Chapter 34: Surprise! - April 1, 1942 to April 31, 1942
On April 1, Indonesia joined the Axis powers, and Portugal returned East Timor to Indonesia. While lacking a significant military, Indonesia was a good source of rare materials for the alliance, and provided alternate naval bases to those in China, which were threatened by Japan.
On April 1, precisely at 22:00, Finland, Hungary, Romania, and the German Reich, using the cover of night to their advantage, attempted to destroy the nation most capable of threatening the existence of the Axis: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The German Reich had prepared for this day for 6 years, using the War in the West as practice for its final goal - the destruction of the communist state. With the exception of heavy artillery, due to complete training in 3 months, everything was in place to begin the attack. The weather was clear, the mud season had passed, and the former Polish air bases had been upgraded. It was at 22:00 that the titanic conflict began, which would eventually involve over half the world's population, and would change the course of history.
At 22:00 on April 1, Operation Barbarossa began
The Luftwaffe had prepared to fight an enemy that could fill the skies with aircraft. However, the Reich knew that the Soviet air force was outdated and poorly trained. During the first month, the Luftwaffe had succeeded in destroying or grounding every Soviet air wing. The Luftwaffe had state of the art interceptors, which were equipped with radar systems, the most advanced weapon and fuselage designs, and veteran pilots who had seen 1 year of combat against two of the world's great powers.
The Luftwaffe's successes were not only limited to the air war above Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic States. On April 8, 2 paratrooper divisions took the city of Riga with minimal losses, but were unable to expand their initial gains. This was not a complete loss, as they tied up Soviet defenders that could have been sent to the front lines. However, 2 paratrooper divisions based in Finland attempted to cut off Khola and Karelia via the province of Zelenoborskij. The operation's goals were to cut off the city of Murmansk, and force the Soviets to supply it via convoys from Arkhangelsk. The KMS Scharnhorst and KMS Oberdonau, along with their heavy cruiser partners, were to then attack the supply convoys and starve the Khola peninsula, thus allowing the Finns to occupy it and focus their forces elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Soviets had placed three heavy infantry divisions in both provinces before the attacks began, anticipating such a move.
The result was the loss of over 2,000 paratroopers out of 20,000 before the attack was called off. The Finns had refused to aid in the attack, and their lack of support contributed to the failure of the operation.
The Kriegsmarine had fared well against the Red Navy during the opening month. At 3:00 on April 6, Flotte 2 led by Admiral Marschall, spotted the Soviet Baltic Fleet led by Admiral Kuznetsov, composed of ten destroyers organized into two flotillas and the battleships Marat and Oktoberskaya Revolyutsiya along the Finnsish Coast. Five destroyers were sunk by the KMS Graf Zeppelin's aircraft, and the fleet fled back to Leningrad. Marschall immediately pursued.
Initial contact with the Soviet Baltic Fleet
At 8:00 on April 6, Marschall again made contact with Kuznetsov's fleet. By noon, the Marat had been sunk by torpedoes from the Graf Zeppelin's aircraft, and Kuznetsov had fled back to Leningrad.
Admiral Marschall's CAGs sink the Soviet battleship Marat
The Heer, however, made slow progress, mostly by winning Pyrrhic victories. The Soviets had readjusted their battle doctrine from the expected Shock and Human Wave doctrines to Firepower and Grand Battle Plan, following their experience in the Winter War and after observing the Reich's War in the West. Their tactics differed sharply from their previous wars, and had refocused on creating over-sized divisions in the German model and the extensive use of artillery brigades in the Western model. The Heer had fully expected to come into contact with large numbers of poorly trained and equipped troops, who would attempt to overwhelm the Heer with their superior numbers. That was not the case
The result was that instead of the Heer overrunning sleeping garrisons of conscripts, it crashed upon a metaphorical wall of bullets. The Soviets were fully mobilized and prepared for the attack. It has been theorized that the Soviets themselves were preparing to attack as well, explaining their combat readiness. The Heer was over-numbered and out-gunned, but still held the advantage - the Heer's armored and mobile divisions would become the key to the Reich's early victories. The Soviets had neglected to increase their armored forces, and the Reich's medium and heavy tanks were able to tear through the Soviet defenses while taking minimal losses. However, the Reich's tank divisions were too few in number, and couldn't be everywhere at once. The result was local breaches being made, but the breaches were unable to be fully exploited due to the sheer size of the Soviet army, which had a large reserve force waiting behind the front lines.
Overall, the initial month of the war saw more battle casualties than the entire War in the West. Losses on both sides were high, which only favored the Soviet's new doctrine of Attritional Containment. The Hungarians and Germans alone were able to claim victories and gain ground. The Romanians and Finns were quickly overwhelmed by the Soviet counter-offensive, which would lead to near-catastrophic results for the Axis. By the end of the month, the Soviets had neared Helsinki and nearly forced the Finns to surrender, had it not been for the timely relocation of the Luftwaffe's 2 paratrooper divisions. The Soviets had pushed south into Romania and threatened the Ploiesti oil fields, and half of Romania's divisions had shattered during the initial assault.
The list of high-casualty battles is long, and a memorial in Berlin was later erected to commemorate the largest battles where the ultimate sacrifices by both the Soviet and German soldiers were made. The battles listed on the memorial from the first month of the war are:
Taurage, April 6, 1942 - 3,440 German KIA, 3,661 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Kobryn, April 7, 1942 - 3,455 German KIA, 1,041 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Bolekhiv, April 8, 1942 - 1,761 German KIA, 1,094 Soviet KIA, German Victory
Stryj, April 9, 1942 - 3,388 German KIA, 2,611 Soviet KIA, German Victory
Druskienniki, April 9, 1942 - 3,370 German KIA, 1,891 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Skidel, April 10, 1942 - 2,926 Germanic KIA, 976 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
1st Battle of Alytus, April 10, 1942 - 7,610 German KIA, 2,820 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Kamionka Strumilowa, April 13, 1942 - 3,342 German KIA, 1,354 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
1st Battle of Vainode, April 15, 1942 - 2,954 German KIA, 934 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Zydaczow, April 15, 1942 - 4,303 German KIA, 3,551 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Lubieszow, April 19, 1942 - 2,178 German KIA, 1,187 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Marijampole, April 21, 1942 - 14,456 German KIA, 11,207 Soviet KIA, German Victory
Maniewicze, April 24, 1942 - 2,3.97 German KIA, 942 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Iwacewicze, April 26, 1942 - 7,474 German KIA, 4,592 Soviet KIA, German Victory
Seduva, April 26, 1942 - 2,244 German KIA, 1,491 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
2nd Battle of Vainode, April 28, 1942 - 3,539 German KIA, 2,217 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
Orany, April 29, 1942 - 1,475 German KIA, 619 Soviet KIA, Soviet Victory
2nd Battle of Alytus, April 29, 1942 - 8,232 German KIA, 8,833 Soviet KIA, German Victory
The status of the invasion after the first month
The status of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War on April 31, 1942
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@ADEE1: Welcome! I'm glad you've enjoyed the AAR so far. Glad you want to try out the mod, although if you want to give my naval strategy a try, then I highly suggest you still stick to the historical dates and tactics and not wait like I did. France was tougher than it should've been since I waited, and as you can tell, the Soviets are a real beast since they had an extra year to prepare.