Sudden Carnage
Chapter XXVI - Operation Wedge Part II
Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
Recap: The Skidel Showdown and Operation Vice is history. Now, Wehrmacht have launched Operation Wedge. The French Wall of Flesh has been breached after about three weeks of extreme carnage. Now, a German panzer spearhead charges passed Lille… Simultaneous as Wehrmacht struggle towards Lille, the rest of the world trembles of fundamental events…
April 7th-13th, 1940
In early April, Japan launched another lightning strike towards one of its small neighbors. Even if Japan was at war with both the Soviet Union and United Britain, pushing them both back, they managed to mount another forceful attack.
Communist China had little to do against the veteran troops of the Kingdom of Japan. They made an effort to defend the mountainous capital but they were brushed aside in a matter of days. Communist China was one of a long row of nations which had perished under the sword of the Island-Shogun.
Authors note: Zid (Japan) cared little about the lands of Communist China but he was worried about their amount of troops and their communist ideology. Instead of letting the small nation tie down a quite substantial chunk of the Japanese army it was better simply erasing it and be free of the problem – especially as “threat” is not a particularly big issue in this game.
---The Lille Pocket---
April 13th, 1940
A rough week into the battle of St Omer and it was still on. After the massive battle of Dunkerque, the German forces had lost a little of its punch in this sector. Still, the pocket around Lille was almost finalized and an attack, however weak, upon the city itself was launched in order to tie down the troops there. The French leadership seemed not to be aware of the potential pocket – or chose to stay and defend it.
April 15th, 1940
The pocket around Lille succeeded and two French divisions were caught there. The French tried weakly to break the pocket but could not muster anything decisive. The attack on Lille was not prioritized. The Frenchmen there would not be able to flee. Wehrmacht wanted as many troops as possible to get a few days rest before next push.
This day, the French province of Reims also fell. The defenders of Reims had previously given France one of very few defensive victories but this time around they finally broke and pulled back.
The German leadership also realized by now that the French forces had deployed an awful lot of light armor units. Perhaps these were initially ordered to blitz through Germany if Wehrmacht’s focus had continued to be on the East. Now, however, the French armor had to be used as defensive units and they were little match for the German Panzer IVs.
From early April:
The attack on reims going on in last screen will probably be called off facing brit divs behind rivers as they are. On the paris spearhead i think u shouldn't probe too further and hold their until u bring up another column on its right province its right flank needs to be secured for a deep offensive against paris along with the envelopment attempt near lille.
Author’s note: Well, I managed to take Reims, albeit with high casualties. Lille is surrounded but it have gotten me a little stretched.
---Elsewhere in the world---
April 15th, 1940
After the fall of Siam, Japanese forces have slowly but surely been closing in on Rangoon in southern Burma. United Kingdom does not seem to have deployed any significant forces here – or they are waiting further back.
Japanese fleets can move around unchallenged. It is likely that United Kingdom have concentrated its presence in other theatres. Perhaps they were unprepared for this Japanese trick.
April 15th, 1940
Unite Kingdom has, however, a strong presence around Ethiopia. After annihilating a strong Italian force in Ed they have closed in unmercifully around Addis Abeba. The few remaining Italian units can do little to hold them back. Ethiopia will not last long.
April 15th, 1940
Italy pays the Allies back in the Med. Even though they have taken some punishment in the surface warfare and lost some submarines, they still have enough to continue to sink Allied tonnage.
British raiders are, however, successful in keeping a tight blockade of Tarabulus. The troops there still get enough supplies but their stockpiles are shrinking. This could prove to be a problem for the Italians further on.
April 18th, 1940
A prolonged research finally proved fruitful. We now know how to use our valuable Rare Materials (1941 lvl) in a more effective way. Very good!
:: During his work with setting up the logistic and maintenance routines for the brand new mechanized brigade Johann Keller also kept a close eye at the usage of certain resources. He knew that Hjalmar Sacht and some of his research colleges tried to make the production of certain rare materials more efficient. Johann noticed, however, that these technocrats focused to blindly on more efficient machinery, more efficient processes and more efficient refining. That fact that misusage, wastefulness and lack of recycling were responsible for a major loss of potential resources was not taken into consideration. From his work within a forming division, Johann Keller started to watch the routines of usage and waste of rare materials carefully and gave Hjalmar Sacht several pointers of how the already produced materials could last longer. Hjalmar had learnt to listen to Johann and this suggestions for new routines soon became wide spread leading to a more long lasting usage of present materials.::
---The Fifth attack on Shepetivka---
April 18th, 1940
In late March, the Germans launched an attack on a broad front in the Southern East Front. Three provinces including Shepetivka were captured in early April. The Red Army, however, almost immediately counter-attacked the conquerors of Shepetivka and just like the previous four times, they retreated in good order after hardly any resistance at all.
Now, about two weeks later, Wehrmacht attacked The Valley of Death the fifth time. Most of the troops on both sides had either rested or been replaced and it turned out to be yet another grim battle. The Red Army did not want to yield.
::It was somewhat hard to believe that they had been forced to retreat from Shepetivka once again, and now…. And now they were attacking into the God Damn Valley of Death again. Morale was low. It was less than two weeks since they won their last battle here. They had only just been managed to get a few new recruits in, do the most necessary repairs and gotten a few full nights of rest… and now they were at it again. The Red Army had managed a pretty strong defense with both light and medium tanks. None of these were even close to match their Panzer IV, but they still posed a considerable threat. Michael Wittman, the tank commander, had to use both kind and harsh words to urge his crew forwards in the battle. They hated the land even more than their opponents. Still, they knew the land inside and out and Heinrich could maneuver in the dark with little problem. The Red Army would lose this time again… and the next and the next.::
April 20th, 1940
As the German attack on Shepetivka continued, Italy’s slow grinding march in the South continued. Even if the Italian threat was lesser, the Red Army did not seem to have the kind of reserves here, as in Shepetivka, and their troops were wary and hackneyed. The Italians managed to secure Stanislawow and the important airport there. Soviet had continuously used it for its fighters and bombers. Now they were forced to use strips further into Soviet for their planes while the Italians got the ones close to the frontline.
Soviet Union continued to lose ground and did not seem to be able to stop the fascist tide.
April 21st-24th, 1940
As Germany had little problem to hold the air space over France, and also had deployed several new squadrons of Bf 109s, they could now start to have fighters on patrol in the East as well. The Russian fighters had mostly been fighting Italians, and at occasion the Japanese Zeros, but seemed unprepared to meet the superior Luftwaffe (41-uppgrades finished). They consequently took serious losses and fled in disarray. Germany even supported the ground troops with dive bombers (Henschel 129). It was the first time in more than 6 months.
The Red Army retreated the 24th of April. The total death toll in the Valley of Death was now up to 11 000 Germans and 26 000 Soviets.
::Heinrichs hate for Shepetivka only grew stronger. April was quite muddy and all they bodies that had been hidden by the snow now lay in the open, rotting away. The only comfort he took was the fact that it was much worse for the infantry who walked and lived in that muddy, sickening hell every day and every night. Heinrich himself, and some of the guys in the crew with him, often chose to sleep in the tanks cramp space even if it was far from comfortable. And it was all worse for the Rus. They just walked back into the Valley of Death, without killing any Germans, waiting for Wehrmacht to charge them once again, tearing them to pieces.::
::The Valley of Death. The name had gotten a new meaning lately. It started with the Rus troopers who one night came crying through the darkness, surrendering to the Germans, begging them to save them from the ghouls. As the rumor got wings, more and more soldiers saw them at night. Humanoids in damp, molding uniforms, staggering around in the all to close periphery of the sentinel’s night-time vision – wheezing and moaning as they went. Nobody left the night camps anymore. People had trouble sleeping, their eyes looking hollower by the days. Then the sickness came. The Ghoul fever. Heinrich though he knew what pale was before. But these poor sods were even paler. The soldiers huddled together at night and longed for the daylight and the releasing battles – were you at least had the luxury to see your enemy in the eye. ::
::With the support of a company of infantry, Heinrich and a groups of panzers had taken one of Shepetivka’s few hills. It was a clear but cold day, the wind coming sharply from the east. They had orders to hold the position, and did just that, just below the crest to avoid making silhouettes against the pale blue sky. This was one of few placed with any view at all and with the Hummels in position behind the hill, Heinrich and his friends acted spotters with their binos. They suddenly heard a sound… a very rare sound in the Valley of Death. Fighter engines. Suddenly the most dramatic dog-fights erupted in the sky above them. It was with marvelous speed and agility with which the smooth planes dodged, rolled and dived at each other – machine guns and auto-canons blazing. The panzer crews cheered as a soviet fighters tumbled from the sky with a tail of fire and smoke. They never saw the pilot jump. Another life swallowed by these blood-soaked fields of death…::
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Just a few days remains of the
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