Chapter 19 - Necktie and Pigbelly - (Jul 12th - Sep 6th 1942)
Top Secret
To Commander Pacific Fleet
Subject: Operation Necktie
You are hereby ordered to transport the 3rd Army from Los Angeles to the port of Oosthaven. The Netherlands goverment is allowing us to stage at this port for Invasions onto the Asian mainland. The 3rd Army has 5 corps of infantry. Each corps will land at a different location. Planned invasion sites are Batu Pahat, Jertih, Sichon, Nakhon Panthum and My Tho. These landing will try to time the landings at the same time to prevent any defending troops to consolodate at a given landing site. The Army Aircorps will assist as much as they can, but feel that with the limited airfields held by the Allies at this time in the region, most of the air cover will need to be done by Aircraft Carriers.
The Atlantic Fleet is transfering a Transportion Fleet to the Pacific Fleet to help accomplish these landings. Your full support to defend the landings and to assist in Anti-submarine warfare and convoy attack missions is required.
The objectives of the mission are as follows.
1. Retaking of Singapore for a stable supply port for this operation and retaking of the lands lost by the United kingdom by the Japan last Year.
2. The attack on Siams lands to try to remove this ally from Japan's side.
3. To cut off the land supply route through this vital area to increase the need of Japan to supply their armies in India via sea convoys which cna be sunk.
Date of the attack is pending on weather and the time needed to prepare for this operation.
Walter Bendell-Smith
Chief of Staff
Top Secret
______________________________________________________________________________
Top Secret
To Commander Atlantic Fleet
Subject: Operation Pigbelly
You are hereby ordered to transport the 1st Marine Corps and the 24th Infantry corps from Oslo Norway to the port of Tobruk in North Africa. The above forces are going to preform an invasiom of Greece. The intended landing site for the 1st Marine Corps is Nafplio. The intended landing site for the 24th Army Corps is Katerini. These landing will try to time the landings at the same time to prevent any defending troops to consolodate at a given landing site. The Army Aircorps will assist as much as they can. The use of Aircraft Carriers is highly recommended, but is at your descretion. According to the Commander of her Magesty's Naval Forces, the Italian Navy in the area has been damaged, but may try to defend this area controlled by the Italians.
The objectives of the mission are as follows.
1. Atempt to liberate Greece from the Italians. And use Athens as a supply Port for the Units in the area.
2. If resistance in the area is light, An attack on Bulgaria which even though is not part of the Axis is supplying Crude Oil to the Axis Powers.
3. To extend the defensive lines of the Axis Powers to weaken their defenses on other fronts.
4. A possible but unlikely linkup with the russian front.
Date of the attack is pending on weather and the time needed to prepare for this operation.
Walter Bendell-Smith
Chief of Staff
Top Secret
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am not trying to extend the war by attacking Greece instead of Italy, It is known that the AI defends Itally badly, so I was planning on doing this way to try to play as different as possible. I am also not sure how to trigger standard operations like Overlord. so taking Greece might be a good way to try to get some of my objectives for winning the game. With that said, here goes the next few months and what happens.
The first thing that happened in the game is that the Germans and thier allies attacked us at Wismar. We still have more troops the that are attacking but I felt a counter attack along the line south of Wismar was needed to show who can push who. So I did 3 sperate attacks, One from Schwerin to Parchim, One from Luchow to Osterburg and the last from Ueizen to Salzwedel. Each attack is atleast with 2 divisions, 1 Armor and 1 Infantry and where possible from more then one direction. I haven't determined weither this strike will be to open a path to berlin or not, it does seem on the border there is Italians and other smaller country units which should be easier to displace.
As the fight continues I decide to move the entire line slowly feforming it one county to the west. The left Weisbaden empty as they shift units to the north to stop this advance, It is a good time to advance the linesince alot of units are moving and they will lose there bonus for being dug in. To prevent having too many places from which to attack the units in Parchim, I decided to attack Stendal from Osterburg. Most of these attacks seem to be going well. The units were all resting while I took norway from their hands. I hope this show of force tells the axis powers we are not to be messed with.
As the shift in the Axis powers line, they free up a direct route to Berlin on the 24th of July. As I was still getting the attacks ready for the two operations I detailed earlier, I decided to try to take Berlin to gain the supplies locally for my Armies. If I can defeat Germany most of France and Poland should become free, solving most of the problems in Europe. I should be able to "Mop up" then. I don't think Italy, Hungary, Romainia and Croatia and what ever other countries I need to deatg will be all that hard after that. OfcoarseI am really not sure if I have enough forces as when I continue to attack Germany my front will become weaker and weaker. But maybe Germany will do the same.
To prevent a rush of units from the south toward Berlin I decided to make strikes into their line south of Berlin. My hope is to encircle what I can and delay movements north. By the 31st of July I was attacking Germany from 3 sides, with units moving into to surround Berlin. I was quickly shifting units northward to seal my line, but the attack on Berlin was too important not to use all the forces I can. By the 2nd Berlin was surrounded and being attack from 5 directions. It seems that only a few garrison divisions were placed in Berlin and by the 3rd their formations disolved and Berlin was ours. But Germany Fights on.
On the 7th of August we launched both operations. Operation Pig Belly was launched successfully and by the 9th it was well on its way with the units landing on the beaches heading to take the local ports. Unfortunately the transports for the 2 airborne units were not ready to transport them, so I tried to wait to put them into action. Operation Necktie was also underway. The landings did not time properly by eventually all 5 landers were made successfully On the 10th our units in Germany surrounded a group of mixed axis powers infantry. On the 12th a new group of Fighters, and a group of Interceptors were completed just in time to send to Athens after it was liberated. On the 13th we liberated Singapore. There was a medium size fleet in Singapore harbor and it came and attacked us. We defeated the entire fleet but with heavy loses of our own including a battleship.
On the 15th it was bitter sweet. Siam finally surrendered but Japan annexed Nepal also, so their attack in India continued. We also caught a small fleet of 3 CLs and 3 DDs trying to escape port and sunk them in the straights of Malicca. In Germany the German line started colasping and we pushed in all directions we could. The armies pushed toward key cities in what was poland and pushed to retake the French Moginot Line. On the 20th of August, the USA decided enough of Greece was free that the declared it liberated. By the end of the month Greece was completely free and our forces wer working north from Operation Pig Belly. In germany the entire German/French border was in our hands and units were moving along the swiss border toward the Italian border.
On the 6 of September German gave in as most of Germany was in our hands. Our units were almost to Paris and most of what Germany took from Poland was also free. As soon as Germany Surrendered, Poland was liberated also. All of france besides Vichy became free as well. There is still several Axis units in Poland, but our forces were told to mop up first then to proceed to taking out anyone in europe still under an Axis leader.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary: I did not plan to conquer Germany so easily, but they themselves left the door open by being at war with the Netherlands but not attacking. Probably Japan declared war with the Netherlands, but the AI for Germany never attacked. As I look at the map, I got alot of questions like, Can I take Romania and Hungary before the Soviets do? Do I want to? Do I have enough forces around Siam? Did I attack Japan too early? Why did when the first go around I made Germany an Democracy, why wasn't it placed in the Allies. (I had to play it twice since I thought by making Germany a democracy, it would like puppeting take Germany out of the Axis, but instead of being a puppet it would become a free nation. I am not sure if this was caused by have alot of troops in the country or what, having to take Germany a second time within a week of their surrender was stupid. So I decided to puppet the second time. maybe after the rest of the Axis powers in Europe are gone I can release Germany, I don't know how the AI is. We will see over the next few months of the game what I decide.
Top Secret
To Commander Pacific Fleet
Subject: Operation Necktie
You are hereby ordered to transport the 3rd Army from Los Angeles to the port of Oosthaven. The Netherlands goverment is allowing us to stage at this port for Invasions onto the Asian mainland. The 3rd Army has 5 corps of infantry. Each corps will land at a different location. Planned invasion sites are Batu Pahat, Jertih, Sichon, Nakhon Panthum and My Tho. These landing will try to time the landings at the same time to prevent any defending troops to consolodate at a given landing site. The Army Aircorps will assist as much as they can, but feel that with the limited airfields held by the Allies at this time in the region, most of the air cover will need to be done by Aircraft Carriers.
The Atlantic Fleet is transfering a Transportion Fleet to the Pacific Fleet to help accomplish these landings. Your full support to defend the landings and to assist in Anti-submarine warfare and convoy attack missions is required.
The objectives of the mission are as follows.
1. Retaking of Singapore for a stable supply port for this operation and retaking of the lands lost by the United kingdom by the Japan last Year.
2. The attack on Siams lands to try to remove this ally from Japan's side.
3. To cut off the land supply route through this vital area to increase the need of Japan to supply their armies in India via sea convoys which cna be sunk.
Date of the attack is pending on weather and the time needed to prepare for this operation.
Walter Bendell-Smith
Chief of Staff
Top Secret
______________________________________________________________________________
Top Secret
To Commander Atlantic Fleet
Subject: Operation Pigbelly
You are hereby ordered to transport the 1st Marine Corps and the 24th Infantry corps from Oslo Norway to the port of Tobruk in North Africa. The above forces are going to preform an invasiom of Greece. The intended landing site for the 1st Marine Corps is Nafplio. The intended landing site for the 24th Army Corps is Katerini. These landing will try to time the landings at the same time to prevent any defending troops to consolodate at a given landing site. The Army Aircorps will assist as much as they can. The use of Aircraft Carriers is highly recommended, but is at your descretion. According to the Commander of her Magesty's Naval Forces, the Italian Navy in the area has been damaged, but may try to defend this area controlled by the Italians.
The objectives of the mission are as follows.
1. Atempt to liberate Greece from the Italians. And use Athens as a supply Port for the Units in the area.
2. If resistance in the area is light, An attack on Bulgaria which even though is not part of the Axis is supplying Crude Oil to the Axis Powers.
3. To extend the defensive lines of the Axis Powers to weaken their defenses on other fronts.
4. A possible but unlikely linkup with the russian front.
Date of the attack is pending on weather and the time needed to prepare for this operation.
Walter Bendell-Smith
Chief of Staff
Top Secret
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am not trying to extend the war by attacking Greece instead of Italy, It is known that the AI defends Itally badly, so I was planning on doing this way to try to play as different as possible. I am also not sure how to trigger standard operations like Overlord. so taking Greece might be a good way to try to get some of my objectives for winning the game. With that said, here goes the next few months and what happens.
The first thing that happened in the game is that the Germans and thier allies attacked us at Wismar. We still have more troops the that are attacking but I felt a counter attack along the line south of Wismar was needed to show who can push who. So I did 3 sperate attacks, One from Schwerin to Parchim, One from Luchow to Osterburg and the last from Ueizen to Salzwedel. Each attack is atleast with 2 divisions, 1 Armor and 1 Infantry and where possible from more then one direction. I haven't determined weither this strike will be to open a path to berlin or not, it does seem on the border there is Italians and other smaller country units which should be easier to displace.
As the fight continues I decide to move the entire line slowly feforming it one county to the west. The left Weisbaden empty as they shift units to the north to stop this advance, It is a good time to advance the linesince alot of units are moving and they will lose there bonus for being dug in. To prevent having too many places from which to attack the units in Parchim, I decided to attack Stendal from Osterburg. Most of these attacks seem to be going well. The units were all resting while I took norway from their hands. I hope this show of force tells the axis powers we are not to be messed with.
As the shift in the Axis powers line, they free up a direct route to Berlin on the 24th of July. As I was still getting the attacks ready for the two operations I detailed earlier, I decided to try to take Berlin to gain the supplies locally for my Armies. If I can defeat Germany most of France and Poland should become free, solving most of the problems in Europe. I should be able to "Mop up" then. I don't think Italy, Hungary, Romainia and Croatia and what ever other countries I need to deatg will be all that hard after that. OfcoarseI am really not sure if I have enough forces as when I continue to attack Germany my front will become weaker and weaker. But maybe Germany will do the same.
To prevent a rush of units from the south toward Berlin I decided to make strikes into their line south of Berlin. My hope is to encircle what I can and delay movements north. By the 31st of July I was attacking Germany from 3 sides, with units moving into to surround Berlin. I was quickly shifting units northward to seal my line, but the attack on Berlin was too important not to use all the forces I can. By the 2nd Berlin was surrounded and being attack from 5 directions. It seems that only a few garrison divisions were placed in Berlin and by the 3rd their formations disolved and Berlin was ours. But Germany Fights on.
On the 7th of August we launched both operations. Operation Pig Belly was launched successfully and by the 9th it was well on its way with the units landing on the beaches heading to take the local ports. Unfortunately the transports for the 2 airborne units were not ready to transport them, so I tried to wait to put them into action. Operation Necktie was also underway. The landings did not time properly by eventually all 5 landers were made successfully On the 10th our units in Germany surrounded a group of mixed axis powers infantry. On the 12th a new group of Fighters, and a group of Interceptors were completed just in time to send to Athens after it was liberated. On the 13th we liberated Singapore. There was a medium size fleet in Singapore harbor and it came and attacked us. We defeated the entire fleet but with heavy loses of our own including a battleship.
On the 15th it was bitter sweet. Siam finally surrendered but Japan annexed Nepal also, so their attack in India continued. We also caught a small fleet of 3 CLs and 3 DDs trying to escape port and sunk them in the straights of Malicca. In Germany the German line started colasping and we pushed in all directions we could. The armies pushed toward key cities in what was poland and pushed to retake the French Moginot Line. On the 20th of August, the USA decided enough of Greece was free that the declared it liberated. By the end of the month Greece was completely free and our forces wer working north from Operation Pig Belly. In germany the entire German/French border was in our hands and units were moving along the swiss border toward the Italian border.
On the 6 of September German gave in as most of Germany was in our hands. Our units were almost to Paris and most of what Germany took from Poland was also free. As soon as Germany Surrendered, Poland was liberated also. All of france besides Vichy became free as well. There is still several Axis units in Poland, but our forces were told to mop up first then to proceed to taking out anyone in europe still under an Axis leader.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Summary: I did not plan to conquer Germany so easily, but they themselves left the door open by being at war with the Netherlands but not attacking. Probably Japan declared war with the Netherlands, but the AI for Germany never attacked. As I look at the map, I got alot of questions like, Can I take Romania and Hungary before the Soviets do? Do I want to? Do I have enough forces around Siam? Did I attack Japan too early? Why did when the first go around I made Germany an Democracy, why wasn't it placed in the Allies. (I had to play it twice since I thought by making Germany a democracy, it would like puppeting take Germany out of the Axis, but instead of being a puppet it would become a free nation. I am not sure if this was caused by have alot of troops in the country or what, having to take Germany a second time within a week of their surrender was stupid. So I decided to puppet the second time. maybe after the rest of the Axis powers in Europe are gone I can release Germany, I don't know how the AI is. We will see over the next few months of the game what I decide.
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