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MacGowan

AAR Author
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Sep 10, 2008
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  • Stellaris
  • Darkest Hour









CHAPTER INDEX
1939
September
1-7 Invasion of Poland
7-14 The fall of Warsaw
14-21 Inside the Reich
21-28 Mobilising the British Empire and its Commonwealth
28-30 The Soviet question

October
1-5 The Soviet question
5-12 The fall of Poland, and the ambush at Kattegat
12-19 The last voyage of the Reserve Fleet
19-26 Luftwaffe starts bombing Britain and France
26-31 Commonwealth in France

November
1-2 Commonwealth in France
2-9 Soviet Union declares war on Finland
9-16 Catching up
16-23 Catching up
23-30 Catching up


December
1-7 Catching up
7-14 Catching up
14-20 Catching up

20-28 The battle of the English Channel
28-31 A new year

1940
January
1-3 A new year
3-10 Germany declares war on Norway and Denmark
10-17 Denmark surrenders
17-24 The battle of the North sea
24-31 A friend in the North, an enemy in the South

February
1-7 Operation Weserübung fails
7-14 Luftwaffe strikes back
14-21 Operation Charlie
21-28 Disaster!
28-29 Churchill becomes Prime Minister

March
1-6 Churchill becomes Prime Minister
6-13 The new government
13-20 Britain and France declare war on The Soviet Union
20-27 The battle of Finland
27-31 German and Soviet joint assault?

April
1-3 German and Soviet joint assault?
3-10 Waiting for the great spring offensive
10-17 The battle of Leningrad
17-24 The Atlantic war begins
24-30 The war thus far

May
1 The war thus far
1-8 Germany invades the Low Countries, Italy declares war on the Allies, Finland signs separate peace
8-15 Portugal joins the Allies, Hungary joins the Axis
15-22 Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fall
22-29 French breakthrough in Italy
29-31 The battle of Belgium

June
1-5 The battle of Belgium
5-12 The battle of Italy
12-19 At the gates of Rome
19-26 Belgium falling
26-30 Hold the Gort line!

July
1-3 Hold the Gort line!
3-10 The breaking point of nations
10-17 Italy surrenders, Mussolini murdered
17-24 A return to the meat-grinder
24-31 The battle of the Mediterranean sea
31 The Italian front collapses

August
1-7 The Italian front collapses
7-14 Romania joins the Axis
14-21 The sinking of the Royal Navy's third auxiliary fleet
21-28 Hitler speaks
28-30 The evacuation of Pola fails

September
1-4 The evacuation of Pola fails
4-11 Germany invades Sweden
11-18 The battle of Sedan
18-25 Regarding the empire of Japan
25-30 Sweden strikes back

October
1-2 Sweden strikes back
2-9 German reinforcements
9-16 The Battle of Malmö
16-23 The new French government
23-30 The Gort line is breached
30-31 General Rommel, Operation Venus, and the fate of France

November
1-6 General Rommel, Operation Venus, and the fate of France
6-13 This unsustainable war of attrition
13-20 Hitler killed
20-27 The Soviet Union invades Germany, the Balkans, and Finland.
27-30 The Soviet Union invades Germany, the Balkans, and Finland.


December
1-4 The Soviet Union invades Germany, the Balkans, and Finland.
4-11 The Soviet Union invades Germany, the Balkans, and Finland.

11-18 The Battle of Trier
18-25 Christmas in war-torn Europe
25-31 The Axis is slowly collapsing

1941
January
1 The Axis is slowly collapsing
1-8 The destruction of Trier
8-15 150 Miles from Berlin
15-22 Armistice with Germany Part I
22-29 Armistice with Germany Part II
29-31 The final fall of Finland

February
1-5 The final fall of Finland
5-12 Redeployment
12-19 Soviet Union invades Norway
19-26 The war on the Eastern front
26-28 The battle of the Black Sea

March
1-5 The battle of the Black Sea
5-12 America
12-19 The armistice breaks, and the Baltic nations join the war
19-26 The destruction of the 68e Division d'Infanterie
26-31 Britain takes Munich

April
1-2 Britain takes Munich
2-9 Nuremberg falls
9-14 Operation Victoria: Encircling the entire German 1st army
14-23 Der untergang: German Army Group C surrenders
23-30 The battle of Neuruppin
30 Germany surrenders

May
1-7 Germany surrenders
7-14 A red dawn
14-21 A red dawn

21-28 The battle of Tromso
28-31 The long march east

June
1-4 The long march east
4-11 Liberating Poland
11-18 A new Europe
18-25 Attack on Pearl Harbor
25-30 The fall of Hong Kong

July
1-2 The fall of Hong Kong
2-9 The second battle of Warsaw
9-16 "The Soviets will destroy us all"
16-23 "The Soviets will destroy us all"
23-30 "The Soviets will destroy us all"














APPENDIX
1939 - QUICK TIMELINE
1940 - QUICK TIMELINE
OPERATIONS LIST
PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE























 
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1-7 September '39 - Invasion of Poland


"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
And treat those two impostors just the same;"


- Rudyard Kipling, 1895 -



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Welcome to my office, chap. Sorry for the mess, please have a seat.
Ok, so the date is September 7th and we are currently 7 days into this bloody new war with the Germans. I guess French Marshal Foch was right, we should have finished them off when we had the chance. This meeting follows one that I had with Prime Minister Chamberlain, members of the War Cabinet, and a certain fellow from the SIS who will go by the codename Control from here on out. Apparently you are to be privy the information that was received during that meeting. You are also to see me regularly every Thursday for a briefing on the current affairs of the war.
Well, let's get on with it, shall we?
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In the early morning of the 1st, The German Reich invaded Poland. Now, Control, -and you will hear his name come up quite a bit.- alongside the War Cabinet had known about this plan for 2 days, thus we were able to initiate a full declaration of war backed by the entire British empire, her dominions and allies within hours of the invasion. On the 2nd of September, Chamberlain held a speech in the House of Commons, and, later that day, in the BBC studio addressing the nation:
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"This country is now at war with Germany. We have a clear conscience; we have done all that any country could do to establish peace. The situation in which no word given by Germany's ruler could be trusted, and no people or country could feel itself safe had become intolerable ... Now may God bless you all. May He defend the right. It is the evil things we shall be fighting against—brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression, and persecution—and against them I am certain that the right will prevail."

-Chamberlain, September 2-


We have initiated a number of things these last couple of days. We've moved a great deal of units to Dover, there they will be transported to Dunkirk, France, and reorganised under commander Lord Gort. Backed by the RAF. Which we've already dispatched to the French province, Lille, right alongside the Belgium border. Control has some problems with this as he believes France will fall within a year. Fair to say that little jab should not leave this room.
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Late in the evening on September 2nd, RAF launched a bomb run on the Rhineland. The object; to attack industry, the troop build-up on the west-front, and to see how well the full might of the RAF would hold up against the Wehrmacht.​
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It was a god damn disaster. We lost 56 aircrafts. -That includes 25 heavy bombers-.
We are pretty confident we inflicted a fair amount of damage towards the German industry. But by God, man, we cannot sustain those loses. Safe to say we cancelled any more bombing runs on the Rhineland.​
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Instead we looked elsewhere. On September 4th we sent no 18, 17, 16, 15 group RAF, to Kiel on a port-bombing run. This run cost us 15 heavy bombers, but in exchange we took down a decent part of the Kiel docks and 17 Nazi bombers to go along with it.​
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-----------------------------------------------------


In other news: During the meeting, Control drew up several issues he believes we need to address. Some fairing better with the War Cabinet than others. Here are the main concerns:
Airforce:
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The survival of Britain will be won or lost by maintaining air supremacy. He advices us to start building static Anti-Air all over the south country and in industry-heavy provinces. Training more men and building more aircrafts. We need the RAF to be the strongest, fastest airforce in the world.
Engage the enemy:
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(Or as he called it; The phoney war must go): He stresses that he believes some of the ministers would like very much to sit on their hands during the first year of conflict, hoping the problem will magically die out. He even hinted at Chamberlain not being fit for leadership during this time. Something that did not sit well with the others.
U-boats in the Atlantic ocean:
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If the Great war has taught us anything, it's that the Germans have a trick or two up their sleeve, the u-boats being one of them. The highest priority of the Navy, for now, will be the Atlantic ocean. Control strongly advised the newly elected First Lord of admiralty; Winston Churchill to priorities anti-submarine equipment and doctrines. If Britain is to rule the waves she must learn to fight underwater.
Norway:
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A coastline to control the Atlantic from. The easy transporting ability of iron from the Swedish mines through Narvik. These are of interest to the German Reich. Norway is not formally an ally of ours and they, alone, cannot defend themselves from a powerful German attack. Leaving us damned if we do, and damned if we don't. All of these points make Norway a juicy target for the krauts. We could invade Norway first, establishing a firm defence, and further strengthening a blockade in the Baltic and Nordic sea. But, all of this would not look particularly good in the eyes of the world community. Invading a neutral country? That's not very gentleman-like, now is it?
Africa and Italy:
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Control and the War Cabinet believes Italy will join the war on the side of the Germans. If so we need to cover all their African territories, and implement a strong naval presence in the Mediterranean. We can win here. Our first priority for now must be France, but if the trench warfare kicks in there are grounds to be made in Africa. For that reason we have started researching desert equipment.
Blitzkrieg:
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As previously stated, France will fall within a year, Poland, sooner. A mix between fast moving armour and air-support will crumble our static defences. He sneered at the mention of trench warfare. We need to counter with brand new equipment, strong air-supremacy, more soldiers.
Soviet Union:
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In a shock move, the Soviets will back the Germans and invade Poland from the east. If this is true, then Poland is indeed lost. The Soviet union is the big wild card in this deck. We will have to monitor them closely.


There you have it. That seems to be our strategy and intel for the time being. Next week we will have a thorough look at the state of the commonwealth and our union. That includes an in-dept look at the members of government and War Cabinet. Not to mention, the major restructuring we need to initiate within our armed forces.
I trust you can find your way out?

That will be all,
England expects.
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This is a tremendously interesting idea. It reminds me of a Something Awful LP of War in the Pacific where each update was a day. Godspeed, and may Naziism be crushed under the boots of freedom! For King and Country!
 
Must resist.......
Urge is too strong....


THE GREAT WAR CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE!!!!
(Btw, like the idea of this AAR, but dont know if you can keep it going for 5/6 years)
 


7-14 September '39 - The fall of Warsaw

"Przechodniu, powiedz Ojczyźnie,
żeśmy walczyli do końca, spełniając swój obowiązek"


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What are you staring out the window for? Get in here, ol' chap. Have a seat. Fancy a glass of Scotch? I'm not a brandy fellow, you see. If you ask me, we should just send the whole Royal fleet to guard Islay. Anyway, so, let me get the transcripts of today's meting. Oh, yes. Date: 14th of September, the war has lasted 14 days. The press have had a field day with our Rhineland bombing disaster, not to mention that 2 days ago, Warsaw fell.... It looks like Jerry is only ramping up. But, so are we.


FRANCE:
BEFfrance.jpg
On September 12, the last remaining UK divisions to be used for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) linked up at Dunkirk under General Lord Gort's command. 25 Div. in all. Split into 4 corps. We have two draft plans, two operations. One is from the War Cabinet, the other from Control and his SIS friends. Fair to say Control's operation draft was deemed too extreme.

Operation Alfred:
Control argues that, as the might of the Wehrmacht is on the east-front mopping up the remaining Polish forces, the Siegfried line is vulnerable to attack. SIS, alongside General Lord Gort have drawn up what they believe to be a viable invasion plan. safe to say it was rejected at the meeting. Lord Halifax did not even want to hear about it.

O-Alfred.jpg
OPERATION ALFRED
The RAF will start a 3 day long air-raid on enemy troops in Freiburg, Mainz, and Saarbrucken prior to invasion. Airfields in Stutgart, Frankfurt, Essen, and Kassel will be bombed 1 day prior to invasion.
British Expeditionary Force (Gen. Lord Gort) - Corp I (Gen. Dill), II (Gen. Brooke) III (Gen. Adam) , and IV (Gen. Lord Gort,) will assault from Colmar into Freiburg, supported by the RAF, enforcing air-supremacy. In one big swoop, Corp I, II, advances into Karlsruhe, with Corp III covering their left flank. A much smaller Corp IV moves towards Tubingen, and Konstanz. French armies stationed in Metz, and Strasbourg, led by Marshal Grandsard, and General Huntziger will engage and stall enemy movement alongside the front.


Operation Bernard:
The War Cabinet put forth the defence operation of France. Now, the French have their own military plans. As always, they are impossible to work with. Therefore they will fortify the Maginot line, British forces -and eventually, Canadian forces- will fortify their left flank. From Sedan all the way up to the Channel. We will provide air support and reinforcement. Canada, you say? Yes, the Canadian army is mobilising to the Halifax docks as we speak. Australian Airforce already in France. The troops should be in in their designated provinces in early October. Oh, Just wait 'til I get to Inda.

O-Bernard.jpg
OPERATION BERNARD
Corp I (Gen. Dill) will with 9 div. reinforce Sedan. Corp II (Gen. Brooke) will with 9 div. reinforce Fulda. Corp III (Gen. Adam) Will with 6 div. reinforce Lille. Corp IV (Gen. Gort) will orchestrate the operation, and cover Dunkirk in case of evacuation. 1 div. The British Expeditionary Force will cover the left flank of the French army. The Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, and Royal Australian Air Force, will provide air-support for the defence of France. Again Lord Halifax is appalled, he says this conflict is escalating too fast because of Control. Churchill seems to disagree. They've been arguing ever since Neville brought him back. Speaking of which, I am to give you a quick brief on the members of
The War Cabinet:

His Majesty, King George VI
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Long live the NEW king! What a bloody mess that whole affair was, pardon my French. George VI is our honorary leader. His main role to lead this nation and her dominions towards victory. Apparently, Ireland is not backing us. Officially, the US seems to be minding her own business for the time being, fair to say, we need all the moral-boosting he can get us.

Prime Minister: Neville Chamberlain
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When Prime Minister Baldwin resigned after the whole mess, the job went to Neville Chamberlain. Both of them have worked hard to secure a peace with Germany. Well, we saw how well that went. Between you, and me, he was just suppose to caretake the seat, keep it warm 'til we could elect some fresh blood. Poor Chamberlain, having to barter with the madness of Hitler. The remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and now Poland. At least now our Neville has taken a firm stand. No more appeasement!

Foreign Secretary: Lord Halifax
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Edward! Ah, a pragmatic and charismatic fellow. The born leader. He went with Chamberlain to Germany to make a deal with the devil. However, came to see the light. He's been pushing for rearmament this year. He even gave Poland our word that we would help them, and then told Germany: There will be "no more Munichs".

Home Secretary: John Anderson
4Anderson.jpg
The genius. Economics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, civil servant. You name it, he knows it. For now we have put him in charge of air-shelters and other homefront activities. Good, cool-headed chap to have on board.

Lord Privy Seal: Samuel Hoare
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Our all-rounder. He worked on the Children transport case. You know? 10 000 Jewish children fleeing from Germany. Hoare is a left-over from the Baldwin era, but a good one. Fiercely loyal to Chamberlain. He oversees a wide range of tasks. Clever chap.

Minister of War: Leslie Hore-Belisha
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Leslie. Doesn't like car accidents. He introduced the driving test a couple of years ago, and it looks to be doing us a proper favour. Not exactly my first pick for minister of war. Pushed hard for conscription but was rebuffed by Chamberlain. Well, he finally got his way, However, I think he's ruffled too many feathers in the process. I hear the army and General Lord Gort do not think too highly of him.

Minister for Coordination of Defence: Admiral Chatfield
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The Baron Chatfield! Not a politician but fought in the Battle of Jutland, the Battle of Heligoland Bight, AND, the Battle of Dogger Bank, alongside the great Admiral Beatty. Lobbied for some sort of alliance with the Soviets. Or, at least not sending them into the arms of the Germans. Which of course is exactly what we did.

First Lord of the Admiralty: Winston Churchill
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Winston's back! Restored into office and the War Cabinet by Chamberlain. Or, at least, I guess he rather had to. Winston is popular, and he knows war. If you ask ME he's a blundering fool. Responsible for the whole Gallipoli disaster. BUT, he did see this one coming. He's been one of the fiercest critic to our appeasement stance. Pushing hard for rearmament and a stronger foreign policy. Just before the Munich Agreement, he wrote that the government were faced with a choice between "war and shame" and that having chosen shame would later get war on less favourable terms. Now, that's Winston for you!

Secretary of state of air: Kingsley Wood
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Older chap, been with us for a bit. Wood is our logistics expert. He has worked in health, and with housing. Now with the air industry. We have been churning out aircrafts the last year because of him. Not too happy about this war though. He was adamant that we could not bomb Germany's industry, as it is "private property". Thank God we did not listen.
And now on to to our military staff:

CHIEFS OF STAFF:
Chief of the Imperial General Staff: General Edmund Ironside

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Nicknamed Tiny for reasons that escape me. The man is huge. Strong, sturdy fellow, he shots from the hip. Been in more wars than you can count, wounded 4 times. Enough ribbons on his chest to make a small carpet. He was supposed to lead the BEF in France, that command went instead to General Lord Gort. He is now next in line to command the Norwegian campaign. Him and Gort don't get along. Remind me to keep an eye on that.

Admiral of the Fleet: Dudley Pound
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Another Battle of Jutland veteran. Sank the German Cruiser Wiesbaden. Just what we need here in the War Cabinet. He's been feeling a bit under the weather lately, but he's the best man for the job. WIth him on board we might sink some more German bastards

Chief of the Air Staff: Air Chief Marshal Cyril Newall
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Cyril once went into a burning bomb-store to put out the fire. He did, and got the Albert Medal for it. Also supported the sharp increases in aircraft production, including double-shift working and duplication of factories. He supported expenditure on the new, heavily armed, Hurricane and Spitfire fighters. Good chap.

And then of course, there's, Codename Control. If you ask me, there are too many members of this inner circle. I recon Chamberlain will have to trim it down a bit as we go on.

NORWAY:
3Norway.jpg
We've also drawn up the draft plan for PLAN R 5. That is the Codename for the invasion of Norway through Narvik. This affair is a bit fidgety, but bear with me. This is just a draft plan, as the details will change as we get closer to the date of execution, which for now is 1th of april 1940. We would need to divert some forces from the French defensive. Massive mobilisation from the Royal Fleet, RAF. Have a quick look.

O-planR5.jpg
PLAN R 5
The Home fleet will set sail for Narvik (top). Backed by the Northern Patrol fleet in the Voring Bank (middle), and The Reserve Fleet in the German Bight (bottom). RAF will provide air-support from south Norway to the German Bight. The fleet,led by Grand Admiral Pound will be escorting The Auxiliary fleet, carrying the North Western Expeditionary Force, led by General Ironside and consisting of 10 div: 4 div from the homefront, 2 Canadian div. (currently en route from Halifax),and 4 div. from the British Expeditionary Force in France (currently waiting to be relieved by our North African troops). MAIN OBJECTIVE: Capturing and holding Narvik. FUTURE OBJECTIVE: Pushing south via Bodo and linking up with the 5 Norwegian div. This plan will be initiated in the event of a German declaration of war against neutral Norway, then we are ready to coerce them into either accepting an alliance with us, or outright invading them.

HOMEFRONT:
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We've had a look at our production line, and it seems like Britain is busy spitting out ships. We've also added some more convoys and escorts to that list. On September 10th, Sir Wood was assigned the task of outfitting the nation with more anti-aircraft and early detection defence.
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It would almost be easier to show you the provinces we will NOT be reinforcing with AA. heh, but this is no laughing matter! As of now, Sir Wood is in charge of 20% of our national workforce. Think about that, we just put nearly a quarter of the nation's men to work. All of these implements should be in place by March 1940 at the latest. I would like to see Jerry try to fly a plane over our heads then. Now, there is a downside to all of this. It must have first priority. Over new equipment for the men, over combat ships we've just started building. There will be no upgrades for the next few months. Hopefully our English boys can manage that. There's also been talk about initiating a general mobilisation, those talks. however, were put on hold for now by Chamberlain and Lord Halifax.

NAVY:
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Ah, yes, India. We have sent word for the Hong Kong fleet, it departed late on September 7th to Rangoon to pick up the British Raj divisions and send them to North Africa. There they are to relieve the British forces there. Those forces are to link up and be shipped to Toulon, France to reinforce the BEF. All of this is kind of up in the air, chap. But we are moving heaven and earth to move them ASAP to the front. Same with Canada. 2 divisions are moving towards Halifax, Canada. To be shipped to Dunkirk...The Royal Navy Auxiliary Fleet just rebased in Dover, that way we should be able to evacuate through Dunkirk fairly quick if disaster were to happen. It will not.... Let me look through these papers. Bla, bla, we rebased the home fleet to Sunderland. bla, bla, let's see....

AFRICA:
Africa.jpg
We did some troop movement in Africa, nothing too fancy. pulling back 4 div to Alexandria. Eventually, they will be swapped with Rajput divisions once they get there. All very exciting if we can pull it off.

POLAND/SOVIET UNION:
Soviets.jpg
Oh, Here comes the big one. As you know, The Soviet Union declared war on Poland on September 13. 18:00. and immediately commenced a large scale invasion. Big things are happening with that nation this week. Looks like they've reached some sort of ceasefire agreement with Japan after their last border skirmish. As a result, they have shifted their greedy eyes upon poor Poland. Russia and Britain is not at war, and we want to keep it that way, they seem to be on the same page. But, good grief, our list of enemies seem to grow thicker by the week.

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Germany has captured almost all of Poland within these two weeks. That is unprecedented. Control's predictions were right on the money. The Polish boys must have taken one hell of a beating. Surrounded by the Nazi bastards, and now the Communist army, lead by Kliment Voroshilov, Stalin's best-friend. Remind me when this war is over, why we fought it. We must see to it that Poland gets her freedom back. I will personally shake the hands of every last one of the soldiers who fought the battle we should have been fighting.
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Hopefully, soon, we will get to give Jerry a jolly good spanking. That's it for this now, chap. Next week we will see what the might of our fleet can do to the U-boat threat, and of course, a closer look at our enemy: The Third Reich...
i'll see you here in the office next Thursday.

Take care, and
England expects.

 
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Remind me when this war is over, why we fought it. We must see to it that Poland gets her freedom back. I will personally shake the hands of every last one of the soldiers who fought the battle we should have been fighting.

I'd like to see THAT.

I would closely follow that AAR!
(btw. I really like blurred maps and amount of pictures used. I love that typewriter font.)
 
This is a tremendously interesting idea.
Thanks! Just two weeks in, and already this feels like a very different DH game.

Must resist.......
Urge is too strong....


THE GREAT WAR CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE!!!!
(Btw, like the idea of this AAR, but dont know if you can keep it going for 5/6 years)
Well then I'll have to punch Jerry's nose in sooner!
I got the idea from listening to Dan Carlin's Blueprint of Armageddon, and not the Great War channel. but I can recommend both! :) I wanted a regular writing thing where I can practice, try out some techniques, and better learn how to keep up a weekly deadline. Only time will tell how far I get on this, but I AM committing to this.

Hopefully, when Jerry turns west, the BEF will be ready for him.
Hopefully. My main concern is the AI, how much can i trust my allies to handle their own. I've already taken MC over Canada and British Raj, and that's as much as I want to do.

But isn't it possible to hold France with the help of the locals and the empire ?
I hope so. My guess is that I could just MC South Africa, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, and France, and punch a hole through the Siegfried line as soon as possible. But that's a bit gamey.

(btw. I really like blurred maps and amount of pictures used. I love that typewriter font.)
Thank you! :) I'm trying to make it all to feel immersive.

I appreciate the feedback!
If you guys have any non gamey help and tips, send it my way.
 
Popcorn ready...
 


14-21 September '39 - Inside the Reich

"One does not send ultimatums to the Germany of today.
- May London make note!"

- Adolf Hitler, 1939 -



Storm.jpg

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Why, come in, come in! Leave that wet coat out in the hall! How was your week? I was going to take the missus out to the countryside this weekend, of course that was a bust with this rotten storm and all! It's put a damper on the whole war. Let's get down to business. 21st of September, the war has lasted for 21 days. The public is not too happy, all with the Rhineland bombing disaster. We lost nearly 500 men. Halifax is now worried that enacting the Call-Up Proclamation will further cause mistrust by the people. We don't want another dissent problem like we had in the Great War. Churchill, of course, started arguing. Poland is about to be annexed, and we won't even put up a fight? A general-mobilisation MUST happen, he says. It looks like we are going to call up all our boys next week. Britain is going to war!


NAVY:
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We were planning to send the Royal Navy out to hunt U-boats and enact the blockade this week. Show of force to intimidate Jerry and such. Well, as previously mentioned, Lord Neptune decided to give us a hard time. Foul weather forced the entire navy to stay at port. How's that for show of force?
Stormmap.jpg



AIRFORCE:

RAF.jpg
It was also quite a nightmare rebasing all of the RAF Naval bombers to Norwich and Sunderland (East UK) during the storm. There they will help control the Northern sea. If we can get them off the bloody ground!


FRANCE:

France.jpg
Operation Bernard is being deployed into full effect. All 4 British Expeditionary Force corps are now in their designated provinces. All under General Lord Gort's command and waiting further instructions. All RAF wings have been stationed in Lille, with the exception of the previously mentioned Naval bombers, and fighter wing No. 10. stationed at Norwich for homeland defence.
Troops.jpg



NAZI GERMANY:

germany.jpg
So, Danzig has now been annexed into the Third Reich. On the 19th of September, Hitler held a speech there, before the Reichstag, explaining his actions. Declaring Danzig theirs, and further cementing this war. I see no way for a peace without victory now.
Danzig.jpg

speech.jpg
"Danzig was and is a German city. The Corridor was and is German. Both these territories owe their cultural development exclusively to the German people."

"I finally decided, to talk with Poland in the same language as they talked to us, or believed they could talk to us - the language which alone they seem to understand."


- Hitler, September 19th, Danzig -




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Speaking of these mad, war thirsty men. I have made a quick portfolio on the leaders of their government and the Nazi Party. Enjoy the read:


Ex-German Emperor: Wilhelm II
wilhem.jpg
- I'll start off with a fellow who is neither, however I felt you would appreciate the context-. When the Great war ended, Emperor Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate and went into exile in the Netherlands. There he does little more than chop wood, and insist to anyone who will listen, that the great war was not his fault. In the mid 30's, with the rise of the Nazi Party, he petitioned them in hope of restoring the monarchy. Hitler, of course, would hear nothing of it. Wilhelm was outraged at the German people when the Kristallnacht happened, reportedly saying: "For the first time, I am ashamed to be a German."

Führer: Adolf Hitler
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Decorated oficer -Iron Cross 1st- of the Great War, also a god-damn raving lunatic, pardon my French.... Look, here's what happened: After Versailles, we squeezed Germany's nipple so hard that they elected this mad man. The German people gradually gave up all their civil rights, as he gave them an economic upswing from the Wall Street crash. He gave them a national identity again. Now, they're all backed up into a corner. Now, he can rule his nation with an iron fist. The de facto dictator of a de facto empire -Ironically, he thinks Wilhelm is an blabbering idiot. Hitler burns books, silences his critics, shoots his competitors, beats up the jews, invades his neighbours. And what to we do? Watch. We watched as he militarised the Rhineland, as he annexed Austria, and as he invaded Czechoslovakia. We should have stopped this madness a long time ago.

President of the Reichstag, Chief of the Air Force: Hermann Göring
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Ace Great war fighter pilot -22 victories, decorated -Iron Cross 1st-, recipient of the Blue Max - yes, the Blue Max - , last commander of the Flying Circus - yes, the flying circus. Hermann Göring is one of Hitler's closest. Responsible for the functioning of the German economy these last 4 years. Founded the Gestapo, transformed the Luftwaffe into a force to be reckon with. One that is wrecking havoc on Poland as we speak.

Deputy Führer: Rudolf Hess
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Quirky Hess. Spent time with Hitler in jail for their attempted coup. Whiles there, helped write his "Mein Kampf" book. The third most powerful man in Germany (behind Hitler and Göring). Hitler's trusted right hand man, put in charge of tasks such as foreign affairs, finance, health, education and law. Drafting the Nuremberg Laws, further stripping the Jewish population of their citizenship and rights. Motivated by his loyalty to Hitler and a desire to be useful to him; he does not seem to seek prestige, as he has not taken advantage of his position to accumulate personal wealth. He lives in a modest house in Munich.

Foreign Minister: Joachim Von Ribbentrop
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The Nazi hated by the other Nazis. Ribbentrop is not well liked by any party member except Hitler, whom he's a talking parrot to. When Ribbentrop was the ambassador in Britain he made a fool of himself numeral times. Once he gave King George VI the stiff armed Nazi salute: the gesture nearly knocked over our king, who was walking forward to shake Ribbentrop's hand at the time. Totally unsuited for the job.

Reich Minister for Armaments and Ammunition: Fritz Todt
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Quiet fellow. Not too much to report on him, German engineer, worked on the construction of their motorways. Now he oversees their rearmament and construction.

Ministry of the Interior: Heinrich Himmler
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Now, here's an interesting fellow! Himmler, the chief of the SS, if you haven't heard of the SS, they are a rabbid paramilitary organisation under the Nazi Party. that includes the Gestapo. These are black leather wearing, skull insignia showing, brutal bunch of apes. They have built concentration camps to hold and torture political opponents. Carried out assassinations on their own men - the SA -, and brutalised the Jewish and Romani population. We don't believe Himmler to be involved with Nazi Party policy-making decisions. the SS seem to be independent of the control of other state agencies or government departments, and we believe he reports only to Hitler.

Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda: Joseph Goebbels
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Under Goebbels they have equipped the German people with millions of radios, all tuned in to their national poisonous propaganda. Aspiring author, doctor of philosophy. bla, bla, bla. We don't believe him to be involved in the military decision-making process, nor made privy to diplomatic negotiations until after they're settled.

Personal Secretary to the Führer: Martin Bormann
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Former criminal. Bormann's only interest to us is that he is close to Hitler. If we can get to him, we can get to Hitler.

Head of Intelligence: Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
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Canaris is in charge of the Abwehr -the German military intelligence service. He is also one of Germany's best. Fluent in 3 languages. Decorated veteran. Sunk 18 of our ships. Escaped an assassination by... Well let's just say I ought to fire someone. Now, this does not leave the room. This information comes from Control and MI6. It is known to only select members of the War Cabinet. You are to be privy that information:

Beginning of 1938, Canaris started to radically alter his thinking about the nature of Hitler's political policies. Canaris tried to hinder Hitler's attempts to absorb Czechoslovakia, During that crisis which culminated in our Munich Agreement, Canaris was a leader of a secret "anti-war" group within the German government. This group was determined to avoid a war that it felt Germany would loose. The most audacious plan contemplated by Canaris, in collaboration with Codename Vör, was to capture and eliminate Hitler and the entire Nazi party before the invasion of Czechoslovakia. At this particular moment, Vör visited Britain secretly and discussed the situation with MI6 and our members of the War Cabinet. There, the name of Canaris became known as Vör's executive hand in the event of an anti-Nazi plot. The high-ranking German military leaders believed that if Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, or any other country, we would declare war on Germany. MI6 was of the same opinion. The British declaration of war would have given the General Staff, in their belief, both the pretext and support for an overthrow of Hitler. The reaction of our government to Hitler's demands was more cautious, however. As Chamberlain and French MInister Daladier chose to write The Munich Agreement instead of going to war. This was a severe disappointment for Vör and Canaris. Canaris, was extremely shocked by this "dishonest and stupid decision" -his own words-. He seem to be more cautious now, and we believe he is waiting for a better time to act against Hitler. MI6 is still in sporadic contact with him.

Chief of Staff: General Franz Halder
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General Halder is chief of the Supreme High Command of the German Army. As Canaris, also a member of a loose "anti-war" group. Plotting a coup and assassination of Hitler following the declaration of war against the Czechs. Foiled by our stupidity when Chamberlain signed that agreement. Hitler's popularity has now reached an all-time high. A coup now is not possible.

Chief of the Army: General Walter Von Brauchitsch
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Decorated veteran -Iron Cross 1st-. Oh, here's a fun one, Himmler and Göring—falsely accused an unmarried General Fritsch of engaging in certain homosexual activity. He was forced to resign on 4 February 1938. His replacement was, you guessed it, Walther von Brauchitsch. Adolf Hitler took advantage of the situation by replacing several generals and ministers with Nazi loyalists. Now, General von Brauchitsch is currently overseeing the invasion of Poland.

Chief of the Navy: Grand Admiral Erich Raeder
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Veteran, Battle of Dogger Bank, Battle of Jutland. lost both his brothers in that war, that terrible war. Was promoted to Grand Admiral a few months ago.

That's it, chap. That's the men who have dragged us into yet another conflict. The dossier stays with me, but you are welcome back to my office anytime you feel like it to review it. Now let's move on to current affairs of military movement.


INDIA:

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September 19th, the Hong Kong fleet arrived at Rangoon, Burma. There they are to wait for the last Rajput div. to link up, before setting sail for Alexandria, Egypt. The timetable in the jungle is a bit loose. We expect the troops to be there within 2 weeks, the trip to Africa should take no longer than 2 weeks. This operation should be finished in November. With the 4 African div reinforcing the BEF in France.


SINO-JAPAN:
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We are a bit unsure of how many more div. we are comfortable removing from the Burma area as it borders a very unstable region of Asia. The Orient is not my forte, chap, so I hope you forgive my short-comings as I brief you on the Second Sino-Japanese war: Economic and political turmoil in the 1920's led to the rise of militarism in japan. They had to import raw materials such as iron, rubber, and oil to maintain their growth. Most of these resources came from the United States. The Japanese knew acquiring resource-rich territories would establish economic self-sufficiency and independence. As a result, They set their sights on East Asia, specifically Manchuria with its many resources. Now they rule that whole nation, alongside neighbouring Mengjiang. But they're at war with everyone. Nationalist China, the communists of China. Even the Soviets up until a week ago. We should have been better allies, now they have drifted far from our reach and we fear they might, very soon, even turn against us. It is imperative that we monitor this situation with watchful eyes. Hopefully China will work as a buffer for the time being.
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Well that is it for now. With any luck, next week we will see the weather clear up. The Royal Navy can start patrolling the North Sea, sink some germans, cause some mayhem. At home we will start enforcing a general mobilisation. Most of the War Cabinet members are now on our side, hopefully the nation will be too. The BEF in France will continue digging in and reinforcing the French army's left flank.
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Also, we will have a dossier for you on France. Yes, our ally and close neighbour will be the topic of next week. I will see you later, ol' chap. Take care, don't get too wet on your way home to the family.

Oh, and remember,​
England expects.
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So, you're sending everything you have to France.

What is doing the rest of the Empire?
 
So, you're sending everything you have to France.

What is doing the rest of the Empire?

No, there are 3 div. in Burma, 4 in Africa, Australia and New Zealand has all over theirs, Canada will however be empty, and 6 div for homeland defence on the British isle (I believe, off the top of my head.). But as of now, Britain has only 1 major enemy. GERMANY. Japan and Italy are not in the war, and for the time being there is no other theater of war than Europe. Perhaps by sending more men to France we can keep France in the "game".
 
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Let us hope that you succeed then.

Brilliant use of photos as well - the German eagle overlooking the massive Nazi rally was especially eerily impressive!
 
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