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Ouch, so things take a VERY unhistorical turn in this update. Perhaps we shall not see the rise of the Third Reich this time eh? Ah well, this AAR still remains one of my favorites.
 
That's... quite a war you have there. If you ask me, Hitler surrendered the initiative when he tried to prosecute a war with several divisions of L-ARM II instead of the more traditional ARM III. Get those things upgraded ASAP, and you'll have a much easier time in the West.
 
Heh, I guess I wasn't ready for how hard it really would be with the maxed difficulty setting. Bah...I don't like world-conquest games anyway (unless you're WC'ing with someone like Canada or Cuba), so it worked out. The Cold-Warrior in me wanted it to be the Soviets who overran Berlin, but I really don't forsee that happening anytime soon.
 
The imperialist Brits declare war on the peace-loving Soviet Union?
Madness!
This... is... London!
/post image of chubby Churchill in ahistoric hoplite gear

How many infantry do you have now? i think they are crucial at this point.
 
Tskb18 said:
The imperialist Brits declare war on the peace-loving Soviet Union?

Yep...pretty much shot all my hopes for having Europe turned into a Soviet satellite to utter shit, too.

How many infantry do you have now? i think they are crucial at this point.

Not enough! Less than 100 divisions total, which is woefully inadequate considering I'm trading Aachen back and forth with Frenchies who have literally three times as many troops-in-theatre as I do.
 
One for the History Books
The World As It Was

Chapter VIII: The Beginning of the End

Aachen could not be held by either the Allies of the Nazis. Each side had their forces arrayed in such a way that whenever one side secured the city, it was counterattacked on three sides and the occupiers were invariably driven back. This inability to break through troubled Hitler greatly, and his public appearances showed him to be getting more desperate. Even with the widespread economic reforms, the Reich hadn't the resources to support all the production that it needed to survive.

suckyIC.jpg

Stretched Thin

This stress was compounded by the disappointment in the East. While Stalin had promised vengeance for the British betrayal, and had said he would consider any alliance between the buffer states of Iran and Afghanistan to be a declaration of war, the border remained maddeningly static. While this could be attributed to the vast distances the Red Army had to traverse, Hitler suspected that Stalin simply wasn't interested in driving the British off of the Asian continent.

July saw a tentative break in the deadlock over Aachen; unfortunately it was due to the Allies' determination and resolve. Just before the end of the month, a bulk of 30 Allied divisions plowed through Aachen and sent an exploratory corps into undefended Dortmund. Only the brashest move by Feldmaschall Manstein saved Dortmund, but the rerouting of troops had effectively depleted any advantage the Wehrmacht had in the West. Hitler ordered a fundamental change in doctrine: there would be not one step back that the enemy didn't pay for with gallons of blood. Ever-new divisions were routed West in an attempt to stem the Allied flood into Germany.

As if this weren't enough, Hitler recieved reports of the Soviet southern front:

WTF.jpg

A Rather Surprising Development

Rather than advancing in a massive steamroll over the Persians and Afghans, Stalin was actually giving ground to the hordes. Meanwhile massive numbers of Bolsheviks remained poised against the German border, as if salivating for a chance to stab Hitler in the back.

In the beginning of August, the Wehrmacht led a valiant offensive to retake Aachen from the districts around Essen and Dortmund, employing forces on par with the Allied entrenchments. Supporting units were brought up from Cologne, bringing the Wehrmacht's offensive power to 60 divisions for this one battle. The devastated urban center was awash in the blood of families massacred by the blind artillery shells. By the 15th the city was once again secure under the German flag, and what citizens were left alive were evacuated East. The Allies allowed this operation to go on, giving the Wehrmacht hope of a breakthrough, but when the last train left Aachen Station routed for Berlin, the Allies brought their force to bear once again on the beleaguered German forces. After sustaining incredible losses, Manstein again ordered a retreat in contravention of Hitler's orderes. Again Manstein attempted to resign, and again Hitler would not hear it.

This breakdown in the command structure led to other officers showing open contempt for their Nazi leaders. Tactical offensives and withdrawals were attempted without orders from OKW, and the Wehrmacht became, in effect, an independent government that barely listened to Berlin. In response, Hitler grew more and more despondent. He simply stopped issuing orders, telling anyone who asked him for advice to 'do what they want'. The vast majority of Germans, from high-ranking military officers to children playing in the street, remained fiercely loyal to Hitler. But he seemed not to care about their fate, constantly muttering to himself about Aachen and his inability to retain control of it. In the privacy of his own home he blamed his German countrymen for not being strong enough to do what he wanted them to do.

Word of a Soviet advance through the Caucasus and into Western Persia, bringing their front-line to the British puppet of Iraq, didn't better Hitler's spirits. Aside from Afganistan retaining large tracts of Central Asian territory, Hitler saw little to celebrate in further Soviet dominance in the globe. The German fighting spirit began to slacken, and threatened to collapse if nothing was done. A few media outlets tentatively began protesting the continued war, raising the level of national dissent by a small fraction. Humbled by his many reverses, Hitler feared prosecuting these dissenters would only lead to their support blossoming into rebellion.

Hitler retired to Warsaw, of course bringing a massive security detail, to speak with sympathetic Polish collaborators. The 'Generalgovernment Polen' was tolerated by the majority of Poles, but there was an active resistance against its authority. Without taking any considerations to its effects in his homeland, Hitler unilaterally negotiated the independance of Poland, minus of course the core German territories to link East Prussia with the rest of Deutschland.

FreePoland.jpg

Will it make a difference?

The resultant state was much smaller than Poland had been originally, and was only marginally more independant than it had been. Nevertheless Hitler called this an example of his “supreme modesty and willingness to cooperate in order to obtain a lasting peace.” The Allies heard none of it, of course. To them, any Polish government which was allied to Germany was illigitimate, and thus they simply refused to acknowledge Hitler's move.

Domestically, the news was met with derision. If Germany wasn't going to take control of Poland, what was the point of this horrible war? Was all of the Germans' suffering for nothing? The fury with which the average German responded to Hitler's announcement led to demonstrations and small riots, which stopped just short of open rebellions. Hitler hadn't anticipated this result at all.

The decision was a slap in the face of his closest allies in the German government. Even in the new Polish government, his name was spoken with contempt. Hitler truly seemed to be losing his political as well as his martial ability.

Weeks after Hitler's unilateral action, he recieved a request to settle a dispute between Hungary and Romania. While neither were formally allied to the Reich, both were still considered relatively friendly. The issue of Transylvania remained a contentious one since the end of the First World War, and it threatened to spill into another armed conflict. Romania's government had been toppled by a coup, installing a leader and cabinet very friendly to the National Socialists in Germany. Hitler considered the implications on both of his neighbors, and eventually ruled that Hungary should recieve the territory. He also sounded out the possibility of bringing Hungary formally into the Axis, a proposition which was accepted with very few reservations.

Similar overtures to Romania were rejected after long deliberations, with Hitler's decision having rubbed the Romanians raw. The possibility for future negotiations remained, offering hope to the ailing German leader. This possibility was strengthened when Bulgaria showed its aggressive intentions, claiming the city of Constanta with a threat of force; the nation had chosen to act of its own accord, without approaching Berlin for arbitration. Worried that the Balkans would erupt in a conflagration that he couldn't contain, Hitler diverted the resources of Germany to reducing dissent, as well as a renewed offensive to capture Aachen.

The latest battle for the rubble that had once been Aachen was no less bloody for either side, but eventually the German forces secured a perimeter around the buildings that remained standing and launched further tactical offensives to secure the remainder of the province. Forced to retreat back into Belgian territory, the Allies could not immediately counter-attack, giving the haggard Wehrmacht forces precious time to recouperate their strength. At the front, Heinz Guderian continued his research into Blitzkrieg, beginning to develop a theory of the 'Kampfgruppe' or struggle-group, a new way of organizing small units of soldiers to bring about victory. While still in its early stages, it had proved invaluable in the latest offensive to secure Germany. Hearing this news, Hitler again became active in the planning and execution of military operations.

For the Oberkommand des Heers, who had gained some latitude to act on their own initiative, the return of Hitler's attention chafed. For Hitler, the small military and diplomatic victories he had brought to bear had reinvigorated his will as well as his confidence. To punctuate this surge in morale, Hitler finally got the long-sought alliance with Romania in the closing days of September, bringing his influence from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea.

Further east, the Soviets slowly reclaimed territory lost to the Persians and Afghans. Stalin seemed to commit himself to victory at last. Hitler began having second thoughts, but there was little he could do besides attempt to force a decision with the West which was favorable to him. Overtures for peace with the Allies went continually unanswered, however, and the common man began growing weary of the war.

The German war effort was partially revitalized, however. The inclusion of Hungary and Romania into the Axis effectively doubled its ground army and air force sizes, even if the forces of the minor powers weren't up to the German standard. Almost immediately the skies over Germany became a battlezone once more, as planes from Eastern Europe duked it out with the British Royal Air Force.

More good news came from the Far East, as the Japanese bulldozer completed its plough over of the Chinese. Hirohito installed a puppet state, gaining considerable territorial concessions while at the same time having a powerful puppet on the mainland.

AsiaLiberated.jpg

The Sun has Risen

A worrying note for Japanese prosperity was struck when the Allies and America increased their trading sanctions, though not to the level of full-on embargoes. The resource-starved Empire of Japan depended on importing its raw materils from abroad, and as willing sources dried up, the militaristic cabal in Tokyo had every inclination to look to military options, something which Hitler could only support.

Back on the Western front, the Wehrmacht took the opportunity to rest and plan for a major offensive. With Aachen secured and reinforcements flowing every day, not only for the Wehrmacht but entire Armies from Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania, the German High Command was relatively comfortable with the strategic position. A reinvigorated Luftwaffe banded together with the Hungarian and Romanian airforces to help keep the skies over Germany clear, with almost immediate results for German industry, which saw a massive jump in productivity that more than made up for the 'lost' territories of Poland.

Despite renewed hopes with the inclusion of the new Axis members, and their troop strength which helped to bring the narrow Western front to stasis, Germany's strategic position offered little in the way of expansion. The massive bulk of infantry and armor was forced to relive the Sitzkrieg of the previous winter while plans were laid down to begin as soon as General Guderian finished his research into the Kampfgruppe.

News from across the 'pond' rang in Berlin, as the Americans voiced their dissatisfaction with Roosevelt's interventionistic policies by electing Alf M. Landon as President of the United States of America. Hitler made a speech praising the wisdom of the Americans, and privately sighed with relief that they might choose to avoid war.

landon.jpg

America's Next President

Aside from the constant air-raids, which were becoming so routine that they hardly effected German industrial output anymore, winter progressed relatively calmly. More divisions poured in from German factories and the plains of Hungary and Romania daily, until the amount of force both sides could bring to bear on the Rhine were on par...which, naturally, meant German superiority. Hitler was unwilling to begin an offensive in the middle of winter, especially without the doctrinal advances of Guderian and the technological advances that other research teams were working frenetically to accomplish.

To keep the diplomatic initiative Hitler had sustained, he attended several conferences with Benito Mussolini in hopes of warming relations which had never properly recovered since Anschluss. While there looked to be no real chance of a formal alliance, Hitler felt optimistic that a general victory in France would bring the Italian dictator around. There was nothing left to do but wait for the ground to thaw and the men to retrain, for another attempt at tearing through the Belgian countryside.

Midway through December, news reached Hitler's ears that was truly bittersweet:

SovietUnion1.jpg

Hello Afghan SSR!

Stalin had made good on his vow to flatten the Muslim states of Central Asia. Red Army troops had begun the march into the open plains of British Pakistan, skirting the natural defenses of the Indian subcontinent—the Himalayas. The Bolsheviks also counted the province of Kirkuk as a fledgling Kurdistan Soviet Socialist Republic, though the native population was less than enthusiastic about its new Communist overlords.

Iran was in its last throes, and with it the British foothold on the Asian, and perhaps African, continents. Hitler was worried that the Soviets would advance deep into Africa, which spurred his attempts to bring Italy into the fold; Mussolini would not budge, even at the promise of a weakly-defended Egypt and his precious 'Mare Nostrum,' at least until the Axis could show some significant military gains.

In preparation of the coming offensive (and to clear the skies of Germany), Hitler shifted Deutschland's war production to emphasize the Luftwaffe, particularly Interceptors. Five new squadrons were slated to be completed in the month of April, which was near the anticipated start date of 'Fall Schwarz,' the name of the invasion of Belgium-France.

The plan was much less straightforward than the original Ardennes Offensive; it called for the encirclement of massive numbers of Allied troops in Belgium. From the OKW's best estimations, two pockets could be made, each entrapping almost 50 Allied divisions. This assumed, of course, that Allied troops would react with timidity from the long silence as more than 100 Axis divisions plowed them over...but this was not an unreasonable assumption in Hitler's mind.

As time trickled past, Hitler put all of his faith in the new operation. It occupied his thoughts from morning until well into the night; it had to be perfect. Everything depended on it, and if it failed...well, Hitler assured his staff that there would be no more unapproved retreats as long as he was Führer. This declaration chilled the hearts of the leading Generals of the Wehrmacht: Schwarz would be all—or nothing.

February brought the latest tank designs to the front, with entire divisions of outdated panzers getting their equipment replaced with the more advanced Panzerkampfwagen III's. It was expected that these new armored divisions would deliver the punch necessary to put a sizable hole in the Franco-Belgian lines. As soon as the snows began to melt it would be time to come up out of the trenches and roll over France like...well, like a bunch of multi-ton killing machines.

Hitler stood by enviously as the Soviet tanks and boots stomped through the Persian desert unimpeded, claiming another Soviet Republic. The Red Army had set up lines along the Indus River, almost ready to declare their integration of the Soviet Republic of Pakistan into the greater Union. Hitler got a bad feeling that he had invited disaster in his brashness, but there was nothing to be done about it now. He could only refocus his mind to the West, and hopefully win. He would worry about the rotting morass of Communism afterward.

In the midst of the furious preparations for Fall Schwarz, one of the Reich's ablest Ministers died of natural causes. Karl Friedrich von Siemens was well-liked and respected, a baron of industry and one of the major financiers of Deutschland's recent rise to prominence. His loss, while tragic, only served to steel the resolve of the German people for a final victory over the decadence of the West.

The beginning of March ushered in the completion of the Kampfgruppe doctrine, as well as a better way of organizing field hospitals that promised to save as many casualties as possible. With the snow melting in spots, Hitler could hardly wait. Every day brought him nearer to the day he could begin. At last, on the 10th of May, weather reports from reconnaissance planes flying over Belgium gave the all-clear for the beginning of the campaign season. Hitler moved his timetable forward, and by the 15th the fresh Axis divisions had been set into motion.

The initial attach was staged at Liege...everything depended on the breakthrough at that one spot. Unfortunately, the Allied response was quicker than expected...the Wehrmacht found every opening soon plugged with fresh divisions, and the outcome of the battle was thrown into doubt. Before it even began, Fall Schwarz was ground to a halt, and every centimeter of blood-soaked ground gained was lost.

Surprisingly, Hitler resolved to try again, and again if need be. He would not be denied his victory. The operation was continued, after a brief recuperation period. But now the objective was changed: encircle the massive pocket of Allied troops at Liege. Incredibly, this plan was foiled as well, to the Führer's consternation.

Hitler's sense of reason vanished. There would be a breakout, or every single officer in the Wehrmacht would be executed and replaced. Units were given no time with which to recover between attacks, and every tactical retreat was a disobedience of the Führer's orders. All available divisions were called to the front, and the ones which were already in place attacked again and again and again. Finally, Hitler accepted Manstein's resignation when the latter refused to command his troops any more—or what was left of them.

Norway was evacuated of all troops, both of German and Norwegian origin. Poland was stripped of any presence, even on the border to the dreaded Soviet Union. Hungary and Romania threatened to leave the Axis if their nations were left in such a pitiable state, so Hitler left their home-guards in place.

The situation became so desperate that Aachen was again lost, even though Axis forces in the area outnumbered their attackers five to one. Hitler became fanatical, and many dissenting officers were simply executed. Order and discipline collapsed, but Hitler's iron-grip on the country only strengthened, even as Allied troops once again entered proper German soil.

Defeat.jpg

Once More Into the Breach

A realistic look at Germany's strategic position would have sent even the toughest soldiers fleeing, but unfortunately for Hitler everyone left who could influence him was simply too frightened. He began to formulate plans based on imagined numbers of force strength, rather than what reality dictated. In truth, the Wehrmacht had taken such a beating over such a short time that it was barely holding together, with several Army Groups having less strength than a well-formed Allied Corps. The Germans were forced to retreat again and again, until Hitler refused to believe the reports coming from the front. The world, and the Wehrmacht, were getting truly desperate.

WehrmachtForceStrength.jpg

Can They Hold?
 
Things go well for the peace-loving Soviet Union. More socialist republics join!
Things go less well for Reich. Especially XXII and XIV Armeekorps! :eek:
And history takes another step into unknown territory... Alf M. Landon beats FDR.
i'd be very interested in seeing where it goes next. (e.g. puppet Poland? Wasn't expecting that!)
:D
 
Blimey that was a gripping update. Excellent characterisation and very, very believable. A truly spiffing piece of work. :)
 
I was kind of worried that people would see releasing Poland as too 'gamey,' but then I figured that Hitler was just going to go crazy anyway, so meh. I don't really think that the situation is salvageable at this point...I had some actual, firm hope that Schwarz would succeed on some level, but even with 108(!!!) divisions attacking Liege there was nothing I could do to force a breakthrough.

Any opening bids for what country I play after Germany's toast?
 
Dude, that's gotta suck big time!

If after Germnay is thrown into the pyre, I say play another gamble, the U.K.! :rolleyes:
 
Draco Rexus said:
If after Germnay is thrown into the pyre, I say play another gamble, the U.K.!
[Biggles]
Yes! Save the Raj, reconquer those damned Afghans and give the infidel Commies a damn good thrashing.
[/Biggles]
 
One for the History Books
The World As It Was

Chapter IX: Der Untergang

Even as the entire nation's destiny tilted toward a seemingly inevitable outcome, Deutschland retained its technological edge by developing evermore lethal weapons of war. Before Aachen could be secured once more by the Allies, Germany's top scientists and engineers developed the theory of turbojet propulsion; all they needed was time to put the theory into practice. Hitler thought the idea had promise, and vowed to bring down fury from the sky, but there simply was no time to be had. Even with the complete evacuation of Norway and every border but the one to France, all the Wehrmacht was capable of was a delaying action.

On the 26th of May, 1941, Aachen was occupied by the Allies. Hitler ordered an immediate counter-attack to be joined by every available unit—even ones in full retreat were rerouted. The first Allied corps to enter the city and scout the outskirts were driven back by the desperate move, and for a scant few hours it seemed to the OKW that the game of Aachen was back again, the story of attack and repulsion. This illusion was shattered as the First Slovak Combat Group was completely annihilated by the attrition suffered in the pitched forest battle.

The Group had become seperated from the bulk of the German Eighth Army while it was attempting to flank a small detachment of French troups. As the Army, and therefore the Group, maneuvered around to catch the enemy in the rear an attack fell on their flank. The Eighth Army fell back in relatively good order, but the Slovakians were caught in the enemy's pincers. The few men that escaped death and the camps could not be readily located and charged as deserters.

This news damaged the relations between Germany and its vassal, Slovakia. The Slovakian people, tempted with nominal independance, began to call for a seperate peace with the Allies. Luckily for Hitler, Tiso never once publicly uttered criticism, though his private feelings on the matter are arguable.

The loss of the Slovak Combat Group was not, specifically, responsible for the failure of the retaking of Aachen. Neither was the dispersal of several wings of the Luftwaffe in the skies above northern France. Casualties in men and material for the Luftwaffe were quickly becoming insurmountable. These were merely trickles in the overall flood that had become Germany's strategic position. Fail the operation did, after nearly a week of continuous battle involving nearly all forces available to Germany. Aachen became entrenched by the Allies even as more German blood was shed against the earthworks.

After Aachen fell, even Hitler saw that the troops needed to rest, though his reasons were purely political; if he kept pushing, the Wehrmacht might simply revolt, and possibly order a surrender. He was unsure if the ranks would follow their leaders, and seemed oblivious to the extreme personal loyalty of nearly every German in the country. Even the possibility of a surrender was enough to keep Hitler from demanding what he thought he had every right to demand: the personal sacrifice of every German for him.

At the end of April Hitler felt that the Wehrmacht had been sufficiently reinforced with the divisions from the East and from Norway, he ordered the battle to be taken once again to Aachen, and for the first time in many months to Bastogne. The OKW fiercely protested the second assault; they feared that it would expose their position in Cologne, leaving nearly 50 divisions vulnerable to encirclement. These protests fell on uncaring ears, and Hitler forced the issue with his Generals, giving them direct orders. Thus, reluctantly, the assault on Bastogne was undertaken just as Aachen appeared to be on the brink of German suzerainty once again.

PendingDefeat.jpg

Will they overcome?

The consequences of the renewed assault were disastrous. Another Slovakian Army Corps was destroyed attempting to protect the plank of Model's VXII Armee; the Allied spearhead pushed through the Slovakians and kept momentum into Model's flank. A mere hour before he was to be overrun, Model committed suicide by a single shot to the head rather than be captured by the enemy. His entire Army, including the Slovak group, came to eleven divisions. All were lost in the assault.

Screwed.jpg

Nope.

Hitler was furious to the point of apoplexy...he ordered the assault to “be brought to a final conclusion, one way or the other. Weltmacht oder Niedergang!” World-Power or destruction. There was nothing else in Hitler's reality, and the defeat of Model only stiffened his previously-wavering resolve. The assault was ordered to continue, even when the OKW thought there was no point in it, much less a profit. Model's was not the only Army to perish; in all, more than twenty divisions were lost. The assaults only concluded when the Allies forcibly reversed them, bringing pressure on Essen. Generalfeldmarchall von Kluge continuously fell back at appalling loss of life; his three Armies scattered, swatted away like annoying flies. Instead of allowing even more Divisions to disappear, von Kluge hastened as orderly a retreat as could be had to Cologne to regroup. Now all that was left between the Allies and the heart of Germany were twenty-eight mostly understrength divisions of exhausted but very loyal troops.

Hitler, for his part, refused to believe that Aachen had failed to be taken. He constantly ordered the assault renewed, and his order was constantly obeyed, though each wave was more lethal than the last.

Elsewhere, the British had traded Iraq for Pakistan. The Soviet Union admitted more members and added to other recently-aquired states, adding southern Iraq to the Persian SSR, and splitting the Boluchostan SSR from eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan, with western Pakistan as a claimed, but recently evacuated, part.

SovGoodBad.jpg

Good land traded for bad

The Iraqis did not favor getting dominated so quickly after having gained their independance from the Ottomans and having chafed under British protection. In many areas, partisans actively fought the Soviet-installed governments, contrasting with the comparatively complacent Pakistani people that hadn't been bothered by the change in administration.

It was unlikely the British would advance farther into the Hindu Kush or the Persian desert, but they had driven the Communists back at least partially. Even the least tasteful of Hitler's plans seemed to be failing. And then his best failed—Hungary and Romania withdrew from the Axis and signed a seperate peace with the Allies. Curiously, they both agreed to remain allied against any external threats, but would not aid in the downfall of Germany.

This event was precipitated by the sacrifice of two whole Hungarian Armies in the investment of Aachen, a crime unpardonable by the Hungarian people. Hitler's latest crowning achievement had disappeared from his fingertips so quickly that he couldn't believe it...like Aachen, he refused to see reality. He would periodically issue orders specifying Hungarian troop movements even after all Hungarian troops had been evacuated from German soil, something which went largely ignored even as a sign of Hitler's deteriorating mental state.

Nevertheless, pressure was increased on Poland, Slovakia and Norway to keep them from straying too far. None of their leaders ever breathed a word of disloyalty to Germany generally, nor of Hitler personally. Rather than sink into a depression, Hitler stopped believing the reports he was getting from the Front. He saw subversives everywhere, all bent on denying the Reich the glory it so deserved. Unfortunately for him, as Essen fell, so did any hope of a German victory.

The Allies firmly entrenched themselves in the city. Rather than attempt to evict them, Hitler kept pressing for action against Aachen. “If we take Aachen before Essen falls,” he would say, “we shall encircle them and drive them into the ground!” While these were sound tactics in normal circumstances, they would not work. The Allies would not be dislodged from Aachen, and each day that passed meant their further entrenchment in Essen.

All at once, the front collapsed. Atttacks were unable to even get organized, much less come to fruition. Sensing the opportunity, the Allies sent their well-rested and bloodthirsty forces into Cologne, where the minimal resistence of the haggard Germans melted away under hard, disciplined pressure. The next day the Dortmund garrison, in comparable shape to the defenders of Cologne, fell to a concentrated assault. Hitler, of course, ordered that no retreat was to be had. His orders were disregarded by all of his front-line officers, who attempted to extricate their forces before getting overrun.

CollapsingFront.jpg

The Floodgates are Opening

The Northern advance of the Allied spearheads were halted, momentarily at least, in Kassel, where the terrain favoured the defenders. This achievement was trumpeted as the final turn-around, when the Allies would meet their end and the Wehrmacht would storm over the lines, reclaiming lost German land and bringing a new Order to Europe once more. Sadly for the propagandists, this was not to be.

A coordinated assault on enemy positions in Dortmund succeeded in unseating the Allied exploratory corps in the area, further fuelling Nazi propaganda mills. The success was short-lived, however, as victors were defeated in detail due to their lack of organization. This time the heroic defense of Kessel was not to be repeated, and there was to be no more unified Front against the Allies. The plains of North-Central Europe were laid bare as the Wehrmacht began dissipating, each attack sapping more strength from German industry and German manpower.

Hitler still refused to concede defeat, leaving two relatively large Army Groups, one in Saarbrucken and the other in Munster, in danger of encirclement and destruction. Without Hitler's knowledge, his Generals began retreating all forces East, to assist in the defense of Berlin. At this point any suggestions of conditional surrender were unacceptable; no German would accept another Versailles, and no Briton would accept anything but total victory. By July, things seemed beyond any hope.

ReallyScrewed.jpg

The Twilight of the Gods

The Allied advance came on so hard and so fast once the German lines were broken that the OKW had to evacuate Berlin—the city could not be saved in time. Hitler stubbornly accepted the relocation to Munich, along with the rest of the Wehrmacht—a paltry 44 bedraggled divisions—and continued to fiendishly plot his conquest of Europe. Meanwhile France secured the rest of the country without meaningful opposition. By July 2nd, 1941, Hitler's domain had been reduced to strips of Austria and Bavaria. The French had occupied all of Denmark and much of Slovakia, and were working on Poland. Norway was the only Axis country left untouched, largely because of its geographic isolation, but its end would come in time.

On the 12th of July, the French brought a massive assault onto the fortress of Munich. With artillery shells landing around and on his bunker and his precious Wehrmacht collapsing around him, Hitler decided to have his final escape—he snuck out into the Bavarian Alps and committed suicide as the last vestiges of his once-great empire were gobbled up by the Allies.

Only once tiny city still claimed German sovereignty, and that was the port-town of Memel, formerly of Lithuania. Its absorption into the Allies' zone of occupation was halted when the Soviets chose to cross the border into the Allied zones of control. While the civil government from Memel claimed the entirety of the German Reich as its own, it had no military, no political recognition, and no industry with which to back up the claim.

SeriouslyWTF.jpg

An Interesting Development

The reason for the Soviet Union's poor performance in Central Asia was clarified; they had sacrificed troops to wait in the wings as Germany fell, so that they could pick up the pieces. Stalin happily sacrificed Afghanistan and parts of Persia in exchange for the fields of Poland and the industry of Germany, and unless the Allies could mount an effective defence against the Red Storm, Hitler's dying prediction that Stalin would lead a monopole world seemed very likely.

The German population wondered at their own fate in this war they had begun, but over which they had lost all control. How would the world turn out for them?

@~@~@~@~@

Annnnnd that's it for Germany, folks. What did you think?
 
Woa that was... unexpexted :confused:

Beaten by the French AI. It say to liberate GFR as France and continue this.
 
General_Grant said:
Woa that was... unexpexted :confused:

Beaten by the French AI. It say to liberate GFR as France and continue this.

I know...I bet I could have held off for a lot longer, but I don't think the Hitler in my game is even as stable as the historical one, given the lack of accomplishment early on.

What I REALLY think killed me was that Aachen turned into fucking Stalingrad. Maybe I should call it Aachengrad?
 
Yay! Another update! Oh... wait... YAY! Vive la France!
:D

Extremely well-written!
Since Hitlers come and go but Germany and the German people remain... General_Grant's idea sounds good.
It certainly does seem that World Wars Two and Three would merge into each other.
 
Ummm... What difficulty were you playing on? I generally expect Germany to get creamed in the 1944 scenario, but this...

Shocking, to say the least. Try again! :D
 
I said it earlier and I'll say it again. This has been an excellent AAR, I particularly liked Aachen-grad, it just seemed right and what would happen in the circumstances. An unstable leader fixating on a not-that-important objective for personal not strategic reasons.

Equally this AAR vindicates the view that a long term war would favour the French and British, when Germany failed in its quick win the odds were always against her.
 
dublish said:
Ummm... What difficulty were you playing on? I generally expect Germany to get creamed in the 1944 scenario, but this...

Shocking, to say the least. Try again! :D

I was playing on Very Hard, with an AI setting of Coward till 1940 when I set it to Furious (and Churchill promptly brought the British bite to Stalin). I had about a 50-50 chance of winning, and I probably could have if I had played as if *I* were running the country, but it wasn't me, was it?

~@~@~@~@~

I can either continue this storyline as a different country (or a different iteration of Germany), or I can start on a Greece 1936 scenario that I modded to have Greek cores on almost every province in the world. Which would you guys prefer?