This was with the new HoI 1.06b (which put Saudi Arabia in the British SOI finally) and CORE 0.83.
I have been playing as Germany for the better part of a month and half and my final sticking point has always been my inability to face up to the Soviet Union who has usually ended my plans of world liberation and reduced my economy to producing cheap units just to keep Eastern Europe. However finally after playing a very long 12-hour straight game, I finally finally got to a point where the end result had me puppeting the Soviet Union (although they weren't much use in finishing off my other enemies).
Goals I setup:
- Establish a vast economy (least 800-900 ICs) so that I can be pumping out units regularly and still be researching alot in addition to always having a large amount of supplies. I moved away with the idea of puppeting to the idea of annexing basically everything and annexed Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Aden, Denmark, Luxembourgh, Norway, Czechslovakia, Austria and Liberia(although not in that order) while establishing Vichy France (which oddly enough choose to remain independent providing a nice buffer in some spots in both Africa.
- Have a ready date of September 1941 to be ready expecting the Soviet DoW, with at least 2 Inf Eng units in each bordering province with a leader along with 1 level of land fort in the hopes this would provide a decent defense with plans to increase this up to 12 as the war progressed so it could act as my rear line.
- Avoid decisions which raise Soviet ire without any decent benefits (the anti-comitern pact, etc).
- Make sure the US is an ally, as this keeps the Brits from having alot of serious landing attempts while I'm dealing with the Soviets and quickly takes Canada out of the picture (the only country that ever tries to take Norway back).
Early strategy:
- Send out my PW air units with an Air Marshall or two to the Spanish Civil War. They are useless units against even Poland so I didn't care if they were destroyed. However the result was that one Air Marshall went from a skill of 5 to a skill of 7 and halfway to 8. Ironically enough those PW air units of mine survived the entire game even though I continued to send them out with different leaders to my allies.
- Focus my land unit strategy on motorized infantry (completely ignoring regular infantry or mechanized when I got it later) and tanks. The result was each time I engaged a major country my motorized infantry units were twice the firepower (started out in the 5s for soft attack, ended up in the high 20s for soft attack by the time I was done in the Soviet Union) through regular research.
- Make sure to have both Basic Interceptors and Basic Light Tanks (40mm) ready when the Allies decide to DoW me. The BIs worked like a charm with 2 12-groups defending Western Germany and shooting down the British bombers as soon as they hit me. Initially my planes were too slow to catch them before they bombed, but they very rarely got back in one piece to the British Isles. Given just 1 strategic bomber division takes about half a year to build, the fact I was shooting down 3-4 at a time put a serious dent in the British effort to reduce my IC. The Basic Light Tanks (40mm) are really the lowest point where they can deal with <i>modern</i> tanks in France, but the ones I started out with MGs were more then enough to mow down scores of enemy infantry.
Early results and observances:
- My economy had several slowdowns in '37 and '38 but once I got Austria it wasn't as bad (you basically have a serious shortage of everything but coal as Germany and the excess coal isn't enough to make up the difference so you wind up with a coal shortage sometimes too).
- Poland got diplomatically aggressive and colonized Liberia, thus taking it over. Monrovia has a single VP so I knew I'd have to have a transport fleet ready to invade, but on the upside I knew I'd be able to have rubber production and be poised to hit a few British provinces on the Ivory Coast.
- I decided to drop off a infantry army to Nationalist Spain to see if it helped, it did a bit but was surprised they largely avoided it and just had it guard one province. But once they won the civil war it had me in a prefect position to take Gibrator within a few days of the Allied DoW.
- My official days of conquest began in December, 1938 and ended about a month later (with annexing Poland that is). The economy boost (and rubber boost) helped get me a bit more on track and I quickly had my goals met for dealing with the Allies.
Early War:
- Once I got up to France I had 2 Light Tank (MGs) (armies of 12 divisions) ready along with 4 Panzergrenadier (Mot Infantry) (armies of 12 divisions) with 3 regular infantry armies as backup. I also had a few Inf Eng units protecting my small border with France. Likewise I had 1 1/2 groups of Basic Interceptors ready in Western Germany, and was finishing my first Light Tank (40mm) group.
- I had Gibraltor taken almost instantly, denying the British an easy way into hitting me from Southern France (which occasionally they do in some games). Likewise I went from Monrovia to Freetown and added to my small rubber supply.
- I got military access from Belgium (in all fairness if they are totally neutral they wouldn't want to raise German ire by refusing my request) and invaded from the north. I had Paris and Vichy taken (along with Northern France) within about 2 1/2 months.
- I obviously went with the Vichy France option, however they opted not to go Axis (which I initially cursed) but I sent provided them with a few supplies (and coal). I initially put up temporary defenses until my Inf units could get in place to protect Brest, La Rochelle, etc.
- Once I had France secure, I moved to take Hungary which was of the bigger IC sources in Europe. Then I continued on with Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and finally Romania. I finally had some decent oil sources and my economy was beginning to come into its own. By this time I had added 1 mot infantry group and the Light Tank (40mm) group as well, as well as having 2 1/2 air groups taking out incoming enemy bombers in France and Western Germany.
- When I got down with Romania (around October 1939), I started producing inf eng units to protect my eastern border with the Soviet Union. Also I started work on some Basic Air Superiority units (hoping for at least 2 full groups ready to shoot down the Soviet Air Force without detracting from defending my industries against Allied bombers).
Middle War:
- At this point I sent up 3 units (my older Light Tanks with MGs and a Mot Infantry group) to Kiel to prepare for invading Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The rest went to immediately invading Greece, at this point I got my first ally, Italy.
- My production and research were at an then all-time high and I had turned out more air units and another Light Tank 40mm unit by this time. Likewise my Inf Eng unit production was slow but sure.
- Once I had Greece, I launched my northern operations moving from Denmark to Norway within a week (using the same transport fleet I used to invade Monrovia earlier). I then invaded into Turkey once I had landed in Norway.
- I had Norway fairly quickly, probably by late January of 1940 and I had Turkey in early March of 1940. This added greatly to my steel supplies and that was one less thing to worry about. Once I had Norway, I immediately hit Sweden (which was somewhat of a pain since they had low cost units bouncing around) and hit Iraq once I was halfway to conquering Sweden.
- Syria and Lebanon were firmly controlled by Vichy France, so I didn't have to worry about them but the trip through the deserts of Iraq was a supreme pain in the butt. I divided my eastern forces to hit both coasts of the Arabian pennisula and had Suez and Port Said (thus completely closing the British off from the Meditterran) long before I had finished with Iraq.
- In terms of Africa, I basically held the Suez Canal and ignored making any further request conquests in Africa. I finished with Iraq sometime in April 1940 and moved on to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc and proceeded to remove the Brit's largest oil market from them. Once I had the Middle East secure, I pulled out my entire forces (save for 2 mot infantry in Egypt and 1 mot infantry in Aden) and worked on a buildup to invading the Soviet Union from about late May 1940.
- I had Sweden annexed pretty easily once I took Stockholm and I decided to chance things and leave Norway/Sweden undefended and pulled my 3 units there to my eastern buildup.
- In terms of American involvement, I was using my DI as often as possible to get them along to the fascist point of view. I held off asking them to join my alliance until June 1940 when they were firmly in my grasp. I also included Brazil so it would deal with a couple of UK provinces in South America.
Middle War (Buildup to Barbarossa):
- So starting in June/July 1940 I focused most of my energies on readying myself for Barbarossa. I had about 7-8 units all ready in Torun and half 1-2 inf eng units in each province bordering (including 2 bordering provinces in Turkey).
- The next year was basically spent building up 2 fighter groups and 1 tactical bomber group (in case I needed it) and soldifying my border. I made sure each border province had at least 2 levels of land forts and at least 2-3 inf eng units (I used up alot of Lt Generals and Generals).
- By August of 1941, I had a combined army and air force which were equal or greater then the Soviet Union. With luck they didn't DoW me for another three months so I had out about 10 armies ready to invade along with 4-5 inf eng units in each border province. I also threw down a mot infantry group to Turkey since the bordering Soviet forces were numbering 12+.
Strategy for Barbarossa:
- Using a main force of 3-5 groups to break through in a province with decent infrastructure and no land forts, then continue to move up to the sea (or one of my borders) and have a group of 4-8 provinces encircled. Once their orgs is down to nothing, move a single group sweeping through each encircled province and taking down the provinces and 20-30 divisions from the Soviet army.
- In terms of air power, place intercept groups ready to shoot down all their dive bombers + tactical bombers they initially send after my invading troops. Since planes take a long time to build, I figured that once I shot down their air force it wasn't getting back up.
- Keep Persia and Finland out of the war, as the Soviets will easily conquer Finland and use it to conquer Norway and Sweden. They can use Persia to conquer Turkey and Iraq (and then Saudi Arabia).
- The war started roughly in December of 1941.
Phase One: The Baltic States
- Make a path up from Eastern Poland through Pskov to Novgorod, cutting off the Baltic States of Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania which were conquered by the Soviet Union. This will put me right next to Leningrad and fairly close to Moscow, it also will put me in a position to strike Belorussia from two seperate directions.
- Initially I was on the extreme defensive as Soviet groups of upwards of 40 divisions hammered both on my Eastern European border and my Turkish border. They broke through in several places in Eastern Europe and even got as far as Warsaw at one point before I pushed them back.
- My groups of fighters worked like a charm and halved the Soviet air force by the end of the first phase, however my tactical bombers weren't much good for bombing so I used them as makeshift interceptors.
- I broke through at Grodno with 4 groups, moving up to 2 more groups once the province was taken. Past that this encirclement line was fairly easy and I went on to Wilno, Pskov and finally Novgorod.
- I had the encirclement complete by March of 1942, and completed the liberation of the Baltic States in May of 1942 (several provinces took several weeks to move between). I choose to use the Rosenburg Plan of liberating countries, since most of these provinces weren't very valuable and they could provide for their defense so I wouldn't have to worry about them.
- A side note, I made myself a large Third Reich soundtrack and the song of the Estonian Waffen SS Battalion was playing just as I was liberating the Baltic States.
Phase Two: Eastern Poland and Belorussia
- I had gotten sick of attempts by Soviet armored units trying to take my Polish provinces so my next encirclement was planned for Eastern Poland and parts of Belorussia so that there was a safer distance between Eastern Europe and the Russian front, also to give me more breathing room since my first phase had given me just a sliver of territory after the Baltic States had been liberated.
- I broke through from Grodno to Minsk, where there was a bit of Soviet resistance and continued on through Bobrujsk, Mozyr and Zjitomir where this encirclement wasn't nearly as easy as the first and in fact I had to redo the invasion of Zjitomir twice.
- I had the encirclement completed by August of 1942 and liberated the area by September of 1942. For some reason, draining the enemy units of org took a bit longer, like I ran into a unit or two still in the 60s for org after 4 weeks of being without supplies.
Phase Three: The Ukraine
- I decided my next major goal should be to eliminate the rich southern oil fields that were a great asset to the Soviet armored divisions (which continued to be a great pain in my ass), likewise it would let me link up with my forces in Turkey and push up the line there.
- However first I had to take Odessa and nearby pennisula before I could reach the oil fields, I broke through from Zjitomir to Kiev where I met some serious resistance in Kiev (40 Soviet divisions!) but I broke through easily by havign 75 German divisions which crushed the resistance and triggered the surrender of the Soviet General who later helped the invading Germans.
- I continued on through Kharkov, Donetsk and Stalino which were generally light on the resistance, I had the area encircled by November of 1942 and the area completely liberated by December of 1942.
Phase Three: Georgia, Armenia and Azeribaijin
- Now I was poised to strike in the rich oil fields of the south. I broke through from Sevastapol to Majkop, unforunately this line was fairly low infrastructure and very slow to move across as I went to Batumi so I could link up with my Turkish forces (which had fought successful against 3-1 odds twice! like in one case 12 mot infantry divisions versus 40 assorted soviet divisions) and moved on through Stavropol, Elista and Lagan.
- It took a while to get this encirclement done and didn't have it completed until May of 1943, however I had the area liberated (and my first major prize, Baku) by July of 1943. This put a serious dent in the Soviet oil supply and I started to notice that the Soviet AI stopped producing armored units and focused more on milita and regular infantry. This is also the point where I no longer was on the defensive anymore and didn't have to deal with another single Soviet offensive in the rest of the war.
- I did simple conquests of the two provinces remaining that were south of the Don River so I was now against Stalingrad in the south and Leningrad in the north.
Phase Four: The Kola Pennisula
- Having seized the key oil fields in the south, I focused back on the north with Leningrad and the Kola Pennisula. I kept Finland out of the war intentionally so they would be a solid barrier between the Soviet provinces in the Kola Pennisula and my forces.
- I started out in Novgorod and moved across to Tichvin, Timosjino and Severodinsk. This encirclement wasn't difficult per say but all these provinces had low infrastructure so my units suffered greatly (I eventually lost a full tank group as a result of carelessness there).
- Giving a good month before I stuck, I had no problem dealing a death blow through Leningrad where I took out a full 40 divisions with 0 org and finished off the rest of the Kola Pennisula in record time. I had the encirclement complete by late September of 1943 and the liberation complete by December of 1943.
- At this point, I bought Finland into my alliance and gave them the territories that been stolen from them by Soviets during the Finnish Winter War. I kept Persia out of the picture still since I didn't need the British taking Turkey and Iraq.
Phase Five: Belorussia and the Ukraine, Part 2
- With two of the four big VP cities now in my hands, I focused on pushing out towards Moscow as well as eventually controlling all of the Black Sea.
- I started out in Pskov, and pushed through Velikji, Vitesbk, Kaluga, Tula and Kursk. This encirclement was very tough since it was right up against Moscow and the Soviet kept sending tons of reinforcements to Kursk. The battle at one point was up to 50 Soviet divisions against 70 German divisions (and I lost 2 full groups taking this encirclement).
- I had the encirclement completed by late February of 1944 and liberation of the encircled provinces by April of 1944. This put me right in Moscow's backyard and was the final proof that Germany would be conquering the Soviet Union before long.
Phase Six: The Siege of Moscow
- I was finally poised to seize the Soviet capital of Moscow (although I knew it would move just before I did from the CORE event) and I had both the two highest economy in the world (second only to my American ally) and had over 330 divisions giving me the largest army in the world (270 of these on the Russian front).
- I went from Timosjino to Vologda, then from Rybinsk, Vladimir and finally Ryasan where it met up with Tula. I had a major battle in Ryasan when I ran straight into 40 Soviet divisions which were reinforcing Moscow and lost a full group in the process.
- I had the encirclement completed by late August of 1944 and the area liberated (including Moscow) by October of 1944.
Phase Seven: Rostok and Preparing for Stalingrad
- I decided to deal with Rostok and surrounding provinces so I would be on two sides of Stalingrad, and finally to move on for the all important kill.
- I went from Ryasan to Tamboy, down through Balasjov, Morozovsk where it met up in Prolertsak which I had conquered in Phase Three. I had the encirclement completed by December of 1944 and the area liberated by January of 1945.
Phase Eight: Stalingrad
- Normally I encircled several provinces but in this case I met a special encirclement solely for Stalingrad. The Soviet army was now only a 1/3 the size of mine but it had at least 6-8 divisions in every bordering province.
- I went Balasjov to Saratov and then through Volzjskijv where it completely encircled the city by March of 1945. I took the city within a couple of days and now had the four big VP cities (Baku, Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad) but didn't have to worry about Vladivstok since Japan wasn't in the Axis (and in fact was at war with everybody).
Phase Nine: Taming the Russian Bear
- At this point I had but a single goal left and that was to capture the new capital in the Urals at which point I could have enough VPs to puppet the Soviet Union (I didn't want to waste it on the chance of Bitter Peace).
- This phase was very simple since I just charged through Saratov to the new capital, which I had the following month in April of 1945 where I had not only beaten the Russian bear but made it a mere puppet of the Greater German Reich.
- In terms of liberated countries, I had Estonia, Lithuania, Lativa, Belorussia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azeribaijin and almost gladly gave the Soviets back their territory when they gone from Stalinism to Paternal Autocrat.
Final analysis of Barbarossa:
- It took me from December of 1941 till April of 1945 to bring the Soviet Union to its knees. The most important thing to remember was the entire time I maintained an economy in the 900s (sometimes above 1000 IC) and was producing a new army group of 12 divisions every 3 months (where I lost maybe 1 army group every 18 months) and took my army from starting around 250 when I began Barbarossa to 370. Likewise I kept up with alot of research and my motorized infantry units basically had the power of Improved Light Tanks by the time I had finished Barbarossa.
Other developments:
- By the end of 1945 I had the British home isles, South Africa, most of India conquered. The British Empire was still doing fairly well in Southeast Asia where it was turning out milita units like crazy. I was beginning landings in Australia and New Zealand by mid-1946 but after 12+ hours of playing I was beginning to hear voices :wacko: so I gave it up.
<THE END>
I have been playing as Germany for the better part of a month and half and my final sticking point has always been my inability to face up to the Soviet Union who has usually ended my plans of world liberation and reduced my economy to producing cheap units just to keep Eastern Europe. However finally after playing a very long 12-hour straight game, I finally finally got to a point where the end result had me puppeting the Soviet Union (although they weren't much use in finishing off my other enemies).
Goals I setup:
- Establish a vast economy (least 800-900 ICs) so that I can be pumping out units regularly and still be researching alot in addition to always having a large amount of supplies. I moved away with the idea of puppeting to the idea of annexing basically everything and annexed Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Aden, Denmark, Luxembourgh, Norway, Czechslovakia, Austria and Liberia(although not in that order) while establishing Vichy France (which oddly enough choose to remain independent providing a nice buffer in some spots in both Africa.
- Have a ready date of September 1941 to be ready expecting the Soviet DoW, with at least 2 Inf Eng units in each bordering province with a leader along with 1 level of land fort in the hopes this would provide a decent defense with plans to increase this up to 12 as the war progressed so it could act as my rear line.
- Avoid decisions which raise Soviet ire without any decent benefits (the anti-comitern pact, etc).
- Make sure the US is an ally, as this keeps the Brits from having alot of serious landing attempts while I'm dealing with the Soviets and quickly takes Canada out of the picture (the only country that ever tries to take Norway back).
Early strategy:
- Send out my PW air units with an Air Marshall or two to the Spanish Civil War. They are useless units against even Poland so I didn't care if they were destroyed. However the result was that one Air Marshall went from a skill of 5 to a skill of 7 and halfway to 8. Ironically enough those PW air units of mine survived the entire game even though I continued to send them out with different leaders to my allies.
- Focus my land unit strategy on motorized infantry (completely ignoring regular infantry or mechanized when I got it later) and tanks. The result was each time I engaged a major country my motorized infantry units were twice the firepower (started out in the 5s for soft attack, ended up in the high 20s for soft attack by the time I was done in the Soviet Union) through regular research.
- Make sure to have both Basic Interceptors and Basic Light Tanks (40mm) ready when the Allies decide to DoW me. The BIs worked like a charm with 2 12-groups defending Western Germany and shooting down the British bombers as soon as they hit me. Initially my planes were too slow to catch them before they bombed, but they very rarely got back in one piece to the British Isles. Given just 1 strategic bomber division takes about half a year to build, the fact I was shooting down 3-4 at a time put a serious dent in the British effort to reduce my IC. The Basic Light Tanks (40mm) are really the lowest point where they can deal with <i>modern</i> tanks in France, but the ones I started out with MGs were more then enough to mow down scores of enemy infantry.
Early results and observances:
- My economy had several slowdowns in '37 and '38 but once I got Austria it wasn't as bad (you basically have a serious shortage of everything but coal as Germany and the excess coal isn't enough to make up the difference so you wind up with a coal shortage sometimes too).
- Poland got diplomatically aggressive and colonized Liberia, thus taking it over. Monrovia has a single VP so I knew I'd have to have a transport fleet ready to invade, but on the upside I knew I'd be able to have rubber production and be poised to hit a few British provinces on the Ivory Coast.
- I decided to drop off a infantry army to Nationalist Spain to see if it helped, it did a bit but was surprised they largely avoided it and just had it guard one province. But once they won the civil war it had me in a prefect position to take Gibrator within a few days of the Allied DoW.
- My official days of conquest began in December, 1938 and ended about a month later (with annexing Poland that is). The economy boost (and rubber boost) helped get me a bit more on track and I quickly had my goals met for dealing with the Allies.
Early War:
- Once I got up to France I had 2 Light Tank (MGs) (armies of 12 divisions) ready along with 4 Panzergrenadier (Mot Infantry) (armies of 12 divisions) with 3 regular infantry armies as backup. I also had a few Inf Eng units protecting my small border with France. Likewise I had 1 1/2 groups of Basic Interceptors ready in Western Germany, and was finishing my first Light Tank (40mm) group.
- I had Gibraltor taken almost instantly, denying the British an easy way into hitting me from Southern France (which occasionally they do in some games). Likewise I went from Monrovia to Freetown and added to my small rubber supply.
- I got military access from Belgium (in all fairness if they are totally neutral they wouldn't want to raise German ire by refusing my request) and invaded from the north. I had Paris and Vichy taken (along with Northern France) within about 2 1/2 months.
- I obviously went with the Vichy France option, however they opted not to go Axis (which I initially cursed) but I sent provided them with a few supplies (and coal). I initially put up temporary defenses until my Inf units could get in place to protect Brest, La Rochelle, etc.
- Once I had France secure, I moved to take Hungary which was of the bigger IC sources in Europe. Then I continued on with Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and finally Romania. I finally had some decent oil sources and my economy was beginning to come into its own. By this time I had added 1 mot infantry group and the Light Tank (40mm) group as well, as well as having 2 1/2 air groups taking out incoming enemy bombers in France and Western Germany.
- When I got down with Romania (around October 1939), I started producing inf eng units to protect my eastern border with the Soviet Union. Also I started work on some Basic Air Superiority units (hoping for at least 2 full groups ready to shoot down the Soviet Air Force without detracting from defending my industries against Allied bombers).
Middle War:
- At this point I sent up 3 units (my older Light Tanks with MGs and a Mot Infantry group) to Kiel to prepare for invading Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The rest went to immediately invading Greece, at this point I got my first ally, Italy.
- My production and research were at an then all-time high and I had turned out more air units and another Light Tank 40mm unit by this time. Likewise my Inf Eng unit production was slow but sure.
- Once I had Greece, I launched my northern operations moving from Denmark to Norway within a week (using the same transport fleet I used to invade Monrovia earlier). I then invaded into Turkey once I had landed in Norway.
- I had Norway fairly quickly, probably by late January of 1940 and I had Turkey in early March of 1940. This added greatly to my steel supplies and that was one less thing to worry about. Once I had Norway, I immediately hit Sweden (which was somewhat of a pain since they had low cost units bouncing around) and hit Iraq once I was halfway to conquering Sweden.
- Syria and Lebanon were firmly controlled by Vichy France, so I didn't have to worry about them but the trip through the deserts of Iraq was a supreme pain in the butt. I divided my eastern forces to hit both coasts of the Arabian pennisula and had Suez and Port Said (thus completely closing the British off from the Meditterran) long before I had finished with Iraq.
- In terms of Africa, I basically held the Suez Canal and ignored making any further request conquests in Africa. I finished with Iraq sometime in April 1940 and moved on to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc and proceeded to remove the Brit's largest oil market from them. Once I had the Middle East secure, I pulled out my entire forces (save for 2 mot infantry in Egypt and 1 mot infantry in Aden) and worked on a buildup to invading the Soviet Union from about late May 1940.
- I had Sweden annexed pretty easily once I took Stockholm and I decided to chance things and leave Norway/Sweden undefended and pulled my 3 units there to my eastern buildup.
- In terms of American involvement, I was using my DI as often as possible to get them along to the fascist point of view. I held off asking them to join my alliance until June 1940 when they were firmly in my grasp. I also included Brazil so it would deal with a couple of UK provinces in South America.
Middle War (Buildup to Barbarossa):
- So starting in June/July 1940 I focused most of my energies on readying myself for Barbarossa. I had about 7-8 units all ready in Torun and half 1-2 inf eng units in each province bordering (including 2 bordering provinces in Turkey).
- The next year was basically spent building up 2 fighter groups and 1 tactical bomber group (in case I needed it) and soldifying my border. I made sure each border province had at least 2 levels of land forts and at least 2-3 inf eng units (I used up alot of Lt Generals and Generals).
- By August of 1941, I had a combined army and air force which were equal or greater then the Soviet Union. With luck they didn't DoW me for another three months so I had out about 10 armies ready to invade along with 4-5 inf eng units in each border province. I also threw down a mot infantry group to Turkey since the bordering Soviet forces were numbering 12+.
Strategy for Barbarossa:
- Using a main force of 3-5 groups to break through in a province with decent infrastructure and no land forts, then continue to move up to the sea (or one of my borders) and have a group of 4-8 provinces encircled. Once their orgs is down to nothing, move a single group sweeping through each encircled province and taking down the provinces and 20-30 divisions from the Soviet army.
- In terms of air power, place intercept groups ready to shoot down all their dive bombers + tactical bombers they initially send after my invading troops. Since planes take a long time to build, I figured that once I shot down their air force it wasn't getting back up.
- Keep Persia and Finland out of the war, as the Soviets will easily conquer Finland and use it to conquer Norway and Sweden. They can use Persia to conquer Turkey and Iraq (and then Saudi Arabia).
- The war started roughly in December of 1941.
Phase One: The Baltic States
- Make a path up from Eastern Poland through Pskov to Novgorod, cutting off the Baltic States of Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania which were conquered by the Soviet Union. This will put me right next to Leningrad and fairly close to Moscow, it also will put me in a position to strike Belorussia from two seperate directions.
- Initially I was on the extreme defensive as Soviet groups of upwards of 40 divisions hammered both on my Eastern European border and my Turkish border. They broke through in several places in Eastern Europe and even got as far as Warsaw at one point before I pushed them back.
- My groups of fighters worked like a charm and halved the Soviet air force by the end of the first phase, however my tactical bombers weren't much good for bombing so I used them as makeshift interceptors.
- I broke through at Grodno with 4 groups, moving up to 2 more groups once the province was taken. Past that this encirclement line was fairly easy and I went on to Wilno, Pskov and finally Novgorod.
- I had the encirclement complete by March of 1942, and completed the liberation of the Baltic States in May of 1942 (several provinces took several weeks to move between). I choose to use the Rosenburg Plan of liberating countries, since most of these provinces weren't very valuable and they could provide for their defense so I wouldn't have to worry about them.
- A side note, I made myself a large Third Reich soundtrack and the song of the Estonian Waffen SS Battalion was playing just as I was liberating the Baltic States.
Phase Two: Eastern Poland and Belorussia
- I had gotten sick of attempts by Soviet armored units trying to take my Polish provinces so my next encirclement was planned for Eastern Poland and parts of Belorussia so that there was a safer distance between Eastern Europe and the Russian front, also to give me more breathing room since my first phase had given me just a sliver of territory after the Baltic States had been liberated.
- I broke through from Grodno to Minsk, where there was a bit of Soviet resistance and continued on through Bobrujsk, Mozyr and Zjitomir where this encirclement wasn't nearly as easy as the first and in fact I had to redo the invasion of Zjitomir twice.
- I had the encirclement completed by August of 1942 and liberated the area by September of 1942. For some reason, draining the enemy units of org took a bit longer, like I ran into a unit or two still in the 60s for org after 4 weeks of being without supplies.
Phase Three: The Ukraine
- I decided my next major goal should be to eliminate the rich southern oil fields that were a great asset to the Soviet armored divisions (which continued to be a great pain in my ass), likewise it would let me link up with my forces in Turkey and push up the line there.
- However first I had to take Odessa and nearby pennisula before I could reach the oil fields, I broke through from Zjitomir to Kiev where I met some serious resistance in Kiev (40 Soviet divisions!) but I broke through easily by havign 75 German divisions which crushed the resistance and triggered the surrender of the Soviet General who later helped the invading Germans.
- I continued on through Kharkov, Donetsk and Stalino which were generally light on the resistance, I had the area encircled by November of 1942 and the area completely liberated by December of 1942.
Phase Three: Georgia, Armenia and Azeribaijin
- Now I was poised to strike in the rich oil fields of the south. I broke through from Sevastapol to Majkop, unforunately this line was fairly low infrastructure and very slow to move across as I went to Batumi so I could link up with my Turkish forces (which had fought successful against 3-1 odds twice! like in one case 12 mot infantry divisions versus 40 assorted soviet divisions) and moved on through Stavropol, Elista and Lagan.
- It took a while to get this encirclement done and didn't have it completed until May of 1943, however I had the area liberated (and my first major prize, Baku) by July of 1943. This put a serious dent in the Soviet oil supply and I started to notice that the Soviet AI stopped producing armored units and focused more on milita and regular infantry. This is also the point where I no longer was on the defensive anymore and didn't have to deal with another single Soviet offensive in the rest of the war.
- I did simple conquests of the two provinces remaining that were south of the Don River so I was now against Stalingrad in the south and Leningrad in the north.
Phase Four: The Kola Pennisula
- Having seized the key oil fields in the south, I focused back on the north with Leningrad and the Kola Pennisula. I kept Finland out of the war intentionally so they would be a solid barrier between the Soviet provinces in the Kola Pennisula and my forces.
- I started out in Novgorod and moved across to Tichvin, Timosjino and Severodinsk. This encirclement wasn't difficult per say but all these provinces had low infrastructure so my units suffered greatly (I eventually lost a full tank group as a result of carelessness there).
- Giving a good month before I stuck, I had no problem dealing a death blow through Leningrad where I took out a full 40 divisions with 0 org and finished off the rest of the Kola Pennisula in record time. I had the encirclement complete by late September of 1943 and the liberation complete by December of 1943.
- At this point, I bought Finland into my alliance and gave them the territories that been stolen from them by Soviets during the Finnish Winter War. I kept Persia out of the picture still since I didn't need the British taking Turkey and Iraq.
Phase Five: Belorussia and the Ukraine, Part 2
- With two of the four big VP cities now in my hands, I focused on pushing out towards Moscow as well as eventually controlling all of the Black Sea.
- I started out in Pskov, and pushed through Velikji, Vitesbk, Kaluga, Tula and Kursk. This encirclement was very tough since it was right up against Moscow and the Soviet kept sending tons of reinforcements to Kursk. The battle at one point was up to 50 Soviet divisions against 70 German divisions (and I lost 2 full groups taking this encirclement).
- I had the encirclement completed by late February of 1944 and liberation of the encircled provinces by April of 1944. This put me right in Moscow's backyard and was the final proof that Germany would be conquering the Soviet Union before long.
Phase Six: The Siege of Moscow
- I was finally poised to seize the Soviet capital of Moscow (although I knew it would move just before I did from the CORE event) and I had both the two highest economy in the world (second only to my American ally) and had over 330 divisions giving me the largest army in the world (270 of these on the Russian front).
- I went from Timosjino to Vologda, then from Rybinsk, Vladimir and finally Ryasan where it met up with Tula. I had a major battle in Ryasan when I ran straight into 40 Soviet divisions which were reinforcing Moscow and lost a full group in the process.
- I had the encirclement completed by late August of 1944 and the area liberated (including Moscow) by October of 1944.
Phase Seven: Rostok and Preparing for Stalingrad
- I decided to deal with Rostok and surrounding provinces so I would be on two sides of Stalingrad, and finally to move on for the all important kill.
- I went from Ryasan to Tamboy, down through Balasjov, Morozovsk where it met up in Prolertsak which I had conquered in Phase Three. I had the encirclement completed by December of 1944 and the area liberated by January of 1945.
Phase Eight: Stalingrad
- Normally I encircled several provinces but in this case I met a special encirclement solely for Stalingrad. The Soviet army was now only a 1/3 the size of mine but it had at least 6-8 divisions in every bordering province.
- I went Balasjov to Saratov and then through Volzjskijv where it completely encircled the city by March of 1945. I took the city within a couple of days and now had the four big VP cities (Baku, Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad) but didn't have to worry about Vladivstok since Japan wasn't in the Axis (and in fact was at war with everybody).
Phase Nine: Taming the Russian Bear
- At this point I had but a single goal left and that was to capture the new capital in the Urals at which point I could have enough VPs to puppet the Soviet Union (I didn't want to waste it on the chance of Bitter Peace).
- This phase was very simple since I just charged through Saratov to the new capital, which I had the following month in April of 1945 where I had not only beaten the Russian bear but made it a mere puppet of the Greater German Reich.
- In terms of liberated countries, I had Estonia, Lithuania, Lativa, Belorussia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azeribaijin and almost gladly gave the Soviets back their territory when they gone from Stalinism to Paternal Autocrat.
Final analysis of Barbarossa:
- It took me from December of 1941 till April of 1945 to bring the Soviet Union to its knees. The most important thing to remember was the entire time I maintained an economy in the 900s (sometimes above 1000 IC) and was producing a new army group of 12 divisions every 3 months (where I lost maybe 1 army group every 18 months) and took my army from starting around 250 when I began Barbarossa to 370. Likewise I kept up with alot of research and my motorized infantry units basically had the power of Improved Light Tanks by the time I had finished Barbarossa.
Other developments:
- By the end of 1945 I had the British home isles, South Africa, most of India conquered. The British Empire was still doing fairly well in Southeast Asia where it was turning out milita units like crazy. I was beginning landings in Australia and New Zealand by mid-1946 but after 12+ hours of playing I was beginning to hear voices :wacko: so I gave it up.
<THE END>
Last edited:
