Fatherland - Deutschland über alles

[Kanitatlan]

19:00 June 28th 1939

Another British division slips past the Kriegsmarine. These small transport fleets are getting a significant number of ships and hence divisions past me to land in England. Why they can’t land on the west coast I don’t know but I’m grateful for every division sent to the bottom of the sea.

 

[Kanitatlan]

20:00 June 28th 1939

The air battles are showing a weaker and weaker British air force with clear indications of total German victory in the air war.

 

[Kanitatlan]

21:00 June 28th 1939

Nightfall brings a para drop on London. There is no particular reason to do this except to get the captured resources in and try to protect from counter-attacks. This will also speed the advance of new units that can be given orders to advance.

London

The resulting increase in resources is extremely nice. There are massive increases in all sorts of resources and even a handsome lump of supplies (6,000). Strangely there is no money, which is hard to believe. Perhaps it takes a while to break into the vaults of the bank of England.

 

[Kanitatlan]

01:00 June 29th 1939

The home fleet is now looking very very flaky as if it will suddenly all sink in the next battle. The losses in this battle don’t look high but when you realise it was all at night this suddenly looks very very bad for the British fleet.

 

[Kanitatlan]

02:00 June 29th 1939

The British strategic bomber force, still trying to escape from Portsmouth, has been reduced to about 40 aircraft out of 300. Even if these remnants escape it will take a long long time to rebuild them to full strength 9and a lot of ICs they are about to not have).

 

[Kanitatlan]

02:00 June 29th 1939 b

Over in Poland the Poles have penetrated the fragmentary frontline yet again. Obviously these guys will be easy to precipitate into retreat and will soon vaporise under air attack. I can’t see this as much of a threat by my weakness in this theatre does at least mean the forces present have something to do.

 

[Kanitatlan]

05:00 June 29th 1939

Just for once the Yugoslav attempted air transfer has been intercepted in daylight although I’m surprised my fighter pilots aren’t embarrassed at being asked to fight such primitive units.

 

[Kanitatlan]

07:00 June 29th 1939

In Spain the various moves remain incomplete but unopposed. A new attack has been launched into Huesca and on completion of the existing moves the Barcelona pocket will be just Barcelona. Again the Spanish forces are clearly still recovering from the Spanish civil war making our task somewhat easier.

 

[Kanitatlan]

08:00 June 29th 1939

German panzer forces have occupied the full first wave of provinces in Yugoslavia and are moving on to their secondary objectives against limited opposition.

 

[Kanitatlan]

10:00 June 29th 1939

Three hours in the battle of Huesca is a clear cut German victory

 

[Kanitatlan]

10:00 June 29th 1939 b

General Hannibal leads one of the more difficult attacks of the Yugoslav campaign. Odds of 8:6 across a river in rain look tricky but the number of positive modifiers make it a perfectly acceptable battle. Most of the defenders have retreated there and are already weakened.

 

[Kanitatlan]

17:00 June 29th 1939

Portsmouth falls and the Stukas move in to eliminate the retreating British. I now have operations in two air zones, east and west of England, allowing the commitment of a full 32 bomber squadrons.

 

[Kanitatlan]

June 30th 1939

Speaks for itself, combat record of all ground battles since the last ground battle list. The usual list of wins except for the probe at Plymouth.

 

[Virgiltchicken]

Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine

Mein Fueher, Operation Sealion appears to be decided conclusively in our favor. The Wehrmacht is ashore and in the process of eliminating or capturing every military asset in England. The Luftwaffe rules the skies. The Home Fleet has been reduced to a handful of destroyers and cruisers. Obviously there are many ships that will attempt to flee or attempt to assist the British in their hopeless resistance., so the Kriegsmarine will stay in the North Sea for the time being. But what will be our role after the British Isles have been occupied? Will there be a thrust into Scandinavia or are the rumors surrounding the Baltic’s true? I suggest, Herr Kanitatlan, that the next major objective of the Kriegsmarine be the domination of the Mediterranean. Gibraltar will fall with Spain, giving us an indisputable opening. I suggest that U-boat forces be deployed to hunt convoys and act as scouts as soon as possible (if any new units are being deployed, the Yugoslavian ports will soon be in our hands…).

This leads me into questions concerning our production. Currently, we have one very good battle fleet capable of decisively destroying any Allied resistance. As our sphere of interest grows, however, more fleets will be needed. Can you estimate when a second fleet, even if it is weaker in capital ships, will be available to act as a reserve fleet for secondary objectives (covering the invasion of Scandinavia while the main fleet is fighting for the Med. for example)?

Heil Kanitatlan and long live the Reich!
Virgil

 

[unmerged(58104)]

Looking good! I'm really curious as to what the USA's doing now. Have they geared up?

 

[unmerged(24320)]

Kanitatlan: ..Portsmouth falls and the Stukas move in to eliminate the retreating British. I now have operations in two air zones, east and west of England, allowing the commitment of a full 32 bomber squadrons.

most excellent! !

 

[Kanitatlan]

Sadly it is now too late to finish these updates before I go on holiday so I will leave you all with a brief strategic reports and some questions.

The current strategic situation is clarly leading to Germany's complete dominance of Western Europe and a position of relative security until the USA enters the war. Taking out Gibraltar will leave the British with no bases anywhere near the UK and Spain will probably be the front line for western operations with the focus being naval (including air support).

In the east I am clearly dominating the Balkans and have a choice of how far to go. The M-R pact is fast approaching and with the it the issue of the Baltic states.

Here are some questions to consider and discuss amongst yourselves for a couple of weeks whilst I am away.

1. After going for standard M-R pact how should I follow it up
a) Should I try to annex the baltic States before the SU can. This deprives the SU of valuable territory and gives me greater flexibility in the Barbarossa start line
b) Should I consider occupying the rest of Poland and then renege on the pact taking it all for myself. (I will leave it to someone else to report on the "scripted" consequences)

2. Should I invade Romania. This gives an expanded start-line for Barbarossa and some additional territory. It raises issues of partisan levels against the benefits from the territory.

3. Is there any point in taking Norway and Sweden? They do bring some minor benefits as strategic bases but the key issue is their industrial/partisan impact. If I invade is the cost of occupation more than they will yield in industrial/manpower output AND will they create more TC than their partisan load consumes. To answer this requires some analysis of occupation options (anyone want to go and do this properly?)

4. I am tempted towards focusing on collecting everything in the East and waiting for the war on the SU. I suspect there is no point in any activities elsewhere since I can see no operations that will truly help this eastern war. Anyone got other ideas?

In discussing these issues can you try to post analysis and rational argument with evidence rather than just saying what you think. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself facing 1000 Russian divisions when I finally attack in 1940. This will be a serious campaign and most likely the most dangerous of the entire war.

So long and see you all in September. I have written up several more days and have images through to 20th July but I have run out of time to post.

 

[unmerged(58104)]

1a:
Yes, if you have the time and forces to do it I'd do so. If only because of the lower partisan level compared to you occupying these 'Soviet' provinces later on.

1b:
Not really sure. I like eastern Poland as a killing field for Russian divisions before moving deeper into the SU. Dividing Poland has both it's advantages and disadvantages

2:
With all those Russian divisions I think you could do with the extra oil, IC and manpower of Romania. Granted they'll produce less oil that way.
Garrisoning them won't cost that much manpower (you'll only need 2-3 garrisons right?). Disadvantage of taking Romania prior to Barbarossa is that you'll need more divisions to guard their former border with the SU then when you'd left Romania neutral for the time being.

3:
I have two left hands when it comes to calculating anything...
I can't imagine Norway/Sweden having any value for you. I think they aren't more than a distraction for you.

4:
Nope, can't think of something important to take now that would be wrapped up by the time you start Barbarossa.

 

[KILLER BOB]

1. After going for standard M-R pact how should I follow it up
a) Should I try to annex the baltic States before the SU can. This deprives the SU of valuable territory and gives me greater flexibility in the Barbarossa start line
b) Should I consider occupying the rest of Poland and then renege on the pact taking it all for myself. (I will leave it to someone else to report on the "scripted" consequences)

I reccomend going with A, as it yields a much more advantagious posisition against the SU if we allow them to keep eastern Poland. Only concerns is an early DOW since they will have core's on it.

2. Should I invade Romania. This gives an expanded start-line for Barbarossa and some additional territory. It raises issues of partisan levels against the benefits from the territory.

No, this is not really worth it. If we keep romania neutral, we can reap the full capacity of their oil production through trade, where as if we invade, levels will remain a fraction of their former selves. Also it creates an extended front which ultimately benefits the SU. Perhaps we can use this as a possible area for a pocket.

3. Is there any point in taking Norway and Sweden? They do bring some minor benefits as strategic bases but the key issue is their industrial/partisan impact. If I invade is the cost of occupation more than they will yield in industrial/manpower output AND will they create more TC than their partisan load consumes. To answer this requires some analysis of occupation options (anyone want to go and do this properly?)

Don't really have the energy to analyze it properly, but considering past games, Norway and Sweden are not worth the land they occupy (resource wise). There are not many factories and resources will come in at a trickle as compared to if we traded with them. Should be left until SU is dealt with.

4. I am tempted towards focusing on collecting everything in the East and waiting for the war on the SU. I suspect there is no point in any activities elsewhere since I can see no operations that will truly help this eastern war. Anyone got other ideas?

When you say wait, do you mean wait for them to DOW, or you are ready to attack? Either way, it is beneficial to leave skeleton garrisons elsewhere so you may use the brunt of your force against the big red bear. I ran a simulation based on some of the modifications you made, and believe me, it will be an extremly hard fight.

 

[unmerged(12895)]

Well my opinion is pretty obvious. You should declare war on every country in the world at once except the Soviet Union, then suffer defeat at the hands of the glorious Soviet Union when we declare war on you after you've been worn down.

But from *your* perspective.

Norway and Sweden are close to you, and can be taken at almost any time. You want an earlier start line against the Soviet Union, as you'll be taking it all.

In the mean time, have you considered destroying Italy utterly?