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“The war will be won not only by the bravery of the Soviet army but by the cowardice of the Austro-Hungarian army too."
- an unknown Major General in the Soviet Army
------------------------------------------------
The City's Last Line of Defence
On July 4, the Brazilians, for the second time, have entered Buenos Aires. La Plata was humiliated again.
On North Africa, the Reactionary North Italians have landed in Alexandria. Whether it's just a raiding group or an invasion forces. The intelligence still doesn't have a clear picture of it but it must be vanquished at once!
--------------------------
The first fruit of the offensive was the easiest one. Cracow. The last bastion of the Kingdom of Galicia (a kingdom under the Austrian crown) was captured and dissolved immediately. The government has already left weeks ago for Vienna.
The main advance under the command of Shaposhnikov have met more resistance and pushed them out again. The secondary advance on the south have captured Oppeln and touched the Oder river.
On the Hungarian front, the climate have changed. The reluctant Hungarian army, due to the situation of the war, was overpowered by Berlin. Many Hungarian divisions are under German control. Fortunately, not that many of them are. But the change was enough to cause anxiety to the Soviet military. German-led Hungarian troops have broke into the weak Soviet flanks on the South. 2 divisions were trapped between Kielce and Radom and later surrendered, 3 division in Zamosc, an unknown number of divisions Przemysl, and a few more divisions station nearby the area.
-----------------
Another news from the technological front as they have made upgrades on computing machines. More importantly, the Deep Operations Doctrine was finished and became official for the Soviet Army. Many armour proponents saw this as progress to harness the power of the tanks. A news from the People's Commissariat for Armaments, a rocket facility is now operational on a top-secret base in Siberia. The experiments were just starting on prototype rockets, which basically resembles like Chinese fireworks except metallic, mechanical and bigger.
On the Persian front, the situation starts to get into Soviet control as the Red Army rolls into the deserts of Persia and the advancing Persians on the North East have finally been checked and their retreat begins.
The possibility of just a raiding group on Alexandria was ruled out as the Italians broke out of their beachhead and dig deeper into Egypt. Intelligence gathered that they will be reinforcements to add pressure to the Soviets in that theatre.
On the 23rd of July, Norway surrendered to the Coalition, marking the first casualty of the Socialist Front. The flag of Sweden waves on the former Capitol building in Oslo. So far, the Swedish government has no announcement on what they'll do on the Norwegian lands. After the surrender, morale within the Coalition nations rose. Socialism is now dead in Scandinavia.
------------------------
The 22nd of July 1940. The outskirts of Kustrin.
“Retreat! Retreat! Orders from the above, comrade!” shouted by one of the crew while listening to his radio.
An enemy artillery shell blasted at their 2 o'clock but it was far enough not to cause damage on the tank sitting at the top of a small hill. The tank fired it's gun precisely at the pillbox, crudely made of wood, earth and sandbags, at their 11 o'clock, smashing it to oblivion along with its garrison and their AT gun.
“Where the f*** did these blasted Germans came from?”
The driver shift to reverse to rollback at the hill, out of sight from the enemy. Once at the foot, the tank went back to advance to make a u-turn and retreat.
“Counter-attack. They threw all they got to make a hole for the trapped soldiers in Poznan for a chance to get out.”
“What? So we're letting these scums escape?”
“Not really. We were ordered to retreat out of Kustrin but we will stop on to... whatever the name of this town is. That's where we stop the Poznan forces. It seems that the pocket is getting smaller.”
“So, after we crush the German army?”
“We retreat to Poznan.”
the others replied with a snicker
“Mission failed then?”
“We didn't make it to Stralsund so...”
-------------------------
The 23rd of July 1940. Western Theatre HQ, Warsaw.
“...the offensive is now officially a failure.”
The mood of the HQ was damp just like the days when they were facing the Mongolians for the first time. A few towers of smokes from the cigars on the ashtrays or held by the generals' lips. A few footsteps can be heard from the staff walking around the HQ. Some are sorting papers. Some are tweaking their machines accompanied by those beeping sounds.
“So that's it? Just give up and no one tried to salvage Kustrin?”
“You've seen the reports from the front! 9 divisions from Berlin and 4 from Stettin. Our armour – our armour were beaten back!”
“We should have given credit to whomever commanded those forces. That was a brilliant counter-attack-”
“Are you trying to praise the enemy?”
“Am I not speaking the truth?”
“Enough!” Shaposhnikov spoke to end the incoming argument “What happened to the forces on Poznan?”
“We just received it. All trapped forces surrendered and never had a chance to escape and...”
The meeting went on until it was called off. No plan was formulated. Skirmishes along the new frontline went on without any significant move from either side aside from a renewed but half-hearted advance to Kurstin which ended in another German counter-attack putting the Soviets back to where they were after Poznan.
The military higher-ups were given more pressure once more as the French just recently captured the city of Munster. Munster is far away from Berlin but the Russians need to make a breakthrough in order to get a significant portion of Germany on their hands.
------------------------------------------------
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Yup. I got a bit slow. Been busy with Sengoku. So there we go. Offensive is a fail with all I gained is Poznan and Oppeln. I called it off, believing that repeating the plan will result into more failure.
“The war will be won not only by the bravery of the Soviet army but by the cowardice of the Austro-Hungarian army too."
- an unknown Major General in the Soviet Army
------------------------------------------------
The City's Last Line of Defence
On July 4, the Brazilians, for the second time, have entered Buenos Aires. La Plata was humiliated again.
On North Africa, the Reactionary North Italians have landed in Alexandria. Whether it's just a raiding group or an invasion forces. The intelligence still doesn't have a clear picture of it but it must be vanquished at once!
--------------------------
The first fruit of the offensive was the easiest one. Cracow. The last bastion of the Kingdom of Galicia (a kingdom under the Austrian crown) was captured and dissolved immediately. The government has already left weeks ago for Vienna.
The main advance under the command of Shaposhnikov have met more resistance and pushed them out again. The secondary advance on the south have captured Oppeln and touched the Oder river.
On the Hungarian front, the climate have changed. The reluctant Hungarian army, due to the situation of the war, was overpowered by Berlin. Many Hungarian divisions are under German control. Fortunately, not that many of them are. But the change was enough to cause anxiety to the Soviet military. German-led Hungarian troops have broke into the weak Soviet flanks on the South. 2 divisions were trapped between Kielce and Radom and later surrendered, 3 division in Zamosc, an unknown number of divisions Przemysl, and a few more divisions station nearby the area.
-----------------
Another news from the technological front as they have made upgrades on computing machines. More importantly, the Deep Operations Doctrine was finished and became official for the Soviet Army. Many armour proponents saw this as progress to harness the power of the tanks. A news from the People's Commissariat for Armaments, a rocket facility is now operational on a top-secret base in Siberia. The experiments were just starting on prototype rockets, which basically resembles like Chinese fireworks except metallic, mechanical and bigger.
On the Persian front, the situation starts to get into Soviet control as the Red Army rolls into the deserts of Persia and the advancing Persians on the North East have finally been checked and their retreat begins.
The possibility of just a raiding group on Alexandria was ruled out as the Italians broke out of their beachhead and dig deeper into Egypt. Intelligence gathered that they will be reinforcements to add pressure to the Soviets in that theatre.
On the 23rd of July, Norway surrendered to the Coalition, marking the first casualty of the Socialist Front. The flag of Sweden waves on the former Capitol building in Oslo. So far, the Swedish government has no announcement on what they'll do on the Norwegian lands. After the surrender, morale within the Coalition nations rose. Socialism is now dead in Scandinavia.
------------------------
The 22nd of July 1940. The outskirts of Kustrin.
“Retreat! Retreat! Orders from the above, comrade!” shouted by one of the crew while listening to his radio.
An enemy artillery shell blasted at their 2 o'clock but it was far enough not to cause damage on the tank sitting at the top of a small hill. The tank fired it's gun precisely at the pillbox, crudely made of wood, earth and sandbags, at their 11 o'clock, smashing it to oblivion along with its garrison and their AT gun.
“Where the f*** did these blasted Germans came from?”
The driver shift to reverse to rollback at the hill, out of sight from the enemy. Once at the foot, the tank went back to advance to make a u-turn and retreat.
“Counter-attack. They threw all they got to make a hole for the trapped soldiers in Poznan for a chance to get out.”
“What? So we're letting these scums escape?”
“Not really. We were ordered to retreat out of Kustrin but we will stop on to... whatever the name of this town is. That's where we stop the Poznan forces. It seems that the pocket is getting smaller.”
“So, after we crush the German army?”
“We retreat to Poznan.”
the others replied with a snicker
“Mission failed then?”
“We didn't make it to Stralsund so...”
-------------------------
The 23rd of July 1940. Western Theatre HQ, Warsaw.
“...the offensive is now officially a failure.”
The mood of the HQ was damp just like the days when they were facing the Mongolians for the first time. A few towers of smokes from the cigars on the ashtrays or held by the generals' lips. A few footsteps can be heard from the staff walking around the HQ. Some are sorting papers. Some are tweaking their machines accompanied by those beeping sounds.
“So that's it? Just give up and no one tried to salvage Kustrin?”
“You've seen the reports from the front! 9 divisions from Berlin and 4 from Stettin. Our armour – our armour were beaten back!”
“We should have given credit to whomever commanded those forces. That was a brilliant counter-attack-”
“Are you trying to praise the enemy?”
“Am I not speaking the truth?”
“Enough!” Shaposhnikov spoke to end the incoming argument “What happened to the forces on Poznan?”
“We just received it. All trapped forces surrendered and never had a chance to escape and...”
The meeting went on until it was called off. No plan was formulated. Skirmishes along the new frontline went on without any significant move from either side aside from a renewed but half-hearted advance to Kurstin which ended in another German counter-attack putting the Soviets back to where they were after Poznan.
The military higher-ups were given more pressure once more as the French just recently captured the city of Munster. Munster is far away from Berlin but the Russians need to make a breakthrough in order to get a significant portion of Germany on their hands.
------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yup. I got a bit slow. Been busy with Sengoku. So there we go. Offensive is a fail with all I gained is Poznan and Oppeln. I called it off, believing that repeating the plan will result into more failure.
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