Gloriosa España de Franco: An HOI3 FtM AAR

[eqqman]

Nice job... now, invade Britain!

[mankle30]

Nice job... now, invade Britain!

Geez. I can't mop up the mess first?

[eqqman]

Geez. I can't mop up the mess first?

Oh, very well!

[Stuyvesant]

That'll be the end of the British invasion, sooner or later. And this time, there is no Dunkirk available...

[Surt]

A rather nice comeback but you shouldn't invite the allies back for tea when they are gone, look at what mess they made.

[sprites]

Good job! withouta port they are done for!

[mankle30]

Oh, very well!

I actually have another very important reason that I won't be invading Britain immediately. No convoys. The British and French have done a bang up job on my convoys. I have about 70 under construction, but won't be ready for a little bit.

That'll be the end of the British invasion, sooner or later. And this time, there is no Dunkirk available...

mwahaha

A rather nice comeback but you shouldn't invite the allies back for tea when they are gone, look at what mess they made.

Maybe if they bring the tea, bowing in front of a triumphant Franco!

Good job! withouta port they are done for!

mwahaha

[mankle30]

April's overwhelming focus was on bottling up and containing the British troops in Spain. By April 3, the British were still putting up a fight, attacking some of the regained Spanish territories, but even if they won a battle here and there, the Spanish had enough troops to retake any temporarily lost soil.



A growing problem in this month was the havoc that the British and French were wreaking on the Spanish convoys. The shipping was down to 0 extra convoys, and while more were in production, that was not enough to adquately supply the distant conquests. It also put on hold the plans (based on the recommendation of General Eqqman, one of Franco's top advisors) to attack the British on their home soil.

The French were also pushing the Spanish back in North Africa. With only three divisions remaining there, they were chronically undersupplied and would need to regroup before taking any more land.



On the 8th, the British launched an attack on the Azores. With only a weak garrison there, and the spanish Navy busy in the mediterranean trying to battle the French shipping raids, and no troops to spare, the British would soon take the islands.



On the 14th, Franco received word that Germany had indeed launched their assault of France and the Low Countries, when Luxemburg capitulated. Italy, however, had not moved a muscle aside from massing its troops on the French border. With the knowledge that France had not yet responded to the Spanish threat, the troops on the new French border were ordered to advance, in order to secure the resources near the Mediterranean coast.






By the 17th, while the bubble of British territory was growing, the vast majority of British troops were being bottled up in the South of Spain. Madrid was being defended, and the threat was mostly under control.



As of the 21st there was fierce fighting in the rapidly closing southern pockets, with Spanish troops trying to get into position to surround the British.



On the 22nd Spanish researchers announced that trainers could implement a new training protocol for their fighter pilots, and on the 23rd, the first German Garrison division was stationed in Spanish territory. When Franco heard the news, he was heard muttering something about being "too little, too late."





Pocket on April 24

Pocket on April 27

By the end of the month, the British were all but extinguished. The next phase of the war would involve some planning and some decisions. Franco would have to decide soon...

[Baltasar]

1) Getting rid of the remaining British troops in Spain (how many did you capture?)
2) Protect all ports in Spain
3) Send everything else into France (set war goals!)
4) When France has been dealt with, consider the Balkans, else South America.
5) Build more convoys. If planning for operations outside the med, invest into navy (doctrines) as well (licences from Italy, Japan, Germany?)

[mankle30]

1) Getting rid of the remaining British troops in Spain (how many did you capture?)
2) Protect all ports in Spain
3) Send everything else into France (set war goals!)
4) When France has been dealt with, consider the Balkans, else South America.
5) Build more convoys. If planning for operations outside the med, invest into navy (doctrines) as well (licences from Italy, Japan, Germany?)

Pretty much my thinking exactly.

1) I don't know how many have surrendered. Not sure if completely pocketed any at all yet.
2) That's the plan, but it may take several months before more Garrison troops can be trained. With manpower down so low, (around 11 -13), I'll need to wait out a few months to get them into training. It's also not just the port Garrison. It's having the reserves to fight off the troops that do manage to come ashore away from the ports. I don't have enough to do that right now AND
3) Bingo.
4) Not sure. I have other overseas plans.
5) Convoys! Already under construction, but you can never have too many.

[Baltasar]

re 4, Skandinavia would be too dangerous, you'd have to pass through British home waters. South Africa? Will most likely be too far away plus the Atlantic will be crowded with UK ships.

[mankle30]

re 4, Skandinavia would be too dangerous, you'd have to pass through British home waters. South Africa? Will most likely be too far away plus the Atlantic will be crowded with UK ships.

Neither of those occurred to me, but you're correct in that they're both probably too dangerous.

[mankle30]

May brought the fighting against the British to an end. As the pocket closed, extra divisions were being sent one of two places. The first was to the French frontier to help take more territory from the French as the Germans threaten in the north. The second was the Barcelona to prepare for a landing to take the southern French ports and attempt to hem in the French troops on the border with Italy.



Production and Technology overviews from May 1, 1940

By may 9th, there was just one province with British troops left. And By the 11th, that pocket, with over 45000 troops was eliminated.




On May 13, Franco was informed that a new Aero Engine was researched, and thus, the Spanish airforce could be upgraded. As the officer ratio was now over 130%, trainers were assigned elsewhere to help research more new weapons for the hardened Spanish infantry.




By the 15th, more troops were beginning to arrive in the French theatre to block up some of the holes left in the front to spare men for the defense of the south.



Also by the 15th, the Germans had almost completely obliterated the Belgain and Dutch forces.



On the 23rd, Franco was informed that Germany had assigned forces to Spain for Franco's own use. Those troops were promptly ordered to Split and the fleet was sent to pick them and return them to Spain for use against the French.



However, on the 31st, the fleet was intercepted by a British fleet and the fight sunk several ships. The battle had sunk all but 3 transport fleets, 1 light cruiser and 2 destroyer flotillas at the time that this report was compiled, with a real danger of losing almost the entire fleet.

[Baltasar]

You recieved troops stationed in... Hungary? Yugoslavia? That's odd, I never got any loan troops unless they crossed into my territory.

Congratulations on the elemination of the UK troops. The British Isled must be bare of any units by now.

[mankle30]

You recieved troops stationed in... Hungary? Yugoslavia? That's odd, I never got any loan troops unless they crossed into my territory.

Congratulations on the elemination of the UK troops. The British Isled must be bare of any units by now.

Yugoslavia. it's the only land-border I have with Germany. British Isles must be bare, but I don't have any transports and convoys to seriously mount a Sealion. To France!

[mankle30]

To all my loyal readers:

I'll have a new chapter up today, but none after that until the New Year. I'll be traveling for the next 5 days or so, and won't have any updates of Franco's exploits up quite yet. However, I'm looking forward to getting back and continuing to play beyond the next post!

[mankle30]

Immediately upon the dawning of the new month, word came in that the fleet had "won" its engagement with the British. However, the victory was a Pyrrhic one, losing most of the more powerful ships in the fleet, the heavy cruiser Canarias, the light cruiser Republica, plus a destroyer flotilla and a transport flotilla. The surviving vessels limped into Split and boarded what troops they could before ferrying them back to Barcelona unopposed.



On land, the 3rd and 24th Infantry divisions had attacked the French units at Mende and would be pressing east and north from their positions.

The French were now abandoning their positions in the Alps at the border with Italy in order to respond to the Spanish threat, but were not able to stop the powerful, determined, and battle hardened Spanish forces. Spain was also making another attempt (now that the troops had been resupplied and rested) to push further east in North Africa, beginning with an attack on the French division in the mountains of Mascara. by the 4th of June, the Spaniards were victorious, sending the French in retreat, like in Europe.



On the 4th, with the arrival of the German expeditionary forces, the troops were sent from Barcelona to bolster the Spanish offensives in France.



By the 5th of June, the Germans had broken through the Maginot line and were pushing into France itself, having almost completely finished with the Netherlands and the Belgians.



On June 6th, the Spanish fleet was attacked by the French fleet, on its way to pick up the rest of the German expeditionary forces in Split. This battle was utterly catastrophic, losing two of the remaining three transport flotillas and the light cruiser Mendez Nunez. The fleet limped into an Italian port to recover enough to try to make it back home. The only positive in this situation was that no troops were on board the ships when they were sunk.



By June 9th, the northern group of reinforcement divisions were in place but still had not re-organized enough to proceed with their attack. Franco's plan was to have the divisions in place hold the line along the river, and have the newly arrived divisions attack north and west to avoid the heavy losses that attacking across the river would inflict.



In light of the almost complete destruction of the Spanish Navy, Franco ordered Foreign Minister Messia to make two trades. One was a small trade with Germany to buy energy. This was important because it improved the fraught relations due to Franco's delay in entering the war with France and England. The second trade was to purchase production licences from Japan to produce two more Agano-class light cruisers.



By the 13th, the northern prong of the attack had begun, however, defensive attacks were also underway close to the coast in order to relieve the pressure on Spanish troops at the far west who were under attack from the French. Fortunately, these troops had air support with interceptors and bombers peppering Allied troops.



Through the middle of the month, Franco received news that the valiant Spanish troops had won battles at places like Annoncy, Montbrison, Clermont Ferrand, Aubusson, Bourg Lastic, Royan, Brive la Gaillard, Bourganeuf, Valreas, Limoges, St. Charmont, Feurs, Aix en Provence, Valence, Montlucon, Coutras, and Gueret.

On the 20th Franco received word that a new transport flotilla had been completed and would be deployed in Barcelona.



On the 21st, news came down that the Soviets had annexed the Baltic states.



More German expeditionary units were discovered and were quickly sent up the coast of France to serve as guard units.



By the 22nd, the French had been driven back to a strip of 3 or four provinces separating the Spanish and the Italians. In the North, only two provinces separated Spain from Switzerland, and Franco ordered his troops to close that gap.



On the 26th, Spanish troops walked into the French port city of Marseille and began to try to close the gap to the Italian border.

On the 27th, Italy finally decided to get into the war.



By the end of the month, France was being squeezed between Spanish, German and Italian troops (although it was still unknown if the Italians were actually attacking).



In North Africa, the troops were moving slowly and attempting to make gains, but being cautious, due to the lack of overwhelming force, and the realization that they would not be able to be extracted if they were seriously threatened.

[HecNev]

Nice going in France!

One question, though: When the Vichy-event appears, will you be able to keep the territory you gained? In my Spanish game, that wasn't possible...

[Baltasar]

Should be poosible to at least keep what he gained outside Vichy France in Europe and whatever colonies he demanded vis war goal.

[mankle30]

Nice going in France!

Thanks! I think putting the leadership into officer training (combined with the tons of experience my generals have gained) have enabled me to roll over the French. Manpower is becoming an issue. I won't run out, but it'll be a while before I can build a lot more troops. Thankfully, I have other places to put the IC (like rebuilding the navy).

Should be poosible to at least keep what he gained outside Vichy France in Europe and whatever colonies he demanded vis war goal.

Thanks for the reminder. I keep forgetting to set another war goal for France! Fortunately, I haven't played beyond what I've posted.