Long Live the Permament Revolution! - a Trotskyist Soviet AAR.

[ThaHoward]

I can't wait to move onto the WW3 chapters

I am sure the world revolution will happen through cooperation an solidarity.. no need for a war.. But yeah, look forward to it myself if it happen. It will be challenging though!

All these episodes just go to show how effectively the USSR is at subverting the post-war chaos.

The USSR are powered by the secret weapons of plot and gameplay But yes, they are quite effective in taking advantage of the situation. Now it remain to be seen when the Allies (NATO?) say enough is enough and take a stand against this reckless expansion.

Now, tommorow the Congress should come up, then the next Chapter, then China (just a wrap up of the situation there) and then we should roll on with the tanks to a glorious finale (or a really lame one).

 

[ThaHoward]

First Congress of the Internationale.

Spoiler: Music-

The opening parade of the Congress.

Invitations and the announcement of the First Congress of the Internationale was sent out on the 24th of December 1943. A Soviet diplomat stated it was "a christmas present to the United States of America". All the major leaders and diplomats of communist states was invited along with communist and radical socialist leaders and journalists in non-communist nations. Of course they were vetted beforehand by the Internationale, only a few selected details of the meeting was to be leaked to the capitalist press and nations. After much debate among the Soviets, who took up the initiative to host the Congress, it was decided it shouldn't be held in neither Moscow nor the symbolic Leningrad. It should rather be hosted in Brussels. At first it might seem strange, but Belgium was the hotspot of conflict in the postwar era. This was the nation that had cut its ties with Great Britain and enjoyed historically close ties with Britain. This was a symbolic and humiliating defeat for the British as they lost their "sphere of influence" to the Soviets. Now the USSR so openly mocked the British, and in turn the Allies, on their inability to safeguard their interests in Europe instead losing ground to the increasingly aggressive and bold communist movement. The Congress was opened up during the 5th of January and it was stated it would be held in "Brussels, the Capital of European Socialism and Solidarity". The Congress itself was opened up by the greatest and most pompous military parade ever held in the communist world (that says a lot) and the world as a whole. While it was grand and meant to showcase the superiority of the communist armies, there was several films of the world leaders who was openly yawning and looked appereantly outright bored, to the amusement of the western press. Still it was an impressive and dishearting view of thousands of soldiers, tanks, personell carieers and airplanes parading and showing the potential might of the communist world. Still it is worth noting that the newly introduced Soviet armor of the T-44s and LT tank family remained hidden from the prying eyes of the world.

Opening session of the Congress.

Trotsky opened up the congress to the thundering applause of the attendees. An American commentator looking on the footage and writing about it wrote "so this is how democracy ends with thunderous applause". Trotsky used his great oratory skills to enthrall his listeners, but the aging dictator started to show signs of physical exhaustion. This was nevertheless mostly discarded due to his great charisma and that he was seen as a hero by most of the delegates (in fact he had placed many of them into key positions of powers) and the speech itself was broadcasted all around the globe (provied you had radio access). He opened up by stating "the Revolution and Liberation can't be completed by one country alone, Stalin in all his errors believed so. We must reach out to all worker's states in the world, and we must together stand in friendship". Trotsky continued his speech and spoke on how the Congress will discuss the future political matters, foreign relations and to cooperate on methods to spread the Socialist revolutions. With all of the most influential radical leftists on the stage, the Soviets no doubt hoped to use the hosting of this congress to secure their position as the dominant Communist power, and seize the iniative from emerging European major powers. He ended his speech stating "we must cast off our old hatred and recognize the human inside everyone. Without the hindrance of history, race or nationality we will be able to advance a united humanity together!"

Rokossovsky showing off his skills.

However as the Congress was meant to be held for several weeks there would be lots of uninteresting topics and events. Still the hosts didn't want the public to lose interest in tedious ideological and political debates. While the intellectuals bickered among themself on purely theoretical aspects of socialism and communism, the Soviets knew how to spread their propaganda and keep the masses entertained. Several festivities were held and so were reconstructions of major WW2 battles (skewed to the Soviet favor). Another popular event was when the Marshals of the Soviet Union paraded and gave their blessings to the people. These men were now larger than life. Among them were the father of Deep Operations Tukhachevsky, but also Konstantin Rokossovsky who had been promoted to this position. Other generals had also for their service been promoted to this position, this included men such as Meretskov, Vasilevsky, Grechko, Govorov, Kuznetsov, Vlasov and Gorbatov. There was also open days on the various Soviet battleships, anchored up in Antwerp close the Britain. Trotsky, Thorez and other communist leaders would also hold several seminars. It was hoped this would keep the masses close to the congress and the interest high, while more monotone matters was dealt with by smaller delegations.

Bulgarian communists show off their strength.

One of the great topics was the emerging popular fronts in Europe. These were in Italy, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany and Bulgaria. The plan on how to deal with them was straightforward: cooperate with unions, social democrats and liberals but take power when the situation presents itself. The Paris Treaties was agreed to only be a tempoairly arrengement with the Allies to gain adequate room to manuever. Of course this was not overtly stated. Officially the powers stated they believed communists leaders should seek out common ground with social democrats and democratically elected governments. Moreover official statements was made that unions and governments should work together to improve the conditions of the workers. Still clandenstine meetings were held as stated. In these meetings it was the communist powers should ensure communist takeovers or revolutions, by any means necessary, in the defeated Axis nations of Europe and even netrual nations such as Portugal and Switzerland. The original communist nations came together to create covert organizations to fund revolutionary movements and election results in said countries.

.. and the Permament one!

Mere days later the delegates convened for another topic to be adressed. That was the official stance the communist (or progressive as they labeled themselves) world on how to approach non-communist nations. Three camps were emerging. One that favored reconciliation with the world. A noble approach. They claimed this was true socialist and proletarian internationalism, to not send workers into a certain and senseless death. It was argued that the Socialist nations simply couldn't wage war on all corners of the world, the workers of the world would unite looking to the progressive nations as beacons of light. Their slogan would become "Let us focus on ourselves instead". But this argument was shot down by the two other camps. They were accused of Stalinism, revisionism and support Socialism in One Country. It was said this was a treason to the Permament Revolution and the Fourth International. This side in the debate was voted down, and after the Congress those who voted in favor of the Pacifists waned one by one.. especially following communist takeovers all over Europe. The second camp was the one that many radical Soviets and NKVD officers whole heartly supported: World Revolution. Shouts and cries of "We must fight the reactionaries wherever we can find them" became commonplace. Their argument was basically that since communism and socialism was so well established a grand plan could be launched to liberate the entire "reactionary and imperialist world" in the name of Socialism. The struggle of the revolutionary movement would only end when the last reactionary was dead, and the last nation on earth was communist. However it was a third wing, a wing that claimed to hold the ideals of World and the Permament Revolution, but claimed to be Realists. Among this wing was the many communist state leaders and ministers, such as Trotsky. They agreed that the final goal should be World Revolution, however it was believed going on a grand war of liberation in Americas, Asia and Africa was a plan that would lead to a perpetual Cold War or outright defeat. Instead their powerbase should be in industrialized Europe. In Europe the people were open to Revolution, and in Europe they could create a strong counterweight to US influence. In short adventures across the globe was dissuaded and Europe should be comprimised soley of united Socialist states before they could export the revolution to the globe. The vote was narrow after days of intense debates, but it was clear. The Realist wing won the day. And all the communist parties and countries had to accept this European centric view as Trotsky exported the Leninist legacy of "democratic centralism" to the Congress. Basically each of the delegates could disagree, but once it was decided upon they all had to support it 100%, no questions asked.

Tito looks content with the support he is given.

Some days later Tito, of the Communist of Yugoslavia, attended to the meeting with several exiled communist and radical leaders to make their case. They came to gain the support of the delegates and warn against the dangers of White Terror. The Congress unanimously condemned the ambiguous term and denounced all Capitalist nations who supported such groups - between the lines denouncing US and UK governments. However in their great hypocrisy the delegates failed to condemn Red Terror, contrary they subtly supported and even encouraged Red Terror. Back to Tito. His main plea was to gain training of his militias and partisans and material support. However the Congress responded that while they sympathised with their cause, the Paris Treaties had to be respected. But this was only superficial. In the backrooms, where the real power was held, Tito met with the "Big Four" (USSR, France, Spain and the Balkan Union) where he was given the greenlight. Elaborate plans was made to make Serbia and Montenegro de-facto independent form the rest of Yugoslavia. Tito was given resources, advisors, manpower (in the form of soldiers and intelligence officers) and training for the Yugoslav Liberation Army and partisans. They prepared for an outright intervention and invasion of Yugoslavia, and Tito was trained to be the puppy of the USSR.

The two leaders of communism in Britain come to discuss the future..

But perhaps the most interesting event during the Congress was the visit of the tankies of Rajani Palme Dutt and Harry Pollitt. They spoke about the United Kingdom facing a crisis and that its economy would soon enter into another depression (as such was the communist theories). They said this was the chance of revolution in Britain. They got the support of the delegates, both moral and material. Over the coming two years Britain would see a major increase in popularity for the Communist Party of Great Britain and their unions and even the Labour Party radicalised as the Internationale blockades strained the British economy. Like the many nations of Europe that turned communist riots, strikes, demonstrations and pure violence was a natural part of everyday life. Still the British remained stoic, it would not fall victim to Soviet manipulations. It was, however, during this congress in the backrooms decided that in the future the CPGB would make a revolt in northern England as the situation became intolerable for the common man, and that this revolt would be the start signal for an outright invasion... This was of course kept top secret among the leadership of the Big Four and the CPGB.

A possibility for a revolution in the Devil's own backyard was adressed.

Another issue on hand was the one of Latin America. Latin America dealt with economic hardship and was politically unstable, perhaps even more so than the Powderkeg. Some went as far to label radicalism on the rise in Latin America as "the Great Awakening", but in truth, despite some earlier attempts of revolutions in Mexico, Latin America was mostly conservative and not that radical. But perhaps the most compelling argument was the United States. As they had reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine and many had declared post-war era in the Americas as the "Pax Americana" it was seen by foolish by the Realists to wage wars of liberations in Latin America. The Congress and cpurse of aggressive politics in Europe was creating enough tension as it was, by interefering directly into America's own backyard it could very well be a move that plunged the world into a premature war. It was decided that Latin America would become a topic for another day as the Realist argument prevailed. And that was proven in the coming months to be the correct assessment as the USA launched their "Black Chamber" operations that toppled the regimes of Mexico and Brazil to align with the US, to later on invade Venezuela, officially to liberate the people from a fascist regime, but in reality as a response to Soviet expansion into oil rich nations.

Even women had their chance to be heard (of course it was men who spoke for them).

Another topic was women's rights. It was a tough pill to swallow for the self proclaimed Radicals and Progressives that in the USSR the rights of women had reverted, while it had increased in the West. Stalin was blamed for this development, and it was argued that women were allowed to serve in the Red Army, however that was situational and in fact a violation of regulations. Bombastic theories was presented as facts that women was in fact not enjoying greater rights in the West, they were only put to domesticated work and continued on traditional roles, with capitalists conspiring together to make women oppressed consumers by making them buy newly created household utilities. Then it was in fact many of the self declared Radicals who still believed women was inferior. Some even said "women don't belong in the factories, but in the kitchen!" Still feminists was given a central role, and it was hoped by supporting feminism they could align this movement to the far left rather than bourgeois liberal parties. It was said that without women in the armed forces and in the armament industries then the Allied forces might aswell not have beaten the Axis, and that in the coming battle they were needed in the factories again. Despite rabid protests, it was declared that all nations and parties of the Internationale should look into their women rights issues and make them equal to male workers in the industry. If it would be actually implented or being just a cheap talking point during the Congress remained to be seen.

Two sides of the same coin.

Perhaps the most important and central topic became the US. It was decided that USA was the ultimate representation of oppression by both Capitalism and Imperialism. The UN was declared to be nothing but a US tool to gain world dominance and all members of the Internationale was expected to disrupt the UN sessions to make it a failed experiment before ultimately leaving it, and creating a Socialist alternative in its place. Other US efforts to improve the world economy such as the Bretton Woods system, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (that all nations of the Internationale had agreed on) was also labeled as Capitalist oppression. It was agreed that all member states, future and current, of the Internationale would leave these organizations and create true egalitarian alternatives to benefit the working class and not the capitalists. In solidarity with the embargo the Soviet Union faced by the US it was decided that all member states of the Internationale, again both current and future ones, would embargo USA and all her allies and partners. This would later on have severe consequences as the world economy suffered greatly and USA, Canada, Britain and Australia lost access to most of the markets in Europe. However Soviet hypocrisy was again showcased. Despite being opposed to wars of liberation outside of Europe it was declared that the nations of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan the natives suffered under British Imperialism and the working class suffered under a feudalistic society. It was agreed that these peoples should be emaciated. But again the Big Four made backroom deals. For the USSR it was simple, they had lost access to oil following the US embargo, meanwhile Iraq and Iran held immense oil reserves, most of which who flowed to Britain and USA. The USSR needed the oil, oil that could again flow to the other three major communist powers. Moreover the USSR described their fear of a British invasion through their soft underbelly. It had already been highlighted during the World War. USSR wanted the entire strip from Bulgaria to Afghanistan (and through that Nepal (as neutrals) and China) as buffer states to prevent an Anglo-American invasion from India, Korea or Japan. It was labeled ironically as the Soviet jock in a classified French document. Lastly Turkey was wanted to finally open up the Black Sea, and again to prevent US and Royal Navies from entering the Black Sea as Turkey violated Turko-Soviet agreements by allowing them to pass through.**

Deep red lines: Soviet protection for its netherregions. Red lines: Soviet borders to Sinkiang, Mongolia and PRC.

The economic situation was briefly mentioned, but the communists all agreed..


Already by the end of the world war it was proven that the economies of Europe would have a hard time to recover. The people were hungry and scared and became more and more radicalised for everyday. The Communist nations was to be seen as beacons of lights, and with direct interference it was hoped the people, unions and socialist parties would become radicalized and look toward the Dictatorship of the Proletariat rather than the Liberal Democracy. Officially it was stated in the Congress that the capitalist system couldn't prevail and all would see the superiority of Socialism. However the Big Four were cynical. They calculated that with the two power blocs embargoing eachother and no communist nation taking part in the reconstruction of the world economy the economy would suffer greatly. Indeed by the announcement of the Congress the stock markets around the world fell down, that in countries that had recently recovered from the Great Depression - if at all. It was known that the Liberal Democracies couldn't deal with dissenters and information as the communist nations could. They coldly hoped to engineer the world markets to collapse to give fertile grounds for future revolutions.. However economic cooperation and actual post-war rebuilding of European and World Economy was not something the Congress nor the Big Four managed to agree upon. It was decided that the next Congress would deal with such heavy matters. However they managed to reach a consensus that the war industry had to be increased despite the civilian economy suffering or else the countries awakened by the revolution might fall to the industrial (and some even dared to admit it was superior) might of the western nations.

The delegates of the congress greets the public.

By the end of January the Congress came to an end. It had been a major success of the Soviet Union who reaffirmined its position as the leader of the Communist World and as a Superpower. Following the end all the major players posed on the balcony's. The Western world was skeptical to this show. An American diplomat in Britain wrote "the Red Army was once the bringers of liberations. Now they are the harbinger of armageddon". Another Soviet NKVD officer wrote "war with England and America is clearly.. inevitable.. With their puppets and colonies all over the globe they hold hostages to millions of workers. They stand as the main counter-revolutionary power in the world, if they are dealt with the world risk eternal oppression. The Second World War.. it was not the last".

Picture of the final stages of the horrid Battle of Berlin. Will such scenes repeat itself on continental Europe and perhaps further to the west, north or east?


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*So that is basically the focus making Britain gain +0.05 daily support for Communism. Now the idea is at the moment to start an invason of UK with a communist revolt. But that may be just narrative if it becomes too OP gameplay wise.

**So basically the strategic goal of the USSR is to puppet Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Well spotted by stnylan in an earlier update. Now the idea is also that in an aggressive war the puppets/allies (potential and actual) of Bulgaria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sinkiang, Mongolia and PRC won't be called into the war, in order to limit possible invasions into the soft underbelly and the Far East.

So that was a small insight into the strategy of the communist movements. Now I must admit it was largely inspired by the Congress in the Kaiserreich mod. Next update will be the 1944 update.

 

[stnylan]

Trotsky lacks no ambition, but I think any war now must surely go nuclear.

 

[ThaHoward]

Trotsky lacks no ambition, but I think any war now must surely go nuclear.

Who knows, for all we know the USA either have the bomb or not, hopefully in case of a war they won't have it. If they do, and USSR go to war, then we're screwed.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 32: Southern Thrust.

Spoiler: Music.

Hungarians taking photos by a tank.

While the eyes on the world was centered around Brussels life in the communist bloc went on. Efforts was made to create closer cooperation between the Soviet Union and her puppets and the first of the many reforms in Soviet economy came into place. Abortion restrictions was reverted (as time went by Soviet women had on average one abortion during their lifetime) and working conditions was improved. It was decided that within the year the various Soviets should again have a great say in the running of the economy. Still society was prepared for war. They were reminded that the revolution was still threatened by counter-revolutionaries, reminded that they needed be prepared for future sacrifice.

The Soviet Christmas present to the Orthodox Church.

Soviet domestic violence increased in many areas. On the 7th of January in a twisted and sadistic event the NKVD, police and mobs went on a massively anti-clerical campaign. Atheism was again the only allowed religion in USSR, but this time around it was much more radical. Prior to the world war it was allowed to be religious in private as along as it was not in public and in major gatherings. Now it was banned all together. During the revolution Americans and others had bought off several churches such as the Cathedral in Smolensk. Now that was over with. Part to end religion and part to give the finger to USA. The many churches and cathedrals and other invaluable cultural momuments was completely destroyed. Blown up in the air. This aggressive atheistic stance was decided by the Soviet Congress (not to be confused with the one in Brussels) earlier. It was provoked that the increasingly powerful Orthodox Church demanded more power. During the Great Patriotic War religion was again allowed and even encouraged, mostly to bring the people together an create a sense of unity, opium to the people as Marx would have said. Opium to alleviate the masses from the horrors of war. But now the war was over. The Orthodox Church misread the situation and demanded earlier on the year constitutional clarifications on the legal status of the Church. During the Soviet Congress there was real debates on if the Church should again be a part of society or be allowed in private. However some fanatical priests demanded entry and even demanded that the Orthodox Church should be the state religion and going as far to make it the only allowed religion. This was unheard of. A delegate responded in anger "We are a modern, secular state!" in a much harsher language than expressed here. Some said that these priests were provoked by the NKVD or even being agents, but that will never be known... The conflict dragged on during 1943 and culminated on the 7th of January 1944, the Orthodox Christmas. The Patriarch of Russia (being supported by the other Patriarchs aswell) used his position to pressure the government and rally the commoners around him. The people were still deeply religious afterall. Citing the displeasure, and general hardship, among the hardship the Patriarch voiced his concerns over the secularization of society and the increasingly hostile Soviet foreign politics. He directly challenged the Soviet government. It was here Trotsky showed that he was truly the successor to Lenin and also Stalin and the Tsars. He responded saying "Root out these narrowminded elements!" Religion was banned alltogether on the 7th of January, and police and NKVD troops marched in and arrested the clergy and put them on farce trials. The Churches was blown up and robbed off value. But it was not limited to the Church, all other faiths in the massive empire suffered the same faith and all who protested was brutally repressed. This anti-clerical violence soon spread to all other communist nations, to the terror of the western world. This was Trotsky's Christmas gift to the Patriach.

Lenin will crush the enemies of the revolution!

One of the first steps to bolster Soviet capabilities was to put the hypothetical design of the Lenin Class Battleship into effect. Despite not fielding the same awesome firepower as the four Superheavy Battleship Sovetsky Soyuz (the pride of the Soviet navy) class it was a general improvement of the Soviet battleship fleet as it had higher speed, better detection, lower production cost an less need of manpower than the Superheavy Battleships. It was first put on the drawing table to counter the impressive German Bismarck and Tirpitz battleships and the equally impressive US South Dakota class. These two classes disregarded various naval treaties, and while these battleships were not the scourge of the seven seas as they used to be it would nevertheless be a threat to the US and Royal Navies - especially in defensive roles. Four of them was planned to counter the South Dakota Class, one were planned to lead each of the four fleets, while two others were considered to bolster the Baltic and/or Black Sea fleets. Great fanfare was made during the announcement of the ship as it was named after the great leader and founder of the Bolshevik movement. It was hoped these ships would honor their namesake and spread the revolution.

Time to enrich some uranium..

By December the F1 reactor in Moscow was finished, and by the 13th of January it was decided an entire plant was to be created around it to harness its power and to use it to enrich uranium. Another 10 plants and reactors was planned to be produced in the Atomgrads, the closed cities, to enrich uranium and plutonium and to assemble the bombs. The uranium to fuel these came from the colonies of Belgium, making Belgium one of the greatest contributors to the Soviet nuclear program, falling just behind the former Soviet spy rings in the Manhattan project. Talks were conducted between the French, Soviets and Belgians to wether or not allow the Belgians to possess nuclear power of their own.

Kronstadt Base made the reovlution possible in Petrograd, it will now export the revolution out of the Baltics.

Following the naval expansion plan the construction of the Kronstadt Class was announced to be resumed. Like most of the Soviet naval plans the Kronstadt Battlecruiser was cancelled due to the war. However now the construction of these cruisers was back on track with three of these sleak beasts being planned, their role was to lead the recon and first contact elements of the battlefleets. The armament would be similar to the Bismarck Class, giving it substantial firepower for its size and speed. Three of them was ordered and was planned to mainly complement the Baltic and Black Sea fleets.

Bukharin is released as a reduced man from imprisonment.

Following the line of more political openess and an end to the Stalinist and Tsarist policies several members of the so called Right opposition was released from imprisonment. It was decided on the Soviet Congress they were victims of Stalin's purges and machinations rather than enemies of the state. Bukharin and other members of the Right Opposition had been imprisoned by Stalin since 1937 and were scheduled to be executed in 1938 during the Great Purge. However they were saved by sympathising party functionaries and left wing Red Army and NKVD officers. In exile many members of the Right opposition enabled the return of their former enemy Trotsky hoping for greater political freedom when Stalin was overthrown. Instead they were put right into imprisonment. At least now in 1944 the first members of the Right Opposition was released and while they were under house arrest members such as Bukharin was called on to help on future economical developments of the USSR. It remained to be seen for how long they would be tolerated, if they would have a say at all or if this was the first step to democratization of Russia.

The hostilities have now ended, so we will finish these Chapsomething cruisers.

With the risk of things repeating itself, the Chapayev cruiser class was reintroduced after being delayed by, you guessed it, the war. It had good speed and overall armament and the first batch was ordered to contain six of these cruisers for the Baltic Sea fleet, four to the Black Sea fleet and one for the Pacific fleet. After that first batch another six cruisers was envisioned to fill in the gaps where it was needed. Most likely to the Black Sea fleet to bolster its future, envisioned, role as the Mediterranean Fleet.

At least we learned something from the American invasions in the Pacific.

The USSR reevaluated their doctrines of amphibious assaults and naval landings. This was based in part on their landings in the Kurill, Sakhalin and Hokkaido islands, but primarly on US advancements in the area. Entire crafts that was dedicated to house smaller crafts and airplanes was created, while tanks could be transported to the beaches by landing crafts. Gone were the doctrine of ramps dropping down on the front. Rather the ramps was put in the back. This might seem superficial, however it meant that soldiers could disembark in relative safety and not right into a wall of bullets. These methods would be specifically tested during the opening of the Bosphorous and Dardanelles.

The time have come to liberate the Iraqis and Iranians from Imperialism. Who are we kidding, time have come to secure their oil.

During the Congress of the Internationale all of the delegates agreed that the revolution should be spread in Europe and not third world countries, moreover imperialism was denounced. But the Soviet Union was above this. In backroom dealings Molotov and other members of the Soviet diplomatic corps pressured several communist leaders, many who were now established as minor pawns of the greater Soviet empire. Soviet High Command was ordered to finalize their battle plans for the Southern Thrust Strategic Operation, or simply called the Southern Thrust. The Army, Air Force and Navy had to work closely to devise an invasion plan, meanwhile NKVD and other intelligence and foreign services was to spread disinformation and unrest in the nations of Iran and Iraq to create a casus-belli while they would try to navigate through the Allied web to prevent western entaglements and a third world war. Many high ranking officers failed to talk Trotsky and the Soviet leadership out of the war. Many generals and officers were concerned it would lead to a war they couldn't win. But Trotsky replied sternly "we won against Germany didn't we? Back then I was told "we can't win this war" but we did. And we will be the victors of this war too, and the Allies will back down as the cowards they are". The stage was set, the Soviet war machine would consume the Gulf.

All power back to the Soviets.

During the spring of 1944 Soviet society had a spring of its own. The Soviets was reconvened to form the basis in industries and the average working man was given significantly increased rights, while women was guranteed the same rights as men. Education was provided to all (if you were in districts with schooling opportunities) and efforts was made to create even more schools. The peasantry was promised to get more lands and would be able to rent confiscated land for five years at a time, meanwhile significant investments was made by the state to mechanize the immense and backwards agricultural sector - much of these mechanizations was from confiscated German equipment. But perhaps the greatest contributor to the renewed economic activity in the USSR was that new batches of recruits and standing units on peace duty was re-classified as Construction Brigades. These highly motivated young men was required to spend 6 months of their military duty on great labour and construction projects all over the Soviet Union, where construction of infrastructure, mechanization of the farms and industrialization of Central Asia and Siberia was the main focus. This new economic reform plan was called "Perestroika" meaning rebuilding. Despite the appereant liberalization of the economy and that Bukharin managed to get some of his ideas into this Perestroika it was far from a capitalist or liberal system. The economy was still centrally planned and even if the empowered Soviets had a larger say in the economy they had to fall into the line of democratic centralism. Private ownership was still forbidden and in fact larger crack downs was carried out on private lands and property.

These tanks will cut any armor, Iraqi or American, in half.

The LT tank family was being introduced to the Red Army where it was enviosened it would replace the many KV-1 variants. The LT stood for "Lev Trotskij". Several prototypes and earlier models of the KV-85, LT-85/LT-1 and LT-2 had already been produced. However these saw little use in active combat roles, and practically functioned as gapstops to the much deadlier LT-3 (from now being simply reffered to LT). Still the KV-85 (an improvement of the KV-1) saw success on the battlefields of Japan, and the LT-2 with its 122mm gun and 100mm thick front armor was reported to take out Panthers and even Tigers head on, something the other Soviet and Allies tanks didn't manage to accomplish. By the end of April 1944 the LT was accepted by the Red Army and it was ordered this marvel was to replace the KV tanks. The LT had a devastating 122mm gun (in comparison the newest T-34 had 85mm, KV-1 had 76.2mm, while the KV85 had 85mm, the Tiger had an 88mm gun while the heaviest allied tanks had 95mm guns) and thick armor. The LT also had a very low profile making it difficult to hit, still it was prone to mechanical failures in its earlier models. However it was a major step forward for the Soviet armored forces, and with the T-34-85s and T-44s they would become fatal adversaries to the Allied tank force. While the LT family was expanded and improved upon, secret research was made into development of the LT-7. Pure terror on tracks.*

The many ethnic groups of Soviet Russia.

By the 1st of May it was declared that heeding the calls of the Soviet Congress and the Soviets the earlier Tsarist and Stalinist practises of Russian nationalism was reverted. It was declared by the Commissar of the Interior that the modern Soviet Republics do not trample on its own minorities of its own nation. Rather the different cultures, languages and history should be shared to create a better nation and one unified in their love for the entire nation, freedom and democracy, rather than out of fear by a tyrant or a god. A Commisariat for minorities was created and it might have apperead as if the - percieved and actual - intolerance of the Tsarist and Stalinist regimes were gone, still the war on religion (who hit Muslim areas equally hard as Christian ones) still raged on, in this tolerant republic there was no tolerance for religion and the Russian and Slavic peoples were very much the dominant forces.

Tsargrad is ours.

In May the plans were finalized for the Southern Thrust. The propaganda machines went on full steam in the Soviet Union, the liberal democracies and the targeted nations to wage an information war and to sow discontent. The military had been given their plans, in total four Fronts was to invade Iran and backed up by thousands of airplanes. Millions of young men and even boys were recalled away from their leaves, construction brigades and civillian lives. War was again on the horizon. However the Allies had been decieved by the Red Army and their mastery of Maskirovka. The massive naval, land and air exercises (that almost led to war) in Europe, toppled with outright Soviet and French violations of the Paris Treaties and toppling of democratic regimes diverted Allied focus away from the Middle East, given the Red Army a chance to mobilize for an actual war further east.. The respective Fronts practically prepared for the coming wars, sending out men to their meeting places covertly and preparing supply nodes. Meanwhile the High Command of the Soviet Armed Forces was given another task. They were to finalize their plans to invade Turkey and to claim the straits. While the military prepared to invade Turkey the civilian government and bureaucracy was tasked with integrating the straits directly into the Soviet Union. While the military prepared to invade Iran the Black Sea fleet and air forces became increasingly aggressive against their southern neighbour. In part to divert attention, in part to conduct reconnaissance and training for the coming invasion of Turkey. Daily Soviet planes violated Turkish airspace while the war ships positioned itself combatative against Turkish ports and submarines was even reported to run straight through the straits..

Soviet and British sphere of influences in Iran, before the Shah moved against the Soviets. Note how most of the oil belongs to the British..

But why a conflict over Iran? To understand that one have to study hundreds of years of history. In sort it can be said that during the Great Game the British Empire won over the Russian Empire, still the two Empires managed to carve out their own slices of influence in the nation trapped between two Great Powers. During the Great Game the British mostly wanted to secure Iran due to it posing a direct threat against the Crown Jewel, while Russia feared their soft underbelly being exposed. Now it was more about oil. Oil was the fuel (duh) of the modern armed forces. However the British controlled most of the Iranian oil through their Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The Soviets wanted some of the black gold for their own, but backed up by USA and Britain the Shah managed to wrest the Russian sphere of influence out of Trotsky. This of course enraged the Soviets. Soon a propaganda campaign begun among the population against the Anglo-Persian Company and the Shah aswell. The Internationale embargoed all of the Iranian nations leading to great unemployment and economic crisis, a crisis that the Shah and the Company got the blame for. But Iran had something the USSR needed, especially following the US oil embargo, and they would take it whatever the cost. In their eyes this was just a means to survive US attempts to strangle the revolution, for the Soviets their very nation was at stake (without oil and fuel the Soviet Army was a paper tiger, the Soviet Union was open to attack, securing oil was equal to securing their survival). Meanwhile Soviet authorities fabricated claims that the Shah supported the Nazis and even housed several Nazi war criminals in Iran. This of course was fabrications, but it gave them sufficient support for war. Britan and USA tried to oppose Soviet military action, but was outmanuevered by France and USSR who denied any western approaches. However they agreed that an outright invasion of Iran was not

The invasion plans of Iran are drawn, and the bombing begins.

By the end of May the Soviet ambassador issued an ultimatum to the Iranian government: the Shah have to abdicate. A government of the people are to come into power. Iran will nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. All Iranian aggression towrd the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are to cease and the Soviet Armed Forces are to assist in bringing order to the nation. All National Socialist war criminals are to be handed over to incoming NKVD divisions. If these demands are not met within 72 hours the Soviet Union will conduct limited operations to secure the region". These demands were unheard of. First of all nationalizing the oil company would put Iran on collision course Britain leading to a potential British invasion. The Shah was not at all interested to abdicate, let alone turn Iran into a Soviet puppet and open up to occupation. Then there simply was no Nazis in exile in Iran so that demand was impossible to fulfill, and the raids in question was too either Soviet fabrications and even some extremist jihadists and nationalists who wanted to fight both "Atheists" and "Crusaders". As a response on both sides of the border on the early hours of the first of June trenches were dug, while Soviet massed artillery and armored waves was getting into position. Meanwhile Soviet commandos and NKVD units raided the Iranian borders officially to pacify Iranian raiders, but in reality to probe their defenses and prepare for an invasion. Meanwhile air attacks was started. First the air bases was targeted for several days, day and night alike. Then it continued for weeks increasing in volume. First it was low key bombings, but in the end it turned into mass destruction and bombing of Iranian defenses, cities and even targeted strikes to hit the Shah, his family and the government. The air campaign was projected to last for 42 days and include over 100.000 sorties, that would make it the greatest and most devastating air campaign in history. That was a power statement in itself. All that was missing was a declaration of war and an invasion..**

Some new and bigger guns are needed.

But let us back up a little. Before the Soviets escalated the world into conflict they had improved their weapons. The PPS-43 was generally an improvement over the PPS-42 being lighter and still having the same firepower and accuracy, albeit a somewhat lower rate of fire. However 700 rounds per minute was deemed.. sufficient. The various Soviet AA, AT and Howitzer artillery was also improved. The 25mm AA gun was made the standard, being capable of both disrupting air sorties and to take out lightly armored vehicles and make partial kills of such vehicles. The already battletested 152mm howitzer was made with a lower silhouette making it more effective to cover from counter-artillery duties. The equally well tested 45mm AT gun was given a munitions upgrade to compensate for increase in armor and being replaced (in taking out state of the art armor) by the more powerful 57mm AT gun who was effective against Panthers and Tigers. The coming battleground in the Middle East would show if these new weapons were up to the test..

We will beat the Polish into space.

Sergei Korolev was an early proponent of rocket science in the Soviet Union. However due to the persecutions of Stalin he was imprisoned. However when Trotsky came to power he was after much deliberation rehabilitated. Following the German defeat and Operation Osoaviakhim most of the German rocket scientists and rocket prototypes was put into Soviet hands. Korolev would become again the leading scientist, and by the end of June most of the resources that had been put into creating the first nuclear reactor in the USSR was instead given to Korolev and his NII-88 institute. They looked into methods to improve the rocket artillery of ground and air forces, but also to develop the R-1 and R-2 missiles based upon the German V-1 and V-2 prototypes. For the initial conditions of his research Korolev wrote: "All structures on Gorodomlya island were renovated and living conditions were quite decent for those times. At least married specialists received separate two- or three-room apartments. Visiting the island, I could only envy them, because I and my family lived in Moscow in a shared four-room apartment, where we had two rooms of 24 square metres (260 sq ft) combined. Many of our specialists and workers lived in barracks without most elementary necessities. [...] This is why life on the island behind barbed wire could not compare at all to prisoner of war conditions". Stil their research would have major impact on the world as a whole...

Marshal Kuznetsov make a surprise thrust into Afghanistan to outflank the Persians.

The bombing of Iran raged on. Cities was turned to ruins, units was harassed constantly, radio towers was bombed and so were the few roads. Despite this awesome, if not overwhelming, display of air force the Soviet High Command knew that Iran posed a major threats to their troops. Of course they knew the Red Army would win by the end of the day, however the Iranian forces had dug in along their common border for months, being prepared by an invasion. To make matters worse they were deeply entrenched in mountain regions. Now what the Soviet Union wanted to was to gain a quick and easy victorywith minimal casualties to both bolster morale at home (a prolonged war now would be a disaster), to show the power of the Red Army and the longer the war dragged on, the more likely it was for Britain or America to intervene. Kuznetsov was then given the task of directly violating the Paris Peace Treaties. He was to launch a surprise attack again Afghanistan from the north and into the south. From there he would, after taking control of the buffer nation, go to their common border with Iran. By that time Iran should be engaged in conflict along their common Soviet borders, that led the Front under Kuznetsov the oppurtunity to strike into eastern Iran and take the mountain passes without opposition and encircle the Iran forces near Turkmekistan. On 1300 hours the 7th of July 1944 war had broken out. Soviet troops moved into northern Afghanistan without a declaration of war nor any prolonged air campaigns or raids as in Iran. The campaigns in Iran was a deception for the true strike into Afghanistan. Only when first contact was made a formal declaration of war was presented. The Soviet Union was projecting its powers, invading a sovereign nation and testing the Allied response..

Soviet air force prepare to take on Afghanistan once more..

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*So IS stands for Iosef Stalin (or something like that), our good pal Joseph Stalin. I doubt they would have named it that under Trotsky so I made it the LT tank, the Lev Trotskij tank. When it comes into prodcution it will be renamed, and the other IS tanks (4, 6 and 10) will be variants. Now.. IS-7 is a superheavy tank in game.. well we'll see if we will give these monsters a chance. But considering we have 4 superheavy battleships, perhaps

**Okay so there was no air raids etc for over a month prior to the invasion, but I think it was fitting to the story.

Also as a disclaimer, just going to repeat it, the events during the narrative do not reflect My personal opinions one way or the other.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Hmm...so what you're saying is to avoid a long and drawn out conflict with an old enemy across a very well defended border. you should invade a neighbouring, innocent nation and quickly flank them through the north west? And this won't get international condemnation or British attack?

I mean...yeah maybe but this is tempting fate just a touch, right?

 

[ThaHoward]

Hmm...so what you're saying is to avoid a long and drawn out conflict with an old enemy across a very well defended border. you should invade a neighbouring, innocent nation and quickly flank them through the north west? And this won't get international condemnation or British attack?

I mean...yeah maybe but this is tempting fate just a touch, right?

The world is going to hell with little room for logic

Now the Soviets feel threatened by a democratic Afghanistan close to India. Their logic is that everyday they are bound up in the fortified mountain regions in Soviet-Iranian borders the risk for a British intervention from India via Afghanistan increase. Now the Afgan-Iran border is unprotected. It is a gamble. If it works then it is a huge success, if it doesn't then it is a disaster.

Also it is much more exciting for me as a player, and hope you the readers, to make big risks

 

[stnylan]

You know in my Uruguay game it took the USSR months and months to subdue Iran. One hopes Trotsky manages a swifter conquest

 

[ThaHoward]

You know in my Uruguay game it took the USSR months and months to subdue Iran. One hopes Trotsky manages a swifter conquest

Yes they are blessed by a narrow border with high troop concentration and Lots of mountains. Hopefully this won't turn into the Soviet-Afghan war of Our timeline.

But again, the AI are often inept at offensives.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Yes they are blessed by a narrow border with high troop concentration and Lots of mountains. Hopefully this won't turn into the Soviet-Afghan war of Our timeline.

But again, the AI are often inept at offensives.

Wonder how Sylvester Stallone's career is going to look without the Reds to fight against in Europe and Afghanistan, since both Rocky and Rambo did so with great gusto...perhaps too much in fact!

 

[ThaHoward]

Wonder how Sylvester Stallone's career is going to look without the Reds to fight against in Europe and Afghanistan, since both Rocky and Rambo did so with great gusto...perhaps too much in fact!

Perhaps the Reds will conquer all of Europe, Rambo rides in on a nuclear bomb, survives, and fight off the Red Army all by himself of course while he Use a super M72 capable of reloading and taking out jets.

That would be a good movie

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 33: The Great Gambit.

Spoiler: Song.

One of the first bombs during the massive bombing of Afghanistan.

12:30 the Soviet-Afghan border was littered with fire. Thousands of artillery shells tore up the weak Afghan defenses. There had been rumors of a war with the Soviet Union, but most of the Afghans didn't believe in it. Why would the Soviet Union attack them? There had been no prelude to war, the Red Army had already beaten the previous fascist regime and their conflict was with Iran, not Afghanistan. Hours earlier the Afghan Army, trained and outfitted by British and Indian officers, partially mobilized and was sent to the borders of Iran, USSR and Muslim-India just in case hostilities broke out and to deal with occasional border raids or refugees. But none saw this coming. It was first believed by the Afghan authorities, by the time the few messages arrived, that this was a minor incident and just a few border conflict. However this was a full scale invasion. The entire border was lit up dug in and concealed artillery of all sorts, and engulfed by intense persistent cannon fire - what the Germans called "Trommelfeuer" or "drum fire". . Still the Afghan leadership was led to believe this was just minor incidents. Soviet recruited agents (some simply young boys who were given radios to spot targets for a few rubles) managed to give away several target locations and to spread disinformation in the local authorities. Entire communication and governmental centers in the border regions was taken out by air strikes with near ridicolous accuracy. Following the shelling the airforces was re-routed from Iran and toward Afghanistan bombing border units, supply nodes and roads. No one escaped the intense, yet short, bombardment of the Soviet land and air forces. Messages from recon forces on land (having inflitrated the lands days earlier), by sea and locals gave the Soviet government a conclusive report: All Afghan forces in disarray. Most units near the border have been defeated or scattered". Kuznetsov then gave the order: Invade.

Two tankers pose before the invasion. It might be their last picture, or just one for bragging.

But let us back up a little. The invasion of Afghanistan was a major watershed in history. It was a major risk that would manifest the Soviet position in the world as a whole. If they won in Afghanistan the power balance would drastically change in the Soviet favor, if they got bogged down and faced defeat (in order to not escalate it further) they might have to pull out and face major humiliation. The Afghan invasion and its results would very well define the entire Southern Thrust and perhaps even the state of the Cold War. Marhsal Kuznetsov was specifically selected to lead the Afghan Front. An aggressive commander was needed to subdue Afghanistan before a possible Allied invasion would manifest itself. Moreover Kuznetsov had shown during the years of the war that he could pull off wonders with stretched out supply lines, or being outright out of supplies*. That was needed now. The Soviet High Command was paranoid. Paranoia was perhaps the actual casus-belli of the entire Southern Thrust. Paranoid the British and Americans would cut off the world's oil supplies from the USSR, but worst of all to use their influence in Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan to make a direct attack into Russia and the Caucasian and Kazakh oilfields. But they were also terrified of a possible British intervention in Afghanistan, the current chaos in western Europe, Iran and India needed to be taken advantage of. Afghanistan needed to fall before the Allies could muster a response. While Kunetsov inspected his mechanized corps (five in total) he gave them all the same orders: "You are the spearhead and the vanguard of the Red Army an the fate of our glorious Union. You are to go forward no matter what. You are to be relentless, you are to be aggressive and you will stop at nothing. If you see enemies on your flanks, do not look on them. Speed ahead. If enemy positions are in your way do not stop. Do not back up, do not even fire on them! Run right over them. Stop at nothing. Bypass entire divisions if you have to, your goal is not to engage the enemy. Your goal is not to occupy and secure your rear, let the infantry handle that. Your task is to race toward Kabul, Herat and the Iranian border. Stop at nothing".

Soviet mechanized infantry rolling over Afghanistan. T-44s in the backround, note the low profile and long barrels.

Back to the invasion. The aggressive doctrine by Kuznetsov was followed to the letter. Light T-60s spearheaded the assault into Afghanistan with little regard for their own safety. They didn't wait for the artillery fire to cease, instead they rolled right into the lion's jaw, sometimes even ahead of the airforce. In the confusion Afghan forces let them pass right through, later on it was revealed the Afghans believed it was tanks of their own fleeing from the bombardment. The mechanized infantry rolled along with T-34s and T-44s right into Afghanistan. This was the first time the Soviet armored infantry would use APCs in large scale assaults and not trucks. It was a hallmark in many regards, the first time the USSR employed large scale fully mechanized units, T-44 tanks and pure Deep Operations doctrines. The armored Soviet forces followed their Marshal's orders. They bypassed several retreating Afghan units entirley, not firing upon them or taking prisoners only reporting it to the advancing forces behind them. The commander of one of these APCs remarked their aggressive thrust into Afghanistan: "We crossed from Turkestan and right into Afghanistan. The air was littered with thick smoke, our flying angels couldn't be seen, but their presence could be felt as in the horizon we saw retreating units being hunted down, slaughtered like cattle. All around us halpless men walked around as living question marks, or I correct that. They walked around, but they were in a state between life and death, they weren't truly alive. All around us trucks was on fire and charred corpses littered the area and horses laid around in pure agony with no one able to put them out of their misery. As we ventured further into hell the enemies were all around us. We developed in all haste new tactics, gone were the days where the machine gunner supported us from the half-track and the infantrists disembarked on safe distance. No, now we were supposed to ride into battle firing from within our APCs and only disembark if it was an absolute emergency. The machine gunner, and later squad leader in the back of the truck wanted to fire upon the enemies before they did it. But we weren't allowed. "Conserve the ammo" I replied, they weren't worth it. We had one objective in mind and that was to race toward Kabul".

Three days into the invasion, the first Soviet land forces make contact with their enemies.

The aggressive tactics of the Soviet forces bore fruits. The mechanized corps was to engage i the deserts and then if possible circumnavigate the mountains and valleys in northern Afghanistan. Kabul and Herat was their goals, it was believed if these two major cities was taken the Afghan Army would be pacified and the Soviet forces could roll on to the west and into Iran. Three days into the conflict at 15:30 the first forces made proper contact with Afghan forces. It was reported they were still in disarray and barely managed to hold up any resistance. A British "advisor" wrote about the initial shock and defenses in his memoars: "Soviet bombers of all sorts threw themselves over the Afghan divisions as they retreated, while the formidable Soviet artillery bombarded all the roads (if it could be called that) day and night. The worst scenes happened when the units with horse-towed equipment retreated to the south. All ways was blocked. Then terrible scenes unfolded. I have never seen anything like it. T-44s and T-34s literally ploughed their way through the retreating forces on their way to Kabul and Herat. They didn't stop, they just drove through and fired upon all who moved, those who were in their way was rammed.. Both on and along the roads to the south it was littered of shot up trucks and horse corpses. Even ambulances full of wounded was ablaze. Brave officers, British and Afghan side by side, wanted to clean up the mess, but with little luck. I took command of a local battlegroup to organize a defense in the mountain regions from the Soviet armored divisions. From the heights I could see all over the wide valley. Enemy planes dived continuously down and shot at everything that moved. I saw the smokeclouds from exploding bombs and burning vehicles, and wounded who were picked up by donkeys and lorries fleeing for their lives. It was unpleasant scenes that developed, but there was nothing we could do. An ancient crusader chant came to mind "Man, horse and cart along, but God's hand stroke them all down".

Mountain troops assaulting one of the many mountains of Afghanistan.

The border regions, mostly plain deserts, was secured. Now perhaps the most difficult task came. To secure the many valleys and mountains of the north, infamous ones like Tora Boah and Shah-i-Kot. The armor had secured the deserts, but Kuznetsov knew it was suicide to let their armored formations pass into these death traps. The far western armored divisions was ordered to bypass the mountain ranges and to head toward the west and the east. Those who headed to the west were to secure the Iranian border regions, while those heading to the east would try to cut off the mountains trapping all the Afghan forces in a major pocket, confined to the mountains. This was a job for the specialized mountaineers who had proven their battle prowess in the ugly battles of the Carpathian Mountains and the Austrian Alps. They scaled the mountains while they still had the iniative, and soon the Infantry followed behing. They rooted out most of the Afghan forces in the mountains, however they would primarly act as observers for the massive arty force and air force. The mountains would be pounded with bombs, mostly to prevent enemy forces from establishing blocking positions. All of this was to enable the Mechanized forces to race through the mountains in safe passages and straight into Kabul.

Paratroopers being inspected before their audacious air assault.

However one vital part of the Soviet campaign was to establish complete air dominance. To do they the only Afghan airport capable of housing a military force was in the eastern most bulge between Sinkiang, USSR and India. A perfect bufferzone that could only be accessed from the west. On the first hours of the invasion Soviet fighers, fighter bombers and light bombers moved toward the airfield. Powered with rocket systems they bombarded the airfield from the air hoping to take out so many of the planes while they were still stationary. However it was now perhaps the most daring operation would be ordered during the short Afghan invasion. The paratrooper divisions and brigades that had been wiped out during the invasion of Germany had been reinstated. During the invasion of Germany they would conduct extreme bold jumps deep behind enemy lines, despite all of these divisions being wiped out they manged to create several pockets and even take out airfields. Now these daring high risk units were back on the field. Their mission was simple: take the airfield. And so they did. The first Brigade to jump was before the first bombings, days before in fact. They jumped out in the surrounding mountains and for days they would provide overwatch for the bombing and the next step. Then during the bombing of the airfield and during the shock of the general invasion a Brigade jumped in close proximity to the airfield. As they parachuted down they were under fire by the limited selection Afghan machine and AA guns. Still it was horrid for the paras as they dropped down into shrapnel and bullets. However they managed to land safely outside of the airfield and soon surrounded it taking all the strategic rossroads and heights. However they soon came under heavy Afghan assaults, but they managed to dig in and repel the Afghans due to superior training, armament and air support. Then in the chaos of it all the third Brigade landed straight on the airfields with their gliders. They stormed out of the gliders with ligh submachine guns and seized the airfield with remarkable few casualties. These airborne troops proved they were worthy of their forebearers during Operation Icebreaker. For the entire invasion of Afghanistan they would be cut off from the rest of the invasion force and under constant attack by Afghan infantrists and cannons, but they held their positions and were relieved by the end of the war.

One of the British war vessels who mined the Strait of Hormuz.

Other than furious international condemnation the British reacted physically. The British joined their American allies and embargoed the Soviet Union. This led to a further escalation as the rest of the Internationale embargoed Britain. It spiraled further down as the entire British Commonwealth joined in on the embargo and the US pressured all of the Americas and the other Allies to join in. There was now no official trade between the two Blocs. However the British sent out their Navy to the Strait of Hormuz. A Soviet Naval Bomber patrol was flying across the Persian gulf when it spotted several destroyers and cruisers down below. It dived to check it out, but the air was filled with shrapnel and flaks. The British fired they warning shots and hailed the Soviet pilot on the radio "turn around or we will fire directed shots". The Soviet pilot had no choice but to turn around. The Royal Navy and Royal Airforce took control of the Persian Gulf and the oilfields in southern Iran and in Iraq aswell. They claimed that any "foreign vessel or aeroplane entering outlined regions will be sunk or shot down". It couldn't be mistaken, Britain was prepared to protect its assests. The British followed up by mining the strait of Hormuz to prevent any Soviet naval activity. The Soviet Union on their part claimed this was nothing but a violation of international laws, an unlawful aggression and came with the dubious claim they had to liberate Iran from British occupation.

A Soviet pilot proudly show off his rocket system after a successfull hunt.

The Soviet pilot had a new toy to play with; High Velocity Aircraft Rocket, or Holy Moses as the Americans called it. It would become iconic during the invasion of Afghanistan as the Soviet fighters dived in and sweeped the area as they unleashed rockets with high accuracy (at least greater than normal bombs). This shocked the Afghan troopers who had never seen anything like that. A assymetrical balance in technology and tactics led to the Afghan forces routing in face of Soviet offensives rather than stay and fight.

The British, erhm I mean Indians, had some problems of their own..

But where was Britain? Other than condemnation and blockades the Soviet Union feared an outright British intervention. But it never came. Part of it was timing. Over the years the independence movement grew in the British Raj. The British Raj got its independence, however not in the way many enviosned. Instead the British King continued to be the Emperor and the Viceroy continued to be the leader. The British Ra was transformed into a federation in a personal union with Britain, however the British government was still to appoint the ruler of India. This very confusing arrengement could be entire textbooks of its own, but it won't be included in detail here. Suffice to say this led to great resenment among the natives. Muslim Indians claimed they were snatched off their promised liberty in the now British and Hindu-Prince dominated country. As such Pakistan and eastern Pakistan broke out in outright rebellion. The Soviets took their oppurtunity to launch their Southern Thrust in the middle of the Indo-Pakistan War. Pakistan worked as a buffer of some sorts, an an informal agreement came between the British Empire and the Soviet Union. The USSR was not to intervene in Pakistan (who had initially strong communist sympathies, mostly to gain Soviet support) if Britain did not intervene in Afghanistan. Anyway the British and Indians was in little position to intervene into Afghanistan as the bordering regions was in a state of civil war.**

Afghan soldiers got hold off artillery pieces behind Soviet lines.

Despite their major setbacks and the collapse of their frontline the Afghans managed to pull themselfs together, mostly as Soviet forces struggled to conquer the mountains. Their chantry was "hold them off as long as possible outside of Kabul and our British friends will come to our aid". The Soviets now paid in full for disregarding their rear areas, just rolling straight ahead to score a quick and decisive victory. This led to the local population not being under control, taking left behind Soviet equipment and joining the fight with their brethren. Killzones was set up in the mountains taking out Soviet supply columns and infantrists heading toward the armored units getting out of food, fuel and munitions and infantrits to reinforce the lines. A Soviet infantry officer detailed an attack: "These attacks showed that while the Afghans might be poorly trained and equipped, they had high morale and guts. The frontline troops reported the Afghan Army had retreated, and they needed to replenish their troops. We drove through a so called safe pass, however we were soon under fire. We were peppered by heavy machine gun fire, the bullets slammed through our trucks going straight through them and resulting in fatal results. We had to disembark and take cover under heavy fire. Then the fire stopped, and we continued on then we were under fire again and it continued. It went on like this several times. We realized it was the same guys who ambushed as time and time again, but we didn't know how many they were and what their full capabilties were. We concluded, after advising with armored recon elements, to take another path around the ridge. It was supposed to be safe, but it wasn't. Again we were under heavy fire. The lead truck got hit and blocked our path forward. We were ordered to back up, but it was taken out too. The fire continued and the trucks was set ablaze. I will never forget the sight of men running out of their trucks on literal fire, those who were not would be ripped apart by the heavy machinegun fire. It was confusion, we now got a small taste of what our enemy experienced during our invasion. But we reorganized and managed to fire upon on our enemy with mortars and anti-tank guns. But it continued to fire. Our shots was getting just above them or just short, but they fired on us and pinnes us down. Soon they went dry, and they retreated. We followed them but they were like mountain goats. It was disheartening, two guys managed to do this much chaos without anti-tank or arty to back them up. We continued on, and then we realized they were stalling us with great courage as we headed right into an enemy trench system".

Days into the invasion the Afghans saw the foreign machines of war were not invincible.

The Afghans dug in and clinged to the mountains with their teeth. Despite not being able to take out the new T-44s they mined the many passes and ambushed lighter armored tanks with assymetrical tactics. They even managed to take out several Soviet tanks. Kuznetsov's worst nightmare was starting to take form. His armored formations was bogged down in disfavorable mountain terrain and taking moderate casualties on top of it. However in the west Herat was firmly under Soviet control and the mountains was closed into a pocket, with recon troops reaching the Helmand river in the south and taking control over the area. However Kuznetsov ordered the offensive to a halt. Combat with guerilla and regular army units alike were to be avoided. Mountain cavalry and infantry divisions was to assault Kabul from the north-east across the mountain passes and the north-west over the Kabul River.

Kabul is taken, but the Afghans put up fierce resistance.

21:30 on the 17th of July Kabul was taken by the mountain cavalry division. However it was under immidiate counterattack by Afghan forces and despite superior forces the battle was undecided. Whole five Rifle Divisions was ordered into Kabul to reinforce the Afghan capital. All over the mountains fierce fighting took place and the Soviets were low on supply. Kuznetsov realized this was a "make it or break it" moment and that this fight was only a small taste on what was to come in the mountain fights in Iran. He ordered his men to "hold the line. Go on the offensive and kill as many fascists as you can. Avenge their rape on your motherland!"

Minor setbacks aside the Soviet spirit remain high. High as the airforce paving the way.

It was if that speech, along with massive airsupport and a fresh batch of vodka, renewed Soviet spirits. All Afghan counterattacks failed in the coming hours and they retreated as the Red Army cleared out the mountain ranges. T-34s and assault guns dug down into the dirt only leaving their turrets capable transforming them into forts. Meanwhile the T-44s, KV-1s and LT-2s began a massed assault on all retreating Afghan forces killing hundreds and taking thousands of prisoners as all roads out of the mountains was blocked.

Despite their best efforts, the initial shock was just too much for Afghanistan.

Then on the 18th of July the Afghan Army faced complete collapse. This was added up by a complete government collapse and takeover. Exiled Afghan communists was put into power in Herat and Kabul and they were ordered to cooperate with the former socialist Republican government. The new "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" was given the task with controlling the population as the Soviet Union had no interest in occupying the nation and engage in costly counter partisan operations. Their eyes were fixed to the west.. Afghanistan underwent its third regime change in a few years and were now firmly under Soviet control.

We'll make up the losses with new ships..

In just over a week the Red Army blitzed over Afghanistan. It was seen by many as a Soviet mastery of modern blitzkrieg. Learned by the Germans the hard way, and perfected during the course of the war. But as the Germans it was more situational and muddled than that. Kuznetsov and the Soviet High Command feared a war of attrition in the mountains of Afghanistan and Iran that would lead to a British intervention, and again a World War that Mother Russia and her allies were not ready for. The Soviets and Kuznetsov took a huge gamble with desperate, yet innovative, tactics as bypassing entire divisions of enemy forces and facing the risk being cut off. The idea was contrary to previous Soviet doctrine, now attrition would not be embraced, but a swift victory at minimal losses on both sides were to be achieved. The road to Iran was now left open, however the shadow over the heavy losses in the mountain attacks still loomed over the Soviet forces ready to enter Iran. And while Kuznetsov was seen as a hero there was no chance to celebrate, and there was no chance to occupy Afghanistan. As soon as the Afghanistan Front reached the Afghan-Iranian border.. the Invasion of Iran began.. Still Trotsky declared, full of hubris with a stern, and somewhat relieved, Marshal Kuznetsov standing besides him, during the final inspection of the invasion forces "we did what our ancestors never could - with this Great Gambit we won the Great Game". Afghanistan fell, and Iran was next on the target list.

Decades later Afghanistan was still in a ruined state after the the Anglo-Soviet invasion and the following Soviet invasion during Southern Thrust.
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*So he have the Commando (I think it was called) trait that was needed in the mountainous and low infastructure regions of Afghanistan.

**Sooo.. well India is indepedent, but still with a Britsh Viceroy? Now I just use an Indian-Pakistani war as an excuse for why the Allies didn't intervene in this conflict.

And I count myself lucky the Allies didn't intervene! But for how long will it last?

 

[stnylan]

The Southern Thrust is off to an excellent start.

 

[ThaHoward]

The Southern Thrust is off to an excellent start.

It is indeed. It went as planned too. Heavy (relative) casualties in the mountains, but a total run over in the desert border regions. As you can see the Soviet divisions didn't need to advance that much to the south before Afghanistan fell, so the quick victory was achieved. Iran might be more tricky as all of their border regions are protected by mountains..

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

I fear that this may be all but garunteeing nuclear armegaeddon. Siberia and the Middle East are the 20th century's oil supply, and when that easy to drill Texas oil starts to run out (and presumably, Venezuela and Indonesia's supplies become strained having to supply the First World by themselves)...the eighties now are going to end with the end times. Unless someone comes up with an impossible deal for oil, we better hope the soviets either collapse before this point or they find a way of conquering the planet without it going nukey.

 

[ThaHoward]

I fear that this may be all but garunteeing nuclear armegaeddon. Siberia and the Middle East are the 20th century's oil supply, and when that easy to drill Texas oil starts to run out (and presumably, Venezuela and Indonesia's supplies become strained having to supply the First World by themselves)...the eighties now are going to end with the end times. Unless someone comes up with an impossible deal for oil, we better hope the soviets either collapse before this point or they find a way of conquering the planet without it going nukey.

But it is HoI4, they can just build shitloads of synthetic refinieries! But yes the situation is going downhills. I think the US and UK regret embargoing USSR now (they actually did it gameplay wise). That hurt Soviet oil and rubber supplies, so they are now forced to find alternative ways to get their oil.. And this will at best case scenario create major tensions, and worst case? Either an economic crisis in the west or a WW3..

This timeline is not a good place to live in.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 34: Countenance.

Spoiler: Music.

A common sight in Iran the past month, it would only increase in magnitude.

The world were still in shock, unable to respond, baffled. In around a week's time the Red Army marched into Afghanistan, toppled the government an there was no clue they were coming that way. Iran was the hotspot and the Soviet forces invading Afghanistan was believed to be near Iran. The Soviet Army showed it mastered modern warfare, their rapid conquest was a premonition of what was to come. Let's not forget the bombing campaign over Iran. The Iranian airforce and supply routes was crippled. Alltough the 42 days campaign had been cut short it set the stage for a Soviet invasion. Moreover it forced the British who could not intervene by land due to the Indo-Pakistani Civil War to mine the Strait of Hormuz, furthermore Britain and USA sent several advisors and rumors had it they allowed entire combat brigades to Iran.

SBS troops in Iran. The British would regret this.

Britain expected the USSR to be reasonable. In their assessment the increase of Allied air, naval and land presence would deter the Soviets from invading Iran and taking control of the contested oilfields. But it had the complete opposite effect. The Soviets demanded the Allies to retreat their forces, the Allies meanwhile claimed they were protecting their own interests and safeguarding the Iranian nation. USSR responded this was nothing but Imperialism, ironic, and yet again demanded US and Britain to withdraw their "violation of Iranian sovereignty". It didn't help much by that SAS, SBS and Marine Raiders were put into Iran to help the government put down the growing Tudeh Party (Iranian communists) and their secret Army and Tudeh officers in the Iranian Army. The Tudeh was gaining traction among the Iranian population for their anti-British sentiments, radical social policies and in fact as an alternative to a Soviet invasion. However the Allies helped the government to initiate a widescale crackdown on these groups to prevent them turning. But it backfired. This infuriated the unpredictable Trotsky and the extremist Soviet government and NKVD. War might have not been the planned solution, but it was appereant the Iranians and British wouldn't back down. In response Soviet commandos and paratroopers was inserted into Iran, a few days later they were recalled. But Iranian border guards pursued the intruders, with them were the SAS. Despite the USSR violating Iranian airspace and territory, they were appaled the Iranians dared to raid their homeland. Worse off they were aided by the British, in public this was pictured by the Soviet propaganda machine as a Anglo-Iranian effort to invade the USSR, Iran had to be invaded to prevent a large scale war. Of course that it was the USSR who started the crisis was glanced over. Trotsky gave the all clear signal to his Marshals he said "the western imperialists are weak. They have no spine and they will cower before the Soviet might and revolution".

Soviet supply convoys readying to open up the Persian supply corridor..

Worrying reports entered Allied and Iranian intelligence agencies. There was an increase of cross border activity, the Soviet chatter on the radios was off the charts before suddenly going silent. Recon planes provided photographs of dug in Soviet positions. During the night to the 30th of July a border post reported "kilometers of trucks, tanks and horses" heading toward the border. They then went silent. The local Iranian colonel didn't report this further up ahead. It was later revealed that most of the Iranian senior officers in the border regions was Tudeh inflitrators. In the north the Fronts that had been spared of the horrors of Afghanistan the morale was high. "The T-44s, the assault guns, half tracks and assault guns were revving up. It is an extraordinary sound to listen to hundreds of tanks starting up their engines, vrooming. Then they started to roll, it was magnificent. We were prepared for war, anxious and eager. Some of us was not that eager, they were the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Where we smiled, sang, joked and laughed, they were silent and expressionless".

The invasion of Iran begins. Hopefully Teheran will be rapidly conquered, time is of the essence.

By 15:30 war was officially declared. The Iranian government managed to regain control over their border forces and the Tudeh officers were either hanged or they escaped to their Soviet cousins. 12 days passed since the Treaty of Herat was signed. The barrels had just gone cold as the Soviet Army invaded yet another country. The Iranian border regions had been subject to thousands of tonnages worth of explosives. The defenses was pounded to pieces. A young Iranian soldier described the invasion: "we were laying in the mountain passes, we were a mere platoon that managed to get to the pass and we were deployed on a thin line. We got reports of impending Soviet armored forces, but all we could muster were our "recoil rifles", not suited to take down modern armor. The recoil gunners was ordered to focus on the tanks and not the infantry, us the riflemen had to wait for the infantrists to arrive to shoot at them. We were only given 15 shots each. The first Soviet armored units arrived, lightly armored. The recoil rifle opened up fire, round after round. We were getting anxious, the armored wagons fired on us with machineguns, at last the driver was shot and it stopped. But a half track came and unloaded its cargo a squad worth of infantrists who rushed toward cover and spread out their menacing machine gun fire, pinning us all down. I realized it was now or never, I lunged backward and stood up, aimed and fired. He was down. But then pure mechanized beasts arrived and slaughtered us all. They steamed right ahead, we had to give up. We then realized we couldn't hold off the crusaders".

Iranian soldiers are given the recent news, cheering before getting sent to the front.

There was special mood in the country. One of grief and one of anger. One of great anxiety, yet one of patriotism. A superpower was openly invading their nation. A nation that had conquered half of the world, still it brought people together. Days earlier the population was split between monarchists, democrats and communists. Secularists and fundamentalists. Pro-British and Anti-British sentiments. Now the Iranian people were unified as one people, the foreign invasion was the glue that held them together. The day following the invasion the Shah informed the people of the invasion and patriotic fervour were widespread. It only remained to be seen for how long this would last as the Red Army desecrated their homeland.

Five days into the campaign: The mountains are holding up, but the Afghan flank are collapsing.

Five days into the invasion. On the north-eastern front it was limited successes. One breakthrough into the Iranian lines were achieved, however along the rest of the front the Iranians managed to stave off the Soviets, with the Soviets even risking to be repelled in several engagements. On the north-western line the Red Army was winning the battles, however the battles in the mountains was hard fought with slow progress being made. These mountains was not suited for large scale offensives, let alone mechanized ones. In the east however from Afghanistan significant gains were made. True most of the battles were losing batles in the mountains, however one of the border provinces were conquered by the Soviets. This region enabled the Soviet units to ascend unto flat terrain, areas well suited for mechanized offensives. Moreover due to the rapid Soviet conquest of Afghanistan most of the Iran-Afghan border wasn't protected as the Iranian focused on their northern flanks. This opened up for Soviet advancements into defenseless areas.

British and American planes arrive to Iran. They never officially participated, but they kinda did anyway.

The Soviet Union invaded yet another country. The Soviet takeovers and toppling of democratic regimes was provocative enough for the Allies, blatant invasions, and that for precious oil resources, were on a league of its own. The US and UK motioned an act in the UN for the USSR to pull out its forces from Iran and end their occupation of Afghanistan, if these demands were not complied a United Nations multinational military force would intervene. However these motions failed. First of all France and USSR vetoed them. Then their was another issue, most of the member states of the UN was aligned to the Internationale. A UN intervention could never come through. USA and Britain who wanted to resolve the war through the UN now faced a major dilemma. By going forth with a war after being voted down in the UN it would jeopardize the entire UN project, if they did not they risked a hands off Soviet approach. Instead they went for a middle ground. Ever since the Soviet overt ambitions in Iran the two great powers supplied Iran with arms and airplanes. Most of these were, however, outdated. Now they sent entire combat forces to not only train and advise the Iranians, but also to take an active combat role. The new and state of the art air wings would support the Iranians in their defense against the Soviet air forces. These forces were of course unofficial ones, but it would mark the first time Soviet and Anglo-Americna forces engaged in open combat.

A confiscated camel, perhaps it will be a new age of camel soldiers. This was taken to Russia.

The war dragged on. Soviet tanks was stuck in the mud. Infantrists had a hard time climbing the mountains. The worst Soviet fears apperead to come to fruition: a deadlock. The Iranians realized they could not win the war in the long run. Instead their aim was to drag out the war, make it into a war of attrition. In time the British and Americans would be sure to intervene once the issues in Pakistan and the UN were handled, and once invasion fleets and armies were assembled. Hope was in the horizon. The longer the Soviets was pinned down in the mighty mountains, making insignificant gains the greater the odds were for a Soviet withdrawal or Allied intervention. The Soviets realized this too. It was then Rokossovsky ordered his mechanized corps to "ram through the mountains" and drive straight toward Iraq and the oil fields in Kuzestan to both secure the precious oil and to secure Iraq, and in turn Kuwait, in case of escalation. "We will get there no matter what".

Tabriz have fallen in the west. The north-east and east are slowly taking grounds..

11 days passed and the important city and node of Tabriz fell after vicious fighting. Rokossovsky's aggressive thrust worked out, the armored divisions spearheaded out of the mountains and fanned out to the east and to the west. Tehran was within striking distance. The Iranian cause only worsened as all fronts in the east managed to achieve major breakthroughs. "They fought like hell with tooth and nail. But in the end we had the gods with us. The gods of artillery, firepower, tanks, airpower and supply was on our side". The Iranians were in disarray and an oderly retreat to Tehran and the inland mountain ranges begun. In addition with the help of British forces the Iranians set their oil wells and refineries on flames. The primary goal was scorched earth, denying the Soviets their needed oil. The secondary goal was of operation significance. Entire air plane armadas had to turn around as they couldn't enter the thick smoke. The smoke from the burning oil wells blocked out all vision and enabled Iranian elements to move around for the first time without being harassed from air.

The Iranian defensive lines were more reminiscent of an earlier war.

Day after day went by. Destruction was at an all time high. The ancient nation of Iran had never seen such unprecedented violence before. It was war between two different eras. The industrial war machine of the Soviet Union ravaged the Iranian lines. The Iranian air force was all but destroyed, only the unofficial British and American forces provided air cover. Most of the Iranian soldiers had perished in the fighting, either as casualties, prisoners of war or even deserted to join the communist militias. "It is hopeless", an Iranian colonel told one of his American aides and continued "they outpeform us on every field. Of the 15.000 men in the divison we started with, 16.000 are now accounted for. That is over 100% casualty rate. The replacements we get are either inexperienced airmen who have just been lumped together as there is no air force anymore or 15 year old boys who have been told we will get the final victory. They come in with high morale, believing they will serve their country. But the Soviets can't be stopped, they are just too well equipped. If we don't get any help we're doomed.

All the good stuff is in the south, but the Iranian spirits will be broken when we take their cities and not they oil. A map of the Allied operation.

16th of August, the offensive went on despite fierce Iranian resistance. Despite being well entrenched, they lacked the proper tools, so to speak, to withstand the Red Menace. Concerning bulges were forming all around the fronts, threatening to create pockets. From Afghanistan the Front under Kuznetsov threatened to enter the southern and central oilfields. In the north east Soviet forces had broken through taking out the only airfield capable of air operations and threatened to envelope the well entrenched Iranian forces in the mountains. Meanwhile in the northwest the valiant Iranians failed to guard the flank. The entire frontline collapsed under the sheer weight and aggression of the Soviet forces. They fell back to Tehran and the Iraqi borders, the road to Iraq and Tehran was open and the superior Soviet forces knew how to take advantage of it. Orders were given to the armored units to not engage the Iranis and instead encircle them and only engage those who tried to break out or advance into favorable defensive positions. In the meantime US and British High Command planned on an intervention into Iran. However they debated on how it was to be handled. The general plan was an invasion from Iraq, the Raj and an amphibious assault on Iran. From there they would head on the Soviet frontlines and establish "no-go zones" while spearheading straight toward Tehran, securing the Iranian capital. However there were several issues, for starters Pakistan was not under control and Iraq was reluctant to allow Anglo-American troops to enter their land, both to not provoke the increasingly aggressive USSR and as they feared a British occupation. That left in reality only an amphibious landing as the only feasible option, however that had its disadvantages, namely that the Strait of Hormuz had been mined, and that it would be a massive logistical undertaking. Then it was another issue, such an endeavour needed a massive force. Afterall 95 Soviet divisions invaded Iran. If the Allies aided the Iranians they needed an equal or greater force, any smaller force would run the risk of being beaten. However if they sent a strong force it opened up the rest of the free world to communist aggression. The Anglo-American alliance was caught between a rock and a hard place. But for every moment they deliberated and debated they brought the Soviets one step closer to Tehran.

A picture says more than a thousand words.

The Iranians retreated in the north west. It was not pretty. Their goal was to protect the oilfields in Arabistan/Kuzestan and to shield Tehran. Instead the Soviets annihilated the divisions who fled to the west, and started to trap the divisions fleeing to Tehran in a small pocket. A survivor told his story. "We were ordered to leave our positions the night to the 20th and break out toward Tehran. The opening was around five kilometers wide, and we only saw a few hostile patrols in the area. For our deathly exhausted group it was an inhumane ordeal to fall back during the darkness of the night. The closer we came to the opening the more grim the sight that met us became. On the roads there was vehicle who was peppered with bullets until they were torn apart, others were on fire. Ammunition exploded and tankettes burned. Many places the poor horses were on their backs kicking with their legs up in the air feverishly until someone came and put them out of their suffering. The same happened to men. Out on the fields it was equally chaotic as on the roads, and from all directions we came under enemy fire into the sprawling masses. Anti-tank shells, rockets, bullets and bombs from the air, it was all the same. It was a slaughter house. We had to get through a village, there it was a small operation's staff set up by the Army and Christian advisors. With them they had these Sherman tanks. They took the lead and we jumped on them with the wounded. While the enemy bombarded the village with anti-tank and artillery shells we pressed on. Destroyed tanks and wrecked trucks was prun straight over. The wounded we came across were given space, however soon there was no more space. To the best of our ability we gave them first aid, but in the end all we could do was to pray to God. We disembarked to protect immobilized tanks and tankettes the anemy AT guns had taken out. Two generals who had their divisions wiped out shook their heads over our attempt to break free. But they joined us and fought by our side. But we couldn't escape the inferno, the enemy pressed on and we were pressed back to our divisions".

Following a massed mechanized assault Tehran fell. Some Iranians escaped, but 15 divisions were trapped.

On the 20th Tehran was taken. After a short, but grim, battle the city itself was taken and in ruins. Thousands of Iranians was taken prisoners, many more fell. Right to the north of Tehran 15 infantry divisions had been herded into a pocket. Only a few divisions managed to escape the pocket, and they launched a counteroffensive toward Tehran, but to no effect. The two fronts then amassed to thrust south, east and to pacify the pocket where hundreds of thousands of Iranian soldiers were trapped. It was quite the achievement, the entire western Iranian army had perished in the pockets close to Iraq or were trapped just north of Tehran. The Iranians fought valiantly, but there was no turning around now.

AA guns light up the sky.

The Soviets were quick to establish their military presence in Tehran. Thousands of AA batteries was set up in Tehran and around it. It lit up the sky, literally, with tracers as Anglo-American bombers were reported in the area. This effectively disrupted their bombing run as they headed back to their bases in the Arabian Peninsula and Greece. It had been a terrifying conflict for the Iranians who lost hundreds of thousands as they Soviets pushed aggressively southward.

"Respect my authoritah" - leader of the Iranian Communist Authority.

Tehran was in ruins. Still they were - officially - greeted as heroes. Just before the Soviets entered the city and established formal control Soleiman Eskandari with an alliance of socialists and communist took power in Tehran. They followed the old Bolshevik slogan and promised "peace and bread" to the people of Iran. Iran was, however, put under Soviet political control. It took the Soviet forces less than a month, 24 days in total, to establish control over Iran. Tehran itself fell in 20 days. It was a huge Soviet success, it showed they were able to overcome a dug in enemy and pursue a high risk operation with major aggression to achieve their goals. The Americans and British were defenseless, and now the eyes of the Red Army turned yet again to the west.. to the oilfields of Iraq. The gate to India was secured, now they needed to securre the gate to the Suez canal. The very idea of a British Empire was under attack.

Propaganda picture showing the Iranians celebrating their "liberation".

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So that was the invasion of Iran. Now I must say I am very surprised, very much indeed. The Allies did nothing. They didn't guarantee them or invite them to the Allies. Perhaps Lord Halifax is the root to all of this. Now we will see if they will stand up to Trotsky as they eventually did to Hitler, or if they will let him conquer all of Iraq, Turkey and the Aegean Islands while he's at it.

Now there was some very harsh fighting and I was afraid the assault would come to a standstill and it would all develop into a trench war and that it would prompt the Allies to intervene. But then the much needed breakthrough was needed, and the Iranians then just.. collpased and Tehran was taken with ease. Things could've been very different if the Soviet Army was still in the mountains fighting. Now we'll see if the next chapter will be about China/Asia or if we will continue on with the Southern Thrust.

 

[stnylan]

Halifax always was a weakling

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

But it is HoI4, they can just build shitloads of synthetic refinieries! But yes the situation is going downhills. I think the US and UK regret embargoing USSR now (they actually did it gameplay wise). That hurt Soviet oil and rubber supplies, so they are now forced to find alternative ways to get their oil.. And this will at best case scenario create major tensions, and worst case? Either an economic crisis in the west or a WW3..

This timeline is not a good place to live in.

Then their was another issue, most of the member states of the UN was aligned to the Internationale.

Considering that the West now has a market consisting of the Americas and Commonwealth (I.e...just itself) it is going to have nowhere near the wealth and power it held OTL. Not unless the exceptionally imperialistic and racist guys at the top decide to start properly investing and modernising Africa (a colossal undertaking mind!) in order to grow new markets and balance out power in the UN...though to be honest there is no way liberal democracy is going to compete with communism when the former is wielded by former and current imperial masters who hate your guts and the latter is being wielded by guys who want to set you 'free' and have a habit of kicking empires to death.

Honestly? The west isn't screwed at this point, or at least the Empire is. The friendly land connection between Africa and Asia has finally been severed. Now they have to rely on an increasingly expensive and easily sinkable fleet. With problems in India and at home, a complete failure in the Middle East and communism completely in control in Europe, I think the west may well end up tortouise shelling in America for a while and hoping the problems will just go away. But then you have the argument that if communism has literally unified the entire world aside from them, and aims to support workers and end discrimination...what on earth are the working classes of these nations doing supporting their enemies?

Russia hasn't won yet and in fact the situation for them is actually incredibly unstable right now but the west doesn't know that. Unless they call the bluff and soon (I mean, it's HoI4 so you'll win anyway but still, roleplaying here) then they'll sputter out and fall to internal revolution. I'm amazed Africa hasn't already started.

 

[ThaHoward]

Halifax always was a weakling

Yes he's obviously the fault in all of this I wonder how his legacy would be like. First he and Chamberlain doesn't support France, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in their war against Germany, but instead waited for them to fall and Germany to declare war on Poland. Now they are just sitting back again and watching Trotsky taking over Europe and the Middle East. This isolation might not be so splendid in the end But I gotta say it is strange they haven't done anything, usually in late game (these are in my experiences btw) and there's peace and the Soviet AI choose the Southern Thrust focus the allies tend to guarantee one, two or all three of the nations and the Southern Thrust result in a third world war. Perhaps it is a bug in my game, or that they are less willing to do so against the player or when the Comintern are so strong as they are now?

Edit: Now I must also admit that the plan is just to get so much land as the focuses grant me (I won't justify wargoals for conquering nations that the focuses don't grant me) and to back down when one of the Allies guarantee them or even invite them into the Allies. A premature war against the Allies over some oilfields in Iran or Iraq or Turkey simply isn't worth it. So if the AI know my plans they would know that all they need to do is to guarantee their indepence and I'll back off. The plan is to not go to war against the Allies unless it is absolutely necessary. Now UK have focuses that grant them war goals against Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan is their support of communism get sufficient.. If they go down that path, then the USSR in their paranoia might go on the offensive in a preemptive strike as they did against Germany, if that involve only an invasion of continental Europe or one of Britain remain to be seen. Enough ramblings for now

Considering that the West now has a market consisting of the Americas and Commonwealth (I.e...just itself) it is going to have nowhere near the wealth and power it held OTL. Not unless the exceptionally imperialistic and racist guys at the top decide to start properly investing and modernising Africa (a colossal undertaking mind!) in order to grow new markets and balance out power in the UN...though to be honest there is no way liberal democracy is going to compete with communism when the former is wielded by former and current imperial masters who hate your guts and the latter is being wielded by guys who want to set you 'free' and have a habit of kicking empires to death.

Honestly? The west isn't screwed at this point, or at least the Empire is. The friendly land connection between Africa and Asia has finally been severed. Now they have to rely on an increasingly expensive and easily sinkable fleet. With problems in India and at home, a complete failure in the Middle East and communism completely in control in Europe, I think the west may well end up tortouise shelling in America for a while and hoping the problems will just go away. But then you have the argument that if communism has literally unified the entire world aside from them, and aims to support workers and end discrimination...what on earth are the working classes of these nations doing supporting their enemies?

Russia hasn't won yet and in fact the situation for them is actually incredibly unstable right now but the west doesn't know that. Unless they call the bluff and soon (I mean, it's HoI4 so you'll win anyway but still, roleplaying here) then they'll sputter out and fall to internal revolution. I'm amazed Africa hasn't already started.

Yeah, the western world is pretty much weakened. As you said their markets are now only the Commonwealth and the Americas. They don't have access to most of Europe and vital industrial countries like Germany and France anymore. That's part of why I roleplayed the US and later UK embargo to just make it into a large scale tradewar between the two blocs as a whole. And as the communist bloc won't participate in any of the post war economic systems (IMF, World Bank, Bretton Woods etc) the world economy as a whole will be much weaker and slower to recover. This again hurt the US and UK, while it also hurt the communists but I guess they can handle dissent in other ways the western powers can't.. But who knows, perhaps the UK turn very benevolent and spend most of their budgets to build up Africa I highly doubt that, I can also see it would lead to public outrage if funds were used to build up the economy in Africa and not in Britain.

And yeah Russia is indeed unstable. And so is the communist world. Afterall most of these nations fell to communism through coups and fear. Now if there becomes a power struggle in the USSR that might very well lead to its breakdown, or if the economy plummet. And let us say the world turn into a WW3 and the communists manage to conquer Britain, I believe it would lead to an armistice of some sort. Like USSR and her allies wouldn't really be able to invade the US and the other way around. And if the US got the bomb they might just use it and then sue for peace. My best guesstimate at the moment is that such a world would lead to a communist Europe, with a liberal-democracy/US dominated Americas. Perhaps Africa and Asia would be subjected to Proxy wars, but I think it would essentially become a Cold War between all of America and all of Europe where the two sides are much more evenly matched. That of course depend on how the world develop in meantime.

That is my thoughts on it, and I am more than welcome to other opinions and also suggestions on what is likely (granted, this entire scenario isn't likely at all, Trotsky coming to power etc) to happen and so on.

I also suspect that after the Southern Thrust or into 1945 at some point there will be another Congress to outline the general development of the world and the communist strategic goals.