Five for Fighting - How Hockey Saved the Allies - An FtM AAR

[Jorlaan]

He is referring to Hockey when he says "greatest sport ever", unless that statement was in jest than nevermind.
He is right though, Hockey IS the greatest sport.

Back to the AAR though, glad to see you move in to North Africa! Its a good move to make. Look forward to your next moves.

[Midge]

The greatest sport in the world is Shinty (or Rugby). Why Canada isn't a big rugby nation is still something that confuses me. Anyway, apologies for my digression. Great AAR you have here.

[InnocentIII]

Hehe well, you still need somebody to be able to hand those rifles to, and it sounds like you don't anymore. Nice work in North Africa though.

I was hoping the rifles came with their own guys. I'd take 50,000...

Canadian Libya? 1+
Canadian ITALY? 1+

Here's hoping. I'm going to have to be careful with the manpower I have, though.

Canadian Libya? interesting alternate history!

Forever! We'll ship in snow.

subscribed

Nice AAR. I'm in!

Thank you!

I've just stumbled accross this (alas, I'm not on the HoI board very often) and read through everything in the last few hours, very good stuff. As you know, I loved Last Tango and this is proving just as much of an action and wit packed read. Great to see your occupation of Sicily and now Northern Africa, you are putting the rest of the Allies to shame! Consider me very much subscribed. Oh and... I had no idea Canada invented football (I refuse to call it soccer! Oh, I just did...)!

Thank you very much. If Canada had invented soccer, there'd be more hitting.

He is referring to Hockey when he says "greatest sport ever", unless that statement was in jest than nevermind.
He is right though, Hockey IS the greatest sport.

Back to the AAR though, glad to see you move in to North Africa! Its a good move to make. Look forward to your next moves.

Thanks, Hockey rules, though it can be painful at times to be a fan.

The greatest sport in the world is Shinty (or Rugby). Why Canada isn't a big rugby nation is still something that confuses me. Anyway, apologies for my digression. Great AAR you have here.

I used to love watching Australian-rules football, which struck me as semi-rugby? There's nothing to give you an appreciation of how ridiculous your sport's officials look making calls than watching a new sport's officials making calls (some weird motion, outstretched arms then banging their hips). Watch (US) football some time when the defense thinks there's a safety - the D all do an "I Dream of Jeannie" impersonation with their hands over their heads, palms touching. Bizarre.

I appreciate all the comments!

[InnocentIII]

Chapter Fourteen - Squeezing North Africa

When we left off, Canada had deprived Italian North Africa of all four sources of supplies, and the UK and Canada were in the process of depriving Italian North Africa of Italians. Where would I be if I didn't give a nod to the best anthem of any country I wasn't born in. I first knew the lockout was over and hockey was back when I heard the roar of applauds for this gentleman on opening night.

But back to our story: the Italians have fight left in them, and south of Bengazi they launch two attacks, one desperate, one well-thought-out.



Then the Italians attack at sea, sending a Light Cruiser and Destroyer Flotilla against three Canadian DDs, two Greek subs and a British Light Cruiser. This multinational force, led by a Canadian Admiral, in a serious deviation from most naval combat, has an actual result.



The Italian Light Cruiser is sunk, and the message "tell your friends" goes out to the entire Mediteranean. Credit for the sinking did not go to Canada. Our sailors were too polite. In the land combat south of Bengazi, we quickly won the western fight, losing 125 men and killing 275. We broke off the other fight when it got desperate. We killed 300 losing 220, but vacated the province. Once again our attempt to create a clean break between two parts of North Africa failed.

Having had little luck in the west with surrounding Italian forces, we decide to try another amphibious landing to start eliminating enemy units.



The Italian air force makes itself visible again in the Straits of Messina with an attack that failed to do damage. I still recall what they did to our troops, though, costing us 200-250 casualties in eight to ten attacks. Back in Africa, our men landed, were immediately under attack, but won almost immediately. In southern Italy we see our first German units in quite some time, including armor. We can't help but wish Yugoslavia was still holding out.

In the Gulf of Sidra, our fleet dropped off the new invasion, and the Italians came out to play, but did not bring an admiral. The British add a capital ship to the mix.



We damage an Italian DD flotilla while the enemy targets one of my transports. No ships are sunk, but the transport heads off to Sicily for repairs. Then an Italian Heavy Cruiser attacks our three destroyer flotillas in the Straits of Messina and is driven off. Our DDs, however, have seen better days. So has Greece.



So the Balkans campaign is winding down. That can't be good for someone, let's hope it's not Canada.

We're still working on cutting off the Italians from each other. A marine division is sent on a raid into the desert between Bengazi and Tripoli to come back after etsblishing nominal control over the only province which can be a conduit for supplies. Then the Italians send two capital ships and a destroyer flotilla to challenge our three destroyer groups. Two Heavy Cruisers and one DD against 3 DD, and we've been cycling our destroyers in for repairs so that the Straits of Messina isn't guarded by fresh ships so much as the least damaged destroyers we have.



Our admiral's spotting skill seems to help, or something has given us a positional advantage. As with so many naval battles, no ships are sunk, but my destroyers take yet another beating.



The one relatively undamaged Destroyer Flotilla is the one which had been protecting our transports. I finally broke up the group when my Straits of Messina fleet started to look pretty ragged. We have pulled one DD out of Palermo and are sending two off to Catania, where they can steam into combat directly if we're desperate. The Germans are showing up again in the toe of Italy's boot, across a very narrow strait from Messina.

North Africa is beginning to look like a done deal. I don't want that to sound arrogant, but the Italians have no source of supply, and the big green areas here are all inaccessible by military formations.



The Italians have a tenuous hold on maybe ten provinces, and good troop concentrations in two or three, all with no source of fresh supply. We finally manage to sever the two groups of Italian troops.



I cannot see the Italian supply net, so I am not sure if this means much, but whatever stockpiles the Italians might have around Bengazi cannot reach the western troops. That southern Italian unit was already exhausted and an infantry attack from near the Med makes them retreat almost immediately. I have been allowing my Armored Cars to build up Org in the newly recruited unti while capturing a few desert provinces, and now send them into the province being vacated to make use of their speed.

Just to the east of them, we send one of our marine divisions to connect the middle beachhead to the Bengazi port. It was a very quick win, as you can guess from the Italian Org.



On the 20th of December, Greece capitulates. Another naval engagement proves that Italy is determined to clear the way for the burgeoning German military presence near the Straits of Messina. Initially reported as a single Italian submarine flotilla, it turns out that this would have been one ugly battle if it weren't for my friends in the UK.



Needless to say, the Italians are all firing on my destroyers. Did I insult the AI earlier? I think he can hear me, Ray. Hmm, looking at this next shot - and some later ones - I suspect that there were two naval combats going on, so when I sent the most damaged destroyers for repairs, it counted as a retreat.



Later, I'm in combat against the Italian sub flotilla with the one and only DD which I have left to hold the Straits of Messina (he's really dependable!), and the two who were fleeing. I try to finish the combat in the west all in one throw, but the Italians, while out of supply, are not yet worn down, and I lose 220 killing 130 and call of the attack pretty quickly. Well, the Italians are now safe for about a week since I threw in all I had.



The future of Canadian recruitment is looking very dim. On the 20th of December we're at about -3 in manpower. We have zero, and we need 3.18 to re-fill our ranks. Remember the Canadian OOB I started with? I don't think I'll be needing to update that any time soon. I guess you can all applaud now. Thanks for waiting. We've got the two marine divisions I hadn't included, we'll add artillery and AT (though I'm not sure I'll need the AT, AA would have been better maybe), and we have two Armored Car brigades and we're working on a third. Heck, I might look for something to cancel, but the only infantry in progress is a fourth mountain division, which will give me eight brigades in one Mountain Corps, and obviously I want to keep that. There are countries with smaller manpower, but Canada is still not a country that's going to be throwing around a lot of units.

I won't show the actions, but we continue to try to clean up south of Bengazi and squeeze the remaining Italians into smaller and smaller pockets. I want to add to Canada's prisoner list! I figure we'll end up with an army of around 125,000 men, and I hope to kill or capture twice that during the course of the war. IIRC we were around 33,000.

Italy makes another run at the Straits of Messina, sending a Heavy Cruiser and two DDs. Fortunately the UK had an aircraft carrier and associated ships, but of course the Italians were shooting at us. We had brought two damaged flotillas out of Palermo. It turns out the threshold for being sent into combat in Canada is down to 50% strength, and whatever Org you can manage. So I had three destroyers fighting and two took damage, though again the enemy was driven off before any ships were sunk on either side.



Merry Christmas, guys! One of you gets some time off.

The Italians in the western pocket try to break out, or at least advance, to the west, and are driven off with fifty casualties on each side. In an effort to make this battle appear important by comparison, Afgahnistan mobilizes.

In a second attempt at a final assault at the western pocket, I launch my troops from many directions.



According to the top bar, I was still doing very well right up until the end. Having troops from many provinces, and therefore good frontage, doesn't do much good if my commanders cannot get men who were there from the beginning into the actual battle.



So we lost 750 men and inflicted over 500 casualties. One Italian unit escaped to the southern part of the pocket and was driven back. We'll occupy that and try again. I wasn't worried about having to fight the enemy twice if I'd won the first battle (meaning once in the north and again in the south). Men who are fleeing and arrive into an occupied province merely vanish. Those who arrive there first are in no position to resist. So had I won in the north, there would have been no real battle in the south, and I could have turned my attention to the eastern pocket betweem Bengazi and Tobruk. As it is, the new year sees Italy holding on to worthless bits of desert.

Worthless bits of desert that will soon be Canadian!

[eqqman]

Worthless bits of desert that will soon be Canadian!

That's right. They may be worthless bit of desert, but they're YOUR worthless bits of desert.

[morningSIDEr]

Good stuff. A bit worrying though that your manpower is so low but considering that you seem to be near singlehandedly taking on the Axis juggernaut, not much of a surprise! Italy is showing rather more resistance in Africa than I had thought she would but you do seem to be grinding her down slowly but surely. Rather as she is slowly but surely grinding down your poor navy, alas.

[InnocentIII]

That's right. They may be worthless bit of desert, but they're YOUR worthless bits of desert.

Oh, yeah!

Good stuff. A bit worrying though that your manpower is so low but considering that you seem to be near singlehandedly taking on the Axis juggernaut, not much of a surprise! Italy is showing rather more resistance in Africa than I had thought she would but you do seem to be grinding her down slowly but surely. Rather as she is slowly but surely grinding down your poor navy, alas.

Yeah, my ships have seen better days, and the Italians, well, I probably should have let their lack of supply affect them longer, or something...

My plan for updates is tonight, Thursday, skip Sunday (Christmas) and the same schedule for New Years. Everyone has other things going on...

[InnocentIII]

When we left off last time, the Italians had a tenuous hold in a western pocket with under 30,000 troops, and were being squeezed into a smaller and smaller eastern pocket containing - as a rough estimate - 75,000 troops. Canada was reducing the pocket in the west solo, but the UK was doing most of the work in the east.

The British have extended their territory past Tobruk. Being a good ally, Canada steadfastly refused to risk Tobruk by reducing its defenses to make a land grab. Plus I was busy and didn't think of it.



Italy's primary holdings are inaccessible parts of the desert. They don't have much land left which has infrastructure enough for modern armies.



In Canada there was an election, with no changes that I could see. In bigger news, on the 3rd of January our fourth two-brigade mountain division was completed. It will be shipped to Messina to join its brothers. These troops have not seen combat in some time, and yet have remained the most important troops in the Canadian Army, holding Messina against repeated invasions and constant threat of attack. Only the courage of our fearless crew of destroyers has allowed Messina to go unmolested for many weeks.

On the 4th of January the USA announced the Undeclared War. This announcement of a non-announcement becomes the "Oxymoron of the Year", so far. In the latest in a long series, the Italians again tried to drive our ships from the Straits of Messina, this time sending the Battleship Julius Caesar and a Heavy Cruiser.



The enemy battleship, of course, targets Canadian Destroyers. However, the allied forces sank the San Giorgio! The enemy Heavy Cruiser became the biggest enemy ship lost ever, that I can recall, in a battle involving Canadian vessels. In celebration, Canada launches it's third attempt at a final battle to eliminate the western pocket. I have to say I like our chances.



The enemy has 27,000 troops, but they have been out of supply for weeks and have been attacked at least twice since they lost their source of supply. With the regular army unit we (must have) eliminated in this pocket earlier (there have been no Italian ships here to load them), that's 37,000 more for a total of about 75,000 enemy killed or captured in the war so far (adding a few thousand fpr miscellaneous combats). The only Italian troops in North Africa now lie between the Canadian-held ports of Bengazi and Tobruk.

Oh, who am I kidding, the Canadian ports of Bengazi and Tobruk. We're keeping them!



On the 13th of January two artillery brigades are placed in Canada, and shipped to Africa to beef up a couple of simple two-brigade divisions. The Italian divisions are so exhausted, generally, that driving them into their corral typically involves simply starting combat. The Armored Cars prove their worth here. I drive the enemy out of a province using infantry, then I follow up and seize the province with the AC division. Even the Italian armor has zero Org. Or, since armor requires both supply and fuel, I guess I should say especially the Italian armor has zero Org. Combat is typically won without casualties on either side.

By the 21st of January, 1941 there is not much left of Italian North Africa. The UK has done much of the work and taken much of the reward in the east.



On the 23rd the Italians make yet another attempt to clear the Straits of Messina to allow the massed Axis troops to cross the strait and try to drive out the Canadian mountain defenders who are dug in there in the hills surrounding the city. We could fend off the initial attack, perhaps, but the Axis troops nearby could launch five successive attacks without batting an eyelash. The Italians send the Heavy Cruiser Fiume.



While we drive the ship off, and do a surprising amount of damage, our own damage will be tougher to repair. We're stuck sending out badly beaten-up ships now to keep Messina safe.



If we ever let the Italians clear the straits, we've got serious trouble. Say what you want about the AI's inability to defend ports and keep itself in supply (well, say what you want so long as what you say is "the AI sucks at that"), it's been tenacious in its attacks on the ships blocking the straits, and it's had massive troops waiting to cross. Often, such as now, they've been the right kind of troops. Recall several Chapters ago that German mountain divisions operated at very low penalty crossing the Straits of Messina once you factored in the positive benefits. In any event, they were suprisingly effective.

Canada took the initiative closing the final pocket in North Africa, capturing 27,000 Italians almost without a struggle. While the timing is off, and the nationality of the conqueror is wrong, this is pretty historical for North Africa. Italians enough to fill many stadiums marching into captivity.



My Armored Cars raced in to grab the last province as well. Africa is now free of all Italian forces.



A few things should be pointed out now that Africa is ours. First, note that UK loot ninjas have grabbed Sardinia, which I didn't realize until I began planning my invasion of that island. Sardinia has resources (12 metal, one energy and 12 rares) plus 1 IC and probably had 20,000 defenders. Instead of grabbing that when I could have, I attacked Africa, which has some VPs but nothing else. Note to self, next time, grab the nearly undefended island with resources and leadership, not the continent with 100,000-150,000 men and nothing but famous battlefields.

Also, Canada now has no manpower and needs 4.33 to replace its losses. Damn. I'm not going to be building anything which requires manpower for quite some time. Whoa! On the other hand, our monthly manpower gain is now 4.3. The base is now 100.9 and we gain +100% for Service by Requirement and another +60% for our agriculture advances. We must have added manpower somewhere, but Palermo adds only 2.8. That doesn't seem like a complete explanation. I guess we jumped from 2.3 MP/month when the war started and I just didn't note it at the time.

So I gathered up my armies and sent them back to Sicily, both for R&R, and to repel any invasion if the Germans made it across. Before we finish this chapter, let's take a look at where we were in production a few weeks earlier.



This was before the two Artillery were completed, and the Naval base has since been finished as well, but that just slides the Escort and Convoy into the queue. In three months I'll have a dive bomber! In five months another destroyer, and in less than a year my light cruiser will be complete. Eventually I'll have more transports, which are perhaps the most important item in my military. Without transports, this AAR would consist of "because I had no transports I didn't do anything again this chapter, sorry, here are some funny cartoons I found online!"

All of which brings us to the most important military maxim of all time: when you have taken everything you planned, it's time to make a new plan.

[Axe99]

A top-notch contribution by the Canadians to the war effort (you've clearly inspired the UK to finally pull its finger out and do something ). And top points for being someone who's watched Aussie Rules - easily the greatest game one earth . Will be interesting to see where Canada decides to have a decisive impact on the Allied war effort next. Noting that those German divisions in Italy look ominous, although if all you do is make sure those German divisions don't line up against the Soviet Union, you'll have done well .

[Argaud]

Do you have desert equipment?

If you don't, you might have taken a serious attrition rate in those deserts. You have to watch that because you can't afford to lose men to the weather.

Also, this is a fun AAR

[eqqman]

...all of which brings us to the most important military maxim of all time: when you have taken everything you planned, it's time to make a new plan.

I think retaking the Peloponnese is well within the capabilities of Canada at the moment. Land troops at Amfissa to seal it off, then clean out all the Axis troops to the south. The Greeks would be ever so grateful.

[Nikolai]

Oh, Canada! Home of the brave and skilled desert foxes.

[morningSIDEr]

In the latest in a long series, the Italians again tried to drive our ships from the Straits of Messina, this time sending the Battleship Julius Caesar and a Heavy Cruiser.

I strongly suggest naming one of your ships the Brutus.

Very nicely done in North Africa, annoying though that Britain nabbed Sardinia, did they not know you had called dibs!? With such useful bases now secured where are you next planning on attacking?

[InnocentIII]

A top-notch contribution by the Canadians to the war effort (you've clearly inspired the UK to finally pull its finger out and do something ). And top points for being someone who's watched Aussie Rules - easily the greatest game one earth . Will be interesting to see where Canada decides to have a decisive impact on the Allied war effort next. Noting that those German divisions in Italy look ominous, although if all you do is make sure those German divisions don't line up against the Soviet Union, you'll have done well .

I think I'm about to do more well than I'd like

Do you have desert equipment?

If you don't, you might have taken a serious attrition rate in those deserts. You have to watch that because you can't afford to lose men to the weather.

Also, this is a fun AAR

The guys look healthy enough even without proper training.

I think retaking the Peloponnese is well within the capabilities of Canada at the moment. Land troops at Amfissa to seal it off, then clean out all the Axis troops to the south. The Greeks would be ever so grateful.

Good idea, we'll see, though I hate to take a place where the Germans can walk to me.

Oh, Canada! Home of the brave and skilled desert foxes.

Yes!

I strongly suggest naming one of your ships the Brutus.

Very nicely done in North Africa, annoying though that Britain nabbed Sardinia, did they not know you had called dibs!? With such useful bases now secured where are you next planning on attacking?

No respect for the Dibs! Attacking? I'm thinking I'll defend for a bit...

[InnocentIII]

Chapter Sixteen - The Longest Week

One Week, hmmm.

Canada, with British help, has just removed the last vestiges of the old Republic Empire from northern Africa. The Brits (and the French before them) cleared east Africa as well. So there are no Italians on the continent.

The question for Canada is what to do next. We cannot take Italy, there are far too many enemy troops. Also, we're facing a serious problem of over-extension. Sardinia would have been a nice target. Now, even if we strip Sicily again of nearly all defenders but the mountain troops in Messina, we're down quite a few men for offensive work. We have four divisions in Messina. We have four plain two-brigade infantry divisions in Africa, one per port, and we have the same in each of the four other ports in Sicily. That's three Corps doing pure defensive work. At some point we're going to have to trust to the allies' ability to keep the seas clean, and to our own ability to react, but for now we need troops spread out around the Mediteranean Sea. Before too long we're expecting the Axis to have bigger fish to fry (USA/Japan are still not in the war, neither is the USSR), but right now Canada holds the great majority of territory the Axis have lost, and all the formerly Italian ports in North Africa.

So it's time to come up with another plan. Persia would be tempting, but while Persia has joined the Axis, it has not joined the war. We have neutrality of zero, and so we could DoW nearly anyone, but I've adopted a house rule: try to stay fairly historical. If I need something to do later this will become more of a guideline than a rule. Portugal could be a target, for example, though it is only leaning Axis. On the other hand, we need a month or two off, we need to hold off the enemy in Sicily, which could be tough given the naval situation.

That's what I wrote before the Axis answered the question for me. What I should do next? Defend myself!



To start off, the Italians offer a traditional sacrifice, meant to whet the appetites of the Gods for more of the same. The Italian destroyers were sunk by Canada and, well, just Canada, yeah, that's the ticket. Just. Canada.

All I have to do is sit tight in Sicily for a while and wait for a new plan to occur to me while my men refresh. As you can see from the manpower tooltip in the right hand shot, it's going to be a while before I build any new armies. I'm short about a month's worth of manpower. The Axis and Canadians stare at each other across the Straits of Messina.



On the seventh Canada's Industrial Production hits level five, and we're another +2.5% to the good on IC. All our top research now is Infantry techs and that Operational tech which will reduce time between attacks by a full day. We have a dive bomber due in April along with a third armored car brigade, two more artillery brigades in May, in June we expect another destroyer flotilla. Our first light cruiser is due in December. Builds are not going to be a big part of this AAR from here on out. What we can build quickly we don't have manpower for, what we have manpower for takes ages.

On the 9th of February, 1941 Italy sends two cruisers into the straits, one light and one heavy. Canada, and two British sub flotillas, chase them off with no sinkings, but some damage to our DDs. On the 13th, all alone, we take on the Battleship Julius Caesar again, with another Italian DD. This doesn't go well, and the last few hours of battle (at a game speed of very slow) were spent frantically clicking on my port.



So I'm out my WW1 destroyer flotilla, which isn't so bad, but I have no means at all of holding the Straits of Messina now. What destroyers I have are all beaten up, even if I call 40% strength "close enough" I can't fight off the smallest Italian force that could come my way. My navy consists of five destroyer flotillas, whose strength's are 55, 44, 39, 23 and 16.

So we sit back, dreading the coming invasion. Remember, last time the attackers fought (mountain troops) at almost no disadvantage, and wore away my infantry pretty rapidly considering what I thought the straits would provide in the line of defense. To paraphrase Rommel, the first week of this fight will be the Longest Week. At 1am on the 14th the first reports of battle come in. A single Italian armor division, 10,000 men, is attacking my four well dug-in mountain divisions. Well, that won't be so bad, will it?



One thing you can say about battle intel In Real Life, the initial reports are always wrong. Same here. However, I now have the right General for the fight, and the right troops. I can fight brilliantly, just give me enough time and a few practice runs at the battle first. But I assure you that one Italian armored division is not my true opponent. At 6am the first air attack kills twelve soldiers. By the end of the 15th it was 125. I grabbed some troops and moved them into position. Given how long it has taken me to get troops into line in past battles, I want them in the province now. Then I got a look at my real opponent.



Hmm, seventy-one units in reserve. We're facing something on the order of three-quarters of a million men. It could be less, remember, the initial report said 10,000! These are up against a strait, which causes many problems for attackers of course, and my 40,000 mountain troops, and some backup. Notice that my middle two divisions have already lost noticeable Org after two days. I'm guessing the nearly 75 enemy divisions might last longer than the rest of my Org. Add to that the fact that my reserves will take ages to get into the line, and the enemy can replace his men at a much higher rate. Then notice that Italy has an air attack, and the fact that even if I get ships into the Straits of Messina it does not cancel the attack, and this is not a sure thing by any means.

By mid-day the 17th I've lost another 80 men to air attacks, and chased out the German Third Panzer Division. The enemy moved the Second SS Panzer division and another infantry into its place. The next day we lost 90 men to air attacks, and the enemy added a fifth division to the line of assault (temporarily, due to an Encirclement event). On the 20th we lost 85 men to air attack, but knocked the 239th Infantry from the fight. By the 21st of February, after a week of fighting, we'd lost a total of 450 men to air attacks, though we knocked out the 60th Infanterie Division. We'd also added a division of our own, regular infantry.

The Longest Week had come to an end.

We could not help but notice that every division we beat back is immediately replaced, and there are still sixty-seven divisions in reserve. Heck, the ones we knock out can rest, recuperate then return.

[Dasfubar]

Now take Catzanzaro and encircle them all!
(or more realistically, put some ships into the strait to block off the attack if it becomes too much)

[eqqman]

Now take Catzanzaro and encircle them all!
(or more realistically, put some ships into the strait to block off the attack if it becomes too much)

Seriously, with 70+ divisions in a single province, land a few men behind the lines and wipe them out with a counterattack that should succeed since they are so over-stacked.

[morningSIDEr]

Impressively frightening odds. I look forward to seeing how this pans out.

Hmm, seventy-one units in reserve. We're facing something on the order of three-quarters of a million men. It could be less, remember, the initial report said 10,000!

Just invoke the spirit of 300! Uhm...without the whole losing your army in defeat part that is.

[Baltasar]

It's a pity the AI does this over and over

[croguy]

"It's been more than twenty years since the war and the death. And now, as then, it is not fear that grips us, only restlessness. A heightened sense of things. The cold Febuary breeze coolly kissing the sweat at our chests and necks as an iron storm that is Wehrmacht wraps around Messina. Gulls cawing, complaining, even as they feast on the thousands of floating dead. The steady breathing of the forty thousand, ready to die for Canada without a moment's pause. Everyone of them ready, to die. "

The Canadian military is now doing the bravest thing I've ever seen an Allied country do in Hearts of Iron 3. Good luck with the future of the AAR.