"Lessons Learned"
An After Action Review by kaegogi
Player Nation = Brazil
Difficulty = Very Easy (hey, I'm new)
Start Date = 1/1/1936
Mod = None
Cheats = Altered saved game to lower Brazilian Neutrality to "0"
Lessons Learned
"Cave, cavern, cavernous"
was the thought progression that came to kaegogi's mind as he slowly spun on one heel. The warehouse he surveyed had been turned into a giant study hall for the Reich War College. On the ground floor massive wooden tables with upturned sides held tons of sand that had been sculpted and spray painted to depict the coastal plains of Uruguay. Privates from the adjacent Basic Training Battalion scurried between the tables laying out unit markers under the watchful eye of non-coms, who held maps with acetate graphics.
"Why doesn't it echo in here?"
kaegogi flattened his palms against the balcony's wooden railing and leaned out. The balcony ran around three sides of the warehouse and allowed anyone privileged enough to stand on it to review whatever portion of the world the enlisted men had faithfully recreated below. Currently the balcony held all 46 students of Class 2-52 of the Reich War College. One of those members, and the only North American by birth, was the luckless Lt. Colonel kaegogi.
skip this if you're not interested in bad writing
How had a man born in the small town of Mentor, in the heart of Kansas, USA, come to be standing on a balcony in a warehouse in Berlin, Germany, center of the Third Reich? It was a long and painful story. A story best left to the privacy of a torn soul and his bartender. Pretend for a minute that you're that bartender. What words of wisdom and comfort could you give a man that poured out a scotch soaked tale such as this? A member of the Flying Tigers in 1938, shot down by a Japanese fighter and swept up into a Nationalist Chinese battalion. Company Commander during a desperate counter attack onto the Korean Peninsula where your inability, despite crippling hunger, to eat dog meat earned you a nickname that managed to stick to you no matter where you went. A desperate escape from China aboard a neutral Yemeni flagged freighter. An eventual homecoming in 1941 to a less than proud German immigrant mother and father. A dutiful following of those parents back to the fatherland. A commission in an army that's not your own and a slogging mess of a war that drags you unwillingly from the Baltic to Siberia and the Pacific. Frocked a Regimental commander in a mech division during the hottest parts of the war and then reduced to Major, executive officer of an infantry battalion once the gears of war grew still. Now, with less than a year left before a graceful resignation could be submitted, promoted to Lt. Colonel and sent to the War College to learn how best to uphold Hitler's continued madness. It was 1952 for God's sake! How does a mere mortal of a bartender advise a man who has spent the past 14 years of his life fighting wars that were not his own? Best just to nod and look sympathetic, pour more scotch, on the house this time, and hope the wretch passes out sooner rather than later.
"ATTENTION"
"ca-clack, ca-clack, ca-clack" Rapid.
"Ca-click" The sound of the dress shoes' sudden stop signaled the end to the low conversations on the balcony.
Standing on the concrete floor of the warehouse was Brigadier General Utz Herbig, lecturer for the Brazil study. kaegogi and the rest of the class stood at attention.
"Carry on."
The enlisted men silently bustled back to putting the final touches on the giant sand table while the field grade officers on the balcony stood at ease and craned their necks to dutifully attend the General below.
"Officers of the Third Reich....welcome to Uruguay and Brazil's folly.", the General described an arc with one arm, encompassing the sand tables around him.
A man who prided himself on precision, the General wasted no more than those words for a preamble.
"Gentlemen, maps.", the General pointed toward the coastal ragions of Uruguay. "Copy."
kaegogi and the rest of the officers on the balcony unfolded their maps and began transfering the graphics.
"This, gentlemen, is the plan that would lead to Brazil's Doom."
"As you can see, the Brazilian High Command planned to invade Uruguay with a single Corps."
"Three divisions of infantry would be screened to the north by a division of cavalry, to the south by the Brazilian fleet and would have an airscreen of a single flight of interceptors."
The General was handed a yard long pointer by a Sergeant and moved to where he could point out the cavalry screen.
"The cavalry division will create a moving screen by separating into its three regiments, which will leap frog one another to spoil and fix any flanking attempts by Uruguayan forces positioned to the north."
His pointer moves to the center and northern infantry divisions.
"These divisions will drive through the inland plains and prepare an assault upon the capital, Objective Lime."
The pointer moves to the southern infantry division.
"The third division will follow the coast, screened and supported by the navy, and prepare a supporting attack."
The pointer moves to the fleet.
"The Battleship and her consorts will screen the movement of the coastal division and prepare to provide indirect fires on the capital, in support of the attack. Any Uruguayan attempts to put ships to sea will be met and defeated."
The pointer rests on the air component.
"The wing of interceptors will fly cover for the operation."
The General turns away from the sand tables with a derisive sneer.
"A child's parody of warfare gentlemen. But a good study of how not to lose wars. Let us see what became of Brazil's attempts at empire building."
kaegogi stared at his map as his mind drifted back to the nights he had spent sitting at the radio. As a 16 year old he had barely paid attention to the reports of war in distant South America. Now he remembered every word.
(to be continued once I've actually launched this thing)
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