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Loved your first one; I am definitely on board for the second!
 
it does look like you'll have real problems in actually fighting anyone ... get into an alliance & licence some aircraft is one option, but of course that also means being dragged into a wider war earlier than you want ... unless you return to Uncle Joe's embrace?
 
it does look like you'll have real problems in actually fighting anyone ... get into an alliance & licence some aircraft is one option, but of course that also means being dragged into a wider war earlier than you want ... unless you return to Uncle Joe's embrace?

I'd love to, but my industrial capacity won't build planes in a long, long time. The most pressing problem is that if le Boche gets into Paris they'll be in Madrid in no time, and so far I have only 16 weak infantry divisions and few cavalries to stop them. Tommies have the luxury of hiding on their little island which I don't posses. I'll hope Maginot line is going to stop them dead...
 
I'd love to, but my industrial capacity won't build planes in a long, long time. The most pressing problem is that if le Boche gets into Paris they'll be in Madrid in no time, and so far I have only 16 weak infantry divisions and few cavalries to stop them. Tommies have the luxury of hiding on their little island which I don't posses. I'll hope Maginot line is going to stop them dead...
Maginot won't stop them.

Playing with Spain, by sending part of my army to france, I managed to keep France from being overrun until the fall of 1942.

Then I fell back to the Pyrenees, but I failed completely to mount a real defense to the panzer divisions. I made several mistakes, maybe the worst was building too many light armor divisions (it was my second game) and not fortifying the Pyrenees. I also scattered my research too much.

One thing that I did right was conquering Portugal. It boosted my IC (good) and my research (a little). I recommend you to do the same, it is a pro-fascist dictatorship anyway. So take over and give them democracy!

I will try again someday... For you, my advice is this: build a strong infantry/artillery army. Fortify the Pyrenees. Reaserch and build fighters. The german tac-bombers will ruin your day otherwise. Forget the fleet, forget bombers, forget tanks (for now).
 
Maginot won't stop them.

Playing with Spain, by sending part of my army to france, I managed to keep France from being overrun until the fall of 1942.

Then I fell back to the Pyrenees, but I failed completely to mount a real defense to the panzer divisions. I made several mistakes, maybe the worst was building too many light armor divisions (it was my second game) and not fortifying the Pyrenees. I also scattered my research too much.

One thing that I did right was conquering Portugal. It boosted my IC (good) and my research (a little). I recommend you to do the same, it is a pro-fascist dictatorship anyway. So take over and give them democracy!

I will try again someday... For you, my advice is this: build a strong infantry/artillery army. Fortify the Pyrenees. Reaserch and build fighters. The german tac-bombers will ruin your day otherwise. Forget the fleet, forget bombers, forget tanks (for now).

Good going! I'm always glad to meet people who take up the challenge and play with Spain, that for some perverted and unknown reason is my favorite country. Also welcome to AARland!

I'll see what I can do to stop Fascists in France, Belgium and Holland, and I plan to play few dirty tricks they probably won't expect. As much as I would like to liberate Portugal from that dictator, it's not currently possible for economic and political reasons. I'll try to update my industry through peaceful ways though.

And I agree, let's forget tanks. Brave Spanish infantryman doesn't need such clunky things anyway.
 
Chapter 4: Foreign Affairs

March 1938

The year 1938 proved to be extremely eventful one on international affairs. For one thing, our diplomats reported that Germany was wooing more company than a shipful of drunken sailors in Rio de Janeiro. The question is, how are they going to research anything with such excessive sacrifices on diplomacy? Another good question that left Spanish experts baffled was the fact that Germany was wooing both Italy and Japan - but also their enemies Ethiopia and Nationalist China. Was this some unusually deep Fascist plot or were they just so incompetent? Hitler was blamed once again for this.

2011-06-13_000032.jpg


But in 4th of July, which is a holy day for Americans, the bomb explodes. That perfidious Germany successfully annexes part of Czechoslovakia without firing a shot! Spanish government expresses vigorous arguments against this, but all in vain. Spineless British continue their policy and practically roll on their backs without caring a damn, signing the Treaty of Munich. This is preposterous!

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Spanish people are enraged, and Czechs sensibly choose not to fight Germany alone. Fascism takes another cheap victory in Europe.

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Hardly all Czechs were joyful about the change, but they had little choice.

PeaceInOurTime-1.jpg


"But Adolf, how wonderfully healthy you look today!"

But UK being the promised land of satirical cartoons, government is not spared from blistering criticism.

SpinelessSm.jpg


Spanish leaders swallow all this uneasily. Without UK and France our hands are tied. But it seems Germany has set the tune for the dance, and might soon find more partners than Hitler expects. Western democracies shall put the line in the sand somewhere, and they are not helpless. We hear reports of wide rearmament projects in France and UK, though our own is still pretty helpless.

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New borders.

Interesting part is that Mussolini has been working against both Anchluss and Treaty of Munich. Obviously he is worried of becoming second-rate Fascist power compared to 'newcomer' Germany. Perhaps he could be persuaded to join the ranks against Germany...

However, our efforts on creating more credible infantry has finally begun to pay of. We are teaching our soldiers impressive, modern infantry tactics, but mostly just trying to organize them into very tough formations. We teach them to fight without artillery support, armory support, air support or, actually, any possible kind of support.

"Spanish infantryman must always strive to achieve his objectives and kill many Fascists in the proces...surrender is never an option...deep defence formations...ambush...concentrated fire..."

The list goes on. Theory is to use 'outstanding qualities of Spanish soldier...physical toughness...courage...and alertness. Spanish soldiers known no equal on the battlefield..."

In plain english these fine phrases mean that Spain cannot afford anything else than infantry divisions, and even artillery is deemed too expensive. Our infantry will fight and die in WWI style, but with, hopefully, more advanced weapons, communications and tactics. We call this new doctrine '3C' doctrine, those Cs standing for 'Courage, Concentration, Cover.' However, our soldiers claim that they stand for 'Chili Con Carne', since it's going to produce lots of well-seasoned red meat. We ignore such whining.

We begun strenuous efforts to send all our best, brightest and braves recruits to swell infantry NCO ranks, realizing than good junior leadership achieves objectives on battlefield. Luckily Spain does not have national trauma about the WWI, and most of our recruits are happily ignorant about harsh realities of major war.

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As nice, humane touch we put some effort into medical services and first aid, since these will probably be needed desperately. Also some Madrid university mathematicians are banging together advanced en- and decryption methods, claiming that these will be of most vital importance. Well, if we ally with UK and France, we could at least communicate safely with our allies. That is, if they bother to speak to us at all.

As Western democracies plot and plead, events roll forward relentlessly.

We have received new report from Ethiopia, telling us that Italian campaign is advancing with extraordinary speed but going nowhere. Summer heat is suffocating in Spain, but much worse in Ethiopian deserts where mercury climbs to 45C - in shadow. Italian First Army Group is said to be in extreme difficulties with supply, and no surprise. Crazy Italians have shipped 305000 men into Ethiopia desert to starve, and they suffer attrition with appalling 4% rate. Casualties cannot be evacuated in chaotic situation, and to thousand of Italians Ethiopia is very much a one-way trip.

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Ethiopian campaign seems to go nowhere. July 22.

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In August Italy declares mobilization of all reserves. That seems like a lot of effort because of one Ethiopia.

Fascist threat seems to grow every day. In August Germany spends a lot of money for a coup in Czechoslovakia, which luckily fails. Once again Hitler is proven a shameless opportunist and clumsy plotter. How long can UK watch this? Or are they watching football again?

But in home front we have other things to worry about. Once again Spanish workers seize the opportunity to squeeze more blood out of stone, and strike. This time it's the railroad workers. As before Spanish government simply pays them off. During times like these we cannot afford to alienate our own people.

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Could we have positive events for a change?

Italians are clearly desperate - they are literally begging people to joing the army. Spanish experts wonder what kind of advertisements they use. "Join the army and starve in Ethiopia!"

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And perfidious Germans are researching some devilish strategy we have never even heard of. This strategy also has a really funny name, 'Blitzkrieg.' However, our experts are convinced that it's not going to be important so we ignore it.

2011-06-13_00020.jpg


War in China continues, and Chinese kung-fu seems as powerless as before. However, in September they have some luck. They inherit the province of Guangdong in southern China - just before the Japanese aggressors reach it. By now China is badly beaten, retreating on all front with full sail. However, tiny Communist China is still fighting in the north, led by some strange guy called Mao. But Japanese advance seems to bog down with every step they take. Japanese supply staff is so overworked that we hear them complain all the way to Spain. Perhaps difficult terrain could stop the Japanese advance, since Chinese resistance seems incapable of doing so.

2011-06-13_00032.jpg


Southern China, 5th of September.

In October our crackpot mathematicians manage to finish our shining new Decryption machine, dubbed "the ugliest typewriter ever." But amazingly it works. Our now, improved techniques give our spies important advantages. Unfortunately we have no spies left outside Spain.

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In late October our scientists are researching a fistful of impressive projects. On top of the pile is our new rifle, Fusil Mosin M, 1891/30, meant to replace our previous infantry standard issue weapon, which we never even produced.

As an important maritime nation our officers stressed the importance of naval warfare, so we set to research marines. We actually have little idea what these guys are and what they do, but they have to posses some connection to naval warfare. This is deemed a sufficiently convincing reason to research them.

As a sugar on the bottom we develop improved first aid techniques to save all those lives our generals so like to throw away.

Authors note: At this point my strategic plan is set. I'll go for massed infantry formations and exploit sheer numbers against inevitable technological advantage Germany will posses. Strong infantry formations will take priority.​

Our Fascist colleagues are not sloppy either. British intelligence services give us a tip about German research. It seems they are building their beloved panzers all the way through.

2011-06-14_00005.jpg


Fascist research storm forward. December 2, 1938.

The political situation in the two flashpoints of global politics have not changed so much after all. Italian war in Ethiopia has continued now for nearly three years and end seems as distant as ever. War has claimed lives of tens of thousand of Italians, with negligible gains.

2011-06-14_00009.jpg


Situation in Ethiopia. Christmas Eve 1938.

War in China continues, and against all expert opinions Chinese Panda has not fallen. During last few months Japanese advance has literally slowed for snail-pace crawl and they have even been pushed back in some remote areas. Communist China still continues defiantly to fly the Red Flag over China, despite continuous artillery bombardment by Fascist aggressors. Japan has gained few friends with this wanton aggression, and both USA and USSR are observing the war sourly.

2011-06-14_00010.jpg


Situation in China. Christmas Eve 1938.

Spanish government once again retreats to well-deserved holidays, confident that they have not messed up completely. While Fascist threat seems to be growing on daily basis, the war can still be avoided.

But President's peace is soon disturbed by extraordinary news. Is this the salvation of China...?

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News shake the world. 4th of January.
 
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Two things. First, you should edit the picture of Hitler, since it shows his naughty armband :) Second, not all of those countries listed in the influence box are being influenced by Germany. Many of them, like China and Ethiopia, are most likely trying to quickly join the Axis banner and get help from Germany due to ideological similarities. The war in Ethiopia is kinda disappointing, but not completely unexpected. If you load up as either Italy or Ethiopia at the start, you'll see that their OOBs have been beefed up immensely, which is 100% historically correct. Remember, those two had been fighting for almost a year before the game starts, and Italy historically had serious supply troubles while Ethiopia was able to field large amounts of tribal militia.

Oh, and if I were Japan right now, I'd be saying words that can't be repeated on this forum. I'm pretty sure a large portion of AI Japan's army is stuck in China right now, with only Manchukuo manning the Soviet border...
 
I'm wholesale enjoying this AAR but one thing that I do hate is: Why can't I manage that with Ethiopia! *GRR!* Been trying it every now and then in the latest HPP but getting the Italians to fail with their supply lines and keeping most of Ethiopia at the same time ('till upgrades bring the Ethiopian militia at least closer to their level of technology) seems like a completely impossible effort. Yet there it is, three years into the war. Gah.
 
sort of wonder if you are spreading your research a little too wide? Unless HPP really makes it useful, decryption is not that much value ... and Marines could wait?

still great stuff and both amusing and informative ... and as with Bromgrev above, one image does need a wee edit.
 
Two things. First, you should edit the picture of Hitler, since it shows his naughty armband :) Second, not all of those countries listed in the influence box are being influenced by Germany. Many of them, like China and Ethiopia, are most likely trying to quickly join the Axis banner and get help from Germany due to ideological similarities. The war in Ethiopia is kinda disappointing, but not completely unexpected. If you load up as either Italy or Ethiopia at the start, you'll see that their OOBs have been beefed up immensely, which is 100% historically correct. Remember, those two had been fighting for almost a year before the game starts, and Italy historically had serious supply troubles while Ethiopia was able to field large amounts of tribal militia.

Oh, and if I were Japan right now, I'd be saying words that can't be repeated on this forum. I'm pretty sure a large portion of AI Japan's army is stuck in China right now, with only Manchukuo manning the Soviet border...

Darn but you are correct. My intelligence services have been lazy with their censorship. I'll have the pictures fixed and fire those responsible. I never thought those armbands were that big and visible, by the way.

I'm wholesale enjoying this AAR but one thing that I do hate is: Why can't I manage that with Ethiopia! *GRR!* Been trying it every now and then in the latest HPP but getting the Italians to fail with their supply lines and keeping most of Ethiopia at the same time ('till upgrades bring the Ethiopian militia at least closer to their level of technology) seems like a completely impossible effort. Yet there it is, three years into the war. Gah.

It has nothing to with me except luck and HPP settings. I took a little peek about Italians...I mean my intelligence services spied them effectively. As usual AI has swamped the locality with troops and, perhaps surprisingly, ignored his infantry weapons. Yes, they are fighting with muskets in Ethiopia. It was mere luck that their supply broke before they reached Abeba. I expected them to have fallen by now, and same with the Big Panda.

sort of wonder if you are spreading your research a little too wide? Unless HPP really makes it useful, decryption is not that much value ... and Marines could wait?

still great stuff and both amusing and informative ... and as with Bromgrev above, one image does need a wee edit.

Well, it is one of those things I would never waste my time with in SF. Luckily I have almost double the LS to spare compared with SF and there might be some benefits later...

The marines are a surprise gift for Mussolini. Bit extravagant and bit expensive, but I'm sure he'll love them.

Shame about China but I see you have fallen to the western view point over Kung fu. It isn't by default a martial art.

I wondered if somebody would notice! I know but those Spanish newspapers are just plain ignorant about Chinese culture. It took them two weeks to locate China from map.
 
Chapter 5: Cloak and dagger

January 1939

Authors Note: It might be both interesting and illuminating to know what my friends and foes are doing at the moment. At start of 39 I sacrificed some leadership to spy on Germany, Italy, UK and France to spice up these otherwise boring chapters.

In January 1939 Spain was readying for war as best as it could, which proved to be very little. While breakthroughs were made with infantry weapons and tactics along with finer instruments such as code breakers and radios, industry was still dominated by megalomanic ambitions and limited intelligence. Barcelona, Seville and Madrid were simply choked with expanding modern factories, as well as modern consumer goods. Great progress had been made already, however. As administration compared the production between January 1936 and 1939, the difference was obvious.

2011-06-16_00091.jpg


Spanish production 1936.

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Production 1939.


While the Civil war had decapitated the officer corps, it had also united the country. The long neglect of the army affairs had led to catastrophic decline of national stockpiles, but this was not much of a problem. Strengthening industry and very modern facilities could easily supply any number of troops if needed. Available manpower had increased dramatically, partly because of fervent mobilisation during Civil War, partly because of improved agriculture.

As Fascist threat grew during 1939 voters were demanding more determined attitude towards this new threat to Democracy. Spanish people had traditionally been passionate about ideologies, for better and worse, and victory in Civil War had left the country saturated with newly found confidence, perhaps even overconfidence. Undiluted by any traumas of WW1, war fever was beginning to grip Spain.

000010flags.jpg


Young men march to enlist. Again.

chimage.jpg


Atmosphere in Spain was much alike to those in West before the First World War.

But logically, war was still unlikely. German aggression would probably be only so much hot air, for it was flanked by powerful enemies. USSR was it's main ideological enemy, and an attack to Poland would provoke retaliation, perhaps plunging Germany in two-front war it could not sustain. It seemed certain Hitler would not go that far. For all his bravado, Mussolini could not even defeat Ethiopia, and would certainly not fight such powers as UK and France. Not even Mussolini could be that foolish.

Presently Spanish intelligence services begun to gather information about both our potential friends and foes, just in case. Armed with their new equipement Spanish intelligence officers device OPERATION PARANOID. By setting up a phoney company named 'Universal Banana Exports' and setting up offices in Berlin, Roma, Paris and London Spanish agents begun to gather information about the major European nations. After some months of the usual hard work and occasional danger and heroism the reports were finally placed in President's desk. These proved to be interesting but also alarming reading.

Italy was successfully infiltrated in few months, OPERATION PARANOID encountering nil security. Analysis showed that Italy was moderately powerful industrially and possessed roughly same pool of manpower as Spain, now mobilized for war. Italy possessed large base resources, but little oil, aluminium or rubber. Also gold reserves were pathetically low. Mussolini was no economist. Italy was concentrating on air and naval research, hardly surprisingly.

2011-06-16_00004-1.jpg


France was reported to be surprisingly weak. It's industry was assessed as only marginally more powerful than that of Italy, about twice that of Spain. France possessed wide resources, but also rather little gold reserves. The feeling of national unity was reported as very low, though this was unreliable information. It seemed that the French were divided. Scientific capacity was reported surprisingly weak compared with Italy, even if latter was exaggerated. The state of our northern neighbor caused some concern, but it was mentioned that France had one of the best armies of Europe, as well as the mighty Maginot line.

2011-06-16_00006-1.jpg


UK was much stronger, with deep reservoirs of gold and base materials, as well as fuel for her navy. Even unmobilized UK had wide pool of manpower to draw from, and its scientific capability was deemed excellent. They had been developing their infantry lately, as well as RAF. In case of war UK would stand strong. At least compared to Spain.

2011-06-16_00008-1.jpg


Third Reich was very difficult to infiltrate and many agents were lost. However, the final report was both accurate and deeply concerning. With both Austria and half of Czechoslovakia under his belt, Hitler ruled a powerful country. Resource stockpiles were enormous, only oil was low. This perhaps could be exploited later. German banks were bulking with money, much of it was said to come from USA that did not mind such partners. Germany had enormous pools of manpower, and population was strongly united behind Führer. Like countries on both sides, Germany seemed to invest a lot of effort into air forces. German industry was almost four times that of Spain, scientific potential was estimated three times larger than Spain.

2011-06-16_00010-1.jpg


As Spanish staff sweated over thick piles of reports war continued in Ethiopia and China. It had been expected that USSR would take more active role to fight Japan, but it was not to be. After few weeks of clashes Japan and Soviets returned to status quo. It seemed that nothing could save China now. Insult over injury was soon following. In February 16th Japan and Germany signed tripartite pact, effectively splitting world into their own zones of interest. Japan would set the tune in Asia while Germany would have it's will in Europe. Western democracies are now becoming very concerned.

2011-06-16_00017.jpg


TripartieM031.jpg


Japan joins the axis.

By now UK and France begun to show great interest to Spanish affairs, particularly those German vehicles we had captured during the Civil War. After inspecting German vehicles Allied officers appeared positively relieved, especially French. They declared that these flimsy Panzer I would be no mach to their Char B1 tanks, though they admit that German small arms are very effective. Lately France and UK have also been rather polite to us, which is unusual enough to cause great concern.

panzer-1-pzkpfw-i_2.jpg


Allies were not impressed by our captured Panzer Is. Also driving skills of our soldiers were not impressive.

As we tighten our relations with Allies, the inevitable happens. Exhausted and disorganized Kuomintang finally capitulates and Chiang Kai-shek flees to Brazil with his formidable wife and most of Chinese gold reserves. As President Azaña stares at the map of capitulated China, hes has haunting feeling that it was not supposed to go like this.

425px-Chiang_Kai-shek.jpg


The Generalissimo was not General enough.

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Chinese Panda has fallen, soon followed by Guanxi Clique. Now only few warlords and Communist China fight.

But bad new are quickly snowballing as situation goes from bad to worse. Few days later Germany carves up what was left of Czechoslovakia, but this time UK and France finally locate their missing spine and guarantee the independence of Poland. This time they perhaps actually mean it. Now two great powers stare at each other over gun barrels, and situation is critical. Perhaps Germany is well prepared for war, but USSR still looms in the horizon.

2011-06-16_00027.jpg


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New borders. Hitler's greed is driving Europe towards disaster.

Soon bad news are so common that President attached a box outside his office that reads: 'PLEASE LEAVE DISASTROUS NEWS HERE.' Next morning he opens it to find, not surprisingly, disastrous news. This time it's Italy. It seems that Mussolini has been driven to desperate measures to keep up with his powerful 'ally', and has attacked Albania.

Zogist_soldiersALBANIA.jpg


Albanian soldiers. If looks could kill...

Even with great portion of Italian army in Ethiopia, Albania soon capitulates after brave but futile resistance.

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And soon afterwards Italy join the Axis, thus officially becoming a German lap-dog. These are grave news for Spain, for Italy has the only thing that Germany does not posses, a powerful navy. Italy is also uncomfortably close to us. But with Ethiopian war degenerating into disaster, Mussolini would never dare to declare another war. Or so we think.

TRIPARTIE.jpg


Tripartie pact becomes reality in late february.

During these dark times there are still some reasons for optimism. Spanish industry has soon reached its full potential and our research teams have completed many important projects, including the use of antibacterials in military healthcare and better quality radios.

Also in late April government is approached by important group of Spanish industrialists with ambitious plan. Government eagerly accepts the proposition, giving Spanish industry some desperately needed investments. The costs are great, but no thing worthwhile comes free.

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Another cause for smugness is Italian campaign in Ethiopia. It seems Italians are determined to become the laughing-stock of the world...

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Situation in Ethiopia in late April. Almost unbelievably Italians have been driven back a long way, suffering serious losses and embarrassment.
 
If the Ethiopians can beat the Italians I suspect the Spanish will thrash them utterly. Although HPP does Buff Ethiopia by a bit.

Not directly but there are some indirect buffs, such as how terrain and supply function. For example I think mountains are more defensible in HPP than in plain SF. Greatest advantage to Ethiopia is probably the sheer mass of Italian army that crumbled their supply lines. While I haven't played with Italy on HPP they must have extravagant amounts of troops there, most of very poor quality.
 
Chapter 6: Spain goes to wAAR - the order of battle

August 23, 1939


It was one of those nights, President Azaña thought to himself. It had been a long day, a long week and a long mont. When he thought about it, it had been long three and half years. First the Civil War, those days of excitement and feeling of accomplishment. Winning the war had been easy enough, but winning the peace had proven much more problematic. After all Spain had seen more than a century without a stable government, unity or prosperity. The long years after the Civil War had been rebuilding, reforming, work. The worst part had not been poverty or illiteracy, but unifying the country that lacked national identity. Even with worst troublemakers gone, there were Stalinists, anarchists, strikes, endless negotiations and persuasions to make the impossible to happen, and now it was an election year as well. And here he was again, burning the midnight oil with fresh stack of troubles.

Suddenly he lifted his head and listened to noises outside the silent office. There was a sound approaching, a steady noise of heavy footsteps. It was a familiar sound, and it could mean but few things. It could mean few friendly drinks, but it was too late for that. It could mean new pleads to increase the army budget, but that budget simply could not be increased anymore. And finally it could mean bad news. President found the last option most likely. Before visitor knocked the door President spoke.

'Come in Martinez. Leave the disastrous news on the table, on top of the old ones.' President said with tone of a man who has all the good reasons to expect the worst.
As door opened he saw the familiar, enormously moustached bulk of chief of staff, with the familiar good humor. 'Buenas noches Boss.' The moustached apparition called smartly. 'We have good and bad news Boss, which ones first?'
'The disastrous ones first, if you could be so kind.' President noted calmly. 'And please do not call me boss. Mr. President will do, since we are friends.'
'Yes Boss.' Martínez saluted. 'Bad news are following; it is with greatest grief that I inform you that your beloved dog Lenin is no more with us. We suspect communist assassination.'
'Oh, is that all?' President muttered, mildly surprised. 'Well, it was his time, he was almost four years old. I'll have a new one and call him Stalin. Please proceed with the good news.'
'With pleasure, Boss. The news is that the Second World War begun six hours ago.'
President stared him with a comical look on his face. 'I fail to find anything positive from that knowledge.' He gasped finally.

battle_poland.jpg


'Oh, shrugs. Now we can finally clean the barracks from all that scum that has been piling there and get the boys bloodied a bit. Besides, is it not good to fight Fascism, yes?'
'War is always terrible.' President said. 'Many brave voters will not come home.'
'Oh, surely we all know that war is a terrible thing and peace much more favorable, but still we all know that there are things worse than war and much more preferable than peace. Fascist world order is certainly one of them.' Big general sat on a sofa and begun to smoke an enormous cigar with great vigor, dropping ashes on the carpet. 'Besides, we are not going to fight Nazis alone, no? Los inglésand los francés will do the fighting, no?'
President made a helpless gesture. 'They have not accepted us into their little club so far, those arrogant Imperialists.'
'Ah,but this came five minutes ago, for your eyes only.' CoS pulled a thick envelope from his greatcoat and tossed it on the table. It had dozen important looking stamps from England, and seven stamps of Top Secret. President opened the letter and read it. It did not take long. Message read:

'Dear Mr.President of Spain. We recently have reassessed your qualifications to enter Allies, and we found twenty-one good reasons to accept your proposal. Welcome to the Allies! This could be a beginning of a beautiful friendship. Sign here please.

The Allies

P.S. Send more Mammoth Tanks! Urgent!'

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'Twenty one good reasons?' President muttered. 'General, how many division we have?'
'Twenty one.'
'How many are sending to help France?'
'Twenty one.'
'So we are in then.' President said with a heavy sight. 'I hoped it did not come to this, but we have no choice.' He opened a drawer in his desk and armed himself with a big revolver and a cowboy hat. 'Now I'm ready.' He said. 'Let's get this show on the road.'
'Oh, there were some other things.' CoS said suddenly. 'The things is, Stalin just pissed us.'
'Are you loco? I haven't bought that new dog yet.' President made impatient gesture.
'Not that one, the real Stalin. Here, los inglés send us some information. It looks like Uncle Joe recently made an nonaggression pact with Hitler. Actually, it was made two hours before Los alemanes attacked Poland. Brits are already printing satire about it.'

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'Well, they are certainly fast with something then. I can't believe Stalin would sink so low! He is such a friendly brutal, totalitarian dictator!' President muttered uneasily. 'What actually have happened? What are the facts?'
'Los alemanes crossed to border to Poland, the horse-stables of Europe, few hours ago.' Burly general said with a big grin. 'They are hungry for some Lebensraum. They surely will have it, since there will be so many less to share what they have now. Anyway, rest of Allies are shitting bricks at the moment, but I think Hitler is not much better. I reckon he calculated Allies would chicken out of this one too. I reckon he calculated wrong. Now he has all the British Commonwealth, which is half of the world, against him, now including us.'

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'Such a great thing!' President muttered, not much cheered. 'They are caught unready. It will take years before they can mobilize some serious help.'
'It's not that bad, old sport!' General bellowed cheerfully. 'Here, we received some pictures from our allies! Here is a tank from New Zealand, whatever place that is.'

BobSemple1NewZealand.jpg


'I feel so much better now.' President said, reaching for aspirin. 'Anything else?'
'Sure Boss, here is my personal favorite from Canada. I must say I like their view of the war.'

bren-gun-girl-veronica-foster-canadas-rosie-the-riveter.jpg


'Yes, such a beautiful gun.' President said, gulping down his medicine. 'What are we doing, if I might ask?'
'Oh, things are sure looking up, Boss. Allies got so frightened that we are being flooded by all their dispatches, reports and signals. All our spooks and eggheads are in seventh heaven now, it seems we finally became part of international community. Also people are very understanding about this. I guess we can get away with some steep rationing now, with this just cause against Fascism and all.'

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Game note: This is one of the benefits of researching decrypt machines in HPP.

'Bueno.' President said and picked up his fountain pen. It was pink and had few rabbits on it. 'I'll use my executive authority as the elected president of this great nation...oh, I'll just make few new laws. Here goes...rationing...extreme measures...military prioritization...war economy...' He wrote intensively for five minutes as General smoked.
'Well, how do you like?' He asked, sliding the paper towards the hoary soldier.
'It's magnificent! So many draconian measures in one paper! Nobody could do better! But wait, you just fired me from my job!'
'Not at all.' President said. 'I'm merely observing how to best use your considerable talents. You, my dear Martínez, are no man to waste time with papers. Spain needs you in the trenches where the glory is! Leave this job as CoS to Manuel, he is no real soldier. He wastes time with providing soldiers with news, mail and hot meals, and such nonsense. It keeps them happy and they recover faster, but is that any real war?'
'How true!' General cried. 'I'm so happy I'm send to the frontlines!'

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'Anyway Boss, I'm sure you would like to know more about our army, since we are going to use it. Here is a little report about our order of battle.'
'How are boys taking the training, by the way?' President asked as he flipped through the long reports.
'Not bad, Boss. Gone are the days one could see Spanish soldier fire machine-gun with one hand and eat his rations with the another. They are now mean, tough and cruel, and I like that. They got some new gear as well, but that will come later. Here is our main HQ in Madrid.'

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'We have Garcá leading all the Spanish armies. You know him, Boss. Considerable charm, splendid energy, limited intelligence. But his good with organization and he can't do much damage parading here, unless he spills his coffee on his uniform.'
'So he's like you, expect with charm and energy.'
'Thanks Boss! That was such a kind thing to say! Anyway, we have 188000 men in arms, but that's demobilized strength. It will double from that.'

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'Ah, and here is our beautiful First Army, led by General Miaja.' Burly old soldier continued. 'He's the best we have, after myself, and he eats Fascists for breakfast. He knows all those fancy defensive maneuvers and, like all of us, he can do most with the least supply. I still remember those Civil War days when we had five rounds for each rifle, five rifles for each division...' He was wiping his eyes emotionally with a handkerchief.
'Please continue!' President demanded hastily.

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'And here is our first real fighting force! First Corps, codename Red, with five full strength divisions. Led by 'Red' Rojo, who is almost as good commander as I am.'
'But why do all the division have such funny names?' Asked the President.
'Because Americans give their divisions nicknames, so must we!' General explained. 'The five divisions here are named:'

1st - American Dream
2nd - El Cid
3rd - Rio Grande
4th - Daddy Cool
5th - Nocando'​

'What does "Nocando" mean?' President wondered.
'It's American language and means something is extremely good.' General explained. 'But let us go forward.'

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'Second Corps, codename Blue, naturally led by myself!' General shouted triumphantly, banging his fist on the desk. 'Well, what do you like?'
'Very impressive.' President said. 'But your skill is least impressive so far.'
'Who needs skill when we have numbers?' General wondered. 'Anyway, divisions here are:

6th- Blondie
7th - Big Iron
8th - Tuco
9th -Sierra Madre
10th- Angel Eyes'​

'These names sound very familiar.' President muttered. I've heard them somewhere...'

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'And here is our final full strength Corps, codenamed Green. Nothing much to say here.'
'I think that green is spelled wrong in spanish.' President said. 'It supposed to be verde.'
'True, but awfully correct in a screenshot, yes? Anyway, our divisions are;

11th - Corto Maltese
12th- Django (this division had an odd tradition to transport machine-guns in coffins)
13th- Lucky 13th
14th- Rasputin
15th- Old Bill (divisional motto:pills here!)​

'Great job.'President said warily. 'It's getting late, how about a little re...'
'Sure, only few more Corps to review! Here is our fourth Corps about which nothing funny was invented.'
'How merciful...' President moaned.

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'Is that all?' President demanded.
'Not at all, Boss! We still have our craziest divisions to go! They were all stacked into one Corps, in 2nd Army.'

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'What the HELL are these divisions?' President demanded. 'Those two are cavalry divisions but the rest...They are justloco!'
'Not at all, Boss! Here is our "Metalhead" division, where we put all our obsolete infantry tanks!'

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'It sucks.' President said. 'And that picture is not Renault FT 17.'
'Sure Boss, but they still got the combined arms bonus, yes? And they still got MGs, yes? We could post a picture of real Renault FT 17, but we are running out of allowed pictures for this post, since we have 17 so far. Anyway, here is our next loco division.'

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'OMG.' Muttered the President. 'Why is it called Mad Max?'
'But Boss! It has lots of shitty cars so it must be Mad Max! It could Evil Knievel too, but that was a bike. Anyway, they still have that combined arms bonus, and they can shoot soft targets.'
'They are all going to be slaughtered.' President said with resolution.'
'Probably yes, but then we could use them to garrison duties, or just rent them as tables. But here is the last one, and you're going to amor it!'
'That was such a bad Spanish...'President thought.

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'Oh no, it cannot be...' President moaned.
'Oh yes, it's that Legion Condor we captured at the end of previous AAR, now reinforced with one of those armored busses. We put our best Combined Arms leader to command it, so it should be fine. Unless, of course, Germans have developed better panzers in which case our Jabberwock division will be splattered.'
'Hardly a great loss.' President pointed out. 'We have invested all our LS to infantry warfare, and here is only one infantry brigade.'
'How true, Boss. But it's our only fully motorized division, as obsolete as it might be, and it still gets that all-important combined arms bonus.'
'Well, was there anything else?' President demanded, now rather weary.
'Oh, there was still the Air- and Naval forces, but we run out of pictures in this post.'
'And as we have talked, Poland has been under attack constantly!' President cried, suddenly remembering what this all was about.
'Don't worry, Boss. I remembered to hit the space bar...'
 
I was gonna upload a rubber duck with Hitler's head for you to use but I kinda suck at photoshop.


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I was gonna upload a rubber duck with Hitler's head for you to use but I kinda suck at photoshop.


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Thanks for your kind words all readers! Just few posts more and we'll have a nice, fresh page to work on. These chapters are so long I don't want to put many on one page. And don't worry, we'll have some action....soon.

By the way, I don't (and I can't) really shop these pictures much, just stick and glue that same old rubber duck.