The Third Empire - An Imperial France AAR

elbasto: I have military control over both Italy and Spain.

Neroon: Thanks! I saw no other reasonable action than to stab Germany in the back At the moment I'm not doing any research in Nukes or rockets. Computers some but mostly industrial research.

Lord British: Thank you LB!

Sir Humphrey: More thrashing coming up!

Emp_Palpatine: You're welcome, files coming your way soon and no I'm not French.

Old Scores Settled

The whole of Europe watched as France and Germany fought during the autumn of 1939 and some nations used the distraction to realize their own ambitions. Latvia was the last of the Baltic States to suffer Soviet occupation when the Red Army crossed its border on the 16th of September. Moscow then turned to Finland and demanded extensive border revisions, claming that the Finnish border was much to close to Leningrad. The Finns asked for mediation from Great Britain and the French Empire; they both refused to get entangled in any Scandinavian conflict. The Finnish government was divided but in the end it agreed to cede the provinces Moscow requested. To many, Britain’s war effort against Germany appeared half hearted. The surprising outbreak of war with Ireland was part of the explanation; the British army had swiftly defeated its Irish counterpart but several divisions were still tied up in counter insurgency measures. London privately blamed the French, who refused to formalize any alliance treaty against the Germans or allow British troops on French soil.



France Continues To Advance

The French First and Second Army under Field Marshal Juin attacked Mannheim on the 2 of November. Although von Leeb’s Germans were outnumbered two to one, they were still determined not to give another inch of the Fatherland to the French. The defenders put up a good fight, but it was not enough, and they were pushed out of the city on the afternoon on the 4th. Emperor Napoleon then turned his sights on Frankfurt am Main, the city’s garrison had to be dislodged so that the advance through Hesse could continue. Charles de Gaulle, Marshal of France, was ordered to take the city with the Grand Army and the Third and Sixth Armies.






Frankfurt Am Main

German Field Marshal Fedor von Bock recognized his troops vulnerable position and asked the OKW for permission to retreat to the more easily defendable hillier terrain northeast of the city. Reich President Ludwig Beck was getting very concerned about the rapid French advance in the west and ordered von Bock to hold the city at all cost. De Gaulle’s troops assaulted the defense lines at first light on the 18th November; the three-pronged French attack almost immediately broke through in the north and south. Surprisingly the Germans managed to halt the main thrust from Wiesbaden, but the loss of Offenbach and its intact bridges a couple of hours later spelled doom. Von Bock quickly called upon his few and precious reserves to move into position for a counterattack to retake Offenbach, with the hope to catch the French off balance. The attack never came because renewed French attacks on his center forced him to divert the reserves there. As night fell the fighting ebbed out and von Bock and his staff poured over the maps, realizing that the city would most likely be surrounded by the same time the next day.






The German Field Marshal ordered a slow fighting retreat without consulting the OKW. The fighting continued as the sun rose and the French finally broke through in the center and entered the city while pressing on in the north and south. The Germans, expecting this, had moved forces from the center to the flanks and managed to halt the advanced while they lured the French main force deeper into the city before the trap sprung. A large number of units had volunteered to stay behind and let the French pass them without engaging; when de Gaulle’s men reached the city square all hell broke loose in their rear as the hidden Germans struck at the same time. The ensuing street-to-street fighting halted the French advance as the commanders tried to get on top of the situation. It took de Gaulle’s soldiers over 24 hours of heavy fighting to root out all resistance in Frankfurt; von Bock used the reprieve wisely and withdrew northeast.



The Reich Strikes Back

Charles de Gaulle, Marshal Of France, was furious that von Bock had outsmarted him and chased him to Erfurt and reached the proximity of the city on the night of the 22nd November. At his arrival in Erfurt, von Bock was relieved of his command because of his non-authorized withdrawal from Frankfurt Am Main; Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb replaced him. The Germans fielded 17 divisions of which the majority were the exhausted defenders of Frankfurt. De Gaulle attacked on the morning of the 23rd and the Grand Army’s 1800 tanks crashed into the shaken defenders and they were swept away by the tide; the city surrendered after just five hours. De Gaulle rearranged his forces to drive on Hannover, the last and possibly the most important of the designated objectives.






But as de Gaulle moved his forces towards Hannover the OKW convened. Beck opened the meeting with a description of the gravity of the situation and how the coming month would be decisive. Poland was all but finished and he expected the remaining resistance to collapse within a week or two; this would free up most forces in the east for action against the French. The problem was that Germany could not afford to wait; France had conquered a large portion of Germany proper and had to been driven back before serious shortages crippled the Wehrmacht. Beck continued to explain that this task would be given to Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, who would lead a counterattack against Juin’s French forces in Erfurt while de Gaulle’s powerful Grand Army was tied up in the north. The Luftwaffe would launch an intensive bombing campaign and break down the French troops. The goal was to liberate Hesse and then drive northwest to cleave the French front in two. Then the Grand Army would be captured in the north where it would soon be useless because of its dependence on fuel. A loud minority in the OKW thought the plan too ambitious and suggested that they should await the troops in the east after all; Beck rejected this and ordered von Brauchitsch to proceed at once.






The French High Command was worried by the intense Air Raids on the forces in and around Erfurt that had been initiated in the end of November; Field Marshal Juin reported that his forces were taking a heavy beating and asked for help. However, the Imperial French Air Force’s reinforced fighter squadrons were busy protecting the forces in the south. The Germans had concentrated their air attacks before without any apparent reason so it was decided that Juin’s men would have to ride out the storm. The German attack struck Juin’s battered troops on the 7th of December; the surprised and weary defenders put up a hard fight and the Germans could only advance slowly. Emperor Napoleon refused to call off the attack on Hannover but directed the might of the First Air Fleet on von Brauchitsch’s attacking forces. The French soon acquired local air superiority and bombed the attacking units as well as vital bridges and caused the Germans serious supply problems.






In the north de Gaulle had reached Hannover on the 8th of December and the Grand Army’s tremendous firepower forced the weak garrison to retreat, the city was captured on the ninth. Heavy fighting continued in the south where the front line divided the small but famous Thuringian town of Weimar; most of the town was devastated as the Germans poured in wave after wave of attackers, trying to dislodge the staunch French defenders. The battle raged on until the 13th when von Brauchitsch withdrew his exhausted troops and the fatigued French could declare victory.






Volkssturm & The First Snow

Reich President Ludwig Beck was exasperated and terrified; he immediately signed an order that had been lying on his desk for a week: the creation of militia units, the so-called Volkssturm. He had wanted to avoid it, but even the capitulation and the partition of Poland on the 10th of December didn't change the dire situation the Greater German Reich found itself in; they had to fight with all means possible.

The first snow fell on the 15th of December and both French and German soldiers hoped it was a sign heralding some time to rest and recuperate. That was not to be, embolden by the weak German defense and the reinforced French Air Power in northern Germany, the Emperor decided to continue the offensive and seize the port of Wilhelmshaven. General Koenig’s 6th Army attacked on the 21st of December and captured the port on the morning the day after; the German garrison was much too weak to put up any serious resistance. Berlin’s situation grew even more ominous as the newly created French 8th Army under General Huntziger approached the southern flank of the front from France.

Neroon: Granted Germany appears mortally wounded, but I predict a long and hard battle before final victory. We'll see what lies ahead concerning Britain and the USSR.

Mettermrck & Sir Humphrey: Thanks guys!

A New Year

1939 had been dominated by Germany’s ruthless and callous expansion policy and Britain’s desperate efforts to maintain the peace. France on the other hand seemed, in retrospect, eager to lure Germany into war with Poland and the United Kingdom. The French had attacked without any formal declaration of war and had pushed deep into Germany while much of the German army had been fighting in Poland. Germany finally defeated Poland in the beginning of December and partitioned the hapless nation together with the Soviet Union according to a secret addendum to the von Hassel – Molotov pact. However, Germany appeared mortally wounded by the French in the west as it started to transfer the bulk of its Army and air force to face the “back stabbing French”; would the desperate measures like raising the Volkssturm militia be enough to halt the French advance? Only time could tell…






Eisenach, French-occupied Germany
6th January 1940

It was finally dawn! The interior of his small simple room at “Günthers Gasthaus” was clearly visible as the January sun struggled to rise over the icy horizon. But it was still dark in that terrible corner of the room…from where…Oliver Haddo groaned and drew the blanket over his head; the small bed creaked under his considerable weight. He was cold but sweaty and closed his eyes hard as if in agony, mumbling to himself. No matter how hard he tried to blank out his mind, the memories came back and repeated themselves over and over again.

He was back in the gutted church again…outside Weimar…the dark sky lit up by the endless artillery duels in the east, the air full of sounds of the not too distant fighting. Oliver could feel the emotions of the fighting and dying men in the air, a powerful mix of fear, determination and hatred; perfect for the nights purpose. They had parked at the nearest French Army checkpoint and Oliver had used his considerable powers to convince the soldiers that he and his party was high ranking French Officers with the right credentials and they had been allowed to approach the front. They were all wearing black robes with hoods and some of them were carrying items essential to the ceremony; Oliver himself held the Shining Trapezohedron in a firm grip. The badly damaged gothic church towered before them as they approached; it was too dark here off the road and Oliver ordered them to light their torches. They entered the church and walked carefully among the debris to the altar. The others started the mundane work, setting up braziers and loading them with coal while Oliver placed the Shining Trapezohedron on the altar. The Englishman then closed his eyes and concentrated, his astral body flew out of the church and proceeded east, towards the front. He reached the town and like a predator he started the search for his pray, the outer gods liked their sacrifices as innocent as possible. Oliver read the minds of hundreds of French soldiers and worked his way from the front line backwards, he found a suitable victim in one of the transport units in the rear. Twenty one year old Private Narcisse Pierpont had never killed anyone, was a nice and helpful fellow who rarely felt hatred towards his fellow humans. He was guarding one of the trucks when he felt a slight headache coming on and then his consciousness was swept away into darkness as Oliver assumed control. Pierpont’s stolen body left its post and walked away, it reached the church half an hour later. Everything was ready for the ceremony as the victim walked up beside the altar and two of the robed figures tied Pierpont’s arms and feet with a strong rope and put rag in his mouth.

Oliver Haddo astral form returned to his body and he opened his eyes and looked at Pierpont who had just regained control of himself and looked around, the terror apparent on his face as he took in the scene around him. Two hooded figures held Pierpont as Oliver Haddo picked up a plain very sharp bronze dagger lying beside the Shining Trapezohedron on the altar. They ripped open the terrified soldier’s uniform jacket and Oliver then spent five minutes cutting an intricate pattern into the struggling Pierpont’s chest. The Englishman then retreated and positioned himself in front of the altar and raised his arms and spoke, “Disciples! Seekers of the Ultimate truth! Tonight we will finally meet our dark god, and as it feasts on our sacrificial gift, it will share its boundless knowledge with us and tell us what we must do to serve its ultimate purpose. Let the ceremony begin!”

Oliver Haddo stood silent with his hands resting on the lid of The Shining Trapezohedron while his followers chanted. He felt dark energies from the fighting and dying men at the front empowering the ritual as the chanting intensified; he picked up the dagger again and used its blade to scoop up blood from Peirpont’s wounds and then opened the yellowish metal box and looked at the Shining Trapezohedron, the huge stone was dark and foreboding. The chanting reached its peak and Haddo let drops of blood trickle down from the blade down onto the artifact while he raised his left hand and uttered a guttural incantation; everything went black and even some French artillery positions nearby couldn’t see the muzzle flame of their guns when firing, only the stars and moon could be faintly seen against the black winter sky. This surprised none of the cultist and they patiently awaited the arrival of their lord in the darkness. The robed figures didn’t have to wait for long; just as Haddo thought he saw a faint crimson glow deep within the Shining Trapezohedron, they all heard the beating of wings and a rancid, dreadful smell assaulted their senses. They instinctively looked up through the opening in the church’s ceiling and witnessed a spreading blur of denser titan-blue darkness against the inky sky, formless cloudy black wings beating an abyssal wind and a blasphemous three-lobed burning eye gazing hungrily at them. The presence entered the church and hovered over the altar and they all held their breaths while feeling how the creature looked into their very souls. Then it struck, the sound of an electrical discharge and a muffled scream, the smell of burnt flesh mingled with the creature’s awful odor. Something was wrong here, Haddo knew he had heard the scream somewhere behind him and that meant…his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a more drawn out electrical discharge and screams from several of his comrades. The remaining half of the cultist panicked and cursed his name as they ran for the exit of the building, he knew it would be to no avail and prepared himself for death; Haddo could hear how the soldier fell and tried to crawl his way from the grisly scene. More lightless bursts of electricity struck down the remaining fleeing cultist, who fell screaming on top of each other. Haddo could still hear Private Pierpont crawling clumsily and slowly towards the exit while he felt how the Haunter scrutinized him. “Death or boundless knowledge?” He said with a trembling voice and felt how more of the few remains of his sanity crumbled and fell down into the dread chasm that was his soul. But neither came and suddenly the creature left him, rising up towards the sky, beating its mighty wings and disappeared in the darkness.

The lights returned as the veil of darkness was lifted and Haddo stood shaking like a leaf for a minute before he looked around and took in the mayhem. The charred flesh and bones of his fellow cultist lay scattered in the church and he noticed a strange yellow residue on all of the remains as he walked around examining them in a daze. The sounds of the slow but desperate escape of Private Pierpont broke the spell and Haddo hurried over to the altar and closed the lid of the Shining Trapezohedron’s protective box and picked it up and realized that in his right hand, he was still holding the sacrificial dagger in a painfully hard grip; he relaxed his fingers around the hilt a bit and turned and walked over to the crawling soldier. Haddo’s first impulse was to cut the man’s throat, he had seen too much, but the Haunter had spared his life; it could be the will of the outer god that the man should live. Yet a part of him wanted to strike out at Pierpont, cutting him to pieces, in a revenge of sorts for the pointless death of his fellow cultists. Not that he cared for them, but they had been very useful to him and now he had the arduous task of finding adequate replacements before him. He cursed loudly and cut the man’s ropes; Peirpont’s mumbling thanks were cut short when Oliver smashed his face with the hilt of the dagger, knocking the man unconscious and walked out into the night. He could hear that the closest French artillery positions had recovered from the experience of the strange darkness as they opened up on German positions again.






Oliver had traveled west and reached Eisenach three days ago; he got a room in the first inn he saw, the “Günthers Gasthaus”. There he spent the first two days going through the ritual, trying to find any errors, but he couldn’t think of anything. He ate all meals in his room and slept very little. Oliver spent the previous day arranging his journey back to Paris and went to bed early as his train left at six thirty the next morning. He was just about to fall asleep when he felt a presence in the room; someone was watching him from the dark corner farthest from his bed.

“Oliver…” The voice spoke in accented English, perhaps Arabic of origin; apart from that it sounded perfectly normal but the presence he could only vaguely see in the weak moonlight terrified him immensely. “What is it you desire Oliver?” The voice continued.

Haddo struggled to steady his voice and was only partially successful, “I want to serve you…be your disciple and earn access to the court of Azathoth…”

The presence in the dark laughed mockingly. “Most ambitious of you…stronger men than you have tried and failed.”

“That might be so, but I still want to try.”

“Yes I see, any chance, no matter how tiny, to escape your fellow hairless monkeys and their pointless existence is enough.” The voice gave the impression of concern.

“Do we have a deal then?” Oliver asked.

“Yes my eager apprentice…we have a deal.” The presence took a step out of the corner into the moonlight and Oliver saw a middle aged baldheaded Arabic man with a black beard. Haddo was relieved at first but then his gaze fell upon the dark eyes of the man, they were deep and hypnotic and suddenly it was like looking into the Shining Trapezohedron, he saw visions of strange landscapes and alien creatures mingled with scenes from the past and the future of earth. “As a first lesson let me show you a vision of the prize you seek, the court of the Daemon-Sultan!”

Oliver had screamed like a wounded bear while horrible and bizarre images assaulted his mind. He had no idea how long it continued but it felt like a hundred years passed before it finally ended; but there was to be no rest that night, the Arab sat down on the floor and whispered terrible secrets to him until dawn.

Alikchi: Thanks a lot man! I've been a Lovecraft fan for a long time and it's sheer joy to include his cosmology in this story.

Mettermrck: Thanks, I'm sure future updates will shed more light on the machinations of the diabolical Oliver Haddo.

Neroon: Yes germany is a democracy in the game so you're right UK, US etc would be pretty pissed if France were to annex Germany. For AAR purposes though, Germany is more of a military dictatorship/democracy hybrid because Beck's Presidency is for life.

The War In The Air

The New Year opened up with a renewed German Air Offensive, which once again focused on French positions around Erfurt and Weimar. The promising clear January sky welcomed the roaring squadrons of Luftwaffe planes and gave the German Air crews a feeling of impending success as they closed in on their targets. This was nothing but an illusion however, the number of French fighter squadrons in central Germany had doubled since the last major Luftwaffe offensive, and a large force of Dewoitine D. 520 and Morane Saulnier MS. 406 fighters engaged the them over Erfurt. The battle lasted for two weeks and both sides fought hard and bravely, although still outnumbered 2:1 French tactics and planes proved superior to the Germans who had to halt the offensive in the end, due to the dreadful losses of planes and crews.






Bregenz

A majority of the officers in the French High Command wanted to allow Italy to take a more active role in the war and have them thrust northwards to capture Innsbruck. This would allow Italian forces to reinforce anywhere along the Franco-German front without having to pass around Switzerland. The Emperor however, was wary of letting the Italians capture any German provinces; he wanted to have unrestricted authority to create a postwar order in central Europe. Also Bavaria and specifically Munich had to be captured before any French forces could attack south to reach Innsbruck and the Grand Army was needed to spearhead Operation “Hansa”, which was planned to be launched in the north in February. Napoleon V decided to let Weygand’s 5th Army advance southward to capture the Austrian town of Bregenz. French intelligence estimated the province to be defended by no more than two infantry divisions and to the Emperor it was a perfect opportunity. His officers objected, the mountain terrain was very suitable for defense and Weygand’s men had neither the proper training nor could expect any air support at all; all tactical bombers were needed in the north. The monarch was adamant, surely 9 French divisions should have no problem to dislodge a measly two German ones? The order to proceed was given.






The Germans’ heavily fortified positions were shelled for three hours in a powerful artillery bombardment on the early morning of the 26th of January. Dark clouds covered the sky and a strong wind drove the falling snow into the faces of the advancing soldiers of the French infantry, reducing their visibility severely. The Germans on the other hand, had a much better view and opened up on the advancing columns before they realized they had been spotted, consequently the first wave of attackers received heavy casualties without gaining an inch of enemy territory. General Weygand decided to halt all operations for the rest of the day to do some further reconnaissance to try to find some weak spots in the defense.






The sky cleared on the 27th and Weygand received some very disturbing news: they were facing approximately five German divisions and most enemy positions had been missed by last day’s artillery fire. Someone’s career in military intelligence was over, but that was a totally inadequate comfort to the General. He informed Head Quarters but was ordered to continue to attack in spite of his opposition. The French opened up with a more accurate artillery bombardment and then launched fresh attacks and managed to overrun some German positions despite determined resistance. This was all the “success” the French would reach; the clear weather gave the Luftwaffe perfect conditions to pound the troops while they made their futile and costly attacks on the entrenched Germans. The Emperor finally agreed to give the order of withdrawal on the 1st of February; French losses were an appalling 37.000 dead or wounded. It was the first major setback since the outbreak of hostilities and a major blow to the Emperor's prestige among the senior officers in the High Command; fortunately there would be an opportunity to remedy that soon enough.



Operation “Hansa”

The Grand Army was well rested after its inactivity during January and it was time to use its tremendous firepower for something constructive, like trapping 10 – 15 German divisions in the north. There was also a sense of urgency to capture the German west coast before Great Britain could land any forces there; Germany’s future had to be decided by France alone. Operation “Hansa” called upon the Grand Army to cross the Elbe and fight its way to the port of Lübeck, thus effectively cutting off all German forces in northern Germany. General Koenig’s Sixth Army would then capture Hamburg and then let the Grand Army finish the job by driving north through Kiel up to the Danish border.






The German’s positions on the river Elbe’s southern bank were caught by surprise as the 9th of February dawned; the Grand Army’s 2100 tanks simply rolled over the defenders like they were not even there and raced across the bridges while squadron after squadron of French bombers roared by overhead on their way to wreak havoc on the other side of the river. Marshal de Gaulle had launched attacks towards Hamburg on the previous day to fool Lübeck’s defender, General von Manstein, and it had worked perfectly as a distraction. Lübeck had several lines of fortifications protecting it, they were manned by regular army and newly formed Volkssturm units; no one knew how the militia would perform. The French forces’ awesome firepower reduced most fortification to ruble quickly and von Manstein’s brave men only succeeded to slow the advance towards Lübeck and by the 11th the fighting had reached the city’s southern suburbs. Von Manstein ordered a fighting retreat and managed escape to the east in a semi orderly fashion in spite of the French Air Force’s ceaseless strafing and bombing; Lübeck fell on the 12th.

General Wilhelm von Leeb, commander of the trapped forces in Hamburg launched a break out attempt on the 16th of February. It seemed a desperate act and von Leeb’s four under strengthened infantry divisions were easily repulsed by Field Marshal De Lattre De Tassigny’s troops on the day after. But it was no break out attempt and the French realized this when they were attacked along the front in the east on the 19th. It was a major offensive by twenty German divisions under Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben but luckily for De Lattre De Tassigny’s troops, the newly deployed 9th Army had reinforced them; the defenders now had 15 divisions in all. Initially the French refused to budge, but slowly they were pressed back and lost Braunschweig after heavy fighting on the 24th of February. A major German City had been liberated! This was a badly needed triumph for the Oberkommando Der Wehrmacht (German High Command) after the long spell of defeat and humiliation. The war against Poland had never been popular with ordinary Germans but when France stabbed them in the back there was a feeling of outrage, hatred and a determination to expel the ancient enemy. However the humiliating defeats in the west that led to the occupation of large parts of western Germany broke the morale severely. The victory at Braunschweig gave new hope and huge crowds assembled in Berlin to cheer the Reich President; meanwhile Von Witzleben pressed on and the French continued to be pushed back.