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Nice work in taking Moscow!

There's not really much point beating the USSR for a second time except that they could turn on you again in the future. My vote is for Japan next and then the USA!

Have you really had no luck at all (even with garrisons) getting Japan to garrison their home islands?

And could you tell me why it's WAD for Russian Federation not to inherit any Soviet troops?
 
Chapter 40: Analysis of Operation Barbarossa

The initial attack upon the Soviet Union is termed Operation Barbarossa, named after Frederick I Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor and Crusader. The loss of life during the war totaled over 2 million. Estimates of KIA vary by source, but the general consensus is that 1.3 million Soviets, 600,000 Germans, 130,000 Turks, 70,000 Finns, and 42,000 Iraqis were killed. While the Reich had lost no divisions, the Red Army dropped from over 1,000 combat brigades before the war to 530 after. Finland had lost 9 brigades, and Iraq had lost 13 brigades during the conflict.

The high losses on both sides were due to two main factors. The first was the complete failure of the Reich's intelligence operations to accurately gauge the strength of the Soviet military. The result was that most divisions lacked proper artillery and heavy weapons support, while the Heer's mobile forces were deemed to be insufficient to meet the task at hand. Overall, due to this lack of preparation as a result of poor intelligence, the Heer performed poorly. The key to the Reich's success lay in the massive buildup of the Luftwaffe, specifically the large investment in light bombers and light fighters. The light fighters proved to be pivotal, as they not only prevented the Soviet bombers from harassing the Heer, but they also allowed the light bombers to perform effectively without fear of being dragged into aerial combat.

stukam.jpg

A Stuka dive bomber

The second factor was the preparedness of the Red Army. No known documents remain concerning the Soviet pre-war build up, but rumors existed even before the war that the Stalin was considering an all-out attack upon the Reich starting in late '40, when Operation Sealion was underway. As such, the resistance the Heer met was a complete surprise. The Red Army had constructed numerous fortifications and artillery emplacements, and had equipped their divisions with large amounts of heavy artillery and anti-tank weapons. Their basic strategy was to slow down the German advance for as long as possible while focusing on the weak Axis flanks of Romania, Finland, and Turkey in an attempt to perform an encirclement on a grand scale. Most military historians agree, that had HG Süd not overran the Soviets in Ukraine, and had the Turkish front not stalled due to a breakdown of the supply network, then the Soviet Grand Battle Plan would have succeeded. The Soviet's major strategic failure was its reliance on regular infantry divisions and lack of mobile and armored support. The Soviets had 16 light armor brigades and no heavier tanks before the war started, compared to the Reich's 8 light armor, 18 medium armor, and 4 heavy armor brigades.

oldbunker1.jpg

The rotting remains of a Soviet front-line bunker

In the end, the invasion was a success, although at a much higher cost than anticipated. The Soviet Union was weakened greatly, and the Reich's population was almost doubled. Before the war, roughly 60,000 new recruits joined the Wehrmacht each month, and afterward, over 160,000 new recruits joined each month. The Reich's industrial output had also increased by 26% after obtaining the old Soviet industrial base remaining after the Soviets' mad scramble to move their industry east. After the Wehrmacht, specifically the Heer, managed to recover, the Wehrmacht's next objective was to secure the remainder of the Soviet industry located in the Ural region.

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Author's notes:

OK, so it seems that I took far heavier losses due to the lack of armored buildup, lack of support brigades, and failure to motorize my foot infantry. All of that was a result of taking too long to beat the Allies, plus my heavy investment into the Kriegsmarine. It didn't help that I put everything on AI control except the navy and special forces, and used the harshest occupation law, which resulted in severe supply problems and high attrition, which I didn't mention in the AAR.

That said, I was able to beat the Allies due to my heavy Kriegsmarine investment. Taking out the UK first was definitely not a good idea in hindsight, as France was a much tougher nut to crack than it should've been as a result of the delay. It's debatable whether a heavy IC investment before the war would've helped much, and whether waiting to start Barbarossa until I had increased my support brigades and armored forces would have mattered. The extra year required to fully equip my infantry and add in 3 more armored corps might meant nothing, since the USSR would've expanded its military as well, and they could've attacked on their own.

Overall, from an in-game perspective, I feel that I should've taken out France first, then held off on the cruisers for fleet 4 and 5 in favor of some support brigades for the infantry. Of course, Romania calling in the rest of the Axis, who happened to not be mobilized didn't help either.

Any thoughts from you guys?
 
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nice work. Bitter Peace sure came at the perfect moment. congrats.
 
@misterbean: Thanks! I thought so too. The entire last stage of the war I was pretty nervous, thinking I would lose.

@Enewald: Sure, why not :rolleyes: The most realistic answer is "the new citizens of the Reich who live in the former USSR decided to migrate west and take over the jobs the Germans used to do; for less pay than the Germans received :)" Forum rules forbid discussion of the topic, although I'm sure everyone can figure out what would've really happened had the BP taken effect historically. The Nazis weren't exactly the nicest people around...

@All: Next update coming soon!
 
Had been reading for about a week now but just now caught up. Reading all those AAR's proves to be more time consuming than I planned. :)

Talk about timing, you managed to not get yourself in my situation where you constantly see that 0 MP sign flashing above. :D But just barely. ;) Luckily for you Moskva was the final straw, because it would be touch and go if you had to take one or two more VP about 10 provinces away from the looks of it.

On the one hand attacking Japan would give you their navy AND would free up Chinese support to finish of the Russian Federation. On the other hand, you do have all the troops in the right place now to take on the Russians plus, when done you could give China a hand by coming to their aid from the north. I would however go for option one since it requires less troops (with your MP that matters) and gives bigger gains IMO.

The Bulgarians not actually participating in the war is in fact historically. They refused to actively fight their Slavic brethren, even when in the axis. I have never had a game where they did, so I was surprised to see them on the move at all. The Italians are in my games usually one of the more eager allies (with Hungary proving to be my most valuable ally time and again) but I think the war in Greece threw them off their game a little. :)
The Turks were kind of anticipated to do poorly no? Maybe you should have spared a few divisions at the start to aid the Italians in Greece, although considering the AI there is no guarantee all those troops would have actually gone to aid Turkey.

All in all a very interesting AAR so far and good prospects for the rest of it. ;)
Subscribed!
 
Investing so many of your resources into the Kriegsmarine must inevitably have required compromises. The good thing is that you did win, even if it was harder than expected. And now that you have eliminated the USSR as a threat you have the fleet in place for actions further afield. Not such a bad outcome. :)

As a matter of interest, how long did the Soviet campaign actually take?
 
@FedGuard: After taking Moscow the Soviets were almost finished. I probably could've kept going a bit longer and taken Stalingrad, which would've likely caused them to actually surrender. I didn't feel like taking the risk though, plus I wanted to show off the event I wrote for the mod, which is in the latest version :D

@SSmith: The attack started on April 1 and ended on October 7, so a little more than 7 months. I got the KIA numbers by looking at MP, both the current pool plus monthly gain and daily loss. The Soviets started off with 400 MP, ended up at 1,600 MP after their reserves event was finished, and ended up at 600 MP when the war stopped. That's a net loss of 1,200 MP, but I figured another 100 or so was lost during the 3 month MP bonus they go. The actual figures are probably higher.

On my end, I had 451 MP at the start, gained 100 after taking Ukraine through by taking advantage of the Soviet's MP bonus, and ended up with 10 in the end. I figured I lost about 600 MP total. The Finns, Romanians, and Turks were easier to get numbers for, since their monthly regain rate is very low and won't impact the numbers too much. It's hard to keep track, especially since the game has no support for statistics like this. I guess I could've written down the losses on both sides for every battle and bombing, but I don't have the patience for that :)

@All: Next update hopefully will be up today! I need to actually play the game first though...
 
Wow, kudos to your work!
It was an interesting read and I'm really looking forward for more.

So, I take it your next goal are icy landscapes of Siberia, and then an invasion of the US via Alaska?
 
Chapter 41: Planning

During the period after Operation Barbarossa, the Reich continued to recover from the disastrous war and continued to expand the Kriegsmarine. The escort vessels for two more fleets were commissioned, and escorts for two carrier task forces were launched. The projected completion date for the original Plan Z vessels was in August of 1943.

Meanwhile, the 2nd Sino-Japanese War had slowly changed from that of a perpetual stalemate to having Japan slowly gain ground toward the province of Shanxi. It was this development that prompted a Chinese call for assistance. While not a call to arms in the form Romania chose to take when asking for Axis assistance, China's more subtle approach made by ambassador Cheng Tian Fang was directed solely toward the Reich and its new, modern fleet. Cheng's request for assistance was greeted warmly, for the Reich had several reasons to intervene in the war.

To the casual observer, such a decision seems odd. Indeed, with the Soviet Union still existing in the form of a rump state, it is natural to assume that after recovery, the Reich would immediately attempt to destroy its hated enemy. However, declaring war on Japan while the Soviet Union still existed as deemed to be the better course of actions, for three reasons.

Before the Great War, the German Empire had held vast stretches of island chains in the Pacific, mainly for use as coaling stations for its merchant fleet traveling across the Pacific. During the war, Japan had taken most of these islands, and kept them after the war in order to create a protective ring east of its homeland in the event of a war with the United States, Japan's greatest rival. In the event of a war with the United Nations, the alliance created by the USA, the Reich's military planners decided that regaining control of these islands was essential, as they not only allowed access to the UN members of Australia and New Zealand, but could be used as a launching point to take Hawaii, and from there the American West Coast.


A map showing the pre-WW1 colonial empires of various nations. The German Empire's possessions are highlighted in blue.

The second reason was that Japan possessed the world's 2nd largest navy, after the United States. While the ships of the Kriegsmarine are new and state-of-the-art, the Kriegsmarine only numbered at 71 naval units, while Japan had an estimated 120 naval units, including several highly advanced aircraft carriers. The belief was that, while casualties were expected on both sides, if the Reich took advantage of surprise and quickly occupied Japan itself, then the Japanese fleet could potentially be captured mostly intact, sparing the Reich from the debacle with the Allied surrender, in which the RN and MN sailors scuttled their ships before the Reich could take possession of them.

The third reason for choosing to attack Japan while leaving the USSR in its current state, had nothing to do with Japan itself, but rather the USSR. Unlike Operation Barbarossa, which aimed to take the the industrial, cultural, and population center of the USSR, any further attack would not be able to force a quick surrender. Aside from the towns near the Ural Mountains, the remaining population of the USSR was scattered about Asia. While the Red Army was greatly reduced in size and deemed to be inconsequential, the sheer size of Siberia and Central Asia would've been the most daunting obstacle. It was theorized that the Reich would have to go as far east as Vladivostock in order to force a Soviet surrender, an option not deemed desirable. Instead, the solution to the USSR problem was to aid China's struggle against Japan, in the hopes that China would assist in the final attack on the Soviet Union, in order to regain its lost provinces of Mongolia and Tannu Tuva, as well as occupy the Soviet Far East, which the Reich had no interest in.

With the decision to invade Japan being made, a plan was created to quickly take the Japanese home islands, while the bulk of the Japanese army was fighting in China. The forces allocated for the operation, code named Unternehmen Abendsonne (Operation Setting Sun), were four mountain divisions, four marine divisions, six paratrooper divisions, and Armee 1, which had fought in Operation Sealion. The troops would be moved to Hong Kong, and the Reich's 3 full fleets, as well as the five heavy convoy raider fleets, would be stationed along the Pearl River Delta. Once the troops were in place, the marines would quickly take Okinawa while the mountain divisions take Taiwan. After the two islands were taken, 2 divisions from Armee 1 would garrison the ports, and the special forces would be collected and then moved to attack Kyushu, Shikoku, and southern Honshu. After securing the southern portion of the country, the forces would move north and attempt to control the rest of Japan. If required, further landings could be made in Tokyo and the northern ports of Honshu.

The primary function of the Kriegsmarine during the operation would be to destroy Japan's supply convoys heading to China and Korea, and to protect the Reich's own supply convoys heading to any captured ports.


A map of Japan, with the various targets of the invasion circled

The estimated start date of the operation was August 1, 1943, as the distances involved are vast, and many troops were required to be moved to China.

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@HecNev: Welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it so far, and I'm not quite ready to call it quits yet. As for your question, this chapter answers it :) Hopefully there will be some nice naval battles to show off, as my fleet is much larger than what I confronted the Allies with, and Japan's fleet is much more modern than the Allies was.
 
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this is great! I've been looking for the most efficient way to invade the USA. while my Japan is firmly Axis, the general principle is the same. might steal your idea if it works (not that I doubt you, of course)
 
I would however try to avoid naval battle as much as possible. It makes little sense to destroy ships you aim to use later if it can be avoided. Or am I missing something? :(
 
As of now, Japan is automatically puppeted when it surrenders (I could say that it is done this way to represent that they would only ever surrender if their Emperor can be kept in place, but it is more likely that I was simply lazy :D), so unless you plan on doing some more modding, you will recieve their Navy when they are done.
 
@misterbean: It may take a while. I have to deal with Japan and what's left of the USSR first.

@SSmith: This is my first time trying this, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

@FedGuard: Of course. Oh, and I can't actually gain control of Japan's ships outside of editing my save, which would be a huge pain. As Slan said I'll make Japan be my puppet so it retains its fleet. Of course it will be impossible to not engage the IJN, but my hope is that losses on both sides will be few. I won't cripple myself though, so if a big engagement happens during an amphibious assault or on a convoy escort mission, then I'll let that battle play out. Japan isn't going to pull its punches, and neither will I if I get into a serious engagement.
 
take your time. my game is over. US has a staggering 1076 brigades at home:wacko: (and two garrisons at Wake and Hawaii). I'm not even going to try.:p
 
a quick invasion of Japan? Won't you still have to fight them in asia to get the last of their VPs to force a surrender? Interested to see how this ends up. Keep up the amazing AAR!
 
whoa invading japan now?! krazy and i thought you were gana end it at the taking of moscow :D well good luck on the invasions komrade! GREAT AAR!
 
There are some problems in the event of your success:
1) destruction of Japanese merchants and escorts will affect their ability to challenge the USN later on very badly.
2) taking the home islands might not be enough and every sea crossing you conduct is likely to be blocked by IJN naval units.
3) If Japan has resources left, it will fight your forces, meaning it will risk her fleet. If it doesn't, it won't have the resoures to fight the USN later on.