Teutonic Dreams - A 1936 Germany HPP AAR
"It was a familiar dream. The man was flying, east, through the smoke-filled skies of the Rhineland, over the forests and fields of Lower Saxony, past the sprawling capital of Berlin, past the plains of Posen and the dense forests of Prussia, and into the dark forests of Russia. The man felt at peace, happy, as though this was home. Then, as he began to fly further east, he froze in fear. In the distance he saw a huge battleship, coming toward him. While trying to flee, a huge red bear came lunging at him from the ground, and dragged him toward the earth..."
The man awoke, and decided that he had had enough. "The dream cannot end like this every night", he thought. "I must remove the obstacles in the way. I must allow my people to once again move east, like the crusaders of old."
With that, Adolf Hitler began to form a plan. A plan to destroy his enemy and remove all obstacles in the way of meeting his goal: to finally free the German people from the threat of the Russian Bear.
Warning for people with slow internet connections: this is a picture-intensive AAR!
Most of the pictures are click-able, so if you can't read the text then click on the picture to see a larger version.
Nation: German Reich
Difficulty: Normal
Start Date: 1936
Game Version: SF 2.03c (edit: Steam auto-updated me to 2.04d
)
Mod: HPP v 1.7.32a
I will try to write using a history-book style, but may add comments when I feel it's necessary in order to explain something. The dream at the top of this post is just an intro.
The AI will control the Army Group level and any attached airplanes at the Army level, but I will manually control the navy, marines, and paratroopers. All ships will be built using the HPP's historical models or very close, so not every ship will have the best weapons available (more on that in Chapter 5). I will use whatever occupation policy the HPP has as a default, which is different for every nation involved (ie. Germany will use a different default occupation policy in the Netherlands than it will use in Poland). The exception will be to have a collaboration government in Denmark, for historic reasons. This will really hurt the supply situation in the Soviet Union, as the default policy is the harshest one.
*I don't play too far ahead. If you see a chapter in the list without a link, then that means I'm either writing it or sorting out pictures.
My primary goal will be to defeat the Soviet Union completely, so no Bitter Peace unless I'm barely hanging on. I will change the Bitter Peace truce (keyword: truce) boundaries to be more historical (see the underlined text in paragraph 2 in the photo of the original; Hitler says the Arkangelsk-Volga Line is the goal of Barbarossa), if I need the truce (note: the HPP will include this decision as a truce after I test it in this AAR). The UK will need to be dealt with as well, although there may be diplomatic options available to prevent a war with the Allies or stop one after a certain period of time. If everything goes well, then maybe Hitler will look somewhere else for other fertile lands to conquer. Like the Far East or the Americas.
I appreciate all feedback, positive and negative. If you like or don't like my writing style or chapter setup, feel free to let me know! I'm always trying to improve.
Table of Contents:
The Long-Term Plan and its Requirements:
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Chapter 2: The Wehrmacht
Chapter 3: The Diplomatic Situation - April 1936
The Preparation:
Chapter 4: Building Up - April 12 to November 11, 1936
Chapter 5: Building Up - November 11, 1936 to January 25, 1937
Chapter 6: Building Up - January 25 to July 30, 1937
Chapter 7: Building Up - July 30, 1937 to February 3, 1938
Preliminary Implementation:
Chapter 8: The Anschluss of Austria and Preparing for the Treaty of Munich
Chapter 9: The Plan for the Future
Chapter 10: Hitler's Decision
Chapter 11: More Building Up Before Memel - July 27, 1938 to March 22, 1939
Chapter 12: Memel, Danzig, and More Preparations - March 22, 1939 to January 1, 1940
Chapter 13: The Calm Before the Storm - January 1, 1940 to June 22, 1940
Chapter 14: Overview of the Wehrmacht - June 22, 1940
The War in the West - Opening Stage:
Chapter 15: Week 1 - Second Battle of Jutland and the Surrender of Denmark
Chapter 16: Weeks 2 & 3 - Surrender of Poland and a Narrow Escape
Chapter 17: Weeks 4-6 - The Battles of Bridlington Bay, Broken Bank, & the Wash
Chapter 18: Weeks 7-9 - Surrender of the Netherlands and Preparation for Operation Sea lion
Chapter 19: Weeks 10-12 - Unternehmen Seelöwe Part 1
Chapter 20: Weeks 13-16 - Unternehmen Seelöwe Part 2
Chapter 21: Weeks 17-27 - Fall of Wales and England, Scottish Resistance
The War in the West - Final Stage:
Chapter 22: Weeks 28-30 - Fall of Belfast & the Final Stage of Fall Gelb
Chapter 23: Weeks 31-35 - Italy Joins the War, the Heer reaches Paris, and the South Africans Counterattack!
Chapter 24: Weeks 36-39 - Belgium & Ireland fall, the Siege of Paris Begins
Chapter 25: Weeks 40-44 - The Siege of Paris
Chapter 26: Weeks 45 & 46 - The Maginot Pocket and the 2nd Sino-Japanese War
Chapter 27: Weeks 47 - 52 - The End of the Allied Powers
Chapter 28: Weeks 53 & 54 - Border Negotiations
Chapter 29: Overview of the Axis and an Analysis of the War
Intermediate Events
Chapter 30: The United Nations, Yugoslavia, and Switzerland - June 20 to August 22, 1941
Chapter 31: The Scandinavian War - August 23 to December 3, 1941
Chapter 32: Expansion of the Kriegsmarine and the Shanghai Lodgement - August 10, 1941 to March 31, 1942
Chapter 33: Overview of the Wehrmacht - March 31, 1942
War in the East - Unternehmen Barbarossa
Chapter 34: Surprise! - April 1, 1942 to April 31, 1942
Chapter 35: Panic! - May 1 to May 31, 1942
Chapter 36: The Romanian Pocket - June 1 to June 30, 1942
Chapter 37: Axis of Confusion - July 1 to July 31, 1942
Chapter 38: The March to Moscow - August 1 to September 30, 1942
Chapter 39: The Bitter Peace and the Fall of Athens - October 1 to December 8, 1942
Chapter 40: Analysis of Operation Barbarossa
War in the Far East - Unternehmen Abendsonne
Chapter 41: Planning
Chapter 42: Stage 1 - September 9 to September 14, 1943
Chapter 43: Stage 2 - September 15 to September 29, 1943
Chapter 44: Stage 3 - September 30, 1943 to November 15, 1943
Chapter 45: Analysis of Operation Setting Sun
Cleaning Up Loose Ends
Chapter 46: Chinese Unification Part 1 - November 16, 1943 to April 12, 1944
"It was a familiar dream. The man was flying, east, through the smoke-filled skies of the Rhineland, over the forests and fields of Lower Saxony, past the sprawling capital of Berlin, past the plains of Posen and the dense forests of Prussia, and into the dark forests of Russia. The man felt at peace, happy, as though this was home. Then, as he began to fly further east, he froze in fear. In the distance he saw a huge battleship, coming toward him. While trying to flee, a huge red bear came lunging at him from the ground, and dragged him toward the earth..."
The man awoke, and decided that he had had enough. "The dream cannot end like this every night", he thought. "I must remove the obstacles in the way. I must allow my people to once again move east, like the crusaders of old."
With that, Adolf Hitler began to form a plan. A plan to destroy his enemy and remove all obstacles in the way of meeting his goal: to finally free the German people from the threat of the Russian Bear.
![geruy.jpg](http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/6051/geruy.jpg)
Warning for people with slow internet connections: this is a picture-intensive AAR!
Most of the pictures are click-able, so if you can't read the text then click on the picture to see a larger version.
Nation: German Reich
Difficulty: Normal
Start Date: 1936
Game Version: SF 2.03c (edit: Steam auto-updated me to 2.04d
Mod: HPP v 1.7.32a
I will try to write using a history-book style, but may add comments when I feel it's necessary in order to explain something. The dream at the top of this post is just an intro.
The AI will control the Army Group level and any attached airplanes at the Army level, but I will manually control the navy, marines, and paratroopers. All ships will be built using the HPP's historical models or very close, so not every ship will have the best weapons available (more on that in Chapter 5). I will use whatever occupation policy the HPP has as a default, which is different for every nation involved (ie. Germany will use a different default occupation policy in the Netherlands than it will use in Poland). The exception will be to have a collaboration government in Denmark, for historic reasons. This will really hurt the supply situation in the Soviet Union, as the default policy is the harshest one.
*I don't play too far ahead. If you see a chapter in the list without a link, then that means I'm either writing it or sorting out pictures.
My primary goal will be to defeat the Soviet Union completely, so no Bitter Peace unless I'm barely hanging on. I will change the Bitter Peace truce (keyword: truce) boundaries to be more historical (see the underlined text in paragraph 2 in the photo of the original; Hitler says the Arkangelsk-Volga Line is the goal of Barbarossa), if I need the truce (note: the HPP will include this decision as a truce after I test it in this AAR). The UK will need to be dealt with as well, although there may be diplomatic options available to prevent a war with the Allies or stop one after a certain period of time. If everything goes well, then maybe Hitler will look somewhere else for other fertile lands to conquer. Like the Far East or the Americas.
I appreciate all feedback, positive and negative. If you like or don't like my writing style or chapter setup, feel free to let me know! I'm always trying to improve.
Table of Contents:
The Long-Term Plan and its Requirements:
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Chapter 2: The Wehrmacht
Chapter 3: The Diplomatic Situation - April 1936
The Preparation:
Chapter 4: Building Up - April 12 to November 11, 1936
Chapter 5: Building Up - November 11, 1936 to January 25, 1937
Chapter 6: Building Up - January 25 to July 30, 1937
Chapter 7: Building Up - July 30, 1937 to February 3, 1938
Preliminary Implementation:
Chapter 8: The Anschluss of Austria and Preparing for the Treaty of Munich
Chapter 9: The Plan for the Future
Chapter 10: Hitler's Decision
Chapter 11: More Building Up Before Memel - July 27, 1938 to March 22, 1939
Chapter 12: Memel, Danzig, and More Preparations - March 22, 1939 to January 1, 1940
Chapter 13: The Calm Before the Storm - January 1, 1940 to June 22, 1940
Chapter 14: Overview of the Wehrmacht - June 22, 1940
The War in the West - Opening Stage:
Chapter 15: Week 1 - Second Battle of Jutland and the Surrender of Denmark
Chapter 16: Weeks 2 & 3 - Surrender of Poland and a Narrow Escape
Chapter 17: Weeks 4-6 - The Battles of Bridlington Bay, Broken Bank, & the Wash
Chapter 18: Weeks 7-9 - Surrender of the Netherlands and Preparation for Operation Sea lion
Chapter 19: Weeks 10-12 - Unternehmen Seelöwe Part 1
Chapter 20: Weeks 13-16 - Unternehmen Seelöwe Part 2
Chapter 21: Weeks 17-27 - Fall of Wales and England, Scottish Resistance
The War in the West - Final Stage:
Chapter 22: Weeks 28-30 - Fall of Belfast & the Final Stage of Fall Gelb
Chapter 23: Weeks 31-35 - Italy Joins the War, the Heer reaches Paris, and the South Africans Counterattack!
Chapter 24: Weeks 36-39 - Belgium & Ireland fall, the Siege of Paris Begins
Chapter 25: Weeks 40-44 - The Siege of Paris
Chapter 26: Weeks 45 & 46 - The Maginot Pocket and the 2nd Sino-Japanese War
Chapter 27: Weeks 47 - 52 - The End of the Allied Powers
Chapter 28: Weeks 53 & 54 - Border Negotiations
Chapter 29: Overview of the Axis and an Analysis of the War
Intermediate Events
Chapter 30: The United Nations, Yugoslavia, and Switzerland - June 20 to August 22, 1941
Chapter 31: The Scandinavian War - August 23 to December 3, 1941
Chapter 32: Expansion of the Kriegsmarine and the Shanghai Lodgement - August 10, 1941 to March 31, 1942
Chapter 33: Overview of the Wehrmacht - March 31, 1942
War in the East - Unternehmen Barbarossa
Chapter 34: Surprise! - April 1, 1942 to April 31, 1942
Chapter 35: Panic! - May 1 to May 31, 1942
Chapter 36: The Romanian Pocket - June 1 to June 30, 1942
Chapter 37: Axis of Confusion - July 1 to July 31, 1942
Chapter 38: The March to Moscow - August 1 to September 30, 1942
Chapter 39: The Bitter Peace and the Fall of Athens - October 1 to December 8, 1942
Chapter 40: Analysis of Operation Barbarossa
War in the Far East - Unternehmen Abendsonne
Chapter 41: Planning
Chapter 42: Stage 1 - September 9 to September 14, 1943
Chapter 43: Stage 2 - September 15 to September 29, 1943
Chapter 44: Stage 3 - September 30, 1943 to November 15, 1943
Chapter 45: Analysis of Operation Setting Sun
Cleaning Up Loose Ends
Chapter 46: Chinese Unification Part 1 - November 16, 1943 to April 12, 1944
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