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Shhhhhh. What do you think makes them red And don't ask about other ingredients. Flour from Elephant tusks is perfectly reasonable.
 
Oh.

Why not using the horns of some unlucky husband instead of the poor Elephant, poor them? I bet that there must be some hundreths out there. If not, let me help at making them that crown of "honour", please.:D:rofl:
 
maybe Ramius could become a turncoat like his cold war namesake?

Turncoat? The man is no turncoat! He's a Patriot who seeks to see the death of Stalinist Tyranny which has wedded efficiency to the old Czarist Tyranny.:D
 
Turncoat? The man is no turncoat! He's a Patriot who seeks to see the death of Stalinist Tyranny which has wedded efficiency to the old Czarist Tyranny.:D

Well, if HM Government has anything to say about it, then it will be a proper contitutional monarchy/some other democratic form of state.
 
Chapter 83


Pic_DreijensewegGermans-1.jpg


October 7th, 1939

Forward Headquarters Army Group North, Plock, Poland

Ever since the Führer had arrived at the command post, Marshal von Bock had a sense of impending doom. Not only that the Soviet and German troops still were fighting the Poles in Warsaw, no, Hitler was already looking for scapegoats, and if the rumours from the Soviet Union were true, so was Stalin. Von Bock knew that he, as Army Group Commander, was most likely the first to be axed, unless he managed to push the blame onto someone else. To that end he had pulled the Panzers back from the frontline and had also withdrawn many of the German Infantry Divisions, citing unacceptably high losses. This implicated his Soviet counterpart, one Marshal Timoschenko or something, and von Bock felt secure for now. This still did not make him look forward to briefing the Führer in the briefing that was to begin soon. When he reached the briefing room of the small manor house he had placed his forward headquarters in, he could already hear Hitler ranting about the Kriegsmarine's incompetence. It seemed his till had not recovered from that mishap when ninety percent of the German Amphibious capability had been sunk within one battle, and as a result of that the KM was very short of falling into disgrace. Admiral Raeder had wisely chosen to have urgent business in Wilhelmshafen and had been forced to stay behind. Not that von Bock particularly cared, Germany had always relied on the Army for the defence of the Fatherland, and it would always be Germany's principal military organization.

He took a last deep breath, adopted the usual rigid posture of staff Officers everywhere and entered the large, ornate room. The walls were lined with bookshelves, probably filled with some of the few polish rarities, and rose as high as the already very high ceiling. But what commanded attention was the ranting man standing behind the large table in the centre of the room, surrounded by a group of high-ranking Generals, who were suspiciously silent. When Hitler looked up and saw von Bock coming in, he almost immediately calmed down and said, with an eerily calm voice: “Tell me, Marshall, why have the brave soldiers of the Fatherland not yet taken that damnable little town?” “Mein Führer, it seems as if the Poles have had never had the intention of making their stand somewhere else. If I may elaborate....” he stepped to the desk and explained what the poles had done so far. “In the end, mein Führer, it boils down to two things, at least in the opinion of me and my senior commanders. Firstly: Tanks are not suitable for urban warfare. The poles have employed a very effective improvised anti-tank Weapon, a bottle with some flammable liquid or other, and a rag which is set on fire and then they throw it onto our tanks or patrols, drenching them in the liquid which is then set on fire. This is very effective, not speaking of the normal weaponry they have. They seem to have hoarded much of it there, which would explain the relative ease with which we could smash their border formations. Because of this, I was forced to pull our Tank Divisions back from the city. It is now up to the Infantry, and our soldiers have to fight from house to house, sometimes even from room to room in the same house. The only alternative is levelling the whole city with Artillery, which would take far too long, given our other commitments.” Von Bock hold his breath, but Hitler only nodded, signalling him to continue. “Secondly, as mentioned, the Poles are fighting very hard, sometimes down to the knife.” “I see. Halder, what about the rest of the world?”

Halder, having recently been the second man after Göring to be promoted to Reichsmarschall, spoke with a calm and studied voice, that belied his fear. “As of now there are only two theatres, our fighting here, and the so-called 'Western Front'. In the west we are currently facing the French 3rd, 4th and 5th Armies, forming their Second Army group. It is, as far as intelligence can tell, comprised of about twenty-seven to thirty Infantry and Cavalry Divisions. The rest of the French Army is scattered all over their western Borders, with most of their few Tank Divisions part of their 7th Army in the north, somewhere in reserve to support their forces along the Belgian border. Opposing this we have Army Groups B and C, with through them fifteen Divisions in the Siegfried line, and the Soviet GSFG, or Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, which is currently forming in southern Bavaria, and will eventually comprise of more than forty additional Divisions. Between them, these two groups have four Tank Divisions, all of the Soviet, as our own are still mainly in Poland or transferring west.” “What about the English?” Hitler demanded in his usual commanding tone. “As far as we know, mein Führer, the British have no ground forces worth mentioning in France, aside from some observers with the French Army. We do not know where their BEF is, as they have grown very adept at catching our spies.” Halder paused and glanced meaningfully at the Abwehr liaison, before continuing, “We believe however, that their BEF numbers about fifteen to twenty Divisions at most, some of these colonial troops that have been freshly recruited lately.” Halder carefully avoided the words 'Empire Act' as the basic premise behind it still tended to send Hitler into his biggest, anger-driven rants. “The last information was that this force contained two Armoured Divisions, with two more under training, the rest would be Infantry Divisions. Unlike the French, the British have recently overhauled their whole Army, adopting a new set of doctrines, and in accordance to that, their Infantry Divisions are incredibly heavy on Artillery, with each Division having a full brigade of guns attached. All in all, despite it's traditionally small size, the British Army is a force to be reckoned with, no matter where they are deployed.”

“However, we think that it will not be deployed any time soon, as our sources in France tell us that there seems to be some discontent between Paris and London over the exact command structure. It seems as if the French demand that any foreign units on their soil are to be placed under direct French command, being made part of their Army in all but name so to speak.” Halder grinned, and continued after a moment. “The English have refused, which shouldn't be surprising, given their past history with the French, and now, for this reason there are no English ground forces in France. This will however change as soon as we launch Case Yellow, because then they are sure to send everything the can spare against us.” Hitler nodded and stalked around the table, in order to thoroughly study the large map of western Europe on it. Little flags showed the Axis and suspected Allied Forces, with the former still awfully thin in the west. Halder knew that if the French got their act together, and worked in conjunction with the British, would be able to break through the feeble German and Soviet Defences in the west with relative ease. It had been estimated that it would take the Allied Armies a week, two at best, and then their Tank Divisions could easily race north-east towards Berlin, the Siegfried-Line nothing more than a slow-down. “In the air though, mein Führer, is where we have the advantage already, despite the few wings of Hurricane Interceptors the English have moved to France. We have them on the defensive, and as soon as operations in Poland are concluded we will smash them.”

“And what about that new fighter the English have, this.....” Hitler couldn't put his finger on it, and he didn't need to. “That, mein Führer, will be remedied as soon as we can bring our Fighters and that of the Red Air Force into range of England. Until then, I'm afraid we simply can't do much. I therefore recommend...” Halder droned on for a few minutes, while von Bock tuned him out. For him Halder, along with most of the pompous staffers in Berlin, had spent far too much time behind desks, even for staffers. At least he himself was having an operational command, and.... von Bock's thoughts were interrupted when he realized that he had been asked to propose promotions and decorations. “I have a list here for your review, mein Führer. At the top of the list is the commanding General of that Tank Division that..”


[Game Notes: I plan to wrap up the Canada Plot as soon as possible, because after that one it's soon of to war again. Mainly because the TUC has been pestering me with the long work hours for Ian and Felix. :mad: Could someone please put these lefties back into KR before they found BAE Systems and British Leyland? Again, for me the German Generals of the time mostly were a bunch of spineless cowards.]
 
German generals might have been cowards, but also the best generals of the 20th century!
You should praise the heroes of your fatherland! :mad:

Halder might have been a lot behind the desk, but he is still a fine general.

And to Warschau, bomb it!
Beat it, eat it!
Let them starve!
Make it a hell upon the earth!
 
Phew... I manage to read your AAR from the start to here in like two days... :p

About the commanding General of that Tank Division, is it Rommel or Guderian? Both may not be likely but I'll still like to see them command a Tank division. :D
 
so is poland actually still holding on in warsaw, or is that just becasue it makes a good story? or am i not supposed to ask?

also, please dont rush the ending of the canada story, its been too good to end in a hasty manner.
 
Poalnd! That is an excellent defence. Still, it is not just a new plane, its the bloody Spitfire, ready to kill the Germans and Russians with some spped.
 
Enewald Naa. They don't deserve praise. As for Warsaw, for the moment the Germans are leaning the Stalingrad lessons much earlier than in OTL. I could seriously see Hitler becoming paranoid of urban Warfare.

gaiasabre11 Glad to have you aboard. As for the General... well, it is someone we know. :D

BritishImperial They are actually still holding, with, as it seems, a double digit number of Divisions. Their remaining Industry will run out of materials soon though, and then their will starve.

Lord Strange Except for a few bomber sorties, the Axis haven't encountered the Spitfire yet, so it's still an unknown quantity for them. In France I only have Hurricanes.
 
Great update, particularly the precis of the BEF - the Old Contemptibles of WW1 would be proud.
 
Even Sun Tzu says, don't make the enemy fight into death, leave always a passage open, to avoid it fighting till death.
But he keeps reading Mein Kampf, not Art of War. :eek:o

You don't think the german generals need no praise?
Would it have be better if the SU would control all of europe?
Would all of europe have been emptied of people and intellectuals, or look like Ost-Preussen?
 
Le Jones Yeah, I'm a fan of heavy Artillery since the days of Blitzkrieg 1. The number of Divisions is an intelligence estimate, so there's no telling how accurate it is. :p



Enewald Said Generals only felled compelled to grow a spine and act when it was already too late, however talented they might have been.


And once again: Vote for this AAR in the ACAs!
 
I liked how you managed to give an update on your force composition during the update. It was also a nice twist to get it from the German pov! Good stuff
 
The resistance of Warsaw is just a trick. I saw it clearly. The AAR of Finland proves that Trekie is under rowb influence. Soon Pilduski's zombie is going to kick some German bottoms.:D
 
Raaritsgozilla Well, we are talking about military intelligence, so these figures are bound to be somewhat inaccurate.

Kurt_Steiner Naa. This particualr part of the game happened some time ago, and the poles really are still fighting.
 
Ok, Trekaddict. I have news for you: I got the "Battle of Britain" DVD right now.

When I saw Squadron Leader Colin Harvey I almost barked in delight.:D
 
Ok, Trekaddict. I have news for you: I got the "Battle of Britain" DVD right now.

When I saw Squadron Leader Colin Harvey I almost barked in delight.:D

I know. :) Dashwood is a bit modeled after him.