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Lord Fearless

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Aug 6, 2008
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A little introduction.

I started this game to get a feel for Darkest Hour and the 1914 scenario. However, as I played, it turned out to be one of the most epic games of HOI I've ever played.

For that reason this story will not start at the scenario start, but (much) further ahead in time.

Unfortunately this results in the first update being a humongous wall of text written to get you readers up to date. After that point I will try to make weekly updates, but I cannot give a specific time of day or day of the week at all, because of work.

I will *try* to space out the text with screens and pictures.

Also, I will use pics as the fit my story, don't look strange when you see pics that are showing something completely different than the caption says.

The AAR is written in the form of a Journal that a frontline soldier writes for his son that has just been born. The father is afraid he might not survive the war and writes a journal to be able to give his son an impression of his father.

So now be prepared: The AAR
 
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Home before the leaves fall

A Journal from the Great War.​

April 1st 1922.

Dear Maximilian,

Although you have no idea what your father is doing at the moment or have any notion of what a father actually is, I’m afraid that you might never know who I am, and what I’ve been doing. For that reason I’m keeping this journal, starting on the day I’ve heard you were born and write down my experiences for you to read, should I be unable to tell you myself once you’ve grown up.

As your mother would undoubtedly tell you as soon as you start asking, your father is off fighting a war for the German Reich. I hope I will be home soon to tell you this story myself when you get older, but for the moment this will have to do.

The Great War started on July 28th of the year 1914. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by Serbian nationalists the Habsburg Empire declared war on Serbia when they refused their claims. The only reason they did this was because our Kaiser guaranteed our support. Unfortunately for our Kaiser his cousin, Tsar Nicolas, took the whole “being protector of all Slavs” seriously and backed up Serbia.

You might say that war with Russia is a bad thing, mostly because almost everybody that ever decided to wage war on Russia and actually invade got beaten back and were forced to fled with their tails between their legs, Napoleon being the last, a little over a hundred years ago.

Only for us Germans, it got worse. You see, Russia was getting along with France and Great Britain, to the extend of being allied with both. So when we mobilized in reaction to the Russian mobilization, so did the French. After we declared war on the Russians on August 2nd 1914, we also started invading France, declaring war the day later. Because we chose to execute the Schlieffenplan we also invaded Belgium and Luxemburg.

Great Britain wasn’t very amused by us invading countries in their Sphere of Influence, and demanded that we would respect Belgium’s neutrality. When we did not respond to that call Great Britain declared war on us as well.

To get things short, we were in a two front war against the most powerful armies in the world. The Great War, the World war. A big war that devastated the nations of Europe. A war that took millions of lives.

A war that is still raging.

You’re reading this correctly: this damn war is still being fought, nearly eight years since it started. We’ve seen nations fall, rise up, some of them only to fall again. I’m getting sick of this war. The Emperor promised us that we would be home before the leaves would fall from the trees. We all thought it would be when the leaves fell from the trees in 1914, but apparently the Kaiser didn’t.

Believe me when I say that I didn’t expect to be away from home this long when I decided to sign up. Fresh out of school, barely eighteen years old. I was dreaming of adventure, honor, glory and fame and what better place to get it then the army?

After basic training I was placed in a small infantry regiment near the border with Luxembourg. A week later I had killed my first man, and we took the capital. The Kaiser annexed the little country a day later.

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Your father after the siege of Luxembourg. Don't a look adventurous?

After the Anschluss of Luxembourg we rushed trough Belgium, cornering their armies in Brussels and Bruges, and annihilated them. We were expecting to annex them as well, however King Albert decided to flee and continue his battle from the Congo. The Generalstab and the Kaiser anticipated this, already dispatched the Sudwest Afrika Korps to Leopoldville as soon as we invaded Belgium. They arrived a few weeks later, capturing the King and allowing all Belgian lands to be ceded to the German Reich.

In a surprise move the French declared war on Switzerland, but were unable to penetrate the Alps and conquer the Swiss, who joined our alliance.

After smashing trough Belgium and Luxembourg we met the French, who had by now set up an impressive amount of defenses at their borders. The Kaiser decided that we had to break the French at all costs, pulled back eighty percent of the troops in the east, moved those that remained further back from the border and had them establish a defensive line a few hundred kilometers from Berlin, leaving almost all of Eastern Prussia undefended.

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Defensive lines in Eastern Prussia

The Russians exploited this gap and encircled and destroyed a huge part of the Austrian army. The Austrians retreated, formed a defensive line further inland and focused on destroying Serbia and Montenegro.

The troops shipped in proved the be decisive. In the spring of 1915 we started our offensive on the French lines at almost any place. Wave after wave, day after day we charged their lines and finally they broke after a few months. What remained was a mop up of what was left of the French army and whatever the British Empire had shipped in from their Dominions.

Although we had all but defeated the Entente Italy decided to join the Entente. The sultan of the Ottoman Empire joined our alliance and started preparing for the invasion of Russia.

By the Summer of 1915 the Entente with the exception of Russia surrendered, signing a harsh peace treaty at Versailles. We gained a lot of French possessions in Africa, war reparations and the former lands of Belgium and Luxembourg were now considered a part of Germany.

As soon as the treaty was signed, the Generalstab withdrew our troops and deployed them to the east and some to Austria, to help conquer the Serbs.

However, since it already became the end of the summer, and winter was at the door, the assault into Russia was halted to start the next spring. A small portion of our troops fought the Serbs together with the Austrians. The Serbs were finally conquered in early 1916 but by then the Austrian armies were exhausted and battered, and the populace was near open revolt.

The Kaiser deemed Austria a lost cause and withdrew our armies from Austrian soil. A month later the Russians had overrun the dual monarchy and Kaiser Karl surrendered and fled to live in exile in Berlin.

Although the Kaiser retreated from Austria, he laid claims on all former lands of the Hapsburg Empire. By doing this he angered his minister of foreign affairs, who resigned after announcing the Kaisers claims. He appointed a new minister of foreign affairs, an Austrian born former colonel named Adolf Hitler.

This Hitler however, was as expansionist as the Kaiser and his first act would be to announce that all nations that formed from the former Austrian-Hungarian lands were unlawful and would be swiftly brought under German rule.

As soon as the new Nations of Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Croats and Serbs, Hungary and Albania declared independence, the Kaiser declared war.

The Balkan war was really not worth mentioning. The new nations barely had time to form an army and were overrun by the winter of 1916. The only mentionable effort came from Romania, who declared war and took a stand with the former Hapsburg nations, and went down with them.

By then it was winter, and our troops redeployed to the Russian frontline, waiting their time. By now the Kaiserreich encompassed half of Europe, and a lot of overseas possessions.

The German population however, was getting tired of the war. They weren’t prone to revolt, we were only partially mobilized after all, and most of our production went into consumer goods to keep them happy. However, having half of every able bodied men in your country away from home does make their families restless.

It’s strange. We are mostly fighting with the same amount of regiments and brigades since the war started. The Kaiser let the navy built some U-boats, but that was about it. We got supplied with replacements en the occasional equipment upgrade, but that was it. no new regiments, no extra artillery, no armored cars what so ever. It must be said that the German army is one of the best in the world, being able to beat half the world and take on the other half without expanding your armed forces is a feat. No one can deny that.

But now we have arrived at the spring of 1917. Our spring invasion, the grand assault on Mother Russia. And we killed Russians, but still the charged our lines. We killed more Russians, and even more came charging back, so we gave them an artillery bombardment that leveled their towns, ruined their lands and killed their sons and daughters and still those verdammte Russian kept coming! For every Russian we killed ten more seemed to take his place. The Russian soldiers were underfed, I’ll equipped and poorly trained but Mein GOTT, they were legion. Our soldiers bled for every inch of ground we conquered but steadily we pushed them back. This continued for a year and by the summer of 1918 we had advanced well into the Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states. We estimated to reach both Petrograd and Moscow within a few months.

Fate, however, decided otherwise. Being threatened with revolt the Tsar decided to abdicate the throne and a transitional federal Government was founded. It seemed that Nicolas only wanted to abdicate if the other entente powers declared war on the Reich again.

They did. And they caught us unprepared.

The entire western front was vacant, all available armed forces were fighting in the east. The French and Italians did not waste time and started to invade, this time, the only line of defense, Switzerland, fell within two months.

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Entente forces during as Swiss counter-attack

The Kaiser was outraged by the betrayal. He order an immediate and all out assault on the Russian positions and not to stop chasing them. When we finally broke the Russians, and were able to keep the pressure on them the amount of troops needed on the Eastern front decreased, and a lot of them were sent back to the western front. By then, winter 1918, the French and Italians had annexed Switzerland and made them a puppet nation, released Belgium and Luxembourg and captured Stuttgart, Aachen and Cologne.

This gave the Portuguese some confidence that the Germans weren’t invincible and declared war, attacking our colonies. The colonies were decided to be unimportant to defend as long as our troops were needed in Europe, only local militia were deployed to harass enemy forces.
The idea is simple. Every enemy soldier deployed overseas, can’t kill one in Europe.

Our troops arrived at the Western Front and resumed operations in the east in the spring of 1919. The Entente had used the time the treaty had given them to upgrade their army, nearly bringing it on par with the German Imperial Army. They were now prepared for us. In the west we slowly but steadily pushed back the French into Belgium, bringing in more troops that were freed from the Eastern front as continued to force the Russians back.

As the winter arrived again, and fighting in the East decreased the troops on the eastern front were allowed to regain their strength and be reinforced. However, the winter in the west wasn’t really that cold and the fighting continued.

In the spring of 1920 we had reclaimed Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland, and were starting to invade France again. The Italian front remained a cat and mouse game, the Italians capturing another province as soon as we liberated another. The Balkan theater needed reinforcements, and the Kaiser and his staff decided to halt the offensive in northern France, let our troops dig in, and ship a lot of troops to the Italian front.

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Stormroopers (such as I am) assaulting French lines

It bears no surprise that when King Winter came around again, the Italians sued for peace, ceding their overseas territories to us.

Strangely the Kaiser decided to grant Libya and Somalia their independence, hopefully allowing them to contribute troops to the war. Unfortunately the Kaiser seemed to overlook the fact that such an army needed to be built and trained first, and that his own army wasn’t able to protect these new states and Libya was annexed by the British within two months.

Now that the Italian front was gone, it seemed that the courage of the Entente was fading, revolts broke out in France and a coup was staged in Russia. A new form of government, a Soviet, a government run by the peasants and workers of a country took force and declared that they were neither at peace nor at war with us. As soon as it seemed they were firmly in control, they offered peace to the Kaiser.

The Kaiser declared there would be no peace, a country run by peasants was a danger to the world stage and he would smash it in the ground. A few days later Minister Hitler held a speech, declaring that the Kaiser deemed all that lived in the former Russian lands to be under his protection and should either lay down their arms and join the Reich or declare independence and fight the communists. Any country who declared independence would have it’s sovereignty guaranteed by the Kaiser.

Sure this seemed noble, but to me it just meant that the war would last years longer. Considering that rebellions in occupied parts of former Russia were still smashed by our forces most of the men in the army thought the Kaisers call was just aimed at starting rebellions in Russia to give the Russian armies more fronts and fight to worry about.

Almost immediately his plan backfired as Lithuania declared independence. Although the German army occupied those lands, legally and formally they were still soviet lands. Luckily for the Kaiser another nation, much more further to the east, declared independence from Soviet rule and declared war on them a few weeks later, after having fielded their first army.

By now it was summer 1921 and we spent it pushing the Russians and the Entente back and by the fall of 1921 we had captured Paris. Again. A few skirmishes happened after that, the most significant the British invasion of Albania. The British gained a foothold, but it was contained before it could expand en turn into a problem. The winter of 1921 was littered with skirmishes and the quelling of uprisings, but for every province we take from the partisans, they take another from us. It’ll be long before we’ll have solved our partisan problem.

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German Soldiers at the frontlines containing the British beachheads in the Balkans

The above is a summary of what happened so far in the Great War. Although I never thought it would take so many lives and years to end. This pretty much sums up every major event from the war so far. Undoubtedly you will eventually have to learn about it in school, but that is never as good as hearing it from someone who has experienced it. The world looks very German at this point.

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The most recent map of Europe. It speaks for itself.

Now I’ve told pretty much everything there is to tell to this point. I will fill this journal up every once in a while to give you some details on what my life looks like.

Your father.
 
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Keen on releasing some puppets or not? The revolts are quite a problem but nice advance. It is really strange that France and GB would declare war on you again(as they lost and lost a lot of men as well etc...)

Tim
 
Keen on releasing some puppets or not? The revolts are quite a problem but nice advance. It is really strange that France and GB would declare war on you again(as they lost and lost a lot of men as well etc...)

Tim

I'm not to keen on releasing puppets, since it will increase my revolt risk, releasing a puppet might spark more revolts and result in me being overrun by them. Luckily DH has available choices that lower revolt risk, so perhaps there will be some new nations in the future.

The case of GB and the rest of the Entente declaring war again is easily explained. As soon as the Czar abdicated, the now Democratic Russia joined the Alliance of Great Britain. because Russia was at war with Germany, and they now were allies they instantly declared war. It's basically a simple game mechanic.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
April 1st 1922.

At this point my unit has been pulled back from the Russian tundra and we have been transported to the Balkans. I’ve been able to pick up some conversations from the communications officers and it seems that a lot of troops are being shipped from all theaters to the Balkans.

It must mean an offensive to push the Entente out is soon to happen.

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Recently we’ve arrived at Tirana, there is a small battle waging to test the strength and resolve of the units in Vlore, it won’t be long before the final assault is made.

Although I’m momentarily relaxing on the beaches of Albania, it isn’t so easy everywhere. I’ve recently relieved a letter from your onkel Tom who also happens to be on a beach, but is stationed in France, at La Rochelle.

He tells me the French are almost beaten. L’Armée pour la défense de la Patrie has laid down arms and gone into mass desertion and open rebellion. They have occupied every part of mainland France, and they now depending solely on what their colonies can provide.

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The French are on there last legs, they can’t keep up much longer

Although France is sure to fall within the year, it will not mean the war will be over. France is one of many enemies, but it is one of the biggest threats if not dealt with severely in a treaty. Last time we have been harsh but just in our terms for peace, and they have found strength to attack us a second time. I sure hope our government doesn’t allow a third time.

Speaking of our government, if you’ll inherit your father’s sense of politics, which is none, you’ll certainly won’t care much. The Kaiser is our leader, and he decides what’s best for us. Of course I’ve sometimes doubted what sense some of his decisions made, but then again he is the one that has been trained and educated his entire life on how to run a country. If someone has to make decisions, it better someone that has studied for it.

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The current diplomatic state of the German Kaiserreich





June 23rd 1922.

Today is a glorious day! Our Kaiser send a peace proposal to the French:

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The proposal was harsh but necessary

After a few painstakingly long hours the final answer came:

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Finally the French surrendered, Will this be the start to peace in our time?

I cannot express how happy we all are that we have one less nation to fight. I keep hearing stories of soldier walking over the other side and celebrating the peace with the men they had been trying to kill only a few hours earlier.

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A picture send to me by your uncle Tom, it shows a man from his company in the French trenches

But the French surrendering isn’t the only good news I have. About two weeks ago we have driven the Entente back in to the Adriatic and reclaimed all occupied provinces in the Balkans. The company has been ordered to move back to Amiens, but we’ve been given two weeks of leave. That means that I’ll be visiting you soon. I can’t wait to finally see you for the first time.

July 8th 1922


I have finally arrived at Amiens, where I will be stationed until further notice. The last two weeks have been great, spending time with you and your mother. Although you are only a few month’s old, I’m sure you knew what was going on. That, or you just like to smile a lot.

Although I prefer to spend time with you and your mother Amiens isn’t that bad. I’ll be able to spend my days playing cards and having some drinks with my brothers in arms, the frontline is hundreds of miles away. I’ll be fine for now.

September 8th 1922

Today both Paraguay and Chile decided to join the war on behalf of the Entente.

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Really... Come on, Really!?

Considering we are already fighting half of the civilized world, the addition of those two nations won’t matter much. Besides that, they are half the world away, so it’ll take some time to get to us.

October 1922

Nothing interesting happened last month. I’ve been granted leave and have vistited you and your mother again. I’ve also made some Marks with playing cards, so I’ll be able to buy you a present. On a worldwide scale nothing much happened. Some battles were won, rebellions were crushed, some countries vanished and some appeared.

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Armenia came to be from an uncontrolled rebellion in occupied territory. We need to get these rebels under control, otherwise the spoils so many Germans have bled for will be lost. Somalia was an ally only in name, it was unable to provide anything except a distraction.

November 28th 1922

A dark day. The USA have declared war on us.

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Drat *Bigger size will follow later

It appeared that the Americans think that the war needs to end and that German expansionism is a threat to world peace. I do not get it, because if it was up to us the war would be over any day. We might have had something to do with starting it, but they decided to declare war again after they were beaten. If they hadn’t we would have crushed the Bolsheviks by now and we all would have lived in peace.

Luckily the Kaiser had anticipated that the Americans could interfere and has asked Mexico for help three weeks earlier:

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What would this telegram mean for the future?

Mexico was tempted by the deal and accepted our alliance. Unfortunately Mexico has been involved in civil war. Perhaps we can negotiate a temporary cease-fire with the rebels.

War has spread across the ocean. I wonder what this will bring for the future. Millions of fresh American recruits could be disastrous, we just cannot sustain the same amount of losses as they can. I’m starting to get worried.

December 28th 1922

Great, another enemy. Our former colony decided that they should be independent and wanted to fight for their freedom.

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Another nation joins the fray

Surely, one of the reasons we are fighting is that we want to be a colonial empire. Shouldn’t we protect the colonies if that is the case?

December 30th 1922

There is a lot of commotion between the ranks. Sentries guarding the beaches have spotted the Kaiserliche Marine in the Channel and now we’ve been ordered to march to Dunkirk. Something big is up, I just know it.

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...Und wir fahren, ja wir fahren, wir fahren gegen...

I don’t know what I’m heading for, but I’m sure it’s something grand.


January 10th 1923

Happy new year Max. Believe it or not, but your father is in England! Last night we have landed on English shores and we were able to walk right in.

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Our beachhead. Can you believe that your father was one of the first to set foot on English shores?

After we had landed we secured our position and reorganized we all were ordered to march on. I know it might be hard to believe, but I’m really excited at the moment. War might be a terrible thing, and not unlike Hell most of the time, but let me tell you one thing. This moment is majestic!

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Can you imagine that behind that hill are thousands more men?

Please forgive your father’s excitement, I nearly forgot to post a map of the situation! Here it is.

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Can you believe the lands are almost deserted?

January 21st 1923

Just a small entry. Best wishes from London.
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February 15th 1923

We’ve advanced halfway trough the country and our supply lines are becoming overburdened. I can’t remember when we last had a new supply of munitions and we’ve been forced to live of what we can scrape of the land for the last week.

February 23rd 1923

In an effort the Kaiser decided that the people of the British Isles have deserved to be an autonomous province of the Reich. They are now official Protectorates of the German Reich.

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Of course this is also done to keep revolts in the new area’s low. Although people in the Homeland were upset to release lands German boys have bled over, a few substantial investments in the nations infrastructure and industry has satisfied them for the moment.

Although this actions has improved our supply problems by a lot and the populace is a lot less hostile to us, we still need to advance into the Highlands, where two rogue divisions of Italy that have been quite a nuisance are retreating to.

Although successes are quite common considering this invasion and the only real battle fought is the assault on Plymouth, were a few ANZAC cavalry regiments are giving our boys a hell of a time, I can’t wait to get myself back on a train to Bavaria, to spend some time with you and your mother.

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I’m really impressed by the toughness and resolve of this Australians and New Zealanders. It won’t save them in the end though.

March 27th 1923

We have almost reached Inverness, Scotland. It is currently held by a few Canadians that defend the province quite ferociously.

On a more happier note, two nations finally realized that the official state of war that existed between our countries was quite ridiculous and they’ve sued for peace.

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I found actually declaring war was already ridiculous, but at least it’s two less countries to worry about

We are scheduled to start the assault on Inverness soon. It won’t be much of problem.

April 1st 1923

I’m writing this in a small respite in the assault on Inverness. Although the Canadians are tougher than expected, we sustain little casualties and we’re pretty sure it won’t last much longer.

The Kaiser decreed Scotland to be a German Protectorate as well, and the rebellion on the Emerald Isle seems that the United Kingdom is also losing its hold on the Irish.

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Scotland and it’s whisky are great, but I won’t mind Bavaria and it’s beers for a few days

Unfortunately it will be a long time before our new “Protectorates” can provide troops, or even guard their own beaches. I’m afraid I’ll be stuck playing with sand for a few months.

But enough about the battle. It’s been a year since I’ve started writing this journal, and although it’s not that exciting, or very much that’s written for a year, I thought it would be nice to include another map of Europe:

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AS you can see, we’ve advanced quite a bit. The people of France are revolting, and have spread into our lands. The fight is hard but they are contained. In the east the rebel situation is stable. Some provinces are revolting, but most rebel armies are defeated. It’s mostly a case of reclaiming the provinces. Turkestan has been annexed back in the Soviet Union, and we are trying to take it from them. The red army is defeated, it is estimated at about twelve regiments. It takes time, but they are s good as defeated.

Although the situation isn’t as horrible as it looks I only wish for one thing: Allies. We are showing the world that we are a nation that won’t stand back for anything and can and will take on the world if needed, but we can’t keep this up forever. We are outnumbered and the enemy can easily outlast us. Another ally can give us some respite.

April 1st 1923, 23.00

It seems my prayers have been heard. We’ve just received word that the Sultan has contacted the Kaiser that his armies have been rebuilt and that he is willing to fight alongside us again!

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This is excellent news!

Now that the Caucasus front has been removed the Sultan can direct it’s armies on the Middle-East and Africa. This will keep the Entente stretched out and be of an huge advantage to us. Things are starting to look better and better.
 
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Wow, this is some great stuff.:) Quite the early National Socialism too. And what a curious place for little Adolf to be.:p
 
Wow, this is some great stuff.:) Quite the early National Socialism too. And what a curious place for little Adolf to be.:p

Thanks for the compliment!

I don't know why it says national socialism, but it makes sense in a way.

WWI was also fought partly due to staunch nationalism, and Wilhelm's rule made a few welfare laws and decrees possible, wich is largely a socialist thing. So basically it's National - Socialism without the whole racism issue...

I still blame it (and Adolf's curious position) on game mechanics.

DH features both the First and Second world war, but the political climate in the two era are very different. I don't think it's possible for the devs to create a different political spectrum for both scenarios within the same game.

And, for those who can't wait for more, I'm writing part three at the moment, I might be able to post another update today.
 
April 2nd 1923

Although the Sultan has regained his standing with the Kaiser and has rejoined the war on our side, it meant that there now was another front. The Heer is unable to stretch his forces thinner then they already are. Because of that the Kaiser and the Generalstab des Heeres have decided that there will be a call to raise another hundred division within two and a half years. They will be used to relieve the experienced and battle hardened troops who are now being wasted on garrison duty.

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Luckily it takes a while to train them, being stuck guarding peasants is a nice break from the frontline carnage

Of course not all of them will be used as garrisons and means to quell the occasional uppity community, but the first trained will. The latter ones will probably be sent straight to the front lines. There we will see if this new invention called a Panzerkampfwagen will be of some use to us. I still have my doubts, but as I have never seen it in action I will need to go on the word of the experts, and they say it’s a gift from God.

April 12th 1923

Today I have received the word that after almost a two months of fighting, we are short eleven days, the Australian forces are finally evicted from Plymouth.

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Not all were killed or surrendered, some tried to get away on ships but they were caught by the Kaiserliche Marine and their ships were forced to stop and be boarded, or sunk.

It have been seven weeks of hard fighting, but finally the whole of England is ours, we still need to capture the whole of Scotland though.

April 17th 1923

Today I’ve heard from your Onkel Tom that the invasion of Ireland has begun. Although the island was rebelling against British reign, the Kaiser decided that conquest and subsequent “liberation” of the island under a Pro-German government was preferred. The units that have fought for months at Plymouth were almost immediately ordered to board transports and shipped of the invade the Emerald Isle.

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No rest for the wicked, but resistance has been light so far

The invasion went off very well, and total conquest is believed to be ready within a few weeks.

June 6th 1923

A lot of consternation went down at camp these days as there was a lot of activity at the Field Hospital. First we thought there were wounded being brought in, but we realized that that would be impossible since we haven’t seen any action in weeks.

It turned out to be that there had been several developments in medical care and medicine, and that we were now issued new equipment in training.

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We soldiers gladly welcome anything that keeps us from getting killed or losing appendages, although no medical wonder can prevent that better than having people to stop shooting at us.

I wonder how long it will take before the medics can put their new skills an knowledge to good use.

June 24th 1923.

Although the fighting might be reduced to the occasional crushing of an uprising and the more frequent chasing of what remained of the Red Army, the diplomatic front has seen a lot more action. The rumor goes that the rebel colony Ivory Coast has sued for a white peace for several weeks now, but as that would mean we have to acknowledge their independence, I don’t think the Kaiser will ever agree.

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Also, to keep our armies from overstretching themselves and having revolts run rampant cutting off our forces, the Kaiser has released two other nations as Protectorates. The proud people of Kazakhstan and Ireland now have a certain degree of autonomy.

Although this might solve some temporary problems, I wonder what the Kaiser will do with the soviet lands that are now lodged between Kazakhstan and neutral Persia and Afghanistan.

June 25th 1923

Today I have received orders to board transports. We have been ordered by the high command to retake the island of Lerwick, the last occupied part of Scotland. At the moment we have engaged the enemy, after having secured a beachhead.

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The rebel militia is outnumbered and works with outdated equipment, I believe I even saw a few muskets!

Although we have made contact with the rebels and engaged them in combat, I’m afraid that it will take a long time before we will have killed them all. Lerwick has a bad environment for us, the hills, dunes and other parts of the landscape make it ideal for them to hide and return when they please.

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Of course lobbing a grenade behind their cover works just as good on them

I’m afraid this will take months.

August 21st 1923

I thought this day would never come, but we’ve finally killed what we believe is the last partisan on Lerwick.

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Thank God

It took too damn long, and I hope I can manage to sleep normal again, you could never tell who was a partisan and when he would attack. The Front is Hell, but at least you know who you need to shoot at.

September 7th 1923

The government decided to improve our logistics system today.
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I’d rather see before I believe

Let’s hope some of the troubles regarding supplies are gone with this improvement.

September 15th 1923

It seems that the scientists in Berlin actually got to work this last time. Although we rarely see any planes above the battlefield, I’m glad we now are able to take them out and not have to depend on the Jasta’s for it.

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This might not sound like much, but it’s a lot better than the alternative.

November 23rd 1923

Today should be the day the new recruits are finally able to be deployed.

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They will have an easy time being overpaid guards while we, the experienced veterans, are being deployed back to the frontlines

They will probably be used to guard the borders and relieve the veteran divisions now suppressing rebels. Since we are the last ones to be dispatched, and the garrisons furthest from Berlin, I have a feeling we might need to wait for the next batch of fresh recruits before we are relieved from our garrison duties.

December 2nd 1923

Today I finally got an answer to my question what the Kaiser had planned with the lands south of Kazakstan: They would be divided into Protectorates as well.

Today we had the independence of Uzbekistan

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Although I understand the decision, I keep wondering if it was really necessary for German men to bleed for their independence

Although the decision makes sense, the German people do not take it lightly. Because the Kaiser wants to keep his people happy as well, he always announces such things together with a Government plan to increase infrastructure, so that newspapers focus on the good news and the release of a country becomes a footnote somewhere on the last pages of the paper.

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I find this a cunning solution to an otherwise annoying problem

That is not the only good news to reach our ears. It seemed that Mongolia, of all countries, wanted to pick a share of our effort in destroying the Soviet Union and declared war on them. The rumor goes that the Kaiser has sent envoys to secure them in our alliance.

December 11th 1923

Today another country became a Protectorate:

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I say welcome to the Reich and start sending your men to the front. We could use them.

January 1st 1924

Happy New Year!

I was glad I was able to spend time with you and your mother for the holidays. I saddens me if I think about all that I’ve missed when you are growing up, and it depresses me if I think about what I am going to miss from you in the future.

I’m trying to not let that get to me too much, and writing in this journal helps me ease my mind.

Because the new year has started, and a lot of new nations have joined the war or existence for that matter, I decided to include a small update of the current situation of our half of the world.

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Our Reich almost stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, where Gengis Khan and the Russians have failed, Kaiser Wilhelm will succeed.

This world map shows that rebellion isn’t much of a problems for us anymore. (The French are screwed) It also shows clearly that the Soviets are done for, and that all that remains is the conquest of Vladivostok and occupying what remains of their territory.

The most interesting part of the world will be the Middle East, and I fear that as soon as the new recruits will be available I will be sent there as well. Perhaps it will turn out to be Japan, but the Middle-East is more likely.

Since Mexico and the US are pretty locked in a trench war, and we have no or limited capabilities to ship troops there (the Mexicans lack ports on the Atlantic, and we lack them on the Pacific, not even counting the distance problems) So the still mobile Middle east is more likely. Some of our troops are already there, trying to drive the Entente across the Suez.

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Securing Arabia has priority, as soon as that is taken care of we will cross the Suez, or so I believe

This war will take a few more years.

February 4th 1924

Today our artillery brigade went wild, they have received new cannons.

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It seems that all in life comes down to who has the biggest

I’m not so excited, but as long as these aren’t firing on our positions and actually are more accurate, who am I to complain?

February 5th 1924

I just found the following mentioned in somewhere in on the last pages of the newspaper:

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And another Protectorare

How many are to follow?

March 8th 1924

I don’t know what happened here, but last thing I heard was that our armies had shattered a rebel army and were advancing into the province, and now they declare independence?

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It’s just one city, but it’s a Port

They have declared war on the Soviet Union as well, but come on, it will cease to exist before their troops even reach the front. I wonder who is responsible for this error.
 
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Small notice:

It's not dead. I just couldn't find the effort to crop all photo's to the correct size yet. I've been working on some and an update can be expected in a few days.

According to the view count, this thread gets a fair bit of attention. Please leave a comment, I'd like to know what you think.
 
I'm looking forward to see what the Vaterland has in mind for Russia proper when this war is over.
 
This is a very interesting AAR. I love it!
 
March 24th 1924

The rebels in our colony Morocco have been allowed to roam freely for too long. Somehow they’ve mustered the confidence to break their ties with Germany and declare war on us.

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Illusions of grandeur for sure, a few province minor will never be able to stop the German Reich

I have the feeling they will be taken care of in due time.

April 2nd 1924

Today was a strange day. The unthinkable has happened and I can’t imagine if it’s an error or complete and utter incompetence. I cannot find the words to describe the failure of such biblical proportions, and considering that an image says more than a thousand words, I’ll present you the following:

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Wait?!? What?!?

That said, I’m pretty certain our Department of Foreign Affairs have given the French the memo that we have allied the Ottomans almost exactly a year ago!

Although I cannot understand their decisions, not only because we stomped their armies into the ground twice, but also because their homelands are infested with rebellions. However, since we posted several divisions next to the borders with France to keep the rebels where they belong, inside the French borders, we have given orders to those armies to sweep trough the French countryside, destroy the rebels and claim their lands.

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It will not be much of a problem.

With the American sport of baseball it’s three strikes and then you are out. France just had it’s third strike and the Imperial army will take them out, this time we will not be lenient and will severely damage what’s left of the French.

May 17th 1924

Another breakthrough in our anti-air capabilities:

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We’ve come a long way. I can still remember the Anti-Air of 1914:

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I’m not kidding

June 6th 1924

Another discovery, this time regarding Decryption devices. One of my fellow soldiers is a bit of a technician, and said that although these devices are quite crude, their encoding counterparts our enemies use are as well.

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June 19th 1924

Another victory to our alliance.

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A small, but significant victory.

Although Hedjaz is a small country, annexing it secures a vital part to both the Arabian peninsula and the Red Sea.

July 5th 1924

Today I’m crying. Not because of pain, grief or any other thing one might consider an horrible aspect of war. No today these are tears of joy! As of 0600 hours we are no longer at war with the Soviet Union. After nearly ten years of bloodshed in the east, Der zweiten Bayerische Infanteriegruppe has reached to port of Vladivostok and breached the last hideout of the Soviet Government. There they were forced to sign the Treaty of Vladivostok effectively ending the Eastern front of the war for the largest part. Unfortunately, there are rumors spreading that Lenin had escaped.

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Huzzah!

Needless to say, the soldiers of der Zweiten Bayerische Infanteriegruppe are considered heroes of the Reich, and after they have returned they will have an honorary parade.

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July 28th They did have a parade. I pasted a picture underneath


August 1st 1924

Although the Soviet Union has collapsed and been absorbed in to the German Reich, a very small stretch of land near Vladivostok was all that remained of the Eastern front. It was the border to Korea, and all former Ostfront troops were now stationed near that border.

Today they gave the signal to assault the Japanese positions in Cheongjin in order to force the Japanese from Korea. The Japs are heavily entrenched and it will take a lot of effort to chase them out of their trenches.

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We do however, have a numerical superiority but will it be enough?

August 17th 1924

Today Manfred Von Richhofen submitted his plans for a restructuring of army command. High command is enthousiastic and has planned to start implementing it in a few days.

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August 28th 1924

Rebels continue to rampage across the world. Luckily we are not the only ones that suffer from the occasional uprising. Our enemies are as well, as proven by the following:

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Well. It’s the thought that counts

Although it’s not much, every province not controlled by our enemies, is a province we don’t need to fight over.

August 30th 1924

Again our AA artillery has been improved.

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Why we are still upgrading it is beyond me, I haven’t seen an enemy plane since the summer of 1915, or one of ours for that matter. Who needs the Luftwaffe if you have the Heer right?

September 9th 1924

Another victory on our diplomatic front.

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Although Bulgaria doesn’t instill as much fear into the hearts of our enemies as we would like, they have a sizable amount of armed forces, and they can provide us with thousands of troops to fight or secure. To put it very dark, if every Bulgarian soldier that gets to the front saves me from dying, send us a few thousand.

September 30th 1924

There have been rumours of a large amount of German troops amassing in Egypt. The Ottomans have crossed the Suez and are capturing swathes of desert in Egypt. However, as the rumors went, not all German units were sent to that front, but instead kept near Alexandria. For a few weeks we were wondering why, but now it seems that we have gotten our answer.

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It was pretty obvious in hindsight

We have started an invasion in French Tunisia a few days ago. The word trough the ranks is that we have captured the provinces of Tunis and Sousse and are pressing the advance further towards Algeria and Libya. Let’s hope the supply train can keep up.

October 14th 1924

Another nation broke free from the British Empire after rebelling against them.

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This time it is the island nation of Cyprus. Although the Ottomans were eying on getting the island in a peace deal, it might be better if the nation is independent. The Greeks are claiming it as well, as of course the British are doing as well. Perhaps the people ruling themselves for the moment is the best decision.

This is not all that happened this day. Just a few hours ago we’ve heard that one the generals leading the invasion of Tunesia has been killed. A general getting killed doesn’t happen a lot, I mean, one lucky artillerist and he’s all over the place, most of the time he is well behind where the fighting is. This one is kind of special since the general was the only casualty of the invasion so far. Details are not disclosed but rumor has it that Von Kirchbach chocked on a date.

October 16th 1924

Well, it seems that Tunisia isn’t on the Kaisers wish list.

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Although granting them their independence did cause some dissent amongst our people, it did solve our supply problems. Those Tunisians are eager to thank us for their independence and providing us with supplies and resources is an excellent way to do so.

Unfortunately the Afrika Korps is getting all the fighting now, I’m still stuck at Lerwick guarding the beaches there. I’m starting to get eager for some action again.
 
There has been war. Much war. It will continue so. That is certain. What is also certain: The Reich will prevail!:D
 
There has been war. Much war. It will continue so. That is certain. What is also certain: The Reich will prevail!:D

It sure looks like the Reich will prevail, but something tells me we aren't there yet. Not by far.

I can't imagine the amount of destruction a ten year long Great War would do to the world. It is definitely going Germany's way however!

I don't like to thik about that either. Of course, the stalemate WWI has turned to in our Timeline is absent so far, so meatgrinders such as Somne or Verdun haven't took place. Then again pushing back into the Soviet Union might have taken a few casualties as well, not only by fighting (wich was non existent at the end) but more by attrition, walking trough Siberia took a toll on Germany's finest.

I'd hate to take the battles still to come in consideration.

As always, thanks for the feedback, and for reading!
 
November 4th 1924

Today we have received word that our new allies finally started to do something to help our war effort. The first English division has been deployed in London.

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Hopefully raising the next division won’t take as long as the first.

November 24th 1924

Rebels continue to be a problem to the Reich. Although those in Europe and former Russia are easily contained by our forces, the people that revolt in the chaos that is Africa aren’t submitted in time.

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The reason they aren’t submitted in time is pretty simple, we need to fight our way trough Entente forces to get there. Although this is a former colony revolting, the Kaiser decreed he didn’t care a lot. It might be a hit to our prestige, but the rebels are controlling mostly desert and had the decency not to declare war. Therefore, we would not either.

This decree did actually cause some dissent amongst our people, and the ranks.

December 22nd 1924.

We have almost finished the tenth year of the war, and although we’ve come a long way since the summer of 1914, the people are getting tired of the war. It takes too long, costs to many lives and lately we haven’t made much gains.

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It seems our people’s short term memory is better then their long term memory

January 5th 1925

Another surge of joy was felt throughout the Reich this day, and the Kaiser decreed this day to be a national holiday. After decades, even centuries, of hostility between us we have finally destroyed our nemesis:

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HA!

Our Lieutenant has provided us with a few kegs of beer to celebrate. We will.

January 10th 1925

Only five days after the demise of France we were remembered that not everything is going our way.

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Granted, it was a minor notice.

We will let them enjoy their independence for a while. Our frontline troops will reach them in a few weeks.

January 14th 1925

Luckily, we aren’t the only ones that suffer from uprisings and nationalist rebels:

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January 28th 1925

Another blow to British morale:

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The British pride of the Caribbean has been lost. We can only enjoy the moment.

February 28th 1925

Although the fronts are very fluid, mostly in the enemies direction, it does not mean that our scientists are sitting still. Lately our civil engineers have found a way to improve our troopships and by that our capacity to execute landings on enemy shores.

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Then again, if I wanted to be on a ship, I’d have signed up for the Kaiserliche marine

March 11th 1925

In order to free troops for the advance into Dark Afrika, the Kaiser declared that Algeria had become independent as a protectorate of the German Empire.

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I hope they’ll be an asset, not a burden.

April 10th 1925

Another day, another enemy:

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Sigh...

They will also be dealt with. Eventually.

April 24th 1924

The rebellions in Africa do not seem to stop. We need to speed up the advance in Afrika lest we gain more enemies. It’s already affecting morale!

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May 5th 1925

A big announcement was made in today’s paper. Krupp had made an invention that allowed our Industries to work more efficient.

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Hopefully this means that our new gear can get produced faster.

May 6th 1925

Today I’ve arrived at Bruges. Although it looked like a more permanent stay, I’ve received new orders within an hour of arrival.

It seems that I, along with others, have been transferred to Anadyr.

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I’d better pack some warm clothes!

What we are required to do in Siberia still eludes me.

May 8th 1925

A good day for the Kriegsmarine.

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Blohm & Voss completed their reseach into Torpedoes, something that will benefit bith the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe.

May 10th 1925

As we stopped at a railwaystation somewhere in Byelorussia I was able to find an Army newsletter. I especially liked the headline:

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It seems we’ll get some new toys to play with when we reach Anadyr.
 
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What about the America's and Asia?

Nice advances, now soon it won't be Mitteleuropa but Mittelwelt :D

Tim

Patience young Padawan ;)

America and Asia will be dealt with as soon as the Kaiser sees fit.


(probably next update XD)
 
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