'll probably go with Japan.
 
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Improvisation is great, but IMO it's nice to have at least one PLAN A and PLAN B in stock ;). As long as you manage to beat the Allies by 1940, things should look good, especially if you leave Poland alone, since Soviets would have to attack it first in order to get to you (it takes time). M-R Pact is good, too (and you get some nice stuff due to cooperation with the Soviets), but then you get the direct border with the Soviet Union and your options are more limited.
 
Well, up until the Treaty of Munich you don't really need a plan. The treaty is when you should start making plans A through D, in case the Czechs fight back. That's why I haven't even thought about it until now. I'll definitely decide what to do before triggering the decision.
 
Well, up until the Treaty of Munich you don't really need a plan. The treaty is when you should start making plans A through D, in case the Czechs fight back. That's why I haven't even thought about it until now. I'll definitely decide what to do before triggering the decision.
It seems that I didn't need any plans up until 1941 in my AAR then :p
 
It seems that I didn't need any plans up until 1941 in my AAR then :p

Aside from how you wanted your army/navy/airforce to look, not really :D Remember, a plan never survives first contact with the enemy. And if it does, then either the plan was brilliant or your enemy a fool.

I almost have the pictures ready for the next chapter. It will basically cover everything up until the Treaty of Munich becomes available. At that point, I'll stop and make another chapter detailing all of my options and decide which one to pick at a later date.
 
Aside from how you wanted your army/navy/airforce to look, not really Remember, a plan never survives first contact with the enemy. And if it does, then either the plan was brilliant or your enemy a fool.
I agree that plans are rarely possible to implement fully, but you still need to known what you want to achieve and prepare accordingly. When part of the plan fails or a great opportunity presents itself, then you improvise. It's especially evident in case of naval buildup, IC expansion and diplo-espionage efforts, as their return rates can be significantly delayed in time. Practical handling may be important, too, as you can get more stuff for the same cost if you know what and when to produce. Besides, pure improvisation or following "classic" strategies can be boring in HOI3 (especially in Vanilla), while achieving your long-term goals is a fulfilling and precious experience :).

However, since Germany is not the hardest nation to play and you play on Normal difficulty level, it might not be that evident ;). I'm eager to see your plans for post-Munich actions, though :)
 
Of course. The overall plan in the beginning was to get as much "easy" (read German) land back as possible, then focus against the Soviets, Balts, and Poles, with the possibility of fighting France and the UK. If a fight with the Allies occurs, France should fall as quickly as possible, and the navy should attempt to gain the upper hand to either force a peace treaty or invade the British Isles.

And there's a reason I play on normal: the human wave (later mechanized wave) and shock infantry doctrines turn the Soviet Union into an outright beast. They can churn out infantry at a MUCH faster pace, and the hordes of units work much better together. Compare that to my Firepower Infantry doctrine, which makes infantry much more effective overall, but also a LOT more expensive. You'll see once I get there, about 20 chapters from now :D

In the meantime, I have my pictures ready for Chapter 8, so I'll start writing it now. After that's done, chapter 9 will be when I finally make, err, reveal my master plan ;)
 
Chapter 8: The Anschluss of Austria and Preparing for the Treaty of Munich

The time period between February 3 and July 15th was one of escalating European tensions. The first major incident was the formal annexation of Austria by the German Reich. Expecting a French attack, armies 3 through 6 were positioned along the French border, with Panzerarmee 2 and both of its Panzerkorps as a reserve.

Due to political infighting both inside and between the UK and France, nothing happened in response to this final blatant violation of the Treaty of Versailles. This lack of response emboldened the Reich's leadership, who intensified efforts to gain the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.


The Allied Powers did nothing in response to the joining of Austria and Germany


Members of the Austrian army who willing joined the Heer

In March, Poland surprised the world when it demanded Lithuania make an amendment to its constitution following hostilities near their common border. Lithuania's constitution explicitly stated that Vilnius was the capital of Lithuania. This statement caused tensions with Poland, who controlled the city and named it Wilno, claiming the city had belonged to it prior to the 3rd Partition of Poland in 1795. Due to a border incident caused by a Lithuanian killing a Pole, Poland demanded that Lithuania remove the offending clause.

This started a chain reaction, in which Lithuania asked for support from the Soviet Union, who had lost territory to Poland when the Polish-Soviet war ended in 1921. The Soviets rejected Lithuania's request, but the Lithuanians refused to back down. Not ready for a war, Poland retreated and a war was averted.

To the Reich, this was promising. First, it showed that Poland was an aggressive nation with expansionist ambitions. This meant that any attempt to form some sort of alliance with the Allied Powers would be more difficult. Second, it showed that Poland was not confident in its abilities to defeat the small nation of Lithuania. This second point was the one most looked into by the Reich's leadership.


Poland chose to avoid a war with an inferior opponent

In April, Wilhelm Frick once again came to Hitler for approval to fund another coup attempt in Czechoslovakia. Despite the failure of the first attempt, Hitler decided to approve the second attempt. His reasoning, according to surviving sources, was since Czechoslovakia was next target of German expansion, anything to weaken the current government would be a welcome event for when diplomatic pressure was finally applied.

Unfortunately for the Czech rebels, their plot failed once more. And once again, the Czechs failed to find the rebels' backers.

another_coup.jpg

Another failed coup in Czechoslovakia

In late May, an incident was reported in Denmark concerning harsh treatment of the Germans who either refused or could not flee after North Schleswig was given to Denmark. Hitler gave a series of speeches condemning the Danes, and fired up the German citizen's willingness to intervene. At the time, plans were made for an invasion of Denmark, but were put aside in order to focus the Reich's efforts elsewhere.


Tensions mount between Denmark and the German Reich

On the domestic front, training of all six foot infantry armies was completed, as well as IV. Panzerkorps and two more light bombers. Three more light fighter wings were ordered, which would complete the Luftwaffe's planned fighter screen. In addition, a wing of transport planes was ordered, and a division of Austrian infantry began training and reorganizing to become the first Fallschirmjaegers.

The Heer was able to secure funding for 4 more light bomber wings. While the three planned Panzer armies were understrength, the decision was made to focus on the 6 foot infantry armies' air support assets. The Reich's leaders' reasoning was that if a war were to break out soon, since the assault arm of the Heer was mostly missing, the defensive arm should be brought up to full strength.

Finally, using the freed resources the Kriegsmarine began construction of two Jade-class light carriers and two Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers.

The Jade-class was intended to act as a battle-ready experiment. Therefore, to reduce cost, no deck armor was placed on these ships. This design decision was made after discussing the odds of the carrier being attacked, when its purpose was to stay away from the front lines. Admiral Raeder and Adolf Hitler eventually agreed to go with the faster, armorless version.

The Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser was designed as a long-range commerce raider. While nowhere near as large or long-ranged as the Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers being built, they were much faster. This speed was achieved by reducing the main armament size when compared to the upcoming P-class or existing D-class heavy cruisers, and by using a smaller hull, which reduced the armor on the ship. The benefit to using the smaller hull, in addition to the speed and range increase, was that the ship would have a smaller profile and be more difficult to spot.


Jade-class light carriers, projected to be finished in May 1940


Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, projected to be finished in August 1939

In addition to the military construction, as a result of the Reich's Major Power status, the influx of talented individuals resulted in improvements in the training of pilots and ground crews, as well as improvements in tactics for all air branches.




The Reich's military on July 15, 1938

On July 15, 1938, the Reich's leaders gathered to discuss their immediate strategy for the next few years. The first result of this meeting was to apply pressure on Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland to the Reich. In response to this decision, Herresgruppe A and Herresgruppe B were ordered to take positions along the northern and southern borders, respectively. No actions were to be taken until orders have been given.


The Reich's leaders plan to use forceful diplomacy to gain the Sudetenland
 
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Chapter 9: Plans for the Future

As mentioned in Chapter 8, the Reich's leaders, both political and military, gathered for a secret conference to decide the fate of Europe. As mentioned earlier, the first decision involved the German-speaking Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. The plan was to annex this land into the Reich, which would do three things:

1) Deprive Czechoslovakia of its primary defenses, which were more formidable than the French Maginot Line.
2) Incorporate 3 million Germans living in the Sudetenland. They represented one quarter of Czechoslovakia's population (Author's note: this isn't represented in the game)
3) Incorporate one of the most industrialized regions of Czechoslovakia into the Reich (Author's note: this isn't represented in the game)

Given the so-called Appeasement Policy pursued by the French and British, the Reich had every right to feel that it could use diplomacy to annex another German-speaking region. The fact that the Sudeten NSDAP was willing to collaborate, similar to the Austrians, gave the plan more credibility and the Reich more confidence it could annex the region unopposed.

karte07-sudetenland.jpg

Areas of Czechoslovakia with a large German presence

However, the next 2 days were filled with discussions on what to do after the Sudetenland was annexed. The result of these discussions was the formation of 5 diplomatic plans, and 3 war plans, all of which envisioned the Reich acting alone. Relations with Italy at the time were deemed good enough such that Italy would not enter a war against the Reich. However, to mitigate the risk, diplomats were tasked with securing an alliance with Italy to prevent an attack along Germany's southern flank.

The first diplomatic plan, Plan A, was to pressure Czechoslovakia to be partitioned amongst the Reich, Poland, and Hungary. Polish and Hungarian officials had separately approached von Ribbentrop earlier with proposals for each of their nations to enforce their claims on Czechoslovakia. Both nations were unwilling to press their claims on their own, and thus required German help. The potential drawback is that the Czechs and Slovaks would not be willing to be governed by the Reich, and dissent would become a factor (Author's note: since no or very few Germans live in Bohemia or Moravia, Germany would NOT get cores). After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Reich would focus on its claims on Memel and the Danzig corridor. It was determined that if this plan were to be accepted, it should move as quickly as possible in order to keep the UK and France bickering about a response. If the Czechs refused to submit, they would likely drag the Reich into a war with the Allied Powers. In that situation, diplomatic efforts to regain Memel and Danzig would be shelved.

The second diplomatic plan, Plan B, was to ignore the Poles and Hungarians request to partition Czechoslovakia and focus on reclaiming Memel and German-speaking areas of Poland. Assuming that the Allied Powers are willing to continue the Appeasement Policy when it comes to former German land in the east, then it was determined that the chances of Poland starting a war with the Allies was small, considering Poland's recent belligerent behavior toward Lithuania. In this situation, it was highly likely that the Soviet Union would retaliate against the Reich, since it has outstanding claims against Poland. This plan would require the three panzer armies to be up to full strength, as the Heer would likely be forced to fight the Soviets and Poles immediately, with no time to rest or regroup. The projected start date would be in 1941, after the 7 motorized infantry divisions are finished and winter is over.

The third diplomatic plan, Plan C, was to ignore eastern Europe altogether for the time being and take advantage of recent tensions between Denmark to prompt a war with the UK and France. This would require the Kriegsmarine to be up to full strength, and would be projected to begin in the mid-40s. Later, once the war was over, the Reich would refocus its attention east.

The fourth diplomatic plan, Plan D, was to ignore the east and attack France directly in order to regain Elsass-Lothringen. This would also require the Kriegsmarine to be up to full strength. Later, once the war was over, the Reich would refocus its attention east.

The fifth diplomatic plan, Plan E, was to attempt to regain Eupen from Belgium, and start open hostilities against the UK and France. Later, once the war was over, the Reich would refocus its attention east.

Despite the different goals for the diplomatic plans, some of them shared battleplans that could be utilized. Plans A, C, D, and E all envisioned war with the Allies first, and the Poles, Lithuanians, and Soviets later. Two different warplans were developed for these scenarios. A different plan was made for Plan B, which focused on defeating the Soviet Union and Poland first.

The first, Plan 1, had two versions, 1a and 1b. Plan 1a was to focus on removing Czechoslovakia first, if it started the war, then move on to Denmark next, in order to seal the Baltic from the Royal Navy. Plan1b was to focus on Denmark first, if the Czechs did not participate in the war. The next steps were identical, and focused on marching through the Low Countries with the panzers and motorized infantry in order to take Paris before the Allies count mount an effective resistance. Afterward, the UK would be bombed and commercial shipping raided until the Kriegsmarine was ready to combat the RN on equal terms. Once the RN threat was neutralized, marines and paratroopers would invade the British Isles.

(Author's note: Red represents tank spearheads, green circles represent infantry pushing forward or defending, brown represents paradrops, and purple is marine landings)

Plan 1

The second military plan, Plan 2, was much more ambitious, and applied mainly to Plans C, D, and E, although it could be executed during Plan A as well. This plan was to keep the Low Countries out of the war as long as possible, while holding the French at bay. The Kriegsmarine was to engage and defeat the RN, and allow marines and paratroopers to directly assault the UK. After the UK falls, these troops would invade along the French coast, while the main bulk of the Heer attacks through the Low Countries.


Plan 2

The third military plan, Plan 3, did not envision a war with the Allies, or if one occurred, a defensive one in nature. It also was to be the military plan to be used upon successful completion of Plans 1 or 2. This plan called for a new group of guard divisions to be placed along the Siegfried Line, if Plans 1 or 2 were not put into motion. Armies 5 and 6 were to leave their positions along the French border and join the rest in the east. The goal of Plan 3 was to destroy the Soviet Union completely, and the Heer would be split into 3 army groups: Heeresgruppe Nord, Heeresgruppe Mitte, and Heeresgruppe Sued. The northern army group was to advance north-east through the Baltic nations and take Leningrad, Murmansk, and Arkhangelsk. It would later swing south and join the middle group. At this point, the Panzerarmee attached to the north group would be reassigned to either the middle or south group, depending on the situation. The middle group was to advance straight east and take Moscow, then move past the Urals into Siberia as far as it can. The southern group was to sweep into Ukraine, then south into the Caucasus Mountains and east into Turkestan.


Plan 3

After the conference was over, everything was handed to Hitler for review and to select how he wanted to approach the coming war.

*author's note: I know the pictures don't look so good, but all I had to work with was paint, and using word or powerpoint is a pain and dramatically increases file size*
 
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