Baltic Union Military Office
Tactical Report
I'll just go ahead and spoil you now. Otherwise, you'll just play all the way to 1945 anyway without writing a single chapter
By the way, RP means role-playing. It is an essential part of any narrative - if you are trying to depict a realistic situation, your actions should not be too gamey. But, on to the breach, shall we?
There are, as far as I can see, four tactical scenarios for war against the Soviet Union or Germany. All depends on the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact.
1: War against the Soviet Union. The Pact is signed.
Yellow stars: Vital VP areas
Apparently, image length is regulated on this forum so the image got scaled...
The very worst situation.
With Eastern Poland in Russian hands, it is nigh impossible to defend either Latvia or Lithuania. So, the only remaining option is to dig in in the Estonian forests. The first picture depicts a possible first line of defense. However, this line is very wide, and thus your troops will be very spread out. Keep some reserves to make sure you can make an
organized retreat (the keyword when defending as a minor) to the second line. This line is much more compact, and also completely in the forest, but since one of the vital VPs is on the front line this is your last line of defence!
A situation may very well arise where the Soviets gain the upper hand. In the
Retreat out of Estonia section I will explain how to pull back in good order. I strongly advice getting Sweden or preferably Finland on your side; they will be able to help you and you can retreat your troops to their territory.
2: War against Germany. The Pact is not signed.
All of Poland is in enemy hands and once again you will find yourself defending deeper inland than you had wanted. Riga is just one province away, but defending it means sacrificing your troops and thus your line. However, the river line in the first picture does make for an excellent defence. The only achilles heel of this position are the plains on the Eastern side of the line. Then again, you are fighting AI, so you probably don't have to worry about that. If something bad were to happen, though, you can always retreat to your secondary line, which is in the same forests as the anti-Soviet line.
When fighting Germany, join the Allies. Simply because there is no reason not to.
3: War against Germany. The Pact is signed.
Although you could very well go for the Riga line again, the sheer amount of IC and VPs in the Southern Baltic is most certainly worth defending. This particular river line is right on the border, and therefore you will not lose any ground - if you hold the line. This frontline is 7 provinces long, so your troops will be stretched to the limit. Just remember that whenever the pressure on your line becomes too great, you should retreat before it is too late. Every division should always have the strength left to retreat to the next line of defence.
4: War against the Soviet Union. The Pact is not signed.
You lucky bastard.
Just look at that line - it's five provinces, behind a river, and all are either forests or urban territory. I really do think you'd be able to hold this line. However, since this is the only option where you won't end up in Estonia, I'll quickly explain the retreat mechanics for you here.
Whenever you think a province isn't going to hold (Act at
that moment! If you are too late, the entire line will be overrun!), slowly start peeling off the Eastern side of your line, until you have a vertical line from Riga to Seduva. At that time, you can strategically redeploy all your forces to either Riga or Memel. Extract the Memel troops to a friendly port immediately (TPs!), and try to hold Riga while you are at it. When those troops are secure, you can start extracting the defenders of Riga - first the divisions that are at breaking point, and then the strong ones.
This is also where Finland, Sweden and/or the Allies come into play. Whenever you need to retreat, you have some place to put your troops.
X: The Estonian Retreat
When things are not going as planned, you need a place to retreat to. You need Northern Estonia, and some TPs.
At this point, Tartu and Tallinn will be the only VPs you have left. Tallinn is safely behind the lines, and you should be able to retreat your troops before the enemy captures it. However, in order to hold Tartu, you'll need to sacrifice some troops. Preferably 2 GAR divisions. These will not be needed to buy time for the divisions guarding the northern approach (behind the river,
1). You should extract these first. In the meanwhile, retreat all your divisions but the Tartu garrison to the port of Pärnu (
2). This will be the Dunkirk of the Baltic Empire. From here, you can retreat the main bulk of your army, while the Tartu garrison gives their lives for the greater good.
I hope you learned and enjoyed