You could try a what if with a war with the Soviets just to see who will join you in your crusade for worldwide Socialdemocratism 
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Well...actually...You could try a what if with a war with the Soviets just to see who will join you in your crusade for worldwide Socialdemocratism
It would be a worldwide crusade for Market Liberalism
Just caught up again with the last several updates. Good job taking down Germany, and I like what you did with the French and Yugoslav territories. Hopefully they won't need another war to settle things there in this timeline. Although knowing the Balkans, you can never be sure of that.
I wonder what Japan is going to do now. Since the Red Army has no more fighting to do in Europe (for the moment) I can see those 1500 brigades of their pouring into Manchukuo and Korea. But someone would still have to crack the Imperial Navy, probably a job for the USA. Or did I miss a surrender in all the exitement of taking over Europe?
I wonder what Japan is going to do now. Since the Red Army has no more fighting to do in Europe (for the moment) I can see those 1500 brigades of their pouring into Manchukuo and Korea. But someone would still have to crack the Imperial Navy, probably a job for the USA. Or did I miss a surrender in all the exitement of taking over Europe?
Blame the Swedish electorate, not meHeresy!
Japan is in an...interesting situation. They actually expand in Siberia, despite the Sovs being free to focus on them. As for the IJN and the United States...well...let's just say I'm not the only one doing interesting invasions in this game.
In that case I shall await the "What the hell is going on in the Pacific" update!Japan is in an...interesting situation. They actually expand in Siberia, despite the Sovs being free to focus on them. As for the IJN and the United States...well...let's just say I'm not the only one doing interesting invasions in this game.
Warriors of the North said:
While Denmark could do little about the American (and UN) backed independence of Iceland, that did not mean the Danes couldn't still have their say in how the young nation was run. The native administration was still top-heavy with Danish officials, simply because the amount of native Icelanders who had the experience or training to run a government was too small to run it efficiently. Because of this, it was not difficult for the government in Copenhagen to force the issue. Iceland would, at least for now, benefit from Danish 'protection' in their mind.
Thus, the Icelandic government was essentially a Danish puppet. Independent technically, but more properly a nation under control from Copenhagen, not Reykjavik. Greenland remained under American control...though the Americans had other issues to worry about.
Technically a pic of Operation Husky...but it works.
Far away from Sweden and the rest of Europe, the United States had launched what they had, perhaps aptly, titled 'Operation Downfall'. The invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. Possibly inspired by Sweden's invasion of Germany, it was audacious to say the least. The closest American occupied island to Japan was the occupied Iwo Jima...hardly large enough to supply the masses of men and ships that would be needed to take the Home Islands, presumably heavily guarded, despite the ongoing war in Siberia. The very fact the Yanks attempted this invasion took courage on an unforeseen level.
The Imperial Japanese Navy was rightfully considered the only real competition in the Pacific for the USN. And they would surely fight to the last man to defend the Home Islands, despite the overwhelming numbers the Americans could likely throw at them. Most analysts in Sweden expected the ambitious invasion to fail, considering how lucky they had been in Germany, and the Baltic was certainly not the vast Pacific.
While observing Japan was important, so to was continuing to improve the Swedish armed forces. With Germany under occupation, the Swedes didn't have a true enemy in Europe any longer...but by the same token, the Red Bear was very close to both the occupation zone, and Nordic League member Finland. So letting the military fall behind out of a sense of apathy was not an option. The force seeing perhaps the most work to be upgraded was the Air Force. Experience in Germany had shown that having a strong, modern air force could tilt battles wildly in favor of the stronger force.
Thus, the Saab company began to develop modifications to the imported P-51 Mustang fighters currently in use (primarily replacing the vaunted Merlin with the more powerful Griffon engine). This was a stop-gap measure, primarily to get more fighters into the air faster. Saab set engineers to work on developing home-designed fighters and bombers for the Swedish Air Force, the advanced design work the envy of the world.
The need for these new designs quickly became apparent.
While it had seemed inevitable for some time, especially as the newly Communist Romania opened a new front, the fall of Hungary was still a worrying development. Unlike the Romanians, the Soviets didn't bother with installing a puppet government. They directly annexed the nation of Hungary, creating a wide border with several non-communist states...Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Poland. Of those, three were Swedish allies, and Poland was at least friendly. The UN protested vigorously at this flagrant violation of the Hungarian's rights...but nothing came of it.
Comrade Stalin listened to none of the protests, and merely began stationing troops along the border(s) with what used to be Hungary. This was understandably worrying at the time, as the Swedish Army was nowhere near large enough to fight the Soviets, while at the same time propping up its allies who were even less capable of fighting. This was especially evident with the massive amount of men and tanks along the Finnish border...who could break the Finnish defenses and promptly charge through northern Sweden and Norway.
No, I'm not going to develop V2 rip-offs. This is needed for developing eventual jet fighters.
Luckily for the Swedish military, a German factory was found just outside Berlin by occupation forces. Hidden quite cleverly, the factory contained highly advanced rockets, remnants of Hitler's efforts to develop new 'wonder weapons'. These rockets were brought back to Sweden (some to Norway and Finland) to be studied. The goal was to hopefully replicate the technology, and in doing so, jumpstart the Swedish rocket industry. While it was doubtful that much could come of such an industry, the fact remained that rocketry had a potential future if the American's were any indication.
The United States had developed flying bombs, and rockets that could bombard targets from seemingly absurd distances. These weapons had potential, and the Nordic League command, specifically Sweden, hoped that by using the German work (and scientists...Wernher von Braun proved surprisingly cooperative when asked to help develop rockets). This industry was very much in its infancy, though the potential was considered high enough to justify the expense.
On the far side of Earth, the Americans were defying all expectations. By mid-June of 1945, all of the two southern Home Islands of Kyushu and Shikoku were under American occupation, in addition to the Ryukyu Islands. More impressive was the fact that half of the main island of Honshu was overtaken by the Yanks. Tokyo herself was at risk, as the American Marines moved ever closer to the heart of Japan. Swedish Intelligence had yet to fully establish a new cell in Japan, so knowledge on the ground was sparse at best.
All indications were that the Japanese people were fighting hard and not giving the Americans an inch of ground without fighting for it...but by the same token, it was quickly becoming apparent that the majority of the Imperial Japanese Army was fighting in Siberia alongside their Chinese and Manchurian puppets. The bigger question was simple...where was the Imperial Japanese Navy? Surely the Americans had to be having issues supplying the invasion, and bringing reinforcements into position. Surely the Japanese were not holding their navy in its ports instead of contesting the invasion?
And yet, that seemed to be the only option, as the Americans continued their inexorable march across the Home Islands.
Nor were the Americans the only ones launching ambitious invasions of a nation's home territory. Almost like the War of Liberation had kicked off a new trend, the British joined in by invading Northern Italy through the port of Genoa. The invasion force was small, compared to the Italian Home Defense forces, but the troops were battle-hardened from the war in North Africa. These troops pushed the Italians back, almost reaching Venice on the other side of Italy, before running out of steam to continue the assault. Nonetheless, the British managed to take Genoa, Florence, and Milan.
The Italians, never very united to begin with under Mussolini, were beginning to show the strain of fighting almost non-stop since invading Ethiopia. The civilian population was showing serious signs of discontent, while the military did its best to push the British back.
Far away from any wars, the South American members of the UN Security Council (Argentina and Brazil) finally agreed to a formal alliance with Sweden. Combined, they brought an old, but effective naval force to beef up the cruiser-based Swedish Navy. Four battleships, the two Minas Geraes-class ships of Brazil, and the two Rivadavia-class ships of Argentina. These ships were old and small by modern standards...but then, so too were the Gangut-class ships in the Red Navy, the most likely opponent in any future war involving Sweden.
In addition to the improved naval forces, Argentina brought forward an army at least as large as Sweden's, perhaps somewhat larger even. Brazil's army was a meager 18 brigades, smaller than even Bosnia-Croatia or Serbia...but the Brazilian Navy made up for that. Together, the two nations were a welcome addition to the 'New Entente' forming from the Nordic League and UN powers.
In Asia, the seemingly foolhardy Operation Downfall had succeeded beyond the wildest estimates of UN officials. The American forces had, by the end of September 1945, taken the entirety of the Japanese Home Islands, forcing the Emperor to relocate to Seoul in Korea. The shock of this would take some time to wear off in the rest of the world, especially as the Japanese forces in Siberia continued to push the Red Army (and puppet troops from a restored Hungary and Romania) back. The only comparison that came to mind was the successful invasion of Germany...and that was from a much closer base in Sweden, than the American invasion supplied from Hawaii and Iwo Jima.
Japan refused to surrender...but it was a question of when, not if, that would happen.
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That's what I was talking about. I'm not joking when I say I was randomly mousing over the Pacific, and saw a flash of blue in the Japanese yellow. I thought I was seeing things...since surely the Americans couldn't actually pull off an invasion of the Home Islands past the IJN that has presumably been built up quite a lot with unlimited access to the Dutch East Indies since 1942. And yet, I found Japan being overtaken by the Americans. Checking the Ledger, even at the time the Home Islands are completely under American occupation, only a handful of Imperial ships have been sunk, with no American losses. So I have no clue where the IJN is.
Britain did rather less well to be honest...they can't seem to beat Italy.
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I would guess the IJN has been seriously starved of fuel which might account for how it hasn't apparently engaged the USN much at all. It looks like the game is trying its best to wrap things up for you - but how about a UN intervention in Italy? The war they're fighting with the British is because of their invasion of Greece isn't it?
Possible, but Indonesia revolting or not (its a very small area they control), one would think the Dutch East Indies would have provided enough fuel, especially since the Japanese haven't really had much need to use their fleet until now. Then again, who knows.
As for Italy, I tried intervening as a test...and quickly found two issues:
1. My troops ran out of supplies fast. They are supplied from Stockholm still, and there are only a couple ports in Northern Italy I can take to supply them, since the Brits have Genoa. Otherwise I have to march supplies across Germany, through the Alps, to troops fighting hordes of Italians.
2. It leads to some funky occupation zones. If Italy surrenders before I occupy literally all their territory aside from what the Brits have, it will end up with me in control of whatever land I took pre-surrender, while the Brits get everything else. By extension, I can't release Italy, or if I can it looks all sorts of messed up.
Near as I can tell, most of the British Army is holding around Benghazi in a staring contest with Italian forces. No idea if that's the majority of their army or not though.
If the war(s) continue - and ESPECIALLY if WW3 sparks - you must end date mod and intervene. It's really, really easy: go to the {HOI3 Directory}/common/ folder, open defines.lua, and change end_date = '1948.1.1' to whatever you like (I prefer the 70's but that's just me). If you have tfh/ installed, go to {HOI3 Directory}/tfh/common/ and do the same thing.
I'm impressed with Operation Downfall! It can be hard to pull off without replicating this historical island hopping in OTL.
I'm impressed with Operation Downfall! It can be hard to pull off without replicating this historical island hopping in OTL.
As it turned out, WW3 never kicked off so the points redundant
I'm honestly surprised at the competence of the American AI in taking Japan right out from under the Japanese, and doing it without losing a single ship!
As for the next update: I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been debating how to write the remaining updates. I've decided, if there are no major complaints, to just condense the remaining years into an update per year, since not a whole lot happens on the home front.
So, since the last update was in September '45, I'll condense what was left of that year with '46. So there should, in theory, be two updates left in the main story with the epilogue following them.
EDIT: On a modding note...I'm in the planning stages for the next AAR (part of the reason why I'm condensing the ending for this one). I'm curious how to change the starting nations...like, say, put Russia and its constituent parts (Ukraine, Belarus and such) as the independent nations at the start, instead of having to invade the Sovs and release them.
Is that possible? Because the current idea kinda hinges on being able to do so
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Yes, I'd steer you to http://www.hoi3wiki.com/Adding_Countries. But it would probably be easier to start the game as the Soviets, release all the puppets, and save the game, IF you don't mind them all being puppets of the Soviets (you'll still have to make Russia via the above). If you want independence and no puppets or members of Comintern, you'll have to savegame edit. It's been a while since I looked at an HOI3 savegame, but as I recall the Factions are towards the top of the file, just delete the ones you don't want. Diplomatic relations will probably have to be searched (they'll be something like:
puppet = {
first = SOV
second = BEL
}
or similar.
OR, if you want a modern day mod, just get YAMDAM, mod for HOI3.
puppet = {
first = SOV
second = BEL
}
or similar.
OR, if you want a modern day mod, just get YAMDAM, mod for HOI3.
When you first alluded to weird invasions in the Pacific Theater I had the off whim hope that Japan had invaded the West Coast, but now, I can fully understand what you meant. Maybe someone thought it would be a great idea to keep all those pretty ships from actually doing what they were built to do...Skywalker_T-65 said:
Main reason I'm leery of releasing them as Sov puppets is because I don't want communist governments.
Without giving much away, I'm aiming more 'alt history' than 'modern day' here. That's why I'm trying to get the 'Post-Soviet' (or in this case, no-Soviet) states at the start. HPP does have cores and such for all of them, but I don't know how to have them at start without releasing them as puppets of the Sovs or Germans in a post-Barbarossa (which is not what I want) scenario.
It would have been about the same 'what the heck just happened?' level if Japan had reversed what the US ended up doing
EDIT: I had a random lightbulb moment...logically, if I just swap the Soviet files (ministers, leaders, color, so on) with the Russian ones...wouldn't that work? All the files for a Russia from the start exists...so I don't see why it wouldn't work, provided I leave the files as SOV instead of RUS, that way I don't have to add more cores or anything.
It is taking forever to go through all the files and make the requisite changes, but if it were easy it wouldn't be worth doing. Let's see if this idea works.
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Two things...
One: Modding worked! So next AAR is a go once this one is finished. Speaking of which...
Two: Here we are with the second to last update in the main storyline.
As the end of 1945 approached, the Tenth Indian Infantry, heroes in the War of Liberation, returned home to Britain. While the Swedish government was still unsure exactly how they had been integrated into the overall command of the Nordic League, the troops had fought hard and valiantly during the wars. For this reason, each man in the departing division received a medal, minted specifically for that purpose. The same had been done for the Czechs, Slovaks, Norwegians, and Finns who had also served in the War of Liberation.
However, as the ships departed, questions were raised in Swedish High Command, as to why the British had suddenly requested their men be returned. Troops on the Austrian border were sent, covertly, into northern Italy, where it was known the British were fighting.
Reports from these scouts were sobering. The British Army, considered the elite of the old Entente, was struggling to expand their beachhead against the Italian defenders. The few British troops who met up with the Swedish scouts were weary men, on the end of their ropes after fighting in a hostile nation for so long. The Italian defenders had a far more advantageous position, defending their homeland. It was little wonder that the British wanted the battle-hardened Indian Infantry back.
It was a stark contrast to the Pacific theater, where the Americans had been slowly taking apart the Japanese Empire, island by island after taking the Home Islands. The IJN was still missing, as the USN controlled the Pacific more thoroughly than even the Royal Navy. The Japanese government in Seoul refused to surrender however, no matter how much of their territory was taken.
This was the case, even after the Yanks finally decided to invade Korea. The Japanese troops, tired and battleworn from the fighting in Siberia, provided little real resistance to the swarms of fresh American troops, bolstered even further by Korean rebels. Emperor Hirohito was forced, yet again, to evacuate from Seoul, further north up the Korean Peninsula to Pyongyang. The Japanese leadership was elusive, prompting the Americans to struggle to make capture attempts. Most in Sweden, following the war in the newspapers and UN meetings, couldn't believe how stubborn the Japanese truly were.
Despite fighting off the full strength of the Comintern and United States, simultaneously, they showed no signs of giving in. The Home Islands were occupied, and the Emperor was in exile in Northern Korea. The only allies they could muster were Wang Jingwei and Pu Yi, both of whom were only dubiously loyal. And yet, they still refused to surrender, even as the UN sent out mediators to both sides.
As their troops continued to march through Korea, the American authorities proved lenient to the long-suffering nation. As soon as local governments could be set up, a new Republic of Korea was granted independence. Or, so the American newspapers said. The Koreans were more along the lines of the Philippines, at least until the war with Japan ended. Syngman Rhee, a prominent Korean leader, was placed by American authorities as the first President of Korea. Due to wartime restrictions, the position was essentially a dictatorship.
Still, at least the Korean people were independent once more, something that was looked upon with praise at the UN, and in Sweden in general.
Not all of Korea had been liberated however. The northernmost portion of the country remained under Japanese control. For whatever reason, the victorious American troops did not push past the new Republic's borders, content to maintain the security of 'their' Korea, instead of liberating the rest of the nation. The Swedes were curious about this choice, but they were unable to confirm why it was made, until a new Asian Squadron for the Navy finished construction, and could be based in a Chinese port, formerly owned by France.
Returning to Sweden, a new sound was heard at aircraft testing grounds. The sound was the first of a new breed of aircraft, developed to help evacuate wounded troops faster, so that casualties could be reduced. Called a 'helicopter' the new SAAB H1, was a revolutionary aircraft indeed. While small, the craft had a unique feature...the ability to take off and land vertically. The experimental design was unreliable and difficult to master, but it was hoped that continued advancements of the technology would allow for easier evacuations of wounded troops, or indeed, allowing paratroops more versatility in attacks.
That concept had a lot of traction in Swedish Command, as it would allow the still-infantry heavy army to punch harder and faster, without requiring more armor.
The other service receiving new material was the Swedish Navy. While the Army was large enough to cover the homeland fairly easily, having a stronger navy was a very good idea. Especially as reports from the Finns showed that the Red Navy was expanding at a ludicrous pace...including basic aircraft carriers. The Swedish Navy had acquitted itself well against the German fleet, but that had been a navy that was left behind in the mad rush to improve the Heer and Luftwaffe. The Swedish fleet would need to be upgraded and expanded if they were to have any chance to continue defending the coast well.
Though it was hoped that a new Alliance with the Americans would provide enough security that these new ships wouldn't be needed. Something that was reasonable, considering the massive size of the USN.
And as Japan finally surrendered in December, the full might of that force was now idle...able to be used wherever, and whenever, it was needed.
One: Modding worked! So next AAR is a go once this one is finished. Speaking of which...
Two: Here we are with the second to last update in the main storyline.
Warriors of the North said:
As the end of 1945 approached, the Tenth Indian Infantry, heroes in the War of Liberation, returned home to Britain. While the Swedish government was still unsure exactly how they had been integrated into the overall command of the Nordic League, the troops had fought hard and valiantly during the wars. For this reason, each man in the departing division received a medal, minted specifically for that purpose. The same had been done for the Czechs, Slovaks, Norwegians, and Finns who had also served in the War of Liberation.
However, as the ships departed, questions were raised in Swedish High Command, as to why the British had suddenly requested their men be returned. Troops on the Austrian border were sent, covertly, into northern Italy, where it was known the British were fighting.
Reports from these scouts were sobering. The British Army, considered the elite of the old Entente, was struggling to expand their beachhead against the Italian defenders. The few British troops who met up with the Swedish scouts were weary men, on the end of their ropes after fighting in a hostile nation for so long. The Italian defenders had a far more advantageous position, defending their homeland. It was little wonder that the British wanted the battle-hardened Indian Infantry back.
It was a stark contrast to the Pacific theater, where the Americans had been slowly taking apart the Japanese Empire, island by island after taking the Home Islands. The IJN was still missing, as the USN controlled the Pacific more thoroughly than even the Royal Navy. The Japanese government in Seoul refused to surrender however, no matter how much of their territory was taken.
This was the case, even after the Yanks finally decided to invade Korea. The Japanese troops, tired and battleworn from the fighting in Siberia, provided little real resistance to the swarms of fresh American troops, bolstered even further by Korean rebels. Emperor Hirohito was forced, yet again, to evacuate from Seoul, further north up the Korean Peninsula to Pyongyang. The Japanese leadership was elusive, prompting the Americans to struggle to make capture attempts. Most in Sweden, following the war in the newspapers and UN meetings, couldn't believe how stubborn the Japanese truly were.
Despite fighting off the full strength of the Comintern and United States, simultaneously, they showed no signs of giving in. The Home Islands were occupied, and the Emperor was in exile in Northern Korea. The only allies they could muster were Wang Jingwei and Pu Yi, both of whom were only dubiously loyal. And yet, they still refused to surrender, even as the UN sent out mediators to both sides.
As their troops continued to march through Korea, the American authorities proved lenient to the long-suffering nation. As soon as local governments could be set up, a new Republic of Korea was granted independence. Or, so the American newspapers said. The Koreans were more along the lines of the Philippines, at least until the war with Japan ended. Syngman Rhee, a prominent Korean leader, was placed by American authorities as the first President of Korea. Due to wartime restrictions, the position was essentially a dictatorship.
Still, at least the Korean people were independent once more, something that was looked upon with praise at the UN, and in Sweden in general.
Not all of Korea had been liberated however. The northernmost portion of the country remained under Japanese control. For whatever reason, the victorious American troops did not push past the new Republic's borders, content to maintain the security of 'their' Korea, instead of liberating the rest of the nation. The Swedes were curious about this choice, but they were unable to confirm why it was made, until a new Asian Squadron for the Navy finished construction, and could be based in a Chinese port, formerly owned by France.
Returning to Sweden, a new sound was heard at aircraft testing grounds. The sound was the first of a new breed of aircraft, developed to help evacuate wounded troops faster, so that casualties could be reduced. Called a 'helicopter' the new SAAB H1, was a revolutionary aircraft indeed. While small, the craft had a unique feature...the ability to take off and land vertically. The experimental design was unreliable and difficult to master, but it was hoped that continued advancements of the technology would allow for easier evacuations of wounded troops, or indeed, allowing paratroops more versatility in attacks.
That concept had a lot of traction in Swedish Command, as it would allow the still-infantry heavy army to punch harder and faster, without requiring more armor.
The other service receiving new material was the Swedish Navy. While the Army was large enough to cover the homeland fairly easily, having a stronger navy was a very good idea. Especially as reports from the Finns showed that the Red Navy was expanding at a ludicrous pace...including basic aircraft carriers. The Swedish Navy had acquitted itself well against the German fleet, but that had been a navy that was left behind in the mad rush to improve the Heer and Luftwaffe. The Swedish fleet would need to be upgraded and expanded if they were to have any chance to continue defending the coast well.
Though it was hoped that a new Alliance with the Americans would provide enough security that these new ships wouldn't be needed. Something that was reasonable, considering the massive size of the USN.
And as Japan finally surrendered in December, the full might of that force was now idle...able to be used wherever, and whenever, it was needed.
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I realized an easier way to do it. We'll use Bulgaria (BUL) as an example:
1) Tag switch to Soviets - "tag SOV" - and release puppets.
2) Surrender the puppet to the country that has the government you want - "surrender BUL SWE" - for example. Sweden has now annexed Bulgaria.
3) Tag switch to Sweden - "tag SWE" - and release the puppet.
They're still a puppet, but it'll have the right government. Then, editing the savegame is only needed to remove puppet.
Also very interested in American AI decision re: Korea.
1) Tag switch to Soviets - "tag SOV" - and release puppets.
2) Surrender the puppet to the country that has the government you want - "surrender BUL SWE" - for example. Sweden has now annexed Bulgaria.
3) Tag switch to Sweden - "tag SWE" - and release the puppet.
They're still a puppet, but it'll have the right government. Then, editing the savegame is only needed to remove puppet.
Also very interested in American AI decision re: Korea.
STOP! COOKIE TIME