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The 1st of October 1939, Just outside of Vologda, +2,6°C, 3pm, Moscow Time

Quickly, 'Devyat' ' took the stage for a presentation about infrastructure, fortifications and Ai Base improvements,

'Gentlemen, Ladies, Secretary General,

In the last 1.000 days we have started improving the defensiveness of the Motherland. The plan for the defence of the Western Front has several components to it:

1. Improve the infrastructure directly behind strategic river lines.

With a total of 96 completed infrastructure projects, of which 86 were in provinces behind strategic river lines, we are fast approaching the goal of 'Level 7' infrastructure behind every strategic river line. The next step will probably be the improvement of infrastructure behind rivers in Eastern Poland.
View attachment 278343
On the left, the situation on the 5th of January 1937, on the right, the situation today.
2. Fortification of Strategic cities, and of provinces between the river lines.
Here we have made some strides with the fortification of Moskva and Leningrad, as well as the 2 province corridor between the Vitba, and the Bjaresina RIver lines. (Biesankovicy, and Chalopienicy) work is ongoing and has recently been stepped up with two city projects (Moskva, and Minsk) and two projects between river lines (Dubrouna, and Haradok).
View attachment 278331
The encircled provinces are fortified, the thicker the line, the heavier the fortifications. Situation on the 1st of October 1939.
3. Construction and enlargement of Air Bases behind river lines.
We are aiming for at least 'Level 4' Air Bases right behind the river lines every 200-250 km. That is an attainable goal, more would be better, we keep building 2 projects at a time, hopefully we will be able to increase the size of these base to 'Level 7' or even 'Level 10' eventually. The main idea is to be able to gain Air superiority over parts, or all of the river line by having well-located bases, shortening flying times, capable of repairing a full Intx4 Fighter Wing.
View attachment 278333
1st of October 1939, Yellow: Pre-existing Air Bases enlarged to 'Level 4', Red: Newly built Air Bases, as you can see some existing bases are located only a couple of provinces behind river lines, and would prove excellent bomber bases. Also visible is the deployment of the Air Force in preparation for possible hostilities with Finland. Due to supply issues and the lack of Air Bases, a large part of the VVS remains in Moscow as reserves.
4. Radar Stations
It is not yet clear what would be the most advantageous setup for the Radar stations in production, but they will surely benefit our defence in one way or another, by gathering intelligence, or bay providing our pilots with real-time guidance. The Committee is invited to hold a panel discussion on this question, preferably before the Radar Installations are deployed...
It is clear that without soldiers or Air Planes to take advantage of them, all these improvements are worthless, so it is only logical that only a small portion of Production is allocated to these things, nevertheless current investment levels should already yield significant benefits for the troops defending on the ground. It is, of course, up to the commanders to make good use of the work that has been done, we will only see if it was worth it once we get into a war with Germany.

That's the gist of the development of military infrastructure in the Soviet Union, I've been told not to bore you with technical details, but if you are interested blueprints of all kinds of bunkers, sections of railway foundations, and technical diagrams of the new radar installations are available during the break. Thank you.
Interesting re radar stations, a real guessing game for Russia: far enough forward to be of use, not so far forward as to be quickly overrun. I'd have thought Leningrad would be a fairly safe bet, but depends how far east you think the Germans are likely to get, and whether you're willing to surrender a few for more early value in the battle. Moscow? Sevastopol? Stalingrad? Maybe Kiev for something further forward?
 
1st of October 1939, 1.000 Days, 'Vosem', review of Leadership, technological advancement & theoretical knowledge levels
The 1st of October 1939, Just outside of Vologda, +2,5°C, 3:30pm, Moscow Time

After some chatter about Radar Stations and Railroads, 'Vosem' ' took the stage, I don't get many late night telephone calls from him, he is our correspondent for the day to day research in the Soviet Union.

'Gentlemen, Ladies, Secretary General,

In the last 1.000 days we have had to deal with a seriously disorganised officer corps, I mention this because getting the Red Army Command back in order has absorbed 15% of the total amount of active researchers and teachers in the Soviet Union, it is a very hard process, and it lead Research teams to be transferred to Military academies to shore up a plunging officer ratio (all the teachers were busy reorganising the officer corps).
Despite this major setback a lot of work has been done, with an average of 18,42 full research teams working in parallel,106 projects have been completed, with an average difficulty of 3,84 (this is an arbitrary scale invented by 'Vosem' ' himself to rank projects following difficulty)

I also want to note the 'borrowing' of 6 project's worth of blueprints and documents, with an average difficulty of 2,50, all of these projects were in fields our researchers didn't have much knowledge, so all the more valuable.
A rough calculation shows that the investment in technological espionage was well worth it. In the limited manner it was conducted, it was almost twice as efficient as researching the technologies ourselves, but back to the point, you will hear plenty about espionage from 'Shest' ' later on.


Here is an overview of our research standing compared to the expected progress of other nations in the world:

Land Units
Army01-10-39.png

Naval Units
Navy01-10-39.png


Aeroplanes
Aeroplanes01-10-39.png


Industry, Logistics,...
Industry-Theory01-10-39.png


Military Doctrines
Doctrines01-10-39.png

All this research has shaped our institutions and the theoretical knowledge of our researchers in various fields. The numbers read as follows:
Theoretical knowledge gained through experience (reduction in time needed for future and current research projects compared to an arbitrary standard established in 1936)
To simplify: green good, yellow and orange meh, and red and pink bad.

Land Unit Theory

- Infantry: 8,3 (18,3)
- Militia: 1,7 (-32,1)
- Mobile: 1,7 (-32,1)
- Artillery: 6,8 (14,6)

- Armour: 14,8 (30,2)
Naval Unit Theory
- Naval Engineering: 3,4 (-15,9)
- Submarine Engineering: 1,7 (-32,1)

Air Unit Theory

- Aeronautical Engineering: 7,1 (15,3)
Land Doctrines
- Theoretical Land Combat Experience: 8,9 (19,8)
- Spearhead Doctrine: 6,1 (12,7)
- Superior Firepower Doctrine: 6,7 (14,4)
- Grand Battleplan Doctrine: 5,9 (9,3)
-Human Wave Doctrine: 3,2 (-17,7)

Naval Doctrines
- Fleet in Being Doctrine: 1,7 (-32,1)
Air Doctrines
- Fighter Focus: 7,5 (16,4)
- CAS Focus: 3,0 (-19,4)
- Tactical Airpower Focus: 0,8 (-41,1)
- Naval Aviation Focus: 0,3 (-46,5)
Industrial theory
- Mechanical Engineering: 10,1 (22,9)
- Electronic Engineering: 4,0 (-9,3)
- Chemical Engineering: 1,7 (-32,1)
Secret knowledge:
- Nuclear Physics: 0,8 (-41,7)
- Rocket Science: 0,3 (-46,5)
These numbers are a good indication of Research priorities during these last 1.000 days, we have a good and even great understanding of a few things, while our understanding of many others is extremely limited, we can't be good at everything, but regaining the 15% we have lost to reorganisations would be a good start to an improvement of our general research...

That's it for the Research summary, 'Shest' ' will now speak about intelligence, with an overview of the work our KGB and GRU have been doing, unbeknownst to the rest of the world (hopefully). Thank you.
 
I actually meant Naval "Air Arm" like the UK's Fleet Air Arm, India's Naval Air Arm,... as in the part of the navy that flies planes. It seems common enough of a denomination, maybe I should call it the Naval Air Army, or the Air Fleet... This part of the navy is still young, the name can still be changed...
There are officer ratios in neither Navy nor Air Force since TFH, that paragraph was about Air Leaders. I remember that in Vanilla HOI3 every type of Air Group / Ship had an amount of needed officers listed and the officer need went up upon delivery, just like it does with Army Brigades. In TFH this is no longer the case (Air Groups and ships have no more 'officer need' in game), and if I'm not mistaken, that means officer ratio doesn't influence Air battles, nor does it Naval battles.
Hope that answers all your questions, always happy to help.

Thanks. When I made the original comment, I was thinking of how the Soviets designated what the US would call "1st Air Force" as '1st Air Army".
 
1st of October 1939, 1.000 Days, 'Shest', review of intelligence operations
The 1st of October 1939, Just outside of Vologda, +2,4°C, 4pm, Moscow Time

After some protests from the navy guys about a lack of scientists, and some unrelated comments about possibly incoherent naming conventions for Air Units (just kidding), 'Shest' ' took the stage, our man with the need to know, he knows every bit of secret information from the KGB, and the GRU, that's just how good he is at untangling compartmentalised information networks through large scale infiltration and blackmail...

'Gentlemen, Ladies, Secretary General,

In the last 1.000 days have been hard for our intelligence services, with significantly lower funding than before, we had to stop sending spies to Germany altogether. We took some big risks, and some of them paid off, others, like our foray into Japan ended in utter failure, here follows a resume of what our spies were up to between the 5th of January 1937 and now:

France Technology Espionage Mission:

Our spies in France were already in place, before our work started, and none of them have been caught. French Counterintelligence must be clueless as to how to catch our spies...
Besides easily avoiding capture, our ten-man French team (the same ten men for more than 1.000 days) has managed to 'borrow' (steal) 3 valuable sets of blueprints: a basic Escort Carrier Design, Level 2 Heavy Cruiser Main Armament designs (from the french Cruiser Algérie), and a design for a basic twin-engine Naval Bomber.
We will not go into further detail about these, as 'Odin' has already sent out reports concerning each of these technologies.
The France mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):
10 / 0 / 0 / 9
Germany Threat Increase Mission:
In Germany the Gestapo is significantly more efficient than the French 'Sureté de l'étât'.
Having started with 10 spies in Germany as well, this was quickly whittled down as replacement, under the new cut-throat budget, couldn't keep up with the rate of attrition, by the 14th of May 1937 (130 days in) all attempts to reinforce the German kgb team were halted, and by the 23rd of June 1937 all Soviet spies in Germany had been caught.
Before getting caught, the spies had a marginal effect on the perception the world had of Germany, this meant that as Soviet people saw Germany as more threatening, they were satisfied with less consumer goods, and harder work to counter this potential threat.

The German mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):
1,31 / 13 / 23 / 62
United Kingdom Technology Espionage Mission:
While not as efficient as the Gestapo, the MI5 did cause the GRU some minor headaches.
10 GRU spies in the UK were already in place. From time to time some of them got captured or killed, but replacing them was manageable. Pulling out was considered as reserves were directed towards the Japanese Mission, but a return to the UK was quickly decided for after the fiasco in Japan (see Japan Mission). The combativeness of the MI5 has steadily increased recently as they are at war now, we will have to see if this remains manageable.
Despite the cost, our British mission is well worth it as our spies 'borrowed' some truly impressive technology: Blueprints of the Sea Gladiator that allowed us to modify some of our plane designs for Carrier-based operations, and very recently diagrams for logistical bombing tactics (Level 2) that meant a leap forward in this area for the VVS.
The British mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):

9,51 / 36 / 36 / 48
Japan Technology Espionage / Threat Increase Mission:
The all-knowing, ever-present, hyper efficient Kempetai very quickly outmatched both the KGB, and the GRU as both tried frantically to gain a toehold in Japan.
On the 7th of September 1938 the (in hindsight reckless) decision was taken to redirect our newly trained spies towards a new mission in Japan, in the hopes of 'borrowing some Carrier or Destroyer technology, and if that proved impossible because of counter-intelligence, to increase Japan's threat to the world.
On the 15th of January 1939 the first 10 spies from the kgb-gru joint unit were sent into Japan, they very quickly came under fire trying to 'borrow' technology, and once they switched to just fighting the Kempetai, and later to increasing Japan's threat, they had no more luck. One replacement had been ready to step in at the beginning of the mission, and within 40 days, before any other Japan-bound replacements finished training, 11 of our spies were executed, having had only very marginal influence on the perceived Japanese threat in the world, and having managed to kill just one single Kempetai spy-hunter.
After this disaster replacements were set to the UK again, as we had lost only 3 spies there in the same period, an MI5 record, only recently surpassed.
The lesson to be learned, is that it is hard to assess the chances of success before embarking on an new espionage mission, especially into a country of which preciously little was known.
Well, you win some, you lose some, all in all the damage was limited.

The Japanese mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):
0,65 / 11 / 11 / 29
Domestic intelligence:
The KGB's domestic operations are quite efficient, as the home court advantage is significant.
The main task of our domestic spies has been the capture of foreign spies on our soil, and they have had great success in that regard. More minor tasks are:

Working towards greater national Unity, by arresting troublemakers, creating propaganda stories (having a state monopoly on the news greatly helps here), and bribing prominent figures, especially those outside the party to toe the party line. Unity has been increased by 0,995% from 81,628% to 82,623%
Increasing the Communist Party's organisation, that means weeding out dissenters inside the party, blackmailing figures too prominent to expel without making a fuss, and some infiltration and subtle persuasion.
The spy hunters can claim 432 killed and captured spies from countries other than France, the UK, Japan and Germany (these could be partially attributed to our spies abroad). And they keep reporting signs of foreign spy activity incessantly, we seem to be an appealing target for foreign Intelligence agencies... At least we seem to catch so many of them, and that must be a drain on their training programmes and/or their research budget.
The main thing foreign spies seem interested in (that we have noticed) is supporting varying illegal political factions, depending on their country of origin. This is countered by spies from our allies helping our domestic spies increase our Communist Party's organisation. No technologies have been stolen, and none of our domestic spies have been caught.
Other assets
On the 5th of January 1937, 24 KGB, and GRU spies were posted in small and medium sized countries around the world on low priority observation missions. With the severe budget cuts implemented that very day, this was clearly not a sustainable presence anymore, and slowly, every single of these spies, often operating alone, would get captured. By the end of may all of them had been captured or killed.
Global results for the last 1.000 days
All together our intelligence agencies achieved the following results with an average investment of 0.35 LS:
(average active spies abroad / total added / total lost / total caught by us, inside and outside of the USSR )
24 / 60 / 94 / 580
documents for 5 technologies 'borrowed'
Threat of both Japan and Germany marginally increased
That's it for the Intelligence summary, 'Tri' will, after a longer break, speak about Diplomacy, international relations, and Trade, as well as strategic considerations that should shape our approach to international affairs and the case for future wars of conquest. We will then conclude the evening with a good meal and hopefully some fruitful conversation. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
The 1st of October 1939, Just outside of Vologda, +2,4°C, 4pm, Moscow Time

After some protests from the navy guys about a lack of scientists, and some unrelated comments about possibly incoherent naming conventions for Air Units (just kidding), 'Shest' ' took the stage, our man with the need to know, he knows every bit of secret information from the KGB, and the GRU, that's just how good he is at untangling compartmentalised information networks through large scale infiltration and blackmail...

'Gentlemen, Ladies, Secretary General,

In the last 1.000 days have been hard for our intelligence services, with significantly lower funding than before, we had to stop sending spies to Germany altogether. We took some big risks, and some of them paid off, others, like our foray into Japan ended in utter failure, here follows a resume of what our spies were up to between the 5th of January 1937 and now:

France Technology Espionage Mission:

Our spies in France were already in place, before our work started, and none of them have been caught. French Counterintelligence must be clueless as to how to catch our spies...
Besides easily avoiding capture, our ten-man French team (the same ten men for more than 1.000 days) has managed to 'borrow' (steal) 3 valuable sets of blueprints: a basic Escort Carrier Design, Level 2 Heavy Cruiser Main Armament designs (from the french Cruiser Algérie), and a design for a basic twin-engine Naval Bomber.
We will not go into further detail about these, as 'Odin' has already sent out reports concerning each of these technologies.
The France mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):
10 / 0 / 0 / 9
Germany Threat Increase Mission:
In Germany the Gestapo is significantly more efficient than the French 'Sureté de l'étât'.
Having started with 10 spies in Germany as well, this was quickly whittled down as replacement, under the new cut-throat budget, couldn't keep up with the rate of attrition, by the 14th of May 1937 (130 days in) all attempts to reinforce the German kgb team were halted, and by the 23rd of June 1937 all Soviet spies in Germany had been caught.
Before getting caught, the spies had a marginal effect on the perception the world had of Germany, this meant that as Soviet people saw Germany as more threatening, they were satisfied with less consumer goods, and harder work to counter this potential threat.

The German mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):
1,31 / 13 / 23 / 62
United Kingdom Technology Espionage Mission:
While not as efficient as the Gestapo, the MI5 did cause the GRU some minor headaches.
10 GRU spies in the UK were already in place. From time to time some of them got captured or killed, but replacing them was manageable. Pulling out was considered as reserves were directed towards the Japanese Mission, but a return to the UK was quickly decided for after the fiasco in Japan (see Japan Mission). The combativeness of the MI5 has steadily increased recently as they are at war now, we will have to see if this remains manageable.
Despite the cost, our British mission is well worth it as our spies 'borrowed' some truly impressive technology: Blueprints of the Sea Gladiator that allowed us to modify some of our plane designs for Carrier-based operations, and very recently diagrams for logistical bombing tactics (Level 2) that meant a leap forward in this area for the VVS.
The British mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):

9,51 / 36 / 36 / 48
Japan Technology Espionage / Threat Increase Mission:
The all-knowing, ever-present, hyper efficient Kempetai very quickly outmatched both the KGB, and the GRU as both tried frantically to gain a toehold in Japan.
On the 7th of September 1938 the (in hindsight reckless) decision was taken to redirect our newly trained spies towards a new mission in Japan, in the hopes of 'borrowing some Carrier or Destroyer technology, and if that proved impossible because of counter-intelligence, to increase Japan's threat to the world.
On the 15th of January 1939 the first 10 spies from the kgb-gru joint unit were sent into Japan, they very quickly came under fire trying to 'borrow' technology, and once they switched to just fighting the Kempetai, and later to increasing Japan's threat, they had no more luck. One replacement had been ready to step in at the beginning of the mission, and within 40 days, before any other Japan-bound replacements finished training, 11 of our spies were executed, having had only very marginal influence on the perceived Japanese threat in the world, and having managed to kill just one single Kempetai spy-hunter.
After this disaster replacements were set to the UK again, as we had lost only 3 spies there in the same period, an MI5 record, only recently surpassed.
The lesson to be learned, is that it is hard to assess the chances of success before embarking on an new espionage mission, especially into a country of which preciously little was known.
Well, you win some, you lose some, all in all the damage was limited.

The Japanese mission in numbers:
(average active spies / total added / total lost / total caught by us, includes their spies caught inside the USSR ):
0,65 / 11 / 11 / 29
Domestic intelligence:
The KGB's domestic operations are quite efficient, as the home court advantage is significant.
The main task of our domestic spies has been the capture of foreign spies on our soil, and they have had great success in that regard. More minor tasks are:

Working towards greater national Unity, by arresting troublemakers, creating propaganda stories (having a state monopoly on the news greatly helps here), and bribing prominent figures, especially those outside the party to toe the party line. Unity has been increased by 0,995% from 81,628% to 82,623%
Increasing the Communist Party's organisation, that means weeding out dissenters inside the party, blackmailing figures too prominent to expel without making a fuss, and some infiltration and subtle persuasion.
The spy hunters can claim 432 killed and captured spies from countries other than France, the UK, Japan and Germany (these could be partially attributed to our spies abroad). And they keep reporting signs of foreign spy activity incessantly, we seem to be an appealing target for foreign Intelligence agencies... At least we seem to catch so many of them, and that must be a drain on their training programmes and/or their research budget.
The main thing foreign spies seem interested in (that we have noticed) is supporting varying illegal political factions, depending on their country of origin. This is countered by spies from our allies helping our domestic spies increase our Communist Party's organisation. No technologies have been stolen, and none of our domestic spies have been caught.
Other assets
On the 5th of January 1937, 24 KGB, and GRU spies were posted in small and medium sized countries around the world on low priority observation missions. With the severe budget cuts implemented that very day, this was clearly not a sustainable presence anymore, and slowly, every single of these spies, often operating alone, would get captured. By the end of may all of them had been captured or killed.
Global results for the last 1.000 days
All together our intelligence agencies achieved the following results with an average investment of 0.35 LS:
(average active spies abroad / total added / total lost / total caught by us, inside and outside of the USSR )
24 / 60 / 94 / 580
documents for 5 technologies 'borrowed'
Threat of both Japan and Germany marginally increased
That's it for the Intelligence summary, 'Tri' will, after a longer break, speak about Diplomacy, international relations, and Trade, as well as strategic considerations that should shape our approach to international affairs and the case for future wars of conquest. We will then conclude the evening with a good meal and hopefully some fruitful conversation. Thank you.
Interesting. Where do you get the spy operational stats from? Is there a screen somewhere I never noticed, or have you manually tracked all those stats?
 
Thanks. When I made the original comment, I was thinking of how the Soviets designated what the US would call "1st Air Force" as '1st Air Army".

You made me realise that I have been less than consistent with naming VVS wings (all planes but the Navy Air Arm...), after a tiny bit of research I found that in my game both Air Groups, and wings consisting of several Air Groups were named 'Aviation DIvision' I'll mention a naming change in a a later update.


Interesting. Where do you get the spy operational stats from? Is there a screen somewhere I never noticed, or have you manually tracked all those stats?

All data is manually tracked through my glorious spreadsheet... I should note that the amount of active spies was tracked only every ten days, so the average is an approximation based on 100 values for 1000 days...
 
All data is manually tracked through my glorious spreadsheet... I should note that the amount of active spies was tracked only every ten days, so the average is an approximation based on 100 values for 1000 days...
Wow! I doff my hat to you :cool::)
 
1st of October 1939, 1.000 Days, 'Tri', review of Trade, Diplomacy and geopolitics
The 1st of October 1939, Just outside of Vologda, +2,1°C, 5:45pm, Moscow Time

With some tea, tours of the facilities, and some chit chat, time flew by, and then 'Tri' took the stage for the longest and most anticipated lecture of all, on Trade, Diplomacy and long term geopolitical Strategy.

Gentlemen, Ladies, Secretary General,

These are dangerous times and there is a lot to talk about, I will make this a three part presentation, the first on trade, the second about the diplomacy on the world stage, the third about our neighbours, and the opportunities and risks of invading or not invading them. All of this will be discussed over dinner later tonight.

Trade:

For the last 1.000 days we have traded very large amounts of cash and goods with other nations in a bid to get the most out of our Industry, and our resources. The followed strategy was to sell excess resources to pay for supplies, so we could expand our industrial base and our Army instead of producing supplies. This strategy still stands, although it has been toned down slightly by the increase in size of the Army and the Industrial base.
These factors pushed us to produce some supplies of our own to fill the growing needs of the Red Army, as getting extra cash was becoming hard as our Industrial expansion was eating into our excess resources, making it necessary to cancel some lucrative trade deals to maintain strategic reserves of Rare Materials and Metals.


Trade deals have been handled in a very technocratic manner, we traded with any country that would offer us a lucrative trade deal. Some deals were negotiated by our small team of diplomats, but as most of our leadership is invested elsewhere, this was quite a rare occurrence.

I will now run through the general figures indicating the Volume and lucrativeness of our trade since the 5th of January 1937:


Imports (Total Volume bought / Total amount of money spent / Average cost (Volume / Money) ):
Supplies: 92.166 Tonnes / 15.805 million roubles / 5,83 Tonnes / million Roubles
Our biggest supplier was Germany with more than 44k Tonnes delivered.
To pay for all of this we obviously had to sell a lot of goods:

Exports (Total Volume sold / Total amount of money received/ Average cost (Volume / Money) ):
Rare Materials: 32.715 Tonnes / 4.781 Million Roubles / 6.84 Tonnes / million Roubles
Germany was the biggest buyer with 30.626.3 Tonnes purchased.
Energy: 68.603 Tonnes / 2.554,4 Million Roubles / 26.86 Tonnes / million Rouble
Japan was the biggest buyer with 20.500 Tonnes purchased.
Fuel: 2.402 Barrels / 1.290,3 Million Roubles / 1.86 Barrels / million Roubles
Yugoslavia was the biggest buyer with 2.010 Barrels purchased.
Metal: 13.354 Tonnes / 934,57 Million Roubles / 14.29 Tonnes / million Roubles
Hungary was the biggest buyer with 4.502,54 Tonnes purchased.
Crude Oil: 667,88 Barrels / 373,56 Million Roubles / 1.79 Barrels / million Roubles
Austria was the only buyer, until the Anschluss, then there was no more demand for our Crude.(Germany later on started buying fuel to plug the gap)
Diplomacy:
Our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world aren't very strong, our best relations being with Germany (125), Italy (105), and Nationalist China (100), followed by Hungary (90) and Switzerland (60), the rest is close to non-existent (below 50), and relations with the UK, France, the USA and Japan are non-existant (0).
This results in a tendency for countries to move away from our sphere of influence, as you can see in the following breakdown based on policy decisions, official government statements, and some secret documents.
Factions1-10-39.jpg

Europe and Asia:

Eurasia.jpg

Sinkiang is, for now, close enough to join the Comintern, but they don't feel threatened enough to consider actually joining our faction.
Both Tibet and Turkey are temporarily moving closer to us in the diplomatic spectrum, but this seems to be more of an effort to stay neutral than one to actually join the Comintern.
America:
America.jpg

Both North and South America are already showing a serious split between fascists and capitalists, with both Brazil, and Argentina, very close to the Axis, and the USA ready to join the Allies if they ever feel threatened enough. Only Uruguay stays somewhat in the middle. Sadly, not a single American country seems willing to join the Workers revolution, or even try to, and we can't spare the expense of convincing them otherwise...
Oceania:
Both Australia and New Zealand are part of the Allies.
Africa:
South Africa is in the Allies, Ethiopia in the Axis, and Liberia is ready to join the Allies if threat were to increase, providing them with it's non-existent strategic resources.
Our neighbours:
Neighbours1-10-39.jpg

As you can clearly see, we have a large amount of uncertainty about our neighbour's allegiances in the future. I will now run through the strategic implications of them choosing the wrong faction,and the implications of making their minds up for them...


Our neighbours on a map:
Border.png

Finland:

We are just waiting for the right moment to demand they give 'back' Karelia to us.
Annexing Finland would greatly shorten our Scandinavian border, and thus a reduced need for troops manning it.
No one knows what Finland would do in case of war with the Axis. They are currently being Influenced by the Germans, but still pretty far away from joining.
The Baltic States:
They are up for grabs within the parameters of the Molotov-von Neurath deal, so we could probably overrun them, once we claim our half of Poland.
All three are very slowly moving towards the Axis, they are too far away to join within the next few years however.
Poland:
About to lose the war to Germany, we will be getting half of it. On the plus side we will gain resources, manpower and Industry. The downside is a border with Germany, and Germany also gains resources, manpower, and Industry.
Romania:
They are mostly important as a big source of oil and fuel, not for us, but for resource-deprived countries like Germany, Italy and France.
Still undecided on the diplomatic front, right in the middle between Axis and Allies.
We still need to recuperate Bessarabia from them, but don't expect this to be a problem.
Taking over Romania would actually lengthen our border, but it would provide additional black sea ports and direct control of their refineries.
Turkey:
They are trying to stay neutral, but if the Axis started a influencing campaign, there is a good chance they will join sooner rather than later.
Turkey is of great strategic importance for our navy, as it controls our access to the Mediterranean, and the rest of the world's Oceans from our only ice-free Naval Base of
Sevastopol.
Conquering Turkey would five us control over the Bosphorus, and shorten our West-facing border to 2 provinces. It also means a direct border with the Allies in the Middle East.
Persia:
Like Romania a country with a lot of oil, but this one is currently growing ever more friendly with the Axis, which is rather worrying.
Besides oil they have prime access to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, which could provide an alternative to basing our main fleet in Sevastopol if we were to conquer their ports.
Taking Persia would be very threatening to the Allies, as it also represents the only land link between their Indian, and their Middle-Eastern holdings.
Afghanistan:
Mountains with nothing of real interest.
Sinkiang:
Our only potential future ally for now, mostly desert, and with a very small industry not much of a threat whether working for, or against us.
Mongolia:
Our biggest puppet state, they have a border with Mengkukuo, small warlord puppet state of Japan
Manchuckuo:
Puppet of Japan with a very long shared border, they have mostly militia and Cavalry with outdated weapons, they are still a huge threat as they provide an excellent staging ground for the IJA.
Japan:
They have only a very short border with us, but this is extended hugely by the borders of Manchukuo and Mengkukuo. They have made peace with the Chinese, and most of their experienced army seems to be sitting Idle on our borders. This is the main reason we cannot afford to declare war on any Axis member right now, as the defensive clause in their alliance would mean a stab in the back from the IJA. Luckily there isn't much of interest in our Siberian lands, and we hope this will turn Japanese attention away from us.
War with Japan would also mean that Vladivostok is in danger of Encirclement. Any ships we have in Vladivostok would probably not be enough to fight off the large and modern IJN so close to the Japanese homeland. Let us hope they do something incredibly stupid, like going to war with the Allies and/or the US, relieving the huge existing pressure on our borders and diverting Japanese attention away from it.
I would like to conclude by stating the obvious, we must secure our borders as they are so immense that even our great red Army cannot be expected to defend them all at once. This means we have to be careful, even when the Axis and the Allies are otherwise occupied, with power grabs and military invasions beyond Molotov-von Neurath, especially those without even a veneer of legitimacy. The committee would, of course, like to hear your suggestions on the way forward. As military action is becoming a very common
occurrence around the world we should figure out how to profit from this situation without shooting ourselves in the foot or getting ourselves into wars we cannot win.

Thank you, this concludes the conference part of the evening, now let's all go to the dining room, supper is waiting for us.
 
Well, you have of course an interest in war with Finland to help heal the wounds of the recent purges and starting to tune up the Red Army for the future struggle. And reaping the rewards of the Soviet-German Pact of course gives you a border with Germany: but they would only take those countries anyway, so at least it means there are a few more provinces for them to pass through before they get to the heartlands.

I'm not sure invading Turkey gains you much. Turkey may start to drift towards the Axis, but their very high neutrality means they are highly unlikely to join them, and the Axis is unlikely to attack them. Invading them only gives you another potential border with the Axis and vulnerability to naval landings in the Med, which may mean that two province border may effectively be as long in strategic/garrison terms as the current one with Turkey - who almost certainly won't attack you.

Depending on timings and alignment, you could consider attacking and puppeting Romania, using its large army as a substantial road block for the Axis later, meaning they start a lot further back and have to fight them rather than counting them as allies. Double value, and good practice for the Red Army? It has been used in an alternate time line, so could work for you here.

The other interesting decision is what to do about the Far East. To defend seriously against Japan, if they are not at war with Nationalist China, could be prohibitively expensive to do properly. Perhaps you could consider making a far shorter and more easily defensible line somewhere in central Siberia and just basically concede Vladivostok and most of eastern Siberia in the event of a Japanese attack. Relocate the fleet (a lot of subs IIRC) to the Baltic, where they could be useful against the Germans, rather than wasted on a third rate front against a first rate enemy navy.

Or even abandon Siberia entirely and, if the Japanese do attack, wait until the war is won against Germany then send some seasoned forces east to really crunch them. (Any possibility of influencing China to eventually join you, as a long term project? They would be a great distraction for Japan on the land, which is what you need.)

Just some thoughts anyway. You could just do the minimum in the west and hunker down behind your river lines, bleed the Fascist monster dry, then take your revenge (I mean bring the benefits of Communism) on whoever you wish to later. :)
 
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I'm not sure invading Turkey gains you much. Turkey may start to drift towards the Axis, but their very high neutrality means they are highly unlikely to join them, and the Axis is unlikely to attack them. Invading them only gives you another potential border with the Axis and vulnerability to naval landings in the Med, which may mean that two province border may effectively be as long in strategic/garrison terms as the current one with Turkey - who almost certainly won't attack you.

I think you're right about Turkey, I checked their neutrality, and it is at 78%, Japan has just started influencing them though... Having to guard the coast would be problem as well. The risk of a future closure of the Bosphorus seems pretty low. I could also take over an (Italian) Island in the Med and make a Soviet version of Malta to host my Carrier Fleet in the med and possible subs, just as a backup for the eventuality of my Mediterranean fleet being cut off from it's Sevastopol base by an Axis Turkey.

Depending on timings and alignment, you could consider attacking and puppeting Romania, using its large army as a substantial road block for the Axis later, meaning they start a lot further back and have to fight them rather than counting them as allies. Double value, and good practice for the Red Army? It has been used in an alternate time line, so could work for you here.

There is the event in which we demand Bessarabia from the Romanians in the near future. In my mind a war with Romania if they were to give up Bessarabia without a fight would make us look like violent aggressors, reducing our chances of cooperation with the Allies in the future (this is probably not represented in game, but that's how I think it would have happened). So if Romania refuses our claims I have no reservations about taking over the entire country because we would just be taking what was clearly ours and is held hostage by a hostile government. If they comply it's harder to square...

The other interesting decision is what to do about the Far East. To defend seriously against Japan, if they are not at war with Nationalist China, could be prohibitively expensive to do properly. Perhaps you could consider making a far shorter and more easily defensible line somewhere in central Siberia and just basically concede Vladivostok and most of eastern Siberia in the event of a Japanese attack. Relocate the fleet (a lot of subs IIRC) to the Baltic, where they could be useful against the Germans, rather than wasted on. Third rate front against a first rate enemy navy. Or even abandon Siberia entirely and, if the Japanese do attack, wait until the war is won against Germany then send some seasoned forces east to really crunch them.

What I really need in the Far East are mountaineers in Siberia near lake Baikal as a second line of defence. Giving up Vladivostok without a fight would look really bad to public opinion, and the non-secret committee, so at least a token defence should happen in case of war with the Japanese. About the naval forces, our subs are split between the Baltic (12) and Vladivostok (11), the point being that 12 subs is enough to cover the sea provinces outside German Baltic Ports, and still have some reserves. As all fleets in the Baltic will be potentially locked in once we go to war with Germany, I want to keep only what is really useful in the Baltic: 12 subs, and our Baltic fleet (2xCVL, 2xBB, 1xCA) for shore bombardment and Air Support. Potentially the long range more modern subs could be stationed in Murmansk to cover the Norwegian coast and the channel, they can go all the way to Channel Approach, covering a large part of Europe's Atlantic coast. Alternatively they could go out to mess with the Italians in the Med based out of Sevastopol, or another Mediterranean base...

Thanks for the input, it's greatly appreciated, the strategic complexities of the Soviet Union need some fresh eyes from time to time...
 
4th of October 1939, 'Tri', call about the fall of Poland, and our successful demand of Eastern Poland
The 4th of October 1939, Brzesc Litewski, +4,3°C, 10am Moscow Time,

After some frantic messages from 'Tri' about
Warszawa being entirely encircled yesterday, everything had been prepared for Foreign Minister Molotov to fly to Brzesc Litewski with a strong fighter escort as soon as Poland Surrendered, and in the middle of the night Poland surrendered to the Wehrmacht.

Warszawa3-10-39.jpg

Warszawa encircled and under siege by the Wehrmacht, the morning of the 3rd, one day later the Polish would surrender unconditionally, note also the capture of Lwow in the south.

A message was sent to German Foreign Minister von Neurath to rendez-vous in
Brzesc Litewski, just on our side of the pre-arranged border between Eastern (Ours) and Western Poland. The reasons for this show of force were obvious, we wanted the Germans to realise that it was in their interest to hand us Eastern Poland honouring the Molotov-von Neurath non-aggression pact. The talks in Brzesc Litewski were short, they consisted only of the demand by Molotov for an immediate handover of Eastern Poland, of course safe passage to Western Poland was guaranteed for the German troops that had strayed over the new border in the heat of battle.

PolandEasternTransfer04-10-39.jpg

Here we see the German troops present in Eastern Poland, you can clearly see where the border used to be, as our troops hadn't started moving into their new positions yet when this map was drawn up by combining troop locations supplied by the Wehrmacht with our own deployment maps.

The Germans had no choice but to comply, with most of our Army on or near the Polish Border and France still at war with them, refusing would have been suicide. The opportunity was taken to covertly fly in gru personnel before the Germans troops have had a chance to pull back, this in an effort to learn as much as possible about their divisional structures and the type of vehicles in use. Once the German troops have left our territory entirely these gru operatives, as well as some secret committee assets will return to
Moscow and Vologda to hand in their reports, we will see what we can learn. For now all we know is that 3 Pzd's (2 binary, 1 triangular), 3 ID's (mot) (all binary), 7 ID's (3 binary, 4 triangular), and 2 Theatre-level HQ's are present in our newly acquired territory.

Our Infantry has started moving to new positions on the new German and Lithuanian borders, once they arrive we will demand the unconditional annexation of the Baltic States, as this was previously Russian territory, and it falls within
Molotov-von Neurath's secret clauses. Once our first Divisions reach Brzesc Litewski, a German-Soviet Joint military parade will be held to celebrate our mutual non-aggression.

I will be returning to
Brzesc Litewski for the parade, and to talk about the reports about the Wehrmacht. Now it is time to celebrate, let us raise our glasses to a bloodless victory.

'Odin'
 
11th of October 1939, 'Odin', 10-day report #101
The 11th of October 1939, Just outside Vologda, +2,0°C, 10am Moscow Time

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 2nd and the 11th of October 1939,

by 'Odin'

Army:
No changes to Army Numbers
Officers: 60.977 + / 69.780 needed / 87,385 %
Air Force:
A new group of Su-2 Ivanov's , 46. ShAD, has been deployed to now Air Lt. General Zhigarev's I. ShAK (now CASx2) based in Leningrad.
Airplane Numbers (Wings/Planes):
Interceptors: 17 / 1700
Close Air Support: 2 / 200
Carrier Air Groups: 3 / 300
Single Engined: 22 / 2.200
Tactical Bomber: 4 / 400
Total Bombers: 6 / 600
Total VVS: 23 / 2.300
Total Navy: 3 / 300
Total Airplanes: 26 / 2.600
Active Leaders: 11 / 19 Reserve
Production has started on carrier versions of both the MiG-3 and the Su-2 to form 4. KPA, the navy's 4th Carrier Air Group.
Changes to naming conventions:
There was no real logic to the way VVS Air Wings were named as the term Aviation Division was used for both groups of 100 and wings of 200-400 Aircraft, with as only distinction the fact that Wings have roman numerals, while Groups have Arabic numbers. Names have been changed throughout the VVS to more closely espouse the Army's naming system. Air Groups of 100 aircraft are still named AD (Aviation Division), and commanded by Air Maj. Generals when operating on their own. Air wings (with more than 1 Group) have all been renamed AK (Aviation Corps), and their commanders have all been given the rank of Air Lt. General. A special mention goes to External Committee member serutan for (perhaps inadvertently) pointing this out to me.
Navy:
No changes in the Navy for the last ten days
Politics / International:
No legislative changes
Poland has surrendered to Germany.
The USSR demanded, received, and took control of Eastern Poland as stipulated in the Molotov-von Neurath pact.

Our troops are but a couple of days away from Brzesc Litewski, and the Lithuanian Border.
Industry:
Industry Numbers:
We have taken control of 10 Industrial Complexes in Eastern Poland, these give us an effective increase of 15 IC, most of this capacity has been allocated to upgrades, for now.
Working Industrial Capacity / Available capacity: 225 / 298
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 48,86 / 78,32
Reinforcement: 0,05 / 0,10
Supplies: 5,20 / 17,24
Production: 139,60 / 139,60
Consumer Goods: 104,29 / 104,29 (+4,9)
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum =
Metal: 76.514 tonnes -
Rares: 26.954 tonnes -
Crude: 68.124 barrels +
Supplies: 29.517 tonnes -
Fuel: 99.265 barrels -
Money: 1.670 -
Intelligence:
Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)
France (Tech Espionage / Counterespionage): 10 / 0 / 0 / 0
{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 }
{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 }​
UK (Tech Espionage / Counterespionnage): 8 / 0 / 1 / 1
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 4
Total: 18 / 0 / 1 / 7
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,34
Let's hope the British spy-hunters keep their activity low, so we can replace the losses we took due to a boost in their numbers. Our spies still outnumber their spy-hunters, but only 4-3.
Research:
Most of Eastern Poland's intellectual elite has joined our ranks, giving our leadership a boost.
This has allowed us to form a new team of researchers for whom the first task is the design of a better Medium Tank Gun (Level 3).

Leadership:
Research: 16,75 (+0,95)
Espionage: 0,34(-0,03)
Diplomacy: 0,02 =
Officers: 4,80 (24 officers / day) =
Total: 21,90 (+0,92)
Statistics:
National Unity: 82,632 (+0,009)
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.336.000 Men
To reinforce(need): 50 Men
To mobilize(need): 411.000 Men
Monthly gain: 41.500 Men (+1.400 from Eastern Poland) (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 8,2 days)
No changes in Party Popularity:
Party Organisation:
- Communist Party: 58,90 (+0,1)
- Trotskyite: 13,20 (-0,1)
- Bukharinite: 8,30 (-0,1)

- Octobrist: 8,80 (-0,1)
- Trudoviks: 5,50 (-0,1)
- Social-Revolutionary: 0,00 =
- Kadets: 0,00 =

- Tsarists: 1,80 =
- POA: 0,00 =
- NTS: 3,10 =
This Information is accurate on the morning of the 11th of October 1939, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'
 
One word on your reporting comrade...Excellent! And that behind-the-scenes effort on Stats = solid-stuff.

Thinking out loud here and not suggesting this but I followed the discussion regarding Romania and wondered about a middle-ground? I don't think I would take Romania, because I am generally "one-track-minded" and your defensive plan for your eastern lands might suffer from that adventure.

However, iirc, Romania does not strongly move to the Axis-corner till after you would take their lands...of course.<L> Maybe others have seen what happens but I wonder what Romania does if you passed-up that theft? Not a clue but maybe THEY become a thorn in the side of Germany?:D Just a thought.

About the East. I agree to fight there. Those old subs can still sink IJN shipping & supplies and imo if you will play on speed-3 or less, (anything greater - you cannot react in time) you can keep groups relocating and even once caught you may save some subs and make that overall force last a while longer. It's not of grand importance but anything that troubles Japan - helps support all their enemies in the Pacific to some effect; "delays may not be reversals" in Fate but they do have unforeseen rewards.:)

Good luck with your plans.
 
15th of October 1939, 'Tri', call about German DOW on Denmark
The 15th of October 1939, Minsk train station, +5,1°C, 3pm Moscow Time

I had just gotten off the train in Minsk to change trains to get to Brzesc Litewski, when the station chief motioned me to his office for a confidential telephone call...

vokzal-minsk-3.jpg

Minsk train station, a late 19th century stone building, plans for it's replacement have been shelved in favour of rearmament.
It was 'Tri' again, he sounded angry:

"The GERMANS... they've declare war on Denmark...when (not 'if' mind you) they win they will be able to lock up the Baltic...this is what we had feared...our access to the world's oceans is being limited ... We must prepare even to break out, and not let the Axis control our trade routes and sea access... To keep up with the Germans we must quickly seize the Baltic states before the Germans control Copenhagen!"
I don't have much to add to his words, nothing the Germans do can really surprise us now, they seem intent on conquering all their neighbours, it's only a matter of time until they come for us, and we will be as ready as we could ever be. The longer they wait to attack us, the nastier their reception will be.

Our Infantry now covers half of the Lithuanian border, and 2 Divisions are two days away from
Brzesc Litewski, I should hurry to catch the next train, as damage to the Polish railway network hasn't all been repaired, and the railway service is rudimentary right now. I expect the 315km trip to take at least a day, including frequent stops at checkpoints to check for German spies and deserters and circumventing broken stretches of track and bridges especially.

I will write again when the parade starts, but until then, I have a train to catch,

'Odin'

 
17th of October 1939, wrapping up Poland, parade and tank-spotting.
The 17th of October 1939, Brzesc Litewski, +4,9°C, 6pm Moscow Time

The sun was still there, but only just, when troops from Maj. General Chibisov's 113. SD, and Maj. General Chibisov's 87. SD, both part of General Gorelen's 7ya Armiya, arrived at the temporary headquarters of Maj. General Koch-Erpach's 18. Infanterie Division at the Southern side of the city. Without wasting much time men from all three divisions marched side by side through the centre of Brzesc Litewski, the atmosphere was festive but distrustful, as the news of the new war in Denmark had just reached the men. The officers shook hands and it was a nice parade, especially if you keep in mind that it was improvised on the fly, as 18 ID had orders to join the parade, but to then get out of Soviet territory as soon as possible (maybe to the Danish border?), it was the last German Division in Eastern Poland, and consisted of just three Infantry Regiments.

PolishParade.png

Two of the rare vehicles in the parade pass in front of Wehrmacht and Red Army officers.
While this parading was a nice distraction, I had come here mostly to get a grip on the intelligence gathered about the Wehrmacht through observation and infiltration of the Divisions still in Eastern Poland when the territory was transferred to our control.

The following Units were found to be present within our territory:
Warszawa HQ Field Marshall von Böhm-Ermoli
Katowice HQ Field Marshall Föhrenbach

1. PzD (L Armx2, Mot, Eng) Maj. General Schmidt R.
8. PzD (Arm, Mot, Mot AA, Eng) Maj. General Kuntzen
9. PzD (Arm, Mot, TD, AC) Maj. General Schaal

3. ID (mot) (Motx2, Mot AA, TD) Maj. General von Roques
16. ID (mot) (Motx2, Mot AA, TD) Maj. General von Massow
36. ID (mot) (Motx2, Mot AA, TD) Maj. General Hânicke

11. ID (Infx3) Maj. General Nehring
12. ID (Infx3) Maj. General Böhme
18. ID (Infx3) Maj. General Koch-Erpach
32. ID (Infx3) Maj. General Fromm

44. ID (Infx2, AT, AC) Maj. General Petzel
46. ID (Infx2, AT, Eng) Maj. General von Mackensen
50. ID (Infx2, AT, AC) Maj. General Frommvon Arnim
Our operatives were able to provide pictures of vehicles and AT guns in use by the Germans:
Pz141E.jpg

The Panzerkampfwagen III, currently the Wehrmacht's main Medium Tank. A faster version with less armour and a smaller gun is also in use in large numbers in 1. PzD.

HetzerJagdpanzer38.jpg

Jagdpanzer 38, aka 'Hetzer', the Wehrmacht's primary "Tank Hunter", all their Inf (mot) Divisions seem to be equipped with these tank-killers. Note the motorcycle, part of one of the Motorised Regiments of 16. ID (mot).

pak43.jpg

The PaK43 8.8cm Anti-Tank Gun (Panzerabwehrkanone), All their binary Infantry Division seem to be equipped with these high velocity guns.

It's not entirely clear what all these observations tell us about the Wehrmacht in General, except for division composition and the quality of their equipment (great, all divisions had recent, if not the most recent weapons).

This information will soon reach the Committee's headquarters, maybe they, or you will be able to make more out of it than I can,
I'm off to a late supper.

'Odin'
 
21st of October 1939, 'Odin', 10-day report #102
The 21st of October 1939, Just outside Vologda, +2,0°C, 10am Moscow Time

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 12th and the 21st of October 1939,

by 'Odin'

Army:
A new Motx2, TD Unit has been deployed to Lt. General Timoshenko S.K.'s XIV MSK, 1st Army Group, Leningrad-Archanglesk HQ.
58. Gornostrelkovaya Diviziya (Mtnx3) has been deployed to Lt. General Klyuchko's XXI GSK, 9ya Armiya, 5th Army Group, Stalingrad HQ.

Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):
Front line troops: 511 / 1.533.000
Support troops: 136 / 136.000
Total fighting troops: 647 / 1.669.000
Headquarters: 52 / 26.000
Total Army Personnel: 699 / 1.695.000
Officers: 61.169 + / 70.470 needed / 86,801 %
Active Leaders: 211 / 37 Reserve
Production of army trucks continues, along with personnel training to form a Motx2, Eng unit meant to support XXVIII MSK HQ.
A new Infx3, Art rifle division has started training, this one is meant for the Far East.

Leadership:
Maj. General Kiselev SK1 has been called back out of temporary retirement to take command of the new 58. Gornostrelkovaya Diviziya (Mtnx3), 9ya Armiya, 5th Army Group, Stalingrad HQ.
Air Force:
No changes in the VVS, nor the Navy Air Fleet (It sounds better this way...)
Navy:
The Leningrad, our second Moskva-class Escort Carrier, has been commissioned in Sevastopol, where it was built, it will now make the trip to Leningrad to join to Rear Admiral Kuznetsov's Red Banner Baltic Fleet based there.
Navy Numbers (Flotillas / Ships)
Transports: 2 / 10
AG-boat Class (I): 11 / 55
Series II Class(II): 9 / 45
Series V-bis Class(III): 3 / 15
Submarines: 23 / 115
Norvik-Class (I) : 3 / 15
Gnevnyi-Class (II): 2 / 10
Kiev-Class: 1 / 5
Destroyers: 6 / 30
Light Cruisers / Profitern-Class (I): 3
Escorts: 9 / 33
Heavy Cruiser / Krasnyi Kavkaz (I): 1
Battleships / Gangut-Class (I): 3
Escort Carriers / Moskva-Class (I): 2
Capitals: 5
Total combat ships: 14 / 38
Total Navy: 39 / 163
Leaders: 12 / 8 Reserve
In the Sevastopol shipyards, work has started on 2. Flotiliya Esmintsev, the first flotilla of the new Sevastopol-Class Destroyers. These have all the same equipment as the previous Kiev-Class, even the profile is similar, the big difference is the engine, which is larger and more powerful, and was teamed with a larger fuel tank. This means the new class will have a similar range to the new Kyiv-Class Aircraft Carriers.
Politics / International:
No legislative changes
Germany has declared war on Denmark.
Denmark immediately Joined the Allies
Our troops are 2 days away from covering the Lithuanian border.

German Danish War:
Danish Surrender Progress / National Unity: 0,00% / 68,90%
GDW21-10-39.jpeg

The Germans have managed to advance into Denmark but haven't taken anything of significance, they have reached the outskirts of Arhus, which would be the first Port of any real significance. Our analysts have concluded that Germany will have to occupy Arhus, Odense, and the fortified city of Copenhagen, to force a Danish Surrender, having to cross two straits in the process. This war may take longer than the Polish campaign, especially if the Allies actually help the Danes.
Industry:
Industry Numbers:
After some repairs one more Polish factory was rendered operational again.
Working Industrial Capacity / Available capacity: 226 / 299
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 49,31 / 70,86
Reinforcement: 0,15 / 0,23
Supplies: 5,72 / 18,04
Production: 139,18 / 139,18
Consumer Goods: 104,64 / 104,64 (+0,35)
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum =
Metal: 76.444 tonnes -
Rares: 26.901 tonnes -
Crude: 69.152 barrels +
Supplies: 29.473 tonnes -
Fuel: 99.099 barrels -
Money: 1.635 -
Intelligence:
Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)
France (Tech Espionage / Counterespionage): 10 / 0 / 0 / 1
{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }
{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 }​
UK (Tech Espionage / Counterespionnage): 6 / 1 / 3 / 0
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 8
Total: 16 / 1 / 3 / 10
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,34
We are losing the covert war in Britain, fighting back (ie. all hens on countersepionage) seems to only cost us more of our spies, without actually killing their spy hunters. The remaining spies we have in Britain have been ordered to lay low and try to steal tech, while we build up a reserve at home to shore up our numbers all at once.
Research:
A new Gun (Level 1), the 122mm A-19 for our KV-1 Heavy Tank Designs finished development.
A new Engine (Level 3) is now in development for our Medium Tanks, and our Tank Destroyers.

No changes to LS distribution
Statistics:
National Unity: 82,643 (+0,011)
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.335.000 Men
To reinforce(need): 70 Men
To mobilize(need): 416.100 Men
Monthly gain: 41.500 Men (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 8,2 days)​
No changes in Party Popularity:
Party Organisation:
- Communist Party: 59,20 (+0,3)
- Trotskyite: 13,10 (-0,1)
- Bukharinite: 8,20 (-0,1)

- Octobrist: 8,70 (-0,1)
- Trudoviks: 5,50 =
- Social-Revolutionary: 0,00 =
- Kadets: 0,00 =

- Tsarists: 1,80 =
- POA: 0,00 =
- NTS: 3,00 (-0,1)
This Information is accurate on the morning of the 21st of October 1939, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'
 
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24th of October 1939, 'Tri', call about our Annexation of the Baltic States. Intelligence from the sea.
The 24th of October 1939, Kingisepp on the Estonian Border, +4,5°C, 8pm Moscow Time

I had just witnessed the arrival of the Leningrad in Leningrad, when I got a message from 'Tri' telling me to get to the Estonian Border as quickly as possible, I got there just in time to see our troops cross the Estonian border unopposed. At that very moment a Lieutenant of 41. Strelkovaya DIviziya motioned me to the Divisionary command building. An explanatory telephone call from 'Tri' was waiting for me:

"As soon as
Field Marshall Voronov's 2nd Army Group was poised to invade all along the border of all three Baltic states, this morning, an Ultimatum was sent to the Baltic states: Let us annex you peacefully, or we will invade and annex you anyway. They quickly realised the Germans would not lift a finger for them, and neither would the Allies with the real risk of their troops being cut off in the baltic by Germany's Danish campaign. The overwhelming superiority in numbers, and in equipment of the 2nd Army Group over all three of the Baltic State Armies convinced all three countries to give up their sovereignty peacefully and unconditionally... That was Easy... maybe we can do the same with Karelia, in a month or so, we shouldn't look overly aggressive in enforcing our claims...."
A map showing the now Soviet Baltic Provinces, note our troops all along the former border, they will now be moved to reinforce the German Border after taking possession of the Baltic states.
BalticsUltimatum24-10-39.jpeg
From the crew on the
Leningrad we acquired information on troop movements in Denmark and along the German coast gathered on their trip from Sevastopol to Leningrad:

GDWHelgolandBight23-10-39-8am.jpeg

Helgoland Bight, the 23rd of October, 8am,
We detected the presence of at least one German Battlecruiser in
Willemshaven.

GDWTheBälts23-10-39-1pm.jpeg

The Bälts, the 23rd of October, 1pm
German Infantry moving up the coast.
The Danish navy, two ships of which one is a Light Cruiser, is located in
Arhus.

GDWTÖresund23-10-39-3pm.jpeg

Öresund, the 23rd of October, 3pm
At least three Danish divisions of Infantry and Cavalry are digging in in
Copenhagen

GDWTPommeranianCoast23-10-39-7pm.jpeg

Pommeranian Coast, the 23rd of October, 7pm
More Germans moving towards Denmark.
The Swedes are ready to defend
Malmö, the city has excellent fortifications, and a strait separating it from Copenhagen.

GDWTSouthernBaltic23-10-39-11pm.jpeg

Southern Baltic, the 23rd of October, 11pm
Even more Germans moving towards Denmark.
Swedish ships in
Karlskrona, of which at least one is a Heavy Cruiser.
Well, that's it for now, I will, of course, keep you up to date on any developments in these tumultuous times,

'Odin'
 
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31st of October 1939, 'Odin', 10-day report #103
The 31st of October 1939, Just outside Vologda, +2,0°C, 10am Moscow Time

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 22nd and the 31st of October 1939,

by 'Odin'

Army:
A new Infx2, TD Unit has been deployed to Lt. General Grebionnek's XV SK, 8ya Armiya, 4th Army Group, Odessa HQ.
Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):
Front line troops: 513 / 1.539.000
Support troops: 137 / 137.000
Total fighting troops: 650 / 1.676.000
Headquarters: 52 / 26.000
Total Army Personnel: 702 / 1.702.000
Officers: 61.169 + / 70.470 needed / 86,886 %
Active Leaders: 211 / 37 Reserve
A new Infx2, TD unit has started training, this one will reinforce XVII SK HQ.
Air Force:
No changes in the VVS, nor the Navy Air Fleet in the last ten days
Navy:
No changes in the navy for the last ten days
Politics / International:
Lazar Kaganovich, a Resource Industrialist (Resources: +5%, Chemical Engineering Decay: -25%) has taken over the post of Armament Minister from Georgij D. Bazilevich, Infantry Proponent (Infantry Theory Decay: -25%, Militia Theory Decay: -25%)
No legislative changes
We delivered an Ultimatum to the Baltic states
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have been peacefully (under threat of war) absorbed into the Soviet Union

German Danish War:
Danish Surrender Progress / National Unity: 96,60% / 69,00% Loss of Arhus and Odense.
GDW31-10-39.jpeg

Arhus and Odense have been taken over by the Germans and only the fortified city of Copenhagen remains, but getting to Zealand seems to be a bit of a problem for the Germans, as they seem to have been unable to cross the sea under fire attacking Slagelse. Then they still have to capture Copenhagen itself, it should be a tough nut to crack with several dug in Divisions and fortifications, it could potentially be very bloody... We should all admire the Danish resolve to fight on for Zealand, even with all of the mainland soon in German hands.
Industry:
Industry Numbers:
The annexation of the Baltic states has added another 6 industrial complexes, increasing the effective production capacity by 8 IC. There are however very few resources in our new Baltic provinces, meaning we may have to start importing steel to keep this level of production up indefinitely.
Working Industrial Capacity / Available capacity: 232 / 307
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 51,75 / 69,18
Reinforcement: 0,35 / 0,69
Supplies: 8,75 / 21,85
Production: 138,88 / 138,88
Consumer Goods: 107,44 / 107,44 (+2,80)
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum =
Metal: 77.879 tonnes +
Rares: 27.653 tonnes +
Crude: 70.512 barrels +
Supplies: 29.539 tonnes +
Fuel: 99.453 barrels +
Money: 1.932 +
All of our stockpiles grew thanks to the fact we have added Baltic stockpiles to the numbers, not because we are generally using less than we produce...
Intelligence:
Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)
France (Tech Espionage / Counterespionage): 10 / 0 / 0 / 0
{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }
{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​
UK (Tech Espionage / Counterespionnage): 5 / 0 / 1 / 0
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Total: 15 / 0 / 1 / 1
Reserves: 1
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,47
Research:
The Intelligentsia of the Baltic states has joined the ranks of our scientist, spies, and Military Academy teachers, this has allowed us to start another new research team, as well as increasing officer and spy training.
The new team will start by researching better Bridging Equipment (Level 2) Designs for our ever more numerous Engineer Regiments.
Leadership:
Research: 17,80 (+1,05)
Espionage: 0,47(+0,13)
Diplomacy: 0,02 =
Officers: 5,00 (+0,20) (25 officers / day)
Total: 23,28 (+1,38)
Statistics:
National Unity: 82,653 (+0,01)
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.342.000 Men
To reinforce(need): 110 Men
To mobilize(need): 418.200 Men
Monthly gain: 43.600 Men (+2.100) (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 7,8 days) Many men from the Baltic states are fit for duty in the Red Army.
No changes in Party Popularity:
Party Organisation:
- Communist Party: 59,52 (+0,32)
- Trotskyite: 13,10 =
- Bukharinite: 8,20 =

- Octobrist: 8,70 =
- Trudoviks: 5,50 =
- Social-Revolutionary: 0,00 =
- Kadets: 0,00 =

- Tsarists: 1,80 =
- POA: 0,00 =
- NTS: 3,00 =
This Information is accurate on the morning of the 31st of October 1939, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'
 
10th of November 1939, 'Odin', 10-day report #104
The 10th of November 1939, Just outside Vologda, -10,3°C, 10am Moscow Time

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 1st and the 10th of November 1939,

by 'Odin'

Army:
No changes in Army numbers for the last ten days
Officers: 61.738 + / 70.470 needed / 87,238 %
Air Force:
No changes in the VVS, nor the Navy Air Fleet in the last ten days
Navy:
No changes in the navy for the last ten days
Politics / International:
German Danish War:
Danish Surrender Progress / National Unity: 96,60% / 69,00%
GDW10-11-39-10am.jpeg

With Fredrikshavn, the last mainland province fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht. Copenhagen has been under siege for several days now. Commander Gorshkov's II Flot Podlodok has been observing the Sealand Region from Öresund, he reports heavy Luftwaffe bombardments, but until now only a single German Infantry Division facing the Danish Capital. Reinforcements have started crossing the strait, once they get to Slagelse, Copenhagen could be in real trouble.
Industry:
Industry Numbers:
Working Industrial Capacity / Available capacity: 232 / 307
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 51,95 / 64,91
Reinforcement: 0,15 / 0,21
Supplies: 8,75 / 24,10
Production: 138,88 / 138,88
Consumer Goods: 107,44 / 107,44
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum =
Metal: 77.924 tonnes +
Rares: 27.717 tonnes +
Crude: 71.489 barrels +
Supplies: 28.570 tonnes -
Fuel: 99.326 barrels -
Money: 1.926 -
Intelligence:
Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)
France (Tech Espionage / Counterespionage): 10 / 1 / 1 / 0
{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }
{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​
UK (Tech Espionage / Counterespionnage): 5 / 0 / 0 / 0
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Total: 15 / 1 / 1 / 0
Reserves: 0
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,47
Research:
Our tank commanders will be pleased to receive the first Blitzkrieg (Level 1) Doctrine manuals, with these new tactics our Armoured columns will be more organised than before.
Likewise our fighter pilots will be learning about new ways to Focus on Targeting (Level 3) enemy Fighters, helping them gain Air superiority.
The Military Academy in Moscow is now looking into improving Operational Level Organisation (Level 3), to reduce the delay between attacks throughout the Army.
The VVS is looking into setting up a rudimentary Tactical Air Command (Level 1) to coordinate our bombing runs so they become more sustainable (Ground Attack Organisation Penalty -5%)

No changes to LS distribution
Statistics:
National Unity: 82,663 (+0,01)
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.356.000 Men
To reinforce(need): 60 Men
To mobilize(need): 418.200 Men
Monthly gain: 43.600 Men (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 7,8 days)​
Party Popularity:
- Communist Party: 55 (-7)
- Trotskyite: 12 =
- Bukharinite: 7 (+1)

- Octobrist: 4 (+1)
- Social-Revolutionary: 5 (-4)
- Trudoviks: 2 (+1)
- Kadets: 6 (+2)

- Tsarists: 4 (+4)
- NTS: 2 (-1)
- POA: 5 (+5)
The Communist Party still has a majority, but it is shakier now than last month, the fascists seem to have had a small rebirth, after their support had shrunk to 3% of the population last month, they are now back with both the Tsarists, and the hard-core National-Socialists gaining 4% and 5% popularity, mainly at the cost of the Communist Party.
Party Organisation:
- Communist Party: 59,80 (+0,28)
- Trotskyite: 13,10 =
- Bukharinite: 8,20 =

- Octobrist: 8,70 =
- Trudoviks: 5,50 =
- Social-Revolutionary: 0,00 =
- Kadets: 0,00 =

- Tsarists: 1,80 =
- POA: 0,00 =
- NTS: 3,00 =
We could quite possibly be going to war with Finland by the end of this month, therefore Mobilising the army might be wise, especially as Finland is already Mobilising as I write this. Our demands will be put forward on the 29th with the possible outbreak of war on the 30th. Committee members are invited to comment as to when exactly to start Mobilising, do you gentlemen think ten days will do, or should we start right now.

Some members of the committee have already responded, with some saying we should have already started, and others proposing to mobilise only on the 30th of November to retain some surprise and forgo expensive peacetime mobilisation. The Red Army itself says it would need between 10 and 15 days to mobilise to an acceptable level, but that figure is for the entire red army, we don't know what could realistically be achieved if we prioritise reinforcements for Leningrad-Archanglesk HQ.

The important factors to bear in mind here are the loss in fighting ability on the Division level from not being fully reinforced, and the huge cost, in both supplies and Consumer Goods, of being mobilised during peacetime.
This Information is accurate on the morning of the 10th of November 1939, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'
 
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I would suggest trying to mobilize a full 30 days ahead of the delivery of the demands. I understand cost and losing surprise but if they are already mobilizing there is NO surprise, they know, and the cost of money is less painful than the cost of defeat. Also wondering about cost sounds slightly capitalist to me comrade. o_O