Hungary - From Minor to Major

[Xamand]

On the other hand, you IC has increased even more dramatically. Once your licenced builds are finished, you'll need to find advanced combat troops which require relatively few men to operate. Eg, build artillery brigades, detach one infantry brigade from each division / reinforced HQ and replace it with that artillery. That would enable you to have quite a lot more divisions without losing much combat value.

Yeah, I'm going to have a problem once my license builds are complete, loads of spare IC and not a lot I can do with it due to not having enough good techs. I could build a load of artillery for my infantry, that is certainly one option, though it isn't cheap on officers. I'm not really sure what to do yet, but have a few months to come up with some sort of plan. My army does indeed need to get bigger though.

you are surrounding the axis to deal with tem quickly when it'll be time?

Hi there sprites, I hope you are enjoying it.
I wish that were the case but as Baltasar has pointed out, my army simply isn't big enough to deal with any of the factions quickly, or slowly for that matter. I think it would rather be the opposite. However due to my now far flung possessions, they won't manage to completely eradicate me very quickly either.

 

[Baltasar]

Well, he is surrounding Russia as well. Once Finland is conq... liberated, it's a short way over St. Peterburg to Moscov. From the south, the liberate Turks will likely be eager to swarm across the mountains northward, taking Stalingrad, Baku and other VPs.

However, the Russians will likely have several hundred divisions, as will the Italians and Germans have way too many and too powerful units to take them on now.

The Allies are too far streched and easy pickings, but they're technoligically advanced, have fairly big armies and fleets and it'd take quite a while to knock them out of the war. Once the Axis start their move against Poland and (hopefully) fire Vichy France, it will be time to knock on the doors of the Buckingham Palace.

Yeah, I'm going to have a problem once my license builds are complete, loads of spare IC and not a lot I can do with it due to not having enough good techs. I could build a load of artillery for my infantry, that is certainly one option, though it isn't cheap on officers. I'm not really sure what to do yet, but have a few months to come up with some sort of plan. My army does indeed need to get bigger though.

In this case, I'd rather forget the dream of having 200% officer coverage, as your leadership income is just not capable of delivering enough of them AND scientists AND spys AND diplomats. As you already have quite a lot of officers, I would recommend to making officer recruitment a secondary priority and get everybody to work on science. You'll be badly outclassed in every aspect by the Axis forces and even if you should find yourself on par with the Communists, you'll be badly outnumbered by them. In that respect, the aim to get a very elite army with lots of leaders and maximum bonuses doesn't counter either threat while you are clearly going to go to war with both of them, even if only after another.

Edit: A compromise could be the massive extension of your air force. It's not nearly as manpower / officer consuming, it will make good use of your ICs and you'll develop quite a lot of firepower to both support your ground forces and disturb any attacking forces by aiming at infrastructure. However, in the end the boots on the ground will decide whether or not greater Hungary will survive.

 

[Forster]

snip

In this case, I'd rather forget the dream of having 200% officer coverage, as your leadership income is just not capable of delivering enough of them AND scientists AND spys AND diplomats. As you already have quite a lot of officers, I would recommend to making officer recruitment a secondary priority and get everybody to work on science. You'll be badly outclassed in every aspect by the Axis forces and even if you should find yourself on par with the Communists, you'll be badly outnumbered by them. In that respect, the aim to get a very elite army with lots of leaders and maximum bonuses doesn't counter either threat while you are clearly going to go to war with both of them, even if only after another.

Good advice, me thinks.

 

[Xamand]

Yeah, I had also come to the conclusion I would be well advised to get some more research started, just not exactly sure what to start on, there are so many things that I am way behind on that would be useful eg: Light cruisers, armour, interceptors, tac bombers and doctrines of all types. I also don't know how tobuild IC, infrastructure or land forts yet, though I'm not exactly short of IC.
I think my priorities will be armour and light cruisers as aerial bombardment is not nearly as effective in HOI3 as it was in HOI2, well not in regards to ground attack anyway.
Choices choices, as yet I haven't made any and as I have only played up until mid December I have time to make them before it is too late.

 

[Baltasar]

I would recommend you to read across Urisah's AAR, which can be found here. http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439687

You'll find that his opponents are taking quite a beating from his Luftwaffe, therefore I wouldn't conclude that grund attacks are ineffective. And since you're going to go to war with the Axis and the Commies, I'd move naval research further down the line. Interceptors, tanks and infantry improvements seem logical choices, as well as industrial research up to the point where you can build IC and Infrastructure. Everything else will have to wait until you can call upon the scientists in Berlin and Moscov

 

[Xamand]

I'll have a look through it, thanks.
However I am still currently thinking on the lines of taking on the Allies first primarily because I think there are easier gains there ie India.
Unlike the other two factions, the Allies will probably be harder to eventually beat completely due to the USA being tricky to conquer (not that Germany or the USSR are easy) but they also have a harder time beating me due to having no real land presence in Europe assuming that Germany take care of France that is.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 5.7 - Baltic Blitz​

On the 21st of October I get some bad news, not that Luxembourg has joined the Allies, that hardly elicits any reaction in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, but that Turkish Nationalists have risen up in revolt in Fethiye. Admittedly, this isn't the worst piece of news I could have received, Fethiye is out of the way and no great loss. The problem is that my nearest troops are the General Headquarters Army Group HQ division all the way north in Budapest. As a result, I order them to strategically redeploy to Üzümlü, the province that the partisans are heading towards. It will be a good while before my troops get there to quell the rebellion.



With the capture of Tehran on the 22nd of October, the campaign in Persia seems to be drawing to a close and it appears that I simply need to walk into the remaining three VPs required to get Persia to surrender. Still, it's quite a long walk.
I receive further good tidings from my scientists with the revelations that that have completed their work on Industrial Production and Industrial Efficiency. I am still a few levels behind being up to date on these techs so I order them to continue working towards the next levels of both of these projects.



In the early hours of the 24th of October and with III Állandó Hadsereg having reorganised themselves following the successful annexation of Sweden, I declare war on Latvia and launch an invasion. Latvia has a national unity of 70% and two victory point provinces located in Riga 1 and Daugavpils 1. This means that I will have to capture them both to force their surrender. I have chosen this southern location for my landing as I want to avoid the Latvian navy based in Riga. I don't believe they are very strong but there is no point in risking anything. There is also a secondary reason for this southern landing but that will become clearer at a later date. Once ashore, III Állandó Hadsereg simply have orders to take the VPs by any means necessary.



Two days later and with II Állandó Hadsereg also wanting to get in on the action I declare war on Estonia. Estonia has a national unity of 70% and two victory point provinces located in Talinn 1, Tartu 1. As a result I will need to take both provinces in order to annex them. As the Estonians don't appear to have any navy I am able to land my forces right next to their capital. As with the invasion of Latvia, II Állandó Hadsereg's orders are pretty simple, take the VPs however you can.



With the troops ashore in Estonia, the transport ships scout out the Finnish coastline and the location of the Finnish navy. Meanwhile the troops themselves launch an attack on the Estonian capital, Tallinn, finding that the Estonian army is unprepared for battle having not mobilised. Only one of my divisions is initially involved in the attack, two more are busy encircling the capital whilst the remaining divisions are preparing to head towards the second Estonian VP in Tartu. They don't start moving south straight away however as there is an Estonian HQ currently in the next province and as it is heading southwards itself I decide to wait for it to clear the province so that I don't have to suffer a combat delay.



At the end of the month I learn that Communist China has joined the Comintern. Now there's a surprise, I wonder what took them so long. I also launch an attack on the Latvian capital of Riga and find that as with their Estonian neighbours, the Latvians are not ready for war, again having failed to mobilise before I declared on them. To the north, the encirclement of Tallinn has been completed but with the battle already going well there the two encircling divisions decide not to get involved and start heading off south instead.



Over in Persia the war is almost over with my troops advancing unopposed into the final two required VP provinces. The last to arrive will be the troops heading into Bushehr and they are due to get there on the 6th of November. Despite the start of this campaign being delayed by supply problems no such issues have arisen during the campaign itself which is good news.



I've reached the border of the second Estonian VP province in Tartu and have launched an attack against the weak defenders. Estonia's days now appear to be numbered. For wont of anything better to do I have also attacked the surrounded Estonian division in Narva so that they don't have any ideas about trying to come to the relief of any of their other forces.



The battle for Tallinn is over and the defending forces have been completely wiped out. Having found the going in both Latvia and Estonia to be pretty easy I declare war on the third Baltic state of Lithuania. As with the other two, Lithuania has a national unity of 70% and two victory point provinces located in Kaunas 1 and Siauliai 1. Hence as before, both will need to be taken to win this war. Half of III Állandó Hadsereg are turned south to accomplish this task, 2 divisions heading either side of Siauliai to encircle the first VP province and head on to the Lithuanian capital whilst the third division will attack Siauliai directly.



With my landing in Latvia having been in the south of the country right on the Lithuanian border, the Lithuanians should have seen this coming but apparently they haven't. As with Latvia and Estonia before them the Lithuanian army is in no state to fight and should be rolled over quite comfortably. II and III Állandó Hadseregs are now involved in a good number of separate battles with the three Baltic states, but all of these battles are going well for the two corps.



I Állandó Hadsereg have by now arrived in Stockholm from the former Norwegian-Swedish border and have boarded my transport ships. With the war against the three Baltic nations going well, they are not needed there and therefore I fond them a new war against Finland. Finland similarly has a national unity of 70% but has four victory point provinces located in Helsinki 1, Vaasa 1, Turku 1 and Viipuri 10. Due to the weighting of the Viipuri VP I only need to capture Viipuri to force a victory. I also have to be wary of the relatively powerful Finnish navy, so my Tactical Bomber squadron is ordered to bomb the ships it can find in Helsinki's harbour. They are not able to do much in the way of damage but the Finnish ships don't sally allowing my landing to go ahead undisturbed. Whether my tacs had any part in causing the Finnish ships to stay in port or not I don't know but I suspect they did as I am yet to experience an enemy fleet leave port whilst I am bombing them in any of my games. This doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just that I haven't seen it.



With the 7th of November arriving and with my troops having occupied Bushehr the previous day, Persia finally surrenders. This has been quite a long campaign due to the large distances involved between provinces. With victory in Persia I now have a border with British India should I ever decide to head that way as well as a port in Bandar-e 'Abbas allowing me access to the Indian Ocean. However it doesn't put me in range of China, nor for that matter Siam or South Africa so it isn't currently a great deal of use.



With th successful landings by I Állandó Hadsereg in Finland complete four divisions launch an attack on Viipuri whilst a fift heads north to provide a second angle of attack. Unlike the Baltic states, the Finns have had the foresight to mobilise though it is not yet fully completed. However it should mean that they are able to put up a slightly better defense than the three nations to the south of them. At the moment Viipuri is only being defended by an HQ and a single garrison brigade however some infantry divisions are already heading to support them.



With the news that Afghanistan has seen fit to mobilise their army following the annexation of Persia I launch attacks on two national capitals, the Lithuanian city of Kaunas and the Finnish port of Helsinki. In Helsinki's case, the attack has not been launched because of the VP there but because the city has a port which I would like to capture to secure my supply lines for the attack on Viipuri. The 60% score for the battle of Viipuri would indicate that Finnish reinforcements have now arrived in the province.



The Finns have launched a counterattack against my flanking division in Ylämaa. My division in Ylämaa is now involved in two battles, the attack on Viipuri as well as their own defense which is not particularly healthy. However as the Finnish counterattack has only been launched by a single brigade I decide not to pull them out of the battle for Viipuri.



To the south, I win the battle for Tartu and Estonia has subsequently surrendered to me. Further to the south the battle for Riga is in its closing stages and I have more divisions heading towards the remaining Latvian VP in Daugavpils. Similarly, the battle for Kaunas is also nearing an end and with the battle for Siauliai having also been won and the encircled defenders destroyed, Lithuania is also on the edge of defeat.



The uprising in Fethiye occurred on the 21st of October but it is not until the 13th of November that my troops are able to launch an attack on them. In the meantime, due it appears to a lack of supply, the partisans have not been able to move out of Fethiye meaning that I won't have to worry about reclaiming further provinces once the battle is won. Like the Swedes before them, the Finns decide that a good way to get back at me will be to sink my convoys, however this will have little impact on the war, especially as my internal spies are back at work trying to raise my National Unity. Despite my spies not currently working on counterespionage they do manage to find and dispose of a German spy which is quite lucky considering how hard they were to get rid of when I was putting everything into catching them.



On the 14th of November i won both the battles for Riga and Kaunas and with Kaunas being the second of the two Lithuanian VPs to fall, Lithuania duly surrenders at midnight on the 15th.
I also receive news from further afield as I learn that Cuba has joined the Allies. This is a shame as along with their Caribbean neighbours in the Dominican Republic and Haiti they are the only nations in the whole of the Americas which aren't guaranteed by the USA. I've not made a decision yet as to whether I will make an attempt on the Caribbean nations as the gains will be minimal but I would prefer the option to still be available to me.



In the past few days I have won both the battles for Viipuri and Helsinki and occupied both provinces. The Finns have taken much higher casualties than me in the fighting for Viipuri despite managing to bring more troops to the defense of the province. Although the Finns have managed to reclaim one of their provinces following the occupation of their capital they still surrender on the 20th of November following the fall of Viipuri.



The 27th of November turns out to be quite a busy day. The day before, Daugavpils fell to my troops and hence Latvia has now surrendered. Despite being the first of the four countries to be attacked by me, the remote location of their second VP has meant that they are the last to be annexed. They aren't the only nation to surrender on this day though as news comes through from the far east that Manchukuo has fallen to Shanxi. As Manchukuo are a member of a faction, the Axis, they had the opportunity to continue the fight from exile and have taken it for whatever good it will do them. This is a boon for Shanxi as they will now get an increased amount of leadership and manpower from their newly acquired lands although they will get less IC unless they choose a different occupation policy to the default Collaboration option. I'm not sure though whether the AI ever does change their occupation policies.
To complete the news roundup I get some disturbing news from Kikinda in the former Yugoslavia telling me that Yugoslav Nationalists have risen up. My nearest troops are those of my Army HQ, 1.Hadtest, who had been stationed in Praha which was in range of the fighting in the Baltic (the three added infantry brigades give the Army HQ a command range of 1000km). They are ordered to strategically deploy southwards to deal with this new threat as the organisation bonus they give to the troops in the north is no longer required.



As a matter of interest, I had already seriously weakened Germany by beating them to Austria and Czechoslovakia. I thought I had now done the same to the Soviets by grabbing Finland and the Baltic states before they could do anything about them. However it appears that I was wrong about this.
For the Soviets to start the Winter War and for them to also make their claims on the three Baltic states, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact event needs to have fired. However, this event will not fire unless Germany is in control of Praha, which they aren't. I doubt whether the Soviets would have done anything off of their own backs so the only actual result of me taking these four nations is that I have deprived Germany of Memel which they could have claimed on the 1st of January 1939.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 5.8 - The Return of Peace​

With Peace having descended on the Hungarian Empire I switch my Industrial Policy law back to Consumer Product Orientation. I would prefer to not lose the 5% industrial efficiency that this law change causes but I simply cannot afford the IC that I would otherwise have to spend on Consumer Goods.
On the 28th of November I also win the battle against the Turkish Partisans in Fethiye and I am now able to retake the province.



Peace isn't really Hungary's thing and as a result I declare war on Afghanistan. Pretty much the only reason for this war is that I already have troops in the vicinity and that it is there. Also, them mobilizing is like a red rag to a bull. Afghanistan has a National Unity of 50% with VPs located in Kabul 1 and Herat 1. I only need one of these to force Afghanistan to submit and as Herat is on the border I don't even have to travel far. As a result only the troops of IV Állandó Hadsereg will be needed and their orders are simplicity itself, take Herat.
Having gone back to war I am able to switch back to Mixed Industry and benefit from not having a malus to my industrial efficiency. Just a shame that this probably won't be a long war.



I launch my first and only attack against the defending Afghans in the hills of Herat. The Afghan army is fully mobilised but only consists of militia in this border province so victory is pretty much assured. Two more Hungarian divisions will eventually join the battle as their combat delays due to being strategically redeployed to the border eventually wears off.



1.Hadtest make it down to Yugoslavia and engage the Yugoslav partisans in Kikinda. They will be aided in this endeavour by the air force, not that they really need it.
I also receive an odd message about Liberia no longer influencing me. As with New Zealand before, Liberia never were influencing me, the Allied member influencing me is still France.



All four divisions assigned to the attack are now involved in the battle for Herat although only one division is actually on the front lines themselves. Meanwhile, on the 8th of December I get news of another uprising in Yugoslavia, this time in Sanski Most. Unfortunately, the only division available to deal with this is the same 1.Hadtest involved in fighting partisans in Kikinda. They will have to head over once the battle for Kikinda is over and the province occupied.



I win the battle for Kikinda, retake the province and immediately start to redeploy into the path of the partisans heading north. Unfortunately this is not before the partisans have managed to capture Bosanska Dubica. Unlike the previous two uprisings it seems that these partisans are intent on expanding their lands and causing more trouble for me.



I have won the battle for Herat and having by now arrived in the province, Afghanistan surrenders and is annexed on the 13th of December. Meanwhile my spies have found and disposed of yet another German spy. They do seem very keen to infiltrate me. I suppose this is mostly due to them having loads of leadership to spend.



I am yet to make it to the second Yugoslav uprising and they have now managed to add Sisak to the list of provinces they have taken from me. I change 1.Hadtest's destination to the province to the north of Sisak that the rebels are now heading to, a province that I will eventually beat them to. As I mentioned in a previous post, this will give me the advantage of a defensive battle.
Being back at peace I switch back to Consumer Product Orientation to save on the cost of Consumer Goods due to the bonus it gives to daily dissent change.



With operations in the Baltic and the Middle East concluded my leadership has risen accordingly to a new high of 9.25. With the liberation of six more nations from their domestic oppressors I would of thought this figure would be higher compared to that from the previous update but then again the previous update included some leadership in Persia that was giving me a distorted figure due to just being occupied. I am however able to train 20.2 new officers per day as well as run my 7 research jobs.



As expected my IC has also risen to new highs, 166 base IC and 273 Effective IC. I'm still not quite able to fund all of my builds however most of them are now covered. My manpower has also now risen over 20 per month to 20.7 meaning that if I wanted to I could build two new infantry divisions every month and still have some spare. I'm still not sure what I want to add to my queue so haven't yet made any changes to it. I still believe that when I get involved with any of the three factions that it will be at a time and place of my choosing. Hopefully I am right in this belief, though I am encouraged by my experience with other medium nations in previous game where that has held true.



With the fighting now over until May of 1939 at the earliest (unless I change my plans), it is now a good time to look at the state of my Generals. Advancement has been pretty disappointing overall with only two of my land leaders having gained skill levels since the start of the game, Gömbös who has risen from skill 0 to 2 and now Vastagh who has risen from skill 1 to 2. The closest to achieving a skill increase is Bajnóczy who is 98% of the way to skill 2 and Gömbös again who is 90% of the way to skill 3. He seems to be one to watch.
On the naval front, Horthy is the only admiral with a command and has made little headway to his next skill level, he is of course not helped by being an old guard. Among my air leaders, Rapaich is still the only one to have risen a level, having attained skill 2 earlier in the game.






Finally, as many of you have requested, here is a look at the global map, showing Hungary's new domains.In total, Hungary's landmass is now somewhere about 2/3rds that of the USA. Not counting any overseas colonies, Hungary is quite a bit larger than any other European nation apart from the Soviet Union.

 

[Xamand]

I just discovered something that I won't do for this AAR and that is press the Define Theatres button. I just tested it and received 15 of them!

 

[unmerged(156365)]

Quick Question, i am sure this has been asked alot and im sorry, but are you planning on taking any sides in the war?

 

[Forster]

Good job, but you will have one heck of a time defending all of that unless you start a major construction schedule for armed forces.

 

[Xamand]

Quick Question, i am sure this has been asked alot and im sorry, but are you planning on taking any sides in the war?

Nope, I'm going to be steering my own path which will most likely collide with each of the three factions somewhere along the way.

Good job, but you will have one heck of a time defending all of that unless you start a major construction schedule for armed forces.

That I do, part of the reason for taking so much was just so I could build up as much as possible. The key to doing so is manpower which I am now earning over 10 times as much as when I started. Admittedly it is only 5 times as much once law changes are taken into account, but it still means a large increase on what I would have had if I had stayed historical.
Put it this way, my army currently consists of the equivalent of 33 infantry divisions. With my new manpower income I can add an extra 27 per year, more if I go for cheaper manpower divisions such as armour.


As for what the future holds, I think I now have a plan worked out.
Do nothing except build and research until May when Danzig fires.
Get involved in Poland and see what I can grab. My priority being provinces which give manpower and leadership. Any other provinces I leave to the Germans as I want to ensure that when Poland surrenders, they surrender to the Germans, not me, the reason being that I want the Germans to have a border with the Soviets.
After that, wait for Vichy and when it fires I will DoW them. Finally, once I am ready it will be the turn of the Allies. One thing to note about the Allies, I should be able to grab a considerable number of British colonial provinces in India and the middle east and possibly also in Africa. The major benefit I will get from these is that my leadership should skyrocket in comparison to the pace it has increased up until now. My manpower gain should also go up nicely and will eventually give me a good platform to go after either the Axis or the Comintern after they have been killing each other for a while.

 

[Ghery]

I just can't find the proper words, sitting along, and watching. (Maybe invest in some mountain divisions, and look around in China?)

 

[Palm]

Poland must be the obvious choice when you go to war with the allies, if it still exists then, that is.

 

[Xamand]

I just can't find the proper words, sitting along, and watching. (Maybe invest in some mountain divisions, and look around in China?)

Mountain troops would be nice but I think it will be a long while before I head to China. Currently I have no way of getting there and the Chinese can be tricky to beat on their own turf.

Poland must be the obvious choice when you go to war with the allies, if it still exists then, that is.

Hiyas Palm, welcome to my AAR.
I do indeed have designs on Poland, rather specific ones in fact. However, they are not in the Allies and won't be joining any time soon as, due to my having previously conquered, sorry liberated, Czechoslovakia, the British Guarantee to Poland event cannot fire. However the Danzig event can still fire and I may well take that opportunity to cause some mischief myself.

 

[Xamand]

Part 6 - World War 2 Begins
Chapter 6.1 - The Return of Peace​

Now that peace has returned to Hungary, I have decided to concentrate more on research than on boosting my officer ratio which is now looking very healthy but will start to fall again as new builds are completed.
My priority with research is to acquire some breakthrough techs to enable me to build things that I can't currently. I can worry about getting stuff up to date at a later time.
My first choice is the Light Cruiser tech. I am not actually researching this for light cruisers themselves, in fact I have decided to go with destroyers as my screens as they share the same doctrine tree as battleships, but to enable me to build coastal forts to help me protect my gains.
The second choice I have made is to research Light Armour. I can no longer get production licences off of anybody so I need to be able to produce them domestically. Light armour will also solve the nice problem I have of having too much IC compared to my manpower as it is IC intensive. Early on, my domestically produced tanks will be fairly rubbish but they can always be upgraded later on after they have been built.
The final new tech I start is the naval Sea Lane Defense doctrine. This is the tech that opens up the doctrine tree used by battleships and destroyers but it also allows me to start building some convoy escorts which I suspect will come in handy along the way.
These new research projects do however put me over my current leadership total meaning that one of them will not be fully funded.



For the first time in a long time it seems, actually only 18 months, I have demobilised my army and allowed my troops some well earned rest and creation with their families. I haven't done this out of kindness or to reduce my consumer goods needs (the reduction is minimal) but to free up some manpower for new builds which I urgently need. I now have a lot of far flung possessions and the best way to defend these is by defending the ports. I have decided to use garrison divisions to do this, composed of three garrison brigades and one artillery brigade. These are both slightly cheaper to build manpower wise than a triangular infantry division and also considerably cheaper with regards to their officer requirement, 190 compared to 300. Although very slow and useless at attacking, they are good at defending which is the job they will be doing. To start off with I build 6 of these divisions but I will be wanting a few more once I have the manpower.



I have finally intercepted the second group of Yugoslav partisans and a battle has started with my troops on the defensive. To speed up the battle and gain my air force some experience they have been asked to bomb the partisans and subsequently this battle should not take long.
Meanwhile my scientists have successfully come up with ways to improve my Infantry Support Weapons. I have asked them to continue on this line of research and it is now at the bottom of the research list where it won't get fully funded. As other projects are completed and new ones started I will keep bumping this job to the bottom as of all my projects it has the lowest priority being a simple upgrade rather than a breakthrough tech.



The year is almost over when I receive my first new tactical bomber squadron enabling me to form the 2nd Tactical Wing. When the remaining bombers in my queue are completed they will bring both wings up to a strength of two squadrons each but by forming the second wing now I can start earning some experience for its commander. I will similarly split my two interceptor squadrons into two wings for the same reason.
I also receive news on the diplomatic front with Colombia being the latest nation to join the Allies. Meanwhile, in the Far East, the Chinese have almost pushed the Japanese out of Korea and are therefore close to winning this opening stage of their war.



With all the new IC that I have conquered you would have thought that I would need to buy more resources to feed it. However, the opposite is true as I have gained considerable new sources of raw materials and I am therefore able to cancel a couple of deals I had with the Soviets. I wouldn't half mind selling some of my excess resources, especially metal, but nobody is willing to buy it probably due to my warmongering.



The 18th of January sees Admiral Horthy running around the government buildings leaping in joy. He seems quite sprightly for an old man in fact. It is not the news that Mexico has joined the Allies that has brought this on, that is actually rather a shame, but the news that the four licensed built light cruisers are now ready for commission. Hungary finally has a real navy again, a navy with guns. To be honest it isn't really a navy that anyone will be scared of, but it's a start. I am now wishing I had asked to build ships in serial as well as parallel when I first requested them but it can't be helped now.
I have also received two new infantry divisions which will be merged with a new Corps HQ and a new Army HQ to form the 1st Armoured Corps and 2.Hadtest respectively, both of which will be commanded by a skill 3 Panzer Leader.



Yet another nation has just joined the Allies who are now starting to get pretty big, this time it's Paraguay. Over in the Far East, Japan are still doggedly holding on to the island of Hainan but have failed to advance inland against Guangxi.
On the research front I have completed research into Mobile Warfare which brings my HQs up to a speed of 3.50kph. I want them to reach 4.00kph to match my infantry and hence I start on the second level of this research.



With February having now arrived I start work on another 5 garrison divisions to protect my ports. My initial requirement for garrison divisions is a total of twelve meaning that I still have one more that I want to build. These will defend 9 of the ports that I currently possess, Petsamo, the 4 Norwegian ports, Göteborg, La Coruña, Cádiz and Bandar-e 'Abbas, as well as three more ports that I plan to acquire before the end of the year.
I have also received the news that Costa Rica has now thrown their lot in with the Allies.



As yet another American nation joins the Allies, Bolivia on this occasion, I hear the unpleasant news from Spain that nationalists have risen up in La Fuente de San Esteban. The only troops that I have in Spain are those of my Budapest HQ Theatre which I have redeployed towards the path of the ungrateful rebels.



The 1st of March brings with it another influx of manpower which I have spent on the final of my 12 initial garrison divisions. I have also started work on 5 new transport flotillas as I have realised that my current transports won't be able to do all the carrying around that I will require of them quick enough. Not counting various islands and African colonies I currently have four separate landmasses one of which is so large that it makes much more sense to transport troops from one end to the other by sea rather than by land.



I have now beaten the Spanish nationalists in a dual defensive and offensive battle and am now able to take back the three provinces that they managed to steal from me.
I have also now completed the first of my truly mobile land forces in the form of 5 Armoured Car brigades.



Near the end of the month I finally complete construction of the 10 light armoured brigades whose licences I purchased from Germany. This means that I can now form the five light armoured divisions consisting of two light armoured brigades and an armoured car brigade that will form the 1st Armoured Corps. Hungary's army now has a good mobile exploitation element to it which should transform the way it can operate in the future.
The foreign news is not good for the Japanese as they have now been ejected completely from Korea by Shanxi. The Japanese appear to be looking for revenge however and have commenced a landing in Shanghai though no doubt they will eventually be pushed back into the sea.



Spring has arrived, as have some more fresh faced recruits for the Hungarian army to turn into soldiers. I can't continue to rely on the likes of my Theatre
HQ to quell partisan uprisings so I have decided to form some anti partisan units. Some people will say that speed is of the essence when it comes to anti partisan forces but as I prefer to strategically redeploy my forces into range with the partisans speed makes no difference. Hence for me cost is of the essence, specifically manpower and officer cost. I don't need to win easily against partisans, I just need to be able to win eventually, hence I have chosen to form my divisions with 2 militia brigades and an infantry brigade, making them slightly stronger than the partisans' pure militia divisions. If they struggle in a fight I can always bring some bombers to help out. These divisions are quite a bit cheaper than an infantry division on the manpower front and require a lot less officers, 120 compared to 300. I'll probably end up adding in HQs which will bring down the officer advantage but will mean that they can have their own command structure along with my various port garrisons.
Due to the completion of my armoured brigades I am now able to fund all my builds for the first time in a long time. I am not yet able to cover my supply expenses and my supply stockpile is still diminishing, but not as quickly as it had been.



My third bomber squadron is now ready and it will be assigned to the 2nd Tactical Wing. You can also see my 1st Armoured Division in all its glory performing manoeuvres near the Polish border. The Germans and the poles seem to be getting into some diplomatic argument over the status of Danzig and my army is staying close by should this argument turn hot.
Most of the commanders of the 1st Armoured Division are newly trained Generals who became available at the start of 1939 but General Veress, in charge of 2.Hadtest, has actually been promoted and re-assigned from the infantry division he was previously in charge of due to his Panzer Leader trait. Along with Lt General Stomm, he is one of only two Panzer Leaders I currently have.



I've completed another level in the research of both Industrial Production and Industrial Efficiency however as I am still a way behind in these techs I simply carry on with researching the next levels.
My internal security service has managed to catch another German spy. From his interrogation I have learnt that the war of words between Poland and Germany may soon turn hot and as a result the army has again been mobilised. If the two countries do indeed go to war, I will want to get a slice of the action as well hence my own forces can been seen moving up to the border.



Early on the 2nd of May, Poland and Germany do go to war with each other. As its a Limited War and Poland has not been guaranteed by the British, Germany and Poland will be the only two nations involved. Well, they would have been but for the Hungarian decision to also declare war on Poland, an act of blatant opportunism.
As a result of being back on a war footing, I have reverted back to Mixed Industry for my Industrial Policy laws so that I no longer suffer from the 5% efficiency malus as a result of having a Consumer Product Orientation.

 

[Baltasar]

Don't gtab too much of Poland or you'll see yourself between Russia and Germany

Are your divisions back to full strength after their mobilisation? Your manpower looks so low I'd assume they're only on half or three quarter strength.

 

[sneakey pete]

For some reason (bug i guess), you can keep your wartime laws (service by requirement, total economic mobilization) even after the war ends, so though he was demobilised, his divisions were still at 90% strength.

You know where you want to take your hungarian empire, but personally i'd try for a full world conquest. declare war on the axis now that you surround them, then mabye france/UK, then the russians later.

 

[Xamand]

Don't gtab too much of Poland or you'll see yourself between Russia and Germany

Yep, I will have to be very careful with regards to what I take and what I leave to Germany. Hungary's war aims will be quite specific unlike previous wars where the aim has simply been to annex the enemy.

Are your divisions back to full strength after their mobilisation? Your manpower looks so low I'd assume they're only on half or three quarter strength.

Well spotted, I indeed was not able to fully mobilise due to a shortage of manpower. However as 3 year draft is my current conscription law and has been since the invasion of Yugoslavia back in May '37 it means that I am at 90% strength even when unmobilised. Hence my forces should still be able to perform well despite the slight lack in strength.

Edit: Whoops, seems I have been emued.

For some reason (bug i guess), you can keep your wartime laws (service by requirement, total economic mobilization) even after the war ends, so though he was demobilised, his divisions were still at 90% strength.

You know where you want to take your hungarian empire, but personally i'd try for a full world conquest. declare war on the axis now that you surround them, then mabye france/UK, then the russians later.

Hiyas sneakey pete and welcome to my AAR.
You are indeed correct, I still have my wartime laws.

As for my plans, world conquest or liberation depending on your point of view is certainly my long term aim. There can be no war if there is only the one nation, Hungary is simply bringing peace to the world.
However, I plan to do it in a slightly different order as the Axis and the Comintern would be a bit too tricky, they both have large land borders with me in Europe and both have much larger armies that they can quickly bring to fight me.
On the other hand, the Allies may well have large armies, especially the USA, but they can't as easily bring that force to bare against me. Hence I currently plan to attack them first, though not quite yet, I'll let Germany whittle them down a tiny bit first. In the end, although I will attack them first, the Allies will probably be the last to fall due to the USA's large army and the barrier of the Atlantic. By the time I start on them I will want both Europe and Asia to be fully in my hands hence I will probably deal with both the Axis and the Comintern before I venture across the ocean. As yet I am not sure what order I do them in as it depends a lot on how well Barbarossa goes assuming it is launched.

Anyway, time for the Polish campaign, coming right up.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 6.2 - Danzig or War!​

The war against Poland will be very different to any of Hungary's previous wars, you could say gamey to be honest. For the first time, Hungary's armies will be fighting alongside those of another nations, Germany's, although we aren't actually allied. In many ways, the two nations' war aims mesh quite nicely, Germany wants to connect East Prussia to the rest of the nation and wants to add Poland's rural land to theirs in order to become self sufficient food wise. However, they are not interested in the cities other than the prize of Warszawa itself, too many Poles living in them which they would have to feed.
Thankfully, it is just those cities and their people that Hungary is interested in, for both the leadership and the manpower gains.
Germany is also keen to have a border with the Soviet Union so that they can eventually start on their drive east to erase the Bolshevik menace. Hungary is also keen for Germany to have a border with the Soviets but isn't really bothered who erases whom, just that there is a lot of fighting between the two.
At the start of previous wars I have chosen to show a map showing the target nation's Victory Points. As annexation is not the plan here, I want Germany to be the annexing nation, I have instead shown a map of Poland's resource locations as these match perfectly with the provinces which give leadership income. The numbers shown on the map are the base leadership amounts for each province, unfortunately I will not get all of this leadership as I only get a small percentage when Poland is annexed but it will still give me gains.
The bad news is that I will be unable to take either of Poland's two main leadership provinces. Namyslów has a base of 0.9, but is located right on the
German border meaning I have no chance of getting there first. The capital Warszawa has 0.8 base leadership but if I were to take it first, which is possible, there would be a good chance that Poland would surrender to me which I do not want to happen as it would deprive Germany of their border with the Soviets, putting me in between the two of them. I was briefly tempted to try for it anyway as it would then mean I had a land connection to my Baltic provinces but in the end caution prevailed.
My plan is relatively simple. Advance towards and take only the provinces that give me leadership and any provinces that I need to get there whilst leaving all the other provinces alone. The reason for this is that if I take too many provinces there is a danger that Poland would still surrender to me despite Germany taking Warszawa.
I am aided in my plan by the disposition of the Polish army, half of which is lined up on the German border, the other half on the Soviet border. Hungary obviously is not considered to be any sort of threat, clearly they have not been keeping track of events over the last couple of years.
My armoured divisions are key to my accomplishing my plan to grab as many of my targets as I can, giving me the speed to drive deep into Poland's interior before they are able to react.



Germany having gone to war, or possibly Hungary having gone to war yet again, has prompted both Belgium and the Netherlands to mobilise their armed forces. This is of no concern to me as I wasn't planning to attack them any time soon, but could slow Germany down when they attempt to head west.
Meanwhile, first contact has been made with the Polish army in the border province of Horodenka. Poland's army has not been mobilised and is only at 50% strength due to their conscription laws. This also means that their organisation is low meaning that the battle should be relatively simple for my two divisions, which themselves are not at full strength due to a lack of manpower to mobilise much over 90% strength but are much higher in organisation.



Two of my armoured divisions have been successful in taking the first Polish province of Nowy Targ without encountering opposition, their speed meaning that it has only taken 14 hours to get there. As my troops arrive I also receive news that Luxembourg has joined their Benelux neighbours in mobilising and will soon have a strong army, allegedly. I think my Head of Intelligence may be exaggerating somewhat.



When I started my advance in the north, Wilno had also been empty of any defenders but now a Polish cavalry division has turned up to get in my way. With a number more Polish divisions now heading away from the Soviet border I fully expect more to join the defense of Wilno hence my troops heading south into the province to the west of Wilno to provide a second avenue of attack.
Further to the west, the sole armoured division that I have placed on the northern front is making better progress towards Baranowicze having already taken the intervening province.
Meanwhile, it appears that the Polish navy has struck back having attacked and sunk one of my convoy transports plying the long route between Helsinki and Split. I could remove the need for these long convoy runs between the Baltic and the Mediterranean by creating a land link through Poland but as I previously mentioned I think it is better not to get in the way of the Germans and the Soviets hence I will have to put up with these losses. Thankfully, this is the one and only time that the Poles attack my convoys, most likely due to them losing their only port, Danzig, to the Germans.



My armoured division heading towards Lwów has been blocked before it could first take Stryj and therefore Hungarian armour gets its first taste of battle.
Although I do not have a great advantage in troop numbers in this battle I hold all the other advantages and therefore should have little trouble brushing the Polish infantry aside especially as I have two infantry divisions of my own coming up behind.



It is not until the third day of the war that my planes first encounter the Polish air force. I have all four of my wings in the air, an interceptor and bomber wing operating out of Kaunas in the north and the second interceptor and bomber wings in the south operating out of Budapest's airfield. Despite the Polish 2 to 1 advantage, the battle is fairly inconclusive with the poor tech levels of both air forces meaning that neither is able to do a great deal of damage.
The first battle of the war down in the south east is now over, the result a resounding victory for the Hungarian army and my troops can now advance as they head along the Soviet border towards their eventual target of Tarnopol.



My interceptors have now met up with their Polish counterparts a few times and are now starting to show signs of receiving damage. They are however doing their main job which is to keep the Polish planes away from my bombers.
The main news on the 4th of May 1939 however is not the fate of my air force but that Honduras has joined the Allies. Actually, it's not that either, it's something much more earth shattering, the United Kingdom and hence the whole of the Allied faction has declared war on Germany and hence the whole of the Axis faction. They may not have guaranteed Poland's independence beforehand but they have certainly taken offence at Germany invading Poland. Thankfully they don't seem that bothered at all that Hungary has also invaded Poland, it seems I am still able to fly under the radar.



Despite the Allies having now gone to war they are still busy recruiting and still seem to be able to find nations in the Americas which haven't joined them yet, this time enticing Nicaragua.
Back to the fighting and my armoured divisions which have by now driven deep into Poland finally encounter opposition as they attempt to take Czestochowa. The two Hungarian divisions make short work of the Polish defenders and are soon able to continue on what has so far been a fairly leisurely journey for them.



The 10th of May turns out to be quite a busy day for news. Firstly, Luxembourg's "strong army" has been defeated and Germany have subsequently annexed the small nation. Further news from abroad is that the USA has decided to gear up for war meaning that they will now be able to build a much larger army. This is worrying but hopefully it will be a long time before Hungary has to deal with the full force of the US Army and by then hopefully Hungary will be much more powerful.
Of more immediate concern to Hungary however is the news from Turkey that nationalists there have risen up in revolt. At the moment only one division is not involved in the war against Poland and that is my Theatre HQ which is currently all the way over in Spain. There is therefore nothing I can currently do about this revolt, I'll have to deal with them once the situation in Poland has been resolved.



It seems to be a busy time for nationalist revolts, like buses, once one turns up you get a second one along right behind it. This time it is the turn of Estonian nationalists. Although I do have troops nearby I am not keen to remove any from my front lines as Poland has a lot of troops themselves in this area. Having said that, the Poles have so far made no attempt whatsoever to counterattack me but I decide that it is better to play safe than sorry and hence ignore the partisans behind my lines.
With victory in the battles for Kolomyja and Stanislawow I am now able to start the battle for the final target province in the south east, Tarnopol.



The 14th of May and further battles have been won in the south and south east of Poland. The key battle here has been the battle for Stryj which started 10 days previously and was the first battle that any of my armoured divisions became involved in. With final victory in the battle I am now able to head on to the undefended province of Lwów.
In the north, the key battle for Wilno has now ended. Large forces from both sides were eventually sucked into this battle which has therefore seen heavy casualties for both armies. Victory is Hungary's however, and I am able to take Wilno as well as now attack Soleczniki from a second angle and hopefully bring another bloody battle to a close.



Two days later and the battle for Soleczniki also ends with casualties again being heavy for both the Hungarians and the Poles. They way now seems clear for the Hungarians to head south towards their eventual targets of Baranowicze and Pinsk.
To the south west, Hungarian armour has won a short battle for Tomaszów and is now on the verge of attacking their final target of Lódz. They first have to wait for their combat delay to clear however they do have a second armoured division coming up behind them from Czestochowa now that the German advance means that I no longer need to defend the province from a possible Polish attempt to reclaim it. This second division may well get to Tomaszów and launch an attack on Lódz before the first division's delay runs down.



On the 19th of May my final Tactical Bomber squadron becomes ready. These will be too late to take any real part in the war as they start with no org however they will eventually be assigned to the 1st Tactical Wing currently operating out of Kaunas.
I have also now taken Lódz after the second armoured division that arrived in Tomaszów discovered that the defenders in Lódz had already been previously defeated and hence were unable to put up any defense whatsoever. This means that there is only one more province that I want to capture, Pinsk in the north east and I already have another armoured division driving into this undefended province. I pit in a spoiling attack on Nowogródek to ensure that Polish troops are unable to interfere with my advance southwards.



By the 21st of May, all of my target provinces have been successfully captured and now the Hungarian army's job is just to hold on to them whilst they wait for the German army to complete the job by taking Warszawa. Hence the attack on Nowogródek has been cancelled as I don't intend to take the province and therefore there is no point in losing troops in the battle.
I have also received the first of my new garrison divisions. These will be deployed to the port of Split where my fleet is waiting to take them on the journey to Scandinavia.



The Hungarian army has now not seen any fighting in Poland for over four days with the Poles seemingly content for them to keep their gains. The Germans are having a more difficult time with the Poles putting up a stiff resistance against them. Over in the west it seems it is not just the Poles that are giving the Germans problems, amazingly the Danish army has also had some success and has pushed southwards into Germany, even managing to take the port of Kiel. The Belgians and especially the Dutch are having a much rougher time with the German army managing to advance westwards deep into the Netherlands.
Good news has come from the Hungarian home front with the successful completion of three battleship research projects. Admiral Horthy is still not satisfied though as the new designs are still not up to date with the leading naval powers and he orders more research to be started in these areas.



With the start of June and the arrival of a new group of recruits I am able to order the production of three more anti partisan divisions to supplement the four already building. As I currently have the IC to spare I also start work on two new domestic bomber squadrons. These won't be as advanced as the squadrons that I built from German production licences but it is better to have them than not and I might as ell put all my IC to some use.



The Germans have taken their time about it but have finally managed to take Warszawa. I think they may have been experiencing supply problems as I spotted German divisions start an advance then stop the next day only to restart again the following day a few times. Anyway, the upshot is that on the morning of the 8th of June, Poland surrendered to Germany and were subsequently annexed by time.
One interesting thing to note about this screenshot is that what I have just written is not strictly true. Poland didn't in fact surrender, they chose to fight on from exile. This is because the special surrender event for when Poland surrenders to Germany presumes that Poland has previously joined the Allies following a British guarantee. As in this case this never happened and Poland are not in a faction, it means that they actually have nowhere to go for their exile and hence Germany are able to annex them outright despite the Poles deciding to fight on. I'm actually pleased and slightly surprised that the game didn't simply crash due to this problem with the events.
Due to Hungary's single minded desire to just take very specific provinces from the Poles, the resulting map looks very strange with a number of Hungarian 'fingers' pushing deep into Germany's new acquisitions. This could well prove useful in the future and could make it fairly easy for Hungary to either cut off a German or a Soviet army in this area. This will be quite a way into the future though as any attempts to do so in the present would just mean a loss of those fingers, the hand and probably the arm.



I started the war in Poland with a leadership total of 9.25 and a manpower income of 20.7. I now have totals of 9.69 and 22.4 so the war has certainly been worth the effort.
As I was never really able to mobilise properly due to a lack of manpower I have decided to demobilise again saving me from the cost of maintaining mobilised forces and freeing up 16 manpower.



The new conquests have seen me gain 11 base IC and 24 effective IC giving me new totals of 178 and 298 respectively. With the newly freed up manpower I start work on two more anti partisan divisions, giving me a total of 9. 2 of these will go to Scandinavia, 1 to the Baltic states, 1 to Spain, 1 for Yugoslavia, one for eastern Greece, 1 for Turkey and 1 for Persia. The final one will be used in a future planned conquest yet to be revealed. In the long run I will no doubt need more of these divisions but these will do for now.