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[QUOTE="roverS3, post: 24248128, member: 741650"while @Bullfilter would prefer the highest priority to be given to Artillery, before anything else.[/QUOTE]
Actually, I was really suggesting artillery should receive the largest cut, with economies taken. My real preference is for mobility now, even though I doubt you can produce two mech corps at once. I think quicker (armour and light armour with mot, SP art, TDs etc) would be useful either for delaying defence or later exploitation of breakthroughs. I’d put the extra priority there, but still keep the whole force we’ll-rounded. More detail later when I’ve had a chance to think it through.
 
Actually, I was really suggesting artillery should receive the largest cut, with economies taken. My real preference is for mobility now, even though I doubt you can produce two mech corps at once. I think quicker (armour and light armour with mot, SP art, TDs etc) would be useful either for delaying defence or later exploitation of breakthroughs. I’d put the extra priority there, but still keep the whole force we’ll-rounded. More detail later when I’ve had a chance to think it through.
I never planned to produce two brand new Mech Corps, but rather two Mot corps, while the Cavalry continues to be gradually upgraded to Mech. Mech is great for maximising both speed and firepower, but it's a huge drain on the supply network, over time it will consume more supplies than Arm, which is why Mech will be limited to the Cavalry (2 corps, updating from Mot is relatively cheap), and the Guards Tank Divisions (Armx2, Mot->Mech, SP Art, Eng not to be confused with the Heavy Tank Guards Divisions). I think two corps of Mot might be overly optimistic though, especially if Artillery spending has to increase, and we also want to train 3 more Tank Divisions (Arm, Motx2, TD, Eng)... so the order of importance is Artillery, Tank Divisions, Motorised Divisions, H Arm? Take your time... no need to rush things.
 
So now the question remains, what should the order of priority be for Red Army spending on the European Theatre? Tanks - Motorised - Artillery - Heavy Guards Tanks, the other way around? To set up a proper new production schedule, the order of priority should be clarified, either through an absolute ranking, or by awarding a score of importance to each of these various elements (say you have 10 points, how do you spread them around? You can use decimals if you want to be pedantic, or precise?). From what I gathered from your comments, it seems @Finshades is leaning towards prioritising the tanks and Motorised, then Artillery, and the Heavy tanks as an afterthought, while @Bullfilter would prefer the highest priority to be given to Artillery, before anything else. @Eurasia seems more balanced, though that might just be an impression. Final words, before the decision is made?

Personally, I think artillery should be the main priority. If Germany declares war (and as noted, Hitler is crazy enough to launch an attack in the winter), even though they do have a large amount of armor the majority of their line divisions will still be soft infantry, against which artillery will be very necessary - otherwise, the German infantry will have a large advantage against our rifle divisions and simply advance across the entire front. While we do need mobile forces to make an attack, we can choose whether or not to launch an offensive if we feel underequipped, whereas we have no choice whether or not to fight a defensive war.
 
Right now the highest priority to me is Aircraft. It can be used to blast advancing tanks to pieces, knock the German's own Air Force out of the air, destroy enemy supplies, and can be quickly shifted to the Far East if need me.
 
Personally, I think artillery should be the main priority. If Germany declares war (and as noted, Hitler is crazy enough to launch an attack in the winter), even though they do have a large amount of armor the majority of their line divisions will still be soft infantry, against which artillery will be very necessary - otherwise, the German infantry will have a large advantage against our rifle divisions and simply advance across the entire front. While we do need mobile forces to make an attack, we can choose whether or not to launch an offensive if we feel underequipped, whereas we have no choice whether or not to fight a defensive war.
So that's two for Artillery before anything else (within reason). You make some good points there, though one always wonders whether the best defence isn't offence.

Right now the highest priority to me is Aircraft. It can be used to blast advancing tanks to pieces, knock the German's own Air Force out of the air, destroy enemy supplies, and can be quickly shifted to the Far East if need me.
Duly noted. Aeroplane production will remain constant, or it may go up somewhat, we could also train more Airborne troops as well. So production goals outlined by 'Chteyre' should be matched or surpassed. The only caveat is Air Base space... though if the front widens, moving east about 150km, we have a lot more space within range for our light Aeroplanes. Larger Air bases take time to build (one level at a time, though you can drop the first level on the go), and to keep planes operational you want the support infrastructure. In any way, by 1942, we will have a massive Air Force of 65-70 Aviation Divisions. If war is declared, spending can go up as even more industry will become available.
 
So that's two for Artillery before anything else (within reason). You make some good points there, though one always wonders whether the best defence isn't offence.

If you want to go on the offensive, you'll still need the artillery to push German infantry out of their foxholes. Armored spearheads are nice and all, but without capable infantry divisions to take and hold ground behind them they'll soon run out of steam - and, in the worst case, luck! :confused:
 
If you want to go on the offensive, you'll still need the artillery to push German infantry out of their foxholes. Armored spearheads are nice and all, but without capable infantry divisions to take and hold ground behind them they'll soon run out of steam - and, in the worst case, luck! :confused:
I’m always an artillery fan, just didn’t think 65 regiments before May was feasible.

To the Committee: I’d get the minimum of the other stuff you decide you want and spend what’s left on arty. If not a corps of mot, then a few more divisions of it, anyway. And I thought there was already enough to hold ground - mobile formations are very good for things like plugging gaps quickly from reserve, a quick counter-attack, or holding a line to let slower units fall back to establish the next line then being able to escape without being cut off. So long as the AI thinks of it. ;) A classic screening role in the withdrawal. And, as mentioned above, useful later too, especially when the switch is thrown to strategic offensive. I reckon the cake has been baked: time for some more icing! :D
 
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I apologize for being late on giving my thoughts, I have been kept busy with wedding preparations. Glad to see lots of discussion and great ideas!

Dividing 10 points around, I think ARM gets a 4, ART gets 3, MOT gets 2 and HGTD gets 1. ARM has both mobility and firepower, and can do well even with the support of mere foot infantry in a pinch. That foot infantry does desperately need ART to give it more staying power and the ability to conduct at least some attacks, so the expansion of artillery takes second priority. MOT is very helpful with tanks to facilitate breakthroughs and encirclements, but far less useful without armoured spearheads, hence the low score. While I love big and heavy death machines as much as the next person, I think HGTDs are prohibitively expensive and the divisions we already have must do for now. Our enemy does not have massive fortifications, so I believe we can do without for the time being. Long term, they are absolutely very useful, so perhaps one should be built to keep up the slow expansion and keep up the practicals.

Of course, all this does assume our commanders can utilize their troops to their maximum potential. If one considers that, perhaps heavy tanks would be a very worthwhile investment, but I still stand by my ranking. Building an army based on slow, heavily armoured behemoths is a very risky strategy against an army that was built on maneuver warfare.
 
20th of September 1941, Production strategy for a 1942 offensive.
The 20th of September 1941, Vologda, 2,1°C, 1pm Moscow Time,

After a day of discussions, calculations and input from our external advisers, a comprehensive production strategy has been drawn up by the various members of the Committee, under the guidance of 'Sem' and yours truly. First, I would like to thank our external Committee members for their contributions, especially our external Military strategists: Veteran Red Army strategist Bullfilter , Air Power proponent and computing specialist Eurasia , Schwerpunkt aficionado and tank commander Sergeant SSRFinshades , and Second Lieutenant, commander of a Heavy Artillery Battery, nuclearslurpee . (These are not their real names, and the ranks are honorary...).

Now, down to business. There is still some disagreement both between internal and between external Committee members, but there are also several clear points on which our external members, and most of our ex-Generals seem to agree:
  1. The focus needs to remain on the European Theatre.
  2. We need to be able to bleed the Germans if they attack during winter.
  3. Air Power remains vital, i.e. no or minimal cuts to the VVS production quota.
  4. Additional Heavy Armour is not a priority right now, as two Divisions are already in the field and other things should be prioritised.
That said, there is still some friction on the balance between expanding our mobile forces and supplying our Rifle Divisions with Artillery. The more recent arguments have somewhat swayed the Committee in favour increased Artillery production, but a compromise is needed as more mobile forces would be hugely beneficial as well. Therefor the following changes in the training and production schedule have been decided upon, and will be implemented starting today:
  1. Production and training for all but one of the Mountain Rifle Divisions, as well as the Heavy Tank Guards Division, has been put on hold. This means that they will be deployed eventually, but they will be trained one Division at a time.
  2. Overall production of equipment for new units was reduced further in order to cover 90% of the large need for Upgrades for existing units.
  3. VVS production will be maintained around the 60 IC mark, producing Aeroplanes for 6 Aviation Divisions simultaneously.
  4. Infrastructure, Air Base, and Fortification Construction remain untouched, as well as Radar Station, and Navy production.
  5. Production of T-34s for a new Tank Division (Arm, Motx2, Eng, TD) has started.
  6. Training of Sapper Regiments for 10ya Armiya's Rifle Divisions remains unchanged. The production of light tanks for, and training of, Amur Tiger Cavalry Divisions will resume only once all of 10ya Armiya's Divisions have a Sapper Regiment attached.
  7. Production of Half-Tracks will remain at the same level, re-equipping 5 Regiments at the same time until all 20 Motorised Cavalry and Guards Regiments have been upgraded to Armoured Cavalry and Armoured Guards.
  8. The two Rifle units which will fill out the ranks of XXXIII SK in mid October will be replaced in the training and production schedule by serial Motorised Rifle Division, doubling the amount of Motorised Divisions in training. (This should allow for a partial new corps by May 1942)
  9. After a last minute plea from Sergeant SSRFinshades, the decision was made to try and shoehorn another Tank Division into the production schedule as soon as possible, with the caveat of maintaining Artillery production at a level high enough to supply at least 15 Divisions with Heavy Artillery once that level is reached.
  10. All additional IC will be used to increase the production of Artillery, this should mean a significant increase in Artillery spending as soon as the need for upgrades goes down.
Besides these production changes, a few small organisational changes have also been implemented:
  1. III. Amur Tiger Cavalry Corps has been formed, and currently counts two Amur Tiger Cavalry Divisions, both located to the North East of Lake Khanka.
  2. 46. GSD (Mtnx3) has been peeled off from XXII. GSK, the rest of which has started boarding trains to the Turkish border, where it will fill out the current holes in the border, as the threat from Sweden, and even northern Norway is minimal compared to what could happen if we came to be at war with Turkey. 46. GSD will be tasked to take Kirkenes in cas it is German when they declare war on us. This would all but cut off supply to the whole northernmost part of Norway, making any German offensive into Finland unlikely to say the least.
  3. A new Motorised Army has been formed, 11ya Motorizovannaya Armiya will be comprised of the existing I. KK, XIV MSK, and XXX MSK. It has been placed within the Armoured Army Group as proposed by ex-Chief Of the Army, Field Marshall Tuchatjevskij.
With all this settled, there is once again a clear plan for the future, while we wait, our Red Army will grow stronger. Thanks to the valued external members, and our internal Analysts, 1942 will see us more prepared than ever to face the Fascists of this world.

I will now retire to write the next report, due tomorrow,

Greetings,

'Odin'


 
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If you want to go on the offensive, you'll still need the artillery to push German infantry out of their foxholes. Armored spearheads are nice and all, but without capable infantry divisions to take and hold ground behind them they'll soon run out of steam - and, in the worst case, luck! :confused:
A good point in favour of more Artillery... and yes, luck is also important, though that is something we can't manufacture in our many factories, not yet anyway...

I’m always an artillery fan, just didn’t think 65 regiments before May was feasible.
Well, I guess it's feasible, but to the cost of the vast majority of all other Army production...

I apologize for being late on giving my thoughts, I have been kept busy with wedding preparations. Glad to see lots of discussion and great ideas!
Like wars, weddings need to be well prepared... congratulations to whomever is getting married.

Dividing 10 points around, I think ARM gets a 4, ART gets 3, MOT gets 2 and HGTD gets 1. ARM has both mobility and firepower, and can do well even with the support of mere foot infantry in a pinch. That foot infantry does desperately need ART to give it more staying power and the ability to conduct at least some attacks, so the expansion of artillery takes second priority. MOT is very helpful with tanks to facilitate breakthroughs and encirclements, but far less useful without armoured spearheads, hence the low score. While I love big and heavy death machines as much as the next person, I think HGTDs are prohibitively expensive and the divisions we already have must do for now. Our enemy does not have massive fortifications, so I believe we can do without for the time being. Long term, they are absolutely very useful, so perhaps one should be built to keep up the slow expansion and keep up the practicals.
Interesting proposal, though I should mention that T-34s and KV-122s share the same practical knowledge and improvements to mass manufacturing techniques for one will be applicable on the other, ergo, H Arm was temporarily shelved in favour of first producing more T-34s to fill out 2ya Tankovaya Armiya.

Of course, all this does assume our commanders can utilize their troops to their maximum potential. If one considers that, perhaps heavy tanks would be a very worthwhile investment, but I still stand by my ranking. Building an army based on slow, heavily armoured behemoths is a very risky strategy against an army that was built on maneuver warfare.
This is, of course, quite a dangerous assumption to make, there isn't much more we can do about that though... we give them clear objectives, and units with which to strive for them, we can't go around looking over their shoulders and taking over hundreds of Divisions all of the time. I'm sure they'll learn to use their units better through combat experience... all remains to be seen...
 
Like wars, weddings need to be well prepared... congratulations to whomever is getting married.


Interesting proposal, though I should mention that T-34s and KV-122s share the same practical knowledge and improvements to mass manufacturing techniques for one will be applicable on the other, ergo, H Arm was temporarily shelved in favour of first producing more T-34s to fill out 2ya Tankovaya Armiya.


This is, of course, quite a dangerous assumption to make, there isn't much more we can do about that though... we give them clear objectives, and units with which to strive for them, we can't go around looking over their shoulders and taking over hundreds of Divisions all of the time. I'm sure they'll learn to use their units better through combat experience... all remains to be seen...

The one getting married is yours truly, which means that even though the actual date is still three weeks away, planning does take up a significant amount of my free time, meaning vastly reduced opportunities at world conquest... But, to use a turn of phrase from a great AARtist, She Who Must Be Obeyed is of course right in insisting rigorous planning takes place and as such, I must prioritize accordingly.

My lack of time put in HOI3 is showing, apparently. Taking into consideration that they share practicals, HARM seems less and less necessary, but it might be shortsighted of me to propose shelving them entirely. Especially considering the last point, ie. if the front does become a meat grinder with an eerie similarity to the battlefields of 1917 and 1918, the HARM may prove to be exactly what we need. Still, I must stand by what I wrote earlier regarding the priorities, if for nothing else then to keep up the appearance that I have not lost hope for our commanders' ability to lead their troops with intelligence and competence.
 
Sounds like a good plan. You will have time to slowly adjust as the forthcoming struggle takes place. You are doing your best to provide the commanding generals with good combined arms formations. We hope they make good use of them.

Who has responsibility for staging the show trials of Fascist war criminals? ;)
 
The one getting married is yours truly, which means that even though the actual date is still three weeks away, planning does take up a significant amount of my free time, meaning vastly reduced opportunities at world conquest... But, to use a turn of phrase from a great AARtist, She Who Must Be Obeyed is of course right in insisting rigorous planning takes place and as such, I must prioritize accordingly.

My lack of time put in HOI3 is showing, apparently. Taking into consideration that they share practicals, HARM seems less and less necessary, but it might be shortsighted of me to propose shelving them entirely. Especially considering the last point, ie. if the front does become a meat grinder with an eerie similarity to the battlefields of 1917 and 1918, the HARM may prove to be exactly what we need. Still, I must stand by what I wrote earlier regarding the priorities, if for nothing else then to keep up the appearance that I have not lost hope for our commanders' ability to lead their troops with intelligence and competence.
Congrats sir. A sound appreciation of the marital situation. :)
 
21st of September 1941, 'Odin', 10-day report #172
The 21st of September 1941, Vologda, 1,5°C, 10am Moscow Time,

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 12th and the 21st of September 1941,

by 'Odin'

Army:
3 additional Artillery Regiments have been deployed to 6. SD, 61. SD and 17. SD on the German border, the commanders happily received the modern 152mm guns into their Rifle Divisions.
101. MGvSP, the Motorised Guards Regiment of Maj. General Shtern's 1. GvTD, I GvTK, 2ya Tankovaya Armiya, Armoured Army Group, Moskva HQ/STAVKA. has finished retraining with, and received, it's new half-tracks. It's our first Guards tank division with Amoured Guards Riflemen.
Our second Amurskaya Tigrovaya Kavaleriyskaya Diviziya (L Arm, Mot, Engx2) has been deployed to the Far East, a new independent corps, III ATKK was set up to command both existing and future Divisions of this type.
Another Brigade of 'Mounted Security Comrades', 2. NKGBF Konnaya Brigada, has been deployed to Commissionner of State Security 2nd Class Provalov's NKGBFinland, 1st Army Group, Leningrad HQ.
Training of 3 Mountain Rifle Divisions and 10. TTGvD has been put on hold.

Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):
Front line troops: 656 / 1.968.000
Support troops: 295 / 295.000
Total fighting troops: 951 / 2.263.000
Headquarters: 63 / 63.000
Total Army Personnel: 1.014 / 2.326.000
Officers: 92.014 + / 100.990 needed / 91,112 %
Active Leaders: 268 / 155 more available
Half-track production continues, both Cavalry Regiments of Maj. General Kurochkin P.A.'s 3. KD, I KK, 11ya Mot. Armiya, Armoured Army Group, Moskva HQ/STAVKA have already started training and preparing for the arrival of their new vehicles.
Orders have gone out for more T-34s and SU-100s, as a new Tank Division (Arm, Motx2, TD), 11. TD starts training.

No follow-up orders for Artillery, other ATKD's, or 'Mounted Security Comrades' as production switches to equipping existing Rifle Regiments with the new Light Anti-Tank Guns.
Army Leadership:
General Chuikov SK4, LW, DD, WS (6ya Armiya) has been given command of the newly created 11ya Motorizovannaya Armiya, Armoured Army Group, Moskva HQ/STAVKA.
After a promotion, General Bagramian SK3, LW, OD (I. KK) was placed in command of the now leaderless 6ya Armiya, 2nd Army Group, Moskva HQ/STAVKA.
Now promoted to Lt. General Korovnikov SK3, Trk (185. MSD) has been moved up to lead I. KK, 11ya Motorizovannaya Armiya, Armoured Army Group, Moskva HQ/STAVKA.
New Maj. General Grechko SK3 was appointed commander of 185. MSD, I. KK, 11ya Motorizovannaya Armiya, Armoured Army Group, Moskva HQ/STAVKA.

Newly commissioned Lt. General Poplavski SK3, LW was sent to the Far East to command the newly created III. ATKK, Far Eastern Theatre.
New Maj. General Ruckoy SK2, Cdo was given command of the new 2. ATKD, III. ATKK, Far Eastern Theatre.


After being called back from Red Army retirement, now Senior Major for State Security Belous SK1, WS will be leading the new 2. NKGBF Konnaya Brigada, NKGBF, 1st Army Group, Leningrad HQ.
Air Force:
No changes to VVS, nor Navy Air Fleet numbers for the last 10 days.
Navy:
No changes to Navy numbers for the last 10 days.
Politics / International:
The Norwegian Front
Norway (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 84,9 =
Germany (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 82,5 =
GNW41-09-21N-min.jpeg

German troops continue their march to the North along the coast, with their capture of Kolvereid, and Bronnoysund, they are 195km north of Trondheim, and still 300km from Narvik.
GNW41-09-21S-min.jpeg

While the Wehrmacht is busy in the north, the Norwegians, despite losing Honefoss, have continued pushing West in the south, reaching Skien, 90km from Kristiansand.
Meanwhile, Axis forces are rapidly moving south along the Swedish border, they have now reached Rena, increasing both the speed and ease with which they can move troops in and out through Sweden, and the likelihood of them approaching Oslo from the East and catching the capital between two pincers. Despite the Norwegian advance, the situation is steadily deteriorating for Norway.
British North Africa Front
United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 77,6
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,4
BNAF41-09-21-min.jpeg

Facing no more supply issues, the British tanks continued rapidly pushing back the demoralised, and out of supply, Axis forces along the Mediterranean coast, followed closely by Infantry further inland. The old border was reached at Khalij as Sallum, and British tanks are now a mere 75km from Tobruch, they have outrun their supply train once again, though, but this only means that there will be a short break in the offensive as supply is re-established and HQs move up towards the front to remain in radio range.
More units continue to be shipped into the area, both from the Home Islands and from East Africa. If the Italians ever re-establish supply here, they will face quite a few more British troops than they did only months ago. North Africa seems to have the government's attention right now...
The RAF has started it's own anti-Italian operation. After basing a wing of old Strategic Bombers in Malta, it has bombed Roma no less than 6 times, destroying the Italian capital's Industry, and reducing it's resource stockpiles to dust. The fact that only a few bombers were lost, and that organisation remains high, tells us that they were never intercepted by the Regia Aeronautica...
French North Africa Front
France is a Government in exile.
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 79,4
FNAF41-09-21-min.jpeg

The last remaining port in what used to be French Morocco has been captured, with the fall of Tamanar into Italian hands, the 'Armée de l'Afrique' is doomed to captivity and starvation. Cut off from supplies or the prospect of evacuation, all the bulk of the French Army can do now is wait for Italian troops to reach them and surrender. There are no more bullets, no more food, no more hope, just the Desert. 8 Divisions, one of the Belgian, another elite Chasseurs Alpins, and another, a Motorised light Cavalry unit, have made it to the end of this hopeless struggle. They have reached the end of their rout and managed not to be overrun by the enemy, until they now face certain death crossing the Sahara, or Italian captivity.
The French Navy has fled to the port of Dakar, again taking with it no ground forces despite the presence of two Transport Flotilla's. They will face more supply shortages there, and may be out of action for the rest of the war.
Industry:
Working Industrial Capacity / available capacity: 240 / 324
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 70,61 / 78,07
Reinforcement: 3,50 / 3,93
Supplies: 27,00 / 45,03
Production: 193,14 / 227,11 (the Licensed MP remains mostly unfunded, as well as three Mountain Rifle Divisions and 10. TTGvD)
Consumer Goods: 29,16 / 29,16​
Stockpiles:
Energy: Maximum tonnes +
Metal: Maximum tonnes +
Rares: 41.442 tonnes +
Crude: Maximum barrels +
Supplies: 42.374 tonnes -
Fuel: 99.413 barrels -
Money: 2.105 -​

Intelligence:
Spy numbers, spies in (active / added / lost / caught by us)
France (Supporting our Party / Counterespionage): 5 / 0 / 0 / 0
{ Germany (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }
{ Japan (/): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 }​
UK (Laying low) : 10 / 1 / 0 / 0
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Total: 15 / 1 / 0 / 1
Reserves: 0
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,65 (a new spy every 10 days)
The GRU added another spy to our dormant UK operation. In the Soviet Union, a spy from Hunagry was caught
Research:
No completed Research Projects, no new projects started.​


Statistics:
National Unity: 83,241 =
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.108.000
Men To reinforce(need): 6.000
Men To mobilise(need): See above
Monthly gain: 48.200 Men (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 7 days)​
No changes in Party Popularity for the last 10 days.
Party Organisation:
- Communist Party: 82,32 (+0,29)
- Trotskyite: 8,60 (-0,1)
- Bukharinite: 3,70 (-0,1)

- Octobrist: 4,30 (-0,1)
- Trudoviks: 1,00 (-0,1)
- Social-Revolutionary: 0,00 =
- Kadets: 0,00 =

- Tsarists: 0,00 =
- NTS: 0,00 =
- POA: 0,00 =​

This Information is accurate on the morning of the 21st of September 1941, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'​
 
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The situation in North Africa continues to develop in favour of the British. Too late for the French, sadly, but it seems they have now decided the situation in the Mediterranean is no longer tolerable and there is little doubt about the outcome. The bombardment of Rome is a nice piece of work, too, and seems to signify the start of a campaign to crush the morale and capabilities of the Italian home front. I wonder if the RN will deploy its major fleets en masse to search and destroy what is left of the Italian navy? That would leave the Mediterranean virtually uncontested and would allow the Allies to conduct amphibious assaults with ease.

Congrats sir. A sound appreciation of the marital situation. :)

My thanks!
 
The one getting married is yours truly, which means that even though the actual date is still three weeks away, planning does take up a significant amount of my free time, meaning vastly reduced opportunities at world conquest... But, to use a turn of phrase from a great AARtist, She Who Must Be Obeyed is of course right in insisting rigorous planning takes place and as such, I must prioritize accordingly.
I wish you a long and happy marriage, but before that, a well-planned and memorable wedding.

Taking into consideration that they share practicals, HARM seems less and less necessary, but it might be shortsighted of me to propose shelving them entirely. Especially considering the last point, ie. if the front does become a meat grinder with an eerie similarity to the battlefields of 1917 and 1918, the HARM may prove to be exactly what we need. Still, I must stand by what I wrote earlier regarding the priorities, if for nothing else then to keep up the appearance that I have not lost hope for our commanders' ability to lead their troops with intelligence and competence.
Sounds like a good plan. You will have time to slowly adjust as the forthcoming struggle takes place. You are doing your best to provide the commanding generals with good combined arms formations. We hope they make good use of them.
If our commanders prove incapable of piercing German lines, the front will become a meat grinder, in which case H Arm will be very handy on the defensive, but for now, we'll give our commanders the benefit of the doubt and offer them tools to be a bit more pro-active.

Who has responsibility for staging the show trials of Fascist war criminals? ;)
I guess we could get some drama students from Leningrad University... I'm sure they can make them into quite a show, in collaboration with the NKGB and the Red Army of course.

The situation in North Africa continues to develop in favour of the British. Too late for the French, sadly, but it seems they have now decided the situation in the Mediterranean is no longer tolerable and there is little doubt about the outcome. The bombardment of Rome is a nice piece of work, too, and seems to signify the start of a campaign to crush the morale and capabilities of the Italian home front. I wonder if the RN will deploy its major fleets en masse to search and destroy what is left of the Italian navy? That would leave the Mediterranean virtually uncontested and would allow the Allies to conduct amphibious assaults with ease.
Well, the two Royal Marines Divisions in the area have reached Tel Aviv, where landing craft have been waiting for them... maybe the British will launch some amphibious operations in the Med pretty soon, though it's anyone's guess where exactly...
 
So now the question remains, what should the order of priority be for Red Army spending on the European Theatre? ARM - Motorised+SpART - Motorised+SpART - Heavy Guards Tanks?
I'd opt for a fast army, so I'd double-up on the wheeled infantry and probably skip heavies by adding TDs to some of the ARM-divisions. imo, Engineers are great if you command them but under the A.I. may be more waste than not?
 
I'd opt for a fast army, so I'd double-up on the wheeled infantry and probably skip heavies by adding TDs to some of the ARM-divisions. imo, Engineers are great if you command them but under the A.I. may be more waste than not?
Interesting theory on Engineers, I'd like to think they are still useful in the hands of the AI, though not in the same way as with a human player.
With the AI, Eng makes more sense as a Brigade that gives a unit extra mobility in rough terrain, as in the Far East, where all the Divisions will soon have Engineers. A secondary advantage is the shorter time needed to dig in, which can be really helpful if the AI is moving a lot of units around and the units that stop moving could really benefit from digging in very quickly. For tank and mobile units they are a must imo as they somewhat reduce the terrain penalties when the AI inevitably decides to send tanks into Urban combat, or some other kind of unsuitable terrain.
Engineers do more than just helping units cross rivers and blow up fortifications. Maybe the cost isn't justified? It's a tricky thing to do the math on as there are many variables, some of which depend on the AIs actions, or even the weather.

As for the fast army... I'm working on that... though Artillery also remains high up in the priority list. See the 20th of September 1941, Production strategy for a 1942 offensive.. Even more emphasis could still be placed on mobile units, but some excellent points were also made on the benefits of Artillery in every Rifle Division. Heavies have been shelved, the Arm Division that started production has TD, and as you may remember, every Rifle Corps has one TD Regiment in it. Motorised infantry training will be doubled to two parallel Divisions, though maybe it should be tripled, nothing is set in stone... Thanks for your input General @markkur , it has been noted.
 
Interesting theory on Engineers, I'd like to think they are still useful in the hands of the AI, though not in the same way as with a human player.
With the AI, Eng makes more sense as a Brigade that gives a unit extra mobility in rough terrain, as in the Far East, where all the Divisions will soon have Engineers. A secondary advantage is the shorter time needed to dig in, which can be really helpful if the AI is moving a lot of units around and the units that stop moving could really benefit from digging in very quickly. For tank and mobile units they are a must imo as they somewhat reduce the terrain penalties when the AI inevitably decides to send tanks into Urban combat, or some other kind of unsuitable terrain.
Engineers do more than just helping units cross rivers and blow up fortifications. Maybe the cost isn't justified? It's a tricky thing to do the math on as there are many variables, some of which depend on the AIs actions, or even the weather.

As for the fast army... I'm working on that... though Artillery also remains high up in the priority list. See the 20th of September 1941, Production strategy for a 1942 offensive.. Even more emphasis could still be placed on mobile units, but some excellent points were also made on the benefits of Artillery in every Rifle Division. Heavies have been shelved, the Arm Division that started production has TD, and as you may remember, every Rifle Corps has one TD Regiment in it. Motorised infantry training will be doubled to two parallel Divisions, though maybe it should be tripled, nothing is set in stone... Thanks for your input General @markkur , it has been noted.

Considering how several AARs (most notably the Doppelganger by none other than Uriah the Verbose himself) have documented the AI's atrocious lack of attention to fortified positions and the terrain it is attacking into, I think the engineers are an absolute must for spearhead units. Hell, if infantry divisions could have a 6th brigade, I'd slap engineers on them too for AI use. I don't think you can go wrong with support engineers as long as the division has the necessary soft and hard attack.
 
most notably the Doppelganger by none other than Uriah the Verbose himself
The Doppelganger is one of the, if not the, AAR that inspired me to start this AAR. Sad that Uriah isn't really around anymore... haven't seen anything new from him since his Stellaris Rome AAR went silent. He is one of the greats.

Hell, if infantry divisions could have a 6th brigade, I'd slap engineers on them too for AI use. I don't think you can go wrong with support engineers as long as the division has the necessary soft and hard attack.
Yes, I would add Engineers if there was a 6th Brigade option... but there isn't, so choices have to be made... as we all know... The only issue I can see with Engineers besides not always having space for them in your Divisions, is Fuel consumption, as in, they have some, and if you're already short on fuel, deploying a lot of them may be quite counterproductive... this is especially true as Japan or Nationalist China...