The Fuhrer and the ObU should be reminded that type II subs have very limited range and type VII subs are not yet available in sufficient numbers to critically cripple the British war effort. The submarines should also first and foremost be used to seal off the Baltic sea for Polish ships in case those try to flee to Britain or in case Britain and/or France try send support to Poland. Since Denmark will still be unoccupied in this situation, the Kriegsmarine will need every ship and plane available to keep both sides from supporting each other. Otherwise, the effort in Poland might easily be prolonged to a point where we need to postpone operations against the west due to weather conditions and refitting of battered units.
Baltasar: The Type II U-boats were scrapped long ago, as it was realised they were simply underwater coffins. It is true our U-boat number are low (3 flotillas of Type VII and 4 flotillas of Type IX with 2 more in production) but we intend to speed production now we have some experience. The Ostsee fleet (Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein) is to provide shore bombardment rfor the attack on Danzig, while the main battle fleet is to blockade the Denmark Straits.
Even though the British are claiming to be freedom loving people, they might try to open a front with us from Norway, especially once we are marching through Denmark. Both countries are easily within fighter range and I probably don't need to point out the dangers of British bombers stationed in southern Norway.
Next on the list is Sweden. Since they are apparently also trying to undermine our scientific efforts, we could decide to show other officially neutral countries how bad an idea this is. Swedens army is relatively small and should be no match for the Wehrmacht and it also holds quite a few resources, although mostly metals.
While an invasion of Norway has been considered, we believe that the troops required would be better used to crush France quickly. Of course, should the situation change, we would review this decision. (One of the major uses for Norway is the advance air bases it provides for our naval bombers). If an attack on Norway were to be carried out, any action on Sweden would depend on their closeness to the Allies.
Do we have plans for Finland? It could be a useful staging area once operations against Russia start. Same reasoning for the Baltic states, Romenia and may be Turkey. The wider the front is, the more troops Stalin will need to cover them, the easier it will be to break through somewhere. I suspect that we can forget assistance from our Japanese allies; they took quite a beating by the Chinese rabble and would probably not stand a chance against a more organized opponent like the Red Army. I'm astonished we haven't heard that the collective IJA top staff has commited
Sepuko yet, I thought they were of the Samurai tradition.
We will be signing a Pact with the Soviets which will see the Baltic States swallowed (bar Memel). A decsion on Finland will be made after the Winter War - if it seems possible to bring it into the Axis we will make the effort. To date our efforts to build relations through trade have been a failure. Same with Rumania, though if they keep moving to the Allies we make have to take steps to secure their oil. Turkey is more long term - let's see if we need to go into Greece and how long that takes.
The Japanese appear to be a lost cuase - it will take them years to recover their losses in China, and they must have lost access to a lot of raw materials for their factories. We are not relying on them to pin many Soviet divsions.
The Fuhrer and the OKH may want to reconsider the use of mobile troops in Spain. After crossing the Ardennes from the north, the Iberian Peninsula streches out in vast plains to the south which would be quite suitable for mobile forces. A single corps consisting of 3-4 divisions would probably be most useful in this enviroment without putting too much strain on our supply lines. If Spain is a viable target, Portugal has to be considered too. If they align themselves to the British and French, we will have to clear them out, simply because we can't allow them to act as a gate for Commonwealth troops in our backyard. Keeping the British from landing successfully on the continent will be of the utmost importance once we get involved in the east.
Portugal is a member of the Axis, so no problem there. I take your point re the motorised, but every unit will be needed in Russia, so the Heer prefers to move them out early, incase they get bogged down at the opposite end of the continent (which may be the case if there is British (or even USA) support). Maybe over-cautious, but Russia will be a challenge with our army structure. Our divisions are big and strong (all four regiments) but there a lessof them, so all will be required from Day 1.
Operations against the Balkan countries always have to take the cost into account, in such cases the cost in garrisons. Unless the Ministers chose not to inform their minions, the German industry is not training any Garrison units up until now. Keeping in mind that we will need quite a few of them, together with mobile reserves in both France and Spain to deter any British landings, this is a bit unnerving because we will have to use regular infantry formations for garrison duties. If we are to include the Balkans into the Reich, we'll need even more Garrisons which means more regular infantry units will be tied up initially. The Fuhrer has to decide whether the additional cost in troops and resources is worth the gain.
As Yugoslavia is a member of the Axis, it is not an issue. We hope to persuade Romania to join us, but if not then its oil makes it worth while to garrison. We hope Italy may take care of Greece. So the only other is Bulgaris - shouldn't take many troops. We intend to start producing garrisons and police in month or so - small divisions for resource areas and major cities, with cavalry units interspersed.
I'm confident that our Ministers will provide a decent report about Russia in the future, so we can take an educated guess as to how long it will take us to defeat Russia and what we are up against in the first place. Even with better tanks and planes, an army several times the size of what we can field in the east will probably defeat us.
Russia's elimination of most of our spies is a problem, but we have now ordered all spies to go into sleeper mode, so we should build up numbers again. We also plan to build radar units in selected border provinces.
If vast encirclements are what we want to do, then we need a vast mobile army, if not several of those, to break through and seal of Russian formations. Does the Fuhrer already have plans for the setup of those formations? How about Luftwaffe support for those organisations? Where will the Luftwaffe generally be attached to?
At present we have 3 Leichte Panzer Divisons (2x Light Armour, 1x Mot. Inf., 1x Tank Destroyer) and 1 Panzer division (2x Medium Armour, 1x Mot Inf, 1x SPA). We aim to have at least another 4 Panzer Divisions and 4-6 Panzer Grenadier Divisions (2x Mot Inf, 1xAC, 1x either SPA or TD) by the time we attack Russia. Probably not enough, but that is the bare minimum. Depending on our occupation policies, may be a lot more. There are a lot of unknowns, particularly the lelvel of manpower losses in Poland, France and Spain. That may determine our policies.
The Luftwaffe is still to grow. We see the 12 tactical air wings primarily slowing supply, with the CAS assisting the ground attacks. The MPF will be in the East so they can either conduct air supremacy or ground support. All the interceptors will be needed to stop British bombers in the West. I know I should bomb the British airbases, but don't want to try to do everything and end up doing nothing. As for where they will be attached, I am leaning to taking control of the air as well as the sea.
Edit: corrected several spelling mistakes. If anyone finds some more, keep them
