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Indeed, herr Bismarck would be proud
"The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia." -Otto von Bismarck
After Japan joined the Comintern there was some initial confusion and argument. Hugo, the Chinese player, wanted to surrender, regarding the fight as hopelessly lost.
The Allied players objected to China's premature surrender. Obviously, they wanted China to drag out the fight as long as possible. They also cited the fact that they have been pumping China full of supplies and resources and it would be unfair for China to surrender without putting up a real fight.
The situation was resolved and China vowed to fight on,
MARCH 1939 to APRIL 1939
Even though I was now allied with the Soviets, it would take a few months before the Russians got into place. They had to first strategically redeploy their forces into my territory. And then once they arrived they had to wait for their units to regain organization. So it would a couple of months, at least, before Soviet forces would be able to launch coordinated attacks form my territory.
Mongolia was there only front where the Soviets were able to launch an immediate offensive, having position their troops there before Japan joined the Comintern. Though the poor terrain and infrastructure (even when compared to the rest of China!) in that region was a great hindrance and ensured that Mongolia would not be a primary front.
Also remember that the Soviet Union still has a massive GDE penalty so their units were hardly on par with Japan's army divisions.
Nevertheless, by may, a handful of Soviet units had reorged sufficiently to render assistance in Southern China where my units were already onsite and ready for combat. I launched a massive (massive being a relative term for Japan) attack in May, hitting Hengyang and Changsha.
The losses screen stands as a testament to the ongoing bloodbath in East Asia:
Note also how many Chinese convoys my blockade ships have sunk.
The wider world has not stood still.
Germany bided his time until the last Czechoslovakian and Memel events came to pass before he reveled his cards. Germany completely partitioned Czechoslovakia with Hungary and thereby roped Hungary into the Axis. In response Poland was accepted into the Allies.
Presumably feeling more secure once Germany's event given territory/resources were under his thumb, Brother Lobo, the Germany player, attacked and annexed Denmark. Since Denmark was unaligned at that point Germany was also able to annex Iceland and Greenland. After Denmark, Germany declared war on the Swiss. Once again, Germany was able to take great advantage of the fact that the Swiss were unaligned. Instead of annexing the Swiss outright Germany choose to puppet them. This had the effect of giving Germany 2 national provinces in Eastern Switzerland while leaving the handful of western provinces in the hands of the puppet Swiss. And Germany was also able to make use of Switzerland's army.
Italy puppeted Bulgaria and then joined the Axis, bringing in their constellation of satellite states.
Spain and Romania also joined the Axis.
Europe's new borders:
The Axis (Ethiopia and Somalia not pictured):
The Allies (Dominions and territory outside of Europe/North Africa not pictured):
APRIL 1939 to JUNE 1939
The Soviet units reorged sufficiently to participate in two or three battles. Pedal placed the units under my control as expeditionary forces so I could control them and avoid any confusion over who was directing what unit. After all it doesn't do to have too many chefs preparing the meal. Later on we each assumed military control over the other since that simplified things even more. One of the biggest problems with expeditionary forces was that is vastly overloaded Japan's already stretched TC.
Despite the Soviet help, Chinese resistance continued to stiffen. Hugo's strategy as China was to create a regular infantry unit, brigade it with engineers and then group it with a dozen or so militia units. A group of units where even a single unit is equipped with engineers can entrench up to 40 instead of the regular 20. The battles usually took place in mountain provinces. And it also seemed to be raining 80-90% of the time during the battles. Russo-Japanese forces were able to win victories but only by expending the greater part of their organization.
Pedal and I were not yet able to achieve the decisive breakthrough we had hoped for. Once more units were deployed and reorged we through we could make steady advances. The status quo remained however, where we would win a battle but our forces were too exhausted to continue the fight, thus necessitating a month long delay while we reorganized.
The Red Air Force had also been deployed the Far East. I didn't have much use for Russian lvl2 interceptors, but I was going to make extensive use of Russian's 8 Tactical bombers. The Russian TACs were still damaged from the start scenario so it would take a while to repair them to full strength. But once they were ready I was going to throw them into the fray.
My own Tactical bombers were seeing almost constant action in the skies over China. Sadly, there were mostly lvl1 TACs. I was currently researching Improved Tactical Bombers (1940 tech). Once the research was done I was going to upgrade all of my existing bombers and upgrade the TACs construction line. Near the end of June 1939 Infantry was 95% researched and my infantry lines would be similarly upgraded. '39 INF would be of enormous help in China.
An illustration of Japan's problems:
Note the length of each of the highlighted battles. Although the image should help you understand some of my difficulties it is still somewhat deceptive. I'm pretty sure that the game takes account of how many units were present at the end of the battle when it was lost or won. But it doesn't take into account how many units were used during the entire course of the battle. If you look at how many units it says China had in those battles you will be mislead. During those month long battles it seemed to me that China was easily using two times or three times as many troops than what is stated in the final tally. Once the troops are ground down Hugo just shifted in fresh troops and removed the damaged ones.
My final troops tallies are pretty accurate though. I usually kept one or two units hunkered down in reserve to guard against counterattacks. But the numbers you see in that screenshot really reflect how many units I was using.
The Mounting Death Toll:
The Current Frontline in China:
At the start of 1939 the world was rocked by the news of the Soviet-Japanese Alliance.
And the world community was shocked yet again by yet more Byzantine diplomatic maneuvering. When Hungary and Germany had partitioned Czechoslovakia between them the British and French had solemnly pledged to protected the independence of Poland from Axis aggression.
The promises of the Western powers are made of sand:
It a brazen act of treachery Perfidious Albion revoked their treaty of alliance with Poland and encouraged the ravenous Axis aggressors to carve up Poland. Germany received the lion's share but Romania eagerly acquired their own share of the spoils.
The reverberations of the obvious Axis and Allied complicity would have dire and immediate repercussions for join Soviet-Japanese operations in the far east.
The Soviet units reorged sufficiently to participate in two or three battles. Pedal placed the units under my control as expeditionary forces so I could control them and avoid any confusion over who was directing what unit. After all it doesn't do to have too many chefs preparing the meal. Later on we each assumed military control over the other since that simplified things even more. One of the biggest problems with expeditionary forces was that is vastly overloaded Japan's already stretched TC.
Despite the Soviet help, Chinese resistance continued to stiffen. Hugo's strategy as China was to create a regular infantry unit, brigade it with engineers and then group it with a dozen or so militia units. A group of units where even a single unit is equipped with engineers can entrench up to 40 instead of the regular 20. The battles usually took place in mountain provinces. And it also seemed to be raining 80-90% of the time during the battles. Russo-Japanese forces were able to win victories but only by expending the greater part of their organization.
Pedal and I were not yet able to achieve the decisive breakthrough we had hoped for. Once more units were deployed and reorged we through we could make steady advances. The status quo remained however, where we would win a battle but our forces were too exhausted to continue the fight, thus necessitating a month long delay while we reorganized.
The Red Air Force had also been deployed the Far East. I didn't have much use for Russian lvl2 interceptors, but I was going to make extensive use of Russian's 8 Tactical bombers. The Russian TACs were still damaged from the start scenario so it would take a while to repair them to full strength. But once they were ready I was going to throw them into the fray.
My own Tactical bombers were seeing almost constant action in the skies over China. Sadly, there were mostly lvl1 TACs. I was currently researching Improved Tactical Bombers (1940 tech). Once the research was done I was going to upgrade all of my existing bombers and upgrade the TACs construction line. Near the end of June 1939 Infantry was 95% researched and my infantry lines would be similarly upgraded. '39 INF would be of enormous help in China.
An illustration of Japan's problems:
Note the length of each of the highlighted battles. Although the image should help you understand some of my difficulties it is still somewhat deceptive. I'm pretty sure that the game takes account of how many units were present at the end of the battle when it was lost or won. But it doesn't take into account how many units were used during the entire course of the battle. If you look at how many units it says China had in those battles you will be mislead. During those month long battles it seemed to me that China was easily using two times or three times as many troops than what is stated in the final tally. Once the troops are ground down Hugo just shifted in fresh troops and removed the damaged ones.
My final troops tallies are pretty accurate though. I usually kept one or two units hunkered down in reserve to guard against counterattacks. But the numbers you see in that screenshot really reflect how many units I was using.
The Mounting Death Toll:
The Current Frontline in China:
At the start of 1939 the world was rocked by the news of the Soviet-Japanese Alliance.
And the world community was shocked yet again by yet more Byzantine diplomatic maneuvering. When Hungary and Germany had partitioned Czechoslovakia between them the British and French had solemnly pledged to protected the independence of Poland from Axis aggression.
The promises of the Western powers are made of sand:
It a brazen act of treachery Perfidious Albion revoked their treaty of alliance with Poland and encouraged the ravenous Axis aggressors to carve up Poland. Germany received the lion's share but Romania eagerly acquired their own share of the spoils.
The reverberations of the obvious Axis and Allied complicity would have dire and immediate repercussions for join Soviet-Japanese operations in the far east.
Ah multiplayer, giving a hearty screw you to history. Have to say that I'm looking forward to how you respond.
I won't give anything away so I'll just say there's plenty of ups and downs in the near future. As for history, I've been suggesting the WPO group try the 1941 scenario for the next game since many of the important historical decisions are already locked in. So far the response has been at best noncommital. If we do try the 1941 scenario (and there appears to be plenty of life left in the current game so it would be well into the future) whoever plays the Soviets will have to be a player with a strong stomach and nerves of steel.
An alliance of convenience between Japan and the Soviets? Delicious.
Plus Germany and Italy rolling up Europe.
I wouldn't like to be in the Allies position, but let's see who turns on who first.
The Soviet-Japanese alliance should make this a very interesting game...
Plus Germany and Italy rolling up Europe.
I wouldn't like to be in the Allies position, but let's see who turns on who first.
The Soviet-Japanese alliance should make this a very interesting game...
Prelude
There was some debate between Japan and the SU regarding whether Germany was going to immediately declare war on Russia or if they would attack France first. The Bitter Peace event won't fire unless Germany also holds the province of Paris. So by attacking Russia first Germany had to know that they couldn't achieve decisive victory without at a later point turning against the Allies and seizing Paris. An argument could be made that Germany could have turned against France first in June of 1939 and then turned against Russia. The Allies would have had to give Germany a lot of enticement to win Lobo's loyalty.*
But all other signs indicated that Germany was going for a Russia First strategy. Although the Comintern didn't know Germany's exact plans, both Japan and Russia agreed that it was too much of a risk to keep the Soviet army in the Far East. Although it had taken many months to get the Soviet Units in place and to have them reorganize, as soon as we saw the Allies throw Poland to the wolves, Pedal began to Strategically Redeploy his units back to European Russia.
This was bad for Japan for obvious reasons but additional difficulties were added to the equation. In Pedal's haste to SR units back to Europe he forgot to return the expeditionary forces he had sent to me. Because they were still under my control my TC went into deep overload because I was paying for the SR costs. This had the logical consequences on the fighting effectiveness of my own troops in China. I also had to consider the wider implications the betrayal of Poland had on Japan.
When Japan joined the Comintern I had hoped I could use the Soviet army extensively in China. If I could do this it meant I could cut down on my land production and focus more on naval production. The Soviet Forces in the Far East had been able to participate in only two or three battles before they were recalled to Europe. The land battles in Asia would have to be fought by the Japanese Army. And I had to seriously consider that the Allies would now intervene in Asia. It seemed clear to me at the time that the Allies had an understanding with the Axis. That left Britain and France free to do as they pleased. They were not going to go after the Axis. They could not easily reach the Soviet Union. That left Japan.
I was confident that my outer ring of defenses could prevent the Allies from seizing island bases close to Japan. Since my units were on VoV, they would hold out long enough to allow the Combined Fleet to respond to the threat and dispatch the invasion force in short order. At this point in the game I was confident that my starting fleet was more than a match for Britain's. The same could be said (with even greater confidence) of the naval forces of France and Oceania. My real worry was that the Allies would invite China into their Alliance and they would pour land units into China via Burma and Yunnan.
How would Japan deal with modern European armor units deployed to China? Japan didn't even have a single tank division. Much to my deep regret, my naval production was going to have to go on the back burner until I found out what the Allies were going to do. My current plans were to churn out enough land and air units so I could completely encircle China. This meant seizing the coastline entirely to prevent reinforcements from sea or through Indochina, and also taking down Yunnan so the Allies could utilize that Burma Road to reinforce China. This was a long term project and I was almost in despair over being able to complete it in time. The grinding WWI style warfare of China would mean I'd have to slog long and hard before I seized all of that territory. And in the meantime France and Britain wouldn't be idle. I admit that I was very nervous at this point in time.
June 1939- July 1939
Fear and paranoia within the Comintern mounted. Japan and the Soviet Union watched in helpless dismay as Germany declared war on Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The conflict was fleeting and Germany quickly brushed aside all resistance. The Baltic nations made tasty morsels for Germany.
The direction of Brother Lobo's next thrust seemed almost a foregone conclusion. The world held its breath and said nothing.
The Sword of Damocles fell. The Axis declared war on the Comintern. Total battlefield surprise was achieved. Soviet forces were in complete disarray. With the first inkling of Axis-Allied cooperation the Red Army was sent back to European Russia. But Germany had acted much more swiftly. Only a handful of Soviet forces had arrived from the Far East. They had not yet fully reorganized and they were utterly outnumbered by Axis forces and sent into headlong retreat despite the widespread use of VoV. The units performed poorly because Russia was still hindered by their low GDE penalty. That was the situation on Russia's "strong" fronts. In many other areas there were simply no units at all and the Axis troops marched in unopposed.
The disaster was compounded by Russia's SR plan. Unaware of when Germany would strike Russia had hedged his bets and SRed part of his units far behind the front lines. But Russia also took a chance and SR units much closer to the Polish/Baltic/Balkan-Russian border. These provinces were overrun in short order, and the units that were going there drooped out of the SR pool back in the Far East, right back where they started from. This necessitated a second SR plan. Comintern prospects were so bleak at this point that it was decided that these units would only safely SR if we sent them well to the East of Stalingrad, far behind the Urals.
By July 14th, Russia was on the brink of utter catastrophe. Thanks to Germany's early wars against Poland and the Baltic countries, the Germans had a much larger head start than they did in real life. Within the first week or so of the war Germany seized Leningrad. Down South Romania was steadily advancing into the Crimea. Kiev was about to fall. And the Germans were one province short of bordering Moscow.
The pain had only just begun and neither the Soviet Union nor Japan had any idea where, when, or even if the Red Army could stop the relentless advance of the Wehrmacht.
(* At a much later point in the game- probably years in game time- Lobo told me that the United States was funneling dozens of units of rare materials and oil to Germany. And Altaris, the U.S. player was apparently giving all of these resources to Germany for free. Despite the severe problems this arrangement caused for Japan I could still appreciate the humor and irony of the situation. At the start of the game I had been willing to BUY resources from the United States for a fair price. But my offers were rebuffed and Japan found itself under economic embargo in 1938. To solve my resource problems I turned to the SU. In response to the Soviet-Japanese alliance the Allies tried to bribe Germany with tons of resources, given free of charge.)
There was some debate between Japan and the SU regarding whether Germany was going to immediately declare war on Russia or if they would attack France first. The Bitter Peace event won't fire unless Germany also holds the province of Paris. So by attacking Russia first Germany had to know that they couldn't achieve decisive victory without at a later point turning against the Allies and seizing Paris. An argument could be made that Germany could have turned against France first in June of 1939 and then turned against Russia. The Allies would have had to give Germany a lot of enticement to win Lobo's loyalty.*
But all other signs indicated that Germany was going for a Russia First strategy. Although the Comintern didn't know Germany's exact plans, both Japan and Russia agreed that it was too much of a risk to keep the Soviet army in the Far East. Although it had taken many months to get the Soviet Units in place and to have them reorganize, as soon as we saw the Allies throw Poland to the wolves, Pedal began to Strategically Redeploy his units back to European Russia.
This was bad for Japan for obvious reasons but additional difficulties were added to the equation. In Pedal's haste to SR units back to Europe he forgot to return the expeditionary forces he had sent to me. Because they were still under my control my TC went into deep overload because I was paying for the SR costs. This had the logical consequences on the fighting effectiveness of my own troops in China. I also had to consider the wider implications the betrayal of Poland had on Japan.
When Japan joined the Comintern I had hoped I could use the Soviet army extensively in China. If I could do this it meant I could cut down on my land production and focus more on naval production. The Soviet Forces in the Far East had been able to participate in only two or three battles before they were recalled to Europe. The land battles in Asia would have to be fought by the Japanese Army. And I had to seriously consider that the Allies would now intervene in Asia. It seemed clear to me at the time that the Allies had an understanding with the Axis. That left Britain and France free to do as they pleased. They were not going to go after the Axis. They could not easily reach the Soviet Union. That left Japan.
I was confident that my outer ring of defenses could prevent the Allies from seizing island bases close to Japan. Since my units were on VoV, they would hold out long enough to allow the Combined Fleet to respond to the threat and dispatch the invasion force in short order. At this point in the game I was confident that my starting fleet was more than a match for Britain's. The same could be said (with even greater confidence) of the naval forces of France and Oceania. My real worry was that the Allies would invite China into their Alliance and they would pour land units into China via Burma and Yunnan.
How would Japan deal with modern European armor units deployed to China? Japan didn't even have a single tank division. Much to my deep regret, my naval production was going to have to go on the back burner until I found out what the Allies were going to do. My current plans were to churn out enough land and air units so I could completely encircle China. This meant seizing the coastline entirely to prevent reinforcements from sea or through Indochina, and also taking down Yunnan so the Allies could utilize that Burma Road to reinforce China. This was a long term project and I was almost in despair over being able to complete it in time. The grinding WWI style warfare of China would mean I'd have to slog long and hard before I seized all of that territory. And in the meantime France and Britain wouldn't be idle. I admit that I was very nervous at this point in time.
June 1939- July 1939
Fear and paranoia within the Comintern mounted. Japan and the Soviet Union watched in helpless dismay as Germany declared war on Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The conflict was fleeting and Germany quickly brushed aside all resistance. The Baltic nations made tasty morsels for Germany.
The direction of Brother Lobo's next thrust seemed almost a foregone conclusion. The world held its breath and said nothing.
The Sword of Damocles fell. The Axis declared war on the Comintern. Total battlefield surprise was achieved. Soviet forces were in complete disarray. With the first inkling of Axis-Allied cooperation the Red Army was sent back to European Russia. But Germany had acted much more swiftly. Only a handful of Soviet forces had arrived from the Far East. They had not yet fully reorganized and they were utterly outnumbered by Axis forces and sent into headlong retreat despite the widespread use of VoV. The units performed poorly because Russia was still hindered by their low GDE penalty. That was the situation on Russia's "strong" fronts. In many other areas there were simply no units at all and the Axis troops marched in unopposed.
The disaster was compounded by Russia's SR plan. Unaware of when Germany would strike Russia had hedged his bets and SRed part of his units far behind the front lines. But Russia also took a chance and SR units much closer to the Polish/Baltic/Balkan-Russian border. These provinces were overrun in short order, and the units that were going there drooped out of the SR pool back in the Far East, right back where they started from. This necessitated a second SR plan. Comintern prospects were so bleak at this point that it was decided that these units would only safely SR if we sent them well to the East of Stalingrad, far behind the Urals.
By July 14th, Russia was on the brink of utter catastrophe. Thanks to Germany's early wars against Poland and the Baltic countries, the Germans had a much larger head start than they did in real life. Within the first week or so of the war Germany seized Leningrad. Down South Romania was steadily advancing into the Crimea. Kiev was about to fall. And the Germans were one province short of bordering Moscow.
The pain had only just begun and neither the Soviet Union nor Japan had any idea where, when, or even if the Red Army could stop the relentless advance of the Wehrmacht.
(* At a much later point in the game- probably years in game time- Lobo told me that the United States was funneling dozens of units of rare materials and oil to Germany. And Altaris, the U.S. player was apparently giving all of these resources to Germany for free. Despite the severe problems this arrangement caused for Japan I could still appreciate the humor and irony of the situation. At the start of the game I had been willing to BUY resources from the United States for a fair price. But my offers were rebuffed and Japan found itself under economic embargo in 1938. To solve my resource problems I turned to the SU. In response to the Soviet-Japanese alliance the Allies tried to bribe Germany with tons of resources, given free of charge.)
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I would actually disagree with that assesment. I explained it a bit in my recent AAR entry, but at that point in the game, the Allies had actually freed themselves from having to worry about a German attack. Instead of reacting to Axis aggression the Allies were now free to formulate and implement their own plans without having to worry overly much about Western Europe. I perceived this and it filled me with great apprehension since I thought Japan was going to be their logical target.
To be frank, I'm a bit surprised by the Allies stance in your game.
Surely Germany is more a threat than Japan? (no offence intended)
If they let Russia get rolled, that allows the full force of Germany's armies to be turned on France, and possibly the UK (if seelowe can be carried out).
Obviously it is important to stop you taking China and puppeting it (that can churn out some sizeable forces), but still?
Where do you see the allies going in all this?
Coming after you could leave them terribly weak in Europe even with the breathing space they have bought.
This is going to be some ruckus. Allies giving Germany support to beat the Soviets...madness. If Soviets stall the offensive, things might get tricky.
Interesting strategy by the allies. They seem to put quite a bit of faith in the Soviet player, thinking that he can hold off the Axis until they do whatever they end up doing. The irony of the American's resource trades is delicious.
July 14, 1939- July 24 1939
In the Far East the status quo remains with no provinces changing hands. Japan continues to reorganize after the large battles that ended in late May. The only significant event was when Nationalist China invited Sinkiang into their alliance. Sinkiang is the extreme westernmost warlord faction. It borders both the Soviet Union and the British Raj. By itself Sinkiang is not much of a threat, but the Soviet border in that area is thinly guarded. Even a few obsolete units could cause mischief. The Japanese high command was more troubled by the implications of this diplomatic move.
With Sinkiang joining China and the other warlords the Allies now have three avenues from which they could reinforce China. If the Allies were to incorporate the Chinese into their alliance the Allies could move troops from Northern India into Sinkiang. Or from French Indochina into Southern China. Or from Burma into Yunnan. My suspicion was that the Allies were making preparations for an intervention in the Far East in the very immediate future. The best I could do was buckle down and continue with my plan to deprive China of their coastline and to shut down Yunnan. I hoped that the Soviets could deal with Sinkiang and complete the encirclement but in truth the Soviets were having great difficulty on the Eastern front without having to deal with the Far Eastern front as well.
China's allies and the pathways Britain and France could support Hugo.
The real world shaking events were taking place on the Eastern Front, between Germany and Russia.
In little over a week Germany and its Axis allies ploughed ahead, brushing aside all opposition until Leningrad, Kiev, and Moscow lay broken beneath the Fascist yoke. The situation was undeniably grim.
July 24th 1939 to August 20 1939
Far East
Fighting flared up once again in the Far East. After recuperating from their loss of organization in late May, Japan successfully assaulted Zhuzhou and instead of resting, Japan gambled and subsequently attacked Shaoyang. The organization of both combatants is very low so the ultimate outcome remains to be seen. Japan also has complete control of the air. The Interceptor and Tactical bomber unit the China has right from the start in 1938 have yet to make an appearance.
Eastern Front
More bad news continued to pour in from the Eastern front. There were still enormous gaps in the frontlines, allowing Germany to easily seize territory unopposed. There were, however, large buildups of Soviet troops in important sectors meaning Germany would be forced to put up a fight for key provinces.
Japan was an interested observer on the Eastern Front. I don't think it is practical for the Axis to walk to Asia so I wasn't concerned about coming under attack myself. But I was very worried about the resource situation. The oil and rare material provinces were still safe but valuable metal producing provinces had already fallen. The Soviets had significant stockpiles so Pedal assured me the resources trades to Japan wouldn't be interrupted, at least in the immediate future.
Three important events and one major event took place.
The first: Zhukov died. I don't remember the exact time or place, but the Soviets were robbed of their best field commander. It was probably a German sniper.
The second: The Transfer Industry to Siberia events all failed to fire. Every province that the Germans took contained its original ICs. Germany could only get a fraction of those ICs but the Soviets obviously lost the full value of those ICs. This had a crippling effect on Soviet industry.
The third event: Soon after Germany declared war the Soviet Union received the event the gave them their full GDE. From then on, the battlefield would be a more equal playing field between Axis and Comintern units.
The fourth event was of such major significance that it deserves a section of its own...
Deliverance
In an act of unparalleled Machiavellian skulduggery, utterly eclipsing the cruel betrayal of Poland, the Allies declared war on the Axis!
As accustomed as I was to seeing the tables turn, the lightning quick speed with which the France and Britain betrayed Germany left even me breathless. I had fully expected the Allies to capitalize on Barbarossa by stomping Japan and liberating China.
I think the only persons more surprised by the betrayal were the German and Italian players. The Soviet Union had been devastated by the Axis and Allied collaboration, and European Russia had been laid to waste by the efficient way Germany had exploited that diplomatic agreement.
Now, the Allies had betrayed again and with even greater effect than before! If the German invasion of Russia had been a disaster, the Allied invasion of Germany and Italy stopped just shy of being an apocalypse! It quickly became apparent that the Axis had been completely blindsided. The French and presumably the British armies bowled over whatever the Germans had guarding their mutual border. In short order the French advanced into Saarbrucken, Frankfurt, and Dortmund, and cut off the industrial and resource heartland of the Third Reich. France seized Genoa from Italy and the British began to drive into Libya.
The death toll shows that both the Soviets and the Axis are bleeding rivers of blood. The only clear winner at this point and time appear to be the Allies:
In the Far East the status quo remains with no provinces changing hands. Japan continues to reorganize after the large battles that ended in late May. The only significant event was when Nationalist China invited Sinkiang into their alliance. Sinkiang is the extreme westernmost warlord faction. It borders both the Soviet Union and the British Raj. By itself Sinkiang is not much of a threat, but the Soviet border in that area is thinly guarded. Even a few obsolete units could cause mischief. The Japanese high command was more troubled by the implications of this diplomatic move.
With Sinkiang joining China and the other warlords the Allies now have three avenues from which they could reinforce China. If the Allies were to incorporate the Chinese into their alliance the Allies could move troops from Northern India into Sinkiang. Or from French Indochina into Southern China. Or from Burma into Yunnan. My suspicion was that the Allies were making preparations for an intervention in the Far East in the very immediate future. The best I could do was buckle down and continue with my plan to deprive China of their coastline and to shut down Yunnan. I hoped that the Soviets could deal with Sinkiang and complete the encirclement but in truth the Soviets were having great difficulty on the Eastern front without having to deal with the Far Eastern front as well.
China's allies and the pathways Britain and France could support Hugo.
The real world shaking events were taking place on the Eastern Front, between Germany and Russia.
In little over a week Germany and its Axis allies ploughed ahead, brushing aside all opposition until Leningrad, Kiev, and Moscow lay broken beneath the Fascist yoke. The situation was undeniably grim.
July 24th 1939 to August 20 1939
Far East
Fighting flared up once again in the Far East. After recuperating from their loss of organization in late May, Japan successfully assaulted Zhuzhou and instead of resting, Japan gambled and subsequently attacked Shaoyang. The organization of both combatants is very low so the ultimate outcome remains to be seen. Japan also has complete control of the air. The Interceptor and Tactical bomber unit the China has right from the start in 1938 have yet to make an appearance.
Eastern Front
More bad news continued to pour in from the Eastern front. There were still enormous gaps in the frontlines, allowing Germany to easily seize territory unopposed. There were, however, large buildups of Soviet troops in important sectors meaning Germany would be forced to put up a fight for key provinces.
Japan was an interested observer on the Eastern Front. I don't think it is practical for the Axis to walk to Asia so I wasn't concerned about coming under attack myself. But I was very worried about the resource situation. The oil and rare material provinces were still safe but valuable metal producing provinces had already fallen. The Soviets had significant stockpiles so Pedal assured me the resources trades to Japan wouldn't be interrupted, at least in the immediate future.
Three important events and one major event took place.
The first: Zhukov died. I don't remember the exact time or place, but the Soviets were robbed of their best field commander. It was probably a German sniper.
The second: The Transfer Industry to Siberia events all failed to fire. Every province that the Germans took contained its original ICs. Germany could only get a fraction of those ICs but the Soviets obviously lost the full value of those ICs. This had a crippling effect on Soviet industry.
The third event: Soon after Germany declared war the Soviet Union received the event the gave them their full GDE. From then on, the battlefield would be a more equal playing field between Axis and Comintern units.
The fourth event was of such major significance that it deserves a section of its own...
Deliverance
In an act of unparalleled Machiavellian skulduggery, utterly eclipsing the cruel betrayal of Poland, the Allies declared war on the Axis!
As accustomed as I was to seeing the tables turn, the lightning quick speed with which the France and Britain betrayed Germany left even me breathless. I had fully expected the Allies to capitalize on Barbarossa by stomping Japan and liberating China.
I think the only persons more surprised by the betrayal were the German and Italian players. The Soviet Union had been devastated by the Axis and Allied collaboration, and European Russia had been laid to waste by the efficient way Germany had exploited that diplomatic agreement.
Now, the Allies had betrayed again and with even greater effect than before! If the German invasion of Russia had been a disaster, the Allied invasion of Germany and Italy stopped just shy of being an apocalypse! It quickly became apparent that the Axis had been completely blindsided. The French and presumably the British armies bowled over whatever the Germans had guarding their mutual border. In short order the French advanced into Saarbrucken, Frankfurt, and Dortmund, and cut off the industrial and resource heartland of the Third Reich. France seized Genoa from Italy and the British began to drive into Libya.
The death toll shows that both the Soviets and the Axis are bleeding rivers of blood. The only clear winner at this point and time appear to be the Allies:
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when i have read that there is some kind of european community, i noticed, there is liek europe vs japan&russia vs china, i got a thought "i know that from somewhere"
then you said Damocles and i thought you might have seen Code Geass
I bet Britanian Empire is being led by prince Schneizel
then you said Damocles and i thought you might have seen Code Geass
I bet Britanian Empire is being led by prince Schneizel
Wow, some strange and interesting decisions going on here. However, the inaction of France and Britain until this point looks now to be a masterstroke.
The Axis failure to take down France and garrison Western Europe adequately was a critical error. It looks like they have left their western forces too weak and now will lose their most important IC regions.
Do I smell an early end to Axis ambitions?
The Axis failure to take down France and garrison Western Europe adequately was a critical error. It looks like they have left their western forces too weak and now will lose their most important IC regions.
Do I smell an early end to Axis ambitions?
I have to admit that I am a bit spoiled by the War Plan Orange's own AAR section, but please do continue to fill in the large gaps Mr. Nixon!
This is fun.
So you will stop trying to encircle China? BTW, all that China affair is ussually more trouble for Japan, that it's worth.
@Storm501
I hadn't much time lately, so it took some time to check Blue Emu's posts (never red it before, I'm new to the forum). Yet he says that hard attack is against "hard" part of unit, HA * (1-Softness) in this threat.
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...How-does-hard-units-vs-soft-units-combat-work
So you will stop trying to encircle China? BTW, all that China affair is ussually more trouble for Japan, that it's worth.
@Storm501
I hadn't much time lately, so it took some time to check Blue Emu's posts (never red it before, I'm new to the forum). Yet he says that hard attack is against "hard" part of unit, HA * (1-Softness) in this threat.
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...How-does-hard-units-vs-soft-units-combat-work
The allies seem to have made the right decision, they don't want the axis getting too strong. Ought to be interesting to see when they attack the Comintern however.