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RolandRahn

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Apr 28, 2006
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Game version:
HOI3 version 1.2
Sceanrio: 1936 with slight modifications (all German land divisions exchanged with militia; Furthermore, I changed the Militia division names of future brigades into “{Number}. Standarte” (for role playing reasons)
Difficulty: Normal

Special features in this AAR:
For Germany, there will be only two types of land brigades:
Militia and HQs.

Warning:
I am a beginner both regarding HOI3 as well as regarding AARs, so far my experiences are limited to one accident (I tried an AAR for HOI2 with confederate Armaggedon).

(Begin ranting)
NOTE:
I DO NOT DENY THAT THE SA WAS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION. THIS IS A GAME AND I AM NEITHER A FAN OF THE SA NOR OF ANY OTHER NAZI ORGANIZATION.
(End ranting)



Epilogue

A plan gone wrong

June 29th, 1934
Bad Wiessee

Major Meyer was excited. The SA wanted to be the “people’s Army”, and the regular Army was to be integrated into this horde of drunken street punks. But by chance, he had learned that the entire SA leadership was assembled at Bad Wiesee. The reason for this assembly was unkown to him. And it was irrelevant. He and his troop of regular soldiers would put an end to these megalomaniac alcoholics – once and for all.

Shortly after nightfall, his troop started to advance toward the building where these would-be soldiers were in the process of drinking themselves into the delirium. Suddenly, a single SA man appeared, looking with paralyzed surprise at the approaching troop. Major Meyer remained confident. His men would kill him before he would have a chance to say a word. Otherwise – the worst thing that could happen would be that a handful of these wannabe leaders would escape. Suddenly, the lonely SA-man drew something and pointed it towards Meyer. This was the last thing Major Meyer ever saw.
 
Chapter 1

Startup

1936

In the Reichskanzlei, Adolf Hitler reflected the past 18 months. It was now one and a half years that had passed since the neutralization of the SA had failed. Hours before the SA leadership would have been arrested and executed, an idiot who had managed to rise to the rank of Major in the regular army had attempted, single-handed, to go after the SA.
In the ensuing battle, many SA leaders were killed, including Roehm.
But this great genius of a major – with officers like him, even the police of Luxembourg posed a risk for Germany – did not think that it might have been necessary to cut the phone lines before starting his amok run. Shortly after the start of the battle, phone calls came in to many different parts of Germany, resulting in a mobilization of the SA. When the SS commandos came in the morning to get the SA leaders everywhere, a bloodbath started.
The end result was that parts of the regular Army and of the SS had attempted a coup d’etat, concentrating on the SA as the SA was the only force that could defend the regime against this unholy alliance.

When Hitler and his command arrived at the scene (they came to Arrest Roehm), they were celebrated by the survivors. The propaganda quickly took advantage of this situation, stating that “The Fuehrer rushed to help his most loyal follower (Ernst Roehm), but came too late to save him from the traitors (Wehrmacht and SS)”.

The result was a radical change. Regular Army and SA were merged into each other. The SS was purged, and there would never be a chance that they would ever become independent from the SA.

And then, after some time, people started to accept the situation. Or, like Goering, even taking advantage of the situation.
With the Army reduced to a “People’s Army”, using “Stosstrupp tactics” and no tanks, independent artillery e.t.c. …. who would take advantage of Germany’s scientific and industrial potential?
Goering never stopped praising the revolutionary ideas of the new army, but also reminded that “our brave soldiers are in need of a roof over their heads – a strong Luftwaffe, both to shield them from enemy air attacks as well as paving their way with a huge bomber fleet.”

Now, in 1936, Germany had finally recovered from the wounds of June 29th, 1934 (“a day that would henceforth be remembered as the day of infamy”) and could start preparing to go after here external enemies.



Rear Admiral Canaris was still surprised. Hitler wanted him to concentrate on four opponents – France, the UK, the USSR and the Ostmark (Austria). Apart from that, the Abwehr should only concentrate on counter-espionage activities inside of Germany.
This was already a ridiculous reduction of the operational area. But the kind of operations….going after the enemies of these nations. (With the exception of Austria, where all activities had to be done to strengthen the local Nazi party.)
Regarding the three other Nations:
Arranging a car accident for an ex-zarist officer living in France (And who will get blamed for this? Correct – the USSR), killing an Arab opposition leader in Iraq (and who will get blamed for this – except the UK?) or Marrocan independence leaders (France). This was not the style of Admiral Canaris.








(started building 20 factories, 2 Transport ships and one reserve militia division)
 
Chapter II
The Iberian peninsula

March 1936:
Reoccupation of Rhineland
Started one tactical and one strategic bomber (to start getting practical experience with medium/heavy aircraft)

June 1st:
Italy annexes Ethiopia

October 13th:
Spanish Civil war starts

It does not look good for the Nationalists….



October 24th:
Italy joins Axis

November 1st:
Nationalist Spain grants transit rights for German troops

November 26th:
1st run of factories is finished.
Started building 10 Divisions (not reserve) of Militia.
Started building 2 transport ships

December 4th:
Started another tactical bomber

December 14th:
First Escort carrier (including CAG) is started.

December 27th:
Madrid captured by the Nationalists – the Republicans are fleeing to Barcelona.



1937

January 1st:
Marco Polo Incident – Japan starts the war against China
In the USSR, the Great Purge starts

March 2nd:
10 Militia Divisions and 2 Corps HQs ready

March 7th:
The first divisions are shipped to Spain. With a current alignment of 62.88, I hope that Nationalist Spain joins the axis before the Spanish Civil War is over.

March 21st:
Japan annexes Shanxi

March 27th:
The Alignment to Nationalist Spain is now close enough….but the chance for Nationalist Spain joining me is “impossible”.

May 1st:
Started building another strategic bomber

May 23rd:
Nationalist Spain joins the axis

May 26th/27th:
Spain declines my offer to use two German corps currently in Spain as an expeditionary force

May 30th:
Nationalist Spain annexes Republican Spain


Tensions about the course of Germany’s rearming continued, especially after a General named Guderian published a book “Achtung Panzer!”. While many people expected harsh sanctions against Guderian, Herman Goering praised the book as a masterpiece.
“Guderian got it all right – and the conclusion must be that we are on the right track. A power as described in his book is superior to any conventional, great war area army. The key in Guderian’s thinking is a combination of armor, infantry and air force. Such a combined forces army will lose her superiority in the same moment as it loses air superiority. Now, some people argue that even then, a combined forces power of armor, infantry and air force will be significantly more effective than just infantry and air force alone. While this is certainly true, these tanks won’t come for free. So, if we deduct resources from the air force to build more tanks, it will take longer to achieve complete air superiority. Investing resources into the air force enables us to achieve air supremacy – and I use the word supremacy deliberately – at an early stage of the conflict. After this, we have all options open. Our glorious Air Force can act as flying artillery for our brave ground troops, we can cut off the enemy from his supply routes, we can attack the industrial base of the enemy – we can just do everything we want.”


August 10th:
South Africa joins Allies

September 5th:
Started building 11 reserve militia brigades

November 6th:
Started building another 11 reserve militia brigades

December 12th:
Started building another 20 factories
Started building airfields in 16 provinces

December 13th:
Portugal joins the Axis
 
Chapter III
Political Games

1938

January:
Started building two new tactical bombers

March 17th:
Started building 2 new Strategic bombers

June 27th:
Germany’s first Aircraft carrier, the light carrier “Weser”, is finished.
Started building a new (large) carrier including 2 CAGs.

August 21st:
Started 4 Multi-role aircraft

August 26tth:
Hungary joins the axis

August 31st:
Started 4 tactical bombers

November 18th:
Started building another 10 militia reserve brigades

December 25th:
Started one new interceptor


1939

January:
Belgium is close to join the allies – I have to start influencing it to prevent the worst.



January 28th:
Started building 6 reserve militia brigades

February 2nd:
Started building 4 Battleships (H-class)

February 15th:
Luxemburg is mobilizing

March:
Poland refuses to join the Axis

April 11th:
Started building 4 more tactical bombers

June 13th:
Peru joins the Axis

July 11th:
Poland joins the Axis

Edit:
Picture deleted as I posted the wrong picture here



October 6th:
Started building 4 Multi-role-aircraft
Started building 10 radar stations

November 13th:
Honduras joins the Axis
Started building 4 tactical bombers

November 14th:
Nicaragua joins the Axis
 
Last edited:
The situation in 1940

Diplomatically, all looks fine – the Axis consists of 8 members, the allies only of 3. The bulk of the nations is pro-axis or, at least, slowly drifting towards the axis.



The intelligence worked fine – France has a threat level of 35, the UK 31 and the USSR 22.

As I still did not annex Austria, my threat level is low. We see here practically the mirror of what happens “normally”. The allies get a bandwagon effect as more and more allied Nations start influencing other nations, while an aggressive Germany has a high threat level (resulting from the Anschluss, the Sudetenland, the annexation of the remaining Czechoslovakia and the Memel).

This combination (having lots of allies and a low threat level; Facing an opponent with a high threat level and only a few allies) is very effective.

I will try to continue to play that way for at least two more years (my battleships are due to arrive in September 1941).

Maybe around 1942, I will drop my mask and execute the 4 decisions (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Memel).

However, regarding my military strength, I am currently not prepared for war. I have 199 Militia and 1 artillery (must have missed that one when editing the files) brigades, most of them reserve units.
My main concern is an attack of the USSR against Poland.
 
A very interesting premise. HOI3 is new enough that no one qualifies as an expert yet IMO. I've done some analysis on division design and I suspect your militia divisions will struggle unless you also load up on artillery. Since your current build does not do so I predict you will have a difficult time. The big problem you will run into is that the toughness of the militia brigade is extremely low, so you will take much more damage in strength and organization relative to an infantry army when attacking. Using your units intelligently (and it's not hard to be more intelligent than the AI) will help, of course. I look forward to seeing you struggle a little, and I mean that in a good way. AARs are more interesting when there's a real challenge.
 
Chapter IV
2 more years of peace

January 9th:
I am gambling that 1940 will be peaceful and start one last batch of 22 factories

January 15th:
Communist China joins Comintern. It should be noted that Communist China is currently at war with Japan and Manchukuo. And allied with Nationalist China.

May 12th:
Japan annexes Guangxi Clique
Deployed the first (level 10) radar station to Rauschen (north of Koenigsberg) as I regard the USSR as my main concern.
Started building another 10 radar stations.

July 4th:
Graf Zeppelin, Germany’s first real aircraft carrier, is finished.
Romania joins the Axis

August 5th:
France is mobilizing!

August 11th:
Started building 30 reserve militia divisions

September 1st:
Started building a new carrier (without CAGs)
Started building 5 convoys

October 4th:
2nd (level 10) radar station built in Wilhelmshaven
Started building another 10 levels of Radar

November 27th:
Started building 10 convoys

December 9th:
Venezuela joins the Axis


1941

February 12th:
3rd Radar station build in St. Wedel.
Started construction of 10 Escorts
Started constructing airbases in 25 provinces (mostly eastern Prussia in order to be used against the Soviets).
Started constructing 8 multi role aircraft

April 3rd:
Netherlands join the Axis

April 12th:
Netherlands starts mobilizing

April 20th:
Lithuania joins the Axis

July 6th:
Started building another 8 multi-role aircraft
Started 5 Escorts
Latvia joins the Axis

July 16th:
Denmark joins the Axis

August 9th:
Albania joins the Axis

September 17th:
Started building 4 Strategic bombers

October 17th:
Yugoslavia joins the Axis

November 15th:
Started building another 8 multi-role-aircraft

December 3rd:
New Zeeland joins the Axis :rofl:

December 7th:
Ireland is mobilizing

December 13th:
Construction of a nuclear reactor has started.

December 19th:
Communist China chooses to continue to fight – Japan is still at war with Communist China and, at the same time, at peace with the rest of the comintern.
 
The diplomatic situation on January 1st, 1942:

militia008.jpg


I am currently influencing 5 Nations:
- Estonia (should be ready within a month or so)
- Australia (should be ready before mid-1942)
- Bulgaria
- Switzerland
- Belgium

I guess that I will need either Belgium or Switzerland in order to overrun France with my militia hordes.....otherwise, frontally through the Maginot line would be a bloodbath.
 
A very interesting premise. HOI3 is new enough that no one qualifies as an expert yet IMO. I've done some analysis on division design and I suspect your militia divisions will struggle unless you also load up on artillery. Since your current build does not do so I predict you will have a difficult time. The big problem you will run into is that the toughness of the militia brigade is extremely low, so you will take much more damage in strength and organization relative to an infantry army when attacking. Using your units intelligently (and it's not hard to be more intelligent than the AI) will help, of course. I look forward to seeing you struggle a little, and I mean that in a good way. AARs are more interesting when there's a real challenge.

I agree, this is great read, very interesting diplomatic developments! Subscribed. Interesting with France mobilizing if they will take the plunge and DOW, will really hurt the Allied treat level. :eek:
 
Impressive amount of axis members..Who are you going to go to war against if the whole world is Nazi? :D
A caution : You seem to be very dependent on air battle working correctly.. And what kind of frontage do you have with your units? Will it matter? Are you confused -Then just wait for next episode of..(ancient sit-com called SOAP, for those of you not so ancient as I :D)
 
Impressive amount of axis members..Who are you going to go to war against if the whole world is Nazi? :D

Good question....this is the diplomatic situation as of September 23rd, 1943:

militia009.jpg


Currently, I am only influencing Belgium.

6 CVs will be ready by mid-44.

I guess that I will start being bad (Anschluss, Czechoslovakia) sometime in 1944, hoping to provoke an allied DOW.

I admit that this game can't be taken serious....but it is hilariously funny :rofl:.

I think that I will post small summary of 1942/1943 tomorrow or on thursday. Currently, it is september 1943, and it is half past 10 PM, so it's time to go to bed.

Best regards,
Roland
 
How do you make them all join you? Shouldn't at least a number of those nations be "Impossible" when you offer Axis memberships?
 
How do you make them all join you? Shouldn't at least a number of those nations be "Impossible" when you offer Axis memberships?

Well for a game where you want the ability to change history, this is great! I like the different emphasis. Only thing I would hope for is if you palyed the game again in similar format that you would see differening results.

I admit that this game can't be taken serious....but it is hilariously funny :rofl:.

I


Very very true!! Thanks for the fun!
 
How do you make them all join you? Shouldn't at least a number of those nations be "Impossible" when you offer Axis memberships?

Well, the only "bad" thing that I did was the remilitarization of the Rhineland.

That is nothing compared to the threat levels that France, UK and the USSR have due to my intelligence activities.

And hey, look, the big bad Frenchmen have mobilized while my peaceful Germany has still a not mobilized volunteer force.


And the 6 aircraft carriers that I am currently building are only for Search and Rescue activities in the Baltic - really. OK, maybe also coast guard duties in the north sea. But that's it.
:rolleyes:

Joking aside. I have a low threat level. My allies also have low threat levels. Therefore, many nations drift automatically towards me.

In addition to that , on the peak of my activities I influenced 10 (!) nations at the same time.

Normally, the situation is vice versa - Germany has a high threat level due to Anschluss, Munich e.t.c. and the UK collects allies.

Best regards,

Roland