Sudden Carnage
Chapter VIII – The clash of Giants under the Summer Sun
Countries played by humans: UK, France, Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Japan
*The Polish player’s computer had a breakdown at this stage and then a two week trip to Thailand so we will only be six players for a period of time ahead.
Recap: After the Soviet declaration of war, German and Italian forces have stumbled in disarray to turn about eastwards and meet the charging Red Army. Now, the two fronts have met and they Valkyries are screaming of pure anticipation. Also, to close the Baltic Sea, Germany has attacked Denmark and its capital – Copenhagen.
July 19th, 1939
With Copenhagen lost and the leadership fled, Denmark as a nation was crushed and its forces surrendered. After that, the Baltic Sea was closed to the enemies of the Third Reich.
July 19th, 1939
In the North East flank, Kobryn was a vital province as it held the key to a potential creation of a pocket. Even if the pocket would fail, it would force the Russians back. The Red Army tried to reinforce the defense but the 130th division was losing fast.
Authors note: The German lands in the east consist mostly of the swamplands through which movement is impossible.
::The province of Kobryn had a mighty variation of culture. It had belonged to various nations during its history, Poland, Lithuania, Russia and Byelorussia, and traces from that heritage could be visible on especially the buildings. Heinrich noted this, but did not care much. As the driver of a 22 ton Panzer III, he cared about the terrain. It was not optimal. The province had a lot of forests and some smaller rivers coming from the marshlands up north.::
Kobryn
::This terrain hampered the movement especially for the heavier panzer regiment with the Panzer IIIs and they often found themselves in the backwaters of the battles as infantry or the armor car regiment had crushed the resistance before the Panzers arrived. Heinrich saw some action crushing a small pocket, maybe of company size, fortified in a trench system on a woody hillock. The Panzers were mainly used as artillery, suppressing the Russians before the infantry attacked.::
July 19th-27th, 1939
During about a week a terrible bloodbath erupted on the eastern fronts. Germany won all the battle, pushing the Russ back, but at a high cost. As casualties rose, the leadership grew worried. With a massive investment on infantry equipment and training, they had hoped to throw back the Russians more easily. Surely, most battle were being fought in rough terrain with the Russians being dug in to a varying extent – but it still was a disappointment and a growing worry.
July 26th, 1939
Japan, not really recovered from the war with China and the still ongoing war with Xibei San Ma, had taken some time to march up sufficient forces to launch an attack against USSR. A month into the war and they were now punishing the Russians for their unprovoked declaration of war. Vladivostok, the Russian capital of the east, was badly threatened.
August 1st, 1939
The German onslaught continued even if the long and bloody battle started to wear a few of the divisions down. Still, the threat of a pocket forced several of the Russ divisions to retread, which they did in a fairly orderly way.
::The 1st Panzer Division hadn’t taken any casualties worth mentioning during the battles of Kobryn. Now, in the battle of Volkowysk, it was different. The Russians had a lot more troops present and even armor. At the same time, several of the German infantry divisions had been through heavy fighting recently and bore the scars from it.::
::Like in Kobryn, Volkowysk was heavy forested with small rivers coming from the marshlands in the north. This time, the movement was slow and the Panzers had no problem of keeping up with the infantry. They had reached a place called "the Swedish Mountain". It was not a mountain but more of a hill. There was some ancient fortification surrounding the hill which gave the Russian infantry good defensive positions. They had even had AT-guns there and a wrecked armor car in front of then made Wittmann careful. Heinrich knew he could maneuver fast enough to make a hard target, and was eager to prove it, but Wittmann didn’t see the rush and wanted to wait for more of their own infantry to arrive.::
::Later, though he wasn’t actually in command, Wittmann pulled together a few tanks and armor cars and made a spearhead attack. For Heinrich, this was the first time he actually charged a prepared defender but he trusted his skill, the skill of his friends and the armor of the Panzer. He turned left and right, but never so much as to show his side to the enemy. Bullets and shrapnel ricocheted of the mighty steel vehicle but no AT-munitions managed to hit them. Bobby blew a hole in the low stone wall and Heinrich bashed threw it. It was intense. Armor cars and light tanks followed suit, guns blazing, and the Russians retreated from the sector when several AT-gun crews had gotten killed. The German infantry soon reached the breach and consolidated it. After that, Wittmann and his crew pulled back from the Swedish Mountain as it was poor panzer terrain, but they were called to other places to make similar breach attempts. The Battle of the Swedish Mountain and Volkowysk had just started.::
Authors note: The Swedish Mountain is said to be a remnant of a burial site of old, from when Sweden was a grand empire and fought the Rus. If I’m not mistaken, Sweden is actually the only country who has conquered Moscow – though it had little strategic meaning at the time.
August 4th, 1939
Author’s note: Here comes one really bad miscalculation of mine. In our second MP-game (Wildfires) a similar situation had occurred. Allied then tried to influence Belgium and Netherlands but as Axis counter-influenced, they both drifted towards Axis - too much penalties due to being so close to the Allies already.
I had planned to do the same here. As I now counter-influenced Belgium, I realized with a flash of fear that they still drifted towards Allies (with about 1 full point) and was already quite close. This was not what I had planned and did not really have any reserves at this point.
Well, they are not with the Allies yet…
August 8th, 1939
In the northern part of the east front, the Germans are advancing, slowly but steady, pushing the Russians in front of them.
At the same time, the 2nd paratroop division is deployed according to schedule.
::For Lucas Bauer, the training days were over. He had liked that orderly life. He didn’t mind the hard life in training camp with a lot of outdoor activities. Now, it was real. The Russians were not far away. It would take some time for the two brigades to organize into a battle-ready division and they would stay in Suwalki for some time. It appeared to Lukas like Suwalki was not a very beautiful place with a lot a old industry in a bad condition. After a while, trailing after his good friend Martin, he found that the place indeed was not entirely uninteresting. It had been some heavy combat here during the Great War and some remnants were still quite clear. Also, the province had a couple really old monasteries and churches dating back to when monks started to colonize the area some 400 years ago.::
::Lucas liked visiting the places but there were not too much time for that. Even though training was officially over, and they’d got their wings, there were still a lot of drills. And they had to be careful too. The populace didn’t like the Germans at all. Lucas could understand that but didn’t feel like fuel that hostility. Instead, it happened that he gave away some excess food to some Polish worker. That the people receiving his gifts mostly were attractive females were a coincidence, Lukas claimed. Nevertheless, he soon had a romance with a sweet Polish girl who lived close to the camp. Martin mentioned gruffly that Lucas used his position to get what he wanted, but Lucas didn’t see it that way. He was just being nice and she liked to be with him. Girls always liked to be with him. Martin did not argue further. Martin, in difference to Lukas, just wanted their first combat jump to happen.::
August 11th, 1939
In the north, Wehrmacht has made distinct land-gains. In the Italian sector, things are going slightly slower. Still, the fights have not reached USSR-lands yet and will not do it any time soon. The Russian defense is stronger than predicted.
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Good with Denmark beeing conquered in a quick and easy manner. Germany being more or less bogged down in the east is less good. Actually somewhat disturbing.
