Ethiopia - the little lion that could

[GAGA Extrem]

This AAR is a contribution to the "Ethiopian Defence" contest.

Difficulty: normal / normal


January 1936:

The situation on Jan 1:

Scouts report that Italian troops have crossed the border and are making their way towards Addis Ababa! All our units have been mobilized and prepare to defend our capital.

Forces:
We have 6 milita divisions under our command, plus the imperial bodyguards, a tier I infantry division. All units are seriously understrenghted and INTEL reports that the Italians have at least 18 divisions at their disposal.

The battle plan:
Our army will be reorganized: the imperial body guards will operate independ, all MIL in pairs. New leaders are assigned: 1 FM, 1 GEN, 1 LT-GEN and 1 MJ-GEN.
All divisions will retreat to Addis Ababa, dig in and reinforce. Once we have build some brigades to strenghten our current units, we will commit several small counter attacks against the Italians and try to prevent total encirclement of the capital. Jima with its 1 IC is a secondary objective to defend.

Research:
Taezaz starts researching mobility focus. Although it will take ages since he is only skill level 2, we need that 20% ORG badly.

Production:
One AC brigade and one (unbrigaded) CAV division are quenued in the production screen. We will first need to buff our units for combat - and AC is the best choise in our horrible tech and IC situation. Although we will need fuel to operate them, our oil stockpile of 500 should allow us to use 7 fully brigaded divisions for at least two years. CAV is vital due to its speed bonus and will provide us with the ability to make fast counter attacks. Research speed is set to 80%. Max needed IC will go to reinforcements, 0.25 into supplies, 0.8 into CG and the rest into production.

Diplomacy:
We move one step towards hawk (done BEFORE adding units to the prod queneue to benefit from reduced production time).


Jan 10: Italy seized Denakil.

Jan 11: Italy takes Ogaden.

Jan 13: Italy occupies Âdwa.

Jan 17: All units have arrived in the capital and are now digging in.

Jan 19: Italy taks Gonder

Jan 21: Italy seizes Dirê Dawa.

Jan 22: All divisions start a counter attack on Dirê Dawa. Target is to force the one Italians infantry division off the province, we will not retake it.

Jan 27: Italy takes Moyale and marches towards Jima. Unfortunatly we have no divisions to spare right now. Combat in Dirê Dawa turns in favor of Ethiopia.

Jan 29: Italy conqueres Harar. Combat in Dirê Dawa sucessful - the Italians flee!

 

[GAGA Extrem]

February 1936:

The situation on Feb 1:

Feb 4: Italy takes Desê. We prepare a counter attack to force the milita out.

Feb 6: Italy seizes Jima!

Feb 9: Italy occuoies Ginir.

Feb 14: Victory in Desê! We prepare an attack on Jima.

Feb 15: Attack commenced.

Feb 17: Italys takes Depre Mark'os. Due to hills and a river, a counter attack on this province won't be possible anytime soon.

Feb 19: Vitory in Jima! Next target: Ginir.

Feb 23: Attack commenced.

Feb 25: Attack aborted due to an Italien counter attack (combat event). We will continue reinforceing for now.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

March 1936:

The situation on Mar 2:

Mar 3: Italy takes Gambêla. Addis Ababa is now surrounded.

Mar 4: Our milita sails out for a counter attack on Gambêla.

Mar 9: Victory!

Mar 12: Our milita attack Jima.

Mar 13: Victory!

Mar 20: All units attack Ginir.

Mar 27: Our first AC brigade is ready and will be deployed to the imperial bodyguard after combat.

Mar 29: Victoy in Ginir!

 

[GAGA Extrem]

April 1936:

Situation on Apr 1:

Apr 2: Attack on Jima, won on the same day.

Apr 10: Attack on Gambêla

Apr 13: Victory in Gambêla. During the attack, FM Selassie has become a hills fighter! Excellent!

Apr 15: Attack on Ginir and Jima, both won on the same day.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

May 1936:

From now on, I will no longer report skirmishes to repel the Italians at this stage unless unexpected things happen. Our units will perform 24/7 counter attack on all provinces around Addis Ababa.

Current losses: 2.400 ETH vs 3.200 ITA

May 11: Second AC brigade ready.


June 1936:

Jun 22: Third AC brigade ready. IC for supply production increased to 0.5 (fro 0.25).

Jun 26: Mobility Focus now 25% done.


July 1936:

Jul 3: Nationalistic China declares war on Guangxi Clique.

Jul 15: Sucessful attack on Debre Mark'os!

Jul 17: Civil war in Spain.

Jul 21-31: Several majors intervene in Spain. Hello? Any help HERE? Please??

 

[GAGA Extrem]

The strategy I am using here was (or better: is still) working well both in vanilla and DD/Arma. I have survived as Poland, holding only Warsaw. I have survived as France, by simply holding the Maginot line. And I have survived as Romania against the germans, by simply using Schwerpunkt defence tactics.

The only difference bwetween vanilla and this save game is, that Ethiopia was given the basic construction tech to prevent CTDs, but the dig in bonus gained from this is rather unimportant in AoD. Attacking is a bit harder in AoD I would say, yes, but in fact with the right tactics (yes, the AI doesn't know how to use them), I would say it is actually even easier for Italy to kill Ethiopia in AoD.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

August 1936:

Aug 1: Another AC brigade is deployed. Oil is now at 480.


September 1936:

Sep 7: One AC and one CAV are ready to deploy. We will no proceed with retaking Gambêla and Jima.

Sep 14: Youth movement provides volunteers! With +100 manpower we now have 150 at our disposal. Brave young boys they are!

Sep 21: Gambêla is freed!

Sep 27: Jima is once again in Ethiopian hands!

 

[GAGA Extrem]

If I find my old DD disk I will install good ol' DD/Arma and try it.

edit: Not necessary, I found Arma on my extern HD. Played for 3 month and the result was pretty much the same as here.

Keep in mind: They have taken the provinces, but they cannot build up a frontline because I repel them.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

October 1936:

Situation on Oct 1:

Current losses: 5.000 ETH vs. 5.500 ITA

Oct 4: Moyale is freed!

Oct 14: Another AC is ready.

Oct 25: Bardera now under Ehtiopian control.

Oct 27: Ginir taken by our forces. Attack on Ogaden sucessful! South eastern Italian units (2 MIL divisons) are about to be cut off!

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Where are the other divisions?

Some had retreated (4 or 5 iirc) and were still on their way back, others were behind the frontline and probably maneuvering out of sight.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

November 1936:

Nov 3: General Mikael becomes a hills fighter.

Nov 4: Ogaden is taken! Italian lines cut in half!

Situation on Nov 4:

Nov 17: Obbia is conquered! The two enemy MIL divisions have gathered in Mogadishu. Imperial bodyguards and 2 MIL attack Harar.

Nov 21: Another AC is ready.

Nov 26: Bardera retaken by Italian forces, our CAV commences a counter attack and drives the MIL further south to Kismanyo. An attack on Debre Mark'os fails due to heavy Italian reinforcements (2 MIL + 2INF vs our 4 MIL/AC). Supply situation critical, increasing supply IC to 2.5 for now.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

December 1936:

Dec 2: Attack on Dirê Dawa! 6 MIL + 1 INF vs 2 INF + 1 MIL.

Dec 5: Attack fails due to too low ORG from our milita.

Dec 6: Bardera taken. Since we have now a port, we can finally trade with foreign powers. Persia offers us 0.4 oil for 0.1$ - we gladly accept! This should completly cover our demand for now. Mobility Focus now at 66%. Our CAV attack Mogadishu.

Dec 8: Victory in Mogadishu!

Dec 11: We have found and killed a spy from United Kingdom! Abdiction of King Edward VIII (though we think not due to our counter-INTEL).

Dec 12: Mogadishu taken! Our CAV attacks Kismayo! The Italian militia will soon surrender!

Situation on Dec 12:

Dec 14: INTEL reports Italian divisions advancing towards Gambela - our left flank is now threatened, but we have not enough units to start a counter attack, instead we will make an assault on Dirê Dawa to shorten the frontline.

Dec 19: Victory in Dirê Dawa! Kismayo taken! The second Italian MIL division is overrun! Our CAV now rushes to Jima. Losses after this operation: 7.800 ETH vs. 15.100 ITA. For excellent combat performance and bravery, our first CAV division is renamed to 'Mogadishu' Division

Dec 23: Italian air units bombard Addis Ababa! The enemy has brought at least 3 TAC to Massaua. This is dire news for our army, since we have no real anti-air capability whatsoever. We will have to dig in to prevent higher losses. Thankfully the mountains provide at least some sort of cover.

Dec 24: What a merry Christmas: The Italians take Gambêla!

Dec 26: One AC finished - every of our units is now brigaded! Supply situation stable: Invested IC reduced to 2.

Dec 29: Dirê Dawa is retaken by our forces! The imperial bodyguard is ordered back to Addis Ababa. Our TC is in the reds due to occupied territory maintance. We will release Somalia in January.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Januar 1937:

Jan 1: We move 1 towards hawk lobby (+0.05 dissent). Somalia released as a puppet. Although that will deny us access to sea again, we will have a new ally with 5 full-sustained IC and ease our TC pressure.

Jan 19: First sucess against the Italian bombers! Due to digging in and reinforcement of the imperial bodyguards, we have finally managed to shoot down several planes!

Situation on Jan 19:

Jan 25: Italian bombers down to 85% - 52 planes have already been shot down! Our CAV moves to Addis Ababa - we will try to encircle the enemy division in Gambêla.

Jan 26: Our second CAV division is deployed to Addis Ababa.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

February 1937:

Feb 2: An AC brigade has been deployed to our new CAV. Doctrine research now 80% done.

Feb 5: 7 divisions from Addis Ababa start an attack on Debre Mark'os - things don't look good for the Italians!

Situation on Feb 5:

Feb 10: Vicory! Losses: 800 ETH vs 600 ITA.

Feb 14: Debre Mark'os taken! One Italian INF division in Gambêla is trapped! Our units immediately start their attack on the Italians! The enemy makes a desperate counter attack (combat event), but is unable to hold our advance.

Feb 16: The 29th Italian Division surrenders. 2nd CAV honoured with a new name: They are now the 'Gambela' Division. Current losses: 27.000 ITA vs. 9.200 ETH, in addition the Italians have already lost 80 bombers.

Feb 19: Italian bombers now attack our CAV divisions. We let them be and start an attack on Desê. This one will not be easy - mountain terrain plus an Italian mountaineer division!

Feb 22: Gambêla retaken! Italian bombers atack Addis Ababa again.

Feb 25: Our attack stalls, but the newly arrived 'Gambela' Division might turn the tides.

Feb 27: Victory! Despite massive ORG losses the last push from our 'Gambela' Division manages to break the mountaineers! We will regenerate some ORG and then move forward into Desê. I notice that somehow the AC in our production quenue were not set to idle, but have been removed instead! Not only are 25% gearing lost, but we will also suffer retooling time when we should issue a new build order. The chief of natioal armament facilty is fired as a consequence!

Feb 28: Mj. Gen. Sileshi has reached level 4! He is awarded the Ethiopian army medal in silver.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

March 1937:

Mar 4: We resume our advance on Desê. Our CAV in Debre Mark'os digs in due to very heavy Italian bombing attacks.

Mar 22: Desê is taken, Addis Ababa is no in danger! Gambela divisions moves to reinforce the front line - if we attack Âdwa, we might trap another 3 Italian divisions.

Mar 25: Attack on Âdwa - despite our CAV is still en route we will start now before the enemy has time to reorganize.

Mar 27: Sucess! The enemy breaks within two days, our units now march to cut off another army corps!


April 1937:

Situation on April 1:

Apr 5: The 3rd CAV division is ready to deploy. We assign them to Desê. We remove one AC brigade from a milita to add it to our CAV.

Apr 9: We have reports of partisan activity behind our lines. We suspect that the Italians are responsible. Maximum funding for our espionage issued (2.2 IC).

Apr 10: Our first spies are ready and proceed with counter-intelligence.

Apr 13: Âdwa liberated! 2 Italian divisions are cut off. However, the Italians launch a massive counter attack against our lone cavalry - they won't be able to hold the lines for long. We must instantly react to clear the pocket. 2 CAV and 2 MIL start their attack on Gonder.

Apr 14: Defeat in Âdwa. Our CAV division withdraws from combat.

Apr 15: Victory in Gondar! The two enemy milita divisions surrender! Our 3rd CAV division is renamed to 'Gondar' Division. Current losses: 12.000 ETH vs. 35.000 ITA + 100 bombers. At this rate the Italians will have to abandon east africa soon!

Apr 19: Mobility Focus finished! With this our troops nearly double their organisation! Next tech: Human wave doctrine.

Apr 21: Second battle for Âdwa. The imperial bodyguards and 2 MIL defend themselves against 3 enemy INF and 2 MIL. Despite mountain terrain the situation looks dire. However, the 'Mogadishu' Division will arrive tommorow - maybe they can turn the tide.

Apr 22: No need for the 'Mogadishu' Division! The enemy breaks off his attack!

The situation on April 22:

Apr 24: Italian bombers start a bombing campaign against our 2 MIL divisions in Dirê Dawa. Thankfully they are dug in and therefore shrug off most of the bombing attack.

Apr 27: Our troops have arrived in Âdwa and now prepare to attack Assab. If this attack suceeds, three additional Italian divisions will be destroyed.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

May 1937:

May 7: Attack commences! This is endgame for the Italians - if they fail to hold their lines, they will be destroyed within one or two month.

May 9: Deceisive combat in Assab! The Italian MTN troops fight fiercly, the tide turns several times.

The battle of Assab:

May 12: Gambela Division is too disorganized and breaks from combat.

May 14: Imperial bodyguards and Gonder division abandon the attack. It looks like the Italians will be able to hold their lines.

May 16: Several Italian ships provide coastal fire to aid the defenders. We break off the attack for now - but we will be back!

May 19: INTEL reports an Italian HQ in Asmara - looks like the Italians are bringing in reinforcements...

May 20: The first Somalian INF divison is deployed in Mogadishu.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

June 1937:

Jun 1: Second battle for Assab. The Italians have brought an additional INF division to the front line, but it seems they will not be able to hold against our refreshened troops.

Jun 4: Victory! Our CAV races towards Assab, all other units get ready to commence their attack on Denakil.

Jun 15: 4th CAV division is ready. This should do for now, we idle the production quenue and spend the IC on CG and supplies instead. 1 AC removed from our MIL and added to our new CAV.

Jun 19: Assab taken, but the Italians launch another massive counter attack with 10 divisions! Or 3 CAV break within hours. Attack on Denakil commences. Marco Polo bridge incident in China - Japan declares war on the Chinese!

Jun 21: Attack on Denakil is going well. 2 INF and 1 MIL are trapped and will soon surrender.

The battle of Denakil:

Jun 24: The Italians fight fiercly, two MIL divisions are being bombed and have to abandon the attack to seek shelter.

Jun 26: Victory in Denakil! Current losses: 16.500 ETH vs. 58.500 ITA + 165 bombers! For great effords in this attack, the 4th CAV is renamed to 'Denakil' Division.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

July 1937:

Our troops get ready to attack Asmara. Once we have this province, the enemy air field will be within reach - this Italian adventure will end soon enough!

Jul 3: Denakil is freed.

Jul 7: Somalia signs a military alliance pact with us. Finally an ally for our great struggle against Italy!

Jul 9: Assab retaken by Italy - we make a small counter attack to rout the enemy division. Somalian first infantry is now under our command and moving to Denakil.

Jul 10: Enemy divison in Assab retreats.

Jul 16: Attack on Asmara. 4 CAV fight vs. 1 HQ and 1 MIL.

Jul 19: Victory!

Jul 23: Massive Italian reinforcments arrive in Assab and start a counter attack on our bombed divisions in Denakil - they won't be able to hold on their own, so all available units start a counter offensive on Assab, although the odds are horrible.

The Situation on Jul 23:

Jul 24: Our milita in Denakil break and retreat, our counter attack is stopped. We will now try to regain as much ORG as possible and then proceed to capture the enemy airfield in Massaua. It looks like many of the Italian divisions are moving southwards, so that plan could acutally suceed.

Jul 27: Attack on Massaua! 4 CAV vs 1 INF and 1 MIL, both low on ORG - looks like the Italians will soon have to abandon their air campaign.

Jul 29: The last Republican troops in Spain surrender! The Spanish civil war is over.

Jul 30: Denakil falls to the enemy.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

August 1937:

Aug 3: Massaua is taken! The Italian troops lose their only port and airfield in east africa! During the fight, the Italians tried to evacuate their bombers, even while our units were already attacking the runway. Over 25 planes are shot down while trying to take off - in addition to another 100 that had already been destroyed by the Italians before our units arrived.

Aug 5: Advancing Italian units attack both Desê and Dirê Dawa. Our milita are in bad shape and will have to retreat to Addis Ababa.

The situation on Aug 5:

Aug 6: Our CAV starts an attack on Assab, our imperial bodyguard and 2 MIL provide support. Enemy forces: 1 INF and 1 MIL, but the Italians have developed new land doctrines and their ORG and MOR is now way superior to ours.

Aug 9: Nevertheless our forces are victorious!

Aug 10: Somalian troops arrive in Harar and prepare a defence perimeter. Persia offers 0.3 oil for 0.1$ - not as good as our last deal, but since our oil stockpile is down to 280 and we have nothing else to do with our IC, we gladly accept.

Aug 15: Imperial Guard rushes to Desê - maybe we can hold the province after all.

Aug 16: Too late, both provinces fall to the enemy. However, we launch a counter attack. The Italian supply depot was captured and their army should suffer a short term shortage.

Aug 17: Despite our counter attack, the enemy is actually assaulting our capital! The Somalian forces start flanking the enemy, but it is uncertain if the capital can be held. 2 militia are still in disorganized retreat, while the other two have no brigade and are badly maimed from previous combat!

Aug 19: The Somalians have been repelled, our milita is fleeing, but at least we have broken the enemy MTN in Desê. With some luck our second milita corps can hold the capital. Offensive supplies issued to all units!

The Situation on Aug 19:

Aug 21: Our second milita arrives - they are unable to hold and deal only minor ORG damage to the Italians.

Aug 23: Our CAV in Assab is repelled by fresh enemy units, we move southward to defend the capital! Somalian troops start another flanking maneuver, but are halted. Reports indicate that the two Italian divisions are equipped with heavy artillery!

Aug 26: Our milita from Gambêla rush towards the capital - if we fail now, all will have been in vain! Emergency supplies are issued to all remaining units. However, first enemy recon units have already reached the outskirts. The royal armory is opened, streets and buildings are being barricaded. Heavy artillery barrages strike the eastern part of the city, killing over 30 civilians and 12 royal soldiers. Palace guard and first minister have been summoned by his majesty, the cabinet makes preparations to evacuate the city. Gunfire and artillery barrages can be heard from the east.

(Note: Addis Ababa is the only province with victory points for Ethiopia - if it falls, Italy can annex me!)

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Try a WP before they reach your capital.

This is out of question.