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Rank and File
A Clerk’s War​


October 1940

This month has seen continuing build up for Barbarossa. What is noticeable is that even the most disinterested civilians realise that something is in the wind, and it is not hard to link up the dots. Despite the Reich now extending to the Atlantic Ocean, and with no obvious threat, research projects are pursued as fast as possible and tanks and aircraft are churned out by our factories. Every day more and more young men receive notification that they are to attend their local call up centres and Goebbel’s total control of press, radio and film ensures that a steady stream of patriotic messages are delivered to the populace. Is Moscow watching?

Early in the month there was an uprising in Spain, in the province of La Bañeza. Strangely the malcontents called themselves the 1st German Nationalist Division. Their motives were unclear and will probably never be known. The Heer reacted swiftly. Kampfgruppe Galicia immediately made La Bañeza a priority and several divisions were on the move to not only retake the province but to forestall any efforts by the unnamed commander of the dissidents to spread the rebellion. Within three days General Haase had reached the area with 7.Infanterie Division, but the rebels proved quite determined. At one point General von Kortzfleisch and 83.Infanterie Division in the neighbouring province of Murias de Paredes came under attack, losing 8 men. The end was never in any doubt, however, and after a further three days the rebellion was over. More than 700 of the insurgents were killed in the fighting, and the rest fled.

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7.Infanterie arrives in La Beñeza and encircles the rebel army

Also early in the month, three portable airbases were completed and were sent to Romania. The basic facilities were installed in the border provinces of Botosani, Artsyz and Berchonet. Local construction has begun to expand the bases, and they will be doubled in size early next year.

Our newest Unterseebootsflotte, the 5th has left Wilhelmshaven. Although no public announcement was made about its destination, it is no secret that they are headed for Gibraltar. Commander Krause is no doubt overjoyed to finally be able to join his fellow U-flotte commanders in their onslaught on the British merchant marine. It is expected he will be given the seas around Malta as his hunting ground, although as with the other U-flottes, he will be instructed to be defensive at all times.

After being in the shadow of the Heer and Luftwaffe for many months, the news of the 5th U-flotte’s departure gave a lift to the Kriegsmarine. It was nothing, however, to the excitement generated by the commissioning of the Schlachtshiff “Gneisenau”. For days the newspapers were full of articles and photographs of the newest addition to the Kriegsmarine. Only when the ship joined 1st Schlachtflotte did the wave of public enthusiasm begin to wane.

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The crew of “Gneisenau” are assembled on deck on a chilly October morning to be addressed by Kapitän zur See Otto Fein before taking their ship to join the fleet for active duty.

Unfortunately for the Kriegsmarine, public enthusiasm is not a key factor in Cabinet decisions (not in the Reich, anyway). The millions of RM freed by the completion of the “Gniesenau” would not be used to begin another ship. Minister Göring won support for another interceptor geschwader, and the Heer will gain a garrison and a cavalry division, both destined for Spain to allow regular army units to move east.

The first half of the month saw three research projects completed, two of them part of the “Neue Zerstörer” group that will provide us with a design for the most advanced light surface ships the Kriegsmarine has ever had. The engine and armour projects have been successfully finalised, and soon we should be able to lay down the keels of the first of the new ships. (If Minister Rader can squeeze the funds out of the Cabinet). The third research was a program to train our fighter pilots how to concentrate fire on the enemy fighters and interceptors: Luftwaffe losses to enemy aircraft have been so heavy that a change in emphasis was essential.

There is no question as to who has the ear of the Führer at the moment: Minister von Blomberg won every argument in Cabinet. Research has begun into tactical command structures to improve our implementation of mobile warfare doctrines, into what is ironically termed the “People’s Army” project (providing additional training to our 2nd line units who will have responsibility of for the protection of the west when we move into Russia) and last but not least, into special training for our élite divisions, the Fallschirmjäger, Gebirgsjäger and Sturm-Marine units.

On the 11th the sleep of the long-suffering inhabitants of Dortmund was shattered again, as the wail of air-raid sirens and the roar of the guns from the Flaktürme woke them from their rest. The “Dorstener Volkzeitung” and “Tremona Zeitung” carried long stories of the raid, and it is apparent from their descriptions that the RAF no longer terrifies the civilians of the Ruhr. The days when the first sign of bombers sent everyone to air raid shelters is over. If the newspapers are to be believed (did I mention that both are under the control of Obergruppenführers handpicked by Minister Goebbels?) many of the population sought high ground to watch the spectacle of the lancing searchlights and the streams of tracer reaching for bombers trapped in the light. There was also the added benefit of the sight of explosions and doomed planes drifting groundward trailing plumes of flames, indicating the presence of Jagdfliegerkorps operating away from the active flak zones. According to a young Dortmunder interviewed by one of the papers, it was “Better than Silvester fireworks”. Very little damage was reported from Dortmund, but dozens of enemy bombers were destroyed.

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One of the hundreds of searchlights that helped protect Dortmund that night

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Generalleutnant Bogatsch leads his interceptors into battle over Dortmund (note the Panzer divisions heading east to Poland).

We tried to pursue Newall’s bombers all the way back to their bases, but desperate RAF fighter groups successfully met Felmy and his pilots over Dover. Perhaps “successfully” is not the right word, as though the bombers were able to land in safety, the Luftwaffe inflicted terrible casualties on the British Spitfires and Hurricanes.

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Air Battle of Dover: 1PM 11th October

The battles raged for several days, and even when the RAF withdrew some of the most badly hit units and replaced them with fresh pilots and planes, the carnage continued. The Luftwaffe is now a completely different proposition to the force that only a few months ago was struggling to keep the RAF under control. There is now no argument as who controls the skies.

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Air Battle of Dover: 1PM 13th October

And the Luftwaffe grows stronger every day: on 17th October JG 71 “Bruch” was assigned as the third geschwader to 7th Jagdfliegerkorps. (There has been another burst of renaming: Generalmajor Fisser must be a music buff, as his other two geschwader are now “JS Bach” and “Beethoven”).

In the last two weeks there have been a string of research assignments completed. First was a military study into the use of operations over a large front (using large numbers of troops simultaneously). Not surprisingly, this has increased the morale of our second line units (no garrison commander likes to conduct any exercise with only his own troops) and should give the Heer a greater chance of delivering a shock attack. An unexpected benefit is that a spin-off project on “Human Wave” tactics was identified as showing promise, and the research team is now working on that. Not that the original subject was abandoned: with the completion of our training package on militia small arms enough funds were left over to allow further investigations.

The most challenging areas to study are still the mobile warfare related topics, where we lead the world. Another highly detailed (and to me nearly unintelligibly technical) report on “Schwerpunkt” tactics was delivered on 20th October. Even though priority is given to the offence, OKH is not neglecting other areas of military science: a central planning study started that day is supposed to allow better co-ordination of counter-attacks and defence of headquarters units.

The only Luftwaffe project to be concluded was another of those highly scientific missions that can only be carried out (or understood) by a handful of our top scientists. They have been working on adapting our “radar” detection devices in order to build a machine small enough to fit into a fighter or interceptor. They describe the finished result as “primitive”, obviously looking for further funding, but OKL has held back finance pending operational feedback from the Jagdfliegerkorps. For now the money will be expended on developing a new medium bomb for our tactical level bombers.

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A schematic of the “primitive” airborne radar unit

Chief of Staff Bayerlein is still crusading for better roads and railways: his mission is to link the furthest provinces of the Reich with the most modern transport system in the world. He says this is to allow our military a supply net of unparalleled speed and security, but I have heard some of Göring’s aides refer to him as the “Märklin man”. But then the Reichsmarschall believes that his transport aircraft will be able to supply whole armies: let us hope that the need never arises. Returning to the point, Bayerlein’s work gangs have completed an upgrade of infrastructure in Irún, Hecho and Pamplona, and have began further work. The blocked gateway to Spain is slowly opening.

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Bayerlein’s political enemies mock him as playing with real life train sets, but his efforts to improve the Reich’s infrastructure have already borne fruit.

Armaments Minister Schacht has also been busy: new factories have opened in Memel, Brno, Breslau, Ostrava and Königsberg. Within a week or so they will in full operation, though concerns have been raised about stockpile levels of steel and non-ferrous metals, as well as rubber and other hard to obtain resources. Schacht is confident that we can survive on existing stocks: although we are draining our reserves it is at a very low rate.

And we need every factory we can get. As the last delivery of Messerschmitts was made to JG 71 “Bruch”, a new contract was signed; one of the biggest single orders ever placed by the Heer. A schwere Panzer division will be formed, with two regiments of VK 3601(H) tanks supported by two full regiments of motorised infantry. Unfortunately it may not be ready for the initial attack on Russia (estimated completion date is 8th April) but it will take part in the drive east.

Normally the interminable air battles over the Channel attract little attention, particularly now that losses are declining. One that did stimulate discussion was Klepke’s attack on Plymouth, but not because of the Luftwaffe’s performance, although the RAF suffered considerable casualties. It was the presence of very large number of British troops in the vicinity that startled our experts. A close examination of photographs taken by reconnaissance fighters showed that no less than fourteen infantry regiments were in the area: more than we thought were in the whole of south England. Was this a concentration prior to an invasion? All coastal units were placed on high alert, but nothing happened in the next fortnight, so perhaps it was a false alarm.

One day stuck in my mind was Sunday 21st October. We were told that all administrative staff were required to work that day, as large amounts of documents were expected. The prediction was not wrong: every clerk in the Ministry of the Interior must have been writing for weeks to fill out the forms and paperwork that were delivered.

The primary cause was the creation and immediate transfer of three whole divisions. General Gallenkamp and his new command, 87.Infanterie Division (three infantry regiments and an attached anti-aircraft brigade) left for Poland, joining XIV Armeekorps. 400 Ersatz Division (General Schaffarz) left for Seville, while 390 Sicherung Division (General Schmidt) departed for Villadolid. With those two units taking up positions in Spain, General von Kleist received his orders: 2nd leichte Panzerkorps was to relocate to Lublin, Poland. As you might expect, coordinating the transport of hundreds of thousands of men with their vehicles, horses, equipment and stores was a massive exercise and the Filing section of the Reichskanzlei played their vital part in ensuring that every piece of paper could be located if needed.

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Moving from Spain to Poland means that your train could be subject to partisan attack: these soldiers are prepared

As if that wasn’t enough, on the same day the Luftwaffe agreed to purchase 300 aircraft, enough to equip an entire Kampffliegerkorps. The Focke-Wulf factory in Bremen will produce a hundred FW 190A escorts, and Junkers will manufacture 200 Ju-88 bombers at Dessau. This is a massive investment, and I spent a few minutes looking through the file attachments. As I thought, there was a copy of an OKL analysis that showed that they believed that six Kampffliegerkorps would not be sufficient to maintain constant bombing along the entire eastern front. I think that Reichsmarschall Göring has several of these analyses that he will be using during Cabinet budget discussions in the next few months.

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Junkers has swung into action: manufacturing 200 Ju 88 bombers will require most of its capacity for the next 6 months.

Also on the 21st, von Nordeck’s II Unterseebootsflotte came under air attack in the Western English Channel. A message was flashed to a Luftwaffe command centre near Paris and Felmy rushed 2nd Jagdfliegerkorps to drive off the carrier air groups, but it was too late. Luckily no submarines were sunk, but many sustained crippling damage and von Nordeck decided to take the entire force to La Rochelle for repairs.

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Western English Channel: 10 AM 21st October – Felmy and his Messerschmitts arrive, but not in time to prevent Maltby and Ludlow-Hewitt attacking von Nordeck’s submarines

There was a better result for the Luftwaffe during the week following the Channel attack. Several hundred of our aircraft successfully penetrated the air defences of Southhampton. The RAF had considered the port impregnable with a large number of airfields nearby, and our agents tell us the civilian population of England has been negatively affected by the failure of the RAF to protect them. Our civilians, however, are overjoyed at yet another example of our technical and tactical superiority, and once again we are seeing a rush of our brightest and best to assist the war effort. This enthusiasm has been translated into two new research projects: specialist training for Close Air Support ground crews and improved logistical strike tactics.

Still more units joined the Heer as October drew to an end. Another infantry division (Kalmukoff’s 88.Infanterie) with an attached anti-aircraft brigade was sent to Poland, this time joining VIII Armeekorps. 391 Sicherung Division left for Sarajewo, where our intelligence operatives have reported rumblings of discontent. Recruitment for a new motorised division began straightaway: to the surprise of many it reverted to the old structure of three infantry regiments with an Aufklärung brigade of Sdkfz 231 (8 Rad) armoured cars. This seems to be to keep costs down: tank destroyer and self-propelled artillery brigades are very expensive to manufacture and maintain.

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While not as deadly against enemy armour as the Marder IIIM, nor as effective against troop concentrations as the Sturmpanzer 38(t) “Grille”, the Sdkfz 231 (8 Rad) is still an effective supplement to our motorised regiments.

Back in Spain, General Hagl and 148 Reserve Division took responsibility for Zaragosa, prompting another move east. Bayer’s 2nd Gebirgsjägerkorps left Spain, heading for Brasov in Romania. A review of troop dispositions in the Iberian Peninsula identified a lack of coastal defence divisions and a new unit was called up. It should be ready to take up duty in about three months.

The large numbers of troops arriving in Poland have necessitated a restructure. The Army of Polen is unable to properly co-ordinate all the men under command, and has been split. The original Army of Polen will now be known as the Amy of Polen Nord, while a new unit, the Army of Polen Sud, has been formed under the command of General Straube. XIV Armeekorps, 3rd Panzerkorps and 2nd leichte Panzerkorps have been assigned to the new Army.

The last item for October came from the Kriegsmarine. Großadmiral Raeder has left Gibraltar, taking the Nordseeflotte east into the Mittelsee. His orders are supposed to be secret, but the whisper is that he is to take his force to the Gulf of Sidra. No surprise there: anyone would deduce that our fleet would be best used in patrolling the coast along which the Italians are finally advancing. The sting was in the detail. I have been told by an impeccable source (Gisela heard it from a typist in the code room) that Raeder has been told that he is to perform his orders in an aggressive manner. This is the first time such an order has been given to one of our naval formations. I hope it does not backfire.

Unterseebootesflotte Activity Report

58 British transports and 8 escorts sunk during the month, as well as one Irish vessel



Axis Military Situation Maps

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Libia: The Army of Egypt is on the run, and soon the Army of Libia should recapture its forward base at Benghazi

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Greece: the Regio Esercito seems content to keep the Greeks bottles up in Athina. There is no indication of a build to assault the Greek capital

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China: Japanese forces have stormed Jinan and taken the city (with its valuable manufacturing plant) and the nearby airbase.

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Indo-China: the Japanese seem content to tie up large numbers of Guangxi and Kuomintang troops.
 
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Finally, an update! Have been waiting for this for... too long :p

The men on the train... is that a vickers mg in the back? Could be a vintage 08/15 leftover from WWI, too. Judging by the uniforms, the picture was taken relatively early in the war or these were 2nd line men not provided with the latest uniforms / camoflage gear.
 
Aww, a mystic force moving ships. :p

I love the map of the Vietnam war. :D

I moved them and then forgot to send out ships to catch them: a severe breakdown of communication!

The mention of the Vietnam War threw me for a minute: I wondered what had promted the comment. Then I realised it was the Indo-China map. To many of my generation the Vietnam War has only one meaning.

This post (Friday 14th to Sunday 30th September 1940) was fun to read,
thanks for keeping up the effort.

I hope you are not implying the other 150 + were not fun to read :(

Seriously, thanks for the encouragement. Trying to speed up a little to get to Barbarossa.

As to not pestering you for updates, for my part I'll say you reap the rewards of being reliable!

That's a shame about Greece. Normally Athens and Crete make great bases from which to assist N.Africa from the air.

FYI, it has been determined that setting allied objectives (as I see that you have in Benghazi for example) is what causes the diplo triangle to stop displaying drift/influence information in popup form. Just thought you'd like to know.

My reliability index has probably crashed in the past week. I blame Gary Grigsby. I bought "War in the East" and have been grappling with a nearly 400 page rule book and playing the entire Eastern Front at divisional level with individual combats broken down to sections and single weapons (MG, tank, gun etc). Imagine checking how much ammo each gun section has before a battle and worrying about the number of supply truck breakdowns and you can see where much of my time has gone.

I tried to support the Italians from Sicily but even when they got fuel to the airbase I found my Ju 88s don't have the range to get to the front line in Libia now it has moved east. So the lack of Greek airbases is a pain.

I wasn't aware of the impact of setting objectives on the diplomatic triangle, but it wouldn't have worried me. I only look at diplomacy rarely: I am committed now and if anyone else joins the Allies I don't care (except for the USA: I am holding them back for now).

In reality, you should have edited them into your ships, to represent their capture. Really sad capturing a port never captures any of the fleet stationed there.

I suppose I could have but I never thought of that. The transports could have been useful, once I had repaired them.

What minister are you using? I found the best one is the guy that just does +5% to espionage. Radar is much better at getting info on the enemy then spying anyway.

Frick - the +5% Espionage Minister. I rely on radar and aircraft: for most of the war it far more important to prevent any delays to research.

If the Italians are unable to take Greece, it would be possible to have a look at Crete anyway. The AI generally does not stack many troops there while mainland Greece is not take and why would it? If the Fallschirmjäger are ready for another action, that might be a spot worth trying, after some decent recon of course.

That is worth considering, but I have only two para divs. I think I will wait and see if the Italians restart their Greek adventure after the Brits pull back to Egypt.

I thought that Athens would fall far sooner, the Italian army surely needs some help. :D

I am not unhappy withthe situation in Greece if it has led to the resurgence of Italy in N. Africa. It would probably be w/while for me to send the Luftwaffe to bomb Athina.

Oh my! :wacko: Big suppository! :eek:

I can't wait to see how Barbarossa goes.

I think the AI will steamroll the russkies. (though taking bets here)

If it were a suppository I don't think the soldier would be embracing it so closely. As for Barbarossa: I have no idea how the Red Army will perform, let alone how the AI will handle my battle plan. (Yes, I do have one - I am not going to wing it).

I'm looking forward to how the Reich will exploit the new strategic situation in the Mediterranian.

As I say above, the Nordseeflotte has rebased to Gibraltar and has a mission to operate off the coast of Libia. I think I can reveal that the Royal Navy is also present inthe area. (I have played to November 3rd).

Just de-lurking to say that this AAR has seriously degraded my work place productivity, but in a good way. You're a braver man than I to entrust so much to the AI, particularly when things went pear shaped in Spain.

BTW, whatever happened to that intrepid Spanish armor unit that traversed the country? I must have missed it when they were defeated, or did they last to the surrender?

Thanks dlain - I am still puzzling how one can have "good" degradation of productivity. Have you run this past your employer? But I get the point. As for entrusting "So much" to the AI: that is my natural laziness shining through. It is so much easier to let the AI do it, and if enything goes wrong just say "Stupid computer! If I had done it manually we would have triumphed, even if I had one third rate infantry division against an armoured Corps".

As for the Spanish armour, if you refer to the one that headed west from Catalonia to Galica, I am pretty sure it survived to the end. The infantry unit that marched south from Galica perished before Spain surrendered.


OK - hopefully no long breaks any more. Initial rush of enthusiasm for "WitE" now over, and only playing "The Battle for Normandy" once a week now. (Must mention that my worthy opponent "Robberchicken" rolled 1,1 for weather on 8th June: storm over the beaches on the third day of "Overlord". He was not happy: I am so glad the Allied player rolls for weather).
 
For those of you who are interested, a few shots of “The Battle for Normandy” board game which may explain some of the delays. I know it is OT but ……

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The size: you need a big room that you can leave set up. A locked door to keep out pets is obligatory. To those of you in the northern hemisphere, the light source from the left of the picture is the sun. The curtains are drawn because although it is only 10AM is already 30+ degrees Centigrade. That is why there is an air conditioner on the wall. It never snows here.

http://img152.imageshack.us/i/mapnz.jpg/

The map is very detailed.

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Caen: the remnants of 716th Division and most of 21st Panzer hold on to the city, while Panzer Lehr is moving west. 12th SS is tangled with the British 6th Air Landing on the east of the canal.

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Omaha: the Americans have finally cracked the beach defences and are moving inland. Destroying the bridges near Carentan has cut off supply to 352nd Division. The dastardly British have already seized Bayeux.

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Cherbourg Peninsula: more destroyed bridges hamper the attempts by 709th and 243rd Division to push back the 101st and 82nd Airborne.
 
Finally, an update! Have been waiting for this for... too long :p

The men on the train... is that a vickers mg in the back? Could be a vintage 08/15 leftover from WWI, too. Judging by the uniforms, the picture was taken relatively early in the war or these were 2nd line men not provided with the latest uniforms / camoflage gear.

Yes, mea culpa. I can only blame temptation. When "War inthe East" was released I held off as long as I could.

Could be a Vickers: I can't remember where the photo originated but do seem to remember it was fairly early. I have a vague memory it was somewhere in France, so may have been left by the BEF.

No one at that model railroad display looks to be having much fun.

I have to admit that it was a 1949 photo: probably no-one there could have afforded to buy anything on display. Couldn't find a Märklin photo from WW2.
 
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Hello, I have been following your game since a long time ago and it´s the best aar i have seen (except Rome Aarisen maybe):rolleyes:
I have been asking myself something: why did you not try a sealion operation?
I´m new with HoI3, but a veteran of HoI2 and i always did it before Barbarossa for assuring my west flank.
PS: I have heard that it was consider gamey because it was very easy to make in the game debt to the AI. Is this the reason?
 
Armaments Minister Schacht has also been busy: new factories have opened in Memel, Brno, Breslau, Ostrava and Königsberg.

Question: Why are you using the 'native' names of those cities, when there are perfectly servicable German ones? Brünn instead of Brno and Mährisch-Ostrau instead of Ostrava would be the proper way to call them.
Also, did I mention I would really really enjoy a HoI3-Mod that changes province names according to whoever controls them? :D
 
That is worth considering, but I have only two para divs. I think I will wait and see if the Italians restart their Greek adventure after the Brits pull back to Egypt.

The point would be to occupy Crete before the British attempt to get away, although I admit that the AI very rarely tries to ship out units, it would make their supply runs a little more difficult. Plus, it would enable the Italians to annex Greece, if they should decide to attack Athens after all.

On the other hand, the paras might show their worth later on in drops near the Suez, to cut off the British. Then again, this is really an Italian theatre and who knows if the Führer would want to get sidetracked with events in supposedly Italian Mare Nostrum.
 
Great update as usual! It's good to see things are back to normal and you're enjoying yourself, Uriah!

The point would be to occupy Crete before the British attempt to get away, although I admit that the AI very rarely tries to ship out units, it would make their supply runs a little more difficult. Plus, it would enable the Italians to annex Greece, if they should decide to attack Athens after all.

On the other hand, the paras might show their worth later on in drops near the Suez, to cut off the British. Then again, this is really an Italian theatre and who knows if the Führer would want to get sidetracked with events in supposedly Italian Mare Nostrum.

It's only October '40. The tentative date for Barbarossa seems to be just before April, so that leaves roughly 4 months. When I suggested bombing the British in North Africa, my thinking was inline with yours: use the time for asymmetric ops in the Med. Low-investment, high-yeild stuff. Taking Crete is a win-win: removes supply/withdrawal route, gives the Germans an airbase to support the Italian advance on the NA coast, removes airfields threatening petrol supply during Barbarossa. Although the last one seems more relevant to the narrative than the AI!
 
Hello again folks!
The navy is back from leave, so a late happy new year@all!
@Baltasar:
The men on the train... is that a vickers mg in the back? Could be a vintage 08/15 leftover from WWI, too. Judging by the uniforms, the picture was taken relatively early in the war or these were 2nd line men not provided with the latest uniforms / camoflage gear.
It is a 7,9mm MG 245/1(n) [or 245/2(n), this is impossible to see on a photo. This was the german designation for captured norwegian Colt Browning M 1917 machine guns. It looks very much like a sMG 08 (not the "light" 08/15, which looks different because it has a shoulder stock, a pistol grip with trigger compared to the one fired with both thumbs on the sMG08 or the 245/1(n) and the 08/15 is aircooled, not watercooled). Also the belt on the 08 is fed from the right side of the weapon, in the picture you can see that this gun is fed from the left. And the barrel muzzle on the 245/1(n) is much thicker (I think it´s a case) than that of the 08. What also speaks for a captured norwegian weapon is the landscape, it looks pretty much like Norway.
It can´t be a Vickers (7,92mm sMG 216(r) or 7,7mm sMG 230(e), (r) or 7,7mm sMG 231(h) in German service), because on these the cooling case around the barrel
has channels (for better cooling effects) , not a clean surface like on the 08 or 245/1(n).
@GhostWriter: thank you very much for you kind words about my service in the navy! Glad to hear that (which is not the rule...). And thank you for your time in Germany back in the sixties!
@Uriah: don´t worry having a German native speaker from the navy here. ;) I´ll give you "my two cents" about the last naval battles in a further post. I think for today it´s enough about
German weapons. But you are lucky! Beeing in the navy for 20 years means not automatically knowledge abou tactics and history but fortunately for you military and naval history is
my greatest hobby..... :)
 
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Just a short one: it´s Mittelmeer not Mittelsee for the Med Sea in German. (another part of the "is the language logic discussion", because the Baltic Sea is the Ostsee.....)
 
My apologies for forgetting about your AAR.
In the picture of Bayerlein's train set/model, the kid looks like if he's about to attack the photographer :D
And I'm guessing that that is your room, and if i'm correct, then you have a LOT of books - more than me at least.
 
I've received a message by pigeon from our redoubtable little clerk. I don't quite understand it, but he asked me to pass it on; something about "Sorry for the lack of diary entries of late, but my internet[?] is down. Normal service should resume in a few days."

There was a bit more, but the handwriting was rather small - the sign of a disturbed mind, I believe - and smeared with pigeon-poop. Make of it what you will.

[BTW, in the pic of the Normandy game did anyone note the hefty scissors and square in the lower left? Yes, that's what Uriah uses to cut his counters out. Frankly, sometimes he frightens me.]