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Yey! Is Mussolini shouting about superior brits, useless french and difficut germans in it????

Mussolini shouting most definitely, the other bits, well.... :D
 
Chapter 121


musso.jpg



26th June 1940

Rome, Italy

The room was thick with bookshelves that were groaning under the weight of the old books that had been deposited on them. The man in the room however had no intention of reading any of them. Most of them were about statecraft* and Il Duche needed none of that. He was more than fit to lead Italy to Glory already. He did however look at the map and the reports that were piling up on a small desk in the very centre of the room. He picked up one of them and walked towards the window. Outside a perfect summer day shone, and Rome, like the rest of Italy basked in the warm sunlight that grazed the entire peninsula. He had no eyes for that though. The report in his hand was from the Italian military attaché in Paris, and from what he wired home, the French were close to the breaking point. After the loss of Verdun, Metz and Sedan were threatened, and several of the northernmost forts of the Maginot line were cut off though still fighting. One German Panzer Division in particular sent the French reeling, it's lighting-fast movements earning it the nickname of the Lightning Division. In the North the Allies had managed to retake what remained of Ghent after a gruesome battle that had apparently destroyed more Divisions that the German Army had in the first place. No matter what was true, the Allies had the strategic City back. In the centre of the northern Front the accursed British were holding fast, dying in droves to keep the corridor open and to allow the remaining Belgian units and the Civilians to evacuate. Around the open city itself the Belgian Army was fighting for every inch of ground, many of their soldiers rather dying where they stood instead of giving their capital to the enemy. The Belgians and the British... they had been the ones that had thrown the wrench in the plan Hitler and Stalin had developed. No one, neither in Rome, Berlin or Moscow had suspected them of first deploying so fast and then fighting so well. Most of the reports from Berlin indicated that the British had not been held in too high regard in the OKW, but the brilliant Defence Ironside and Leopold III had conducted had proven them otherwise. Nevertheless, the Axis powers were moving forward and were on the road to victory, that much was certain. It was only a matter of time before a peace was concluded. Where did that leave Italy? Nowhere! The accursed British Carriers were still prowling the Mare Nostrum, only yesterday had HMS Furious been spotted near Taranto, and HMS Warspite was currently patrolling in the Ionian sea. The British still had a stranglehold on the trade in the area, and still held massive swaths of territory that were rightfully part of the new Roman Empire.

“GET ME BALBO IN HERE!” Mussolini yelled. Balbo would hear the plan he had hatched. He allowed himself a small smile while he waited for his favourite General to arrive. While he waited for the General he looked outside again, and for the first time he acknowledged the weather. Turning back towards the table, he dragged the map from under a pile of reports, sending them tumbling down to the floor. Pushing the remaining pieces of paper from the desk to the floor, he unfolded the map. It showed the Mediterranean Sea with Italy in the centre. Grinning madly, the Duche pointed his thick pointing his index finger at the place where he intended to strike. The Army may not yet be ready for War against the Allies, which, admittedly still commanded huge resources. When Balbo entered the room, he found the Duche sitting in one of the many armchairs that took op the little space at the walls that was not covered by shelves. “Balbo my friend,” Mussolini said, standing up and walking towards the general with a few heavy steps. “Balbo, we are going to war!” Balbo did his best to hide the surprise and anxiety. War? Against the Allies? Even in their weakened state, they.... “Against France and England, Duche?” Mussolini shook his head. “No, Balbo. Let them weaken themselves more. When they are fully distracted we will strike at them, and we will defeat them. The French are only holding together because of the English. As soon as they have fled from the continent we shall strike. No, we are going to war somewhere else. Here.” He pointed again. Balbo squinted closer and looked back up after a few seconds. “Duche, this will still take some time. Operations of this sort are not easy and...” “RUBBISH!” the Duche yelled. Calming down he said after a short while: “The Italian soldier is always ready!” Balbo silently sighed and inwardly made the sign of the cross. The next few minutes would be difficult. When the Germans had attacked in May, it had taken the Staff almost nine days to talk the Duche out of going to war there and then. At that time the Italian Army had been even less ready, and the situation had barely improved. The desired enemy was definitely in an even worse shape, but if things went wrong..... “Duche, the Soldiers are ready, but logistical matters need to be consid...” Mussolini interrupted him again. “Logistics, pah!” “Duche, remember our soldiers need more than ammunition. They need food, they need boots, they need uniforms, they need pasta. Assembling these things takes time, not to mention that we also need to assemble the troops and the ships and planes we need.” “How long?” Il Duche barked. Balbo took a deep breath. This was it. He would either walk out with a ruptured eardrum or being carried out feet first. Not sure what he preferred he said the dreaded words. “Three weeks, Duche.”

At first the Duche did not react at all, but then he went white in the face, before going red. Knowing what was about to come, Balbo stepped back and steeled himself for the onslaught. “THREE WEEKS? THREE WEEKS? THREE WEEKS?” Mussolini yelled. “ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU ARE UNABLE TO CARRY OUT MY ORDERS? I WANT THE INVASION NEXT WEEK!” Making a calming gesture with his hands Balbo said: “No, Duche, not at all. But you have to admit, this is all a bit short notice. We have the plans, yes, but you ordered the Army to be deployed to Lybia and the French border. Calling the units back from the French border alone will take at least a week, not counting all the ships that are needed to transport our forces across the sea.” Seeing that the Duche was calming down, his face had gone from deep, tomato red to a shade of pinkish white-red, Balbo decided to press his own luck. “Besides, the better prepared the grander the victory.” Finally seeing sense Mussolini just grunted and said after he had calmed down some more: “Three weeks it is then.”


Chequers, the same time

The installation of the wireless room and the antennas in the back of the grounds had at first not been too popular with the staff and the locals, but the Prime Minister had insisted on it once the war had started. Once again it was about to pay for itself. He was sitting outside in the gardens, chewing on the end of a cigar and painting at the same time. Thompson was standing a few feet back, managing to enjoy the sunlight and keeping an eye on his charge at the same time. Suddenly Winston's secretary came rushing out of the house. Giving Thompson one of her special smiles, she rushed past him and wordlessly handed Churchill a message. Letting his painting gear fall to the ground, he stood up from the stool he was sitting on and ran towards the house as fast as he could. Running behind, Thompson asked: “Bad news, Sir?” “I can't tell you, I am afraid.” When Churchill reached the office where he usually worked when at Chequers for the weekend, he slammed the door shut and began to telephone immediately. Within minutes the few cabinet members that usually accompanied him when he left London were assembled, even Anthony Eden, who was still breathing heavily after having run over from the pond where he had been fishing. Churchill had donned one of his suits in the meantime and was stalking up and down before them. “Gentlemen, it seems that our mutual friend in Rome is once again on the Warpath. Our friends down the hall have received word that the Italians are at last preparing to move in on Albania. We cannot let that happen.” General Brooke who had broken his left leg and was acting as a liaison between the PM and the IGS while recovering said after a few seconds of stunned silence: “Sir, we can't do much if they do. What reserves we have is needed here and everything else is needed where it is.” Churchill came to a halt in front of the General and said: “That much I know, General. But we cannot let this stand. The Italians would be in a better position to attack into the Balkans, to attack Greece and then, by extension to threaten the Imperial Link. Are you sure we cannot spare any troops?” Brooke nodded. “Afraid so, Prime Minister. We are still transferring troops to Lybia and I fear it is still not enough. General Bucknall thinks he can defeat them with what's there now, but I won't feel god until I am down there again myself.” Churchill grinned and nodded at the future General Officer Commanding, Middle East Command. “True enough, General.” turning to Eden he said: “Anthony, anything the Foreign Office can do for us in this situation?”

“Not much, Prime Minister. I shan't sit around of course. My chaps will approach the Albanians as soon as I can wireless them.” “What do you have in mind?” the Prime Minister asked. “Well, Sir, we might offer the Albanians a full alliance. It might deter the Italians long enough for us to scrape together something of a defence force, and might even hold the Duche from attacking at all. God knows how much that is worth these days.” “How right you are, Anthony.” Churchill pondered what had been said for a few minutes. “We can't do nothing though. Anthony, have your chaps talk to the Albanians. Tell them of what we have learned, but not how or from where. Also, kindly let the Albanian Ambassador know that I wish to speak to him as soon as we get back to London. I will inform His Majesty myself.” “Yes, Sir. Excuse me, Gentlemen.” With these words the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom and the British Empire quickly dashed out of the office towards the wireless room. Inside Churchill addressed the remaining men. “Gentlemen, I think it is time to return to London post haste. It seems that we have had our last outing here for a while.”




*(sp?)


[Notes: The Lightning Division is the 7. Panzerdivision. No Blitzkrieg – no Ghost Division. Also, as you can see, I changed the font of the AAR. I like this font better, and increased the size to make it more readable. Not only is this to force myself to write longer updates, but also because it is optically more pleasing IMO. ]
 
Brilliant update - loved the description of life in Chequers...
 
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Huzaah for Britian standing up against the vile forces of fascism. Also I was right about the shouting.... should have also mentioned him shouting about incompetent Italians....
 
Le Jones Thank you, thank you!

Lord Strange Well, someone has to stand up to them, and Britain is gladly accepting this duty.


Also: After totally voiding the warranty on my computer by opening it and putting in another DVD drive from my old comp, I can finally watch DVDs again! *whistles the Battle of Britain theme* It was duely celebrated by ordering Zulu on DVD.
 
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Good update.
A pretty amusing depiction of Mussolini- I liked it.
So the Italians are about to attack Albania- perhaps the one European nation they might be able to defeat. Will the British be able to come to their aid in the event that an alliance is signed?
 
I agree with the Duce.

Balbo, three weeks?

Since when the Italian soldier has needed so much time to find the real weapon he needs, uh?

A white flag.

:D
 
Against all Odds: A little knowledge Library


Here I will place an Index of posts where I detail certain matters of the world AAO is set in. They will be various posts scattered all over the AAR from hereon out. While it doesn't warrant it's own wiki, by the speed this thing is growing, along with the world I am building around it, I wouldn't be surprised if it did one day. For now, this will suffice. First up later today is a post about the general state of the world, very generalizing. Further post either by request via PM, or as I fancy it. I am doing this because I have a lot of ideas floating around and sometimes forget them because I either can't write them down, or because I have nowhere to write them down. ( I have a crapload of notes already and don't want to add to that )


Status (23/04/2009) - Intermission #1 - Intermission 2 - Intermission #3 - Chapter 134 - World, September 1940 - Internal Divisions of the UAPR

Intermission #4 Intermission #5 Intermission #6 Facility 2 - Additional Military Ranks - Intermission #7


 
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America:

Canada is busy steeling herself for War. Although the Royal Canadian Army has not yet sent any full Divisions to Europe, which is hardly surprising, several independent Battalions are serving within the British Army, same goes for the RCAF. The Royal Canadian Navy is busy protecting Convoys to and from Canada and Europe and also has a small Squadron ( 1 CL + 2 DD ) operating in European waters. Quebec.. well, Quebec is silent. For now

The Communist Union of American People's Republics ( that one still cracks me up ) is in splendid isolation, busy with suppressing what remains of the loyalist revolts and rebuilding their shattered economy. They are greatly expanding their forces, but claim that they do this for defensive purposes only. The lions share of this buildup goes into the Army. There are rumblings in Alaska. The distance to the Continental Union and the simple fact that the Party isn't very strong there makes for a relatively unstable situation. Still, the communists are holding onto the state with an iron grip.


South America has no notable changes so far.



Asia:

Japan is preparing for War. They are delaying, so December 7th might be a day like any other once 1941 rolls around, but it is clear to the Empire and the UAPR that something is up, but not what. In China they are consolidating their hold on power and are squashing what remains of the Communists, along with any other sort of revolt in the area they directly control.

Nationalist China is a Japanese puppet state. They spam Infantry and do little else besides crushing that warlord state in the west of China.

Siam is a Japanese Puppet. Nothing else to report so far


India is settling down. The “Imperial Unity” rhetoric that comes out of London and Bombay is working it's charm, and the people are flocking towards the recruiting offices if not in overwhelming than at least in large numbers. For now, aside from the units already in existence, ( what the 1938 scenario starts with in India ) the Indian Army is under direct British control. Two motorized Divisions of Indian Infantry are fighting in France as part of I (UK) Armoured Corps. Gurkhas are both in the Indian and British Armies.

Europe:

Spain is still rebuilding from the Civil War that the Nationalists won. No more on them for now.

Italy is about to jump into the game, and they are the Italians. Speaks for itself I suppose.

The Balkan and remaining Eastern European nations that are not Axis hope that the storm passes them by and that they can join one side or another once the picture becomes clearer. With the seemingly imminent defeat of France, most are leaning towards the Axis though. Greece on the other hand is more Allied friendly, again because of the Italians.

France is being France. More on that soon in the narrative

The Low countries are defeated or close to being so. The Dutch have relocated to London and the Belgians are thinking about it.

The United Kingdom is an armed camp. Besides the GAR Divisions defending the coast, new Army units are training everywhere and the yards are building ships. It becomes clear to the average Briton that the war is different from the last one and will bring bigger hardships and require more of them. The relationship between the men and women on the street and the Imperial troops of all colours and forms is cordial and becoming better by the day. Again, Imperial Unity is the word of the day. The 'uppity native' is being replaced by the less offensive 'uppity colonial' or simply by the 'Imperial Subject'. Both sides are beginning to accept each other. I figured that nothing welds a divided people together like a major War.
The Scandinavian countries are cautiously neutral. Denmark still allows both sides to cross the straits. Public opinion in these countries is mostly allied-friendly though.
The Czechs are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The bigger Axis powers don't trust them and the population hates the Government. Add to that the constant fear of German annexation. Aside from the Air Force, no Czech units have been spotted so far.
The Soviet Union is fully committed to the War effort. Using a Polish Air attack as a pretext, the propaganda machine there is making the people believe that the Allies declared war first. The Army is growing immensely and keeps sending units west and positions itself all along the border. As far as I can tell in the game, the Soviets are increasing their troop strength in the west even faster than the Germans, which makes sense, considering the resistance the Allies are putting up. The Red Army is relatively well equipped, but I have yet to see basic medium tanks in any numbers, so far only a single full Division has been encountered. It seems that the Soviet AI still cant upgrade properly. Infantry is mostly of the 1939 type, with many 36 models mixed in. Similar lines for Cavalry.
Germany is 1940 Germany, no real surprises there. The Wehrmacht is superbly equipped, though I have yet to see any 1941 techs, both with Infantry and tanks. The Panzer Divisions are all upgraded to Panzer III though, at least those that I can see. On the seas they are spamming U-Boats, so no surprises there.
 
I do like these "roundup from around the world" style updates. Nice to see a snapshot of the situation.
 
And i have to say a wiki on this universe would be very cool to read, as i love to immerse myself in stuff like this, particularly if the world it presents is much better than the real world.
 
Brilliant idea, trekaddict! Mind if I poach, it ;)?

Also to clarify: was the CUAPR modded in or is that representing the USA naturally going left? It's really great to have a collection of posts like this!
 
Brilliant idea, trekaddict! Mind if I poach, it ;)?

Also to clarify: was the CUAPR modded in or is that representing the USA naturally going left? It's really great to have a collection of posts like this!

I don't mind at all.


The UAPR is not modded into the game at all. I didn't bother with it, to be honest, because I figured that we'd never see any actual Screenshots anyway. The Americans had the following slider settings when I last had a look ( 1938 ): Full Left, full Authoritarian, full planned economy, full Standing Army and full Dove and Isolationist.
 
hehehe, Quebec is silent....for now.
I can't wait for what you can dish out of this :)

BTW, trek, here's some stuff that might interest you about Quebec during WW2: click me

That might be a bit to soon to write about, but hey, the Canadians got the commies right across the fence. :p Anyways, if you find it impossible to find a spot for Duplessis you can also look at this fellow. ;)
 
Hardraade Well, the Point of Divergence might be pre-WW1, but the butterflies were mostly kept in check until the late 1920s and therefore the changes to national characteristics are pretty much nonexistent.

Griffin.Gen That said, I am not too sured about how to handle Quebec just yet. I have some ideas, but will have to decide not just yet.


gaiasabre11 Thanks!
 
Edited the Knowledgebase to include the Intermissions. Also edited #2 Intermission to include additional knowledge. ( Short-range stand-off missiles instead of free-fall bombs from the mid 60s onwards. Blue Steel anyone? ) Also included is the Nuclear Delivery Systems Treaty.
 
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