Chapter 6: Mixed Results
Chapter #6: May 1 1939 to Late June 1939
Human Players: *UK, USSR, USA, *Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Romania, Canada, Venezuela, Finland, Nat Spain, Australia
* = co-op
From The Author: I know I promised a chapter named "How Wrong We Can Be". However, this chapter is already fairly long and doesn't quite make it to that point. The next chapter will have that name. Also, it should be mentioned that there was a game save just after Danzig went off and we stopped that session. This now begins a new session. During the break, I realized that my entire fleet was now outside of the Baltic, in Kiel. If Copenhagen could not be taken, this would be very bad for the Germans.
Situation: The Danzig event went off and the Germans are now at war with the allies. Denmark is the priority, but France must fall quickly after.
The first step was to select the option 'Blitzkrieg'.
Troops were immediately set into motion on the Polish front to begin encirclement maneuvers. A Corps of mixed Infantry and CA divisions moved north into Denmark. The Paratroopers were sent out to attack Copenhagen. However, there must have been a mis-communication between the paratroopers and high command. They were not ready (low org) and would not be able to attack for several days.
Immediately our subs went into action. It took less than a day for the air war to begin. Furious battles erupted with many casualties.
From the Author: Enter the anxiety! I never knew how stressful a MP game was. My hat is off to everyone that can run a major in a MP game and still remember to take screen shots!
Finally on May 6th the air drop went off:
On the same date, news came that we were already losing the air war. How did this happen?
As you can see the air war over France quickly turned sour for us. Despite many efforts, this never came back to our favor.
However, the land war was going better than expected. The Swedish Army did not interfere with our conquest of Denmark in the slightest. Denmark was defeated by May 10th. There was a major naval battle fought here, but more on that later.
We had considerable success in Poland as well. Poland May 11th:
Our plans to invade Gibraltar were scrapped when a very large allied force showed up. Besides, Spain was not in the war yet, and would not be asked to join until after the Fall of France.
By May 25th we had encircled and nearly destroyed multiple pockets of Polish troops. All told, they accounted for over half of the Polish Army. After this, troops were then sent back to prepare for the invasion of the Netherlands.
More bad news concerning the air war:
After preparing an expeditionary force of 4 Divs (1 Corps), Finland was asked to join the Axis. On June 8th they accepted. The Corps was sent to them as soon as was possible.
June 12th:
You can see that I have considerable ground and air assets here and that the Swedish have assets opposed to me as well.
At this time, I decided that we would attack the Netherlands. However, the entire war was becoming very stressful. In an effort to support the attack on the Netherlands, I decided to finish off Poland.
On June 21st, the Polish army was crushed. Warsaw capitulated. All of the mobile divisions in Poland were immediately turned toward the West. However, several of the infantry divisions remained behind, to prepare for the surprise assault on the USSR. In order to gain land and start closer to Moscow, we decided to 'decline' the pact. The Fuhrer never dishonors anything! We were not so concerned about the effects it might have on the USA, as the Japanese would be attacking them soon anyway.
Next: War at Sea, May 1939
Chapter #6: May 1 1939 to Late June 1939
Human Players: *UK, USSR, USA, *Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Romania, Canada, Venezuela, Finland, Nat Spain, Australia
* = co-op
From The Author: I know I promised a chapter named "How Wrong We Can Be". However, this chapter is already fairly long and doesn't quite make it to that point. The next chapter will have that name. Also, it should be mentioned that there was a game save just after Danzig went off and we stopped that session. This now begins a new session. During the break, I realized that my entire fleet was now outside of the Baltic, in Kiel. If Copenhagen could not be taken, this would be very bad for the Germans.
Situation: The Danzig event went off and the Germans are now at war with the allies. Denmark is the priority, but France must fall quickly after.
The first step was to select the option 'Blitzkrieg'.
Troops were immediately set into motion on the Polish front to begin encirclement maneuvers. A Corps of mixed Infantry and CA divisions moved north into Denmark. The Paratroopers were sent out to attack Copenhagen. However, there must have been a mis-communication between the paratroopers and high command. They were not ready (low org) and would not be able to attack for several days.
Immediately our subs went into action. It took less than a day for the air war to begin. Furious battles erupted with many casualties.
From the Author: Enter the anxiety! I never knew how stressful a MP game was. My hat is off to everyone that can run a major in a MP game and still remember to take screen shots!
Finally on May 6th the air drop went off:
On the same date, news came that we were already losing the air war. How did this happen?
As you can see the air war over France quickly turned sour for us. Despite many efforts, this never came back to our favor.
However, the land war was going better than expected. The Swedish Army did not interfere with our conquest of Denmark in the slightest. Denmark was defeated by May 10th. There was a major naval battle fought here, but more on that later.
We had considerable success in Poland as well. Poland May 11th:
Our plans to invade Gibraltar were scrapped when a very large allied force showed up. Besides, Spain was not in the war yet, and would not be asked to join until after the Fall of France.
By May 25th we had encircled and nearly destroyed multiple pockets of Polish troops. All told, they accounted for over half of the Polish Army. After this, troops were then sent back to prepare for the invasion of the Netherlands.
More bad news concerning the air war:
After preparing an expeditionary force of 4 Divs (1 Corps), Finland was asked to join the Axis. On June 8th they accepted. The Corps was sent to them as soon as was possible.
June 12th:
You can see that I have considerable ground and air assets here and that the Swedish have assets opposed to me as well.
At this time, I decided that we would attack the Netherlands. However, the entire war was becoming very stressful. In an effort to support the attack on the Netherlands, I decided to finish off Poland.
On June 21st, the Polish army was crushed. Warsaw capitulated. All of the mobile divisions in Poland were immediately turned toward the West. However, several of the infantry divisions remained behind, to prepare for the surprise assault on the USSR. In order to gain land and start closer to Moscow, we decided to 'decline' the pact. The Fuhrer never dishonors anything! We were not so concerned about the effects it might have on the USA, as the Japanese would be attacking them soon anyway.
Next: War at Sea, May 1939
Last edited: