-
We will be taking the forums down for scheduled maintenance on Monday, May 17th 2021 at 8:00 CDT / 15:00 UTC for approximately 3 hours.
-
Crusader Kings III Available Now!
The realm rejoices as Paradox Interactive announces the launch of Crusader Kings III, the latest entry in the publisher’s grand strategy role-playing game franchise. Advisors may now jockey for positions of influence and adversaries should save their schemes for another day, because on this day Crusader Kings III can be purchased on Steam, the Paradox Store, and other major online retailers.
Algiers? Then I also better see some Legionnaires in action too in this AAR.
Trust me, the French foreign Legion will come into action.
For that, and your ability to let me reply 100 times on your thread, I shall reward you with the following:
Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
Orignally I was only going to create it after the total posts in my AAR reaches 500, but since you got me to have 100 posts here first, and I just won the Character WoW, so I decided to create it earlier then planned. You're the first receiver of this award, congrats.
(Now get to work with your updates and don't let me wait more for those Legionnaires. )
Bloody wanker! Where is our update!
thats a bit rude
But, behold, trekaddict doesn't seem to be affected!!!!
Curses! Foiled again.But, behold, trekaddict doesn't seem to be affected!!!!
I'll get you next time, Trekaddict!
Chapter 118
11th June 1940, 07:30 AM
Somewhere in the South-Western Ardennes, just south of the Franco-Belgian Border
The 11th Corps of the Red Army was coming off a period of rest and refit. They had needed it. So far breakthroughs like the one that had carried them into France were not happening, and the French, ever desperate to keep their line in one piece and connected to the Maginot line, and fought hard to keep it that way. Lieutenant General Rokanev was not pleased with having to use his men as firebrigade. But alas, someone in Amsterdam or Berlin for that matter wanted it that way, so there was nothing to be done. At this moment the Division was to move south and clear the French from several hills that dominated a small valley where the German and Soviet troops needed to move supplies through if they were to continue their attack south. The Units were strung out in general battle formation and positioned so that they could support each other. He reflected on the dispositions of the other Soviet units in the area and once again it became clear that he had been one of the better Officers in the area. Stalin was keeping the best commanders back, and many of those were keeping a wary eye on the Japanese in the Far East. “Tell the 112th Rifle Division to move in the general direction of Sedan. We need to widen our Bridgehead on this side of the border. Instruct the 1st Rifle Division to move in support, and ask the 1st Tank Division to send a brigade with the 112th.” “Yes, Comrade General.” The French had, to the best of his knowledge and after what the GRU told him, at least a single Infantry Division in the area, with perhaps another short one in reserve, and somewhere in their rear it was rumoured that a French Cavalry Division was refitting after it had taken part in blunting the Axis probe through Luxembourg. He had no idea if it was actually there, but he hadn't survived until now by taking chances.
Several minutes later, somewhere to the south
The French occupied a line of hills to the south, and they needed to be cleared. The unit tasked with throwing the French off the summit was one of the oldest standing units in the Red Army, the 234th Rifle Regiment. The Regiment had been occupying the area to the immediate north of the hills for almost a week now, but the heavy battles in the north had prevented any action by both sides, so it had boiled down to trench raids and artillery fire. Once again the heavy guns were booming, and the Soviet gunners thanked their good fortunes that they were not facing British units who were dastardly good at counter-battery fire, not only because of the sheer weight of it, but the general skill the Royal Artillery had. They served their guns with skill and speed, knowing that many of their comrades in the Infantry depended on them. In the trenches at the front the Infantrymen could see the barrage going in. During the Great War, the First World War, like the Western Imperialist British Press called it, a barrage would have gone on for days at times, and have told the enemy far too much about where the attack was going in. This time the Soviet Artillery fired a short, five-minute barrage that made up in intensity what it lacked in length. When the whistles blew, the squad tumbled over the edge and ran towards the French position. Soon enough the French gathered enough of their wits and returned fire. The French Chatellerault Machine guns spew fire and death, cutting down the Soviet Infantry in droves. Diving for cover, the Soviets leap-frogged forward under the cover of Trench mortars that were flapping out their rounds as fast as they could. The French had not had the time to properly dig in, and so when the Soviets reached the edge of the trench, there was no Barbed wire and minefields to hold them back. They flung grenades down the length of the trench and were rewarded with the screams of the wounded and dying. Gripping their rifled at the barrel, they jumped down into the trench to widen the breach. Three minutes later more Infantry came up and tanks to exploit the breach the Infantry had just made. When he saw the tanks rattling off in the distance, Junior Sergeant Ilya Nikolaev looked after the tanks that were rumbling into the rear areas when suddenly the French Artillery started to reply and shelled the position the Soviets had just vacated. Nikolaev dove into the nearest foxhole and shoved the dead French soldier in it aside. The barrage was ragged and not nearly as powerful as the Soviet one, but it nevertheless managed to kill a far number of the Squad. When it lifted the Lieutenant just yelled for them to advance, to take the second line of Defences where several cleverly sighted Anti-Tank guns and dug-in French tanks had bogged down the deep penetration manoeuvre of the Soviet Armour. The second French position had been dug behind a small creek down the other slope of the ridge. Nikolaev smiled when he saw how foolishly the French commander had given up the high ground, and he was about to pay for it. The creek was not very wide and probably not even deep enough to get all of your boots wet, but just enough to give a slight edge to the defenders. The bank of the creek had once been overgrown, but on the Soviet side the undergrowth had been removed to give the French on the other side a better field of fire. In-between the two lines the ground was strewn with tree trunks and what must have been a small forest several years ago. While this was the best possible place for a minefield in the area, it also gave good cover for any Infantry attacks, and this was what Nikolaev and his squad were doing now. On the ridge an assembly of Anti Tank Guns and Rifles had taken position and was blasting away at the dug in French tanks, picking them off one by one. The French Armour was unable to reply in kind, as their guns could not bear on the Soviets. A few defiantly fired back, but the rounds simply tore up the earth on the slope. Soon the French spotted the Soviet Infantry trying to flank around to the left, and re-directed the fire of both the tanks and several of the remaining machine guns onto them.
Nikolaev once more hugged the earth of France, this time with machine gun bullets whizzing overhead and missing him by mere inches. He felt the traces more than he saw them and hoped that none of his Squadmates were too badly hurt. He also knew that he had to get closer to the French line if he was expected to survive. He grabbed his Rifle from where it had fallen and slowly made his way towards the closest machine gun. When he reached the creek he noticed that it was indeed very shallow, and he did not even have to raise his hands too much to keep the rifle dry. He could hear the French yelling, and although he did not understand them, he knew that it weren't niceties that the French threw at his comrades. He checked his netting and thanked his good fortune that he still had a grenade fastened to his belt. He grabbed it and quickly removed the security pin. He held onto the grenade for a few seconds so that the French did not have time to react and chucked it over the bush. Crouching away as fast as he could, the blast still came as a surprise. The hot fragments of gun, munitions and men missed him, and when he looked up to see how he had done, he could see that only a smoking hole remained where the gun had been. He turned to his back and pulled a last tattered cigarette from his breast pocket. He also found a match in the same pocket and lit it on the heel of his boot. The cigarette lit up and he took a greedy drag, just as the Lieutenant was coming up. Around them, the rest of the Squad and the Regiment was streaming forward. Evidently the Soviet gunfire from the ridge had forced the shattered French defenders to retreat. They were pursued by several Soviet Armoured Cars that had appeared from somewhere, but more to keep an eye on them than to engage them in combat operations. “You will get a decoration for this, Comrade Ilya.” the Lieutenant said. “Pah...Comrade Lieutenant, this was what I had to do on account of being in the Red Army and for the Motherland. There are men more worthy of orders and decorations.” Nikolayev answered. He once again grabbed his rifle and stood up, still smoking the cigarette from a corner of his mouth. He watched the Infantrymen fan out to the left and right of the breach and widen it, at the same time fighting rear-guard actions with the retreating French flaking units. When gunfire broke out close, Nikolaev brought the Rifle to his hip and walked towards the fighting without another word.
[Notes: I have a week of Holidays coming up, so you will see another update before too soon. Anyway, as far as I can tell, German Panzer Divisions are mostly equipped with Panzer-III, and the Soviets mostly use tanks of the BT series or even older crap. As of yet no T-34s, but it must have been in testing at that point. This is not the next update though...]
Pff. Given the theme of this AAR, surely it's time for the Anglo-French Union?
Well, Winston will certainly offer it, but remember, this is the French we are dealing with here....
Indeed, what are the odds of them accepting such a thing?Well, Winston will certainly offer it, but remember, this is the French we are dealing with here....
Good update, no more insults since they don't seem to work anymore
Well, Winston will certainly offer it, but remember, this is the French we are dealing with here....
I'm sure General de Gaulle must have said something like, "If the Royal Family can all (yes, all) wear nothing but Tri-color bikinis while running up the Eiffel Tower screaming "Vive le France" at the top of their voice, sure we can have a union.
"
*Vive la FranceI'm sure General de Gaulle must have said something like, "If the Royal Family can all (yes, all) wear nothing but Tri-color bikinis while running up the Eiffel Tower screaming "Vive le France" at the top of their voice, sure we can have a union.
Are you even French?
*Vive la France
Are you even French?
ARRGGHH!! It's a typo, me study my Finals exams, me brains twirling around. :wacko::wacko::wacko:
However, I'd like to ask you to stop being a Grammar Nazi, thank you.
STOP! COOKIE TIME