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Forward! To the victory of communism! A Soviet AAR

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Chapter 2: The Second World War
Part 3: The Romanian Campaign


The Attack

Early in the morning of May 4th, the citizens of Chisinau were rudely awakened by the tanks of Pavlov's tank army. Romanian soldiers put up a blockade in the south of the city, and were ordered to hold out until reinforcements could arrive. This was easier said than done, seeing that the Russian BT-5's armour could barely be touched by the Romanian anti-tank guns. To make matters worse, 1st PVO dropped bomb after bomb on the defenders. Despite this, the Romanians were succesful in holding off the tanks until reinforcements arrived a few days later with fresh supplies and anti-tank mines. The Soviet offensive in Chisinau had ground to a halt.

Romania1.jpg

Pavlov's tanks roll through the northern part of Chisinau, where resistance was relatively light

Beltsy was attacked by Chuikov at 9.00 on May 16th. The Romanian defences in this area were much weaker than those in Chisinau. After a short but fierce fight, the Romanians pulled back in total disarray. On May 17th, Beltsy had been secured, and Chuikov was marching forward to Iasi.

romania.jpg

Chuikov's troops fighting near Beltsy

On May 21st, Chuikov attacked Iasi. A substantial part of Iasi's defence consisted of the disorganised troops that had retreated out of Beltsy a few days earlier. Despite this, the Romanians fought back fiercely, and only when Center Front and 1ya Armiya had arrived was Chuikov able to continue the attack. Iasi fell in the morning of June 6th.

romania4.jpg

One of the artillery guns that decided the Battle for Iasi

Afterword:
Zuckerguß: I'm using CORE, which has some sort of tech mod built in it
 
And so the Red Steamroller <tm> starts to work, right? Great stuff! :D

Where are you going to stop? In Berlin? In Washington, maybe? Rio de Janeiro? Or in Mars? :rofl: It seems that I'm the only one here who likes the naval approach as the URSS... but you did a great job without any ship! ;)
 
The Romanians can't roll over this soon! Noooooooooooo!
 
Anibal said:
And so the Red Steamroller <tm> starts to work, right? Great stuff! :D

Where are you going to stop? In Berlin? In Washington, maybe? Rio de Janeiro? Or in Mars? :rofl: It seems that I'm the only one here who likes the naval approach as the URSS... but you did a great job without any ship! ;)
Click to expand...

My goal is to expand my empire west, all the way to the Atlantic.

Unforunately, I messed up my internet at my comp where HoI is installed, meaning that I won't be able to update until I got a new modem(probably in 1 week or so)

Edit: I just heard I'm getting it tomorrow already :rolleyes:
 
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WOHOOoO!!!
THis aar rocks, don´t stop it! (and whenever you can... invade Uruguai. They´ll make a great addition to your nation, and they are sooo much deserving a beating by the sovietsky forces!!! ;)
 
Chapter 2: The Second World War
Part 4: Succes and failure in Romania

While Chuikov's troops victoriously marched through Iasi, the fighting in Chisinau was raging on, intensifying every hour. The Soviets hadn't expected the Romanians to put up much of a fight. In reality, the Romanians fought with incredible skill and courage. By the evening of June 4th, after one month of fighting, the Romanians counter-attacked with everything they had, and forced back the Soviets. Stalin ordered Pavlov to hold his ground at all costs, but Pavlov knew that if he did this, he would risk the total destruction of his tank army, which consisted of around 50% of the total Soviet tanks at that time. He chose to disobey orders from Moscow and retreat on June 5th. By June 7th, all the Soviet forces in Chisinau had retreated back to Odessa.


romanian.jpg

Romanian forces counter-attacking near Chisinau, June 4th


The shock of the defeat in Chisinau had been heavy. For one month, the Soviets did not try any more massive attacks on Romanian troops, and instead they paused to receive the new HEAT-ammunition.


At 10.00 in the morning of July 1st, Voroshilov's North Front and Apanasenko's 1ya Armiya attacked the Romanian positions near Piatra Neamt. The Romanians were completely overwhelmed and Voroshilov had secured Piatra Neamt on July 3rd. From July 4th to July 9th, the Romanians launched a series of desperate counter-attacks, which were all brutally fended off.

1st PVO mercilessly started bombing Chisinau on July 7th. The Romanians were literally pounded into the ground and all their heavy equipment was destroyed, and when Pavlov attacked once again on July 15th, the few Romanians that were still able to hold a rifle had nothing to counter the tanks. Nevertheless, the Romanians still put up a fierce fight, making the Soviets pay dearly for every yard they advanced. But by July 21st, the Romanian situation in Chisinau was even more hopeless than it had been for the Soviets in June. On July 22nd, Pavlov could claim the area secured.


Meanwhile, Voroshilov marched onward to Oradea, taking it after a short fight on July 18th. The Romanian front was collapsing.


Romania3.jpg

Pavlov's tanks finally broke through the Romanian lines at Chisinau on July 20th
 
Noooooo Romania!

Oh well...they tried at least...
 
Chapter 2: The Second World War
Part 5: The War in the East

While Soviet troops fought their way through Romania, the garrison in Siberia was attacked by two Japanese divisions. The Soviets fended off the attack and counter-attacked, but the Japanese now saw how weak the Soviet Far East defences were, and this discovery would prove nearly fatal for the Soviets years later....

On July 13th, as Japanese troops entered the Chinese city of Nanking, they showed the brutality of Japanese forces. Mass plunder, rape and murder were not uncommon that day and the following days. Neither the Japanese High Command or the government tried to stop it.

On July 21st, Japan made probably the biggest blunder of all. After having "accidentily" killed American citizens at Panay, the Japanese made no apologies. Instead, they publicly announced that Americans were no longer welcome in Asia...
 
Chapter 2: The Second World War
Part 6: The Slow Advance into Romania

1ya Armiya attacked Cluj-Napoca on July 27th, taking it after a brief battle. Just when the STAVKA thought the Romanians had been defeated, Pangeanu counter-attacked at Iasi, which was poorly garrisoned. Suddenly, 14 Soviet divisions were cut off from the rest of the army. Although they had supplies to hold out for several weeks or even months, Stalin ordered that the re-capturing of Iasi had the priority over the planned attack on Ploiesti and Constanta.

A counter-attack on August 10th failed badly, as well as the attack on the 13th. It started to occur to Stalin and STAVKA, that the Soviet army was up against an incredibly skillful and brave army, which was able to fight back against 5-1 odds.

The next attack against Iasi came on September 27th. Shaposhnikov led 28 divisions, of which 12 tank divisions. They were also supported by 1st PVO. The Romanians defended as bravely as ever, but this time they were too badly outnumbered, and Shaposhnikov recaptured Iasi on October 5th. Nevertheless, the Romanian army had shown to the world what a small and poor-equipped, but brave and skillfull army could do against the great Red Army. Especially Germany was quite interested in this news.

romanian2.jpg

Shaposhnikov's troops attack Iasi, September 27th

romanianfront.JPG

The situation in Romania, October 5th


After the 2nd Battle for Iasi, STAVKA now finally thought that the Romanian army was at the end of its powers. It indeed looked that way when General Apanasenko's 1ya Armiya captured Craiova, the province bordering Bucharest. Pavlov's tank army was ordered to go to Craiova, to aid Apanasenko in the assault on Bucharest, to finally hand the death-blow to the Romanian army. Little did they know that the Romanian army under Radescu had once again been ordered on the offensive.....
 
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