Chapter 32: The Dyle Plan – Part 1.
France, at the start of the game, is, technically speaking, not a major power. They have a Base IC of 98 and an actual IC of 68. They have 16.38 Leadership and a National Unity of 35%.
So are they hopeless? Well, they’re not, in the hands of an experienced player. You see, we have the benefit of hindsight, something that the actual French High Command didn’t have. We know where the danger is coming from and we know when it is coming. We can prepare.
The first thing I do, is to send all ships and planes to France. The ships will group up in Brest (which is a level-10 port), the planes will head for Paris.
France also has quite a number of divisions guarding its colonies. Those will all be send to France as well. What good is holding on to Tunis, if the Germans are walking along the Champs Elyssées?
The troops will take a while to arrive in Marseilles, but that’s ok. We have time.
Removing HQs, except Theater HQs, is even more important for France than it was for Germany. With only 68 IC per day, we have to cut every corner we possibly can. Remember, deleting those HQs means that you have to spend less IC on CG, which means more production.
France has one really good thing going for it: they start off with actual 1936 Armour researched! Looking through my divisions, there are a couple of cavalry and Larm in the OOB. The cavs will be upgraded into Motorised Infantry, and the Larm will become Medium Armour.
This leads into an extremelygamey (but, admittedly, nearly invincible) option: we can get to Heavy Armour before the war starts. Technically speaking, we could give every infantry division (there are 33 in total in France) a Harm brigade. Remember how much trouble the Soviet Harm gave me? Now imagine if every single division you meet has one of those…
I’m not going to do that, though. It requires a thorough knowledge of game mechanics, something which my target audience is probably lacking. Besides, it’s gamey.
Instead, I’m going to use my version of the hsistorical plan that the French used. The Dyle Plan will stop them in their tracks, and will give me time to build up my forces.
These are the first upgrades. More will follow once the divisions in question are in France.
Of course, there are the usual changes to the cabinet. Again, less supplies used means more IC for production. The minister of security will give me more party support, and I hope to eventually get rid of the Fractured Government penalty to our NU. The original head of intelligence gave me more Industrial Intelligence, but what do I care for Germany’s industry? I want to know about their army.
By the 4th, I have 10 spies at home, working to support the ruling party, eliminate enemy spies and boost NU, and I can start research. With only 16.38 IC to work with, I have to make choices. Infantry, Armour, Artillery, Anti-tank Guns, basic bomber techs, a couple of industrial techs and a bunch of Land and Air Doctrines. That should keep me busy for the next year or so.
Something I have never touched on, is the composition of your cabinet. Usually, it doesn’t really matter. Most of the time, I will be attacking, not defending. In this case, I have to take NU into account for other things than just getting better laws. I have to make sure that France holds out, even if Paris should fall.
What does the cabinet have to do with it? Well, there are 2 stats for political parties. The first one is Popularity, which tells you what percentage of the population supports that particular party. The second one is Organisation, which tells you how much influence that party has in the political system.
After an election, the winner gets to become Head Of State and/or Head Of the Government. Every party is entitled to a number of seats as determined by their popularity. If that composition for the cabinet is not respected, you get a penalty to NU called “Fractured Government”.
France’s political landscape gives the ruling party 4 seats, the autocrats 2 and the fascists 2 as well (so it would be a blue-grey-black coalition government). Only problem is that there are no autocratic and fascist ministers available, just like Germany has no Social Democrats. So the only way for me to get rid of the penalty, is to make sure that the ruling party has enough seats to fill the entire cabinet.
That is what my spies will focus on most. I got rid of one minister giving me a penalty for NU, but the other one is the Prime Minister, who I can’t switch. I am stuck with him. And, finally, free press will go away once we are at war in the fall of ’39.
Another gamey option would be to DoW some nation or other with similar IC levels and just keep that war going until Germany and the SU sign the M/R-Pact. That would allow us to go for better laws a lot faster, but it’s gamey and it requires a minimum NU to implement.
And with that we start our slow climb out of the pit dug by the Great Depression and the near-bankrupty of World War I.
By early February, all divisions are in France and heading for Paris to minimise supply draw. I have assigned a random Log Wizard to command the only Theater that matters. The others are now only empty shells in Africa and Asia. I could give Paris control over them all and disband them, but those few don’t really matter all that much and I might need them if I have to fight battles overseas.
I placed trade on automatic and I now have enough money to implement Specialist Training. It will take longer to train troops, but they will be a lot better in combat. Never lose track who exactly whom we will be facing 3.5 years from now.
I start building 18 Garrisons. These will made up of 3 Garrison brigades and 1 artillery brigade, and they will man the Maginot Line, which frees up plenty of infantry divisions. I prioritize them to make sure that they will finish by August ’39. The convoys you see in the queu are just a way to absorp wasted IC.
It is the middle of April 1936. I can begin building infantry. I have decided that every infantry corps will command 3 infantry divisions (3 Inf/ Art) and 2 Infantry divisions with Anti-Tank Guns instead of Artillery. I have calculated that I will need 12 corps for my plan to work. In other words, I will need 36 Inf with Art and 24 with AT. I have 33 infantry. These will all get Artillery. I will need 3 more with Arty but they can wait. I also have to build 24 with AT. Luckily, I don’t need these until the winter of 1940 at the earliest, so I can spread them out, giving me a better chance of meeting my production objectives.
June, 1936. Decision time. Forging the Popular Front gives a mere 6 NU, but every bit helps.
September ’37. I have started a Parallell run of 33 artillery brigades. These will be added to the orginal 33 divisions over the next two years or so. Starting them this early is not something you usually want to do. They add to supply needs, and they will need to be upgraded in ’39. Less than ideal but I want to make sure that I have them when the balloon goes up.
More time passes. In June of ’38, I can begin researching Harm. Once the war has started, I will begin to build a couple of these bad boys to supplement the defense, in case I find myself in a position where I can actually go on the offense.
September of that same year. I now have a low enoug Neutrality and a high enough NU to implement War Economy. One day later, I find myself with 144 IC! Now that’s more like it!
The artillery is done. I am still building Garrisons (4 more to go), infantry with AT (10 left) and, with the extra IC I can begin building Tank Destroyers for my Arm and Mot divisions. These will be charged specifically with tackling German armour in case of a breakthrough, so they need TD more than they need Spart (which I didn’t even research – with less than 18 LS, choices have to be made).
It is now December and my Officer Ratio is at an abominable 53%. The good thing, though, is that all the techs I wanted to have will be up-to-date after this round of research, so I can slowly begin siphoning off LS towards training officers. It will still take me several months to get back above 100%, though, but since I don't expect to be fighting before 1940, I have more time than Germany would.
The 2nd of August 1939. Germany just signed the pact with the Soviets. Time to mobilize. Here’s another sore point for new players who want to play France. They have a terrible MP gain and it is so easy to overbuild, to the point where you can barely mobilize anymore. I have all the divisions I really need. In about 3 weeks, I will have around 150 MP left. That is a ridiculously low number to go to war with, but this time I will be defending. I don’t need to waste MP for every single province. I just have to stop the Germans. Nothing more, nothing less. With time on my side, I should eventually find myself with enough MP to switch to the attack. Even if I don’t, I’m not the one who has to worry about Iosif Vissarionovich Jughashvilli breathing down my back.
I am going to end this chapter with a look at my OOB.
The Maginot Army. 18 Garrisons and 2 Infantry Divisions with AT behind them, in case of an emergency. All commanders are defenders. This would not work against human players, but the AI will be sufficiently impressed. Make no mistake. A Division of 3 Gar/1 Art is quite capable of holding its ground. What’s more, they are sitting in level-10 forts behind the Rhine. They should leave well enough alone and try to find another way into the country.
1st Army will be tasked with holding the Ardennes. It has 25 Infantry Divisions.
2nd Army will hold the northwest of Belgium with another 25 Infantry divisions.
3rd Army guards the Alps against Italian treachery. If my plan fails, it will be here. The army will have to hold because I will need everyone else in the north. But each province has 3 or 4 divisions in forts in the mountains and about half the army are Mountaineers and Chasseurs Alpins (the French national brigade). It should be sufficient.
The first French Tank Army. They will be the reserves at the start of the war, where their speed will allow them to intervene wherever a breach is imminent.
Finally, a single Motorised Division is in Paris, guarding the capital against German paratroopers (and don’t think that the AI will not try if it can).
The navy is split into 2 groups. One, with most of the destroyers and our oldest Battleships, will protect the shipping lanes in the Atlantic, along with the Royal Navy. The other one, with our only CV, is stationed in Marseilles in case of an Italian offensive. All subs, except 3 of them, are in the Mediteranean.
I have only 3 Interceptors and 5 Tactical Bombers, which is what I started with. Soon, I will begin to build up my airforce, starting with more Interceptors. The airforce, for now, will try to survive by staying out of trouble.
Next time we will find out if I can defend against the combined might of the German Wehrmacht. See you then!
