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One for the History Books
The World As It Was
Chapter VI: Weserübung
The World As It Was
Chapter VI: Weserübung
The unexpected resistance of the Poles led Hitler to a more serious consideration of the war. Various members of his cadre, including high-ranking members of the Wehrmacht, strongly supported intervention in Denmark and Norway for strategically-sound reasons. Hitler had generally dismissed these plans until it became clear that a British invasion of Norway was imminent. It was at this time that Hitler became committed to taking control of Denmark and Norway with a serious contingent of troops. The plan was egged along by a Norwegian, of all people, named Vidkun Quisling.
Norway's version of Hitler
Quisling was a Fascist politician and a leader of the Nasjonal Samling, a party much like the NSDAP. Even so, he was looked upon with mild skepticism and mistrust by Hitler, who saw him as a 'useful idiot' at best—and at worst a hindrance to be neutralized. An uneasy agreement was finally settled upon, in which Norway would be occupied by Germany but internally governed—with Hitler's necessary blessing—by Quisling.
The operation was named 'Weserübung,' or Weser Exercise. The name was an obvious attempt at counter-intelligence by any foreign agents which might still be operating within the Reich. The Weser river was a staging point for troop concentrations in preparation of the Operation, but the river itself played no more significant a role.
In the opening days of 1940, heartened by German success in Poland, the Soviet Union grew restive with Scandinavia as well. Stalin claimed two strategic provinces from Finland as buffers to Leningrad, perhaps expecting the international community to give him as much leeway as it had given Hitler before he would have to prosecute a war. If that was the case, Stalin was sorely mistaken—the Finns did not hesitate in refusing the demands of the Russians. Stalin retaliated by declaring war in the depths of winter, a decision that would have mixed consequences for the recently-decapitated Red Army. The conflict came to be known as the 'Winter War'.
The world seemed to tilt for the Allies, who hadn't declared war on the Soviet Union even after their occupation of eastern Poland. All attention hinged on a Finnish request for Swedish aid in the war against the Communists. This request came at a heavy price for Finnish pride, for Finland had once been a constituent part of the Swedish Empire and had been contested between Sweden and Russia ever since. Greater intervention in the conflict could cause the Swedes to renew old claims, which would result in the loss of many more than two provinces.
The Swedish response was minimal; though there were more than a few Swedes who wanted a return to glory, they could envision the red star of Communism flying over Stockholm if they pursued a full declaration of support. Material and volunteers were roused, but no more, and nothing was enough to tip the scales.
The Allies seemed to have a different idea. For the first time since the end of the Great War, British foreign policy shifted from Germany to Russia, if only for a few weeks. Her Majesty's Government planned to intervene in the Winter War, taking control of northern Norway and Sweden to ferry troops and supplies into Finland to battle the Bolshevik threat. Rumors of these plans served to accellerate Hitler's timetable for intervention.
Even so, Hitler wasn't so foolish as to prosecute a Scandinavian Front in the grip of winter. Allied air raids continued over Western Germany with greater and lesser ferocity, testing the Luftwaffe's ability to batter them away. (OOC note: from a pre-war high of 200 IC I'm averaging about 170 now.) He was eager for combat to begin, so meticulous plans were made for military action to follow Weserübung. For the moment, however, both sides of the European conflict settled down into a 'Sitzkrieg,' a sitting-war that was a large test of the air forces of the combatants but not much else.
By the end of February, the Red Army had firmly entrenched itself in the provinces of Viipuri and Sortavala, the territory which Stalin had demanded originally. The overwhelming success has been chalked up to the unpreparedness of the Finnish Chief of Staff, General Mannerheim. The infamous 'Mannerheim Line' turned out to be unermanned and outdated, and even General Winter couldn't stop the waves upon waves of Soviet flesh from breaking the defenders. Rather than press for full annexation of Finland into the Soviet Union, however, Stalin renewed his original offer to the Finns. This time, to the dissappointment of the Allies, they chose to accept the demand and cease hostilities with the Soviet Union.
The suddenness of the Soviet victory in comparison to the Polish campaign gave Hitler brief pause in his longer-term plans for invading the Soviet Union, but he remained largely confident in any future outcome between Naziism and Bolshevism.
Finally, after months of preparation, the hammer fell.
The Northern Front is Opened
In an attempt at redemption, the Wehrmacht stormed the small state of Denmark in a mere ten days. After putting up a token resistance in which dozens of Danes died, the civil authority realized that further bloodshed would only incur Hitler's wrath. Peace negotiations led to a relatively mild occupation—Danes were allowed to retain authority within their own government, unlike in Poland, in return for their subjugation under the Greater Reich.
In another ten days, Oslo was in German hands while Chamberlain did virtually nothing to stop the fall of Norway. Fed-up with his laclustre performance, the British House of Commons threatened to vote on their confidence in the Prime Minister. Facing this threat to his political future, and personally battling cancer, Chamberlain chose to step down in favor of the younger and much more hawkish Winston Churchill. His sudden elevation to the highest seat in Great Britain promised a change in the fortunes of war, but as Narvik came under direct assault from German troops all hopes of British intervention were lost.
Even though the assault on Narvik was a tactical defeat, it inflicted high casualties on the Norwegian defenders while the Wehrmacht simply regrouped to assault a less well-defended beach in hopes of establishing a beachhead. By April 2nd, the assaulting force had done just that.
Norway Topples
By month's end, Narvik had fallen to the inexorable advance of the Wehrmacht and the Norwegian government fled the Continent, seeking shelter in the British Isles. The Norwegian resistance collapsed almost overnight, leaving nothing to stand in the way of Hitler occupying the country. He quickly propped Quisling up in a small ceremony in Oslo, though Quisling's true power was limited even more than that of the Danes.
Hitler grants Quisling control of Norway
The unmitigated success of the operation renewed Hitler's confidence in the Wehrmacht, even if the Luftwaffe were proving somewhat incapable against the combined Allied air raids. The fact that the Royal Navy had posed no contest in the conflict with Norway was astounding; Hitler had sent every single one of Germany's modern warships in a desparate gamble, and he was prepared to sacrifice many of them in the attempt. But none had caught sight of a Union Jack, nor did they fall under attack from any naval force.
Preparations for Hitler's drive to the West were accellerated in the wake of such a victory.
Success!
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Sorry for the brevity of the update...I'm finding my focus for the historical context now that we've strayed so much from what actually happened. I'm considering installing puppets in Norway and Denmark, since technically that's what happened (though the Allies didn't recognize these states). That will make my game easier, and honestly I could use all the help I can get against the Soviet Union at this point. I'll cheat for just a second to show you guys military force comparisons in the three branches of service.
Army:
That is correct: the UK AND France have more ground forces than me, each. And the SU is just fucking scary.
Navy:
No surprises here, though it's still disappointing.
Air Farce:
“In the skies we shall of course be supreme.”
Diagnosis: Screwed. Suggestions?
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Riptide said:
*Childish giggling at a single minor mistake in an otherwise excellent piece*
In a more usefull response, the French AI is fairly useless if you stick to a historic approach (which of course you are
). Despite being out numbered you've probably got a goodish chance of getting Vichy to fire when you hit the French. Partly due to superior doctrines partly as most of the Allied airforce getting destroyed on the ground when the AI leaves them in border airbases.Thanks for pointing out my mistake, and for the encouragement. The single most annoying thing about this game is the inability of the Luftwaffe to succeed in the face of such overwhelming odds. I've honestly never played a game where the AI was so aggressive at preparing for the war, even when on the Coward setting.
I was considering changing the AI to Furious after Barbarossa began, just to guarantee victory, but...I don't know. Maybe. On the other hand, I could get lucky with Soviet encirclements and possibly pull it out, but my confidence in my own gaming abilities isn't *that* high.
I was considering changing the AI to Furious after Barbarossa began, just to guarantee victory, but...I don't know. Maybe. On the other hand, I could get lucky with Soviet encirclements and possibly pull it out, but my confidence in my own gaming abilities isn't *that* high.
i'd say install Quisling as a puppet - so Norway provides troops instead of soaking up German divisions to garrison it.
Don't know enough about Denmark to say whether it would be worth releasing as a puppet.
Suprised to see the Winter War went so well. (from the perspective of the peace-loving Soviet Union of course.)
Definitely concentrate on bulking up your infantry - the most cost effective unit. And adding some garrison.
And of course more motorized, panzers, mountain-troops, subs (checked out blue-emu's sub thread?), fighters, interceptors, CAS, and TAC.
Don't know enough about Denmark to say whether it would be worth releasing as a puppet.
Suprised to see the Winter War went so well. (from the perspective of the peace-loving Soviet Union of course.)
Definitely concentrate on bulking up your infantry - the most cost effective unit. And adding some garrison.
And of course more motorized, panzers, mountain-troops, subs (checked out blue-emu's sub thread?), fighters, interceptors, CAS, and TAC.
Riptide said:
Well you will have a year(ish) after the Fall of France to build up your forces before you hit Russia, if that time is used wisely and the right selection of units built it could be done without having to depend on too many encirclements. You should have a big tech and doctrine edge on the Soviets, plus their low GDE till the Great Patriotic War, you'll have a good number of advantages.
Austria, the czecks, Poland, Denmark, and Norway... You're knocking 'em down as fast as they can set them up. No worries about the big red machine, you'll take them down!
All I want is a chance of victory...having the Wehrmacht drive to the gates of Moskau and Stalingrad, but get pushed back as the Soviets throw more bodies at me. I don't want to either:
1) Get steamrolled after my DoW to SOV and have the Red Menace reaching the Channel by '42 or
2) Break the Leningrad-Moskau-Stalingrad line and have a nice slow march to the Pacific.
Expect an update encompassing the buildup to Barbarossa in the next few days.
1) Get steamrolled after my DoW to SOV and have the Red Menace reaching the Channel by '42 or
2) Break the Leningrad-Moskau-Stalingrad line and have a nice slow march to the Pacific.
Expect an update encompassing the buildup to Barbarossa in the next few days.
Naw, you ain't screwed, you're just thinking yerself into that position. As I see it, you have two options:
Option One: Rush into France and try to get the Vichy event to fire and then use the time to build up your forces to go after the Reds.
Option Two: Hold the line using the Sitzkrieg for all it's worth, invest heavily in your forces to make them stronger and as large as possible, then unleash unholy hell.
My choice... I'm not really sure. Then again, that decision is way above my pay grade at this point, eh?
Outstanding work thus far. Eager to see where you go from here.
Option One: Rush into France and try to get the Vichy event to fire and then use the time to build up your forces to go after the Reds.
Option Two: Hold the line using the Sitzkrieg for all it's worth, invest heavily in your forces to make them stronger and as large as possible, then unleash unholy hell.
My choice... I'm not really sure. Then again, that decision is way above my pay grade at this point, eh?
Outstanding work thus far. Eager to see where you go from here.
Tskb18 said:
I think I will release Norway but keep Denmark.
Me too. It is disconcerting that their Army is 3.5X mine and they can maneuver it so quickly...but then again the AI could have just been preparing since Fall Weiss took so much longer.
Well you're not asking for much, are you?
Thanks for the input...I think I'll mainly focus on TACs, panzers and INF from here on out. I have Czech soldiers to garrison Poland.
Draco Rexus said:Naw, you ain't screwed, you're just thinking yerself into that position. As I see it, you have two options:
Option One: Rush into France and try to get the Vichy event to fire and then use the time to build up your forces to go after the Reds.
Option Two: Hold the line using the Sitzkrieg for all it's worth, invest heavily in your forces to make them stronger and as large as possible, then unleash unholy hell.
My choice... I'm not really sure. Then again, that decision is way above my pay grade at this point, eh?
Outstanding work thus far. Eager to see where you go from here.
Thanks!
I really only have the first option. Allied air raids are a massive problem, the difference of 50 IC (and more when they're in force). Now, I can have those bombers mutilating my precious core industry in the Rhein and Rhur, or I can have them demolishing non-core French industry.
In my games before, I've always garrisoned the Atlantik Wall with two INFs per coastal province. I'm not sure I can afford to go that route with my resources stretched as thin as they are...any hints?
This AAR was a pleasant suprise, and I´ll be definitively following it from now on.
I've just caught up with this AAR and I must say, it is certainly an enjoyable read! However, don't worry on the British air raids, unlike realistically, for some reason the British seem to be able to conduct air raids on German territory early on in the war. It didn't happen but quite possible indeed.
Usually when I'm playing as Germany, I do make sure to have built up the Luftwaffe first. Better to be prepared than unprepared.
And lastly, I guess random events and making a few 'hiccups' will make a German defeat possible.
However......it's also keeping your Italian and Japanese allies doing something too that slows the defeat process.
Anyway, good luck and looking forward to the next part!
Usually when I'm playing as Germany, I do make sure to have built up the Luftwaffe first. Better to be prepared than unprepared.
And lastly, I guess random events and making a few 'hiccups' will make a German defeat possible.
However......it's also keeping your Italian and Japanese allies doing something too that slows the defeat process.
Anyway, good luck and looking forward to the next part!
One for the History Books
The World As It Was
Chapter VII: Hitler turns West
The World As It Was
Chapter VII: Hitler turns West
Hitler returned from Oslo at the end of April, leaving the country under the domestic control of Vidkun Quisling. The man was not given a free hand by half, however; a German SS-man by the name of Joseph Terboven was charged with overseeing the Reich's interests in the country. Quite naturally, the Norwegian government-in-exile and the belligerents in London deigned not to recognize this new Norway as an independent entity in any fashion. While that position could be argued with some efficacy owing to Terboven's title of Rechskommissar, the only real areas where Terboven retained sole authority were the military (which was still considered part of the Wehrmacht, even if divisions were raised solely from Norwegian conscripts), and the Secret State Police. Hitler largely left the organization of the state up to Terboven, who in turn left the domestic decisions up to Quisling.
The Norwegian Government after Weserübung
With his Northern flank secure, Hitler turned his attention decisively to France. On paper the French forces were superior to that of the Wehrmacht; Germany had a total of 67 divisions on the Western front, whereas France and England both had in excess of 100 at their disposal. On top of that, the French cowered behind the Maginot Line. Since the war began there had been not a single Allied probe of the Westwall, only air raids that annoyed German industry signalled the Western powers' active belligerency.
As the snows melted from the plains and forests of Europe, Hitler grew eager to crush France and secure the Western frontiers against Allied air power. He had called on the Oberkommand der Wehrmacht to draw up detailed plans for the invasion of France even before Poland fell. Three daring plans were eventually forewarded by Generals for Hitler to choose from. Two were incredibly complex, relying on an exact timetable, much like the Schleiffen Plan of the first World War. The third plan, forewarded by a more junior General officer, greatly resembled the Schleiffen Plan in many ways except that single one; General Erich von Manstein's plan was much more breathtaking and fluid in its scope.
It called for the majority of German armored units to punch through southern Holland and obliterate Belgium in the Ardennes forest. Conventional military wisdom had it that the Ardennes were impenetrable by armored vehicles, and the French had failed to extend the Maginot Line behind the natural barrier. Allied commanders were unprepared for a drive through the Low Countries, since they had expected it to begin immediately after their declaration of war. When their expectations proved unfounded, the Benelux countries refused further breaches of neutrality.
Erich von Manstein, originator of the Ardennes Offensive
At the last moment, Hitler delayed the offensive and narrowed its scope. Rather than declaring war on all of the Low Countries simultaneously, Hitler focused the majority of the Western forces along the border to Belgium for a direct drive to the coast. Given the numerical inferiority of German forces, Hitler felt it wisest to topple his enemies in France before he mopped up the rest of his liabilities in the West.
The plan was not without controversy within the General Staff. It called for German units to risk encirclement themselves if they couldn't overwhelm the enemy, or if the enemy reacted in ways other than the plan provided for. Nevertheless the plan was approved by Hitler's most favored adjutants, and by Hitler himself, because the rewards were at least as great as the risks.
The last weeks of May were the final ones of the legendary Sitzkrieg that had developed since September of the previus year. At 4:00PM, Berlin time, on the afternoon of May 21st, the furious divisions of the Wehrmacht fell upon the staunchly neutral country of Belgium just in time for Hitler's declaration of war to reach Brussels.
It Begins
The Belgian response was immediate: Leopold III supplicated to the Allies, in holding with his principles. The Allies quickly accepted the King's offer, though he had rebuffed their own numerous times over the preceding months. His quick appeals would not save his countrie, however, for the bold and daring Ardennes Offensive's opening stages had been meticulously constructed to gobble up the Belgian countryside in a replay of the First World War.
History Repeats Itself?
The invasion proceeded apace, with the expected setbacks with the encirclement of Brussels and Bastogne, and a few tactical defeats. Of much greater import to Hitler were the tremors in the East; in the beginning of June, before the first German division had set foot on French soil, Stalin declared his intent to integrate Estonia into the Soviet Union, and he backed that claim up with force of arms. This turn of events convinced Hitler to focus production on new armored units, though his steadfast refusal to reroute production from consumer goods to the war economy severely impinged the progress of rapid rearmament, especially with losses in the West going—slightly—over projections.
Scant days later, Stalin made good on the secret protocols within the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by declaring his sovereignty over Lithuania. Latvia, supporting their separate alliance with Estonia, had already declared war. Hitler felt pressured to speed things up in the West, but his best Generals had been beaten to a standstill in Belgium by the sheer weight of Allied numbers. It seemed a replay of the Schleiffen Plan, with the same headaches and the same logistical nightmares. Major military setbacks in Brussels and Namur, often entailing assaults with a ratio of 3:1 against German troop strength, further halted the general advance promised in the 'Blitzartig Schnell' of the modern warfare.
Hitler had gambled again, and seemed to be coming up short. Appeals to Mussolini went unanswered, the Scandinavians rejected proposals of military transport, and the Soviet presence in the East frightened the border patrols. The daring moves taken by the Nazis weren't paying off, and the patience of the rest of the international community was growing thinner by the day.
[OOC breakin: I'm probably screwed, so I'm going to change the AI settings to 'Furious' and hope to finish France before the Soviets DOW me, but that's not likely. Either way I'll finish this, even if it is the most frustrating game I've ever played. That's how much I love you guys. And....I didn't expect what happened. Read below.]
As June bled on to April and Germans died in the fields of Belgium facing completely insurmountable odds, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom committed his country to a new course: crusading against Communism as well as Fascism. In a fiery speech that extolled the victories of Britain in this new Great War, on both the diplomatic and military fronts, Churchill declared war on the Soviet Union.
From the British Perspective
Hitler had mixed feelings about this development. Secretly he had wished to ally with Britain and struggle together against the Bolshevik menace, but Realpolitik had intervened against him. Now it appeared that Britain's own doing was forging an even closer alliance between Hitler and Stalin. While neither leader talked of open alliance—they were both much too megalomaniacle for such a thing—the tensions that had built up along the Russo-German frontier noticeably eased.
Of course, having no direct land connection with the Soviet Union, Britain had three options.
1)Pour all resources into an all-out invasion of German territory,
2)Invade or otherwise bring the various buffer states under heel
3)Cower behind those buffer states while the Soviet Union gobbled them up, along with possibly the whole of India, leaving Germany a chance to win in the West
The Wehrmacht, battered as it was, would never allow the first option to happen. Even with the British Army's parity with the Wehrmacht, it did not have the resources to pursue the second option. So, to all appearances, Churchill had just invited Stalin to expand his already vast holdings to include the Crown Jewel of the British Empire: India.
That very day Hitler made a speech lambasting the foolishness of the Allies, and implying a gathering camaraderie with the Soviets. After the speech, Hitler received news of a strategic withdrawal, in contravention of his own orders. Twenty-one German divisions were precipitously placed in Brussels, their organization disallowing them to take advantage of any opportunity and their only option surrender if the French could outflank them by retaking Antwerp. Manstein, the originator of the Ardennes Offensive, expressed his disgust with its implementation by 'gross amateurs without military experience.' He authorized the withdrawal of the Army Group to Aachen, where they would be safe from Allied encirclement. For this he tendered his resignation, but it was not accepted, even with his insubordinate remarks.
Hitler began to withdraw from his customary circles, his mind preoccupied with where exactly he had surrendered the brilliant initiative which the Allies had so graciously offered him. Was it in Poland? In Norway? In Belgium? There were good responses for all of these, and yet the answer must lay somewhere. His appearance began to slacken; his hands trembled when he didn't keep them clenched in fists. Behind the scenes in the OKW, a growing sense of foreboding was beginning to turn into terror at the strategic position of the country.
All Hitler could think of to do was try again, after all his armies had been situated for a renewed offensive. Paradoxically, he demanded even more influence over the plans, often changing the day-by-day minutiae that the most experienced General Officers came up with. His intense focus on this project led to the dereliction of his other duties; the Kriegsmarine rusted in Wilhelmshaven and the Luftwaffe lost the skies nearly every day.
The only light for Fascism, and an exceedingly dim one at that, lay in the East. The Empire of Japan had shown its near-total mastery over the Chinese time and time again over the past two years, and by this point had come to dominate much of the continental mass of Asia.
Rah Rah Rah....
This meager news did nothing to soften the blow that was to come. Aachen fell under a direct attach from forces which had outflanked the orderly retreat of the Army Group from Brussels, setting the entire Western Front at risk. Only quick thinking by Generalfeldmarschall Heinrich Himmler averted immediate catastrophe, and the Allied armies were initially driven from their position in Antwerp. This move came at a heavy price, however, and Liege fell under direct assault. It was lost to the concentrated waves of Allied bodies which threw themselves on the poorly-organized Wehrmacht divisions.
Hitler finally assented to a general retreat back to the now-completed Westwall to regroup in preparation for a renewed offensive.
The Situation Worsens
As battles finally broke out in the Westernmost limits of the Reich, Hitler retired from his adopted country to attend a conference in the newly-annexed local capital of Lithuania, Wilno. This meeting had an air of utmost secrecy, attended only by Hitler and Stalin with their private security details. Stalin had a sincere belief that meddling in the affairs of the buffer states was a last resort, but neither man could come to an agreement on a possible alliance between the two powers. Eventually it was agreed that Hitler would declare Persia and Afghanistan to be “subordinate to Allied interests and therefore enemies of the Reich” to probe their reaction. If the nations joined the Allies at that point, Stalin's armies would steamroll them in a matter of weeks.
The agreement left a bitter taste in Hitler's mouth, but such little benefit as could be had was better than nothing at all. When he returned to Berlin, slightly energized even with the worrisome news in Aachen, Hitler set about making his prepared declarations. As soon as these statements arrived in the respective capitals to which they were intended, the reactions of the dignitaries was automatic: the Persians in both Iran and Afghanistan voluntarily supplicated themselves to the will of the British, inviting direct action from Stalin.
Immediately following, and with great reluctance, Hitler agreed to divert every conceivable industrial resource to the prosecution of the war. The German people were not happy in the least, but they knew that their mechanical trinkets would count for little under French occupation. Only time could tell if Hitler's desperate, last-minute reforms could help achieve victory as the province of Aachen kept swapping hands, and with it the destiny of the entire world.
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Sorry for taking so long to update....got a new job, settling in there.
I was really shocked by the British DOW on the Soviet Union immediately after I changed the AI Agro level. And now it seems I can't hold on to this key province...literally, if I can't get, and keep, control of it soon I think I'll be unable to hold back the hordes of Allies. I already lack the IC to both produce new units and reinforce the ones I already have. I've felt like abandoning the game altogether, but even with its strange turns I'll press on to the very end in 1963, no matter what form I'm in.
Comments, questions, requests, and all that jazz are encouraged.