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General War

Lt. General
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Sep 5, 2009
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This AAR is basically a continuation of my previous game as Yugoslavia ( complete AAR can be found here: The Fortress Balkan - Yugoslavia).

After I lost the game, I loaded as Soviet Union and continued from there. :D



Introduction



The war that has started 1st of May 1939 finally ended on 2nd of September 1941, when Yugoslavia, last of the Axis surrendered to Soviet Union.

Germany, who surrendered two weeks earlier, was divided and annexed between Soviet Union and France, along the line where two armies previously met.

Eventually, the division of Germany stirred up dissension between the two former allies, Soviet Union and France. The fact is that the Soviets felt that their contribution to the war effort is not appreciated and not adequately rewarded by Allies.

The tensions between two nations grew to a point where all diplomatic relations broke. Both armies are concentrating at the borders, and everyone fears that the situation my escalate into an armed conflict.



Strategic situation

Europe is divided roughly in half by Allies (whose main powers are United Kingdom, France and Japan) and Comintern. During the war, Soviet Union created a large number of puppet states in Europe, most powerful of which is Yugoslavia, who managed to preserve 75% of its armed forces.

United States are still neutral, and so is Spain and Scandinavian countries.

europa.jpg


Situation is more complicated on Far East. Communist China, a Comintern member, is allied with Nationalist China in fight against Japan. This war has also a potential to escalate in global conflict, because the two members of large factions are already in the state of war.


Grand strategy plans

At the moment, my goal is to conquer the whole continental Europe, except Iberian peninsula, and part of Scandinavia. The conquest will be executed in two stages.

1st stage.
Attack on Baltic countries. After the victory, simultaneous attacks on Finland and Denmark, its ally.

2nd stage.
Attack on Adriatic coast territories controlled by Allies.
Attack on Italy, with one arm going to French border, and the other to south, towards Rome and further.
Attack on French forces in southwest Germany, to slowly push them to Maginot line.
Main attack through Low Countries, with one arm going to Paris, and other to Maginot line, to cut off French forces in Germany.

europaplan2.jpg

1st stage - yellow arrows; 2nd stage - red arrows

For the time being, I plan to stay in defense on the Far East, and eventualy send a small expeditionary force to China.


I have a great confidence in Red Army, and have no doubt that the outcome will be favorable.

military.jpg




Reorganization



My predecessor (the AI :D) has left me a vast army, but very disorganized, without a proper command structure. Bringing an order into this mess will not be easy. I'm considering disbanding complete HQ structure and start from scratch. Here's an example of the state of Soviet army: one division is left on Crete after amphibious assault. Its Corps HQ is located somewhere in Hungary, and the Army HQ is far on north, and everyone is out of radio contact.


The industrial capacity of SU is enormous (250 IC). I'll be getting almost more units 'till the end of the month, than I produced with Yugoslavia during the whole game. :D

Unfortunately the structure of production is not very optimal. For some reason, AI emphasized building a lot of marine brigades. I decided to keep the production of nearly completed units and then make a reorganization. For the beginning, I'll concentrate on escorts because I have none.


Leadership is also very high (31). I'll have to invest more of my human resources to Officers, which is rather low, and to diplomacy. I want to influence Nationalist China to join the Comintern. Perhaps Spain too.
As with production, I'll keep the current research project until they are completed, and then go into reorganization.
 
Looks like fun.

Actually, I hope that you do an alternative scenario as the allies against the SU. Hey, why not load up as the US after the SU conquered Europe and liberate it ... man, a host of opportunities there. :)
 
What a great way to continue you AAR; if you can't beat'em join'em:)
Exactly. :D What's even better, I have most of my former army fighting by my side. When the time comes, of course.

The Soviet army seems like a mess, have fun cleaning it up.
It's more messed up than I thought. It's not only that the units belonging to a same corps or army are scattered all around the world, but also divisions are composed in most peculiar way. There's a lot of work to do...


Looks like fun.

Actually, I hope that you do an alternative scenario as the allies against the SU. Hey, why not load up as the US after the SU conquered Europe and liberate it ... man, a host of opportunities there. :)
I have all the saved games, so, everything's possible... :D
 
The Red Army


Two months after the hostilities ended, the Soviet army went through a process of reorganization, which is still not fully completed. Red Army is now organized in 17 armies, most of them composed of 9 divisions in 3 corps. There are 2 motorized armies, one armored and the rest is infantry.

Three infantry armies are deployed along the Central European border, with two armies in close reserve. There are six armies at north, around the Baltic sea. The rest are still scattered around Balkans, in reserve.

The troops on Far East are still left to be dealt with.

armyq.jpg




Attack on Baltic States


After many failed attempts to convince Baltic states to join The Comintern, Soviet Head of State decided to convince them with different methods.

A total of four armies were deployed on their borders. Two infantry, one armored and one motorized, with an additional Marine Corps ready to board the ships.

One more diplomatic note was sent to all three countries during the late night hours of 14th November 1941. The responses were negative, and our ambassadors handed them another note, with declaration of war.

The attack commenced early next morning with ferocious air bombardments of entrenched enemy's positions.

Armored divisions of the 8th Army attacked from the south, with the objective to capture Lithuanian capital and some key points on the north. One armored corps breached southeast Latvian border, advancing to the west.
11th Motorized army attacked Estonia from east.

At the same time, 504th Marine Corps landed near Latvian and Estonian capitals, capturing both.

Everything went as planned, only one armored corps got delayed on the south of Lithuania, so I ordered the marines to advance south, in order to reach the objectives originaly set for armored divisions.


After two days of fighting, Latvia capitulated. Four days after, Lithuania also surrendered. It was all over on the 9th day, when last Estonian soldiers laid down their weapons.

baltic.jpg




After the threat from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia has been eliminated, all is set for the next move - Denmark and Finland. The troops are in position, awaiting the order.
 
Another war


After annexing the Baltic States, Soviet army prepared for another war - against Denmark and Finland. Most of the armies engaged in previous war were deployed to Finnish border, total of six armies - 4 infantry, one armored and one motorized.

The forces headed for Danish border were not so strong - one motorized army and two marine corps.

Also, most of the Baltic navy was ready to be engaged. A day before the attack, all available subs were deployed along the convoy routes. Capital ships were stationed along west and east Danish coasts.

A number of aircrafts occupied the bases near borders.

The weather was far from perfect, with occasional storms over the future battlefields. There was also some muddy and frozen ground. But I couldn't postpone the attack if I wanted to be ready for war against Allies before summer.

Finland

Plan of action

Considering the geographic features of Finland, I decided to have two major directions of attack. First will be at the south, coming from positions north of Lake Ladoga, to bypass the fortifications, towards the capital and ports of south Finnish coast. This task will be given to 11th Motorized army.

Second thrust, spearheaded by 8th Armored army, will take place where the Finnish territory is most thinnest, with the objective to reach Baltic coast, cutting off entire northern front. The infantry will then advance south, to destroy trapped Finnish troops.

finlandplan.jpg


Attack

The attack started on 13th January 1941. After initial air bombardment, my troops moved forward to break the line. Then, Finnish army did something I'd never expect: they started to retreat along the entire front, after only a few hours of fighting. Unopposed, my forces advanced, slowed down only by the mud.

Eventually, the Finnish troops consolidated and organized a defense, without any success. After 10 days, my armored troops reached their objective on Baltic coast. Large number of enemy soldiers was trapped, as planned. Few days later, last Finnish defenses were breached on the south, and they surrendered on 28th January.

I've created a puppet state, annexing only a small territory northwest of Leningrad.

finlandfront.jpg

Front line immediately before Finland surrendered



Denmark

Plan of action

After the air reconnaissance revealed deployment of Danish army, I devised a simple plan: two marine corps will land behind the enemy lines to cut them off, and motorized troops will advance from south to destroy them. After that, marines will keep busy Danish forces on north, while my other troops proceed east, to Copenhagen.

danmark.jpg



Attack

The attack commenced on the same day as against Finland. While the amphibious landings on the west went smoothly, forces on the east were met by Danish fleet. In two separate battles, Soviet fleet sunk three Danish heavy cruisers, without any losses. After that, enemy fleet was neutralized and the landing went according to plan.

After the landings, enemy army tried to escape to the north, only to be attacked by my motorized troops from the south. The marines linked into a solid line, which marked the end of trapped troops.

Once the enemy troops were destroyed, Soviet army advanced to Danish capitol. Even though heavily outnumbered, enemy forces put up a decent fight. The fightings dragged on until 2nd February, when Denmark finally surrendered.

During the war, my submarines proved rather effective, sinking a number of transport ships, suffering no losses themselves.



International reaction

Much feared Allied intervention fortunately didn't happen.
Switzerland joined with the Allies, maybe influenced by recent events, even though we do not share the border.

Sweden and Norway, who are allied, started to mobilize. Even if they decide to attack, I think I can rely on Finnish army, which is 2nd in strength among European Comintern countries. Just in case, I'll leave one army in the area.
 
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Operational plan
April 1942

When Switzerland joined the Allies, my previous plans for attacking Allied forces in Western Europe were completely shattered. Trapping the Allies against the Swiss border with a single thrust from the north is no longer an option.

And there is a supply problem. My forces in Germany are not supplied directly from homeland, through Poland, but through the Baltic ports. So, in order to supply the vast army, the priority is to secure more ports.

I have a total of 17 armies (approx. 150 divisions) at disposal for the attack, organized in four army groups.
1st and 4th Army Groups (six armies) defend the front line. 2nd Army group (4 armies) will operate in north, and 3rd Army Group (5 armies) in the south. There are two armies in reserve.

The first objective for 2nd Army Group is to capture the ports in Netherlands, Belgium and northern France. It will then advance south, towards Switzerland.

The south wing of 3rd Army group will capture the ports on north Adriatic coast. It will then push north across Austria (supported by two Mountain corps), to link with the rest of its forces, and together proceed west, to meet with the 3rd Army Group in north Switzerland. Hopefully, I will have most of the enemy forces encircled in a large pocket.
Intelligence reports suggest that the initial resistance will be weak in Low Countries and Italy.

europeplannew2.jpg



Hopefully, the additional ports will be enough to eliminate supply problems. The impact of enemy fleet on supply convoys is unknown.

On Far East, where Communist China is successful engaging Japan, my intention is to stay in defensive, taking any opportunity to offensive if one presents itself.

The date for the operations is not yet set, but I expect everything will be ready by June.
 
The die is cast


After months of planning and preparations, Soviet forces are assembled along the western borders, ready to attack. The weather is fine over most of the Europe, with light rain only in some parts of France.

It is now 04:00, 14th June 1942. Soviet troops are crossing the border.


beforewari.jpg

Political situation, June 1942
 
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great to discover this aar but please update the map picture before war breacs out hitler germany is still there

Germany is still there because I use the standard in-game map :D. But it's been defeated, divided and annexed between France and Soviet Union.

To clarify things, I've added a new map in my previous post, just to make things more clear...
 
War


Early hours of dawn marked a beginning of attack. As it was planned, the first phase of the offensive included attack on Low Countries, and Italy.


Northern front

Soviet forces advanced through Netherlands almost unopposed, thanks to the Germans who previously did a fine job obliterating Dutch army. Within only a few days, Soviet armored divisions reached the outskirts of Amsterdam, first major port to be captured. After a brief battle, its defenders raised a white flag.

Swiftly advancing along the coast, Soviet troops reached Den Haag, which was totally undefended. Two ports down, two more to go!

The advance of armored units was so fast, that the infantry couldn't keep up the pace. Getting near the Belgian city of Brugge, my troops encountered first serious resistance.
French troops, who left their allies at my mercy, now started to form a defensive line. Their forces were concentrated mostly around the coast, and city of Bruxelles, where some heavy battles took place.

With a force of full armored army, Soviets punched their way through French and Belgian line around Brugge and Dunkirk. With all four ports secured, 2nd Army Group achieved its first objective. Supply convoys already started coming in.

The offensive lost its momentum because of the broad front advance, and it was completely stopped around Bruxelles, where Soviet infantry with only a small armored support couldn't get through. That's why I decided to stop for a day or two, giving the man a rest and to reorganize the front, preparing for a concentrated break-through along the planned route. Also, the time has come to launch a second phase, offensive at the center.

belg.jpg



Southern front

The situation at the south was very much different. It all started well. The port of Trieste was captured the first day, and Soviet troops advanced towards Venice, and north to the Austrian Alps. But the offensive soon grind to a halt, not because of strong resistance but for lack of supplies. Allies brought some reinforcements and push Soviet troops back, only to be pushed back themselves when some supplies reached Soviet troops. The front line moved back and forth several times, without any means of breakthrough on any side.

To relieve the pressure, I mounted a small offensive in east Austria. Because the army in Italy is basicaly stuck, I'll have to launch an offensive from north sooner then I planned.

I was most amazed by my Yugoslav allies. Instead of helping me in Italy where they are much needed, they sent their troops all the way to Belgium, where they are just getting in the way.

italy.jpg



Other fronts

There were no major operations elsewhere. Turkish army had a few skirmishes with French troops in Middle East, gaining some ground.

Communist China is holding against Japan. Japanese troops attacked my forces on Far east, without any success. I started a limited offensive in poorly defended Manchukuo, with some initial success.

British troops invaded Central Asia, but were stopped. They also landed on Greenland, where I have no troops at all.

My navy remained inactive, except for a few submarines trying to breakthrough in east Mediterranean. They were detected by Italian fleet and forced to return to base.

The convoys are suffering considerable losses, so I started massive production of merchant ships and escorts.


army.jpg

Soviet army at the beginning of war


sovietunion.jpg
 
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