France: A Quick and Dirty HOI3 AAR – 1936 Start

[Bullfilter]

I can't say I expected this. The war in the west remains almost worryingly silent. Why don't the Germans test their luck (skill and strength?) against the weaker spots in the French line, now that it is summer season again? From a quick look at the screenshots, they should be fielding some H-ARM to drive as a wedge.

But this is wholly an advantage for the Allies. With Africa more or less out of the picture, spare units can be scrambled to, like @El Pip suggested, do something about Italy. The Naval Game runs smoothly with Courbet in the lead, so in a while the Italian navy will be unable to prevent this. I would have echoed @stnylan's suggestion of winning some initiative (even momentum!) on the Western Front, but if the Germans are yet much stronger, perhaps that would be to stretch the French efforts too far. Italy will have to do for now.

In any case, I appreciate reading this alternate history as it unfolds!

Thanks Macke! Even though I will now be on the road for a few weeks, I may be able to get a few updates in over that as (unlike my other AARs) this one is played through and simple, so it’s mainly just writing and screenshots. Might get some done on my flights! You will have to see how and when things unfold - but fear not, I remember enough to know that Italy is not neglected!

But for now, I’m quite heavily outnumbered on both the mainland borders, there’s only an 8 division BEF, and the Germans do now have HArm and I don’t (yet, anyway). And yes, if Germany were human-played, I think they would have won a bloody victory by now. Frankly, by this point in the game I was amazed to still be in it - I’d never made it that far before as France!

 

[TheExecuter]

This is pretty good!

I always enjoy a HOI France AAR.

Too bad they make us play the dumbed down France instead of the real France. Its not our fault France's RL leadership made those boneheaded decisions!

IRL, France had more and better tanks...better armor doctrine...more aircraft...more soldiers...much better artillery than the Germans.

Ah well.

 

[VonMudra]

Yeah, I need to make a non-dumbed down France sometime. I did it for Poland and now the German AI, or even as human, takes approx the 4-5 weeks that it took IRL, rather than those annoying "5 day" polish campaigns you can get. Need to do same for France (mostly involves proper techs for 1936, more armour, more planes, etc etc), and see how that goes.

 

[markkur]

Subbed. Enjoying the AAR very much.

 

[Bullfilter]

This is pretty good!

I always enjoy a HOI France AAR.

Too bad they make us play the dumbed down France instead of the real France. Its not our fault France's RL leadership made those boneheaded decisions!

IRL, France had more and better tanks...better armor doctrine...more aircraft...more soldiers...much better artillery than the Germans.

Ah well.

Thanks very much for your patronage! I did my best to avenge the slights Paradox have visited on France (and the AI Germany on me personally in all the previous attempts I made as France). You will see how far I get - glorious victory, gritty draw or valiant defeat - as the story unfolds. Those comments you made above were much in mind as I set out.

Yeah, I need to make a non-dumbed down France sometime. I did it for Poland and now the German AI, or even as human, takes approx the 4-5 weeks that it took IRL, rather than those annoying "5 day" polish campaigns you can get. Need to do same for France (mostly involves proper techs for 1936, more armour, more planes, etc etc), and see how that goes.

Likewise welcome VonMudra. I would look forward to that - it might make Germany more of a challenge to play - a real test.

Subbed. Enjoying the AAR very much.

And thank you my friend. Nice to see you on here. I’m drawing some markkur inspiration here and trying to keep this one concise and moving along. As much as I can while actively playing and writing two others, anyway . So apologies for the occasional delay between updates!

 

[markkur]

And thank you my friend. Nice to see you on here. I’m drawing some markkur inspiration here and trying to keep this one concise and moving along.

You are doing a very fine job here. You know I have a soft-spot for the vanilla-AARs (game narrative) but your other two works are very good for a number of additional reasons. Three efforts at once?...Houdini must be your last name.

 

[Bullfilter]

Episode 10: 15 October 1941

A short, sharp 'on the road' episode to keep things moving. The Second Phony War continues!

Strategic

No additions to Factions since June, but here is a look at the political position in the Balkans. First, Yugoslavia is almost totally aligned with the Axis, but has not yet joined (or been invaded, as it was by this time in OTL).

​

Greece is aligned almost totally with the Allies, but there has been no war with Italy or invasion by Germany.

But note Albania had (previously unreported here) been absorbed by Italy.

Something worth noting that applies to France throughout (yet another handicap) and shapes some of the tech (ie agriculture) choices. Manpower is healthy now, but it must be able to sustain either a stern defence or (hopefully) a hard fought offensive sometime in the future.

France

The Northern Front remains stable, German power is still great, the quality and quantity of French forces slowly improving.

In the south, the border with Italy also remains stable. Note the large amphibious task force assembled and in readiness in Marseille and that Toulon now has 3 x INT wings to provide air cover for the southern front and the northern part of the Western Med.

So, no active land battles in progress in the north or south at the moment. OTL historical Barbarossa time has come and gone. In the West, another four months of campaigning season gone with no renewed German offensive. Cowards!

Ethiopia

The Italians and Ethiopians have been bottled up by the British and should be finished off soon.

Naval War

No more naval unit sinkings by or of French ships since June, but the war at sea goes on, even if the land war is dormant for now. The UK pretty much has a “full court press” going in the Eastern Med: not much room for any Italian naval operations there.

And France is looking after Central Med convoy interdiction with three sub fleets (each of five flotillas) covering possible Italian trade routes, with the occasional convoy hit in the last seven days. France also actively patrols the coastal approaches to southern France with a surface fleet (they are rotating at the moment due to the need to repair damage from air and surface engagements).

The British are also very widespread and active in patrolling the Atlantic approaches around the Iberian coast as well, as is France on the approaches to the Med. Convoys are still being lost, but not (in the last week anyway) at the catastrophic rate they were previously.

Air War

The snapshot below illustrates how the UK is now very active in the air war, especially from Norwich and Dover. The only nearby German air base (in Belgium) just has four wings (of unknown type) there. We can see British strategic bombing has also been active (they are undergoing repair at the moment), but no significant air operations were tracked in the last week. Active French air bases are marked in light blue.

 

[Bullfilter]

You are doing a very fine job here. You know I have a soft-spot for the vanilla-AARs (game narrative) but your other two works are very good for a number of additional reasons. Three efforts at once?...Houdini must be your last name.

Thanks for the support. This last update sent from tropical Singapore!

 

[markkur]

Thanks for the support. This last update sent from tropical Singapore!

Cool! Hmm or maybe hot?

 

[Bullfilter]

Cool! Hmm or maybe hot?

Monsoonal and warm, but not as hot as home last weekend!

 

[stnylan]

This is a true sitzkrieg. Trench-warfare applies to more than just the First War clearly.

 

[TheExecuter]

When do you believe you will be ready for an offensive of your own?

 

[Macke11]

Things are tugging on, yet nothing major occurring. The Balkans do seem like they will not be a powder-keg this time around, since their governments are mostly fascist (or at least Axis members) already. But a couple things look promising - total naval dominance in the Mediterranean is always a good thing, and combined with the amphibious task force I sense that some more good might come of this eventually. You said you were outnumbered, but a strike by your reserves might do some good at a local scope.

 

[El Pip]

A time to pause and gather strength. In reality this would aid the Allies, in game it could go either way.

 

[Bullfilter]

This is a true sitzkrieg. Trench-warfare applies to more than just the First War clearly.

Indeed it is. It’s like waiting for the storm to break. But unlike WW1, Germany doesn’t have a 2 front War (yet anyway) and France alone doesn’t yet have the power to try attrition on them. The Germans really should have been trying to wear me down these last few months. But I suspect the AI is afraid of the heavy losses it would take.

When do you believe you will be ready for an offensive of your own?

I won’t fast-forward to spoil the story, but can broadly say at this point in the war, the answer is as soon as war breaks out between Germany and the Soviet Union, to even things out a bit, and when I have my breakthrough forces ready in sufficient numbers to crack whatever they leave on either the Western and/or Southern/Italian front. And I don’t yet know (in game) if or when that will happen. I can say though that the Phony War doesn’t go on indefinitely

Things are tugging on, yet nothing major occurring. The Balkans do seem like they will not be a powder-keg this time around, since their governments are mostly fascist (or at least Axis members) already. But a couple things look promising - total naval dominance in the Mediterranean is always a good thing, and combined with the amphibious task force I sense that some more good might come of this eventually. You said you were outnumbered, but a strike by your reserves might do some good at a local scope.

The Med is a bright spot. And having an amphibious reserve plus naval superiority and a useful British air presence in the north is also handy.

A time to pause and gather strength. In reality this would aid the Allies, in game it could go either way.

Very true. At least for AAR purposes, it is easy for me to quickly breeze through the quieter periods (although the naval war was more active on occasions than I can portray with save games only, I do recall). Heavier fighting is on the way ... but when? That is the big question. Even bigger is: “am I going on the attack too early, meaning I get counter-attacked and defeated after surviving 1940-41?” The AI isn’t the only one worried about large and heavily entrenched opponents

 

[Wraith11B]

Great update, I've got to say.

 

[VonMudra]

What if you tried putting a call for British reinforcements on some different provinces? Maybe the AI thinks it's sent enough for the areas you've marked?

 

[Bullfilter]

Great update, I've got to say.

My thanks

What if you tried putting a call for British reinforcements on some different provinces? Maybe the AI thinks it's sent enough for the areas you've marked?

Ah, funny you should mention that, read on ... next update coming soon. BLUF, I don't think it matters, they keep sending them to a particular French port anyway.

 

[Bullfilter]

Episode 11: 3 November 1941 to 2 April 1942

Time ticks by – fortunately, as mentioned before, I can accelerate through the slower bits. But I will take the opportunity during these intermediate periods to point out a few salient aspects or developments each time. Please be patient, the hour of decision approaches!

3 November 1942

Looks like the British are still waiting out the Italian remnants in Ethiopia!

A snapshot of where the intelligence priorities are at the moment, at home and abroad, plus the analysis of where Germany is at present. The three prioritised missions (Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union) remain passive for now, building strength).

And a snapshot of the production queue. More emphasis now on air units and another medium tank division is well progressed.

Overall, still no changes of provinces in France, no current land battles. National unity and officer strength are progressing nicely.

The BEF is growing again, and some different types of units are now shipping in. Montgomery has brought a Ghurkha division with him, and Ritchie a MOT division. They will be integrated into the main BEF (which already consists of seven marine divisions and four infantry divisions).

In the air, the British have clearly been in action recently (units recovering in Dover and Norwich), if not so intensively in air battles during the last week.

Our subs were witness to an Italian air raid on a British fleet in the East Central Med. The carrier aircraft are fighting them off.

Time to take a more general look at Axis naval losses since the war commenced – which are very heavy!

Among the many smaller ship casualties, we note the RN has sunk the Bismarck – huzzah!​

Italian losses are even more numerous –including three battleships, two of which have been sunk by us. Double huzzah!​

2 April 1942

Ethiopia has finally been finished up. Took long enough!

We are now going to take an in-depth look at leadership allocation and selected research priorities. In the tables below, yellow outlined items are those that have had a major focus and are pretty much at or beyond current comparable standards. Those in orange indicate new areas where we are now trying to get up to speed – note these tend to be more offensive in nature (eg heavy tanks, some of themore offensive land doctrines).

Our battleships have managed to sink a couple of small Italian units over the last few months – can’t be many left!

And, you would have noted we have researched mechanised infantry – the first couple of MOT brigades are nearing upgrade. More preparation for the great fightback!

 

[stnylan]

Ooo exciting times. Sink the Bismark indeed!