Tomorrow the World - A German AAR

1940-12-02
Since war broke out last year the foreign politics of the Soviet Union have become more and more aggressive and we are now almost completely encircled by them and their allies. They are controlling everything from the Arctic Circle in Finland down to the Adriatic Sea on the Balkans and the Iberian Peninsula on the Mediterranean Sea. And after they mobilized their troops last month I've been convinced that they are planing to attack us while we are still dealing with Britain. That is why I gave the order to develop a plan for a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union last month. But today I had a very disappointing meeting with my general staff: Because of the amount of enemy troops we would be facing on such a large front we won't be able to attack in early spring 41. The earliest date my generals felt comfortable with was mid-June 41. But to hold that date we would have to start a massive expansion of our land forces, which means we need to increase the number of our infantry divisions dramatically. I've signed all necessary papers to refocus our arms industry on the expansion of the army, which means that all unnecessary projects, like the construction of our aircraft carriers are put on hold, again. I'm just hoping that Stalin isn't attacking sooner.


1940-12-05
I've received a very angry letter from Grand Admiral Raeder today in which he is protesting my decision to stop all naval construction and research projects in favor of the expansion of the army. He argued that without new equipment and better tactics we wouldn't be able to achieve such astounding victories as we have this year against the Royal Navy. But the Soviets are the greater thread at the moment.
Later this day, as I was returning from lunch, I spotted him at the end of a long corridor in the Reichskanzlei. I immediate went into the next best office I could find, where I spent half an hour learning everything there is to know about the agricultural output of our Reichsgau Niederdonau...

1940-12-12
After the stunning success of our tank formations in France this year many nations have increased their efforts to build equally strong armored divisions. In future operations we will have to face much more opposition. We already have started to equip every infantry division with an anti tank battalion and I believe that other nations have done so as well. At the moment we have two types of tanks: Medium and light tanks. I think we should create a third, heavy class of tanks. The heavy tank divisions would be used in key locations of the battle to break stiff opposition or to secure crucial points of the front, the medium tanks will remain the main work horse of the Panzer forces and the light tanks will be used to exploit breaches in the front. I gave the order to assemble one heavy tank division in time for our planed invasion of the Soviet Union. However, because we lack heavy tank designs and there is not enough time to develop a new tank model, this new division will have to use mostly captured equipment.

1940-12-20
My foreign minister von Ribbentrop came to me today to inform me that he had been contacted by a diplomat from the Irish Republic yesterday. Apparently the Irish are willing to join us in our fight against England if we help them to take back Northern Ireland. Since they got their independence from Britain in 1916, a majority of the Irish population is still resentful towards the British because of their long occupation of their island. This could be a great opportunity for us to humble the Brits after their success in Northern Africa. I've given the order to start sending supplies to Ireland, using our remaining submarines as transports.


1940-12-28
Today the Italian Duce Mussolini arrived in Berlin for a short visit to discuss our joined war effort. He asked for our help to reestablish an Italian presence in Africa and to regain their colonies there. A request I had to deny, not only because of our preparations for the war with the Soviets but also because of the significant amount of British naval forces in the Mediterranean. The British submarines and surface ships in that area were a major factor why the Italians were unable to reinforce their colonial troops and were defeated so quickly. After conquering France we do have a direct access to the Mediterranean Sea but we don't have any ships there and the British have blocked all access by closing the street of Gibraltar.
Mussolini was not happy and raised concerns that the Italian population was loosing faith in his decision to join the war on our side. But at the end of our meeting he agreed to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union by attacking Yugoslavia from the west. The Italian objective will be to capture the entire western coast of the Balkan states. Hopefully this time they will be able to conquer Greece as well. That should silence those Italian defeatists.

superjames1992 said:

Excellent AAR, BTW. I love the way you present it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment. I'll try to continue soon.
And the prefab ship facilities would indeed be nice, but in my game they are in Bristol and Glasgow has the dockyard facilities. I doubt that the Irish will leave their cozy Island to invade Britain. But still, they have an airfield in Dublin...

1941-01-03
I had a meeting with my armament minister Fritz Todt today to discuss the projected output of our armament industry for the coming year. He informed me about his concerns regarding our impending war with the Soviet Union. While we are under a naval blockade by the Royal Navy our only remaining trading partners are the Italians and the Soviets with their allies. He warned me that if we attacked the Soviets our oil stockpiles would last only about a year, if we avoid unnecessary naval maneuvers, and our reserves of various vital ores like aluminum, zinc and tungsten would only last about five month. Furthermore he seemed convinced that the Soviets still possessed an enormous mobilization potential, which could prove fatal in a prolonged conflict. With a country the size of the Soviet Union it is obvious that we will be unable to defeat them in five month or even a year but I tried to assure him that we would capture enough resources and industrial areas early in the coming conflict to ensure our victory. He left our meeting still insisting that an attack would be a mistake.

1941-02-11
We have started to move troops into their positions for the upcoming new campaign. At the moment we still have a sizable amount of Divisions stationed in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and all the other occupied countries. Their job is not only to counter enemy invasions but also to pacify the civilian population, which is not very happy about our current policies which require all local businesses to contribute to our war effort. At the moment we can afford a large occupying force and it is also a boost to the moral of our troops to be stationed in exotic locations like the Côte d'Azur, but it becomes increasingly clear that we will need every single available unit on the front lines once we attack the Soviets and their allies. This is why I've sent an order to all Reichskommissars to adopt a more lenient approach in their governing of the occupation zones. Foreign businesses will be allowed to resume the production of goods for the local market and native volunteers should be used to police possible dissidents. This will decrease our production capabilities and impact our resource production but it should also lead to a significant drop in partisan activity which will allow us to move most forces to the East to prepare for the attack. However small garrisons near important harbor installations and a few mobile reserves will have to remain in the occupation zones, because we can't trust the local volunteers to defend their country against possible liberators.


1941-02-13
Shocking news today: The aircraft of my armament minister Fritz Todt crashed today as he was heading back from an inspection of the Renault factories in France. A hastily conducted investigation by the Luftwaffe showed no signs of sabotage or enemy involvement. I've already sent a telegram to my good friend Albert Speer to ask him if he could come to Berlin at once to fill the now vacant position in my cabinet. In the past he had shown good organizational talent, like when he designed and build the new Reichskanzlei.


1941-03-23
Our expansion program for the army is coming along great and my new armament minister Albert Speer has already made some improvements of his own to further increase the speed with which we produce more and more weapons. He admitted to me that he had to work a lot of long hours to get up to speed, but his view of the situation isn't as pessimistic as that of Fritz Todt had been.
Our numbers are now so strong that we can rightfully claim to have one of the worlds biggest armies that no longer has to fear any enemy. A fact that should boost the moral of the common soldier and inspire confidence in the officers.


1941-04-10
It has been a couple of month since we have agreed to help the Irish in their preparations for a surprise attack on Northern Ireland by sending covert shipments of weapons and supplies. Today however it was us who got surprised: Churchill made an announcement over the BBC that they had uncovered a conspiracy between Germany and Ireland to stab Britain in the back and that they were from now on at war with Ireland.
After the Soviets learned somehow about our plans to attack Yugoslavia last year this is the second time that a secret plan of ours got spoiled by the enemy. I fear that we have a leak in our government and I hope we can plug it before our invasion plans for the Soviet Union are completed. I've ordered the SD (Sicherheitsdienst), which is the security service of the party, to look into the matter. They are the only arm of the government that hasn't been involved in the strategic decision making process which is why I've entrusted them to find the leak. Originally the SD was created as an intelligence agency for the party to perform background checks on members that were considered for high ranking party positions. But in the recent years they have been expanding to also search and eliminate domestic and foreign agitators.
As for Ireland: I hope the help they have received so far was enough to overcome the now prepared British defenders.


1941-04-24
It didn't take the SD long to find the leak in our own lines: Apparently the head of the Abwehr (our intelligence agency), Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, has been leaking classified information to contacts in Britain who possibly have passed them on to the Soviets. Canaris and his staff have been arrested today and will be tried for treason. His other employees are incarcerated until their guild or innocence can be proven. Because we can't be sure how many of our deployed spies have been influenced by Canaris, we will have to assume that they have all been corrupted. This is a serious blow to our intelligence gathering capabilities, but luckily with the SD we already have a second counter espionage agency ready to take the place of the Abwehr. The foreign intelligence will be handled by our two military intelligence agencies "Fremde Heere Ost" and "Fremde Heere West" who will be merged with the Sicherheitsdienst. To counter any opposition from the military against loosing their intelligence agencies, the head of the Fremde Heere Ost, Reinhard Gehlen, will become the head of the new, combined Sicherheitsdienst. For the foreseeable future we won't be able to carry out any large intelligence operations but at least we have counter intelligence and military reconnaissance covered.

1941-04-25
Spain has mobilized their armed forces today. I hope that our plans for our attack haven't been leaked and that they are merely following the Soviets example.

1941-05-15
The situation in Ireland looks dire. After their defeat in France and their operations in the Mediterranean theater the British had only few troops available to oppose the Irish but they have managed to win the upper hand. They have pushed the front line dangerously close to the Irish capital. I wish that we could sent them some help but the Royal Navy is patrolling the sea and with the constant danger that their airfields in Dublin get overrun we can't risk to send air support.


1941-05-18
A few weeks back we had to dissolve our former intelligence agency, the Abwehr, and replace it with the Sicherheitsdienst. Our new chief of intelligence, Reinhard Gehlen, has now finished the reorganization after merging the SD with the military intelligence agencies and the remains of the Abwehr.


Gehlen also sent me his first memo today, summarizing all information his organization was able to obtain about the Soviet Union and its allies: Our air forces are almost equal in number of squadrons, but we expect that our planes are technological superior to their models. The Soviet allies on the Balkans (Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria) don't have a noteworthy air force.
A direct comparison between our land forces shows that we have slightly more motorized and armored brigades than the Soviets, but together with their allies they have almost twice the number of infantry type brigades (counting infantry, mountain infantry, marines, and various support brigades). At first glance this might look scary but we expect that their troops are poorly equipped and lead, which means that a 1:1 comparison is not an accurate representation of the real fighting strength of our two armies. And one has to remember that the Soviets have stationed a sizable amount of their troops in the far east, together with all of China's troops. It is highly unlikely that they will be able to move a significant amount of these units to the west when the hostilities begin. After all the Siberian Railway has only a limited capacity.
The Chinese army also consists almost to one third of poorly trained militia type units. We have stationed about 100 brigades from the same category as Garrisons on our coastal lines, but they are definitely better trained.
We don't have a lot of information about the enemies naval forces but I expect that it should be no problem for the Kriegsmarine to dominate the Baltic Sea. All other seas are irrelevant in this conflict, if we can capture the Soviet port in Murmansk early.


1941-05-28
After analyzing countless intelligence reports and testing many different plans with elaborate war games, my General Staff has finally finished the final version of our plan to invade the Soviet Union, codenamed "Barbarossa". At the moment the last troops are moving into position. The operation will begin with a surprise attack on all fronts in the early morning of the 20th of June.
Tomorrow I will travel to the Döberitz proving grounds north of Berlin to inspect the newest equipment our troops will be using in the upcoming struggle.

1941-05-29
I went to our proving grounds in Döberitz today to inspect the new equipment that our armaments industry has developed after the lessons we've learned in our campaigns last year. I was accompanied by my armaments minister Albert Speer.
The first order of business was the inspection of our Panzer forces which are now split into four categories:

• Light Panzer Divisions: Light and fast, their primary purpose is to exploit breaches in the enemy front and to advance quickly behind enemy lines before they can reorganize and rebuild their front. They are currently equipped with an improved version of the Panzer II as their main weapon. Their infantry support uses mechanized transports which are Able to keep up with the light tanks, even in difficult terrain. They are supported by light tank destroyers and an engineer brigade, allowing them to cross over rivers quickly. At the moment we have 10 Light Panzer Divisions.
• Medium Panzer Divisions: These divisions are the workhorse of our Panzer forces, their main weapon is the Panzer III Ausführung B, an slightly improved version of the same tank we deployed against France last year. Unlike the fast moving light tank divisions they are supported by motorized infantry and a battalion of assault guns, making these units a versatile weapon against enemy tanks as well as infantry. At the moment we only have 8 Medium Panzer Divisions, but more are already in production and they will quickly become the bulk of our Panzer forces.
• SS Panzer Divisions: These elite Panzer units are equipped with the brand new Panzer III Ausführung M, with an longer, more powerful main gun and extra protection on the sides for the tracks. They are supported by two mechanized brigades of elite SS infantry, an assault gun brigade and a medium tank destroyer brigade. With this expensive equipment these divisions are able to dish out and absorb some serious damage. Their role is to break through the enemy lines and to hold strategically important positions. Together with the LSSAH we only have 4 SS Panzer Divisions.
• Heavy Panzer Divisions: At the moment we have exactly one heavy tank division, the "Panzer Division Großdeutschland". They are equipped with a sightly modified version of the Panzer III, using the same chassis but a different turret with better armor and a bigger gun. In addition to a mechanized infantry brigade (used not because of their speed but because of their better protection) and an assault gun brigade, they are equipped with a heavy tank destroyer brigade. The role of these divisions will be to break heavy enemy resistance and to protect the most vital choking points of our advances.

After the impressive Panzer forces we went on with the inspection of various kinds of infantry divisions:

• Infantry Divisions: The bulk of our forces is made up of the good old Infantry division. Supported by an artillery and an anti tank battalion they can handle almost anything the enemy throws at them. At the moment we have 106 Infantry Divisions in the field.
• Gebirgsjäger Divisions: The Gebirgsjäger or mountain infantry divisions are equipped for warfare in alpine environments. After the Anschluss of Austria we had three Gebirgsjäger Divisions which quickly became the core of a fast growing army of mountain troops. At the moment we have 20 Gebirgsjäger Divisions which will be used in Spain and the Balkans.
• Marine Infantry Divisions: These units are specialized for amphibious warfare and are now equipped with a top secret light tank that is able to completely submerge in shallow water. We only have 5 Marine Divisions at the moment.
• SS Infantry Divisions: The elite SS Infantry Divisions are equipped with the finest weapons available and they are supported by an assault gun brigade, allowing them to attack enemy tanks on their own. At the moment we have 10 SS Divisions deployed.
• Paratrooper Divisions: Able to capture vital bridges and airfields behind enemy lines the paratroopers have proven their worth in the last campaigns. However, without heavy equipment they are unable to fight on their own for long and at the moment we only have one transport squadron and 3 Paratrooper Divisions.
• Motorized Infantry Divisions: The fast motorized infantry divisions are used as mobile reserve units in the occupied territories and near expected invasion sites. At the moment we only have 8 Motorized Divisions, but more are already ordered. They will also be used to patrol the vast Soviet lands we expect to conquer very soon.
• Garrisons: The Garrison Divisions are stationed in every port and important coastal city to defend them against enemy invasion attempts. We have currently 56 Garrison Divisions deployed.

Our last stop of the tour was an inspection of the new planes of the Luftwaffe:

• Messerschmitt Bf-109E (Interceptor): A slightly modified version of the good old Me-109. At the moment we have 26 Interceptors wings.
• Messerschmitt Bf-109G (Multi-Role): Originally I requested a new design for a multi role fighter as escort for our bombers, but we are still using a variant of the Me-109 which has been modified even more. We have deployed 4 Multi-Role fighter wings, one with every full bomber squadron.
• Junkers Ju-88 (Tactical Bomber): At the moment we have 9 tactical bomber wings deployed in three squadrons with three wings each. They are each escorted by one multi-role fighter wing.
• Junkers Ju-87-G2 (Dive Bomber): After the success of the Ju-87 "Stuka" this plane been upgraded with an anti tank gun under each wing, replacing their secondary bombs. This fine plane will transform our 7 Dive Bomber wings into true tank killers.
• Junkers Ju-290 (Naval Bomber): Originally designed as an airliner, the Ju-290 has a very long range, which makes it ideal to replace the old planes we are currently using in our three Naval Bomber wings.
• Arado Ar-232 (Transporter): Currently our paratroopers are riding in style in the "Tante Ju" Ju-52 transport plane. But our transport wing will be upgraded with the new Arado Ar-232, which has a greater range and a slightly bigger cargo hold.
• Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor (Heavy Transporter): Another plane that was shown to us was the "Fw-200 Condor", a heavy transport plane from Focke-Wulf. It has almost twice the range and three times the cargo capacity of the Ar-232. We are expecting to advance deep into Soviet territory soon, maybe even as deep as Siberia. A plane like this would come in handy to supply our troops if they advance so far into the wilderness. As soon as we have free production capabilities we should order one or two wings of these planes.
• Heinkel He-51 (Carrier Air Group): These antiquated planes are not new but we have 4 wings which were supposed to be used on our aircraft carriers. The constraints of the short flight decks require a plane that can take off at a very low speed, which made the He-51 the only available candidate. Maybe we can fight a better solution in the future which allows us to use a more moder plane for our carriers.

1941-05-30
I was impressed by the new weapons we got to see yesterday, but one has to remember that only about half of our troops are equipped with these new weapons. The other half is still using the same equipment which they had last year when they went to fight the French. And about 40 of our Infantry Divisions are still waiting for their anti tank battalion. But with weapons like these I now calmly await the beginning of operation Barbarossa next month.

1941-06-02
I had a meeting with Albert Speer today to discuss the production priorities for the rest of the year. For the last months we have build mostly infantry divisions to match the numbers of the Soviets. But now, as our pool of able bodied young men is shrinking, we should invest a significant portion of our production capabilities in modernizing our existing weapons. After that is done we should build more tanks and a few new planes, especially fighters, which we are still lacking. Maybe we will even resume the construction of our carriers, again. We should also expect some losses in men and material which we would have to compensate.

1941-06-19
I'm unable to sleep this evening. Tomorrow at precisely 4:00 German local time our troops will start the biggest land offensive ever undertaken in the history of warfare. A total of 1.7 million German soldiers will attack the combined forces of the Soviet Union and their allies. In my head I'm thinking about the battle plan over and over again:

We will attack on three different fronts with four army groups. Army Group Iberia on the Spanish front, Army Group North in Finland, Army Group South in the Balkans and Army Group Center on the Soviet front. The Kriegsmarine will be split into two forces: A small task force, lead by Admiral Böhm from the bridge of our fierce battleship Tirpitz, is stationed in the Arctic Sea north of Murmansk. The rest of the navy, under the command of Grand Admiral Raeder, will dominate the Baltic Sea and protect our transports during amphibious operations there.
The objectives of our armies are as follows:

Heeresgruppe Iberia (Field Marshal Ringel)
Weakened by a long civil war and without support from the Soviet Union, Spain will be the easiest target of this campaign. This front will be covered by the 4th army under General Heinrici, which is the only army of Army Group Iberia, with its headquarters in Toulouse. Heinrici is commanding 15 infantry divisions (half mountain infantry and half regular) and two light tank divisions. Their objective is to engage and destroy the Spanish forces in the Pyrenees. After that they will simply advance until the entire peninsula is occupied. We expect that the occupation is complete by the end of this year. Air support is provided by two fighter and two Stuka wings.

Heeresgruppe Nord (Field Marshal Busch)
Stationed alongside the former Finnish border are the troops of General Schöner's 7th army, commanded by the Army Group North from Oslo. Difficult terrain and bad infrastructure are the reasons why we are facing the Soviets only with 25 infantry divisions here. The Soviets are opposing us with more that twice that number of troops: For some reason they have stationed 49 infantry and 9 tank divisions in the arctic cold of northern Finland. We are hoping that the Soviets are running out of supplies as soon as the fighting starts, which would negate their numerical superiority.
The objectives of Army Group North are to capture the important port at Murmansk and the aluminum mines at Kemi. Next they will advance south to shorten the front line. We hope to achieve these goals by the end of August to secure our supply of rare ores and to deny the Soviets their only access to the Atlantic that is available during winter months.
Like in Spain, air support is provided by two fighter and two Stuka wings.

Heeresgruppe Mitte / Süd (Field Marshals Ramcke and von Saucken)
The two Army Groups Center (stationed in Warsaw) and South (stationed in Prague) are covering the main front against the Soviet Union and their allies on the Balkans. They have a combined strength of 90 infantry and 21 tank divisions and air support is provided by 18 fighter and 16 bomber wings. Opposing them is an enemy force with a total of 133 Soviet, Hungarian and Yugoslavian infantry divisions and 10 tank divisions. The chaotic organization of the enemy and lacking intelligence reports makes it difficult to determine which general is in command at which part of the front but what we know for sure is that they are all directed from the Stavka in Moscow by Field Marshal Garnov.
By the End of July the forces of Army Group South are expected to capture Budapest and a large part of Hungary. Army Group Center is facing a force almost twice the size of their own and they are only expected to advance a few dozen kilometers into the enemies territory in the first month. During the opening stages of this operation five marine infantry divisions will attack the former Latvian capital of Riga to cement our dominance in the Baltic Sea and to disrupt the enemies supply lines in the rear.
The main blow however will com from the center of the front where we have concentrated all 15 tank divisions of Army Group South which are supported by 10 of our elite Waffen-SS infantry divisions. They are supposed to break through the enemy lines just north of Lemberg and will advance at high speed over the plains of the Ukraine towards the Black Sea at Odessa, effectively cutting their allies off from supplies and reinforcements. Left on their own the armies of Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria will be no match for the Wehrmacht and we expect to advance to the Bulgarian border by the end of August. After the initial blow the Soviet forces will probably be in disarray and our goal will be to advance to a line spanning from Riga in the north over Minsk and Kiev to Sevastopol in the south by the end of August.
Army Group South is assisted by the Italian Army, whose objective will be to conquer the entire Adriatic Coast from Yugoslavia and to advance towards Albania and the Greek border by the end of August.

Any further operations will depend on which goals we have achieved and the situation as it presents itself at the end of August.

1941-06-20
Today was the day we've been waiting for, for so long. The first shot was fired by the massive railway gun "Schwerer Gustav" on the fortifications of the Soviet city of Brest. By noon we had broken through the lines of Spanish, Yugoslavian and Hungarian forces, but the resistance from the Soviet units was harder than expected and we were only able to break through the lines where we had concentrated our tanks for the push towards the Black Sea.


1941-06-21
The heavy fighting on the Soviet border continued today. The seas were quiet yesterday but today we encountered a small Soviet transport convoy heading towards Murmansk that was escorted by a few destroyers, no match for the main guns of our battleships. We also encountered the first real resistance from the soviet air force today. Superior to ours in numbers, but inferior in every other way. We had some losses but with our modern planes, well trained pilots and better equipped air fields we should be able to win the upper hand soon.


In the afternoon our five divisions of the 1st Marine-Sturm-Korps captured Riga and much of the Latvian coastline completely unopposed. They were greeted by the very friendly Latvian population who had been invaded by the Soviets last year. I think if we play our cards right, partisans will be no problem in these parts of the world. I've given the order to implement the same lenient occupation policies in Russia and the other eastern countries, that we have implemented recently in the other occupied territories.

1941-06-22
It has now been two days since the start of Operation Barbarossa. Our tank forces have taken the city of Lemberg today on their way to the Black Sea. So far this remains our only breakthrough on the Soviet front. We have encountered especially heavy resistance in the fortified border city of Brest. The situation in Spain, Hungary and Yugoslavia is much better: After the initial border skirmishes the enemy is now retreating on the entire front.


1941-06-23
Hermann Hoth's 4th light Panzer-Division broke through the Soviet lines south of Brest today and is now attacking the city from the side. In the northern part of the front General von Lüttwitz's 18th Panzer-Division has penetrated into the strategic rear of the enemy, which will be the first step of our push north to reach our bridgehead around Riga. On the Balkans the Italians have finally tasted victory once again and are now chasing retreating Yugoslavian units.


1941-06-24
After being attacked from two sides, the Soviet defenders in Brest capitulated this afternoon. It has been a though fight and our forces are pretty spent. It will take a few days until we can pursue the garrison units that are retreating. But we were expecting a slower advance in this part of the front.
Less pleasant news came from Heeresgruppe Nord today: The Soviets are very well entrenched behind a river on the opposing side of the former Swedish, Finish border. After four days of fighting Field Marshal Ringel has called off all attacks. However the attacks in the icy north, closer to the sea will continue. The enemy resistance is weaker and they are not as numerous there.


1941-06-26
We had our first success on the Finish front today: In the morning our troops captured the port of Petsamo, a first stepping store on the road to Murmansk. The enemy fleet that was stationed there had to flee and was intercepted by Admiral Böhm's task force. Among the ships was the Soviet flagship "Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya", or "October Revolution" as we call it. Sadly they managed to escape to Murmansk without losses but heavily damaged.


1941-06-29
These last few days we have been able to break through the enemy defenses on the entire eastern front. Aided by our paratroopers, our tanks are already half way to Odessa and there is no sign of Soviet reserves anywhere, which means that the advance can continue unhindered. Everything is going just as planned. The only army group that is behind schedule is Heeresgruppe Nord.


1941-06-29
Or task force in the arctic sea was attacked today by a superior enemy fleet of 19 British and Soviet ships. Amongst them was the aircraft carrier "HMS Eagle" and their flagship the "HMS Hood". Admiral Böhm managed to sink three enemy vessels before he was forced to retreat with his badly damaged fleet. Our ports north of the arctic circle lack the harbor-installations to conduct the required repairs, which is why I have tasked Grand Admiral Raeder to assemble a second task force that will escort Admiral Böhm's ships back home. It appears that the Grand Admiral had been right, we do have to improve our warships and naval tactics constantly, if we want to keep up with the navies of our enemies. Seeing how well Operation Barbarossa is progressing, I think that we will be able to allocate more resources for the Kriegsmarine soon.
However, while it is possible for our propaganda to sell this recent naval battle as a victory, it is more concerning that the British are now openly working together with the Soviets...