Ist Das Nicht Todeswahl? A Kriegsmarine AAR

[Palmyrene]

Fantastic! U-waffe anti-tank gunners! I love it I'm so glad to have contributed even a little bit to one of the best aars!

And Eric Topp is my fav commander as well - nice one.

Hats off to the Schleswig-Holstein - a fitting use of the old stalwart.

And finally all glory to the mighty Scharnhorst! Home safe!

I'm looking forward to the next installment, and the realising of German hegemony under at last a sane leadership.

 

[unmerged(85800)]

sweet, its back! forgotten how much i enjoyed this. liking the little side stories and stuff.

 

[TheLoneGunman]

Good to see some updates! R/L has been hectic for me lately as well!

 

[Stuyvesant]

Awesome! The civil war scenes were very good, particularly the Diabolical Himmler near Wewelsburg. I thought his end was a little disappointing, a little inconsequential, but really, it served the bastard right.

3.7 cm toy guns brewing up a King Tiger?!? That... that takes a bit of imagination. Oh well, maybe the shock of the impact set off a round inside of the tank... Nice scene, by the way, with the Schleswig Holstein essentially bookending the war.

The Hawaiian update is good (and somewhat unusual) for paying some attention to the fate of of the men who went to war and now will have to adjust to peace. I do not envy Orlieb, even though he at least survived, unlike millions of others.

PS: It's slightly distracting, so I have to ask - what is that white building visible in the distance in that picture of the Hawaii Update?

 

[Dead William]

Dead William: I like your explanation for Japan's failure to finish the job in the Pacific. I suppose a piece of rock like Midway isn't of huge importance, but I would think Hawaii would be another story. Imperial Japan is going to be a major force after the war, with all of China, India, SE Asia and the Indies under her control.

I'm still of the "never scrap a ship" school of thought. Besides, if you play strictly historical with Germany's naval build the Schleswig-Holstein is one of very few options for bombarding shorelines in 1939, which is very necessary for the difficult invasion of the Polish aggressor.

Thanks for following, time to end the war!

Heh. If you played a strict historical game I'd never play Germany. ( I feel bad enough about it as it is.) I do feel a bit sad whenever I scrap all those old ships though. Hawaii is only of strategic importance if you are aiming for the US or the Pacific coast of South America. Japan's army was always concentrated in China and the eastern pacific/Indian Ocean and if he could have Yamamoto would not have engaged the US navy. If the US navy were otherwise engaged however, it might have been advantageous to seize Hawaii to hold a lever against whomever might control the continental US.

Is that the lower part of the Oahu observatory in the picture? Or some huge beach hotel?

Nice beach. DW

 

[unmerged(83496)]

Is that the lower part of the Oahu observatory in the picture? Or some huge beach hotel? DW

Nah, that's the main production facility for Kriegsmarine commendation medals. They are in high demand these days.

 

[Enewald]

Now force all the other countries to destroy their flotillas, the make the Kriegsmarine the solemn unopposed navy on earth.
Or just train all the former navy crews to become space pilots.

 

[volksmarschall]

Hmmm, the USA looks good in that gray coating color!

Fantastic return, PT!

 

[unmerged(129995)]

It lives!!!

 

[unmerged(10727)]

Your Ministry of Information proudly presents...

Heroes of the Fatherland

The Dewey Decimation System!

The rotten, stinking, bloated, communist corpse of the United States had already been laid to rest, but now there is a stone to mark the resting place! Corrupt businessman, serial liar and war criminal Thomas Dewey has signed the formal surrender. This treaty ends all hostilities, although the occupation of America will continue until a responsible government that is not a communist front can be installed.

Guzzler Found, Britain Surrenders!

Following the collapse of the USA the British have finally done the honorable thing and ended their war of aggression against our peace-loving nation. Perhaps more surprising, mean drunk Winston Churchill was found in hiding in Ethiopia! Initially he was reported to be disoriented and half-crazed, but under our protection he seems to be recovering. Last reports saw Guzzler begging for whiskey and eager to sign any paper put in front of him.

The War Continues?

For reasons that remain puzzling a collection of feckless, irrelevant and backward "Allied" nations continue to provide comic relief and moderate annoyance as the process of rebuilding the world begins. These nations include a British prison colony/brothel, her little brother, some piece of sand in the middle east that is not Saudi Arabia and a handful of others not even worthy of formal mention. As the leader of the new world to come, Germany must be responsible for even the least of nations and a rapid end to these farcical "wars" is expected.

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After taking Alaska I was ready to annex the USA...but the button wasn't lit up. The bug-hunt began. First, some random Aleutian island??? Are they serious? Then, the Kriegsmarine was dispatched to take American Samoa. Here, the long-hidden Carrier force made their stand.

Still no sinkings.

Again, the encounter was largely inconclusive, but with Samoa taken the USA was forced to come to terms. That's the end of that, right?

It doesn't get much sweeter.

Great Britain was the next target. With Ethiopia reclaimed for Italy, all that remained were some isolated Pacific islands near Samoa. Standing in the way of a quick victory was the fact that all the USN Carriers had been given to the British! You'd think the unconditional peace terms we signed would have prevented that, but there it is. For the last time, the Kriegsmarine faced a massive naval battle.

Finishing the job.

Finally, a decisive victory was scored by our Carrier force and the surrender of the United Kingdom was academic after that. All the major Allied powers are defeated, only a few disorganized minors fight on under the leadership of Australia! This is what I get for not taking that "British Peace" event (which finally fired).

The final post will document my efforts to eliminate a dozen or so stubborn minor powers, plus lots of Kriegsmarine statistics and who knows what else!

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Kriegsmarine Profile

KMS Siegfried

Finished and launched just in time to participate in the final battles against the Allied Carrier force the Siegfried played a key role in the decisive victory. This cutting-edge Carrier represents the culmination of years of research and war experience. Several similar ships are nearing completion and these will secure German naval superiority in the post-war years.


End of Part V

Next: Epilogue!

 

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Palmyrene: The U-Boat anti-tank brigade is one of those historical oddities that is a lot of fun to put into the story. I was considering using Prien for that scene, but Topp survived the war so I went with him. Plus, he was a total bad-ass, of course. It was close with the Scharnhorst, she actually was down to about 33% strength by the end. Really a luckless ship, for some reason. Big finish is on the way!

BritishImperial: It's good to be back for the finish, thanks for reading and commenting!

TheLoneGunman: Real life, ugh. Give me fictional versions of the Scharnhorst every time.

Stuyvesant: I like playing around with contrasts. You've got Himmler as the evil high priest of Nazism and then his cowardly and inconsequential end. And you're right, it's really all he deserves.

The door-knocker did see a lot of service during the war, as weak as it was. This was a million-to-one shot, for sure. I'd imagine the U-Boat anti-tank crew would get whatever inferior weapons aren't being used by the Marines, so they needed luck on their side...and a timely arrival from an old friend.

The funny thing about Ortlieb is that I was planning on having him die (possibly very senselessly) at some point, but for whatever reason it just never happened. Instead he gets an ending that while perhaps not completely happy at least allows for some optimism. He survived my attempts to kill him, I think he'll do fine post-war.

Based on another image I think the building is a hotel, but don't hold me to that. If I ever go, I'll try to get a better picture.

Dead William: I've found being a bad player helps keep things historical (except in my first HOI I game where I got beat by Poland!). I have to admit my knowledge of the War in the Pacific is pretty thin. I'm stuck with what my inferior American school taught me. It does stand to reason that Imperial Japan would not attempt to grab territory they couldn't possibly hold, to say nothing of trying a mainland invasion.

I want to say it's a hotel, but I could be wrong. I know there's a strip of them on the other side of Diamond Head.

TheRealKestrel: Many more medals to come, of course. Thanks for reading, you may be the last Midshipman.

Enewald: Victory looks pretty total right now. Even without any sanctions it would take our enemies a long time to catch up. We've got better rockets for space, too. A Kriegsmarine Space Exploration AAR, next?

volksmarschall: Soothing gray everywhere is very easy on the eyes. Now, on to final victory!

great_chairman: I think this says it all...

All: Congratulations to new Midshipman TheRealKestrel! One more update to go!

 

[Stuyvesant]

The Dewey Decimation System!

Very much puntastic, well done!

You've actually had the opportunity to annex the greater part of the whole world. I'm impressed. And you managed to keep the focus on naval matters, even when destroying continent-sized opponents like the Soviets and Americans.

It's been a fun ride, let's see if you can wrap it all up in style (speaking of style, I like the 'accurate' portrayal of Australia in the last 'Heroes of the Fatherland' ).

 

[Enewald]

German naval superiority?
You mean hegemony?