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Rather an anti-climax, to be frank. No Pearl Harbour, no Japanese amphibious operations.... Fools. Regardless, this is the Japanese diversion we have been hoping for. Now, if they would only stay out of the Allies....

(OOC: -5 isn't cold. Pull yourself together, Odin! -5 is a rather nice day still at those latitudes. You can start complaining about cold when it goes below -15 :p)
 
Ominous, but not surprising. Let’s hope in this ATL (and with the extra time) they don’t have winter or arctic equipment.
I have no idea whether they have winter equipment, though we will be able to tell by the weather modifiers once they are engaged in battle.

OOC: They are already late. They may try a Autumn/Winter Invasion. Either way I assume the shoe is about to fall unless they try to go for Operation Sea Lion which I doubt. The British Battle Fleet is WAY too powerful.
Well, they better hurry for the Autumn Invasion... we're getting close to winter...

Rather an anti-climax, to be frank. No Pearl Harbour, no Japanese amphibious operations.... Fools. Regardless, this is the Japanese diversion we have been hoping for. Now, if they would only stay out of the Allies....
You will be notified if something actually starts to happen in the Pacific... I agree that it's quite anti-climactic this way.

(OOC: -5 isn't cold. Pull yourself together, Odin! -5 is a rather nice day still at those latitudes. You can start complaining about cold when it goes below -15 :p)
To be fair, it was -8°C in Leningrad, in the morning... maybe this is a hint on where 'Odin' grew up... maybe that's why no one else was wearing a fur hat... or it's just your writAARs personal experience with moderate maritime climates... pick whichever you want to believe...
 
Aha! I know there is concern about the US giant no longer sleeping, but it was almost certainly going to happen and this is the best possible way for it to do so, of course.

Be prepared for the usual US lack of action, Japanese island hopping, seizure of the Philippines etc. depends how long the war stays limited - too much to hope it stays that way forever. The longer it does, the better.

And of course, the longer Germany delays attacking you, the longer Japan has to redirect its efforts away from your mutual border. When they (the Germans) do come, it will be interesting to see if they try to call the Japanese in - who of course will already be entangled with the US and possibly the Allies by then. Interesting set of dynamics: maybe you will be left fully or at least largely alone to deal with the Germans yourself?

Anyway, it is all set up now, but with a few little non-OTL angles in there to really make it edgy and a little uncertain.
 
5th of November 1941, Another Naval exercise in the Southern Mediterranean.
The 5th of November 1941, Helsinki, -7,4°C, 3pm Moscow Time,

After the fall of French North Africa, our Carrier Fleet was sent out on another exercise to take a look around Italian North Africa, using the powerful radars on our Sevastopol-Class Destroyers, and our Carrier-based aeroplanes to gather as much information as possible along the way. The following map was produced:

NorthAfrica-min.png


The main goal of the exercise was to spot Italian troops moving East along the Mediterranean Coast, and quite a few units were spotted doing just that, while others were spotted running away from the British.

As you can see, our ships encountered several Allied Fleets in the Mediterranean, but no Italian ships were encountered at sea. On the 2nd of November, South of the Baleares, as I. Avianosets Flote was turning around, it encountered a Carrier Fleet not unlike our own. The lead ship was HMS Courageous, and the Carrier was escorted by 4 Flotilla's of 6 Destroyers, most of them of the very modern Daring Class. This Fleet, lead by Rear-Admiral Backhouse, was moving to the east, following a couple of Miles behind our Fleet.

Later on, another Britsh Carrier Fleet was encountered, this one was more powerful than ours, with HMS Furious, HMS Hermes, and the brand new HMS Ark Royal, it was escorted by 2 Light Cruisers, HMS Neptune, and HMS Despatch, as well as some more Daring-Class Destroyers. This Fleet, lead by Vice-Admiral Hope-Carlill was moving west, towards the Atlantic. One of our Aeroplanes also spotted a couple of Triton-Class submarines that were hiding and resupplying amongst the larger ships.

NorthAfricaShips-min.png

Left, top to bottom: HMS Ark Royal, HMS Furious, HMS Hermes, a Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Torpedo Bomber in the Mediterranean, literally.
Right, top to bottom: HMS Neptune, HMS Despatch, HMS Daring, HMS Triton.
Then in the evening, as our sailors could see Sardinia on the horizon, our fleet found itself in the thick of the action, as Rear-Admiral Backhouse's Fleet was spotted behind them, Italian Naval Bombers were spotted coming from Sardinia ahead of them. In no time, all of our Aeroplanes were grounded as British Sea Hurricanes and Sea Gladiators engaged SM-79 three-engined Torpedo-Bombers overhead. Large Soviet Flags were rolled out on the decks of our Carriers to make sure the Italians didn't fire a torpedo at the wrong target. In the end, it seems only a single British Destroyer was sunk, and many Italian aeroplanes were shot down. One of them crashed dangerously close to one of our Destroyers.

On the 3rd of November, another interesting encounter happened, our ships made contact with what was essentially a ghost fleet. At least 50 Yugoslav troop transport ships, in various states of disrepair lay at anchor in the East Ionian Sea, off the Western Coast of Greece. Only a skeleton crew was present, and a short conversation with a certain Rear Admiral Simovic, gave us more details. It seems that the fleet had been underway when Yugoslavia lost it's last port, Dubrovnik. Without enough Fuel to reach a friendly port, the crews abandoned ship and were picked up by the Royal Navy a bit later. Only the Rear Admiral and his second in command remained on board with food and water rations that could last them several years. The last bit of sovereign Yugoslavia is a bunch of empty and rusting transport ships... still proudly flying the Yugoslav flag.

Kiptopoeke-Concrete-Ships-4-min.jpg

The Yugoslav Navy, in all of it's abandoned glory....
After this interesting find, it was discovered that 2 Italian Battleships lay at anchor in Kalamai, in Southern Greece.

That concludes the information that was gained from the most recent naval exercise in the Mediterranean,

Greetings,

'Odin'
So the abandoned ships aren't actually Yugoslav Freighters, but they are American Transports from the early 1940s that were purposefully beached and partially sunk to form a breakwater after the war.
 
Impressive map! An interesting sortie into the Med. And still the Phoney War continues.
 
Aha! I know there is concern about the US giant no longer sleeping, but it was almost certainly going to happen and this is the best possible way for it to do so, of course.
Yes, it's probably for the best.

Be prepared for the usual US lack of action, Japanese island hopping, seizure of the Philippines etc. depends how long the war stays limited - too much to hope it stays that way forever. The longer it does, the better.
Not forever, just for as long as possible. Considering the very vanilla start to the war in the pacific, I'm not expecting a rapid campaign from either side.

And of course, the longer Germany delays attacking you, the longer Japan has to redirect its efforts away from your mutual border. When they (the Germans) do come, it will be interesting to see if they try to call the Japanese in - who of course will already be entangled with the US and possibly the Allies by then. Interesting set of dynamics: maybe you will be left fully or at least largely alone to deal with the Germans yourself?
The more the US engages in the Pacific, the more Japanese troops will be pulled from China, and our border, so it's a waiting game in that respect too. If the Germans attack now, the Japanese can do some damage in the East if they join the attack, but next year, who knows how many Japanese troops will have been pulled to Garrison and take Islands in the Pacific?

Anyway, it is all set up now, but with a few little non-OTL angles in there to really make it edgy and a little uncertain.
I have no idea what will happen next... The following are bound to happen relatively soon, but the order is uncertain: The USA joins the Allies, Japan DOWs the Allies, Operation Barbarossa. Then there are some wild cards like a possible German invasion of Romania, or a second Sino-Japanese war, both are unlikely but possible.

Impressive map! An interesting sortie into the Med. And still the Phoney War continues.
Every time I make one of these large stitched-together maps, I'm reminded of the annoying fact that it's near impossible to zoom out and then zoom back in to have the exact same scale... I have to slightly re-scale the screenshots to get them to match up, sort of... it's never perfect... though this one was pretty close... This does mean it's very fluid when you're playing, but if you want to make two screenshots at the exact same scale, some game-time apart, it's an unnecessary pain... It's also the reason I haven't done comparative infrastructure maps a lot. Superimposed maps to show front movements are near impossible to line up, which is a shame as that could look really good.
 
It does not look like the Italians will be able to hold North Africa for very long as they have lost total control of the waters. The ports they have mean nothing if they can't get cargo ships to them from Europe. I am beginning to think that Italy make be checked off as a threat - I can't seriously see them as a active member of the Axis.
 
It does not look like the Italians will be able to hold North Africa for very long as they have lost total control of the waters. The ports they have mean nothing if they can't get cargo ships to them from Europe. I am beginning to think that Italy make be checked off as a threat - I can't seriously see them as a active member of the Axis.
Their overseas empire is definitely doomed, even if the Japanese declare war on the Allies and half of the Royal Navy moves to Singapore, the Regia Marina doesn't have the ships to challenge what will be left in the Med. The biggest benefit for the Soviet Union is that all those Axis troops, including some Königstigers, in Northern Africa will probably have the same fate as the erstwhile Armée de l'Afrique... Northern Africa, where armies go to run out of supply and be captured.
The Italian Air Force, on the other hand, remains quite active, and they probably still have quite a few Divisions spread around the mainland and the Balkans. But those will probably be needed to ward of potential Allied invasions... so yes, Italy probably isn't much of a threat to us, with our most sincere thanks to the Royal Navy...
 
Italy really does have its hands full. I think Mussolini had better write off North Africa as a loss and abandon his hopes of the Mediterranean Empire, but fat chance of that, probably. Still, not much they can do about, well, anything at this point. Brits rule the Med and the threat of an amphibious attack is starting to seem like a real one, especially after ground operations in North Africa are concluded some time in the future. Great pictures, and great writing! Especially the tidbit about Yugoslavian forces was very interesting :)
 
10th of November 1941, Finnish Autumn Anti-Insurrection operations #4
The 10th of November 1941, Helsinki, -7,6°C, 10am Moscow Time,

All armed resistance has melted away as the Rebels are now out of supply, tired, demoralised and disorganised due to constant Aerial bombardment. A few more prisoners have been taken, surrendering without firing a shot or throwing a punch as 123. SD walked into Kuusjärvi. The 118 rebels, including some veteran Officers of the Winter War had no where else to go. The advance into Orivesi stalled, first when the order was cancelled, and then three more delays happened as 'officers' of successive understaffed 'headquarters' units tried to negotiate favourable terms for a surrender. All terms were refused, as the enemy has no leverage and no fighting strength left at all. Negotiations took around three hours each time.

The only reason only a few provinces to the north of the affected area (Keuruu, Virrat, and Parkano) were recovered is that NKGBF HQ has been moving it's units around again as objectives were changed after control was established over Kuusjärvi. First, attention was drawn to Parkano and then to Hämeenkyrö as the former was retaken.

FPF41-11-10-min.jpg


Bombing operations were reduced to two provinces, as the remaining rebel forces elsewhere were to disorganised and spread out to target them from the air. Now, the rebels have been sent running from both provinces (Kankaanpää and Padasjoki), all Air-Ground attacks have been halted.


FPF41-11-10VVS-min.jpg


Only one KPA and one VVS Aviation Corps flew missions these last 10 days, all of them to the same two provinces, for lack of other targets.

1 KPA - CAGx1 - 62 La-7VM / Il-10VM - Moskva (CVL) - Navy Air Commander Zhavronkov L4, FD
- 37 x Kankaanpää (1 Il-10VM Downed / 620 KIA)
II. BAK - Tacx2, Ftrx1 - 200 Yak-4, 124 La-7 - Leningrad - Air Lt. General Yakovlev SK3, TB
- 40 x Padasjoki (0 Downed / 3.782 KIA)
Adding the numbers up, this is the current state of our latest Finnish counter-insurgency operation:
Insurgents killed from the Air / Aeroplanes lost: 20.818 / 4 (2 Yak-4, 1 Il-2M3, 1 Il-10VM)
Insurgents killed by NKGBF / NKGBF Officers KIA: 248 / 8
Insurgents arrested: 3.276 (A couple of understaffed HQs had nowhere left to go)
Not much remains of the insurgency, all they can do now is stall with pointless parlays concerning their surrender. The Insurgency will, in all likelihood, be cleared up before the end of the month.

The usual report is coming soon,

Greetings,

'Odin'
 
Italy really does have its hands full. I think Mussolini had better write off North Africa as a loss and abandon his hopes of the Mediterranean Empire, but fat chance of that, probably. Still, not much they can do about, well, anything at this point. Brits rule the Med and the threat of an amphibious attack is starting to seem like a real one, especially after ground operations in North Africa are concluded some time in the future.
Mare Nostrum is just a fantasy at this point. It looks like the Regia Marina is reduced to a pair of Battleships, a Heavy Cruiser, and probably too few screens for anything resembling an acceptable ratio. With some screens, they could make an ok fleet, but, with the ships spread out, they would have to bring them together to form said fleet, without running into a powerful RN fleet... At this point, even a human player would struggle to cobble together anything resembling a passable Italian Navy before North Africa is lost... The exercise just confirmed my suspicions (from the ship & convoy losses, and the campaign in North Africa), the Italians are doomed...

Great pictures, and great writing! Especially the tidbit about Yugoslavian forces was very interesting :)
I didn't know ghost fleets were a thing in HOI3, but now I know... I was quite surprised to find a damaged Yugoslav Fleet off the coast of Greece, as no Soviet ships have sailed past that area since the fall of Yugoslavia, I expect that it has really been sitting there ever since they were annexed by the Axis... You can't make this stuff up...

So a big domino falls... As everyone has said, it will be interesting how the subsequent DOWs and alliance shuffling works out and when.
Yes, I'm sure 'Tri's office will be busy figuring out this new and changing diplomatic landscape...
 
10th of November 1941, 'Odin', 10-day report #177
The 10th of November 1941, Leningrad, -7,6°C, 10pm Moscow Time,

Report on the state of the Soviet Union for the ten day period between the 1st and the 10th of November 1941,

by 'Odin'

Army:
102 MGvSP, has received it's full complement of Half-Tracks, and has been renamed 102 BGvSP, part of Maj. General Golikov's 2 GvTD, I GvTK, 2ya Tankovaya Armiya, Armoured AG, STAVKA/Moskva HQ.
A new Artillery Regiment, 87. AP, has been deployed to Maj. General Dement'ev's 23 SD, I SK, 7ya Armiya, 3rd Army Group, Brjansk HQ.

Army numbers (Brigades/Personnel) Reserves included (these numbers don't include regiments being upgraded):
Front line troops: 663 / 1.989.000
Support troops: 301 / 301.000
Total fighting troops: 964 / 2.290.000
Headquarters: 63 / 63.000
Total Army Personnel: 1.027 / 2.353.000
Officers: 94.513 + / 102.010 needed / 92,651 %
Active Leaders: 271 / 152 more available
Production of half-tracks has been increased again, both 364 MGvSP and 391 MGvSP, part of 4 GvTD, and 5 GvTD respectively, have already started training while their vehicles are produced.
Production of Heavy Artillery continues as another Regiment started training.
Air Force:
No changes in the VVS nor the Navy Air Fleet for the last 10 days.
Navy:
No changes in the Navy for the last 10 days.
Politics / International:
The USA has accepted transit rights offered by Mexico.
British North Africa Front
United Kingdom (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 77,6
Italy (Surrender Progress / NU): 7,90 / 79,4 Loss of Bengasi.
BNAF41-11-10-min.jpeg

British forces have taken Bengasi, with the fall of the city, Italian Air Strikes abated, while the RAF continued it's own. Resistance on the ground remains minimal, and supply isn't an issue right now, thanks to a British supply convoy into Bengasi. British tanks have turned south along the coast, taking Agedabia.
The way to Misurata, still 360km away, is now open.
The RAF also started bombing Roma again, both missions were intercepted by the Regia Aeronautica, and a lot of RAF Aeroplanes were lost.

25 Axis convoys were sunk in the Mediterranean, and now British Convoys were lost in the Atlantic. No naval units were sunk.
Philippines
United States of America (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 85,9
Philippines (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,0 / 74,8
Japan (Surrender Progress / NU): 0,00 / 70,2
PHF41-11-10-min.jpeg

Japan has taken the Philippino island of Palawan, after an Amphibious Assault on Puerto Princesa. A not so bold opening move in their war with the USA.
No significant naval clashes have happened, yet.
Industry:
Working Industrial Capacity / available capacity: 240 / 324
IC Usage: ( Allocated IC / Need )
Upgrades: 17,00 / 17,53
Reinforcement: 2,00 / 2,15
Supplies: 30,00 / 47,37
Production: 245,85 / 279,11 (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: 43.957 tonnes +
Crude: 99.331 barrels +
Supplies: 38.588 tonnes -
Fuel: 99.146 barrels +
Money: 1.946 -​

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 / 1 }​
UK (/) : 8 / 1 / 0 / 0
Other: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Total: 13 / 1 / 0 / 1
Reserves: 0
Spy training leadership expenditure: 0,65 (a new spy every 10 days)
Another GRU operative has been successfully infiltrated into the UK. A spy from Japan was caught in the Soviet Union.
Research:
The VVS has now worked out better communication protocols and trained better radar operators for Fighter Ground Control (Level 3), this means that our fighters will get a better picture of what's beyond the range of their on board radar, from Radar Stations on the ground.
Research continues as there are more gains to be made in Fighter Ground Control (Level 4).

Statistics:
National Unity: 83,241 =
Neutrality: 0,00 =
Dissent: 0,00 =
Manpower:
Available: 2.122.000
Men To reinforce(need): 1.470
Men To mobilise(need): See above
Monthly gain: 48.200 Men (1 fully mobilised Infx3, AT Division every 7 days)​
Party Popularity:
- Communist Party: 69 (+7)
- Trotskyite: 1 =
- Bukharinite: 12 (+1)

- Octobrist: 0 (-5)
- Social-Revolutionary: 6 (-2)
- Trudoviks: 1 (-1)
- Kadets: 1 =

- Tsarists: 1 (-4)
- NTS: 9 (+5)
- POA: 0 (-1)
The Communist Party has grown in popularity again, reaching new highs, with more than 2/3 of the population firmly in support of the government. The Bukharinites are demanding a seat at the table of government, however, their supporters seem somewhat content with the current government, which means that it isn't 'fractured'.
Capitalist factions lost a lot of disillusioned followers to the Communist Party, no one supports the Octobrists anymore.
On the far right, support has been consolidated for the Italian-style fascism of the NTS, with both National-Socialism and Tsarism losing out.
No changes in Party Organisation for the last 10 days.​

This Information is accurate on the morning of the 10th of November 1941, I hope it serves you well in fine-tuning your possible suggestions.

'Odin'​
 
Let’s hope more Japanese marines end up on Pacific islands rather than the Soviet border. If their war doesn’t expand to the Allies, their traditional grab of the DEI won’t occur either ... hmm, wonder what will happen?
 
20th of November 1941, Finnish Autumn Anti-Insurrection operations #5
The 10th of November 1941, Helsinki, -8,0°C, 10am Moscow Time,

"They're shooting at us? How? With what? What do they think they can achieve? They're insane!
...
Don't look at me. Return fire"
Senoir Major of State Security Skvortsov when the Partisans started shooting at his 1. NKGBF Konnaya Brigada in Jämsä.

After 1. NKGBF KB arrived in Jämsä, it was attacked from two sides, well, more walked into than attacked, by partisans fleeing Orivesi and Padasjoki. Surprisingly, these Partisans didn't give up without a fight. The delay in their retreat from their respective provinces meant that an after making contact with our Mounted Security Comrades, the pursuing Rifle Divisions caught up to the insurgents, hitting the rear of their lines. Moreover, a single bombing mission was flown over both provinces. For three hours the Finnish rebels held their desperate position, before they were caught in between the Finnish State Security Mounted Brigade's defences and the advancing riflemen of 111. SD and 218. SD. Casualties were light, and the 3.973 remaining Partisans, including 150 'Officers' were arrested by the NKGBF.

The Partisans fleeing from Kankaapää were overrun and rounded up by 2. NKGBF KB, another 2.335 Rebels were arrested in Pori, just south of Kankaanpää.

The only remaining rebel force counts fewer than 1.000 rebels, and is at risk of being overrun by 218. SD before it gets to Lahti. The insurrection is over, all three remaining provinces will be recovered within 10 days or less. 123. SD has already been ordered to Helsinki to start moving XXXIII. SK back to Tallinn.

FPF41-11-20Army-min.jpg
FPF41-11-20VVS-min.jpg


1. Jämsä (Defence- Forest- -8,0°C - Victory)
14 Nov 41 21:00 - 15 Nov 41 00:00
SU: 1. NKBGF KB (Skvortsov, L1): 6.000 men / 1 KIA
Fin: Orivesi: 1st Finnish Partisans IV (None), Padasjoki: 5th Finnish Partisans (None) : 3.941 men / 3 KIA
2. Orivesi (Attack- Forest- -8,5°C - Victory)
14 Nov 41 22:00 - 15 Nov 41 00:00
SU: Tampere: 218 SD (Popov A.F., L2, BM): 11.000 men / 3 KIA
Fin: MCP (Multiple Combat Penalty) 1st Finnish Partisans IV (None): 2.834 men / 10 KIA / 2.803 POW
3. Padasjoki (Attack- Forest- -8,2°C - Victory)
14 Nov 41 22:00 - 15 Nov 41 00:00
SU: Lammi: 111 SD (Komarovskij A.F., L2): 11.000 men / 6 KIA
Fin: MCP 5th Finnish Partisans (None): 1.095 men / 23 KIA / 1.070 POW
Both the Navy and the VVS flew, probably, their last mission of this counter-insurrection operation, gaining that little bit more experience.

7 KPA - CAGx1 - 62 LaGG-3VM / Il-2M3VM - Helsinki - Navy Air Commander Kapitochin L2
- 1 x Padasjoki (0 Downed / 2 KIA)
IV. ShAK - CASx2, Ftrx1 - 248 Il-10, 124 La-7 - Helsinki - Air Lt. General Rudenko SK2, TB
- 1 x Orivesi (0 Downed / 20 KIA)
Adding the numbers up, this is the current state of our latest Finnish counter-insurgency operation:
Insurgents killed from the Air / Aeroplanes lost: 20.840 / 4 (2 Yak-4, 1 Il-2M3, 1 Il-10VM)
Insurgents killed by NKGBF / NKGBF Officers KIA: 284 / 18
Insurgents arrested: 9.584
Despite what I said in the previous report, the rebels did lash out one last, desperate, time, but now they're really done for.

The usual report is coming soon,

Greetings,

'Odin'​
 
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The fact that the rebels were able to lash out one more time is slightly worrying. But I believe it does show just how effective Air Power against Partisans. Maybe assigning out-dated air craft to help in anti-Partisan operations.
 
Let’s hope more Japanese marines end up on Pacific islands rather than the Soviet border. If their war doesn’t expand to the Allies, their traditional grab of the DEI won’t occur either ... hmm, wonder what will happen?
I guess you'll have to wait and see. No units have been pulled from our border, though no units have been added, for a month or so, either, so at least the new units are going into the fight against the USA. These are the early stages, it's hard to tell how much the US will be invested in the Pacific, and what the Japanese strategy will be.

The fact that the rebels were able to lash out one more time is slightly worrying. But I believe it does show just how effective Air Power against Partisans. Maybe assigning out-dated air craft to help in anti-Partisan operations.
It's a good reminder of how potent Tac is against very soft targets. As for out-dated aircraft... as our Aeroplanes have always been quickly replaced with newer models, that may be hard. Our most out-dated designs are currently our Yak-4 Tacs and out TB-3 Strs. I plan on improving both, especially Tac, in the future... as there will come a point where we simply won't be able to constructively field more CAS, and we may also face other enemies without any hard units... I could always build a single extra BAD before I start improving Tac significantly, (It would be ideal to keep current Tacs in the big war as they are quite experienced from the two Finnish Campaigns...) and block updates, that could work... a 100 Aeroplane fire brigade... it would still be expensive though...
CAS to fight partisans is a no-go, mostly because of their short range, and my CAS are state of the art, so that'd be a waste.
Either way, I'm not sure it would be worth it... It's much cheaper to train some more mounted security comrades to deal with things, with, or without, air cover.
Of course, if I really wanted to be effective, I'd place all of my paratroopers in Finland, double their numbers, and have them jump on top of any rebellion before it had a chance to spread...
 
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I agree, building outdated aircraft to bomb rebels is just a waste of money, materiel and pilots. For the upcoming war, we will need all hands on deck except those that are required for occupation duties, ie. Mounted Security Comrades and garrison units, both of which would be of dubious use on the front anyway and are relatively cheap to build and effective against partisans. I have no doubt that any future rebellions can be at worst contained adequately and most likely entirely defeated by our security forces, even if it may be slower I'd rather it be that than deprive our brave soldiers fighting the Hun of air cover and support. The main benefit of our air power is really just to gain experience anyway. It does speed up the pacification, but considering the lack of anything important in the middle parts of Finland I'd say that's a secondary benefit.

Even then, I'd argue our forces, even the occupation ones, must be kept at such a readiness and capability that in a dire situation they can be pulled into combat duties. Currently our ground units on occupation duties, while not exactly mighty formations in their own right, are modern enough that reasonably capable combat units could be formed from them if, say, the Germans attacked through Norway and we needed to fight a delaying action in Finland. Building new air formations for the sole purpose of bombing rebels and keeping them mothballed so that they can't be reasonably used for anything else without a long refit period first just sounds like a waste.
 
For that, the US has to be in the war first... and right now, they're staying out of it. What will be needed to change their mind?
To be clear, I meant during the course of the war and with the latest development you have now? Yeah, maybe the US will torch but I'm not holding my breath and I doubt you are either.:) In the game, the USA always seems to hold the Pacific-only strategy.:D
 
I agree, building outdated aircraft to bomb rebels is just a waste of money, materiel and pilots. For the upcoming war, we will need all hands on deck except those that are required for occupation duties, ie. Mounted Security Comrades and garrison units, both of which would be of dubious use on the front anyway and are relatively cheap to build and effective against partisans. I have no doubt that any future rebellions can be at worst contained adequately and most likely entirely defeated by our security forces, even if it may be slower I'd rather it be that than deprive our brave soldiers fighting the Hun of air cover and support. The main benefit of our air power is really just to gain experience anyway. It does speed up the pacification, but considering the lack of anything important in the middle parts of Finland I'd say that's a secondary benefit.
Yes, I could have left the insurgency pester for months without any effect on anything that could possibly matter, like strategically located military bases, Leadership, Resources and/or Industry. Everything that matters in Finland is on the coast (so can be supplied by sea), and is Garrisoned, there was never any risk.
In peacetime I tend to dispatch partisans with vastly superior firepower, using Paratroopers when it's just an isolated uprising, otherwise bringing in some regulars and as much air-power as I can use. This isn't just to speed things up, but to let paratroopers, regulars, and Air Units gain valuable experience, as has happened here.

Even then, I'd argue our forces, even the occupation ones, must be kept at such a readiness and capability that in a dire situation they can be pulled into combat duties. Currently our ground units on occupation duties, while not exactly mighty formations in their own right, are modern enough that reasonably capable combat units could be formed from them if, say, the Germans attacked through Norway and we needed to fight a delaying action in Finland. Building new air formations for the sole purpose of bombing rebels and keeping them mothballed so that they can't be reasonably used for anything else without a long refit period first just sounds like a waste.
Yes second-line forces are the ultimate line of defence, when the regulars have been lost in combat, or are simply too far away. To be clear, we're not building Aeroplanes, nor training pilots, specifically to bomb Partisans. I only briefly entertained the thought, but then common sense prevailed. It's so wasteful, I'd rather build some long term project like a rocket test site, or a Carrier Fleet ;)... Or, you know, Aeroplanes to bomb enemy regulars on the main front... I concur entirely with your points here.

To be clear, I meant during the course of the war and with the latest development you have now? Yeah, maybe the US will torch but I'm not holding my breath and I doubt you are either.:) In the game, the USA always seems to hold the Pacific-only strategy.:D
That's not fair, you knew the Americans would be at war when you wrote that comment... No peeking ahead! ;):rolleyes:
In this case, they still haven't joined the Allies... how's that for a Pacific first strategy? I say that, but they could just as well join the Allies tomorrow (game time).
I don't expect an operation Torch, certainly not at historical dates, and maybe no torch will be needed. As the Royal Navy and Air Force reign supreme over the Med and the North African front respectively, a near total lack of supplies means that the British may well end up in Casablanca sometime in 1942, driving the Italians straight into the Atlantic. Begone Mussolini's dreams of making the Med into an Italian Lake.