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Sudden Carnage

Chapter VI – The Battle of Warsaw and a Global Tremor








Countries played by humans: UK, France, Poland, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan









Recap: The German onslaught continues unchallenged. Poland is losing ground and stands at the brink of ruin. France and UK murmurs in the background but without making much of it – except conquering Pirmasens.












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June 19th, 1939

::Once again, the resistance they faced was very weak. The Poles were well dug in and the terrain was troublesome. Still, the Polish AT-armament was so weak and their numbers so few so Heinrich Hahn felt very little fear as he carefully urged his pzkw III forward in the woods. Small trees broke underneath the tracks and branches cracked as they tried but failed to claw at the metal monster. Michael Wittmann, the tank commander, had his head up through the hatch and studied the environment around them and gave Heinrich advices on routes forward, as he had a much better view. Bobby Woll did not have much to do behind the big gun, except moving the big canon once in a while to avoid getting it hooked up in a tree trunk.::

:: During the 19th on the afternoon, a armor car drove up to them and told them about a small Polish company HQ up front and suggested to gather reinforcements. Wittmann did not want to wait and nor did his crew. One and a half month they have traveled through Poland with very little combat and they now wanted their piece of it. “Just cover our back, corporal” Wittmann told the surprised squad leader and then ordered Heinrich to move forwards.::

::They spied the company HQ just where the armor car corporal had said, behind a small hillock. Wittmann ordered them to make a small half circle movement to avoid charging into any stationary AT emplacement and then, as the Poles probably had heard the sound of their heavy engine and tracks, they charged right in. The armor car supported them with heavy machinegun fire but was clearly reluctant to get too close. Bobby Woll fired away and his loader did his work as quick as he possible could – loading only explosive rounds. A truck exploded and then the command tent with all its radio antennas. The tanks radio operator, sitting beside Heinrich, had a 7, 92 mm machine gun and he fired away with abandon on the Poles that milled around the tents like angry ants after you’ve been poking about in an anthill. A few was hit and flew back with blood bursting from teared flesh. Soon enough, they had either fled or found cover and sure as clockwork bullets started to hit the panzer with “plinking” sounds. One of the hits sounded much higher than the others and sent vibrations threw the thick front armor. “That’s the Polish AT-rifle. It’s useless against us” Wittmann said calmly to his crew. Heinrich was happy he was not sitting in the armor car.::

::Heinrich started to move the tank forwards and shifted flanks to avoid any quickly set traps. The panzer answered so nicely as he moved the levers for the tracks so it felt like the 22 ton metal monster was part of his body. A tree just next to them was hit by a powerful projectile and fell, broken at the middle. Michael shouted directions and Bobby fired away his 50 mm main gun on the brave Polish soldier who just loaded his AT-rifle. Bobby Woll was not the one to miss and the poor soldier was virtually obliterated. After that, the remaining Poles surrendered.::











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June 19th, 1939

Lörzer once again tried to stop the Allied bombing of the West Wall. His geschwader’s were in bad shape after constant battles. They could not cope with RAFs onslaught and the troops in Saarlouis did not get any support from Luftwaffe at all – and consequently suffered badly.

This is also the first time the German leadership got reports of sightings of British ground troops in France. BEF has landed…











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June 21st, 1939

Bombed to submission, the troops in Saarlouis did not shoot many rounds as the French attacked – but rather fled. A humiliating defeat which Göbbels tried to cover up as best possible…

Author’s note: Occupied elsewhere I completely missed how badly the troops in Saarlouis were bombed by RAFs bomber command. It was not a nice surprise at all. Still, I was not too worried. Newly deployed troops have already got some organization and others are on their way in – and one of them is a brand new and fully organized tank division. That should do it.











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June 19th, 1939

Finally - the fall of Warsawa. It was not an epic battle even if it was one of the five biggest during the campaign. Some parts of the city had been destroyed but a majority of Warsawa was more or less unharmed. Part of the reason was that Stuka-bombers had been used to support the ground troops which meant less collateral damage than if using medium bombers.

Author’s note: Will this be enough to make Poland surrender? It will be close…













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June 21st, 1939

With Warsaw and several other important cities captured, the Polish leadership surrendered. The war had taken one and a half month. It had largely gone according to plan with three major thrusts, where every thrust had led to the encirclement of important cites.

Now, the German troops were scattered over former Poland and the German leadership had some reorganization to do – before next target could be attacked. But Wehrmacht had a tight schedule and a distinct road map for countries that needed to be crushed, in what order and during what time.

Comments from Mid May 1939
Baltasar: They'd (Poland) be a GiE just as in any other game, but they'd be in a position to actually reinforce the Allies enough to make a serious push into Germany the second Danzig or War is triggered. If in doubt, they can be handed over as Expeditionary forces... at least that's my thought, not sure if it would work out.

Authors late note: Sometimes they apparently just surrenders... ;)











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June 21st, 1939

::Several of Lucas Bauer’s comrades in the 2nd, Fallschirmjäger Division became slightly disappointed when the war ended so fast. They had hoped to be able to do a combat jump in Warsaw and be part of the final battle. Lucas didn’t mind, as usual. He liked life in boot camp quite a lot. There were lot of activities every day, physical training (in which he excelled) and combat training. They’d done their first real jump. “Sex with the Gods” he said and made everybody laugh. He loved it and couldn’t wait for next jump. As they only had uniforms on and the summer weather was great it wasn’t a lot that could go wrong.::

:: Every other weekend they got a night out, which was great too. After the medial spectacle due to the successful combat jump of the 1st para-division, Lucas and his guys got endless attention by both boys and girls and never had to pay a beer by themselves. And Lucas wasn’t the one to turn down either free beer or easy girls.::

::They’d been told that they’d get their wings the 9th of August. It was ok. Lucas was happy being in boot camp during the majority of the summer. He wasn’t really eager to do a combat jump before he was really really fit to cope with it. The Guys discussed that their first combat jump probably would be over France… Maybe even Paris.::












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June 21st, 1939

A majority of Nationalist China and her allies have fallen in front of the Japanese onslaught. Only some weakly equipped troops are still fighting in Xibei San Ma. The desolated land mostly consists of deserts and mountain, so it might be tricky defeat those last troops.











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June 21st, 1939

The present borders of the Third Reich. As no deal was made with the Russians, entire Poland belongs to Germany. Sadly, as UK is using their influence to counter German diplomats in Hungary, the Hungarians are actually becoming more UK-friendly than the opposite. The loss of Primasens to the French can be visible in the west.

Author’s note: So what’s the plan? Well, I’m planning to attack countries in a fairly historical order but in a faster pace. Denmark will fall next, being attacked within a week or two. Hopefully they will fall during the time it takes to move my forces from east to west. If it takes a little time, I will start the attack on Netherlands. As the troops attacking Denmark not will be needed for the attack on France, it’s more a question on me wanting to much multi-tasking. The attack on Belgium and France will start in September with victory no later than New Year but hopefully sooner. Well… that’s at least the plan :)

Obstacles?
• Without the Mol-Rib pact USSR can attack at any time. Italy will, however, guard my back in former Poland with a substantial force and as we plan to avoid Italy DOWing Allies before the fall of France, they do not need to fear the Allies. This mean – if USSR DOWs Germany, Italy and Japan can attack them without being in war with anybody else. That should do it.












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June 22nd, 1939

Allied forces attacked in hordes over the Maginot line, led by the famous British commander Harold Alexander and his 1st Infantry. Even though the Germans had good defensive position, the attackers were simply too many and the chocked troopers of the 25th division had to fall back.

Well, with Poland gone, this place would be swarming of Germans.












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June 22nd, 1939

Oups....




Or maybe the West Wall would not swarm with Germans anytime soon. The Soviet Union did not wait very long at all before they attacked… and it was war all over the world.

Authors note: We actually thought that USSR would attack somewhat later if they would go for that option. As it was now, I had just given my troops strategic redeployment orders, which was a little annoying, but they hadn’t moved much. On the other hand, had USSR waited it would have been pain for the Allies. I would love some comments from the Allies/Commies here, on how their thinking went.

I guess they had to attack but I had, perhaps foolishly, hoped that they would not. Well, anyway, this will be a good test on how a non-Mol/Rib battle turns out in multiplayer. I honestly don’t know. I expect USSR to take severe punishment on two fronts but being the sole enemy to the Allies – so will Germany.

Good thing though, from Axis point of view, is that USA probably wont be a factor in this war. I expect German threat to build very slowly now when USSR broke the peace. That’s at least what I’m counting on to have a chance in this set up.



Comments from Mid May
Austerlitz: Nice pocket!Inexplicable allied inactivity though. Perhaps they have made a deal with the russians?

Authors “late” note: It appears so….
 
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Comments from Mid May 1939
Baltasar: They'd (Poland) be a GiE just as in any other game, but they'd be in a position to actually reinforce the Allies enough to make a serious push into Germany the second Danzig or War is triggered. If in doubt, they can be handed over as Expeditionary forces... at least that's my thought, not sure if it would work out.
Authors late note: Sometimes they apparently just surrenders...

Sometimes, but I think chances for them turning into a GiE are much higher.

Regarding the USSR dow on Germany, that's what was expected, wasn't it? I do hope that the Japanese can solve their resource problem and both Japan and Italy did upgrade their forces enough to make the Russians feel the pain...
 
Eek the Russians are coming ... and the Japs ... And the Forza Italia.
Can Italy and Japan really be in war with the Russians without German, isn't there a supply problem for the Italians at least?
 
An early two-front war... It will certainly be interesting. Nobody had much time to prepare, so things will be a bit chaotic. It looks like leaving Africa was a good choice for Italy... Although this means that Suez is relatively safe and that the UK doesn't have to keep many troops in Africa, too. Also, from gameplay perspective, u-boot campaign is unnecessary now. This is extremely unrealistic, but that's how the game works. In HOI3 you only have to worry about supplying the colonies - UK resource situation is safe. Unless Japan attacks the UK, you can use u-boots more passively and more tactically at the same time.
 
Seems I was right about the allies still having a window of opportunity to exploit the hole they punctured in the west wall ;) Not that it will amount to much I don't think, but you can see they are at least making an effort.

Very interesting to see the Soviet DOW, it essentially means that if they do not wipe you out in a quick war they are screwed more or less; no USA intervention and Germany can outproduce France+Britain (excluding USSR for now due to the leaderships and officer ratio problems early game). I would suggest some kind of reverse WW1 Schlieffen Plan - Put enough troops in the west (about 200k-300k should do it) to stop any allied assaults on the West wall and threatening Germany, and then use all armoured and spare troops available to knock out Russia before swinging back round to face the allies. Fighting a 2 front war whilst focusing on the allies will be too difficult as Russia will only get stronger, and the allies can put up a decent enough fight in the west that would require the majority of the Wehrmacht. It's also vital that you station enough of the Luftwaffe in the west to prevent any repeat of before, you could do without such hassle when you're attempting an invasion of the east. It's only mid June too, so there's plenty of time before General Winter can halt your advance.

Good luck! :)
 
Quite a question, actually.. France first or Russia? Since the Allies can't really dow Italy at this point, their only hope would be to get the BeNeLux or Switzerland into their camp. Other than that... they'll be in for a lot of pain.

I'd rather not rely on the Italian forces all by themselves holding the Red Army aback, not even with the Japanese occupying quite a few of their formations as well. The Russians can just neglect the east, there is really not much worth defending anyway.

Edit: You should consider using the Prijpet marches (sp?) to your advantage.
 
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I knew it!But russia first obviously...british and french divisions behind riverbanks are tough nuts without armour....the russians are as yet weak.Quickly build up armour,while slowly pushing the russian scum back.The road to moscow is far shorter as whole of poland is urs,also the baltic states have not been taken by the russians due to the MR pact,securing ur left flank on the east and shortening the front making ur numbers have a telling impact,tell japan to bring its airforce to the eastern front to make up for the division in luftwaffe strength in two fronts,same for italy which also provides troops.Its more or less july so 3 months of campaigning this yr unless u can break the soviet front..unlikely.In the lull after that u need to field ur armour for the summer offensive to crush the bolshevik menace.
 
Well upto now it's going mostly as I expected it, if the SU player has done it right he will have updated selected inf techs and used the majority of his leadership to build up officer ratio.
There are only minor British forces in France. I just wonder when the rest will appear, and where? If the Russians can blitz into the cities and take river crossings then it's gonna be one he'll of a horrible time taking it all back. The Russian player can all but halt the Japanese advance by defending the trans-Siberia railroad which effectively means the Japanese are useless.
It's gonna be very hard for germany to manage this war, and I doubt it is gonna end well for the Axis.
 
Sometimes, but I think chances for Poland turning into a GiE are much higher.

Yes, I believe so too. What I am not so sure about is if this benefits me or not – annexing instead of occupying. Anybody who can shed some light?

Regarding the USSR dow on Germany, that's what was expected, wasn't it?

Well… to be honest… I hoped they wouldn’t. And I didn’t expect them to attack immediately. I guess that was a mistake.

Eek the Russians are coming ... and the Japs ... And the Forza Italia.
Can Italy and Japan really be in war with the Russians without German, isn't there a supply problem for the Italians at least?

Not sure I get your point there, Surt. USSR don’t have any limited war ability. They DOWed entire Axis. So its USSR vs Axis and Allies vs Germany. Or did I misunderstand your query?

Brilliant stuff as usual. You seem to have a knack of making everyone gang up on you CptEasy :D

You know, Red – That was EXCACTLY what I though after all this. Why on earth did I come up with a strategy that would put me in the middle of the shit? Once again, I think I sort of planned they wouldn’t dare attack… my error. Guess I’m in for a hard one again ;)

Götterdämmerung! Save what can be saved!

I do hope to do more than “save”. Or maybe I’m too optimistic…

An early two-front war... It will certainly be interesting. Nobody had much time to prepare, so things will be a bit chaotic. It looks like leaving Africa was a good choice for Italy...

Also, from gameplay perspective, u-boot campaign is unnecessary now. This is extremely unrealistic, but that's how the game works. In HOI3 you only have to worry about supplying the colonies - UK resource situation is safe. Unless Japan attacks the UK, you can use u-boots more passively and more tactically at the same time.

Yes, I think it’s a really interesting set up. I don’t think it realistic with Germany surviving this, but having Japan and Italy ready to fight to defend the 3rd Reich is perhaps not very realistic either – so we’ll see how it goes.

Hmm… Italy hasn’t really left Africa. They might not be too strong there, but they have not left.

Actually, during “Jolly Carnage”, I was VERY close of running out on energy after taken severe convoy-punishment. So it’s not impossible to bring UK to its knees that way – though perhaps not very easy. Anyways, no convoy raids so far so I guess they’re pretty safe.

Very interesting to see the Soviet DOW, it essentially means that if they do not wipe you out in a quick war they are screwed more or less; no USA intervention and Germany can outproduce France+Britain (excluding USSR for now due to the leaderships and officer ratio problems early game). Good luck! :)

Thanks, ADEE. I’m gonna need it. I agree – this is not likely to be a very long war. It will be exciting to see what the Red Army can do. I find them harder to calculate than the Allied threat.

I knew it!But russia first obviously...british and french divisions behind riverbanks are tough nuts without armour....the russians are as yet weak. Quickly build up armour,while slowly pushing the russian scum back.The road to moscow is far shorter as whole of poland is urs…

Quickly build armor… thanks for that advice ;) But I do have a few in the pipeline so I might actually be able to do what you suggest. I hope I can…

Well upto now it's going mostly as I expected it, if the SU player has done it right he will have updated selected inf techs and used the majority of his leadership to build up officer ratio.
There are only minor British forces in France. I just wonder when the rest will appear, and where? If the Russians can blitz into the cities and take river crossings then it's gonna be one he'll of a horrible time taking it all back. The Russian player can all but halt the Japanese advance by defending the trans-Siberia railroad which effectively means the Japanese are useless.
It's gonna be very hard for germany to manage this war, and I doubt it is gonna end well for the Axis.

A sensible but dark prediction indeed. I’ll save this comment and we’ll see how it will fit into the future… I don’t really know how prepared the Rus is, or what preparations he’d done. Don’t think he will slip too much info either. We’ll just have to see what he can do.


New chapter tomorrow.
 
Great AAR!

In Wildfires the Germans was in far more trouble when USSR declared war on the axis. The Italians was busy in the balkans, Japan far from finished with china and Poland still kicking. Add to that an early war entry by US with American forces later capturing Wilhelmshafen and joining the French in a drive towards Berlin. Still the Axis drove trough Russia like on a caravan holiday...

Hopefully this time the Russian player is prepared for his/her weakness and play the defensive card to so Moscow doesn't fall before Germany have to turn some of it's forces west. I'm not cheering for the allies, I just wish to see an epic AAR instead of a drive towards Moscov.
 
Great AAR! In Wildfires the Germans was in far more trouble when USSR declared war on the axis. The Italians was busy in the balkans, Japan far from finished with china and Poland still kicking. Add to that an early war entry by US with American forces later capturing Wilhelmshafen and joining the French in a drive towards Berlin. Still the Axis drove trough Russia like on a caravan holiday...

Thanks Prof. Italy was just busy a short time and at that time Axis also had Yugoslavian and Hungarian forces to back up defenses and soften blows. Also, Daphne playing USSR now is a skilled defensive player. It will not be easy to play him the fool.... I don't expect a caravan holiday this time ;) But the lack of USA is of course a very vital factor. Time will not be a factor in this game as much as in Wildfires.

Hopefully this time the Russian player is prepared for his/her weakness and play the defensive card to so Moscow doesn't fall before Germany have to turn some of it's forces west. I'm not cheering for the allies, I just wish to see an epic AAR instead of a drive towards Moscov.

USSR will be more prepared this time... or so I suspect. And I also want to see an epic AAR. Thinks its more important to me than actually winning :)

@Fish - Thanks mate. I'll make them fight for it ;)
 
Sudden Carnage

Chapter VII – The Third Reich in disarray












Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
*The Polish player’s computer had a breakdown at this stage and then a two week trip to Thailand so we will only be six players for a period of time ahead.











Recap: Poland has just been crushed. It all went according to plan. Allies have been trying to cause as much trouble as possible in the west and managed a little breach in the West Wall. It did not appear very threatening as Germany was about to send the majority of the eastern forces to the west. However, the Soviet Union declared war on Germany just a few days after the fall of Poland. Now, Germany is in a two front war, with France and United Kingdom on one side, and Soviet Union on the other. But at least Soviet will also be caught between enemies too.












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June 26th, 1939

The Red Army did not wait. They immediately crossed the border and charged into Germany’s undefended eastern flank. Half a week after the declaration of war and the Red Army are still storming westwards. German troops are in disarray but not too far away. The Italians are on their way, but still have some distance to traverse.

Authors note: Had the Italians been in better position it had been better for Axis but as neither of us expected USSR to attack so quickly, they weren’t given the march-order until Poland was defeated to avoid any allied plane seeing them. So, the quick USSR DOW served some purpose here.











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July 1st, 1939

Yet another half week has passed by. The USSR is conquering ground at a high pace. In Lvov in the south, the first battle between these two giants has started. In the north and center, there’s still a little space left between the forces. The Italians are railing in by train, straight into the center while the majority of the German Heer has unloaded their westbound trains, reorganized and are now on their way east – towards glorious battle. Some travel yet again with train while others march combat-ready.

Soon, these to huge forces will collide and the outcome of that will change the world.











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July 11th, 1939

A rough week later and the forces have met across the entire front. Due to the fact that Italy and Germany had been railing the majority of the troops, they could not immediately attack, and the all-front head-to-head meeting was fairly peaceful. Only in the north had the Germans started a fierce ambush.

::Heinrich Hahn and 1st Panzer had good defensive positions behind the river Narew. Still, it annoyed the men to just sit tight while the Russians marched by on the other side, or took defensive positions themselves. The tank crew under Michael Wittmann suspected they would be order to attack across that river in the close future and they’d rather do it right away that waiting for the enemy to dig in and prepare. With the enemy so close, there were no more practicing for the front line troops. Instead, they actually had more spare time as the Russians on the other side of the river did little. Heinrich spent a lot of the time playing cards with Bobby Voll and felt that life was pretty good.::

::The division was fully prepared, well trained and in good spirits after the victories in Poland. They knew the Russians would probably prove a more formidable foe, or at least be more numerable, but nobody expected an equal adversary. That made them all bold and eager. Soon, the real war would start.::











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July 4th, 1939

While, on the east-front, the Germans eagerly rushed to close in on the old Bear – they were much more hard-pressed in the west. French forces, with the support of The Brits, forced the German infantry backwards. One very important factor in this theater was Germany’s lack of air force. The Allies had the air superiority for the majority of the time and could bomb the German’s unchecked. Luftwaffe was too spread out (Authors note: …and their leader under severe stress). Things were not going according to plan.











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July 16th, 1939

Fearing an Allied fleet and potential amphibious assault from the Baltic Sea, Germany attacked Denmark in order to seal the Belts and Öresund. The 1st Paratrooper Division made yet another valiant combat jump and was supported by two infantry divisions deployed from the sea. The Danes initially attacked the Germans in Slagesta but eventually broke of the assault and fell back defend Copenhagen.

The Danes fought bravely in their capital but had little of real combat power to throw against the superior German machine of war.

No Allied fleet or air force had yet showed up to support the Danes.

Authors note: I find the translation of the Danish "Livgarde" to "Life Guard" somewhat amusing. It's like a bunch of Baywatch hotties throwing buoys at the German soldiers... But on the other hand... they might have been more successful in stoping them... ;)











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July 16th, 1939

At the same time as German soldiers made progress in Copenhagen, other German troops had to retreat from another city. Bitburg fell after bloody battles. The Allies were hard to stop. The leadership running Wehrmacht was hard-pressed to keep track of the multiple battles on three different fronts.











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July 17th, 1939

Wehrmacht prepared a mighty charge on the USSR. Army corps moved into position and smaller combats erupted to tie down the enemy as other units prepared the main thrusts. To support the coming inferno, Erich Hoepner was appointed Chief of Staff. The Soviet Union was about to reap the storm of their backstabing crimes.
 
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I see great potential for a pocket in the East. Forming a major encirclement so early in the war would be a real blow to the Soviet morale and it seems that the Soviet player put too many troops in that salient. Give him a successful Kursk! ;)
 
Fierce and thrilling ! What an AAR !!

Very exciting! And well written, too. :)

Thanks, friends!

Those multiplayer AARs are the most exciting here , as there isn't much room for history/roleplay in HOI ...

No, and it aint becoming any more historical with the stupid Fuhrer ignoring Joachim’s proposal with a pact with the Rus ;)

I see great potential for a pocket in the East. Forming a major encirclement so early in the war would be a real blow to the Soviet morale and it seems that the Soviet player put too many troops in that salient. Give him a successful Kursk! ;)

A successful Kursk with only two panzer divisions…. Heh,… Ure asking too much Cybvep ;) My panzer horde is still months away so I will lack mobility. Still, my infantry are well upgraded and quite numerous so I hope I can deliver substantial pain to the Red Army. With the help of the Italians, there might be a chance we can completely overwhelm him and push him back faster than he can reorganize. That’s at least what I hope.