Hungary - From Minor to Major

[Xamand]

Part 7 - The Allies
Chapter 7.1 - November 1939​

With my troops in place for their next set of operations I mobilise on the 23rd of October 1939. Hungary will be going back to war again, however this time it will be a war that will last for years.
Over in the far east, Japan has already started losing parts of Indochina to Guangxi Clique. Although they shouldn't have too many supply problems in this theatre with good ports in Saigon and Haiphong they almost certainly haven't managed to ferry enough troops over yet and therefore have already lost Haiphong. Their Siamese puppets are doing a bit better, nibbling into the British possessions around them but it won't be long until they also have to face the threat from Guangxi.



This will probably be the last time I bother showing a nationalist uprising for a while, suffice it to say they will continue happening from time to time. On this occasion it is the turn of those odd Blugarians again who have popped up in Veliko Turnovo. The Mediterranean Army Group HQ division is sent to deal with them.
My forces have started to receive their troops back from leave and will soon be back at full strength although I will require November's influx of recruits to complete the job. Although it appears I will fall short from the figures given, this will not actually be the case as the 14.7 manpower removed from my manpower pool hasn't yet actually been removed from the figure given for my reinforcement needs.



The 3rd of November 1939 and it's time. At midnight, the Hungarian government informs the British ambassador in Budapest of their intention to declare war on the Allies. Within the hour, troops from I Állandó Hadsereg have launched an attack on Gibraltar. Despite Gibraltar's strategic importance, the British have been complacent and only have a single garrison brigade defending the province. Although they have nice defensive bonuses they have no chance against the six infantry and one garrison division attacking them.
I do receive a bit of an unpleasant surprise though as I learn that New Zealand has captured Ajàccio. At first I wonder how on earth they have managed this but I then realise that they must have originally been sent there to help the French against the Axis and then become stuck there when Vichy was formed. Oh well, they can wait, the Mediterranean Sea is a bit too scary at the moment for my ships to venture out of port. One of my fleets is hiding in port in the Black Sea, the other is cowering in port in the Baltic, both hopefully out of reach of the Allied navies and air forces.



The invasion of Iraq has also started with troops from III Állandó Hadsereg crossing the border in many places. On the Persian Gulf coast I run straight into trouble in the form of an Iraqi infantry division at Umm Qasr. Bad weather and a river crossing are hampering my attempts to attack so it will be called off whilst I move troops around the back of the Iraqi defenses.
Further west, divisions from II Állandó Hadsereg have started heading south into the British regions of Palestine and Transjordan and have found no opposition on the borders.



I, II and III Állandó Hadseregs are all assigned to 1.Hadtest and they have the general aim to secure the Mediterranean and then push into Africa. 2.Hadtest has the goal of taking India from the British and has been assigned IV and V Állandó Hadseregs as well as the 1st Armoured Corps to help it fulfill this mission. As with II Állandó Hadsereg on the Mediterranean coast, IV Állandó Hadsereg and the 1st Armoured Corps encounter no opposition on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Further north the story is largely the same for V Állandó Hadsereg although they do encounter a single British infantry division at the very northern end of their line in Gilgit. As with the attack on Umm Qasr, the odds are not greatly in my favour so the attack is promptly called off whilst a second Hungarian division skirts the British positions to the south and encircles them.



The final attack to be launched on the first morning of the war is an attack by the troops under the Caribbean Hadtest against the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The garrison division that is ordered to make the attack however finds the going to be tough especially due to the river crossing they have to make. Again this attack will be cancelled to await the arrival of the Caribbean Hadtest division itself in the province to the north of Port-au-Prince. Once they arrive the attack can be renewed, this time from two directions.



With the other attacks having been cancelled, the only ongoing battle is the one for the Rock of Gibraltar. By the evening of the 6th of November this battle is also over due to the massive superiority in numbers that the Hungarians are able to bring to the fight. As a result of this imbalance of forces, the British lose 14 men for every Hungarian casualty. Day four of the war and the Mediterranean has already been closed off at one end.
Over on Corsica, the New Zealanders are continuing to make a nuisance of themselves having expanded their hold on the island with Hungary able to do little about them.



The 10th of November brings news of a further setback for Hungary from another unlikely source, this time Liberia, when they take the West African province of San-Pédro. I have quite a lot of land in north west Africa but I have not assigned any forces to its defense and therefore the Liberians and the British will continue to be able to take provinces in the area with no opposition. I'll most likely send I Állandó Hadsereg down there at some point but at the moment it is considered to risky for them to make the sea crossing from Gibraltar.



The following day and I am able to start my attempt to knock the first Allied nation out of the war after the Caribbean Hadtest arrives in Gonaïves. With the attack on Port-au-Prince now coming from two divisions from two directions my odds of success have improved but are still not great. This is due to neither of my divisions having much offensive power with the bulk of the brigades being garrisons and militia. As a result the battle will take a while even though I eventually decide to send one of my two bomber wings to help out.



With Hungary being back on a war footing I now have a bit more spare IC to spend due to my much reduced consumer goods needs. I chuck all this freed up IC into building new roads and railways in attempt to improve my infrastructure on my main supply lines from Budapest down through Turkey. Due to having no construction practical currently, these jobs will take 17 months to complete and are quite expensive. With all these infrastructure jobs as well as the various ports and coastal forts I am building my construction practical should improve somewhat meaning that when I go to make a second round of infrastructure it will be considerably quicker to build.



The evening of the 11th of November and the assault on Baghdad is launched by two divisions from III Állandó Hadsereg. Further divisions are converging on Iraq's capital city and the battle should end well for the Hungarians especially as my second bomber wing is sent to the Middle East to help. Although the Iraqi division defending Baghdad is called 1.Iraqi Motor Infantry it is actually a plain infantry division and has no motorised element. This can be seen as the icon for the division lacks the little wheels at the bottom.



Over in India I encounter my first problems, it is not the British that cause them but my stretched supply lines. Thankfully it is only currently affecting one division which regains its link the following day. I will continue to suffer some minor problems as the campaign continues but only to a minority of my divisions at any one time and only for a day or two at most. It is frustrating but my advance is still able to continue at a good pace due to the general lack of British defenders.



It is not until two weeks into the war that I receive my first report of any of my convoys being attacked which is surprising as I have them travelling through the English Channel. Despite the presence of the Royal Navy and the US Navy in the waters that my convoys have to traverse it is the Danish Navy which strikes first despite Denmark having gone into exile. They also strike in an area which was considered safe by the Hungarian Navy which is a bit annoying. I detach my transport ships from the Baltic Fleet and dispatch the remaining two Light Cruisers out to look for the Danes.



Units from V Állandó Hadsereg have now completed the encirclement of the British division in Gilgit and second attack goes in, this time from two directions. The British are protected by the bad weather and the terrain and hence the battle odds do not start off too great but I am confident that my troops will eventually prevail.



Over in Haiti I finally win the battle for Port-au-Prince. Due to the slow speed of my units which were involved, garrisons only travel at 1kph and militia at 3kph, it will be a little while before I am able to take the Haitian capital. My hope is that none of the other Allied nations decide to send troops to help out their Haitian allies as that could put my position on Hispaniola in jeopardy.



By the 20th of November I have reached my first major target in India, Karachi, and an attack has been launched by the first division to arrive. Whilst an armoured division cuts round to the east of Karachi more infantry and armoured divisions approach from the west to seal the fate of the British 7th Indian Division. Karachi is an important target, not just because of its large port facilities but more importantly because it will give me good leadership and manpower gains.



Baghdad has now been completely surrounded and their defenses are now starting to crumble as they are also being attacked from the air. I am not getting everything my way though as the Royal Iraqi Air Force has sent up a squadron of interceptors to take on my bombers. Due to the darkness however, they have little impact and anyway they are unable to swing the course of the battle on the ground.



The Iraqi infantry division in Umm Qasr, realising that they were in danger of being encircled, withdrew back to Safwan where they have been attacked. This has allowed me to enter Umm Qasr unopposed and subsequently launch an attack on the British militia brigade in Al Kawayt.
Meanwhile the Iraqi defense of their capital has now completely collapsed and I have won the battle. I now just need to occupy the city to force Iraq to surrender.



Baghdad is in fact occupied that evening and I receive Iraq's total surrender at midnight. AS with all my previous conquests, Iraq is annexed.
Back in the Mediterranean, an interesting development has occurred. I have regained Ajàccio, but through no doing of my own. The Italians have come to my aid and landed a division in the New Zealander held province taking it back for me. However, as they are now unsupplied, they are unable to advance and reclaim the rest of Corsica for me. This has resulted in a stand off between the Italians and the New Zealanders with both divisions out of supply.



The following midnight, with Port-au-Prince now occupied, I receive the news that Haiti have become the second Allied nation to surrender to Hungary. This means that two Allied nations have thrown down their arms in the three weeks that I have been at war with them. Unfortunately it will be a long time before I will be able to take down a third as there are no more within easy reach. In the meantime I will have to content myself with taking more provinces from the British in India, the Middle East and once I get there, Africa.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.2 - December 1939​

The last week of November had been fairly quiet but the 1st of December has brought news of a major success for the Hungarian army as the battle for Karachi is finally won. Considering that I eventually massively outnumbered the British defenders and also that they were surrounded, casualties on the Hungarian side were pretty heavy. Still, Karachi is worth it due to the increases in manpower and leadership it gives me as well as the nice big port that the city has. Whilst the fighting was raging for Karachi, divisions from the 1st Armoured Corps have pushed on ahead and have now made large inroads into India.



Further south along the coast, 2.Páncéloshadosztály have been driving fast towards Bombay but their advance has been halted just north of their target at Thane by the British 1st Infantry Division who were themselves heading north towards Vasai. This has resulted in 2.Páncéloshadosztály fighting both an offensive and a defensive battle which should speed up the defeat of the British as the Hungarian armoured division has the upper hand in both battles.



In the very north of India, the battle for Gilgit has been won and the defending British division destroyed. This is bad news for the British as they appear to have very few troops in India and have now completely lost two divisions. Casualties on the Hungarian side have also been heavy and they have also lost a lot of organisation. They should however gain most if not all of it back before they encounter any more of the enemy.



It is not until the 8th of December that Hungarian convoys have been attacked for a second time. This also marks the first appearance of the USA in the war as they sink two of my convoy ships heading back from the Caribbean.
More important news is received from II Állandó Hadsereg as they report that they have managed to cross the Suez Canal at the third attempt. Taking Ismâ'ilîya means that I have not only crossed the canal but I have now closed off the Mediterranean at both ends. This means that my undefended ports in the Mediterranean should now be relatively safe from attack and will hopefully mean that the Italians can do something about the strong British Mediterranean fleet.
I also complete the construction of a new infantry division which will be used to form the HQ division for my new 2nd Armoured Corps. The corps will be formed up in Ismâ'ilîya and will subsequently help II Állandó Hadsereg as it advances into Africa.



It's more by luck than by judgement that I only have to wait two days for the first three new armoured divisions to be completed. These will also be deployed to Ismâ'ilîya and despite not having any organisation they will immediately start heading west. If they discover any British forces they will halt and either wait for some organisation to be gained or wait for some infantry to arrive behind them in the form of III Állandó Hadsereg who are now heading to Africa having finished in Iraq. The troops of II Állandó Hadsereg will meanwhile start heading south through Egypt heading towards the Sudan.



2.Páncéloshadosztály have one the battle for Thane and are now continuing their drive south to Bombay. The retreating British division are heading east but will never make it as I have a second armoured division heading south parallel to 2.Páncéloshadosztály. Further east, 1.Páncéloshadosztály's advance into central India has been interrupted by an attack by another British division at Buldhana. Although this doesn't pose a great threat to my armour it does mean that they have been slowed down.



It's been almost a month since the Danes first attacked one of my convoys and the light cruisers of the Hungarian Baltic Fleet were sent out to find them. Since then, my cruisers have been sitting on top of the culprit, a solitary Danish submarine, but have yet been unable to initiate combat. Despite the close attention of my ships, the Danes have struck again, this time sinking a couple of convoy escorts.
I find it frustrating that I can clearly see the enemy ships on the map yet can't attack them. I know that my ships don't have great sub detection and that subs should be slippery customers but this Danish submarine hasn't even moved once in a month,attacks my convoys right in front of my cruisers and yet my cruisers are still unable to do anything about it.



Better news comes from India where my IV Állandó Hadsereg division has reached Delhi, another important Indian target. Further progress is halted though as I am reminded of two Allied nations that I can conquer fairly easily and hopefully quite soon, Bhutan and Nepal. It is the appearance of the Nepalese Royal Household Division in Agra that reminds me of this and IV Állandó Hadsereg are ordered to attack them.



With a number of Indian centres of manpower and leadership now in my hands I am able to start work on the second stage of Admiral Horthy's pet project, the navy, and commence the research of all three components needed to start building good Destroyers, Engines, Armour and Main Armament.
It should be noted that before I attacked the Allies I had 10.16 leadership. A month and a half into my war with the Allies and this has shot up to 13.19, a considerable increase. I've captured almost as much leadership in India and the Middle East as I started with.



Five days later and I have added another point of leadership to my total which has now reached 14.17. I have also now completed the latest round of research projects into Battleship construction which means that I am almost up to date in this field. I continue work on the next stage of each project and these should be complete shortly before my first two battleships slip out of the dockyards. Although these first two battleships will be obsolete, they will mean that the second bunch of modern battleships won't take nearly as long to build as I will have gained some practical knowledge.



I've now reached the Italian border in North Africa and finally found some British forces which have made a slight push into Italian Libya. My plan had been to wait and allow my armoured divisions to gain some organisation before attacking but the British took fright at being encircled and attacked me first in El Dab'a. As a result I have been forced to send in an attack of my own against the British forces in Khalij as Sallum. The battles don't look too good for my troops but hopefully I will be aided firstly by the British running out of supply and secondly maybe by the Italians attacking from the west.



With 1939 coming to an end it is a good time to give you an overview of the current fronts, both mine and the Axis ones. Firstly, this is the situation in India with the divisions of the 1st Armoured Corps having pushed half way across the sub-continent. These gains in India have also boosted my manpower income somewhat. At the start of the war with the Allies I had an income of 23.6, two months in and it is now 35.4,almost twenty times the amount Hungary started with in 1936.



In north east Africa as I mentioned I have reached the Italian border with my armour whilst my infantry are fanning out and heading south towards Sudan. I doubt the infantry will find much in their way until they get close to the Ethiopian border where the British are fighting the Italians.



West Africa is the only real area where I have lost territory, not counting Corsica. Both Liberia and the British have taken provinces from me though I am not greatly concerned by this as the provinces are worth very little. Even still, I have a plan to take them back and I Állandó Hadsereg are getting ready to go back into action following their taking of Gibraltar in November.



In South America the Brazilians have taken most of Guiana from the Dutch, British and the French (they must have taken French Guiana before Paris fell as otherwise it would have been transferred to Vichy). However, they have also lost a few Amazonian provinces to both Colombia and Venezuela. I suspect the Brazilians have quite a bit of their army tied up in the south of the country as Paraguay has still not fallen with the Paraguayans putting up a brave defense in their capital Asunción.



In the Far East, the Japanese are continuing to fail on the mainland having now lost over half of Indochina. Siam has also lost quite a bit of ground to Guangxi Clique in the north and the British in the south however they have managed to take a few provinces from the British in the west. Over in Hainan it appears that the Japanese may be attempting a breakout with Guangxi's attention having been drawn to the south but I doubt the Japanese will get very far and I suspect they will soon be pushed back to the island.



The only other area of interest is Norway. Initially this just looks like two of my anti-partisan divisions doing their jobs battling a couple of uprisings. The reason why I am showing this is that both these battles have been going on for a while without any progress being made despite the presence of my air force. The reason for this is that the ground in both cases is frozen and the weather is poor. Hence neither my troops or the partisans have an attack efficiency over 0% meaning we are unable to hurt each other. Because of the weather, my bombers are also having little to no effect. These battles do however mean that I am gaining quite a bit of experience for my generals and commanders.

 

[Baron Jukaga]

I'm really enjoying your AAR. That's some slick gameplay. Question: how do you deploy an entire triangular division with the HQ brigade and not just assign that division as as subordinate unit? I know you can just drop individual brigades off the deployment list to pair up with a HQ. Do you do it after the division has been deployed to the map or from the holding box? I really like that strategy for minors, well we can't call Greater Hungary a minor anymore. Once again, great job!

 

[Xamand]

I'm really enjoying your AAR. That's some slick gameplay. Question: how do you deploy an entire triangular division with the HQ brigade and not just assign that division as as subordinate unit? I know you can just drop individual brigades off the deployment list to pair up with a HQ. Do you do it after the division has been deployed to the map or from the holding box? I really like that strategy for minors, well we can't call Greater Hungary a minor anymore. Once again, great job!

Hiyas Baron Jukaga, glad you are enjoying it so far.
To answer your question, I simply drop the division in the same province as th HQ (or move them to the same province if I have created the HQ after the division), select both units and then use the re-organise button to move the brigades in the division into the HQ unit.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.3 - January 1940​

1940 begins with a defeat for the Hungarian army in North Africa. It's not overly surprising though as it was really too early for the 2nd Armoured Corps to get involved in fighting as they have only recently been deployed. As the British forces that inflicted the defeat are themselves under attack from both the Hungarian and the Italian armies as well as the Italian air force, they are unable to retake the province from me.
Back in Budapest, the new year has brought no new changes to the Hungarian cabinet as no new ministers that of any interest to me have become available. The new year has given me one thing of real use though, a whole load of new land leaders. This is especially handy as I had actually just run out of the ones I had with the deployment of the 2nd Armoured Corps. At some point though I will run out and I may perform a small edit to the save game to enable me to recruit generals from some of the liberated nations such as Yugoslavia or Austria. Hungary is after all fighting for world peace.



I mentioned at the end of the last update that I had a plan to start taking back West Africa and it is now going into effect. The High Seas Fleet has snuck down the coast from Gibraltar carrying the divisions of I Állandó Hadsereg and is now about to land them in Dakar. The British have some divisions nearby, including a medium armour division and it is a bit surprising that they haven't attempted to take Dakar before now. Perhaps they are too concerned about the Axis Portuguese to their south. Before I can actually attack the British I want to get a second angle of attack so I will wait until some of my divisions have moved slightly inland.



I have now almost reached the southern tip of India, having met little in the way of British forces on the way. One British division is however now attempting to cut off my armoured division that has advanced the furthest. A second armoured division has been diverted from its own advance to challenge this new threat.
Meanwhile, the first of my domestically designed bomber squadrons have become available. These two squadrons will be formed into the 3rd Tactical Wing.
The Danish submarine flotilla has struck again under the noses of my light cruisers, sinking a convoy transport and a convoy escort. This is the last time that they will attack me as although I was never able to initiate combat with them, I think the Germans were. I spotted a group of German ships leaving the area a while later and the Danish subs were no longer visible on the map.



I've decided to build some more garrison divisions to protect some of my new ports. I will eventually need eight of these divisions of which these are the first four. They will be deployed to protect my ports in the Persian Gulf, around the Indian coastline and in Burma. My ports in Africa will be left unguarded as I am much more concerned with the Allies landing troops on the Eurasian continent then I am on Africa. If they do make an attempt to push up through Africa I can always stop them easily at the Suez canal, I don't have such an easily defensible point if they make landings in Asia. Additionally, a lot of my leadership and manpower income is now coming from Asia and I would very much like to keep it.



I have finally won the battle for Agra against the Nepalese. The Nepalese division is trying to retreat northwards into one of my provinces but they will never make it as they will be destroyed as soon as I occupy Agra. If they had retreated in another direction they would have survived to fight another day. I don't know why they have attempted to go north or how the retreat mechanism works, maybe it is something to do with the direction they originally arrived from.
One thing that has pleased me in India is that I am no longer suffering from supply problems and all my forces are now able to advance quite easliy.



The battle for Khalij as Sallum has finally been won and the British are retreating, though as in Agra, they will disappear from the map within 24hrs as they are trying to retreat into one of my provinces. I'm disappointed that the province has gone to Italy as the battle was one that I initiated. Again this is a mechanic that I am unsure of, both my division and the Italian division arrived in Khalij as Sallum one hour after the battle ended, how does the game determine who gets the province?
To be honest, I'm not overly bothered as it is a worthless province it's just that the Hungarians see it as a matter of honour.



With the arrival of 2.tábori póthadosztály in Jaunpur I am able to launch an attack on the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. Normally this would be a tricky battle due to the mountainous terrain and I have to bring further divisions up to join in from separate directions. However in this case there is only a single infantry brigade defending the capital and the three to one advantage I have should see me through.



On the 16th of January I learn that I have completed research into Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons. As this is only the first stage I continue researching in the same field for another level. Unfortunately I don't have time to upgrade my troops with the new weapons before the attack on Banjul is launched where I Állandó Hadsereg are up against British medium armour, mountain troops and infantry. Still, numbers are very much in my favour, I am attacking from two different directions and the British are effectively surrounded.



As news comes through of a fairly easy victory in Kathmandu I also receive the final two armoured divisions that will complete the formation of the 2nd Armoured Corps. As with the previous divisions of this corps, they will be deployed on my front lines and will start advancing immediately despite their lack of organisation. However, unlike the rest of the division, they are deployed in southern Egypt and head off south into the Sudan.



With the arrival of 2.tábori póthadosztály in Kathmandu, midnight of the 21st of January brings news that Nepal has surrendered and been annexed. My next target for 2.tábori póthadosztály is Nepal's neighbour and fellow British puppet kingdom of Bhutan.
I have also now received the first two domestically produced interceptor squadrons which are formed into the new 3rd Interceptor Wing.
Currently my air force has little to do as much of the low level fighting in India and Africa is out of range of any Hungarian air bases. The added problem is that the fighting is often over before fuel supplies reach any air base that I redeploy my air wings to.



2.tábori póthadosztály are attacked by the Bhutanese in Janakpur which would is good news for me as it means that the Bhutanese are attacking across a river into the mountains. Unfortunately they also realise this and subsequently call off the attack. As I don't want to fight across the river myself I have to circle round the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu to the east before I can launch my own assault.
I also learn that my scientists have come up with ways to improve the quality of the Small Arms issued to the militia. Again I continue research onto the next level but I also wonder why I can't just issue them with the same small arms that are given to the infantry.



As January draws to a close and with the arrival of a second armoured division to join in the attack, the battle for Chaibasa is won. This has been an expensive battle for 2.Tábori Páncéloshadosztály who have lost almost all of their organisation and taken significant casualties, especially to their armoured car brigade. These have mostly been caused by the presence of the Royal Air Force flying out of Calcutta who would continue to cause me problems as I advance further east and into Burma.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.4 - February 1940​

With the start of another new month, the first thing I do is spend much of my manpower income which has now risen to 41.3. I decide to build two more interceptor squadrons which will bring my total up to 8 as well as the remaining four planned garrison divisions. This doesn't quite leave me with enough remaining manpower to reinforce my current divisions but this is not a major concern considering the low intensity nature of the current fighting.



In the evening of the 3rd of February, 2.Tábori Páncéloshadosztály arrive in Calcutta forcing the planes of the RAF to flee towards Burma.
News has also come in from South America that Chile has joined the Allies. This is probably a bad idea on their part with Argentina, Brazil and puppeted Bolivia all belonging to the Axis and will probably just give the Argentines a nice easy victory.



Two research jobs are completed on the 4th of February, Supply Organisation and Agriculture. The supply tech is not yet up to date so it is allowed to continue to the next level. The Agriculture tech is up to date so a new job has to be found for my scientists. I plump for the light armour techs and as I now have quite a bit more leadership than before, a total now of 16.83, I am actually able to start work on all four light armour techs at the same time.



I have now defeated the British armour and accompanying infantry in Banjul. This releases three of my divisions to start heading inland to reclaim some of my provinces from the Liberians whilst the remaining three divisions of I Állandó Hadsereg get back aboard the transport ships belonging to the High Seas Fleet for a short journey down the African coastline.



I Állandó Hadsereg are dropped off in Conakry just in time to stop an attempt by the Liberians to take the province. Although they are fighting under the Liberian flag, the attacking divisions name would suggest that they are actually British expeditionary forces that have been lent to the Liberians.
At this point Admiral Horthy decides that it is no longer wise to keep risking the High Seas Fleet in the dangerous waters of the Atlantic and he heads back to the relative safety of the Mediterranean. There is still the risk of the British Mediterranean fleet but it is much less so no due to the Italians having taken the last two ports in the Mediterranean that they can operate out of, Malta and Cyprus.



Having easily won the battle of Conakry, I Állandó Hadsereg are now fully on the offensive. In the north, three divisions are attacking the Liberians in Kédougou, whilst in the south 2 divisions are attacking Banora whilst the final sixth division is heading into the unguarded British province of Freetown with the intention to eventually head for the Liberian capital of Monrovia.



On the 14th of February I complete research into Supply Transportation. As with the other supply tech I continue my research towards the next level as I am not yet up to date and with my forces currently fighting a long way from home they need all the help they can get with their supplies.
Also on this day I launch an attack on Bhutan's capital, Thimphu. I am not yet in the ideal position to launch this attack as I still have a river crossing to contend with but the Bhutanese infantry division that was in Thimphu has taken advantage of my movement to move west into Janakpur leaving just an HQ to defend their capital. The battle statistics don't give me great odds but I persist with the attack as I am only fighting an HQ and I also have a second division coming up which can help out if necessary.



On the 18th of February, having now attained a total of 18.00 leadership, I start two new research projects. This time it is the air force that gets some loving as I start work on the Basic Bomb tech for my tactical bombers and the Basic Aircraft Machine Gun for my interceptors.



In Africa I have won the battle of Kédougou and am now pushing the Liberians back out of my provinces. On the Indian subcontinent however my headlong charge into Burma is temporarily halted by the British 5th Indian Division in Saiha. Due to the terrain and the fact that 2.Tábori Páncéloshadosztály have been badly beaten up by the RAF I call off the attack and decide to await my infantry who are still crossing India. Further north another of my armoured divisions has attracted the RAF who are now operating out of Burmese air fields but they are able to continue their attack as they are only fighting a British HQ.



5.gyaloghadosztály have advanced along the African coastline and have now reached the Liberian border. On finding just a single Liberian infantry brigade defending their capital, the attack on Monrovia starts immediately. Despite having taken a number of provinces from me the Liberians have not taken any VPs so the fall of Monrovia will result in their surrender.



In North Africa I have grown tired of waiting for the Italians to turn up and destroy the last remnants of British resistance. As a result I have ordered my armoured divisions to attack Bi't at Tarfawi where the British troops are now completely out of supply. When the battle is won, I will cancel the advance as I don't want to occupy the province as this will leave my tanks out of supply and more importantly out of fuel in the Italian province. I don't want them to have to take ages getting back to my own land before I can order them southwards to join in the advance which is now half way through Sudan.



On the last day of the month the battle of Thimphu is won with minimal casualties. Although 2.tábori póthadosztály originally launched the attack they are ordered to head east and leave the occupation of the Bhutanese capital to 'Szent László' hadosztály. It will be a while though before they can complete this task and force Bhutan out of the war.

 

[Forster]

Hungary is fighting for peace. I love it. :rofl:
Another good update.

 

[itsdodge]

Again I continue research onto the next level but I also wonder why I can't just issue them with the same small arms that are given to the infantry.

 

[Baltasar]

Again I continue research onto the next level but I also wonder why I can't just issue them with the same small arms that are given to the infantry.

I wonder why Militas are a completely different branch to research... It's not like two bodies of infantry would be able to fight in 'that' different manners.

 

[Xamand]

I wonder why Militas are a completely different branch to research... It's not like two bodies of infantry would be able to fight in 'that' different manners.

Its even more strange when you consider that Marines, Paras, Mountain Troops, Motorised and Mechanised all get their upgrades from the Infantry Techs and don't have their own trees. I guess it is solely for gameplay reasons as it doesn't appear to be for realism purposes.
There are other oddities as well, for instance, surely the AA guns on a Light Cruiser are the same as those on a Destroyer etc?

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.5 - March and April 1940​

A new month and a new set of builds. This time it is four anti partisan divisions that I start work on, three for the India/Burma area and a fourth for Egypt. Partisan risk is lower in occupied as opposed to annexed provinces but there is still a risk. It will also give me some troops to add to the HQs that I will want in India to command my port garrisons.



In Africa, 5.gyaloghadosztály has won the battle for Monrovia with few casualties. When Monrovia is reached and Liberia surrenders I should hopefully get the provinces that they took from me back and then I can concentrate on the nearby provinces that I have lost to the British.



I occupied Thimphu on the 5th of March and hence at midnight on the 6th Bhutan gets to surrender, unfortunately they choose to continue the fight from exile. Normally I would be happy with this as it means that I get more leadership and manpower from their provinces however in Bhutan's case there is only the one province with either, Thimphu, and it doesn't give me a great deal. The negative side of this decision by Bhutan is that their troops have remained on the map meaning that there is a division and a brigade in my way in Burma and another division back in Nepal which I will have to go back for.



On the 8th of March, Liberia makes the same choice as Bhutan. Unlike Bhutan though all the Liberian divisions have been removed from the map and I have regained the provinces that they had occupied. I am not sure what exactly causes this difference with the armies being removed or not but I am glad the Liberians have gone as it will make the advance in West Africa quite a bit easier.
With the Danish navy no longer troubling my convoys it appears that it is now the turn of the Dutch as they sink one of my convoy transports.



My infantry have now caught up with my armoured spearheads in Burma but they are not able to win the battle of Chapal Tong, partly due to the horrible
terrain and partly due to the interference of the RAF. My armour are sent around the back of the British division and their Bhutanese friends so that when a second attack goes in I can destroy them rather than have to chase them all the way through Burma.
Meanwhile, I receive a trade offer from Argentina who are offering $0.64 for 10.00 metal. As I have metal coming out of my ears I accept the trade deal although the cash won't actually do any good. Despite Germany being the only nation currently influencing me I am unable to drift towards the Axis and hence I will be unable to purchase any production licences any time in the foreseeable future. This is due to the drift caused by Germany's threat level being greater than the drift caused by them influencing me.



The second battle of Chapal Tong results in a victory for Hungary as this time the Hungarians had two wings of tactical bombers helping them.As the British have attempted to retreat south east instead of east I don't need to finish encircling them, they will be destroyed when I reach Chapal Tong.



Major General Freyberg's 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force has been in Corsica since the start of the war over four months ago. With III Állandó Hadsereg not doing anything since their campaign in Iraq and the Mediterranean relatively safe now that is closed off and the Royal Navy have no ports, I decide to take care of the Kiwis. Three divisions is probably overkill to take on the New Zealanders who have been out of supplies for months but I am rather surprised to find that the Kiwis are still almost at full strength and are fully organised. It won't save them though and they will shortly be destroyed.



Allied resistance in northern Burma fell apart after I won the second battle of Chapal Tong which allowed my armoured divisions to strike south towards Rangoon. Despite the mountains and the jungles they are again able to open up a lead over the following infantry divisions, a lead that almost causes a problem for 2.Páncéloshadosztály when they are caught by a British mountain division in Thaphanbin. Thankfully the British counterattack isn't quite strong enough to succeed and it is eventually called off.
Meanwhile my Head of Intelligence brings me the rather curious news that Bhutan has signed a non-aggression pact with the UK. I am not really sure why the AI does this, they are both in the same faction and the Bhutanese government is now resident in London. It does seem to happen rather often though, that a country which has gone into exile starts signing non-aggression pacts with other faction members. In fact, it is the only time I ever see non-aggression pacts signed.



The 7th of April brings me a number of pieces of good news. Firstly, I have completed construction of another two squadrons of tactical bombers which are used to form the 4th Tactical Wing. This brings my bomber force up to a total of 8 squadrons. Secondly, I complete the research of two technology projects, Industrial Efficiency and Electronic and Mechanical Engineering. Industrial Efficiency isn't quite up to date yet so I continue on with the next stage. Electronic and Mechanical Engineering is a breakthrough tech and it allows me to start work on either Radio Technology or Census Tabulating Machines. As the primary reason for researching Census Tabulating Machines doesn't actually work in 1.3 these are both essentially breakthrough techs again. I choose to start work on Radio Technology as the follow on techs, Radios, Radio Detection Equipment and Radar are of more immediate use to me.



Late on the 18th of April my Foreign Minister brings me a piece of important news, Yunnan have joined the Axis. Initially this doesn't seem to change a great deal, but it does mean that one potential future conquest will have to be put on hold. Truth be told, I hadn't actually thought about attacking them
nor any of the other currently peaceful new neighbours that I have like Tibet, primarily because I am no longer in any rush to get as much leadership as possible. I also haven't yet come up with any sort of coherent plan for what to do about China. Experience tells me that China would not be easy to attack, primarily because of the size of their armies when you include Guangxi, Shanxi and Xibei San Ma, but also because of the length of my supply lines and the low infrastructure levels they have to travel across. The final problem with China and some of my other neighbours is the borders they would leave me, specifically the very long border I would end up with against the Soviets. It is already very long and I would prefer not to extend it any further than I have to.
As it happens, I may not need to worry about China as I notice that Japan has finally managed to pull their finger out and has made considerable inroads
into Guangxi Clique. This may however be a false dawn with Guangxi being more interested it seems in Indochina and defeating the Siamese which can't be far off now but it could also herald a change in Japans fortunes in China.



Back in Europe and I have completed construction of the first level of some coastal forts and construction of a second level has now been started. Although the Allies are yet to try any amphibious attacks against me these may well still prove useful. News from the Netherlands would seem to indicate that the British are keen on launching naval invasions as they have done so in Amsterdam. A couple of months later and with Amsterdam still in Dutch hands I had peak at the situation. There were 18 British divisions there, all given to the Dutch as expeditionary forces and all suffering from varying degrees of disintegration.



Rangoon has now been taken and the only thing left to do in Burma is to destroy the last vestiges of British power in the form of a mountain division in
Dalet. After a tricky battle due to the mountains that the British were hiding in I finally gain a victory thanks to the help of my tacs. The British attempt to retreat north but will end up being annihilated when Dalet is occupied. All that is now left to do is to occupy some other undefended Burmese provinces and the job is done. At the moment I can't get to Malaya and Singapore due to the Siamese and Japanese being in the way but I will keep a corps in the area in case a path becomes clear in the future.



Over in West Africa, only the province of Kombongou remains of the provinces that the British previously took from me. There is a British division defending the province but they are outnumbered and surrounded. This will be the last battle in West Africa against the British and the focus for my troops will soon move south to the French and the Belgians in the Congo basin. As I have managed to avoid creating a land bridge between my forces in West Africa and the rest of Africa the campaign has gone smoothly with no supply issues. The troops converging on the Congo have had a very different experience with more and more problems occurring as they travel south into the jungles.



With India and Burma now in Hungarian hands I take steps to ensure that they stay that way by starting work on a number of coastal forts from Al Kawayt to Rangoon. I don't bother with the various African ports because although Africa is giving me some leadership and manpower, especially the provinces I have taken from the British, there are just too many ports on the African coastline. As a result I will just have to hope that the Allies don't return to Africa in force. First though, I have to complete the job of taking it which will still take a while.



It's been six months since I declared war on the Allies but the benefits of doing so are very clear. Before I attacked them I had a total of 10.16 leadership and a monthly manpower income of 23.6. These have now jumped to 19.68 leadership and an income of 51.3 manpower per month. Despite Hungary being officially named as a major power when its base IC rose over 100 it was still in most respects a jumped up minor. These new leadership and manpower figures however mean that now Hungary truly is a major global power.
Finally, I have started work on researching Census Tabulating Machines as this is a prerequisite for eventually researching Fire Control Systems for my navy.

 

[Baltasar]

Another nice update

Just hope you'll be ready to take advantage of the situation once Hitler and Stalin collide. You've yet to build up an army which can take down either of these guy plus your air force isn't quite up to date yet. I suspect you'll be spending manpower on a few more garrisons before turning on to new combat formations, just don't neglect them.

 

[Surt]

I see your on 99999 supplies, so you should be able to go with zero supply production for some time, maybe forever as you conquer new countries.
All that production can be put into fortresses on the Russian or German border.

 

[Xamand]

Another nice update

Just hope you'll be ready to take advantage of the situation once Hitler and Stalin collide. You've yet to build up an army which can take down either of these guy plus your air force isn't quite up to date yet. I suspect you'll be spending manpower on a few more garrisons before turning on to new combat formations, just don't neglect them.

I don't currently have any plans for new garrison divisions other than the ones already in my build queue. My next update will see me start working on both of your concerns, the size of my front line army and the updating of my air force

I see your on 99999 supplies, so you should be able to go with zero supply production for some time, maybe forever as you conquer new countries.
All that production can be put into fortresses on the Russian or German border.

Hi there Surt and welcome to my AAR.
Yep, supplies are very high at the moment and I am now going to be underspending on them as I start work enlarging my army and also soon start work on building a modern navy. I will need a navy to be able to actually conquer many of the remaining nations in the Allies.
Fortresses could be useful but I have a problem with building them. My border with the Axis and my border with the Soviets are both very very long. My Axis border runs from the Bay of Biscay all the way to the Soviet border and I also have a second border with them in the northern Poland/Lithuania area.
The Soviet border is the length of Finlands old border as well as the Baltic states. Further south I have the old Romanian-Soviet border and then I have the Turkish, Persian and Afghan borders as well.
There are just far too many provinces to build forts in. I may however build some, it all really depends on how high my construction practical becomes.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.6 - May and June 1940​

May has so far been rather a quiet month with only two battles involving the Hungarian army, the battle for Kombongou which started on the 21st of April and the battle for Moundou which has been dragging on since sometime in the middle of March.The latter battle is an example of the problem now facing me in Central Africa, namely supply problems. The attack was originally launched by a single division against a single French HQ but I soon ran into problems due to my division exhausting its supplies. Further divisions were sent around the battle but on reaching their flanking positions were unable to join in as they had also run out of supplies. Meanwhile the French brought another three infantry brigades to the defense of Moundou before I was finally able to send in my flanking forces meaning that the battle is now three divisions against an HQ and three brigades. I'm not surprised by my supply problems, they almost always occur in this region of Africa especially when your supply line trace overland all the way back to Europe. The problem is made worse by the forces in India also having to trace their supplies through Turkey. As a result, most of the Hungarian units that you can see in Central Africa are struggling badly with intermittent supplies. The only exception to this are the troops now emerging out of West Africa who are still able to get their supplies by sea though as they reach Cameroon this will no longer be the case.
The biggest piece of news on the 13th of May is when the Royal Navy make their first appearance, sinking one of my convoy escorts off the coast of Norway.



On the 15th of May I receive the first four of my new set of Garrison divisions intended to defend my new ports in the Persian Gulf and India.
Meanwhile in East Africa I have circled around the Italian positions in and around Ethiopia and have reached the Indian Ocean coast at Mombasa. So far the troops on the eastern axis of my advance south through Africa have had a better time of the supply situation but they will soon run into trouble themselves as they approach Mozambique.



On the 17th I complete research into Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons meaning that all four components of the Infantry tech are now at the same level and that I have opened up the Marine tech as well as the specialist warfare techs. However rather than start any of these or continue with one of the Infantry components which are still a couple of levels behind being up to date, I start work on Cavalry Small Arms. The reason behind this is that I will eventually want to build some Motorised Infantry and hence I will have to research the first three levels of all four cavalry techs.



On the 21st of May I receive the unsurprising news that Chile has surrendered to Argentina and gone into exile. This is a bonus for Argentina as they will receive more leadership and manpower from Chile going into exile rather than being annexed. That is assuming that the AI uses it wisely and that it wouldn't have preferred to gain more IC. What is slightly less surprising is that Paraguay are still managing to hold out as an island of the Allies surrounded by Axis nations.



Two and a half months after the fighting started, the battle of Moundou is finally over and thankfully the division advancing into Moundou, the II Állandó Hadsereg division, is in supply on the day the battle ended. It's always extremely frustrating when a battle like this ends and the advancing division is out of supply and immediately ceases its advance even though it would otherwise arrive an hour later.
For a battle which lasted so long I am surprised that the Hungarian casualties were not higher and that Állandó Hadsereg still has quite a bit of organisation left.
The only battles now left running are a couple of fights against partisans, the battle against the British in West Africa having also now finished.



As May draws to a close I complete the research into Supply Organisation. I am now up to date in this tech and as I would suffer from penalties for researching ahead if I carry on I change the focus of my research. As I have also received more leadership since I last started a research job I am able to start two new jobs and choose to pursue a couple more of the Cavalry techs.



The 1st of June comes around and with me now receiving a considerable manpower income I am able to start thinking about a major enlargement of my army. Up to now I have concentrated on rear echelon troops but it is now time to start work on my front line forces. As a result I begin building 12 new infantry divisions which will give me two whole new corps. I've chosen to build a load more infantry as whether I go to war with the Axis or the Comintern next I am going to have a long front line and I will need to try and fill it as best as I can.



On the 6th of June I complete the work on Supply Transportation and as this is also now up to date I replace it in the queue with the final cavalry tech.
Meanwhile in the Far East the Siamese are still just about holding out though it surely can't be long until they fold. The Japanese no longer seem to be advancing as fast as they were into China and are being pushed back in places. They have however managed to retake Haiphong and Hanoi which could mean trouble for Guangxi as they can't be defeated if they hold either Hanoi or Saigon due to the number of Victory Points assigned to those provinces. A push by the Japanese now on Guangxi's remaining domestic VPs could see them pushed out of the war and could save Siam.



On the 9th of June a whole load of builds are completed. My four remaining garrison divisions for India and Burma's ports as well as my four anti partisan divisions. Two of these will be merged into HQs, the Far East Army Group which will be in Burma and it's subordinate Army HQ, the India Hadtest in central India. The third anti partisan division will be deployed to northern India whilst the fourth will be deployed to Ismâ'ilîya where it can guard the Suez Canal and also cover Egypt and Palestine if necessary. I also complete a coastal fort in Santo Domingo in the former Dominican Republic though I don't immediately start work on a second level.
On the research front I have completed work into Militia Small Arms and subsequently switch my focus to the 1938 Infantry Small Arms tech.



The following day three more techs are completed, this time it is the turn of the three Destroyer techs. As these are only the first levels and I have a few more levels to go before I will be happy to start building Destroyers, I get to work on the next levels.
In East Africa the Italians are starting to nibble away at what remains of the British presence in the area though they don't seem to be doing so with any great haste. I guess they are having similar supply problems as I am having in the Congo.



Come the 19th of June troops from I Állandó Hadsereg coming out of West Africa are close to joining up with those of II Állandó Hadsereg and the 2nd Armoured Corps who have come down from Egypt. The 2nd Armoured Corps receive a boost as I complete research into three of the Light Armour techs, Armour, Engines and Reliability. These will continue being researched as my current tech level is still quite a few levels behind those which the 1st Armoured Corps enjoy having been composed of licence built German models.
I also complete construction of two new Interceptor squadrons which will form the 4th Interceptor Wing. This brings my total Interceptor strength up to 8 squadrons similar to my bomber strength.



4.gyaloghadosztály launch an attack on the French infantry brigade in Libreville. This should result in a victory due to my superior numbers despite the hostile terrain. Meanwhile the Royal Navy has been harassing my convoys again, sinking a transport whilst I also receive news that work on upgrading the port facilities in Santo Domingo has been completed. As my long term plan involves using the island of Hispaniola as a launching pad for the invasion of the Americas I start work on another level of naval base upgrades as well as a second level of coastal forts.



It appears that the Royal Navy has started a concerted campaign against my convoys which could be a bit worrying. They will soon however find that they are no longer able to attack my convoys running to Africa as my forces on the west coast are about to join up with the forces supplied overland through Turkey and Egypt meaning that the African convoys will no longer be running.
Meanwhile my scientists announce breakthroughs in the area of Basic Aircraft Machine Guns for my Interceptors and Basic Bombs for my tactical bombers. These will be replaced in the research queue by Basic Single Engine Airframes and Basic Twin Engine Airframes.



As the month draws to a close the Royal Navy attack one of my last convoys to Africa, sinking one of my transports. This will be the last time they are able to attack a convoy heading to Africa.
Finally, in an attempt to resolve my supply problems I start the withdrawal of the 2nd Armoured Corps from Africa however it will be a good while before they are off the continent altogether. One of my infantry corps and the 1st Armoured corps are also withdrawing slowly from Asia which should also improve the supply flow through Turkey to Africa.

 

[Forster]

Its even more strange when you consider that Marines, Paras, Mountain Troops, Motorised and Mechanised all get their upgrades from the Infantry Techs and don't have their own trees. I guess it is solely for gameplay reasons as it doesn't appear to be for realism purposes.
There are other oddities as well, for instance, surely the AA guns on a Light Cruiser are the same as those on a Destroyer etc?

Possibly because militia and garrison type units usually are equipped with outmoded equipment. I guess this causes you to make the effort to bring them up to regular army standards.

 

[Baltasar]

Possibly because militia and garrison type units usually are equipped with outmoded equipment. I guess this causes you to make the effort to bring them up to regular army standards.

If that was the case, why can't the regular troops just hand down their outmoded guns once they recieve better ones ans kip researching militias altogether?

 

[Forster]

Don't know, it was just a possible reason for what the devs did. Maybe one of the devs or Johan will enlighten those of us in the hinterland.

 

[Xamand]

I had gone along the same lines of thinking, different equipment - hand me downs. I suspect the asnwer is simply for gameplay reasons, to give the player a choice.

 

[Xamand]

Chapter 7.7 - July to September 1940​

On the 7th of July I attain one of the goals that I have been working towards as I finally reach 80% National Unity. This enables me to change Hungary's Industrial Policy Law to Heavy Industry Emphasis. Although this means that I will now be spending more on Consumer Goods, in fact 16 IC more, I gain two benefits. Firstly, the 5% IC Efficiency for Production bonus means that not only will all my builds be faster but they will also cost less, almost 40 IC less apparently, which seems to be quite a bit more than 5%. I also receive a second bonus, my Supply Throughput rises from +5% to +10%. My troops in Africa soon start seeing the benefit in this and supply problems are much reduced though not eliminated altogether.
On the same day I also complete work on the third of my light armour techs, Light Tank Gun. As with the other light armour techs I continue researching towards the next level.



The following day also turns out to be quite busy with the completion of naval base and coastal fort upgrades in Port-au-Prince. As with Santo Domingo, I start work on another level of both as part of my long term strategy for the Caribbean.
At 9am, the battle for Libreville ends with minimal casualties for the Hungarians. The French positions in central Africa are now starting to crumble and it won't be long before they are completely removed from the continent.



On the 13th of July my scientists and designers announce that they have come up with new battleship designs incorporating advances in armour, engines and guns. My battleship designs are now almost up to date but as I will not be able to complete work on the next levels before I start building a load of ships I discontinue research in these areas. One thing I had not been expecting when my West African forces joined up with those that had come overland down from Egypt was a boost in my leadership levels which added about two more to my total. This is due to no longer receiving the overseas malus on the leadership gained from north and west Africa. As a result I am able to start five new research projects following the completion of the three battleship projects.
Firstly, I start work on Battleship Anti-Aircraft Armaments to protect my navy from the air. I also start work on four doctrine techs as up to now I haven't researched much in the way of doctrines and I need to before I tangle with anyone who can give me a serious challenge in battle. I choose two land doctrines, Operational Level Organisation to reduce my combat delay which is now high again due to my officer ratio dropping and Mobile Warfare level 3 which will give me the opportunity to research Spearhead Doctrine which will result in reducing my armour's combat width. I also start on an air doctrine, Fighter Pilot training and a naval doctrine, Destroyer Escort Role, the latter mainly to improve the efficiency of my convoy escorts.



The need for improved convoy escorts is shown on the 16th of July as the British attack two of my convoys in the English Channel. If my conveys insist on sailing through the English Channel they should expect to be attacked as it is probably the most dangerous stretch of water in the world for them to be in.
My advances in Africa are starting to go a bit more smoothly now that the supply problems have been reduced and 4.gyaloghadosztály are fully in supply when they start their attack on Lambaréne against a single French infantry brigade.



With the improving supply situation I am finally able to attack the Belgians in Coquilhatville. The Belgian division consists of four brigades with at least one of them being motorised but it appears that this formation exists primarily on paper as it only has 2168 soldiers in it and it shatters as soon as contact is made.
With another convoy being attacked by the British and another transport being sunk, plans start being made for the invasion of the British Isles. Unfortunately all the plans involve Hungary having a large navy able to challenge the British at sea, something that won't be available for a couple of years yet, meaning that for the moment losses to convoys will just have to be accepted. Thankfully in 1.3, these losses do not actually affect national unity, something that will probably be fixed in 1.4.



With a second division, 5.gyaloghadosztály, having now arrived in Libreville a second attack is launched from the province against the French, this one aimed at the four battered brigades in Port-Gentil. Although the Hungarians are outnumbered by the French defenders they are buoyed by the knowledge that these French troops have already tasted defeat a couple of times previously and they are therefore able to soon overcome the French.



By the end of the month, both battles against the French have been won and the Hungarian divisions are able to advance. Meanwhile, a third battle that Hungarian forces have been involved in for the last few days, the battle for Augustów against Polish partisans, is also coming to an end with another victory on the cards for the Hungarian army. When I first built my anti partisan divisions I had been concerned that they might not be strong enough to consistently beat rebel uprisings but so far they have performed admirably and haven't needed the help of the air force. The only exception to this was in northern Norway but I would have needed the air force's help there however strong my ground forces had been as the frozen conditions meant that I had a negative attack modifier.



The remnants of the French army have now been surrounded in Tchibanga along with their theatre HQ, the Libreville HQ. With some French forces still retreating towards Tchibanga an attack is launched by 5.gyaloghadosztály. Although the battle odds are low, only 37%, this figure is skewed by the French HQ being at full organisation and the attack should still prove to be successful. Victory will wipe out once and for all all French forces in Africa.



On the 10th of August, as the Hungarian navy reports further convoy losses, they also bring Admiral Horthy news that will make him very happy indeed. This is the news that the Hungary fleet can now boast the presence of two battleships, the MKH Szent István and the MKH Szent László. Although these two new ships have been built from old WWI designs and are hence considered obsolete already, the Hungarian navy believes that they will provide good training opportunities for their crews and commanders and that the dockyards involved in their construction have learnt a lot about the best way to build these huge capital ships.
In Africa, military intelligence has warned of a possible problem for the army as they advance south. Both the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola have been almost completely overrun by the Allies, primarily by Belgium and South Africa. This means that Hungarian forces will not be able to receive supplies if they advance into these provinces and could also mean that it will be hard to persuade either Belgium or South Africa to surrender if they still hold former Portuguese Victory Points.



With the first two Hungarian battleships now conducting their initial sea trials and building up their organisation, the Hungarian navy enacts stage two of their enlargement program. Stage two is much more ambitious than stage one as can be seen from their requisition request to Hungary's production department, no less than 14 modern level 5 battleships. Unlike the original battleships which were initially quoted as taking 33 months to build and a cost of 11.25 IC per day, these new battleships will only take 20 months at a cost of 6.36 IC per day each. Further advances in production efficiency are expected to bring these figures down even more before the ships are completed. This is a massive investment by Hungary and means that production of supplies will be much lower than the daily needs but Hungary now has a massive stockpile of supplies meaning that the armed forces shouldn't go short. Getting supplies to the front lines however is still proving a bit of a problem in Africa. The new battleships are planned to form the core of two new fleets with which the Hungarian navy plans to challenge the dominance the Allies currently have at sea.



Talking of which, the air force has found the remnants of the British Mediterranean fleet lurking offshore of Cyprus where their last port was taken by the Italians. Although the fleet consists of just two battleships and three light cruisers it is still considered too strong for the Hungarian navy. The four Hungarian Tactical Wings will take turns over the following month at bombing the Royal Navy ships, but it slowly dawns on the Hungarian air force that they really don't know much about attacking ships, as they are unable to even sink any of the transport ships that the British fleet is guarding.



Back in Africa, on the 23rd of August French resistance crumbles and the French presence in Africa is finally removed. Despite being outnumbered by almost two to one, 5.gyaloghadosztály is able to inflict over eight times as many casualties on the French as they themselves suffered in the battle for Tchibanga.
Meanwhile, the navy has reported yet another convoy loss as the British sink a transport and an escort. At this point I will stop reporting on convoy losses, suffice it to say they will continue to occur on a regular basis until I can do something concrete about the Royal Navy. Thankfully, the US Navy is yet to show its teeth, in fact the US armed forces are yet to show themselves anywhere at all.



As the end of August approaches, my scientists announce a breakthrough in their research towards building Census Tabulating Machines which enables me to start work on Mechanical Computing Machines. As I mentioned previously, these research jobs are not being done to improve my research efficiency, they don't work in 1.3, but only so that I can eventually research Fire Control Systems for my navy.
Meanwhile, in the Far East it appears that the Japanese resurgence and their attempt at conquering Guangxi Clique has failed. They still hold Hainan, Saigon and some other isolated coastal provinces but apart from maybe Hainan it looks like they will not be able to hold on much longer. This is probably bad news for their Siamese puppet who are still holding on to their capital and hence are yet to surrender, but it can't be much longer before they will have to give up to either the British or Guangxi Clique. If they surrender to the British it is hoped by the Hungarian army that they will then be able to advance south towards Singapore.



Advances in Africa are still proving to be slow, partly due to the distances involved and the low level of infrastructure but also partly due to continuing supply problems affecting the troops trying to head into the Belgian Congo.
However, the army does receive some good news on the 3rd of September when 12 new infantry divisions are formed in Budapest. These will make up two new infantry corps, the VI and VII Állandó Hadseregs.
With the formation of these new divisions, the Hungarian army discovered that they had a bit of a problem, they didn't have enough generals for all of them. A number of options were considered, including the possibility of leaving garrison an anti partisan divisions without full generals to lead them but it was believed that this would just delay the inevitable due to the future enlargement plans that the army had. Finally the army found a solution, but it was one that would have to be approved by the cabinet. As the armed forces now received 12 'foreign' recruits for every 'Hungarian' recruit, it was decided that some of the currently out of work 'foreign' generals should now be given jobs. Not all of them though, as many were still considered to be security risks whilst others were still not totally convinced about Hungary's goal of unifying the globe and bringing everlasting peace. Those generals from nations who formerly made up the Austro-Hungarian Empire were the easiest to convince and permission was granted to put former Austrian and Yugoslavian generals in command of the new divisions as well as those that were now calling themselves Croatians. A fourth group of Generals were also given permission, the Swiss, not due so much to their loyalty to the Austro-Hungarian Empire but due more to their loyalty to their pay cheques. If the Swiss were good enough for the pope, they were good enough for Hungary. Work was also started on convincing the generals of other former nations for possible future employment, the Czechs and the Slovaks and those from the Baltic nations, specifically the Finns who shared what the linguists claimed were common roots.
Basically, I have edited the save game so that Austrian, Yugoslav, Croatian and Swiss military leaders are now available to Hungary. Unless something really odd occurs, this is the only form of save game editing or modding that I will do in this game.



With the 12 new divisions now forming up in Budapest the Hungarian army started work on the formation of another six infantry divisions. It would have been another 12 if it hadn't been for the large chunk of manpower that the navy had recently requested when it started building its new battleships but the army was confident that more recruits would be available in the future and that they would eventually gain the required divisions needed for any future wars. They felt no animosity towards the navy as they knew that their opportunities for further gains on land against the Allies were drying up and that to eventually defeat the Allies that they would need the help of a large and powerful navy.



During September Hungarian scientists completed work on another two of their projects (though I seem to have missed one of them in my screenshots), these being Industrial Efficiency and Radio Technology. As Industrial Efficiency is now up to date and further research into the area would receive a malus I have decided to start researching Construction Engineering as I am now short on IC compared to leadership or manpower and could therefore do with building some more, or at least I could do with the option to build more. With the completion of Radio Technology I had the choice of starting work on Radios to improve my combat efficiency or Radar to improve my interceptors and to get a look at where Axis and Comintern forces are concentrated. I plumped on Radars at I would need the time to build them, time which I can then also use to research the Radios and Radio Detection Equipment technologies.
The rest of the month would be relatively quiet with little progress made in Africa and just the odd report of convoy losses.
One area that I am now slightly concerned with however is my officer ratio which has dropped below 100% for the first time. Before I declare war on either of my major land based opponents, the Axis or the Comintern I will have to put some serious effort into improving this which will mean that I will have to massively reduce the amount of leadership spent on research. The choice is a hard one as I am still way behind in most fields of research and there are many breakthrough techs still required but it will have to be made at some point.