Chapter 3: Romania as a regional superpower
In the previous chapter we could see that the Hungarians got easily beaten by Romania. The Hungarian territory is very useful, because it gives us some extra IC, LS, MP and resources. The most important part of our victory is that they can’t claim Transylvania anymore. We started to build some transport ships for campaigns in the future.
Shortly after we conquered Hungary, the Germans literally took Sudetenland – as part of the Treaty of Munich – from Czechoslovakia, our next target…
Treaty of Munich
Production...
Because the Germans annexed Sudetenland, we didn’t have to rush. A month after the end of the last war, we got most of our divisions stationed next to the Czechoslovakian border and could start to expand our border again.
Romania DoW Czechoslovakia
The planning for the invasion
The initial part of the war is pretty successful. After two weeks of fighting, we conquered almost the half country and the Czechoslovakians were going down on all fronts. The Czechoslovakians could stabilize the front, so we could reorganized the entire Army for a final breakthrough.
After a couple weeks we force their troops back and we surrounded their capital, Prague. A few days later, we captures Prague and the Czechoslovakians ended the war. Romania grew again!
Planning for the invasion
Initial part goes very well
The Czechoslovakian army is forced back to Prague
We encircled Prague
Czechoslovakia surrenders
After we are done with the Czechoslovakians, we transport our troops to the Bulgarian border. We use the time until mid March to recover from our two previous wars. The manpower was dropped to 0 and by mid March we got a few manpower again. This fact means we are ready to expanding our borders further.
As we said, we stationed our troops next to the Bulgarian border. Bulgaria is our next target, but on the same time we declared war on Bulgaria, we also involve Turkey in this conflict. To make things a bit harder, we declared war on the major power Italy too! Why? They are not in the Axis now and it makes things very interesting I guess… maybe not the best decision, but without gambling, there is no fun!
Turkey is military a pretty weak country. Nevertheless they can be hard to beat if we only attack via the Bosporus. The supreme command of the Romanian Army is satisfied with the news the first transport ships are ready to carry a few divisions. This could be very useful in the war against Turkey.
But.. first of all we need to conquer Bulgaria. The Bulgarians have a decent army, not very strong but also not very weak. The fact they aren't prepared well, could make this campaign easier.
The first days of the war we force the Bulgarian army back. The Romanian Army is prepared well and has better equipment, which is decisive. The war goes really well and we get some important points as Varna, Plovdiv and.. After we captured Sofia, the the Bulgarians give up and we annex them. ... weeks of fighting. The Romanian Army did it again.
Planning of the invasion of Bulgaria
First week goes pretty good. We captured Varna.
We immediatly send some forces to Turkey in order to stop a possible Turkish offensive
Bulgarian army is retreating
Sofia is captured by the mighty Romanians..
and then the Bulgarians surrender
After the Bulgarians surrendered, we immediately send our troops to Istanbul, to prevent the Turks to launch an attack. Crossing the Bosporus is very hard and our first attacks aren't successful at all.
We send a division to the south, where it has to capture the city Izmir. As we announced before, there were some transport ships ready to carry some divisions. Because we can't get a bridgehead, we have to use the transport fleet. We have to clear the province of Gebze, that is on the other side of the Bosporus, so our main force can push forward.
We invade the provinces of Kandira, Sakarya & Akcakoca and immediately try to get a port to supply our landed troops. After we got the port, we advance to the Bosporus. We drive out the Turks and then our main force can push forward. We immediately force the Turks back on all fronts. We capture over the cities Dücze and Izmir. After that, the Turks surrender.
We won the battle of Istanbul, but we can't pass the Bosporus.
We invade some divisions behind the Bosporus and capture several provinces
Turkey surrenders and we annex their territory.
Again the Romanian Army appears to be very strong. The army is well trained, got some good equipment, has decent generals and uses some good working tactics.
Conquering Bulgaria and Turkey gave us a great IC, MP, LS and resource boost. This is very useful for the growth of our army, which will include a small navy in the near future.
Romania in Europe
Some notes:
- Our IC raise from 56 to 100
- Almost all resources increased a lot
- We got 7 manpower after the several wars.
- Monthly we gain 11,3 manpower.
- Officer-ratio is 108% (was 95%)
Next chapter: coming up!
In the next chapter we see if the Romanians keep expanding their borders or they take a couple of months rest. The army did some hard work the past months and they lost a lot of men. They could use some period to recover. Nevertheless the supreme command and the government are in the winning mood, so what will it be?
A clash with Italy could be very disastrous, so the Romanian people have to prepare on a hard future in the next years.