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Oh my, thank you very much! Glad that you like it so much, and the update will come tommorow
Those filthy Soviets better not give any of my lands to filthy Finns! *waves fist*
Finnish CALVARY, eh?
It's christmas afterall, perhaps it influenced me
So some unforseen stuff happened that delayed me, and the chapter was a lot bigger than I anticipated it to be. So the update will be delayed by one day - that is it will come tommoring around 20-22 CET
Chapter 16
Chapter 16: When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him
Where's Ivan at?
"We thought taking on the Soviet Union would be a walk in the park. They had collapsed during the Weltkrieg, faced two crippling civil wars, got beaten by the upstart Polish and barely managed to win in their border war against the yellow menace. And we had taken Europe by storm. Army after army, nation after nation bend their knees to the German soldier and her innovative tactics and mobile divisions. But we underestimated Ivan. They looked back to the first war and ulike us they fully embraced war of attrition. Where we relied on quick victories to prevent a war of attrition, they embraced it. But that was not really unexpected. But what blew us apart was their mobile forces. If we had known all their armored and motorised formations under Soviet command we would have done things different. But worst was the Trotsky's Orgel. The terrifying sound it make as it launch death toward us, and the following carnage can't be fathomed, can't be explained. Still we found success in Hungary. While we suffered defeats in the east by the hands of the Bolsheviks we made significant gain in Hungary. By the start of October my battalion entered Budapest. Our morale who had almost perished as Berlin fell was now resurging. We proved again that we were able to sanitie Europe of Bolshevism and our enemies. Budapest was our for the taking, and the country would be restored to civilization and the grains would feed the German army. It would feed us to our way to Moscow", diary of a German battalion commander.
It's safe... for now.
By the end of September the German and Croatian units finally broke the defending Hungarian lines. Pressured from the north and the east the Axis forces in the region was ordered to take Hungary by all means, by any cost. An unknown, and fallen, Hungarian soldier described the situation: "the Germans threw everything they had on us. Stukas dived from high above with their sirens who would dishearten even the bravest of men, and then unleashed their widowmakers. It was horrible, nothing less. Explosions everywhere, and everytime I lost some of my comrades. I merely wished to get back to my farm, to my family. But I knew in my heart it wouldn't happen. In the distance I could see the smoke from the cities and villages that was conquered or bombed. In the distance I could see the fires of war, and German bombers rumbled above us in endless column blacking out the sun. We had to fight here against an aggressive German force. We only had to wait for the Soviets, our saviours, just north of our position. Only a few more days and the Red Army would relieve us and throw the Germans back to their country. The line had to be held, our homes had to be protected, or we would all perish".
Guess you'll perish then.
By the second of October Budapest fell. The Hungarian government capitulated with its leadership fleeing to the north to Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile many of the Hungarian workers's councils vowed to continue the fight against the German oppressors. Hungary had capitulated after months of fighting, its peoples's resilience and sacrifice impressed even the hardest of the Soviet commanders. Still the fight of Hungary was not over. The Red Army had crossed into most of what used to be Czechoslovakia and was situated just north of the Danube river. Would the impressive Soviet army liberate their faithful ally?
The Red Army march victoriously under the Brandernburg Gate.
But Budapest was not the only capital to fall. While Berlin was for the first time seized by the British the 3rd of July it took nearly three months for the battle of Berlin to truly end. The British was, as mentioned earlier, quickly driven out of Berlin and it was up the Red Army to hold Berlin and take full control of the city. This was achieved on the first of October. The bulk of the Waffen-SS and seasoned Wehrmacht troops was KIA, wounded or taken prisner during this hard fought battle. The city itself was left in ruins for years and the population would be forever scarred.
The Germans have to give up soon right?
Meanwhile the Red Army had broken the lines outside of Berlin and encircled the city. This was a major part for their success. Combined with air supremacy Germany was unable to relieve their forces in Berlin. The Luftwaffe promised to drop supplies to their countrymen in their capital. But if the transports reached the targets, most of them was shot down, it was uncertain if the supply drops came to the Germans or the Soviets. Erich von Manstein was ordered to counterattack with his army and take the city, but was unable to penetrate the front around Berlin. The battle of Berlin had truly come to an end. It looked as if the gods of war favored the Red Army. Berlin had fallen, Poland liberated, Czechoslovakia occupied and now Vienna was taken. The road to the birthplace of the Führer was open. However the Wehrmacht realized this and Austrian Alpenjägers (mountaineers) was tasked with counterattacking to reclaim Vienna.
All of Ukraine will again be under our enlightened rule.
On the 5th the high command of the Red Army ordered the fronts situated in the south around the Ukraine was to launch an offensive and retake the wartorn Soviet Republic once and for all. With overwhelming numbers the Soviets attacked the dug in German, Italian and Bulgarian divisions. Along the north-north-west side of the front in Ukraine a gap was being created consisting of an Italian armored division and one mountaineer division and several Bulgarian and German infantry divisions. The plan was simple. Close the gap, create a pocket. Mop up the pocket and take on Odessa in a pincer movement. Once Odessa was taken Bessarabia and Moldova would be taken, or liberated according to Soviet propaganda, in a similar pincer movement. It all seemed so simple.
So women are allowed to be pilots, will this have any real changes?
The Red Army soaked on the knowledge they acquired from their lessons of war. The operational doctrine of continuous offensives and Deep Operations was being perfected. Meanwhile it was looked into the possibility of allowing women to formally join in the armed forces. During the civil war and the war against Germany women had served as spotters, snipers, drivers and pilots. However women was barred from entering the Soviet military (as with rest of the world really), but Trotsky ordered that a regiment of female pilots was to be created. They were officially called the 588th Nigh Bomber Regiment and their mission isn't that hard to fathom. But they would be come to be known as the Night Witches and was feared by their enemies and loved by the people.
With Katyushas and Komsomolets Germany will be broken.
The onset of October also introduced a support regiment* of Katyusha Rockets, or Trotsky's Orgel as known by the Germans, to the Mechanized Corps. The rocket systems had proven to be slow to reload and not being that accurate, still it had devastating effects on the enemy - somewhat materially, but very much psychologically - and would be formally introduced to the mechanized troops. It was then planned on supporting the other armored formations and motorised rifle divisions when they had produced enough of these "orgels". The T-60 cavalry tank was also being introduced and the long process of slowly replacing light tanks with T-34s was being started. The Komsomolets class light cruiser was also introduced. It was innovative for its age, or rather for the unimpressive Red Fleet, but it was doubtful anyone would be laid down in the near future to the Soviet insistance of creating battleships, rebuilding their merchant fleet and replacing their losses.
One step at the time on the long road to the pre-war borders.
The offensive into western Ukraine had lasted for almost one week. The Axis was overall holding their ground, however on the westernmost part of the front the Soviets was breaking through. Odessa couldn't be reached on straight on, but perhaps from a backroad. Still the Axis troops fought valiantly, and so did the Soviets, in the hills and mountans of Romania. The Red Army was so close to seeing their homeland liberated, but hundreds of thousands would die.
A small look on the far-eastern front.
The far eastern front was a different story alltogether. Where the fronts in Europe was dominated by a strange mix of trench warfare and highly mobile battles, the east saw battles between mainly infantrists and cavalrists on the frozen and vast tundras of the east. The ground was shifting almost daily between Japan and the USSR. Despite the relative small concentration of forces the Red Army "only" suffered just under 250.000 casualties during the past year. However Vladivostok and the other ports and airports in the far east didn't fall to the Japanese. Mere weeks ago the situation for the Far East front was bleak. Risking complete annihilation. But they held their ground and pushed further into Manchuria fixing their bayonets on Korea. But the past year in the Far East had shown this theater was anything but predictable...
The Red Army is a machine as well.. and it can be broken..
Nearing the end of October as winter was coming Vienna fell. The Red Army had taken Vienna a mere month earlier. This led to the German high command to flee to Munich and set up the new provisional capital in the heartland of National Socialism. Now the battle of the city was finally concluded. The Germans had reallocated most of their forces who retreated from the Ukraine and the Balkans to reclaim the old Habsburg capital. Despite the Red Army holding massively higher numbers the Germans was bolstered by their victories in Hungary and the fact that they was fighting for their homeland. The Alpenjägers, Luftwaffe Divisions and Panzerwaffen formations alike liberated Vienna from the USSR. Now they were to reclaim Bohemia-Moravia and then strike up to the Baltic Sea. If they succeeded in their daring blitz millions of Soviet forces would be cut off.
How ironic, it was the oldStalin Trotsky line who held us at bay.
However the Red Army saw some successes too. Mostly in the Ukraine. The lines was broken and the Red Army was reaching Odessa. The fights in Ukraine had been especially bloody. The natives hadn't really been loyal to Stalin due to the famines, mistreatment of farmers (making up most of the population) and increased nationalism and had sided with the rebels and Trotsky during the civil war. However Trotsky didn't manage to fulfill most of promises nor give the Ukranian much more bread. This can be explained by the war, but many Ukranians collaborated with the Axis and joined an Ukranian led national army against the Red Army. Still the Soviet Union broke through and threatened Odessa, and the majority of the Ukranians was loyal to Trotsky either out of ideological persuasion, patriotism or simply being realistic. Those who supported the Axis was awaiting their punishment and fled to the west away from their fellow countryment. If Odessa was taken the last important city of Ukraine would be liberated, and from there Romania could be liberated from German occupation.
We advance in the west, and retreat in the south.
The overall situatoin was mixed and had drastically changed in the prior weeks. Hungary was firmly under German control, Austria had been retaken and Prague was being fought over. In the west the battle of the Rhine had came to a total deadlock. Meanwhile the forces who took Berlin spread out hoping to take all of north-west Germany.
What do make of this?
The dark and long days of November descended over the world, as the horrors of war did. The German offensive into Czechoslovakia was a huge success and there was real concern among the Soviet High Command they would be the breaking point of the Red Army. But Trotsky was relaxed and simply said "we have the numbers. We can take five punches, ten, 100, 500 or 1000 if it is needed. We will be hit over and over again, but we will stand up right. We will remain. But the little man with his little mustache will be fatigued. And it is then the bear will devour him". Despite this the numbers spoke for itself. For every German soldier who fell, four Soviet soldiers would die. There was a 4:1 ration, and on the battlefield the Internationale "only" outnumbered the Axis three to one. In theory Germany and Japan had the odds on their sides. It remained to be seen if the Axis would cleanse the world of communism, or if the Russian Bear would devour fascism.
För brödrafolkens väl!
On November the Swedish communists made a surprise attack to the west. Believing the red Swedes was occupied dealing with the Kingdom of Sweden the Germans focused mostly on the Soviet-Finnish offensive in Norway and the Soviet offensive in Germany. However the Swedes struck to the west, liberated Denmark and was poised to liberate all of Zealand and in turn Denmark. Another front opened up in Germany.
The battles in Norway.
Despite there not beng any large scale battles in Norway as in continental Europe, it still saw its fair share of battle, destruction and it was of great importance. In Norway the Germans had uboat bases which disrupted British and Soviet trade. Then it was the matter of threatening Germany from the north. During the first two weeks of November two seperate wars was fought in Norway. One in Oslo which saw heavy combined urban and winter combat, where the Finnish troops excelled over the German ones, still the Finno-Soviet troops took massive casualties. In the mountains warfare in extreme harsh conditions took place. Nature claimed more casualties here than bullets. But by the 15th of November Oslo and most of the southern coast with its important ports, except for Stavanger, was liberated to the Norwegians. Only Bergen and Stavanger remained and the German uboat threat would be over in the north atlantic, and another nation would owe its independence to the people and soldiers of the Soviet Union.
We only know three words: Forward to victory!
November started with an overall cessation of Soviet Offensives. However by the 21st of November the Soviet troops got the order to move forward. The sharpest and cleverest of minds in the Red Army was convened to name this offensive, and they came up with a creative name: The November Offensive. The start signal, or shot, would be when the forces of the west reached Frankfurt. The following day an offensive from the northern fronts would be started intended on reaching Belgium. It remained to be seen wether or not the plan would work out. It was now believed that the war would truly end by christmas.
Hamburg will soon become a pocket...
The war had taken its toll on the Soviet forces. Many of the manuever divisions had lost all of its veterans and its troops prior to the war. Life expectancy was not high in the Red Army. Men were expected to fall in their duty, to fall for their motherland. This aggressive approach was feared by the Germans and eventually torn the down. One such event was when two fast moving Soviet units during the November Offensive spread out to claim Kiel and Hamburg. Kiel was taken, but the mostly green troops attacking Hamburg met seasoned troops. Despite this the Germans lost to sheer Soviet numbers and the question was not if Hamburg would fall, but if Hamburg would fall first or if would be completely surrounded first. The Trotsky Orgels played their music over northern Germany, and to its tones the Soviet tanks would roll over any opposition.
At least we have Mongolia right?
These were dark times indeed for the Far Eastern Front. The only independent Chinese Warlord, the Soviet ally of Sinkiang, fell to Japan by the end of November. After months of bitter fighting in the mountains and steppes of the old Mongol empire, the Japanese was not dettered by the harsh winter nor the communists troops. Sinkiang fell and capitulted. The soft underbelly of Russia was exposed.
This is the only strip of land where we can return to from.
Meanwhile the Turkestan Front was reduced to eight divisions. All of them was located near the borders of British India. The troops was ordered to take a forced march, leaving behind most of their equipment, to get back to their homeland. From there they would only need to defend a tiny strip of lands from the Imperial Japanese Army. However the IJA knew this and would do anything in their power to cross into Russia first or cut off the retreating forces..
Patience pays off. And of course millions of corpses.
November turned December. Usually the Advent would be observed and celebrated. Instead the war raged on. It was not christmas candles who would be lit up, but rather entire cities and fields. And December saw renewed brutality. The German offensive into Czechoslovakia stalled in the cold and brutal winter and the equally brutal Soviet soldier. In the north the western and eastern fronts was about to meet, occupying all of northern Germany. While the battle of Hamburg raged on it was only Bremen who was still found itself under native command along the once impressive German atlantic coast. In the south the Red Army was making advances into Romania and the brutal fights of Odessa was going on. A Soviet veteran, a rare sight, remarked "the vicious fights of Odessa made the battle of Stalingrad during the civil war and Barbarossa look like a sandbox. It was every man for himself. Often we found ourselves without food and had to eat frozen horses.. or worse".
The Finnish will finish the Germans.
On the 6th of December the mightiest of mountains in Norway had been climbed and Stavanger seized. Bergen was the only last port in German occupied Norway. First a German infantry division had to be taken, but near Bergen itself a German Panzer Division awaited for the Finnish and Norwegian troops. Army Norway (Wehrmacht) was coming to an end, but it would not go down without a fight. In the meantime the Swedish communists took control over all of Sweden and focused its entire army and several workers's militias to take on Denmark. Germany was truly on the defensive.
A totally accurate photo of Churchill, Roosevelt and Trotsky.
During November the Ylata Conference was also held. But it broke down on the 10th of December. Lord Halifax sent Churchill as his representative in Yalta, and with him Roosevelt of the United States joined in. Roosevelt made promises of US involvement if the British and Soviets liberated the peoples of Europe and Asia and promised them further economic aid, mostly from the lend lease act. However Trotsky believed that the UK and US delegations took too many liberties. In effect they wanted to hold free elections, which Trotsky named borgouise status-quo and saw this as hindering the spread of communism in the world. Meanwhile Germany was to be split between Soviet (including all of the Internationale), British, Little Entente (minus France) and American zones of occupation. This was unacceptable to the USSR. "It is the soldiers of the Red Army and the Internationale who have bled for getting rid of fascism in Europe. Who have suffered and made great sacrifices to liberate all of Europe. And here the capitalists and imperialists prance in and claim most of Europe for their own. No we will dictate our own peace! One to liberate all of Europe from oppression!" Trotsky declared to all of the USSR by radio, and in turn all of the world. The relationship between the western powers and the communist ones was getting to a new lowpoint. Only their common enemy made them having a cordial relationship.
What can hide in this jar of tempting honey?
Following the breakdown of the Yalta Conference a new project was started. Several research cities was created to experiment in new nuclear technology. Luckily for the USSR several high ranking nuclear scientists was planned to be purged by Stalin but was rescued by the rebelling Soviets leading up to the return of Trotsky. These men would now lead the secret project, helped by German scientists who had been taken.
This is the end of the road for you.
December the 13th the Red Army command ordered the Soviet troops to not march directly into Magdeburg. Instead they had to unleas hell upon the Germans south of Magdeburg and link up with the western forces. Only after that could they take on Magdeburg. When the Magdeburg gap was closed, Magdeburg taken and then Bremen the hundreds of thousands of Germans troops caught in that pocket would surely surrender. By the 15th after intense fighting, resulting in several German divisions fleeing out of the gap, the Magdeburg was closed. This would be known as the Magdeburg Kessel by the Germans, and Magdeburg itself was soon under attack.
Why can't you just fall?
Well into December the fighting of Odessa continued. Despite vastly outnumbering the Axis troops, the Axis took advantage of the fortifications created during the expansion of the Trotsky Line. Moreover the Axis had dug in all along the winter, and the Soviet arms and tanks froze in the cold, and so did the men. A German soldier explained his tenacity "we were here in this frozen land. In these streets of blood, fields of destruction. I witnessed great suffering. We were bombed from the air. The enemy played voices of German speaking women telling us to give up to get warm beds and food, but we knew that was lies. The enemy had it just as bad. Our weapons malfunctioned, and the Soviet navy bombarded the coast line. Bombarded their own people. The waters was poisoned, and we could only drink the snow. Which again was filled with blood and dirt. But we kept on fighting, we held the lines as we fought, slept, ate and bled in the same frozen trenches day in and day out. If we lost Odessa we would lose all of Europe to the Mongol hordes. We had to fight, still I long home. I long home to my wife, my family. To something as simple as sleeping through a night or having bread during the morning".
You were supposed to stay inside!
On the 21st the Germans managed to break out of the Magdeburg Kessel. Bremen was lost, but with the opening of the pocket the Germans subsequently entrenched themself inside and around Magdeburg with several divisions heading south, seeing the north of Germany being lost.
Soviet refugees.
The war in Germany also poured millions of Soviet citizens into other countries. This had profound effects on Soviet society. Keep in mind this was a nation where until Trotsky's return peasants was not allowed to hold passports of leave their farms. A young soldier wrote in his biography after he deserted from the Red Army and fled to Britain "I couldn't fathom why these men would fight and die over a pointless war. We came to Europe being told stories of how we lived in a worker's paradise and we were to liberate the masses. But they were rich, they had everything, and yet they threw it all away in senseless destruction. Their homes had curtains, silver cutlery and the finest china. Their buildings was made out of wood or stone, while at home most still lived in small dirt huts. It made me question the motives of our government".
Norway will be liberated by Christmas.
Armee Norwegen was beaten. Only an understrenght division found itself isolated in the mountains outside of Bergen. With no where to retreat, they chose to fight to their deaths rather than surrender. Mountain after mountain was conquered by Finnish, Norwegian and Belgian troops alike. The very last German combat unit fell, literally, on Christmas Eve as a joint Finno-Norwegian company stormed a mountain and pushed the defenders to a cliff. The defenders chose to jump to their deaths. Norway was liberated.
Christmas come early this year!
Around a week earlier FDR made a historic announcement in Congress. "When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you do not wait until he has struck to crush him". He cited that with Japan's conquest of China and their advances into Dutch East Indies it was only a matter of time before they would strike at USA. Moreover Europe could only be liberated from dictatorships and wars with the direct involvement of USA. It was their duty and destiny to help them out, and if they did not confront Hitler and Mussolini they would in the end confront the US. Also it was hinted that if the US did not intervene, the USSR might aswell take over Europe and threaten all of the world one day.
Merry christmas.
The bells ringed for christmas mass, but in the Far East they signaled a renewed Soviet offensive. Some lands had been taken in Manchuria, but they were soon met with stiff opposition. Christmas peace did not come over Asia nor Europe. The war raged on and millions more would die.
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*First time ingame that rockets are used by me. Again ingame battalion = irl regiment.
And sorry for the belated update. Also thought it was nice to end the chapter with a christmas song. Appereantly it is just to end this war if they want it, but we will want it to keep on going.
Where's Ivan at?
"We thought taking on the Soviet Union would be a walk in the park. They had collapsed during the Weltkrieg, faced two crippling civil wars, got beaten by the upstart Polish and barely managed to win in their border war against the yellow menace. And we had taken Europe by storm. Army after army, nation after nation bend their knees to the German soldier and her innovative tactics and mobile divisions. But we underestimated Ivan. They looked back to the first war and ulike us they fully embraced war of attrition. Where we relied on quick victories to prevent a war of attrition, they embraced it. But that was not really unexpected. But what blew us apart was their mobile forces. If we had known all their armored and motorised formations under Soviet command we would have done things different. But worst was the Trotsky's Orgel. The terrifying sound it make as it launch death toward us, and the following carnage can't be fathomed, can't be explained. Still we found success in Hungary. While we suffered defeats in the east by the hands of the Bolsheviks we made significant gain in Hungary. By the start of October my battalion entered Budapest. Our morale who had almost perished as Berlin fell was now resurging. We proved again that we were able to sanitie Europe of Bolshevism and our enemies. Budapest was our for the taking, and the country would be restored to civilization and the grains would feed the German army. It would feed us to our way to Moscow", diary of a German battalion commander.
It's safe... for now.
By the end of September the German and Croatian units finally broke the defending Hungarian lines. Pressured from the north and the east the Axis forces in the region was ordered to take Hungary by all means, by any cost. An unknown, and fallen, Hungarian soldier described the situation: "the Germans threw everything they had on us. Stukas dived from high above with their sirens who would dishearten even the bravest of men, and then unleashed their widowmakers. It was horrible, nothing less. Explosions everywhere, and everytime I lost some of my comrades. I merely wished to get back to my farm, to my family. But I knew in my heart it wouldn't happen. In the distance I could see the smoke from the cities and villages that was conquered or bombed. In the distance I could see the fires of war, and German bombers rumbled above us in endless column blacking out the sun. We had to fight here against an aggressive German force. We only had to wait for the Soviets, our saviours, just north of our position. Only a few more days and the Red Army would relieve us and throw the Germans back to their country. The line had to be held, our homes had to be protected, or we would all perish".
Guess you'll perish then.
By the second of October Budapest fell. The Hungarian government capitulated with its leadership fleeing to the north to Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile many of the Hungarian workers's councils vowed to continue the fight against the German oppressors. Hungary had capitulated after months of fighting, its peoples's resilience and sacrifice impressed even the hardest of the Soviet commanders. Still the fight of Hungary was not over. The Red Army had crossed into most of what used to be Czechoslovakia and was situated just north of the Danube river. Would the impressive Soviet army liberate their faithful ally?
The Red Army march victoriously under the Brandernburg Gate.
But Budapest was not the only capital to fall. While Berlin was for the first time seized by the British the 3rd of July it took nearly three months for the battle of Berlin to truly end. The British was, as mentioned earlier, quickly driven out of Berlin and it was up the Red Army to hold Berlin and take full control of the city. This was achieved on the first of October. The bulk of the Waffen-SS and seasoned Wehrmacht troops was KIA, wounded or taken prisner during this hard fought battle. The city itself was left in ruins for years and the population would be forever scarred.
The Germans have to give up soon right?
Meanwhile the Red Army had broken the lines outside of Berlin and encircled the city. This was a major part for their success. Combined with air supremacy Germany was unable to relieve their forces in Berlin. The Luftwaffe promised to drop supplies to their countrymen in their capital. But if the transports reached the targets, most of them was shot down, it was uncertain if the supply drops came to the Germans or the Soviets. Erich von Manstein was ordered to counterattack with his army and take the city, but was unable to penetrate the front around Berlin. The battle of Berlin had truly come to an end. It looked as if the gods of war favored the Red Army. Berlin had fallen, Poland liberated, Czechoslovakia occupied and now Vienna was taken. The road to the birthplace of the Führer was open. However the Wehrmacht realized this and Austrian Alpenjägers (mountaineers) was tasked with counterattacking to reclaim Vienna.
All of Ukraine will again be under our enlightened rule.
On the 5th the high command of the Red Army ordered the fronts situated in the south around the Ukraine was to launch an offensive and retake the wartorn Soviet Republic once and for all. With overwhelming numbers the Soviets attacked the dug in German, Italian and Bulgarian divisions. Along the north-north-west side of the front in Ukraine a gap was being created consisting of an Italian armored division and one mountaineer division and several Bulgarian and German infantry divisions. The plan was simple. Close the gap, create a pocket. Mop up the pocket and take on Odessa in a pincer movement. Once Odessa was taken Bessarabia and Moldova would be taken, or liberated according to Soviet propaganda, in a similar pincer movement. It all seemed so simple.
So women are allowed to be pilots, will this have any real changes?
The Red Army soaked on the knowledge they acquired from their lessons of war. The operational doctrine of continuous offensives and Deep Operations was being perfected. Meanwhile it was looked into the possibility of allowing women to formally join in the armed forces. During the civil war and the war against Germany women had served as spotters, snipers, drivers and pilots. However women was barred from entering the Soviet military (as with rest of the world really), but Trotsky ordered that a regiment of female pilots was to be created. They were officially called the 588th Nigh Bomber Regiment and their mission isn't that hard to fathom. But they would be come to be known as the Night Witches and was feared by their enemies and loved by the people.
With Katyushas and Komsomolets Germany will be broken.
The onset of October also introduced a support regiment* of Katyusha Rockets, or Trotsky's Orgel as known by the Germans, to the Mechanized Corps. The rocket systems had proven to be slow to reload and not being that accurate, still it had devastating effects on the enemy - somewhat materially, but very much psychologically - and would be formally introduced to the mechanized troops. It was then planned on supporting the other armored formations and motorised rifle divisions when they had produced enough of these "orgels". The T-60 cavalry tank was also being introduced and the long process of slowly replacing light tanks with T-34s was being started. The Komsomolets class light cruiser was also introduced. It was innovative for its age, or rather for the unimpressive Red Fleet, but it was doubtful anyone would be laid down in the near future to the Soviet insistance of creating battleships, rebuilding their merchant fleet and replacing their losses.
One step at the time on the long road to the pre-war borders.
The offensive into western Ukraine had lasted for almost one week. The Axis was overall holding their ground, however on the westernmost part of the front the Soviets was breaking through. Odessa couldn't be reached on straight on, but perhaps from a backroad. Still the Axis troops fought valiantly, and so did the Soviets, in the hills and mountans of Romania. The Red Army was so close to seeing their homeland liberated, but hundreds of thousands would die.
A small look on the far-eastern front.
The far eastern front was a different story alltogether. Where the fronts in Europe was dominated by a strange mix of trench warfare and highly mobile battles, the east saw battles between mainly infantrists and cavalrists on the frozen and vast tundras of the east. The ground was shifting almost daily between Japan and the USSR. Despite the relative small concentration of forces the Red Army "only" suffered just under 250.000 casualties during the past year. However Vladivostok and the other ports and airports in the far east didn't fall to the Japanese. Mere weeks ago the situation for the Far East front was bleak. Risking complete annihilation. But they held their ground and pushed further into Manchuria fixing their bayonets on Korea. But the past year in the Far East had shown this theater was anything but predictable...
The Red Army is a machine as well.. and it can be broken..
Nearing the end of October as winter was coming Vienna fell. The Red Army had taken Vienna a mere month earlier. This led to the German high command to flee to Munich and set up the new provisional capital in the heartland of National Socialism. Now the battle of the city was finally concluded. The Germans had reallocated most of their forces who retreated from the Ukraine and the Balkans to reclaim the old Habsburg capital. Despite the Red Army holding massively higher numbers the Germans was bolstered by their victories in Hungary and the fact that they was fighting for their homeland. The Alpenjägers, Luftwaffe Divisions and Panzerwaffen formations alike liberated Vienna from the USSR. Now they were to reclaim Bohemia-Moravia and then strike up to the Baltic Sea. If they succeeded in their daring blitz millions of Soviet forces would be cut off.
How ironic, it was the old
However the Red Army saw some successes too. Mostly in the Ukraine. The lines was broken and the Red Army was reaching Odessa. The fights in Ukraine had been especially bloody. The natives hadn't really been loyal to Stalin due to the famines, mistreatment of farmers (making up most of the population) and increased nationalism and had sided with the rebels and Trotsky during the civil war. However Trotsky didn't manage to fulfill most of promises nor give the Ukranian much more bread. This can be explained by the war, but many Ukranians collaborated with the Axis and joined an Ukranian led national army against the Red Army. Still the Soviet Union broke through and threatened Odessa, and the majority of the Ukranians was loyal to Trotsky either out of ideological persuasion, patriotism or simply being realistic. Those who supported the Axis was awaiting their punishment and fled to the west away from their fellow countryment. If Odessa was taken the last important city of Ukraine would be liberated, and from there Romania could be liberated from German occupation.
We advance in the west, and retreat in the south.
The overall situatoin was mixed and had drastically changed in the prior weeks. Hungary was firmly under German control, Austria had been retaken and Prague was being fought over. In the west the battle of the Rhine had came to a total deadlock. Meanwhile the forces who took Berlin spread out hoping to take all of north-west Germany.
What do make of this?
The dark and long days of November descended over the world, as the horrors of war did. The German offensive into Czechoslovakia was a huge success and there was real concern among the Soviet High Command they would be the breaking point of the Red Army. But Trotsky was relaxed and simply said "we have the numbers. We can take five punches, ten, 100, 500 or 1000 if it is needed. We will be hit over and over again, but we will stand up right. We will remain. But the little man with his little mustache will be fatigued. And it is then the bear will devour him". Despite this the numbers spoke for itself. For every German soldier who fell, four Soviet soldiers would die. There was a 4:1 ration, and on the battlefield the Internationale "only" outnumbered the Axis three to one. In theory Germany and Japan had the odds on their sides. It remained to be seen if the Axis would cleanse the world of communism, or if the Russian Bear would devour fascism.
För brödrafolkens väl!
On November the Swedish communists made a surprise attack to the west. Believing the red Swedes was occupied dealing with the Kingdom of Sweden the Germans focused mostly on the Soviet-Finnish offensive in Norway and the Soviet offensive in Germany. However the Swedes struck to the west, liberated Denmark and was poised to liberate all of Zealand and in turn Denmark. Another front opened up in Germany.
The battles in Norway.
Despite there not beng any large scale battles in Norway as in continental Europe, it still saw its fair share of battle, destruction and it was of great importance. In Norway the Germans had uboat bases which disrupted British and Soviet trade. Then it was the matter of threatening Germany from the north. During the first two weeks of November two seperate wars was fought in Norway. One in Oslo which saw heavy combined urban and winter combat, where the Finnish troops excelled over the German ones, still the Finno-Soviet troops took massive casualties. In the mountains warfare in extreme harsh conditions took place. Nature claimed more casualties here than bullets. But by the 15th of November Oslo and most of the southern coast with its important ports, except for Stavanger, was liberated to the Norwegians. Only Bergen and Stavanger remained and the German uboat threat would be over in the north atlantic, and another nation would owe its independence to the people and soldiers of the Soviet Union.
We only know three words: Forward to victory!
November started with an overall cessation of Soviet Offensives. However by the 21st of November the Soviet troops got the order to move forward. The sharpest and cleverest of minds in the Red Army was convened to name this offensive, and they came up with a creative name: The November Offensive. The start signal, or shot, would be when the forces of the west reached Frankfurt. The following day an offensive from the northern fronts would be started intended on reaching Belgium. It remained to be seen wether or not the plan would work out. It was now believed that the war would truly end by christmas.
Hamburg will soon become a pocket...
The war had taken its toll on the Soviet forces. Many of the manuever divisions had lost all of its veterans and its troops prior to the war. Life expectancy was not high in the Red Army. Men were expected to fall in their duty, to fall for their motherland. This aggressive approach was feared by the Germans and eventually torn the down. One such event was when two fast moving Soviet units during the November Offensive spread out to claim Kiel and Hamburg. Kiel was taken, but the mostly green troops attacking Hamburg met seasoned troops. Despite this the Germans lost to sheer Soviet numbers and the question was not if Hamburg would fall, but if Hamburg would fall first or if would be completely surrounded first. The Trotsky Orgels played their music over northern Germany, and to its tones the Soviet tanks would roll over any opposition.
At least we have Mongolia right?
These were dark times indeed for the Far Eastern Front. The only independent Chinese Warlord, the Soviet ally of Sinkiang, fell to Japan by the end of November. After months of bitter fighting in the mountains and steppes of the old Mongol empire, the Japanese was not dettered by the harsh winter nor the communists troops. Sinkiang fell and capitulted. The soft underbelly of Russia was exposed.
This is the only strip of land where we can return to from.
Meanwhile the Turkestan Front was reduced to eight divisions. All of them was located near the borders of British India. The troops was ordered to take a forced march, leaving behind most of their equipment, to get back to their homeland. From there they would only need to defend a tiny strip of lands from the Imperial Japanese Army. However the IJA knew this and would do anything in their power to cross into Russia first or cut off the retreating forces..
Patience pays off. And of course millions of corpses.
November turned December. Usually the Advent would be observed and celebrated. Instead the war raged on. It was not christmas candles who would be lit up, but rather entire cities and fields. And December saw renewed brutality. The German offensive into Czechoslovakia stalled in the cold and brutal winter and the equally brutal Soviet soldier. In the north the western and eastern fronts was about to meet, occupying all of northern Germany. While the battle of Hamburg raged on it was only Bremen who was still found itself under native command along the once impressive German atlantic coast. In the south the Red Army was making advances into Romania and the brutal fights of Odessa was going on. A Soviet veteran, a rare sight, remarked "the vicious fights of Odessa made the battle of Stalingrad during the civil war and Barbarossa look like a sandbox. It was every man for himself. Often we found ourselves without food and had to eat frozen horses.. or worse".
The Finnish will finish the Germans.
On the 6th of December the mightiest of mountains in Norway had been climbed and Stavanger seized. Bergen was the only last port in German occupied Norway. First a German infantry division had to be taken, but near Bergen itself a German Panzer Division awaited for the Finnish and Norwegian troops. Army Norway (Wehrmacht) was coming to an end, but it would not go down without a fight. In the meantime the Swedish communists took control over all of Sweden and focused its entire army and several workers's militias to take on Denmark. Germany was truly on the defensive.
A totally accurate photo of Churchill, Roosevelt and Trotsky.
During November the Ylata Conference was also held. But it broke down on the 10th of December. Lord Halifax sent Churchill as his representative in Yalta, and with him Roosevelt of the United States joined in. Roosevelt made promises of US involvement if the British and Soviets liberated the peoples of Europe and Asia and promised them further economic aid, mostly from the lend lease act. However Trotsky believed that the UK and US delegations took too many liberties. In effect they wanted to hold free elections, which Trotsky named borgouise status-quo and saw this as hindering the spread of communism in the world. Meanwhile Germany was to be split between Soviet (including all of the Internationale), British, Little Entente (minus France) and American zones of occupation. This was unacceptable to the USSR. "It is the soldiers of the Red Army and the Internationale who have bled for getting rid of fascism in Europe. Who have suffered and made great sacrifices to liberate all of Europe. And here the capitalists and imperialists prance in and claim most of Europe for their own. No we will dictate our own peace! One to liberate all of Europe from oppression!" Trotsky declared to all of the USSR by radio, and in turn all of the world. The relationship between the western powers and the communist ones was getting to a new lowpoint. Only their common enemy made them having a cordial relationship.
What can hide in this jar of tempting honey?
Following the breakdown of the Yalta Conference a new project was started. Several research cities was created to experiment in new nuclear technology. Luckily for the USSR several high ranking nuclear scientists was planned to be purged by Stalin but was rescued by the rebelling Soviets leading up to the return of Trotsky. These men would now lead the secret project, helped by German scientists who had been taken.
This is the end of the road for you.
December the 13th the Red Army command ordered the Soviet troops to not march directly into Magdeburg. Instead they had to unleas hell upon the Germans south of Magdeburg and link up with the western forces. Only after that could they take on Magdeburg. When the Magdeburg gap was closed, Magdeburg taken and then Bremen the hundreds of thousands of Germans troops caught in that pocket would surely surrender. By the 15th after intense fighting, resulting in several German divisions fleeing out of the gap, the Magdeburg was closed. This would be known as the Magdeburg Kessel by the Germans, and Magdeburg itself was soon under attack.
Why can't you just fall?
Well into December the fighting of Odessa continued. Despite vastly outnumbering the Axis troops, the Axis took advantage of the fortifications created during the expansion of the Trotsky Line. Moreover the Axis had dug in all along the winter, and the Soviet arms and tanks froze in the cold, and so did the men. A German soldier explained his tenacity "we were here in this frozen land. In these streets of blood, fields of destruction. I witnessed great suffering. We were bombed from the air. The enemy played voices of German speaking women telling us to give up to get warm beds and food, but we knew that was lies. The enemy had it just as bad. Our weapons malfunctioned, and the Soviet navy bombarded the coast line. Bombarded their own people. The waters was poisoned, and we could only drink the snow. Which again was filled with blood and dirt. But we kept on fighting, we held the lines as we fought, slept, ate and bled in the same frozen trenches day in and day out. If we lost Odessa we would lose all of Europe to the Mongol hordes. We had to fight, still I long home. I long home to my wife, my family. To something as simple as sleeping through a night or having bread during the morning".
You were supposed to stay inside!
On the 21st the Germans managed to break out of the Magdeburg Kessel. Bremen was lost, but with the opening of the pocket the Germans subsequently entrenched themself inside and around Magdeburg with several divisions heading south, seeing the north of Germany being lost.
Soviet refugees.
The war in Germany also poured millions of Soviet citizens into other countries. This had profound effects on Soviet society. Keep in mind this was a nation where until Trotsky's return peasants was not allowed to hold passports of leave their farms. A young soldier wrote in his biography after he deserted from the Red Army and fled to Britain "I couldn't fathom why these men would fight and die over a pointless war. We came to Europe being told stories of how we lived in a worker's paradise and we were to liberate the masses. But they were rich, they had everything, and yet they threw it all away in senseless destruction. Their homes had curtains, silver cutlery and the finest china. Their buildings was made out of wood or stone, while at home most still lived in small dirt huts. It made me question the motives of our government".
Norway will be liberated by Christmas.
Armee Norwegen was beaten. Only an understrenght division found itself isolated in the mountains outside of Bergen. With no where to retreat, they chose to fight to their deaths rather than surrender. Mountain after mountain was conquered by Finnish, Norwegian and Belgian troops alike. The very last German combat unit fell, literally, on Christmas Eve as a joint Finno-Norwegian company stormed a mountain and pushed the defenders to a cliff. The defenders chose to jump to their deaths. Norway was liberated.
Christmas come early this year!
Around a week earlier FDR made a historic announcement in Congress. "When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you do not wait until he has struck to crush him". He cited that with Japan's conquest of China and their advances into Dutch East Indies it was only a matter of time before they would strike at USA. Moreover Europe could only be liberated from dictatorships and wars with the direct involvement of USA. It was their duty and destiny to help them out, and if they did not confront Hitler and Mussolini they would in the end confront the US. Also it was hinted that if the US did not intervene, the USSR might aswell take over Europe and threaten all of the world one day.
Merry christmas.
The bells ringed for christmas mass, but in the Far East they signaled a renewed Soviet offensive. Some lands had been taken in Manchuria, but they were soon met with stiff opposition. Christmas peace did not come over Asia nor Europe. The war raged on and millions more would die.
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*First time ingame that rockets are used by me. Again ingame battalion = irl regiment.
And sorry for the belated update. Also thought it was nice to end the chapter with a christmas song. Appereantly it is just to end this war if they want it, but we will want it to keep on going.
With all the fronts in Europe I think Germany will fall eventually. However, what happens after that in Europe remains to be seen. As for the far east, it depends on how much of Siberia and Asia is left outside of Japanese rule...And whether the us gets involved I suppose.
Glad to see the Soviets paying for their idiocy, Europe may yet live in peace and prosperity without being forced to fit for a silly utopian vision.
Good AAR though, thought for sure you would just crush the Germans in a year or so.
Good AAR though, thought for sure you would just crush the Germans in a year or so.
They should have given up once we declared war. They are only postponing the inevitable.
At least the US is involved now. Hopefully they will join in and bring down the Japanese. Then we will see if Europe and Asia can ever be divided between the commies and the capitalists.
We will see about that, remember that France and Spain is communist now
I think that the USSR dictating their own terms will be more favorable to them. But anything can happen.And thank you for that, thought I would crush them myself (before that I thought the Germans would win) it is frustrating that I'm so close to victory, still there's a loong way to a German downfall.
The world I hope you mean?
And Christmas and so on is taking it's time, we'll see if we will have an update or two this week, or if it comes during the next week
Belgian communist revolution.
Communist Revolutions: La Muette de Portici.
The liberation of Belgium.
When French and British troops crossed into Belgium and liberated the country it was believed democracy was reinstalled. But the hopes of western democracies was shattered during the election of '41. Yet another country fell to the "red menace", but in an unusual way.
German occupation of Belgium.
The road to the (second) Belgian revolution grew from the oppressive occupation by the hands of the German war machine. Already before German panzers took the lands of Belgium and the bombers terrorized her people NKVD agents and agents from France had inflitrated the society. However it was the ensuing chaos and power vacuum following the Anglo-French liberation of Belgium that paved the way for the Communist Party of Belgium (KPB/PCB) to take power. The legal government, along with the royal family, of Belgium had already left for Britain in exile. However they would not be the first to enter Belgium and create a provisional government following its liberation. It was the communists. Along with the army of the Federation of Communes of France radical French activists and Belgian radical socialists and communists poured in. Where Germany had hoped to eradicate the growing Belgian communist movement with their invasion and occupation, they instead fled to Britain and France. Now they had returned. However instead of creating a vanguard party to lead the workers against the bourgeoise they were inspired by the failed social revolution of Spain. Cooperatives and workers's councils was created led by radical socialists and members of KPB/PCB. These would lay the basis for most of the de-facto power of Belgium. These cooperaties would again create worker's militias of their own, they would again be trained and armed by Spain, France and the USSR and would become the real army and police force of Belgium. By the time the royal family and the legal government of Belgium returned most of the population had already been swayed to the communist cause.
Belgians who want to work 8 hours again.
The parties of Belgium who was loyal to the monarchy and a liberal democracy joined forces in a grand coalition to "endure this time of hardship together, as one nation, one people" but they soon found themself victim of not only the old conflict between the Flemish and Francophones, but also social democrats who had been radicalised and that most trade unions (and the KPB/PCB) refusing to take part in the grand coalition, claiming it to be "against the will and welfare of the people". This greatly weakened legitimacy of the restored Belgian government. To help amend to this the government announced that a new election was to come. However the many cooperatives of Belgium held the de-facto power of most of the Belgium industry. The government wanted to wrest the control out of the hands of the unions to bring stability and prosperity to the nation (which they would benefit from during the following election), however the weak security forces was quickly repulsed by the militias and the armies of France and Spain. This greatly lowered the popularity of the Belgian government, and increased the sympathies of the cooperatives and unions who claimed only they could get their economy back on track and needed to lift the restrictions imposed by the government. During the German occupation of Belgium the 8 hour workday was reverted and the people and unions of Belgium now demanded this to be reinstated. Unfortunately the government of Belgium was unable to meet those demands. Part because of they were occupied by the many issues faced at home, and because the cooperatives and unions created an 8 hour workday themself independent of government policies. This led to a real power struggle within Belgium, rising popularity to the cooperatives and unions and most importantly, a huge embarrassment for the government.
The emergence of cooperatives.
During the election the popularity of the grand coalition fell while the popularity of the cooperatives and unions rose. The KPB/PCB promised free education for all, based upon state and muncipal funded education for all, inste of Catholic based education for the few. Furthermore employment to all, in a country who suffered from the effects of occupation and a collapsed government, and an end to rations was promised. Meanwhile the grand coalition's answer was austerity among some, who were then blamed by the left (both the KPB/PCB and social democrats within the coalition) for caring about millions instead of people, to social liberals who wanted expansive economics (who was then blamed for wasting money) to market liberals who wanted to deregulate (who was then accused of benefitting the rich). This led to confusion, where the grand coalition did not seem to agree, while many of the social democrats even openly endorsed the communists. The communists in turn called this "chaos of the bourgeoise". The communists seemed to many as the only stable alternative with real solutions, and they gained the loyalty of the powerful unions, cooperatives and workers's councils when the KPB/PCB promised said initiatives to be state funded.
The second Belgian industrial revolution.
Meanwhile the cooperatives, councils and unions started a shadow government and shadow economy. Their plan was to industrialise the countryside. In normal circumstances this might not have seemed to radical, but it was. Industralizing the rural side of Belgium had the positive effects of potential economic growth. This was used heavily in the propaganda of the councils and the KPB/PCB. "We create jobs and boost our economy, the government do nothing". However it also had the effects that the rural population of Belgium was much more conservative than the urban centers. By the radicals it was honestly believed that they could just create new industrial centers in Belgium, which in turn would spread socialist and communist propaganda. The government wanted to halt the "second industrial revolution" as communist propaganda potrayed it as, but the workers's militias and French and Spanish troops hindered them from doing this. During the creation of these new industrial centers many new jobs was created, however the workers was forced to take part in the unions and workers's councils, who again was forced to vote for KPB/PCB in the election. Moreover the militias, aided by France and Spain, confiscated the lands, property and wealth of rich and poor landowners and the church, lessening their influence and by many cases also forcing them to vote for the KPB/PCB at gunpoint.
The workers of Belgium punch their way to a new society.
The election result was a shock. The Grand Coalition had a narrow majority and the KPB/PCB fell just short of a majority. Fearing a general uprising, many strikes was already declared and workers's militias was sent to the streets, and civil war the social democrats under de Man promptly switched sides. Instead of supporting the Grand Coalition (between social democrats, social liberals, monarchists, republicans, christian democrats, market liberals, conservatives etc.) the Social Democrats supported the KPB/PCB instead. He hoped this would make the far left accept the liberal democracy and become moderated by the social democrats. Boy was he wrong. The new government was quick to "tempoairly" end any future elections and even dissolved the parliament taking full control of the nation. Riots was supported in the capital which forced the royal family to once again flee. Several trials was made against the "enemy of the people" that is the former government. The KPB/PCB then started on the greatest anti-clerical campaign to date, seeing the Catholic Church as an enemy of the people and the new state. Its influence was kept in check with most of the property confiscated, religion outlawed, and priests and members of the Catholic Party and Church alike being arrested. After a few weeks of terror, supported by France, Spain and the NKVD, the Belgian government proclaimed Belgium now to officially be the "Belgian Cooperative Union" or the Cooperative of Belgium for short. In theory it was a stateless society ruled by the individual cooperatives and councils.*
The pals of Trotsky in Belgium.
Many might have assumed that this new communist state, or anarchistic society as they claimed to be, would be heavily influenced by the Trotskyist and in turn USSR. This was, on the other hand, not the case. They were outmanuvered by the Belgian anarcho-communists of the KPB/PCB who was led by Joseph Jacquemotte. Still the NKVD, Spanish and French armies demanded that the Trotskyists was to given some concessions. And they were. The three most central Trotskyists, Georges Vereeken, Ernest Mandel and Abraham Leon was given positions similar to ministers. But it was not certain if this was to be the end of Trotskyist influence in Belgium...**
The new an very creative flag of Belgium.
Still a new player was in town. And he stirred things up quite a bit. For the first time a Communist Party had come to power through an election - the legality of it is debatable. This stirred up the western democracies quite a bit. However Jacquemotte was openly opposed to the methods of Lenin and in turn Trotsky. The KPB/PCB was now officially opposed to their stageism theory (that you first have to achieve a socialist state before you can get communism) and wanted to end the state right away and create a classless anarchy in its place. Furthermore they claimed that as opposed to the other communist nations they had been elected by the people and hadn't had a small elite of a vanguard to get them to power. This of course greatly angered the Internationale who was composed of nations who became socialist states through revolutions and coups. For time being the Cooperative of Belgium refused to be part of the military arm of the Internationale, however the KPB/PCB and many of the councils, unions and cooperatives joined its political arm. However a new contender and a new alternative to the Soviet model had come to Europe, and that among one of the first industrialised nations. Would they remain as a part of the Allies and loyal to the liberal democracies and opposed to totalitarianism or join the Internationale to support the dictatorships of the proletariat? Only time would tell.
-----
*I was surprised to see Belgium turning communist. I hadnt' influenced them, so my best guess is that they became so through an ingame election and that the communists became more popular through various events. Hopefully this post surpised you as much as it did to me, unless you managed to spot the Belgian flags with a red star on the last post.
**In game they are anarcho-communist and part of the allies. So narrative wise the Trotskyists did not get to power here, but the anarchists did. This may also be the foundation of future conflicts either within Belgium or between Belgium and the other communist states.
The liberation of Belgium.
When French and British troops crossed into Belgium and liberated the country it was believed democracy was reinstalled. But the hopes of western democracies was shattered during the election of '41. Yet another country fell to the "red menace", but in an unusual way.
German occupation of Belgium.
The road to the (second) Belgian revolution grew from the oppressive occupation by the hands of the German war machine. Already before German panzers took the lands of Belgium and the bombers terrorized her people NKVD agents and agents from France had inflitrated the society. However it was the ensuing chaos and power vacuum following the Anglo-French liberation of Belgium that paved the way for the Communist Party of Belgium (KPB/PCB) to take power. The legal government, along with the royal family, of Belgium had already left for Britain in exile. However they would not be the first to enter Belgium and create a provisional government following its liberation. It was the communists. Along with the army of the Federation of Communes of France radical French activists and Belgian radical socialists and communists poured in. Where Germany had hoped to eradicate the growing Belgian communist movement with their invasion and occupation, they instead fled to Britain and France. Now they had returned. However instead of creating a vanguard party to lead the workers against the bourgeoise they were inspired by the failed social revolution of Spain. Cooperatives and workers's councils was created led by radical socialists and members of KPB/PCB. These would lay the basis for most of the de-facto power of Belgium. These cooperaties would again create worker's militias of their own, they would again be trained and armed by Spain, France and the USSR and would become the real army and police force of Belgium. By the time the royal family and the legal government of Belgium returned most of the population had already been swayed to the communist cause.
Belgians who want to work 8 hours again.
The parties of Belgium who was loyal to the monarchy and a liberal democracy joined forces in a grand coalition to "endure this time of hardship together, as one nation, one people" but they soon found themself victim of not only the old conflict between the Flemish and Francophones, but also social democrats who had been radicalised and that most trade unions (and the KPB/PCB) refusing to take part in the grand coalition, claiming it to be "against the will and welfare of the people". This greatly weakened legitimacy of the restored Belgian government. To help amend to this the government announced that a new election was to come. However the many cooperatives of Belgium held the de-facto power of most of the Belgium industry. The government wanted to wrest the control out of the hands of the unions to bring stability and prosperity to the nation (which they would benefit from during the following election), however the weak security forces was quickly repulsed by the militias and the armies of France and Spain. This greatly lowered the popularity of the Belgian government, and increased the sympathies of the cooperatives and unions who claimed only they could get their economy back on track and needed to lift the restrictions imposed by the government. During the German occupation of Belgium the 8 hour workday was reverted and the people and unions of Belgium now demanded this to be reinstated. Unfortunately the government of Belgium was unable to meet those demands. Part because of they were occupied by the many issues faced at home, and because the cooperatives and unions created an 8 hour workday themself independent of government policies. This led to a real power struggle within Belgium, rising popularity to the cooperatives and unions and most importantly, a huge embarrassment for the government.
The emergence of cooperatives.
During the election the popularity of the grand coalition fell while the popularity of the cooperatives and unions rose. The KPB/PCB promised free education for all, based upon state and muncipal funded education for all, inste of Catholic based education for the few. Furthermore employment to all, in a country who suffered from the effects of occupation and a collapsed government, and an end to rations was promised. Meanwhile the grand coalition's answer was austerity among some, who were then blamed by the left (both the KPB/PCB and social democrats within the coalition) for caring about millions instead of people, to social liberals who wanted expansive economics (who was then blamed for wasting money) to market liberals who wanted to deregulate (who was then accused of benefitting the rich). This led to confusion, where the grand coalition did not seem to agree, while many of the social democrats even openly endorsed the communists. The communists in turn called this "chaos of the bourgeoise". The communists seemed to many as the only stable alternative with real solutions, and they gained the loyalty of the powerful unions, cooperatives and workers's councils when the KPB/PCB promised said initiatives to be state funded.
The second Belgian industrial revolution.
Meanwhile the cooperatives, councils and unions started a shadow government and shadow economy. Their plan was to industrialise the countryside. In normal circumstances this might not have seemed to radical, but it was. Industralizing the rural side of Belgium had the positive effects of potential economic growth. This was used heavily in the propaganda of the councils and the KPB/PCB. "We create jobs and boost our economy, the government do nothing". However it also had the effects that the rural population of Belgium was much more conservative than the urban centers. By the radicals it was honestly believed that they could just create new industrial centers in Belgium, which in turn would spread socialist and communist propaganda. The government wanted to halt the "second industrial revolution" as communist propaganda potrayed it as, but the workers's militias and French and Spanish troops hindered them from doing this. During the creation of these new industrial centers many new jobs was created, however the workers was forced to take part in the unions and workers's councils, who again was forced to vote for KPB/PCB in the election. Moreover the militias, aided by France and Spain, confiscated the lands, property and wealth of rich and poor landowners and the church, lessening their influence and by many cases also forcing them to vote for the KPB/PCB at gunpoint.
The workers of Belgium punch their way to a new society.
The election result was a shock. The Grand Coalition had a narrow majority and the KPB/PCB fell just short of a majority. Fearing a general uprising, many strikes was already declared and workers's militias was sent to the streets, and civil war the social democrats under de Man promptly switched sides. Instead of supporting the Grand Coalition (between social democrats, social liberals, monarchists, republicans, christian democrats, market liberals, conservatives etc.) the Social Democrats supported the KPB/PCB instead. He hoped this would make the far left accept the liberal democracy and become moderated by the social democrats. Boy was he wrong. The new government was quick to "tempoairly" end any future elections and even dissolved the parliament taking full control of the nation. Riots was supported in the capital which forced the royal family to once again flee. Several trials was made against the "enemy of the people" that is the former government. The KPB/PCB then started on the greatest anti-clerical campaign to date, seeing the Catholic Church as an enemy of the people and the new state. Its influence was kept in check with most of the property confiscated, religion outlawed, and priests and members of the Catholic Party and Church alike being arrested. After a few weeks of terror, supported by France, Spain and the NKVD, the Belgian government proclaimed Belgium now to officially be the "Belgian Cooperative Union" or the Cooperative of Belgium for short. In theory it was a stateless society ruled by the individual cooperatives and councils.*
The pals of Trotsky in Belgium.
Many might have assumed that this new communist state, or anarchistic society as they claimed to be, would be heavily influenced by the Trotskyist and in turn USSR. This was, on the other hand, not the case. They were outmanuvered by the Belgian anarcho-communists of the KPB/PCB who was led by Joseph Jacquemotte. Still the NKVD, Spanish and French armies demanded that the Trotskyists was to given some concessions. And they were. The three most central Trotskyists, Georges Vereeken, Ernest Mandel and Abraham Leon was given positions similar to ministers. But it was not certain if this was to be the end of Trotskyist influence in Belgium...**
The new an very creative flag of Belgium.
Still a new player was in town. And he stirred things up quite a bit. For the first time a Communist Party had come to power through an election - the legality of it is debatable. This stirred up the western democracies quite a bit. However Jacquemotte was openly opposed to the methods of Lenin and in turn Trotsky. The KPB/PCB was now officially opposed to their stageism theory (that you first have to achieve a socialist state before you can get communism) and wanted to end the state right away and create a classless anarchy in its place. Furthermore they claimed that as opposed to the other communist nations they had been elected by the people and hadn't had a small elite of a vanguard to get them to power. This of course greatly angered the Internationale who was composed of nations who became socialist states through revolutions and coups. For time being the Cooperative of Belgium refused to be part of the military arm of the Internationale, however the KPB/PCB and many of the councils, unions and cooperatives joined its political arm. However a new contender and a new alternative to the Soviet model had come to Europe, and that among one of the first industrialised nations. Would they remain as a part of the Allies and loyal to the liberal democracies and opposed to totalitarianism or join the Internationale to support the dictatorships of the proletariat? Only time would tell.
-----
*I was surprised to see Belgium turning communist. I hadnt' influenced them, so my best guess is that they became so through an ingame election and that the communists became more popular through various events. Hopefully this post surpised you as much as it did to me, unless you managed to spot the Belgian flags with a red star on the last post.
**In game they are anarcho-communist and part of the allies. So narrative wise the Trotskyists did not get to power here, but the anarchists did. This may also be the foundation of future conflicts either within Belgium or between Belgium and the other communist states.
Attachments
Always knew there was something suspect about Belgium. I wonder what @Tom D. will think of this development
Always knew there was something suspect about Belgium. I wonder what @Tom D. will think of this development
I think Belgian Communists like coffee by the looks of it...
Jacqmotte (and I know it's not written the same) is a Belgian company making coffee in case you didn't get it - it was the first thing I thought of when seeing this screenshot .
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BTW, once you see them building nuclear reactors I would start to freak out
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Uh oh heavens, *stutters*BTW, once you see them building nuclear reactors I would start to freak out
Always knew there was something suspect about Belgium. I wonder what @Tom D. will think of this development
You can never trust Belgium it seems. The Allies, well they turned commie. Us? Wel, they are still with the allies!
I think Belgian Communists like coffee by the looks of it...
Jacqmotte (and I know it's not written the same) is a Belgian company making coffee in case you didn't get it - it was the first thing I thought of when seeing this screenshot
View attachment 324037
No wonder they managed to get to power, they just drank loads of coffee to get to the top. Looks good though.
BTW, once you see them building nuclear reactors I would start to freak out
Am I missing something here?