The Defender of Power and Development: or how I learned to love the Kremlin

I know what you are waiting. Do you want it? Ask for it. Ask for it using a sexy voice. Sexier... Sexier... I SAID SEXIER! Ok, you can have it.





From the desk of the Chief of Staff to the Politburo - Subject: Operation Red Dawn



Attached documentation:

The plan​

Dear Sirs,

As you already know, the best practices of the armed forces require the update of contingency plan each time a significant geopolitical change takes places anywhere on the world, specially where the Soviet Union and/or its allies have interests.

Therefore, after analyzing the impact that the independence of some of the former Western European colonies have had in our previous hypothetical conflicts plans, the high command from all the branches of the armed forces are pleased to report that the design of a new action plan, should operation Red Dawn ever take place, is complete.

Please note that the color coding of the arrows determine which type of army corps will lead the hypothetical offensives in each one of the active theatres.

The following is an overview of the tasks and objectives of the armed forces should the implementation of Red 1 be deemed necessary:

• The Baltic and Arctic fleets’ main target is to disable the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet. If the navy manages to achieve its objective, this should allow us to gain control over the North Sea and the English Channel, turning an invasion of the British Islands, feasible.

• Defensive perimeters have been established in the Pyrenees and in the Alps, where geographical conditions should allow our allies to stand their ground against eventual French counter offensives.

• All the beaches under the control of friendly governments are garrisoned with at least 4 divisions, provided by our allies. The Azores and Cape Verde, having completed the construction of level 5 coastal fortresses, are garrisoned by three Soviet divisions each as well as most Russian provinces. The safety of Japanese Micronesian islands has not been placed under the supervision of this department, falling under the responsibility of our eastern most allies.

• The air force has been tasked with the protection of our allies’ industrial centers, covering the skies over the north sea, the low countries, the French/German border and the Mediterranean. If we manage to attain air superiority, the air force will also focus on giving support to our ground and naval units in their respective missions. Bombing operations without air support would place a huge burden on our economy, as stated by the Ministry of Work and Production.

• The far eastern fleet will focus on the complete destruction of the ANZAC navies which should not represent any threat whatsoever to our main naval assets. Once this is achieved, green light will be given to the invasion of Australasia. Some members of the High Command, having worked as military attaches in Tokyo for several years, recommend a close look at Japanese intentions in the region.

The targets for the army are the following:

First Stage of the operation:
1. European theatre: Take over Belgium and France with the minimum possible loss of life.
2. Middle eastern front: Take over the Suez Canal, Turkey and all the previous Western protectorates.
3. Indian Front: Take over all the territory in enemy hands.
4. Indochina: Overun the unguarded enemy territory in less than a year. Due to the roughness of the terrain our new air cavalry divisions have been assigned to this theatre, as well as our paratrooper forces which are tasked with the immediate capture of Cambodia.

Second stage, a year after the beginning of the hostilities:
1. Begin the invasion of the British Islands, attain control of all of them and Iceland.
2. Take over north Africa until reaching Casablanca, from where the air force could easily interdict any bombing campaign into Soviet territory.
3. Take over Sri Lanka.

It has come to the attention of this department that the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Relations Ministry have recommended, should our military objectives be attained, the liberation of the Ottoman Empire, India, Indochina, Egypt and Libya. Considering the need to guarantee the survival of the aforementioned eventual strategic allies, we recommend leaving forces in their territories to protect landing sites and land borders with our enemies.

For any additional clarification please contact [...]




On mid September 1953, the month of the Revolution, a phone call was made from the Politburo’s central offices.

After receiving the high command plans, the Politburo made two modifications; war was not going to be declared to Israel (now occupying former Syria) nor Egypt nor Libya. In stead, airborne assaults were going to take place in Suez and Cyprus. After analyzing the feasibility of this new orders, the high command modified the plans for operation Red Dawn.

On mid September, after a broken flag operation in which the Turks were framed as attacking ethnic Armenians in order to carry on with the 1912 genocide (one of the two that took place so far in the XXth century, being the second the Japanese incursions into China) the order to advance into Turkey proper was given.

In less than a week, the Anglo-French Alliance brought Turkey into their club. Immediately a paratrooper corps was order to proceed with the assault on Suez and within 96 hours of the Turkish incorporation into the Anglo-French Alliance, the Mediterranean sea was closed to Western shipping. Even though there were no significant naval forces present in the Mediterranean this meant certain “peace of mind” for some of our weakest allies.

Simultaneously, while armored divisions were sweeping through Belgium and France and Motorized divisions were driving into Iraq, the skies of Europe were set ablaze with dogfights involving French and British airplanes against their Soviet counterparts. The air battles were devastating for all parts, forcing the High Command to order the grounding of several wings for extensive repairs.

Nonetheless, the most significant battle of the first month of this latest conflict, was by far the Soviet Navy’s baptism of fire.

The Soviet Admirals were so confident on their ships and crews that they simply took the Arctic and Baltic Fleets and parked them in front of the port of Sheffield, taunting the Home Fleet to come out. With similar confidence, even arrogance, the British Admiralty decided to sail to the Soviet encounter. Some British Admirals raised their voices against engaging a fleet that carried no threat to the Islands (since it was not carrying any transports), specially since the RAF was in a much better position to control the airspace over the English coastlines.



With both leading admirals seeking to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy that would leave them out of the waters for several years, the navies clashed in the largest, most brutal naval battle to date... The results were horrendous.

During the first three quarters of the battle, the Arctic fleet suffered most of the hits and after several days was forced to retreat with some very heavily damaged CVs. On the other hand, by the time they were retreating, the Baltic fleet was left alone fighting just a small number of CVs which allowed to keep the distance from the rest of the home fleet. Once the remaining enemy CVs were taken care of, Admiral Rall had no problem keeping the distance from the enemy while his carrier’s air wings engaged them.



The British navy was considerably reduced in size and power allowing the Soviet Navy to carry operations overseas without too many risks (they still have a considerable navy, though they are spread thin). The Royal Navy would need years at full funding to be able to replace their losses but it had neither.

The Soviet losses, although relatively low, were replaced with reinforcements that were standing by. The Soviet Navy had an undisclosed number of CLs and CVLs in order to quickly replace losses such as these.

On the other hand, both the Arctic and Baltic Fleet were in dire needs of repairs (one CV had 7 strength left) which meant that they were to be out of the water for several months. In order to counter this, the Pacific Fleet was ordered, first to the Mediterranean, to relieve the Paratroopers guarding Suez that were to be replaced with 6 Greek divisions, and then into the North Sea.

Nonetheless, before the Pacific Fleet could reach the North Sea, the enemy naval activities in the Indian Ocean was so high that a deterrence was necessary and was therefore ordered back.

In the end, it would take an entire year for the West Soviet Naval Command to repair its ships so in the mean time the Soviet Armed Forces had to find something else to do...


Note that we have already taken over the Anglo-French VPs in the Pacific and that our Italian allies are making a terrific and seemingly unstoppable advance into the heart of Africa. Also, a couple of weeks after the war started, South Africa rejoined the UK in their struggle against notcommiebutyettooredtobeindiferent Russia.


In the mean time, the US press was mocking the fact that the Soviet performance against Anglo-French forces was exclusively due to their numerical superiority and to the fact that the British and French were “tied” since they had to defend an extensive overseas empire.

I haven’t mentioned details about the operations in 1953 but not everything went as planned so I want to speak a little about the AI.

Although we did overrun Iraq and Indochina, were enemy forces were virtually nonexistent, the Belgians and French stood their ground, crossing rivers was sometimes hard and the French did launch some offensives which made us use our allies forces to save Italy. If it wasn’t for my concentration of armor, French geography that allows easy encirclements and a German ally that left over 100 divisions in the French border, it would have been much, much harder.

Amphibious operations were outstanding. We would have overran India but once our forces were around half the way in ANZAC, Canadians and South African forces which included brigaded divisions, motorized divisions and heavy armor, landed in my rearguard. Since we were advancing with infantry, hadn’t we had a land connection through China, we would have been at high risk of being cut off. While I was turning around my army, they landed again this time in less force, in the regions from were I was just withdrawing, effectively surrounding my forces. The only thing that saved me was that I had a slight numerical superiority and that they decided to split their forces in order to assault Persia, which only survived thanks to the fact that the forces that attacked Iraq were still in the Middle East.

Allied air forces were also quite active, focusing on gaining air superiority and strategic bombardment. They only seemed interested in ground attacks in areas were the Soviet Air force was not present.

Finally the naval AI was also terrific. Although I did defeat half the UK navy, I was very close of loosing some assets that would have taken forever to rebuild, effectively destroying the Soviet threat over the British Islands. Also, most of their forces were outdated while mine were the latest models of the tech tree before Nuclear Carriers. Which brings me to the last point.

Apparently the main limitation of AI controlled nations in a long game seems to be that it focuses all of its resources towards full mobilization, until it can’t afford a single more division/plane/ship due to supplies constrains. Now, what I noted in France was that their army was numerous and modern while their navy and air force were small (but also modern). This may be because most of French forces fought to the last man during their war with Germany, Italy and Spain so they had to rebuild everything. On the other hand the British air force and army seems to be one, two or in some rare cases, even three models behind their tech level. This is probably due to the fact that they managed to mobilize earlier than France and ran out of IC since the large majority of it it's allocated to consumer goods and supplies.

In the future I will try playing Darkest Hour and see how does the game mechanics “punish” full mobilization, maybe providing an incentive to the player to not fully mobilize while punishing full mobilization.

Do you have any comment regarding this?

Does anybody know how does (or even if) Darkest Hour restrain an ever increasing army?

Regards.

England and later The United Kingdom, had a defensive advantage that few nation in the world ever had, it borders no enemies. The English Channel or La Manche separates England from the rest of Europe which means not only that England can’t be successfully taken over without naval supremacy in the area but also that any invader has to be strong enough to establish (and hold) a beach head.

During the war with Germany and since the Home Fleet couldn’t be everywhere at once, the British high command realised that unless they strongly garrisoned the home islands, they would risk to either suffer an invasion and/or the loss of its overseas empire.

After the first naval encounter with the Soviet Navy, the Admiralty recognized its limitations even further and His Majesty’s government changed the defensive strategy, it was obvious that the British Islands could not be defended exclusively by sea.

All of Britain’s resources, were poured into the home islands. The fall of India and the capture of Suez freed resources to strengthen the domestic defenses while the Italian advance in Africa was being kept in check using the bottle necks along the African coast (and the buffer states that England timely created).

The British knew that their beaches were impervious to assault and they knew that the Soviet shared their opinion. After an unsuccessful attempt at landing in Dover this was further proved. As intelligence showed, the presence of armored divisions also meant that each province could receive defensive support in virtually no time, so simultaneous assaults were also infeasible. Even if they succeeded by chance, the beach head would be impossible to held. There were simply not enough transports and men. Even if we managed to land, the cost in Russian lives would have been preposterous. The United Kingdom of England and Scotland had effectively turned into what historians labeled “Fortress Europe”.

Some elements in the armed forces proposed bombing the Islands, targeting civilian centers and therefore compromising the British ability to supply its troops and ultimately, to defend their island. Some officers with security clearance dared to even suggest the use of “non-conventional weaponry”.

This was of course condemned by the Politburo who put under vigilance those officers and after several months of investigations, massive arrests were ordered. Targeting unarmed civilians not participating in the war as support personnel or spies was against Soviet policies (and it also violated the Geneva convention) regardless of British actions during their war vs. Germany and regardless of British intentions during the current conflict.

The heated discussions about the best way to take the last European bastion of the Anglo-French alliance reached new levels of heat on the Christmas eve of 1954 when, after a second naval engagement, intelligence provided the Politburo with very interesting information.




The British navy was completely crippled. Without carriers and only with battlecrusiers left as capital ships, the Royal Navy ceased to be a threat to Soviet naval operations anywhere in the globe. In mid 1955 no combat able Anglo-French ships were still afloat.

With the seas surrounding England under our complete control and the RAF grounded, we needed to invade before the defenses got even stronger.

A few days before the latest naval victory over the British, a transport plane carrying the commanding officers that planned and lead the successful invasion of Japan landed in Moscow. Their knowledge may help us crack this problem.



The High Command debated about where to start the invasion. Although Wales would provide us with several regions to spread our offensive and was closer to London, the proximity of armed forces meant that the chances of holding to that province were slim at best, specially since any reinforcement that we managed to get in time would land disorganized. Thus LZ1 was rejected.

Aberdeen (LZ2) on the other hand, was the region furthest away from any help and surrounded with mountainous provinces which made difficult the arrival of reinforcements. Scotland had a fatal flaw though, it had several bottle necks.

Once Aberdeen was secured, additional forces including armor were landed and the spreadhead begun.

For the first time since the war vs. Germany a large scale Soviet attacked was halted. The British were just too many, it was winter and they dug themselves in Glasgow (mountaineous terrain), keeping the Red Army away from their industrial centers. We were again facing a stalemate, this time with a foot in the island.

This needed a dastric approach.

Since the British needed to focus their efforts in Scotland, although the beaches were still well guarded, armored divisions were concentrated at Glasgow. The Soviet High Command decided to take advantage of the stalemate.



This proved to be fatal for the British who couldn’t recapture Wales fast enough.



Having lost their economic and industrial centers, the Anglo-French alliance was in no condition to carry on fighting. The only Soviet enemies left were Canada and South Africa, none of which had a navy to carry their troops to the Eurasian theatre. Thus, the cumbersome process of taking over overseas territories began.

Soviet efforts ended in January 1956. Not a single European Nation was truly independent.


Some notes:

• During our war with the Allies we invaded the following neutral nations: Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

• We own most of the European colonies in the Americas.

• New Zealand is also our puppet.

• I realised that the Arab Federation was a much better puppet that the Ottoman Empire, so I annexed the Ottomans, liberated the Arabs and the liberated Turkey.

• Ireland was liberated after the occupation of Northern Ireland, that way they became an unified nation.

• I liberated Iceland from the UK, which kept it after WW2.

• We had to liberate the puppets in batches. At times our dissent was above 19%.

The reason it took me so much time to end the war in Eurasia and Africa was due to African terrain. Apparently establishing convoys is not enough to supply your forces with oil once you reach the Congo. At first my air cavalry divisions were flying over central Africa disposing of any resistance and suddenly they ran out of oil and would not refuel. I had to bring my motorized divisions from Egypt. Does anyone know why this happened?

I think I will “acceptall” a peace with Canada. The US still hasn’t declared war on me nor join the allies and I don’t think it will unless I declare war directly. It is too unreal to believe that a Soviet invasion of Canada could be left alone by the US.


Here’s the situation in 1956 America if I gave Canada Labrador and New Founders land:

Well, I have not played any further and the performance is bad, a day takes forever.

I really don't see much sense with carrying on. I believe that I do have the resources to take over the Americas with 700+ IC (vs. US 400+) and 2000+ manpower while the US has virtually mobilized every man, women and child and has an army about the same size as mine.

What I'd do to get ready would be to garrison all the Pacific and Atlantic islands with 6 infantry+art divisions (keep in mind that the optimal landing size is 6 so I'd have a serious advantage), build two lines of convoys and escorts at 3x speed and place some forces in the Atlantic, including the bulk of my navy while building 3x speed airfields and naval bases in all of the northern Atlantic. The garrisons will serve as a purpose since the US will waste his precious manpower in useless landings while diverting some IC to reinforcements, although the last one wouldn't be significant since it is a very rich nation.

I would start the war by declaring war on Argentina and as soon as the US reacts I'll paradrop in Panama. Most of the US fleet is the Pacific, apparently getting ready for a Japanese attack that is unlikely to happen so taking over the canal will reduce its navy's flexibility.

After taking over Argentina I'd move on to Brazil. See it is likely that the US will try to defend them (due in part to its proximity) but their logistical constrains will mean that I'll be probably able to destroy the forces that I choose to allow to land (if the forces get too big I'll simply use my navy to blockade them since theirs will be busy in the Pacific). Rinse and repeat with Colombia and Venezuela. Eventually reaching the US through Mexico.

At that point landing in the eastern seaboard would probably be feasible which should allow me to use the chaos this will create to encircle and destroy their armies, from the south and the east.

If everything else fails, I could always use a more "unconventional" approach but a loving USSR wouldn't do that, now would they?

My main constraint is probably mi air force since it will need to defend Japan and China from strategic bombings (Australia and New Zealand are beyond my defensive capabilities they'll be left on their own and probably fail) while defending my american task forces from tactical/naval bombing runs...

So, I think I'll end the AAR here, as stated before there's not much sense in carrying on and it would take a month to post another update.

I hope you've enjoyed reading it!

Regards.

Deus Eversor said:

Hail EURAFRASIA! HAIL PAX SOVIETICA!

(you could make a post liek, soviet eurafrasian union has been created and that complete embargo/isolation against america is in effect

Click to expand...

Nah.

They don't need us, we don't need them. From an economical point of view I mean, which is what really maters.

I doubt that a world in this condition would have turned into a Cold War for a while at least.

I was going to continue this but during an uninstall I deleted the save game =(

DanSez said:

Thanks for putting in the effort and finishing the story. Good job and entertaining, especially the "You Momma" joke -

Click to expand...

Hey thanks! I tried to mix humor with role playing, I enjoyed writing it a lot =)

Thanks for the comments!

@Jekolmy:

As far as I can remember, invading the continental US would have been a nightmare. They had mobilized all of their manpower pool... ALL OF IT. We roughly had the same number of divisions and tech level.

In that scenario, as you mentioned, I thought about para-dropping in the canal and fortifying my beach heads in the Americas (most of them at least). Taking over Hawaii would have also been a must. Then I was planning to wait until they started to suffer some heavy losses. I was much worried about the capabilities of my allies to defend themselves. I had already taken military control of their forces and was using troops from countries which didn't have to worry about defense (e.g. Czechoslovakia, Italy, Greece, etc.) to protect some beach heads. I was also very worried about the US strategic bombers fleet. Would they manage to take over an air base close to my allies, their IC would have been obliterated in no time (and with it, their capability of repairing INFRA and supplying troops). Although, had the US started a terror bombing campaign, I would have nuked them to the stone age.

The problem was, where to strike and how. I was thinking about taking over some Canadian soil and, once next to the US border (that is, when the AI reacts), para-drop in Texas and land my air cavalry divisions to spread like flu in an orphanage. Then, land in the west coast. With that much room to maneuver I think that destroying the US army little by little would have been possible while keeping a defensive position in Canada, close enough to their IC rich provinces to tie down a large amount of their forces.

Of course that the showdown between the US Navy and the Soviet Navy would have been of epic proportions.


@SovietAmerika:

Thanks for your kind words but I don't think I'll do another AAR for the time being. I don't have a gaming rig (currently I only own a low end laptop) and all of Paradox games from EU2 onward crawl. Maybe if I buy a new machine I'll make an EUIII Byzantine game, I've always enjoyed playing them. Also, AoD AARland seems to be quite empty, this AAR didn't get many followers.


If I ever do another AoD AAR, I believe it would be playing a democratic Italy.


Thanks for the comments!

Leonaru said:

Awesome AAR!

Click to expand...

Thanks Leonaru!

Too bad you didn't catch it while it was ongoing, I'd have appreciated your input.