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Chapter Nine - The Fall of France

Well, This is War(warning, Serenity spoilers).

As promised, we're going to take a look at how the one serious battle not involving Canada is shaping up, the Fall of France. Frankly, the French have hung in there pretty well, considering the historical outcome. They've fought seriously for nearly a month with the Bosch at the outskirts of Paris the entire time. Here's a look at three separate dates in the battles around Paris.



By mid-July the Germans had the ability to attack Paris directly, though the city had more troops than civilians by that point. In fact, Paris contained more troops than the entire Canadian Army. A week later the Germans could launch a three-pronged attack on the French capital. Yet by the 9th of August, with France holding only Versailles, the Germans able to launch attacks on Paris from five directions, the French held on. Elsewhere the battle ranged from dire to comical.



There was no real French resistance around Vichy, that goes without saying. In bits of the Maginot Line French troops drank wine and said "see, our defenses against the Germans are excellent". Norway remained unmolested. Here's a birds-eye view.



As luck would have it, I took two screenshots at the Germans entered Paris, before and after.



France, of course, succumbed at midnight.

I ordered my two marine divisions shipped from Canada, and for safety as much as anything else, directed the destroyers which had been in the Straits of Messina to do convoy raiding. I was counting on the inability of the AI to co-ordinate attacks, as well as the difficulty of crossing the straits to a contested landing. Let's see how that works out, shall we? But first, a look at our production seems to be in order. Remember that we have many transports to replace, and we're being bled of convoys as well. The Mediterranean is not a safe place to sail, yet.



Yes, I'm the genius who has a just-started Convoy at the top of the list and a half-finished Convoy working at 45%. I changed that later, as far as you know. My Escorts will be done soon, however, so I won't need all those Convoys. I've had success with setting automatic control to reinforcements or upgrades, depending, but for some reason this game I had trouble with the settings and had to move things manually. It's not a big deal, but I do like setting and forgetting. On the other hand, automatic settings didn't give me the warning icon when you have excess IC in production. It's usually no big deal to have a wish list at the bottom of the queue, however. I wish I could rename my ships in the queue. I'd call my transports "Dutchess of OMG!" and "Empress of We're All Gonna Die!" Or maybe Indomitable and Revenge.

The upshot of the production screen is this: we have two transports coming in October to replace the six we lost. I'm hoping those are two really good transports. We have a single dive bomber squadron coming in April of 1941, basically forever. We're almost keeping up with Escort and Convoy losses, and we have a few brigade attachments, but no troops, in the queue. That armored car is the second of the bunch, so we will have a speedy exploitation division before long. All in all, what we have in the Med is what we have to work with for the forseeable future. Here's the Med after the fall of France:



Obviously, Vichy returned the part of Sardinia which France had occupied to Italy. Since many of my losses in convoys were to Italian raiders in that area, I thought I'd try to take Sardinia. I now have marines, who are adept at amphibious attacks, so we try the direct approach again.



Notice I sent destroyers this time. Nothing like being down to two tranports while trying to island-hop to make you appreciate the value of those babies. Still, I attract some attention, and not just because Canada's industrial might increased by another 2.5% during the invasion. Italy sent one screen to attack my three screens and two transports, and also to attack the two allied submarine squadrons. Then everybody joined in. The Italians sent a serious fleet. The British countered. Plus, since I can read a battle report, or at least identify primary colors, I determined that marines could not evict entrenched reguar army troops from a base, and I broke off the attack.



Well, we lost 272 of 12,000, killing 195 out of 6,000, so perhaps my evaluation of the marines was wrong. Being out of the firing line was still a good idea, however, so we retreated to Sicily to re-think our plan. We're the only ones who can liberate Sardinia right now. Liberating Sardinia seems like a logical step, assuming we're not going to take on all of Italian north Africa. It seems to me that I cannot relax yet in Sicily, so Sardinia looks to be the better bet. I'm gonna have to race in and race out, taking a province near a port rather than taking a port directly, as in Sicily.

After four days, the Allies won the naval battle, and it seems as though my little Dieppe-like raid was worth it in the end.



On the other hand, maybe Sardinia isn't what I should be worried about. Looking only slightly ahead, we can see that someone's beginning to take an interest in our handiwork.

 
Yeah, funny about HOI3, even if the enemy outnumbers you 100:1, if you are on the other side of a strait, you are godly.
Also, the intial charge of Marines is the hardest part and you should have let them continue(but if not succes, invade the 2 provinces around the port).
 
The reported strength on your Marine counters seems a bit low. How many brigades are in each division?
 
You will easily be able to hold off the enemy in Messina, 3 div's is a good defence and you have backups. Keep rotating them so that no one's org gets too low, but always keep 2 entrenched. And the other post about attacking Sardinia on the sides of the port is also good. Land on opposite sides and hit in a 2-prong land attack, that'll drive em out. Good job so far, those 2 islands should be yours for good, the AI most likely will not be able to get them back, and you're now occupying a good deal of his troops which he can't use elsewhere.
If you want one last piece of advice from a Canadian player, just hold for now, build up that army for a much larger assault somewhere else in like 2 years. At least 4-5 full corps worth, Canada can manage that by 1942/3. Africa should be your only other realistic goal in the mean time.
 
That's alot of german troops, But you should be able to hold them.

Let's hope you all are right!

Yeah, funny about HOI3, even if the enemy outnumbers you 100:1, if you are on the other side of a strait, you are godly.
Also, the initial charge of Marines is the hardest part and you should have let them continue(but if not success, invade the 2 provinces around the port).

I agree, except that my transports we in danger if I'd continued the direct assault. Should have landed nearby like the less-wrong invasion of Siciliy.

The reported strength on your Marine counters seems a bit low. How many brigades are in each division?

Two brigades in each. I'm at such low manpower that I think the best I'll do in almost any division is 2 brigades of infantry and one support brigade. The only exception is the Division(s?) I made early which have 3 brigades.

You will easily be able to hold off the enemy in Messina, 3 div's is a good defence and you have backups. Keep rotating them so that no one's org gets too low, but always keep 2 entrenched. And the other post about attacking Sardinia on the sides of the port is also good. Land on opposite sides and hit in a 2-prong land attack, that'll drive em out. Good job so far, those 2 islands should be yours for good, the AI most likely will not be able to get them back, and you're now occupying a good deal of his troops which he can't use elsewhere.
If you want one last piece of advice from a Canadian player, just hold for now, build up that army for a much larger assault somewhere else in like 2 years. At least 4-5 full corps worth, Canada can manage that by 1942/3. Africa should be your only other realistic goal in the mean time.

Playing the waiting game until Germany invades the USSR or Yugoslavia, then invading Italy from a secondary position might be a good idea, too.

These both sound like good advice, too!

Update tomorrow.
 
Chapter Ten - Holding On

Last time, France fell, and Canada's invasion forces became arguably the most likely victim of Axis power. There is only one Allied nation in possession of Axis national territory, and that's us. Also, there's no RAF and no Royal Navy between the Axis and Sicily. Not often, anyway. The Royal Navy does pass through now and then, but really we're just trying to Hold On (hey, he's Canadian!).

Between August 23rd, 1940 and August 26th we lost four Convoys and two Escorts, all on the Halifax-Palermo route. We did manange to sink one Italian convoy on the Taranto-Dodecanese route, but it's not like that got us a Convoy back. We have a self-interested reason for cleaning up the Mediteranean of Italian bases outside of Italy proper, and someday, in Italy itself perhaps. On the other hand, we have 9 manpower available on August 24th, barely enough for a two-brigade division of mountaineers (8MP) and not enough for a three-brigade division of infantry (10MP). We need to stick to places which can be taken by relatively few troops. We have around 100,000 men, and not many are in the pipeline.

My screenshots show my destroyers moving about the central Med, probably on a Convoy hunt where they had some success, as I mentioned. This is not the best use of them, perhaps, but with aerial raiding from Italy and the ever-present danger of being beaten by a far more powerful Italian navy, I felt that cannot leave them in the Straits of Messina 100% of the time, as much as I'd like to. As you can see below, I have a large number of enemy troops to worry about (large stacks of troops show up here as one-unit flat - we know that my armies in the northeast of Sicily are made up of many units).



I order up four units of UK-licensed artillery (serial), bringing our manpower down to five. We develop Small Ship ASW, as you can see in this shot of Messina and vicinity.



Knowing what I know now, let me say I regret setting the DDs in this shot to Convoy Raiding. Actually, knowing only what I could clearly see then, I regret having set my DDs in this shot to Convoy Raiding. Still, it's not as though the ships did nothing to protect the straits. This one looks like a fair fight:



It's not like a hockey fight between their goon against our Russian sniper. All that stands between stacks of Axis troops and Messina is five modern DD flotillas, one ancient DD flotilla (Destroyer Flotilla 1) and an amphibious fight where I ought to have have the upper hand, until their superior numbers and perhaps quality come into play. In the quick naval battle no ships were sunk, but Canada held its own and forced the enemy to flee! Unfortunately, the next naval battle was a fairer fight. It's their goon against our goon. Italy has a bigger goon than Canada.



Two Cruisers and three DDs against five DDs (one of ours is off for repairs, he'll take a few stitches and be right back). We really cannot take too many of these fights, and this is not Italy's real navy, no BBs or even larger cruisers I believe. In any event, 100% of Canada's effective fighting Navy is taking on 10-15% of Italy's fighting navy and having real trouble keeping the straits closed. Our navy is forced to flee, none sunk, but clearly in danger.

I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that the AI has proven that it can co-ordinate multiple services and multiple countries.



The bad news is that this means 18,000 Canadian defenders are being attacked by 35,000 Axis attackers, who possess armor, and massive reserves in the immediate vicinity. On the other hand, as problematic as armor is in general, when huge metal objects cross a body of water, they lose something in translation.



That -99% amphibious penalty ought to take the wind from the Italian sails. On the other hand, even assuming the armor drops out, exhausted, I'm not sure this is going to end well.



More important than the reserves the Axis have in the attacking province, this screenshot shows that once the attack is commenced, you cannot cut it off by re-blockading the Straits of Messina. I'm gonna need a bigger boat. Then we get still more bad news, the Italian close support attacks are proving effective (and I stopped taking screenshots of every one, you'll get the idea).



The progression of the battle shows a few things. First, it's tough for the enemy to knock me out of Messina across the straits. Second, it's far from impossible. Seeing the final image on the right, we can tell that as badly as the front-line Axis units are doing, they have fresh units which could be part of the battle, and that's not counting the ones they have in nearby provinces. Third, since the terrain in Messina is hills, and since I am nothing if not a military genius, I finally figure out that I should add some mountain troops to the defense.



Which makes me only slightly less perceptive than the AI. Maybe the AI planned to soften up the defenders with regular army and then finish with fresh mountain troops? Nah. Only a brilliant strategist could come up with such a plan. In the midst of battle, we achieved a Mass Assault Advance, adding 5% to Infantry morale among other benefits. That has to help, and I don't believe it takes an IC investment to implement. On the 18th, after failing to move any of the reserve divisions into the attack, the Axis lose the battle of Messina. I must say, I like the casualty ratio here.



Maybe I should let them across the straits now and then?

Long term, the trouble is that, like that loss in Catania, even if my own reinforcements would theoretically let me hold the province, I might have the same problem I had in Catania and the Axis had in Messina, losing even though you have the men to win. Possessing reserves doesn't get them into the fight. I mean, the Axis had days to get their mountain divisions into that fight. Do I really want a German Mountain Corps sitting in Sicily? I think not. Nonetheless, between the 26,000 I killed or captured taking the island, the 3682 I killed in this battle, plus others I'm counting 30,000 Axis troops killed or captured by Canada so far in the war.

And we're still the only ones occupying serious enemy territory.
 
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Maybe I should let them across the straits now and then?

Long term, the trouble is that, like that loss in Catania, even if my own reinforcements would theoretically let me hold the province, I might have the same problem I had in Catania and the Axis had in Messina, losing even though you have the men to win. Possessing reserves doesn't get them into the fight. I mean, the Axis had days to get their mountain divisions into that fight. Do I really want a German Mountain Corps sitting in Sicily? I think not. Nonetheless, between the 26,000 I killed or captured taking the island, the 3682 I killed in this battle, plus others I'm counting 30,000 Axis troops killed or captured by Canada so far in the war.

You can see from the piles of Axis stacks across the straits that Sicily is acting as a real force multiplier for you. As pointed out already, it can be sound advice to let the enemy attack you and wear down their manpower, but to do that safely you need to have a reserve of men in an adjacent province you can use to rotate through the battle if it goes on long enough. But doing that might also require a level or two in the tech that increases your `defend reinforcement chance` if you don't want to end up like the Germans just did, having plenty of divisions just sitting in a queue trying to get into the battle.

You might also benefit from having some Engineer brigades over there to stiffen the defense a little if you think you need it. If you feel your manpower is low, this could be a good time to invest in support brigades.
 
Why didn't the AI get a massive stacking penalty? I didn't see it in the screenshot with the modifiers (although I did see the icon for it; strange!)
 
Reminds me of my Republican Allies game when i invaded Sardinia, used it as a staging ground for Scilly and then didnt have the naval power so i had to fight each of them...

Those poor soldiers coming through in the water getting slaughterd by Spanish Arms.
 
Good job holding them, and if you look at the number of troops on the other side of the straight, that's alot of troops that aren't helping Germany or Italy in Russia or somewhere else.
 
You can see from the piles of Axis stacks across the straits that Sicily is acting as a real force multiplier for you. As pointed out already, it can be sound advice to let the enemy attack you and wear down their manpower, but to do that safely you need to have a reserve of men in an adjacent province you can use to rotate through the battle if it goes on long enough. But doing that might also require a level or two in the tech that increases your `defend reinforcement chance` if you don't want to end up like the Germans just did, having plenty of divisions just sitting in a queue trying to get into the battle.

You might also benefit from having some Engineer brigades over there to stiffen the defense a little if you think you need it. If you feel your manpower is low, this could be a good time to invest in support brigades.

Good advice on the research! As to support brigades, I think I make some more, and I'll get manpower someday, but not for an update or two I'm afraid.

EDIT - I loaded up my current save to just add the research and I cannot find it! I see in a Google search that a commander can increase the chance, is there a research item that I can do? I looked over all the Infantry ones, even Land Theory. Cannot find it.

EDIT #2 - Grand Battle Plan in Land Tech, but requires Level three of, iirc Central Planning, and I have level one. So it's going to be 18 months or so before I get it. I need a checklist of basic but obscure techs that any country needs to research.

Why didn't the AI get a massive stacking penalty? I didn't see it in the screenshot with the modifiers (although I did see the icon for it; strange!)

My guess is that the earlier screenshot was when the Axis had a small-ish number of units attacking, and I didn't have a detail shot of the numbers after their stack grew. I wonder whether the stacking penalty isn't calculated based on who is attacking only, not who is left behind. In other words, are the attackers considered to be across the straits for stacking purposes (they certainly are for cut-them-off-with-ships purposes once the attack starts), so that 50 units in a province and 4-6 (or whatever) attacking get no penalty.

Good job holding them, and if you look at the number of troops on the other side of the straight, that's alot of troops that aren't helping Germany or Italy in Russia or somewhere else.

Well done Canadians.

Thanks! Yeah, Canada vs the Axis, let me at them!

Update Sunday.
 
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Is far as i know, there isn't a defend reinforcement chance, but there is a combat reinforcement chance Land tech, but can't remember the name right now, but i think it's in the tree that's third from the top. One of the "special" ones.

Otherwise looking forward to the next update on sunday!!!
 
Good advice on the research! As to support brigades, I think I make some more, and I'll get manpower someday, but not for an update or two I'm afraid.

EDIT - I loaded up my current save to just add the research and I cannot find it! I see in a Google search that a commander can increase the chance, is there a research item that I can do? I looked over all the Infantry ones, even Land Theory. Cannot find it.

Is far as i know, there isn't a defend reinforcement chance, but there is a combat reinforcement chance Land tech, but can't remember the name right now, but i think it's in the tree that's third from the top. One of the "special" ones.

Otherwise looking forward to the next update on Sunday!!!

Yes, my mistake. It's a bonus that applies to both sides of the battle and helps improve the chances of units in reserve moving to the front line.
 
Take Sardina ASAP.

Why? Well, Sicily gives you about 2 IC, but Allies occupation policies reduces that to almost nothing.

Sardina gives you Leadership, and the occupation policies barely reduce it. Therefore Sardina is more valuable (and easier to defend).
 
Is far as i know, there isn't a defend reinforcement chance, but there is a combat reinforcement chance Land tech, but can't remember the name right now, but i think it's in the tree that's third from the top. One of the "special" ones.
It's a bonus that applies to both sides of the battle and helps improve the chances of units in reserve moving to the front line.

Thanks!

Take Sardina ASAP.

Why? Well, Sicily gives you about 2 IC, but Allies occupation policies reduces that to almost nothing.

Sardina gives you Leadership, and the occupation policies barely reduce it. Therefore Sardina is more valuable (and easier to defend).

Very true on Sardinia, but it looks like for now I'm being drawn in another direction.
 
Chapter Eleven - Living in the Spotlight

In the last chapter I claimed that Canada's occupation of Sicily, the only Axis home provinces controlled by any Allied country, meant that Canada was living in an Axis Spotlight, for how ever long that lasts. Canada's theme song is : "It's not Easy to be Me". Granted, I'm sure the Germans are vexing the Brits, but no Axis ground troops that I see anywhere are attacking the Allies. Even Norway has been ignored since the German DoW.

Meanwhile in Canada, on September 23, 1940 an underling approached a member of the high command and whispered "have you noticed we're not researching Operational Level Organization, sir? It would reduce the time it takes to organize a new attack by a full day". Shortly after that the high commander announced "I've just had a brilliant idea" and the problem was rectified. Hurrah for reading other AARs. I've researched that before, but as countries which had 16 slots (Italy) or some unGodly number (the USA), not with five or six research slots, and it just didn't occur to me as a member of the elite "must do" topics.

The allies certainly have plenty of fleets in the Western Mediteranean, these are the fleets in the area shown here or to the west. Nothing east of here is shown (i.e. no Alexandira or Haifa) and nothing in port.



Nonetheless, I am frequently the one fighting off the Italians at sea, mostly because my fleets are small enough to serve as effective bait.



I did not get screenshots of my other ship targets (and the screenshot shown was before any of my ships had found a target). We won, without help, but each fight costs us a flotilla for a time and I doubt the Italians are hurting much from their fights with me. Let's hope they run into Brits and French now and then. My admiral got 3.8% experience, 91.5% to 95.3%. Not bad for a few hours' work. And then, in an event which knocks down my claim to be the true focus of attention of the entire Axis Alliance, Germany DoWs Yugoslavia and Greece at the same time (they shouldn't have been standing so close).



No blaming Italy for this sideshow. And then, when I put my fleet into port for a little R&R (I forget why I did that), the Axis decide that they really do want to recapture Messina. To quote Monty in "Patton", Damn.



I hope that you find these small-unit actions interesting. I figure that battles across a large front are merely many battles such as these. Granted, a broad front is not the same thing over and over, at least not geographically, but I will be attacking other places. I also hope that Germany finds other sources of amusement and leaves me mana a mano with Mussolini before too long. In any event, there were numbers here which suprised me. First, mountain troops get a reduced penalty for amphibious operations, -60% instead of -80%. Who knew? That gives them 40% strength where normal units work at 20% strength, a huge difference. Second, the fact that the Axis (or just the Italians) are fighting for their homeland gives them a boost. Home ice advantage, makes sense. Third, ignoring the penalty for night fighting which comes and goes and is the same for all, the net result is that the invading mountain division operates at no effective penalty (-60 offset by +25 +15 +20, though the end result seems to be 34.6% after the night penalty). Lower than I'd like, anyway. The Straits of Messina aren't quite the defensive barrier I expected. On the other hand, my defense and other modifiers are quite good, especially the mountain division. Why not move them all here, you ask? Brilliant strategy, thanks Napoleon! I move one toward Messina, then the other, for reasons we'll see now.



The top bar isn't moving, so the mainmap percentage indicator isn't screaming "trouble". However, I have to say that I was in a bit of a panic, seeing my Org bars dropping far more rapidly than the enemy bars. German Org mid-day the 28th was 9/11/42/21 while Canadian Org was 16/9/18/11 and my reinforcements hadn't even arrived, nevermind found a spot in the line of battle. I was afraid to retreat even a single Division for fear it would spark a general withdrawal. I don't know if manual retreats have the same effect, but from my AI-driven withdrawals, one unit leaving is a sure sign that the others have already packed and are just waiting for traffic to die down. Late on the 28th my Straits of Messina force of a mere three destroyer flotillas lured an Italian battleship out to fight. Soon the Allies proved that sometimes they are nice to have around.



What stinks, of course, is that the biggest ship in the fight is not only shooting at me, it's shooting at my WW1 destroyers. On the other hand, perhaps that's the best target for my purposes. Hmm. The allies won, of course, no ships sunk on either side. Five and a half days of fighting in Messina comes to an end with another Canadian victory, and another 3000 Axis dead (Body Count = 33,000).



Given all the troubles I've had at sea, and the likelihood that I will have more IC than Manpower for quite some time, I decide to license a Light Cruiser from France. Once again, from the point of view of a fighting AAR (rather than an AAR still in the pre-war build phase), it's going to be ages before I see the first ship, nevermind the second. Like my Hurricanes. Good thing the French contract was less expensive, because looking at these side-by-side, the British CL would have been better, especially surface detection. In making the decision I opened one potential deal, remembered some key numbers then opened the other. Not as good as side-by-side screenshots.



After that second close call I re-arranged my Sicily defense forces. I'm beginning to feel pretty safe from an amphibious invasion, so I pile all mountain troops in Messina and move most other troops into Cefalu and Catania to be dug-in close to Messina, just in case. The marines in the port of Catania will also be convenient for loading. I'm working on the next phase of my battles in the Med. On October 4th the Persians join the Axis. Nothing much happens until the 8th, when a lone Italian Light Cruiser attacks three destroyer flotillas in the Straits of Messina and is drive off after three hours. I then consider licensing UK or French DDs, but while it's hard to directly compare the values of domestic and foreign units, I believe that the Canadian destroyers are the equal of the ones I could buy. Our practicals, by the way, reduce building cost and time by 22.4% on escorts.



In fact, a closer look at the stats shows that I'd still be better off with a UK destroyer flotilla than a French or Canadian one. Canadian Org is 30, short of either France's 35 or the UKs 40. The next numbers are the same or comparable, but surface detection is the same as France's, 3, half of the UK. Sea defense is 23 across the board. Our sub detection, with our shiny new ASW, is 11! Our hull is 1.1, well below the major powers, and like the French we have no positioning bonus. On the other hand, I think Canadian-designed DDs might get upgrades as we develop them (?). Nope, looking at my current DDs I don't think there's much that's added to ships once their built, I'm not even sure ASW is retrofitted (sub detection on all my ships is 7 however, even Destroyer Flotilla 1)(could be my Admiral?). So, the upshot is that I'll probably keep making Canadian destroyers, though I probably shouldn't, and I might even keep researching them.

On the 12th of October, 1940, the Soviet Union mobilizes. The Greeks took Albania, and the Germans are making fairly slow progress in Yugoslavia, where the Greeks are taking up forward defensive positions.



On October 18th, the Italian Heavy Cruiser Zara takes on four of my destroyer flotillas. The Allies add two British sub flotillas and the Italians one DD flotilla. We drive the enemy off, after only four hours. I notice that will all this fighting, Ballie-Grohman is now Skill 5 with 67.9% experience. We need to get this man some more ships, and find someplace new for him to fight. We promote him to two stars, and it seems to have no adverse effect on skill level or experience. Let's hope he doesn't take an arrow in the knee!

Here's an exploded top bar:



Hmm, my keen sense of tactical battle preparation, and my brilliant strategic genius tell me that the Brits may be up to something.



It's past time to end the Sitzkrieg. Cry havoc! And let slip the appropriate dogs!