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CCA said:
Great job as italy with ethiopia, since you're not keeping a garrison in ethiopia, you might as well liberate ethiopia and turn them into you're puppet!

Hmm... haven't thought about that. I haven't been playing HOI II for a very long time, so I was wondering if you could enlighten me a bit on the benefits and drawbacks of making them a puppet. Currently, I am just expecting to loose all the territories once real war comes. Also, is there any big difference between liberating them in 1936 and 1938 (this is how far I currently am in the game...)?
 
Taswir said:
Hmm... haven't thought about that. I haven't been playing HOI II for a very long time, so I was wondering if you could enlighten me a bit on the benefits and drawbacks of making them a puppet. Currently, I am just expecting to loose all the territories once real war comes. Also, is there any big difference between liberating them in 1936 and 1938 (this is how far I currently am in the game...)?
in 38 they can't make many troops for urself, but anyway u gain 5% dissent liberating a nation, and etiopia don't have so many ic, so I don't liberate it when playing Italy.
 
dont liberate them. they have 6 ic and produce no dissent if you didnt fiddle with the political left/right slider. plus the dissent hit. And it will make the british move troops there even 1 div is enough.
 
Back in Rome...
WaroverinEthiopia.jpg

Soldiers march by a picture of Mussolini in now occupied Ethiopia

The Ethiopian campaign had been very fruitfull for the Italian armed forces. The superiority of the Italian army and airforce had been demonstrated, but it was also clear that they needed to receive new equipment before being able to take on the Western powers. The losses of the Ethiopian campaign were very light, since Reggia Aeronautica had broken the Ethiopians fighting spirit early on.

Reinforcement was completed on the 27th of March 1936 and Mussolini ordered the immediate upgrading of all the obsolete 1918 divisions. In late March, Il Duce was paying a visit to the minor parts of his empire visiting Dodekainos and Rhodes. There was a lot of excitement about the visit and the people were very enthusiastic about the achievements of the Italian armed forces in Ethiopia. However, the visits also displayed some problems with the attitudes of some of the locals.

Apparently, some of the indignious locals weren't understanding the greatness of Italy under Il Duce's rule and decided to show their dissatisfaction by robbing one of Mussolini's personal supply trucks. A big supply of Riesling (yes, a special present from Hitler :D ) was stolen. Mussolini was furious:

"I want you to find the traitors! Burn their crops and force them to drink some of that horrible, horrible British ale to state an example!"

His ADC was terrified: "... but Sir isn't this a time to show your mercifull side and just execute them?"

"Hmm... maybe you are right. Ok, then - let the traitors be executed to show the mercifulness of Il Duce. However, I want you to ensure that the rebellion is crushed!"

On a subsequent meeting in the Facist Grand Council, it was therefore decided to set up 5 military police brigades (serial run) to ensure supression of any alternative thinkers in Rhodes and Dodekainos. This would also help to ensure the cooperation of any future people that were rightfully included under the Italian rule. The finishing of the light cruiser and the submarine had left some production capacity available. It was therefore decided to expand the airbase in Tobruk (8 airbases in serial run) to ensure air supremacy when war was coming to Egypt.

In April, two infantry divisions were upgraded to 1936, and one police brigade was stationed in Rhodes followed by one in May. On the 9th of May Societa Montecatini proudly presented "Basic Machine Tools" to Mussolini helping to boost industrial output (available IC from 72 to 75) adding effectively the capacity of half a heavy cruiser of the Zara class. Mussolini was so pleased that he immediately ordered Societa Montecatini to contiue their efforts and develop "Improved Machine Tools". On the 14th of May the first of the ordered destroyers of the Navigatori class was laid down.

June was a very quiet month focused on bringing the I-plan to live. 2 infantry divisions were upgraded, which finished the upgrading of the First army in Turin with 5 infantry divisions and one mountaineer division. One additional police brigade was finished and stationed in Rome. On the research side, Macchi finished "Early fighter prototests" and presented a new fighter model to Mussolini - the Macchi 200 Saetta. Mussolini was thrilled about the merits of the new fighter. It is easy to see why when comparing it to the Fiat CR 42:

  • Maximum speed was 504 km/h compared with 343 km/h (near ground)
  • Rate of climb was 920 m/min compared with 71 m/min
  • Monoplane vs. biplane

Macchi200Saetta.jpg

The Macchi 200 Saetta (Lightning) was a great improvement over the Fiat CR42...

Although Mussolini was impressed about Macchi's efforts, he transfered the funding to Lancia and asked them to improve the transport capacity (develop Rear area supply dumps). The reason for this was that he was concerned that the current transport capacity would not be able to facilitate the future development of the armed forces (41 out of 112 TC currently used).

While rumours were going on that something was about to happen in Spain, the I-plan continued with the upgrade of two infantry divisions and the completion of one police brigade. The research side also showed great progress with Cantieri Navali Riunite drawing up the plans for what could be Italy's first aircraft carrier (Great War Air Carrier). Mussolini was however aware that this vessel would be no match for the far more advanced British aircraft carriers and decided to postpone production until more research had been carried out. He was especially sceptical about Cantieri Navali Riunite's lack of knowledge about aircrafts and therefore decided to put Macchi in charge of further research. Pietro Balbo also finished the "Trench warfare doctrine" and Fiat was asked to improve the current artillery brigades "develop Early Field artillery".

Elsewhere in Europe the clouds were gathering... It was about to be showdown in Spain!

Researchoverview-carriers2.jpg

The research in aircraft carrier starts to pick up pace, as Macchi is put in charge...
 
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Taswir said:
"I want you to find the traitors! Burn their crops and force them to drink some of that horrible, horrible British ale to state an example!"

:rofl: lol. great achievements in the spanish civil war eh? ;)
 
Lifeless: Have to admit that I am a lagers man myself :D Next update tomorrow with the promised great achievements in the Spanish civil war!

Let me know what you think of the AAR given that this is my first attempt. Always nice with some feedback :rolleyes:
 
This is great, absolutely great. Keep it up! (as the actress said to the bishop, heh heh)
 
Alexus said:
This is great, absolutely great. Keep it up! (as the actress said to the bishop, heh heh)
Thanks for the nice words... glad that you enjoy it. Next update later today on the great achievements of Corpo Truppe Volontarie! :D
 
La Guerra Civile Spagnola...
Spanishcivilwar.jpg


From 1934 to 1936, the Second Spanish Republic was governed by a center-right coalition that included the conservative Catholic Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA). During this time, there were general strikes in Valencia and Zaragoza, street conflicts in Madrid and Barcelona, and a miners' uprising in Asturias , which was put down forcefully by the troops commanded by General López Ochoa and the Legionnaires commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe, under the direction of Minister of War Diego Hidalgo.

After a series of governmental crises, the elections of February 16, 1936, brought to power a Popular Front government supported by the parties of the left and centre and opposed by those of the right. The new government was unstable, and on April 7, 1936, President Niceto Alcalá Zamora was deposed by the new Parliament, which named Prime Minister Manuel Azaña as the new President.

During this period of rising tensions, according to official sources, 330 people were assassinated and 1,511 were wounded in politically-related violence; records show 213 failed assassination attempts, 113 general strikes, and the destruction of 160 religious buildings. On July 12, 1936, José Castillo, a lieutenant in the Assault Guards and member of the Socialist Party, was murdered by a 'far right' group in Madrid. The following day a group of Assault Guards officers took revenge by murdering José Calvo Sotelo , a Member of Parliament and one of the leaders of the extreme anti-republican opposition.

JosCalvoSotelo.jpg

The murder of José Calvo Sotelo was the final incident that triggered the Spanish Civil War

SpanishStartingsiutation.jpg

The starting position for Nationalist Spain looks challenging...

The murder of José Calvo Sotelo was the final incident that triggered the Spanish civil war and made the people rise up to get rid of the communist yoke. Although there was public support for the revolution, the Republicans crushed any sign of rebellion in the cities and as a consequence, the Nationalists started the war without control of the major cities: Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Hitler quickly expressed his support to the Nationalist Spain and on the 21st of July agreed to send the Condor Legion to aid them in the war. The initial force consisted a Bomber Group of three squadrons of Ju-52 bombers; a Fighter Group with three squadrons of He-51 fighters; a Reconnaissance Group with two squadrons of He-99 and He-70 reconnaissance bombers; and a Seaplane Squadron of He-59 and He-60 floatplanes. The Condor Legion, under the command of General Hugo Sperrle, was an autonomous unit responsible only to Franco. The legion would eventually total nearly 12,000 men

CondorLegion2.jpg

The Condor Legion under the command of General Hugo Sperrle was a welcome aid to Nationalist Spain

While Great Britain and France chose not to get involved in the conflict, Russia decided to send material and volunteers to aid the Republicans on the 23rd of July. Mussolini was furious and spoke to the Facist Grand Council:

"Gentlement, we are facing a dire situation. The Spanish are finally revolting to get rid of the communist yoke once and for all and to form a facist government after the Italian model. The government has refused to give in to the rightful claims of the people and is clinging on to the power using brutal force to crush the rebellion. As if that was not enought the evil centre of communism - Russia - has decided to sent troops to aid the Republicans!

This intervention into Mare Nostrum cannot be accepted! Despite the fact that the Spanish people are obviously inferior to the Italians, there is Italian blood flowing in their veins. I will not remain passive while Italian blood is flowing onto the battlefiled! I therefore suggest that the Grand Council help our Spanish brothers by sending an expeditionary force - Corpo Truppe Volontarie!"


Mussolini's speach was received with applauses from the Facist Grand Council that gave Il Duce full rights to form Corpo Truppe Volontarie. It was decided that it should be led by the experienced Lt. General Bergonzoli and consist of four divisions of approximately 50,000 men in total:
  • "Littorio" (In English, Lictor) - a regular Italian army division which was also fully motorized
  • "Dio lo Vuole" (In English "God wants it")
  • "Fiamme Nere" (in English "Black Flames")
  • "Penne Nere" (in English "Black Feathers")

Although, Franco was very grateful for the Italian aid, he was nervous that the achievements of the Italian elite forces would make it seem as if his forces were merely observers. He therefore asked Lt. General Bergonzoli not to engage in combat in order to allow the Nationalist forces to have some victories for themselves. Mussolini was furious and threathened with withdrawing Corpo Truppe Volontarie. However, he decided to postpone his decision due to his infinite love for the Spanish people.

RepublicanSpainposter.jpg

Poster from Republican Spain trying to gather suport for repelling the Italian "invasion"

It was soon clear that the Nationalist forces were inferior to the Republican and their Soviet comrades. In a stunning series of victories, the Republicans managed to take Saragossa, Huesca and Guadalajara on the 28th and 29th of July. In the Nationalist camp there was total panick and rumours of mass desertion. It was clear that Italian forces were required to turn the situation around. Bergonzoli was summoned and quickly decided to launch a counteroffensive in Southern Spain.

The achievements of the Italian troops were stunning. On the 9th of August they captured Huelva and just 11 days later Albacete fell. A large Republican force was now encircled in Badajoz. Faced with the superior Italian forces aided by the German Condor legion they wisely chose to lay down their arms on the 24th of August with more than 50,000 Republican soldiers walking in to captivity. Franco now chose to start an offensive in the North, while the Italians were finishing business in the South. Nationalist forces captured Saragossa on the 26th of August, while the Italians took control of Murcia. Almeira was now the only territory in the South still under Republican control. After a short siege with heavy bombardment from Italian and German bombers, the defenders surrendered uncoditionally on the 9th of September with another 50,000 Republican soldiers entering captivity.

Italians_leave_Spain_for_home.jpg

Italian soldiers march into Badajoz after their stunning achievements

Franco was now feeling much more comfortable that the Nationalists would be victorious in the end and again wanted to downtone the Italian share in their victory. He therefore asked Bergonzoli to remain in the South, while he led the offensive in the North. With the Republicans now severly weakened, the Nationalist forces were more successful. After heavy fighting the Nationalist had forced the Republicans to retreat to Bilbao and Huesca on the 12th of December. However, due to the difficult terrain and lack of specialized mountaineers it was not until May 10th that the Republicans were totally defeated. Franco was overflowing with gratitude for the Italian intervention and praised the achievements of the Italian soldiers. As a small token of his gratitude he handed over the blueprints for a basic interceptor and basic field artillery that had been found in the ruins of the communist party building in Badajoz... Corpo Truppe Volontarie returned home and were celebrated as the true victors of the Spanish civil war.

(The details on the different events in Italy during the civil war will be provided in a separate post...)
 
lifeless said:
good job. great update! so are you allied with nat spain?
Nope, I considered creating an alliance with National Spain, but chose not to in order to keep a historical setting until mid 1940. I therefore didn't send any more troops to Spain than the regular Intervention event (but they were historically under Bergonzoli's command). You might wonder how I know that it was the Italian forces that took all those provinces in Southern Spain... well, I guess that's pretty obvious. Those Spaniards would never have managed by themselves :D
 
Great AAR i will be following it :)

on a side note : the belgian army didn't use the CR.42 it was never implemented before the invasion cause our governement a) wasnt expecting a violation of our neutrality (b) the Air chief favoured the Hawker Hurricane I ( wich where deployed but got destroyed on the ground in the first hour of the invasion
 
Dhimmi said:
Great AAR i will be following it :)

on a side note : the belgian army didn't use the CR.42 it was never implemented before the invasion cause our governement a) wasnt expecting a violation of our neutrality (b) the Air chief favoured the Hawker Hurricane I ( wich where deployed but got destroyed on the ground in the first hour of the invasion

Thanks a lot... :D I will post the next update sometime during this week. In terms of the CR. 42, there is actually quite a few sources mentioning the CR. 42 in action in Belgium. I have very limited knowledge about the Belgian air force, so I am not quite sure what to believe... :confused:

Take a look at this passage for example: "In late September 1939 a Belgian purchasing mission arrived in Turin. The mission was charged with negotiating the purchase of 34 (alternative 40) fighters to meet the urgent re-equipment needs of its air arm's IIème Group de Chasse (Fighter Group). The negotiations were completed in early December and resulted in the second foreign contract of the CR.42. The first CR.42s arrived at the Evere Établissements Généraux de l'Aéronautique Militaire for assembly on 6 March 1940 still carrying Italian camouflage.

On 10 May Major Jacques Lamarche, commander of the IIème Group, was sensing a German attack and the Air Force personnel were roused at 01:15. The base was evacuated in an orderly fashion to Landing Field No 22 at Brustem, which was nearer the battle line, and close to the German border.
At 04:l5, the first of twenty-three Fiat CR.42s of the two Escadrilles took to the air led by R-43 flown by Major Lamarche. The first Stukas appeared overhead just as the last seven aircraft were about to take off and two CR.42s were hit (R-2 & R-l4)."


Detailed account of Belgian CR 42's...

falco_37.jpg

A Belgian CR. 42???
 
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thanks for the info to sad the link doesnt work ( req password) anywa its quite strange cause the i found said that the II fighter group were actually flying Foster Gladiators

anyway your sparked my curiosity and i will make a few phone calls to try to find out what happend with the CR.42 ( the pics is indeed a CR.42 with belgian colours) :confused:

to be continued as well :)
 
Corrected a typo

Alimentazione Crescente 1936 (growing power)...
Mussolinicheeredbythepeople.jpg

Mussolini cheered by the people from his balcony...

While the Spanish civil war was raging the effort to prepare Italy for serious war continued with unreduced speed. Significant resources were allocated to the upgrade of the many obsolete 1918 divisions, and the factories were kept under tight control by Mussolini to keep up production. 2 infantry divisions were upgraded in August 1936 and one of the brigades of military divisions were deployed.

On the 2nd of September a status meeting on the I-plan was held in the Fascist Grand Council. Mussolini opened the meeting:

"Gentlemen, we are gathered here today to discuss the progress of the I-plan. The war in Spain is going well and proving the true value of the Italian soldiers. However, it has also highlighted the significant difference in performance between our 1936 divisions and 1918 divisions. It is therefore clear that the outmost discipline has to be manifested in keeping up with the I-plan"

Chief of the Army Alberto Pariani: "Il Duce, the Italian army has not starting raising new divisions, as we are still waiting for technological breakthroughs in designing new equipment. However, we have raised 5 brigades of military police - the last one is deployed today. In terms of brigades we are now only missing 6 brigades in order to comply with the I-plan. Additionally, we have been upgrading a large share of our obsolete divisions. Upgrading is progressing well, but we could use more resources if possible... (Pariani was looking nervously down)"

"Hmmm... Thank you for the update Pariani. I think that you have done a good job, although I want to speed up the upgrade of the 1918 divisions. I will therefore agree to allocate the industrial capacity that has now been freed up from the military police brigades to upgrades"

"Il Duce, I have one question... What kind of brigades would you like the army to construct? Should we raise more artillery brigades?"

"Pariani... you have an awful habit of speaking when you are not spoken to and asking several questions at once! Let that not happen again or you will be spending the rest of your days in Ethiopia! Nevertheless, your question is fair and I will be so kind to grant you an answer."

Mussolini clapped his hands and the doors to the meeting room were opened. The Chief Engineer of Lancia entered the room carrying a large stack of technical drawings and photographs. He started explaining...

"Il Duce... (bowing in outmost respect) and gentlemen, Lancia has in deepest secrecy been researching into improving our troops' ability to force the obstacles of nature. Our results are very preliminary and we don't expect to finish our research before mid November. However, we have developed various equipment that will enable the construction of pontoon bridges, fortifications etc. This will significantly improve our troops' ability to cross rivers and defend themselves against attacks!"

Engineerbridge.jpg

One of the pictures presented by Lancia...

The whole room was applauding and shouting bravo! Mussolini was clearly pleased and thumped the small and skinny engineer in the back so that he had a fit of couching. Mussolini looked around at the members of the Fascist Grand Council.

"Based on Lancia's excellent research, we will begin to raise 4 engineer brigades as soon as possible. It is obvious why engineer brigades will come in very handy when raising fortifications, but where can we use the improved capabilities to cross rivers? Even though, the battle plans for the coming war has not been developed I would like you all to think about this river..."

Mussolini pulled down a big map with the title "Il Nilo" :D

September saw the finishing of the last military police brigade, the upgrade of 3 infantry divisions and the completion of the last of the Navigatori destroyers. The airbase in Tobruk was expanded so that it was now able to facilitate 3 squadrons. Regia Aeronautica had so far not been receiving a lot of resources, so Mussolini decided to construct a squadron of naval bombers to ensure the compliance with the I-plan.

October saw the upgrade of two additional infantry divisions and the completion of FIAT's research into "Early artillery". Mussolini was very pleased and asked them to develop "Basic cavalry division". The reason for this was that although he disliked cavalry he had a vision of one day having fully motorized divisions.

In November, Societa Montecatini developed “Improved Machine tools”, which boosted available IC to 78. Mussolini immediately ordered the development of “Advanced Machine tools”. Lancia finished their research into "Rear Area Supply dumps", which both helped improving the transport capacity (TC 117 to 129) and enabled the construction of engineer brigades. Mussolini immediately ordered the construction of 4 brigades of engineers (serial run) as agreed in the Fascist Grand Council. Balbo was asked to look into “Operational Destruction Doctrine”. Additionally, one infantry division was upgraded.

In December the findings of FIAT was put into action, as 3 artillery brigades were upgraded to "Early artillery". Additionally, two infantry divisions were upgraded.

Status of the Italian armed forces by end of 1936...
Statusoverview1936v.jpg


Only 5 divisions missing before the entire army is up to 1936 standard :cool: ...
Upgradestatus-1936end2.jpg
 
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Great start to the AAR, Taswir; I am enjoying it greatly. Well written and researched.

Vann