Briefing: November 1, 1943
Ladies and gentlemen of Congress,
Hitler's regime is in shambles. Although the Wehrmacht continues to fight, and fight well, a sizable portion of Germany has already been occupied, and Allied forces are very close to Berlin. For much of this success, we have to thank General Stilwell and his aggressive assault on Germany.
Both Army Group 'France' and First Army received new orders shortly after our last session of Congress.
General Geiger also prepared to relocate the 2nd USMC to Nantes for extraction to Los Angeles, the staging area for further Pacific operations. On September 2nd, CTF 'Lexington' sunk the Japanese battlecruiser
Kirishima, although the
USS New Orleans was hit by a stray Japanese torpedo. Fortunately, casualties were minimal. Two days later, back in Europe, General Patton's Fourth Army finally received their new orders (the General was "in aggressive relocation" after a German raiding party ambushed him. Fortunately, General Patton remains unhurt.) to press hard on Berlin and the key German port of Danzig.
September 12 saw the US seize the Polish city of Krakow. Dozens of Polish citizens with tears in their eyes thanked our boys, many of whom share a common origin with Poland. General Patton went personally to the front to vow that the United States would not rest until all of Poland was liberated from tyranny. Although Generalissimo Stalin sent a couple of nasty telegrams to President Willkie, our President did nothing to publicly rebuke America's most beloved commander.
By September 17, all of Belgium had been, in effect, liberated.
Romania continued to be extremely difficult to deal with. General Hodges of Second Army was increasingly frustrated, and vowed to make serious operational changes to ensure his success.
On September 19, CTF 'Yorktown' sighted the Japanese battleship
Mutsu, and over the next few days, dueled with the battleship and her destroyer screen. Her screen was completely destroyed, and serious damage inflicted upon
Mutsu, but she escaped. A week later, the 1st USMC invaded the island of Yap, one of the last Japanese ports in the central Pacific.
Near the end of September, General Hodges had gathered enough strength to strike at Bucharest again; they were repulsed a few hours later. The CO of Second Army finally shifted his approach in October, and some serious results were achieved as a result.
By October 2nd, most of the Netherlands had also been liberated by Army Group 'France'. General Stilwell elected to bypass the Dutch port of Amsterdam in hopes of driving on Berlin that much quicker.
In Romania, Second Army was drawing up new plans to drive the Germans out of Romania once and for all.
A skirmish in the Pacific led to the sinking of a Japanese heavy cruiser, but an American destroyer division was lost. As we get closer and closer to the Home Islands, resistance gets more and more fierce. By October 4, Yap fell.
October 6 saw the new approach of General Hodges bear fruit. The capture of the Romanian province of Targoviste brought Allied forces closer to the Romanian right flank and began the encirclement of Bucharest. The next day, an American assault on Giurgiu began, followed by an attack on Bucharest itself. Both offensives were repulsed, but the Romanians now had no idea where the next American attack would come. The extra air power ordered in by General Stilwell seemed to be working.
By the middle of October, the biggest surprise was the ease with which American forces crossed the Rhine and into Germany. In fact, in less than three weeks, the Allies had crossed over the Elbe too.
In Romania, the newest assault on Giurgiu was slowly whittling down Axis troops, and it was not hard to envision a complete encirclement of the Romanian capital.
Only in the Pacific was there bad news, as Japanese forces split Chinese-occupied Manchukuo in two.
October 21st marked the triumph over Romanian forces in Giurgiu; Major General Barnes's personal courage was unmatched that day, personally leading a platoon of infantry who'd lost their officers earlier in the day. Only three Romanian provinces remained.
October 25th saw an assault on Calarasi, the final province standing in the way of the complete encirclement of Bucharest. At the time of this briefing, the estimates are that 43% of Romanian troops in Calarasti have been killed, wounded, or captured.
By early this morning, scattered American squads approached the first line of defenses for Berlin.
Romania will almost certainly fall by the end of 1943, cutting off a huge number of elite German divisions.
The Japanese counterattack in China has been blunted as well, but I've already begun receiving requests for increased pressure on Japan. In any case, the Axis will not survive 1944; even the most pessimistic planning officer at the Pentagon is willing to allow that.
Technologies learned: Artillery Carriage and Sights 8, Special Forces 4, Infantry Warfare 6, Assault Concentration 6, Blitzkrieg 4, Small Arms 6, Submarine Crew Training 3, Small Navigation Radar 2, CAS Pilot Training 6,
Units built: 1 x Transport Plane, 1 x Armored Division (1 x ARM, 2 x MECH), 10th Rangers (3 x MTN, 1 x ENG) (deployed to Norfolk, VA)
Ships sunk: 1 x BC, 1 x CA, 4 x DD (Japanese)
Ships lost: 1 x CA, 1 x DD (by Japan)
Convoys sunk: 3/2 (Japanese)
Convoys lost: 2/1 (by Japan), 1/1 (by Germany)
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Technically, by the Liberation of Vichy France Act, we have to declare war on Vichy France now; however, I think we can get Berlin, maybe even knock Germany out of the war, in the next two months. Unless somebody votes to either entirely repeal the Act or modifies it with another Act, we will do exactly that at the beginning of the next update.
Given that, for Americans at least, Thursday is a holiday, I'm going to set
Saturday at 10 PM (-6 GMT) as the deadline for new plans and/or bills.
Did I forget the last squadron at Liverpool?))
