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Or even better...

[video=youtube;GpooRERv2GA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpooRERv2GA[/video]​
 
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I must admit, when I first read 'Albania', I was rather underwhelmed. But using it as a staging post for Yugoslavia makes sense. I look forward to the Yugoslavian campaign: as you said yourself, this will be the first real test of Spain.
 
I must admit, when I first read 'Albania', I was rather underwhelmed. But using it as a staging post for Yugoslavia makes sense. I look forward to the Yugoslavian campaign: as you said yourself, this will be the first real test of Spain.

Just building the dramatic tension!
 
Chapter 19: War with Yugoslavia April 28 - May 19, 1938

Franco gave the order and the units began their attacks.

19380428FirstattacksYugo.jpg


Within 13 hours, the first battles were won, with the Yugoslavs being taken by complete surprise.

19380428battlewins.jpg


By the 29th, intelligence from our allies who had common borders with Yugoslavia told us that the forces were streaming south to meet our troops in combat. Thus, we needed to consolidate our battle lines quickly. In order to have more strength to defend against the attack coming from the north, the 8th, 9th, and 10th infantry divisions were redeployed north of the rest of the II. Corps.

19380428enemymoving-1.jpg


On the 30th, the IV. Corps was ordered to fan out . . . 3 divisions were attacked by a weak Yugoslavian counterattack at Tetovo. The Yugoslavs broke off their attack quickly, however.

19380430IVcorps.jpg


On May 1, Spain won both a naval battle, sinking a destroyer group, and won a land battle at Metkovic, we engaged with an enemy unit in the mountains of Nevesinje. The Yugoslavs had yet to mobilize their troops effectively, thus the Spaniards had a couple of weeks of easy fighting. The 4th and 5th infantry divisions that had arrived at Podgorica were ordered north and west to further extend the line.

19380501battles.jpg


On the 2nd, a couple of failed counterattacks were rebuffed at Podgorica and at Metkovic.

On May 3, Franco was informed that his troops were getting bombed heavily and it was decided to push to Beograd as quickly as possible to take the airfields there. While Franco could send his interceptors, his battle planners were afraid that they would take too much supply to be able to maintain the infantry. Thus, the infantry would have to take heavier losses than otherwise necessary.

19380503Yugo.jpg


Three divisions (11th, 12th, 13th) were engaged to take Skopje, Macedonia, the first of cities deemed important to securing a surrender of Yugoslavia.

On May 4th, the government decided to nationalize the private sector, increasing industrial capacity, but also increasing dissent. Franco was informed that his troops had won the battle of Pristina in Kosovo. The 19th infantry was engaged at Cevo, and while other troops were nearby and able to assist, Mola, in command of the theatre, decided to allow the 19th to continue on its own for two reasons. The first was that any commitment by the available division (the 18th) would render it useless for another 90+ hours for it to reorganize. The second reason was to give General Alonso more battle experience.

On the 5th, the troops had almost linked up the two fronts, and two battles raged, in Cevo and Skopje.

19380505yugo.jpg


On the 6th, two more battles opened up, the 16th Infantry division at Mostar, and the 20th at Nevesinje. The battle of Skopje was finally won, although many more Spanish lives were lost than Yugoslavian.

By May 7th, Spain had advanced technologies in industrial production, and had linked the Dubrovnik and Albanian sections of the front. By taking only one important province, Franco had the Yugoslavians about 25% of the way to surrender. It was proposed that he need only take Belgrade, Split and Sarajevo to finish the job. Ultimately, the 4th Infantry was called in to assist the 19th. The battles of Stip and Cevo were won, but not without significant Spanish casualties.

19380507westernfront.jpg


On the 9th, the 2nd infantry division engaged a severely depleted Yugoslavian mountain division at Kraljevo. That battle ended within a couple of hours. The 17th infantry division had arrived at Korcula and was ordered on to Split.

19380509yugo.jpg


On the 10th, the 3rd Infantry had won at Pozega and were nearing the outskirts of Belgrade, and 16th won at Mostar, near Sarajevo.

On the 11th, Nevisinje fell.

On the 12th, under heavy bombing, the 18th infantry division was ordered into Sarajevo.

19380512movetosarajevo.jpg


On the 13th, the Yugoslavians had arranged a counterattack at Foca to stall the 18th’s movement to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Almost immediately, the counterattack was broken off. It turned out that the counterattack was more of a feeler and was ended quickly in order to more efficiently defend.

19380513sarajevo.jpg


At 5 AM on the 14th, the attack (with 2 divisions) on the Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade began.

19380514belgrade.jpg


On the 15th, two divisions in the east were ordered onto trains to get to the west to plug holes.

Early on the 16th, there was good news and bad news. Beograd had been taken, but Konjic had been lost. Split had also been taken, and only Sarajevo was left before Yugoslavia would capitulate.

19380516beograd.jpg


On the 18th, Sarajevo was won, and when the surrender message came into General Mola early on the 19th of May, the 18th Infantry Division was sitting on the city.

19380518sarajevo.jpg


Franco was so delighted with the division that caused the final surrender of the Yugoslavians, that he renamed the division the 18th “Sarajevo” Division.

19380519sarajevodiv.jpg
 
You're right about the biplanes being out of style, but I think it must be an old file photo that the War Department put on Franco's desk. I mean, what bi-plane can go 500 kph? I mean, I don't think they get to that speed while falling from the sky after getting shot down!

You're right, I think. WWI biplanes could go around 200 kph. While being improved, I doubt that they would be able to go faster than say 250 kph.
 
Yugoslavia is yours. Have fun with the hodgepodge of ethnicities - and the partisans that are sure to follow. :)

Add to this the Albanian, Greek and Bulgarians... May be further expansions should be directed somewhere else? How about reconquering the Spanish posessions in Latin and South America?
 
Yugoslavia is yours. Have fun with the hodgepodge of ethnicities - and the partisans that are sure to follow. :)

Add to this the Albanian, Greek and Bulgarians... May be further expansions should be directed somewhere else? How about reconquering the Spanish posessions in Latin and South America?

Franco bringing back the old Iberian philosophy of 'Convivencia,' everyone will get along! Next chapter will come soon... couldn't sleep last night!
 
Add to this the Albanian, Greek and Bulgarians... May be further expansions should be directed somewhere else? How about reconquering the Spanish posessions in Latin and South America?

Heh... or, to be really wacky, keep pushing north until Spain is in control of Poland and the Baltics. Make sure that monochrome map hanging in Berlin is beige and not grey...
 
Heh... or, to be really wacky, keep pushing north until Spain is in control of Poland and the Baltics. Make sure that monochrome map hanging in Berlin is beige and not grey...

Hahaha. I probably could, although Poland would probably be a real challenge, since the tech levels of Spain started so low. As you'll see, Franco has a healthy fear of the majors and doesn't feel ready to put himself in their direct path. Besides, you should never conquer something you're not prepared to defend (unless you really don't care). Spain just doesn't have the MP or the IC capacity to build an army big enough to defend all that space....
 
Chapter 20: War with Bulgaria May 20 - August 15, 1938

Franco now had an Industrial Capacity of 96! With the extra IC, he chose to produce 3 Garrison divisions for his newly conquered territory.

On May 20, 3 more artillery brigades were completed, and another 3 were ordered.

19380520prod.jpg


They were sent to Dubrovnik to be linked with 3 of the infantry divisions over in Yugoslavia. Along with the artillery, one of the cavalry divisions was sent to Yugoslavia to police any possible partisan uprisings.

On June 22, with the need for supplies lower, and the upgrades to the infantry rifles complete, Franco went to Berlin to begin speaking with Hitler about other armament needs. He was successful in obtaining a production licence for an early medium armoured brigade. This would be blended with the light armour brigade, with motorized infantry added to create the first Spanish Armoured division.

19380622prodlicence.jpg
nbfz_mbannerman1_204.jpg
PzKpfw.NbFz.VI

Franco also decided that Bulgaria offered too sweet of a target to not attack, thus Spain would look to expand their conquests beginning on July 1.

On July 1, Franco let Mola handle the battle and declared war on Bulgaria.

19380701dowbulgaria.jpg


By the 3rd, the first four battles were won. By the 6th, 3 more were won.

19380711progressBulgaria.jpg
Status of the War in Bulgaria on July 11

By July 14, Sofiya, the capital was in Spanish Hands.

19380714progressBulgaria.jpg
Status of the War in Bulgaria on July 14

By the 18th, the attacks were moving east in a fairly coherent advance.

19380718progress.jpg
Status of the War in Bulgaria on July 18

On the 19th, there was an ineffective counterattack on Sofiya.

On July 20, Spanish forces had won at Plovdiv, the second major city. Now, they only needed to take the coastal city of Varna.

19380720plovdiv.jpg

19380727progressbulg.jpg
Status of the War in Bulgaria on July 27

On the 30th, Franco was informed of 3 technological advances... supply production, industrial efficiency and agriculture.

19380730advances.jpg


On August 4, the 14th infantry division was attacked at Silven. The attack was broken off the next day.

19380804silven.jpg


By the 5th, two more attacks had begun, one at Varna (the final important city), and one at Yambol.

19380805bulgaria.jpg
Status of the War in Bulgaria on August 5

On the 7th, Yambol had been taken, but was counterattacked.

On the 9th, the first battle of Varna was lost...as was the battle of Yambol. Franco was displeased. It appeared that Mola was too cautious in his approach. He would let him finish this war, but would have to take command himself in future, more important battles.

19380809lossvarna.jpg


Through the 10th, Gen. Volkmann led another attack, this one was proving more effective.

19380810varna.jpg


At midnight on the 13th, Varna had been taken. A brief counterattack began on the 14th, but that was repulsed.

19380813varnawin.jpg


On the 15th, the Bulgarians surrendered, allowing Spain to annex another Balkan country. To maintain a tradition, Franco renamed the 12th Infantry division, the first to arrive in Varna, the 12th ‘Varna’ Division.

19380815bulgariasurrender.jpg
19380815Varnadivision.jpg
 
As expected. Next stop, Greece.

I can neither confirm nor deny any theories you may have. As you can understand, secrecy in matters of National Security is of the utmost importance.
 
Either way I assume Canaris isn't hanging around anymore trying to persuade Franco to stay out of the war.
 
Either way I assume Canaris isn't hanging around anymore trying to persuade Franco to stay out of the war.

Nope. We're already in the axis....so Franco's already planning for his role in a wider war. Details of that will be in the next update.
 
Chapter 21: War with Hungary part 1 - August 16 - September 30, 1938

Franco decided that the conquest of the east could possibly have one more target. Hungary was drifting quickly to the axis, Any other country in the Balkans would be too difficult to defend in the case of war with the allies, or with the soviets. Romania and Turkey had a border with the Soviet Union, and Franco was unsure if his troops would be able to cover that amount of territory effectively. Greece presented too many ports to effectively garrison. Thus, he sent his air force to Belgrade, and repositioned the 4 corps of infantry. The third army (III. and IV. Corps) was sent to Zagreb, and the first army (I. and II. Corps) was sent to Osijek.

On the 19th, the first new garrison division was completed. That same day, Franco negotiated a deal with Mussolini to produce under licence a brigade of motorized infantry, which, along with an engineer brigade (to be purchased soon) would complete the first armoured division.

19380820licence.jpg


On the 29th, the 2nd garrison division was completed. The next day brought the completion of the airfield at Bilbao. After being turned down to produce a naval bomber by the Italians, the overtures to the Japanese were accepted.

19380831licencejap.jpg


On the 31st, Franco also ordered the army to fan out to get in position to attack Hungary.

19380831deployment.jpg


On September 1, the third Garrison division was complete, and all three were sent to guard the ports in Yugoslavia and Albania.

After defeating Bulgaria, Franco had commissioned a study to determine the production and training of forces to meet the war goals that Hitler had discussed with him. These goals would be to a) defend the “back door” to Hitler’s Europe, b) take Gibraltar, and c) take away French North-African holdings.

It was assumed that 1 corps (5 Inf div – 2Inf 1art) would be left in the Balkans to defend against possible allied incursions. Should there be a great number of incursions, this force could be bulked up after the initial tasks were complete.

At bare minimum, 2 Infantry corps (5 Inf div – 3Inf 1Art) would be needed to defend the 10 province border with France. There would also be at least 1 Mountain division (already in training) to augment that. If Spain was to go on the offensive, Franco would need at least one more corps at the French border.

A minimum of 2 corps, preferably 3 corps (3Inf, 1Art) would be required to take Gibraltar, and 1 corps (3Inf) would be deployed to Spanish Morocco to take the French holdings there and link up with the Italians who will push west.

This meant that a minimum of 6, but preferably 8 Infantry corps would need to be available. With 4 corps already in service, Spain would need to increase this number by between 50 and 100%. Additionally, to bulk up the forces needed for France and Gibraltar, three of the existing infantry corps would get an additional infantry brigade. One infantry division at Cadiz (2Inf) would be broken up and three infantry brigades would be trained to give the 4th Corps their 3Inf configuration for North Africa.

Having crunched the numbers, the Minister of Armaments, Juan March Ordinas, announced that under the current situation, producing the additional brigades, 3 new infantry corps, and a minimum of 6 Garrison divisions (to protect the Atlantic ports against invasion), would be impossible by March 1940. While the numbers for IC were deliberately cautious (no one knew what the IC would be exactly upon defeat of Hungary), and did not take into account reductions of cost due to development of increased practical knowledge, to produce the desired troops at the level of Specialist training would be impossible, exceeding the expected available 38184 IC days (at conservatively low estimates) by over 17,000 IC days or over 45%.

Thus, Franco decided to do two things to help alleviate this discrepancy. First, he would change the training laws to basic training. This would drop the discrepancy by over 5000 IC days, to 32% over min. available IC. Additionally, the number of IC days to complete units already under construction would drop proportionally, and it would be hoped that (combined with the improved efficiency through research and accumulation of practicals), he would have 7 corps of infantry in place by the time Hitler’s wider war called Spain into it.

Additionally, he would request help from his allies to defend the ports of Spain. He hoped that this would result in the gifting of expeditionary forces by the other axis members. Any help would decrease the number of units needed to be built, and would allow training to focus on units used for offensive purposes rather than defensive ones.

19380901basictraining.jpg


On September 15, another interceptor wing was complete. Franco decided to begin strengthening his army. He ordered the first three infantry brigades (to beef up existing divisions) to begin the army build up.

19380915prod.jpg


On the 15th, with his troops into position, the attack began.

19380915hungdep.jpg


Franco deployed his bombers and interceptors. The interceptors were ordered to intercept enemy bombers attacking his infantry, and the bombers were tasked first with attacking Pecs. A single Hungarian interceptor made life difficult for the bombers... One piece of information that was passed along to Franco was that the Hungarian troops were completely mobilized. This would not be nearly the cakewalk that they had in Yugoslavia.

On the 20th, Pecs had fallen, the first of the VP regions.

19380920pecswin.jpg


On the 27th, Spanish troops had neared Budapest, having taken the province of Monor. The germans had also taken the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.

19380927monor.jpg
19380927munich.jpg


On the 28th, there was a counterattack at Monor.

On the 29th, Monor was looking dicey, so the 6th and 8th Infantry divisions were sent to help defend.

19380928monor.jpg


On the 30th, a battle was won, and Operational Level Organization was researched to another level.

19380930.jpg
 
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