Battlefield Europe - Breaking the Yoke of Colonialism II

[JimmyC]

Significant advances in light arms have allowed us to upgrade our German and Italian forces to better equip them in anti armour capacity. Our troops are therefore being rotated out of the line in order to upgrade them to current standards. This will allow our forces to go toe to toe with the American infantry and will provide significant punch when attacking enemy armour in close terrain.

Whilst this comes at some cost, the income generated from the oilfields of the Middle East, combined with the poor weather than prevents Allied bombing of our cities, has resulted in us achieving a comfortable surplus of resources.



- Our troops have liberated all occupied countries of Eastern Europe and hold position on the Russian border.

- The main Russian attack falls around Smolensk and a tactical withdrawal may be performed. As Smolensk is considered part of Russia, it is not a strategic objective, although its defensible terrain makes it a useful position to occupy.

- The Middle East will soon be entirely liberated of Commonwealth forces. Only Egypt remains in the hands of the Allies and a final assault is expected to commence shortly

- We have commenced transferring troops to France so as to give them sufficient time to entrench before the expected Allied invasion in Summer.

[JimmyC]

With the Russians attacking in force around Smolensk a decision was made to withdraw from the city in order to prevent our troops garrisoned there from being surrounded and annihilated. This proved difficult given the Russians were flanking us from both north of the Dvina River and south of the Dnieper River. We managed a step by step withdrawal to pull our infantry division to the forests directly west of the city, but as soon as the Russians realized what we were attempting, they immediately launched frontal attacks with medium armour. Our infantry division made use of the close terrain and knocked out a large number of tanks but was unable to withstand attacks from 3 separate tank divisions and was eventually annihilated. Their sacrifice did, however, allow the mauled Romanian AT division to withdraw to safety for rest and refit, as the Russians had focused all their attacks on our withdrawing infantry.



We have occupied the woods further west of Smolensk to prevent a breakthrough to the city Vitebsk. As we are being flanked from the north this position is somewhat difficult to hold, however once the Dvina River thaws, it will provide us with a natural defensive border. For the moment though we have positioned defences around Novel to assist in fending off attacks from the north.

A tank battle rages to the south of Smolensk and east of the Dnieper River. After first pushing us back to almost the river line, we managed to bring in reinforcement in the form of Panzer V’s and now have 4 Panther divisions operating the area. Our infantry occupy hard points, behind which our artillery provides supporting fire and damaged tanks are repaired and mass for counter attacks. The Luftwaffe’s ground support operations are restricted due to the cloudy weather, however they are still striking at the enemy armour, allowing our Panthers to attack the weakened and suppressed enemy. We intend to hold this position until the frozen rivers thaw. However once this happens, a difficult decision must be made – either to withdraw to Vitebsk and occupy the west bank of the Dnieper River or alternatively try to maintain our current positions. The first option will allow us to occupy stronger defensive positions out of range of the artillery of Smolensk and at arms length of the Russians, however will result in our defences opposite Bryansk and around the city of Gomel occupying an extended salient. The second option leaves us in direct contact with the Russians at Smolensk and esposed on the east bank of the Dnieper River with us occupying mostly open terrain around which it is difficult to establish hard points.


A general withdrawal to more defensible positions is being considered for when the Dnieper River thaws

[JimmyC]

The situation in Western Europe has deteriorated sharply, with the skies full of Allied planes bombing our cities and industy and causing indiscriminate damage to our population centers.


A depressingly familiar message…

Our Fw 190 squadron, recently upgraded to the A-8 variant, attacks the allied bombers with relative impunity. But they are only 1 squadron and in recent months the Allies have had an average of 10 squadrons operating over Western Europe at any one time. Our flak pecks away at the Allied formations, but causes only limited damage and our AA has recently been directly targeted in bombing runs. Whilst the bombings have caused damage to our war economy, it also has the effect of limiting our ability to reinforce France.

With the Allies massing around the ports of Britain it is only a matter of time until they perform a seaborne invasion. Initially relatively undefended, our troops are now trickling into the area at a much slower rate than originally intended. Troop movements are restricted to night-time marches and all forces in France must be supported by AA to limit the worst of the Allied air attacks. Even still, the Allied bombers attack and suppress our AA in order to attack our ground forces.


Waves of enemy bombers with fighter support are a familiar sight in the skies of France. Our AA limits the damage caused on bombing runs against our troops, but is regularly targeted and suppressed by the enemy. Note the air battle over our cities around the Rhine River – our Ju88G night fighters supported by our Fw-190 squadron are battling to keep Germany safe. Our Ju88G squadron was withdrawn deeper inside Germany shortly after this in order to keep it out of range of Allied fighters.

We have taken 2 countermeasures to partially address this problem. Firstly, we have brought forward some of our AA that was defending central Germany, so as to provide better assistance to our ground forces. Secondly, we have transferred a squadron of Veltro’s to Central Germany to provide support to our Ju 88G (heavy night fighter) squadron that entered into service in late ’43. Whilst the Veltro is inferior to the latest Allied fighters, they will only target bombers and will be operating in areas out of reach of enemy fighters.

However, even with these measures in place, the Allies have undisputed air supremacy over France which is extremely challenging to our ground troops trying to reach the area and entrench before the invasion.

Given the dire situation in Western Europe, our engineers have recently been experimenting with placing Flak gun’s on the Panzer IV chassis so as to provide mobile, armoured AA. The result, which has recently been approved for production, is the Möbelwagen. We are unhappy with this design, as its open top and limited turret maneuverability leaves the crew too vulnerable to air attack. However, improved versions are currently in the later stages of development (preliminarily named as Ostwind and Wirbelwind) and are expected to be approved for production in the upcoming months. Although relatively costly, we intend to upgrade some of our weaker 2cm Flak divisions to these new self propelled variants in order to provide stronger, mobile air cover to our defenders.

[JimmyC]

The decision has been made not to invest in converting our Bf 109’s to FW 190’s given the significant cost involved and to instead invest our resources in our ground forces. All Panzer III’s and light tanks were upgraded to Panthers, with Panzer IV’s now being our lightest tank in operation, other than some non-upgradable captured tanks obtained during the battle of France. Around half our remaining towed AT are being upgraded to JagdPz IV, whilst the remainder will be upgraded to the cheaper Hetzer once it becomes available. And all German and Italian troops are being outfitted with upgraded equipment to ’44 standard, with other Minor Axis nations to follow once the option becomes available.

All aircraft are being upgraded only within their upgrade tree so as to save costs. Given the high risk of loss for Bf 109’s operating in Western Europe, we have stationed almost the entire Luftwaffe, including other Axis air forces in Eastern Europe. This ensures air superiority and at times air supremacy on the Eastern Front. For Western Europe, we have a lone Fw 190 squadron on the front lines, with our Ju 88G and Veltro operating deep inside Germany so at to keep out of range of Allied fighters.

Our strategy for Western Europe is to provide significant AA divisions to support and protect our ground troops. This is not an ideal solution as it is only partly effective in deterring the Allied forces from attacking our troops. We expect the upcoming invasion of France by the Allies to be extremely challenging given the air supremacy of the Allies. Once the Bf 109K, which is currently in development, becomes available, we will upgrade all BF 109’s to this variant and may transfer a large number of them to Western Europe in an attempt to try and win back control of the skies and stop the Allied advance. This decision will be made based on the strategic situation at that time. Until that point, we will be forced to rely on our ground based AA.

[JimmyC]

We have stemmed the Russian attack on Kharkov and destroyed most of the enemy forces in the area. The Russians have fallen back to their defences at Kursk and are bombarding us with artillery, supported by a 2nd line of troops that has been brought up, with some armour also approaching. In order to eliminate this threat we have advanced north and are engaging the enemy forces in the outskirts of Kursk. With the Russians having limited AA in the area and as we have air supremacy on the southern front, the Luftwaffe is roving the battlefield and providing close air support to our troops. Combined with our artillery, we are overcoming the heavily entrenched enemy and pushing them back. The Russians have also commenced a limited attack towards Konotop, which was only lightly defended. We have abandoned the city in order to perform an outflanking maneuver with our Panther divisions in order to cut off and annihilate the attackers.


Our forces advance north and take the fight to the enemy. The objective is not to capture Kursk, which is inside the Russian border, but rather to annihilate as much of the enemy as possible before falling back to the Ukraine border

Further south along the Baltic Coast, there is almost no enemy activity around Rostov/Mariopol, with us holding strong defensive positions on the banks of the Don and Donets Rivers.

In North Africa, our troops have overrun the few remaining Allied forces in our advance to the Atlantic Coast. The Regia Marina are advancing in parallel with our ground troops and have destroyed the Allied fleet defending Gibraltar. A bombardment on Gibraltar has commenced with the Luftwaffe are also assisting in this endeavor. However as Gibraltar is very heavily fortified there has been no visible result. We expect Gibraltar to take a significant amount of time to be liberated of the British colonialists.

In the meantime, a light cruiser, heavy cruiser and 2 battleships have broken off and are bombarding the Suez fortifications in support of our ground troops advancing on Egypt. We faced strong resistance at Jerusalem, but have managed to overcome the defenders with support from the Luftwaffe and Regia Marina and are now pushing against the eastern side of the Suez Canal. Our forces from the Middle East are gradually reinforcing this battle group and we will soon make an attempt to cross the Suez, but given the long distances and rough terrain, it takes significant time for our reinforcements to reach the area.

As we now control the Mediterranean and in order to conserve resources, a decision has been made to stop all repairs on Regia Marina vessels, as these are no longer considered essential to the war effort.

[JimmyC]

The Allied amphibious assault on the coast of Normandy has begun and our troops are bracing to repel the enemy attack. Learning from our experience of the defence of Tunisia, where we gained complete air and naval supremacy, we have situated our defences far back from the coast, mostly out of range of the Allied capital ships. We have also brought forward our AA in order to provide air cover for our ground forces. Our defenses have been divided into battle groups centered around hard points, such as cities or woods. Each battle group consists of one or more infantry divisions, AA and SPAT or Panzers. Our defensive plan is for the entrenched infantry to absorb the initial allied attack, before counterattacking with our mobile armour. Normally artillery support is an essential part of both defensive an offensive operations, however given the Allied air supremacy, we have prioritized supporting our troops with AA over artillery.


The speed with which the Allies land their forces caught us by surprise. A highly experienced AA battalion has been cut off at Vannes. With the rail lines cut by American paratroopers and no forces within supporting distance, we have decided to attempt a risky seaborne evacuation once darkness falls. After leaving the port we have instructed our transports to head south and make berth at Bordeaux, where they will be in relative safety. However if they are spotted leaving the port they will quickly be sunk by the Allied air and naval forces.

As noted earlier, the Allies air supremacy resulted in our reinforcements arriving to the area much slower than expected in order to limit the damage caused whilst in our vulnerable transports. This was further hampered by partisan activity in the south of France and the Balkans, which blocked the rail lines for our reinforcements arriving from North Africa. We therefore have only approximately 2/3 of the intended troops in place. Whilst we expect the remainder to reach their positions before the Allies make significant inroads, it will mean that we have limited time to entrench and will also have to risk being attacked from the air in order to bring our troops up.

A strategic decision was made to leave our stronger tanks on the Eastern Front to oppose the Russian heavy armour, with only 1 Panther division being sent to the West to oppose the Normandy landings. We have instead supplemented this force with 1 division of Italian P30/43 heavy tanks, 1 Panzer III division (which will shortly be upgraded to the Panther G model when it becomes available) and 2 SPAT divisions. In order to ensure our armour is protected from Allied bombers, we intend to upgrade two of our weaker 2.2cm Flak divisions to SPAA once design and testing of the Ostwind and Wirbelwind variants are completed. This will allow our armour to be covered from aerial assault even whilst performing counterattacks and outflanking maneuvers. For the moment though we are using the relatively immobile towed AA to provide air cover to our forces.

[JimmyC]

Western Front
The battle on the Western Front is proving extremely costly, due to Allied air supremacy combined with insufficient defenses in the area. Our forces would have been sufficient if it weren’t for the skies swarming with planes, which results in our armour being attacked and reduced to between 2/3 and 3/4 strength even before we engage the enemy. Although we cover our forces with AA, the Allies directly attack and suppress the AA batteries before running rampant on our now undefended troops.

After capturing the port of Le Havre, an advance force of British commando’s and Canadian infantry captured Abbeville and its adjacent airfields. But with no support, our Italian heavy tanks pounced and annihilated both division (the Canadian’s were foolishly fully loaded in their transports). Allied air support wasted no time in attacking our now exposed tanks, reducing them to 2/3 strength before they could withdraw to the cover of AA. Our division of Fallschirmjaeger’s entrenched in the Bocage west of Paris were almost annihilated by the advancing British infantry and did little to slow their progress. We are now hastily organizing the defense of Paris.


The enemy has captured all of Normandy and are now advancing in 3 directions - up the coast towards Belgium, east along the south bank of the Seine River and down the coast south of the Loire River.

North Africa
Meeting very little resistance our forces have now driven the Americans back into the Atlantic and have liberated all of North Africa with the exception of Egypt. This has freed up a substantial number of troops, allowing us to transfer them to reinforce other fronts. The Italian fleet and German bombers continuously pound Gibraltar, which will soon fall. The Americans send a battleship and destroyer squadron, perhaps leftovers from the Torch Landings, to try and assist, but our uboats and Ju188A’s, soon sunk them.


Gibraltar is about to fall. Note the poor condition of the Regia Marina. It was decided that no significant repairs of the fleet would be undertaken, with all resources instead diverted to the land and air war in Europe.

With the majority of our reinforcements arriving from the Middle East, we have commenced an assault across the Suez Canal. Whilst resistance was stiff, the defenders lack of amour meant that we could push over the canal with our infantry and are now assaulting Cairo itself. Once Cairo is captured, we will continue advancing west where a large, heavily entrenched force is located around El Alamein. As the Allies are oriented towards defence from the west, we hope to soon overcome this force, at which time we will be able to transfer our troops to the European Front, with the entirety of the Middle East and North Africa liberated.


Our assault across the Suez is opposed by only light armour and AA divisions, which is soon defeated by our numerically superior troops.

[JimmyC]

Occurring shortly after the Allied landings and advance from Normandy, the Russians launched several major offensives against Army Group North, Army Group Center and Army Group South.

Army Group North
Unbeknownst to us, Russian forces had been massing around Leningrad and launched a major assault against our defences at Pskov. With our experienced Grenadier division occupying the city, backed by light artillery, we were confident of holding out. However, the Russians frontal assaults with over-strength heavy armour divisions, supported by massed artillery fire overwhelmed our defenders, annihilating them. A Romanian cavalry division has been brought up to allow our forces to withdraw, however this division cannot hope to hold up against the tanks apposing it and will likely be annihilated. With only light tanks and support troops in the area, we will attempt a withdrawal to the more defensible south bank of the Dvina River, although this will result in our troops around the city of Talin being cut off.


The quick defeat of our defences at Pskov caught us by surprise. The Russians are now advancing south and southwest. The loss of our highly experienced Grenadier division is keenly felt and with limited forces in the vicinity to oppose the Russian advance, we will attempt a withdrawal to more defensible positions.

Army Group Center
The Russians are attacking south of Smolensk in an attempt to separate our forces on either side of the Dnieper River. With 3 Panther divisions in the region and facing somewhat obsolete medium and heavy armour, we are confident of defeating the attackers, however it prevents us from reinforcing Army Group North.


The superiority of our Panthers, combined with our entrenched defenses allows us to control the flow of the battle and deny the Russian armour freedom of movement. The main danger to our armour comes from the Russian tactical bombers, which are once again active on this front.

With the new Panther G model becoming available with much greater fuel capacity and slightly better armour, our Panthers occupying the open plains south of Konotop were withdrawn for upgrade. Taking advantage of our temporary lack of armour in the area, the Russians launched a massive armoured assault against our forces, capturing the lightly defended Konotop and driving us back to the banks of the Dnieper River, where we have organized a hasty defence around Kiev.


With the loss of Konotop our forces at Gomel have been put on alert in case the Russians should try to attack northwards into Prussia. The Dnieper River forms a natural defensive barrier for our troops at Kiev.

Army Group South
In conjunction with their attack on Kontop, the enemy has attacked south of Kursk. Although part of the attack falls on Belgorod, the main attack is on the eastern bank of the Donnets River towards Izyum. Our Panthers and Tigers have now met their match against the Russian IS2 heavy tanks which have started to appear on the battlefield, with our Tiger division sustaining a serious mauling when confronted by an overstrength IS2 division. The massed Russian armour is pushing us back and forcing a withdrawal south of the Donnets River. The Russian air force has also become much more active. Whilst we still have air superiority the fight has become a lot harder against the advanced and experienced Russian fighters, which provide escort to their bombers.


We will withdraw South of the Donnets River and also abandon Belgorod, so as to shorten our front line and improve our defensive position

[JimmyC]

As the majority of our advanced armour is located on the eastern front and in order to provide assistance to our western defences, our last remaining division of Pz38(t)’s, commanded by Johannes Bolter, which was relegated to partisan hunting duty, has now been placed in the newly designed wunderwaffe Tiger II super heavy tanks. This division will form an impenetrable roadblock, who’s only weaknesses are attack from air and poor maneuverability given limited fuel storage. The first threat will be mitigated by ensuring that AA coverage is provided and given our air superiority in the east, whilst the 2nd should be overcome by careful positioning of the division in the schwerpunkt, which we have determined to be in the fiercely fought ground between Kharkov and Belgorod.

All remaining towed AT were replaced with self propelled AT. We now have 2 JagdPanzer IV divisions, which are in the progress of being upgraded from the 48 to the heavier gun 70(V) variant. These should be able to stand toe to toe with the Russian heavy tanks. Our 4 remaining AT divisions were upgraded to the cheaper Hetzer model, which should be sufficient vs Russian medium armour, although will have to avoid confrontations with heavy armour. These are joined by an understrength Jagdpanther division, which recently finished training in Central Germany and is being transferred to Paris.

Our Hungarian and Romanian allies are also being armed with the latest in light arms. Whilst still below the standard of the UK and US troops they are now on equal terms with the Russian infantry and also pack a bigger punch vs armour.

[JimmyC]

We have received word that our Finnish Allies have capitulated to the Russians and laid down their arms under the terms of the Moscow Agreement. Given the relative inaction on the Finnish front, this caught us by surprise and led to significant recrimination. The sudden surrender of the Finns has caused a significant deterioration in the defensive capacity of Army Group North. Talin, previously defended predominantly by the Finn’s, is now poorly defended, as is the area north of the Dvina River, which was already under significant pressure.


Brothers in Arms?

The Russians launched unsupported frontal attacks with massed infantry against our troops garrisoning the city of Dvinsk on the Dvina River. Reinforcements were rushed to the scene and our garrison was ordered to hold on at all costs in order to prevent a breakthrough. A Panther division crossed the Dvina at Vitebsk and intercepted several artillery divisions being transported to the area, causing significant damage and preventing them from assisting in the attack on Dvinsk


Although heavily entrenched, the Romanian garrison at Dvinsk is outnumbered by over 5:1. Our reinforcements rush to the area, but with no road network to connect the city to the south, their progress is delayed.

Although causing significant casualties to the attacking enemy, the weight of numbers proved too great. Facing annihilation our severely mauled troops were forced to withdraw to the southern bank. The delay allowed us 2 precious extra weeks to bring up reinforcements. Whilst we were unable to reoccupy the city, we have closed the gap and prevented any breakout to the south. This would not have been possible if it were not for our Panther division intercepting the enemy artillery which was being transported to the area. Our Panthers would have caused even more damage if not forced to withdraw due to lack of ammunition. These were replaced by a Romanian Stug division which performed a flanking maneuver to the east in order to block and interdict reinforcements. 2 SPAT and 1 infantry divisions then attacked from Riga in the west, destroying two Russian armoured divisions that were advancing towards the Baltic.


Dvinsk is lost, however a breakout has been prevented. The Russians will find it difficult to hold given our flanking attacks and an effort to liberate the city may soon be attempted.

With Russian forces virtually surrounding our troops, the area in Eastern Prussia around Gomel has been declared a Fester Platz and our forces have been ordered to hold out at all costs. Although the Russians occupy Smolensk to the north, Bryansk to the east and Konotop to the south, we still have a link with our main line via 2 bridges over the Dnieper River north and south of Mogilev, although the northern bridge is contested and only sporadically open. Our troops occupy strong defensive positions against attack from any direction, therefore we are confident of holding out unless a sustained attack is made from all 3 directions simultaneously. So far the main attack comes from Smolensk, with sporadic attacks from Bryansk and no enemy movements from Pskov, with Russian forces to the south seemingly concentrating on Kiev.


Gomel, an integral part of Prussia, will be held at all costs, in accordance with our doctrine of liberating all enemy occupied territories.

[JimmyC]

After crossing the Suez and capturing Cairo, all that remains is to destroy the enemy army at El Alamein and capture Alexandria. We can then transfer our forces to the European theatre, where their arrival will be greatly welcomed. With no enemy armour to oppose them we lead the assault with 2 Panther divisions, backed up by infantry and artillery. As the Allied defenses face west, we are able to directly engage the enemy artillery. With the enemy having years to entrench, it is a slow, drawn out fight, but one that the enemy have no chance of winning.


The heavy AA presence prevents our Italian bombers from contributing to the battle, therefore they will be relocated to Europe

We had left a sizeable force around the oilfields of the Middle East, in case of Russian or Allied counterattack and given the isolated position preventing any quick reinforcement. This consisted of a Stug division, a recon division and 3 infantry divisions. Just as we were considering transferring several of these divisions to Europe, enemy activity was reported on the border with Russia. A loan Katyusha division was subsequently intercepted and annihilated at Kirkuk. Although we have experienced no further activity since then we have determined to keep our forces in the area given the importance of maintaining control of the oilfields.

[JimmyC]

After several probing attacks against our strong defenses around Paris, the American and Commonwealth troops have commenced a march up the coast, following on from where we earlier annihilated their advance scouts. Supported by their capital ships in the channel, they quickly advanced, capturing Abbeville, Lille, Dunkirk and Brussels in short order. This proved to be a smart strategy by the Allies, as it denied our v-rockets the ability to strike at London.


The Allies race north through Belgium and towards the Netherlands. Little do they realise that we are waiting to spring a trap.

It was only once they reached Eindhoven in the Netherlands that we launched a counterattack with a Tiger II division and Panther division, supported by infantry, which drove the enemy all the way back behind Abbeville. Not only did we destroy the advancing enemy armour, but our fast advance caught the enemy by surprise, with a division of artillery intercepted whilst still in their transports and severely mauled. The enemy is now boxed in around Le Havre and we can once again transport our V-rockets to the channel coast in order to bring them in range of London. Our self propelled AA (consisting of a Wirbelwind and Ostwind division) proved instrumental in limiting the damage that the Allied air forces could cause to our armour and has paid for itself. We will soon upgrade a 3rd obsolete 2cm Flak to SPAA so as to further increase the maneuverability of our forces.


The Allies have been driven back into a pocket north of the Seine river

[JimmyC]

The front line is marked in red. The Allies are mostly restricted to Brittany and Normandy, whilst in the East, we hold position on the Russian border with the exception of Konotop, which was lost to the Russians. There is now a large salient projecting to Kiev and the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. The forces of the Regia Marina, having secured the Mediterranean, now head into the Atlantic to harass the shipping lanes

[JimmyC]

It is early December and heavy snow falls. Our entrenched positions on the riverbanks, previously so strong, are nothing more than exposed positions now that the rivers have frozen over. The Russian juggernaut has been amassing heavy armour north of Kharkov. Already before the first snowflakes dropped, the enemy annihilated our infantry garrisoning Kharkov and captured it for themselves. We have significant forces in the area, but they are outnumbered approximately 2:1 in armour and infantry and 3:1 in artillery. The quality of our troops and armour generally surpasses that of the Russians, but the terrible conditions mitigate this advantage. This is the most critical point on the Eastern front and we are diverting troops to this area.


On the face of it our position appears strong, however the snowstorm hides significant enemy reserves behind the frontline – including the dreaded IS-2's.

After breaking through Konotop, the Russians were halted by the natural barrier of the Dnieper River. Now that it has frozen over, the enemy can freely pass over it and to the open terrain beyond. Anticipating this threat, we have built up a strong defensive position around Kiev. Further south, we have reconnaissance and SPAT divisions patrolling the road and rail line, ready to interdict any enemy breakthrough.


With limited artillery in the area and the Luftwaffe grounded, we are relying on our tank destroyers to blunt the attack.

As expected the Russians launch their attack over the Dnieper, although rather than trying to penetrate deeply into our territory, they instead perform a direct assault on Kiev. The city itself is held by our veteran Grenadeir division, whilst the surrounding trenches and fortifications are occupied by our Romanian Allies. The Russians target the Romanians, and try to flank us from the south.


Our Romanian Allies have withstood 2 tank assaults, bloodying the enemy and buying time for our SPAT and recently arrived Panther division to counter attack and restore the line. Our armour must proceed cautiously however, as our scouts have reported IS-2’s operating in the area.


In the far north, the capitulation of the Finns has provided a new unforeseen headache. The blockade that they held preventing Russian shipping entering the Baltic has ended and Russian submarines now pose a threat to the surviving rump of the Kriegsmarine that are operating in the area.

[JimmyC]

With the capture of Alexandria we have full control over the Middle East and North Africa. We now just need to mop up the few remaining enemy divisions at El Alamein before the vile stain of colonialism is removed from the area once and for all. We have already started diverting one Panther division to the port of Alexandria, ready to be transported to Europe. The other Panther division, plus our infantry and artillery will be needed to destroy the remaining entrenched enemy before being diverted to the European theatre for the final stages of the war.


The oppressed peoples of Africa reward us for their liberation

With us recapturing the port cities of Belgium and Northern France, combined with the heavy snowfall preventing enemy air activity, the Allies are unable to prevent our V-1 and V-2 rockets from striking London. The poor weather has the added benefit of protecting our industry from the Allied strategic bombing. This has led to a significant buildup in production and resources, allowing us to make some much needed upgrades to our Italian allies.


With the poor weather limiting the ability of the Allied air defences to intercept our V-rockets, we are able to rain death and terror onto the population of London

We have determined to upgrade our badly outdated Veltro squadron in Eastern Germany to the latest Centauro model. Whilst still outperformed by the latest Allied fighters, its more powerful armament and sturdy frame is custom designed to interdict enemy bombers. Due to the significant cost of this upgrade, we have determined to only upgrade the one squadron in Eastern Germany. The remainder of our Veltro’s operating on the Eastern front will continue unchanged in their role as support for our bomber squadrons.

We have also upgraded the Italian 75mm artillery division stationed in Germany to the more mobile Semovente 105/25. This will allow it to provide mobile artillery support to our troops in our attempts to drive the enemy back into the sea and will further complement our mobile battle groups consisting of armour, SPAA and henceforth SPA.

[JimmyC]

With the war reaching its later stages and only 6 months to go before the armistice commences, we have raised a significant number of new infantry divisions by targeting those from non-essential industries, as well as loosening the age and fitness requirements for conscription. We are hoping that with this final push, we will be able to re-establish our defensive positions on the Russian border and push the US and Commonwealth forces back from Paris.



We have now commenced a massive effort to transport the Volkstuurm from Germany to where they are needed. Our better trained and equipped Hungarian, Romanian and Italian troops that were occupying secondary positions are now being transported directly to the front (predominantly the Eastern front), with their positions to be replaced by the Volkssturm. The remaining Volkssturm divisions will be pooled as reinforcements behind the main line and will be fed into battle as reserves in order to plug any gaps that appear.

With the significant increase in manpower it will allow us to adopt a more aggressive stance, which will undoubtedly lead to more casualties, but will also see us push the enemy back to their borders.

[JimmyC]

My computer once again crapped out, resulting in me having to reinstall windows and losing my save at around turn 89. However, based on my position at that time and my large prestige reserve (around 5,000 from memory), I am guessing that I probably would have held the line west of Paris. In the east I was very comfortable in the north, holding the center and extreme south although weak around Kharkov. Actually I had my strongest forces in that area, but the Russians had amassed such an armada of armour and artillery that I think they would have eventually forced the river crossings.

I also note that photobucket now wants to charge to share images, so all my screenshots have disappeared…

[JimmyC]

I made some mistakes at the beginning which resulted in me not achieving all objectives. Specifically, I focused too much on attacking the Russians in the east and driving them back to their borders. I was very successful in doing this, but my troops could have been used much better in forcing the Syrian Coast and driving to the oilfields. Due to loss of some transports from subs/aerial attack, as well as my ill fated liberation of Iceland, I was extremely short of transports in the Mediterranean and really hamstrung myself. This led to my forces almost being cut off and destroyed in the desert and put me back 1 year in my goal to capture the oilfields. I then had to abandon my plan to head into the caucuses and gain the Russian oilfields as I desperately needed to get the troops back to the Eastern front to assist in the border defence.

If I had to do it again, I would advance more slowly to the Russian border and instead focus the main effort on the oilfields of the Middle East and then to the caucuses. The liberation of Iceland would definitely be put off until much later as the transports are needed in the Med.

As for the situation in the west, it went relatively smoothly. By massing AA and sending most of the Luftwaffe to the East it allowed my air superiority (sometimes supremacy) on the Eastern front. Once Normandy started I did find it difficult, although not impossible, dealing with the Allied bombers and mobile AA was key in allowing me to counterattack in relative safety.

With my pc now fixed i will have a shot at the new 1.09, although will play it traditionally and not impose my own victory conditions. Sorry to everyone who followed this thread for the abrupt ending. It would have been nice to play the last 10 turns and finish the damn thing after investing so much time. Was a lot of fun though and i highly recommend this mod to anyone interested.

[McGuba]

I also note that photobucket now wants to charge to share images, so all my screenshots have disappeared…

Oh, yes, I (and presumably millions of other people) had the same problem.

By the way, you should still be able to download your album if you log in to your photobucket account and go to library and then click "Download album":

sample03.jpg (157.38 KiB) Viewed 5207 times

That's what I did and after that I just switched to imgur.com and uploaded my screenshots there and so far it works fine. Imgur is just as good as photobucket was. Until they decide to do the same...

Hope to read some more AARs on v1.9