Chapter II - The Red Army on the March
Players: UK, FRA, SOVx2, GER, JAP, ITA
(Zid and CptEasy on SOV)
After concensus desision, the speed was lowered to 1
Recap: World War II has jump-started. Already in 1938, Allies were at war with Germany and Axis where at war with the Soviet Union. Japan has launched an attack against Vladivostok and Soviet has charged into Eastern Germany, yet without meeting any resistance. Germany is attacking Belgium. These next months will really show how the balance of power lies.
January 25th, 1939
The chaotic horde of the Red Army finally met the enemy. Not very surprisingly, they seemed to be positioned along a line which was easy to defend behind a river. So far, the defense seemed only to have deployed 1 division in each province, but the surprise was to find panzers. Stalin thought they would be deployed against Belgium and France. Then again, this ground suited them better. The question was, did the Germans have troops along the entire border or did it have gaps? And where were the Italians? Some of their fighters showed up, apparently to scout the oncoming Red Army.
Stalin ordered his men not to attack. It was too early. He wanted to get a full grasp over the defenders positions and strength. He knew fully well his hordes could easily crush themselves on dug in Germans.
Authors note: Clever. In accordance to our new house rules, Maxyboy have been given part or the entire East Front to Daphne to run – allowing Maxyboy to concentrate on the west.
Vladivostok was under attack from the evil Japs, but the brave garrison held firm.
January 28th-29th, 1939
The Germans fired the first shot as they attacked across the river into the airfields of Przemysl. Maybe they thought a lone Soviet panzer division an easy target with the possibility of cutting of yet another. The Germans struggled over the river to find themselves among fast tanks and armor cars and they could not quite punch through. Instead, they quickly realized this was not such an easy prey after all and they fled back.
The Red Army won the first battle against the Third Reich.
February 15th, 1939
For some time, the front was fairly quiet. The Germans did not dare another attack and the Red Army followed Stalin’s orders and scouted the entire front. The Germans had a single division in every province and they were all under Japanese command.
Stalin felt confident he could bust through that wall but wanted the infantry to reach the front first. Just when he felt ready, the Italians showed up. Enough waiting. Attack! They had chosen the sector were the German line was not protected by the river. That meant they had to attack one of the feared Panzer divisions.
Jaroslaw was attacked too. It was not planned to be a victory – only a stalling battle, stopping the Italians from reaching von Arnim and his medium panzers.
February 18th, 1939
Three days the battle rage. Strangely, it was the battle of Jaroslaw the Red Army won first. The Italians, better at drinking wine than doing battle, failed to reach the front and were dislodged together with the defeated panzers without firing a single shot.
Von Arnim, likewise, failed to get reinforcements in Zamosc and was utterly defeated too. Two medium panzer divisions had been defeated in three days. It was great news. What the Soviet propaganda did not mention was that almost a dozen Red Army divisions had been partaking in the attack, including 4 or 5 light armor divisions.
Nevertheless – the German wall seemed not to be able to stop the Great Bear.
The Red Wings (managed by Zid) did some air battles against Japanese and Italian fighters, and although they did some significant damage, they could not rule the skies.
January 31st, 1939
The garrison in Vladivostok held out for almost a month and it was only with a slim margin the tired Japanese soldiers managed to finally prevail. The garrison retreated in order and would continue to be a nuisance for the Japs for more than a month before they finally managed to round the last heroic fighters in.
In any case, it did not seem Japan had directed an awful lot of forces this way.
Soviet submarines were harrying Japanese supply lines but the old subs lived a dangerous life with lots of Japanese ships hunting them.
February 15th-16th, 1939
Also in the Med, the Soviet submariners were active. They were actually sinking quite some amount of tonnage. It was believed the European Axis traded with Japan as they were bound to have a negative direction on the stockpile of rare materials. Italian sub-hunter task forces were sent out to sink them, probably not thinking the Red Navy a threat.
The commander of the Red Navy (Zid) though this was an insult and left the Black Sea to teach them a lesson. In the Central Aegan Sea, the Italian sub-hunters were intercepted a rainy night and the fight lasted until morning. A couple of Italian destroyers had been sunk and the heavy cruiser Trieste was listing badly after the crew had managed to kill a fire after several hits from Soviet light cruisers, but they had to abandon ship as it was slowly sinking. The Red Navy then hastily pulled back to avoid contact with any other part of the Regia Marina.
The Italians would be more careful in the future…
February 19th, 1939
About one and a half month after Germany’s attack on Belgium, and they were still stuck there. That was awesome news. Instead, the Brits had launched an attack on former Netherlands, taken a major port and had surrounded Amsterdam with some German defenders in it.
A German push had succeeded in taking one French province but the French leadership seemed calm. Although this was good news, Stalin started to suspect a trap or an ugly surprise of some kind.
February 21st, 1939
Zamosc did not turn out to be the weak link in the German armor. At least an army corps of Italians had arrived and together with the Germans, they threw out the Red Army from Jaroslaw. In Zamosc, the battles were harder, but the Red Army soon retreated.
March 6th, 1939
Instead, the retreat of the Red Army opened up for a joint Axis push. The panzer spearhead was still alone, but reinforcements were inbound and the Soviet defense eastwards was not very strong. This could become dangerous. Stalin was reluctant to back away from the river in the south, as that surely would open up a broader German offensive.
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Sorry for short post, but there is some drama coming up which need to be served on one plate alone