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Nice update, some French action, I like it!
Fortunately you haven't killed St Ex...yet! :D
Happy New Year to you.
 
I absolutely love Kaiserreich AARs.:) It's been a great read so far.
 
You can't Kill Saint Exupery!
 
And so the final war between Monarchs, Democrats and Syndicalists begin...
 

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Chapter 5: The Cuckoo

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Batman, Republic of Turkey
July 17, 1942


- Der Kuckuck?
- Yes, sir, Operation Kuckuck. It means "cuckoo bird" in German.
- Heck, I know. It also means “hell”, as in “everything goes to hell”. And a dozen other phrases which usually include “hell”
- Well, we’re surely going to a hot place. Syria and beyond.
- I would expect Germans to be a little more…imaginative with their operation names.

General Popeliucka tried to recline in his hammock, which was shaking and twisting scarily. Popeliucka, however, wasn’t corpulent enough to break the hammock. He peered in the window. The surroundings looked yellow and bleak. Two Lithuanians were lying on their new, heavy tank, trying to get a tan.

- Whatever, Skucas, pass me the file now.
The huge brown envelope with “TOP SECRET” stamped over it in a dozen languages was bloated with letters, plans, and maps. Popeliucka pulled out the world map. It didn’t look much different from the one he studied two years ago.
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Green - Mitteleuropa and its client states
Red - Internationale
Yellow - The Catholic League
Purple - The American Entente
It should be noted that so far Russia and Austrian Empire, two other major powers, have stayed neutral. Entrance of either into war could shake the balance greatly.


- Wait, why is National France yellow? – he noticed.
- Oh, they’ve formally joined the Catholic League, renouncing their membership in the Entente. They claimed that the new Entente was too American-oriented and only the Catholic League could be a truly beneficial organisation for them.
- Good call!
- Yes, I think so too. At least in case the Syndies attack them, they could form a single wide front, all over the Western Mediterranean.
- Allright, back to Syria. Our two forces advance to the south, and the Bulgarian 3rd Army which is practicing with their new weapons so loudly to our east will make sure that we won’t get flanked by the Syndicalist reinforcements from Persia and Bengal. Our long-term mission is to wipe out entire Red resistance from the Iraq-Syria zone, thus creating a wide border with Persia, which will be stormed by Turks and Bulgarians.
- That doesn’t sound too hard, especially with the heavy tanks.
- Oh yes, those LT-42s are just amazing. It's a shame Germans considered them too bulky and canceled their production, but they will see a good life here with us...

Outside, one of the tanks shot a practice shell into the air. The soldiers cheered.

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The position of Lithuanian Expeditional Forces at the beginning of the war. The other corps, commanded by Skucas, was formed on the similar basis, three armoured + three motorised divisions.

 
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Interesting, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be a short war.
 
Wait, there can be Catholic military alliance too, not just Catholic economic bloc lead by Xavier? Very interesting.

By the way, National France seems to be very oportunistic ally. In your game they left Entente and joined Catholic alliance, while in my game they left Entente and joined Mitteleuropa when Germans transfered French continental territory to them after destruction of CoF.
 
Thanks for comments, everyone! :D
To Timme0307 and Gideon020: the new Lithuanian LT-42 tank is a slightly modified German PzKpfw NbFz VI, aka Neubaufahrzeug. In the current reality, Germans didn't invent the Blitzkrieg doctrine, neither did they produce large masses of tanks (in fact, even in 1942 all they have is 6 light tank divisions), so Lithuanians decided to buy the blueprints off German design bureaus. In game, it is represented with Basic Heavy Tank brigades. You can also see the pic of PzKpfw NbFz VI in the top of my previous update. :cool:
 
I believe a pun is in order...

Holy World War Batman!

Good luck and have fun bringing Popeliučka geographically close to his first assignment abroad (i.e. China)!
 
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Aleppo, Syria
July 21, 1942



General Popeliucka was rocking in his chair, pipe lit. Meanwhile, the younger Lithuanian, General Skucas walked to and fro in the headquarters building, chewing on a cigarette.

- God damn it, they've annexed Belgium! I can't believe it.
Popeliucka studied the new report again.
- Terrible news, I agree. The same about Milan falling to French forces. No wonder the German Generalstab ordered full militarisation and expects the same from the Mitteleuropean countries.
- We can always explain our inactivity in our lack of manpower. Noone has yet counted how many Ukrainian and Ruthenian youth we can call to arms!
Popeliucka smiled and unrolled the regional map.

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You can also see our resources and IC on this picture: most of the IC is currently devoted to new tank, mechanised divisions and CAS aircraft.

- Allright, Skucas, now sit the hell down and take a look on the operation map. It's great success so far, with Northern Iraq under Bulgarian control and us taking Northern Syria, but it's been all flatland so far, and the landscape gets more mountainous further to the south. That means, our tanks will be less effective and we'll have to think twice before sending them on missions. Fortunately, the Abwehr sent us a dispatch - they claim our only enemies are about four-five divisions of mixed Persian and Iraqi personell, Bengali troops are reported to have stayed in Iran so far. The resistance here will be weak and disorganised.

Skucas took a closer look.
- So, once we take Damascus, my force moves east to Iraq proper and assists Bulgarians there, while yours continiues south to Lebanon?
- Yes, Skucas, it's as simple as that. As soon as your lads will secure Baghdad and wait till the Turkish reinforcements flow in, we will be relo...

Suddenly, a Lithuanian soldier ran in the Headquarters. He was bare-chested and scared.
- We're under attack, sirs! By Panzer!
Popeliucka dropped his pipe in shock.

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- Panze-e-er! - screamed one of the soldiers outside. Popeliucka ran out to the yard, pointing the soldiers to the anti-tank cannon that stood not far away.
- Damn it! Everyone, block the street, quickly! - yelled Skucas.
- Which tanks are those?!
- Hell knows! Must be American, they're goddamn bulky!

Three tanks were closing in, infantry following shortly after. The Lithuanian men managed to block the street with a truck and man the anti-tank gun. In a minute, one of the Shermans charged the barricade, but got stuck in the debris.
While the anti-tank gun crew was shooting at the immobilised tank again and again, trying to silence it, another tank broke through right near Popeliucka, who shrieked in fear and ran to the ammo depot on the other side of the street. The tank started turning its turret towards the running General.

The machinegun fired. Popeliucka could feel the earth rattle a few feet behing him. "I've become too fat for such runs" - he thought.

Popeliucka scurried inside the ammo depot. The tank was still grunting outside. It struck Popeliucka as the ideal time to pray.

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve-e-e... - prayed Popeliucka, searching around the first floor for anti-tank grenades. The depot was almost empty - he only found a gasoline canister and a few old German stick grenades, the Stielhandgranaten.
..ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle...

The Sherman fired its gun while Popeliucka was on the staircase up. They hit somewhere nearby. The General gulped.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte... et Jesum...damn it, why the hell did I get so FAT... benedictum fructum ventris tui nobis post hoc exsilium ostende...

The Sherman crew rolled closer to the building. Popeliucka found a rope, with which he quickly tied the handgrenades to the canister. He was almost out of breath.

- O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria!
- yelled Popeliucka, dropping this improvised explosive on the roof of the Sherman and ducking back.

It worked. The grenade exploded, spilling burning gasoline on the tank's top. Moments later, Popeliucka heard the crew scream and someone open the hatch. He looked out and saw a Frenchman trying to get out of the burning machine. The General took his pistol. Blam! - and the driver fell back inside, dissapearing into the flame and smoke.

- Screw you, Abwehr. - groaned Popeliucka, panting heavily. - Screw you all...



***

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Comparison of Mitteleuropean and Internationale Armed Forces, July 1942

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The glorious Lithuanian Navy, comprised of repaired and reinforced Ukrainian destroyer flotillas.

 
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Muffin, I've seen that chart already, thank you.
However, I said in one of my updates that even in 1942, in this timeline Germans stayed with Pzkpfw II and French lack heavy tanks such as B1 and, therefore, a Sherman is large in comparison with most other tanks, except the Neubaufahrzeug employed in this AAR as the Lithuanian heavy tank. I will still change that phrase, so as not to attract further criticism to it, to "bulky". It's a personal psychological characteristic: in my opinion, Sherman is definitely godddamn bulky. :p