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27 days left - time to do something drastic. :) Since you mentioned that you had already frantically tried to secure more rare trades, has Italy also a rares-shortage now?

Well, let's just say rares is not something they have in abundance...

New post coming within minutes...
 
Sudden Carnage

Chapter XVIII – Operation Hammer Sickle Part VI










Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan










Recap: Operation Hammer Sickle, the German revenge on the West has started out as an success. The Allies seemed to have been shocked by the power of the Fascist tide. On the Eastern side of the German Reich, Soviet Union is still calm… Now, the full length of the West Wall is within the German reach. Or will the Allies challenge? And what is Operation Sickle?











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December 31st, 1939

During the last day of the year, the German forces attacked the last French-occupied German province. This was a coincidence that the Führer later used in his New Year speech. As the battle of Aachen continued, the battle of Achern was initiated.











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January 2nd-4th, 1940

In the early days of 1940, the French were finally kicked out of Germany. In the hills of Achern, it went without any major problems. In the city of Aachen, however, it all turned out to a hell of street-fights between broken houses. As it was only a few months since the Allies conquered the city, very little had been repaired before the wave of combat rolled back over the unfortunate populace.

With the victory in Aachen the 4th of January, no enemy stood on German soil (well, except the Red Army in former Poland…). This released euphoria throughout Germany and the blessed Führer held several powerful speeches to the people that made full-grown men weep with nationalism.











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January 5th, 1940

Operation Hammer Sickle had reached its first goal of two. The Allies had been hammered back, and in a decisive manner. Now it was time for the Sickle to get working. The Sickle would cut a potential friend away from the Allies to feed the Axis machinery of war. The goal of Sickle was to puppet the Netherlands and to harvests its Rare Materials. If they were just annexed, Germany would have to base defensive troops there – troops they couldn’t really afford to put on guard duty. Moreover, Germany could not hope to succeed in shipping anything from colonies in Indonesia to Europe - but maybe the Netherlands could – at least for some time. In any case, Germany would not cope with a long slow war. With troops from Netherland backing up, or at least securing their own land, it would be easier for Germany to stay on the offensive and not get bogged down in trench war. The problem with Sickle was that Germany and Japan had to attack at the same time. Also, during the battles, they had to avoid hurting the Dutch too much.

Good thing was that a several Allied army corps was retreating through Belgium and had to continue down to France before they could resupply and reorganize. What the Germans feared the most was an Allied intervention in the Netherlands at the same time as a push against the West Wall. Still, the German leadership was hopeful. One problem was of course, that by declaring war on Netherlands, all their lucrative deals on rare materials would be cancelled. On the other hand there was hopefully some rares in store in Bruxelles… and a lot of D-marks…

Cybvep late august -39
When (if) you manage to stabilise things in the West, you could consider hitting Netherlands fast and hard. More specifically, you should hit their capital. They probably have plenty of rares and you will take ALL their resources when you capture their capital. You don't even need to advance that far, but just enough to reach Amsterdstam. The Japs could hit Dutch VP provinces in the Pacific, too. This would cause them to surrender quickly.

Authors note: Good call, Cybe.

Juv95hrn Nov -39
Allies will probably be able to retreat, but in disarray, which in turn might give you the opportunity to do something else, like that out the Netherlands without too much interference

Authers note: My thinking exactly.











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January 6th, 1940

To sink 9 convoys in one location during a week was somewhat of a record. The Brits continued to lose a stunning 20 convoys a week – only around the British Isles. One of the semi-modern u-boats had been spotted and damaged by sinking bombs. Fortunately, it managed to flee the British destroyers and reach a friendly harbor for repairs.











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January 6th, 1939

In the last two months, Japan had made substantial land gains. The Red Army had lost much of its bite in the East, The French have no presence and the British resistance can only be described as stalling.

Now it is time for the Japanese forces to prepare for their part of “Sickle”…











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January 6th, 1939

The Third Reich is mighty… but is it mighty enough? The stockpile of Rare Materials is steadily creeping down. Soon, parts of the German industry must shut down. Speed is now essential – and acquiring Rare Materials on the way. It will be hard.











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January 6th, 1940

But look on the bright side. Regardless of any decrease in factory output, 7 brigades of modern self propelled artillery (all lvl 1940) will be finished within a month and able to strengthen all the panzer divisions. These would bring true hell to the enemies.

::Johann Keller’s life had taken a rather abrupt change when he started to work for the armament minster Hjalmar Schacht and their new project. He lived in Berlin, had a nice apartment and a smart uniform he didn’t feel he deserved. He went to parties every weekend, shook hands and drank with consequential people and had various flirting adventures with promiscuous ladies. He sort of liked the life and the feeling of success, but also felt a darkness seep into his soul. Shame. But he had an idea. He knew how he would get the darkness of guilt to go away…::


...........................
 
I think i found a flaw in your Operation Sickle. Once you take netherland teritory in europe, capital will be relocated to indonesia, then it is very likely that dutch would surrender to japan. If they surrender to you and you puppet them, they should join war right away, and that would put their convoys on constant risk, thus reducing resource flow.
 
Any input from the UK / French players here as to how the submarine warfare actually concerned you guys? Did you feel shortages or where you worried at this stage at all? IIRC Britain starting in '38 does have quite a lot of merchants and escorts and even if they lose some 200 ships, they still do have enough reserves without disbanding lots of active routes.

UK player from this game here. Due to that this game is still ongoing I can't be too detailed in my comments about the convoy/sub situation. But please remind me later and I'll give you the full story. I can say that the convoy situation came as no surprise to me due to previous games.

No doubt Italy is a potential target for a UK attack... at all times. But at this particular time UK has little troops to spare. I recall at least eight motorized divisions plus some air force in France at the time. Troops were also stationed in defensive positions in Asia. And finally I was still fighting Italy in north Africa. That final stand they made was a true victory to them as I was forced to keep forces in Africa. Well played Italy.

About the air situation in Italy... To late I recalled the air base of Malta. Although hopeless to target under any ground troops stationed there it would have given me a much needed air cover in north Africa. I blame this obvious mistake on the stress I was under with active fronts all over.
 
::Johann Keller’s life ...snip... But he had an idea. He knew how he would get the darkness of guilt to go away…

So, Johann becomes an alcoholic/drug addict just like the other Nazi leaders? :D
 
Finally ray of hope.This next operation of the western theatre will decide the fate of germany.If u can then steadily push back the west without losing too much land east,the its the soviet union that will feel the pressure...the rising sun is slowly breathing down their neck.Dig in on the east and pummel the west....once japan arrives from the back then the offensive in the east can begin till then...lock ur door in the east and hope for something brilliant in the wst...sounds dubious but can be done with a little luck maybe?
 
I think i found a flaw in your Operation Sickle. Once you take netherland teritory in europe, capital will be relocated to indonesia, then it is very likely that dutch would surrender to japan. If they surrender to you and you puppet them, they should join war right away, and that would put their convoys on constant risk, thus reducing resource flow.

Yes, I know their convoys will be at risk and that’s unfortunate. Hopefully, their leadership (AI) will produce more – but thats not much I can do about it. Concerning their capital… is that true? If it is, my plan IS flawed… :(

About the air situation in Italy... To late I recalled the air base of Malta. Although hopeless to target under any ground troops stationed there it would have given me a much needed air cover in north Africa. I blame this obvious mistake on the stress I was under with active fronts all over.

Heh… I was just wondering about that fact. It explains it all. Classic stress-error. I actually do find Germany being less stressful to play (in real time with no pause) than UK. Germany have more troops and more ongoing action – but in a confined space. It’s quite easy to scroll around and keep track on multiple battles. For UK it is a lot worse – spread all around the world. Moreover, the naval battle each are much more important than any land battles so when they occur you have to drop whatever else you are doing.

Dam, I want to know how it goes :D

Great AAR btw :)

Thanks. You will know… in time ;)

So, Johann becomes an alcoholic/drug addict just like the other Nazi leaders? :D

That would be a risk, I reckon, bearing in mind the crew he’s rolling with now… ;)

Good stuff.

Thanks man. Appreciate it.

Finally ray of hope.This next operation of the western theatre will decide the fate of germany.If u can then steadily push back the west without losing too much land east,the its the soviet union that will feel the pressure...the rising sun is slowly breathing down their neck.Dig in on the east and pummel the west....once japan arrives from the back then the offensive in the east can begin till then...lock ur door in the east and hope for something brilliant in the wst...sounds dubious but can be done with a little luck maybe?

The door is locked tight in the east… and I’m planning for brilliance and hoping for luck in the West :)


…..


Actually, during last playing session, we couldn’t get all necessary players to the game, so four of us started a “reserve game” just for the fun of it. We loaded a scenario which I and some other guys discussed in Traks and the Monday-groups MP AAR. So it’s the Götterdämmerung scenario with two players on USSR, one on UK and one on US. Axis is just AI on normal. The setup is simple – only one can win – Allies or Commies :). We actually had a hilarious evening but unfortunately didn’t reach any Allies/Commie DoW on the other, though it will come. I would like to recommend the set up for any MP groups. You have to think in a different way than usual and you have heaps of troops as well.
 
Yes, I know their convoys will be at risk and that’s unfortunate. Hopefully, their leadership (AI) will produce more – but thats not much I can do about it. Concerning their capital… is that true? If it is, my plan IS flawed…

He is correct. France capital also goes to Africa, after loss of all provinces on continent. So Japanese would have to strike at the same time as you do, to get them to 100% surrender to Germans.
 
You can modify your Operation Sickle by letting japs take indonesia, then ask for debt from japs and get all the rares you need, however japs will have to take more lands in indonesia and only then take remaining VPs to trigger surrender to japan
 
Sudden Carnage

Chapter XIX – Operation Hammer Sickle Part VII









Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan








Recap: The “Hammer” in Operation Hammer Sickle was a stunning success. Now it is time for “Sickle” – making the Netherlands an Axis puppet.











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January 6th, 1940

::Lucas Bauer couldn’t be more happy about how life had turned out. The life as a fallschirmjäger was a lot better than regular infantry. When the paras had done their job, they were pulled back to some civilized place for reorganization and preparation for next jump. And that was not all of it. After the successful battle of St Wendel which opened up for the quick recapture of the West Wall, they were heroes. ::

::Instead of freezing their butts off, they were now camped in decent barracks at an airfield outside Frankfurt am Main. Even though secrecy-level were quite high they got one night off and had a party in the city. Lucas platoon found a nice beer-house and they dedicated the feast to Kleine Tobias who had got his head shot off in St Wendel by a French sniper. Martin still limped a little from the mortar shrapnel he took in the leg and Hans had a crutch as he tried to not put pressure on his sprained ankle. Hans had missed their counter-attack on the French bridge-head when they threw back the frog-eaters and captured the little village on the other side. He was hugely disappointed by this and had promised to run first at their next charge.::





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::Lucas, as usually, made the party great by singing songs, kissing the owners daughter who blushed happily and he later got a nose-bleed when her father lost his temper over the issue. Lucas didn’t fight back though, and when the platoon tipped the next round of beer most generously, the owner’s frosty mood melted away and he started to drink with the soldiers himself, buying them the next round. He got so drunk he didn’t notice when the blond paratrooper sneaked away with his daughter.::

::It was good days. But they knew missions were coming up soon and after one lazy day with a hangover, training started again.::











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January 10th, 1940

Even though the European theatres took a break in the killing, the Japanese onslaught continued. On the ground, the Brits lost ground and retreaded to Singapore. The surrounded motorized infantry division further north tried to retreat, but had nowhere to go. The Royal Navy challenged Yamamoto – maybe trying to save the doomed ground troops. It was a fierce fight which ended with two sunken Japanese light cruisers and some British destroyers. A small British victory.

It happened as Japan was preparing to do their part of Operation Hammer Sickle. Luckily, the British breach of the Japanese blockade did not affect this advance.

Authors note: I hope the Brit/Jap players can shed some additional light on these events











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January 12th, 1940

The Regia Marina had taken some beating by the Royal Navy, also when it came to submarines. Still, the convoy raiding against Allied convoys continued with great success.











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January 14th, 1940

The German u-boats in the English Channel covered a smaller area but have a much higher hit-ratio than their Italian colleges. In the Channel Approach they scored a new high-score when they managed to sink 10 convoys during a week. The British convoy losses must be truly mind boggling during this period. Still, as Italy had taken some losses, it was doubtful how long they would be able to keep this level of attention up.

For the German side, they had only lost one of the older packs. Moreover, they had researched a brand new hull type (1941) and the first Wolf-pack with this technology had just entered production and would be finished after the summer. They would be far superior to anything the Brits had, it was believed.











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January 17th, 1940

The German forces which are supposed to take part of “Sickle” have assembled out of sight from the Dutch border. It is perceived that the Dutch (and possibly also the Allies) do not expect the storm which is about to hit them. Even as the troops were on the way to the assembly area, Germany agreed on yet another deal on rare materials with the Dutch. Germany also made a similar deal with the Italians, even though they as well had problems with the Rares. As all the important deals with the Dutch (importing about 25 Rares a day) would be broken when Germany declared war on them, it was important that the stockpile was not all gone when it happened. Still, Germany did not manage to reach zero loss of Rares.











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January 19th, 1940

Just as Germany was ready to declare war on the Netherlands and initiate the second phase of Operation Hammer Sickle, their scientists made a breakthrough on the research on small planes. With this upgrade in place, all fighters and dive bombers would be technological superior to their enemies. Good!











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January 20th, 1940

It was time to attack Netherlands and by doing so, harvesting their stockpile (with the sickle) and to make them Axis puppets before Belgium becomes Allies. There are several tricky issues and risks with this plan.

• If Allies ship in troops very quickly, they can delay the conquest quite a lot – thus emptying Germany’s quickly decreasing stockpile on Rare Material and causing the important production to drop.
• Belgium might go Allies before Amsterdam falls which could give us problem.
• If their stockpile on Rare Materials in the Netherlands is very low, Germany will very soon be in trouble again.











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January 21st, 1940

One day into the new war and the Sickle have lashed out. Panzer spear-heads have entered Maastricht and Venlo without battle, opening up for the infantry. German and Japanese paradrops have sealed of Amsterdam from the main bulk of the Dutch army. It appears there are no Dutch troops in the southern part of the country and thus, the road to Amsterdam is more or less open. It is a good start on the offensive.

Authors note: This is pure AI stupidity. Can’t understand the AI-programming behind this set up of the Dutch troops… The most defensible provinces are undefended. Makes it easy for me, but it feels stupid.

The German stockpile on rare materials is now quickly running (see top corner) out as the precious deals with Netherlands is cancelled. If no aid is coming to the Dutch defense, it might just work within the very tight time-frame.











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January 22nd, 1940

::Falling through the air in late January was far from pleasant. It was as cold as if he’d jumped into the water. Lucas was rattling his teeth and tried to flex his muscles to keep the joints from freezing before the landing. The landscape looked well tended, nobody shot at them and he didn’t see any foreign troops. The landing in Hertogenbosch went smooth. Intel had claimed no Dutch troops were even close, and it seemed to be true. Just as in St Wendel, the German fallskirmjägers landed first and then Japanese paradrops followed suit a few hours later, in neighboring provinces. It was good knowing the Japs secured at least one flank. Nobody wanted to repeat the fate of the 1st paratroop division…::



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:: Hertogenbosch was a nice, well tended province with plenty of villages, farms, woods and streams. The hard landing on the semi-frozen ground caused a few broken ankles but none in Lucas platoon were lost. Hans was mighty happy about his heavily bandaged ankle had taken the impact well, and he claimed he was now eager to run first in an attack. The problem was just that there were no enemies around to charge. Moreover, the orders were to be careful with the killing and instead try to be as nice as possible to “the brothers” of Netherland.::

::They had been dropped in the west and soon work began to dig in along the provincial border to Rotterdam and also to some patrolling across the border to find out whether any hostile troops came from this direction. The leadership was apparently worried about Brits or French coming from the coast. Well, no such thing was visible yet and as they grilled fresh beef over the fireplace in the evening (their company leader were not too strict with light restrictions as long as they were well behind the lines) they all felt it seemed to be a nice jump. They argued, however, if it really could be called a combat jump. Martin said it was, but Hans talked against it, claiming that if no shots were fired from either side, it was not a combat-jump. Martin argued that a shot certainly had been fired. Hans, who had shot the cow they were now grilling, said that shooting animals didn’t count. Lucas, as usually, didn’t really have an opinion. He laughed at his friends and enjoyed the grilled meat and the heat of the bonfire – chasing the winter chill away. A thin snowfall had just started adding to the cozy feeling.::











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January 23rd, 1940

Japan did their part of Operation Hammer Sickle flawlessly and quickly captured important ports, cities and recourses. It must have been a shock for the Dutch to lose so much in so short time. Their war was only three days old.











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January 26th, 1940

Six days into "Sickle" and Amsterdam is under attack. A German Panzer division, supported by two Japanese paratroop divisions, is facing mostly Dutch staff personnel and a few regular infantry of inferior standard. Still, fighting in the middle of a city is chaotic and difficult. The Axis forces had air superiority, with Stukas making precision-strikes, but were shelled from the ocean by Allied war ships. Still, the Dutch could not hold on very long by themselves.

Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, in charge of the attack on Amsterdam was already a veteran from the campaign. He’d been in charge of a three-brigade infantry division during the attack on Krakov. He’d been one of the first who clashed with the Red Army, in the army corps south of the Italian positions on the east front. When Operation Hammer Sickle was under preparation and march-up, von Arnim was transferred to a brand new panzer division which was deployed close to the occupying French troops. Now, he was in the forefront of the German advance.


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Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, CO 6th Panzer Division

The Allied response so far was weak – or did they have plans that could thwart the success of the operation? Axis feared an Allied landing of strong forces right into Amsterdam. It would delay the victory substantially and the German on rare materials would only last less than a week. As the German forces were spread fairly thin, they were very vulnurable for surprices...
 
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Great work by both you and the Jap player, taking the objectives swiftly with no delay. Lets just hope that the Allies don't drop in on Amsterdam...Just another thought, what are your defences like in the area of Wilhelmshaven? A large assault there with the goal of storming Berlin and/or cutting off the Sickle would be a clever move by them, albeit risky, if your defences are on the weak side.

Probably sounds ridiculous, but trying to provide some conversation on what seems pretty straightforward and clean cut at the moment, besides the risk of an allied defence in Amsterdam, which could provide some difficulty. Keep up the good work CptEasy :)
 
Your advance is probably too quick for the Allies to react. I doubt that they had many troops in reserve and transporting them takes time. Moreover, they probably fear your potential naval strikes on their ships (they could easily lose as much, if not more, IC-days as you would due to delay), not to mention the fact that they are probably busy with transferring troops to the French-Belgian border.

However, you should be wary of potential threats in the East. The moment when Belgium becomes your enemy, your eastern border becomes threatened. It seems that you have been forced to push for "West first" policy, as advancing on the Eastern Front will be difficult with a long western border ranging from Belgium to Switzerland. If that's the case, then we are about to witness the most crucial phase of your campaign. If you win in France, you have the chance to win this war. Otherwise, you have none.
 
A hello from the shadows. :) Just wanted to thank you for this aar, it's really great and one of those that really give tention to the story, feels like every squere inch of enemy territory matters. It's very dynamic. Style is simple but well balanced beetwen the story and gameplay. The effort you bring into planning and overthinking the strategy is also, impressive. Well done, i say. :)
 
:unlurk:

maybe the many rare deals had the ai convinced that you were not as threatening.

Maybe it didn't anticipate a paradrop so far behind the main line.. thought they could march south from Amsterdam and retreat west from the border and form a defensive line along the river. In any case great Aar :)


:relurk: