Invincible and Legendary - The history of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriottic War

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sebas379

Marshal of the Soviet Union
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Jul 9, 2012
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Invincible and Legendary


The history of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriottic War


zlIZprb.png


After the Soviet Union emerged from the turmoil of the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, the nation found itself weak and isolated, alone in a world that feared and hated communism. Vast territories had been surrendered to the Central Powers to achieve this victory, territories they in turn lost when Germany surrendered to the Allies in 1918. New nations had arisen, some of whom had major border disputes with the Soviet state, leading to conflicts such as the Polish-Soviet war of 1920. Attacked from many sides, the Soviets endured.


After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924 and Joseph Stalin gained power, a process of rapid and forced industrialisation was initiated to drag the country kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Opposition was stamped out and a policy of "socialism in 1 nation" was adopted following the failed war with Poland and the breakaway of Finland and the Baltic States.


During the 1920's and 30's tension began to rise all around the Soviet Union. Facist regimes gained power in nations bitter about the outcome of the Great War, such as Germany, Italy and Hungary. If nations such as Germany would again rise to the level of power they held before the Great War, they could pose a grave danger to the young Soviet Union. In the east, the ongoing destabilisation of the Republic of China saw the arising Empire of Japan gain more and more land and influence in Manchuria, a region dangerously close to the important Soviet base of Vladiwostok and the Mongolian steppes. With the memories of the humiliating 1904 Russo-Japanese war still fresh in many minds, these developments were viewed with anxiety in Moscow. Not least of all because of the state of the Red Army.


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Despite the powerful appearance in military parades, the Soviet Army was a shambles, and the government knew it. Many generals were old veterans of the civil war and the army's equipment was ancient. Most of the infantry was outfitted with the same weapons that were used during the Great War and the armoured forces, though the largest in the world, used 20-year-old tanks, woefully outdated compared to their foreign counterparts. The airforce was in a similarly poor state and the parts of the Russian navy that the Soviet government had been able to obtain were no match for any other great power either. On top of this many of the nations brightest minds had fled during the revolution, making a modernisation project that much more difficult.


It is now 1936 and dark clouds loom on the horizon. The purges of subversive elements in the Red Army have left her temporarilty weakened and if the outside world found out, they would descent upon the nation like vultures. To protect the motherland, the Red Army must be truly invincible and legendary.


Awarded a weekly AAR showcase 6-2-2016
 
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Invincible and Legendary


The history of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriottic War


Gameplay information


Hello and welcome to my new AAR! Before I get to the actual story I will use this post to explain the way I've set up this game and what house rules I have decided on.


Gameplay and difficulty


Like I always do, I will control all aspects of the Soviet Union manually. Nothing will be handed over to the AI, for reasons that will hopefully become all too clear below.


I will be playing the Soviet Union on hard difficulty. This has the following effects:


For the Soviet Union


-10% IC. Producing a large enough force to fight the enemies of the people will be very tough and it is quite possible that I will have to resort to using low training laws to spam badly trained divisions to throw into battle. Just like the Soviet Union had to do in real life.


-10% resources. Luckily this goes hand in hand with the lower industrial capacity so it won't be a massive problem at first. But the Soviet Union must industrialise to survive, and to fuel this industry we have to import resources from abroad. And those will get scarcer as time goes on.


-25% supply throughput. Supplying operations will be more difficult, so the supply techs are even more important than on normal.


-25% naval base efficiency. If you base too many damaged ships in a port it will take longer to repair them. Not really any problem for a land power like the Soviet Union unless we have to launch major amphibious invasions, a scenario I don't see happening in the first couple years at the very least.


-20% combar efficiency. This is by far the most important effect of hard difficulty. this penalty means that even if my division is equal in strenght, technology etc and we ignore things like defender modifiers, an enemy division will perform 20% better than mine. Normally the reason why I don't touch hard difficulty because I feel its arbitrary. However as the Soviets it makes some sense since Soviet divisions were smaller and less heavily equiped than their German counterparts. In light of the AAR I think it is a good way to represent the superiority German forces displayed against Soviet troops for much of the war. Initially they battered the Red Army immensly and even when the tide had turned, the Soviets only really advanced when they had overwhelming superiority in men and materiel.


For the AI nations


+25% AI IC. All AI nations get 25% more IC than on normal. This bonus comes on top of the -10% IC penalty on myself, creating an even larger gap in production ability between myself and the other major powers. This affects the Axis, which is very bad for me, but it also affects the Allies, so that balances it out a bit.


+25% AI resources. In order to fuel their extra industry, the AI gets more resources. We will most likely still see them running out of it though, so the international market will dry up at some point. Fueling my own industrialisation is going to be a challenge in and of itself.


+25% AI supply throughput. Basically it will be a lot harder to starve the Wehrmacht in the fields of Russia.


+25% naval base efficieny. AI naval bases are able to repair larger fleets at once and their ports can ship more supplies (I think). Not really important unless we are dealing with large scale amphibious invasions.


All in all ramping up the difficulty in Hearts of Iron really makes for an interesting situation and aggravates the deficiencies already faced by the Soviet Union in the first place. This should ensure we are not left with a disapointing Operation Barbarossa that doesn't get past occupied Poland.


The effects might seem crippling at first, but really the only things that will have a big effect is the IC penalty and the combat malus. Since I cannot research my way out of that gap since the other majors (especially Germany, Britain and the USA) have more leadership to use for research and because of the crippling ahead-of-time penalties in the latest version of Hearts of Iron III, I will have to fight smart. Making good use of terrain, prepared positions and good deployment of armoured support to take advantage of the piercing bonus will be crucial.


Rules



- No overly gamey actions. Examples would be paradropping on capitals to cripple supplylines of the enemy or leaving a gap in my lines to lure enemy forces into an obvious trap the AI cannot recognize. I consider things like concentrating your airforce in one sector of the front to overwhelm your enemy on a tactical level or entrenching behind rivers and straits fair game, since these are all valid military strategies that work in real life as well. Concentration of force wins wars after all.


- No ahistorical Soviet aggression. This leaves the peaceful expansion as per Molotov-Ribbentrop pact if the pact is signed, and the Finnish Winter War with historical outcome. This rule is cancelled after war with a major power erupts, or 1-1-1942, whichever comes first. Once this happens the gloves come off and anything and everything will be done to ensure the survival of the Soviet Union.


-The ENTIRE Axis will join Operation Barbarossa.
Yes, this includes Japan
 
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Welcome as always!

Subbed, too

Welcome and thanks!


Thanks, glad to have you along!

Soviet Union AAR by Sebas? Sign me up!

Glad to hear so!


Thanks!

Looks really interesting!

Thank you, I hope it will play out to be interesting too, I'll do my best.



Work is keeping me busy atm, and that will last until the end of the year. Combined with the holidays I might not be able to really get this going full speed, but we shall see. I do have a bit of playing done, it is a matter of writing.

A few AI-related problems have been dealt with over the past few days. The game is on and an update is underway soon.
 
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Invincible and Legendary


The history of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriottic War



Introduction


The annual evaluation of the state of the Soviet Union in December 1935 was, to put it mildly, a shock to the entire government. It was widely known that the Soviet Union lacked the amount of heavy industry many nations in western Europe had developed and it was no surprise that much of her military hardware was outdated. What shocked the government was the abysmal horror Soviet High Command dared to call an order of battle. Divisions were attached to the hierarchy at all levels, corps were formed of a mixed bag of infantry, motorised and armoured divisions, the navy was spread out piecemeal covering all 4 blue water accesses of the nation and the airforce was woefully undergunned and outnumbered by even the lowest standards abroad.


Much of Russia's industrial and agrarian lands had been lost with the treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the subsequent Russian Civil War saw to it that an already backward nation compared to the west, was now left with very little industry for her huge size. It would not be possible to solve the materiel problems of the Red Army unless the Soviet Union industrialised, and fast. In light of the foreign interventions during the civil war and the brutal fighting of the Great War, it is decided to strenghten the citadels of several major border cities with extra fortifications as well.


1-1-36%20Building%20IC%20and%20forts_zpsma67szaf.png


The Soviet Navy


Parts of the Imperial Russian Navy have been captured by Soviet forces during the civil war and other parts were returned to her afterwards. The Soviet fleet is small and outdated, something that will most likely not change anytime soon. To make the most of the fleet she has to be deployed in strenght against a relatively weak opponent. During the 1936 army reorganisation it is thus decided that the surface ships should be regrouped into a Red Banner Baltic Fleet.


The Black Sea is reasonably safe with no other major powers close to her, but in the Far East we border Imperial Japanese territory. If a confrontation with Japan were to break out they would have to ship troops and supplies from their islands to the Asian mainland. Their surface fleet is too powerful for us to face head on, but a submarine-based fleet hunting enemy supply convoys might be able to do serious damage and directly assist the Red Army fighting on the continent at the same time.


Oktyabrskaya%20Revolyutsiya%201934_zpsnzrqrlcw.jpg


Gangut-class battleship Oktyabr'skaya Revolyutsiya after modernisation in 1934


With the Arctic Sea of limited strategic use to the Soviet Union, it is decided to concentrate the surface fleet in the Baltic Sea and base her in Leningrad. In case of war with the western allies she is safe here, it would be useless to send her against the vastl superior Royal Navy. In case of war with the facist, she wouldn't stand a chance against the Japanese empire or Italy in the Far East and Black Sea, respectively. The only major power navy she can posibly contend with is the German Kriegsmarine. Additionally she can provide fire support either for the defence of Leningrad or an attack on Prussia.

uYzINcw.jpg

The Red Banner Baltic Fleet


The Red Army

As mentioned previously, the Red Army's equipment is outdated and the order of battle was a shambles. The 1936 military reorganisation therefore features a major overhaul of the command structure of the Red Army. Her western borders are divided into 5 theatres: 1 against each possible axis of attack and 2 against Poland because of the Pripyet marches in the middle. Lastly a Far Eastern Front is formed to guard the border with Chinese territory occupied by the Japanese Empire.


1-1-36%20Theatre%20Division_zpsbavglifh.png


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​


1936


The evaluation of the Soviet Union made during late 1935 caused quite the stir the following year. First came, as mentioned, the industrialisation of the nation, but this was just the start. In early March the government announced a higher standard of training for all future army units. No longer would the men receive but a crash course basic training, they would now be trained to be truly specialist in their own field. In May, better weapons were delivered by the Red Army Research Department for all infantry units.


Negotiations with the United States regarding various trade agreements cumilated in an agreement in May, resulting in the Soviet Union importing 25.000 tons of metal every day from now on. In addition to several other agreements with other nations the Soviet Union was now in a position to actually make use of the new factories she was producing.


The rest of the year would see, amongst other things, improvements to many resource-mining facilities and the inventive idea of forming specialised engineer brigades for tackling enemy defensie positions and improving our own, an idea taken from the grinding war in France in 1914-18 and various nations' attempts to deal with this situation. By the end of the year, a new version of the tried-and-tested Russian 152 mm howitser was developed with a longer range and better rate of fire.


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Modernised 152mm howitsers to support the infantry being tested


1937


At first glance, the chain of command problems had been sorted out with the 1936 re-organisation of the army and all would be well for years to come, or so the government thought. However the NKVD reported ever increasing discontend amongst the higher officers, a situation that would get out of hand if not dealt with severely and immediatly. Thus, the Great Officer Purge of 1937 began. Amogst the casualties were the minister of security, head of intelligence and chief of the airforce, appointed last year.


1-1-37%20Officer%20Purge_zpsrmxcsddn.png


Tests using Soviet tanks and anti-tank weapons during 1936 revealed that existing armour was insufficient to provide any meaningful protection to tank crews on the modern battlefield. It was therefor decided to develop larger tanks with more armour and better guns. They would be fitted with more powerful engines too in order to maintain good mobility. By March 1937, the medium tank concept became reality in the Soviet battle doctrine.


The first factories and machinery ordered to be produced in 1936 were completed in April 1937, deep in the Ural mountains. It was decided to build these factories deep inland to avoid any catastrophic loss of industry like Russia experienced after the Great War. Additional factories are ordered immediatly, these are expected to be finished come early 1938.


After last year's development of new heavy artillery pieces it is decided in July to order large numbers of heavy guns to support existing infantry formations. The Great War proved that infantry attacking without sufficient heavy fire support is a lost cause, so enough heavy artillery must be produced to provide at least 3/5 of the existing infantry divisions with heavy guns. 42 regiments worth of them is anticipated to be sufficient for the time being.

In addition, the remaining 2/5 of the infantry divisions will be equiped with the newly developed heavy anti-tank guns. A total of 29 of these regiments is ordered to support existing divisions. The artillery- and anti-tank-divisions will be mixed together in infantry corps to support one another in battle.


During the autumn Soviet High Command turns its attention to developing better doctrines and tactics for her ground forces. These include better tactics for infantry, mobile units and artillery. The year is rounded off with the invention of marine infantry, better medium tank armour and the invention of the Close Air Support aircraft. Also the industrialistion project continues with more factories coming online in the Ural mountains around Christmas.


International developments


After numerous elections, riots in parliament and the streets, things finally came to head in Spain in September. On the 1st of that month, general Francisco Franco Bahamonde launched a military coup d'etat against the ruling Republican government. Loyalist forces prevented the coup from succeeding, plunging the country into civil war. Army units in the north of Spain and around Gibraltar joined the uprising whilst forces in central Castille and Galicia backed the Republcan government. The rebels quickly overran Madrid and Barcelona and pushed the Republicans in Galicia further into the corner. At the same time the Republican divisions in southern Spain marched on the border with Gibraltar, cornering local Nationalist troops against the coast.


Republican troops launched a counterattack and recaptured Madrid on October 9th, but at the same time several Republican holdouts in northern Spain were being crushed by the facist rebels. Next week saw a Nationalist breakout from Gibraltar towards the Portugese border in an attempt to link up with supplylines through the fellow facist nation. The Republicans counterattacked in the east net, broke the Nationalist army's lines at Barcelona and re-opened a border with France in early November.


The offensive was short-lived though, as the Nationalist army crushed the Galician positions in November and turned several of her divisions around to counterattack. When December rolled around it was clear Franco's army had the upper hand. Barcelona was recaptured and a link was established with troops in Southern Spain, surrounding and capturing several Republican formations near the Portugese border. Republican ground was now reduced to the southeast of Spain.


1-12-1936%20Spain_zpswarxvoke.jpg



Nationalist forces launched an attack from Barcelona south along the coast during January, pushing closer to the new Republican capital, thinking the war was won. But the Republican government had an ace up her sleeve and launched a full scale counterattack in March, reaching the Portugese border once again and cutting Nationalist positions in half. Madrid was still in rebel hands but a government counterattack seemed succesfull. During May, a large Republican offensive in the south slowly reduced Franco's forces around Gibraltar, finally capturing the whole lot of them in early June.


4-6-37%20Spain_zps1lj4vfcb.jpg


Spain on the 4th of June 1937

June was a month of practical stalemate as both armies squared off against one another, though the nationalist took limited ground near the Portugese border. This ground was lost again in September when the Republican army counterattacked here. Franco shifted his strenght east and started pushing south along the east coast. In late October the government army's counteroffensive cumilated in the liberation of Madrid and much of western Spain.Fighting slowed down again in December and the lines stabilised, with the Repubican army holding the south and center of Spain and the rebels controlling the north.


1-12-37%20Spain_zps03nrr1st.png


Spain on December 1st, 1937

The Spanish Civil War was not the only conflict to break out during this period. Tension had been mounting in Asia throughout 1937 between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had taken large parts of China in war in 1895 and through subversive actions in the 1930's and now launched a general offensive against the divided and weakened Chinese state in August 1937. The Japanese seized Beiping and quickly advanced in northern China before being halted by Nationalist forces on the eastern side of the front. Japan then moved its strenght to the right flank and conquered the Shanxi army in November. By December the Nationalist army was falling back to the interior at breakneck speed, with Japanese troops in hot pursuit. This war seemed all but over already.
 
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Good to see the republicans winning :)

That's a lot of IC you're building there though; it's a very large investment. I hope you can still field a strong enough army for when the war begins.

The Spansh Republic is doing good indeed. I was getting really worried in November 1936 when Galicia fell to the Nationalist, it seemed to be all but over for the loyalist.
It is a lot of IC, but rmember that is a 1-1-36 screenshot and we'r still on the worst economic mobilisation laws. Available production increased overtime so the IC production will finish on time for my needs.

I just noticed an image had unexplainably gone missing in the navy section of the previous update, that has been rectified
 
Invincible an Legendary


The history of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriottic War



This is a rather lenghty update, but divided in a few topics I wanted to cover, so you can easily read it in stages if you so desire


Technological developments continued into 1938 as the Soviet Union rapidly modernised her industry and military. Additional industrial centers were opened deep in Siberia in March as hundreds of artillery pieces rolled from the factory floors to reinforce the existing infantry divisions.


In respons to the German annexation of Austria in March, orders went out to expand the Red Guard. 7 elite infantry divisions would be recruited to form an infantry shock force capable of holding their own in the thickest of fighting. Each divisions consists of only 2 guard regiments, as opposed to 3 infantry regiments in regular infantry divsions. However they would be backed by both a regiment of heavy artillery and one of heavy AT guns. This training program would be followed in April with the raising of a full infantry army, 25 divisions strong.


1938%20Guard%20infantry%20parade_zps1loyuyxf.jpg


Soldiers of the 3. Red Guard Division on parade after completing their training


May and June would be busy months in the Soviet army. First, military R&D departments were hard at work developing tougher and better light armour, industrial production and new heavy artillery models. The Airforce underwent a major training program, increasing their morale and tactical prowess.


The Red Army was also strenghtened significantly during these months as the production of heavy support brigades for the existing infantry divisions, as ordered in 1937, was completed. They would now be deployed to the troops in the field, greatly increasing their firepower. Future divisions would be raised with these elements already attached, but this series of heavy guns at least ensured the existing divisions were up to the same standards.


30-6-38%20heavy%20support_zpszvvh51t5.jpg


With the existing infantry divisions now mostly up to modern standards when it comes to equipment, new elite guard divisions to do the toughest jobs, the Red Army turns her attention to the mobile divisions. Several formations of cavalry were still part of the order of battle, a completely outdated type of unit that had no place on a modern battlefield. However many of these men had extensive experience in mobile warfare, so it was decided that, rather than disbanding the formations, they would be reformed to medium armoured divisions. This would give the Soviet army a much needed mobile force with a serious punch capable of holding its own in modern war.


In October, following the German annexation of the Sudetenland, the requested expansion of the Red Guard came to fruit with the deployment of the 7 guard infantry divisions. A parade on Red Square, backed by the new armoured formations, would show the world that the Soviet Union would not be intimidated like the western democracies. Driving this point home further, authorisation was given for the raising of another 25 infantry divisions a week later.


1939


The last months of 1938 passed quietly, both at home and abroad, though it was obvious tension between nations was rising. Most likely frightened by the Japanese invasion and defeat of China, the government of the Mongolian Socialist Republic asked to purchase a squadron of SU-2 dive bombers to guard their borders.


More importantly however, after the recent upgrading of the cavalry divisions to medium armour, it was now time to get rid of the old BT-7 light tanks and replace them with proper T-34 medium tanks as well. These would form the core of the armoured fist of the Soviet Union. In addition to upgrading their tanks, the divisions would receive regiments of the recently developed SU-14 self-propelled artillery guns for supporting fire, and 2 brigades of motorised infantry for the divisions that lacked this complement.


SU-14%20on%20trial%201934_zpsobbwf7m0.jpg


New SU-14 self-propelled artillery


After extensive trials with the existing armoured forces of the Red Army it has been decided that even heavier tanks are needed in order to take and hold crucial locations in heavy fighting. In order to facilitate this, the concept of heavy tank regiments is developed in April 1939.


The recently recruited infantry divisions have strenghtened the army well, but with the increasing tension in Europe and Asia the Soviet Union needs more. Another 25 infantry divisions are recruited and in order to guard the borders, massive RADAR installations are constructed in Leningrad, Sevastopol and Vladiwostok.


By August 1939, much of the Soviet Union's industry is shifted to the airforce with orders for 7 wings of interceptors (LaGG-3), 8 wings of IL-2m Sturmovik dive bombers and 8 wings of La-5 longrange escort fighters being placed. All of these are single-engine aircraft constructed with similar engines and airframes, preventing the strain on the research and development department that would be caused by developing heavier aircraft.


LaGG-3%20and%20pilot_zpseyxp5emm.jpg


A pilot with his new LaGG-3 fighter aircraft


In sharp contrast to the previous months and years, from August onwards Soviet leadership orders a much higher focus on recruiting and training officers, leaving only enough investment in the research department to improve upon the recently developed heavy tank concept.


Finally, and completely unrelated to the recent increase in tensions in Europe, the 8 elite divisions of the Red Guard Army are send on an autumn excercise in the Karelian forests near Leningrad. Later that month, other infantry elements are also sent north for training in the forests of northern Karelia.


14-8-39%20Red%20Guard%20on%20exercise%20near%20Leningrad_zps4abpsl9k.png


Foreign Affairs


Spain


Wars continue to rage in both Spain and China. During the 1937 campaign against the facist rebels, the Spanish army and her supporters had captured the rebel forces in the southern part of the country, dealing a crippling blow to Franco's forces. By the end of the year Madrid had been retaken and loyalist forces started pushing into Galicia. Francos rebels launched a counterattack northeast of Madrid, but after vicious fighting this incursion war repulsed with heavy losses. Now the time has come for the loyalist army to counterattack.


coZEjmk.jpg


The Spanish front on February 28th, 1938


The government army begins an offensive along the entire front, with its strongest elements in the center. Attacking with a vengenace, their aim is nothing less than to drive the rebel forces into the Atlantic ocean. During the first 2 months of 1938, most of the Portugese border and large parts of Aragon are retaken. In March the army sets its sights on Spain's northern coastline near the French border in order to cut the facist army in half.


8C3X5Wp.jpg


Map of the important cities of Spain, April 1st 1938


The breach in the Nationalist lines in the north is widened during the first weeks of April and a daring charge towards the French border cuts Franco's forces into even smaller bits. At the same time Republican artillery shells the rebel positions around Barcelona non-stop, but where the rest of their forces break and run, these troops stand firm. The Republican army liberates much of Galicia, pressing these parts of Franco's troops into the Atlantic one step at a time. By May 1938 only the city of La Coruna and its immediate surroundings are held by the rebels. In ferocious street fighting lasting most of April, Barcelona is finally liberated on May 2nd. La Coruna follows a week later, ending the war in Galicia. On May 10th 1938, general Franco surrenders along with the last remnants of his army trapped in the Pyrenee mountains.


9-5-38%20conquest%20of%20Galicia_zpsunirovhu.png


The situation in Spain the day prior to the rebels' surrender


China


The Japanese invasion of China that began in August 1937 had already seen teh rapid fall of the army of Shanxi, resulting in a massed Japanese invasion of Central China during the winter. By the end of January, Japanese infantry approached the Shanghai region while other formations destroyed Chinese resistance near the Yunnan region, not far from Burma.


31-1-38%20China_zpsl0wawfk7.png


As Japanese forces stormed Shanghai, threathened Yunnan and began to approach the Guanxi region in southern China, the Chinese governent decided to sign an armistice with the invaders in March 1938, rather than continue the bloodbath. In the agreement, China lost most of her coastline and important cities and rich resource regions were occupied by the Japanese. This worrying move now leaves the Imperial Japanese Army free to amass her strenght on the Soviet borders near Manchuria, an event that greatly worries Soviet High Command.


In response to these developments, the Caucasus front, an army of 11 infantry divisions with specialist mountain combat training and equipment, is relocated to the far east. Local border guards in the Caucasus are sufficient to keep an eye on Turkey and Persia and with the recent Japanese invasion of China and the heavy troop movements involved, the Soviet border in the area must be adequatly protected. The mountain divisions will reinforce the infantry already present here andtake up positions in the mountain ranges on the Chinese border north of Vladiwostok.


Europe


The very same day the armistice in China was signed, March 10th 1938, German forces marched into Austria unopposed, annexing the nation after a nazi-coup took control of it. The blatant disrespect for the Treaty of Versailles, and especially the lack of response from the western powers, showed that the War to End All Wars might not have been what was advocated on the tin.


This fear increased greatly on the 9th of September, as the world looked on in silence when German soldiers invaded Czechoslovakia and occupied the Sudetenland. The Czech army, outnumbered, intimidated and left to their fate by the western powers, was helpless to stop the violation of their territory.


Trouble in Europe continued the following year, when Germany annexed Bohemia and Moravia and intalled a puppet government in Slovakia, effectively wiping Czechoslovakia from the map. The Soviet Union, despite being an ally of the Central-European nation, had not been informed of negotiations by either Germany or the western allies. It was now clear that nothing should be expected from Russia's old ally France in case of problems with the facist powers, so the Soviet Union will have to look after her security completely on her own for the time being.


The British proclaimed a guarantee of independence on Poland and France, Poland and Hungary mobilise their armies during the following week. On May 1st the Kingdom of Italy signs an alliance with Germany.


With these developments in mind, the Soviet government decides she has to choose for her own security. The French and British have, time and again, abandoned their Central-European allies to their fate in the face of German agression. They will surely not intervene if the facist powers that continue to encircle the Soviet Union launch their inevitable attack. More time is needed to bring the Red Army to full strenght. In this light, the Soviet Union responded positively when German foreign minister von Ribbentrop visited Moscow and raised the idea of a non-agression pact and division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The latter clausules have of course not been fully revealed to the world, yet.


7-8-39%20Molotov-Ribbentrop%20pact_zpstf2vdebe.png


The bomb bursts 3 weeks later when Germany launches a full-scale invasion of Poland. The western allies finally show some backbone and unexpectedly declare war on Germany. Nations in the vicinity such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Hungary mobilise their armies as the British Commonwealth joins in declaring war.


Although the Poles fight fiercly, German superiority is too much to handle. The south and west of the nation have fallen by the 11th and German troops enter Warsaw from the south a week later. The Polish government fled to Krakow and the army made another stand of a week there before evacuating the nation. Poland had fallen, and rightfully Russian lands have been returned to the Soviet Union as per agreement with Germany.

With the world distracted by the events in Poland, the Soviet Union starts to claim the spoils assigned to her in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. On September 14th Red Army units enter the Baltic States and the nations are annexed without firing a shot.


14-9-39%20Ultimatum%20to%20the%20Baltic%20States_zpsbh0woyiq.png


27-9-39%20Fall%20of%20Poland_zpsydcotacu.png
 
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Subscribing. I will be interested to see how you handle the invasion, if it comes.
 
Subscribing. I will be interested to see how you handle the invasion, if it comes.

Welome! If any foreign power is foolish enough to set foot on Soviet soil, we have full confidence that the Red Army will carry the fight to their soil in a matter of days. None can stand before the invincible Red Army.
Stalin said it so it must be true. Right?...

Joking aside and without spoiling the future: There is going to be some serious fighting, I guarantee you that. You will get the first taste of that in the next chapter.

But to wet your appetite, a teaser from a future episode below. I'm not telling you the date or any context of course, but suffice to say this example is big, but not out of the ordinary.

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So the action will begin! I eagerly await to see the days leading up to the war between you and Germany.
 
So the action will begin! I eagerly await to see the days leading up to the war between you and Germany.

The first bit of action will come in the next chapter with the Winter War against Finland. After that it is either 1 or 2 updates until the main event. And of course in the mean time we watch the Allied-Axis war unfold.


Welcome, I hope you continue to enjoy the AAR!

Can't wait to see your Red Army in action against the full force of the Axis. Count me in! :cool:

Welcome to you too, and thanks. I shouldn't be too much longer until that bomb goes off.