1939 – A year where something happens
In 1939 things start happening quite quickly. Firstly Litvinov gets the bung and Molotov is installed (event) closely followed on Jan 9th by another nationalisation event, yummy. This is definitely more than my quota of these events but what the hell. The year is then quiet until all hell lets lose in August (like it is supposed to).
First on Aug 21st the Khalkin Ghol event triggers giving me +1 hawk. I am still short 1 interventionism but that’s all. Next the Pact event comes on Aug 24th giving me the +1 Intervention and my claims. I issue an immediate round of demands and Estonia caves in. This is always a pleasant surprise but there is a 30% chance one of them will give in at this point. This slightly disrupts my plans and the my motorised divisions have to rush round to Parnu for their offensive.
Aug 24 1939
On Aug 30th, WWII breaks out. This is somewhat of a relief as my whole strategy does rely on WWII happening , but then doesn’t everyone’s?
At 5 am on 1st Sept I DOW Latvia and by 13:00 Timoshenko’s mechanised corps (9 mot) has defeated the defenders of Riga. At this point I have little spare production which is routed to reinforcements with priority on the motorised. Many of the division are at reduced strength and have been kept there because it does reduce supply requirements. Latvia is strangely good at intercepting some of my international trade reducing lots of trades to around 50% efficiency but they aren’t going to do that for very long. (this applies to the trades with other than Western allies which Germany is affecting). 8 am Sept 3rd Latvia is annexed restoring my trading situation. The western allies trades are sufficiently poor that I terminate them all except a token ‘maintaining relations’ trade with the UK.
This raises an interesting point. I could leave the wars with the Baltic states live to retain the CG reduction from war time. Leaving the war going will be damaging to trade and risks foreign intervention (not a big risk but it is there). In truth I would be best of keeping them going but I am not going to use this trick. They are defeated and not annexing them is ridiculous. I probably should leave this war live as it is worth 25+ ICs to me and could be left running for 18 months !! This would affect my overseas trades but I don’t see how they could be as important as the ICs. This is my concession to realism rather than game play and hence the Baltic States will be annexed as and when they fall.
Sep 11th 39
At 5 am on Sept 13th my troops have redeployed to the Lithuanian border and I DOW them. There is a two-hour battle to take Siauliau and then I wait for my troops to move in.
Sep 13th 39
An attack on Kaunas immediately follows but has to be broken off due to nightfall and org depletion. With my crappy GDE I don’t want to fight at any other disadvantages. I wait a few days and then on Sept 22nd the second battle of Kaunas only lasts 6 hours. Lithuania will soon be mine. There are now too many excess ICs from war footing for reinforcement needs so some now go on supplies.
On Sept 25th the Germans annex Poland and we get the eastern provinces they haven’t yet captured followed by the pact event at midnight and I get the rest of eastern Poland. On Sept 27th I annex Lithuania and the first phase of fighting is all over.
Due to the conquered territory I now have surplus ICs and start building a few 1939 infantry for garrison duties. In Nov 1939 I finally stop initiating factory builds – all surplus ICs go to supplies whilst waiting for something else to build.
Nov 15th, I let the Finns off the hook – 1 dove move but this will be corrected 1st jan so no great harm done. On Dec 12th, 4 Inf divisions are completed, my first new units since the start of the game. On Dec 13th I get my first GDE event even without fighting the Finns.
And so ends 1939.
