The Greatest of Endeavours Demand The Greatest of Sacrifices - A British AAR

[Tommy4ever]

In Memory of Drake

Over the course of a single month Vice Admiral Sommerville was able to lead the newly created North Sea Fleet to total victory over the not so insignificant Spanish Fleet. In the entirety of the Second World War, up to this point, the British had seemed almost invincible at sea and Sommerville was keen to continue that tradition.

Sommerville had started the war with Spain by simply escorting troop transports between Africa and Catalonia however during mid-April he led his fleet out Westwards towards the Atlantic to commence operations against the enemy fleet. Almost immediately he faced opposition as he faced down the Spanish fleet near Seville (the Fascists had previously been bombarding the Republican stronghold). Here he won a decisive victory but failed to sink a large portion of the enemy fleet, instead only wounding a number of ships, although he did sink an enemy cruiser. The Spaniards then proceeded to fleet North towards the Nationalist naval base at La Caruna. Sommerville was slow to pursue and arrived at La Caruna several days after the Spanish. Instead of launching an immediate raid on the harbour he opted to simply blockade it (knowing British troops were nearing the city from the West). On May 5th the Spanish fleet burst out of La Caruna just a British infantry competed with a small Spanish garrison on the city’s outskirts. The North Sea Fleet inflicted terrible damage on the Spaniards, crippling the Espana (the Spanish flagship) however not a single enemy vessel was sunk. However Sommerville was much quicker to take chase this time and pursued the enemy to the Bay of Biscay. Here between the 7th and 13th of May his torpedo planes tormented and obliterated the Spanish fleet. Late on the 7th the Spanish lost both the Espana and the small battleship Canarias. By midnight on May 13th all that remained of the once proud Spanish fleet was a small scattering of submarines and ageing destroyers.

 

[Tommy4ever]

As this was a mini update you might get another later on today. Well that all depends on wether any comments come in

 

[unmerged(174159)]

Obligatory comment for tightfisted with the update author

 

[Mico94]

well, if all goes wrong you could always run to the Rock (Gibraltar not Alcatraz)
I say use the "brave sir Robin" strategy in the north and bring the troops to the south of Spain

 

[Tommy4ever]

The Turk has Fallen

For many months the Turks had help the Allies, even defeated them on many occasions, in the Middle East however by May things had greatly deteriorated for them. Ever since the great multi-national Allied armies began to spill over into Turkey at the end of March the Turkish army had started to collapse.

By early May there was nothing but a scattering of under strength and undisciplined battalions defending Ankara and the Aegean shore. Indeed by this stage, just as the Axis Grand Council proceeded onwards in Vienna, it was clear to everyone that Turkey would last another month. The Greeks were crossing the Bosporus unmolested, Iraqis were marching into Pontus, South Africans were battling into Ankara and Venezuelans were storming towards Smyrna.

On May 18th the Turks succumbed to their inevitable defeat. For the first time in nearly 9 Centuries there existed no Turkish state in Anatolia.

The former Turkish state was immediately partitioned with the Greeks, has had previously been agreed annexing Thrace and Western Asia Minor (and expelling the Turks from these regions). However the British betrayed their agreement to the Turks and did not set up an independent Turkish state. The pro-Axis sentiment in Turkey was simply too strong for Britain to allow the Turks independence and moreover, and rightfully so, the Turks were greatly aggrieved at the British for the way they allowed the Greeks to treat the Turks of Thrace and Western Asia Minor. Instead the British divided occupied Turkey into three zones of occupation: Along the Black Sea Coast the Greek Zone, in the South-East the Iraqi zone (Syria East of the Euphrates was also included in the Iraqi occupation Zone). As an added condition of taking on their new occupation zone the Greeks forced Britain to agree to bar any uprooted Turks form the West from settling within their zone and also secured British support for the resettlement of Pontic Greeks who had been forced from their homes in 1922.

Some, primarily Greek, commentators of the time claimed that this total defeat of the Turks was the ultimate conclusion of the Crusades which had begun 8 and ½ Centuries ago in response to a Greek cry for help against the invading Turks. Now they had finally got around to returning the Greeks their ancient lands in Western Asia Minor.

 

[Tommy4ever]

The Last Charge – Part 1

May 15th was a day consisting of a mixture of joy and anguish for Spanish Democrats. On the morning of the 15th the Wehrmacht marched into only recently recaptured Barcelona, on the upside however the afternoon saw Valencia return to the Republic after several months of Fascist occupation. Elsewhere in the North British troops were routing throughout the front in the face of the unstoppable German war machine. In the South, meanwhile, the Republicans (and their British allies) were planning one last charge against Franco’s lines. Victory would surely see the Civil War ended but defeat would confirm Spain’s loss to the dark forces of Fascism.

Just two days after the fall of the notoriously Leftist city of Barcelona and the British were thrown back onto the West bank of the Ebro. A brief skirmish took place near the now empty shell of what once Tarragona (the city had been decimated by several major battles in recent years) where an SS Panzer division attacked Lieutenant Liddel’s tired infantrymen. The battle was short but costly, in terms of lives, for the British who were subsequently pursued all the way to the river itself. Indeed the only thing that halted the Germans form immediately spilling across the Ebro was the thorough job the British Army did in destroying each and every bridge over the river.

Realising the immediate need for action the Allied armies decided to speed up their offensive by sending the triumphant elite Republican army immediately on its way from Valencia to Guadalajara and the vital districts to the East of Madrid. Despite some stiff Nationalist resistance the Spanish, with the help of a huge RAF bombing campaign smashed the Fascists and forced them to withdraw to Madrid itself.

Sadly on May 20th a major disaster took place in the town of Oviedo. 50,000 British soldiers commanded by General Ironsides had been resting in the Northern city in the midst of a retreat from Bilbao to La Caruna. However in the dead of night a Spanish Nationalist army surrounded the city. The following morning the Fascist General demanded their surrender. Tired, horrifically low on morale and supplies and without hope of rescue the British troops were in no condition to fight. Faced with mutiny within his own army Ironsides was forced to humiliatingly surrender himself, all 50,000 of his men as well as the heavy artillery they were carrying to the Spanish. Due to the dire situation in Spain the Fascist General decided to hand the hostages over the French government whilst taking the artillery for his own army.

 

[trekaddict]

You need to train Mountain troops and more importantly, Riflemen. Lots of them. 95 Regiments in fact.

 

[unmerged(40779)]

Can't help saying but... I TOLD YOU!

Seriously tho, it's indeed an awesome (and rare) joy to read about a real struggle of a human player against the humble AI. Been very entertaining AAR so far.
About possible strategies against the Axis hordes...well, you'll soon get a good bunch of experienced Commonwealth forces, along with the Venezuelans and a sizeable chunk of Greeks (who have no front to fight on atm, right?) to replace the Britons Ironside lost in Bilbao. There's also an important lesson to learn from that particular defeat - one I also had to learn through the hard way - that you should always start moving an adequate number of transports to stand ready in the closest sea zone when there's even the slightest threat of your troops being pushed against the sea.

Also, you have to make sure that there's a HQ and/or an officer of enough rank whenever you fight a major battle. It's silly to lose because you have too MANY troops, si?

Also, try to pull the German iron fist deeper into Iberia, and then make landing(s?) with the Anatolian Army Group to cut them from France. Encirclement, encirclement, encirclement! It's useless to push enemy divisions around when he has more IC and MP than you ever do. Unless you begin to destroy his divisions in real numbers, instead of just throwing them back, you'll never win this struggle.

 

[Tommy4ever]

Kasakka your adive sounds very good. But it won't be easy. Greeks do get a front very soon so I have to keep most of my troops in Eastern Europe just in case the Germans come. That leaves mabye 20 divs max for an invasion behind the German lines. I'd estimate the outnumber me 3 to 1 and at the moment it appears that every German division is worth 3 of mine/Spain's. Translation: I'm f*cked.

Please please please please invade the Soviet Union soon

 

[Tommy4ever]

The Last Charge – Part 2

In late May the last major battle of the Spanish Civil War took place at Badajoz. Field Marshal Menate led nearly ½ a million British and Republican soldiers against Franco’s army of roughly 150,000 men. Although the Fascist Dictator held a major advantage in terms of armour and artillery the total lack of Axis air power, not to mention the Allied numerical advantage, made victory near enough impossible for the Nationalists. Nethertheless Franco decided to hold his ground and by doing so condemned his army to near total destruction.

Just two weeks after defeat at Badajoz and the Nationalists were totally cut off from the rest of the Axis thanks to a British offensive that captured Burgos. At the same time the Allied armies had begun to close up the pocket as troops, who only recently took Badajoz, marched towards Salamanca. By this point it seems clear that Franco had realised that the war was lost and his only hope for survival would be to break through the Allied lines to the East of Valladolid and flee to France.

In late June it seemed that Franco had achieved his goal as just a few days after the fall of Madrid to the Republic he managed to open up a land connection to Axis France. However for some reason, even today it is still unclear, he was delayed by a couple of days and remained in Valladolid until June 29th.

On that day a large Republican army attacked the city. The situation was so dire in the Fascist camp that after only a brief skirmish in the countryside around the city the Fascist garrison surrendered and turn Franco over the Republicans.

The was a great temptation amongst the Spanish Republican army to executed Franco there an then but luckily for Spain Field Marshal Menate kept a much cooler head. In exchange for allowing Franco to keep his life the General was forced to officially accept the Fascist surrender and order all fascist armies to turn themselves over to the control of the Republican High Command. Although much of the Fascist army simply lay down their arms and ceased to fight many more accepted the last orders of their General and switched allegiances. Franco was then sent off for a lifetime in exile on some British rock near the Antarctic.

Four years and millions of lives after the initial coup attempt by Conservative elements of the Spanish Army and the Civil War was finally over. Yet the fight war torn country would not have a chance to get used to peace. It now stood, weak and exhausted, against the might of the greatest war machine in centuries. The Wehrmacht was preparing itself for Fall Gelb; the invasion of Spain

 

[trekaddict]

Oh dear. If I were you I'd prepare a resistance line along the rivers in southern Spain with GAR and MIL+ART.

 

[Avatar018]

Good job in Spain but now you have Jerrie to worry about Good luck stopping Germany. Hopefully they will invade the SU soon.

 

[Mico94]

you may be able to hold the germans, the Ebro and the terrain are on your side.
just quickly reorganize the spanish army and send it to the border
No Pasaran!

 

[Tommy4ever]

The Sardinian Debacle

Filled with a sort of over confidence after their triumphs over the Spanish Fascists and Turkey British HQ decided to approve a risky aerial invasion of the Italian island of Sardinia. The island had an air base of enormous strategic value, if Britain could gain control of it then an invasion of Italy could be launched as soon as enough divisions were gathered together.

Early on the morning of July 7th 30,000 British paratroopers set off from Tunis. Even from the start of the operation things started to go wrong after a number of Luftwaffe fighters (escorting German naval bombers in the Mediterranean) scattered a number of transports. But more damagingly they managed to send a warning to the Italian garrison on Sardinia that the invasion force was on its way.

In the late morning the paratroopers began to land (just to the South-West of Cagliari) under a hail of fire from Italian forces on the ground. Instantly after touching down they found themselves completely surrounded. On that first day around 6,000 men (1/5 of the entire army) were lost.

The following day the British paratroopers began to hunker down just outside a village, very close to their landing site. Despite outnumbering the Italians they were being badly beaten and were terribly unorganised. It was on this second day, July 8th that the paratroopers managed to call in the aid of the RAF bomber core. Every available aircraft in Spain and North Africa was loaded with bombs and scrambled to Sardinia. From the afternoon of July 8th to midday on July 9th the paras launched an offensive against the Italians, who were being utterly obliterated by the aerial bombardment. However just when it seemed that they might actually take Cagliari their supplies ran out. Low on ammunition and rations an advance on the Sardinian capital was impossible.

The invasion force then made for a safe coastal port on the Western side of the island and were picked up by a Royal Navy transport fleet early on July 10th. Defeat was bitter, some high ranking members of High Command even spoke of scrapping the para core all together. Even though 7,000 out of the 10,000 man Italian garrison was killed the invasion had been a failure. Yet by far the worst consequence of the expedition was the fact that the RAF was now tired out and in no condition to fight a major battle. This would greatly weaken them for the upcoming battle in Spain and force the Allies to surrender aerial supremacy in that sector.

 

[unmerged(174159)]

As shown historically Paratroops tend to eff up unless the baddies really aren't expecting them!

 

[trekaddict]

you should attach some ART brigades.

 

[unmerged(40779)]

That was kinda silly move, man. Why didn't you have like 3 (though I guess 1 would have been enough) more divisions to land while the paras are dropped? Would have made it a piece of cake.

 

[unmerged(86922)]

Well, what of the USSR/China, and also, what are you gonna do about a Invasion of Sicily (even though sardenia was a disaster). I say its about time to take the Island for its true owners: The Corleone Family.

 

[Tommy4ever]

trekaddict: I probably should have built them with art attached but a mixture of a lack of IC and forgetfulness meant that I forgot.

Kasakka: I had expected my massive aerial bombardment to be enough (I outnumbered the Italians 3 to with the paras as well). I came so very close to getting victory but my units just ran out of morale at the last moment. arg.

Besides all Allied forces in the Med are caught up at the moment. Although I could probably have spared some South Africans from the Balkans .

mad general: War in Asia has been insanely boring so far in 1940 (I'm only in August in game though). I think a couple of Northern Siberian provs have changed hands but little else. If I do end up failing in Spain (which seems pretty likely) I shall regroup and attack the Italians.

Over all this failure was really annoying. I built the paras for my secret plan for invading Italy and step one of that plan was to capture Sardinia. Without it I cannot invade .

 

[Tommy4ever]

The Invasion of Norway

In early July a small German fleet (several transport ships and 3 recently constructed light cruisers) sailed directly out of the Baltic and into the blockading force of the British cruiser fleet (a large collection of ageing cruisers of varying sizes). The Germans were unsurprisingly heavily beaten but a rearguard action by the two cruisers KMS Königsberg and KMS Karlsruhe allowed many of the transports and the third cruiser to escape northward. They were extremely lucky. The waters they fled into were usually occupied by the Norwegian fleet that would have easily destroyed the Kriegsmarine vessels, however the Norwegians were in port in Oslo and the German ships were able to slip out of the danger zone to the coastal town of Kristiansand. Here the 20,000 Slovaks on board the fleet rushed out to secure the town.

The Anglo-Norwegian response was immediate and quickly the area was totally surrounded by 60,000 British and 20,000 Norwegian soldiers. All 6 of the British divisions were equipped with artillery, rather than waste valuable men on a direct assault on Kristiansand the Allied commanders decided to pound the Slovaks in submission with an almighty barrage.

For more than 24 continuous hours the guns fired upon Kristiansand. The city was utterly destroyed and thousands of Slovaks were killed. On the morning of July 10th their German Major General finally caved in.

Victory was won; Kristiansand was but a pile of rubble.

Back at sea the Norwegian fleet made short work of the remaining German vessels, although a handful of battered transports were able to escape from the battle. they would later be sunk by British bombers in the North Sea.

The ill fated German coordinated invasion of Norway, although rather meaningless as battles go had a tremendous impact on how Britain and Norway viewed the war. Previously the Royal Navy had boasted that their defensive ring around Norway was impenetrable, now its weakness were revealed. Norway had been becoming ever more agitated at the presence of the 60,000 man strong British garrison, now Norway’s inability to defend herself was obvious. But most important of all the confidence that the Germans must have had to attempt such a feat was frightening. This coupled with the Sardinian debacle bore ominous signs for the Allies. This is often recognised as another major turning point in the war. The time for constant Allied success was over, for now.