Sudden Carnage
Chapter XXIV – Skidel Showdown (and a world overview)
Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
Recap: Operation Vice is over and the hated Belgians are defeated. The little nation that threatened to tip the sensitive balance of power between the great pacts of the world, is now consumed by the tides of raw struggle. As Wehrmacht’s western forces more or less tumbles into the French Wall of Flesh, another threat is more prominent – the attack by the Red Army. They have massed in the north of the East front, close to the Lithuanian border, and have now launched an attack against the few but well dug in German defenders. The clash, named the Skidel Showdown, will determine if Wehrmacht will be forced back over Poland or not.
March 17th, 1940
While the Skidel Showdown continued with great ferocity, Germany lost their first major battle since Operation Hammer Sickle. They had hoped to be able to quickly dislodge the French in Reims as many of the defenders were believed to have retreated from Montmédy. Unfortunately, they had some dug in, well organized divisions who proved hard to beat. Also, the Germans realized the Allies fed Reims with well-rested troops and came to the conclusion that this was not they place to get stuck in a long grinding battle.
March 18th, 1940
The Fresh 50 000 had now, after a long march, reached western Belgium and supported the troops already being present in Brugge and Kortrijk. With that, a powerful attack was launched at Dunkerque. The French had build forts here (lvl 1 I think) and was supported by Brits and naval fire. Still, several of their troops were in bad shape and the Germans had brought two divisions with engineers to bust the fort open. Except engineers, the German division had brigades with heavy artillery, including Hummels, to pummel the defenders.
The troops in Kortrijk waited however. The German leadership had other plans for them.
To rewards The Japanese for their support during these campaigns, they were given Aalst (Hurray).
Early March, 1940:
As for the fresh 50,000....I have a sneaky suspicion they are heading to the port in the Hague. Seelowe perhaps?
Authors answer: I’m quite a maverick… but I do have some limits
Moreover, I already have too few units against France as it is, and are multitasking at the borderline of my capacity. Any new front would be devastating to me right now. Moreover, don’t forget that RN punched me right back when Kriegsmarine tried to leave the Baltic Sea. A Seelöwe right now would be like sticking the barrel in my mouth and pull the trigger
March 20th, 1940
Hirson was yet another province where Germany expected a breakthrough shortly. The Belgian defenders here were in total disarray and only a French division and the infamous British 1st Infantry Division managed a fairly decisive stand against the two German panzer divisions in the front. The 1st Infantry Division had been in the spearhead when the French-Anglo push had conquered several German provinces during summer and early autumn. This was not forgotten by the Germans who wanted revenge.
Authors note: And as I followed 1st Inf Div during Jolly Carnage, it would give me extra satisfaction if I could nail them in this game…
March 19th, 1940
9 days into the Skidel Showdown, and the first two brave German divisions had been relieved and fell back, close to their breaking-point. The Germans had managed to get four new divisions to reach Skidel and continue the defense. It looked secure for the moment, but it was just so many enemies. It was doubtful if these four divisions would hold up very long. Luckily, the brunt of the attacking force started to show signs of wariness. Still, they had fresh reinforcements coming in. The battle was far from over.
In Szczuzyn, which started out as a fairly orderly battle, from the German point of view, the large amounts of attackers started to wear down the defenders somewhat. Some of the enforcements meant for Skidel had to be directed to Szczuzyn instead.
March 20th, 1940
The German attack on Shepetivka was roughly a week in the process and the Red Army defenders were virtually crushed. They still put up a fight but a very desperate one.
::The third battle of Shepetivka was 8 days old. 8 long days. The resistance was not too hard. The first four defending Red Army divisions had been more or less dispatched – but new troops joined the fray. Fortunately, the weak resistance meant that the German troops were not overly tired. Heinrich was sicker of it rather than actually tired from it. He was not sick of beating the enemy; he was not sick of hearing their own heavy artillery firing away and seeing the huge detonation they caused; he was far from sick of his panzer and his dear friends manning it – but he was sick of f*****g Shepetivka. It felt pointless fighting again and again over this God forsaken piece of dirt. Had it just been a similar piece of dirt somewhere east of Shepetivka, then life would have felt more meaningful. Well, he was just another grunt and whining about things didn’t make them better. Still, three degrees Celsius and a slow dripping rain, not much more than a mist, did nothing to ease up his mind. The mist was actually quite spooky. In the contourless province, it was easy to get lost when visibility shrank away to some fifty to hundred meters. And this was not the place to get lost. There were plenty of Russians around and though quite harmless for an offensive panzer, Heinrich did not want to end up alone in the middle of a swarm of those bastards. So he sat there, in his low driver’s seat, peering out through the narrow armored slit, trying to gaze through the drifting ghostlike mist – hoping that they would spy the enemy before being spied themselves.::
March 20th, 1940
The Japanese troopers had been fighting through a winter so cold their urine froze before it hit the ground. Consequently, their process had been rather slow. In the last three months, very little progress had been made around Mongolia. Instead, it was mostly in the vast tundra in the north where they had come quite a distance.
According to the Japanese leadership, the resistance in the shape of ground troops was very slim. Instead, Soviet air force bombed the land they left behind, destroying roads, bridges and supply depots, making life really shitty for the pursuing Japs. Still, the temperature gradually rose, making life somewhat easier for the Japs. Hopefully, they could reach some of the most important industrial provinces during the summer.
March 20th, 1940
Yunnan is making progress into British Burma. Not that Yunnan had much to throw in, but neither had the Brits, who now were involved in combat at multiple locations around the world. It was extremely important to keep UK busy now during Germany’s critical advance through Benelux and hopefully France.
March 20th, 1940
In Ethiopia, after the Italian disaster in Ed, the Brits gained ground a little too fast. Adis Abeba was not under attack yet, but was not likely to hold on to summer. Anyways, if they managed to pull at British attention that long it would enough for Germany to, hopefully, reach quite far into France.
March 20th, 1940
The amount of allied tonnage seemed to have gone down somewhat. Maybe they had stopped a few of their routes. Also, what was worrying was that they had started to sink Dutch convoys. It was perhaps hardly surprising, but it would probably mean that the Dutch would run out of Rare Materials before long and Germany would lose the good and some very necessary deals. It was just not much the Germans could do about it.
March 20th, 1940
The Italians had lost several of their submarines, and some of their screens too – but they still managed to keep the pressure up on their convoy raiding. The Allies, mostly the Brits, kept losing convoy tonnage in the Med.
March 20th, 1940
::Johann Keller’s life in the Heer continued. There was so much to do. The fighting soldiers had recently started their basic combat training, like any other Infantry. In a while, depending on their skills, they would be given specific tasks within their units. The first two divisions consisted of the “Heavy Mechanized” set up which basically was like light panzer divisions with mechanized instead of motorized infantry. Once produced, they would be called 1st and 2nd Heavy Mechanized.::
::As a high ranking officer, Johann had gotten one of the first half tracks ever produced. It didn’t have any extra armor and only a top-mounted machine gun. Instead, it had extra antennas, a fixed roof and slightly more comfy interior. He insisted on driving it himself once in a while and his great handling skills impressed his men. He didn’t tell them that he was an experienced mechanic. It would be a useful secret sometime. With as much as 10 brigades of mechanized infantry in production the factories spitted out entire companies on daily basis. It was really impressive. The magic date was September 1st. Then they all would be ready. Whatever country that would have to face this army group would be crushed. Johann hoped it would be the Soviet Union. He saw for himself how these new units broke the long stalemate and threw the Red Army back. It was a beautiful thought. In the meantime, he waited for spring to chase away the last of the dreadful winter. Life was so much better during springtime.::
March 20th, 1940
Authors note:
Honestly, the crushing of Netherlands and Belgium had gone so quick that I reached the French border without a decent detailed plan. I was quite sure to be stuck in Belgium when this game-night ended and therefore had neglected to make detailed plans ahead. You might have noticed how I bashed right into the French front wherever I reached it without any obvious plan.
Also, I expected to be slowly falling back through Poland by now. I am surprised by the lack of aggressiveness from Soviet, but also from the bad odds he gets when attacking me – even with great numbers on his side. So maybe he is clever to be so careful, but I am very happy to be able to fight in the west so undisturbed. However, the outcome of the Skidel Showdown will be very important.
The two other Axis is doing great job of tying down Allies/Commies and pull at their attention. Italy is taking some casualties on land (Afrika) and in the ocean (Med), but will hopefully be able to put up quite a show for a little while longer, before they eventually will be weakened.
So my own plans now? It is Paris of course. Paris is the price. I will not even divert attention in trying to corner BEF – which I usually like – but try and surround Paris as soon as possible and initiate the attack. I will try and move some units, mostly panzers, westwards along the front and create a breach in the open fields there – forcing the Brits to fall back out of fear for being captured – and then turn on Paris. That is at least the plan.
However, I expect Soviet aggressiveness to increase now winter is gone. Not sure how well I am going to cope with it, but I plan to reinforce the east front with a few new units and at least 1 panzer division. I have only reinforced the East with a single unit since I started the preparation for Operation Hammer Sickle. It is likely that the Red Army have reinforced quite a lot so I can’t ignore it any longer. Moreover, I think, given some time, that my present force in the west will be enough to crush Mr. François.
.......
@
Austerlitz and Profetkaninen - Thanks for the votes at
AARland Choice AwAARds. I happen to notice that you havn't attached a link to your vote which will render it impotent...
And
a big thanks to the rest of you who have voted so far.
