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I have to admit I just assumed that the Russian and Hungarian threats were seen by the Romanians as greater than my threat. As for the HQ units: I think that they put what was left of their army on my border.
I have no idea, but the USSR claims Bessarabia.
I haven't posted much lately, but I'm in awe of you Uriah. I used to think myself a pretty capable strategy gamer, but now I feel like a mere lieutenant trying to shine in the presence of the great field marshal Kutuzov. :O
No offense but it shows only 3 posts so unless you recently changed id's it should have read I haven't posted much at all.
Very true, I guess I just didn't think to, you know, state the obvious.
But yes...I haven't posted much (at all), yet. But it's early days for me.
Very true, I guess I just didn't think to, you know, state the obvious.
But yes...I haven't posted much (at all), yet. But it's early days for me.
Welcome to this AAR. It is by far the most enjoyable that I've read in a long time, maybe ever.
Coming out of the shadows to say that this is one of my favourite AARs and is my favourite HOI3 AAR by far. I constantly look forward to the next update and your writing captures my interest everytime. Keep up the amazing writing Uriah!
Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
A Clerk’s War
Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd June
The third day of Unternehmen Bohrturm and no news from Romania. Well, not quite no news. Scattered among the never-ending reports from units in Spain under attack from the FARE, there were a few messages about the activities of the FARR. I can only assume that our motorised units are continuing to drive east, towards the all-important oil-fields.
Just one battle started, and that was in Spain, where once again it is the Gebirgers in the north-west of the country who are pushing ever closer to La Coruña. 6th Gebirgsjäger Division has another river crossing (these Spanish rivers are proving to be a nuisance) and is facing what is purportedly a division with a supporting regiment. In reality General Durrante Dumage has 9,000 men in three brigades in Bermillo de Sayago, facing General Hell’s 10,000 Gebirgers. Were it not for the river and the ubiquitous FARE and Royal Navy carrier aircraft, it would be a straightforward operation. As it is, it could be touch and go.
Battle of Bermillo de Sayago: supply is still reaching the front lines in sufficient quantities
At least the U-boats have been in contact – there was some worry about the past three days when not one sinking was called in.
Quite a depressing day overall though. Just page after page of casualty lists after bombing attacks.
Saturday was much better. The success of the “Small Fuel Tank” research group must have given some assistance to the other groups in the Single Engine Aircraft project. Both the “Airframe” and “Armament” groups have now completed their work, and new aircraft are available. Willi Messerschmitt will not be happy as his planes will no longer be used for bomber escort duties. The Luftwaffe’s choice for its multi-purpose fighter is the Focke-Wulf 190A. It is not as if the Messerschmitt factories will be moth-balled. They will continue to manufacture the back-bone of the Jadgflotte: the Messerschmitt Bf 109F. But Junkers will be upset as the days of the “Stuka” are over for now. It will be replaced by the Henschel Hs 129, which is considered better able to withstand modern fighter attacks.
A prototype Fw 190: the Luftfarhtministerium was very impressed by its performance
Obviously it will be some time before all our units are issued with and become accustomed to the new aircraft, but the Cabinet has agreed that no new construction contracts will be let until the process is well under way. It will be some time: our light tanks units are still waiting for their PzKpfw 38(t)A vehicles to replace the vulnerable Pz IIs.
The now normal interminable wrangling over the research allocations went on for some time, and generated piles of paperwork as each minister tried to convince the others (and the Führer) of the merits of his claims. Göring emerged as the clear winner, with both new research groups dedicated to the Twin Engine Aircraft Project: “Medium Fuel Tank” and “Air Frame”. The winning argument was that we will require a long time to convert all our tactical bombers, and it is essential that we get the designs long before the proposed date of “Barbarossa”.
Rommel finally has the anti-aircraft brigade he has been asking for: he has felt very vulnerable at Sud-Frankreich Army headquarters, even though the Spanish bombers have so far ignored our command centres. As the Cabinet directed, no new production started: all resources were assigned to upgrades.
But overall another quiet day, and again no significant news from Romania. I hope this means all is going to plan. Spain (at least the north-west) is looking good, as General Eppich has smashed his way into Murias de Paredes. Cordón García has acknowledged defeat after just 2 days of fighting that cost him 233 men. 5th Gebirgsjäger Division lost 147 men, but considering it was up against more than 16,000 defenders, it is an excellent result. 1a and 2a Division de Infanterie are withdrawing in the direction of La Coruña, into Fabero.
Spanish Republican troops (with irregulars) attempt a counter-attack in Murias de Paredes, shortly before General García ordered a retreat.
Sunday I did drop in to the Reichskanzlei, ostensibly to catch up on paper-work, but really to see what was happening in the Balkans. Surely there must be some action, not just a procession of trucks rolling east?
The final part of the Single Engine Aircraft Project was completed today, with the Aero engine group sending in the last design drawings. Production of replacement aircraft is now in full swing. Surprisingly, when it came to research allocations, Minister Raeder (he has left the Nordseeflotte in Lorient and returned to Berlin while repairs are carried out) won the day. The researchers have been instructed to now design a new engine suitable for our next line of destroyers.
Another anti-aircraft brigade has been completed, and this time the 3.7cm guns have been sent to Grajewo, where General von Witzleben has convinced OKH that VIII Armeekorps headquarters will need added protection when the war in the east begins.
Aside from these fairly routine events, there was nothing, but while I was looking through photographs of our new aircraft, word arrived that a battle has begun in Romania. General Köstring, commander of 13.Infanterie (mot), having taken his division across the Danube into Vânju Mare, has found the roads east blocked by an infantry division. The Romanian General Leoveanu and Divizie 7 Infanterie have not had long to prepare their position in Cravoia, and Köstring hopes to continue towards Bucaresti soon.
Battle of Cravoia
Minutes later, more telegrams and radio messages came from Guderian’s headquarters: Volkmann’s 1st Gebirgsjägers were pushing north to ensure that none of the Romanian divisions on the Hungarian border could be pulled back to the capital. He has struck hard at two divisions in Chisineu-Cris, and reports that he is confident that he can pin them in place.
Battle of Chisineu-Cris
Of course, it would be remiss of me to not include any mention of the Luftwaffe’s battles, though they have all but abandoned any attempt to hold off bombers over the battlefields. All efforts are being made to prevent the RAF obtaining complete domination of the Channel and surrounding airspace. Waber fought several battles over the Sunday, losing a few aircraft. Critically, however, Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet” has been reduced to less than 50% effectiveness. Generalmajor Felmy has been told his men’s rest and recreation is over – they are to rebase to Lille immediately, assigned to the Frankreich Army.
Air Battle of the Channel Approaches: 8AM 3rd June
And then, as if all the commanders had been waiting a signal, victory reports came flooding in. Köstring and his men have exceded all expectations by forcing a route through Cravoia in just hours. 99 Romanians were killed or captured (at a cost of 30 men of 13.Infanterie (mot) – mostly from the Aufklärung units) and then the trucks were on the move again. General Volkmann in Chisineu-Cris also has won his battle, which was even more surprising. He paid tribute to the Luftwaffe bomber pilots who flew multiple missions inflicting more than 700 casualties on the Romanians. Whoever was responsible (and I have to say I have a great deal of respect for the reputation of 1st Gebrigsjäger Division) what was intended to be a holding action has turned into a victory, with the beaten units moving north-east into Garadea, away from the capital and the oil fields. The final win came from Spain, where we have finally retaken Guadalajara. The Spanish under General Walter performed well and were reinforced up to nearly 20,000 men, but with 604 dead after 4 days fighting they could take no more. Curtze lost 183 men but is relieved that 20.Infanterie (mot) can at last have a break from continuous action.
Romanian soldiers watch Köstring’s men advance: the shallow trenches and makeshift roadblocks they had prepared could not offset the experience of 13.Infanterie (mot)
The next item made me catch my breath: it was headed “3rd leichte Panzer”. My brother’s “Wunsdorf” regiment will be back in the fighting, and I know he is still in an old Panzer II. (I check the official upgrade orders daily: while a few tanks in 3rd leichte have been replaced, none in my brother’s company.) General von Manstein is taking the division across the Tagus from Siguenza to Sacedón. The other bank is held by 1 Brigada Blindada, which is still at nearly full strength. Von Manstein joked in his battle plan that this was because it never stayed long enough to take losses, which though hard on the Spanish armoured unit, is quite true. The lack of an effective leader has meant that at the first setback the light tanks and supporting armoured vehicles abandon their positions. I hope this is the case today: the Spanish tanks may be fairly out-dated, but they all carry guns that can destroy a Panzer II.
Battle of Sacedón
What 3rd leichte Panzer can expect to meet: a French built FT-17 operated by the Republican Spanish waits on the far side of the Tagus. Our commanders report increasing numbers of irregular volunteers supporting the regular Spanish troops.
I wasn’t going to stay late (Gisela is getting quite pointed in her comments about the amount of time I spend at work) so I left before I got too engrossed. Plenty of time to catch up on Monday. I did grab the end of month reports from our military attachés in Rome and Tokyo: it is against all security regulations to remove these from the building but it was interesting reading after my simple Sunday dinner.
Greece: the map shows supply to be patchy at best, and this is affecting operations. While the Regio Esercito has a clear advantage numerically, it is having difficulty keeping all its units in action. Nevertheless, the Italians are still moving forward, and are threatening the city and port of Salonika.
Libia: fresh troops from Tarabulus have nearly met up with the routed Army of Libia. It is hoped that the new units will hold the British-Iraqi Army of Egypt and reverse the flow of the battle.
North-Eastern China: Slowly but surely the Imperial Japanese Army is setting up supply networks to allow its better equipped troops to recommence the drive on Qingdao and then Shanghai.
Indo-China: General Tada has landed his divisions at the port of Cam Ranh and is marching north to halt the advancing Guangxi Clique forces
Bombing Summary
FARE
Piedras Blancas: Camacho Benítez with 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico (2 x TAC): 62, 102, 82, 159, 101, 112
La Robla: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico n.1 FARE (2 x TAC): 159, 194, 139
Berlanga: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico n.1 FARE (2 x TAC): 135
Benavente: Camacho Benítez with 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico (2 x TAC): 71, 116, 121
Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm)
Berlanga: Tedder with 8th CAG: 59, 9, 24
Piedras Blancas: Gore-Sutherland- Mitchell with 16th and 17th CAG: 94
La Robla: Ludlow-Hewitt with 4th CAG: 39
La Robla: Harris with 11th and 13th CAG: 31, 55
Benavente: Tedder with 8th CAG: 32
Joint Anglo-Spanish Bombing Missions
Berlanga: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico n.1 FARE and 8th CAG: 104
Piedras Blancas: Gore-Sutherland-Mitchell with 11th, 13th, 16th and 17th CAG, 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico: 118, 122
Berlanga: Tedder with 8th CAG and 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico n.1 FARE: 115
Piedras Blancas: Gore-Sutherland-Mitchell with 16th and 17th CAG and 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico: 67, 212, 181
La Robla: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico n.1 FARE and 11th and 13th CAG: 133
FARR
Vânju Mare: Vasiliu with Grup 1 Tactic Bombardier (1 x TAC): 123, 58, 85, 52, 62, 34
Luftwaffe
Cravoia: Udet with 3rd Schlactfliegerkorps (2 x Ju 87B): 145, 98, 88
Guadalajara: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 288, 276, 267, 173
Cravoia: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps and 3rd Schlachtfliegerkorps: 231, 72
Chisineu-Cris: Grauert with 4th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 286
Chisneu-Cris: Müller-Michels with 5th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 150
Romanian anti-aircraft gunners with their 25mm Hotchkiss: although a good weapon the Romanian Army did not have enough to drive off our aircraft and bombing losses were decisive in several battles
Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report
Southern Azores Fracture Zone: 1 transport (Spanish): Cádiz-Boston: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Western English Channel: 1 tranport (UK): Portsmouth – Mombasa: von Nordeck with II I-flotte
South-East Porcupine Plain: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Socotra: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Madeira: 1 transport (UK): Portsmouth – Malta: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Coast of Cádiz: 1 transport (Greek): Athina – Halifax: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Unternehmen Stierkampf at end of 3rd June: the poor infrastructure at the French border and in the north-west can be clearly seen.
Unternehmen Bohrturm at end of 3rd June: the plan is working, with the bulk of the Romanian Army unable to reach the capital before our lead units.
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I think if you read the next update (4th - 7th June) you may change your opinion. And the sorry state of the Luftwaffe shows a poor production decision. In fact, when I review my progress, some parts are positively embarrassing.
But at least none of the real experts have written in to point out basic mistakes and errors. (If they did, I would just blame the AI).
Seriously though, thank you for the comment. I don't try to set an example in this AAR, more trying to show the capability of the game and the AI.
It may be only three posts, but one is very flattering to me so he is starting off well
Very true, I guess I just didn't think to, you know, state the obvious.
But yes...I haven't posted much (at all), yet. But it's early days for me.
We all have to start somewhere, and complimentary posts to me are a great way to begin.
See, the flattery is contagious!
More flattery! Maybe the forum should be down more often
Thanks ovechkinderek, hope to keep everyone interested as I approach the first anniversary of this AAR.
Hope to have another update in a day or two: lost a couple of save games (can't work our why) and must do a four day update.
Things are looking good, though I do not really see why you are investing into ships right here. I know you want new destroyers sooner or later, but destroyers are the ones you can research the fastest. In a long term strategy, you'd want to research battleships or carriers. And since Barbarossa is still looming ahead, I'd rather invest in land/air doctrines or logistics.
Frankly, I'm still concerned by the air battle over the Channel. Maybe it would be better to fight against the RAF over Europe, where radars, Flak and so on, would give an edge to the Luftwaffe.
continues to be good stuff but I'd suggest you need a crash build of fighters/interceptors not more ships - you'll end up with no air cover anywhere when you start to tangle with the Soviets as they'll bounce your remaining fighter squadrons pretty handily.
still not convinced Spain was a good idea - esp if the UK remains intact, the SF AI seems to be quite aggressive at naval operations and you could find a nasty invasion once you strip out the bulk of your combat forces ..
still not convinced Spain was a good idea - esp if the UK remains intact, the SF AI seems to be quite aggressive at naval operations and you could find a nasty invasion once you strip out the bulk of your combat forces ..
Romania wont take long, thats for sure. Like the FW190 a lot. Quickly build a couple Geschwader of these before Barbarossa starts, you will need them. And the Panzers are still PZII and 38t. I would like to see PZIII or PZIV before you go into the SU. The Reich still has some serious upgrading to do.
And the Long Vietnam War begins...
I hope not: there will be no protest marches in Berlin, that's for sure! The Spanish are getting more and more brittle, battles are over in hours rahter than days or weeks. I have 4 spies in Spain, and they tell me that MP is OK (their units are getting reinforcements), leadership is now ZERO! So soon there should be a complete collapse. Surrender is 26.4 against NU of about 95%. The British will be looking at another Dunkirk.
I plead guilty: I just like building ships. My rationale (or, if you prefer, justification
) is that I need destroyers now and am reluctant to build ships that are already 4 years out of date. I cannot build anything for at least 2 months (when all the infrastructure builds are complete and my upgrades should be finished). I have 4 land doctrines on the go, and 3 air. Currently researching supply org 4. (BTW, is there any point in doing both Bomber Targeting Focus and Fighter Targeting Focus? Or do they offset each other?). So I am not really neglecting things: I have 31 active research projects. In a few months my build and research for Barbarossa will be in full swing.I would love to, but the AI insists on attacking the UK airbases. I have everything on defensive, but that is what it wants to do. It is really my fault, I should have more than 12 interceptor geschwader. In my defence, my original builds were made under HOI3 1.3 (in my replays I copied every build and nearly every tech), and the RAF has been really boosted since then. And the AI is more aggressive.
I have two more interceptor geschwader under construction,and will start another two in a few months (my priority atm is to upgrade the existing aircraft). I don't intend to start serious ship building again until I am sure I have enough for Barbarossa (well, year 1 anyway).
In a way, the combination of the U-boat attacks and the air war are keeping the UK under control. The attrition in the air is costing them as well. I haven't noticed a lot of infantry running around the coast. Strat bombing may start in a few months (unless I decide to save them for the USSR). In any case, I won't strip the west: there will be aleast one Army group left to hold France and Spain: say two armies each of about 15 divs. Admittedly mostly garrison and cavalry, but also my cheap "Coastal Divisions" (2 INF, 1 AA, 1 Rkt). And I should have some bombers that can't be used effectively inthe east after the initial breakthroughs.
As for Spain: my original thought was that it was important for me to keep Italy in the war. Whether that is right or wrong is still open to question I suppose. But having decided that, it made sense to close the Med as otherwise the Regia Marina gets creamed, the Army of Libia dies a horrible death and then Italy is defenceless. So Spain was necessary to take Gibraltar which was necessary to close the Med which was necessary to save Italy.
It just so happened that I also wanted to see how a Spanish campaign would go, so it all turned out well for me
See above re plane builds. The FW 190 is a multi-purpose fighter in HOI3 Major Nations Immersion Pack - the interceptor is a Bf 109F.
It is the leichte Panzers that have Pz IIs upgrading to 38(t)a. The mediums are Pz IIIF already.
Having said that, there is more to be done inthe next 9 months. I only have two panzer divs building, and I want at least 4 more on top of that, probably two of them heavy. But the real need is infantry, and lots of it. I need garrisons for Spain, Yugoslavia and Romania, to free up my experienced units for the east.
So in late August, early September, expect a rush of builds.
I have just realised that some of you may be misled by the models I refer to inthe text. I am using the Major Nations Total Immersion mod which does not alter the actual specs for each tech, but uses pictures/titles more appropriate to the year/level of technology. So no Tigers in 1941 etc. If you were unaware of this (I am sure mentioned it when I adopted it) then you may think I am actually far behind in tech, when I am ahead in nearly everything bar ships and a few doctrines. For instance, in a month or so I will have all medium tank techs at level 4. Level 3 roughly gives a Pz II. So soon I will be upgrading to IVs (I think - haven't checked the chart). Hope this clears any misconceptions.
Just to stress again: this mod does not change gameplay, combat etc. All it changes are the names and models.
I fully acknowledge your love for ships as a good a reason as any other, but it'd really be more reasonable to invest in the long term things now, when you really are not dependent on your fleet. Once you start building your new fleet, todays ships will be relegated to second line duties anyway. Is there a chance to have a look at your building queue and your research? Did you think about removing your Jagdgeschwader from the army protecting the channel coast? That'd give your airmen time to recover and since there's not really important things going on in the north west, I must admit those losses taken are a bit pointless. Even more so since you are so adamant about saving manpower.
They offset each other. Also, you may note that the Allies don't escort Strat bombing missions until late in the war as they have no fighters with sufficient range, so if that ends up as your primary challenge then neither focus will matter much as you will be fighting mostly homogeneous airgroups in the west. The east of course is a different story...
Man, I haven't been able to get on for about ten days. Took so long to read and catch up I had to sign back on to add something to the aar.
Great stuff as usual Uriah. I am really surprised at how long Spain is taking. Guess next time you'll build a lot more interceptors.
I don't understand how the enemy can get through the straits when you control them, but in DD it seems to be happening all the time. I thought if you controlled Gibraltar, they were impassable.
Great stuff as usual Uriah. I am really surprised at how long Spain is taking. Guess next time you'll build a lot more interceptors.
I don't understand how the enemy can get through the straits when you control them, but in DD it seems to be happening all the time. I thought if you controlled Gibraltar, they were impassable.
Just to agree with this - the naval build model is now very different to HOI2. There I'd never build say a carrier till I got to at least level III, here once you have the tech, get one started, the practical bonus when completed will really shift your research along, and the experience will make it quicker to churn them out when you get to an optimal level. Really you need to build at every significant block of tech gains so as to maximise both research and when you build for real.