Wildfires - A multiplayer AAR
WILDFIRES Part II. In this part we will see two nations fall and the birth of the WILDFIRES
February 4th, 1939
Roughly a month after the creation of the Jingdenzhen-pocket half of the Chinese forces within it had already perished but the rest of their divisions were pressed tighter and tighter together. Strangely though, even when the Japanese forces had to struggle with severe lack of supply, these trapped Chinese infantrymen seemed to always have food and ammunition. Even though things at times were desperate Japan managed to keep the pocket intact so far, even though it was only one province broad over a significant stretch of the full pocket-length. The Japanese leadership was fearful of a breach in the pocket through which the worn down Chinese divisions could escape.
February 5th, 1939
The invasion of Yugoslavia is 11 days old. Italy has done small but important conquests along the coast, capturing important cities. Hungary (AI) did not have troops by the boarder during the declaration of war but have now reached their own border and have started to tie down Yugoslavian divisions. Germany launched a blitz right into the heart of Yugoslavia. Since Yugoslavia was to be an ally, they had to attack carefully to not kill more Yugoslavians than necessary. But speed was paramount and the motorized and mechanized spearhead did what they could to pass through the weak defensive line and continue towards the last big cities. Here, Erwing Rommels panzerdivision has just thrown back a Yugoslavian HQ. The little country seemed chanceless as the three nations jumped at it like a hungry wolf-pack.
February 19th, 1939
Less than a month after the declaration of war the Yugoslavian government surrendered the country. But not until Tito* had left the country through Greece. Hitler could place loyal puppet government into the parliament, supported by the Wehrmacht.
The German ironfist (see picture
) had been striking quick, hard and effective, and comparatively small amounts of blood had been shed. The Führer had got his first price. It was peace in Europe again… for a while.
What the Axis did not know was that Tito reached Britain and then USA where he started to agitate strongly against The Führer and his fascists which he hated with outmost strength. And Josip Tito had his ways with words…
* Truth to be told, Tito was not head of government in Yugoslavia before the second world war, but he is in this story.
February 20th, 1939
One and a half month after the creation of the Jingzhen-pocket the last Chinese division was routed. This was a great victory for Japan and the ministers knew that Nationalist China only had token defenses left. They were no longer any real threat. On the other hand, the Japanese forces that had been fighting through the Jingdenzhen-campaign were a battered and sorry bunch. Several divisions with zero organization had been shipped out of Shanghai and send to Korea for long leaves. As the Japanese strength lessened due to these leaves there was no immediate push. However, detailed plans for precision strikes towards the last big Chinese cities were drawn and chosen divisions started to move into position. This led to Japan actually losing some ground back to China, including the famous province Jingdenzhen, but it was just jungles and mountains and not of great importance.
April 17th, 1939
In Asia the war continued. Since the heavy losses in the Jingdenzhen-pocket the Chinese forces was not able to mount an efficient defence as Japan launched attacks towards several key cities. Alas, in early April the Japanese forces knocked on the door to the Chinese capital, Chongqing.
The push towards Chongqing had been so quick that the surprised Chinese command only was able to mount a defense using staff personnel from two army HQs. Even though the Chinese troops were desperately undergunned they still had the benefit of the mountainous terrain. It was hard fighting from the regular Japanese infantry, marines and cavalry to gain any ground. But as a matter of fact, the Japanese losses were quite marginal, but it took long time to clear out every valley and rocky stronghold. The Japanese leadership feared Chinese reinforcement but several of the potential divisions were already tied down in other battles and the low infrastructure made other divisions movement painfully slow. This time, though, it served Japan well and no reinforcement showed up.
The Chinese capital fell in the end of April and their leaders fled the country to continue the struggle from elsewhere. When the leaders fled, the Chinese army threw down their weapons. Nationalist China was annexed and is no more.
April 18th, 1939.
Just before Nationalist China surrendered, a Japanese army, mostly consisting of cavalry, attacked Chinas ally in the north, Xibei San Ma. Troops from Xibei San Ma had been supporting China all along and it was time for them to pay the price. The country consisted mostly of desert and Japan had not bothered with researching special desert equipment, but the leaders concluded that the resistance would probably be so weak that a little extra equipment or not would not really matter. And they did not see any rush either. With China gone, Japan was almost at peace… but only almost.
May 1st, 1939
After a diplomatic conflict concerning the Danzig corridor, Germany declared a limited war versus Poland. Not surprising, the allied finally got their act together and supported Poland and thus declared war against Germany. What also happened, which was very surprising and worrying, was the fact that USA suddenly woke up, joined the allies, and declared war on Germany - though intelligence had said they would not. It was the darn Tito who had managed to turn the heads of the Americans.
--Question: This screendump is very shortly after USA declared war on Germany (by joining the allies). Even though Germany have a rather high threat for being in May -39 I don’t see how the Americans are capable of joining the allies with their 100% neutrality. Anybody have an explanation?--
Stalin, feeling bored in his cold part of the world, thought this was a good time to join the party of the Valkyries. But either he was overly confident or it was a diplomatic laps, but he declared war on the entire Axis.
With USA already in the war, Japan immediately declared war on Yunan which in turn led to Communist China knocking on Axis doors, asking to join the family – out of fear of ending up in front of their machinery of war. They were accepted.
So, as the sun went down the first of May, a major part of the world had suddenly been thrown into war. The small contained and planned fires had spread by accident. Now, there were WILDFIRES all over the world. No country was prepared for these events. No country had a plan for it. All of them had to quickly assemble their ministers and generals and quickly form new plans.
When the diplomats from the three Axis powers met, the mood was low. The early entry of both USA and Russia was a disaster and they even mouthed the possibility of entering into peace negotiations. As they talked and calculated, they realized that it would take some time before USA could mount any proper offensive. They also realized that Russia had made a mistake of entering into war so soon. Their army was, according to intelligence, in a lousy state. Japan made a bold statement that together they could crush the Russian bear before New Year. With Moscow down, they could build a fortress Europe, and Japan could fend off their coast. Ribbentrop was not as optimistic as his Japanese counterpart but agreed on the course. Italy got the sad task of evacuating all troops in Africa to Europe before declaring war on the Allies.
Now everything was about capturing Moscow before the fall of Berlin. It would be a race against the clock – and the time was ticking.
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