@serutan: That is actually a bit of oversight on my part.
In HOI2, I have always had a tendency to put more resources into building up the army or the navy, at the expense of the poor airforce, which I usually make large and strong enough to just maintain air superiority and do a little bombing. However, expect to see the USAAF get a lot more priority when war breaks out in the pacific.
@Nikolai: Yeah. Instead of getting greeted with wine and kisses, it will be with gunshots and the middle finger. Well, at least from the hardcore Syndicalist French, there are probably some French civilians who don't like the Syndicalist regime.
@Karaiskandar: To tell you the truth, I have no idea why the French did not build more modern armoured divisions. I had programmed their AI to put quite some emphasis on armoured research. I was hoping I would at least see them using some S-35 tanks. Its kinda weird seeing those elite French 1945 infantry divisions being supported by 1930's light and medium tanks.
@Zhuge Liang: Exactly. The campaign for the Pyrenees is costing a lot in manpower and equipment for very few gains. Therefore, to get things going again, it is time to open yet another front.
@Meadow: Most of nationalist France's troops are garrisoning their coastlines, as well as guarding the borders with Mittelafrika and Libya. I could military control them, but I have enough troops in Europe right now to keep things going without any other assistance.
BTW, I do want to fight a big pacific war with the Japanese co-prosperity sphere, but I don't know how I can start one. Perhaps a 1945 pearl harbour attack?
US forces finally succeed in securing the Pyrenees mountains, with General Eisenhower succeeding in stopping another French counterattack.
Meanwhile, to the north, large formations of American fighters and bombers begin to pound French positions in Normandy, Brittany, and even the city of Paris itself. The French people's airforce is helpless to stop these attacks, leaving many French divisions to be bombed into destruction.
Finally, operation overlord, the cross channel invasion of France, is launched. 470,000 US troops, led by the US 2nd & 4th armies under Generals Marshall and Bradley, land on the coast of Brittany. With their armies tied up fighting both the US to the south and Mitteleuropa to the east, the landings take place with little to no resistance.
As US troops breakout in all directions in Brittany, the French send whats left of the ex-British Republican Navy to intercept US shipping between occupied Britain and France. The only force standing in the way of this fleet is Admiral King's battleship task force, which, outnumbered, closes to gun range of the enemy carriers and battleships, and opens up with everything they have.
Eventually, the weight of Syndicalist numbers and firepower forces King to withdraw to the channel ports. Officially, the battle is a defeat for the US navy, which loses a number of destroyers, as well as the veteran battleship
USS Maryland. Unofficially however, the battle is a huge blow to the French Commune's navy, which loses a number of its irreplaceable British warships, which include a battlecruiser, a battleship, and two aircraft carriers. Heavily damaged, the syndicalist ships limp into the port of Cherbourg.
On land, the fighting near the Brittany landing zone intensifies, as US forces, which attempt to cross the Loire River near Cholet, run into a large group of French reinforcements, which include a number of light and medium tanks. Despite their numerical advantage, US forces are unable to break through the tough French defenses on the southern banks of the river, forcing the drive on Cholet to be called off.
US forces push French troops out of Cherbourg, forcing the battered ex British ships out of the port. to their horror, they find that the US navy, in the form of the brand new 3rd carrier task force commanded by Admiral Halsey, is waiting for them. The American carriers launch their planes in an effort to completely wipe out the battered ships, succeeding in sending one of the enemy battleships to the bottom of the channel. However, most of the enemy fleet escapes, due to a combination of successful evasive maneuvers, the coming of night, and smokescreens layed out by their destroyer escorts.
With the redeployment of large amounts of French troops to contain the US landing in Brittany, US forces in the south along the Pyrenees mountains launch a massive offensive deep into southern France, sending French troops into complete disarray as American armoured and mechanized units move on the cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse.