Royal Carnage
Chapter II - Operation Trebuchet, part II
Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, France, Soviet
Recap: The war has recently started. Germany declared war on Poland, and thus, the rest of the Allies. France attacked along the Maginot and later also supported Denmark who also became under attack by the fascists. UK launched Operation Trebuchet with the main objective to capture the German troops in Preussia and then pull out. The siege of Königsberg has begun and lasted for about two weeks.
May 22nd, 1939
The Siege of Königsberg was in on its third week. The 9 German brigades slowly fell back and left a city in utter ruins. The Brits were at their heals, giving them no rest, reaching them all around the city with mortars, naval artillery and tactical bombings. The civilian losses were awesome but the British troops had their objectives. These German soldiers had to either die or surrender to every cost.
Fighting in a ruined city is always a terrible thing. The battles were almost always at close range and hand-to-hand combat common. The enemy could be everywhere. Mines, booby-traps and unexploded bombs and grenades lay everywhere. Walls fell, roofs caved in and floors gave away. But the Germans did not give up. Small groups of defenders had fortified certain grand houses in the suburb, staying there in a hedgehog defense, tying down British forces. They main bulk of defenders had been retreating back to the city center, using the great Banhof in the west - The river and fortified islands in the north and east as the final frontline. The Brits had hard time pushing through here, losing a lot of men in the process. Instead, they launched a powerful thrust from the south, but it was a fairly narrow strip of land, which the German had prepared in a nasty way.
West of Königsberg, Wehrmacht was pressing on to relieve the city, but the Poles and a lone British division managed to slow down their advance fairly well. It looked like Operation Trebuchet might be successful.
May 24th-25th, 1939
The Germans in Königsberg was simply too few and had too little support. They had fought long and well but gave up a chill and rainy morning in the end of March. About 3000 had died in the fighting, but at least double that number had been lost to continuous bombing in the three week long siege of Königsberg. The 20000-odd survivors were marched to the newly captured ports and embarked transports to be shipped to camps in United Kingdom.
June 5th, 1939
Following the original plan of Operation Trebuchet, the Brits were to quickly retreat after the battle of Königsberg. However, a retreating division, which had been stalling the Germans together with the Poles all the way from Danzig, risked being cut off. A shaky decision led to half of the British force staying behind in Königsberg to keep the escape-route open for that last division. That division managed to reach Königsberg, but the troops did not manage to ship out until the Germans themselves attacked the ruin city.
The city, however, proved an equal good fortress for the Brits as for the German a few weeks earlier. This time, both sides used a lot of air force and while the fighters shot each other to pieces, undisturbed bombing-runs became fairly rare.
Poland is losing ground. As they still refuse to use their forces in the east, they are vastly out-powered by the Germans. They will not last long.
In order to try and overwhelm the Germans, a French army-corps of infantry landed in northern Germany. They soon met German resistance and did not reach far. Instead, a cunning German paradrop re-captured the harbor which the French planned to retreat too. In the end, the French managed to retreat after taking some painful losses. One division, however, did never reach the awaiting transports and they ended up in German custody.
The Danish front is peaceful. Neither side has forces to dislodge the other.
In the West however, the French have managed to breach the West Wall and smaller contingents of troops have spilled into German heartland. It is obvious Wehrmacht is strained – but it will not last long. Nothing can save the Poles and with them gone, the initiative will be all Germany.
During these days, Germany and Soviet signed the Molotov Ribbentrop pact.
Authors note: This actually came as a relief for the Allies as we were not entirely sure how we would fare better than in last game without the pact. Now, we are likely to be in for a much longer game - especially concidering the new HR for Japan...
June 11th-24th, 1939
In mid June, the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States. This meant little to the Allies who struggled with the mighty Third Reich.
Soon thereafter, Poland fell with their leadership fleeing to United Kingdom. All British troops in Poland got away even if many a good man was lost on the beaches of the Baltic Sea. Operation Trebuchet was at large a success, eliminating 9 brigades of German infantry and two head quarters. Now, however, Germany would have the possibility to focus on Denmark, France and perhaps other European states.
Little more than a week later, the Japanese attack on Yunnan draw to an end and a puppet regime was put in place there. This was worrying indeed as Yunnan bordered to British Burma. The Japanese attack on Yunnan had brought up their threat on the US a good bit. All this would surely have serious implications in the future.
July 1st-2nd, 1939
Before Germany really had the chance to use the initiative after the victory over Poland, other nations declared their wars. Italy, not being at war with Allies, attacked Yugoslavia while the Soviet Union opened fire on the Fins.
Authors note: Even though the world war as such was in its early stage, the world was still full of smaller conflicts. The Axis had obviously been chosing a more aggressive strategy than previosly. That will give them more land but more threat.
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