Healing the shattered wings of the eagle - A Germany GC AAR

[DJSixthSense]

Hi folks, this will be my very first AAR on here, so I'm gonna do my very best to turn it into the best possible piece of reading fodder I can come up with. I am by no means a veteran player, although I do consider myself reasonnably competent. Therefore I will opt for the normal/aggressive difficulty settings.

I will use the Vanilla scenario and I run patch 1.04 RC4, but with one addition: Gmod, which basically adds the option to motorise/mechanise INF, albeit with sacrificing the option to brigade them further.

First of all, before I will start the actual storytelling, I will inform you about my style of play and some general outlines.

I am NOT gonna focus all my IC on ground troops, my goal is to build a Kriegsmarine that is WAY bigger than IRL before 1942. I will try to build 3 battleships, a '39 light carrier, some '38 destroyer flottilas, couple of CL, and 4-5 CA, and 3 BC before 1941 starts. Also the Luftwaffe will grow in size, with every TAC escorted, and 8 CAS + 8 FTR and 16-20 INT in late '39.

What I will do however, is fill up every possible position with GAR instead of INF, for example next to the Maginot Line. Also, because I think Germany is a tad bit overpowered, I will disband the entire Austrian army, apart from the HQ and MTN divs, and its airforce.

Also I will NOT exploit the unguarded provinces in the UK to do a Sealion, I will wait with that till I have built a fleet whcih is on par with the Royal Navy. I will however, if it comes in handy, exploit the unguarded provinces to make paradrops and draw forces away from marine landings elsewhere.

Building will focus upon IC till late 1937, but I will build the Kriegsmarine during the same time as well, and start to build more aircraft upon discovering the 1937-8 models. I'll focus on CAS and TAC and ignore strategic bombers, at least their doctrines. I will probably build a squadron of He-177's before 1942 though, to be ready to deliver a nice lil' 'present' to the Brits later on

In regard to the storytelling itself, I will focus upon the major people, so don't expect too many references to Berti and Heinrich who man the field kitchen of the 9. Panzer-Division and get covered in oatmeal porridge as a Soviet bomber strafes their work place, just to name a random example.

Apart from describing events and policy choices of Germany, or sometimes its enemies, I will also include some random flavouring BS like diplomatic meetings introducing military or political decisions, just for fun, and because I'm kinda fond of writing prose, even tho I suck at it

 

[DJSixthSense]

Day one - January 1936

It was a very cold and snowy new years day. The Fuehrer woke up late for a change, but that was nothing unusual given the fact that the celebrations of St. Sylvester ended at the time he would normally get up.

While he was brought his copies of the foreign newspapers from the day before, he asked his aide to get him Rudolf Hess, the Stellvertreter des Fuehrers, on the phone.

'Dear Rudolf, I hope I didn't call you awake, but I do have some matters of importance to discuss. We need to start to prepare for a future armed conflict. You know of our territorial claims, and I am not sure we will get them all peacefully.'
'Well,' said Hess, 'this would mean that you will be seen as a hawkish dictator by the Alliance.'
'Nonsense' said Hitler. 'We both know that it was Ferdinand Foch who said there would be another war in 20 years, I had nothing to do with that. These garlic breath tossers should stop being the hypocritical twats they are! I want you to discuss with Rudolf Diels, his return to active service within our administration. His skill as chief of the Prussian police was uncontested, and we need firm men like him to calm the masses while we militarise the Rhineland again'
'If that is what you wish, I will take care of it right away.'
'Also, I want you to discuss with Hjalmar Schacht the expansion of his power as the finance minister, to include the buildup of our economy itself. Could you also inform Werner von Blomberg that he will be assigned as the military advisor to the Italian government? I might have some future plans for him, but at the moment we need someone with a banking career at the helm of our industrial output.'
'Consider it done, mein Fuehrer.'
'Have a good day, thanks for your kind assistance.'

Meanwhile, Kurt Tank and Willy Messerschmitt were only partly recovered from what was a very exhillerating NYE for them too, but work was calling again. With Messerschmitt assigned to some design improvements for the BF-110 (still in prototype phase, and being tested by Ernst Udet himself) Tank was taking over Messerschmitt's duty of upgrading the superior BF-109. Recent experience from air races would be greatly beneficial in order to equip the Luftwaffe with the best day-fighter in the world.

'Why didn't the bloke send me these God damn drawings for the right wing?' Tank wondered. 'What a slag, but damn he made a fine machine already!'

Meanwhile most other workers in Germany used the day off to relax, not aware of the storm that lay ahead of them, or the oncoming changes in the Hitler administration....

 

[DJSixthSense]

Seizing the Rhineland and building the navy - 3. January 1936 and onwards

A couple of days after NYE, while the German economy was still recovering from the grave economic woes of the early 30's, Hitler's gamble proved right. Army general Wilhelm von Leeb moved about 40.000 troops under his command to reoccupy the banks of the Rhine river. They finished taking their positions just in time for dinner, and enjoyed a nice festive meal, even though it consisted of the leftovers of the holiday season, cooked au bain marie.

While the Alliance watched this move closely, they decided not to act and Hitler's first massive propaganda success of '36 unfolded. Also, they were fully ignorant of the tight-fistedness of the German army kitchens, so they even didn't have anything to poke fun at. But who would have the last laugh? Time would tell...

Meanwhile Kurt Tank finally got the missing blueprints from the BF-109D, and continued his work with enthousiasm. Its creator himself had taken a few days off, to enjoy a round of golf with Ernst Heinkel and Gustav Krupp in sunny Italy, but the constant flow of ideas about his new night fighter design ruined his game. What a workaholic he was... and with a triple bogey on the 18th hole, leaving him dead beat on last position, he decided to call it a day and invite his business friends over to enjoy the '19th hole' at the country club's bar.

'I'll have a Danziger Goldwasser, please!' Messerschmitt said to the bartender. 'Oh, dear' Heinkel said. What a shame its namesake is no longer a part of our nation.' Krupp enjoyed a covert laugh, for he had heard rumours of the regime's long term plans in his meeting with one of Hitler's advisors, in December '35...

Right before spring, Hitler was examining the shipwharfs of Kiel, on a tour of duty in nothern Germany. He was very impressed by what he saw, even though the Brits had recently signed a naval treaty, and the number of keels laid down was still easily in agreement with the contents of that, he knew better. His naval chief, Grossadmiral Raeder, had told him of the number of ships he deemed necessary to deter the Royal Navy from harming Germany's interests. 6 fast battleships, 10 heavy battleships, and many more smaller and larger cruisers were secretly ordered.

Also technicians at Deutsche Werke were finalising their plans for a new line of destroyers, who were intended to be mass-produced after their new shipwharfs would be ready, and were designed to outclass the Japanese Fubuki-class, one of the prime destroyer types of its day.

As a matter of fact, the ships' designs were finished, but they were waiting for the prototypes of new sonar equipment from a Telefunken-subcontracter.

 

[unmerged(83496)]

Subscribed. Best of luck!

 

[unmerged(166917)]

Subscribed. Best of luck!

+1. Good luck!
I hope that the your ambitious naval plan is going to be a success.

 

[DJSixthSense]

Spanish Civil War starts... the first proxy battlefield for German expansion?

Thanks, I'll need a tad bit o' luck

It's been a quiet year until now. With the Spanish Civil War igniting because of conservative and anarchist uprisings, Hitler deemed it necessary to intervene.

His aide, Julius Schaub, called his military attache in Italy, the aforementioned Werner von Blomberg, to inform him of his master's plans.

'Herr Blomberg, I have some very important issues for you to take care of. You will meet Field Marshal Badoglio tomorrow in the Ritz in Torino. It is my duty to inform you that it is regarding the explosive situation in Spain.'

In the meantime, General Franco was negotiating with another German military advisor, Hugo Sperrle. This airforce officer rose through the ranks of the Luftwaffe speedily and was tasked with airlifting the Spanish Army into the mainland, from its colonies. Also present, was Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma.

Franco: 'We must act quickly, the darn Anarchists have already overrun Bilbao and are about to seize control of Catalunya as well!'
Thoma: 'Well, you are right. But as soon as my colleagues from the Luftwaffe have finished, the situation will begin to look different. My expectation is that you have about an 80% chance of turning the tide to your advantage. Just wait till the shipment of tanks arrives, which you ordered.'
Sperrle: 'Sorry for the interruption, but I also made sure we airlifted 'something else' from Morocco as well. If our guy in Ceuta is right, this would be good to demoralise the Anarchists, as well as make for a nice financial contribution to our war effort.'

While the 3 men further drew their plans against the Republic, foreign newspapers were bringing tidings of pillaging in Catalunya and the southeast of Spain. Also, after brief Basque nationalist uprisings in the Navarre region, Falangist forces had something to celebrate as they pocketed and destroyed the first portion of treacherous rabble in Bilbao;

Werner von Blomberg had his meeting with Badoglio, who was authorised by the Duce and the Grand Council of Fascism, to discuss the placement of a joint Italo-German volunteer force. Its purpose would be to test new weaponry and to make sure a loyal conservative regime in Spain took over.

An agreement was reached only days after the civil war started. Italy would send some 50.000 troops and a substantial amount of aeroplanes to aid Franco in his struggle. And while Von Blomberg and Badoglio ordered a glass of Grappa to celebrate the cooperation between the two fascist states, the first Italian soldiers boarded ships in La Spezia...

 

[DJSixthSense]

Republican police forces get stoned, Barcelona falls... and more.

Around 2 PM, August 28th 1936, the Nationalist militia forces kicked in the door of a boarded-up tavern in central Barcelona. What they found there, was quite a sight... there were empty bottles, moldy pieces of old bread, dirty dishes, and cigarette butts EVERYWHERE.

'What is that dodgy, flowery smell?' one of the militiamen asked. 'If you asked me, his superior said, it is some kind of opium or something.' while he tripped over and fell on his knee. 'God dammit, these anarchist bastards don't even bother to take out the trash anymore, they must be really smashed!' he said, while he stood up, and saw what, or better said who, he tripped over.

It was the former chief of the Barcelona police, heavily intoxicated.... He had no clue what happened at the moment of his arrest, also did he have no idea that it was, amongst other things, thanks to Hugo Sperrle's Moroccan smuggling operation, that he was so messed up.

With both military and civilian control over Barcelona restored, the local militia leader phoned with Franco's headquarters in Burgos, where the good news was happily received, in these hard times for the Nationalists. 'Please, take a day or two off, and report for active duty again after the weekend is over.' Franco said to the militia commander.

Because he hated to be insubordinate, he filled his pipe with some tobacco and with the brown resin he found after searching the police chief's pockets, and poured himself a glass of wine, also taken from the officers they arrested. Soon, his mates joined him.

Luckily for Franco and his forces, their stash ran out soon, so after 3 days they rejoined the Nationalist war effort, and started conducting anti partisan-operations in conquered territory. Which now included the city of Sigüenza. This had been a very important victory for Franco and his men, because it allowed for an offensive against the temporary Republican capital of Valencia, without hindrance by river crossings....

 

[unmerged(166917)]

Great one!
There are more powerful weapons than rifles and guns it seems...

 

[unmerged(83496)]

Is there an espionage mission I'm not aware of? Hashashin smuggling? :rofl:

 

[DJSixthSense]

lol, if there really would be such a mission, I would perform it all the time

I'm glad you guys like what you read for now...

I will commence with an update shortly... even though it has been rather uneventful the 2 years after the few Nationalist victories in eastern Spain from last update.... the in-game time is 1940 now so you will have alot of new stuff to read, and new screenies to check out later tonight. But for now, my job calls (unfortunately)...

 

[DJSixthSense]

1. January 1937 - a short interlude, and return of Von Blomberg to the cabinet...

With the expansion of the German economy in full swing (16 large industrial complexes were finished in the fall of '36) as well as the implementation of Plan Z., the Fuehrer decided it was time for another slight change in the government. Werner von Blomberg was recalled from Italy to become Chief of the Army.

His expertise with logistics were the main reason for this. Because Prussian and German army doctrine had always been based upon efficient command structure and the ever-growing Wehrmacht was facing logistics issues, Blomberg, as former Armaments minister, was deemed the best man for the task.

Also, the first results of the naval development plan started to show. A brand-new light cruiser, the KMS Stuttgart, was pressed into service recently. This ship was equipped with the latest radar technology and also had fire control systems aiding the crew of the turrets.

It wasn't the most powerful ship of the Kriegsmarine, but it was a key part of the naval doctrines developed by its leadership; Independent surface taskforces consisting of very modern long range ships, avoiding decisive battle and instead hunting down convoys over a large area, making interdiction by enemy forces more difficult.

Still, in spite of the massive naval rearmament inspired by Plan Z., the vast majority of war production capacity was devoted to economic expansion. Massive industrial complexes were built, like Krupp's huge 400 acres-wide 'Getraenkedosen-Werke' (tin can plant) in Cologne. Needless to say, that it was actually a tank factory.

But not all developments were that positive. The Spanish Civil War was deadlocked, and even though the Nationalists had a 3 times larger industrial base, they were forced to a stalemate for the time being. In spite of shipment after shipment of narcotics arriving in Republican territory....

Also, there was some strife brewing beneath the surface in the cabinet, Hermann Goering couldn't stand Von Blomberg and envied him for his promotion to Chief of the Army. He was thinking of a way to get rid of his competitor for once and for all.

The attachments (L-R) show the production of the German industries as they were in early 1937, and you can also see the current status of the Cabinet. Note the return of former military attache Werner von Blomberg.

 

[DJSixthSense]

A bridge too far? - War in China! Germans don't care, they finally have all got jobs!

Northern China, the 14th of June, 1937:

One anonymous Japanese soldier went on leave without permission. He had fathered a child by a Chinese prostitute and, despite it could get him into serious trouble, he wanted to be there for mother and child alike.

His company commander however, was fully unaware of this, and started a search, believing he was abducted by one of the many warlord cliques roaming the countryside.

China, still trying to subdue the rich Guangxi region which had gained de facto independance, was caught by surprise as the Japanese high command used the minor incident, at the Marco Polo bridge, to initiate full-scale war. Even though China still wished to bring back Guangxi under its power, the hostilities ceased, for the time being. Meanwhile, the leaders of Guangxi decided they would not interfere with the war, leaving the Chinese weakened. Within months, the Japanese had overrun large chunks of Chinese lands, set up a puppet regime in Inner Mongolia, and committed acts of barbarity after the conquest of Nanjing.

Tensions began to rise, as the USA demanded compensation for damage to US property, and the Western powers started to become more and more hostile towards Japanese ambition...

Even with Asia in flames, the German war machine continued to expand, for they too had been aiming at territorial gains, and needed the means to do so.

The completion of another set of industrial complexes overshadowed the news of the war in China. The 'Volksliche Beobachter' chose the opening of a 'Fertiliser factory' (aka army ordnance) in Schweinfurt, as the headline on the very day of the Panay incident. 'More jobs for the German People!' instead of 'Japan embarassed by striking US Navy vessel on the Yellow River'.

The German people did not care much, all they wanted was to regain their wounded pride, and to be able to pay the rent, which was becoming easier and easier as millions were employed in the heavy industry, with both wages, and consumer prices, artificially being kept low;

 

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When will you begin to raise ground divisions?

 

[DJSixthSense]

Once I discovered '39 MOT and INF tech levels... I've been rushing their research and finished MOT. in late '37 and INF in early '38...

Matter of fact, I've been saving some info about that for the very next update which I'll write in 10 minutes

 

[DJSixthSense]

1938 - The Gathering of the thunderclouds, and the German phoenix rising...

When the Nazi regime came to power in '33, no one could have imagined how Germany would have looked like 5 years afterwards. Though they were still severely lagging behind in the arms race, they were the leaders in technology and army doctrine by 1938. Also their industrial base was expanded to a level beyond that of Russia, and their navy had pressed into service the most modern battleships of the day, the Scharnhorst and the Bismarck, with Scharnhorst's brother ship (Germans do regard ships as male, and the Kriegsmarine is no exception) nearing completion.

But after an evaluation of the German armed forces, the General Staff confronted Hitler.

'Herr Fuehrer,' Chief of Staff Ludwig Beck said, 'I think that, notwitstanding our massive air force and small but modern navy, our nation is too weak in military aspect. Even the Czechoslovaks could, at this point, defeat us.'

'NONSENSE!' shouted Hitler, while his face turned red. 'Our nation is the greatest military power on earth, we just have to turn this potential into something which is of practical use! I demand you start raising men who reach service age, and build a massive land army, without disregard for modernisation.'
'That would be a wise choice, mein Fuehrer.' Beck replied. He was somewhat relieved, because apparently the Fuehrer agreed when confronted, even though he did not say so with too many words... Seldomly seen, but in this case it was of vital importance to the survival of the nation.

Werner von Blomberg, who was in charge of the Heer, was tasked with this expansion. He drew up a plan which would mean that by mid-1939, Germany would have at its disposal enough divisions to garrison its French border with almost half a million soldiers. More than half of them would be garrison troops, without equestrian support like a regular division would have. His theory, was that since it was a purely defensive front, the lack of support units was no issue. Also, this would free up horses, and the men to tend to them, for a mobile strike force to be used in the East, in case of hostilities with the Czechs or the Polish.

Also, around 8 armoured and 8 fully motorised divisions were incorporated in this plan, and the total of men available to the eastern territories, would be around half a million by June '39. This would, however, mean that the price of smoked horse saucage would rise, because alot of them were needed as transport, to supply these troops with guns and butter, leaving less for the production of this priced delicacy;

While one could imagine this scarcity would be quite a nuisance to gastronomes like Hermann Goering, who ate the stuff all day, but then agaion his desire was being saturated with the construction of a massive bomber strike force, adding to the potential of his already sizeable Luftwaffe;

Apart from these units, also a synthetic oil programme was undertaken early in '38, to make near-autarky in critical areas, possible even during war. The province of Oppeln was designated for the bulk of the oil plants, because it was beyond the reach of contemporary British and French bombers.
N.B. this picture does not include the 2 lines of INF + ART, and 1 line of INF only, with 20 divs each, and the 40 GAR divs (1 line of 10, 1 line of 30), which I ordered a few days later, after I researched '39 INF. Also, I have been continuously building infra in the massive coal-depots in the West, so I don't run out of energy after more expansion. The cap on German industrial might after around '43 is, strangely enough, not rares or metal, but energy, if you build massive amounts of oil plants like I tend to do.

 

[DJSixthSense]

March '38; Territorial expansion of Germany...

At the end of February, the political situation in Austria was growing ever more tense. The people were unhappy with their small and weak country, and tensions rose to a level, that an agreement would be reached. There would be a plebiscite, determining wether or not Austria should remain independent, or join its big cousin to the north.

While the world watched closely, the plebiscite never even took place, because pro-nazi elements in Austrian politics 'invited' their German allies to occupy and annex Austria. With a predominantly pro-German populace, the German soldiers were heralded as liberators, and covered in flowers, when they paraded the avenues of Vienna, led by their commander-in-chief. Hitler had left the city decades before to go to Germany, and his former (as well as future) countrymen received him as a hero. As the greatest son of the Austrian, pardon, German, nation.

Even though the Allies reacted by increasing their defence spending and their arms production, and by lengthening the conscription time, there was no real condemnation, given the fact that the Austrians themselves, seemed to enjoy being a part of greater Germany.

Austria's army was disbanded, and its soldiers and officers enlisted into the Wehrmacht. Also Germany inherited a bunch of mountain warfare equipment, which was used to form the 1. Gebirgsjaeger-Division, which would form part of the defence of Saarbruecken from then on. Besides, a long list of competent military leaders, like Lothar Rendulic, Alexander Loehr, and Alfred von Hubicki joined the German ranks.

Even 3 squadrons of bombers were taken over outright.

The move didn't really anger (however did alarm) the Western Allies, but Italy protested, leading to a temporary deterioration of Italo-German diplomatic ties. However, the end of the Spanish Civil War, which went by almost unnoticed due to preoccupation with the Anschluss, around the same time, changed this. As did numerous diplomatic envoys to Italy, sent by German politicians and industrialists.

In the bar of the very same country club in Southern Italy, where he had beaten Willy Messerschmitt with 5 points difference over 18 holes before, Gustav Krupp was present in April '38 when an envoy from Germany met with political and economic big shots from Italy. Also present, were the likes of Italo Balbo, Gian Galeazzo conte di Ciano, and the German foreign affairs minister Konstantin von Neurath.

They were there to negotiate further economic and military exchange between the 2 countries.

Suddenly, Ciano was called away from the card table late at night, when he was playing blackjack with Krupp. 'Count, there is a man who wishes to speak to you in private, his aide just came in and he is waiting outside in the Maybach.'
'I better hope that he has a damn good excuse for interrupting a 15-round winning streak.' Ciano replied somewhat angrily.

When he got outside, the black Maybach's left rear door opened. A dark and shady figure said: 'Please come in, we need to have a quiet chat while we make a little tour through the city. The Carabineri are escorting us, so your safety and the privacy of our chat will be guaranteed.'

Puzzled, Ciano entered the car. Where he, to his amazement, was confronted by Joachim von Ribbentrop, who was at the moment, the German ambassador to Italy. Ribbentrop said: 'Count Ciano, your government is in an awkward position. You wish restoration of your once great empire, and you lack all resources to achieve that. We believe, that the Western Allies are using Italy, to deter us from demanding back our lost territories in the east. If you choose to help them out, you will miss out on a lot of possibilities in the future. Can we agree to, let's say, live, and let live?'

Ciano was still surprised, but replied 'Well, if you could guarantee technologic and economic aid, I think so. It;s not up to me however, but I will have a talk with the Duce and see what we can do. We just don't want to be dragged into a war any time soon, as we are still building our forces to match Britain and France's in the Mediterranean.'

After a brief ride back to the hotel, Ciano was dropped off there, and he feared that he might just have made a mistake. But now it was too late, he knew the Germans were up to something. After his return to the card table, Gustav Krupp went all-in, and, to Ciano's amazement, won the round.

'Well, at least that's one gamble which paid off today.' he thought, while he complimented Krupp with his win.

 

[unmerged(166917)]

Once I discovered '39 MOT and INF tech levels... I've been rushing their research and finished MOT. in late '37 and INF in early '38...

Matter of fact, I've been saving some info about that for the very next update which I'll write in 10 minutes

Ok I see, nice updates once more!