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Road to war 1936, 1948
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Fog of war: on
January 2nd 1936, The Hague.
After an uneventful passing of the year 1935, the head of government and all his ministers gathered for the yearly meeting in The Hague. Present were:
Head of Government : Hendrik Colijn
Foreign Minister : Andries Dirk
Armaments Minister : Pieter Oud
Minister of Security : Josephus H.H. van Schaik
Minister of Intelligence : Johan W. van Ooschot
Chief of Staff & Army : Izaak Reynders
Chief of Navy : Johannes Furstner
Chief of Air : Petrus W. Best
The meeting started when Hendrik Colijn congratulated everyone with the new year..
Hendrik Colijn : “Hello everyone, thanks for coming to our yearly meeting, I wish you all a happy new year”
Everyone in the room returns greetings and best whishes and also amongst each other.
Hendrik : “ Right, let’s get on with business, we’ve all had some days off, but today it’s back to work. Let’s set our agenda for the coming year. As we still have a lot of work to do bringing the economy up to speed and as there are no major threats in Europe I suppose we can wrap this up quickly”.
Both Andries van Dirk and Johan van Ooschot scramble and call for attention. Johan gestures Andries to lead the conversation.
Andries : “well sir that may not be entirely true, together with Johan I’ve received reports that are quite alarming. There are two major threats to world peace rising. The fascists government in Germany and the rising tensions in Japan are very serious threats.”
Hendrik : “hold on there, Germany a threat to national security of Holland, I don’t think so. I agree that the Fascist government that has come to power may be a little bit different then what we’re used to in the German government but they’ve done nothing out of the ordinary so far. Besides if any major conflict in Europe should arise, we will remain neutral like we were in WWI. That never did us any harm so why should it be different in any future conflict. “
Andries: “Well that may be so sir, but I do suggest we either reinforce the army in the Netherlands or at least build some fortifications to defend ourselves if our neutrality does not last.”
Hendrik: “well any increase in army size or the built of fortifications could also be considered provocative and thus put our neutrality in jeopardy. We will not go forward with this, anyway our army is strong enough as it is, it will protect our small borders well enough.”
A lot of chuckles are heard around the room, Andries takes the word again.
Andries: “well that remains to be seen, the Germans are building up quite an impressive army at this moment, they even have tanks.”
Hendrik: “Tanks? You mean those slow things from WWI, well almost everyone has them and they were never much good, I think it’s a waste of money. Anyway according to the Versailles treaty they’re not even suppose to have tanks, so I reckon the English or the French will take them away from them if sufficient proof is provided. The infantry still rules the battlefield and we have enough divisions and also some bicycle platoons, that will scare off any enemy that comes across our borders.”
Johan: “Yes well I think they’ll first have a good laugh about it and then move on to take our capital sir. Seriously I’ve seen reports of our spies and the German tanks at this moment are nothing like those monsters from WWI, they’re well armoured, carry a big gun and machine gun and move quite fast, they’re quite dangerous if properly used sir.”
Hendrik: “Enough of this nonsense, our army in The Netherlands is big enough and so it will stay. Well this is certainly taking up more time then I thought it would, let’s move to that second threat shall we?”
Andries: “Okay sir, Japan, as you may not know, Japan is pretty strung for resources and our reports indicate that there are elements in the government that whish to seize what they lack. In other words, Japan will go to war for resources. As the East Indies are not that far from Japan, they might come for those resources too. I seriously suggest we equip the East Indies Army with some new divisions, a fleet of their own would also help.”
Hendrik: “well I thought we were adequately equipped with divisions and all, could somebody give me a run down of everything we’ve got?
Izaak: “well sir, we’ve got 5 armies:
1st armee corps in Amsterdam under General Winkelman with 2 divisions
2nd armee corps in Arnhem under General Reynders with 2 divisions
3rd armee corps in Eindhoven under Lt. General A. van der Bent with 2 divisions
4th armee corps in Groningen under Lt. General Harberts with 2 divisions
East Indies Army in Batavia under Lt. General J. van Voorst Vorst with 3 divisions”
Johannes: “The navy has one fleet under admiral Doorman consisting of:
3 cruisers: HNMS De Ruyter, HNMS Java and HNMS Sumatra
2 destroyers: Admiralen I and Admiralen II
1 transport”
Petrus : “Well sir we have no airforce, my pleads to get at least two fighter squadrons have been ignored for ages now.”
Hendrik: ”well up until now we’ve had no need for an airforce and it doesn’t look like that will change, the infantry is still the main component of any nations army and that will never change. Considering the fact that just this morning I’ve given the order to upgrade the industries throughout the entire East Indies and this so called Japanese threat, I suppose we could consider building a bigger fleet and some more infantry divisions for our East Indies Army. What exactly are we up against if Japan chooses to ignore our neutrality in world affairs and invades the East Indies?”
Johan: “well reports are incomplete but by the looks of it, the Japanese have an enormous fleet sir. Consisting of several battleships, heavy cruisers, cruisers and aircraft carriers.”
Hendrik: “aircraft carriers? Are they stupid? The battleship rules the sea, as does the infantry on land, there is no use for airplanes whatsoever against ships. If you’re telling me we should build some aircraft carriers too, “then this meeting is over!”
Johannes: “Well sir, I agree with you on that and so does Izaak, we’ve actually came up with plans to construct 2 new battleships, euh Dreadnoughts and 2 cruisers sir. Along with a few new transport ships they will protect our East Indies and the Netherlands as well sir.”
Hendrik: “what do you mean, what’s the difference between a battleship and a dreadnought?”
Johannes: “Well Battleships are more powerful and better armoured sir, the reason that we’re not building them is because we lack the knowledge to build them.”
Hendrik: “So our new ships will not be as good as the ships of the Japanese, but surely our craftsmanship will turn them into the best ships of their class and with the able leadership of Admiral Doorman we will prevail. So what’s the deal with the transports?”
Johannes: “well we have 8 infantry divisions in the Netherlands and only one transport ship. If we build more we could in case of a crisis transport those divisions to where they are needed. We won't be needing any new infantry divisions that way."
Hendrik: “so the entire fleet will be based in the Netherlands then?”
Johannes: “Yes indeed, with such a strong navy and the ability to move our troops to any of our colonies in notime we won’t be having much problems with keeping what’s ours I believe.”
Hendrik: “Allright then, proceed with the construction of those ships, keep us up to date. I will inform the Queen that we’re spending money on the fleet; I think she’ll agree. This concludes our session gentlemen, we’ll meet again like this in one year, of course I’ll be seeing most of you before that.”
Andries: “Actually sir, could we make that every three months? Things are happening so quickly with Germany and Japan at the moment, and it would also be nice to hear status updates on the build of the new ships. It’s very exciting that we’ll be expanding our fleet.”
Hendrik: “All right then, I’ll see you in three months.”
Road to war 1936, 1948
Difficulty: normal / normal
No mods
Fog of war: on
January 2nd 1936, The Hague.
After an uneventful passing of the year 1935, the head of government and all his ministers gathered for the yearly meeting in The Hague. Present were:
Head of Government : Hendrik Colijn
Foreign Minister : Andries Dirk
Armaments Minister : Pieter Oud
Minister of Security : Josephus H.H. van Schaik
Minister of Intelligence : Johan W. van Ooschot
Chief of Staff & Army : Izaak Reynders
Chief of Navy : Johannes Furstner
Chief of Air : Petrus W. Best
The meeting started when Hendrik Colijn congratulated everyone with the new year..
Hendrik Colijn : “Hello everyone, thanks for coming to our yearly meeting, I wish you all a happy new year”
Everyone in the room returns greetings and best whishes and also amongst each other.
Hendrik : “ Right, let’s get on with business, we’ve all had some days off, but today it’s back to work. Let’s set our agenda for the coming year. As we still have a lot of work to do bringing the economy up to speed and as there are no major threats in Europe I suppose we can wrap this up quickly”.
Both Andries van Dirk and Johan van Ooschot scramble and call for attention. Johan gestures Andries to lead the conversation.
Andries : “well sir that may not be entirely true, together with Johan I’ve received reports that are quite alarming. There are two major threats to world peace rising. The fascists government in Germany and the rising tensions in Japan are very serious threats.”
Hendrik : “hold on there, Germany a threat to national security of Holland, I don’t think so. I agree that the Fascist government that has come to power may be a little bit different then what we’re used to in the German government but they’ve done nothing out of the ordinary so far. Besides if any major conflict in Europe should arise, we will remain neutral like we were in WWI. That never did us any harm so why should it be different in any future conflict. “
Andries: “Well that may be so sir, but I do suggest we either reinforce the army in the Netherlands or at least build some fortifications to defend ourselves if our neutrality does not last.”
Hendrik: “well any increase in army size or the built of fortifications could also be considered provocative and thus put our neutrality in jeopardy. We will not go forward with this, anyway our army is strong enough as it is, it will protect our small borders well enough.”
A lot of chuckles are heard around the room, Andries takes the word again.
Andries: “well that remains to be seen, the Germans are building up quite an impressive army at this moment, they even have tanks.”
Hendrik: “Tanks? You mean those slow things from WWI, well almost everyone has them and they were never much good, I think it’s a waste of money. Anyway according to the Versailles treaty they’re not even suppose to have tanks, so I reckon the English or the French will take them away from them if sufficient proof is provided. The infantry still rules the battlefield and we have enough divisions and also some bicycle platoons, that will scare off any enemy that comes across our borders.”
Johan: “Yes well I think they’ll first have a good laugh about it and then move on to take our capital sir. Seriously I’ve seen reports of our spies and the German tanks at this moment are nothing like those monsters from WWI, they’re well armoured, carry a big gun and machine gun and move quite fast, they’re quite dangerous if properly used sir.”
Hendrik: “Enough of this nonsense, our army in The Netherlands is big enough and so it will stay. Well this is certainly taking up more time then I thought it would, let’s move to that second threat shall we?”
Andries: “Okay sir, Japan, as you may not know, Japan is pretty strung for resources and our reports indicate that there are elements in the government that whish to seize what they lack. In other words, Japan will go to war for resources. As the East Indies are not that far from Japan, they might come for those resources too. I seriously suggest we equip the East Indies Army with some new divisions, a fleet of their own would also help.”
Hendrik: “well I thought we were adequately equipped with divisions and all, could somebody give me a run down of everything we’ve got?
Izaak: “well sir, we’ve got 5 armies:
1st armee corps in Amsterdam under General Winkelman with 2 divisions
2nd armee corps in Arnhem under General Reynders with 2 divisions
3rd armee corps in Eindhoven under Lt. General A. van der Bent with 2 divisions
4th armee corps in Groningen under Lt. General Harberts with 2 divisions
East Indies Army in Batavia under Lt. General J. van Voorst Vorst with 3 divisions”
Johannes: “The navy has one fleet under admiral Doorman consisting of:
3 cruisers: HNMS De Ruyter, HNMS Java and HNMS Sumatra
2 destroyers: Admiralen I and Admiralen II
1 transport”
Petrus : “Well sir we have no airforce, my pleads to get at least two fighter squadrons have been ignored for ages now.”
Hendrik: ”well up until now we’ve had no need for an airforce and it doesn’t look like that will change, the infantry is still the main component of any nations army and that will never change. Considering the fact that just this morning I’ve given the order to upgrade the industries throughout the entire East Indies and this so called Japanese threat, I suppose we could consider building a bigger fleet and some more infantry divisions for our East Indies Army. What exactly are we up against if Japan chooses to ignore our neutrality in world affairs and invades the East Indies?”
Johan: “well reports are incomplete but by the looks of it, the Japanese have an enormous fleet sir. Consisting of several battleships, heavy cruisers, cruisers and aircraft carriers.”
Hendrik: “aircraft carriers? Are they stupid? The battleship rules the sea, as does the infantry on land, there is no use for airplanes whatsoever against ships. If you’re telling me we should build some aircraft carriers too, “then this meeting is over!”
Johannes: “Well sir, I agree with you on that and so does Izaak, we’ve actually came up with plans to construct 2 new battleships, euh Dreadnoughts and 2 cruisers sir. Along with a few new transport ships they will protect our East Indies and the Netherlands as well sir.”
Hendrik: “what do you mean, what’s the difference between a battleship and a dreadnought?”
Johannes: “Well Battleships are more powerful and better armoured sir, the reason that we’re not building them is because we lack the knowledge to build them.”
Hendrik: “So our new ships will not be as good as the ships of the Japanese, but surely our craftsmanship will turn them into the best ships of their class and with the able leadership of Admiral Doorman we will prevail. So what’s the deal with the transports?”
Johannes: “well we have 8 infantry divisions in the Netherlands and only one transport ship. If we build more we could in case of a crisis transport those divisions to where they are needed. We won't be needing any new infantry divisions that way."
Hendrik: “so the entire fleet will be based in the Netherlands then?”
Johannes: “Yes indeed, with such a strong navy and the ability to move our troops to any of our colonies in notime we won’t be having much problems with keeping what’s ours I believe.”
Hendrik: “Allright then, proceed with the construction of those ships, keep us up to date. I will inform the Queen that we’re spending money on the fleet; I think she’ll agree. This concludes our session gentlemen, we’ll meet again like this in one year, of course I’ll be seeing most of you before that.”
Andries: “Actually sir, could we make that every three months? Things are happening so quickly with Germany and Japan at the moment, and it would also be nice to hear status updates on the build of the new ships. It’s very exciting that we’ll be expanding our fleet.”
Hendrik: “All right then, I’ll see you in three months.”
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. I write it as I go along so it could still go any way...
