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rich-love

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Jul 13, 2002
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"Empty Graves; Our Harvest of Sorrow" - March 10, 1944
Speech to Select Members of Congress
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Arlington National Cemetery

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. I spoke these words to you 30 months ago in a moment of sorrow, and they ring true today.

Our nation has suffered deeply since December 7, 1941. Thousands of fine young men have given their lives defending our nation and its people, and we have suffered defeat after defeat. The United Nations have been evicted from Europe; their governments fleeing from the advancing tide.

Many of you have asked: "Why?" Can we not come to terms with our enemies? I ask you to judge yourselves by those who chose to wage war on you: two tyrannical empires, bent on conquest, bent on subjugation, bent on suppression. Ask yourselves if you believe that their leaders will ever satisfy their bloodlust, if they will ever look across the oceans not dreaming of pillage, if they will ever see the freedoms we cherish as anything but a mortal threat to their twisted systems of government.

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen two hundred limping exhausted men come out of line-the survivors of a regiment of one thousand that went forward forty-eight hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

Freshly dug graves in this cemetery, this hallowed ground, sit empty. The corpses of our brave soldiers, airmen, and sailors lie scattered across the globe and at the bottom of the sea. To many, this is a harvest of sorrow too painful to contemplate. But we cannot, must not, will not, lie down.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

Thank you.​
Following this speech, FDR would kick off what many would jokingly call the "Great Purge"; a complete re-organization of his cabinet, senior military staff, and the entire diplomatic corps. His burst of activity, coming after a long time away from the public eye, was greeted by a great deal of support by the demoralized citizenry, and by the United Nations.
 
Welcome to my USA AAR, explained in detail here. HoI2, 1.3b, USA starting in March '44, from a save game from Kanitatlan's excellent USSR AAR. Normal / Aggressive.

Note that progress will be very slow, but I'll try to post SOMETHING every day or two. First game post tomorrow. It'll probably be a simple "I did this, this happened" AAR, but I may wax poetic, as in the first post.
 
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A fine little speech. So, things aren't going too well for the Allies I am guessing.
 
stnylan said:
A fine little speech. So, things aren't going too well for the Allies I am guessing.

i guess you havent been reading Kanitatlan's aar on russia have you? :p excellent speech and i wonder what you will do first...
 
State of the World in '44

Let’s quickly go over some history before we dive into my plans. It’s March 8, 1944. I’m playing the US, with a save game provided to me by Kanitatlan from his USSR AAR. I’m trying to save the world. The Soviet Union (and its Republican Spain, Bulgarian, and DDR allies) has overrun Europe, most of Africa, and most of India, and is on the march, headed towards SE Asia and South Africa. United Nations forces are in disarray, grossly outnumbered and scattered across the globe.

Some pictures:

Europe and North Africa:


Asia:


Africa:
 
Force comparison

Here are some stats to illustrate the difficulty of the task:

Land stats:


Air stats:


Naval stats:


Note that I’m facing a combined enemy force of 1000 divisions. Awesome!
 
Well, this is a challenge if I ever saw one :D

I do hope you pull it off.

*subscribed*

EDIT: oh, nice speech.
 
First moves

So, what to do?

As mentioned in my discussion, I’m going to cheat a bit, and give myself 3 Professional Army slider moves. I feel justified; this is approximately where I’d be if I started in ’36. Ernest King is promoted to CNO; I need that 10% CV offense boost Power Projection provides.

My diplomatic plan remains unchanged: enlarge the United Nations, and take military control when possible and expedient. Note that I’ve got no money; the nice (or puzzling) thing about dissent is that fixing it forces an opportunity to build up some cash.

Tech: My focus shifts to Air Doctrine techs, with a second focus on Secret Weapons / Nuclear Weapons. Nukes may come into the picture if the IC is there for reactors, but the Air Force is a vital force multiplier, and I need it to be as good as possible.

Navy plans: I have enough CVs for 4 CTFs, and enough BBs for one SAF. One CTF and the SAG will support operations in the Pacific; Japan can only get stronger, and the sooner I take the Home Islands the better. I also intend to build / scrape together some ASW forces for the North Atlantic. I’ve disbanded my subs and some older ships.

Air plans: I’m stuck with a lot of interceptors, and almost every air unit is out of organization. I’m planning to build a lot of FTRs for the UK campaign; for now, here’s my new deployment:
Interceptor forces are sent to Iceland, the Philippines, Guam, Wake, Pearl Harbor, Batavia, and South Africa.
Tactical Bombers are split between the Philippines and South Africa. I want to clean out the Philippines, and I’m hoping to bleed Soviet forces as they advance on Capetown.

Army:
Here’s the hard part; look at my deployments:


Note that this stack contains almost ALL of my combat power. Also note the stack in Rajkot. I have to get them out ASAP; they’re sitting ducks. I hope to pull these forces from theater and redeploy them to CONUS and Guam for offensive operations. Mainland Asia is a write-off, for now.

I will admit that I’m a bit impressed that the AI massed such a large force for an eventual invasion; I would have picked a different target, however.

NEXT POST: clean up of my build queue, fight for the Philippines, hopeful withdrawal from India, naval maneuvers.

QUESTION: what do people think I should do w/ all my garrison troops on the US beaches? I’m tempted to disband them…
 
The USA AI does like those huge stacks. Looks like a considerable challenge.
 
Spain is no doubt the soft underbelly of the enemy. I suggest there for a proper landing. Your sea time will be minimal giving you the ability to estabish a formidable beachhead.
 
What do you do with a already great AAR? You make two out of it! Marvellous!!!!!!

Before you go for mainland Europe you maybe should invade the British / Irish Isle, there you'll have the needed Infra (ports / airfields) to fight of the Soviets in the first place, means AirForce and Navy.
Same goes for Japan...

I wonder how the Soviet AI will cope with the massive amount of Firepower fielded all across the Globe.

Looking forward and subscribed.
 
i say, take japan first. the sea will block the soviets. disband the garrisons since they are ineffective at defending
 
OMG... you're up against Kanitatlan's colossal empire... :eek: good luck beating those 30 division stacks prowling the globe.

I would try to recover supremacy on the high seas ASAP. In Kanitatlan's AAR, the US air force was bleeding itself out trying to run small time raids from Iceland... you should reinforce Iceland with some decent jet fighters, turn the tables and start shooting the DDR air force out of the sky, and for Chrissakes prevent the Philippines from falling to the red hordes.

Is there any hope for South Africa? I think with them (still) as your allies, and a large high tech army just waiting to be deployed somewhere in Ceylon, you should take up the gauntlet and crush the Soviet armies that are converging on hapless South Africa. They're all infantry, they move pretty slow and they're not that powerful unless massed in big hordes. You have a big combined arms army, plus now the AI is handling SSSR offensive ops, so you IMO have a good chance at defeating some Soviet troops in detail right there. Just don't forget to deploy air forces, too, or you'll be hacked to pieces by swarms of Soviet bombers. It will take Kanitatlan forever to reinforce his armies in Africa, so you have a good chance at stopping him there.

Also I remember that Kanitatlan's navy sucked, even though it was pretty big. And your navy kicks ass, kanitatlan always fled like a chicken whenever the US flying dutchmen showed up. (As long as the AI isn't at the helm, sacrificing carrier fleets for raids against Lisbon.) You should actively hunt for the Soviet navy, once you get your carriers in range they should be able to hack them to pieces in no time. Also, sinking some of the many DDR submarines would be a good thing too.

BTW, I would hold on to those bridgeheads on the Asian mainland, like in Pakistan, as long as they're not too costly... you never know when you need a good entry spot to get back to Asia.

And... how far along is your atomic research? Atom bombs probably won't be that useful against the SSSR empire, given how large and dispersed its resources are. Methinks you'd be better off crash starting an army and air force expansion... tanks tanks and more tanks, bombers, bombers and more bombers, jets, jets and more jets.

In summary: Containment, then Rollback!

As for Japan... well in Kanitatlan's game they have a massive army in the home islands. So invasion would be really costly. Their navy is gone. I think they can be left to wither on the vine... you could snatch their remaining islands in the Pacific, just for aesthetical reasons, and also as air bases against the Soviets.
 
Hmm..this is an interesting AAR, maybe you could make the Soviet Union release some puppet nations ?
 
Interesting overview. Looking forward to next update.
 
@everyone: thanks! I'm glad you find this interesting.

@ehrie: I have been considering Spain, but first things first. Secure Iceland, take Ireland / UK, land on the continent.

@lifeless: Japan is part of the plan, assuming the Home Islands aren't too heavily secured.

@Karl Martell: Control of the seas, especially in the GIUK area, is my #1 priority. Without it, I can't defend CONUS, or take the fight to the enemy. South Africa is probably a wash if the SU advances; Ceylon has probably 2/3rds of my army, and I must focus my attention on Europe.

Next update before the end of the day.
 
Gaining control of the air and sea around Iceland is my first step to victory. Naturally, my existing forces are totally inadequate for the task. To the build queue!
1) 10 x 99 (10 parallel runs of 99 serial runs) of airfields.
2) 5x99 convoy ships – there’s no way I’ll be able to support major overseas deployments with my 100 remaining convoy ships
3) 1x99 convoy escorts
4) 4x99 Fighters: I have 2 fighters, and I can’t gain control of hostile airspace with short-range interceptors.
5) 12x99 Destroyers – I’m facing 126 subs, and I hate subs.
There are a lot of random naval builds in the queue; I’m going to let them wind down before I rebuild my army. I’ll also free up a lot of IC once I kill my dissent.

The first day goes well. My redeployments go smoothly enough, and in about 5 days my air force wings will be where I want them to be (without org, but still). At midnight, I check my recalculated IC: 470. The SU has 870, and you’ve got to wonder what they’ll build with all that IC and no manpower (I sure hope it’s not nuclear reactors).

I set up naval strike missions along the eastern seaboard of the US: I’ve got coverage from the Sea of Labrador to the Bermuda Triangle. My goal is to bait enemy subs or CVs into this area, and pounce on them. In the South African theater, my bombers pounce on a lonely HQ:



Soviet typewriters and plotting tables can’t stop B-25s! It’s hard to see, but Libreville is under a massive attack from SU and Spanish forces. I’m not sure if France has any VPs outside of that area.

At 11am on 3/9 we get our first bit of good news:



On 3/10, we finally accumulate enough money for a diplomatic deal: 1700 supplies to NL for $519. Silly Netherlands: those supplies will feed my troops as they pass through Batavia on a general retreat, leaving you holding the bag. I get enough money to bring Colombia and Venezuela into the United Nations, and I start influencing Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

Our scientists also discover Advanced Heavy Tank, and I start working on another Air Doctrine:



I cancelled “Floating Fortress” yesterday (at 22%); the war at sea will be won or lost with my carriers, not my 4 remaining battleships.

My only sizeable transport fleet is rebased from Batavia to Cochin. I intend to use it to evacuate Rajkot. Fighter sweeps are noticed across Sri Lanka, so I anticipate being spotted (and attacked).

Finally, an update from the Philippines:



I think the Filipino militia is enough to take back the islands, if backed up by my TAC wings in-theater and whatever fire support their old destroyers can muster.

TOMORROW (or Monday): I hope to get about a week or two’s worth of game in this weekend (baby, wife, and mother-in-law permitting). We’ll see how the evacuation of India goes, whether we can retake the Philippines, and if we can start our Atlantic campaign.
 
Great; the stage is set :D

The wife and baby-thing reminds me of General Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove: "I told you never to call me here, don't you know where I am?" ;)