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Sudden Carnage

Chapter XXX – Operation Wedge Part VI









Countries played by humans: UK, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan.
Due to French player being absent, AI is on hard.








Recap: Operation Wedge has succeeded with its main intermediate goal. Paris have been conquered. Still, France has not yet fallen and the Operation continues. At the same time, a Soviet attack on Shepetivka, the Valley of Death, triggered a German/Italian counter-attack in the southern part of the German/Soviet border. Is Axis over-stretching their ability or is the Red Army about to break..?












June 17th-22nd, 1940

The battle of Polonne was fierce and the Germans killed a lot of Red Army troopers. Still, the enemy was so numerous victory felt impossible. As the Polonne defenders cancelled their attacks into Shepetivka, the odds turned slightly worse and the reason for attacking was more or less obtained. Also, Korets was threatened by attacks as well and the German leadership did not want to drain its divisions.

::It didn’t feel too bad to pull back this time. They had kept 8 Russian divisions busy for about a week, refusing them any rest or recovery. Moreover, the attack at Polonne took some well needed pressure of the poor bastards in f****g Shepetivka. Just knowing he had friends suffering in the Valley of Death made him happy about being somewhere else. Also, knowing he helped them out by thrashing about in Polonne made it even better. “Thrashing about” was a good description. The Red Army was too numerous to be defeated here. On the other hand, they were too lousy to really be able to use their numeric superiority. Consequently, the German forces won ground every time they pushed forwards only to realize that a tide of Russians quickly filled up in areas they left behind. It was like trying to empty an ocean with your cupped hands. The Rus had quite a lot of tanks this time, that made it even more dangerous. Heinrich Hahn was actually quite happy when he got to retreat to Korets again. Still, the battle for Shepetivka was still on. Poor poor bastards…::












June 25th-28th, 1940

The 6th Battle of Shepetivka lasted almost three weeks and resulted in another 15 000 deaths. The total death toll is now up in 17 000 Germans and 41 000 Soviets. The Valley of Death was so full of dead bodies in varying state of decay that diseases started to affect the soldiers badly. This was the first time Werhmacht had been able to defend the province against the Red Army.

Italy had won some ground in the south during these weeks and Axis now hoped that the Red Army would give this sector a little break again. The German leadership wanted to finish of France before having to fight more in the East.












June 19th, 1940

During the fearful battles in the Valley of Death, the Allies pushed for Tarabulus. They could quite easy surround it, just like before. They both had some air force in the area. The battle raged on in the desert-mountains as the summer temperatures made life hard on the soldiers.












June 24th, 1940

The Allied blockade of Tarabulus had been successful. The defenders lacked food and ammunition and made a poor defensive force. After only about a week of battle, the Italians surrendered.

The Allies are now alone on the African continent.












July 2nd, 1940

Only two more months – then the two Heavy Mechanized (2 light armor + 2 mechanized) and the two Mechanized divisions are ready to be deployed

::Johann Keller followed the news of the war very carefully. The mechanized divisions looked more and more like proper fighting units but they still lacked men, equipment and training. With Paris down, Johann realized that he would probably not be deployed in the west. He was hoping for the east. Just the thought of being in Soviet when the big bear fell… it was thrilling. Still, tales from Shepetivka was somewhat discomforting. The mechanized units would be best relying on speed – not getting bogged down in trench-war.::












July 2nd, 1940

United Kingdom is losing grip of India with the great port of Chittadong being severely threatened. The Allies are clearly focusing elsewhere.












July 2nd, 1940

Since the start of Operation Hammer Sickle (to throw the Allies out of Germany and take the Netherlands) Axis have thought of the East front as a purely defensive front. Still, offense can sometime be the best defense and apparently, Soviet is a lot weaker than expected. Instead of the expected slow retreat through former Poland (I even built a fort in Warsaw) Axis have managed to push forwards in the south – albeit slowly.

In the north, everything has been peaceful ever since the Skidel Showdown.

Authors note: The part of the border with no troops is marshlands with no infrastructure.












July 2nd, 1940

France is more or less broken. No battle of significance is left. French forces are still defending a few ports (with VPs) but German panzers have breached in the west and charge through France unopposed.

Authors note: France Surrender Process is up to some 95%. They have days at the most. Actually, I will take 2 VPs within hours with a panzer division and if a successful paradrop can secure another 2, its game over for France.












July 2nd, 1940

Authors note: Axis missed this one completely. With plenty of Greek Expeditionary Forces in Italy, Greece was obviously a fairly easy target for Britain as they are unopposed in the Med. It correlates well with the victory over Ethiopia and Tarabulus. UK is bound to have quite a lot of newly freed troops available. You could argue Maxyboy would like to put them in India but this is actually a very nice trick.

He already got one of three Greek VPs. If Athens fall, Greece is lost. IF they surrender, Maxyboy can puppet Greece which will give Italy a considerable head ache as the GEF (Greek Expeditionary Force) in Italy will turn on them. Alone, GEF is no real threat. BUT, if UK quickly can back them up with amphibious assaults on key positions in Italy, things can turn dreadful. It would be a beautiful trick.

Well, will not give him that. What is not visible in the picture is that a majority of the British forces in Greece is French Expeditionary Forces. When France falls I hope most of these disappear. This might even happen before Greece falls. If we, with a paradrop, can re-take the lost VP in the north, the British attack on Greece is likely to fail.

If the British trick succeeds, we will have some problems in Italy. Luckily, France is soon gone which will give both Italy and Germany lots of freed troops. Germany will send troops to back Italy up. Italy will also prepare by placing the GEF were they will not do any immediate damage.

….

If “The Greek Situation” don’t get out of hand, I will soon have a huge chunk a troops available for the next operation...










July 2nd, 1940

Authors note: As seen here, any American intervention is far away. It’s still a bit annoying that the stupid AI for once is clever enough to go for “spies lowering neutrality”. Bastards!



.......

Von Uber and Cybvep: Axis shared that surprice. Still, the attack on Greece explained some. UK play safe in an area (the Med) were they can run into few surprices. To fight in India would be very risky as Japan could land troops basically everywhere. But you gotto risk some to win some...

Dain: Yes especially as it happend in the end of a game night. The end of this chapter was the end of a game night so I hade about a week to go and dwell on what would happen next.

Baltasar: Yes, I agree.

Traks: Hmmm... you are right of course... but I was not sure at the time. I found the truth the hard way....

Sudden Carnage

Chapter XXXI – New fronts









Countries played by humans: UK, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan.
French player is being absent but due to France being close to surrender, we once again put AI on “normal”.









Recap: Operation Wedge has succeeded with its intermediate goal. Paris has been conquered. After the loss of Paris, including the troops being captured there, the French defenders lost a lot of their bite. Now, Wehrmacht prepare the endgame of France. The Soviet front is once again calm after the sixth terrible battle of Shepetivka – the Valley of Death. A growing worry, however, is the British attack on Greece. With two corps of Greek Expeditionary Forces in Italy, the situation can become critical if they turn on Axis after an Allied victory in Athens. Next few weeks will be mighty important for the outcome of the war.













July 4th, 1940

The break-down of the French government went even quicker than expected. Even though several winning attack was ongoing in the north (orange) blitzing panzer and a Japanese paradrop (red) managed to tip the fragile French fighting spirit over the edge. The French government gave up and Vichy France was created.

With this, Germany had finally secured one of its flanks. The victory over France was about a year delayed but it still felt like a huge victory for the German population. Parties and festivities erupted around Germany and the Führer and Goebbles held powerful nationalistic speeches which only fuelled the euphoria.

Now, the might of Wehrmacht would turn on the East again and Soviet Union was about to experience real pain… or so was at least the plan…












July 4th-6th, 1940

The Japanese airforce tried to make life hard on the British soldiers. Also, Axis paratroopers were on standby when France fell, should the French Expeditionary Force under British leadership falter.

Traks said:

Oh, French troops will not disappear. Not at all. Troops disappear if country ceases to exist. In this case, it simply becomes "Government in Exile", leaving troops given as expeditionary intact.

Click to expand...

Authors note: Traks was of course right here. The “FEF” did not disappear and Axis got no chance to stop the British plan. Now, everything was down to luck. Should Greece leadership continue to fight or become Allied puppets…

In the end, Athens fell and a surprised Greek population realized its leadership had FLED to Italy. This was a great relief for Axis as the large Greek Expeditionary Force in Italy continued to be loyal to Italy.

Authors note: Sigh! This was a huge relief – and some luck too. It was through and through a clever move by the British player.












July 12th, 1940

The German leadership was working full time trying to sort out the armies of the West. The majority went to the East, but some would stay put to defend against any Allied tricks. An army corps was also sent to Italy to aid them in the defense of their country as British tricks were anticipated.












July 24th-25th, 1940

Three geschwaders of Stuka-bombers, supported at occasions by two geschwaders of Bf 109s, engaged the British Fleet that the German leadership knew guarded the Norwegian Trench. Kriegsmarine had already been into fierce fighting here, several months ago, and had to retreat although no ship was lost. This time, they had a slightly different strategy.

During the air battles several dive bombers were lost but the weak British Swordfish planes were no match for the Messerschmitt interceptors following the Stukas. With the British carrier planes defeated, the dive bombers could attack the fleet itself. The small bombs could not really manage to sink the big war ships but the battle cruiser HMS Repulse took several hits and the battleship HMS Resolution took a single hit in the aft.












July 26th, 1940

The Stuka bombers took rather severe casualties during the bombing runs and were pulled back. The Messerschitts were still on patrol duty, should the Brits manage to replace the lost carrier planes. If the Royal Navy and Admiral Cunningham though the battle was over, he was gravely mistaken. The best ships of the Kriegsmarine were inbound…












July 26th, 1940

With the Swordfish planes licking their wounds, Admiral Cunningham realized a little too late that the Germans were coming, and consequently, his fleet was not in an optimal position. The few remaining Swordfish planes were immediately intercepted by German fighters and Kriegsmarine never had to bother about aerial attacks.

Then the heavy guns of the German fleet opened up on the Royal Navy. It became a tremendous battle. A few brave German destroyers came to close to the Brits and were sunk quite rapidly. Still, their heroic deaths had pulled at the British attention and they were now surprised by cunning German maneuvering and some of their capital ships came under an immense barrage. The battleship Resolution and the two battle cruisers Renown and Repulse were hit several times and all three of them started to burn as they tried to flee…












July 26th, 1940

The HMS Repulse got away but to the massive price of the Renown and the Resolution. After this tremendous success, Kriegsmarine pulled back for repairs. Not only had the Brits been dealt a terrible blow – now they also were unsure where the victorious German fleet had gone. Was it perhaps the spearhead of a coming invasion? Obviously not, but the Brits could not know that for sure. Now they had one more thing to think about, and the next British blocking force would need to be a lot stronger, meaning they had to pull ships from other theatres.














August 5th, 1940

Japan is still pushing its way forwards on a very broad front in the East. In the North, the Red Army is slowly being pushed back and the Mongolians, who have fought hard and long, are more or less cornered. Even Tanu Tuva now has Jap troops at their borders.

Further south, the Brits are on a full retreat from eastern India, trying to save as many divisions as possible. They seem to succeed quite well with their motorized units. Still, they leave their small puppet states without protection












August 3rd-5th, 1940

During early August, the Italians spotted what they suspected were a British invasion fleet. Thus, when the Brits landed two days later, the Italians had at least prepared by landing some planes in Palermo. Even though it was a powerful British attack, the defenders were dug in. It became a tough battle.












August 8th, 1940

The German troops had taken position in northern Italy to let the Italians focus on the south. Axis did not really suspect Britain to be able to muster a multiple attack on several well defended places in Italy. But still, it was important to avoid giving the cunning Brit an open invitation.












August 11th, 1940

About a week after the landing and the fight for Palermo was still on. The Italians had lost a lot of troops, though, and a defeat was expected shortly. Japan now had arrived with fighters and bombers and supported the Italians – both with air power and advices.












August 16th, 1940

11 days after the attack and Palermo was lost. Italy had not really tried to defend Sicily but instead prepared to make sure the Brits did not cross the Straight of Messina.

The loss of Sicily meant quite little. Italy lost some recourses and factories but the worst was probably the units. Some 2 or 3 division and a HQ. In order to hold Sicily, the Brit would have to base quite a few troops there with the effect of getting even more thinly spread over the world. This suited the Führer well.


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