Frontiera, Conquista, Vittoria! [Italy, Doomsday, 1936 - ?]

[HKslan]

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Frontiera, Conquista, Vittoria!

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A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALY UNDER IL DUCE & THE HOUSE OF SAVOY, 1936 - ?


Doomsday v1.2. (Normal/Normal)
SMEP 5.1c for Doomsday.
Sexxicolors, Sexxileaders.
Latest SKIF.
All of BeBro's graphics additions and replacements.
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I. The End of Ethiopia & the End of the Proud People of Spain


Men of the 29a Divisione 'Piemonte', IV Corpo d'Armata march through a camp in the province of Jima soon after their declared victory. Note the pictoral of Il Duce, erected on the hilltop in the distance.

On March 12th at 7PM, 1936, the Second Italo-Abyssinian War ended in absolute victory for the Italian people in but only a few months. On the subsequent day, Vittorio Emanuel III was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, with the humiliatingly defeated former incumbent Haile Selassie I fleeing to London. Following her annexation, for reasons the author cannot begin to imagine, any rebel activities in the colony were low. Perhaps they realized that Italian rule could bring them luxuries that the greed and negligence they had grown used to with Haile Selassie I as their sovereign could not? Whatever the case, on the field and in the hearts of her people, Abyssinia had been crushed.

In July, the Spanish Civil War had after months of unrest exploded onto the international scene. Mussolini, eager to spread and to support fascism elsewhere, sent volunteers, equipments, planes, and tanks to the nationalists. Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of a 'national socialist' Germany -- an ideology arguably similar to Il Duce's fascism -- too sent aid, albeit to a lesser extent. Supporting the nationalists was a massive and extremely generous financial undertaking for both governments, and thus in no part can the failure of the nationalists be blamed on the Italians or the Germans.

The French and the British did not at all trust in funding the Republicans as a wise investment, however the Soviets saw them in a different light and exported a considerable amount of war materials to them, on a level comparable to the Italians. On both sides, there were foreign volunteer combat formations from countries all around the world.

Determined Falangists prepare for what will be their final battle just outside the city of Leon.

However, and due only to the nationalists' own blunders, they were crushed later in the same year they appeared, with Franciso Franco and most of his prominent subordinates fleeing to Italy, Germany, Argentina, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. There were still a great many supporters of their cause who were not and could not be mobilized -- in fact, it would not be so uneducated as to say the majority of the Spanish people stood beside Franco -- but without the leadership and the armament, and thus the very will to fight, they quickly fell into obscurity with the anarchists and liberals reigning victorious. Most unfortunately, the ghastly failure of the appointed nationalist leadership lost the great people of Spain to Marxism. In a surprising act of good will however, the victorious Republicans returned the Italian and German volunteers who had not been killed and who had not managed to escape.

(NOTE: Please be gentle, this is my first ever attempt at an AAR. I never intended to make this game an AAR, but it got so interesting I couldn't convince myself not to. I've played up to April 10th, 1938, and you won't be seeing any screenshots until I tell the story up until then. Sorry about that, I hope you enjoy it anyhow.)

[Jalex]

take spain and don't release it

with the build of factories at the start you get the next research slot

[HKslan]

II. Thrusts Into the Balkans

With any sort of organized Spanish nationalist resistance crushed by the end of 1936, the Italian people were left both proud and upset with both their government's successes and failures. Living in a constant war-like state as they had been for the past 14 years, they now lusted for this essence of fascism; war. Not a war with Spain, no, as a war with Spain would be vowing to make up for Franco's failure, and it would be yet another great industrial and financial undertaking, one that had already been undertook. What the Italian people wanted was for fascism to demonstrate it's might by seizing it's rightful territories in Dalmatia.

No one could pinpoint the exact source, the exact beginning of this outrage -- or rather, the beginner -- it was perhaps simply bound to happen. The exact territories of Rijeka and Split were to be ceded unto the Italian state, not a stiple of land less. Mussolini had come to be rather drawn to the plan himself; of course, it was something he eventually would have forced upon the Yugoslavians himself. But in all actuality, the summer of 1937 was as good a time as ever. It was decided, it was set in stone, and nothing short of a disaster could keep it from happening; there would be compromises for the Yugoslavians, or there would be war for the Yugoslavians.

And so for the Yugoslavians, on May 6th, 1937, after refusing a formal diplomatic notice demanding the secession of the afore mentioned lands, it would be war.

Elements of an infantry division stationed in Venice begin their march on Yugoslavia eagerly.

8 infantry, 4 alpine, and 3 cavalry divisions had been amassed along the only border shared between Yugoslavia and Italy. On May 7th, at midnight, the Italians began their advance into Slovenia and the predominantly Croatian territory of Split, encountering only light and sporadic resistance that was again and again quick to retreat. They were quick to receive worldwide condemnation -- non-aggression pacts were canceled and nations of which were guaranteeing Italy's independence ceased to do so. However just as soon as 30,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry managed to occupy Zagreb for the first time, the most serious condemnation of them all came: weeks later, in Yugoslavia's defense, Adolf Hitler passionately announced his declaration of war. To put things lightly, Mussolini was outraged. The air superiority that the Italians celebrated was quickly no longer theirs', the Regia Aeronautica fast coming to understand that they were being simply outgunned; some of the Italian interceptors performing air superiority missions were biplanes!

A number of Italian officials upon hearing word of Germany's declaration of war, from left to right: Balbo, His Royal Majesty Vittorio Emanuel III, Il Duce, and a couple of generals.

This of course was not the only reason Mussolini was so angry. He had been led to believe he shared a close relationship with Hitler, that the man understood him. What the Italian government could hope for however was that France and Britain would come to his aid, to enforce the treaty they, and the Italians too, forced the Central Powers to not long ago.

Thankfully, at least as of then, the damage the Luftwaffe was doing to Italy's ground forces was futile, nothing that had any of her Generals seriously worried. What they missed was the air superiority, the extremely effective onslaught rained upon the retreating enemy army night and day.

(Last update for tonight, I hope you all enjoyed it.)

[HKslan]

Jalex: Maybe later, I'd like to .. well, I can't spoil anything. Again, I've already played up to April 10th, 1938.

[RGB]

Well, I'd like to see what happens next.

Hitler DoW'd you. Not good.

[Jalex]

when I saw your plans I knew this would happen, Hitler has a thing for Yugoslavia and it has many countries protecting it.

Don't be worried about the fact it is your first AAR you have been doing excellant so far.

[GeneralHannibal]

This can't be good...

[grayghost]

Man, already at war with Germany. Good luck there amigo.

[chefportnen]

I can't wait to see more!

[xsx12]

Great Start!

[Judas Maccabeus]

This... um... isn't working. Ah, well, a well-fought failure can be more interesting to read about than victory, so continue on, and let's hope things improve!

[HKslan]

III. Victory and Victory to Be Desired

A feared German Junkers Ju-87 'Stuka' raining death on Italian troops marching into Maribor.

Despite the indirect Nazi aid as of May 21st, the Yugoslavians could not bring themselves to overwhelm the Italians (it was made internationally clear that the Serbian royalty favored no sort of political alliance with the Germans) enough to make them rethink their invasion. Although they had been robbed of their air superiority, the fascist soldiery had the clear technological advantage, and it was evident in every battle fought. The Yugoslavians, for example, were quick to employ Great War-era cavalry charges time and time again, even with light of the advent of Italian machine guns*.

Even if German involvement had not entirely passed the war into Yugoslavia's favor, it did have it's setbacks. Italian advancement and Italian retreat was now much more costly with Mussolini's troops constantly being harassed by German dive and medium bombers. The poor infrastructure did nothing to help the war effort in this regard. Zagreb was particularly a problem; from all directions, it was a long, tiring march plagued with falling bombs, and once occupied it would quickly be retaken more than a couple of times, assaulted by Yugoslavians from all sides. Eventually howsoever, the Comando Supremo recognized it's folly, and made the numbers available to avoid this happening again.

The greatest setback however was the major industrialization underway that thereafter had been ordered halted. It begun shortly after the victory over Ethiopia: four government factories had been built as had several railroad networks between Rome and Florence, with many more respectively on the way. This industrialization was planned to have continued throughout the war with Yugoslavia, but once the Germans had gotten involved it was a luxury Mussolini decided his nation could no longer work towards.

By July 10th, the army had managed to capture the entireties of Split, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Maribor. On this day, a Yugoslavian emissary delivered to Rome a proposed peace favorable to the state of Italy, clearly on orders from a Prince Pavle that realized that the nation of Yugoslavia was at stake. In it was detailed that all of Slovenia, Dalmatia, and parts of Croatia were to be annexed by the Italian throne. It could be debated that fighting on until Yugoslavia had been entirely conquered would have been personally favorable for the Regent; the signed treaty left the Serbs bitter and resentful of the man handling the throne in the infant Petar II's place, the other peoples of the Balkans resentfully under their rule laughing, and the Italians celebrating a sweeping victory.

On the same day, a white peace was offered to the Germans and promptly rejected. It was now clear to the whole world that the Nazis wanted more than to just respect the integrity of Yugoslavia. The people of Italy had been offended -- to even consider peace on these terms was unthinkable for some, after hearing day in, day out of Italian pilots being shot down over Italian seas and Italian earth. It was heard out in the streets, in government offices, army barrackses, and universities: blood was desired once more.

Mussolini, Graziani and Ciano arriving to inspect a victorious artillery brigade in Croatia, July 14th '37.

On July 12th, the Slovenian Crown was expedited to Vittorio Emanuel III, already most notably King of Italy and Emperor of Ethiopia. The issue of the Croatian throne was an undefined one; the Serbian monarchy, the House of Karageorgevitch maintained the title despite a majority of the Croatian population and lands in the Balkans now officially Italian. Mussolini was noted as having remarked arrogantly to the Fascist Grand Council on the matter: "It cannot be helped, we after all have a treaty to honor."

It would appear the threat of the Germans did not phase Il Duce, however it did. As it has been said, to have expressed this fear would not be characteristic of him. Mussolini sold himself to the Italian public as a man who could never be wrong, for him to worry would give the Italian public reason to worry. For the Italian people however he was strong, and thus the Italian people were strong.

* Attempting to reflect upon the large amounts of Yugoslavian '18 Cavalry.

[chefportnen]

So basically, you annexed Yugoslavia and are still at war with the Germans?

[HKslan]

Judas Maccabeus: Don't be so worried, things do have the chance to work out.

xsx12: Thank you, I really do appreciate it.

grayghost: Gracias, I might need it.

GeneralHannibal: At least it'll be fun to read?

chefportnen: I appreciate it, I'm also glad to see you enjoy reading. Also, no, I accepted a peace in which I gained the following territories: Rijeka, Split, Ljublana, Maribor, Bju-.. uh, I forget -- it's the territory right above Zagreb, and Zagreb.

RGB: And so you have.

Jalex: Thanks for the kind words, I really was nervous about starting it.

Also, thanks for all of your patience. The next update, there will be screenshots -- I promise.

[chefportnen]

Yay! Screenies! They're like drugs to me, only I don't have a problem. *snort snort*

[GeneralHannibal]

So Germany won't have an Anchulus I assume.

[Jalex]

YAY screen shots it will get event better

[Judas Maccabeus]

Originally Posted by HKslan

Bju-.. uh, I forget -- it's the territory right above Zagreb,

Bjelovar, if my map of Croatia matches up with the HoI2 map. At least, it's the only city in the area that would fit.

Hopefully with the Yugoslavs properly dealt with Hitler will find he made as big a mistake here as he historically did with Barbarossa.

[Jalex]

your going to need allied surport or this will get very difficult maybe an alliance with austria to stop them in the mountains could work

[lifeless]

sure is an interesting start!