Awesome to see you posting here again! I've been trying my own attempt at the Great Crusade scenario in NN so it's great to have the original back for inspiration.
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From the Spree to the Albany and back – A short History of the Free German Republic
The History of Germany is, although short, one of the more interesting on the whole tragedy that was the first half of the 20th Century. When the red avalanche swept over Europe, Germany, although recently defeated in the First Great War, fought harder than many before it, although hopelessly outnumbered. The Germans had just de-mobilized to their allowed peace-time strength when the Red Army, in an undoubtedly perfectly timed move, attacked Germany from the east in 1922, when the new, smaller and shattered German Army had not even moved into it's new peacetime positions. When the Soviet Infantry crossed the border to Schlesien, there were no German soldiers between them and Berlin. However Berlin itself held the bulk of the German Field formations at that time. Chancellor Ebert was realistic enough that there was no chance Germany could stop the Soviets on her own. The Army was gone, and even so, the Soviets were throwing literally everything they had against Western Europe. The only hope that the free world had was that Germany could slow down the Soviets enough to give the Entente Powers the time to re-mobilize their own armies. But with 100.000 men this was not possible. The Germans started a crash-program to rebuild the army as best as possible, sometimes just scraping together every veteran they could find, handing them the rifles that had been stockpiled and sending them to the front. Thanks to this, the German Armed forces reached their peak strength of 240.000 in early 1923. Berlin was so quickly surrounded that the Government had no chance to escape, and with it, 20.000 regular soldiers and militia formed from the city's population, were trapped while the Soviets cautiously advanced farther west, intent on just starving the Germans to death. The Government sent desperate pleas for help to the re-established General Headquarters near Hamburg, but the old Generals around Hindenburg deemed any rescue expedition as 'not practicable'. Then an until then unknown Colonel, Erwin Rommel, commander of the Dresden Infantry School's Cadet formation after the old commander was killed, proposed a daring night attack over the Spree, where the Germans still held a single bridge, back to behind the soviet main lines, which would then smash through the weakest part of the Soviet ring around Berlin. Hindenburg was against this, but he was over-ruled by Konrad Adenauer, the highest Government representative at the Headquarters.
Soon thereafter the cadets, roughly battalion sized, went on the attack, using borrowed trucks to simply race through the Soviet lines, while two German Divisions held the breakthrough. In a daring race across occupied Germany, the group of men soon reached Berlin, entering the city without encountering a single Soviet soldier. When they reached the Government district of the shattered city, did they encounter resistance. They managed to break through, and successfully evacuate the Reichstag where the President and the Chancellor had retreated to. On the way back however, they were forced to run the gauntlet, and just outside Berlin Rommel was wounded and fell of the truck. The orders were not to stop for any reasons at all, so a supposedly dying Rommel was left behind, while the others raced for safety, reaching the German lines on the next day. Rommel was not dead, but spend the next three months being nursed back to health by a loyal Farmer. He then made his way back to German lines, where he was promoted to Brigadier General on the spot by a thankful Chancellor. Hindenburg burst into a fit of anger, but much to his surprise, suffered a heart attack and was dead before he hit the floor and being forced to second his spot to Ludwig Beck. During the next months Germany was steadily demolished, despite help from France, the United Kingdom and all other Western-European nations, and by 1924 they lost Aachen, the last city in Allied hands. The battle of France lasted for almost another year, but by 1926 even Spain was no longer secure, and the shattered remnants of the European Armies were evacuated by the Royal Navy, only to be forced to flee again a year later to Canada.
The provisional Government of Germany: committed to victory!
There the Germans planned their next moves. When Canada, and later the United States, fractured and the Great Lakes Republic was born, Rommel and Guderian argued against von Beck and others who thought that an alliance with Ford would prove favorable and improve their position. In the end it was the right decision to stay neutral. Ford equipped the Germans with a few tanks to test their theories, but before he could cash in on his investment, US Artillery started to shell his capital into dust. Unlike Ford, Roosevelt quickly realized the potential of having a full, working Government for many of the European exiled nations on hand and decided to have them courted at every opportunity. In the aftermath of the American/Canadian invasion of Europe however, things began to heat up at the German Headquarters in Ottawa. The Chancellor had died, and due to the lack on an electorate, it was difficult to determine who would succeed him. In the end there were two factions: The Alliance between Konrad Adenauer and General Erwin Rommel, who had agreed that Rommel would be taking over as a representative Head of State, allowing him to retain the promised post as Chief of the General Staff, while Adenaur would actually run everything. The other faction was the older Officer Corps, led by von Beck, who wanted to install a military Government. In the end the Adenauer and Rommel won out after they had made an agreement with Roosevelt and had improvised their electorate from German-Americans and the remnants of the Army that had made it to Canada with them. The Free German Army consisted only of a single Division at the time of Operation Supercharge, but the German-Americans flocked to the banner of regaining and safeguarding their ancestral homeland, and by the time of the London Conference two additional Division and an armoured Brigade were formed, with an adequate manpower pool for reserves. By the time the Government re-entered the shattered, overgrown and unrepaired ruins of Berlin, these Divisions were transported to Europe, where they would form the core of the new German Army that would march to victory side by side with Germany's allies against the Communist menace.
-From the Spree to the Albany and back – A short History of the Free German Republic Trekaddict
(This update was written by our very special guest writer Trekaddict)
The History of Germany is, although short, one of the more interesting on the whole tragedy that was the first half of the 20th Century. When the red avalanche swept over Europe, Germany, although recently defeated in the First Great War, fought harder than many before it, although hopelessly outnumbered. The Germans had just de-mobilized to their allowed peace-time strength when the Red Army, in an undoubtedly perfectly timed move, attacked Germany from the east in 1922, when the new, smaller and shattered German Army had not even moved into it's new peacetime positions. When the Soviet Infantry crossed the border to Schlesien, there were no German soldiers between them and Berlin. However Berlin itself held the bulk of the German Field formations at that time. Chancellor Ebert was realistic enough that there was no chance Germany could stop the Soviets on her own. The Army was gone, and even so, the Soviets were throwing literally everything they had against Western Europe. The only hope that the free world had was that Germany could slow down the Soviets enough to give the Entente Powers the time to re-mobilize their own armies. But with 100.000 men this was not possible. The Germans started a crash-program to rebuild the army as best as possible, sometimes just scraping together every veteran they could find, handing them the rifles that had been stockpiled and sending them to the front. Thanks to this, the German Armed forces reached their peak strength of 240.000 in early 1923. Berlin was so quickly surrounded that the Government had no chance to escape, and with it, 20.000 regular soldiers and militia formed from the city's population, were trapped while the Soviets cautiously advanced farther west, intent on just starving the Germans to death. The Government sent desperate pleas for help to the re-established General Headquarters near Hamburg, but the old Generals around Hindenburg deemed any rescue expedition as 'not practicable'. Then an until then unknown Colonel, Erwin Rommel, commander of the Dresden Infantry School's Cadet formation after the old commander was killed, proposed a daring night attack over the Spree, where the Germans still held a single bridge, back to behind the soviet main lines, which would then smash through the weakest part of the Soviet ring around Berlin. Hindenburg was against this, but he was over-ruled by Konrad Adenauer, the highest Government representative at the Headquarters.
Soon thereafter the cadets, roughly battalion sized, went on the attack, using borrowed trucks to simply race through the Soviet lines, while two German Divisions held the breakthrough. In a daring race across occupied Germany, the group of men soon reached Berlin, entering the city without encountering a single Soviet soldier. When they reached the Government district of the shattered city, did they encounter resistance. They managed to break through, and successfully evacuate the Reichstag where the President and the Chancellor had retreated to. On the way back however, they were forced to run the gauntlet, and just outside Berlin Rommel was wounded and fell of the truck. The orders were not to stop for any reasons at all, so a supposedly dying Rommel was left behind, while the others raced for safety, reaching the German lines on the next day. Rommel was not dead, but spend the next three months being nursed back to health by a loyal Farmer. He then made his way back to German lines, where he was promoted to Brigadier General on the spot by a thankful Chancellor. Hindenburg burst into a fit of anger, but much to his surprise, suffered a heart attack and was dead before he hit the floor and being forced to second his spot to Ludwig Beck. During the next months Germany was steadily demolished, despite help from France, the United Kingdom and all other Western-European nations, and by 1924 they lost Aachen, the last city in Allied hands. The battle of France lasted for almost another year, but by 1926 even Spain was no longer secure, and the shattered remnants of the European Armies were evacuated by the Royal Navy, only to be forced to flee again a year later to Canada.
The provisional Government of Germany: committed to victory!
There the Germans planned their next moves. When Canada, and later the United States, fractured and the Great Lakes Republic was born, Rommel and Guderian argued against von Beck and others who thought that an alliance with Ford would prove favorable and improve their position. In the end it was the right decision to stay neutral. Ford equipped the Germans with a few tanks to test their theories, but before he could cash in on his investment, US Artillery started to shell his capital into dust. Unlike Ford, Roosevelt quickly realized the potential of having a full, working Government for many of the European exiled nations on hand and decided to have them courted at every opportunity. In the aftermath of the American/Canadian invasion of Europe however, things began to heat up at the German Headquarters in Ottawa. The Chancellor had died, and due to the lack on an electorate, it was difficult to determine who would succeed him. In the end there were two factions: The Alliance between Konrad Adenauer and General Erwin Rommel, who had agreed that Rommel would be taking over as a representative Head of State, allowing him to retain the promised post as Chief of the General Staff, while Adenaur would actually run everything. The other faction was the older Officer Corps, led by von Beck, who wanted to install a military Government. In the end the Adenauer and Rommel won out after they had made an agreement with Roosevelt and had improvised their electorate from German-Americans and the remnants of the Army that had made it to Canada with them. The Free German Army consisted only of a single Division at the time of Operation Supercharge, but the German-Americans flocked to the banner of regaining and safeguarding their ancestral homeland, and by the time of the London Conference two additional Division and an armoured Brigade were formed, with an adequate manpower pool for reserves. By the time the Government re-entered the shattered, overgrown and unrepaired ruins of Berlin, these Divisions were transported to Europe, where they would form the core of the new German Army that would march to victory side by side with Germany's allies against the Communist menace.
-From the Spree to the Albany and back – A short History of the Free German Republic Trekaddict
(This update was written by our very special guest writer Trekaddict)
Trekaddict... that guy... where I've heard that name before... knows a bit about writting, indeed...
wath, how could the soviets attack Germany already in 1922???
Perhaps they were running away from the Fins
Excellent piece danielshannon, I am reading it from the beginning although missed last few updates because hadn't it subscribed
From the looks of your TC load, it might be a good idea to liberate some nations, like Ireland, Britian, Spain, France, Germany, etc. nothing quite on the front lines of course to muck up the supply situation.
Your stocks of supplies and resources would take a hit, but the individual nations would make more efficient use of the factories and such within their borders.
Although you would take a dissent hit, I think a little tailored event would fix that.
Your stocks of supplies and resources would take a hit, but the individual nations would make more efficient use of the factories and such within their borders.
Although you would take a dissent hit, I think a little tailored event would fix that.
Enewald,
In the back story for this aar, the USSR was successful in its invasion of Poland and drove on into Europe.
Edzako and Lord Strange,
I'm glad that you two are enjoying the aar. Thanks for your support!
VILenin,
Yes, I hope so too. I may have to do some editing so that the bitter peace doesn't fire!
TheMaleRei,
I'm planning on releasing those nations very shortly! The supply/TC/manpower situation is a tad rough, so I'll need to get Europe free and into the fight.
Expect a new update this evening.
In the back story for this aar, the USSR was successful in its invasion of Poland and drove on into Europe.
Edzako and Lord Strange,
I'm glad that you two are enjoying the aar. Thanks for your support!
VILenin,
Yes, I hope so too. I may have to do some editing so that the bitter peace doesn't fire!
TheMaleRei,
I'm planning on releasing those nations very shortly! The supply/TC/manpower situation is a tad rough, so I'll need to get Europe free and into the fight.
Expect a new update this evening.
Just for reference, the bugged election event is if the Nazis/Axis are defeated BEFORE the '44 election. Don't know why it comes up with Roosevelt as a Republican though.
Great AAR..............................
Great AAR..............................
Yes. I am working on a big update for you guys. Stay tuned.Is this still going on?
Yes. I am working on a big update for you guys. Stay tuned.
Yay!
Yes. I am working on a big update for you guys. Stay tuned.
That will be a big update
I just deleted this AAR from my subscriptions yesterday, thinking it was dead. Is it?
Not. What should be the Polish - German and Polish - Russian borders like?
Very odd german government you have there. Isn't that a libcon one?
Very odd german government you have there. Isn't that a libcon one?
Last edited:
Very odd german government you have there. Isn't that a libcon one?[/QUOTE]
No it lives!
Sorry about the delay, guys. Work and school has been kicking my butt. I had a big update planned but I was really dissatisfied with it. I think I'll go the "Choose your own Adventure route" and let you guys redraw Europe's boundaries as you so chose.
update coming right up.
I just deleted this AAR from my subscriptions yesterday, thinking it was dead. Is it?
No it lives!
Sorry about the delay, guys. Work and school has been kicking my butt. I had a big update planned but I was really dissatisfied with it. I think I'll go the "Choose your own Adventure route" and let you guys redraw Europe's boundaries as you so chose.
update coming right up.
London Conference on Post Soviet Europe
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Lyon Mackenzie King's proposal for the postwar British Isles
The early successes in the war in Europe gave the Soviet leaders the opportunity to begin building what they called the “New Order” - a redrawing of the world's boundaries in order to establish a global system with the Soviet Union as the dominant, preferably only, imperial power. Initially, the USSR was to rule Europe either through direct annexation (Poland and Finland) or through satellite states (Turkey and Hungary). Eventually it was decided that all nationalities would be relegated to having only restricted autonomy in a federated global communist state. Nations that cooperated with the regime were rewarded with vast swaths of territory, while other peoples saw their Socialist Republics annexed or, worse still, were expelled from their homelands. Some nations were too big to remove, and these were often left under formal military occupation.
Contemporary commentators likened the Europe inherited by the allies to the story of Humpty Dumpty. Could a Europe broken by the ruthless Soviet regime ever be put back together again? Even before decades of Soviet occupation, the issues that faced the delegates to the London Conference would have been tricky.
Roosevelt's proposal for a unified and independent Ireland
The Irish Question was the first major issue of the Conference and the one that caused the biggest rift in the American-Canadian alliance. The Europeans had naturally hoped that their prewar spheres of influence and colonies would be restored to them. The Americans had other ideas. US officials saw colonies and even the British Commonwealth and its prewar imperial preference system as a threat to the open and nondiscriminatory global socioeconomic order that they hoped to forge. During the 1944 Presidential Election, Roosevelt reaffirmed his support for “a stabilized interdependent world free from the deprivations of communism and colonialism alike.” He had also specifically pledged to support an independent and unified Ireland during the campaign, which his opponents had criticized as crass ethnic pandering. The Canadians, somewhat hypocritically given their annexation of Newfoundland, argued for the prewar status quo and insisted that Ireland was rightfully British. The British were less interested in retaining the territory, which had been moving rapidly towards independence before the Soviet occupation. Churchill had proposed that the province of Ulster, which had been a hotbed of pro Union sentiment before the war, remain as part of the United Kingdom. The Germans objected to this, calling it “an artificial division of a people... which was the primary tool of our former oppressors.” In the end, the delegates agreed to leave this issue up to the Irish themselves. A referendum was hastily held on the issue....
Churchill's proposal for a partition of Ireland
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Lyon Mackenzie King's proposal for the postwar British Isles
The early successes in the war in Europe gave the Soviet leaders the opportunity to begin building what they called the “New Order” - a redrawing of the world's boundaries in order to establish a global system with the Soviet Union as the dominant, preferably only, imperial power. Initially, the USSR was to rule Europe either through direct annexation (Poland and Finland) or through satellite states (Turkey and Hungary). Eventually it was decided that all nationalities would be relegated to having only restricted autonomy in a federated global communist state. Nations that cooperated with the regime were rewarded with vast swaths of territory, while other peoples saw their Socialist Republics annexed or, worse still, were expelled from their homelands. Some nations were too big to remove, and these were often left under formal military occupation.
Contemporary commentators likened the Europe inherited by the allies to the story of Humpty Dumpty. Could a Europe broken by the ruthless Soviet regime ever be put back together again? Even before decades of Soviet occupation, the issues that faced the delegates to the London Conference would have been tricky.
The Irish Question and the London Conference
Roosevelt's proposal for a unified and independent Ireland
The Irish Question was the first major issue of the Conference and the one that caused the biggest rift in the American-Canadian alliance. The Europeans had naturally hoped that their prewar spheres of influence and colonies would be restored to them. The Americans had other ideas. US officials saw colonies and even the British Commonwealth and its prewar imperial preference system as a threat to the open and nondiscriminatory global socioeconomic order that they hoped to forge. During the 1944 Presidential Election, Roosevelt reaffirmed his support for “a stabilized interdependent world free from the deprivations of communism and colonialism alike.” He had also specifically pledged to support an independent and unified Ireland during the campaign, which his opponents had criticized as crass ethnic pandering. The Canadians, somewhat hypocritically given their annexation of Newfoundland, argued for the prewar status quo and insisted that Ireland was rightfully British. The British were less interested in retaining the territory, which had been moving rapidly towards independence before the Soviet occupation. Churchill had proposed that the province of Ulster, which had been a hotbed of pro Union sentiment before the war, remain as part of the United Kingdom. The Germans objected to this, calling it “an artificial division of a people... which was the primary tool of our former oppressors.” In the end, the delegates agreed to leave this issue up to the Irish themselves. A referendum was hastily held on the issue....
Churchill's proposal for a partition of Ireland