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Examiner La République

France is weak in 1910. Napolean's successors have allowed the army to be neglected. The French Republic was defeated in 1871 by Bismark's Germany and we lost Alsace-Lorraine. The navy is so pitiful that Austria-Hungary's own navy can rival ours! France's industry is weaker than Germany, the UK, and even those upstart Americans . . . Even the French population is tiny compared to her German foe. All is not lost, though, as these problems can be reduced or rectified. The Republic has strength left in her and Bismark is dead. France's people are prepared to make a great sacrifice for an even greater destiny.

The army in the South, at game's start. France isn't in need of more men here, but the army will need to be reorganized. Note how weak France's IC is! A puny 142 base IC cannot hope to match Germany.
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The army facing off directly against Germany is also fairly weak and in need of being structured properly. This will receive priority.
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The French forces in the North. These are probably the best prepared, due to no direct threat being placed against them. Some politicians of the Republic question why there is even a Northern Army, but we'll leave some men here. Belgium is not to be trusted!
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Finally, the North African Army, which is pointless. The Republic sees no threat in this region, so these soldiers will be sent back home.
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The French Navy's current status is deplorable. The Republic will struggle to defeat any worthy foes, thus the navy will require some attention.
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Now, on to the general situation of France. Her industry has only 142 base IC, making her slightly stronger than Austria-Hungary or Russia. She's superior to the Ottomans and Italy, but far weaker than Germany, the UK, and America. French manpower gain is weak and France lacks the unity needed (by 1%) to get a Three Year Draft. Optimization will need to occur for her to compete. The French Cabinet is also not what we need. France's leadership and manpower will be the number one focus of our prewar strategy.
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Author's note: I'm going to keep the next update held back, as it will contain the various plans and the disposition of the French Army. The next update will include the build-up and opening phase of the war, including plans of war. I'm honestly worried about my manpower not being able to keep up with Germany's.
 
I am of course happy to answer questions though :)

In that case, could you give some information on IC, manpower and starting forces for the Ottomans. Also any information on what you lost in the scripted wars in terms of resources or IC centres. Ottomans are my favourite nation for this coming war so I am keen to find out about them a little.
 
TWP posted on TWC that he has ~400,000 troops. We know he has at least 1 full-sized Mountain Army (~16 divisions) because we can see them along the Russian border, and a sizeable force around Istanbul because we saw him deploy them and can still see the ones on the Coastal provinces. From our intelligence reports he has around 88 base IC and high construction practical, indicating he's likely been building ports or infastructure, because such a small IC run would not shoot the practical so high, and he's built no forts (as per the house rules).

His manpower is in the mid-hundreds (5-700ish), intelligence on manpower is never totally accurate. He'll benefit from not being anyone's first-choice target, as all the Entente majors will have to make sure the Austro-German offensives are contained before starting anything fancy, and Italy doesn't join the war until mid 1915.
 
Game session tonight, we'll be reaching the war. Hopefully that'll draw a lot of interest, as I'm sure everyone has plans to avoid the historical deadlock! :p
 
Session 3: So it begins...

In September of 1914, the powder keg of Europe exploded into violence. It began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, prompting an Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia.

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Austro-Hungarian forces quickly seized the border regions and the Serbians began a retreat into the south of the country: their small army was unable to resist the might of their foes, though did make a strong effort of it.

What followed was a series of mobilisations and counter-mobilisations. Russia mobilised to protect Serbia, Germany mobilised to protect Austria-Hungary, France mobilised to protect Russia, and Germany declared war on Luxembourg and Belgium, which Britain protected, prompting a British mobilisation, prompting Austria-Hungary to declare war on Britain and France.

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Such a war is unprecedented: millions of men reported to depots and marched to the front. Every major power in Europe mobilised every man they had fit for action.

The French Front

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The French moved quickly to secure Belgium, but were too late for Luxembourg. The lines went static in this area, as a French offensive elsewhere prompted an emergency mobilisation of German reserves away from the front....

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The French plan to ensure the war did not go onto French soil: outflank the Germans via Switzerland on the assumption that the Germans would try the same in Belgium. Rapid German deployment halted the offensive in the middle of Switzerland's mountains, but did prevent German reserves being deployed in Belgium. It seemed the entire Western Front had turned static, with costly offensives netting small gains.

The Entente was now in a race against time: French and British manpower prevented massive expansion of the number of standing Divisions, a limitation not shared by Germany. Russia lacked the IC to conduct such expansions on par with Germany and Austria-Hungary. France and the United Kingdom had to look for ways to advance the front quickly to keep the pressure off Russia.

The allies were active elsewhere...

The Spanish Front

Spain had been aligning to the Central Powers, and threatened the new French industries in the south. This could not be tolerated, and plans were made.

France positioned a force on the Franco-Spanish border, while British forces positioned themselves in French North Africa to prepare for the operation. Britain's newest Battlecruiser force was dispatched to the region to provide an escort for the transport ships and to do battle with the Spanish Navy should it put to sea: these ultra-modern Battlecruisers had the firepower to go toe-to-toe with Spain's older Battleships, and the speed to dominate the engagement.

The Naval Infantry Force of 8 Marine Divisions was to comprise the ground element of the operation, as well as the 2 Infantry Divisions garrisoned in Gibraltar.

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Spain was attacked from 5 directions: France, Portugal, Gibraltar, and 2 naval landings. Britain was responsible for the landings and Gibraltar.

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In the south, Royal Marines landed on Malaga while 2 Divisions in Gibraltar conducted a breakout to capture Cadiz and Seville. Spanish forces were active in the region and even a week after the landings, the beachhead in Malaga had not made contact with Gibraltar.

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In stark contrast with the northern landing, which was almost unopposed. A single light armour brigade faced off against 4 Marine Divisions and swiftly fled into the interior of Spain. Each beachhead was assigned 4 Marine Divisions of 4 Brigades, whereas Spanish Divisions were binary, numbering 2 each. As such each British Division was equivalent to 2 Spanish on paper, but British doctrines and equipment were more advanced than that of their Spanish foes.

In addition, a powerful British fleet sat outside Barcelona trapping the Spanish fleet in port, whilst French forces closed in from the landward approaches. The days of the Spanish Navy are numbered...

With French forces victorious across the entire northern front, and Portugal's frontlines slowly falling back towards Lisbon, this front is likely to be an allied victory swiftly. This will secure the French rear and bring Spanish troops onto the Entente side.

Fortress Britain

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The United Kingdom was kept well guarded, ever wary of a German landing attempt covered by their Battleship fleet. All of the major ports were well covered by large home defence forces, and the Royal Navy ever ready to give battle on the waves: Battle Squadrons were stationed the length of the country, from Scapa Flow to the Channel, British Battleships stood ready to challenge any German invasion attempt before the troops even hit the beaches.

* * *

Due to slowing the game down for the 2nd Balkan War we only got a few weeks into the war. Still, the opening moves have been made, next session will see things develop.
 
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We've still got a few tricks up our sleeves, next session might be interesting... :ninja:
 
Juicy update. Hopefully some of the others will come out and reveal some more. I'd love to see something from the central powers although I can appreciate the difficulty of being open while the multiplayer game is still in progress.
 
I've already had a chat with all the players and want them to be more open than they usually would be for an MP AAR. This is, after all, our big beta test for the WW1 mod. Competitively I know that Abbs on Germany might want to lie and claim he has no reserves and that he barely has enough men to cover the front in order to fool France into launching costly offensives, but everything he says in his reports I'm taking into account for game balance: if he's claiming he has way too few men when he actually has plenty and I buff German IC and manpower in an effort to balance that, then Germany just becomes way overpowered.

He's been quite open in his last update, which is good. I'm not expecting all the players to show me troop dispositions and detail their future plans, but you should expect a degree of openness about what's been happening.

* * *

Also I am pleased to announce the success of the Spain Campaign. The Spanish player formally surrendered on TWC and will join the Entente as a French puppet to fight against the German menace. :D It would seem his Central Powers allies have forsaken him!
 
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Hey guys ForteS here, I play as Spain,

THE SPANISH CAMPAIGN

Since long has Spain wished to conquer Portugal, therefor, on 1913 the government decided that the time to do so had come!
Most of the Army was dispatched to the frontier with Portugal,
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There was one problem though, Portugal didn't represent a such big threat neither to Spain neither to the whole of Europe, a invasion would surely turn the International Community against us, to prevent so the government decided to delay its plans.

To justify this invasion the government needed to show Europe that Portugal represent a threat, to achieve this spies were sent, their mission was simple, even if at some point hard, they needed to raise the Portuguese threat at all costs!
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With this action taken all appeared to go as planned, however the Spanish intel reported that French troops were stationed along the northern border, with the threat of a invasion raising the government decides that it was time for the troops stationed on Africa to return home, just for safety!

The Spanish navy is sent south, and with it bring the African troops that would latter be sent to border with France.
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All African troops were sent to Spain apart from the ones stationed in Ceuta, those would be organized into a theater with a force of 20,000 men.
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However, the situation only got worst, it was clear that the already low national unity was getting even lower, the government suspected of international intel activity on the country and ordered an investigation,

Around one month later this suspicions became true, the Spanish Intel had found out that both France and Britain were active on the country!
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Such action could not be tolerated, the intel was set to full alert! We had to catch those international spies and make them stop!

With the growing risk of an invasion the government decides that some of troops stationed along the Portuguese border were to be dispatched to the region of Aragon, to reinforce the troops already there, that had been brought from Africa. A new theater is formed, the North Theater!
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Furthermore the government decided that more military personnel was needed to cover this front and therefor a new phase of recruitment began. By May 1914 the forces stationed along the north border made a total of 81,000 men. More reinforcements would arrive a few months latter.

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In September 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated raising the fears of war on Europe.
Not much long after the fears become true, war is declared! Germany and Austria-Hungary versus France, United Kingdom and Russia. The Spanish government expected this war to end with the French threat, France would surely need its troops on the northern front, leaving the Spanish Army free to invade Portugal. Europe would be too busy to come rescue them.
This feeling turned out to be nothing but a tremendous error, France declared war upon us! Spain was now involved in a two front war, Portugal on one side and France on the other, the government however believed that there was a chance to win this war, and as so decided to join the Central Power, in hope that would thing turn badly Germany would be there for us.
Portugal small army wouldn't be much of a threat, we expected to have control all over their territory in a few months, we would then be able to send those troops to north front. However once again the war scenario only gets worst, United Kingdom supported the French ally on this war. A few troops were sent south, towards Gibraltar, we feared a British invasion. This troops would hold the British for some time but on 19 September the worst happened, British marines landed both on Valencia and the south region of Spain. The war was lost! No aid would come on our help, both Germany and Austria-Hungary were busy on their own fronts, therefor, on early October the government takes a hard decision, to surrender! We weren't proud of doing so but at least we would save many of our men lifes.

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This is my first AAR ever, I hope you guys enjoyed.
 
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ForteS the Entente believed that your allies would invest you with several expeditionary forces before the war.........clearly this did not happen. We were prepared for a war on Spain since the beginning of the game when you began drifting towards the CP.
 
Session Three: Bayonets and Horses
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In Russia: Prewar Problems
The Two Year Plan fell apart in the Spring of 1914. Every single Russian sector fell short of goals and the Army nearly ran out of supply. The Gangut Class of Battleships had to be put on hold as workers from the shipyards weren't paid. The new Army Groups that were to be thrown onto the front lines did not come out on time. This is due to the Okhrana discovering that the Germans had pushed ahead in arms and equipment for the infantry. The Russian research was diverted immediately to 1916 technology and this was reached for Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery. The previously up-to-date Imperial Forces were now in desperate need of a refit and this took all of the IC from the supplies sector and the build sector. The Army was able to meet this refit before the war began but the Army went to war under-manned and the Baltic Coast is now being guarded by loaned British ships.

The supply stockpile was gone by the start of the war so an overbuilding in that sector continues to take IC away from the build sector.

The Army will not be prepared to meet the Ottomans should they cross the border in force. Only a corps of Mountain troops and a corps of Infantry hold that border and their orders are to withdraw and use the mountains as best as possible. This front suffers the most as the build queue is set up to bolster the defenses there while providing substantial reserves to the Prussian and Polish fronts. Events on the Polish and Carpathian fronts have dictated that the Caucasus front be kicked even further down the allocation chain. The Romanian Front will have to be reinvested as troops have been shifted from there to cover the Polish salient so minimal troops will be stationed in the Mountains until Romania can be covered adequately.

Romania and the Caucasus will be covered before the end of 1914 along with reserves being deployed to Poland and the Baltik, but for the start of the war, Russia suffered more than any other country and this is almost entirely due to a complete lack of IC to compete with German modernization.

Below is the breakdown of Russian industry. Notice that officers were neglected in favor of quicker training and an IC boost before the war began. All units are in the queue to take advantage of the training bonus, but the loss of the 10% IC boost at the start of 1914 nearly crippled production.
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Also the Tsar was able to change to more favorable ministers in 1914. The organization bonuses provided by key Ministers proved incredibly important to the Army in September.
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The Imperial Russian Navy:
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The Navy was completely disengaged from the fighting early on. The Black Sea Fleet left Sevastopol as soon as the countries began to drift to war. Admiral Makarov took up position outside of the range of Ottoman coastal batteries and has effectively sealed off the Black Sea for the time being.
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The big story for the Navy is the timetable for modernization. It is now highly doubtful that the Navy will be able to capture any glory for itself in the war. The greatly enlarged French fleet and overwhelming British fleet will most likely be responsible for any actions. As a result of this realization, the eight new battleships in the queue have been pushed down to the bottom. What had originally been the pride of the country is now more likely to be sold for scrap at the end of the war if the German and Austrian navies are beaten.

The Imperial Russian Army:
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Unlike the other belligerents, the Russian Army was unable to mobilize before the war began. Also, the most reserve-unit-heavy armies were placed in the Polish Salient. This would prove to be a disaster. Regular units were placed along the Carpathian, Romanian and Prussian Fronts.

Plan Vorotyntsev called for First and Second Armies (reserve) to hold in Poland until mobilization was complete while Third and Fourth armies ran through East Prussia. The goal being to draw German reserves into a fight for the old Prussian Capital. First and Second armies were positioned well behind the Polish frontier to hide their positions. Once substantial German reserves were detected in East Prussia, First and Second armies would then step-off and aim to cut the Germans off in one large pocket. Fresh reserves would then be deployed to crush the pocket.

Fifth Army (reserve) would attempt to take Krakow from the Austrians and then hold the line. Sixth and Tenth would thrust south and meet up Seventh and Eighth over the Carpathians. Ninth Army would take Lwow and hold the line. Once the two large pincers linked up, Fifth Army would be fully mobilized and would protect the flank against the Germans. Ninth Army would mop up pockets of Austrian resistance.

The goal of the plan was to force Austria out of the war by Christmas.

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The overlay of Plan Vorotyntsev is done so on a post-session strategic map. As you can see, substantial Polish territory has been ceded without the loss of any cities, although the cities are now the front line. The push against Krakow was defeated by a heavy German flank attack against the weak Fifth Army. Austrian reserves responded quickly to this threat and the entire Fifth Army was driven back into Poland.

The push for Lwow was initially successful, but the Austrians knew this was coming and the city was well defended.

The two large pincer movements never really occurred.

The real strategic failure of the plan came because in reality there is not a Ninth or Tenth Army and Third Army was stripped of two Corps to provide for additional defense of the Baltik Coast. Ninth Army's push on Lwow was actually done by Seventh.

Of course this all goes without talking about the German Elephant in the room. The majority of Polish territory was given freely without a fight. First and Second armies were never intended to fight until perhaps even October, but they were confronted with a German steamroller. German advances into Belgium were checked so easily by the French that it is clear that the Central Powers have settled on a "Russia First" strategy. They are smart to do so, but they needed to destroy the 3 Reserve Polish Armies before the Army could be ready.

Russian Industrial and Strategic failure was only matched by tactical incompetence. An initial flurry of battles all along the borders has dwindled down to a handful of engagements. The Austrians do not have the men to try and break the Russian lines but the Austrians can dig in and make it impossible to cross the frontier. Germany cannot deploy too many troops to Poland and East Prussia because France has barely had to fight and the Entente are looking for ways to get Britain into the war.

Russian tactical incompetence can be summed up like this:
Due to the size and nature of the engagements, whole corps were thrown at the enemy at once. Effective division rotation was non-existent and offensives suffered from this. Russian forces suffered stacking penalties in nearly every engagement and it was still a draw. The only front that settled and could be focused on was the Prussian Front where an undermanned Third Army made substantial gains and is within spitting distance of the Old Prussian Seat.

It should be noted that due to what appeared to be gross Austrian incompetence against Serbia at the start of the war, Stavka decided that Austria could be beaten with massed attacks and the Austrians would collapse when faced with such a large number of enemy troops.

The Fronts:

Carpathians:
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The Austrians have not attempted to break through the lines (screenshot after the war with AI Austria, hence the movement) and could create a near impenetrable barrier if they are allowed to dig in. The line must be broken somehow or Austria will not be defeated anytime soon.

The Caucasus:
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Not much has changed here other than Russian troops digging in and awaiting what could be an Ottoman onslaught. It is fine, there are many mountains between the border and anything important and time is on our side as is space. The Entente will welcome an Ottoman thrust here with a flight first mentality.

Northern Finland:
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The Swedes are still neutral...

The Far East:
Japan is now an ally.

Poland:
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The pocket looks fragile but it is not. The armies are not trapped here and there are mobile reserves moving to fill in the pocket to add depth of defense. The armies in the pocket are all at 5 days worth of digging or more (some are at a max of 10 already) and all benefit from river bonuses on one flank or the other.

Prussia:
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The greatest battle of the war so far has been in Tilsit (where 6th Cavalry Corps is). The Germans sold their lives dearly for the riverbanks but they were not successful in keeping the Third and Fourth Armies at bay. The city exchanged hands a few times but substantial Russian Reserves have poured into the province. Fresh Reserves will enable Third Army to have it's two corps back and add even more weight to the push.

A photo of a bedroom in one of the many broken homes in Tilsit:
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Overall Picture:
The fronts are incredibly static already and they will only get worse. Poland was scary for a bit as I really felt I was going to lose it, but I beat off several attacks and now my troops are digging in and reserves will make it nearly impenetrable. The Austrian front is so long and the border has a natural defense, I don't really know if I can break through the line there if the Austrians can dig in. Poland will be the decider, but I am confident that sufficient reserves and digging will keep the salient intact.
***
The next update will most likely see the pressure taken off of Russia. The Entente has reorganized itself to deal with this new reality. The "Russia First" strategy never occurred to us.
 
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Session 3: Clash of Giants

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As tension rose in Europe, Wilhelm II requested a plan to secure the Baltic and Germany's north coast in case of war. The task fell on the chief of staff, Heinz Guderian. The operation was named Operation: Meerfallen.

Operation: Meerfallen
Objectives: Install loyal government in Denmark and secure the gate to the Baltic.
Goals: Give the Kriegsmarine freedom of the Baltic, to carry out operations under no danger.
Assigned forces:
  • 17. Armee (Ruoff)
  • IV. Slagflotte
  • V. Slagflotte
  • Trupptransportenflotte
  • II. Cruiserflotte

The operation was given highest priority and the troops assigned were standing by since early May 1914.

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German Highcommand was also constantly approached by Greek diplomats, proposing scandalous trade offers.
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Then it all escalated quickly. Franz Ferdinand was killed by a Serb and Austria-Hungary went to war with Serbia. The Austrian-Hungarian (here on abbreviated AH) high command took its time invading, and so they called upon the help of Germany. At the same time, Russia, France and the United Kingdom mobilised. World war was a fact.

Operation: Meerfallen was put into effect.
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Denmark surrendered quickly and joined the Central Powers. The Baltic was ours.

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Meanwhile, the Russians had started an offensive in Prussia. This was countered by the 6. Armee and 7. Armee in Poland, who quickly gained a lot of ground. Elements of the 6. Armee were sent to reinforce the armies stationed in Prussia, who had come under immense Russian pressure. The fleet was dispatched to provide fire support.
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The French however had invaded Switzerland, startling the commander in the area. Only one mountain brigade was present in the Bayern Alps. The situation was dire. French armies were punching a hole in the weak defence of the Swiss and when they did their route to Berlin would be wide open. An army being organised in the area around Wilhemshaven was quickly sent by train to the Swiss alps. They managed to contain the dangerous possible French breakthrough..
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With the fall of Denmark, the 17. Armee is now acting as strategic reserve. High command is now arguing whether to send its 170.000 men to west or east, or if they can be sent elsewhere :ninja: