Sudden Carnage
Chapter XXIII – Operation Vice II
Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
Recap: Operation Hammer Sickle is over and was quite successful. Netherlands is now a puppet of Germany. Now, Operation Vice have started, the battle of Belgium, and managed to secure the northern part of the country in little less than two weeks. The 2nd Paratroop Division has daringly been dropped in Phillipville, hoping to capture retreating Belgians.
March 2nd, 1940
The attack on the Belgian capital is starting to show distinct progress. The Anglo-Belgian defenders are being grinded down while they fail to do any substantial damage on the German troopers. With the eastern offensive through Bastogne being successful, about an army corps of Belgians and a British motorized infantry ended up in a sack with the only escape route through Bruxelles. It didn’t seem, however, like the Anglo-Belgians had realized this yet.
The attack on the paratroopers in Philippville had intensified with yet another French infantry division. The German leadership nervously dwelled upon the incoming news and put a lot of effort in helping the paratroopers out. For the moment, Japanese fighters held the sky free of bogies while German bombers dropped their loads on the French in Montmédy.
The fresh 50-thousand have now started to move out of Eindhoven towards the front. The German leadership had now decided where to insert them into the battle.
March 5th, 1940
The German push to relive the paratroopers was successful. The eastern offensive launched an attack into Montmédy and Japanese paratroopers were dropped directly into Philippeville, evening out the odds. With this, the risk of losing the paratroopers was reduced to almost nothing.
During this day, Bruxelles fell. With this, the paratroopers in Philippeville got both fresh supply an also a possible escape route. Still, the French attack continued. Also, the Anglo-Belgian troops in the sack were now definitely captured in a pocket from which they were very unlikely to break out. With this, at least 50%, if not more, of the Belgian army would be pacified before the attack on France started. It was an extra victory to have been able to have captured a British division too.
The victory in Bruxelles gave the German stockpile yet another boost. The Belgian stockpile was a disappointment in comparison with the Dutch, but still welcome.
In the north, the 50-thousand fresh troopers kept marching westwards (red cricle).
March 5th, 1940
In the evening that day, the French attack on Philippeville ended. As most of the battle had been in the shape of mortar duels and long distant sniper fire there were a relatively low amount of dead on both side, even if the wounded counted a lot higher number.
Axis had now taken all Belgian land bordering to France without being contested for it. In Montmédy, the German attack continued.
March 6th, 1940
Our new Allies, the Dutch, are happy to re-open the old deal on Rare Materials. Very good! We want the new beautiful stockpile to last as long as possible.
::For Johann Keller, the life within a forming combat division was something completely different to anything he had ever done before. As a businessman, he was his own boss. Working for the Armament minister, Hjalmar Sacht, was different of course, but he was still quite free within a certain framework. His new position was as CO for the brigade logistical section. It gave him quite a lot of power within the division but not much freedom. Everything was done by the book and his job was mainly check that nobody stepped out of line. Well, right now, when everybody was in training camp there were a lot of challenging tasks when they realized that a designed unit had flaws and needed to be rearranged. But as they were training both heavy mechanized units and standard mechanized units, he had several colleges on similar positions to share his experiences and thoughts with. All in all, he was actually happy. That darkness in his chest was gone. He felt whole again. He was where he supposed to be. Soon he would venture out on the field of battle like all the rest of his friends. He would do his part.::
::Hjalmar did off course not want to let him go from the research team but Johann had been firm and also argued that Hjalmar needed somebody with the knowledge of the science team that also could experience the mechanized unit in field and report on its performance. Hjalmar had finally accepted this and Johann had left his luxurious life in Berlin for a life around the creation of the new mechanized units, in the field.::
March 9th, 1940
The Belgian-Anglo pocket is crushed and the troops surrendered. When the attack of a lone Belgian division against Bruxelles ended with a crushing Belgian defeat, a contingent of German troops in Bruxelles attacked Hirson. The German attack on Montmédy also continued with the French losing ground.
With this, Operation Vice was successfully over after about 3 weeks of quite light battles. Though they still continued to fight, the Belgians were now broken as force of any significance.
March 10th, 1940
The battle of Montmédy became a hard one, but eventually, the French fell back after considerable losses. As the panzer rolled into the province a new milestone was reached in this world war, as France had lost its first province to Germany. It was pay-back time...
March 10th, 1940
With the worst of the winter drawn passed, the Red Army launched a rather massive attack on the northern East Front, close to the Lithuanian border. The German leadership was quite surprised as this was defensible lands and they had though the blow would fall further south. Well, Stavka obviously wanted to surprise and in that they were successful. The German forces here were not very strong and with very little reserves. Quite luckily, the German leadership had just deployed a brand new 10-thousand man strong infantry division in Wolkowysk. Unfortunately, it was not organized enough to be thrown into battle yet. If things went bad, it could at least dig in and prepare for a new frontline.
Still, the Soviet attack did not look too bad, but on the other hands, they had the numbers and probably reserves to throw in later. The Germans had to shuffle the troops around to patch up the holes.
March 12th, 1940
While trying to find troops from the south and center to help in the North, the German leadership also wanted to give the Rus another front to think about. For the third time in this war, they attacked into the Soviet province of Shepetivka - in the southern East Front.
::Heinrich “the Rooster” Hahn laughed bitterly when they got the order. Attack Shepetivka… again. It was about a month ago when they’d attack the last time. It was muddy then, but now most of the lands had dried up to a decent level. They were not told much about the all over battle plan, but rumors trickled down the hierarchy of command that the northern army was under attack in several location. As they knew that no reinforcements had reached their own front, they realized there were no chance what so ever that they had the numbers for a real offensive. This would be just another pointless combat over the devastated plains of Shepetivka.::
::Michael Wittmann inspired the men quite harshly pointing out that all battles were equally important if you got to kill enemies and as Heinrich started the powerful engines his mood grew lighter. As usual, 1st Panzer would be the main spearhead, supported by some mountaineers and some 2-brigade infantries with heavy artillery brigades. The Red Army awaited them, dug in along long trenches with bunker systems of earth.::
::It was one of many grey, dank, early spring days. Heinrich shivered a while until the heat of the engine gave the crew much appreciated warmth. “She’s our mother, this bitch, and we’re in her loving womb” Bobby said. Heinrich snickered. “That’s the only womb you’ll ever get close to”. Teasing about girls was one of the few things that really got to the gunner. “I’ve had more chicks than you’ll ever see, you mole.” Baltazar snapped back. During the muddy season, Bobby started to call all drivers for moles as they were more under the ground than over it. As the Soviets opened up fire from their hidden positions, bullets pinging into their armor and ricocheting away, their argument stopped. “Eat this, Ivan-bastards!” Bobby yelled angrily and squeezed of the first round. Shooting at a trench from this distance was crazy and he didn’t hit, even if it was close. “Conserve your fire, God damn it!” Michael yelled at Bobby who muttered something wordlessly. And so the party started.::
March 13th, 1940
The Soviet pressure on Skidel was massive. The two German divisions were swarmed with enemies massing over the river all over the place. The defense was well prepared and the defenders superior in equipment and skill… but the enemies was just so many.
The German leadership did what it could to get troops from other locations to support the brave bastards in Skidel. The new, not organized division was ordered to a neighboring province to relieve a rested division there. It was not anticipated that the Red Army could launch an attack west of Skidel so it felt safe to place the rookies there – and to march the veterans to Skidel. Troops also came from the south, but it would take some time for them to reach the combat area.
The Red Army could not sustain both tie-down battles south of Skidel, and the southernmost was cancelled, which gave the Germans a little more freedom to shuffle troops around. Still, the Soviet attack was mighty and the German leadership knew that the outcome of the
“Skidel Showdown” would be of great importance for the East Front. If the Soviets breached the German line along the river, they would slowly start to push through former Poland. If they could be stopped, they would be delayed for weeks being forced to come up with a new offensive idea… and that would be valuable weeks as Germany started to bare down on the French. The outcome of the Skidel Showdown would reverberate over the world and effect plan-making of the three mighty powers of Axis, Allies and the Commitern.
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