our neutrality shall not be futile, a belgian semi-historic AAR

[unmerged(102667)]

Well belgium and holland did indeed have a devensive line inland, one problem they were not connected. If you want to have a detailed guide on how to be succesfull with Belgium you should look on HOI2 wiki. I had my strategy from that article and it worked so far.

 

[Hannibal Barca2]

Well, my experience with democratic, no DoW or early ally game as Netherlands shown German AI will closer to NEVER attack lv. 10 fort, even with large superiority. The only hard thing is to keep your sealanes open when France/Belgium is occupied

 

[unmerged(47937)]

So it was, that after laying out plans for the belgian defence, that building up started.
The populace was very pleased, as the building gave them plenty of work and they earned good salaries. It has often been said this took the wind out of the fascist parties' sails.
First, an industrial buildup was necessary to be able to arm the fortresses with top notch cannons, machineguns, tanktraps, mines, etc...
in the meanwhile, fascist uprisings in spain led to a fullscale civil war. Soon, Three major players in european politics got themselves involved as italy and germany supported Franco and his fascists and Soviet Union supported the republican government in hopes of it becoming a communist government. Their hopes have been based on the fact that the republican's view had over the past years shifted more and more to the left.

It was also in 1936 that italy finally conquered ethiopia. If any of the great powers had intervened, this would not have happened. Our sources in ethiopia named the actions of the allies rather cruel, as they bombed soldiers fighting them only with sticks and stones. However, as it was, they had to do this if they wanted to win. Time and time again it was proven the italian soldiers didn't have the fighting spirit and their morale was very low. This enabled the ethiopians to resist far longer than planned and they even scored a couple of victories. Among others especially named: The succesful defence of debre'markos, holding out for 3 months against italians superior in numbers and firepower. Finally, italy set foot in addis abeba on the 5th of may 1936, formally annexing them on the 6th of may

On the other side of the world, China was still in a very bloody civil war. This shows that a divided nation is never good. L'union fait la force, as we say in belgium.

Closer to our country, Germany decided to occupy the rhineland in april 1936. This triggered reactions from both france and great-britain, as they both kicked their military-industrial complex into action. Their populace however reacted rather shocked, still having the last great war in their minds. As it was, the british people rather steered their government into appeasement politics.

However, to our government it became clear that Europe was going straight for another great war. So they were strengthened in their opinion that their preparations would not be futile.

 

[unmerged(52507)]

Those forts should hold. The low countries and France are one of the few places forts can work as the Maginot line is extended. Of course with a hole in the Ardennes...

 

[unmerged(47937)]

short update for today:

As belgian people were celebrating the new year, the government decided to evaluate the build-up of 1936. First up was the science department. They were proud to report that all the industry could now benefit from improved and basic machine tools. Military research directed into better repairing and better artillery also was completed. Future projections for 1937 were research into advanced machine tools and advanced construction engineering. Other research would be more random, but with emphasis on infantry and artillery research.
The armaments department brought with them the good news: The first wave of factories was completed. Giving the country an increase of almost 10% in production capacity. The extra production was promptly invested in some armored cars for our infantry. They were seen as an excellent multifunctional tool, providing support in defence, offence or recon roles.
The diplomatic department reported they still mastered the art of walking the tightrope, maintaining good relations with Axis and Allied powers at the same time.
The Army reported that they had their defence plan designed around strongpoints. Troop allocation was still being considered and it would still take some wargames before the perfect solution presented itself.
Internal affairs reported that the economic free market approach combined with a hawkish vision made sure that the factories were ready much faster than anyone could have imagined. They noticed that in october, production had increased with 20%, compared to the january 1936 standard. For 1937, a further growth of around 13% was projected. This would allow for fortification in around three strongpoints at the same time.
The troops itself had excellent morale. As they had al had enough leave in 1936. Most of them however were anxious over the looming german threat, knowing full well that german military might was on the rise.
As it was, the soldiers trusted their officers enough to know that lives would not be wasted in futile assaults. They were properly informed that the new belgian doctrine did not allow for such foolishness.

 

[unmerged(52507)]

Some solid progress.

 

[unmerged(62343)]

All I can do is echo Jemisi. You have a plan and are sticking to it. Look foward to more.

 

[unmerged(47582)]

Can't wait untill its may 1940

 

[unmerged(128483)]

"yes holland is the problem

sollution: wack'em "

Well, as much fun as playing "Wacka-Dutch" would be, it really gets you nothing but more headaches.
1. The far east Dutch colonies are out of reach for Belgium, so annexation is out of the question.

2. It just lengthens your borders, doubling or even tripling your fortress/manpower issues.

3. And of course, the most salient point being, it is not historical, or even semi-historical.

I guess the problems are, how long do you spend buildiing factories? Do you build factories? When do you start building forts? How many do you want to build based on potential time constraints?

We know what the manpower limitations are, so unless you focus on agritech, or have a minister with the 25% manpower growth bonus, what is the most efficient use of your limited manpower? Tac Air? Air Superiority? CAS, or a combination of the above?

Or...do you build your factories in the Congo, retreat their when you are eventually overun and then fight from there. It was done successfully in the Dutch AAR that I mentioned in my first post. But, I know this has already been decided and we are just waiting for the outcome.

doing it in reverse is quite fun though (belgium was really part of the netherlands 450 years ago anyways so maybe add some cores). a nation with cores on all the low counteies is a very formitable foe, especially with the terrain and close to 80 IC.

 

[unmerged(47937)]

Sorry for not updating in a long time (exams etc...) another update will be released during the week.

I stuck to my plan for the entire game and it played out rather rewarding...

 

[unmerged(52507)]

Looking forward to seeing the Belgian heroics