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One thing I never understood about the British AI is why they build so many Marine divisions.
 
One thing I never understood about the British AI is why they build so many Marine divisions.
Because everyone knows the Royal Marines are superior to the pongos in every way?

For explanation I live near where 40 Commando are based, and three generations of my family serve in the RN. My colours are firmly nailed to the mast.
 
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The internet tells me the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, the sinkers of the Bismark, was made up of Tribal class destroyers. Which makes sense as they were excellent ships, well captained and crewed, and always to be found where the fighting was heaviest.

A combined force of Royal Marines and Ghurkas is quite formidable, Northern France is in safe hands. Which is good as the French leadership was apparently wasting IC on building factories ( o_O :confused: ! )
 
Ooo exciting times. Sink the Bismark indeed!
Ha, nice reference - I'm such a WW2 nerd I actually have the original movie on DVD! :D
One thing I never understood about the British AI is why they build so many Marine divisions.
Because everyone knows the Royal Marines are superior to the pongos in every way?

For explanation I live near where 40 Commando are based, and three generations of my family serve in the RN. My colours are firmly nailed to the mast.
Yes, it makes a certain amount of sense, though they do build a lot of them. Still, I'll use 'em if they send 'em! They're good defensively - even if I don't have a lot of beach-storming at the moment, they would come in handy if I ever did. ;) And StNylan, I'd never dis the commandos or marines. Hard men. :) I know/have worked quite a few of our senior SAS and Commandos here - cross none of them on a dark night, unless they're on your side! :eek:
The internet tells me the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, the sinkers of the Bismark, was made up of Tribal class destroyers. Which makes sense as they were excellent ships, well captained and crewed, and always to be found where the fighting was heaviest.

A combined force of Royal Marines and Ghurkas is quite formidable, Northern France is in safe hands. Which is good as the French leadership was apparently wasting IC on building factories ( o_O :confused: ! )
The factories were laid down early, and this game was played a while back - I hadn't done the maths/played as much back then. All I can do is report on now what the former me did. Just wait and see what I was building in the next update - some of it very logical, some ... I really can't work out now why I built it! It's a bit like reporting on someone else's game at times! ;) Still, keeps it fresh for me as well as my dear readers. :D

And you'll all see soon that the UK starts sending quite a bit other than marines - very useful. I'm back from overseas now (last update was posted from the airport this morning, in transit), back home and about to drive off to the coast. But should still be able to get the odd update in over the next week - unless I don't! :D Depends what the weather is like at the beach :cool:
 
Because everyone knows the Royal Marines are superior to the pongos in every way?

For explanation I live near where 40 Commando are based, and three generations of my family serve in the RN. My colours are firmly nailed to the mast.

Well, I applied twice to the USNA, was a Marine-Option midshipman and despite serving in the Army root for the Naval Academy for the Army-Navy game...

Thanks for the link about "pongos"... I was thinking that it was British slang for Pogs as in the US Marines/Army... but meh.
 
Very nice updates!

Seems like an offensive by the allied powers is about to happen. It looks like you are slowly approaching the breaking point, where you will surpass the Axis in mobilised strength.
 
I know the games fixed now but I am wondering if you will use those Brit-Marines for an Anzio?:) Nabbing some LCTs would have been a winner. However, since the Axis navies are toast, you may not need to worry about quick landings.:D
 
Very nice updates!

Seems like an offensive by the allied powers is about to happen. It looks like you are slowly approaching the breaking point, where you will surpass the Axis in mobilised strength.
Thanks :) - another follows straight after this. The British are really stepping up too - butthe Germans are not finished with me yet. I soon get a reminder why I need to be careful, well-prepared and to have that second frontto distract the Germans a bit.
I know the games fixed now but I am wondering if you will use those Brit-Marines for an Anzio?:) Nabbing some LCTs would have been a winner. However, since the Axis navies are toast, you may not need to worry about quick landings.:D
Good thoughts - we will eventually find out whether the French High Command had similar ideas. ;)
 
Episode 12: 17 September 1942
Episode 12: 17 September 1942

Another five months have passed. No major movements or entries to the war, but things are hotting up. There may well have been more sizable battles along the way (my memory is that the Germans were not quite so static as they appear in these periodic snapshots, where the evidence of previous battles is often washed away over time). But here, we capture a large battle in mid-flow, so will focus on it.

The BEF

But first, we will again look at forces mustering and preparing in France. First, this is the BEF now forward-deployed on the ‘British Sector’ of the Western Line (ie. in the north-west of France). It includes the addition of the troops we saw introduced last time, so by now there are a couple of MOT and one Gurkha division in the mix, bringing the total there to 17 divisions!

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But wait, there’s more! This is what has just arrived at Cherbourg – another nine divisions, including ARM, MOT and MTN units, as well as the usual run of INF and MAR. I wouldn’t perhaps have picked the unit configurations they have, but they are all welcome.

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New BEF arrivals, with a few representative divisional orbats shown. These will come in handy once the Hun is ready for his fist-beating!

French 1st Mech Corps

And here are some examples of the new heavy mechanised forces being prepared by France for the tough fight ahead. The pride of these is the 2nd Cuirassier Division – now an 8-7 spearhead with MECH INF, SP ARTY and L4 TDs. The 1st Cuirassier Division is refitting, but will boast a medium tank (ARM) brigade, 3 x MECH and an SP ARTY.

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Southern France

The amphibious reserve remains in Marseille for now. Note, one division of the BEF was sent south to reinforce the line – the Axis build-up there remains heavy, though not too active at present.

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Battle of Sedan

As mentioned above, we were lucky enough this time to catch a major land action in progress. It is quite a complex action, so I let it run through for a day to give a taste of what was going on and how it probably would have finished, the scale of casualties, etc.

As we tune in (at 6am on 17 Sep 42), the attack has clearly been in progress for some time. The Germans attempt a breakthrough attack but are starting to get weary. The French 10th Inf Div has almost been forced to retreat. And the French commanders were clearly worried enough about the persistent attack to have called in some BEF units as reserves, just in case.

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Both sides are employing air power – the Germans to batter the defenders in Sedan with a heavy mixed force, the French to disrupt the Germans attacking from Charleville Mezieres.

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These attacks persist throughout the 24 hour period reviewed here. These are the kinds of casualties they would have been inflicting. Of course, we can't tell from this snapshot whether the French would have called in INT escorts for their attacking or defensive air battles or how long either side would have actually kept these up.

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By 3pm on the 17th, the French 10th Inf Div can take no more and retreats.

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But by 2pm on the 18th, the Germans break off the attack. A victory for France, with heavy casualties on both sides – though heavier for the Germans (again, attributed to Slovakia, but they are all German units) and with a heavy toll from air raids (not captured in the battle report).

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Air Battle in Dover

The Germans were also active in the skies above Dover, with Udet’s wing of four fighters (based in Belgium) duelling with his RAF counterparts.

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Naval

Three more Italian small ship squadrons or flotillas have been sunk by the French Navy since April.

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Italian naval bombers remain the largest threat at sea now (it was they who have been damaging our sub raiders in the Central Med and that sunk one of our flotillas earlier in the year). But no more French ships have been lost since April.

Production

Here is the latest production screen. A new aircraft carrier is being produced – and before you ask, I really can’t now remember the grand naval ambition that motivated the French Navy to commission this at the time! I can only speculate - perhaps the reason will become apparent later! More relevant is the MECH conversion and building program; the first French HARM brigade; a new medium tank division and an elite Alpins brigade (all due in January 1943).

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Summary

So it can be seen that the Germans can still bite hard when they want to – if they devoted more to an attack in the West (only three divs were sent against Sedan and they pressed pretty hard) they could cause us plenty of problems. On the plus side, the British have now sent France the equivalent of an entire army, with some mech forces, for the Western Front and they send significant lend-lease aid as well and keep the seas secure - a very valuable ally in this time line.

But will the Soviets break their NAP with Hitler? We need the diversion of a second front to make the reclamation of occupied French soil a feasible proposition.
 
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Episode 13: 15 December 1942 to 23 January 1943
Episode 13: 15 December 1942 to 23 January 1943

And as today it chooses to rain on my beach holiday :mad: - here is another short update. :)

15 December 1942

Strategic

As 1942 draws to a close, we see the US is still neutral and its threat vs neutrality ratio is still quite low. They are aligning towards the Allies but Germany is trying to influence them to stay neutral.

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Funnily enough, not everyone likes being part of the Greater German Reich! Revolts are brewing in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland.

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The aircraft carrier construction noted in the last update is now coming into better perspective: with naval pilot training being improved, landing craft tech already researched and now invasion tactics being studied ...

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... and there are now three landing craft under construction. Deployable naval air power is useful to sustain a credible joint amphibious capability. Air power also continues to be developed.

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Land

In northern France, the front line has become the most highly militarised zone in the world – there are great forces on both sides now. This map shows the Western Line, from the Channel to Metz.

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The 1st Cuir Div is now fully reinforced – to a very formidable and fully armoured 8-8 force.

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And the newly delivered 3rd Cuir Div gears up. It has been allocated to strengthen the BEF in the west.

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And here we see more evidence of French intent: a corps of the BEF, including two marine divisions, has been sent to Toulon, where another French transport fleet is located.

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Air

The only battle in progress at the moment is in the air over Genoa. Compared to the Italians, the French INT have the better equipment, experience, doctrine and leadership, but are outnumbered.

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Naval

Two more Italian small ship units have been sunk by France since September, with no French losses. Looks like they keep trying to slip transport fleets through the Med – we can only hope some of them are carrying troops when sent to the bottom.

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16 January 1943

One month later and it is either the same or a renewed air contest being fought over Genoa. The French INT have suffered a lot of damage, while the Italians have brought in reinforcements.

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And two more Italian transport squadrons have been sent to the bottom in the last month.

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But otherwise, little has changed as winter sets in.

***
The graphs below report French and German air activity over the last month.

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The land charts show there have been some exchanges on the ground over the last month, but there are no detailed battle reports to hand as at 16 Jan 43.

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And here are some figures for war to date. German casualties have been quite heavy by comparison to France’s.

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23 January 1943

Clearly, it is difficult for our espionage service to maintain a presence in Germany: the network there is being diminished, even while lying low, and German counter-espionage is up to 9. But they do seem to be improving their HARM tech – never good news for the French Army. The networks in Italy and Soviet Union are doing a little better.

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And the latest BEF unit to arrive is being sent to help man the southern border at Nice.

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So 1943 begins with the arms race in France in full swing, French eyes turning to amphibious warfare and naval power projection and a continued drive to build and modernise French air power – which will be needed in the coming trial. And still, the Japanese, Soviets and Americans continue to observe from the sidelines.
 
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Outflank the Italians via the sea?

The Western Front will loom with a gargantuan shadow over the Western Europeans in this timeline.
 
Outflank the Italians via the sea?
It does look that way.

That or a brave attempt to get a draw by not fighting till the game ends due to lack of time. ( :D )
 
Outflank the Italians via the sea?

The Western Front will loom with a gargantuan shadow over the Western Europeans in this timeline.
It does look that way.

That or a brave attempt to get a draw by not fighting till the game ends due to lack of time. ( :D )
Heh - that's right, just a cosmic joke by me to do an AAR through to 1948 where nothing happens :D.

Is it just me, or can you guys see the images OK at the moment? I can't seem to access my image host and the pictures have all dropped out.
 
I can see the images fine
 
Episode 14: 5 to 23 February 1943
Episode 14: 5 to 23 February 1943

Well, things are beginning to happen – 1943 promises to be a year of major strategic developments – the most significant since the fateful days of 1939. For now, ‘strategic patience’ has remained the French watchphrase and will continue to be – but thoughts turn more and more to preparing for the great strike that will seal either France’s fate or that of the Nazi aggressors.

5 February 1943

But first, there is more immediate business to deal with. It seems the Italians are determined to revenge themselves upon the crucial French heartland ... of Corsica! We only have the immediate aftermath captured here in images, but the Italians tried another airborne landing, with air and naval engagements. Unfortunately for them, the Anglo-French amphibious task force in Toulon was at hand to expel them, but not after a fight. The map below shows the original garrison MIL division had been sorely pressed before it was relieved, while the record of air and naval engagements in the last week also tells a tale. But Ajàccio remains free!

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20 February 1943

Momentous diplomatic news! The historical record is incomplete, so we don’t know the exact sequence of these events – who started what and who responded. But the war just got a lot bigger. But we can surmise.

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So, the upshot is the Japanese were at war with Communist China – who had joined the Allies – and if we surmise that Mao Zedong had the wisdom to have joined the Allies (interestingly, not the Comintern) beforehand, perhaps this brought them into the war. Japan was also trying to influence Siam to join them. The US (perhaps responding to this aggression?) was now at war with Japan (plus its puppets) and those who had joined the European War (Germany and Japan and their puppets).

But the sovereign Axis members in Europe still remain out of the war. As does the Soviet Union, which is influencing Spain and Turkey – logical strategic choices for them.

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In France, the Western and Southern Front lines remain unchanged. The first French HARM brigade has been deployed – it will provide infantry support for a division designed for a bunker-busting breakthrough.

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Corsica has now been more heavily garrisoned, including using light MIL divs to discourage air or naval landings next to Ajàccio – the Italian’s previous trick.

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War with Japan brings their immediate seizure of the port of Zhanjiang. Of more concern is the vital resources of French Indochina: still garrisoned by two colonial infantry divisions, protected on land by the border with Nationalist China, but essentially at the mercy of any Japanese naval landing.

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The brave Poles rise up against their oppressors. But a futile assault by France in the West will not save them – this time. But we hope to liberate them one day.

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The Communist Chinese had made some easy gains against the Japanese puppet Mengkukuo regime and bravely resist an initial Japanese attack on their capital (and only VP city) of Yan’an. But surely the Japanese will bring greater force to bear, and there is no-one nearby to aid Mao Zedong. Their units are even the same colour as the Poles – and they will likely share a similar fate, unfortunately.

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At sea, February was been busy. We can surmise there was one or more major fleet engagements, involving attempted naval landings by the Italians (probably on Corsica) that were intercepted and engaged by the French Navy (these are just the ships France sunk over this period). No French ships were lost achieving this – a grand outcome!

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And here is a snapshot of the total UK fleet losses in the war to date. You can see the German battleships Bismarck (sunk some time ago) and the Tirpitz have had a very destructive effect. At this point, the Tirpitz remained at large.

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A look at French research at this time makes for interesting reading. First, in small aircraft equipment and training (for fighter, CAS and NAV training).

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The other area of focus now is on offensive doctrine (in which France has until now been quite backward, having relied on the defence) and bringing light tank equipment up to date.

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In terms of French war objectives, the liberation of North Africa, the holding of Paris and the entry of the US into the war satisfy three of the twelve victory conditions being aimed for the New Democratic World Order. Much work needs to be done – and liberating the BENELUX countries is merely the start of that long and difficult road.

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In the next update we will see what mischief Japan gets up to in the Far East and Pacific. And who else will join what is becoming a truly World War. The USSR is now the only major power not involved – and the one we need most to distract the Germans.
 
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So Japan's entry should shake things up a bit, but against the main threat of Germany for France Japan cannot be more than a distraction, if a very unwelcome one.
 
So Japan's entry should shake things up a bit, but against the main threat of Germany for France Japan cannot be more than a distraction, if a very unwelcome one.
Very accurate observations. I was reluctant to lose the strategic resources Indochina provides, but not to the extent of shipping over additional forces to protect them: will have to hope they look elsewhere for as long as possible. And c’mon Soviets, we need you to do something! :mad:o_O
CC joined the Allies - that's a new turn for me.

And man I am liking this Brit-A.I. With that help, I'm interested to see where this France goes.

A great story resides here...already.
Thank you my friend, it means a lot to have your support. Recollection of your “UK Motorway” was part of the inspiration for writing this game up. That and Eurasia’s brave but doomed “March of the Machines” AI-guided France experiment.

I can broadly recall that during this part of the game I had to keep restraining myself from launching premature or peripheral offensives. But, even at the cost of having Japan in the war, getting the US in finally is a great boost. But will they do anything much (always a question with an AI US)?

And yes, Mao joining the Allies? I wish I had the records or could recall how that played out! :):confused:
 
Will France look back and wish she had attacked before Japan distracted everyone in the Far East? Or will it be the influx of US troops into Europe that provides the additional numbers needed to make the final push into Germany?

I wait to see how the British AI reacts to this, will they pull troops out of France to protect the Empire (the sensible course of action) or will they carry on defending France. I know how France will react, by doing nothing as they continue to wait for someone else to win the war for them ( ;) ).
 
Will France look back and wish she had attacked before Japan distracted everyone in the Far East? Or will it be the influx of US troops into Europe that provides the additional numbers needed to make the final push into Germany?

I wait to see how the British AI reacts to this, will they pull troops out of France to protect the Empire (the sensible course of action) or will they carry on defending France. I know how France will react, by doing nothing as they continue to wait for someone else to win the war for them ( ;) ).
Perceptive analysis - still, we’ve been facing off the German Monster for almost four years now and giving the Italians a decent bloody nose as well. Our day will come - whether to glorious victory or equally glorious defeat remains to be seen. :rolleyes: