Hungary - From Minor to Major

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.13 - November 1941 to March 1942​

On the 1st of November, eight more infantry divisions became available to the Hungarian high command. The first six were used to form the XIV Állandó
Hadsereg whilst the remaining two formed HQ divisions for the 3rd Armoured Corps and the 1.Páncélo Hadtest armoured army. Another six infantry divisions were immediately ordered to be created.
Meanwhile, the Japanese seem to be having some success in the Philippines with half of the main island in their hands, maybe the Japanese will actually be able to beat someone for a change.



A couple of days later and the naval facilities and coastal forts on Hispaniola are again upgraded. As well as ordering further construction on these, the construction or upgrading of seven air fields around the world is ordered.



November turns out to be another fairly quiet month, the only further news in Hungary being the completion of the 9th TP transport flotilla which is added to the High Seas Fleet whilst another one us ordered. There are some concerns being raised about the state of Hungary's supply stockpiles with some pessimistic estimates claiming that they may run out in the next 19 days. With Hungary's supply usage fluctuating wildly, some days the stockpile would drop by up to a thousand supplies whilst others it would actually rise by a few hundred, nobody could be sure exactly how long was left. For the moment it is decided to continue building and only worry about them when they drop to two or three thousand.
In the Soviet Union, the Germans have finally started making some real progress on the southern end of the front having pushed deep into the Ukraine and reached the Crimean peninsula.



If November was a quiet month then December was pretty much dead. The only occurrence of note being the completion of Hungary's first eight radar stations. There was much debate as to where best to place them but in the end they were split up into four groups of two and situated in Bern, Switzerland, Tarnopol in Poland, Viipuri in Finland and finally in Port-au-Prince in Haiti. I would have liked to have one in Burma to watch the Chinese but I believe they don't quite work properly in occupied territory. Twelve more radar stations were added to the production queue in their place with these expected to bring each of the above provinces to a radar strength of 5.
Finally the Hungarian foreign minister, Kálman Kánya, announced that radio intercepts had revealed that the Soviets had completed moving all of their industry to Siberia. Unlike the previous set of radio messages intercepted on this matte, these messages had been transmitted in the clear and were easy for the Hungarians to decipher.



The new year of 1942 brought with it some changes to Hungary's leadership for the first time in years. The most important change was the appointment of M.Kállay de Nagy-Kalló as Minister of Security as he promised to increase Hungary's leadership pool by a further 5%. Also appointed was Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner as both Chief of the Army and Chief of the Air Force. As well as hopefully increasing cooperation between the two arms of Hungary's military, Ferenc brought with him an expertise in both mobile warfare and the use of medium bombers.
As it turned out, the increase of leadership that was gained by M.Kállay de Nagy-Kalló's appointment wasn't as great as expected with the pool only rising from 24.31 to 25.21. He claimed that this was due to all the other modifiers that were affecting Hungary's leadership and that the 5% was added to the base not the eventual total. Still, 0.9 leadership is better than nothing.



The 5th of January brought with it the completion of the first research project of 1942, into battleship anti aircraft armament. This project would not be continued for now but would be replaced with four new ones, all naval, destroyer anti aircraft armament, small and large warship radars and small warship asw.
This increased emphasis on research has reduced the rate of new officer training to 73.7 per day but this would still ensure that the overall ratio continued to rise.



Despite the warnings of the naysayers, Hungary's supplies have actually held out for two months without any extra being put into their production. However, by the 22nd of January the stockpiles were getting dangerously low. The completion of six new infantry divisions destined for the XV Állandó Hadsereg would mean that some IC was now able to be put into supply production. It still wasn't enough, but it was hoped that the stockpile could just about hold out for another week before it had to be addressed fully.
The other development in Hungary was the completion of the research into battleship concentration doctrine. This enabled Hungary's scientists to switch their attention to working on destroyer crew training.
Meanwhile, the Japanese advance in the Philippines seems to have received a serious setback as they have somehow managed to lose the port of Manila.
Interestingly, Hungarian intelligence (otherwise known as opening up the save game as the Philippines) has discovered that the Filipinos have received some help, not from the USA as would normally be expected, but from of all people the Soviets. Apparently there are two Soviet infantry divisions fighting under the Filipino flag!



Hungary's supply stockpile is indeed able to hold out for a week, but only barely with just 378 units of supply remaining when the construction of the first five medium armoured divisions is completed. With these divisions being assigned to the 3rd Armoured Corps, Hungary is finally able to start over producing supplies again.
When I deployed the five divisions I discovered something I hadn't been aware of, deploying divisions actually costs supplies and the stockpile dropped all the way down to 0!
I'll have to overproduce supplies for a little while before I can get started on some new builds.



The 7th of February brings with it the completion of a number of construction jobs. Some of these would be continued on to the next level, but the naval base at Port-au-Prince had now reached level 10 and could not be expanded any more. It was also decided that the coastal forts on Hispaniola should also be of sufficient size as was the air base in Praha.



Three days later and Hungary's scientists have brought news that they have completed work on three updated technologies. These would be agriculture which would put Hungary's manpower income over 60 per month, industrial efficiency and industrial production which would boost Hungary's effective IC by another 5. The freed up leadership would be re-assigned back to the training of officers for the army.
In Russia, German armies appear to have changed their axis of advance and have turned their southern armies northwards in an apparent attempt to head towards Moscow. If successful this could be disastrous for the Soviets and an early end to the war would also not be well received in Budapest.



The end of February resulted in Hungarian scientists reporting a whole load of fresh breakthroughs. Firstly they had been successful in upgrading destroyer armament, engines and armour. As these were not yet up to date, they were ordered to continue work in these fields. Another four projects were also completed, supply organisation and transportation, radio detection equipment and close air support aircraft. These would make way for some new projects, 2 land doctrines, infantry warfare and mechanised offensive, as well as two air doctrines, interception tactics and ground attack tactics.



On the same day, with Hungary's supply situation now in much better shape it was decided to start some more builds. Five medium armoured divisions comprising of two armoured brigades and one armoured car brigade as well as an infantry division for the corps' HQ were added to the build queue. This means that supplies are again being under produced but I suspect that the army quartermaster is exaggerating the supply needs as the stockpile continues to rise slowly.



On the 7th of March another transport flotilla is completed and as before, another starts production. Hungary's scientists also announce another important breakthrough, motorised infantry, and they are then instructed to take this line of research a step further in order to develop mechanised infantry.
Up in the far north of Norway, the Finland Hadtest has been involved in a some anti partisan fighting for a little while. Unfortunately they are getting nowhere due to the frozen ground and the blizzard conditions. None of the soldiers shots are able to hit any of the enemy as they are unable to see them due to the foul weather.



The 20th of March brings an advancement in battleship crew training and work is now started on the fleet auxiliary submarine doctrine. I have no intention of actually building submarines, I am only really interested in the bottom two techs in this doctrine tree, spotting for my destroyers and basing to improve the amount of supplies that can be shipped into overseas ports.



The 2nd of April brings the news that Admiral Horthy has been waiting for, the completion of 14 brand new Hungarian battleships. Although they are not quite state of the art, they are as modern if not more so than anything any other nation currently has afloat. Only five of the new ships as yet have names with the other nine ships due to be issued names over the coming days. These ships will be formed into the 1st and 2nd Battleship Fleets. As the High Seas Fleet will no longer be Hungary's premier fleet and because it will now play a mostly transport role, it will be renamed the 1st Transport Fleet. Admiral Horthy will relinquish command of the renamed 1st Transport Fleet and take command of the new 1st Battleship Fleet, transferring his flag from the MKH Szent László to the MKH Horthy.
As a result of the completion of these builds, Hungary now has quite a bit of spare IC, some of which is invested in the production of ten motorised brigades. These brigades will be added to the two medium armour corps with the armoured cars currently assigned to them being passed down to the two light armoured corps.



More builds are also added to Hungary's production queue, four more battleships and seven additional infantry divisions. AS well as forming the XVI Állandó Hadsereg these divisions will also be used to create the 4.Hadtest army HQ division.

 

[Ghery]

How's the world map now?

 

[Xamand]

How's the world map now?

Not a great deal has changed since the last one but here you go:

 

[Forster]

Kind of curious that Soviet divisions would be in an American puppet. Japan is at war with the US now, right? How goes your war with the Allies? Haven't you been able to get full surrender out of Belgium now that you got their African VPs?

 

[Xamand]

Kind of curious that Soviet divisions would be in an American puppet. Japan is at war with the US now, right? How goes your war with the Allies? Haven't you been able to get full surrender out of Belgium now that you got their African VPs?

The AI seems to see co-belligerants (ie those not allied with them but fighting against their enemies) as allies and has a tendency to give them expeditionary forces. I suspect what happened is that the Soviets found Manila in Japanese hands and unguarded and hence landed troops there. They then found they were on Filipino soli and therefore gave the divisions to the Philippines. I hope 1.4 deals with expeditionary forces a bit better.

As for the Belgians, either Germany or Hungary holds all of their VPs. However the Belgians have taken a Portuguese VP in Angola which is worth 5pts and which I can't get to (without first declaring war on the Axis). Unless the Portuguese or another Axis nation manage to retake it the Belgians will survive until I eventually declare war on the Axis.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.14 - April to July 1942​

As Surt pointed out, Hungary's supply tech is still at pre-1918 levels and as my supply needs are shooting up I have decided to address this by researching the tech. I have also started a second new project, civil defense, in order to reduce the time that it takes to repair, especially my ships. This unfortunately reduces my officer recruitment rate to 82.8 per day but my ratio is looking reasonably healthy now. I still would prefer it to be 200% however.



At the end of April, the first two squadrons of naval bombers are completed and these are assigned to the 1st Naval Wing. I start work on another two squadrons of naval bombers but I don't think I will need more than that.
It appears that Argentina have run out of cash and are no longer able to afford the metal they are buying off me. This isn't a great problem though as there is not a lot I can do with the cash anyway as even though I am at war with the Allies, I am unable to drift towards the Axis due to their threat levels.



In fact, only nine days later Argentina unsurprisingly decide to cancel the deal.
On the same day, work is completed on a number of air bases as well as the naval base at Santo Domingo. All of these will be continued on to another level, i want the air bases to all reach level 4, though I plan for the ones in Hispaniola to be bigger and the naval base in Santo Domingo I intend to reach level 10.



I attacked the British fleet in the Gulf of Iskenderun with my naval bombers but they were unable to do a great deal of damage partly due to themselves being at low organisation levels still, partly due to lack of naval bomber doctrines and also partly due to bad weather. It's not a great problem though as I now have a fleet capable of dealing with them. The ships of the 1st Battleship Fleet have been bolstered by the addition of the light cruisers and the destroyers attached to the 1st Transport Fleet and the combined fleet has sailed to attack the ships of the Royal Navy.
There was much debate as to what names the new battleships should be given, in the end it was decided that in the interests of national unity, they should be given the names of some of the new Hungarian regions. Hence the battleships assigned to the 1st Battleship Fleet were named Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Bulgaria. The four remaining unnamed battleships which were assigned to the 2nd Battleship Fleet were named Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia and the four ships currently being built will eventually be christened Latvia, Lithuania, Greece and Turkey.
With seven brand new battleships under his command Admiral Horthy was confident that the result would favour the Hungarian navy and that the Royal Navy would be shut out of the Mediterranean for ever.



Unlike Hungary's previous battle with the Royal Navy, the battle of the Gulf of Iskenderun was a short one with the Royal navy unable to withstand the barrage from Hungary's new ships. To Horthy's great pleasure and Hungary's relief, the battle was won without a single loss on the Hungarian side and none of the British ships was allowed to escape. There were casualties amongst the Hungarian sailors however, as the MKH Székelyudvarhely took some heavy damage, as did the ships of one of the destroyer flotillas. The Hungarian flagship, the MKH Horthy had also been targeted by the enemy fleet and suffered some damage to its superstructure which caused a considerable amount of confusion on board, though not enough to stop the gun crew who did Horthy proud and were able to claim the most kills of any of the ships in the fleet. In fact, six of the seven Hungarian battleships were able to claim their first successes with only MKH Bulgaria failing to get a kill. The prizes however went to MKH Horthy who claimed the scalp of the battleship HMS Ramillies and to MKH Czechoslovakia who claimed the second British battleship, HMS Resolution.
The battle would prove to the major naval nations of the world that there was a new kid on the block, one that would no longer allow itself to be overawed at sea, indeed one that could soon become the worlds premier maritime power.



With the fleet back in port getting repaired and assessing the lessons learnt from the battle against the Royal Navy, the rest of Mat was relatively quiet. On the 18th a single infantry division became available which would be used to form the HQ division for the 4th Armoured Corps.
On the Eastern Front, Germany seems to have taken control of the fighting and lead elements have now reached the outskirts of Moscow. Progress at the northern end of the front has been slow for the Germans but they have seen a lot of success in the south having reached Rostov and taken the whole of the Crimea.
Meanwhile, the battle for Skaidi against Norwegian partisans appears to have started progressing. However, in reality, this is just a blip. Every day or so, the conditions are just right for an hour or two for the Hungarian troops to get some shots off. Most of the time however, they are still affected by a negative offensive modifier and are therefore unable to do any damage to the enemy. This battle would run on and on and on.



At the end of May, work is completed into another level of destroyer anti aircraft armament. As the tech is still pretty obsolete, work is continued in this field.



On the 6th of June, 12 new radar stations become available and three each are placed at the four radar sites in Viipuri, Tarnopol, Bern and Port-au-Prince, bringing each site up to a radar strength of 5. With radars now being considerably cheaper and quicker to build, 20 new facilities are ordered which are planned to bring each site up to the maximum strength of 10.
Despite supplies continuing to be under funded, the supply stockpile is actually increasing and has now almost reached 30,000. I wish the supply need could be more accurately calculated as it is not really very clear how much funding needs to go towards it at the moment.



With the completion of another transport flotilla on the 14th of June I add another two to the queue. I want to get the 1st Transport Fleet up to a complement of 10 transports at least so that I can carry 2 infantry corps all at one time. I would also like to have some additional flotillas to provide some redundancy if my transport fleet is attacked and also so that I have some spares. Eventually I would also like the second transport fleet which is currently the Baltic Fleet, to also have 10 transport flotillas but I cannot currently increase the size of this fleet as they are effectively trapped up in the Baltic. I am not yet confident enough to try sailing through the English Channel. I probably could but I don't think it is currently worth the risk.



On the 20th of June, another seven infantry divisions become available, six of which will form XVI Állandó Hadsereg. The seventh will be used to create the HQ division for the 4. Hadtest army. This army will bring the General Headquarters army group up to a total of 5 armies, 4 infantry and one armoured. As yet, not all of these armies are full, the armoured army only currently consisting of three corps and 4. Hadtest only now receiving it's first corps. However, the Hungarian staff are now able to start making serious plans for their next major war which they hope can be launched some time the following year.



On the 25th of June, research is concluded in the area of large warship radars. With all the techs for battleships now being at the same level, this research project is cancelled and the resources shifted towards officer training for the moment.
Meanwhile, over in the Far East, the Japanese are still holding on in the Philippines but they have been unable to retake the important port province of Manila without which they are probably doomed. They still hold both Kuching in Borneo and Saigon in Indochina but have so far been unable to expand their hold in either region.



At the end of June advances are made in both small warship radar and small warship asw. Unlike with the battleship tech, work is continued towards the next level in both areas.
Over in the Americas, it appears that the front lines have completely stagnated with no new advances being made by either the Allies or the Axis with the Axis still incapable of finally defeating the encircled Paraguayans.



On the 6th of July, ten new modern destroyer flotillas are completed. With the completion of this work and the resultant increase in destroyer practical, three destroyer techs are also completed, armour, armament and engines. These three are all now up to date and further research in these areas is ceased meaning that the rate of officer training is able to jump up to 119.1 per day.
Five each of these new destroyers will be assigned to the two battleship fleets meaning that the old destroyers and light cruisers currently attached to the 1st Battleship Fleet are able to return to the 1st Transport Fleet. The Hungarian navy is not finished with its expansion however and 14 new modern destroyers are ordered. Ten of these will further bolster the battleship fleets with the remaining four probably forming a reserve.



The following day the destroyer crew training doctrine is updated and work towards two new naval doctrines take its place, fire control system training and commander decision making. This again reduces the emphasis on officer training slightly, bringing it back down to roughly 110 per day.



The eventual plan for the upcoming war with the Axis calls for 1. Hadtest to hold the minor fronts in Africa and Asia, 2. Hadtest to hold off the Italians and Portuguese in Europe and the rest to attack the Germans. As a result, II Állandó Hadsereg have boarded ship to be transported down to the Sudan so that they can take up positions on the Ethiopian borders. However, they have been surprised by a Royal Navy fleet that have somehow managed to travel through the Suez Canal.
Following their great victory in the Gulf of Iskenderun the Hungarian navy have become a bit complacent, this is its wake up call, the Royal Navy are not ones to just roll over.



The battle lasts for seven hours and at the end of it, two Hungarian transport flotillas are lying at the bottom of the Nile Delta. Thankfully, due to the 1st Transport Fleet possessing more transports than it needs to just ferry a single infantry corps, none of the embarked troops are lost and they are able to make it to their destination despite many of their escort ships suffering heavy damage.
Lying alongside the Hungarian transports are the Royal Navy's light cruiser, HMS Gloucester and the 41st Destroyer Flotilla. As a result, the battle is considered a victory for the Hungarians, though with the battlecruiser, HMS Renown getting away along with the 44th Destroyer Flotilla, the victory was not conclusive.



On hearing the news that the 1st Transport Fleet had been ambushed, Admiral Horthy immediately sallied from the port of Athina despite his destroyers still gaining organisation and the 1st Battleship Fleet was able to catch up with the remaining British ships at the Coast of Egypt. With the British ships already being heavily battle damaged, Horthy believed that he should be able to make short work of them and therefore add further scalps to his fleet's list of kills.



In fact, it was all over within an hour, although it was a very intense hour with the Royal Navy ships continuing to fire everything they had at Admiral Horthy's flagship, MKH Horthy, even as they sank. As a result, considerable damage was done to the Horthy, though no other Hungarian ships were sunk. In this second battle, the renown was sunk by MKH Yugoslavia whilst the Horthy accounted for the 44th Destroyer Flotilla. The first battle saw MKH Szent László get both the kills, HMS Gloucester and the 41st Destroyer Flotilla. To many in the Hungarian fleet however, she still had a way to go before she made up for the sinking of one of Hungary's own ships despite having now claimed four enemy light cruisers and a destroyer flotilla.



To ensure that no other British Fleets would attempt to attack the 1st Transport Fleet, Admiral Horthy took his ships off to scout around the mouth of the Red Sea. On reaching the Western Gulf of Aden, the 1st Battleship Fleet was attacked by three wings of British carrier aircraft. Although the ships that they had come from, a fleet carrier and an escort carrier, were known to be close, Horthy's fleet was unable to make contact and they soon lost touch altogether. They were however able to do a considerable amount of damage to the Royal Navy's carrier air group without incurring much if any in return.
With the transport fleet now having completed its mission, Horthy eventually took his ships back to Athina so that repairs to MKH Horthy could be started.

 

[Forster]

Good update as usual.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.15 - July to December 1942​

The 27th of July brought the completion of Hungary's 4th Armoured Corps with the addition of its five medium armoured divisions. Work is immediately started on the divisions required to form the 5th Armoured Corps with an infantry division and five medium armoured divisions being added to the queue. These new armoured divisions would be slightly different than the ones already built as they are composed of two medium armour brigades and a motorised brigade. The other two medium armoured corps will also eventually match this but at the moment they have armoured cars instead of the motorised infantry.
Also on this day, Hungary's scientists announce the completion of two more research projects, civil defense and supply production. Both of these projects would be continued on to the next level.
Meanwhile Hungary's radar stations are now able to provide some more intel on the situation on the Eastern Front and this intel is used to piece together
the location of German and Soviet divisions. The Germans are yet to take Moscow but they have been able to push deep into Russia, past the Volga to the east of Moscow.



August starts with the enlargement of a number of Hungarian air bases around the world as well as the naval base at Santo Domingo. Further work is continued at all the air bases but the naval base has now reached level 10 and work is therefore ceased. Two air doctrines are also updated, interception tactics and ground attack tactics. These two doctrines are replaced by two more air doctrines, tac pilot training and fighter ground control.



On the 14th of August, research teams announce the completion of two more techs, the infantry warfare doctrine and the mechanised infantry technology. The first of these two is continued on to the next level and the completion of the second frees up scientists who are then able to start work on updating Hungary's blitzkrieg doctrine.



Despite Hungary's army claiming to have closed the Mediterranean to enemy shipping due to their control of both Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, British Fleets are still periodically slipping through. As a result, the 1st Battleship Fleet has taken up station in the Suez Canal to catch the Royal Navy. At midday on the 2nd of September, they do just that, as a small British fleet consisting of the light cruiser HMS Newcastle escorting a transport flotilla is surprised and sunk before they even know of the Hungarian presence.



On the Eastern Front, the Germans appear to have completely broken through the Soviets in the centre of the front and are now rapidly pushing eastwards deeper and deeper into Russia. The Soviets appear to be holding them in the north however and Moscow is still firmly in Soviet hands.
Meanwhile, Hungarian scientists announce further improvements to destroyer anti aircraft armament and they are instructed to continue with this line of research. The biggest news in Hungary though is the production of a large number of new military units, twelve new infantry divisions which will form XVII and XVIII Állandó Hadseregs as well as ten new motorised infantry brigades. These brigades will all be attached to the medium armour divisions of the 3rd and 4th Armoured Corps whilst the armoured cars currently attached to them will now be re-assigned to the two light armoured corps, 1st and 2nd Armoured Corps. This now means that the divisions of the two light armoured corps each consist of two light armour brigades and two armoured car brigades. If necessary, each division can now be split into two equal parts enabling them to take further advantage of any exploitation possibilities.



Near the end of September two more transport flotillas are completed. Although there are already another two in the queue which were started when the 1st Transport Fleet lost two flotillas, another two begin construction in Hungary's dockyards.
In the Far East, the Japanese have almost been wiped out in the Philippines with only one province left in their hands in the middle of the country. They are now completely surrounded by the Filipinos and their unlikely Soviet allies and will probably not last much longer.



October begins with the completion of research into another two new technologies, mechanised offensive and the fleet auxiliary submarine doctrine. The first of these two doctrines is continued on to the next level as I eventually want to research the combined arms warfare doctrine. The second project is a breakthrough naval doctrine tech but for the moment I switch my attention elsewhere and in an increased focus towards research I start work on the four medium armour technologies, guns, armour, engines and reliability. This results in officer training dropping back below 100 to 83.0 new officers per day.



On the 6th of October, 20 new radar stations become available meaning that the radar stations in Viipuri, Tarnopol, Bern and Port-au-Prince are now all at level 10. With these now complete, construction of new radar stations is scaled back with only 10 being added to the build queue. These will eventually be deployed in Feyzabad to keep an eye on Soviet central Asia and in Mong Ma in Burma to have a look at the Chinese.



A number of new builds are completed in the second half of October, an infantry division which will be used to create the 5th Armoured Corps HQ division, two new transport flotillas to replace those lost in the battle of the Nile Delta and two naval bomber squadrons which will form the 2nd Naval Wing. With these builds finished I decide to increase Hungary's expenditure on new units and start construction of four tactical bomber squadrons and two interceptor squadrons. These will not be used to create new wings but will instead bring each of the current wings up to a total strength of three squadrons. A second run of interceptors will be required once the first run is finished to complete this project.



Late in the evening on the 3rd of November, the residents of Montpellier are awoken by the sound of air raid sirens as three RAF strategic bomber squadrons arrive overhead and start bombing the province. This is the first time that the Allies have tried strategic bombing any of Hungary's provinces but thankfully Hungary is not completely unprepared.



The 2nd Interceptor Wing was based in Toulouse for just such an occurrence and they are scrambled. At the stroke of midnight Commander Rákosi's squadrons make contact with the British bombers and attack them, greatly to the relief of those below. They are not great at nighttime combat however and are not able to inflict much damage but they do force the British off.
Midnight on the 4th of November also brings some unpleasant news in Hungary's capital, this time not of a bombing raid but of the breaking of a political scandal involving one of Hungary's cabinet ministers. This scandal has serious effects on both Hungary's economy and on Hungary's scientific community. It is believed that the recriminations will die down in twenty days time but in the meantime Hungary's consumer goods spending will jump from 24.92 to 60.53 IC whilst leadership will drop from 25.21 to 21.61.



With little else happening other than the enlargement of the military and research I have decided to take the offensive against the Allies. With I and II Állandó Hadseregs in Africa and IV Állandó Hadsereg in Burma, the remaining two corps of 1. Hadtest, III and V Állandó Hadseregs board ships and head first for the island of Socotra at the mouth of the Red Sea. The Royal Navy have been using Socotra as a base to operate out of and the plan is to deny them this option. There is a British infantry division defending the island but with 12 divisions available to them the Hungarians are confident that they will succeed in taking Socotra.
On the research front, supply production reaches level two and work is begun on attaining the next level.



On the 10th of November work is completed on a number of bases. As it was only planned to build most of them up to level four, many of the construction
crews pack up their tools with further expansion work only continuing on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. However a whole host of new construction jobs are started with the aim of improving the infrastructure in Turkey, the Middle East, Burma and Africa. Much of this work is to support any eventual invasion of China through Burma but some is also to ensure that the two corps in Africa can also receive enough supplies. This does mean however that I am no longer funding supply production and will be again running down my stockpile.



On the afternoon of the 12th of November, the British make another attempt to run the Suez Canal with a light cruiser, HMS Diomede, escorting two transport flotillas. AS with the last attempt they run straight into the 2nd Battleship Fleet who again manage to sink all of the Royal Navy ships before they even realise that they are under attack.
In the Soviet Union, the Germans have continued their rush eastwards but they have also now started expanding south towards the Caucasus, aided by the capture of Stalingrad. On the northern part of the front and around Moscow, radio intercepts from Hungary's listening stations in Viipuri and Tarnopol indicate that at least in this area, the Soviets have managed to form a pretty solid front line.



On the 18th of November, the Royal Navy makes an attempt to relieve the besieged island of Socotra. It appears that they have underestimated the strength of the Hungarian navy's presence in the area as they have sent just the two unescorted battleships, HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Queen Elizabeth, against the Hungarian force which includes seven modern battleships and the older MKH Szent László.



The battle lasts from 4pm until 9pm and initially the British ships get the jump on the Hungarians. Their approach had not been spotted, possibly due to the
small size of their fleet and also partly due to the Hungarian fleets concentrating on supporting their troops fighting on the island against the dug in British division. However the British were only able to use this advantage to sink one of Hungary's destroyer flotillas, 1.Romboló, before the big guns of Hungary's battleships were swung around from their shelling of the island to the new naval threat. Despite the combined efforts of the eight Hungarian battleships, none of them were able to sink either of the two Royal Navy ships. However, this is not to say that they both managed to escape as the 2nd DD destroyer flotilla was able to chase down and torpedo the Queen Elizabeth as the Royal Navy ships tried to make their escape under the cover of darkness. As a result, only HMS Royal Sovereign survived to fight another day. Unsurprisingly the crews of the 2nd DD flotilla were ecstatic and made very sure that the Hungarian battleship crews knew all about their success.



Two days later the destroyer crews had further cause to celebrate as they heard that their ASW equipment and radar suites would be getting new upgrades. A third research job completed on the same day was improved civil defense technology, a further boost to not just the destroyer crews but all facets of the military as this would mean they spent less time repairing. All three of these technologies would be further funded in the search for even better improvements.
Meanwhile, it appears that the Tibetans are managing to hold on in the Himalayas against the onslaught of the Sinkiang army aided by both the mountainous terrain and the river crossings protecting most of their positions.



On the 25th of November another twelve infantry divisions become available and these new troops are formed into XIX and XX Állandó Hadseregs, completing 4. Hadtest in the process. Two new infantry corps are ordered to replace them in the build queue but as a new army HQ and indeed another army group HQ will also now be required, the total requisition order called for the formation of 14 divisions of infantry. This new order would stretch Hungary's resources to near breaking point as they are now unable to spend anything at all on the production of supplies and the stockpile is now getting fairly low.



On the evening of the 1st of December, the battle of Socotra is finally won and the British ships hiding in the port are forced out. To the disappointment of the Hungarian fleet waiting outside the island's harbour, the catch is rather small, consisting of just a single destroyer flotilla and a transport flotilla. Nevertheless, the Hungarian crews show no mercy and send both enemy flotillas to the bottom of the Indian Ocean in very short order.



By the 5th of December, the Hungarian supply stockpile is getting close to running dry with only about 4500 units left. However the completion of five medium armour divisions, which form up the 5th Armoured Corps and completes the full order of battle of the General Headquarters Army Group, allows resources to be switched from military production to supply production. This does not quite meet the apparent need for supplies but it is hoped that it will come close or at least very much slow down the reduction in size of the stockpile. If necessary further resources can also be obtained by underfunding either or both reinforcement and upgrades.

 

[unmerged(75409)]

Impressive empire.

But why don't you export some of your surplus resources and import supplies??

 

[Xamand]

Impressive empire.

But why don't you export some of your surplus resources and import supplies??

Hiyas Leviathan07 and welcome to my AAR, I'm glad you like the look of the Hungarian empire

I would happily trade my excess resources but firstly there is little use for the cash I would gain other than buy supplies. I would like to do this but the second problem is that no-one is willing to trade with me or sell me production licences, another reason that having cash is nice. Maybe they think Hungary is too big already.

 

[GUNNM]

So... When will you invade England? That would give you quite a nice boost in both IC, Manpower and Leadership. And taking out one of the Majors would send signals to the rest of the world that nobody messes with Hungrary.

 

[Forster]

Another interesting update. Why are you using infantry for armor corp HQ? I always use motorized infantry so they at least have the appearance of being able to keep up.

 

[Baltasar]

So... When will you invade England? That would give you quite a nice boost in both IC, Manpower and Leadership. And taking out one of the Majors would send signals to the rest of the world that nobody messes with Hungrary.

Seconded! Time to hand the Brits their behinds. The British isles are generally lightly defended and with two full battlefleets under your belt, it should be easily possible to land the two infantry corps there. You shouldn't need more than that to occupy the British isles and once you've got them, Britain will most likely be gone.

 

[whitesoxfan]

When are you going to stab the Germans in the back? Wait until they finish off the Soviets and it'll be too late.

 

[Xamand]

Another interesting update. Why are you using infantry for armor corp HQ? I always use motorized infantry so they at least have the appearance of being able to keep up.

For two reasons really, firstly because I couldn't actually build motorised brigades when I started building them and secondly because the HQ brigades themselves aren't a great deal faster than infantry anyway, there's only 0.50kph in it iirc. I am tempted however to eventually replace them with two heavy armour brigades and an armour brigade. I would like all three to be HArm but that just fails to get the combined arms bonus, being 33% hardness when the CA bonus needs it to be over 33%.

So... When will you invade England? That would give you quite a nice boost in both IC, Manpower and Leadership. And taking out one of the Majors would send signals to the rest of the world that nobody messes with Hungrary.

Seconded! Time to hand the Brits their behinds. The British isles are generally lightly defended and with two full battlefleets under your belt, it should be easily possible to land the two infantry corps there. You shouldn't need more than that to occupy the British isles and once you've got them, Britain will most likely be gone.

I'll answer you both at the same time as you are both making the same point. I have considered it but there are three reasons I haven't done so as yet. Firstly, I am only really now becoming confident with my navy but I am still unsure about the threat that the remnants of the Royal Navy, especially their carriers pose, as well as the RAF. Secondly, if they were to surrender and not choose to go into exile I would lose a lot of leadership despite gaining the leadership on the British Isles. Thirdly, I have noticed that Germany's national unity has plummetted to about 50%. This can only mean that the RAF are doing some serious damage with their strategic bombing campaign.

When are you going to stab the Germans in the back? Wait until they finish off the Soviets and it'll be too late.

Hiyas whitesoxfan and welcome to my AAR.
You have managed to identify one of my concerns, it is better to attack the Germans before they have finished with the Soviet Union. However, it won't be in the next update, which will be coming up shortly, but very likely in the following update (which I haven't yet played). With Moscow and Leningrad still in Soviet hands, their surrender is not yet imminent but I very much intend to strike whilst their army is still deep in Russia. I do kind of feel bad about doing so though as my radar stations have revealed that they have very very little with which to defend against me when I strike and with their low national unity they will have no hope of getting troops back home before I have managed to take enough VPs to force their surrender.
However, they deserve it, fancy thinking that they should rule a global empire and not the Hungarians!

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.16 - December 1942 to February 1943​

A number of research projects were completed on the 19th of December, commander decision making, fire control system training and destroyer anti aircraft armament. The latter would be continued on to the next level but the first two would be changed to battlefleet concentration doctrine and battleship crew training. Hungary's naval doctrines, although still out of date, are starting to at least look reasonable, at least in comparison with the army and air force's doctrines.



Work towards another doctrine is completed on the 10th of January 1943, this time an air doctrine in the form of fighter ground control. This research project is also cancelled with tac ground crew training taking its place. Another research project that finishes is the first of the four medium armour components, engines, though unlike the previous technology research continues on in this field.
Also on this day, two new transport flotillas were produced and were formed into the nascent Reserve Fleet. As before I will continue with these builds as I don't want to have to wait around if I lose any ships, I want to have some readily available.



Having refitted and repaired following the battles around Socotra the fleet has now reached the Maldives which was found to be devoid of any British garrison. There was however a Royal Navy fleet using the port as a base and this fleet was forced out when 12.gyaloghadosztály completed their unopposed landings. Once out at sea, the British fleet was engaged and found to consist of six flotillas of submarines. The Hungarian battleships would be largely useless in the upcoming battle but the accompanying destroyers and light cruisers would get a chance to show the worth of their asw upgrades.



The subsequent battle of Cardiva Channel would only take a few hours and again would result in no Hungarian losses. Unfortunately only four of the six submarine flotillas were sunk in this first engagement but the 1st Battleship fleet was able to note the direction in which the enemy subs were fleeing and gave chase, catching them in the One & Half Degree Channel. Meanwhile the 1st Transport Fleet picked up the troops that had been landed on the Maldives and started their journey towards the next British possession on their route, Ceylon.



The 1st Battleship Fleet quickly dispatched the remaining Royal Navy submarines and also headed towards Ceylon in order to give support to the landings there and to provide backup should any enemy fleets arrive to intervene. Both the ports of Colombo and Trincomalee were found to have been left unguarded by the British and the landings all around Ceylon were successfully completed. Only the one British division was on the whole island and these were encircled and attacked in overwhelming numbers by the Hungarian army.



Three days later, on the 18th of January, with the battle of Kurunegala still raging, Hungarian scientists announced the completion of three of their projects, all of which would be subsequently carried on to the next level. These three were the infantry warfare doctrine as well as two medium armour techs, reliability and armour.
One final thing of note, Hungary's supply stockpile is fluctuating all over the place. Supply production is currently being slightly underfunded and hence is going down slowly most days. However on some days it will suddenly jump up. The 18th of January is one of the more extreme examples of this behaviour with the stockpile more than doubling in size with an increase of almost 6800 units of supply.



It is not until the 20th of January that the battle of Kurunegala is finally won and the island of Ceylon secured for Hungary. On the same day, Hungary's air doctrines get a needed update with the introduction of a new tac pilot training regime. Air doctrine research will now be switched toward bomber targeting focus. Hungary's factories also complete the construction of ten new radar stations. As previously mentioned, five of these will be placed in Mong Ma in Burma and five will be placed in Feyzabad with a further batch of ten being added to the build queue. These last ten will probably be the last ones I build, for a while at least.



With the start of February, the next stage of the fleets' operation is underway with landings on the Malayan peninsula and an attack on Singapore. Surprisingly, the Royal Navy only had a small fleet of two destroyer flotillas in the area when the Hungarian navy first arrived and these were rapidly taken care of. Reports were however received of a British battleship nearby but despite their attempts, the 1st Battleship Fleet was unable to find and engage it.



Further to the west, the 2nd Battleship Fleet also saw some action at the start of February, surprising and again annihilating yet another small British Fleet trying to gain access into the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. This time it was the light cruiser HMS Glasgow accompanied by a transport flotilla which was trying to make what the Royal Navy must surely by now realise is a suicidal attempt to pass through the canal.



Whilst V Állandó Hadsereg is busy attempting to take Singapore and the Malayan peninsula from the British, the divisions of III Állandó Hadsereg have been taken further south to attack the Dutch East Indies. The HQ division along with 12 and 13.gyaloghadosztálys are the first to make landfall at the eastern end of the island of Java whilst the rest of the corps will be taken north to land on the Dutch part of Borneo where they find the only port in the area to be unguarded. The attack on Java doesn't find the going quite as easy though, initially encountering an HQ brigade but this will soon be joined by an infantry division.



On the 6th of February the navy is buoyed by the news that 14 new destroyer flotillas have been produced. Five of these will be deployed in Athina in order for them to join up with the 2nd Battleship Fleet on station in the Suez Canal with the remaining nine being deployed in Rangoon. Of these, five will join the 1st Battleship Fleet and the other four will replace the two surviving obsolete destroyer flotillas that are currently with the 1st Transport Fleet. The old ships will return to the Mediterranean and will join the Reserve Fleet until a new role can be found for them. The bulk of Hungary's fleets are now complete and only the construction of a reserve is now required and hence the next build of destroyers only consists of six flotillas.



Three days later and another set of builds rolls off Hungary's production lines, this time in the form of 14 infantry divisions. Twelve of these would form the XXI and XXII Állandó Hadseregs but the formation of these two new corps would also require not only a new army but also a new army group so the remaining two divisions would form 5. Hadtest and the 2nd Army Group. As has now become common practice, the completion of two new corps of infantry would see the start of work towards another two corps and twelve new infantry divisions were ordered to be prepared. The Hungarian military high command is now seriously considering launching the next war sooner rather than later.
One other thing of note, due to the reduction in destroyer builds I am now able to overproduce supplies again despite the large amount currently being spent on upgrades.



With all the landings completed in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, both fleets in the area have retired to Rangoon to meet up with their new destroyers and also to repair small amounts of battle damage left over from the journey from the Maldives. It is while they are in port that a squadron of British naval bombers finds them and attempts a port strike. This does not go particularly well for the British and their planes take a large amount of damage from the mass of modern Hungarian destroyers, the battleships and the anti aircraft emplacements guarding Rangoon. Little if any damage is suffered by the Hungarian fleets.



On the 12th of February, along with news of the latest set up enlargements to the air bases on Hispaniola comes news that the battle of Singapore is over and has resulted in a Hungarian victory. This allows the three divisions assigned to take the port city to join the rest of V Állandó Hadsereg which is heading north towards the former Siamese border. At the moment only light resistance has been encountered by the ground troops but the navy has reported that there are quite a few more British divisions between them and IV Állandó Hadsereg in Burma.



It isn't long before the infantry start to meet the British formations that the navy had warned of and a number of battles have begun in Malaya. In order to get the three divisions from Singapore to the front quicker, the 1st Transport Fleet have given them a lift up the coast. Whilst doing so, another report of a lone British battleship in the area was received and the 1st Battleship Fleet have chased it up the coast where they have managed to corner it in the Gulf of Thailand. The ship turns out to be HMS Royal Sovereign, the Royal Navy battleship that was last seen escaping from Socotra in November.



This time Admiral Horthy had no intention of letting his quarry escape for a second time. Whilst the battleships in his fleet opened fire from range, Horthy ordered his destroyers to close in on the Royal Sovereign and launch their torpedoes. This would be risky for the destroyers as the Royal Navy's gunnery was more accurate than the Hungarians and indeed it resulted in the loss of the 6th DD flotilla. However, it was more than made up when a torpedo fired from a ship of the 27th DD flotilla hit the British battleship amidships causing a large secondary explosion which broke her back. Admiral Horthy had indeed finally sunk his quarry and just as with the Queen Elizabeth, it was one of his destroyers which claimed the kill.
A radio message was sent back to Hungary to announce this victory but also asking that a replacement destroyer flotilla be put into production. Until I decide on a further enlargement of the navy, if I do, my policy from now on will be to only start new naval builds when I lose ships.



The day after the end of the battle of the Gulf of Thailand a second Royal Navy fleet belatedly turned up in the area, this time consisting of a lone light cruiser, HMS Liverpool, escorting two transport flotillas. As with previous battles of this type, many in the Suez Canal area, the fight is over before it even started with all of the British ships meeting their fiery ends with no losses on the Hungarian side.
Meanwhile in the Soviet Union the situation is looking grim for the Soviets as German forces have now reached the Hungarian border in the Caucasus. This has effectively surrounded a number of Soviet divisions in a large area to the north and east of the Black Sea. They can still receive supplies by sea for the moment but they are in a rather precarious position.
Back in Hungary, the government has announced that full military rights have been given to the former citizens of the Scandinavian and Baltic states as well as those of Czechoslovakia (incl those that think of themselves as just Slovakian), Bulgaria and Greece. This now means that they can now be promoted to all ranks in the Hungarian army, not just the ranks below the level of General.
ie I have edited the save game so that Hungary can now choose generals from the above countries as well as the ones I previously added. I didn't actually need them as yet but thought I might as well.

 

[unmerged(191081)]

Hello

Is it possible to take a peek to your mighty hungarian army. Those documents might be top secret but I promise I won't sell those to Germany ( or anybody else You haven't liberated allready).

P.S. Love Your work at giving all those countries a better future under Your rule!

 

[Xamand]

Hello

Is it possible to take a peek to your mighty hungarian army. Those documents might be top secret but I promise I won't sell those to Germany ( or anybody else You haven't liberated allready).

P.S. Love Your work at giving all those countries a better future under Your rule!

Hiyas Manfred, welcome to my AAR, glad you like my work.
As for Hungary's army, I plan to do just that at the start of my next update.

 

[unmerged(171833)]

very immpressive, I love it how you master the idea of concentrating force where neccicairy. It is because of that that you are able to win from superior British Divisions

 

[Xamand]

very immpressive, I love it how you master the idea of concentrating force where neccicairy. It is because of that that you are able to win from superior British Divisions

Thanks, so far I have been successful in doing so but I am about to receive a slight setback. Never mind though, I have bigger fish to fry.