Coolest story I have about strategic moves where in a HoI4 game where I played as Canada.
From the start, I stated to my team "Canadian will be the first men on the beach of Europe everytime we try to land. And they will hold until the area is said to be secured or until all allied have evacuated".
And so during the peace time and the first year of the war, my focus was on making the best amphibious units possible.
At the time, I decided to go with marines with light tanks and artillery. Each one supported by logistic, recon, engineer, field hospital and signal company.
I managed to have about 20 ready separated in 2 groups, one in stationed in Africa/Egypt and the other one in England.
I can't remember the fight for France but I believe we didn't have a player to ensure that Germany would be able to take the country as not being able to do so would make the entire war dull.
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Despite the target being Europe, the first action for my Canadians was in Libya, fighting the Italian and German army who were trying to push into Egypt.
Because they were putting so much effort (likely to get Suez), the UK units there were slowly pushed back.
So as a first step, a group a Canadian marines position themselves a bit behind the line and entrenched themselves. Once the UK troops were not able to hold the front, they retreated behind my defensive position which was able to put the Axis push to a clear halt.
It was a small victory and we were seeing a continuous increase of firepower at the border and it started to threaten the position.
Quickly, the marshal decided that we had to do something before they were too powerful to be contained.
A daring but smart plan was designed: landing behind enemy lines with some of the marines who were not actively engaged in the defensive position.
By doing so, the enemy supply would quickly be consumed and it would be easy to force the troop to surrender.
Luckily, the UK navy was large enough to get a clear superiority in the Mediterranean sea. The plan was a go after a quick preparation of 4 Canadian marines divisions. After a very quick landing, opposed only by some garrison infantry protecting the port, the marines position themselves in the provinces around to ensure that they have a bit of maneuverability and escape.
At the same time, some UK troops joined the defensive line on the east in order to take over from the remaining marines. Their goal was to hold enough so that the German and Italian don't get access to a port while allowing to plan some reinforcement and landing with the other Canadian marines.
The Axis quickly realized the situation and targeted the marines in the West while keeping a small force on the East to ensure the front-line stand still.
Even if the reaction was quick, because of the desert, the movement took some time and the marines were already entrenched and able to hold the breakthrough tentative.
In the mean time, with the available marines in Alexandria, new landing were planned in between the two front lines in order to quickly surrender the Axis forced and eliminate them quickly.
It didn't take much time until all the provinces between their 2 groups were under Canadian control. Sure, the marines who landed there were also cut from supply but so does the German and Italian troops... and the allied troops to the East had full supply and were ready to attack.
The rest is pretty clear and expected. Without their supply, the organization of the Axis troop dropped and their ability to fight was reduce too much for them to have a chance to breakthrough despite their superior tanks.
For the entire operation, about 5.000 Canadian were killed or captured while about 200.000 for Italians and Germans side.
Following the success of this operation, Italy and Germany decided to leave North Africa as they understood that without naval support, they would not be able to hold their territory without losing too much manpower.
Thanks to this success, all the Canadian marines were able to group and prepare for action in Northern Europe.
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Following the success in Africa, the Canadian Military High Command decided that an operation would need to be planned for Continental Europe.
The UK Naval HQ confirmed that they were ready to support any landing along the Atlantic Ocean and would try to protect the convoy as much as possible unless the Luftwaffe was to be too present in the area where they were needed.
Considering the English channel was still disputed in the air, it was decided to avoid this area as well as West of France because the German could quickly reassign the Luftwaffe to this area to destroy all convoy.
After few submarine recon, information came that Denmark wasn't very well defended. Sure, there was between 20.000 to 50.000 cavalrymen, but they lack equipment to really be able to defend against a landing.
Plans were designed to land in Denmark, quickly cut the land access to Germany and reach the ports. A defensive line would have to be put in place to ensure German troops were not able to breakthrough and endanger the operation.
This time, the initial risk was very low but once the Axis was aware of this landing, all their elite troops would try to push us back in the sea.
As expected, the landing was quick and all points were quickly taken. A defensive line was put in place a bit North of Kiel while some marines were defending some of the ports.
As expected, the German panzers quickly rushed to front-line and put an impressive display. Already, the noise of the Luftwaffe in the air was not a good sign. But the order were clear : Hold and see if the allies can use Denmark to attack Germany.
However, it came by surprise ! Paratroopers behind our defensive lines who were trying to break the supply line between the ports and the front-line.
At the same time, the panzers tried to breakthrough which could have been a disaster.
Luckily, the marines who were in defense of the ports were able to react quickly and fought the paratroopers who were this trying to reorganize. They were killed and captured but it didn't matter... the panzers and Luftwaffe were too strong for the defensive line. It only helped in providing a potential retreat for the marines.
Quickly after, the operation transformed itself into an "organized" retreat to save as much Canadian as possible.
It was difficult as the panzers were quick and supported by a lot of fighters and bombers. But in the end, all divisions managed to take a boat and reach the UK once again.
For the entire operation, about 20.000 Canadian were killed or captured while about 30.000 Germans men died or were captured.
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Now for less story and more fact.
A) You can do nice trick in HoI4 regarding strategy
B) If you play against AI and know stuff regarding strategy, you will never lose
C) You will really enjoy the strategy of planning and executing order in multiplayer
Regarding EU4... I have less story about really nice strategy... it never felt that I created an amazing plan to do something.
