Chapter #5: War!
Chapter #5: Jan 1939 to May 1939
Human Players: *UK, USSR, *USA, *Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Romania, Canada, Venezuela, Finland, Nat Spain
* = co-op
With the start of the new year, the option to take Memel came up. Lithuania never stood a chance.
Later in January, our most secret and prized invention came to us, RADAR! After deliberation I thought it wisest to place it in Bitburg. There was an airfield there to protect it and it was unlikely to be invaded. Also, it granted good coverage over Britain, France, the lowlands and even Germany. Immediately we began producing AA guns to protect our 'eyes & ears'.
February brought additional troops, including almost half of our panzer divisions. We knew that we were going to war, it was a question of when. Well, why not make it so there is no question. Lets do it when WE decide. After conferring with my allies, we decided that we would quickly erase France, and then immediately attack Russia. We could catch them off guard and possibly win before the other Allies could respond. It could not be determined if any spies heard of our talks, but Canada must have determined the Axis a threat because on February 26th they joined the allies:
Canada would come to regret that decision, for certain.
By late march our RADAR facilities were fully constructed. Look at the beautiful show they put on for us:
With our Panzers in play, our RADAR in play, and our positions set for the take over of Denmark, Germany was ready to take the world stage. And ultimately, I (Der Fuhrer) would take it all for me!
Still there was some maneuvering that had to be done. Also, our 'weaker' allies were not quite ready for war. Not that that mattered much. However, we decided to hold off until May 1st. After news of this reached Helsinki, Finland was desperate... They did not want to become a 'protectorate' of Mother Russia. They sent diplomats to Berlin, seeking membership in the Axis.
Still, we held off inviting them for now. It would not serve to show the world that the Fuhrer just does what anyone else asks of him!
Finally, May 1st arrived:
War! Almost immediately, war was declared on Denmark with the hopes of taking it quickly before the allies could react! Fortunately our Tranport planes were ready, with Paratroopers. Also, Panzer divisions and troops were in place. The Paratroopers main job was to keep the Swedish out of Denmark!
And here is a map of Europe on May 1st, at the outbreak of war:
So far so good. I have a Marine division on a transport fleet in Kiel along with my BC fleet. I had seen at least one British Carrier fleet patrolling around Sweden. It had been based there for some time. (Thank you RADAR!) For this I had a unit of NAV bombers with a MR attached and a full unit of 4 x interceptors. I also had a unit with 3 x CAS to either support the ground or to go after fleets that interfered.
You can see that the Romanians are prepping to take Yugoslavia. The plan had them taking Yugoslavia before the fall of France.
Next Chapter: How wrong we can be.
Of course, the Fuhrer is never wrong. He is only testing you to see if you can keep up with the changes to his plan.