Gloriosa España de Franco: An HOI3 FtM AAR

[Baltasar]

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).

Indeed, you'll need rebuild your fleet and soon. Although you'll not be able to outfight the British at sea, they'll have to stop you from getting just one load of troops ashore in Britain.

Another idea might be to upgrade your troops (ie Mountaineers) or to reorganise your forces (2x Inf 2x support per division).

[eqqman]

...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.

Hehe...

Franco: I have top men working on our military problems...
German Ambassador: Who?
Franco: Top... men...

Good to see the land war is going well. The naval losses though have clearly been staggering. That's pretty much why I never stopped building ships in my Albanian game even when it seemed I had more than enough. You can lose it all in an instant when you have no capital ships at all for protection.

[mankle30]

Hehe...



Good to see the land war is going well. The naval losses though have clearly been staggering. That's pretty much why I never stopped building ships in my Albanian game even when it seemed I had more than enough. You can lose it all in an instant when you have no capital ships at all for protection.

Yes, and as you can see, that's why i've got about half a dozen ships in the build queue right now, and I think i ordered a couple more. The chief of the navy has been having words with Franco, who now realizes that he doesn't have the men to train troops... so he'll build ships!

[shenaniganz14]

Great work as per usual! Really looking forward to see how it develops! You excruciatingly close to total collapse a few weeks back then... Great Recovery!

[Hardradi]

Aargh, those naval losses will really hurt.

How is your Balkans Empire?

[mankle30]

Great work as per usual! Really looking forward to see how it develops! You excruciatingly close to total collapse a few weeks back then... Great Recovery!

Thanks! and thanks for staying tuned!

Aargh, those naval losses will really hurt.

How is your Balkans Empire?

Yes, the Naval losses really rule out any possibility of a Sealion until I can get a fleet rebuilt. Which also means that I'll have to bolster the ports against more invasions as UK trains more troops. When I reorganize my troops after the battle of france (still haven't played any more of the game), the Brits will realize how tough my and battle hardened my troops have become!

Balkans are untouched, with about 4 or 5 German expeditionary divisions there in case anyone tries anything.

[sprites]

So can you add a goal like conquer or puppet , or just some acquire territory?

[Stuyvesant]

Painful losses for the Spanish fleet (but then again, losing a ship named 'Republica' must not have felt too bad to Franco). You've really gobbled up a lot of French territory - I'm not familiar with the war goal system, so I'm interested in finding out if you get to keep anything.

Oh, and a belated 'Good job!' on eliminating the British expeditionary forces. That must've really hurt the British army. Perhaps the Germans will be in a position to exploit that? Especially if the Royal Navy keeps hunting for Spanish ships in the Med...

[fulcrum28]

absolutely great, congratulations. I am playing right now Spanish Civil War and I also noticed that the front is populated with many holes between units. The units seem very scattered, wonder if it is something that should be improved or it was the real situation.

[mankle30]

Painful losses for the Spanish fleet (but then again, losing a ship named 'Republica' must not have felt too bad to Franco). You've really gobbled up a lot of French territory - I'm not familiar with the war goal system, so I'm interested in finding out if you get to keep anything.

Oh, and a belated 'Good job!' on eliminating the British expeditionary forces. That must've really hurt the British army. Perhaps the Germans will be in a position to exploit that? Especially if the Royal Navy keeps hunting for Spanish ships in the Med...

thanks! I have to check if Italy's closed off the suez canal, if they can, then we can starve the British fleet of supplies in the med, and when the new ships complete, we can hunt them down and eliminate them. Or hopefully the Italians can do that for me! You'll see what happens in France in the next update!

absolutely great, congratulations. I am playing right now Spanish Civil War and I also noticed that the front is populated with many holes between units. The units seem very scattered, wonder if it is something that should be improved or it was the real situation.

I don't know what the real situation was exactly (I'm sure there are books out there), but that's the biggest challenge of fighting the SCW. The ability to organize your units and consolidate them into a coherent front (or at least trying to take and hold the Victory Point provinces) is what wins that war.

[mankle30]

July 1940:

At the beginning of July, Franco's production facilities were at full capacity, building new ships for Spain's utterly decimated navy. Under construction were:

ARNE Espana - Light cruiser, under contract from Japan - completion expected October 26.
ARNE Jaime I - Heavy cruiser - completion expected October 20
2 Destroyer flotillas - under contract from Italy - completion expected at the end of November
5 Transport flotillas - staggered completion times, with one expected completion in the middle of July
2 Light Cruisers - Canareas and Baleares - under contract from Japan - completion expected August 1941
ARNE Bailen - Battleship - completion expected September 1942



Technologically speaking, Franco hoped to achieve breakthroughs in Fighter ground crew training and mass assault this month.



Franco also telephoned Hitler and told him that he would want Nice from the spoils of France.



By the 2nd of July, Spanish troops had closed off the French escape of the southern pocket by reaching the Swiss border.



By the 6th, Franco saw his manpower dwindling as the Spanish took more and more of the French territory, pushing north and squeezing the isolated French troops in the East. The Germans push further south to make the French panic even more about losing their sovereignty.



While most of the arriving battle reports were in Spain's favour, Franco and his staffers recalled receiving one about the battle of Dijon, which claimed the lives of over 1000 brave Spanish soldiers.



On the 14th, the expected research breakthrough in fighter ground crew training was reported ready for implementation.



One week later, France was ready to crumble. The German forces were on the outskirts of Paris, Spanish troops were pushing towards the ports in Brittany and Normandy, and the Italians were sending their troops northwest to try and make themselves useful in any purpose.



By the 26th, the Spanish and Germans had closed around Paris to create a large pocket trapping the French troops inside.



On the 27th, the expected breakthrough in Mass Assault training technology had been achieved.



Finally, on July 29, with Spanish troops itching for more of a fight, but with the national manpower index at 0, France delivered her unconditional surrender, ceding two territorial areas to Spain, but setting up a rump state in what was to be called the Vichy government.



Spain was left with most of the western coast of France, much of Normandy, and a large strip in the middle of the country stretching west to east, leading to the Swiss border, as well as a small cluster around the port of Nice. Germany had taken much of the Northeast, and some isolated pockets of 2 or 3 provinces in Normandy and Brittany. Many of the German expeditionary forces would need to be used to barricade the newly acquired ports against allied invasions. In North Africa, Vichy France was given all of the land that Spain had taken at great cost to the country's men.




Thus ended the largest set of battles Spain had fought thus far, against two of the West's greatest powers. Franco was in Paris as July ended, having flown there to meet with Hitler to discuss the division of France. He marvelled at the sights, the great Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Louvre with its massive collection of art (that he hoped would not entirely be plundered by the greedy little German maniac). It was in Paris that Hitler revealed that his intention was never simply to attack the West. That was just a feint to buy time, and to acquire their resources and manpower. Hitler wanted to attack, and de-claw the Russian bear. He would need all of his allies on board. Franco took a deep breath as he boarded his plane back to Madrid. He would need time to discuss with this development with his generals and decide the best course of action.

[Baltasar]

Why did you ask for Nice out of all places? Wouldn't it be more useful to ask for provinces adjactend to your territory? Or at least something in Africa?

Hopefully you'll get something out of these French possessions and occupied areas. You'll certainly need a reserve of manpower as well as... basically everything... air cover, modernise the army and at the same time get enough forces together to defend Europe and also help out in Russia. All of this within less than a year.

[eqqman]

My advice is to DoW Vichy to get those lands back. Since you're Axis you don't have to worry about the guarantee by Germany. You might have to wait though to make sure that the Italian troops are back in Italy before you do.

[mankle30]

Why did you ask for Nice out of all places? Wouldn't it be more useful to ask for provinces adjactend to your territory? Or at least something in Africa?

Hopefully you'll get something out of these French possessions and occupied areas. You'll certainly need a reserve of manpower as well as... basically everything... air cover, modernise the army and at the same time get enough forces together to defend Europe and also help out in Russia. All of this within less than a year.

I wanted to ask for north africa, but because it goes to Vichy, you can't ask for it. I wanted to get southern France so I wouldn't have to go so far to send troops, etc. But i'm new to FTM, and i wasn't sure what would happen!

My advice is to DoW Vichy to get those lands back. Since you're Axis you don't have to worry about the guarantee by Germany. You might have to wait though to make sure that the Italian troops are back in Italy before you do.

That actually sounds like a decent plan. I have other priorities first though.

[Hardradi]

Excellent work in France. The Italian showing was very poor. Surely Hitler must consider Spain as a dependable and important part of the Axis.

I dont understand the Nice move either. Are you planning a pan Spanish-Italo Empire?

[sprites]

If you wanted France , why didn't you throw in a conquer war goal, rather than Nice?

[Stuyvesant]

Do my eyes deceive me or did you also occupy the Channel Islands? That would be some payback for the 200+ year occupation of Gibraltar by the British.

France is quite the patchwork right now. I hope you get some manpower/resources out of your new possessions.

Oh, and:

...the Louvre with its massive collection of art (that he hoped would not entirely be plundered by the greedy little German maniac).

Don't worry about that. Hitler's got the greedy fat maniac with a preference for extravagant uniforms for that.

[eqqman]

If you wanted France , why didn't you throw in a conquer war goal, rather than Nice?

Specialty war goals like the formation of Vichy take precedence over the generic 'Conquer' war goal, so that wouldn't have worked. However, the 'Acquire Territory' goals will still work, so he could have taken quite a few areas that normally would have gone to Vichy if he had wanted, such as Corsica, Indochina, etc. Whether Franco would want all these disparate areas is a different story.

[mankle30]

Haters be hatin'! haha just kidding. In hindsight, Nice was a mistake. But as I said in the beginning, this is my first play through to this degree with FtM, as well as with Spain. I will make mistakes, even though I've been playing this game for a while and have figured out a lot of the nuances, but hey, this game is so deep that even the best players have trouble playing "perfectly." That depth is one of the reasons that we all love this game! And besides, playing perfectly is not my goal.

I also said that I'm not going back to "fix" any mistakes that I make. In the real WWII, leaders couldn't undo their mistakes, and some were more costly than others. I'm trying to post updates as quickly as I can after playing the next chunk of time, and I'm not playing beyond what I'm preparing to post, so that I can't tell you what's going to happen a week, or a month down the line (unless I've just played it and am getting ready to post).

That said, I probably could have chosen another region that would be better than Nice. But I didn't want all of the north (more area to defend), and anything overseas would just be stupid. I'm already having enough trouble keeping convoys going in the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic.

But I do appreciate the participation from all of you!

[mankle30]

The two months the collapse of France was a time of rest and recuperation for Franco's forces. Franco's intention was to use this time to regain the manpower to replenish his troops, to contemplate his next move, and to entrench himself in the captured land. The first step would be collect his troops and reorganize them. He ordered all of the non-Garrison Spanish ground forces in Iberia and France to Barcelona to be accounted for. He did leave some German expeditionary forces guarding ports. Now, Franco could see that the Germans and the Italians would honour their pact, and help in port defense.



On August 9th, the Soviet Union mobilized their armed forces, much to Franco's chagrin. If Hitler attacks a mobilized Soviet Union, it will be much more difficult for him to tame the Russian bear.



On August 16, researchers reported the development of a new light artillery weapon to support the infantry.



Seeing the navy's concern over its gutted fleet, on September 1, Franco bought the rights to produce two more Agano class light cruisers from the Japanese.
On September 3, the researchers reported an advance in military operational level organization.




All through the months of August and September, the British had been chipping away at convoys, forcing Franco to produce them in high quantities. On the 22nd of September, another research breakthrough that would enhance the fighting capabilities of the Spanish infantry!



In September, intelligence reports had reported that the Italians were making too slow progress in deserts of North Africa, and Franco decided to send a corps of infantry to assist. There, they found only Iraqi forces, as the Spanish troops worked their way east in order to take the Suez Canal and cut off any British holdings in the Mediterranean.