A Banner of War: The German Triumvirate (Doomsday)

[Steevo]

I’ve been reading AARs for quite some time now, but have never made one of my own. Why? Perhaps I was too busy or just waiting for the right opportunity to make something truly unique. More likely, though it has something to do with the fact that I didn’t know that F11 takes screenshots until about a week ago. So without further ado, I give you the start a 3-person shared country German Doomsday AAR.

A Banner of War: The German Triumvirate


“… The winning maneuvers of the final battle, I’m sure, you’ll all familiar with,” continued Lieutenant James Anderson. The comfortable room in Washington was secluded from the rest of the building, securing the privacy of the information Anderson was presenting to his audience, most of whom were members of the general staff and the only people on earth who were to receive this privileged information.
“But what you don’t know, gentlemen, is that the events between 1939 and 1953 were manipulated secretly as well as openly by three individuals. A Covert Triumvirate, if you will. All the knowledge I’ve managed to obtain cannot conclusively uncover the past of these three or how they managed to secretly wrest control of the German government. Some sources suggest that they were wealthy businessmen, others that they were espionage agents who cut a path for themselves through all possible opposition. The only definite evidence about their backgrounds tells that the three were named Dziugas Matulevicius, Vincent Murphy, and Stephen Wilson and that they hailed from Lithuania, Canada, and the United States respectively.” At this point, one senior officer spoke out.
“Are you telling me that the Reich was controlled entirely by foreigners? That’s ridiculous!”
“That may be so,” replied Anderson, “But keep in mind that this is an AAR, and some sort of plot loophole is required to maintain a cogent storyline and explain how things happened the way they did.” The objector nodded in agreement. “The power was split up in this way: Matulevicius and Wilson shared the OKH with Matulevicius commanding the Eastern Front and Wilson on the West. Murphy was in control of OKK and OKL. All voted equally on the economy, Matulevicius controlled the Reich’s intelligence agencies, Wilson controlled the diplomacy, and Murphy handled any administrative jobs that didn’t require consistent attention. It all begins back in 1939…

August 25, 1939

It was a hot day in Berlin. A party upstairs had grown more rowdy than usual, and a crash was heard as Heinz Guderian threw Heinrich Himmler out a second-story window for proposing a theory about what his nickname “Fast Heinz” actually meant. Down below, in a poorly-lit concrete-walled room of the basement, the three sat around a table. Numerous papers cluttered the table between them, and a bottle of nearly-empty liquor sat in the middle.
“I’m telling you, when I took this out of the cabinet, it was almost empty. Someone’s been here- someone’s been drinking my martini!” proclaimed Wilson.
“Was it you?” asked Murphy. Wilson paused with a glazed look on his face.
“I think so, but that’s no excuse” Wilson shook his head “On to more pressing matters. The date of the invasion is set, so tell me what you’ve accomplished in preparations.”
“The better half of the army is poised to strike Poland. With any luck, it should be ours in a matter of a week of the invasion,” Began Matulevicius “but I wish we didn’t have to split it with those damned Bolsheviks!”
“Now Dziugas,” Wilson replied, “This is a 1939 scenario. It’s not like it’s our decision. We tried to do it from ’36 but it just wasn’t happening. We need to take the good with the bad. How are you faring, Herr Murphy?”
“All of our fighters are concentrated over the French border. We will stop any Allied bombing campaigns over Germany and secure the skies for your maneuver. How exactly do you plan to pull it off again?”
“Freiberg is the obvious choice for a French assault. Unable to comprehend the effects of a counterattack on their outdated and poorly-led forces and perceiving themselves to be invincible because of the last war, they will beat back the defending forces and then file in, leaving the Maginot line severely weakened. At that point, our forces from the borders of the Low Countries strike south and hammer into the Maginot line at Strasbourg. Assuming that we can use Strasbourg to cut off the French in Freiberg, we’ll manage to cut them to pieces with air power and, by the time this maneuver is executed, it is my hope that forces from Poland will have redeployed to help break the French. After that, we essentially just walk into Paris pee on the Eiffel tower.”
“Why do we want to pee on the Eiffel tower?”
“Because we’re awesome, that’s why!” barked Wilson. “Are there any other matters at hand?”
Matulevicius asked “Can I ask you a question?”
“Not unless the answer is penis.”
“I don’t think it is.”
“Great! Meeting adjourned.”

The Fight Begins

Just as planned, the Invasion of Poland was over shortly. The execution of what later became known as the Wilson Plan (note to the reader- this wasn’t really planned, it just sort of happened) went off perfectly. As Poland collapsed, the French took the bait and moved almost 40 divisions into Freiberg. Soon, however, the French realized their mistake, but 8 Infantry divisions in Stuttgart managed to keep them occupied. Since the French refused to retreat outright and break off the battle, they were surrounded as the Maginot line was occupied. After being mercilessly assaulted by Murphy’s bombers, reinforcements from the East arrived to crush the remaining forces. It is estimated that, in this battle, over 150,000 French soldiers died or were severely wounded before the remaining 250,000 were captured. France was completely exposed, and a three-pronged attack surged into central France and surrounded Paris. Just over a month after war was declared, the French government agreed to become the state of Vichi France. France had fallen.

A relative calm

After the fall of France, Murphy relocated his air force and began preparations for the invasion of Britain. Wilson mopped up the Low Countries and, in the East, Matulevicius decided to make the Triumvirate’s dream of the world being a “Gray New World” closer to being a reality by getting those pesky Slovaks out of the way. In the words of Dziugas Matulevicius himself, “We don’t need no steenkin allies”. War with Hungary was declared, and the Hungarians occupied and annexed Slovakia unopposed. Then Dziugas wailed on them and annexed Hungary. It was brilliant.




Europe as of November 25, 1939

Meanwhile, a large transport fleet manufactured by the newly-formed production division Pen-15 headed off to England. Unfortunately, after someone on board the transports got the whole Pen-15 joke, the Transports suddenly sank to the bottom of the Atlantic along with 9 whole infantry divisions, destroying all hopes of executing operation sea lion until spring. Sure, the entire British Navy had located and converged on the transports, but most historians still blame the failure on sudden recognition of the meaning of this immature joke.
Once it was realized that Italy had plans for Yugoslavia, Dziugas decided to invade on December 17 and beat them to the punch. Because this campaign was launched hastily during winter, it provided slow and costly results but eventually Yugoslavia was annexed. While forces prepared to attack Spain and Britain in the coming spring, news arrived that Italy had declared war on Greece. Rommel headed the German invasion into Edessa from Yugoslavia, an expedition on which the film “Greeced Lightning” was later based upon. Fortunately, the Italians, possessing such a large and incompetent army, was only able to grab two provinces before declaring to Il Duce that they refused to go any further until they’d had a 3-day long coffee break. Again, the Germans held the upper hand as, being so naturally efficient, they had already arranged to have a supply line fed into Greece delivering all manner of caffeinated beverages. A very twitchy German force marched into Athens in early April, ending the Greek front.
Being fed up at not being able to do anything but watch Murphy’s bombers hammer the British (whose air force had declined to make an appearance with the exception of a few fighter squads), Wilson ordered an airborne strike at undefended Cardiff followed by a reinforcing Panzer corps. The strike was successful, but, unfortunately, almost all of the paratroopers were killed as their leader, Mj General Student, was bested by the British Lt General Teacher. Fortunately, the day was saved as three panzer divisions arrived in Cardiff to stop it from being retaken.



Europe as of April, 1940

Up to this point, the conquest of Europe hasn’t happened as quickly as I’d hoped but we’re making progress. With any luck, Dziugas will drive up through Bulgaria and Romania quickly so we can start fighting the Ruskies before they get too powerful. Garrisons are being deployed in conquered areas on the eastern and southern fronts to keep partisan activity down. The Kriegsmarine hasn’t done a lot thus far since the British are way too scary to take on in a decisive battle, but the Luftwaffe is supreme. Hopefully the foothold in Cardiff will be reinforced quickly so that England can be put behind us.

Hopefully I’ll be able to update this in a week but no promises can be made. Also I’ll try to get some better and more detailed screenshots.

[lifeless]

student bested by teacher what mod are you using?

[Steevo]

After sleeping and waking up the next morning, I decided that I would take care of some of the loose ends before my Comrades come back- after all, the three of us wont have a chance to play the game until Friday at the Earliest. I figure there are three major things to do at this point:
1) finish off Britain
2) conquer the rest of the Balkans
3) Start the battle for Iberia

1: Britain




Von Schweppenb's panzer divisions had attracted the attention of the British army. The English focussed all their strength on dislodging the Foothold in Wales, which was just fine for Germany because it meant they left Portsmouth unguarded. Making three trips with the 3-transport fleet provided from the war with Norway, the Germans soon had operation Sealion well underway. As the forces began to encircle Birmingham and London, General Von Kluge and 7 more divisions were added to the invasion force. 8 Divisions were destroyed in England as the crippled British Army withdrew to the Highlands.






The Germans pursued quickly, and the last stand of the British army was made in Inverness. Ireland was next, and the Island was conquered by only 2 infantry divisions. With their homeland occupied by Germans and losing ground to Italians in North Africa, things were looking bad for Britain. After the conquest of Norway, it seemed that there was no effective location for the home fleet to be based. England had been conquered by a foreign power for the first time since 1066.

German-controlled Britain:


Italian North Africa:


2: The Balkans

Relations between the Italians and Germans became strained when, after pushing greek troops out of German Skopje in March, they refused to return it. Seriously, what a bunch of pricks. Bulgaria fell with relative ease as the only trouble it presented was that of crossing the mountains.



By mid-june, Romania had followed suit, but the Red Menace was unhappy with the actions of its former friend. Keeping aware of this, Wilson did all in his power to ease tensions between Germany and Russia, but conflict was inevitable. Knowing that Matulevicius would return, he decided that the best plan of action would be to reinforce the borders with veteran troops from the battle of Britain using the now 18-strong transport fleet to send them there. An immediate invasion by the Bolsheviks seemed unlikely for, although they had more troops than the Germans, they didn't have enough to mount a full-scale campaign and their forces were ridiculously obsolete.

As news came that the Germans were now fully committed with 16 divisions to their war with Spain, the USSR made its move, first declaring war on Italy (not that I care I decided not to ally with the Italians and I dont see the Soviets getting near the Med.) and then, before the forces in Romania could get to the border, on Germany Itself. Germans in the Baltic States actually outnumbered the Russians, and 9 Infantry divisions were ordered to attack the Soviets there. On the Romanian border, it would take time to move all the German forces to the front and no offensive operation could be considered for at least a week, but once the forces were in place the odds would look very good for the Reich. Central poland was a different matter. Garrison divisions dug in, but the only available troops were 10 divisions under the command of Von Rundstedt. They rushed to the front from their reserve position, but Poland was too wide and Rundstedt knew he couldn't be everywhere at once. He would have to stop the Bolsheviks from gaining as much territory in Poland as possible while Wilson rushed to bring his forces from England to bear in the East. When Matulevicius returns he'll have his work cut out for him. Murphy will find a very powerful Luftwaffe at his command, and hopefully he'll be able to use it to beat up the Red Army effectively.

3: Spain



Not much to say. German troops have encountered little resistance thus far, and it seems this campaign will be over shortly. I bet Franco's pretty pissed.


Oh and to answer the question, I'm using the HOI2 graphic arts mod. If you want it, its at
http://www.meinhoi.de/index.html


...To be continued

[lifeless]

heh heh very nice work! maybe you should ally italy to get that province back...or you could always invade!

[Steevo]

Originally Posted by lifeless

heh heh very nice work! maybe you should ally italy to get that province back...or you could always invade!

I plan to invade - the Italians lost Ethiopia to Britain so their only east africa victory point is now gone. The Kriegsmarine is in bad shape, so I'll wait until the situations in spain and on the eastern front stabilize before marching down through turkey and the levant to Italian North Africa. Of course, the army has less than 200 divisions at the moment since production has been focussed on making the Lufwaffe supreme, so I'd have to obtain more armor and infantry to make this plan a reality. A quick Blitz down the Italian Peninsula, an encircling attack on the Italian Balkans, and an assault on Italian North Africa all made simultaneously should get the job done fast without forcing my good buddy Vince having to fight the navies of Italy and Britain in open combat (although a three-way naval battle would be pretty cool to watch). Dziugas will handle the eastern front so I'll be able to devote all of my attention to this operation when the time comes. Since DD automatically allies you with Syria whether you support the coup in Iraq or not, I may end up with an edge against the British Levant, or perhaps the Brits will have geared up to beat the Syrians, making it even more difficult. At the moment, the latter looks more probable because the Syrians were recently pushed out of Damascus, though the British army has yet to occupy it.


There's not a single regular infantry unit in the entire Syrian armed forces- 5 militias and 1 garrison. If they get rolled over, hey, more territory for the Reich. Either way our prospects look good assuming the USSR gets pushed back or, at the very least, fought to a standstill.

I went back to the game and looked over all the stats- according to our intelligence, the Soviets actually have 4 fewer divisons than we do! It will be a triumph for the triumvirate! My only concern is Central Poland because I dont want to have to build new garrison divisions afterwards.

here's the situation in the southern half of the Eastern Front:

[lifeless]

very nice work! how big is your army anyway?

[Steevo]

As of June 15, 1940, the army has 40 Infantry '39 divisions, 42 Infantry '41 Divisions, 5 Motorized ('40) Divisions, 1 Light Armored Division, 10 Panzer III divisions (the Panzer IV was recently researched but no upgrades have been made yet, 3 mountain '39 divisions, 9 Garrisons with about 20 more in production and 4 HQs. All told, 114 divisions all of which are at or approaching full strength and health. Its the smallest army I've ever had to launch Operation Barbarossa with, but intelligence says the USSR actually has, strangely enough, has only 110 divisions . Even with such little resistance, I've never pulled off operation barbarossa with fewer than 100 divisions immediately at my disposal on the border and I don't think Dziugas has either. Our airforce should be a great help though- 12 fighter squads, 13 tactical bomber squadrons and 7 close-air support bomber squads will be rebased from the battle of britain to fight the Russians. Even still, if Dziugas can make it to Moscow or Stalingrad before winter brings the Wehrmacht to a virtual standstill, it will be the greatest HOI acheivement I've ever seen. We have a few squadrons of Naval Bombers as well, ready for use in the Med sea where the British will be hiding their still very-much dangerous fleet.

[lifeless]

110 divs for the ussr? that doesnt sound right...maybe its faulty intelligence?