Chapter 27: The State Of The Reich.
We’re back with our regular program and, just to avoid any misunderstandings, last chapter was a side-trip into an alternate timeline. Yugoslavia and Greece, at the start of this chapter, are still independent and at peace. It is the 5th of June, and I am going to show you what my Germany looks like.
The nations that comprise the Axis include Germany, Italy, Japan, Ethiopia, Manchukuo, Siam, Slovakia, Hungary, Mengkukuo, Bulgaria, Finland, Afghanistan, Romania and Yunnan. We control 515 Victory Points, out of a total of 1172 (or 43.90%). The game lists us as being Operational Victors at the moment. We only need 72 VPs to have over 50%.
Does this matter? That depends on what victory conditions you have set for yourself. In this case, it is completely irrelevant for me, since the whole goal of this campaign is to show you what to expect in TFH’s Barbarossa campaign. But I wanted to show you this number anyway, for the sake of being complete.
We have 341 IC. Our forces are almost up-to-date, and we are spending just over 8 IC on repairing interceptors and province improvements after the last British bombing raids over Dortmund and Leipzig.
The resource gains you see here are not the real ones. This is a newly loaded session, so the game will need a day to update the numbers. I am actually losing Rare Materials, but I am in the green for Metal.
I have set the AI to prioritise reinforcements because I don’t want to change the sliders every single day.
My production queu. I am building an extra combat fleet (1 BC, 3 CA, 5 CL), and a bunch of cavalry divisions (2 Cav each). There are only 2 provinces left where we are improving the infrastructure to maximize our ability to transfer supplies to the front in the coming months.
Since I have 139 IC sitting idle, I am going to spend 104 of these on garrisons. My garrisons consist of 2 Gar/2 MP. Why I do this? Because this way, I can split them in 2 to spread the effect of the Military Police if I have to, and still have each MP somewhat protected by a “frontline” brigade (if you can call a Garrison brigade frontline, that is).
My Technology screen. I am still spending a ton of LS on Officer Training, while also influencing Yugoslavia and training spies to keep up the pressure on the Soviet and British NU. Even so, I am spending 24 LS to research 74 projects, but a majority of these are 1942 tech, so I have 1.5 years to complete these. Once I have 140% Officers again, I can put all of these 16.69 points into research as well.
Note in the Land Doctrines, that I have goofed. Schwerpunkt and Assault Concentration have somehow been left unattended in the 1940 tech year. Unfortunate, but I didn’t want to cheat and edit the save. Anyone can mess up, and you shouldn’t feel too bad when it happens to you.
Politics. Not much to say, other than to point out the head of the navy. Naval Base efficiency 10% means that our ports, both the ones in Germany and the ones we conquer, can take in 10% more supplies daily. Since we will be heading for ports like Riga in the near future, that will help to secure our supply situation deep into Russia, along with Von Blomberg (who gives us more supplies) and Bayerlein (who allows us to move more supplies per day).
Take Two: Chapter 24 (Sitzkrieg) begins by explaining how Occupation Policies work. I don’t think anything has changed here since FTM. I suggest reading this if you’re unsure how it works.
My Order Of Battle. This only includes frontline troops. I also have lots of port guards (4 Mil each). These are: 6 in Denmark, 8 in Germany, 8 in Netherlands, 2 in Belgium, 26 in France. I also have quite a lot of Garrisons (2 Gar/2 MP) and Cavalry (2 Cav) in Poland, becaue the British AI likes building Underground Resistance Cells there, who seem to have a preference to coming out in open revolt just after you’ve DoWed Soviet Union, temporarily severing your supply lines across a long stretch behind the front.
I was going to give you a detailed OOB, but that would have doubled the size of the chapter, which is substantial enough allready. Besides, that sounds like work
Code:
OKH (Paulus). He’s a Logistics Wizard, and at this level he gives a (small) supply bonus to each and every unit under him.
HG West (Von Rundstedt)
1. Armee (von Küchler): in charge of defense in the Low Countries and France, his position here clearly illustrates the immense luxury Germany has in great generals.
He commands 25 infantry divisions (2 Inf/ Art/AT) in 5 corps.
5. Armee (Fischer H): defending Denmark with 3 infantry divisions.
Also attached to HG West are Transportflotte (12 LC) (Backenköhler) and Gruppe Scharnhorst (Böhm), as well as 6. Jagdgruppe (Heilingbrunner, protecting the Ruhr), 7. Jagdgruppe (Von Greim, protecting Leipzig) and Kampfgruppe 4 (Felmy, on standby in Kassel in case of an enemy landing).
HG Nord (Hausser): He started the war as a divisional commander, and is now a level 5 Log Wizard and Battle Master who specialises in Offensive Doctrine.
4. Armee (Von Leeb): 22 infantry divisions and 3 Mountain Divisions (to make use of their terrain bonuses in the heavily forested north of the SU) in 5 corps.
4. Panzerarmee (Rendulic): 4 Arm (Arm/2 Mot/Spart) and 3 Mot (2 Mot/Spart/AT) in 2 corps.
He can also call on Gruppe Von Der Tann (Raeder), Gruppe Gneisenau (Dönitz), Baltische Flotte (Carls), 2 Jagdgruppen (Kammhuber and Milch, 3 Int each), 1 Kampfgruppe (Von Richthoven, 3 Tac) and 1 Sturzgruppe (Udet, 3 CAS).
HG Mitte (von Manstein).
6. Armee (Von Kluge): 25 Infantry divisions in 5 corps. I only have 1 infantry army here, which should be enough for the initial fighting. If it’s not enough, he can call on some of 3. Armee’s divisions for help.
2. Panzerarmee (Rommel): 4 Arm and 3 Mot in 2 corps.
3. Panzerarmee (Von Arnim, another Log Wizard Battle Master): 6 Arm, 3 Mot, 1 SS in 2 corps.
Also at his disposal are 2 Jagdgruppen (Kitzinger and Lörzer), 1 Kampfgruppe (Sperle) and 2 Sturzgruppen (Löhr and Bulowius).
HG Süd (Guderian).
2. Armee (List): 25 Infantry Divisions.
3. Armee (Von Brauchitsch): 25 Infantry Divisions.
1. Panzerarmee (Model): 6 Arm and 4 Mot.
His Lufwaffe detachment is rather small (1 Jagdgruppe, 1 Kampfgruppe, 1 Sturzgruppe), but he has the most infantry to call on. If he gets overwhelmed, he can call on some of von Manstein’s air squadrons for assistance.
The Armies of the Axis. Only thing worth mentioning are the Italian Alpini, who are the special units for Italy and who are a unique kind of Mountaineer.
Axis navies. No surprises there. Japan has a huge navy with 6 CV and 3 CVL. Italy’s navy is very big as well, but a lot of these are obsolete and quasi-obsolete relics of the past. The Kriegsmarine is geared for combat, as opposed to convoy raiding, with 3 strong battlecruiser squadrons (4 if you count the old Baltische Flotte), and another one due to be complete in June 1942.
The Luftwaffe comes in at number 1. Japan is number 2 thanks to its 15 CAGs. Italy is number 3. They typically have a lot of NAV, who could do some serious damage to the British in the Mediteranean, if they wanted to. Romania and Hungary have a respectable airforce for their size.
That concludes our overview of the forces at our disposal. When we come back, we are going to use these against the biggest army in the world. See you then!