Red Baron's Revenge;A semper fi Germany 1936 aar

[Austerlitz]

Ok,so i finally got inspired enough to write my first aar,its background is a little freaky and hilarious ,but this is my first and i'm not interested in leading the conquered world into a new dark age so....
[this being my first aar,go easy on me]

House Rules;

1]1936 semper fi
2]Upto war with poland played on hard difficulty,after war begins switch back to normal.[this is because i don't mind less ic but hate penalty on battles.besides after war begins soon allies will have massive 1k ic usa on their side so..
also hard difficulty will mean lot more soviet and french divisions.]

3]No paradropping to cut of retreat,or logistical bombing of capitals.
4]No nukes.

Hopefully this will be readable.

 

[Sgt Jack]

good luck

 

[Austerlitz]

PROLOGUE;

It is the year 1918,for four long years the great war has plunged the world into a slaughter and devastation undreamt of,hundreds of thousands of germans,french and englishmen,and soldiers from belligrents around the world have died to the meatgrinder of the static trench warfare of the western front.
Germany on the verge of victory in the battle of frontiers in 1914 was denied by the miracle on the marne and then slowly the allied blockade and the massacre of the western front has withered her down,the usa has entered the war and germany's great offensive for 1918 operation michael has failed.
Germany is tired but not yet defeated.
These are the thoughts going through the mind of baron manfred von richtofen,at only the young age of 25 the hero of germany and the scourge of the allied air forces in the western front,with officially 80 victories the highest scoring fighter ace of the war as he boards his infamous red fokker triplane on route to a sortie.
It is april 10;30 am april 11 1918.
Richtofen wounded in the skull the previous year is by now a far sober man than he was when he started out,his brush with death having opened him to a new grim outlook on life,he never believed in luck but he was lucky.As he zeroes in on the enemy fighter desperately trying to shake him off,he lost in his thoughts and the battle above ,plunges too close to ground,an allied anti aircraft gunner spots his triplane and fires....

The Plane shakes violently for a second and richtofen feels a stabbing pain in his ribs and shoulders,he knows he is hit and its a bad wound .
But keeping his mind ,with all the effort in his will ignoring the pain,he turns his plane around and mustering all his skill lands near the german lines,
As his triplane elegantly touches down and his blurring vision catches the german infantrymen rushing towards him..his last words before the darkness takes him are-'kapput'.



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In another part of the front..corporal adolf hitler volunteers to carry the message to the nearest command post,his heart burning with the desire to serve germany and earn fame, and with hatred for the enemy.
The withering french bombardment continues unabated ,but hitler is unmoved and inflexible.His belief in his destiny and luck supreme.
He rushes onwards the command post is in his sight ,then suddenly there is a great explosion .....and corporal adolf hitler's world goes black.




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The clear blue sky ...how beautiful and oblivious to the miseries of man it is....thinks the red baron.
He is lying on his bed in the hospital in his home country of silesia.
He is still recovering from his wounds,but the wounds on his heart are more profound.
He has heard about the shameful capitulation of the german imperial government,abandoning his kamaraden and stabbing them in the back.
He thinks about all his fellow comrades that fought and died...only in vain.
He thinks of indomitable voss,killed by seven raf aces together,even after he shot some down.and of boelcke,the great master and originator of the german air force.
He too should have died......but he didn't ...
and as long as the red baron lived he would see to it that his comrades didn't die in vain..and that germany's humiliation was set right.
Germany failed..but under this wekling of a leadership they were bound to..he reasoned....under someone with more steel,the german people would definitely
find their place in the sun.
The goddess fortuna was with him afer all...2 times now.
'Let's not go for three' he mused.

Finally free from his wounds richtofen travelled to berlin,nerve centre of germany.
The situation aroused great resentment in him,germany was in disorder.
The country was in total disorder ,there was total lack of even the most basic necessities.
He saw wounded soldiers begging in the streets,it made his blood boil.
Meanwhile massive war reparations demanded by the allies,he occupation of the rhineland and the saar by the french the disbanding of the army.
The prohibition of use or development of air forces or mechanised forces all angered him.
Meanwhile the country was in threat of being taken over by the bolsheviks,
This had to be stopped he resolved as he made the first fateful steps towards the freikorps.
The freikorps were a group of disbanded german soldiers who had banded together for repulsing the communists.
They were honoured to have the red baron.
For three years they combatted the communist threat and watched the weimar govt make a mess of things.
Richtofen made stinging remarks on the 'slave treaty' of versailles .everywhere he was a hero.
But his soul was disturbed...despite all his feats the war had been won and lost on land..thus to change the condition of the german people he had to understand land warfare.Not too tedious...his prussian upbringing had familiarized him with the art of war in the war academies.And he had been a cavalry officer.He noticed the rise of the motor and wondered what effect it would have on the future of warfare.He read up all on the teachings of moltke,schliffen and clausewitz.He read the campaigns of napoleon,caesar and alexander.
He also learnt of the italian air exponent drouhot who championed strategic bombing as the surefire means to victory in the next war.He reasoned -'the bomber would always get through'.Being a fighter pilot the red baron smiled silently at the assertion.
Then on a dinner party at the great hall in berlin he met for the first time generaloberst hans von seeckt,the now head of germany's tiny 100000 men reichswehr.His conversations with seeckt gave richtofen hope,here was a man who understood germany's problems and had a vision.


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Seeckt had been reforming his tiny army with new doctrines and concepts.
Training in the reichswehr was the toughest in the world,in essence seeckt wanted to create a new german army an army of officers,he trained them in anti aircraft and anti tank warfare using dummies and with tanks and aircraft in secret exercises with the soviet union.



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Together seeckt and richtofen talked and talked and finally they had in the other found a man who would restore germany to her previous greatness and beyond.

It is the year 1930,the weimar government is in its last legs...inflation has reached ridiculous levels in germany,unemployment and shortage everywhere.




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Seeckt and richtofen have resolved it is time to take matters into their own hands.They have garnered the support of general ludendorff who is to win over his former colleague field marschall hindenburg,the now head of the weimar government.
Together with richtofen's freikorps and seeckt's reichswehr they have the support of the military,Richtofen is a great hero to the people but the old field marschall is still held in great esteem by the german people.
FInally as 1932 draws to a close with ludendorff's help,they gain assent from hindenburg who invites them to take the reins of government and set matters right for a germany that needs hope.Hindenburg remains president as the red baron is sworn in as chancellor.
He has the support of seeckt's reichwehr which incorporates the freikorps.The german people rejoice to see their hero finally come to their salvation.

Immediately after ascending post of chancellor the red baron starts with the construction of roads,and various new projects to reduce unemployments he also starts secretly the expansion of the army.hindenburg dies in the fall of 1933 and seeckt and richtofen are now the co rulers of germany.
Richtofen has publicly blasted the allieds several times and derided the versailles treaty as dead .He announces a naval reconstruction programme and
the creation of a new airforce,the luftwaffe and the reintroduction of conscription.He has restored pride to the german people and they now wait eagerly to see thier new fuhrer's intentions......and so we come to 1936.

 

[Austerlitz]

PART I - EVALUATION and EVOLUTION.



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The door in the main great hall room of the reich chancellory swung open.
In came Germany's fuhrer,formerly experten manfred von richtofen.He bore little resemblance to the young aloof cold prussian of 1916 when he met boelcke on the train in prussia.Now he was a man on a mission,at 45 time had not stopped for him..but his resolve had never been stronger.
He had just returned from the funeral of the second greatest man he had ever known- hans von seeckt,creator of the new german army...formerly the reichswehr....now the wehrmacht.Germany was now solely in his hands.
One day the world will tremble at its might...and not too far.....he thought.
On the massive round table was spread a map of the world and the dispositions of germany's current forces and the reports on its industries.

Within one hour all of his cabinet and the best officers of the great general staff would be assembled in this room.
The true journey would begin now.
He thought back...and pondered deeply as he looked into the world map.


There germany stood ...the prisoner of europe.
On its left poland that devilish creation of the versailles allied to france and britain ,to the south czechslovakia,another insult to his nation,to its left austria.He pondered it was time the austrians joined their brothers in the true vaterland,the reich had to be unified.
Czechoslovakia and poland presented him with large problems,in case of a second war with france he would face a three front war,they had to go if germany had to succeed.
But beyond poland stood communist russia,the soviet giant needed to be dealt with sooner or later before it felt strong enough to try to export its ideology west.
In the west,france hostile as ever stood allied with britain,the mistress of the seas.
Accross the atlantic another giant slept in isolation.
He had also not ignored the rumblings of the rising sun in the far east.
Japan could prove to be a most valuable distraction he reasoned.


Also he needed another distraction or ally in europe .Italy dissatisfied by its own position and now ruled by the dictator mussolini seemed to be the perfect candidate.Mussolini greedy and gullible could be used to occupy the attention of the allies while germany slowly bared its fangs.

From the ancient times europe despite being inferior in total manpower and territorial resources had been able to dictate matters due to better organization,discipline and technology.From the greeks through the roman empire to the colonial powers.However now he sensed a latent change in the centre of gravity of power.The usa was superseding britain as the most powerful nation on earth,also the soviet beast had risen from the ashes of brest litovsk with a vengeance.
Europe's achilles heel was the lack of vital natural resources,principally petroleum richtofen thought.
Britain and france solved this problem through their colonies.
But both russia and america had massive reserves of homegrown petroleum.
As well as the technological,industrial resources and manpower to supersede these two.
Here lay germany's achilles heel,germany lacked petroleum,and rare materials .
Its great abundance was coal and industry.
To be great he had to gain access to these.Fuel was the lifeblood of modern war.
Germany's problem he reasoned could only be solved in the east,where lay the resources to make the german nation self sufficient.
But to march to the east he had to deal with the great threat from the west first.
What would be his goal?
he decided for europe to maintain its supremacy he had to unify it....under a german led mitteleuropa,the decadent french would be swept away and the british neutralized.In the east european russia had to be included.He would create a new united states of europe.
With the resources of the caucasus and ukraine,the ruhr and all the other nations of europe combined his would be the greatest nation on earth..one capable of matching up to the american giant to the west.
He would create a glorious new roman empire.

And then he woke up.....he rebuked himself for daydreaming..but was he really?
All the same ,the hour was almost up.

 

[Austerlitz]

good luck

Thank u.

 

[Austerlitz]

From now on,the aar will be written from a strictly military and organizational point of view.I needed a back story to get rid of hitler and the freaky idea cropped up in my mind from a swat cats episode i had watched earlier based on a undead red baron .

The main highlights i want to make in this aar are the organization and tactics.

The aar will be divided into quarterly reports,each covering 3 months until the war begins.


1936;Setting priorities.


January ;

This is the situation.i have 108 infantry brigades in 39 infantry divisions.

The navy-

1 flotilla of 2 u-boats,another of a single u boat.
These 2 are combined into a single flotilla that will bebased on wilhelmshaven.

The kreigsmarine with its heavy cruisers is rebased into the safer port of rostock.

The baltic Fleet is ordered into the port of stettin.

The air force.

There are 8 tactical and 3 interceptor wings available.
They are dispersed and intermixed.
These are grouped into 3 tac wings one with 2 tac and the others with 3 each.
The 3 squadrons per wing will be the standard and the tactical bomber will be the standard ground attack aircraft of the luftwaffe.
Its numbers will have to be taken up ,preferably to 15 for 5 wings but for the initial phase another one is to be added for 3 full wings.

Interceptors number a meagre 3 sqaudrons.This needs to be expanded to at least 12 i.e 9 more needed before may 1939 and preferably 15.

The 3 tac bomber wings are moved east ,the 3 sq wings based at berlin and breslau and the 2 sq wing based at konigsberg in east prussia.

The interceptor wing is placed west at hannover under milch.
The 3 tac units are led by sperrle,kesselring and wever.[tank busters all]

The army will remain in its current locations without setting up a command structure atm.it will be set up at the end of 1938 when all reserves are deployed and mobilization ordered.

The only change in command structure is to detatch the 3 available light panzerdivisions and group them together in the new renamed first panzerkorps.


From 1936 to the end of 1938 will be years focused on production.

The new cabinet-



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The technology researches-



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The production line-



As seen the majority of leadership is devoted to research.
The majority of which went to land research.
Among others were fleet auxillary carrier doctrine and escort carrier technology for the future lies with the aircraft carrier.
In infantry all of its 4 attributes will be developed further.
Same is the case for light armour.
Both artillery techs are alos being researched.
In industry section agriculture and oil refining are given priority.
And basic bomb and basic fuel tank for our bombers.

In production three 4 year long serial assembly lines building convoy transports were set up with the foresight of the fuhrer.These however would cost a constant of only 6 ic streched till the end of 1939.I n the beginning of 1940 germany would have 400additional convoy transports for such a small investment.A good bargain it is thought.

Then comes two more serial assembly lines each of 12 transport craft.
These will also be for 4 years and will take up a constant of 8 ic together but will provide our navy with 24 amphibious assault carriers at the beginning of 1940.These would also be necessary for the transportation of an army to east prussia in case of future hostilities with poland.

The destroyer and submarine are scrapped,germany will not engage in a brute force naval rcae with britain as realistically it lacks the resources to do so.It will instead rely on deception .The admiral graf spee heavy cruiser so close to completion however is retained.

A tactical bomber squadron is ordered.This will complete 3 wings for the luftwaffe.
9 more interceptor squadrons are qued up to get a total of 4 wings of 3 squadron seach.
A single infantry division[2 inf 1 art] is ordered to assemble for a secret upcoming objective.
The long awaited reoccupation of the rhineland.

The luftwaffe will be the greatest beneficiary of these initial assets,followed by the navy but the heer's time will come soon.

The luftwaffe has chosen its aerial eagle.And it has chosen well.



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All intelligence is prioritized on increasing support for us in austria,it is time austria joined the true reich.

A few trade deals are made mostly focusing on oil,and then it is switched to autotrade option.


On january 5th,a happy day for the kreigsmarine.

The admiral graf spee is launched.it joins the main kreigsmarine fleet.



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The ic released by the graf spee is now used for upgrading existing assets though present ic allocated towards that can only upgrade 1/3 of our total forces.[about 10 from needed 32]



Slowly the paucity of natural resources are remedied by trade ,and the situation looks stable and promising as january draws to a close.




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February;

On 15 feb it was reported that illegal printing was becoming rampant,a furious fuhrer ordered immediately efforts to track them down and a major point of dissent was avoided.

On 19 th february ethiopia surrendered to italy,the fuhrer was pleased,italy was to be the mask behind which germany would grow in strength.
As usual Il duce benito talked tough,let the barking buffoon bark he thought as long as he could be of use to us.



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It was also noticed that the soviet union was trying desperately to influence japan.a potential future ally.This had to be stopped at all costs,now however germany lacked the capacity to do so as most of its leadership was expended in research espionage and officerkorps.

March;
In march another volcano erupted in spain,the republican government faced open insurrection from the nationalists under general franco.
This was an unique oppurtunity to prevent the communists from getting a foothold in iberai,to gain a potential ally at france's back and to test out the new german arm s and tactics.
The fuhrer decided to intervene and send aid to the nationalists.




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Civil war in spain.

[unfortunately i couldn't change the ministers picture where it shows hitler and hess,and government as national socialism]

 

[Austerlitz]

2nd quarterly annual report-

THE LUFTWAFFE'S TEETH


APRIL;

April turned out to be an eventful month.

0n 16th april,the first technology advances were reported with the infantry getting more light artillery and integral anti tank capability.
The next level of these two were immediately ordered as germany wanted its infantry to be the best in the world.



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New mortars for the infantry platoons.

On april 17 taking advantage of the international chaos sarrounding italy's invasion and annexation of ethiopia and the spanish civil war,the fuhrer orders the troops from the newest deployed infannterie division into the rhineland.Only weak vocal protests are observed from the allied side.This confirms the weakness of the allied leaders in the fuhrer's mind.

The economy and the country recieves a nice boost after the joining of the rhineland to the reich full fledgedly.



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With this step three year draft is ordered,this will bolster our manpower reserves significantly .

on 23rd april the other two infantry tech trees also report advances in small arms and support weapons respectively.



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New submachineguns for the infanterie.



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New heavy machine guns for the infantry.

Artillery and light tanks also report further advances.Things are going according to plan.All three advances are continued to their next levels.


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An eventful april draws to a close.

May;

On the 4th light tank engine achieves a technical breakthrough.
On 5th may the first pair of troop transports are ready,and the tanks are made more reliable through technological advancement which is continued.



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Meanwhile things are looking ominous in spain.


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The distribution of leadership as on the 9th


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On the 12th the research for basic fuel tank and bomb for our tac bombers are completed the two opened up tech slots are found to be very useful as germany can finally counter the growing influence of the comintern on the japanese empire diplomatically.


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On the 13th light tank armour shows development this is continued.

also a slight change in intelligence and officer sliders allows the study of assault concentration doctrine.

On the 31st of may finally the luftwaffe begins to take delivery of its new interceptors,the messerchmitt is the best fighter in the world at the moment.



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With the preliminary expansion of the luftwaffe near completion,the time is now to begin the expansion of germany's army the heer.

It is decided that germany's standard division will be composed of 2 infantry and 1 artillery brigade.
This will serve a triple purpose.
Firstly it will serve as a good balance of massing manpower and firepower without overuse of any 1 which could later lead to scarcity.
Also 5 such divisions would form a infantrykorps,5 of which would form an army of the wehrmacht.Strike armies would have 1 infanterie korps replaced with a panzerkorps.
Also the 3 division model eats less manpower an important considerartion for the german army.
Thirdly a 25 division army will be the standard autonomous operational body of the wehrmacht.The large number of divisions would allow for proper utilization of space and justification of germany's tactical manuevre doctrine.
This would allow for exploitation of gaps in the enemy lines produced by the panzer spearheads.
The large number of divisions would also allow germany to properly field forces in case of a multiple front dilemma.
With this in mind the first army is ordered to be created.25 reserve infantry divisions each with 3 brigades are ordered.All these will be equipped with the newly researched arms.


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This is the situation.


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JUNE;

June turns out to be very uneventful.
Only significant event is the research of escort carrier technology.
The research of aircraft carrier technology is ordered as its follow on.

x-----------x
Comments are appreciated.I'm getting the feeling i'm writing this all wrong.

 

[CptEasy]

Nice intro. And interesting production queue. Now, who do you want to ship troops to?

 

[Austerlitz]

The building of transports is an ambitious programme that will require a little luck to be achieved with the limited resources of the kriegsmarine.But i like the flexibilty it affords me.
I have divided my buildup into production periods,like from 1936 to feb 1939[when i deploy my armies]
Then from feb to fall gelb beginning.
Then from fall gelb beginning to barbarossa.
And then the 4rth period.
My initial goals for war with poland are a sum total of 6 armies in the field each with intended 5 five div korps.
I intend to field 4 in the east and 2 in the west and keep a korps of 5 divs garrisoning the baltic ports under direct command of berlin.
The 4 armies in the east will have a sum total of 10 panzer divisions divided into 4 panzerkorps.2 pzkorps with 2 pz divs and 2 with 3.The armies deployed in east prussia and silesia will operate the larger panzerkorps.
One western army will have the 5th panzerkorps as the western front armoured reserve.This will be the light panzerkorps.
My standard panzer division should be 2 arm 1 mot 1 sp art.
By the battle of france i wish to field 20 pz divs evenly divided into 5 pz korps each with 4 tank divs.
By barbarossa all pzkorps should be at full 5 division strength.
Thats the basic idea,lets see how much i can pull off.

 

[Austerlitz]

3RD ANNUAL QUARTERLY REPORT.

THE QUIET AUTUMN.

JULY-

July proved to be the most uneventful month of the year without any significant incidents.
It was however nice to note the nationalist progress in spain.
And the growing german-japanese relationship.

AUGUST-

Another quiet month,the only significant tiding being the advancement in the land doctrine operational command structure which improved the movement speed of our armies by a more effective command and control system.

SEPTEMBER-

On 9th september the republicans capitulated to a victorious nationalist spain.The spanish civil war was over.

On the 13th general staff reported completion of the initial studies of large front doctrine,this was continued to the next level.

On the 16th the first infantry divisions were ready to be deployed.
The released ic was used up immediately in queing up the next armee,with another 25 reserve infantry divisions each with 3 brigades,2inf and 1 artillery.



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The new german infantry.



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New field artillery for the infantry.

On 18 th of september

Four doctrinal advances were completed,being central planning,delay,mass assault,and tactical command structure.The first three were continued,but the 4rth was swapped for supply production as it was felt this was vital for the rapidly expanding heer.

29th september,fleet auxillary carrier doctrine reached completion.this was replaced with carrier crew training.



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German soldiers in a field exercise.
Sorry about the swastika in one pic[no offense intended to anyone]

 

[Austerlitz]

Final quarterly report for 1936.

More guns and men for the heer;

OCTOBER;

On the 15th agriculture advances were made this would free up more manpower for our armies,another step forward.

On the last week of october,Schwerpunkt doctrine was researched,this would be very important to the wehrmacht's way of war in the coming war.

NOVEMBER;

A quiet month with no significant events.

DECEMBER;

On 23rd december further advances were noted in infantry light artillery and anti tank capabilities.These were now well state of the art and thus thetech tree was halted,one was shifted to increase our industrial efficiency,the other was comitted to the officerkorps.This would soon change however as medium tank research was completed in january next year.And improvements on its components became available.



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Also more infantry divisions were now deemed ready for deployment.
The released ic was once again poured into further expansion of the heer and a new batch of 25 reserve infantry divisions were ordered.
These would form the 3rd army,leaving out the original force that was available at the beginning of 1936.

And so ended the year of 1936...


STATISTICS FOR 1936-

The overall report from dr schacht the armaments minister was promising, the total production for 1936 was as follows.

6 troop transport fleets were produced.
9 interceptor wings about 900 messerchmit fighters had rolled out.
1 single tactical bomber wing had also joined the luftwaffe ranks.
1 deutschland class heavy cruiser.
40 Infantry divisions [39 were ready for deployment and 1 had been deployed in the rhineland crisis]
x-------------x

 

[CptEasy]

On the picture with marching infantry - there's one dude in the front carying his rifle like a foxhunter while the other has it properly on their shoulders. Can a lapse like that really be allowed in wehrmacht? I think the Red Baron must straighten up his men

 

[Austerlitz]

On the picture with marching infantry - there's one dude in the front carying his rifle like a foxhunter while the other has it properly on their shoulders. Can a lapse like that really be allowed in wehrmacht? I think the Red Baron must straighten up his men

Err..thank u citizen for bringing this to attention,such lapses will indeed be dealt with swiftly.....

 

[Austerlitz]

FIRST ANNUAL QUARTERLY REPORT 1937;

Quiet strides in technology.

JANUARY;

On the 6th of january,a overjoyed fuhrer learned that the plans were finally ready for production and further development of medium tank brigades,these would form the steel wedge of the german army ,the backbone of its panzer divisions and the instrument of doom for germany's enemies.

Immediately the open slot was devoted to research of medium tank armour.

On the 7th aircraft carrier tech advance was reported,germany could now make carriers!
However the open tech slot was immediately diverted to improve the technical reliability of our medium armour.

Then on the 18th more technological breakthroughs,this time in small arms and support weapons for the infantry and assault concentration doctrine.



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Assault concentration doctrine was followed up by tactical command structure to increase the morale of our motorized infantry.
And support weapons was succeded by the research of medium tank gun for added punch for our armour.Small arms was continued.

On the 25th light tank gun advance occured,this was discontinued and succeded by improvement for our navy's destroyer engines.

On the 30th came the two artillery tech advances,the focused production and technology synergy pleased the fuhrer.Both of these were continued,due to the compostion of the german infantry divisions the artillery had to be a top priority for the wehrmacht.

FEBRUARY;

A quiet month with no significant events.

MARCH;

On 4rth march a strategically vital advance,oil refining was completed.
This would help in acquiring enough fuel to pump our armour and aircraft.

The open slot was filled with infantry warfare as the general staff were ordered to undergo studies and exercises for a reorganization of our new infantry battalions into a more organized and cohesive force.

On april 8 more infantry divisions were ready to be deployed,the ic left was immediately filled up up ordering the conscription of a 4rth batch of infantry divisions based on the 25 divs each with 3 brigades model.
With this order germany had now ordered 100 infantry divisions since 1936 january.
These coupled with the 36 infantry divisions available at the beginning and the one deployed would amount to a sum total of a 137 infantry divisions.

The general staff had requested that at least 135 divisions be made available to the wehrmacht before february 1939,in case of a two front war vs poland and the aliied powers.
These would be organized as 80 divisions to the east in 4 armies each with 4 infantry korps[1 korps with 5 infantry divisions] and 1 pzkorps each.
The two holding armies to the west would have 5 infantrykorps each for a sum total of 50 divisions to the west.
Another 5 would be garrisoning the key baltic p[orts against any attempted allied landing into the heart of germany.
So the objective of a 135 infantry divisions seemed fulfilled.
Now the matter remained to fulfill the other requirement of at least 10 medium panzer divisions for our 4 pzkorps befoe 1939 feb each with 2 medium arm,1 mot and 1 sp art brigade.
These would soon be on the agenda as soon as the advancements in medium armour were a bit more advanced.

 

[Austerlitz]

2nd ANNUAL QUARTERLY REPORT;

THE ONE REICH

APRIL;

> On 10th april light tank engine and reliability were further advanced.
These were now discontinued and emphasis placed on the spearhead land doctrines operational level command structure and mobile warfare .
> Breakthrough,encirclement and shock were the three combat events most valued by the german general staff and these would have to be mastered for succesful mobile warfare.
These could later be followed leadership permitting by mass assault.

On the 26th light tank armour also reported completion of advance and this was switched to research and study of self propelled artillery for our panzer divisions.

MAY;

>Advances in medium tank gun reported and continued.
>Also advance in central planning doctrine,this switched to integrted support for better understanding and performance of encirclement in battle .

On may 22 mass assault doctrine was resrearched.
Discontinued and Followed by blitzkreig.This was to become germany's standard land doctrine.

On 24 may large front advance,this incresed the understanding of shock event.Continued.

27may,medium tank engine advance.continued.
Supply production advance,discontinued.Succeded by supply organization for improved supply throughput.

On 28 may medium tank armour and reliability advance.Both continued.

On the 29th delay doctrine researched,discontinued and succeded by interception tactics for better employment of our interceptors.

JUNE

On the 25th of june,the long awaited anschluss of austria came about as germany finally became one.

With the anschluss german manpower,industry leadership and resource stockpiles recieved a welcome boost.
Also the need to invest in intelligence activities disappeared for the time being and this slider was taken off and the extra leadership commited to the officerkorps which was in trouble keeping up with the ever expanding wehrmacht.

On the 26th destroyer engine advance recorded.Discontinued and succeded by destroyer armour,also the bonus leadership recieved from anschluss was used to research destroyer anti aircraft armament.

 

[CptEasy]

Some naval tec comin' up, I see. Erich Raeder must have good axess to the ears of the Baron. What will happen next? The quiet whisper of "Seelöwe"...?

 

[Austerlitz]

I don't mind sacrificing the whole kreigsmarine just to get those transports accross,but as of now....the red baron's eyes are turned east.
I'm quite pleased with the massive infantry forces so quickly at my disposal.
Now to build up the panzerwaffe.
Curiously i have always seen in aars that as germany u build industries for first 2 years i've always found rewards to be too low to give up two yrs of solid production.
The red baron has a plan for barbarossa.....it must be epic.


'When barbarossa commences the world will hold its breath and make no comment.'
Now lets work on how to bring this about.

 

[Austerlitz]

3RD ANNUAL QUARTERLY REPORT;

ACHTUNG PANZER!

JULY;

On the 15th with more infantry divisions coming off the line the stage is set for the expansion of the panzerwaffe.
4 panzer divisions with 2arm and 1mot brigades are qued up with plans to add a self propelled artillery brigade to these as soon as it becomes available.

AUGUST;

On the 8th
carrier crew training completed.Discontinued and succeded by aircraft carrier hangar.


On a 23rd another schwerpunkt advance.

SEPTEMBER;

On the 10 th progress by japan in the east,shanxi falls to the rampaging samurai horde.

On the 25th tactical command structure advance to increase morale of our motorized infantry.

Discontinued and succeded by fighter pilot training.

Pilots for the luftwaffe.The red baron is pleased.

 

[Austerlitz]

FINAL ANNUAL QUARTERLY REPORT;

PREPARATIONS FOR PANZERKRIEG

OCTOBER;

On the 8th industrial efficiency advance recorded.Suceeded by studies into education..

Then on the 22nd with more ic opened up 2 more panzer divisions are ordered,these too lack the integral sp brigade.

The panzewaffe is on it way.
It is being created under the close guidance of generaloberst heinz guderian,the principalk exponent of panzer warfare in germany.
Aiding him in the proper strategic integration of panzers and in proposing sp artillery brigades being integrated with the panzers is lt colonel eric von manstein.

Von manstein,the master strategist

Guderian,creator of blitzkreig

NOVEMBER;

On the 10th medium tank gun advance,continued.
On the 27th destroyer anti aircraft and armour advance.Discontinued and succeded by assault concentration and mass assault doctrines.

DECEMBER;

A irritating months marred by political feuds within the government,a furious red baron finds it utterly ridiculous.
[shakes fist at his cabinet]

And so ends 1937...another year of preparation but with the anschluss of austria the first steps to the grosdeutschland.

 

[Xendance]

On the picture with marching infantry - there's one dude in the front carying his rifle like a foxhunter while the other has it properly on their shoulders. Can a lapse like that really be allowed in wehrmacht? I think the Red Baron must straighten up his men

It could be that he's carrying an mg-34.