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Next targets?
Invading Spain will allow the Germans to get Gibraltar. I also suggest invading Turkey and then invading Syria, and the Middle East to get the Suez. This will give the strategic goal of isolating the Mediterranean Sea. Once the Allied fleets are destroyed in this area, the beaches along the Mediterranean coast can be left undefended.
For Turkey leaving the area in east Turkey not invaded will be a buffer between Germany and Soviet Union, if you don't want another front.
Enewald said:I'd say both!
But Turkey would be far better....
Invading Spain will allow the Germans to get Gibraltar. I also suggest invading Turkey and then invading Syria, and the Middle East to get the Suez. This will give the strategic goal of isolating the Mediterranean Sea. Once the Allied fleets are destroyed in this area, the beaches along the Mediterranean coast can be left undefended.
For Turkey leaving the area in east Turkey not invaded will be a buffer between Germany and Soviet Union, if you don't want another front.
TimEmm said:
That's a good plan, I don't think it will be easy however. With the improved combat system in this mod, an invasion into Turkey could be tricky.
congrats on the liberation of mainland Italia. Looking forward to the next strategic goal and description of the means to get there.
LIFO, Enewald - One of you is correct.
Minarchist - Who said those air wings are needed to invade Sweden
Winner - Britain is safe till I get a Kriegsmarine.
TimEmm, Winner - Winner is correct, as the current combat system makes easy and fast blitzkriegs quite difficult to achieve. While I did think of invading Spain and Turkey to isolate the British in the Mediterranean - and that nice chunk of British in Sicily - the plan is not feasible for a number of reasons explained in the update. Also I have a non-aggression treaty with Turkey and I will honour it.
Deus - Thanks, strategic goal and description are hereby given by this update.
Update coming. Better late than never.
Minarchist - Who said those air wings are needed to invade Sweden
Winner - Britain is safe till I get a Kriegsmarine.
TimEmm, Winner - Winner is correct, as the current combat system makes easy and fast blitzkriegs quite difficult to achieve. While I did think of invading Spain and Turkey to isolate the British in the Mediterranean - and that nice chunk of British in Sicily - the plan is not feasible for a number of reasons explained in the update. Also I have a non-aggression treaty with Turkey and I will honour it.
Deus - Thanks, strategic goal and description are hereby given by this update.
Update coming. Better late than never.
Cabinet Meeting January 1945
0000 January 1st 1945
Reichstag Building, Berlin, Germany
"Welcome back all. This has been a fruitful year and I wish we can continue this trend for many more years to come. Albert, please inform us about how 1945 will be in terms of production of the Third Reich."
"Thanks Martin. With recent conquests in Italy in late 1944 we have brought our industry to a renewed level. This is the first time we have an industrial capacity higher than that of June 20th when we had three hundred industries."
"Thanks Martin. With recent conquests in Italy in late 1944 we have brought our industry to a renewed level. This is the first time we have an industrial capacity higher than that of June 20th when we had three hundred industries."
"Our stockpiles are in a fairly good shape; I'm starting to be quite worried by our Rare Materials current stockpiles, as at this rate is expected to deplete in less than three months if no action is taken to alter the course; but that is something Guderian might have thought about as he will later explain. Oil is still our main concern; Supplies are not shrinking as the paper incorrectly shows, while manpower is fairly good and growing and our divisions are almost all over 90% strenght.
Reinforcements for the Army are almost all done except for Ringel's army who is being redeployed. One third of our industrial capacity is currently allocated to Army upgrades; this is mostly the case of the Luftwaffe: many interceptor wings are being upgraded to the new Turbojet design and we will greatly benefit from a renewed Luftwaffe able to keep the edge over our enemies and the skies clear, to which purpose also a nice portion of our industry has also been allocated to production."
Reinforcements for the Army are almost all done except for Ringel's army who is being redeployed. One third of our industrial capacity is currently allocated to Army upgrades; this is mostly the case of the Luftwaffe: many interceptor wings are being upgraded to the new Turbojet design and we will greatly benefit from a renewed Luftwaffe able to keep the edge over our enemies and the skies clear, to which purpose also a nice portion of our industry has also been allocated to production."
"British agents have sabotaged the production of one Air Wing, that of Jagdgeschwader 70, by 20 days; they will however strenghten our Fighter numbers from three to six and the Luftwaffe will greatly benefit from new Turbojet squadrons, especially now that we need to keep France and Italy safe from Allied bombers and even more later once we need to face the Soviets in Summer.
A last thing to notice is our Transport Capacity; forty divisions are under redeployment, but in normal conditions we can almost handle our logistics system entirely, given that we'll be able to protect our newly acquired industrial assets. That's all from me."
"That's a refreshing report you have. Ernst, let's hope you have some interesting news aswell."
"Thank you Martin. Research is progressing fairly well."
A last thing to notice is our Transport Capacity; forty divisions are under redeployment, but in normal conditions we can almost handle our logistics system entirely, given that we'll be able to protect our newly acquired industrial assets. That's all from me."
"That's a refreshing report you have. Ernst, let's hope you have some interesting news aswell."
"Thank you Martin. Research is progressing fairly well."
"Guderian and his staff are about to devise a new Logistic Organization, which will greatly help our troops' efficiency in the East. I.G. Farben is also progressing well in looking into new means of boosting our manpower, and Porsche has recently started work on a new Tank design. It is unlikely that we'll see them in this year, so we'll have to fight in Russia with what we have at the moment.
"Attempts at infiltrating new agents in our enemies' countries have been tried but have all been thwarted by prompt counter-intelligence. Therefore our estimates are still inaccurate. We have only two spies in the Soviet Union and they report the presence of 218 infantry division, an impossible number as two months ago, just after the surrender of one hundred Soviet divisions in Cracow, they had 339. The number of armored divisions is almost the same and reported to be quite accurate. Airforce numbers, on the contrary, are totally inaccurate as they are much larger in reality.
The Soviet Union possesses a number of 389 base factories, 9 more than two months ago. While we're not terribly behind in terms of raw numbers, their industrial output is enormously superior to ours."
"We'll fix that this Summer. Advise your agents that they'll have to travel deeper into Russia to provide those numbers." Guderian intervened with an optimistic grin on his face.
"I hope so Heinz. Next come the USA."
The Soviet Union possesses a number of 389 base factories, 9 more than two months ago. While we're not terribly behind in terms of raw numbers, their industrial output is enormously superior to ours."
"We'll fix that this Summer. Advise your agents that they'll have to travel deeper into Russia to provide those numbers." Guderian intervened with an optimistic grin on his face.
"I hope so Heinz. Next come the USA."
"Four spies provide a little more accurate report, but that's still far from reality. They tell they have 71 infantry divisions, while two months ago they had 61; 14 armored divisions, compared to the previous 25. They have a very large airforce and a terrific navy. I'm quite worried they are reseaching Turbojet Interceptors and Fighters.
Their base factories number is 533, while two months ago it was 503. They possess the largest industrial output in the world, along with huge stockpiles and manpower reserves. Good for us that we have been able to clear Europe from their presence, but let's not make this happen again. Next is their British allies."
Their base factories number is 533, while two months ago it was 503. They possess the largest industrial output in the world, along with huge stockpiles and manpower reserves. Good for us that we have been able to clear Europe from their presence, but let's not make this happen again. Next is their British allies."
"Despite losses in Italy, their industrial base is almost the same as that of two months ago, that is 274. They are somehow suffering from a lack of some material, as they are not using their industrial capacity at full extent. Numbers about the Army show two more infantry divisions and six less armored divisions; this is despite our victory in Italy and the capture of an estimate of thirty divisions - given that those divisions have never been rescued by an Allied navy in Rome. I have only two agents in Great Britain, however, so my numbers really count little. That's all."
"Thanks Ernst. Heinz, our Ringel is here and has been silent for all this time. Given the excellent job he's done in Italy, he deserves the right to know what we have prepared for him."
"Indeed you are correct Martin. Let me commence with an overall look over Europe."
"Thanks Ernst. Heinz, our Ringel is here and has been silent for all this time. Given the excellent job he's done in Italy, he deserves the right to know what we have prepared for him."
"Indeed you are correct Martin. Let me commence with an overall look over Europe."
"1945 seems to look much better than the previous year, and that can be seen on this map too. France and Italy are under Axis dominion, with the exception of French Corsica and the Italian isles - and that Grenoble in the southern part of France. The Eastern front I guess will see much change in a few months, but before that something else will happen.
As Martin has already hinted, we are indeed about to declare war to an European nation that has not sided with neither faction. Neutrality is not a thing we like as in times like these everyone is concerned. And Sweden is one of such unaligned countries."
"Excuse me Heinz, but Sweden looks to me to be a much less valuable target than, say, Spain or Turkey. We could gain control over the Mediterranean and open a new flank against the Soviets if we invaded those two Countries." Ringel was quite stunned about the decision of attacking Sweden.
"We know it perfectly, Julius. Spain, however, has an absurd number of beaches to guard and we cannot afford it at the moment; Turkey I've been informed by Joachim we have a non-aggression pact with them, and we will respect it. Also it is not wise to open a new front with the Russian there, as it would expose us also to the British. We do not have the strenght to do that while also keeping Spain.
Sweden, on the other side, is valuable for a number of reasons. First, with Denmark in our possession, we have to guard very few beaches; second, it is a resource-rich Country and our stockpiles only demand for more. Third, it opens a new window over the upcoming Summer's strategy in the East as I will shortly explain."
As Martin has already hinted, we are indeed about to declare war to an European nation that has not sided with neither faction. Neutrality is not a thing we like as in times like these everyone is concerned. And Sweden is one of such unaligned countries."
"Excuse me Heinz, but Sweden looks to me to be a much less valuable target than, say, Spain or Turkey. We could gain control over the Mediterranean and open a new flank against the Soviets if we invaded those two Countries." Ringel was quite stunned about the decision of attacking Sweden.
"We know it perfectly, Julius. Spain, however, has an absurd number of beaches to guard and we cannot afford it at the moment; Turkey I've been informed by Joachim we have a non-aggression pact with them, and we will respect it. Also it is not wise to open a new front with the Russian there, as it would expose us also to the British. We do not have the strenght to do that while also keeping Spain.
Sweden, on the other side, is valuable for a number of reasons. First, with Denmark in our possession, we have to guard very few beaches; second, it is a resource-rich Country and our stockpiles only demand for more. Third, it opens a new window over the upcoming Summer's strategy in the East as I will shortly explain."
"To add even more credibility to Sweden's cause, Spain has a mediocre Army and some decent mountains in the Pyrenées, and while it would be still feasible to defeat them, it would require a number of months and lives. We cannot afford that at present as we would gain more hostile beaches and the capture of Gibraltar, a thing that we could not exploit at the moment. This means we would attack a Country with a high cost that yield little strategical value, and whose possible strategical value determined by the presence of The Rock is nullified by the fact that we cannot exploit it properly at the moment.
The map shows, on the other side, that the Swedes seem to be utterly confident of being invulnerable. Stockholm is left undefended, the North is almost devoid of divisions and their southern part also contains very few divisions. Either they have a huge stack of divisions roaming somewhere in the forests in the middle of their Country which we could not detect, which is unlikely, or their Army cannot properly defend a nation of that size."
The map shows, on the other side, that the Swedes seem to be utterly confident of being invulnerable. Stockholm is left undefended, the North is almost devoid of divisions and their southern part also contains very few divisions. Either they have a huge stack of divisions roaming somewhere in the forests in the middle of their Country which we could not detect, which is unlikely, or their Army cannot properly defend a nation of that size."
"See Julius, your divisions are being redeployed in Copenhagen and will be part of a greater operation that aim to seize vital provinces of the Swedish country in order to knock them out of the war before they realize what is going on and counter-attack, which is unlikely, given the state of their Armed Forces. The red lines shows the hypotetical advance that your divisions should make, Julius, from Copenhagen. Three divisions will be transported by the Kriegsmarine and will land in Stockholm, as shown by the yellow lines. Once we have forced the Swedish nation to capitulate, we'll have all the time to reorganize our forces in a new line that will see its expansion in Summer against Soviet Union.
We are devising a 1945 Summer offensive against the Soviet Union. We have to keep in mind, however, that despite their huge losses at Cracow and in Romania, they are not defeated yet. We all remember how many casualties we inflicted them in three years of war and how they were able nonetheless to force us to retreat. We will not repeat the mistake to overestimate our forces once again; therefore we will focus on one theater at a time, that is North, Center or South. Capture of Sweden is part of such plans, as we plan on focusing on possible operations from Heeresgruppe Nord.
Your troops, Julius, will link with those of newly formed Heeresgruppe Finland led by Hausser. Our aim is to encircle and capture all the Soviet divisions present in the peninsula, which is a feasible project, as we now have forty more divisions that can do the job. Once we clear Finland of Soviet divisions, Ringel's troops will be considered part of Heeresgruppe Finland and will finally operate in a much shorter frontline, that is that of Leningrad.
To sum it up: first, conquest of Sweden, to be completed by mid or late-February; second, redeployment of Ringel's troops to northern Sweden and Finland; third, launch a new Summer offensive with highest priority given to Heeresgruppe Nord, aimed to cut and encircle Soviet troops in Finland; fourth, merge Ringel's troops with those of Hausser and create a new, shorter frontline that will directly face Leningrad and a weakened Soviet Army."
We are devising a 1945 Summer offensive against the Soviet Union. We have to keep in mind, however, that despite their huge losses at Cracow and in Romania, they are not defeated yet. We all remember how many casualties we inflicted them in three years of war and how they were able nonetheless to force us to retreat. We will not repeat the mistake to overestimate our forces once again; therefore we will focus on one theater at a time, that is North, Center or South. Capture of Sweden is part of such plans, as we plan on focusing on possible operations from Heeresgruppe Nord.
Your troops, Julius, will link with those of newly formed Heeresgruppe Finland led by Hausser. Our aim is to encircle and capture all the Soviet divisions present in the peninsula, which is a feasible project, as we now have forty more divisions that can do the job. Once we clear Finland of Soviet divisions, Ringel's troops will be considered part of Heeresgruppe Finland and will finally operate in a much shorter frontline, that is that of Leningrad.
To sum it up: first, conquest of Sweden, to be completed by mid or late-February; second, redeployment of Ringel's troops to northern Sweden and Finland; third, launch a new Summer offensive with highest priority given to Heeresgruppe Nord, aimed to cut and encircle Soviet troops in Finland; fourth, merge Ringel's troops with those of Hausser and create a new, shorter frontline that will directly face Leningrad and a weakened Soviet Army."
"Ringel's divisions are being redeployed in Copenhagen and many of them will reach destination and reassemblement by mid-January. I think that by January 20th we can open the hostilities against Sweden."
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Cabinet Meeting January 1945
continued
"This is the current status of our Armed Forces. We have 317 divisions, though many of them are actually lent from our Allies; Japan still has 149 divisions, while Finland possesses 17. Hausser has approximately fifteen divisions in Finland, and he can do little with them at present."
"Our Navy is small and inadequate. The Tirpitz is our only Battleship and our only valuable asset is our U-boot flotillas. Japan's fleet is diwndling down in numbers and some vessel types are critically reaching absolute zero in terms of quantity."
"Our Airforce still isn't adequate to gain air superiority throughout all Europe. We have plans to acquire obsolete aircraft from our Allies, though trade agreements with our Allies are rare as we simply have scarce funds to arrange them, as always, and those few funds we have are used for more important matters, such as Oil. Anyways, soon three more Fighter squadrons will bolster our lines. Japan has a fairly good airforce, however they lack our Turbojet technology."
"Speaking of Japan, have you got any news about them Joachim?"
"I wish you had not asked."
"Speaking of Japan, have you got any news about them Joachim?"
"I wish you had not asked."
"The Chinese situation is an impasse, a standstill, a deadlock. They have a wonderful opportunity to encircle a huge chunk of the Chinese Army, an army that consists of hordes of Militias divisions. The Japanese have not been able to mount one successful campaign against them."
"The Japanese puppet of Siam is facing huge trouble as the British are forcing the Japanese in full retreat. Elsewhere in the Pacific the Japanese are losing badly; New Guinea has been all but one province captured by the Americans, and four Japanese divisions along with three air squadrons face the risk of being captured. And with the appalling conditions in which the IJN lay, they are not likely to be rescued any soon."
"Speaking of the IJN, how are things going?"
"I wish you had not asked again. But I was just going to address that point, so that makes little difference anyways. Let this chart speak for itself."
"Speaking of the IJN, how are things going?"
"I wish you had not asked again. But I was just going to address that point, so that makes little difference anyways. Let this chart speak for itself."
"Over the course of two months, the Japanese have lost three Battleships, one Battlecruiser, two Carriers, two Light Carriers, five Heavy Cruisers, and a number of smaller vessels aswell, while sinking really little in return. The Allies have lost only one Carrier, the USS Saratoga, and one Battleship, the USS Mississippi; the rest is a bottom sea littered with most of the once vaunted Imperial Japanese Navy. By the start of 1945 we can say their Navy is unable to conduct whichever hostile operation in their current status."
"That's a shame really. We'll see we can alter this course ourselves one day by avenging our faithful Allies. This has been a fruitful meeting anyways. Let us see we can set our plans in motions, and hope that Japan survives as much as their vaunted fanatical courage." Bormann ended the meeting.
"That's a shame really. We'll see we can alter this course ourselves one day by avenging our faithful Allies. This has been a fruitful meeting anyways. Let us see we can set our plans in motions, and hope that Japan survives as much as their vaunted fanatical courage." Bormann ended the meeting.
Hah, the swedes haven't fought after 1809, lets see have they still the same type of infantry left. :rofl:
Why invest anyways into upgrading when you are so sure they won't attack you?
Excellent plan!
Why invest anyways into upgrading when you are so sure they won't attack you?
Excellent plan!
You shouldn't invade Sweden - they secure your flank and let you hold them at the bottleneck that is Norway.
ColossusCrusher said:
But if he does invade Norway, its still only three or four provinces he needs to hold, and he really needs the rares.
Be aware of the Snow its bloody to get through the mass of white chunk we have here during the wintertime
Deus - Bitter fight for sure. Else I can't know.
Enewald - I cannot really fight the SU later on with outdated equipment.
ColossusCrusher, trekaddict - Indeed it takes little to take Sweden. Also I don't want to stay on the defensive against the Soviets there in the cold North.
Winner - Guderian says danke
Massive delay, and alas, it won't be the exception but the rule, most probably.
A bit different update than the usual.
Enewald - I cannot really fight the SU later on with outdated equipment.
ColossusCrusher, trekaddict - Indeed it takes little to take Sweden. Also I don't want to stay on the defensive against the Soviets there in the cold North.
Winner - Guderian says danke
Massive delay, and alas, it won't be the exception but the rule, most probably.
A bit different update than the usual.
Cabinet Meeting January 1945
0000 January 1st 1945
Washington DC, United States of America
"Greetings, gentlemen. Let us sit down and speak a little, won't we?"
Harry Truman was de facto acting as President as, even if Roosevelt won his third term in November 1944 elections, not only his popularity but also his health took a direct hit from the disaster of Operation Overlord, the subsequent capture of Eisenhower, and later the shameful abandoning of Italy, and since a few weeks had completely ceased to take part to governmental business, unofficially leaving the job to Truman.
This man was sworn in as vice president from just a few days and had a very different, more folksy demeanor compared to Roosevelt, but as Roosevelt's health deteriorated and so did Allied military strenght in Europe, he became not only greatly concerned about the renewed grip that Germany established in Europe, but was also visibly irritated with the military high command: he knew he was going to be the next President, therefore whichever thing would happen during his vice-presidency was inevitably going to influence him as President. Better fix things sooner than later.
Douglas MacArthur was among the others in this meeting, and so was Marshall. Everyone glanced at each other in a nervous manner. They all expected an outburst from Truman, and his sarcastic question "let us speak a little, won't we?" alarmed them quite a lot.
"Let me state this bluntly: I want an explanation" stated Truman, breaking a short silence after the others had sit down "on how we managed to get to a stone-throw from Berlin to this."
Harry Truman was de facto acting as President as, even if Roosevelt won his third term in November 1944 elections, not only his popularity but also his health took a direct hit from the disaster of Operation Overlord, the subsequent capture of Eisenhower, and later the shameful abandoning of Italy, and since a few weeks had completely ceased to take part to governmental business, unofficially leaving the job to Truman.
This man was sworn in as vice president from just a few days and had a very different, more folksy demeanor compared to Roosevelt, but as Roosevelt's health deteriorated and so did Allied military strenght in Europe, he became not only greatly concerned about the renewed grip that Germany established in Europe, but was also visibly irritated with the military high command: he knew he was going to be the next President, therefore whichever thing would happen during his vice-presidency was inevitably going to influence him as President. Better fix things sooner than later.
Douglas MacArthur was among the others in this meeting, and so was Marshall. Everyone glanced at each other in a nervous manner. They all expected an outburst from Truman, and his sarcastic question "let us speak a little, won't we?" alarmed them quite a lot.
"Let me state this bluntly: I want an explanation" stated Truman, breaking a short silence after the others had sit down "on how we managed to get to a stone-throw from Berlin to this."
"Eisenhower in German hands, more than twenty divisions captured in France, our Air Force humiliated; they did in Italy, in two months, what we and the British did in one and a half year; one hundred and twenty Soviet divisions captured. Can someone explain me what the heck is going on in Europe?" As he pronounced this question, his tone grew progressively louder and more nervous, culminating to an 'Europe!' yelled like an order, as he slammed his fist on the table.
No one answered, until one voice dared try to give an 'explanation'.
It was that of MacArthur.
"Sir, as Chief of Staff, I think it is my duty to inform you as thoroughly as possible about our current military situation, and most importantly our defeat in Europe and its possible causes. Although I operate in the Pacific theater mostly, I have collected several reports from our generals, most notably Bradley, who returned from France alive."
"Go on."
"Well, they unanimously declare that something started to get 'wrong' in late June. At that moment, we possessed thirty-six divisions in Normandy and shortly beyond. Three German divisions were pocketed in Cherbourg. On 20th June happened for the first time something that we have never experienced before: the Germans were retreating without giving a minute of fight to our troops. And so did they in the Eastern front, from the few things they heard.
We could just follow them, till they stopped to Paris, and at that point their forces grew larger: we could not attack their new frontline at such conditions. Retreating gave the Germans respite and time; they amassed more and more troops and probably brought in their entire Air Force; sky control has been contested for the whole lenght of the campaign and our forced were forced to fight in equal conditions, as German forces grew stronger by the day.
No one thought the Germans would've been able to stop our forces, however. With their hands tied on the East their forces in the area should've been relatively low. We couldn't be more wrong.
We learned this in mid-July. We liberated most of Northern France, yet Paris was still in German hands. Eisenhower wanted to encircle the city and its forces within, but the Germans anticipated our moves and started a counter-offensive that ruinously sealed the end of our campaign. I must say that the German forces acted brilliantly: they concentrated their strongest spearhead in the weakest point of our lines, there attacked and then proceeded to cut us in two parts like a slice of bread, supported by a terrifying Luftwaffe as our troops suffered daily boming from dive bombers. What we couldn't do alone couldn't be done when pocketed: only the intervention of the US Navy prevented a true catastrophe from happening. In the end, this was a masterfully conceived Blitzkrieg operation.
In short, we lost the invasion for these reasons: too much reliance on German military weakness; German fast answer to our invasion and renewed tactics; slow answers from us to the renewed threat.
A similar situation has verified in Italy: after months of a substantial impasse, the victorius Germans could now muster a much larger force than that of our forces. As we fought bitterly in a terrain that had a great defensive value, however, we thought that the reverse would be true too: that the Germans would have had a hard time trying to exert their Blitzkrieg in Italy.
In fact, they did not. But they kept busy the bulk of our forces in Perugia while slowly encircling them with just a handful of other divisions. The battle of Perugia saw quite more German casualties than Allied. We've been deceived in believing we were fighting a winning battle, when we realized we were becoming the utter losers; but that moment was too late.
We think, however, that despite all these tactical stains and setbacks and loss of lives, we can still alter the course. They have most likely redeployed their troops in their Eastern front in preparation of a Summer offensive. Our generals propose a double landing in both Northern and Southern France: Pas-de-Calais and Marseille. Marseille will serve as a springboard for Northern Italy; we still have Sicily and we could probably crush the Germans from two opposite directions. Pas-de-Calais, everyone with a map would've said we would've landed there. But who would say we would land there after having tried a different place. We could, if that is conceivable before this Spring, mount an operation for liberating Greece also, as Churchill requested..."
"Stop that nonsense! I will not authorize another operation like Overlord until you come up with a decent plan! At that purpose, Kaiser... please brief me on our intelligence."
Henry J. Kaiser, Head of Intelligence, hesitated a bit. Then reluctantly extracted some documents from his folder.
"This, sir, is our current espionage activity in the two major Axis combatants: Germany and Japan. We currently have zero spies in Germany, and we cannot therefore extract any data whatsoever concerning their Army and research fields."
No one answered, until one voice dared try to give an 'explanation'.
It was that of MacArthur.
"Sir, as Chief of Staff, I think it is my duty to inform you as thoroughly as possible about our current military situation, and most importantly our defeat in Europe and its possible causes. Although I operate in the Pacific theater mostly, I have collected several reports from our generals, most notably Bradley, who returned from France alive."
"Go on."
"Well, they unanimously declare that something started to get 'wrong' in late June. At that moment, we possessed thirty-six divisions in Normandy and shortly beyond. Three German divisions were pocketed in Cherbourg. On 20th June happened for the first time something that we have never experienced before: the Germans were retreating without giving a minute of fight to our troops. And so did they in the Eastern front, from the few things they heard.
We could just follow them, till they stopped to Paris, and at that point their forces grew larger: we could not attack their new frontline at such conditions. Retreating gave the Germans respite and time; they amassed more and more troops and probably brought in their entire Air Force; sky control has been contested for the whole lenght of the campaign and our forced were forced to fight in equal conditions, as German forces grew stronger by the day.
No one thought the Germans would've been able to stop our forces, however. With their hands tied on the East their forces in the area should've been relatively low. We couldn't be more wrong.
We learned this in mid-July. We liberated most of Northern France, yet Paris was still in German hands. Eisenhower wanted to encircle the city and its forces within, but the Germans anticipated our moves and started a counter-offensive that ruinously sealed the end of our campaign. I must say that the German forces acted brilliantly: they concentrated their strongest spearhead in the weakest point of our lines, there attacked and then proceeded to cut us in two parts like a slice of bread, supported by a terrifying Luftwaffe as our troops suffered daily boming from dive bombers. What we couldn't do alone couldn't be done when pocketed: only the intervention of the US Navy prevented a true catastrophe from happening. In the end, this was a masterfully conceived Blitzkrieg operation.
In short, we lost the invasion for these reasons: too much reliance on German military weakness; German fast answer to our invasion and renewed tactics; slow answers from us to the renewed threat.
A similar situation has verified in Italy: after months of a substantial impasse, the victorius Germans could now muster a much larger force than that of our forces. As we fought bitterly in a terrain that had a great defensive value, however, we thought that the reverse would be true too: that the Germans would have had a hard time trying to exert their Blitzkrieg in Italy.
In fact, they did not. But they kept busy the bulk of our forces in Perugia while slowly encircling them with just a handful of other divisions. The battle of Perugia saw quite more German casualties than Allied. We've been deceived in believing we were fighting a winning battle, when we realized we were becoming the utter losers; but that moment was too late.
We think, however, that despite all these tactical stains and setbacks and loss of lives, we can still alter the course. They have most likely redeployed their troops in their Eastern front in preparation of a Summer offensive. Our generals propose a double landing in both Northern and Southern France: Pas-de-Calais and Marseille. Marseille will serve as a springboard for Northern Italy; we still have Sicily and we could probably crush the Germans from two opposite directions. Pas-de-Calais, everyone with a map would've said we would've landed there. But who would say we would land there after having tried a different place. We could, if that is conceivable before this Spring, mount an operation for liberating Greece also, as Churchill requested..."
"Stop that nonsense! I will not authorize another operation like Overlord until you come up with a decent plan! At that purpose, Kaiser... please brief me on our intelligence."
Henry J. Kaiser, Head of Intelligence, hesitated a bit. Then reluctantly extracted some documents from his folder.
"This, sir, is our current espionage activity in the two major Axis combatants: Germany and Japan. We currently have zero spies in Germany, and we cannot therefore extract any data whatsoever concerning their Army and research fields."
"Same goes for Japan."
Truman threw a quick glance to the documents that Kaiser showed him, which instinctively stepped backwards.
A few seconds of silence followed. Then Truman exploded in an outburst.
"Who's that incompetent that runs the espionage thing, Bugs Bunny! No spies among the enemy! No information whatsoever...! Then how can one wonder if we lay in such conditions!"
"Sir, we have an espionage program--"
"Silence! It's a waste of time to continue this meeting this way. I will see you all next month, that time with a decent plan. Remember that everything good or bad that will follow will only depend upon my decisions, and that my decisions will depend upon what you propose. You have nothing to gain, while I have a lot to lose. The buck stops here."
A few seconds of silence followed. Then Truman exploded in an outburst.
"Who's that incompetent that runs the espionage thing, Bugs Bunny! No spies among the enemy! No information whatsoever...! Then how can one wonder if we lay in such conditions!"
"Sir, we have an espionage program--"
"Silence! It's a waste of time to continue this meeting this way. I will see you all next month, that time with a decent plan. Remember that everything good or bad that will follow will only depend upon my decisions, and that my decisions will depend upon what you propose. You have nothing to gain, while I have a lot to lose. The buck stops here."
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Why does Trumann need spies, the AI sees all - not that it's got a clue what to do with the information!