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A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.- Joseph Stalin
 
This AAR is about one of my first serious games in HoI.

I'll be playing as USSR, using v 1.05c and C.O.R.E, normal difficulty, AI agressiveness set on normal.

I wasn't intending on writing an AAR about this game, until something happened at the end of 1936 that made the game a lot more interesting :) . This means that I don't have any in-game screenies for 1936 :(
 
Good luck! This is the first Soviet AAR (besides mine, of course) that I read. Let's just see what happens! :rofl:
 
Chapter 1: The Road to War
Part 1: The Spanish Civil War


(Up to the part where it gets interesting, I'll just give some quick info on important events)


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The USSR on January 1 1936

January 2nd: The Second Industrialization Plan. Stalin orders that factories be built all through the USSR.

January 8th: Hitler holds a speech for the Reichstag, holding a long tirade about the outrageous Treaty of Versailles and the need for Lebensraum. After this, Hitler's speech calmed down. He looked very bleak, and then announced with a soft, controlled voice: "At this moment, the German troops march"* 4 German divisions(approximately 20.000 men) marched into the Rhineland at 1.00. France, Belgium and the Netherlands react by publicly stating their deploration of German behaviour.

*: Historically, this speech was held by Hitler shortly before the remilitarization of the Rhineland on March 7th 1936.

March 28th: Soviet scientists develop the Anti-Tank Rifle, Effective Land Mines, Semi-Modern Chemistry and Binary Coded Machine Language.

April 26th: Soviet Scientists develop the Basic Decimetric Radar.

April 26th: Tannu Tuva joins the Comintern.

May 30th: Soviet Scientists develop Basic Division Signal Command System

June 12th: The 34rd and the 50th Infantry divisions are deployed.

June 19th: Soviet scientists develop 12.7 mm MG's

June 25th: Soviet scientists develop Industrial Pasteurization, Modern Flamethrowers and Basic Vehicle Radio Sets

July 13nd-July 18th: Political assasinations in Madrid triggers the Spanish Civil War. Nationalist Spain declares independence from Republican Spain and form a new Fascist Nation. Germany and Italy support the fascists, while the USSR supports the Republicans. Britain and France declare that they are not willing to support any side, but soon it would be made clear that plans were being drawn for an intervention. The Republicans receive large amounts of supplies and weapon designs from the USSR, including the new 100mm Field Artillery Gun designed by the Soviets.

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Republican troops armed with Soviet rifles

August 10th: Italy annexes Ethiopia.

October 11th: Military advisors, extra weapons and weapon designs are sent by the Soviets to Republican Spain.

November 16th: At 3.00 this day, Catalunya declares independence from both Nationalist and Republican Spain. However, Nationalist Spain does not recognise this new state, and declares war. No-one knew what the consequenses would be......


Tomorrow: The good stuff begins: Part 2: The Allied Reaction



Afterword:

Mr. G: I was on the verge of doing something aggressive, but someone beat me to it ;)

Zückergußgebak: I use http://upl.mine.nu as my image host.

Anibal: This will be my first AAR, and I'll try my best :)

 
Last edited:
Picoo said:
Thanks. You know, .bmp files takes much bandwidth (and time) when loading, and .jpg ones have a much smaller size and, practically, the same quality. So, .jpg all the way!
 
Note: As you'll see, this part is mainly about the events that happened to the Allies in these days, and there won't be any Soviets in it. The Soviet reaction, together with the German and Italian reaction, will all be covered in the next part. There will also be more pictures after this part. I hope this part is still interesting enough without them...



Chapter 1: The Road to War
Part 2: The Allied Reaction


Bordeaux, 12.00, November 16th


Maurice Gamelin, Pierre Laval, Francois Darlan, Victor Denain, Stanley Baldwin, Anthony Eden, Sir A. Montgomery-Massingberd, Sir Ernle Chatfield and Sir Owen Boyd all sat around the large table inside Gamelin's HQ. The atmosphere was tense. The main figures of the British and French governments had been summoned together here in light of the very recent events in Spain.

Laval: "At 3.00 this morning, Nationalist Spain declared war on the newly independent state of Catalunya. Already we have received reports of Fascist crimes against humanity. The government of Catalunya has also sent us messages for help. Also, Fascist troops have provoked skirmishes near the town of Hendaye on the Spanish border. The hostile actions of the Fascists are concerning our population and our generals. We propose that we should act quick and bring back peace to Spain and the rest of Europe. We shall, however, not act without full support from Great Britain and the Commonwealth."

The British representatives consulted each other on the matter. After 5 minutes Baldwin spoke:

"Britain shall support every action by the French in this matter."

Laval: "Very well then. We shall sent an ultimatum demanding the retreat of Fascist forces out of Catalunya and away from the French borders. They have until 17.00 tomorrow to comply. Gamelin, send out the order of mobilisation for the French army. Darlan, sail out the navy and block the shipment of all German and Italian equipment to the Fascists."

Baldwin: "Won't that be too risky? I don't think the Germans and Italians will like it when we block their shipments."

Laval: "We'll have to take that risk."

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Pierre Laval, French Head of Government



Bilbao, 16.00, November 16th

Bautista: "Generallissimo, we have received an ultimatum from France demanding that we immediately withdraw our forces from Catalunya and away from the French border near Hendaye. We have until 17.00 tomorrow to comply. If we refuse, France, Great Britain and the Commonwealth will react with military force and will block all supply shipments from Germany and Italy.

Franco: "They're bluffing. They know the Germans and Italians will be infuriated if their supply shipments would be blocked. They will not risk a two-front war at the time. Ignore the ultimatum and proceed as planned."

Bautista: "Yes Generallissimo!"


Paris, 17.00 November 17th


Laval: "Sherald! Have we still not received any answer from the Fascists?

Sherald: "No monsieur. Nothing."

Laval: "Gamelin, Darlan, you know what to do. Sherald, send the declaration of war to the Fascists and inform the British. I will be informing the French people."

Within one hour, Laval could be heard on every radio in France.

"Yesterday, an ultimatum has been sent to the Nationalist Spanish Government, demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Nationalist Spanish forces from the newly independent state of Catalunya, and away from the French border near Hendaye. If we would receive no answer before 17.00 today, a state of war would exist between France and Nationalist Spain and, consequently, also between Great Britain and Nationalist Spain.

We have still not received an answer, meaning that we are now at war with Nationalist Spain.

You may be taking part in the fighting Services or as a volunteer in one of the branches of civil defence. If so you will report for duty in accordance with the instructions you have received.

I sincerely hope that this war will be ended swiftly, and that peace can be brought back to Spain and the rest of Europe, and that there will be no interventions from foreign countries.

As everyone knows, good always prevails."


Afterword:
Black_Rattler: I think this episode answered part of your question :p
 
Chapter 1: The Road to War
Part 3: The Final Push



Rome, 13.00, November 18th

Hitler, Mussolini and foreign minister Ciano sat in the gardens of Mussolini's private estate. The weather was quite nice for the time of the year, but the atmosphere was as tense as it had been in Gamelin's HQ 2 days before. Hitler and Mussolini had both been informed of the Allied declaration of war on Nationalist Spain, and of the blocking of their supply shipments.

Mussolini: "We should not tolerate this! Who do they think they are? First they promise that they will not be part of any intervention and now they are launching a full-scale attack! I suggest we attack now and put them back in their place!"

Hitler: "I agree that we should do something, but face the facts! Both the German and Italian armies are not ready for another long war."

Mussolini: "Neither are the French and British armies. Trust me, we'll just have to win one or two small battles and they will be begging us for peace."

Hitler: "Allright, I will order the mobilisation of the German forces. I hope you're right Benito."

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Mussolini and Hitler discussing what to do

Washington D.C, 14.00, November 20th

Roosevelt: "They did WHAT?"

Hull: "Yes Mr. President, the Italians declared war on the Allies at 4.00 this morning. Italian troops are marching on Toulon as we speak."

Roosevelt: "This situation is getting out of hand. We should solve this matter quickly before the Germans or the Soviets start butting in. Tell Bradley to be ready to be shipped to France by 16.00 tomorrow. We can't risk the outbreak of another Great War.


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Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America



Shortly after the war in Europe broke out, Stalin received messages from both the axis and allies asking for aid. But on November 24th, Stalin held a speech in which he confirmed the USSR's neutrality. He said that both the Soviet Army and economy were in no shape of waging another long war.

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Josef Stalin, Dictator of the USSR, holding a speech confirming the neutrality of the Soviets in the Second World War.


In reality, Stalin saw this new war as an oppurtunity to expand his territory. An invasion of any country by the USSR was sure to piss off either the allies or the axis, and risk war. Now that both sides were fighting eachother, Stalin grabbed his chance. He ordered a mass transfer of the Soviet army to the Romanian border.


Afterword:
Glad to see people are liking this AAR ;)
 
Chapter 2: The Second World War
Part 1: The opening moves


After November 24th, events happened in rapid succession. Germany declared war on the Low Countries, and rolled over Luxemburg and the Netherlands, but was stopped in Belgium because of French and British reinforcements. The German Blitzkrieg bogged down into a stalemate. It would last until the end of 1939.




Meanwhile in the USSR, over 30 Red Army divisions were transported to the Romanian border. Despite the huge numerical superiority the Soviets had over the Romanians, they had no decent airforce or tanks.

On January 2nd 1937, the first Industrialization plan had built factories across the entire country. But it had also drained a large part of manpower and industries to do it. The Second Industrialization plan was accepted, but this time it would build less factories.

Technological developments

At the end of February, Stalin was invited to watch the prototype tests of the new BT-5 30mm. It was faster and stronger than the T-26, but it consumed more fuel.


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The BT-5, which would become the main Soviet battle tank until the end of 1940, and even after that stayed in service


The Great Officer Purge

On March 2nd, Stalin ordered the arresting of over 10 Soviet generals and hundreds more below that rank. The "lucky" ones were locked away in Gulag camps, but most were executed, without chance of a fair trial.

On June 2nd and November 2nd, Stalin again ordered the arresting of more Soviet generals and junior officers.


The War in Asia

On July 7th, Japan declared war on Nationalist and Communist China, as well as Sinkiang after the incident near the Marco Polo bridge. Well-prepared and equipped Japanese troops smashed through the weak Chinese defence lines.

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Japanese troops firing on a Chinese position near Tianjin

The USSR sent its support to both Nationalist and Communist China, both in supplies as well as weapon designs. A few months into the campaign, the Japanese were beginning to realise what they had gotten themselves into. They had to fight desperately and take heavy casualties for every mile, which is much worse in China than it would have been in France or Germany.

The End of the Spanish Civil War

Throughout 1937, the Nationalists had been drained of their resources with the Allied blockade. Ammo was running low, but even worse was the fact that there was also no food. Franco's army was starving.

In October, a new Republican offensive smashed the last remnants of the Nationalist army. When Franco finally surrendered on October 14th, over 3,000 Nationalists had been killed, and the another 9,000 were taken prisoner.
Franco was tried on October 20th, and executed the next day. While the rest of Europe would the coming years be fighting in the war, Republican Spain would be rebuilding its destroyed cities.

The Spanish Civil War had claimed the lives of over 60,000 soldiers, and twice as much civilians. In addition, it had been the cause of the Second Great War, a war which would sweep aside the casualties of the Spanish Civil War.


The Frontline, late 1937

By September, German tanks had finally broken through the Allied lines in Belgium and smashed their way to Sedan, only to be brought to a halt once again.


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British troops awaiting the next German assault

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British troops counter-attacking in Sedan
 
Great update!
By the way, what version (MOD whatever) are you jusing, I thought that there was no such thing as industrial pasteuristion to be researched? :confused:
 
Chapter 2: The Second World War
Part 2: Preparations

Throughout the spring, Soviet troops were amassing near the Romanian border. By May 11, the Soviets had amassed 42 divisions for the Romanian campaign, supported by 6 air squadrons.

Soviet OOB:
North Front, commanded by Field Marshal Chuikov, consisting of 18 divisions stationed in Vinnytsa;
-North Front, directly under the command of Chuikov, consisting of 9 infantry divisions and 1 BT-2 tank division.
-1ya Armiya, under General Apanasenko, consisting of 8 infantry divisions, of which 3 with artillery and 1 with an engineering brigade.

Center Front, commanded by Field Marshal Voroshilov, consisting of 6 infantry divisions, including 1 artillery brigade, and 1 cavalry division, based in Kotovsk

South Front, commanded by Field Marshal Shaposhnikov, consisting of 17 divisions, stationed in Odessa;
-South Front, commanded directly by Shaposhnikov, consisting of 9 infantry divisions, including 1 artillery brigade.
-1ya Tankovaya Armiya, commanded by Field Marshal Pavlov D.G., consisting of 8 tank divisions, 4 T-26, 4 BT-5

1ya PVO, commanded by Air Marshal Golovanov, consisting of 6 squadrons, 4 fighter and 2 bomber, based in Sevastopol.

The enemy forces:

The Romanian army consisted of 24 infantry divisions, 6 cavalry, 1 armoured and 3 mountain.

The Romanian airforce consisted of 2 fighter, 1 tactical bomber, 1 naval and 1 transport squadrons.

4 Romanian infantry divisions were stationed in Beltsy, and another 5 in Chisinau.

The Plan

The plan for the attack on Romania was quite simple. North Front would push through Beltsy around Brasov and onward to Bucharest. Center Front would go through Chisinau to Constanta and would meet North Front at Bucharest. South Front would split with Center Front at Constanta and take Dobrich, and then approach Bucharest from the south. The war would be over in 2 months.

romaniancampaignplan.JPG