Revolucion! (take two - what if...)

[Tiresias]

Some of you may have been following my Stalinist Spain attempt for world revolution on http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...d.php?t=282015. I am becoming a little bit demoralized though as I seem to be drawn into a war I cannot win with the USA...

Perhaps I will take it to a logical conclusion later on, but I found out I still had a saved game just before Mao annexed Nationalist China, my troops being on the way back to Leningrad.

What if Líster Forján, a loyal Stalinist commander according to history, had no ambition to follow the lead of Negrin on bailing out of the Comintern?

To be continued...

[Tiresias]

It was january 19, 1941, as the Spanish Interventionary Army returned home victorious from China. Mao had annexed Nationalist China and was busy mopping up the Chinese warlords that still resisted his rule, with Soviet aid. In Spain, field marshall Líster Forján was celebrated as a war hero, his name now almost as famous as that of Guderian.

Immediately home, he confronted the Spanish High Command with a plan of his own...



'Comrades! It is a pleasure to be home again in our beautiful Spain! To see my country so free and peaceful! And thanks to you, all thanks to you, comrade Negrin! So wise from you to ally with the Soviet Union. Without their support, we would be all grovelling to Franco. Together, we can take on the world! I have seen so in China!'

Negrin had second doubts. He wasn't all too happy about Stalin not informing him on the deal he had made with Hitler to divide Poland. But he was wise enough to give the war hero Forján his moment of glory. Today, nobody would be able to silence this man.

'I have had a lot of time to think, comrade Negrin! We musn't stop now! Our brothers and sisters on the other side of the Atlantic still suffer under capitalist oppression. We must intervene to remove their oppressors by force, and build a workers alliance the world has never seen before! Together with Mao and Stalin, we can break every dictator the world over! I know it, I just know it!'

'There is a lot of truth in what you are saying, comrade Forján', Negrin said diplomatically. 'But still there remains the matter of Poland. What happened there? Did Stalin make a deal with Hitler?'

Forján spat. 'Ah, Stalin just bought himself some time because his army was fighting in China. High politics, I am sure you know about it, comrade Negrin. Today however, Hitler is of no consequence. We can take him! Let him come, we will be ready. Together with our Soviet brothers, there is nothing that can stop us...'

And so it came that Forján took the momentum to start studying maps of South America to plan an invasion with Soviet support...

[son of liberty]

Coup brazil, they lean your way in game anyway. After that south america will be a cake walk, at least until usa gets pissed.

[KuzuX]

Attack SU and unite stalinists under one banner!!

[lifeless]

ooo it will be interesting to see how different your two games are!

[Tiresias]

A study on the state of the nation

Field marshall Forján took total control over the Spanish army planning. He now filled the posts of both the chief of staff and the chief of the army. In the anarchistic minded Spanish army however, this meant sharing the post with the senior field marshall Miaja Menant, but he would remain in Spain while Forján would lead his troops to South America. Menant would have 8 divisions, with 6 more in production for shore defense tasks. Forján had 31 but was told rather sharply that was all he would be getting in a long time - until the marine technology had been completed. Then he would receive 3 more in the long term. Spain concentrated on building a navy that could challenge the Allies for control over the South Atlantic. A genuine challenge for a medium sized industry. But Forján would make do. He would be off liberating, not annexing, so local forces would join his with every victory. To ease his task, the country of Spain offered an airforce of 10 wings (outdated, sadly, except for the reasonable interceptors) and a growing surface and submarine fleet (but still very fragile). Once a succesfull landing had taken place, Forján would not be able to depend on the fleet, as it was to operate independently.

Statistics



(The expanded Spanish expeditionary forces at La Coruña - 31 divisions strong. Only 6 transports were available though, while the naval base was producing more. Deployment would be slow, extraction practically impossible.)



(The Spanish production queue: troops for shore defense, 15 long range submarines, 3 transports, 2 improved heavy cruisers, 2 improved light cruisers. The industry has overheated and there is hardly enough IC for supplies, let alone reinforcements or upgrading. In august 1941, months from now, the Spanish surface fleet will number 10 capital ships and 10 screens. Two world war one light cruisers have been disbanded to increase the range of the fleet to 2000 miles. It is still unbearable slow, though, and its officers inexperienced. If the production continues unabated on the submarines, without casualties the submarine fleet will grow to a size of 18, of which only three are presently in service. They will remain in Tarragona in case war would erupt in Europe.)



(Research under way: marines, assembly line technology, and naval doctrines. Spain has three priorities: one is industry, as a ship construction line is to be developed as soon as possible, one is infantry or artillery (not too fancy, just to reinforce the existing troops), one is naval technology (doctrines and advanced heavy cruisers to follow). Negrin has cursed consistently on the lack of organisational skills of the Spanish, CROS being the only research team eligible to develop the assembly lines, but barely so at skill 2...)



(Forján's expeditionary army: 1 HQ, 3 armour, 27 infantry divisions. 3 marine divisions will be trained later on. The mountaineers stay in the Pyreneans together with Menant's HQ and 3 infantry divisions. Every beachhead in Spain will receive 1 infantry with AA, which is to dig in. 2 interceptor wings will remain in Spain as well, in the radar equipped base at Tarragona. Plans exist to build two more, but it has a lower priority.)



(Spains politics: the government has been mixed to represent present day political opinions in the country: Stalinist heavy industry, foreign affairs and army, leninist and left wing radicals in the other ministries. Political colour is leninist, dubbed 'negrinist' by international analysts: a good standing army on an interventionist course, relying heavily on central planning, but growing more leniant on democratic tendencies and more independent from Moscow. Spain will build its own alliance.



(The Comintern war in China still going on without Spanish support. The Chinese warlords are still resisting but will fall in months, reuniting China under Mao. Tannu Tuva has been swallowed by Sinkiang infiltrators however.)

[Tiresias]

Ok, so I am a little erratic...

I played some games as of late but failed to post results here.

This first AAR of mine, I still like the most, so I am at least going to keep this one active.

The foundation of Negrinism

The Spanish Revolutionary Commissariat argued and debated for a long time on where to lead the revolution.

Proponents of an international uprising of workers had proposed that South-America, with its close links to Spain, would welcome the troops to throw off their capitalist yoke. The idea was welcomed, but perhaps too ambitious for the immediate future: German troops patrolled just across the Pyreneans in France, and the United States guaranteed to protect its business interest in South America.

So it was decided not to bite off more than could be chewed. Europe and Africa were first priority. The German war machine stood arrayed across the Soviet border, and the NKVD warned the Spanish to stand alert for a possible war between European fascism and the Comintern. Neighbouring Spain were now two dictatorships aiding Germany: the Vichy puppet regime, and Salazar's Portugal.

In the late hours, it was decided: the expeditionary army's first priority was to concentrate on the immediate threat of fascism expansion. Revolution could follow after liberation.

So plans were conconted to bring the Spanish revolution across the borders to Portugal and Vichy France...

[Tiresias]

The Portuguese Coup

On februari 21, 1941, the Spanish army had reached its positions for a quick offensive to remove dictator Salazar from Portugal and to install a leninist regime. It would be a very uneven battle... 300.000 troops would march to Lissabon, while two infantry corps would take the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. In the far east, Chinese troops stood ready to take Macao. Funds and arms had been shuffled and smuggled for months into the eager hands of African rebels in Angola and Mozambique. The plan was simple: to dismantle the Portuguese regime to its bare bones, leaving them no organized response to the African insurrection.



It was a cakewalk. Salazars regime was hated throughout Portugal and the civilian population welcomed the Spanish invaders as liberators. Within a week, the Portuguese army surrendered, its leaders fleeing in civilian transports to their holdings in Africa.



The landing on the Azores was the first amphibious landing by the Negrin regime, and it was hailed as a smashing victory in propaganda bulletins, when the Portuguese troops, undersupplied, totally demoralized, outnumbered and outgunned, turned against its leadership to surrender to the Spanish.

Immediately, Negrin declared a total redistribution of land and wealth in all of Portugal. Former political prisoners were removed from their cells and given an office in the Portuguese Soviet.

Angola and Mozambique became refuges for the old Portuguese order - wealthy bankers, plantation owners and officers made a truce with the rebels, and under a blanket of total nepotism and corruption, power was rearranged in a semblance of normality - the wealthy had lost their European holdings, but were still free to enjoy the African sun as if nothing had really happened...

Cheat alert

Yeah, I cheated: I did not want to go as far south as Angola and Mozambique, so I made Portugal release these countries as puppets in advance of my assault. Then I obliterated the Portuguese army, and took the islands, while the Chinese took Macao. I then annexed Portugal, to immediately release it again. Portugal is now reduced to its European cores, Spain owns the other holdings, and Angola and Mozambique are neutral paternal autocratic regimes.

[Tiresias]

Aiming at Vichy

After the takeover of Portugal, the Portuguese people pledged they would prepare to join a future revolution, by starting to build troops and destroyers. The west of the Iberian peninsula now secure, the Spanish army moved to confront a new enemy...



Both Spanish field marshalls, Miaja Menant and Líster Forján, moved to the border with France together with most of the Spanish army. 24 divisions and plenty of air support stood by for a signal to cross the mountains.



North-Africa was assigned 9 divisions - 6 infantry and 3 armoured divisions. Its goals were straightforwards: three divisions would take and hold Casablanca, while the tanks would race through Algeria to Tunis.



And in central Africa, the former Portuguese base at Bissao and the army barracks at Villa Cisneros were filled with 70.000 troops with only one goal: a quick march to Dakar.

The goal was to take out the Vichy regime key holdings as soon as possible: before the Germans could react, their puppet regime was to disappear...

[rcduggan]

good luck, hope this one works okay!

[Tiresias]

Cat and mouse

The may offensive into France and their African colonies was launched in view of a stunned world.



On june 2, 1941, field marshall Forján crosses the Rhone into Lyon.



A week later, the French troops defended their capital at Vichy, only to be beaten back across the border into German-held France.

Meanwhile, Spanish infantry took Casablanca, Algiers and Dakar, while lieutenant general Alegria's quick tanks captured Tunis and infantry boarded transports to cross the Atlantic to take French Guyana.



But a response had been expected: on july 1, 1941, with the French dispersed and Spanish infantry disembarking in South America, Germany retaliated to declare war on the Comintern.



There was hardly any time to secure France. Fascist collaborators were rounded up and executed, as much infrastructure was sabotaged as possible, and arms were given to French partisans, as the Spanish army speeded back to their trench systems and fortresses in the Pyrenean mountains.



The main force of the Spanish army took up positions in the old Napoleontic fort of Sant Ferran in Figueres. The Spanish had held out a long time against Napoleon here - would they be able to keep the Germans out as well?



As the Spanish dug in deep, German probe attacks found no resolute way to break through into the Iberian peninsula... More and more Spanish troops rushed back to further reinforce the Pyreneans.



As the Germans stopped their advance just ahaid of the mountains, Spanish high command was assured that their tanks would have a hard time breaking through into an area as rough as here...



Meanwhile, in Tunisia, 6 infantry divisions met the Italians, and here, as well as in Spain, a stable trench frontline was formed...

Even as the front did not budge, the medium threat posed by the Spanish meant that a lot of German troops were not free to join the attack on the Soviet Union. As Soviet troops were pushed back to Kiev, Negrin wondered if it would be enough...

[Gardarian]

A interesant AAR. I'll come for here often to see how there are the things for the spanish republic. I've got an AAR with the SR, but i lose the saves

[lifeless]

you'll be able to hold them at the mountains...will you do an amph landing in france?

[Gardarian]

A question ¿Why did you declare war aganist France of Vichy? Conquer it means a front bigger, and with Spain you haven't got many troops. And you must to send troops to Africa to defend it aganist the italians.

[Edge of a Knife]

Well, at least you got West Africa when you DOW'd Vichy. Perhaps you could beat back the Italians in North Africa as well?

[KuzuX]

Originally Posted by Gardarian

And you must to send troops to Africa to defend it aganist the italians.

I think he should send troops to africa to attack italians,not defending against them

[Jape]

Nice stuff, so many Spanish Republican AARs have appeared and then been aborted before WW2 its nice to see Land & Freedom and a can of wupass being dealt in equal measure

[Tiresias]

Wow what a response! Keep it up!

I played yesterday but I still need to post the results.

[Tiresias]

The Spanish defense

The Spanish were lucky that high mountains separated them from an undefeated German army at the peak of its power: through an intricate system of traps and ambushes, every trail in the mountains was covered by anti-tank guns. Immediately after the German declaration of war, a renewed call for subscription brought more and more young and idealistic Spanish men and women to the barracks at Barcelona. They were just enough to throw back, again and again, German field marshall von Manstein's attempts to remove these pesky Republican rebels, which had been an ugly thorn in Hitler's side ever since 1936. But the Spanish held, both in the Pyreneans and in Africa against the Italians. Yet, to hold was all they had the manpower to do so, every infantryman was needed in the trenches. Rebels operated in France, but they were rooted out and destroyed at every opportunity. And above the high mountains of northern Spain, a gruesome battle for the skies developed, which inflicted devastating losses on the Spanish airforce - but with the effect that the ground troops were kept reasonably safe from German close assault aircraft. Reasonably: Líster Forján's field HQ was destroyed, as well as thousands of infantry. The Luftwaffe was indeed a fearsome foe.



The Spanish fleet, which had had first priority ever since the success of the revolution, had grown in size and confidence. Now, with a war raging against fascism, it had a chance to show the world that Spain had returned to the seas with vigour. And indeed, there was no other option but to leave port to steam towards the coasts of Italy and the North Sea: even though sustained war had seriously weakened the Italian navy, the German navy was still strong, and there was no way of knowing whether either the Germans or the Italians had the transports to risk and amphibious attack at the undefended Spanish coastlines. If they would manage to land divisions by sea, the whole Spanish defense would be compromised. Indeed, a large responsibility rested in the hands of the sailors.

So, 20 flotillas of surface ships, with as flagships two 1910 battleships and two battleships completed in 1940, plus 12 flotillas of submarines, sailed for limited engagement with the Axis navies. In case victory was uncertain, the ships had to disengage - the Negrin government was ambitious, and everything depended on the growth of the navy.



The Italian army in Libya was already hard pressed by the British in Egypt. Pushed against the trench defense of Spain in Tunisia, and undersupplied by continued attacks on convoys around Malta, their situation was dire. The arrival of the Spanish navy spelled doom on the Italian fleet. An attempt by Mussolini to regroup his dispersed fleet and reopen the shipping lanes to Africa was cut short by torpedos and naval gunnery - the Italian fleet was decimated in concerted effort by the British and the Spanish.

Sadly, the navy suffered a painful loss: Italian naval bombers based at Taranto surprised the fleet and torpedoed the proud battleship Independencia. The armour beneath the surface was inefficient against this attack, and the fires reached the ammunition storages almost instantly. In a ball of fire, the night was lit up as the Independencia was evaporated - taking 2000 brave sailors to their sea graves.

The Italian navy destroyed, the fleet now sailed to the North Sea. And in the Pyreneans, strong probe attacks reduced in vigour, as more and more German troops relocated to their front in the Soviet Union. The task had been done: the Spanish had held through a testing time.

[linque]

I like this.