impressive how fast germany folded
And also note that armies are on AI control !!!
The courage of the Soviet soldier, and the Motherlands industrial and intellectual infinite resources taught them a lesson they ll not forget any time soon !!!
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And also note that armies are on AI control !!!
The courage of the Soviet soldier, and the Motherlands industrial and intellectual infinite resources taught them a lesson they ll not forget any time soon !!!
We will continue until we accomplish all of our victory conditions. I choose not to share them
Eh. You'll get Kim Il Sung comfortably ensconsed in Pyongyang, and give him the whole country since the pesky Americans
are not yet around. Probably snarf up Manchuria for yourself, unless you want to set up Mao.
Of course, since it would appear from the other thread that your Politburo has taken to slacking, you may be further from
the end than you think
Chapter 22: The question of Sweden
For the first days in July, the only reports were about the surprisingly effective role of the NKVR in France, as they escaped from a French laboratory, completely unscathed, with plans for a new model of French support weapon.
In an attempt to make some significant progress in East Asia, the Second Mountain Corps moved on Balei; the overall goal was to, slowly but surely, push the Japanese, Mengukuo, and Manchukuo back to the east.
Farther to the east, however, every step taken towards Harbin was followed by two steps back. Harbin – the only city of value in all of Manchukuo – was tantalizingly close; capturing it would greatly simplify the situation, if only by reducing the numbers of soldiers available to the Japanese.
The victory at Balei, a few days after the battle began, was brutal.
But, it was a victory, in a theater with all too few of them. Five days after Balei, Manchukuo rallied at Harbin, driving Soviet troops back. The action shifted to Operation Katya; originally scheduled for 22 July 1941, a miscommunication due to a damaged radio tower delayed it 48 hours. Operation Katya, quite simply, was about the subjugation of Sweden, who had rejected repeated efforts to join the Comintern.
Using the Red Navy to protect Soviet troops as they landed in three major areas in Sweden, Operation Katya required perfect coordination in the RKKA and the RKKF. The first step to seize the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
While those movements began to unfold, Marshal Sokolov studied a report on his desk about the Soviet penetration of the Greek intelligence community.
The Greeks had put up very fierce resistance, resisting all attempts to make a significant impact, but nine of the most well trained, hardworking Soviet agents were working to reduce the Greek counterintelligence corps; once they were neutralized, Soviet agents could begin with a propaganda campaign to support the Greek Communist Party.
At sea, the Soviets struck their first blow against Sweden.
Carefully coordinated submarine attacks easily dispatched the Swedish squadron. A second battle, just a day later, proved even more disastrous for the Swedish Navy, as one of their most advanced vessels sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Finally, on 26 July, the First Mountain Corps landed at Norrtälje; a token resistance quickly broke down as the Swedes tried to pull back to Stockholm.
Another sortie by the Swedish navy saw a cruiser, a destroyer flotilla, and a group of transport vessels join her sisters. Not a single Soviet submarine had even been seriously threatened. Stockholm fell on 28 July, and General Batov, the Corps Commander, prepared to make his own landing in the Swedish capital.
The Soviet submarine fleet continued to do their jobs, sinking the Drottning Victoria, recently named the new Pride of the Swedish Fleet.
At the beginning of August, the province Lentiira rose up against the Red Army; the Swedish Army’s strategy had been to advance to the east as quickly as possible, perhaps encouraging the Finnish rebellion. A few very heated sessions of the Politburo were put down only with some very deft and clear explanations by Marshal Vatutin. The very next day, 2 August, the Third Mountain Corps boarded the Soviet transports, on their way to Malmö. Yet, 24 hours later, they got an unexpected surprise.
Germany’s decision to send a force to Göteborg – the third target on Vatutin’s list – was intended to make the Soviet task easier, but it was completely unplanned for, and required some flexibility on the Marshal’s part to incorporate this detail into his operational design. Ten hours later, Third Mountain moved to land at Helsingborg.
The German attack didn’t only surprise the Soviet Union; it surprised Sweden, too. With barely a fight, they surrendered Göteborg. On 5 August, the Mountain Divisions attacked the city of Malmö, which was surprisingly completely undefended. The Soviet fleet engaged and the destroyed the remnants of the Swedish Navy at the Oresund. 7 August was a bad day for Marshal Sokolov. Not only had his agents failed to make any significant reduction in the Greek spy numbers; a few had actually defected and joined the Greeks!
10 August 1941, Sweden had still not surrendered; even the capture of Malmö made no difference in Swedish resolve. They’d relocated to their final city of significant size: Falun. Unlike the other Swedish cities, it was not on the coast, and required a bit more tactical skill to strike at. The first step was to attack a Swedish garrison at Uppsala. M. A. Pukaev prepared to do battle with the Swedish General Douglas. In a matter of hours, the Swedes had retreated – but closer to Falun. The First Guard Corps remained an option, and their skillful use could end the war with Sweden.
In the Far East, after some fierce fighting for Balei, the Second Mountain Corps attacked the city of Otpor. The front near Harbin had almost completely collapsed; only a few scattered Soviet troops picked off Japanese and Manchurian soldiers, while they desperately tried to reform their lines. If the Second Mountain Corps had to press to the east and take Harbin from the rear, they would. On 11 August, Otpor was secured, as the Japanese troops there were low on supplies and could not put up any effective resistance.
In the Baltic, the Soviet Fleet set sail for the Western Gulf of Bothnia. They arrived on 13 August, and the Swedish Gamble began.
The First Guard Corps had a difficult task; they had to live off the hostile land until the mountain divisions could secure a path from Stockholm for Soviet supplies.
If the First Guards could force march to Falun quickly enough, logistics would be a non-issue; the Swedes would surely surrender if Falun fell. At the Battle of Tierp, General Douglas recognized the Soviet plan, and tried to extract his troops with as little loss as possible, in order to make a beeline for Falun, to dig in and make a heroic last stand. He stopped to skirmish with the First Guard Corps, then continued his ordered retreat.
The next obstacle for the First Guard Corps was General Rappe’s First Infantry Division. 32,000 troops do not often recoil in battle with 6200, and they did not do so on this occasion either. General Rappe, trying to preserve his command, retreated to the northwest; this gave First Guard Corps an unobstructed path to Falun. Sweden surrendered on 22 August.
The Far East remained a nightmare. The tough mountain terrain was as deadly an opponent as a division of crack Japanese troops. Soviet forces, although inflicting horrific casualties, suffered almost as many as they retreated, inch by inch, towards the single remaining supply point for Soviet troops: Vladivostok.
Marshal Sokolov’s job was also in jeopardy for the first time, as his Greek strategy had completely failed, and now resources would need to be diverted from the education program if they were to keep the pressure up on Greece.
The winter of 1941 could well be the decisive season in World War II.
Hmmm... is there any counter-espionage minister in Greece? This is some ferocious resistance.
Have the units you're transferring from Europe arrived and started organizing themselves yet?
Chapter 23: The Innokentevsky Gambit and Spain
Marshal Tukhachevsky knew that his success or failure as a military professional would be dictated by the results of the Far Eastern campaign. Marshal Vatutin had, almost from the very first day shots were exchanged, planned and managed the Western Front with skill and aplomb, and was very much Stalin’s man. Stalin did not like and had never liked Tukhachevsky, and the comparative disaster in the Far East was not going to improve matters.
An uprising in Persia wasn’t going to help his cause.
It would take weeks, possibly months, for any significant troop movement to crush the rebellion, and given how remote Persia was from anything the least bit important, Tukhachevsky decided not to order any such movements without the express written consent of the SGO (which he was not a part of, to further emphasize his distance from power). A concrete success in the Far East would, at least, buy him time to do something more demonstrative, perhaps even transfer some additional troops from Europe to the Asian theater.
A request for more special operations troops was denied; those were ticketed for the invasion of Spain.
The decision to attack Nationalist Spain and bring them under Soviet influence was as much preparation for the next war, whenever that might come, as opposed to the present war. Germany and Spain could easily handle, even neutralize, France between them, leaving Italy free to exert influence in the Mediterranean against the British, in partnership with Turkey and the Soviet Union. Stalin also wanted to avenge the losses of Soviet troops and materiel from the Spanish Civil War; although he’d never committed significant resources there, he nonetheless hated to lose.
Vatutin planned for Spain to be a Sweden writ large; to use special operations troops to secure major cities and supply depots and then to move inland if resistance continued. Using La Spezia, Italy, as a staging ground, the first step in this operation was Barcelona.
If Tukhachevsky regularly met with icy stares during his briefings to the SGO and Stalin, however, nobody was in more hot water than Marshal Sokolov. Sokolov confidently predicted that, after penetrating and destroying the Greek Intelligence Service, he could clandestinely support the Communist Party of Greece, leaving the Soviet Union completely “innocent” of any regime changes and denying a casus belli to the Allies. Marshal Vatutin wanted a much more aggressive effort, even if meant supporting Greek revolutionaries with arms and ammunition and military advisors.
Archbishop Damaskinos had his own ideas about that plan.
Not only did NKVR agents have no opportunities to support the Communist Party of Greece, over the course of two months, every last Soviet agent was arrested and eliminated.
Spain saw success after success, however, as Barcelona, Valencia, and the Balearic Island group fell to quick, determined assaults; Malaga had not yet fallen as of 1 November, but the Third Mountain Corps was driving on their position, and without even a garrison in the port to resist, there was no reason to believe complete occupation and suppression could be delayed for more than seven days.
Tukhachevsky had one ace in the hole, however, showing what he could do with special operations forces of his own: the Innokentevsky Gambit. The Gambit began when the First Guards Division of the Fourth Mountain Corps, recognizing how desperate the supply situation in the Vladivostok pocket was, took it on his initiative to try to seize one more port, Innokentevsky. A wise and seasoned commander, General N. A. Nikitin sent a courier to Vladivostok, where he would fly to Irkutsk before refueling and heading for Moscow. This courier would request blanket approval to use, if necessary, the entire Fourth Mountain Corps to capture this port and alleviate the supply problem.
Instead, the flight back brought with it Tukhachevsky himself, who installed in Vladivostok to oversee the Far East personally. He approved Nikitin’s operation, but Nikitin, in the meantime, tried to seize the port on his own authority, correctly guessing that Japanese resistance would be minor.
While Nikitin had more men and better equipment, he had less food and fewer bullets, unfortunately.
Worse still, the Japanese commander, General T. Sukuzi, drove the Guard Division all the way back to Nelma, capturing Grossevichi in the process.
By this time, Tukhachevsky had arrived in Vladivostok. He not only immediately granted control of all Corps level assets to Nikitin for his assault, he directed the Strategic Bombing Group to begin hammering the resources Japan needed in southern Manchuria and northern Korea. When Nikitin clashed with Suzuki again, he had more men – and more supplies – while Suzuki found his own troops denied the logistical support they needed.
Suzuki was driven back, and Nikitin found the path to Innokentevsky open, as he brought up another division to occupy Grossevichi.
This port was a minor one, in the long run. It hardly guaranteed victory in the Far East, even if everything else went perfectly. But it was a clear, unmistakable, success in a war that had seen very few. Nikitin was named a Hero of the Soviet Union. Tukhachevsky would, in a few hours’ time, fly back to Moscow to use the success to request more resources for an attack to reunite Vladivostok to the rest of the Soviet Union, and perhaps retake the final remaining Japanese port in Manchuria, inverting the situation on Japan.
Success in the Far East was not assured, but it was possible: possible was one hell of an improvement over “complete chaos and despair.”
Manchuria, with its awful infra and crappy terrain, seems like the perfect place to use some of Tuchakevsky's vaunted paratroopers!
Chapter 24: A storm begins to break in the East
1 January 1942, a bar not far from the American embassy, Moscow
The bartender beamed at his customers. It was New Years’ Day, and while some of his regulars were still passed out from the New Years’ Eve festivities, there were a few determined to be even drunker in 1942 than they had been in 1941. A worthwhile ambition that meant more money for the bar and, as a consequence, for the bartender. It also meant more work for the bartender’s other job: he was a Captain in the NKGB. He’d caught many a spy by simply listening attentively when other men shared their problems. In exchange for his vigilance, he was able to collect a sizeable portion of the bar’s profits and, in another year, would actually own the bar outright. The bar’s previous owner, sadly, had turned out to be a spy for the Japanese (as far as anybody knew).
The two most interesting customers today were a German and an American. The Germans, as fraternal socialist allies to the Soviet Union, got a discount on their drinks. The Americans, as filthy capitalists, got charged double. Such was life. The German was a regular, an army officer named Robbel or Rommel or something. The guy had, under Hitler, been relegated to command of a garrison division, and the new regime didn’t like him any better. Making him a military liaison to the Soviet Union was a convenient way to dispose of him without, well, disposing of him. The American was new. The uniform proclaimed him as a naval officer, but only an ensign. The bartender wondered to himself who the ensign could be, but quieted his internal questions as he approached the bar and ordered a vodka tonic.
“Long day, eh, Ivan?” The ensign’s Boston accent took a while for the bartender to understand. Then he smiled.
“It can be for some, my friend. Are you new to the embassy?”
“I am. My father’s with the American delegation, here to discuss some sort of treaty or something. Boring, if you ask me.”
The bartender winked slyly. “Do you need a woman, perhaps?”
The ensign laughed and slapped the bartender on the back. “You’re all right, Ivan!” He then stepped away to find a table. The German approached the bartender and ordered a beer.
“Why do you let him call you ‘Ivan’, Pasha?”
“He is an American, Erwin. They can call me whatever they like as long as they pay in dollars. What’s going on with the Americans? Why is this naval officer here?”
Erwin shrugged his shoulders. “I have no clue. I do know he’s no mere naval officer; his father is an extremely wealthy and well connected politician. Word is our ensign friend is soon to be promoted to lieutenant and serve as an assistant to your naval attache.”
The bartender – whose name wasn’t Pasha either – whistled appreciatively. “I would kill for your source of information, my friend. You know things nobody else does.”
Erwin smiled briefly. “They pay me to find things out, then to stay far, far away. I serve my Fatherland.”
“As do we all.”
“Speaking of your fatherland, what’s this I hear about progress in the Far East?”
The bartender looked furtively. “My second cousin is on Marshal Tukhachevsky’s staff. He tells me that a mountain division is quickly approaching the last Japanese port in the Soviet Union, Nikolayevsk on the Amur. If this division secures the port, we can finally drive those yellow dogs back into the sea.”
Erwin smiled more genuinely now. “That is very good. They need to be taught a lesson, I think, about European superiority.”
“I and my family have not forgotten the horrors of Tsushima and Mukden. My uncle was at Port Arthur when it fell. We never saw him again.”
“You have my sympathy, Pasha. What else do you know?”
“We are aggressively trying to break through to Vladivostok and reestablish the rail lines to the rest of the Soviet Union, I hear.”
The American naval officer returned to the bar to order another drink. He looked for a moment at Erwin, then turned to the bartender. “Another vodka tonic, please.”
“With pleasure.”
The naval officer struck up a conversation with the German. “How are you, Hans?”
Erwin winced. “My name is Erwin, my young friend. And you are?”
“Call me Jack. Jack –“
“I do not need to know your family name, Jack. This is a very informal bar.”
“Whatever you say, Ha—I mean, Erwin. You with the German Army?”
“I am. Officially, I’m an army observer here in Moscow.”
“I’m going to be the assistant to the naval attache in a few weeks, and they’ll post me to Leningrad. Ever been there?”
“I cannot say that I have. I hear it is beautiful, though, especially in the winter.”
“Better than fighting the Japanese, that’s for sure. I actually heard the Russkies got their asses handed to them a few weeks ago, around that city in the east with the ‘V’ in the name.”
“No, Jack. That is what we call a fighting retreat. They are to hold their ground until the relief forces break through.”
“If you say so. That army stuff sure is hard. I’m glad to hear the Russkie subs have been doing their part against the Japanese. It’ll make – uh, never mind.”
Jack blushed, turned around, and left to go back to his table. Pasha, polishing a glass, chuckled. “Are you sure you do not work for the Abwehr, Erwin?”
“I do not, Pasha. That American is very foolish, however, if he is so transparently getting drunk with classified information.”
“He is rich and entitled, like all capitalist scum, Erwin. I will happily take his money.”
“And his secrets?”
Pasha coughed and turned to serve another patron. Erwin took a sip of his beer, and was soon engulfed in a bear hug.
“Erwin?! You are in Moscow?”
“Claus! I did not expect to see you here!”
“Yes, well, I’m here to coordinate with Vatutin for the next stages of our drive on Spain.”
“There’s coordination? With Russians?”
Both had a hearty chuckle. “It is difficult to believe, but yes. We are making substantial progress in taking ports in North Africa and northern Spain. Would you believe the Soviets were surprised to see us? It is as if they didn’t know we were coming!”
“Given their high command, it is entirely possible, Claus. Did they retake Malaga-Velez?”
“They did. After the Spanish drove them out, they sent an entire corps of Mountain troops to retake it. The poor Spaniards didn’t know what hit them.”
“It is a wonder their Maslennikov was so effective against such odds; I am sure he was pleased to be relieved by the Mountain Corps.”
“He was. I’ve met him a couple of times at embassy receptions; very pleasant chap.”
Pasha returned from serving other patrons and grinned at Claus. “Ah, Graf Claus, a pleasure to see you.”
Claus laughed. “Pasha, I wish you wouldn’t use that title.”
“But you are a member of the oppressive ruling class! You like your titles!”
All three laughed at that point. Erwin ordered another beer and one for Claus as well. “We were talking about Spain.”
“A lovely country, I am sure. Sadly, I have seen so little of the world outside this bar.”
“Your countrymen are doing very well, Pasha. Have heart.”
“Many of the most important Spanish ports are under our control, I know. I will be pleased when Madrid falls and this war can end.”
Claus and Erwin both nodded solemnly at that statement. Claus asked, “Have you fought, Pasha?”
“Oh, yes. I was a poor common proletarian soldier in an infantry regiment in 1914. I survived for three years, which is more than most of my friends could say. When the Bolsheviks came in 1917, I joined them wholeheartedly. My brother, you see, had been killed by the Tsarist oppressors in January of 1917 for smuggling illegal literature. What they did not know was where he had sent all of it.”
“You appear to be in excellent shape for your service, Pasha.”
“Thank you, Graf Claus. I was fortunate not to be wounded.”
Jack returned to the bar, now visibly intoxicated. “Hey, Ivan, another round for me and my friends!” The people at Jack’s table waved.
“You have had much to drink, my American friend.”
“And I’m just getting started, Ivan!”
Pasha simply shrugged. “As you wish, Jack. If you can pay, I can serve.”
“Great! Say, do you guys know much about Japan?”
Claus rose his hand. “A distant relative lived in Tokyo for a while.”
“That’s swell. We need people who know Tokyo.”
Erwin coughed again. “Jack, what are you trying to say?”
“Nothing, Hans. I didn’t say anything. How’s that ‘V’ city doing, Ivan?”
“Very well, thank you, Jack. I think soon we will break through the Japanese lines and feed the soldiers who fight so gamely to protect our interests.”
“Great! I gotta run. Thanks for keeping so many of the Japanese occupied!”
Just then, a phone rang. Pasha went to answer it.
“Comrade Captain. What news?”
Pasha smiled, motioned over another bartender, and went into the office. “The Germans insist that they told Stavka about Spain.”
“The Germans say many things, Comrade. Any Americans or British in the bar?”
“One American.”
“Has he said anything about Japan?”
“He has, Comrade Colonel.”
“I am not surprised. NKVR has reported ship sightings off the coast of Japan.”
“Is that good news or bad, Comrade Colonel?”
“Comrade Captain, I do not know. I do not know if anybody knows. But I suspect if we are to receive our due, we should strike as quickly as possible.”
It looks like there will be a race to Tokyo, and all our elite forces are taking their holidays in Spain !!!
It's on the pic of Germans invading Tangiers - Dönitz commands the fleet there.
((That said, Dönitz was a old prussian career officer, seeing himself not as political force, but as someone obliged to follow the orders of the guys ruling his country. If Hitler would've been a hardcore commie, Dönitz would've been a hardcore commie too.))
Chapter 25: The forgotten branch of the Soviet military machine
1 March 1942, Leningrad
Admiral of the Fleet N. G. Kuznetsov sat uncomfortably at his desk in the Admiralty building. Not because of the bitter March winds, although that certainly played a role in his mood. He re-read Marshal Tukhachevsky's standing orders one final time. Misha, I know you and your friends in the Army are winning the war for us. What you seem to forget is that there will be a time after the war. If we have to fight against the British or the Americans... The truth of the matter was that the Red Navy had played an integral part in some amphibious landings in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea, not to mention the Italian operations and the recent campaign in Spain, but that it had gained almost no recognition for the hard work it did. The Navy hadn't even received enough funding to replace its losses, let alone to expand, and unless the Soviet Union intended on relying upon the German Navy to patrol the Baltic and the Italians to look after the Mediterranean, the job would get harder, not easier.
Yet Kuznetsov's attempts to reach out to Tukhachevsky and Stalin were politely but firmly rebuffed. Nobody wanted to hear about "after the war" when the war was still going on. Debacles like the Battle of Kagoshima Bay certainly would not help his case.
Of all the... those idiotic commanders will be court martialed, if I have my say. You take eight flotillas of submarines against two carriers and a battleship?! If they were unscreened, perhaps, but Japanese sailors are not fools, and their destroyers are some of the finest in the world. Kuznetsov looked up from the report and spoke to his secretary, a wounded sailor. "Call in Comrade Orlov, Sergey."
The Chief of Staff of the Soviet Navy, V. N. Orlov, entered Kuznetsov's office. "Yes, Comrade Admiral?"
"What happened in Kagoshima Bay? Do we have any idea?"
Orlov sighed. "No, Comrade Admiral. The flotillas resupplied in Vladivostok then immediately went back out on patrol. For what it is worth, Nikolai Gerasimovich, they've successfully eliminated several Japanese escorts and transports."
Kuznetsov pounded his fist on the table. "Говно! [Shit!] That is what it is worth! Volodya, why did they even engage the Japanese squadron?"
"Comrade Admiral, you know that we give our submarine commanders maximum initiative. The surviving commanders have learned from the experience, and have reported whenever large convoys are heavily convoyed.
Then too, perhaps our losses have enabled the Americans to seize the Japanese lands they have in the South Pacific. [1]
Kuznetsov's response dripped with sarcasm. "Such wonderful news, Comrade! I am certain the General Secretary will be delighted to hear how successful the United States has been! Would you like to tell Comrade Stalin yourself?"
Orlov's mouth opened and shut several times before he finally replied. "The Red Fleet has successfully transported an entire Army to Spain. That is an incredibly time consuming logistical feat."
Some of Kuznetsov's rage started to dissipate. "Yes, you are right, Volodya. I do not mean to attack you or your record; none have been more useful to the Soviet State than you. But with the army's setbacks in Spain, I am sure we will get an earful there, too."
"How can we be blamed for the overwhelming Spanish attack on Tarragona?"
"I am sure Marshals Vatutin and Tukhachevsky will find a way, my friend. If we had battleships, perhaps we could have provided defensive support, but as it is..."
"And those Germans are eating our supplies and having a wonderful vacation in Morocco."
"Volodya, when you are right, you are right. At least the Germans have not been totally useless."
"Comrade Admiral, what do you hear of Japan?"
Kuznetsov looked in his incoming messages pile and picked out the top what. "General Vishnevskii reports significant progress."
"It would be good to regain control in the Far East."
"Yes, it would, Volodya. We serve the Soviet Union."
[1] I'm pretty sure that's the US in Taiwan and southern China too, but I honestly can't tell French blue and American blue apart.
The French are in southern and northern China, the British in Taiwan, and the US, British and French are splitting the Phillipines.
Spain is taking forever to subjugate. Thank Stalin there is no Wellesley around to spoil our plans.
Spain is taking forever to subjugate. Thank Stalin there is no Wellesley around to spoil our plans.
Even with Wellesley, if you avoid Portugal you should be OK.
Seems rather a skimpy update. Was there that little action, or is there another part to come?
Sorry, I meant Hainan.
Even with Wellesley, if you avoid Portugal you should be OK.
Seems rather a skimpy update. Was there that little action, or is there another part to come?
Honestly, most of the "action" (such as it is) was in the Far East, but the battles were mostly small.