Chapter 18, part 2: Now 50% greater!
1906
It turns out poor people don’t like dying in horrifically bloody battles. Who knew? Some subsidies should help.
At this point, I have one army in Germany (Swinemünde) and, of course, these armies in France:
I start on Electrical Power Generation soon after Dunkirk finishes. Here’s the incredibly chaotic Eastern Front:
The Chinese have, ever so slowly, begun to arrive. I believe these particular Chinese units walked across Russia. Oh yeah, and the Japanese are here too:
Overall, at this point, the war still looks bad, mainly because the other guys have a +50 war score for battles, which is not much fun. I will start working this back in my favor soon. Russia’s personal war score is high enough that they add a war goal: Ostpreussen.
In June, I smash a small German army. A second battle gives me about +5 war score against Germany, which is not too shabby. Dunkirk is captured at the end of July. I take my army and attack a German stack in Lille. In August, Berlin falls to British troops, yet the Germans refuse to surrender. Cheeky blighters (you can imagine a British accent there – it’s probably way better than the actual voice I just used). I begin to see why, as the French get them some reinforcements at Lille:
Sure, the next day, I pick up another 3 war score, but it’s a minor victory. The Chinese invade Germany in force:
It’s clear that I might have to evacuate again, given the massive armies of both France and Germany surrounding me.
Of course, the French are retaking Dunkirk, so that is a tricky proposition. The French somehow still have enough strength to attack me in Germany, and I get this lovely surprise.
I lose the battle but inflict a lot more casualties – I’ll have to pull this army out to let it recover the ORG all the same. Fortunately, I’m not without gas protection for long.
Thanks to military access with Wallonia, I sneak the British troops in France out of France and invade the Rhineland instead.
I also take the troops from Germany (China can handle that, for now) and open up a new front on the Mediterranean. Corsica is an excellent staging area.
If I am in this war to win it – and of course I am – I have to do something a bit more drastic.
1907
Fascists form in Scandinavia. Corsica falls in March, but Germany retakes Berlin. I invade southern France.
I finish Electrical Power Generation in April and choose Bank Inspection Board. Meanwhile, France has started to retake land in the Ottoman Empire. A French attack at Toulon goes very badly for them, but I still have to withdraw to Corsica to regain my strength.
I’ve fought a few battles in the Rhineland, but nothing significant. I decide enough is enough and send my mobilized reserves into France.
Labour gets reelected in July and Poland surrenders. No matter – I got what I wanted out of them. Dunkirk 2.0 is surprisingly light in casualties – less than 15,000 combined – mostly because the France probably ran away. A second invasion of the Mediterranean coast proves more successful than the first. After a few indecisive battles in northern France, I successfully surround one of their former doomstacks:
With Japanese assistance, I also spread out on the southern coast.
French and German provinces are now being captured with satisfying regularity. I start Shift Work at the end of the month. Greece surrenders to the Ottomans in December.
1908
I take Paris in February. They still won’t surrender. (China and Japan have annoyingly added Cut Down to Size goals against France – I have no idea why, but when they get revolutions, it isn’t my problem). Speaking of rebels, my own breaks out (Anarcho-Liberals). This is a real problem because I don’t have a lot of troops in the Home Isles – only two armies, which have combined about 100,000 men. While we think about that, let’s take a quick look at the Ottomans:
This is really frustrating because they won’t surrender. In October, I take Electric Furnace as my new tech. The rebellion is under control, the French armies have largely been wiped out, and everything is going well, so far.
1909
I finally get an alliance with Egypt (who has been in my sphere forever) and I call them into the war, hoping to put even more pressure on the Ottomans.
Spain’s truce is up, so they get called back in too. I get Gas Attack in February. I close this update by showing you that France is all but done in this war:
Part 3 of this war will be up sometime soon – it’ll be a short update – and then I have to play again.
