HPP MP: Panzer Chaos!

The date is 20th Feb 1937, barely a year has passed since Herr Hitler decided to take control of his nation's destiny. At the beginning, Germany was a mere regional power, hobbled by the shackles of the Versailles Treaty.



There was much to be improved, as the Heer was a mere shadow of it's former might, the Luftwaffe masquerading as a civilian airfleet, and the Kriegsmarine reduced to just two aging battleships.

However, as Herr Hitler knew there was only limited time before the imperialist dogs of the west and communist rabble in the east would attempt to interfere with Germany's quest for Lebensraum, it was important to focus his efforts on building a large, modern force to cow the Allies and Soviets into submission.

Research was ordered into promulgating the latest doctrines and war machines, including the Panzer! Germany will be ready to show the world a new face to war, a war of lightning speed, and a war of decisive victory!



Numerous new divisions were planned to be formed up in preparation to defend the Fatherland against aggression including this lead batch of Panzers as the Army undergoes rapid reorganization.



Germany did not lack allies, as numerous countries were already sympathetic to their hardships, and agreed to form a pact against the evils of communism. To that end, numerous innocent tourists decided to visit Russia of their own volition, but were unjustly imprisoned while taking photos inside the Kremlin, border defenses, and distributing leaflets calling for the peasants to overthrow the communist government! In spite of that, neighboring countries have come to realize that Soviets pose the greatest threat to their sovereignty.



In other regional matters, the German supported revolution against the Republic of Spain looks to be drawing to a close, with victory assured by the participation of the Condor Legion.



At the end of 1936, Germany has reestablished some measure of her former power, but the clock is ticking towards the inevitable confrontation with the world, as Germany asserts her rightful claims! Only time will tell whether we will be successful in our goals

We're back with the second episode of the HPP MP game!

We have only advanced 7 months into this game due to running at speed 3 for most of the Sino-Jap War, and the date is currently 2nd December 1937.

We have welcomed new members into the Axis, including the Romanian, Italians and Japanese Nations. This promotes a new era of cooperation amongst the Axis faction, with much peaceful trading and diplomacy! However, we are of course, on the best of terms with the allied and communist powers following the numerous trade deals made, and will hope to sustain peaceful relations between all the factions.



Even so, Si vis pacem, para bellum. (If you want peace, prepare for war)

Germany continues to expand the Heer to provide a measure of self defense against the forces of imperialist and communist greed. Our small collection of Panzer regiments at the start of 1937, has grown under the guidance of General Guderian into a modern, fully self contained Panzergruppe, equipped with the latest in tanks, and fully staffed with motorized infantry support. Such a potent force fulfill the dream of Blitzkrieg, where the maximum force can be applied to shatter enemy lines, and save the precious lives of German soldiers through overwhelming firepower.



Our tourists report visiting foreign barracks, and finding laughably undersupported, ill-equipped troops that could never contest against our brave lads with the latest technology. However, there was news that the French Frogs had been busy developing a new form of heavy armor to support their infantry and OKW HQ decided to send spie... I mean German tourists in France sent postcards of French tanks undergoing trials, and managed to record the futile efforts of light anti-tank ammunition simply bouncing off the their newly developed armor. In response, development of a new, heavier class of anti tank weaponry was ordered to support our brave lads if the frogs decided that simply holding the German territories seized in the previous wars not sufficient for their appetites.



The Soviets continue their industrialization with numerous factories constructed and heavy industry developed. Germany welcomes a economically strong neighbor, but it remains to be seen if such capacity will be used aggressively or peacefully. It is highly suspect that they have hostile intentions towards their neighbors, who Germany has openly declared support for. Such aggressive acts have driven them under the protective wings of the Axis!




Aggressive Soviet maneuvers near peaceful Romania

After the Marco Polo incident, Japan invaded China and made good progress, with only a few minor hiccups, like


The start of the war


Too rapid advances led to some minor encirclements, but were easily broken by superior Japanese troops!


Minor landings at Shanghai easily pushed Chinese troops back


About to knock out Communist China


Great progress with two major pockets about to crush numerous Chinese divisions near Shanghai and Shandong Peninsula as the fronts link up

There was a test, on whether china was viable. Basically regardless of the balancing, CHI will get crushed by the IC JAP can bring to the fight even if human, and JAP just wastes time/IC on building a larger army. In the end, no one wanted to suffer the pain of getting crushed outright, and Japan rather focus on the naval war with USA instead

It's been two sessions since the last update, and it's time for the latest update to the war!

Japan secured a swift victory over China after the last session, and followed up by conquering the rest of the chinese minors. Even as Xinjiang fled into the questionable arms of the communists, Japan has never been stronger with the liberated population working to secure the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in conjunction with the Axis!


In order to safeguard their borders from the Soviet menace, Germany decided to take the polish people under our protection. A plan was presented to German high command to secure a swift victory over the Red Army, deemed as the greatest menace to German sovereignty. To that end, German troops were seen moving into position in Northern Poland, assisted by the local populace by upgrading their infrastructure to handle German Panzer divisions.


To ensure victory, the newly formed Oberkommando der Wehrmacht allocated Heersgruppe Nord the cream of the Heer, 4 Panzer Armees and a supporting Infantry Armee, coming to over a million men under arms, the greatest mechanized army ever gathered.


A typical Panzer Armee had great striking power concentrated within their two Panzer Corps with 8 Panzer Divisions, supported with 12 Calvary divisions in three Höhere Kavallerie-Kommando Corps. These divisions were of course, staffed by the very best commanders Germany could muster


However, OKW was cognizant of the threat a fully mobilized English and French army presented to the Fatherland, and deployed Oberbefehlshaber West to secure the Siegfried Line. Three full Festung armies with a mix of garrison and infantry divisions stood ready to defend against Allied interference in German affairs.


When the declaration of war came, the panzer divisions advanced rapidly and overran the first line of Soviet defenses in front of the Berezina River east of Minsk, which was left undefended.


Following the plan laid down by OKW, leading elements of the 1. Panzer Armee and 4.Panzer Armee rapidly bypassed the dug-in soldiers behind the river line from the north and south, to accomplish a encirclement of the Soviet 3rd and 5th Armies, who were tasked with the defense of the road to Moscow. The execution of the blitz took Stavka completely by surprise and orders came too late for the withdrawal of the troops. While 1. Panzer Armee prepared for an assault on Vitzyebsk, 2. Panzer Army slowly but surely closed the noose on the trapped soldiers. Over 30 divisions were caught in the pocket, with a full corp of armor, as German soldiers captured abandoned T34s as soviet fuel supplies ran low in the pocket.


With the destruction of the central armies, the road the Moscow lay open and 1. Panzer Armee shifted back on the offensive after a period to regroup. With OKW's permission, General Rommel dispatched the 12. Panzer-Division to race towards Moscow, followed by other elements freed up as the pocket was shut on the doomed soviet troops. After only two weeks, a probing attack was launched by General Dietrich, but found a hasty collection of calvary and mixed divisions dug in to defend the capital sufficient to repulse the German panzers. However, the other divisions from 1. Panzer Corp were moving towards to flanks to encircle Moscow in preparation for a more organized attack.


It took another week, but by this time the 1st, 5th and 8th Panzer Corps had arrived on the outskirts of Moscow. Thanks to the rapid encirclement, no additional troops could arrive by rail into Moscow before a more concerted attack was launched, this time with 7 Panzer divisions. Even then, progress was slow as panzers were better suited to plains warfare than advancing into a urban environment crawling with Soviets.


However, OKW intelligence was alerted to massive reinforcements arriving from the north and east, and the Waffen-SS Standartepanzer and 25. Panzer Division were ordered to launch diversionary attacks to pin the arriving troops from entering the capital. The disorganized divisions were caught off-guard from travelling by rail, and unable to mount a coherent defense as panzers crushed through their staging areas.


The attack on Soviet had a renewed sense of urgency, as the allies launched a shocking sneak attack on neutral Belgium in an attempt to distract OKW. OB West dispatched several infantry corps under 3. Festung Armee with orders to dig-in at the border of Belgium to delay the Allied aggression, but were unable to directly intervene for fear of being cut-off from reinforcements.


The Luftwaffe launched daily bombings in an attempt to save Belgium, but the relentless advance of the English tanks could not be stymied from the air. However, the huge investment in escort fighters for bombers showed their worth, as the interceptors of the RAF were completely unable to interfere with 34 bombings in the last week alone in a single province along the axis of advance.


However, within days, fresh infantry reinforcements arrived to help take the pressure off the tired Panzers assaulting the heart of the Soviet Union, as the number of troops OKW had ordered into the battle began to overwhelm the defenders. The crushing force of 3 corps of German Panzers and 1 of Calvary proved sufficient to dislodge the most stubborn of defenders, and the battle of Moscow was won.




At this point, the session ended!

We're not sure if the game is going to continue given that with the eminent defeat of the Soviets, the Allies might choose to concede instead.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Panzer Chaos!

While it was interesting, the Allies would have to throw in the towel pretty soon because SOV is the single greatest challenge for GER. Once that's beaten, GER has pretty much secured dominance over Europe and won the war.

Also, I'm happy to report we have concluded this session and are recruiting for a new game!

We have been putting in some house rules to balance the game such that the war proceeds more historically in order to test the sub-mod balance more thoroughly.

Thanks for everyone's interest and hopefully join us for the next installment of Chaos!