Fatherland - Deutschland über alles

[Kanitatlan]

07:00 November 14th 1940​

Another fighter sweep engagement over North Africa showing the sort of forces that are passing by. Again the conditions are poor so this battle is ineffective.

15:00 November 14th 1940​

The high seas fleet are now in the Mediterranean and beating up the Vichy Fleet responsible for the earlier u-boat losses. I have little air-naval activity here so they are fairly safe but an air attack of allied forces can be seen over to the east.

This image reveals the strength of forces in the Balearic Isles leaving me with the threat of significant difficulty taking control of them.

07:00 November 15th 1940​

The second fleet has now taken up station south of Italy and attacked some really old allied destroyers. It’s this sort of rubbish that makes it relatively easy for my fleets and does suggest that things may be different in a few months when everything I meet is relatively modern. The high seas fleet should be moving into position off the coast of Naples in the hopes this may finally allow me to cross the straights into Sicily. The whole Italian campaign is currently held up by enemy naval power and has been all for the last three weeks.

10:00 November 16th 1940​

The high seas fleet has obtained full revenge and is moving on eastwards.

 

[Kanitatlan]

04:00 November 17th 1940​

I haven’t been mentioning the undefended German provinces in Africa. These were obtained by annexing Spain and the allies are taking a long time to take them. The significance of this picture is the first landing in the Canary Islands. This will be the beginning of their total occupation so in a few weeks all these provinces will be gone.

14:00 November 17th 1940​

An allied bombing mission over Italy has been intercepted and there are another 8 fighter squadrons patrolling nearby. Just for once I have predicted enemy air action and been ready for it. This enemy bomber squadron does not return again.

16:00 November 17th 1940​

The retreat is finally over and my motorised division is whisked away by train with barely any remaining strength. Losses so far represent about 4 manpower lost (after allowing for returning wounded) but the loss of the divisional stub would be another 2 manpower and 2 more for the attached brigade. This means the last bombing hit would be worth as much as all the previous ones put together. This is all a bit silly and represents a significant flaw in the way air-ground operations work.

It is important to avoid ever actually losing a division because of this and this applies to all causes of divisional loss.

22:00 November 17th 1940​

Middle east operations have reached the final step of phase 1 as I can now annex Lebanon. Further operations must wait for all troops in Turkey to come south.

10:00 November 18th 1940​

An attempted attack across the straights looks quite poor and although it could be successful it is terminated soon enough by enemy naval activity. The presence of friendly fleets is insufficient and alternative arrangements will need to be made.

 

[El Pip]

And we have a winner. Now, did you know that or are we dealing with a bit of expert web research?

Still not obscure enough.

I had a vague memory of the sprout/elvis thing from a recommendation a friend made of the books (they're on my list of things to read if I ever get any time). A quick bit of Googling and the memory solidified into an answer.

Obscurity on 'tut interweb is a relative subject, there's always someone who likes it and feels the need to share it. May I suggest Belgian philosophy, the operatic tradition of Mongolia, German restaurants, something like that.

 

[Brad1]

An attempted attack across the straights looks quite poor and although it could be successful it is terminated soon enough by enemy naval activity. The presence of friendly fleets is insufficient and alternative arrangements will need to be made.

Why not wait until you have taken the Suez and cleared out the Mediterranean of enemy ships? I don't see why you can't just go around Sicily to Africa and use your ships to prevent any enemy movement to the Italian Peninsula.

 

[unmerged(53911)]

Nice to see my counterpart doing his job against the Ruskies! Glad to help save a division.

 

[TheExecuter]

Still no idea where you are. I'm still worried that it is an Atlantic desk job.

Oh, don't worry...your worst fears are well founded!

And at that I'll stop trying to predict where my asses (I mean superiors) at the Navy Department will put me next!

Tchuss!
TheExecuter

 

[Kanitatlan]

okay, here are the provinces, let me know if you want more. 325, 334, 13, 47, 90, and 118.

Added, now we wait to see if there any consequences.

Why not wait until you have taken the Suez and cleared out the Mediterranean of enemy ships? I don't see why you can't just go around Sicily to Africa and use your ships to prevent any enemy movement to the Italian Peninsula.

That is an interesting question but as mentioned previously there are issues with guarding such situations. I am also aiming at a complete neutralisation of all allied bases in the Mediterranean region. If you mask off islands the enemy navy will go and hide in port. Also see later in the month.

El Pip I was afraid the internet was playing a role. I really can't see how to create a competition that isn't at least partially sabotaged by Google. I will keep trying.

WhisperingDeath Good job done but there is such a thing as cutting it too fine. I couldn't believe how little was left.

TheExecuter I look forward to losing a sea battle. On the other hand it seems to have happened.

 

[Kanitatlan]

November 19th-24th 1940

00:00 November 19th 1940​

Further west the high seas fleet is providing cover for the army in Sardinia to land in North Africa. The French have tried to intervene but we manage to hold them off and inflict some damage before they retreat. The landing continues.

16:00 November 20th 1940​

Bombing in the Central Mediterranean is running constantly and probably accounts for a lot of the enemy losses in the month. There are allied ships constantly present in the region.

13:00 November 21st 1940​

A second attempt by the Vichy fleet to disrupt landings is even less successful and they are kept out to full CV range throughout before they give up and go. Weather conditions are poor but the objective is to land not to sink ships.

07:00 November 24th 1940​

Finally my troops are ashore and begin swarming across Tunisia. There are disturbing numbers of Brazilian air units in the area but they don’t attack so I’m not too worried.

11:00 November 24th 1940​

Air patrols off island have detected a record sized US transport fleet. This has worrying implications.

 

[Kanitatlan]

08:00 November 25th 1940​

And here are the implications, a 9 division landing in Belfast. Oddly enough this is probably the absolute optimal size for a landing army allowing for the trade off between penalties and gross org. However, their landing conditions are diabolical and some idiot forgot to put anyone in charge. This is probably the right time for the US general staff to be stood up against a wall and shot. BUT it isn’t over yet.

22:00 November 25th 1940​

After several aborted attempts at crossing the straights I have instead set up an amphibious landing into southern Sicily. Oddly enough straights crossings are cancelled by the mere presence of enemy ships and yet amphibious landings are not. Therefore I am forced to use this approach with the added benefit that the area is undefended. Very large forces are being put ashore ready to challenge the large Italian forces in northern Sicily. Notice the immense air force in Palermo – a grand total of 54 squadrons. These are probably the main source of transfer activity across North Africa and taking Sicily may cancel that traffic.

07:00 November 26th 1940​

The Russians are starting to get it together with their advances towards the Volga but now that they have spread out a bit I can inflict some real pain on them. Advancing Russian divisions are being devastated but I can make no impression on their larger stacks coming along behind. Once the reach the Volga I have a problem as I have all but no defence and cannot afford to risk any aircraft on the ground.

12:00 November 27th 1940​

The US landing fleet ahs been sorely depleted but they are still there and the landing battle continues.

08:00 November 28th 1940​

The US landing battle reaches its final stages. My units appear to have taken no damage whatsoever and the landing force has nearly exhausted its org. Their losses appear moderate but my air power will try to remove the rest.

06:00 November 29th 1940​

I am making rapid progress in Tunisia and get the feeling that the North Africa campaign has truly begun.

 

[Kanitatlan]

08:00 December 1st 1940​

The Sicily landing is complete and the Italian forces are now doomed to rapid destruction. This attack is much more effective than previous probes across the straights so Sicily will soon be mine.

10:00 December 1st 1940​

The advance Russian force shown previously has been completely destroyed but now I am bombing larger stacks the damage is much less significant. My position on the Volga remains completely secure and there are no worries about having to despatch forces just yet (this is called keeping your nerve).

To be different I Have compiled a total of ships sunk this month instead of showing the sunk ship roster. Total losses of non-German ships this month excluding SS is : 33 TP, 9 CA, 17 CL, 6 BB, 49 DD, 1 CVL and 2 BC. This is rather different from last month and although the total is maintaining itself quite well we are well down on capital ship losses. I am inclined to count the BCs as CAs rather than capital ships as they are old Vichy vessels. If we consider the IC cost of these ships then their value is significant but still rather less than the IC output of the USA in the same period. The ships are a wild mixture of nationalities so I suspect that I am not even cancelling naval growth for any of the more distant countries (including the USA). Obviously local nation, Vichy and Italy in particular, are taking heavy punishment but the long-term naval levels look to be still increasing substantially.

Intelligence estimates show 5 BB and 74 smaller ships even for Italy and the USA is showing 58 BB, 54 CV and 523 smaller ships. Over all current action is insufficient for ultimate victory.

With recent modding to the Empire of the Petal throne I have succeeded in making myself a little nervous which I guess means the game is going to stay fun. I would like to revise my time estimates from the end of last month in the light of force estimates showing for Africa (for a start). Intelligence indicates 205 Italian divisions and 36 French. Vichy forces are unknown, Belgium is showing as zero forces and South Africa shows quite weak. However, any substantial defence in Africa will mean no concurrent operations elsewhere. Russia is said to have 300 divisions and the empire 1,000. I will review plans again at the turn of the year when I may have come to a more considered opinion about the possibilities.

Currently I am extremely worried about my ability to engage the empire in positional warfare and wondering how a fully mobile campaign can be fought when I must approach their heartlands through some of the worst territory in the world.

 

[unmerged(53911)]

I enjoyed your version of Husky - seems that the Sicily invasion has to begin in the south. Things are looking scarier on the Russian Front although (as a reader who likes things to be "interesting") I am glad to see the return of the Russian Superstack!

 

[sbr]

With recent modding to the Empire of the Petal throne I have succeeded in making myself a little nervous which I guess means the game is going to stay fun. I would like to revise my time estimates from the end of last month in the light of force estimates showing for Africa (for a start). Intelligence indicates 205 Italian divisions and 36 French. Vichy forces are unknown, Belgium is showing as zero forces and South Africa shows quite weak. However, any substantial defence in Africa will mean no concurrent operations elsewhere. Russia is said to have 300 divisions and the empire 1,000. I will review plans again at the turn of the year when I may have come to a more considered opinion about the possibilities.

I don't presume to speak for everyone but I would imagine that you being nervous, makes most of your readers happy.

Excellent progress so far. I am very excited to see how quickly you can push through Africa and how that compares to what the Soviets decide to do.

 

[unmerged(40779)]

Quite interesting situation you have there... moving into Africa, and away from Russia at the same time. I'd very much like to know where our Airborne forces are currently located, and what are the future plans for their use?

 

[Kanitatlan]

WhisperingDeath For now the Russian front is fairly controlled and I would have said the Russians are less than half way to causing real problems. It is difficult to be confident enough in this to leave them another 2 months before sending reinforcements although that appears to be the proper approach. (that is 2 months till sending plus transport time until they arrive)

sbr Being nervous makes me happy as well. What is the point of playing if there is no challenge but simple optimisation of routine operations

Kasakka Airborne forces all remain waiting in Athens. I have some serious operations planned for the immediate future (and I mean immediate, drops start in a few hours). There are no really dramatic uses for them but it seems appropriate to improve my situation by their use before there is no enemy territory within range of Athens.

 

[Brad1]

I am more worried by the fact that you are going to split your forces between Africa and Russia. Are you planning on building any offensive land forces in the future?

 

[unmerged(53911)]

Brad, I don't think any further offensive land forces can be built due to manpower limits (at least, any sizable amounts). Kan will just have to play with what he has!

My recollection is that the upcomining builds are mostly naval with a smattering of air, including rockets when available. I could be wrong (and if I am I'm sure we'll hear from our "fearless gamer" - heck, we will probably hear from him on this subject regardless of my comment ).

 

[Brad1]

Brad, I don't think any further offensive land forces can be built due to manpower limits (at least, any sizable amounts). Kan will just have to play with what he has!

My recollection is that the upcomining builds are mostly naval with a smattering of air, including rockets when available. I could be wrong (and if I am I'm sure we'll hear from our "fearless gamer" - heck, we will probably hear from him on this subject regardless of my comment ).

I understand this, although I was wondering if Kanitatilan was going to build any marines, and if there was any at all offensive land forces that was going to be built after some of the naval builds wind down. After conquering some of the manpower rich areas of India and Asia, Kanitatilan should be receiving quite a bit more manpower.

 

[El Pip]

After conquering some of the manpower rich areas of India and Asia, Kanitatilan should be receiving quite a bit more manpower.

Yet those areas will either be territory of, or very close to, the Petal Throne, that's the 1,000 division with capacity for a great deal more Petal Throne.

Throw in the modded US AI that may actually land somewhere other than Belfast and I don't believe the previous high speed of conquest will be repeated across the sub-continent and the Far East, if only due to the vastly increased quantity and quality of the opposition.

 

[Kanitatlan]

Brad1,WhisperingDeath,El Pip As a collective answer to your collective questions.

The split of forces between Africa and Russia will be highly biased towards Russia. If this results in the Africa offensive stalling then this will have to wait till Russia has been cut down to size. Intelligence estimates suggest this may be the case but I can't "see" any of this hords of divisions and therefore may be able to secure north and west Africa before stalling. If this includes the ability to build secur bases in west Africa and the horn of Africa then the campaign will have been quite successful.

The addition of further offensive land forces is highly likely even with the current level of manpower production. When looked at on an annual scale it looks like I have loads of manpower coming in, in fact about 1100+ per year (see end of October production review). Given the scale of enemy forces I am thinking that I should perhaps generate another 48 mobile divisions, possibly mechanised. This will have to wait until I scale back on garrison production and will take a long time but ultimately I could achieve a significant build up. Of course we should perhaps bear in mind that the period over which I can build these divisions is similar to the time for the empire to add another 1,000.

The marine build policy was described in the October production review. The plan is to build up a force of 12 marines with SPArt to form 2 maximum effect landing forces.

I have to admit that I would dearly love to take some manpower rich areas but currently these areas represent major military problems. Even if the Empire does send forces to defend India their ownership of Tibet puts them in a strong position on its northern flank and likely to cause severe problems. I am expecting the India campaign to be a long drawn out affair with massive levels of fighting involving many different countries. Its terrain is actually a quite attractive area for engaging the empire and inflicting heavy defeats. By the time I take control of major new sources of manpower I will have to have defeated further major enemy forces.

Bear in mind that I need to set objectives for 1941 that includes the destruction of enemy forces on a gigantic scale. If I am to have a genuine chance at world domination I need to be destroying forces on the following scale of numbers

50-100 BB or CV
circa 500 other ships
50-100 air squadrons plus numerous losses
circa 1000 divisions

You will appreciate that these are huge numbers but if I am not achieving them then I am facing the prospect that the enemy is simply getting stronger. The thought of having to winkle out 1,000 empire divisions from Korea or the Japanese home islands is simply ridiculous so I must achieve major "attrition" results to be able to progress. Even at the above levels I don't believe I am keeping up with existing world output of new forces.

 

[Von Uber]

Ouch!