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The casualty rates are alarming. Is that all due to the jungle terrain? Still, I imagine the Brazilians and their Axis lackeys do not have the combat power to repeat these casualties on a large scale, so I expect your manpower situation won't drop as precariously close to zero as it did when you were battling the Germans.

Is there any place for your finely honed tank armies in South America, or is it going to be infantry all the way?
 
Impressive stuff, massive gains in mainland Britain, the Iberian Peninsula and now landing in Southern America. Most impressive of all was the stunning example of AI ('I' definetly staning for idiocy in this case) stupidity when Turkey joined the Axis, for all of the week or two it took before she was swiftly crushed. Baffling stuff.

The current fighting in South America seems as though it will prove a tough slog, I assume there are hefty terrain modifiers hindering attacks within jungle terrain, this added to the complexities of shipping supplies and men so many miles should make for a good challenge. I don't doubt Russia shall be victorious once again though.
 
Forward the Revolution!

well the only place left to go to is the black heart of capitalism itself .. but not in this AAR

The casualty rates are alarming. Is that all due to the jungle terrain? Still, I imagine the Brazilians and their Axis lackeys do not have the combat power to repeat these casualties on a large scale, so I expect your manpower situation won't drop as precariously close to zero as it did when you were battling the Germans.

Is there any place for your finely honed tank armies in South America, or is it going to be infantry all the way?

Its mostly the jungle, it chucks up horrible malus on the attack so it all evens up but I have a vast advantage in terms of organisation so I can absorb the damage much more than the Brazilian et al units

oh yes, final post has tanks racing across the Pampas and the plains of South Brazil ...

Impressive stuff, massive gains in mainland Britain, the Iberian Peninsula and now landing in Southern America. Most impressive of all was the stunning example of AI ('I' definetly staning for idiocy in this case) stupidity when Turkey joined the Axis, for all of the week or two it took before she was swiftly crushed. Baffling stuff.

The current fighting in South America seems as though it will prove a tough slog, I assume there are hefty terrain modifiers hindering attacks within jungle terrain, this added to the complexities of shipping supplies and men so many miles should make for a good challenge. I don't doubt Russia shall be victorious once again though.

well actually ... it took me an hour of gameplay this afternoon so it wasn't much of a challenge. Once the war reached central and south Brazil the terrain is a lot easier and that only means one thing can happen

as to the diplomatic AI - I really think it could learn from the V2 model where it does a common sense check and opts not to join a war if its not a good idea - still takes me back to utter bemusement as to why Finland didn't dive in when it could have dealt me a near fatal blow in late 41 - mid 42.

Ok, the very last combat/game related post up next

& as a reminder, do vote in the ACAs
 
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"Goodmorning Midnight ... I'm coming home" - The last acts, June-July 1945

Once it was clear that 8 Army would be able to secure a permanent hold in the north, the main transport formations were returned to Europe. 5A was shifted to the Azores and then launched an attack on Rio de Janiero, by 2 June the Soviets were ashore and quickly sought to break out.



In sequence, 21A arrived on 10 June and 2TA on 21 June as the Soviets quickly built up.

In the north the Brazilian army had had the advantage of the dense terrain and the very limited room for manouver. In the centre and the south, the low hills and open plains presented ideal terrain for Soviet armour. To make the situation worse, the bulk of their army had been deployed to stall 8 Army on the Amazon.

Even so it took 5 and 21 Armies till 18 June to break out the initial landing zones. Once this was achieved, 21 and 2 Tank Army struck southwards as 5 Army screened the Brazilian units retreating westwards and commenced the slow business of moving north. By 10 July, the Soviets controlled the bulk of the population centres and by the 13th the Brazilian junta fled to Buenos Aires.



Left without leadership, the Brazilian army melted away as 8 Army forced the line of the Amazon and moved south to join up with the spearheads of 5 Army.

In southern Brazil, elements of 2 Tank Army engaged the advanced units of the Argentine army at Apulcarana on 3 July. Utterly unprepared for the ferocity of modern war and with their command and logistic capacity pounded by the VVS they fell back.


(elements of 2 Tank Army in South Brazil)

By the 19 July Soviet paratroopers seized Monte Caseros just over the Argentine border and 6 Argentine divisions were trapped and destroyed on the Paraguayan border. The lead elements of 2 Tank swept over the bridges secured by the paratroops into Argentina and quickly approached Buenos Aires from the north.


(the new T-44s saw very limited action in Brazil - enough to convince Stavka that the design was flawed and instead to focus on developing the T-54/5)

In the meantime, 3 Army continued its campaign on the west coast. The main Peruvian naval base at Huarez was taken on 3 July. By the 4th, a total of 6 Guards Rifle Divisions attacked Lima overwhelming the defenders by the 10th.



To the south Ica fell on 20 July and with that Peru surrendered.



Quickly several divisions were transported to Santiago just in time to stop the Argentine units from overunning the last defense lines.



Faced with veteran Soviet forces, they broke off the offensive and, on 26 July a joint Soviet-Chilean offensive drove them back from the outskirts [1].

Eager to finish the war, Stavka had decided on one last naval invasion. 10 Army was enshipped from Bordeaux on 18 July and sent first to Rio and then landed south of Buenos Aires.


(10 Army at Bordeaux, originally due to deploy to Mexico but instead won the final victory of the Great Patriotic War at Buenos Aires)

Lead units attacked the city garrison on 27 July and by the 29th they fell back to spare the city any more damage.



Soviet units entered the city on 1 August and on the 2nd Argentina surrendered.



The Great Patriotic War was over.

Stavka was stunned by the speed of victory in Latin America. With the exception of the Nicaraguan battles, Soviet losses were light (28,112) as were those of their opponents (36,810) as the mostly conscript armies were ill prepared for Soviet operational tactics and unwilling to die for unpopular regimes.

From 7 June 1941 to 1 July 1945 the Red Army had lost 3,202,481 in direct combat losses, Germany and their allies 6,199,128 (2.3 million of whom were lost in 1944 alone when their main armies collapsed).

The immediate post-war period saw a number of adjustments as Soviet military rule ended in Persia, Brazil, Turkey, Vichy France, Portugal and Slovakia. For various reasons Yugoslavia, Greece and Peru remained under military occupation as the Soviets came to terms with the sheer scale of their victory.

The next 20 years were to be as challenging as the four years of total warfare from 1941-5.



[1] An unremarkable action except that a young Chilean Captain, Augusto Pinochet was killed in the battle and became a national hero as well as a symbol of Chilean-Soviet friendship.

End note - I'll do one or two posts on the post-war era and events.
 
We've come along way from the harrowing defeats and retreats of 1941. Soviet influence stretches from China, across all of Western Europe and even to the Americas. It will be very interesting to read your history of the post-war era.

[1] An unremarkable action except that a young Chilean Captain, Augusto Pinochet was killed in the battle and became a national hero as well as a symbol of Chilean-Soviet friendship.

Defending the Presidential palace perhaps? I had thought about the juxtaposition of events in the AAR with the later history of Chile in reality, so I found this a nice touch.
 
Great job! I'm always disappointed when the USA escapes a final showdown, but I understand an author's desire to put a period and move on. Excellent AAR.
 
A fitting end to the actual fighting, Russia showing her considerable military power in the quick victory over the Latin American nations. It really does show how far things have come from the desperate struggle mere years before. Russia is now undoubtedly the power in the world, very impressive stuff. I'm looking forward to the concluding post-war updates though, there is still a lot to detail! With this AAR nearing the end, does that mean your planned EU3 AAR is edging closer (I'm greatly looking forward to it)?
 
I'm very glad I caught up when I did! This was an epic AAR, and I truly hope that mine can only pale in comparison!

Поздравляю, товарищ!
(Pozdravlyayu, tovarishch!)
(Congratulations, Comrade!)
 
Huzzah! Glory for Russia!

As to the what happens at the end - given the historic problems the Soviets had with Eastern Europe & the extent it was a drain on the Soviet economy, I think they will find holding an empire harder than acquiring it

Sure, but now there is no great second power block for them to look up to, no one else than Russia to help Europe to rebuild itself, and no particular need for Russia to keep an Uber-sized army considering she doesn't have any more immediate ennemies. Actually, scratch that, the USA would probably become quite infuriated at the sight of Russians in America, which according to the Monroe doctrine, is unacceptable. So probably a nice WW3 in the pipes now for your world^^

And now? What about a Turkey AAR mark2.0?:p
 
If I were Brazil, rapidly overrun by the Soviet Hordes, I wouldn't surrender to Japan, either...

I'm amazed with the speed of that victory. I really thought the terrain and the logistical difficulties would bog you down a good bit longer - but it is now clear that Homo Sovieticus is not slowed down by such trifling matters. The growth in power and capabilities of the Red Army has been breathtaking: from barely being able to slow down the German invasion to carelessly subjugating an entire continent in four short years. That is an achievement without equals.

I wonder what your version of the Cold War would look like. Considering how quickly Britain decolonized after emerging victorious from World War Two in our history, it's hard to see how it will hold on to much at all now, without a victory, with the French Empire probably decolonizing post-haste under Soviet 'encouragement'... I think Britain has a quick drop to third-tier power status (first tier: USSR; second tier: USA) in its very near future. And the US - there's not much to build an alliance with: not counting the British colonies, the 'Free World' seems to consist of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. And the US, of course. Against the French-German-Soviet-Chinese-Japanese axis (to name but a few members), that's not a very impressive collection. I think the US will give up on the rest of the world and will attempt to get Mexico out of the Soviet camp. But how they'll do so without incurring the wrath of all those Soviet Armies stationed on the Rio Grande... That's a puzzler.

Anyway, enough rambling on about what might be. :) Thanks for the AAR, it was most awesome. I look forward to your next endeavors, regardless of whether they run into a whole year's worth of updates. :)
 
Impressive! Superb AAR. Will miss it. Nice too see Sweden made it through as neutral in this mega meat grinder :) Whatever the meaning "neutral" would be surrounded by Commie nations... Anyway, awesome cred to you, Loki.
 
Was it at all possible to release modern day African countries from the colonies? And France isn't united... And is Albania still Italian?
 
Salute to the brave soldiers of the digital RKKA and an excellent AAR author.

Our son was born this morning, after a long night of labor. I think my HoI3 / EU3 play time will be limited for a while.

Have fun!
 
Our son was born this morning, after a long night of labor. I think my HoI3 / EU3 play time will be limited for a while.

Congratulations! Ours was born at 4.01am last Tuesday, so we're about a week ahead of you guys. Not sure how the US treats paternity leave, but if you've got some time off you might actually find that you've got more free time than you were expecting. They sleep an awful lot.
 
The South American campaign went quick. Considering the distances involved, impressively so.


(elements of 2 Tank Army in South Brazil)

2nd Tank still has some old tanks in use, I see. Though the Red Army did convert a lot of old T-34/76s to engineering tanks. Just take the mine-rollers off and you'd not be able to tell the difference.


Post-war, I'd think Germany is in a better position than historically simply because of the lack of four years of strategic bombing by the western allies, and the Soviet Union is because there's much less need to maintain a large army in the buffer states - what is there to be a buffer against, Switzerland or Scandinavia aren't likely to get aggressive and the British can't seriously consider invading the continent. With no Cold War, I'd expect an improved Soviet economy, and extensive development in Asia.


Anweru said:
Our son was born this morning, after a long night of labor. I think my HoI3 / EU3 play time will be limited for a while.

Congratulations. My son was 14 last month, and my daughter will be 16 next. You've got lots of things to look forward to.
 
First thank you to everyone for the supportive comments, I never ever imagined this would be 72 pages and counting so thank you for indulging me. I assume you have all voted in the ACAs -- do hope so, I'll be checking.

Second, thanks to everyone who has supplied info, some in the thread by correcting my innumerable errors of designation (& there will be some final acts of tank porn in the next post - including an idyllic "T-55 by the sea shot") and also by pm. Some of the Russian language sites were invaluable in checking stuff out and running down some harder to find images. With the final post, if people are interested, I'll include a list of the main references I used. Equally if anyone wants access to any of the images I've used pm me and I'll gladly share. There are far too many to upload even in a zipped file format.

Finally, next two posts are my variant of post-war history, in part drawn on my very idiosyncratic understanding of the USSR - designed to top this off to decent conclusion rather than anything else.

Wow; a truly awesome victory. Looking forward to the wrap up, of course, but do you have a next project in mind?

well I fancy a rather complete change of tone and place ... so next is a comedy Ming AAR featuring some characters some of you may have met in the other places. If I do another HOI one (which I suspect I will) it may well be France and in part to test out the military AI in FTM.

We've come along way from the harrowing defeats and retreats of 1941. Soviet influence stretches from China, across all of Western Europe and even to the Americas. It will be very interesting to read your history of the post-war era.

Defending the Presidential palace perhaps? I had thought about the juxtaposition of events in the AAR with the later history of Chile in reality, so I found this a nice touch.

aye his statue, with its famous gold-plated AK-47 stands in Santiago as an enduring symbol of Chilean-Soviet relations

what i see in thos 20 years is expansion of soviet block on former british colonies and remaining neutrals in americas :D

I've something more complex in mind, in effect the USSR, once Stalin is dead, has to adapt or it'll fall apart

Great job! I'm always disappointed when the USA escapes a final showdown, but I understand an author's desire to put a period and move on. Excellent AAR.

I just couldn't face it to be honest. My last Soviet AAR ends with a monumental tussle with the US, so its great fun but this has rather come to dominate my paradox-related life, to the extent that my ratio of writing-play is about 5:1.

A fitting end to the actual fighting, Russia showing her considerable military power in the quick victory over the Latin American nations. It really does show how far things have come from the desperate struggle mere years before. Russia is now undoubtedly the power in the world, very impressive stuff. I'm looking forward to the concluding post-war updates though, there is still a lot to detail! With this AAR nearing the end, does that mean your planned EU3 AAR is edging closer (I'm greatly looking forward to it)?

I'm editing the opening post around this and work, and sketching out the first 4-5 ... I don't want to repeat my last ultra-brief EU3 AAR with a good idea just running out of steam. But I think you'll like it.

I'm very glad I caught up when I did! This was an epic AAR, and I truly hope that mine can only pale in comparison!

Поздравляю, товарищ!
(Pozdravlyayu, tovarishch!)
(Congratulations, Comrade!)

Well its a case of different approaches but I'm glad this managed to hold everyone's attention ... especially at the end when it was very predictable - which is why I've heavily condensed all the post-Berlin action.

Huzzah! Glory for Russia!

Sure, but now there is no great second power block for them to look up to, no one else than Russia to help Europe to rebuild itself, and no particular need for Russia to keep an Uber-sized army considering she doesn't have any more immediate ennemies. Actually, scratch that, the USA would probably become quite infuriated at the sight of Russians in America, which according to the Monroe doctrine, is unacceptable. So probably a nice WW3 in the pipes now for your world^^

And now? What about a Turkey AAR mark2.0?:p

Turkey sounds a good idea, the last one was a blast & its always a fascinating country to play.

In economic terms, the other advantage in this time line is Europe west of the Elbe is pretty much intact as no strategic bombing nor sustained land combat - which is a very rich inheritence and yes, the bulk of the Red Army can be stood down even despite tensions with the USA.

If I were Brazil, rapidly overrun by the Soviet Hordes, I wouldn't surrender to Japan, either...

I'm amazed with the speed of that victory. I really thought the terrain and the logistical difficulties would bog you down a good bit longer - but it is now clear that Homo Sovieticus is not slowed down by such trifling matters. The growth in power and capabilities of the Red Army has been breathtaking: from barely being able to slow down the German invasion to carelessly subjugating an entire continent in four short years. That is an achievement without equals.

I wonder what your version of the Cold War would look like. Considering how quickly Britain decolonized after emerging victorious from World War Two in our history, it's hard to see how it will hold on to much at all now, without a victory, with the French Empire probably decolonizing post-haste under Soviet 'encouragement'... I think Britain has a quick drop to third-tier power status (first tier: USSR; second tier: USA) in its very near future. And the US - there's not much to build an alliance with: not counting the British colonies, the 'Free World' seems to consist of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. And the US, of course. Against the French-German-Soviet-Chinese-Japanese axis (to name but a few members), that's not a very impressive collection. I think the US will give up on the rest of the world and will attempt to get Mexico out of the Soviet camp. But how they'll do so without incurring the wrath of all those Soviet Armies stationed on the Rio Grande... That's a puzzler.

Anyway, enough rambling on about what might be. :) Thanks for the AAR, it was most awesome. I look forward to your next endeavors, regardless of whether they run into a whole year's worth of updates. :)

I was rather bemused at the surrender to Japan decision - but by that stage I was beyond surprise at any of the SF end of war mechanics. As to post-war, this is pretty much an inversion of reality. The USA is effectively surrounded and contained, but can reach out in all sorts of ways. The next post will be peaceful as in my model the Soviets up to 1953 are trying to work out how to manage the peace & the US is recovering from the shock. The second will see a semi-warm war between the two - but with nukes no outright conflict.

Impressive! Superb AAR. Will miss it. Nice too see Sweden made it through as neutral in this mega meat grinder :) Whatever the meaning "neutral" would be surrounded by Commie nations... Anyway, awesome cred to you, Loki.

they almost got added, but when I pulled back the Soviet units in NW Finland, they pulled back to and then the Germans stopped influencing them, so I decided to leave Sweden and Norway as neutral - but ultimately locked into a Soviet dominated Europe.

Was it at all possible to release modern day African countries from the colonies? And France isn't united... And is Albania still Italian?

I checked, the only thing I can release is the Baltic States. The rest is down to how SF ends the war which is not its strong point. For eg the Portuguese got all their colonies back. I'll use my own maps for the post-war updates.

Salute to the brave soldiers of the digital RKKA and an excellent AAR author.

thank you ... and to everyone for the commentary ... as everyone says, at the end of the day you can't write without feedback

Congratulations! Ours was born at 4.01am last Tuesday, so we're about a week ahead of you guys. Not sure how the US treats paternity leave, but if you've got some time off you might actually find that you've got more free time than you were expecting. They sleep an awful lot.

& congrats to you too ... my what a fecund bunch the readers of this AAR are ...

The South American campaign went quick. Considering the distances involved, impressively so.

2nd Tank still has some old tanks in use, I see. Though the Red Army did convert a lot of old T-34/76s to engineering tanks. Just take the mine-rollers off and you'd not be able to tell the difference.

Post-war, I'd think Germany is in a better position than historically simply because of the lack of four years of strategic bombing by the western allies, and the Soviet Union is because there's much less need to maintain a large army in the buffer states - what is there to be a buffer against, Switzerland or Scandinavia aren't likely to get aggressive and the British can't seriously consider invading the continent. With no Cold War, I'd expect an improved Soviet economy, and extensive development in Asia.

Congratulations. My son was 14 last month, and my daughter will be 16 next. You've got lots of things to look forward to.

I was surprised, I thought even with just minimal combat (& I expected a much larger Brazilian and Argentine army) it would take longer, but south Brazil is (in terms of the HOI map) excellent tank country - I seem to recall it was much worse in HOI2.

Overall, once the Soviets stop annoying their new allies, there is a huge peace dividend to be had. The challenge is how quickly they back off and allow the concept of 'national roads to Socialism' to have some real meaning

which brings us to: