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I think you'll be ok, being so close to Warsaw already. Still way ahead of the historical schedule. ;)

Since you don't want to micromanage, I'll repeat one observation I made in a strategy thread: The AI seems to work best with each corps composed of 4 slow + 1 fast unit (like 4 infantry + 1 motorized infantry/tank), and with full armies (i.e. at least 4, preferably 5 corps each). Even with similar division numbers and ratios, it doesn't do so well when the command structure is different.

I am only a few days ahead of the narrative, but I am not too worried about beating Poland. My concern is that it will take some time to transfer the troops across Germany, and during this time I could lose a few important centres.

On the other hand, I will be able to crush the Belgians outside their forests/river defences, and the French in front of the Maginot.

Thanks for the information on the AI (any chance of a link?) but I wanted to stick to semi-historical formations, so I am reluctant to mix foot and armour, though I may start to add a motorised to some foot units. As for the 4/5 corps, I already try to do this, if only to keep the number of HQ to a minimum (less troops tied up, and less likelhood of running out of good leaders).

I am not usre what you meand by the last sentence: could you explain?
 
agree utterly, if there is one thing that HOI3 teaches (sometimes brutally) is that reserves (both local and strategic) are almost as important as committed formations. You start to understand why so many forces were left in the rear seemingly being 'wasted'.

btw - yet another great update

Couldn't agree more. It is often a flaw in computer war-games that the player is rewarded by having every unit fighting all the time. In reality, commanders tried constantly to rest their troops and to keep subtantial forces "in reserve" either resting, re-equipping, or simply waiting.

And it wasn't only to forestall enemy action -it was also to allow generals to take advantage of opportunities that arose.

Superb AAR. I haven't played HOI alot but you have sure made this very interesting. Keep up the good work.

Thanks blsteen: but it is not me that makes it interesting, it is the devious AI. Make sure you play some more and you'll get hooked on the game.

well done update, really exciting! Those bloody Belgians! ;)

You could have knoocked me over with a feather when the pop-up appeared, because I had been checking the diplomacy screen to see if anyone was likely to join the Allies. I went back and looked at old save games to see what I had missed and came to conclusion that I hadn't put enough emphasis on my threat levels.

I know I should sit down and work out exactly what the mechanism is to trigger a country to join a faction (Yunnan and Persia are avalable but "impossible" for me) but I haven't got around to it. If anyone knows could they let me know?

Anyway, it does make for an exciting game. The pressure is on to finish the Poles and rush west.

Another great update. I can't imagine why noone would want to have to go back and explain why he did not keep attacking to the Fuerher. :D

I just hope my AI generals got the message. I have a query, however. Do you know what the "start time" is for post-attack delay? I always thought it started from when the battle was ended, but I have noticed that after a battle I seem to have different times for availability.


Thank you all for the feedback. While I enjoy writing the AAR it does encourage me to do more when I know some-one is reading and enjoying it. (And not shaking their heads and saying "How could he missed the Belgians! What sort of idiot leaves the Belgian border undefended?"?)
 
Unlurking, great stuff !


I know I should sit down and work out exactly what the mechanism is to trigger a country to join a faction (Yunnan and Persia are avalable but "impossible" for me) but I haven't got around to it. If anyone knows could they let me know?

At some point they'll become available (you'll even get a nice icon on the main display). I don't know why they are "impossible" but in my latest game I finally had Australia join the Axis !

I just hope my AI generals got the message. I have a query, however. Do you know what the "start time" is for post-attack delay? I always thought it started from when the battle was ended, but I have noticed that after a battle I seem to have different times for availability.

I think that, like for actual troop movement, it starts at the beginning of the battle. When you research aggressively the "reduce attack delay" technology you can end up with almost no delay after a battle. Strategic Redeployment still costs quite a lot since it starts either right after the move or its restarted at each new province the troops cross.
 
Unlurking, great stuff !




At some point they'll become available (you'll even get a nice icon on the main display). I don't know why they are "impossible" but in my latest game I finally had Australia join the Axis !



I think that, like for actual troop movement, it starts at the beginning of the battle. When you research aggressively the "reduce attack delay" technology you can end up with almost no delay after a battle. Strategic Redeployment still costs quite a lot since it starts either right after the move or its restarted at each new province the troops cross.

Thanks. I'm pleased I haven't lost everyone by missing the warning signs on Belgium!

They are available (I have had the icon for Yunnan for 6 months) but I'm not sure why they are still "Impossible" to recruit. I'm not worried (my campaign for world domination is not dependent on the Yunnan Army), but it would be nice to know.

Ihad thought it might be based on when the unit actually engaged or entered to the province, but hadn't gone back to analyse it. I probalby have enough notes to do so, but will watch future battles instead (I have had enough of trawling back and forward to see what happened).
 
Propaganda and You is a very good guide, altough slightly outdated due to new patches. It should at least get you on the right track to avoid another Beligum crisis.

Thanks for the link. I am pretty sure I read it before (I read a lot of posts while waiting for 1.3 to release) but it is still accurate.

But I think I already knew how the system basically worked: I just didn't realise that threat would override the "distance" so much. I was aware that threat "pushed" a country away: I have had my UK and French spies on "increase threat" since 1936. I checked the Diplomatic screen regularly and always looked for Belgium and Netherlands. But I never calculated the Threat/Neutrality difference. I assumed that unless Belgium was nearly on top of the Allies corner it would not join the faction.

Learning the hard way.
 
Thanks for the information on the AI (any chance of a link?)
It's just my experience after trying full OOBs (5 divisions in 5 corps per army) and more dispersed ones (3 in 3 per army), always with AI control at the army level or higher. I don't have a statistically viable sample yet (way below 100 games finished ;)).

but I wanted to stick to semi-historical formations, so I am reluctant to mix foot and armour, though I may start to add a motorised to some foot units.
Look at historical German setups. They planned to motorize all infantry, just never had the industry to do so. Before Barbarossa, they also used tanks as support divisions, not concentrated in larger formations (the panzer division was their main innovation that gave them the big advantage over tanks used as support brigades in infantry divisions). Mixing one motorized infantry or tank division in a corps would therefore be close to historical orders of battle. You can group tanks closer later in the campaign.

I am not usre what you meand by the last sentence: could you explain?
The AI seems to work worse with similar division numbers and ratios (foot/motorized/armor) in a more dispersed command structure (i.e. 3 divisions per 3 corps per army).
 
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I know I should sit down and work out exactly what the mechanism is to trigger a country to join a faction (Yunnan and Persia are avalable but "impossible" for me) but I haven't got around to it. If anyone knows could they let me know?
As for Yunnan, in my game they are allied with Guangxi-Clique, and Guangxi is at war with (Axis) Japan. Could something like this be the reason?
 
As for Yunnan, in my game they are allied with Guangxi-Clique, and Guangxi is at war with (Axis) Japan. Could something like this be the reason?

It could be their own neutrality blocks it. I had this with Communist China, they were close enough to invite but essentially they saw no one as a big enough threat to want to come into uncle joe's sweaty embrace if I invited them - but they could join the Comintern if they wanted to, which is what happened in the end.

So you could try to raise a localised threat to them (prob a waste of spies unless it is so essential), or wait, keep them in faction distance and I suspect at some stage they might join.
 
Rank and File
A Clerk’s War​


30th June 1939

Although the brilliant summer weather continued, the Belgian attack in the west had taken away any pleasure from the warmth and still air. The drone of planes leaving airfields around the city (3rd and 5th Taktischeluftflotte are based here) and heading east was comforting, but it did not remove the gloom that yesterday’s news had brought. The people in the street appeared happy, going about their business without any worries, but I noticed that the number of men in uniform was less than a few days ago: they have either left for their units or, if attached to the War Ministry, already at work. It will take a lot of preparation to move hundreds of thousands of men to the west in a few days time. (I am going to adopt the Fuhrer’s view that Poland will call for peace within the week).

The Reichskanzlei was very quiet all morning: junior staff are very conscious of the mood of their superiors. Everyone was head down, concentrating on their work. And there was plenty to do, as the end of month reports had to be prepared and Ministers briefed for the Cabinet Meeting this evening. I was very surprised when Minister Frick himself looked in on me just before noon, and asked if I was free this evening. Of course, when the Minister asks this question, there is only one answer. He then told me he requires an extra staff member to help him with documentation at the Cabinet meeting and I had been recommended by the Direktor of the Informationsburo. I was both flattered and excited to think that I would be present when the key decision makers of the Reich met. If only my parents were still alive to see this! My brothers would have to do.

The rest of the day was a blur. Even the news that we have begun the assault on Warszawa seemed unreal. In a sense it was: von Wietersheim is attacking with just his own 11.Infanterie against four Polish divisions and a headquarters unit. Although his regiments are at full strength and eager to fight, and the Poles have been bombed all the way from the border, he is vastly outnumbered and the city streets give a huge advantage to the defender. Nobody expects this attack to succeed: it more to keep the Poles from regaining too much morale before the real assault takes place in a few days when more troops are in position.

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Battle of Warszawa

As we had feared, von Salmuth’s men were too exhausted to handle the Polish counter-attack and have been forced to retreat from Grajewo, leaving 211 of their comrades behind. 52.Infanterie will be in no state for combat operations for some time: it is down to less than 8,400 men out of a full complement of 10,000. They made the Poles pay for their victory, killing 651 of the attacking mountain troops.

The defeat in Grajewo was off-set to some degree by General Ott’s rapid victory in Pruszkow. It took the two motorised divisions less than a day to carve through 4 Dywizjon Piechoty. It looks as though the Fuhrer’s directive is already delivering results. Of course, such a short battle had correspondingly small casualties: we lost 52 to the Poles’ 209.

Some of the depression around the corridors was lifted as more victory reports were telegraphed or radioed in. Johannisburg is ours again, with the casualties two to one in our favour (1065:2265); not too bad considering the terrain favoured the defenders. And the addition of 50.Infanterie to the attack on Sonderborg has finally forced the Danes to abandon their determined defence. This has been a hard fought battle though, and we lost 2,794 men while 3,969 Danes were killed.

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Danish troops in Sonderburg: they have amazed our military with their willingness to take huge casualties to defend their country.

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Captured Danish equipment: no modern or expensive weaponry, just determination and courage have caused us so many casualties.

Maybe Goering has had a word to his air commanders as well, as Pawlikowski’s bombers have come under attack over Mlawa. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case, as he wouldn’t want the Heer to use enemy bombing as an excuse for slow progress. The bombers aborted their mission.

The commanders of motorised divisions must have been particularly concerned to show that they were being aggressive. De Angelis has also launched an attack, committing his 60.Infanterie (motorised) to take Warka from Pierarski’s 27th Infantry Division. With this sort of action in the east, the Fuhrer’s confidence in a Polish collapse in days seems more and more justified.

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Battle of Warka

With Sonderborg under control, the Marinekorps is on the move. Transfer orders have been approved and the two divisions and headquarters unit are on their way to Koln.

The Burgermeister of Aachen managed to get out a last telegraph from the Rathaus before the Belgians cut the line. With only a few small detachments of local militia available for defence, the province has been overrun and the Belgian flag flies over the city. For a short time we thought it may not be there for long, as we received word from General Muller that he was attempting to retake the city. He reported the only opposition to be an under-strength cavalry division and that, although his own men were nearly exhausted he would ask them for a final effort. While it was a brave gamble, it was never going to succeed. The Belgians were prepared for a counter-attack and after losing 11 men Muller recognised that his battle weary troops were in no condition for a lengthy city fight and ordered a halt to the assault.

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The brief Battle of Aachen

More battles have begun in Poland. General Neuling is looking for an easy victory in Tarnaszow, where he is attacking the headquarters of the Armia Poznan. In Belchatow things are likely to be much tougher: General Ludke’s 58.Infanterie is taking on nearly 40,000 Poles under General Szylling. I have heard a few comments that all this activity is to soak up troops that could otherwise be used to reinforce Warszawa. Whether this is true or not, it definitely the case that these battles are now seen as peripheral: the Battle for Warszawa will determine ultimate victory.

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Battle of Tomaszow

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Battle of Belchatow

I had prepared the bombing summary and position maps and was packing up in preparation to attending my first Cabinet meeting (and borrowing a mirror from Gisela to make sure I looked presentable) when the best news of all came in: the Belgians have been thrown back from Bitburg! General Kesselring, commander of the Westwall Army, has been able to scrounge up enough men to force de la Chevalier to call off the attack. That should set a positive note for the meeting.

Bombing Summary

Eupen: Sperrle with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111: 79, 135, 124, 126
Ostroleka: Udet with 2 x Ju 87B: 38
Cattenom: Lohr with 2 x Ju 87B: 44, 65, 66
Pruszkow: Kesselring with 2 x Ju 87B: 68, 45
Sarreguinnes: Dorstling with 1 x Bf 109G, 2 x He 111: 140, 121, 117
Johannisburg: Kitzinger with 2 x He 111: 149


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Fall Weiss at the end of 30 June 1939

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Westwall at end of 30 June 1939

General Heunert has launched a desperate counter-attack in Pirmasens to buy time, but even he accepts that it is a last throw of the dice. Also of concern,our submarines report French armour moving into Belgium.

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French-Italian border at end of 30 June 1939: the French have reinforced the whole front line

After being collected by a staff member, I followed my Minister into the Cabinet Room. While he and the other Ministers sat at the conference table, I took my place with all the other officials next to the wall. For a responsible adult, I was as nervous as a teenager at his first job interview, and in fact didn’t even notice when the Fuhrer entered. It was only when he called the meeting to order that I realised he was in the room. And from then on I was concentrating too hard to let his presence affect me. There was no way I was going to be unprepared if Minister Frick needed something.

The first briefing was from the Foreign Minister, Joachim von Neurath. He led off by accepting the blame for the Belgian debacle. (Not a bad move as everyone already blamed him anyway). He then moved quickly onto our analysis of the Belgian position.

Belgium has ample reserves of all raw materials, probably as a result of its mineral rich African possessions. However production is not at a maximum. We believe that this is primarily due to a lack of manpower. It may be that it mobilised too early and built up its army too quickly.(Here General Blomberg interjected to point out that his commanders report that some Belgian units are at only half strength, which supports this theory). What is worse for them is that they seem to have a problem with recruiting officers. As far as we can tell they have 10 divisions (including one infantry division based at Boma in the Belgian Congo) at least two of which are motorised infantry. Any air units are minuscule, and we are not aware of any warships, though there are indications that ships are present in Bruges harbour. National unity is high and the government is firm in its resolve (although it must be remembered that this is a coalition government and that the Katholieke Unie (Union Catholique) may have a shaky hold on power).

The Netherlands was next. When the Belgians dropped neutrality, we immediately called on all our intelligence assets to ascertain whether we could expect a similar reversal of policy from the Dutch. Here Minster von Neurath put up a diagram of our analysis of the diplomatic situation for the Netherlands.

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The Netherlands: diplomatic position

While not free from doubt, the Foreign Ministry believes that the Dutch Government will stick to its current neutrality. It does see us as a very significant threat, but the difference between its policies and the Allies is seen to be simply too great to allow it to form an alliance. The Netherland has even greater reserves of raw materials than Belgium, but is using even less of its industrial capacity. Once again we believe it may be lack of manpower that it an issue. It has 13 divisions, at least one of which is at Batavia in the Netherlands East Indies. No evidence of any air force, but we know of a light cruiser at Amsterdam and our spies are sure there are more warships there. National Unity is even higher that Belgium’s, and the ruling ARP, while leading a minority government, is firmly in control.

For completeness, von Neurath mentioned that Luxembourg had two divisions available, but was unlikely to be able to provide the manpower for more.

None of the countries discussed had technology above ours, except in managing and fielding militia units.

Overall, we would not have anything to fear from these countries if it not that the bulk of our armed forces were deployed against Poland. If (and here he glanced at Ministers Blomberg and Goering) these units were freed to move west within the week, then any damage done by the entry of Belgium into the war should be minimal. Should the Dutch declare war, problems may arise, particularly if this coincided with a British invasion on the Nordsee coast. He would leave the military considerations to his colleagues but in his view it was essential that the coastal region remain fully garrisoned, no matter what happened in the south.

While the Ministers mulled over his presentation and consulted the information papers that his staff handed out, Minister Schacht arose.

He was very brief. The Reich is producing at maximum capacity, and all stocks are holding up well, even oil and fuel. The one worrying area is iron and steel, but at current rates we have enough reserves to last nearly 20 years, assuming consumption remained constant. Of course, we are also building an increased number of industrial plants, so all supplies raw materials would need to increase, but there were no problems in the foreseeable future. Oil might become a problem when the British finally closed our US imports, but again we have sufficient for some years. (Cash reserves are low, but we are moving to self-sufficiency in most areas and our diplomats tell us that soon we will lack trading partners as a result of our expansionist policies, so this should not be a consideration. In fact, for the next year, the bulk of our trade is likely to be with the Communists of Soviet Russia!).

The Minister is concerned about the amount of production we can dedicate to building new equipment for the Wehrmacht. Replacements for active units are a significant burden on our manufacturers, as is the upgrading of equipment. We need to decide our priorities: to maintain existing units at full strength and efficiency or to create new units? There was a limited discussion but the conclusion was pre-determined: with our population restrictions we must ensure that every German soldier, sailor or airman has the greatest possible chance of survival. That means that reinforcement and upgrading get top priority. As the Fuhrer stated emphatically, there is no point in having armour divisions that only exist on paper!

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The Reich’s production report at 30 June 1939

Fritz Bayerlein still appears ridiculously young to be at the table with the other ministers, but he has proven to be on top of his portfolio. He has kept our troops supplied and, to his credit, held out strongly for the completion of the Westwall fortifications, without which our position would have been far worse. His message was that our supply and transportation networks are performing admirably, but would be placed under enormous strain when the mass transfer of troops took place in the near future. What he is concerned about is other infrastructure. While the Luftwaffe has kept the British bombers at bay (he looked at Goering who smiled) our cities desperately need more fixed anti-aircraft installations. The enemy has shown a tendency to target these first, and we need to build up their numbers. Related to this are the need for more radar stations and the expansion of existing airfields and the creation of new ones (Minister Goering nodded in agreement at all his comments). Finally, we also need to urgently bring the Polish road and rail network up to modern standards. In summary, he argued that we need to dedicate more of our production to infrastructure rather than simply making more divisions and geschwader. If we don’t, he warned, we will have planes that can’t fly, troops that at best can’t fight or move and at worst are starving.

The Fuhrer frowned at the final comments, but it is clear that he recognises that Bayerlein is not a political animal. He states his thoughts, without ulterior motives. Before anyone could comment, he thanked the Chief of Staff and advised that, when Poland fell and we had a good idea of its industrial capacity and resources, we would revisit the allocation of production. The Minister realised that this was the best he could hope for and took his seat.

The Minister for the Army was next. He too accepted that the Heer had failed to protect the Reich, not only in the west against the French and Belgians, but in East Prussia where some areas are still under Polish control. He took entire responsibility, saying that the courage of the ordinary German soldier was beyond reproach, as was the skill and dedication of the officer corps. It was the failure of OKH to realise that the Poles would effectively sacrifice the south of their country to buttress the north that had led to the loss of so many provinces in East Prussia. And it was a misguided belief that the French would remain in the security of the Maginot that had caused the reversals in the west. (Noticeably he did not accept any blame for the loss of Aachen to the Belgians!) However, he was firm in his opinion that these were only temporary setbacks. Poland would surrender within a week or its armed forces would collapse, and the French would be contained until the rest of the army arrived from the east. He had some concern about the Belgians, but hopes that they can be slowed. As he pointed out, if Minister von Neurath’s figure of 10 Belgian divisions is correct, they cannot move too far eastwards without leaving their supply paths exposed. If the Dutch do declare war, the situation would have to be revisited, but he agreed that unless Grossadmiral Raeder and Reichsmarschall Goering could guarantee that the British could not invade, then the Nordsee coast was still the first priority for defence. (He paused but neither minister took up the invitation).

Overall, he emphasised, the Heer was in good condition. While losses had been heavier than expected (particularly in Denmark, whose surprise attack from the Jutland peninsula was still a sore point with the army), we have been able to replenish all units. He did want a greater emphasis on infantry and armour research: while we match our opponents, he would prefer a clear cut technological advantage. He acknowledged that there were limits to our industrial capacity, but pointed out that our policies adopted more than 3 years before (no mention of the secret objectives of the New Year’s Conference – too many junior staff in the room) required a massive increase in the army. He therefore could not support a reduction in the proportion of production dedicated to new infantry, armour and other divisions.

He ended by providing a map we have received from the Italians showing the position in East Africa. We have no agents or liaison officers there, and are therefore totally reliant on their information. The Minister is confident it is accurate, but he did point out it only covered the large scale picture.

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East Africa at end of 30th June 1939: in the north Italy has lost Tokar to the British and Ed to the French, but in the south they have captured Wajir from the British.

Goering, as usual, had been champing at the bit. He went on for some time about the glorious triumphs of the Luftwaffe, their bombing of the Poles, the casualties inflicted on the French and the inability of the British to attack our cities (he seems to have forgotten the attacks on Liepzieg and Stuttgart in the first weeks of the war, and nobody liked to remind him). Finally he got to the point. He needed Schacht and Bayerlein to provide him with more airfields in the west to allow the Luftwaffe to drive the French back all the way to the Atlantic. He also needs fresh airfields to be built in Poland. (He did not mention why, and obviously even the Reichsmarschall has to be careful of hinting at a coming war with the Russians, who are to be one of our major trading partners for the next year!)

To listen to Goering, you would think that the Luftwaffe is fighting the war single-handedly. To give him his due, he has prepared a magnificent weapon, and it has performed well. There was little actual content to his speech. Other than to say that the Luftwaffe expected its airborne infantry to be available within weeks, his only other comments were to request more research to improve his planes (he admitted that most units were still upgrading to the latest models) and to point out that, other than one fighter, one naval bomber and a transport plane wing, there were no current plans to increase the size of the Luftwaffe. If the Heer and the Kriegsmarine need more assistance, he would need more planes of all types. He closed by telling the Cabinet that, given the demands on his planes, he could not guarantee that a British force could not operate in the Nordsee long enough to allow an invasion of our coast.

Grossadmiral Raeder, in contrast, was short and to the point. If ordered to do so, he would deploy the navy to the Nordsee to prevent a landing, but this would lead to the destruction of both our fleets. The combined Royal Navy and Royale would simply crush our fleet in one short and bloody encounter. Although we would commission another battleship within weeks, we were still nowhere near being able to take on one of our enemies, let alone both. The Italians would be of assistance, but they were not able to operate past the Straits of Gibraltar.

Here he broke off to refer to a paper that was provided to the ministers. On it was a list of French ships that the Italians claim to have sunk since joining the war. Although most were fairly small, it was immediately noticeable that the French carrier “Bearn” has been sunk. While the Italians have been relatively restrained on land, it looks as though the Regia Marina has been very active. The Minister told us that the Italians were a bit more secretive about their own losses, but our information is that they have lost the “Trento” (a cruiser) and a destroyer flottiglia. A welcome reduction in the enemy naval strength, even if it is only a dent so far.


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French naval losses

Our submarine campaign has been an expensive failure to date. Only a few merchantmen were sunk this month, primarily because most of the time our best U-boats were in harbour, waiting for repairs. We expect all flotillas to be back in operation in July, and new vessels will join them. Admiral Doenitz believes that we need to vary our raiding patterns more regularly as the British are moving their convoy lanes in reaction to attacks. The Cabinet will review the results next month.

The Minister believes that as long as we are reasonable in our demands on the Kriegsmarine he can continue to build it to a position to contest the Nordsee against the Royal Navy. This assumes that the Royale is out of action (presumably through the surrender of France) and that the British have undergone a series of battles against the Italians and, in addition to losing ships, have sent more vessels to the Mediterranean. He had hoped that a Japanese threat in the Far East would force the British to deploy more ships there, but this seems unlikely. He accepts that the navy has had more than its fair share of research, but points out this will be wasted if not converted into warships.

The last to speak was my Minister, Walter Frick. He was also to speak on behalf of Goebbels, who had not been able to attend due to urgent work (I think it was some propaganda campaign to keep public spirits up after the Belgian invasion).

As Minister for the Interior, the operation of our research facilities is his responsibility. He pointed out that traditionally the Cabinet only received an annual report on research, but that he wanted to pass on a few comments. Despite the demands of other areas such as the Foreign Ministry, the Wehrmacht and the Intelligence Services, we have managed to keep 25 projects operating. Unfortunately, since war began, losses due to enemy action have increased, no matter how many spies we catch (and we caught 45 last month). The most effective enemy agents are those from Soviet Russia, responsible for the loss of 10% of our research potential. The rest of the world only impacts 2% of our research.

Nevertheless, information gathered from combat units has been invaluable to our researchers and has dramatically speeded up many projects, particularly land and air warfare theories. He provided a “snapshot” of our state of knowledge at 30th June.

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State of Knowledge of the Reich at 30th June 1939

Aeronautical Engineeering, Land Combat Experience, and Air Combat Experience have all dramatically improved.

He hopes that we will be able to recruit some Polish scientists to our research projects, and speed progress even more. At this point there was some heated discussion about priorities for the next few months, but it was all show. The decisions had already been made and after a few minutes the Fuhrer declared the matter closed. As agreed previously, all research this year would be aimed at bringing us up to date on land and air, both in equipment and theory. Only then would we concentrate on making the entire Wehrmacht the most modern in the world.

The Fuhrer thanked his ministers for their attendance, and exhorted them to greater efforts. Having only heard him address large crowds before, this was a new experience for me, to see him motivating a room full of men who were powerful in their own right. It was a powerful performance, and left no-one in any doubt about who was in charge. Even the elderly von Blomberg looked as though he wanted to rush out and take on the French himself, man to man! Afterwards I couldn’t remember much about what he actually said, other than he reassured us that all was under control, that within days we would be back on the offensive, and that all we needed to do was keep our nerve. But it wasn’t the words, it was the electricity in the room that made it so compulsive.

And that was the end of my first Cabinet meeting. For once I was glad of the walk to the station after a long day: it gave me chance to clear my head of the emotions conjured up by the Fuhrer’s words and to reflect on all I had heard. There will be no negotiated victory, it is obvious that the entire Cabinet is focussed on one thing, making the Reich the supreme power in Europe, if not the world. We will be at war for some time.
 
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It's just my experience after trying full OOBs (5 divisions in 5 corps per army) and more dispersed ones (3 in 3 per army), always with AI control at the army level or higher. I don't have a statistically viable sample yet (way below 100 games finished ;)).


Look at historical German setups. They planned to motorize all infantry, just never had the industry to do so. Before Barbarossa, they also used tanks as support divisions, not concentrated in larger formations (the panzer division was their main innovation that gave them the big advantage over tanks used as support brigades in infantry divisions). Mixing one motorized infantry or tank division in a corps would therefore be close to historical orders of battle. You can group tanks closer later in the campaign.


The AI seems to work worse with similar division numbers and ratios (foot/motorized/armor) in a more dispersed command structure (i.e. 3 divisions per 3 corps per army).

As I said, there are other valid reasons for having 5 divs in a corps, so where possible I'll do that. It was lack of vehicles that led the Wehrmacht to be so reliant on horsepower up to the end of the war: I am hoping to get the ratio up a bit. I don't think I was very clear in my earleir post: I intend to have motorised in all korp when I can. With my "Panzerkorps" you wil see that none has more than 2 tank divisions, and I have no intention (or capacity) to make all armour korps. In fact, all my Panzer divisions are only half tanks, with motorised inf and tank destroyer or SPA regiments.

But thanks for your comments: I am always curious what other people do and how it works out: I had never even thought that the AI might react differntly to a differnt mix. I'll keep and eye on it.
 
Closing in on Warsaw, that looks good. Careful about Cologne, losing that would hurt.

In fact, all my Panzer divisions are only half tanks, with motorised inf and tank destroyer or SPA regiments.
That's what the real setups were, as far as I know. 2/2 armored to motorized infantry regiments early in the war, later switched to a 1/2 ratio, with mechanized infantry where available. The Germans cheated ;) big time on division setups, using many more support battalions than HoI allows.
 
As for Yunnan, in my game they are allied with Guangxi-Clique, and Guangxi is at war with (Axis) Japan. Could something like this be the reason?

Definitely not allied to anyone: might be they are too neutral to join a country at war. Or cold it be be that they are too far away from any viable threat?
 
It could be their own neutrality blocks it. I had this with Communist China, they were close enough to invite but essentially they saw no one as a big enough threat to want to come into uncle joe's sweaty embrace if I invited them - but they could join the Comintern if they wanted to, which is what happened in the end.

So you could try to raise a localised threat to them (prob a waste of spies unless it is so essential), or wait, keep them in faction distance and I suspect at some stage they might join.

I think you are probably right, but I am not wasting anything to get Yunnan on board. If they see the light then great, but I have bigger fish to fry (I hope that is intelligible to non-native English speakers! Don't let Google translate it!)
 
Great update! Looks like Poland is about to surrender, as the hungarians are advancing through largely undefended East-Poland. The sooner it happens, the sooner You`ll have Your western border under control.

Poland is onits knees: as soon as I can get troops into Warszawa it is over. I just need to do it quickly beofre the Hungarians loop west. At the moment most of the territiry they have seized will become Russian (I think). Luckily the Poles are preventing them curving north west. I have several provinces on Warszawa: just waiting for the units to recover from combat. 72 hours maximum, then it is all over.

Very interesting. I like how you let the AI conduct the campaigns so far. Will be interesting to see how it will wheel the army around to strike west after Poland is finished... :)

Because I have to switch Theatres I will need to manually order the units to move to the other Theatre: when I have tried to it on auto they just sit there. I have everything set at Army level so I will move the individual armies or corps west, attach to Heeresgruppe B by using either Westwall or Benelux Army Group and then let the AI handle it. (Actualy I may need to create a new Army Group - may have too many Armies -limited to 5 per Group).
 
Closing in on Warsaw, that looks good. Careful about Cologne, losing that would hurt.


That's what the real setups were, as far as I know. 2/2 armored to motorized infantry regiments early in the war, later switched to a 1/2 ratio, with mechanized infantry where available. The Germans cheated ;) big time on division setups, using many more support battalions than HoI allows.

I hope I don't lose Koln, but in reality, there is not a lot I can do unitl I get troops west. If I can hold the French, then I am relying onthe Belgians staying within a province or two of the border.

I am a bit concerned with the French armour unit moving into Belgian (look at the Westwall picture - on the coast at Brugges). I can see that unit because my U-boats have seen it. If the French are moving into Belgium along the whole border (where I can't see them) then I am in big trouble as they will pour through the gap.

I suspect my lovely balanced armeekorps are going to get a bit mixed up as units are flung in whenever they become available! C'est la vie - adapt or die.
 
Cologne is a rich VP. I bet the AI will race there and beyond, if not countered. It's good at exploiting such generous openings.

As to armies, I'd try reattaching them to the western army groups, giving new orders, and waiting an hour or two of game time for the AI to catch up. In my experience, it should start redeploying almost immediately when units aren't in contact with enemies.
 
Excellent show! Our clerk has finally met the Fuehrer. I hope you two get a close relationship some day. The Fuerher could need a good man like him. :D

I hope Poland gives up soon, but I doubt it. In my games it took a lot pain and a long time.