Chapter 8.6 - July 1943
The situation in the north of Italy is much better than the one in the south and a number of Italian divisions have been surrounded in Livorno and Empoli. The Italians could attempt a naval evacuation like the Hungarians further south but with the Mediterranean now ruled by the Hungarian navy it would almost certainly be a disaster.
On the 2nd of July, the Hungarian navy orders some more battleships. Although Hungary's fleet has so far done a grand job they still have the US navy and the Japanese navy to contend with. Seven of the new ships will most likely form a third battleship fleet whilst the remaining four will be shared out between the two transport fleets. This will enable the transport fleets to act independently without the need to be twinned with one of the main fleets as they will now each have four of their own battleships with them.
There is a further reason for building these ships and that is that Hungary has loads of spare IC and not much it can do with it due to the current low manpower levels.
In Malaya, victory in Gunung Tapis has forced what is left of the southern British pocket into just the one province, Gunung Mandi Angin. This province is attacked on the afternoon of the 3rd of July by three Hungarian divisions. Although the British also have three divisions present as well as more currently retreating to Gunung Mandi Angin only one British division is in any sort of fighting shape, the misnamed 54th Inf Brigade. The British are completely surrounded and also have to contend with regular bombing from the Hungarian air force and therefore should not be able to hold out for too long.
As well as fighting in Malaya against the British and in Italy against the Italians Hungary is also busy fighting the Belgians in Angola. The first battle in this campaign is actually against a South African militia division now fighting under the British flag in Serpa Pinto. This battle ends in a Hungarian victory in the afternoon of the 4th of July and the eventual occupation of Serpa Pinto will give Hungary an additional angle of attack on the Belgian VP province of Nova Lisboa.
Meanwhile, work is completed on the formation of five (four shown, one has already been placed) new anti partisan divisions destined for Western Europe. These will be used to form France Hadtest, Netherlands Hadtest, Germany Hadtest, Italy Hadtest and the Western Europe Army Group. They will eventually have all the coastal garrison divisions placed under them.
Although the troops haven't yet arrived in Serpa Pinto, an attack is launched against the Belgian infantry division and HQ in Nova Lisboa. The battle is over immediately when it is found that the Belgian formations only exist on paper and currently do not have a single soldier actually assigned to either one. All that is now required to force Belgium to capitulate is for Nova Lisboa to be occupied.
On the 8th of July, design improvements for Hungary's interceptors are announced with the development of single engine aircraft armament and airframes. These two projects will now be switched to the development of small fuel tanks and aero engines.
A few days later and Hungary's interceptor force receives another boost with the completion of two new squadrons of interceptors. This means that all four interceptor wings now consist of three squadrons each.
Meanwhile, in Malaya, the bloody battle of Bertam has finished meaning that the British are now pushed back into three individually isolated provinces and the final operations to destroy them can get under way. The southern most of these operations has actually be ongoing for a little while and should soon be over with the battle percentage now at 84%.
Two hours later and the battle for Taiping starts. As with the battle for Gunung Mandi Angin there are a few British divisions present but only one of them is actually in fighting shape which should mean that it is a comfortable victory in the end for the Hungarians. Only two Hungarian divisions launch the attack but a third will join the battle in a few hours time.
Back in Italy, with X Állandó Hadsereg now completely evacuated, all the focus is on the northern front. The Livorno pocket has now been destroyed and 2. Hadtest is now attacking along the whole length of the front. At the westernmost end of the front, the Hungarians have reached the outskirts of Roma but aren't yet strong enough to launch an assault on the Italian capital.
On the morning of the 13th of July, British resistance in Gunung Mandi Angin collapses and the British attempt to retreat into a Hungarian held province. This is futile because they will be forced to fully surrender when Hungarian force manage to occupy Gunung Mandi Angin as they are unable to attack a province (as retreating into an enemy held province effectively is) when they are out of supply.
The 17th of July brings with it three pieces of new. Firstly, that Japan and Germany have signed a non-aggression pact with each other. From previous experience I guess this means that the German government headed to Japan when they went into exile a few months back.
The second piece of news is that six new infantry divisions have been completed. These will form XXV Állandó Hadsereg, the final corps that will bring the first of the 2nd Army Group's armies, 5. Hadtest, up to full strength.
Finally, Nova Lisboa has been occupied by troops of 5. gyaloghadosztály meaning that Belgium have now reached a 100% surrender progress and that the Hungarian troops in south west Africa can now start leaving this area of operations.
As expected, at midnight on the 18th of July, Belgium surrenders and is annexed. This means that the only foreign troops left in Africa are the Italians in Ethiopia and Libya. Once Italy is conquered, Hungary will own the whole continent.
Over in Asia, the final British pocket in Kota Bharu has now been attacked by the encircling Hungarians. With seven divisions against just the one British division, victory is pretty much assured for the Hungarians who can then concentrate on the British presence further north on the Burmese border.
In the evening of the following day, the British in both Taiping and Kota Bharu surrender leaving Hungary in complete control of the southern half of the Malayan peninsula. One of the two corps involved in this area will travel overland northwards but the other will be picked up by the Hungarian navy and will land just behind the British lines on the Burmese border.
On the morning of the 20th of July, X Állandó Hadsereg make another attempt to land behind the Italian lines, though this time the landings in Macerata and Ascoli Piceno are much closer to the main front and are designed to enable the encirclement of a portion of the Italian army on the eastern part of the front. Despite the Italians having lost over half of their army in recent months they are still putting up a brave fight as the Hungarian casualty figures from the battle of Cortona show. Hopefully for the Hungarians, the Italians won't be able to fight for much longer.
On the 23rd of July, development of new medium tank engines is completed. Although this technology is not quite up to date, it is now at 1940 levels, the same as Hungary's light tanks, research in this field is discontinued.
In its place, seven new research projects are started. The Hungarian army has become concerned that they are losing a lot of troops to attrition as well as to wounds that shouldn't really be fatal. As a result, six of the new research projects have been started to address these concerns, desert, jungle, arctic and mountain warfare equipment as well as first aid and combat medicine. The final new project is the development of night fighting equipment. Although this final tech is being developed ahead of time, it is a 1944 tech, it will lose this malus on the 1st of January 1944 and should actually finish its development shortly afterwards rather than the current July date given.
A good portion of the remnants of the Italian army have now been encircled in Perugia and Fabriano and will shortly be destroyed. The Italian defense of their homeland is now starting to crumble and Hungarian strategists believe that the fighting should all be over before the end of the summer.
On the 29th of July an advance is made in radar technology but as this is not yet good enough to allow further development of ship radar and asw devices, research is continued on to the next level.
Meanwhile, in the Far East, III Állandó Hadsereg have been landed just behind the British lines on the Burmese border. They promptly launch an attack on Bokpyin to relieve IV Állandó Hadsereg to their north but unfortunately, due to Yunnan, IV Állandó Hadsereg are unable to help in this attack due to being out of supply.
On the final day of July, the attack on the Italian capital, Roma, is launched by four divisions from VI Állandó Hadsereg. Despite the urban terrain the Hungarians are confident that this force can take the city as they have a four to one advantage, but even so further forces are heading around to the south and east of Roma to completely cut the Italians off and seal their fate.
